{"id":32749,"date":"2010-11-03T21:45:10","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T02:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=32749"},"modified":"2010-11-03T22:01:08","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T03:01:08","slug":"mascac-should-be-a-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"MASCAC should be a battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there’s no shortage of story lines following what could be considered a successful debut for the conference.<\/p>\n

Salem State won the initial MASCAC championship in a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over top-seeded Fitchburg State. Overall, the conference was fairly competitive throughout the season, as the top four teams finished within five points of each other.<\/p>\n

The MASCAC also made some noise in out-of-conference play, highlighted by Salem State’s 3-0 win over host and then No. 1 St. Norbert. The conference also held its own against some of its former conference mates in the ECAC Northeast.<\/p>\n

The top four teams from last season (Fitchburg State, Salem State, Plymouth State and Westfield State) figure to be in the mix again, but look for a rebound season from Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The Corsairs posted their first losing season in coach John Rolli’s 26 years at the helm, and first overall since 1976-77.<\/p>\n

“The league is only going to get better,” Fitchburg State coach Dean Fuller said. “Salem is the team to beat and UMass-Dartmouth should rebound and be very tough. Plymouth and Westfield bring back very competitive teams with experience.”<\/p>\n

Below is a breakdown of each of the seven MASCAC teams. The teams are listed in predicted order of finish. Click on the team name for a detailed preview.<\/p>\n

Salem State<\/a> <\/strong>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 15-8-4, 11-3-4, second; won MASCAC  Championship
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> First
\nCoaches’ Poll:<\/strong> First<\/p>\n

Though they lost four seniors, three transfers and a strong returning core should put Salem State on top again.<\/p>\n

Fitchburg State<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 20-6-1, 14-4, first, lost in MASCAC Championship
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> Second
\nCoaches’ Poll:<\/strong> Second<\/p>\n

Fitchburg returns many of the players who carried the team to first in the conference last season.<\/p>\n

Plymouth State<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 17-9-1, 12-5-1, third, lost in MASCAC semifinals
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> Third
\nCoaches’ Poll:<\/strong> Third<\/p>\n

New coach Craig Russell expects the Panthers to be in the mix at the top of the MASCAC.<\/p>\n

Westfield State<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 13-10-3, 10-5-3, fourth, lost in MASCAC quarterfinals
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> Fourth
\nCoaches’ Poll:<\/strong> Fourth<\/p>\n

If they can keep the penalty minutes down, Westfield State may be able to improve upon last season’s finish.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts-Dartmouth<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 11-15-1, 5-12-1, fifth, lost in MASCAC quarterfinals
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> Fifth
\nCoaches Poll:<\/strong> Fifth<\/p>\n

A disappointing regular season was salvaged by a strong playoff performance. Whether the Corsairs can use that as momentum this season remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Worcester State<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 5-18-2, 3-13-2, sixth, lost in MASCAC semifinals
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish: <\/strong>Sixth
\nCoaches Poll:<\/strong> Sixth<\/p>\n

With 13 new players, Worcester State expects to improve on its regular-season finish.<\/p>\n

Framingham State<\/strong><\/a>
\nLast Season:<\/strong> 2-20-2, 2-15-1, seventh place, no playoffs
\n2010-2011 Predicted Finish:<\/strong> Seventh
\nCoaches Poll:<\/strong> Seventh<\/p>\n

With the loss of 90 percent of its scoring from last season, Framingham State will need its new players to step up quickly if they are to be in the hunt for the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there’s no shortage of story lines following what could be considered a successful debut for the conference. Salem State won the initial MASCAC championship in a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over top-seeded Fitchburg State. Overall, the conference was fairly competitive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-04T02:45:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-11-04T03:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/uscho_featured-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nate Owen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nate Owen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/\",\"name\":\"MASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-04T02:45:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-04T03:01:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dfc0085013a2f0bd1f841d734928302f\"},\"description\":\"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"width\":1175,\"height\":763},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MASCAC should be a battle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dfc0085013a2f0bd1f841d734928302f\",\"name\":\"Nate Owen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e24681756c9384119a6e2bdf12234b71\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b17ef77dd02a159f8bc4ce5dc6995ec2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b17ef77dd02a159f8bc4ce5dc6995ec2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nate Owen\"},\"description\":\"ECAC Hockey Columnist Nate Owen is the ECAC Hockey columnist for USCHO. He has written for the site since 2009, and has covered the ECAC since 2011.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/author\/nate-owen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2010-11-04T02:45:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-11-04T03:01:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/uscho_featured-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Nate Owen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nate Owen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/","name":"MASCAC should be a battle - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","datePublished":"2010-11-04T02:45:10+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-04T03:01:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dfc0085013a2f0bd1f841d734928302f"},"description":"While the newly-created MASCAC still has one more year to go until NCAA tournament eligibility, there's no shortage of story lines following what could be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","width":1175,"height":763},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2010\/11\/03\/mascac-should-be-a-battle\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MASCAC should be a battle"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dfc0085013a2f0bd1f841d734928302f","name":"Nate Owen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e24681756c9384119a6e2bdf12234b71","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b17ef77dd02a159f8bc4ce5dc6995ec2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b17ef77dd02a159f8bc4ce5dc6995ec2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nate Owen"},"description":"ECAC Hockey Columnist Nate Owen is the ECAC Hockey columnist for USCHO. He has written for the site since 2009, and has covered the ECAC since 2011.","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/author\/nate-owen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32749"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}