After crushing Alaska Anchorage Friday night 4-1 on the back of J. T. Brown’s first period hat trick, and his fourth period fourth goal of the night, then slipping Saturday night and losing to A-A 3-2, having entered the third down 2-0, Minnesota-Duluth took a surprising drop in the polls from #1 to #3.  Meanwhile, Boston University beat Merrimack Friday night by a 4-1 margin, largely on the strength of Chris Connolly’s two goals, and then played musical chairs with UMD in the polls, switching from the #3 ranking to the #1 ranking.  This after being swept by Maine a week ago?  BU went on to beat Harvard Monday night in the first round of the beanpot tourament in Boston, 3-1, after the poll came out. In this game, BU had a 3-0 lead late in the second, then surrendered a goal to Harvard.  The third was a stalemate as the game ended 3-1.  Nonethless, it seems that BU has some tests remaining in what is left of this season:  beating lesser teams UMass, Vermont, and Northeastern, and demonstrating what they can do against two top ten teams:  Boston College this Monday night in the Beanpot final; and two games with UMass-Lowell next weekend.  Getting back to Chris Connolly, you might remember this mention last year, and it’s rather appropriate to touch on it again, seeing how BU and UMD have just traded places in the poll, Chris, a senior, is a respectable defenseman at BU who has quadrupled his scoring since BU lost two major players in December (he had only one goal, and now has four), and has also tallied 22 assists.  His younger brother Jack is quite a story in this, also his senior year at UMD, having scored 15 goals, and compiled 27 assists!

Let’s see, Minnesota remains ranked #2 after and idle weekend.  And wow!  Look at Michigan now — after two rather strong wins against Miami of Ohio, Michigan has jumped up to the #4 ranking.  Michigan junior defenseman Lee Moffie, of Wallingford, CT. (pictured above), scored two goals Saturday night, and tallied an assist Friday night.  He was named the CCHA defensive player of the week.  Boston College remains ranked #5 after and idle weekend — after the poll came out, Boston College demolished Northeastern 7-1 in the first round of the Beanpot Tournament.    And Ferris State held at #6 after a tie and a win against Northern Michigan — Friday night’s high scoring tie, 5-5, saw pretty even scoring and lots of it early as the four goal first ended 2-2.  Saturday night’s was very different as Ferris State scored two early goals to make it 2-0 after one, and they held Northern Michigan scoreless until the third, when the Northern Michigan scored to make it 2-1.  With a minute to go Northern Michigan put an extra attacker on the ice, fighting for the tie, but Ferris State found the empty net and scored to end it 3-1.  Friday night UMass-Lowell dominated an early scoring Vermont team.  After ending the first down 1-0, UMass-Lowell held Vermont scoreless and went on to score two in the second and one in the third to take it 3-1.  Saturday night’s contest was very different, featuring a five goal first, ending with Mass-Lowell up 3-2.  Mass-Lowell scored two unanswered goals in the second to end it up 5-2.  In the third, with two from Vermont in the box, and one in the box from UMass-Lowell as well, Vermont put an extra attacker on the ice to skate five-on-three, and with about two minutes left, scored to make it 5-3.  With each team having gained a player from the box, Vermont skated six-on-four and with about a minute to go, scored again to make it 5-4.  Still pressing with both teams at full strength, Vermont fought for the tie with the extra attacker, but with a half minute to play, Lowell found the empty net and scored to end it 6-4.  UMass-Lowell rose to #7 on the sweep.

After suffering a loss to Boston University Friday night, Merrimack took on UMass-Amherst Saturday night in a cliff-hanger.  The teams traded goals in a four goal first to end it tied at 2-2.  Merrimack held UMass scoreless in the second, and tallied one of their own to end it leading 3-2.  But UMass came back early in the third and scored on a power play, to tie it at 3-3.  The remainder of the third saw the two teams hold each other scoreless.  Could it be overtime?  Not quite, as Merrimack mounted a late period assualt on the goal and with only two seconds remaining, scored the winning goal to take it 4-3, silencing the rabid UMass home crowd.  Merrimack fell to #8 on the weekend.  Notre Dame had its hands full with Bowling Green.  Friday night the teams traded goals in the first and second to end tied 1-1 after two.  Notre Dame scored early in the third and held on to win it 2-1.  Saturday night started similarly, with the teams trading goals in the first to end it tied 1-1.  Notre Dame scored one in the second and held Bowling Green scoreless, to end it ahead 2-1.  But in the third it was all Bowling Green as they scored two to take it 3-2.  Notre Dame dropped to #9 on the weekend.  Meanwhile, Colorado College was in a real fight against Denver Friday night as they scored midway in the first to take a 1-0 lead.  The next two and a half periods were a defensive stalemate, and Denver fought for the tie, putting an extra attacker on the ice and with a minute to go, CC found the empty net to take the game 2-0, silencing the Denver crowd.  Saturday night at CC, Denver took an early lead and ended the first up 2-0.  In the second, it was all CC, as they scored two to end the second tied 2-2.  The third was a stalemate, ending 2-2.  CC re-entered the top ten at #10 on the weekend.

Whew!  some great games in there!

We have some top ten matchups this weekend — for starters, #1 Boston University will take on #5 Boston College Monday night in the championship round of the Beanpot tournament. #6 Ferris State will have a home/road weekend with #9 Notre Dame, and #7 UMass-Lowell will host #8 Merrimack for one game.  There are only four weekends remaining in the regular season, it’s really crunch time as teams jockey for position in their conference tournaments!

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

 — Tom