College Hockey Update:  Last week presented three top fifteen matchups, and North Dakota edged up to #5 after hosting and sweeping Western Michigan, edging the Broncos down to #11.  Minnesota held at #7 after hosting and splitting with Wisconsin,, and the badgers moved up a couple of spots to #12.  Providence held at #9 after splitting a home-and-road series with New Hampshire, in which each team won at home; New Hampshire held at #13.

Elsewhere, Denver held at #1 after visiting and sweeping Minnesota-Duluth, and St. Cloud State held at #2 after visiting and sweeping Nebraska-Omaha.  Clarkson held at #3 after visiting and beating Canisius Saturday night; Notre Dame held at #4 after visiting and sweeping Michigan State; and Cornell edged down to #7 after visiting and splitting with Miami of Ohio.  Northeastern moved up two pegs to #12 after a loss at Connecticut last Tuesday and then sweeping Merrimack in a home-and-road series; Boston College edged up to #14 after splitting with Boston University in a home-and-road series in which each team won on the road; and Ohio State dropped four rungs to #15 after they hosted, tied, and lost to Penn State.

Friday night Minnesota had huge help from freshman forward Scott Reedy, of Prior Lake, MN., who scored the game winning-goal and added two assists Friday in his team’s 5-4 home win against Wisconsin, en route to a split with the Badgers on the weekend. The 6’2″ 199lb forward is 7th on his team in goals scored, with three, and is tied for 12th in assists, with two.  Before Minnesota he played two years on the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 team, and prior to that at Shattuck-St. Mary’s for two years.  Shattuck-St. Mary’s is quite the elitist school and turns out much of the Minnesota hockey talent.  Tuition alone there is $33,000 per year, and for boarding students, is $50,000 per year.  Then there are the fees.  $4,000 required for day students, and $6,000 for boarders.  This includes an interesting $2,000 per year “Cake Fee.”  More on that later.  Not to mention the “other fees,” such as a $5-6,000 hockey fee, “depending on team placement.”  That’s another thing.  This high school doesn’t even play other high schools.  They play in elite leagues, such as their top team, in an elite Under-18 AAA league.  Also of note:  $7-$11,000 figure skating fee; $7,000 golf fee, and $6,000 soccer fee.

In addition to the Reedy Family, Prior Lake is home to 23,000, and was first incorporated as a village in 1891.  It sits 46 miles north of Fairbault, MN., where Shattuck-St. Mary’s is located, and is firmly in the well-known “cake-belt” south of Minneapolis and west of the Mississippi River, including the towns of Edina (mentioned in the last couple of weeks), Mendota Heights, Eagan, Prior Lake, and Eden Prairie.  Prior Lake and Eden Prairie are well served by Jerry An’s Cakes, Edelweiss Bakery, and Bimbo’s Bakery, as well as many others to satisfy the overwhelming demand for cake from the residents of these towns.  Of all the hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of towns in Minnesota, these towns all rank in the top 35 of average household income in Minnesota; in the order listed, going back two sentences (“cake-belt” sentence), these towns rank at 35th, 9th, 29th, 18th, and 14th in the state.  Can you say Duke and Christian Laettner?

The University of Minnesota was founded in 1851, straddles the Mississippi River, putting the campus in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, and has an enrollment of 52,000, the sixth largest in the U.S.  In addition to the Twin Cities campus, the University of Minnesota also has campuses in Crookston, Duluth,, Morris, and Rochester.  Minnesota first put a team on the ice in 1921, has won five NCAA titles, and is currently coached by Don Lucia, of Grand Rapids, MN., who is regarded by the entire population of Minnesota as the Patron Saint of the State, and the second-best coach in the history of Minnesota hockey, second only to the legendary Herb Brooks.  He was a defenseman at Notre Dame, graduating in 1981, and prior to coaching at Minnesota, coached for five years at Alaska-Anchorage, and then six years at Colorado College.  His CC teams played in five NCAA Tournaments, made it to two Frozen Fours and one appearance in the final NCAA Championship Game..  Lucia is in his nineteenth season as Minnesota Head Coach; in his first 18 seasons his teams have compiled a 438-227-71 record; they have appeared in 13 NCAA Tournaments, five Frozen Fours; three NCAA Championship Games, and have won two NCAA Championships.  His lifetime coaching record is 703-392-108.

Next month is the grand opening for the Minnesota Athlete’s Village, which will be nothing short of stupendous.  It will function as something of a world-within-a-world for student athletes there.  Not only will it be the base location for all practices for student athletes in all sports, it will also contain The Land O’ Lakes Center For Excellence, comprised of state of the art weight and conditioning facilities, academic, study and tutoring facilities, and a new, central nutrition and dining facility for student athletes only.  On the subject of nutrition, in a recent interview with the Minnesota Alumni Magazine Coach Don Lucia said, “Well there will be other things that are fun for the student athletes as well.  It seems the interest for this comes mainly from the Hockey, Lacrosse, Crew, Soccer, and Golf athletes, for some reason, and we’ve been the main team pushing for this, as we have been for years the team making sure it has been included in the campus cafeterias up to this point.  We will have cake brought in from the best of those bakeries south of Minneapolis that straddle the Minnesota River; The Queen of Cakes, Jerry An’s Cakes, and so on.  It has always been a big plus in our recruiting to get that certain type of athlete from that certain type of background down there.  I can’t really relate to it, coming from Grand Rapids, and being a public school kid, but it’s a different world down there, and even for those who come out of the private schools in other parts of Minnesota, so we do what we must to get them to sign here.  Some of these kids come from schools that serve these cakes on a regular, daily basis, so we have to have the right stuff.”  Minnesota is 10-7-1, is ranked #7, and travels to play two games at #15 Ohio State this weekend.

Friday night on the Minnesota Campus, Wisconsin had the upper hand in the first, scoring seven minutes into the period on a five-on-three power play opportunity to take the early 1-0 lead.  Minnesota responded only two minutes later on a goal by Mike Szmatula (assisted by Scott Reedy), but Wisconsin closed out the period, scoring with only a minute left in the frame, to take the 2-1 lead into the break.  Shots on goal were even at nine apiece in the first.  In the second it was all Minnesota, as Tyler Sheehy scored a goal five minutes into the period to tie it at two apiece; a Rem Pitlick goal (assisted by Scott Reedy) seven minutes later gave Minnesota the 3-2 lead.  Three minutes later a Tyler Nanne power play goal extended the Minnesota lead to 4-2, and like a lightning strike, freshman forward Scott Reedy scored only twenty seconds later to make it 5-2, which would be the game winner.  Wisconsin wasn’t done, and with three minutes left in the period they scored to close the gap to 5-3 going into the break; it was a very fast-paced period and Wisconsin was frenetic in the second, taking 20 shots, where Minnesota was very efficient, scoring four goals on thirteen shots.  Wisconsin came back with more for the third, out-shooting Minnesota 10-6 in the period, but Minnesota was stingy and held them out, allowing only one goal twelve minutes into the period, and hanging on to the thin 5-4 margin for the next eight minutes for the win.  Three different celebratory cakes were served in the Gopher locker room.

This weekend features four top-fifteen matchups, as #2 St. Cloud State hosts #5 North Dakota for two games; #4 Notre Dame travels to play two at #12 Wisconsin; #7 Minnesota travels to play two at #15 Ohio State; and #10 Northeastern travels to play one game at #14 Boston College Saturday night.

This provides the top fifteen teams, rankings, records, and last week’s results:

[table id=159 /]

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!

— Tom