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NESCAC 2025-2026: Don't Call it a Comeback

M

MikeMidd

Middlebury: "Three-peat Sweep!"
Fall sports have only just started this past week, but it's never too early to look ahead to hockey.

Top of the NESCAC has been fighting to be nationally competitive, but there's a question of whether the league can go back to being multi-bid and show how strong it is.

Some big incoming classes in the NESCAC, led by Middlebury with a whopping 12 new players (11 first years, 1 transfer from Holy Cross). According to NeutralZone.com, the Panthers have the third-ranked incoming recruiting class. Another step forward on the road back to greatness.

But there's some tough news for Middlebury this week - the departure of Assistant Coach Jack Fitzgerald: Former Middlebury, Amherst assistant coach Fitzgerald takes reins of Saint Michael’s men’s hockey team Fitzgerald was evidently pivotal to recruiting at Middlebury, so leaves a big gap on the bench and in rebuilding the program.

Just two and a half months until the games begin. Let's goooo.
 
MikeMidd said:
Fall sports have only just started this past week, but it's never too early to look ahead to hockey.

Top of the NESCAC has been fighting to be nationally competitive, but there's a question of whether the league can go back to being multi-bid and show how strong it is.

Some big incoming classes in the NESCAC, led by Middlebury with a whopping 12 new players (11 first years, 1 transfer from Holy Cross). According to NeutralZone.com, the Panthers have the third-ranked incoming recruiting class. Another step forward on the road back to greatness.

But there's some tough news for Middlebury this week - the departure of Assistant Coach Jack Fitzgerald: Former Middlebury, Amherst assistant coach Fitzgerald takes reins of Saint Michael’s men’s hockey team Fitzgerald was evidently pivotal to recruiting at Middlebury, so leaves a big gap on the bench and in rebuilding the program.

Just two and a half months until the games begin. Let's goooo.
Click to expand...
Hearing a former Laker will take over as Assistant Coach at Middlebury.
 
HockeyTime9 said:
Hearing a former Laker will take over as Assistant Coach at Middlebury.
Click to expand...
Interesting... any more details you can share?

Middlebury seems to have had a small staff recently - head coach and an assistant. But the past two assistants (Ceglarski and Fitzgerald) found their way to head coach jobs pretty quickly. No idea what the pay looks like compared to similar roles elsewhere, but would think it's a reasonably attractive job at a program with potential.
 
MikeMidd said:
Fall sports have only just started this past week, but it's never too early to look ahead to hockey.

Top of the NESCAC has been fighting to be nationally competitive, but there's a question of whether the league can go back to being multi-bid and show how strong it is.

Some big incoming classes in the NESCAC, led by Middlebury with a whopping 12 new players (11 first years, 1 transfer from Holy Cross). According to NeutralZone.com, the Panthers have the third-ranked incoming recruiting class. Another step forward on the road back to greatness.

But there's some tough news for Middlebury this week - the departure of Assistant Coach Jack Fitzgerald: Former Middlebury, Amherst assistant coach Fitzgerald takes reins of Saint Michael’s men’s hockey team Fitzgerald was evidently pivotal to recruiting at Middlebury, so leaves a big gap on the bench and in rebuilding the program.

Just two and a half months until the games begin. Let's goooo.
Click to expand...
This seems like as good a place as anywhere else to ask where are all the DIII, esp. Nescac, hockey forums? Is this it?

I ask because I also follow Nescac college lacrosse and the Nescac forum on Fanlaxforum is fire currently on 765 pages and 7,200 posts (all since about 2017). Of course, Nescac is by far the best lacrosse conference.
 
Unknown Participant said:
This seems like as good a place as anywhere else to ask where are all the DIII, esp. Nescac, hockey forums? Is this it?

I ask because I also follow Nescac college lacrosse and the Nescac forum on Fanlaxforum is fire currently on 765 pages and 7,200 posts (all since about 2017). Of course, Nescac is by far the best lacrosse conference.
Click to expand...
To add, my buddy, who played hockey at Midd 78-82ish, whose son played lacrosse at Tufts a year behind my son, can't stand Midd's current hockey coach.
 
Yes, this is the place for NESCAC Hockey. Which current hockey coach, since they just got a new head coach last year?

Ceglarski I know nothing about, but he managed get a better record than Sinclair ever did, so I'm willing to cut him some slack.
 
Indeed, this is pretty much it for DIII and NESCAC hockey talk.

If you're on X, DIII Hockey News is worth a follow at DIII Hockey News. There are a couple NESCAC fan accounts, NESCAC Ice Hockey, Hockey in the 'CAC. That's about it.

