College Hockey   CC Tigers and USAFA Falcons Hockey

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced its inaugural composite schedule earlier Wednesday.

Here is the CC schedule with 24 league games and 10 nonconference contests:

CC 2013-14 schedule

Tuesday and Fridays 7:37 p.m.; 7:07 p.m. Saturdays

Date      Opponent         

Oct. 5, 2013         New Brunswick (exhib.)

Oct. 12  USA U-18 (exhib.)

Oct. 18  Minnesota-Duluth *(CBS Sports Network)

Oct. 19  Minnesota-Duluth *

Oct. 25-26 at Clarkson

Nov. 1-2               at Western Michigan *

Nov. 8                   Denver *

Nov. 9                   at Denver *

Nov. 19                 Air Force

Nov. 22-23          at St. Cloud State *

Nov. 29-30          New Hampshire

Dec. 6-7                Nebraska-Omaha *

Dec. 13-14           at Wisconsin

Jan. 4, 2014         Brown

Jan. 10-11            at North Dakota *

Jan.  17-18           Providence

Jan. 24-25            Miami *

Feb. 7-8                at Minnesota-Duluth *

Feb. 14-15           Western Michigan *

Feb.  21                                at Denver *

Feb. 22                 Denver *

Feb. 28-March 1               at Nebraska-Omaha *

March 7-8            St. Cloud State *

March 14-16       NCHC first-round playoffs

March 21             NCHC semifinals (Target Center, CBS Sports Network)

March 22             NCHC third-place, championship games (Target Center, CBS Sports Network)

March 28-30       NCAA regionals

April 10-12           NCAA Frozen Four (Philadelphia)

The NCAA Tournament field was announced Sunday night and six WCHA teams made the field as expected with five at-large bids (Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota State, North Dakota and St. Cloud State) and automatic qualifier Wisconsin. That is a heck of a way for the current league configuration to go out.

The NCAA selection committee did not strictly follow the Pairwise rankings, instead, opting for some regionalization to help boost attendance.

Here are more reactions to the pairings: Goal Gophers,  Mankato Free Press (with video), Western College Hockey Blogs includes regional preview capsules.

The dates, sites, times and pairings with WCHA teams bolded follows:

Northeast Regional, March 29-30
Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire

Friday, March 29, 4:30 p.m. Eastern time
No. 1 Massachusetts-Lowell (26-10-2) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (22-12-7)

Friday, March 29, 8 p.m. 
No. 2 New Hampshire (19-11-7) vs. No. 3 Denver (20-13-5)

Men’s Frozen Four, April 11 and 13
CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Thursday, April 11, 4:30 and 8 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN (order of games TBD)
East Regional Champion vs. Midwest Regional Champion
Northeast Regional Champion vs. West Regional Champion

Saturday, April 13, 7 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN/WatchESPN

National Championship

The following conferences and teams received automatic qualification:Atlantic Hockey Association, Canisius; Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Notre Dame; ECAC Hockey, Union; Hockey East Association, Massachusetts-Lowell; Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Wisconsin.

On Saturday, the WCHA unveiled a new logo.

Here are a few details about next season in the WCHA, including tournament locations.

Wisconsin took off after freshman Nic Kerdiles joined the team following his 10-game suspension.

Tickets remain available for all three games for the WCHA playoff series between Colorado College and Denver. Keep in mind most CC fans sit in sections 5, 6 and 7. There is no TV for the series but it is available on Pioneer Vision.

CC’s seniors leads Division I with 65 goals; the most for any senior class. Here is the breakdown: Rylan Schwartz (15 goals), William Rapuzzi (15), Mike Boivin (14), Scott Winkler (13), Andrew Hamburg (6) and Joe Marciano (2).

Here are preview notes for the six WCHA playoff series this weekend.

Click on the school’s name (bolded) to go to its article:

No. 7 seed Nebraska-Omaha at No. 6 Minnesota State

No. 8 Colorado College at No. 5 Denver. Here are Three Things to Watch about that series.

No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth  at No. 4 Wisconsin

No. 10 Michigan Tech at No. 3 North Dakota

No. 11 Bemidji State at No. 2 Minnesota, which also debuts its video series “Pride on Ice.”

No. 12 Alaska-Anchorage at No. 1 St. Cloud State.

Here is the TV/video stream availability for all six WCHA playoff series.

The All-WCHA honors will be coming out soon. Here are some sample ballots from bloggers on how they would have voted: Goon’s World, Western College Hockey Blog and Bucky’s 5th Quarter.

Air Force hosts Canisius in the Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinals. Here are the Falcons’ preview notes, 3 Things to Watch and the Gazette preview.

The 2012-13 CCHA All-Conference Teams were announced Wednesday.

