Historic ice. Less than 24 hours after the NIT cleared out of town, Madison Square Garden had lowered the temperature and welcomed a pair of college hockey teams to the house for the first time in a few years. The men???s ice hockey squads from Boston U. and Cornell played in the Garden on Saturday night, with the Terriers grabbing a big win, 6-3. We discussed how dreams came true for the basketball players scoring their first buckets on the hardwood at the Garden, but the same is true for the hockey players who skated their first minutes in the building. The Garden is special, and a sold-out crowd suggests MSG might think about offering college hockey games on a more regular basis, as the last one was played in 2003.

GOAL!!! I was sitting in my parents??? living room on Saturday night and decided to check out what was happening in the world of Division III soccer. The men and women both had title matches scheduled that day, so I was curious to see how things had unfolded. It turns out that I picked the perfect time to search, as I noticed that CSTV was streaming the game live on its Web site. I picked up the scoreless men???s final between Trinity (Texas) and Middlebury in the first overtime and watched the teams play a second scoreless extra frame before heading into the most dramatic of finishes ??? penalty kicks. I tore my laptop from its plug and plopped it right down on my father???s lap, as we watched Middlebury win its first men???s soccer championship on kicks, 4-3. It was an amazing spectacle to watch, and I began thinking about all the sports fans that missed the incredible game because they were watching football. There are a lot of amazing sporting events to watch out there, and seeing a national championship decided in this fashion was tremendous.

The road back. Exciting news from the Big Easy ??? the University of New Orleans is bringing back three varsity sports. Men???s and women???s tennis, as well as men???s swimming and diving, will begin competition next fall, after a hiatus caused by Hurricane Katrina. After the hurricane, the university reopened and sponsored just six sports, instead of the minimum 14. The NCAA granted an exemption that would allow New Orleans to ease back into full sponsorship. This first step back is reason to celebrate.