Last weekend saw all of the top four ranked teams get well tested by four surprising opponents.  #1 Boston College had to overcome a three goal deficit to win in OT over UMass-Amherst, and had two wins on the weekend; #2 Minnesota split with Michigan Tech; #3 Miam-Ohio was tied by Providence, and needed OT the next night to get the win; and #4 North Dakota was beaten by Alaska-Fairbanks, having beaten Alaska-Anchorage the night before.

#5 Denver was perfect on the weekend against UMass-Lowell and Air Force; #6 Michigan won its game against Bentley; #9 Notre Dame split with #14 Minnesota-Duluth; #10 Western Michigan was perfect on the weekend against Canisius; and #11 UMass-Lowell was beaten by #5 Denver, but beat #19 Colorado College the next night.

Last week we highlighted a handful of games as key matchups:  #1 Boston College prevailed over #15 Northeastern, having lost to them the weekend before; we’ve mentioned the Notre Dame/UMD split and the Denver win over UML; and #12 New Hampshire beat #13 Boston University.

In addition, #16 Northern Michigan split with Nebraska-Omaha; #18 Ferris State split with Mercyhurst; and #20 Quinnipiac earned a tie and a win against Ohio State.  #7 Cornell, #8 Union, and #17 Harvard were in exhibition games.

This weekend we have several top twenty matchups, any one of which would be great to see live.  #1 BC will play a home/home series with #11 UMass-Lowell; #3 Miami of Ohio will have its hands very full with two games at #6 Michigan; #9 Notre Dame will play two at #16 Northern Michigan; #12 New Hampshire will have a home/home series with #15 Northeastern; and #17 Cornell will get the season started by hosting #19 Colorado College for two games.

Last weekend we were lucky to have our contributing field reporter, John McLean, attend the St. Cloud State home opener against Alabama-Huntsville, and John contributes this account:

Huskies Dispatch Huntsville in Home Opener

The St Cloud State Huskies dispatched the visiting UAH Chargers at the National Ice Center on Friday night before 4,149 fans.  As most of you devoted college hockey fans know, Alabama Huntsville is in a bit of  limbo as it continues the delicate balance of keeping the program going while finding a conference. The school announced this past spring that they were returning to club status which allowed players to transfer without penalty.  North Dakota was the major beneficiary of this window as UAH ’s starting goalie from last year, Clark Saunders, has taken over in Grand Forks for the departed Aaron Dell.  UAH reversed course in the spring and decided to keep the program intact, for now.  They made an impressive hire at coach landing former NJ Devils assistant and AHL and US National Development Head Coach Kurt Kleinendorst .

The Chargers sport a smaller club and are are lead by the younger brothers of Wisconsin Hobey Baker winner Blake Geoffrion, from a hockey family with unparalleled lineage. Their great grandfather was Hockey Hall of Famer Howie Morentz and their grandfather was the great Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion who is credited with inventing the slap shot.

St Cloud jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, outshooting the Chargers 16-6. However, the pesky Chargers stayed close in the 2nd with an early goal that was waived off followed by a power play goal to climb within one.  Freshman local product Ethan Prow put the Huskies back up by 2 with a Boom Boom like wrister that goaltender John Griggs never saw. This was Prow’s first home game for his home club and he added a second later in the period to give the Huskies a 6-2 advantage at the end of the second stanza.

Huntsville came out with more fight in the 3rd cutting the lead to 3 but their size and depth gives up too much to the Huskies who were picked to finish 4 th in the WCHA coaches poll.  On a bright note, the Chargers seem to be well coached, work hard and, assuming they can find a conference home, may well start to build. WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod was in Huntsville last week touring improvements and said the WCHA will be open minded’ about a future membership. Huntsville opened with two tight games at Mankato, coming away with a tie, after sweeping the Alabama Crimson Tide club team 12-1 and 10-0.

In attendance at the game was long time SCSU coach Charlie Basch (photo) who led the Huskies to the 1978 NCAA West D2 National Title. Basch was also the defensive coordinator at St Cloud coaching (very) part time field contributor Greg Schreader.  Coach Basch had just returned from his 70th high school reunion at South St Paul; home of Hall of Famer Phil Housley, former Gopher All American and coach Doug Woog and 5 current NHL/ WCHA players.

Thanks for the great game summary, John.

This provides the top twenty ranked teams:

1.  Boston College

2.  Minnesota

3.  Miami of Ohio

4.  North Dakota

5. Denver

6.  Michigan

7.  Cornell

8.  Union

9.  Notre Dame

10. Western Michigan

11. UMass-Lowell

12. New Hampshire

13. Boston University

14. Minnesota-Duluth

15. Northeastern

16. Northern Michigan

17. Harvard

18. Ferris State

19. Colorado College

20. Quinnipiac

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