I bolded players from Miami and Western Michigan since those teams will be CC opponents in the NCHC next season.
First Team

Position        Name, Year, School      First   Totals

Forward Austin Czarnik, SO, Miami       8       46

Forward Anders Lee, JR, Notre Dame      7       44

Forward Riley Barber, FR, Miami 5       40

Defense Jacob Trouba, FR, Michigan      8       43

Defense Dan DeKeyser, JR, Western Michigan      6       36

Goaltender      Brady Hjelle, SR, Ohio State    6       39

Second Team

Position        Name, Year, School      First   Totals

Forward Tanner Fritz, SO, Ohio State    2       32

Forward Ryan Carpenter, SO, Bowling Green       1       22

Forward Andy Taranto, SR, Alaska        2       20

Defense Luke Witkowski, SR, Western Michigan    3       26

Defense Bobby Shea, SR, Bowling Green   2       25

Goaltender      Frank Slubowski, SO, Western Michigan   4       27

Vote Values: 1st place = 5, 2nd place = 3, 3rd place = 1

Honorable Mention (next six point totals, regardless of position with first team-votes in parentheses): Ryan Dzingel, SO, F, Ohio State, (2) 17; Domenic Monardo, SR, F, Lake Superior, (2) 16; Kyle Bonis, SR, F, Ferris State, (1) 16; Matthew Caito, FR, D, Miami, (1) 15; CJ Motte, SO, G, Ferris State, 14; Bryan Rust, JR, F, Notre Dame, 11.

Others receiving votes:

Forwards – T.J. Tynan, JR, Notre Dame, (1) 8; Chase Balisy, JR, Western Michigan, 8; Cody Kunyk, JR, Alaska, (1) 6; Matt Thurber, SR, Northern Michigan, 4; Dane Walters, SR, Western Michigan, 4; Cristoval Nieves, FR, Michigan, 1; Reed Seckel, SO, Northern Michigan, 1; Garrett Thompson, JR, Ferris State, 1.

Defensemen – Robbie Russo, SO, Notre Dame, (1) 9; Mac Bennett, JR, Michigan, (1) 8;  Colton Parayko, FR, Alaska, 8; Jason Binkley, SO, Ferris State, 6; Simon Denis, SO, Ferris State, 6; Craig Dalrymple, FR, Ohio State, 4; Steven Spinell, SR, Miami, 4; Trevor Campbell, SO, Alaska, 3; Scott Macaulay, SR, Northern Michigan, 3; Curtis Gedig, JR, Ohio State, 1; CJ Ludwig, JR, Northern Michigan, 1.

Goaltenders – Andrew Hammond, SR, Bowling Green, 8; Jared Coreau, JR, Northern Michigan, 6.

Air Force home opponent Niagara moved up No. 14 in this week’s USCHO poll while CC’s home foe, Minnesota State. remains No. 9 after a bye weekend. The purple Mavs moved up from No. 8 to No. 7 in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll. The Purple Eagles went up to No. 13 from 15 in the USA rankings.

No. 16 Wisconsin 5, Penn State 0

MADISON — Junior forward Tyler Barnes scored a goal and made three assists while sophomore goalie Joel Rumpel made 22 saves to lead Wisconsin to a 5- 0 nonconference victory over Penn State on Sunday night at Kohl Center.

Here is this week’s WCHA schedule:

Upcoming Schedule
Day	Date	Visiting Team	Home Team	Time
Mon	02/25/13	Penn State	at Wisconsin	7:37 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Wisconsin	at Nebraska Omaha	6:37 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Denver	at Minnesota	7:07 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Bemidji State	at North Dakota	7:37 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Michigan Tech	at St. Cloud State	7:37 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Minnesota State	at Colorado College	7:37 p.m. MT
Fri	03/01/13	Alab-Huntsville	at Minnesota Duluth	7:07 p.m. CT
Fri	03/01/13	Alaska Anchorage	at Alaska	7:05 p.m. AT
Sat	03/02/13	Bemidji State	at North Dakota	7:07 p.m. CT
Sat	03/02/13	Denver	at Minnesota	7:07 p.m. CT
Sat	03/02/13	Michigan Tech	at St. Cloud State	7:07 p.m. CT
Sat	03/02/13	Wisconsin	at Nebraska Omaha	7:07 p.m. CT
Sat	03/02/13	Minnesota State	at Colorado College	7:07 p.m. MT
Sat	03/02/13	Alab-Huntsville	at Minnesota Duluth	7:07 p.m. CT
Sat	03/02/13	Alaska	at Alaska Anchorage	7:07 p.m. AT

Games for Thursday, February 21: USA Under-18 Team at Nebraska Omaha (EX), 7:37 pm CT.

Games for Friday, February 22: Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota (WCHA), 7:07 pm CT; St. Cloud State at Colorado College (WCHA), 7:37 pm MT; North Dakota at Denver (WCHA), 8:07 pm MT.