I think it was right here that you read last week, that with the schedules coming up, BC could well end the regular season ranked #1, and this week they are, after crushing Providence over the weekend, scoring ten goals in two games, and holding the Friars scoreless for two games — no details needed here.  Minnesota-Duluth also climbed up in the rankings to #2 after sweeping #19 Colorado College.  Friday night’s game opened to a defensive battle in the first, and then in the second looked like it would be a snooozer, as UMD started scoring midway through the second, and in the span of about five minutes notched three goals to go up 3-0.  With a half minute left in the second, CC got on the board to end the second 3-1.  In the third, CC scored eight minutes into the period, and then again a minute later.  The two teams stalemated from then on, to end in regulation a 3-3 tie.  In OT, three minutes elapsed without a shot on goal, and right at the three minute point, UMD scored a goal on the first OT shot, to win it 4-3. In Saturday night’s game, the two teams traded goals in the first to end at 1-1, but in the second UMD scored twice to lead 3-1 entering the third; in the third UMD scored two more to go up 5-1, and then CC put one in with a half minute remaining to end it 5-2, UMD.  UMD is incredibly effective on the power play, having scored two goals that way Friday night (one a four on three), and two more Saturday night, out of a total of eight opportunities on the weekend.

Ferris State could have had a better weekend against #16 Western Michigan.  Friday night after twenty-five scoreless minutes, Ferris State got on the board five minutes into the second to go up 1-0, but Western Michigan scored twelve minutes later to tie it at 1-1.  The two teams remained deadlocked through thirty-three more minutes of regulation and OT to end it tied, 1-1.  Saturday night it was all Western Michigan as they scored a goal in each period (an empty netter in the third) and held Ferris State scoreless, to take it 3-0.  Ferris State dropped to #3 on the tie and loss.  Boston University climbed up a notch to #4 on a sweep of Vermont, including a lopsided 5-0 win on Friday.  But Saturday Vermont scored twice in the first to go up 2-0 into the second.  BU scored in the second, and then with an extra attacker, scored with a minute to go in the third to tie it at 2-2.  OT went three minutes without a shot on goal, and then at the three minute point, BU scored on the only OT shot to take the game 3-2.  Minnesota also climbed up to #4 on its sweep of Nebraska-Omaha, and they had their hands full.  Friday night Minnesota scored six minutes into the first to take a 1-0 lead into the second, but UNO scored eight minutes into the second, and again three minutes later to take a 2-1 lead into the third.  Minnesota scored four minutes into the third to tie it at 2-2, and the two stalemated to end 2-2 in regulation.  Minnesota scored two minutes into OT to take it 3-2.  UNO seemed to bring their A-game back Saturday night, scoring six minutes into the first to take a 1-0 lead, but Minnesota came back and scored a minute later, and then again three minutes later to take a 2-1 lead into the second, in which they scored again in mid period to take a 3-1 lead into the third.  UNO scored midway through the third, and that was it, as Minnesota took it, 3-2.

Michigan found itself in a real dogfight with Bowling Green Friday night, as the two traded goals in the first to enter the second tied at 2-2.  The two teams stalemated for twenty-three minutes of play until Michigan scored with three minutes remaining in the second, taking a 3-2 lead into the third.  But the third was all Bowling Green, scoring thirteen minutes in to tie it, 3-3, and then scoring again five minutes later, and ending it 4-3, Bowling Green.  Saturday night was another battle as the two games fought scoreless through two periods, entering the third at 0-0.  But Michigan scored five minutes into the third, and again three minutes later, and then with two minutes remaining, found an empty net to blank Bowling Green 3-0.  Michigan fell three spots to #6 on the weekend.  Union College climbed up a peg to the #7 ranking after a loss to #13 Cornell, and then beating Colgate.  Union College sophomore forward Daniel Carr, of Sherwood Park, Alb. (pictured above), scored a hat trick Saturday night, helping his team to beat Colgate..  It was Carr’s second hat trick of the season.  Carr also contributed an assist Friday night in Union’s loss to Cornell.  UMass-Lowell dropped a notch to the #8 ranking after settling on a loss and tie with #12 Merrimack; Denver held at #9 after splitting with #14 North Dakota; and Maine held at #10 after splitting with Northeastern.

