Welcome back college hockey fans!  And let’s welcome a new reader, Nick Powell, a Clarkson Golden Knight, who is filled with great college/hockey stories, including:  His college girlfriend spoke up to the coaching staff that cheering at Clarkson was not organized, and soon ended up as the Golden Knight herself — the mascot.

Many top twenty matchups last weekend — Minnesota starts it off as they retained the #1 ranking after beating both #20 Minnesota-Duluth (who popped into the top twenty at #20 after they went on to blank Notre Dame), and RPI.  Union College edged up to #2 after beating American International and New Hampshire, while North Dakota slipped down to #3 after splitting with Bemidji State.  Ferris State popped up five spots to #4 on its win over Michigan, which dropped the Wolverines down to #10, and Providence dropped down to #5 after splitting with Ohio State; the results lifted the Buckeyes into the top twenty at #17.  Colgate split with St. Cloud, as both teams slipped a bit in the rankings with the Raiders landing at #6, and the Huskies nestling in at #8, while UMass-Lowell’s win over BC lifted the River Hawks eight spots to #9, and dropped the Eagles to #7.

Miami of Ohio remained at #11 after splitting with Bowling Green, and Mankato State edged up to #12 after splitting with Nebraska-Omaha.  Quinnipiac edged up to #13 on its win over Bentley, and Boston University jumped up six slots to #14 after a lopsided win over UMass-Amherst.  Cornell edged down to #15 and Denver edged up to #16, both on idle weekends.  Wisconsin dropped eight spots to #18 on its two losses at the Alaskas, Fairbanks and Anchorage.  Fairbanks went on to beat Maine as well, and popped into the top twenty at #19.

This weekend features only three two game, home/home top ten matchups.  Tonight #9 UMass-Lowell will travel to #13 Quinnipiac, and then the two will face of tomorrow night at Lowell.  Tonight #11 Miami of Ohio travels to play the first of its two against #17 Ohio State, and #12 Mankato State travels to play the first of its two games against #20 Minnesota-Duluth.

Over the weekend Minnesota was assisted greatly by its sophomore Hudson Fasching.  Fasching tallied a goal and an assist in Friday night’s 4-3 win over Minnesota-Duluth, and he scored a goal in Sunday’s 3-0 win over RPI.  The 6′ 3″ 214 lb. forward is from Burnsville, MN, and attended Apple Valley High School.  In 2013 he was drafted in the fourth round by the LA Kings at #118; his rights have since been traded to the Buffalo Sabres.  In his freshman year he was named to the All Big Ten rookie team, and was an honorable mention on the All Big Ten Team; he played in forty games, and scored fourteen goals and tallied sixteen assists.  His hometown of Burnsville is fifteen miles south of Minneapolis, and sits snuggly between the towns of Bloomington, Eagan, and Savage.  Burnsville is home to 60,000 residents, and is the tenth largest city in Minnesota.  It sits on the south bank of the Minnesota River, right upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River.  In its 27 square miles Burnsville boasts 1,800 acres spread among 79 public parks.  I hear it gets a bit chilly there in the winter.  Fasching plays at Minnesota with his Apple Valley High School teammate A. J. Michaelson.

This provides the top twenty teams, rankings, records, and most recent game results:

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

— Tom