Unlike its NCAA brethren hoops, baseball, and football, settling tie games in “sudden death” is a fixture in college hockey. The more appropriate moniker would be “sudden joy,” the raw emotion of 15 teammates hopping the boards for a dog-pile celebration on one end of the rink. Three such skate-off explosions occurred on WCHA ice this past weekend, as Huntsville, Bemidji, and Lake Superior State gained victories by working overtime. Each contest had its own poignant story-line; each ended in an instant.

This week on RinkRap, a “Scorpion” sighting in Houghton, a Bemidji transfer comes back to the WCHA to put a scare into Bowling Green, and Tim Theocharidis returns to the site of his maiden voyage, duplicating past glory.

An entertaining November weekend of WCHA hockey, complete with scoring stars, goaltending duels and a four-star highlight-reel goal, was brought to a screeching halt on Monday when Minnesota State canceled its game Monday at Bemidji following reports of positive COVID-19 tests amongst its players.

This week in RinkRap: an Upper Peninsula prizefight goes extra rounds, the Beavers balance on a slippery bubble, and Bowling Green gets creative in their travel plans.

In a WCHA regular-season final weekend not soon to be equaled for its exquisite drama, the Minnesotans’ MacNaughton Cup showdown and Bowling Green’s desperation comeback in Dixie both took a back seat to the Upper Penisula rivalry game Saturday night between Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech up in Houghton. Their gripping contest was ultimately determined by a breathtaking gamble from Northern’s beleaguered goalie, a play that helped salvage home ice in the WCHA playoffs for his Wildcats.

It’s a Miracle theme in this week’s RinkRap, as Bowling Green and Miracle On Ice alum Mark Wells tells all to Ryan Vallon; we flash back to 1980 again for Mankato’s run at hockey gold; and Bemidji’s current miraculous run continues, despite facing dire straits in Anchorage. 

The American International Yellow Jackets are riding a nine-game win streak, which has propelled them to six-point lead atop Atlantic Hockey as the conference tournament nears. 

RinkRap spent the weekend catching up with Bemidji State, college hockey’s hottest team, and then taking in some hockey history in the Canadian Soo.

This week in the WCHA RinkRap, we saw an absurd number of goals scored, Bowling Green got back on track after a nail-biter, and we may have just heard the quote of the year from Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan.

American International has added pressure to the race for Atlantic Hockey, storming to the top of the conference during a six-game win streak late in the season.

As the WCHA’s regular season crunched into February this past weekend — and with goals in such short supply — other stats took on added significance: Blocked shots, faceoff wins, and successful penalty kills become the keys to victory in a league defined by heavy play. 

A three-goal surge in the second period earned the Sacred Heart Pioneers the title at the inaugural Connecticut Ice Tournament, where two definitive wins appear to have them back on track.

Here’s what we’ve got for this week’s edition of the WCHA RinkRap: milestones for the Wildcats up on the Last Frontier, the return of goaltender “Stone Cold Sal” for the Ferris State Bulldogs, too many white-collar workers up in Copper Country, and a Minnesota product wins the goaltending duel in Mankato.

The Sacred Heart Pioneers came away with just one point over the weekend following a 0-1-1 showing against seventh-place Canisius, keeping the fight for first tight in Atlantic Hockey.

A freak play changes the destiny of two teams, there was a hockey surge in Klondike country, and two of the country’s most quotable coaches square off in Bemidji — all this week in the WCHA RinkRap.