Wow, what a weekend for the upstarts!  Let’s begin with a determined bunch from Houghton, on the UP, who travelled to Duluth to take on the #1 team in the land, UMD.  Friday night UMD dropped the hammer on Michigan Tech early and often, closing out the first with a rousing dousing of goals — four to be exact, scored within ten minutes.  But Michigan Tech had a purpose, coming back to score late in the second, and then reeled off three more in the third to tie it up at 4-4.  OT was a stalemate, and Michigan Tech skated off the ice with an unlikely tie.  What could possibly be more unlikely than Michigan Tech scoring four unanswered goals?  How about scoring four in the first period the next night in a span of nine minutes, holding UMD off the rest of the way, an then tapping one in with time running out, to skate off the ice with a 5-0 win?  Wow, what a weekend for Michigan Tech!  UMD held on to the #1 ranking on the weekend.

On the other hand we had Minnesota taking on St. Cloud State, and on Friday night Minnesota scored first in the first, St. Cloud scored early in the second, and Minnesota scored late in the second to take the lead 2-1, hold off St. Cloud the rest of the way, and win it 2-1.  Saturay night was more a a barn burner, with St. Cloud scoring first in the first, and Minnesota scoring two in the second to go up 2-1.  But St. Cloud came back late in the second to tie it up 2-2, and held Minnesota in check almost the entire rest of the game, but Minnesota prevailed with a goal with only a minute and a half left, to win the game again, this time 3-2.  Minnesota is now ranked #2.  And did we talk about Maine last week?  Something about sweeping Boston College?  And did we talk about Maine being a big test for Boston University?  Make no mistake about it, Maine is on some kind of a roll, as Friday night they saw BU go up 1-0 in the first, but tied it at one on a goal by Adam Shemansky (had to get that coincidental “almost” in there), and then again to go up 2-1.  But BU scored again in the second to tie it at 2.  In the third, Maine scored early to go up 3-2, and late in the game BU fought for the tie by adding an extra attacker, and Maine found the empty net with a minute and a half to go, to take it 4-2.  Saturday night was similar, as Maine scored first in the first, and BU tied it early in the second.  Four minutes later, Maine took the lead at 2-1, and late in the game, BU again fought for the tie, adding an extra attacker, and Maine once again found an empty net with five seconds remaining, to take the win at 3-1.  BU swept.  Ouch for the Terriers, who dropped a notch to #3, as the Black Bears continue on their winning way, moving up five spots to #15.

Merrimack took one from Providence on Sunday, in a game very similar to the BU/Maine games — leading the game 3-2 and holding off a six on five disadantage, Merrimack found the empty Providence net with about fifteen seconds to go to take the game 4-2.  Merrimack moved up one rung to the #4 spot.  Boston College had an exciting game Friday night as they found themselves down 3-2 with about five minutes to go, but rallied for two goals to beat New Hampshire 4-2, scoring the win with about fifty seconds remaining.  Saturday night?  Even closer, as the game ended 2-2 and then Boston College scored with about a minute and half to go in OT to take the win 3-2.  Boston College moved up two spots to the #5 ranking.  What a bunch of great games!  Why would Ferris State and Michigan State be any different?  Friday night the two teams entered the third tied at 1-1, and Ferris State scored with about seven minutes remaining to take the win, 2-1.  And so Saturday night was not to be outdone, as Ferris State had a 3-1 lead early in the second, only to see Michigan State rally and tie it at three late in the second; Ferris State was not to be denied, as they scored early in the third and then held on for the 4-3 win.  Ferris State jumped up for spots to the #6 ranking, and knocked Michigan State out of the top twenty.

Michigan?  No contest, as they were idle, and rose up a notch to #7.  Notre Dame took a bad loss, 6-3 Friday night at the hands of Alaska-Fairbanks.  Saturday night Notre Dame was down 2-1 in the second, but scored twice in the second to go up 3-2.  Once again a team was fighting for the tie with an extra attacker, this time Notre Dame found the empty Fairbanks net, scoring to win it 4-2.  Notre Dame dropped four spots to the #8 ranking.  UMass-Lowell played their cousins, UMass, and Friday night, another close battle ended 4-2 as UMass-Lowell scored the fourth goal with about thirty seconds left.  Saturday night was close for while as UMass tied it at two late in the second, but UMass-Lowell scored late in the second and twice in the third to take it 5-2.  UMass-Lowell rose up two spots to the #9 ranking.   And rounding out a weekend of close games, Ohio State lost to Lake Superior State Friday night 1-0 on an early first period LSSU goal, and then Saturday, fought to a 4-4 tie that saw Ohio State score two goals in the middle of the third to go up 4-3, only to see Lake Superior score in the middle of the third to tie it at four, and to hang on to close it out tied at four.  Ohio State dropped four clicks to the #10 ranking.

And what’s in store for this weekend?  The top matchups see #3 Boston University playing one Friday night at #4 Merrimack; #6 Ferris State playing two at #19 Northen Michigan; and #7 Michigan hosting #18 Miami of Ohio for two games.  Monday night is the opening round of Boston’s Beanpot Tournament at the Boston Garden — the TD Garden.  The early game features #3 Boston University against #27 Harvard, and the late game matches #5 Boston College against #28 Northeastern.  The home ice for these four teams are ridiculously close to each other as the furthest two are about four miles apart, and the closest two are about a mile and a half apart.  Winners pair up the following Monday night, as do the losing teams in the consolation game.

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

[table id=37 /]

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

 — Tom