Welcome back college hockey fans!  The season is underway, and last weekend had a few showcase matchups.  But let’s start right at the top and cover the other teams in the top 12 first:  Last year’s NCAA runner-up, Michigan, beat St. Lawrence University 10-3, and the Wolverines jumped up from #4 to #1 in the rankings; St. Lawrence had scored first, the first period ended 3-1, and St. Lawrence scored twice in the second, but Michigan opened up big in the second, which ended 7-3.  Michigan senior forward and captain Luke Glendenning tallied three goals in the win.  Next, Colorado College swept Bemidji State, and as a result moved up from #7 to #4 in the rankings.  North Dakota beat and tied Maine, and North Dakota rose to #5 from #6 in the rankings; in the game North Dakota won, Maine kept it even for two periods with the score 0-0 after one, and 1-1 after two.  But North Dakota powered up two goals in the third to take it.  Notre Dame split with Ohio State, dropping Notre Dame from #2 to #6 in the rankings.  Miami of Ohio split with Colgate, dropping from #5 to #10.  and Western Michigan and Union College tied two nights in a row switching places at #11 and #12 in the rankings.

Denver travelled east to play Boston College on Friday night, and then Boston University on Saturday night.  BC entered the weekend ranked #1, Denver #3, and BU #8.  Denver proved to be a big draw, selling out all 7,884 seats at BC’s Conte Forum, and selling 5,930 of the 6,221 seats available at BU’s Agganis Arena.  Denver never trailed in the BC game, the first ending 1-1, and the second ending 3-2, with Denver winning by a 4-2 margin, scoring in the third on a BC empty net.

Saturday night they took the long haul three miles away to BU, and BU put on quite a display, never scoring with both teams at full strength, but score they did:  In the first with the teams four on four, BU took the 1-0 lead.  Then in the second it was an  immediate BU onslaught, as they scored two short-handed goals in the first minute, and then on a power play just two minutes later, with the second ending 4-0.  In the third, Denver rallied big, scoring two goals  in the first thirteen minutes, and with three minutes to go added an extra attacker, scoring with about 2:30 remaining on the clock, but BU held on to take home a 4-3 win.  So what happened to these three teams in the rankings?  Denver held at #3 on its split Boston weekend.  BC did its job after losing to Denver, as they shredded New Hampshire 5-1, and dropped from #1 to #2 on its split weekend.  And BU?  After beating the #3 team, did they go from #8 to #4, or #5?  Ooooops, forgot to tell you about the night before they played Denver.  BU went down to Providence and . . . . lost.  Providence did win two over the weekend and is now ranked #23.  In the previous week, they had no votes at all.  Will this be another year in which BU beats the good teams (not a lot of them), and loses to the lesser teams (there are a lot of them)?  Time will tell, as will the scalps of Terrier fans who could be tugging on their hair for another season . . . . or maybe not?  Providence will have a test as they will host last year’s NCAA champion UMD Bulldogs for a pair this weekend.

Speaking of UMD, they entered last weekend at #9, and played two against Minnesota.  Our contributing field reporter, John McLean (father of D3 Gustavus Adolphus goalie, John McLean, Jr.) watched the two games, and contributes this report.

John McLean writes:

Gophers Catch National Champs Still Dreaming of the ‘X’ (Exel Energy Center)

In a bit of a surprise, Minnesota opened up the WCHA season with a sweep of defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth at the Amsoil Arena in Duluth last weekend. Some mature play from the Gophers young forwards (7 of the top 9 are either freshman or sophomores) and stellar net minding from Ken Patterson led the way in a weekend that many thought would result in a split.

Friday, the Gophers took an early 2-0 lead, both on power plays, before Duluth tied it in the second only to see the Gophers retake the lead.   Duluth scored what appeared to be the winner with 2:00 left in the 3rd before Minnesota pulled their goalie and tied the game when an errant pass went off a freshman UMD defender’s skate past goalie Kenny Reiter.   The over time was evenly played until Duluth sent both of their defenseman into the right corner allowing Nate Condon all alone in front to take captain Taylor Mattson’s pass and bat a floating puck into the net for the winner.

The next night a determined Bulldog tame came out hard taking a 2-0 lead but, even though they outshot the Gophers 18-4 in the first period, the game was tied 2-2 due in large part  to Kent Patterson’s tireless work between the pipes.   The Gophers built a 5-2 lead before holding on to a 5-4 win with UMD’s last goal being scored by NCAA MVP JT Brown, son of former Viking great Ted; perhap’s the only good thing that has happened to the Vikings this year. Kent Patterson made 46 saves in both games and was clearly the weekend MVP.

A very nice surprise for UMD was the exciting play of freshman Caleb Herbert of Bloomington Jefferson who scored a nice game in each of the games.  While the Gophers have had 3 disappointing seasons in a row, the sweep in Duluth reminded many of the famous quote from Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor “I’m afraid we have awoken a sleeping giant.”

Thanks for the report, John.  Minnesota rose from #14 to #8 on the sweep, and UMD dropped from #9 to #15.  There are no top twelve matchups this weekend, but a couple of note nonetheless:  #1 Michigan will travel to play two at #17 Northern Michigan; and #10 Miami of Ohio will travel to play a pair at #14 Ferris State.

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

[table id=24 /]

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