Welcome to two new readers, Mark Reichel and John McLean.  Both played hockey for the St. Cloud State Huskies in the mid-seventies, Mark a wing, and John a defenseman.  John has contributed this week with an eyewitness account of a game last weekend, and I expect will contribute a few more during the season; I figure we might get one or two from Mark as well:  These guys go to a ton of hockey games!

Last weekend I attended my first college hockey game since 1999, and it was a great contest.  My commentary will be on the facility and surroundings, and we’ll get John’s game summary next.  What a great place to see a game — it is modern, built in 1993, and seats 9600 in the lower level that rises steeply from the ice, making every seat there as good as it gets.  With another 400 seats in a small upper/club/suite level, the capacity is exactly 10,000, and it doesn’t feel quite that big.  There is a great old place called Stub and Herb’s right near the arena where they sell the magic of tall cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.  And there is something quite nice about coming in from the cold to a nice warm place and a nice cold tall PBR.  Oh, and the weather.  There was a little snow fall while I was there, and it got fairly cold, making the weekend a bit more interesting.  With an occassional tall PBR, it was rather easy to handle and very enjoyable. 

Ok, the snow was sort of a problem, and it yielded, for a while, a somewhat lost weekend in Minnesota, outdoors, but that might apply to the Minnesota college hockey teams, indoors, as well — it didn’t go too well, except for the University of Minnesota.  Minn-Duluth was shut down to the tune of a loss and tie, and Mankato (losing to #3 North Dakota) and Bemidji (losing to #15 Wisconsin) were both beaten twice.  Friday night’s Minnesota game, which I saw, as reported by John McLean: 

“The Southern campus of the University of Minnesota rode the hot goaltending hand of Kent Patterson to eke out a 3-2 upset win over the # 2 rated UMD Bulldogs Friday night at Mariucci Arena on the eve of a major snow storm in the Twin Cites that ultimately led to the roof of the Metrodome collapsing Sunday morning.   UMD started slow falling behind 3-1 before steadily controlling play by outshooting the Gophers 17-7 in the 3rd period and came an inch from scoring with seconds to go before Patterson, playing without his stick, dove across the crease to stop Justin Fontaine’s point blank one timer in a save reminiscent of ones Jim Craig made against the Soviet Union 30 years ago on a night when UMD, coincidently, also played the Gophers at old Williams Arena across the street.”

The loss dropped UMD to #4 from #2, and Minnesota is now ranked #19.  Elsewhere, the largest crowd to ever see a hockey game saw Michigan take down Michigan State, 5-0.  113,411 people attended, and I am not sure I get the allure of sitting 200 yards from the ice, but then, I didn’t buy a ticket for this one either; I suppose it’s just nice to see so many want to see a college hockey game!  The win moved Michigan to #11, up from 12.  Yale remains #1 after beating Vermont; New Hampshire rose to #2 from #3 on a win over Maine, which dropped Maine from #8 to #9 — this game was a real fight, ending regulation a 3-3 tie, and New Hampshire prevailing in OT.  North Dakota took  two from Mankato, lifting the Sioux from #5 to #3.  #4 and idle BC dropped to #5, and idle Miami-Ohio held the #6 spot.

On a win and tie against Alaska-Anchorage, Denver is now ranked #7, up from #9.    Boston University dropped another three slots from #7 to #10 afer narrowly beating Northeastern, and then getting routed by Rensselaer; RPI moved up from #15 to #14 on the win.  Notre Dame dropped from #11 to #12 on a split with Northern Michigan, and joining Notre Dame at #12 is Union College, after beating both American International and Army.

This weekend there are only 13 games to be played, but there are a couple of good matchups.  #8 Nebraska Omaha travels to play two against #20 Colorado College, and #12 Union College will host #25 Northern Michigan for a pair as well.  Next weekend there are no games, and then there are the variety of tournaments around New Year’s.

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

[table id=8 /]

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

 — Tom