Many years ago, this forum used to be really active with students, local fans, etc., from lots of colleges and universities. That included some NESCAC chatter, though it's never had the big NESCAC presence that the DIII lacrosse, basketball and soccer boards do. Not sure why, though probably not helped by the NESCAC not having a dominant national power like Middlebury in the 1990s and 2000s, hockey being a bit lower profile on campus, a number of NESCAC schools being basketball powers.

(Of course, some of the NESCAC "banter" on the soccer boards is just nasty, so happy to not have that.)

As for Ceglarski, why's your buddy dislike him?

I never heard good things about Sinclair as a leader and coach, and he steered the program into the ground (together with the now departed Middlebury president), but not had anything bad on Ceglarski.
 
MikeMidd said:
Indeed, this is pretty much it for DIII and NESCAC hockey talk.

If you're on X, DIII Hockey News is worth a follow at DIII Hockey News. There are a couple NESCAC fan accounts, NESCAC Ice Hockey, Hockey in the 'CAC. That's about it.

Many years ago, this forum used to be really active with students, local fans, etc., from lots of colleges and universities. That included some NESCAC chatter, though it's never had the big NESCAC presence that the DIII lacrosse, basketball and soccer boards do. Not sure why, though probably not helped by the NESCAC not having a dominant national power like Middlebury in the 1990s and 2000s, hockey being a bit lower profile on campus, a number of NESCAC schools being basketball powers.

(Of course, some of the NESCAC "banter" on the soccer boards is just nasty, so happy to not have that.)

As for Ceglarski, why's your buddy dislike him?

I never heard good things about Sinclair as a leader and coach, and he steered the program into the ground (together with the now departed Middlebury president), but not had anything bad on Ceglarski.
Click to expand...
My buddy was talking about Sinclair I'm certain. This was a cpl years ago.
 
Unknown Participant said:
My buddy was talking about Sinclair I'm certain. This was a cpl years ago.
Click to expand...
I have it on good authority that Sinclair was the #3 choice but the two in front of him turned it down for various reasons.

Midd was already in a downward spiral, but Neil certainly couldn't get anything going to right the ship. I do know there was very little if any emphasis placed on hockey though by that president you speak of and you can see the result...
 
  • 7:00 P.M. Brunswick, ME
    Middlebury
    Middlebury
    Bowdoin
    Bowdoin
  • 7:00 P.M. Malden, MA
    Wesleyan
    Wesleyan
    Tufts
    Tufts
  • 7:00 P.M. Waterville, ME
    Williams
    Williams
    Colby
    Colby
  • 7:00 P.M. New London, CT
    Trinity
    Trinity
    Conn. College
    Conn. College
  • 7:00 P.M. Clinton, NY
    Amherst
    Amherst
    Hamilton
    Hamilton
    Here is the opening night schedule for Men’s NESCAC Hockey. Of course, no one knows yet who will be at or near the top of the food chain for awhile, but there are some interesting matchups to start the season.
    Usually we would expect to see Trinity near the top and their game against Conn might not tell us too much. A Trinity- Colby matchup might be a better barometer, but we’ll have to wait. I like the Midd at Bow game. That could be an indicator in which direction these two traditional hockey schools are headed. Williams at Colby, likewise. Amherst at Ham and Wes at Tufts are less compelling in my estimation, but all the games will show which coaches have their teams ready to play and give us a first look at the newcomers.
 
The home teams all went on to victory on Friday.

Trinity looses to Conn was the most surprising. Middlebury last year was great at home, and terrible on the road, I'm going to want to see them at home before I make too many more judgements. Both Bow and Colby are pretty competitive with the top spot, so their wins are not too surprising.

Hamilton may also be a contender, but they play Canton tonight, and Amherst gets the rest of the weekend off?

The schedule this year has a number of odd thing like this.
 
An unexpected loss for Trinity, though oddly Conn College surprised them in the season opener last year too.

Very disappointing for Middlebury at Bowdoin. Admittedly lot of new players to bring in, but gave up a goal in the first minute, sounds like Heinze had an off night in net (4 goals on 14 shots in 45 minutes), too many penalties by the Panthers. Need to be better and smarter if they have aspirations of home-ice.

On the schedule, there's effectively an extra week in the season this year, so the travel partner pairings are split up to be one game each on two different weekends, rather than back-to-back. Just seems like Amherst-Hamilton got stuck with the opening weekend this year, and Hamilton goes to Amherst in late Jan for a Saturday game.

The Middlebury-Williams ones are in mid Jan and then mid Feb. Middlebury hosts on Feb 14th and they've named it the "Hearts and Rivalries" game, whatever that will mean!
 
I was at the Trinity-Conn game yesterday. Trinity was the better team throughout but when Conn had their stretches of good play the puck ended up in the net, and that wasn't the case for Trinity.
 
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