Hokey smokes!!  There are only a couple of weekends left in the regular season, and it looks as though four teams have an extremely tight grip on the top four spots in the rankings.  Is this how it’s going to end?  Are these the four teams to beat?

Last weekend four of the top ten teams came away with two wins, and there of these four are the top three ranked teams – # 1 Miami, # 2 Denver, # 3 Wisconsin, and # 5 Yale.  Four teams split the weekend, and two were idle.  No new teams in the top ten, and of note, Bemidji State fell four ranking slots to # 9 on splitting with Robert Morris.

Lots and lots of goals were scored by these teams last weekend:  13 for Miami (they had ten goals on Saturday night off of only 32 shots), 8 for Denver, 12 for Wisconsin, 5 for St. Cloud.  St. Cloud actually had a pretty rough weekend, winning the first game4-1, but then getting spanked badly 8-1 the next night, and that was at home – quite a let down.  Also in the “let’s score a bundle” category were:  8 goals for Yale, 7 for Bemidji, and 6 for Cornell.  The only team with an anemic output was Boston College, which scored only three goals on the weekend.  Hmmmm…… are the top ten teams, in general, collectively hitting their stride and powering up?

Friday night in Madison, Wisconsin, there was a real battle on the ice as the Badgers took on Mankato, who managed to score first, in the second period.  The Badgers proceeded to let it fly, scoring three unanswered goals in the second (all power play goals), and another in the fourth (this time short-handed).  With only eight and a half left, Mankato came alive, scoring a short-hander of their own with about four minutes to go, and were given a penalty shot when Wisconsin’s Ryan McDonagh pushed a loose puck out of the crease.  Mankato converted on the penalty shot to make it 4-3, but with only one minute left to play, couldn’t make it any closer – early penalties doomed the team despite a great comeback attempt.  Wisconsin netted four on 44 shots on Friday night, and needed only 31 shots the next night to net eight.  One state over to the west, there was a heck of a game simultaneously in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Even though St. Cloud split with North Dakota, North Dakota seems to have been the better prepared team of the two last weekend.  Friday’s game started with a goal by the home team right at the start of the game.  North Dakota scored a pair in the first to lead 2-1, but St. Cloud tied it early in the second.  Midway in the second, North Dakota went ahead again 3-2.  Then late in the second, St. Cloud tied it up, 3-3, and with less than a minute to go in the second, the Huskies went ahead of the Sioux, 4-3.  Whew!  Seven goals in two periods!  A defensively-dominated third made the second period goal the final, St. Cloud 4-3.  North Dakota was not to be denied the next night, as reported above – seems they’ve served notice that they’re going to be around in the post season.  North Dakota shot 46 to St. Cloud’s 26 on Friday night, and 41 to St. Cloud’s 25  on Saturday night, for a total of 87 shots on the weekend.  And Saturday there was a lot of huffin’ and puffin’ going on in Ithaca, New York, as Cornell hosted Yale.  What a grinder this one was!  Cornell scored early in the first, and Yale scored mid-way through the second, to tie it at 1-1.  Then they grinded this one down over the next 27 minutes to a tie in regulation.  In overtime Yale prevailed, 2-1.  The crazy thing about this game is that is was really all Yale, but Cornell’s Ben Scrivens had a monster night in the net, stopping 52 of 54 shots on goal.  By comparison, Cornell only got twenty shots off all night long – Yale shot twenty in the second!  Yale also took 39 the night before against Colgate, for a total of 91 shots in two nights!  As they say, there is something to be said for taking a lot of shots in a hockey game.

This weekend we have a mega-monster-matchup as # 3 Wisconsin hosts # 4 St. Cloud State, two games.  Who in the world wouldn’t want to be in Madison this weekend?

This provides the top ten teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

1.       Miami beat Bowling Green twice 3-2, 10-2 (spank!)

2.       Denver beat Minnesota twice 3-1, 5-1

3.       Wisconsin beat Mankato twice 4-3, 8-4

4.       St. Cloud split #11 North Dakota 4-3, 1-8 (ouch!!)

5.       Yale beat Colgate 6-3, and #10 Cornell 2-1

6.       Minnesota-Duluth idle

7.       Colorado College idle

8.       Boston College split UMass-Lowell 1-4, 2-1

9.       Bemidji State split Robert Morris 2-5, 5-2

10.   Cornell beat Brown 5-3 and lost #5 Yale 1-2

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