And what ever happened to Notre Dame?  It seems like an almost inexplicable decline for them.  Last weekend #18 Notre Dame hosted #16 Michigan State, and luckily we had our contributing field reporter, Greg Schreader, in attendance.  Greg Schreader writes:

A Beaver and a Husky saw Sparty spank the Irish 4-2 in their final regular season game before the CCHA playoffs. Bemidji State grad Dave Ramsey and St. Cloud State University alum Greg Schreader were part of a capacity crowd of 5022 in the Compton Family Ice Arena at Notre Dame where the Michigan State University Spartans defeated  the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to split the weekend series.  With apologies to Tom Petty, the Irish have been “Free Fallin” in the USCHO rankings since the start of the season.  Notre Dame began the 2011/12 season ranked #1 and have fallen to #18 prior to this weekends’ series against MSU. (and Tom Shymanski is smiling now).

The 1st period  ended 1-1 with the Irish scoring first on a power play goal by Anders Lee. With 3 minutes left in the period, the Spartans tied with a goal by Kevin Walrod. The Irish came out flying in the 2nd and dominated play. MSU had difficulty clearing their zone. With ND’s pressure, TJ Tynan ( CCHA’s leading scorer) notched a beautiful backhanded, unassisted, shorthanded goal to give the Irish a 2-1 lead. At the 17 minute mark, MSU got a shorthanded goal of their own by Chris Forfar to tie. With 30 seconds to go in the middle period, 5′ 9″ defenseman Torey Krug (MSU’s leading and CCHA’s 4th leading scorer ) buried a shot from the left point…the shot was a blur and easily got past the Irish goalie. With that, the Spartans went up 3-2 and the Irish, despite out-shooting the Spartans 11-3 during the period and 23-12 for periods 1 and 2, dejectedly left the ice trailing by a goal.

Mid-point of the 3rd period, the Spartans added an insurance goal by senior forward Dean Chelios (yes, that Chelios…Chris Chelios’ son. Chris also has another son on the team…junior D/F Jake) to virtually lock up the game for Sparty against the light scoring Irish. Including the Spartan series, the Irish have averaged 1 goal per game in their last 6 games (1 win – 5 losses). The game ended 4-2 Spartans.  In the moral victory department, the Irish out-shot MSU 29-18.  As the Irish (17-16-3, 12-13-3 CCHA) head into the playoffs this weekend against Ohio State at home, will it be “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” or possibly “Runnin’ Down a Dream”…..only Tom (not Petty) will tell.  (In addition Tom, could you please try to keep a leash on your Terriers?)

NOTES:
1) Despite a 2-0 victory over the Spartans Friday  (the first ever collegiate shutout for Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays), the Irish opted for junior netminder Mike Johnson for Saturday’s game; 2) Prior to Saturday’s game, an anonymous caller into College Hockey Update, I believe a Mr. Rambowski, predicted the 4-2 game score.

Thanks, Greg!  Sheeesh, to read it the way he tells it, you’d think I wasn’t a Notre Dame fan. 

Well, this is the final weekend of play for Hockey East and the WCHA.  There are no top ten matchups, and no top ten teams will play any ranked teams.  It is also the first round of playoffs for Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, and the ECAC, with all matchups best-two-of-three.  All top ten teams in the CCHA and the ECAC have byes, as do the top teams in those conferences.  The matchups for this weekend in the CCHA are Alaska-Fairbanks at Lake Superior State, Ohio State at Notre Dame (who a month or so ago would not have pegged these two teams for a bye this weekend?!!), and Bowling Green at Northern Michigan.  The matchups for the weekend for the ECAC are RPI at Clarkson, Brown at Quinnipiac, Dartmouth at St. Lawrence, and Princeton at Yale.  Teams with byes in the CCHA are Ferris State, Michigan, Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, and Michigan State.  ECAC teams with byes are Union, Cornell, Harvard, and Colgate.

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

[table id=41 /]

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

 — Tom