Notre Dame continued its tear through the conference schedule, this time taking four of a possible six points from floundering Penn State and splitting the weekend series with Ohio State.  Friday's victory clinched the conference championship for the Irish, a feat few (including us) expected.  Most pundits expected them to be a solid club, but no one foresaw Cale Morris seizing the reins the way he did.  Saturday's performance was shaky all around, but after celebrating their title the night before, it wasn't surprising.  Yet Head Coach Jeff Jackson continues to help his team stay focused on the big picture.  There's still two series left to play, along with the conference tournament, so now is not the time to slack off.  Notre Dame's playoff run ended with a resounding thud in Chicago last year, but Jackson believes this bunch could go all the way.  If Morris continues to put forth the same stellar effort that let the Irish to the regular season title, he may just be right.

After an incredible first half where they could seem to do no wrong, nothing seems to have gone right for the Warriors since the new year began.  Having lost six of eight -- two in OT -- and battling a rash of illness and injury that they were able to avoid up until now, Indiana Tech was in serious need of some luck that wasn't bad.  They did manage to break though last weekend with a win  and a tie against Lawrence Tech, earning the Warriors the inaugural Tech Challenge Cup.  But even Mother Nature seems to have it for Indiana Tech, scrubbing Friday's matchup with Michigan-Dearborn due to weather.  Saturday's game was in doubt as well, but the two teams somehow managed to get it done.  The Wolverines took a 4-1 lead into the final frame and managed to withstand a furious rally to nip the Warriors 4-3.  As it stands now, Indiana Tech should have the #2 seed in the WHAC tournament, with couple series remaining to get back on track before then.

The inaugural season for Trine's NCAA teams haven't gone quite as well as hoped for, but about as expected.  The women's club (4-15-1) have dropped seven straight, including two this past weekend against St. Scholastica, but have a road series at Concordia remaining to try and earn at least one last win.  The men wrapped up their season this past weekend with two nail-biters against Concordia (4-3) and MSOE (2-1), finishing out with a record of 6-17-2.  

Despite the lack of wins in year one, fans in the NE corner have a lot to get excited about regarding the future of Thunder Hockey.  Both teams have fairly young rosters and experience counts for a lot at this level.  There is some serious talent at the D3 level, so it comes as no surprise that both the men's and women's teams have struggled at times.  Yet Head Coaches Alex Todd and Tom Hofman have done a good job playing the long game and have built a solid foundation for the program.  Don't be surprised to see the Thunder challenge for the conference title in fairly short order.

This season's M2 teams seem to be stuck in some kind of Freaky Friday role reversal.  With one first-year and one established club in the mix, we fully expected one to be competitive and one to scuffle.  What we didn't anticipate was the talented and experienced Hoosiers to practically implode by midseason, while the upstart Trine Thunder would not only win, but dominate.

"Impressive" doesn't even begin to describe how this Thunder team has taken the hockey world by storm.  Ranked #1 in the Central Region, Trine continues their unbelievable season, this time taking a pair from Robert Morris 3-2 and 6-3.  And after routing Davenport the weekend before, the Thunder have racked up 27 wins to go along with two ties.  Trine continues to hold on to the top spot in the Central region by the slimmest of margins -- just under a quarter of a point over Aurora, which just completed their season a perfect 30-0-0.  The Thunder wrap up their season for the ages in Bloomington against the Hoosiers this weekend.

Indiana has had the past couple of weekends free after their series with Central Michigan was cancelled, and hopefully they put the time off to good use.  Interim Head Coach Joe Siers has helped stabilize the Hoosiers locker room following the pre-holiday upheaval, and the boys seem to be enjoying hockey again given the spark they've shown in recent weeks.  Trine beat the Hoosiers pretty handily in the first half of the I-69 Challenge, but round 2 should be brimming with energy with the Hoosiers under new leadership and the Thunder gunning for an undefeated inaugural season.

