College Hockey Update:  Last weekend provided fourteen teams in top-twenty matchups including #1 Minnesota splitting with Michigan in the last weekend of Big Ten regular season play, edging Michigan up to #12, and a very big one as Notre Dame edged up to #11 after taking two of three from Boston College in Hockey East tournament play, edging BC down to #3.  Quinnipiac edged up to #5 on its sweep of Yale in ECAC tournament play, knocking Yale down several slots to #20, and UMass-Lowell edged up to #7 after taking two of three from Vermont in Hockey East tournament play, edging Vermont down to #16.  #9 Providence swept Maine in Hockey East tournament play, knocking Maine out of the top twenty, Northeastern dropped a few pegs to #17 after losing two of three to New Hampshire in Hockey East tournament play, lifting UNH into the top twenty at #18, and Western Michigan popped into the top twenty at #19 after sweeping Minnesota-Duluth in NCHC tournament play, dropping UMD out of the top twenty.

Elsewhere, Union College edged up to #2 after sweeping Dartmouth in ECAC tournament play, Ferris State moved up a couple of slots to #4 after sweeping Bemidji State in WCHA tournament play, Wisconsin edged down to #6 after splitting with Michigan State in the last weekend of Big Ten regular season play, and St. Cloud State dropped several pegs to #8 after being swept by Miami of Ohio in NCHC tournament play.  North Dakota edged down to #11 after taking two of three from Colorado College in NCHC tournament play, Cornell edged down to #13 after taking two of three from Clarkson in ECAC tournament play, Colgate moved up a few slots to #14 after sweeping St. Lawrence in ECAC tournament play, and Mankato State moved up a few pegs to #15 after sweeping Northern Michigan in WCHA tournament play.

Ok, there are now twenty-four teams playing college hockey this weekend.  Of all the rest that are idle this weekend, probably only two look like sure shots to keep on playing after this weekend in the NCAA tournament (#2 Boston College and #8 St. Cloud State), and one more has a shot at making it, depending on what happens this weekend to teams ranked around it (#16 Vermont).  Overall, it looks like the top thirteen teams will probably make it to the NCAA tournament, and teams ranked #14 to #16, maybe #18, have a shot at it, depending on the outcome of this weekend’s tournament play.

So what is happening this weekend?  Four of the five conferences have only four teams remaining, and will play semifinal games Friday night, and play the finals Saturday night.  The sixth, the Big Ten, will have a first round Thursday afternoon/night of teams seeded 3-6, to determine the two teams that advance to the semifinals Friday night, and then play the finals Saturday night.  So here’s what will be happening in each conference (all championship games are Saturday night):

Atlantic Hockey

Friday night:  Canisius vs. Mercyhurst; Niagara vs. Robert Morris.

Big Ten

Thursday afternoon/night:  Michigan State vs. Ohio State; Penn State vs. #12 Michigan

Friday night:  Winner vs. #6 Wisconsin; Winner vs. #1 Minnesota

ECAC

Friday night:  #2 Union vs. #13 Cornell; #14 Colgate vs. #5 Quinnipiac.

Hockey East

Friday night:  #18 New Hampshire vs. #9 Providence; #7 UMass-Lowell vs. #10 Notre Dame.

NCHC

Friday night:  Miami of Ohio vs. #11 North Dakota; Denver vs. #19 Northern Michigan.

WCHA

Friday night:  Alaska-Anchorage vs. #4 Ferris State; Bowling Green vs. #15 Mankato State.

Please note:  Monday night I will send out the NCAA bracket.  Please follow the directions provided with the bracket, fill it out, and then send me a single typed line with the winners of each game by game number, in game number order (1,2,3,4 . . . . ) by the deadline, which will probably be on Thursday.  Who do you think will make it to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia???  Which team will be unstoppable???

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

[table id=87 /]

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

— Tom