The Irish women's team showed some moxie against West Region #2 Adrian College two weekends ago, but were still swept 5-4 and 4-1.  This past weekend, they managed a split (5-1 & 2-6) against a stout but struggling Aquinas College club.  Kiera Dwyer dominated the Saints nearly on her own, scoring four of the five Irish goals on Friday.  She also picked up her 13th goal of the season Saturday, but Aquinas was able to find their scoring touch in the rematch.  Notre Dame closes out their short but sweet season this weekend against Central Michigan.

The 2017-18 ICHC season began with great promise.  The conference was able to maintain its membership with the addition of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, and they had agreed to team with INHockey.net as their primary media partner :-)  And while no one was expected to pose a serious threat to knock Indiana off the throne, the rest of the field looked to be somewhat improved, with the promise of some fiercely competitive hockey ahead.

But as usually happens, there were a few surprises in store... and not all of them good.  The Colonels ended up better than expected, weathering an early season roster drought and making a solid push to the top half of the conference.  Butler made some strides toward competitiveness as well, attracting some talented newcomers to bolster their lineup.  But Ball State and IPFW struggled with a lack of depth, making it extremely difficult to maintain any kind of positive momentum.  Worst of all, though, was the midseason suspension of the Purdue program and decision to vacate their games from the conference record.  Understandably devistated, the club did not wish to disclose the reason for such a drastic turn of events.  But as the Boilermakers were likely to finish second or third in the ICHC, the result sent significant ripples through the standings.

Indiana continued it romp through conference, throttling the Bulldogs and the Cardinals on it's way to a second consecutive undefeated run.  The Hoosiers have their eyes on a bigger prize though, looking to earn another berth in the M3 Regional tournament.   Currently ranked #7 in the North, it is almost certain Indiana will make the field.  And with 15 players recording double-digits in points to go along with the three-headed monster of Matthew Turner/Connor Minnick/Ben Seinfeld in net, a trip to Nationals is not out of the question.

The battle for the Crossroads Cup kicks off on Friday with IPFW taking on Ball State.  The winner of that game will face the Hoosiers on Saturday, while EKU and Butler square off in the other semifinal.  The championship game is on Sunday at 10:20 am, with all games being played at the Fuel Tank in Fishers.

Also in the hunt for a playoff berth, but not sitting quite as comfortable as the Hooisers, are the Indiana Tech Warriors.  Ranked #10 going into the final weekend, the Warriors closed out the regular season winning three of their last four, sweeping Western Michigan and earning a split against #12 Michigan-Flint.  With Sault College ineligible for the postseason as a first-year program, Tech's bid should be relatively secure even if they get passed by Ferris State lurking less than a half-point behind.  Should the Warriors get past Davenport in the first round of the MCHC tournament this weekend, we'll get a sneak peek at the ACHA tournament as Tech will take on either #1 Michigan State or #6 Hope College.

Just as with Sault College, Trine's M3 program is also ineligible for the regional tournament, although it would have taken a small miracle for the Thunder to jump both the Bulldogs and the Wolverines.  Currently sitting at 11-13-2, there's still a chance to finish at .500 with a home series against Washtenaw CC this coming weekend.  Trine has lost three of their last four, splitting the series with IPFW after being swept by Michigan State.

The news out of southern Indianapolis is that the UIndy Greyhounds have every intention of coming back for year two.  Things were touch & go around the holiday break, as injuries and attrition left the second half in doubt.  But the Greyhounds persevered, finishing off their season with a rousing 5-4 win over Eastern Kentucky and a 6-12-0-1 record.  There's a possibility that the team could be rebranded as the IUPUI Jaguars, whom they co-op with, but either way is good for prospective players at both schools.

Notre Dame's M3 team concluded their season a couple weekends ago with a split against Ferris State.  Even though they ended on a high note, downing the Bulldogs 7-5 in the finale, the season didn't go quite as the Irish hoped.  Coming off a 2016-17 campaign that saw them go 12-5-0-2, the Irish managed to net some solid wins but finish a disappointing 6-10-0-1.  Personally, we'd love to see the ICHC extend an invitation to bring Notre Dame into the fold.  A North-South division setup would help teams fill out their schedules more without being too conference-heavy, and Compton would be yet another outstanding venue for the Crossroads Cup.