College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented one matchup of top ten teams, and North Dakota got the better of Denver on Friday night; Saturday night was different as Denver was determined to avoid being swept, and the two fought it out to a tie.  North Dakota edged up to the #1 spot, and Denver held at #9.  One top ten team faced another ranked opponent, and Boston College lost a close battle to Vermont Friday night, but BC beat the Catamounts in another close battle on Saturday night; BC held at #10, but Vermont edged down to #18 on the weekend.

Elsewhere, Mankato State tied, and then lost to, Alaska-Fairbanks, edging the Mavericks down to #2, and Boston University split the weekend with New Hampshire, and the Terriers held at #3. Michigan Tech swept Alaska-Anchorage, and the Huskies edged up to #4, while Nebraska-Omaha split the weekend with Western Michigan, edging these Mavericks down to #5.  Miami of Ohio swept Colorado College, edging the RedHawks up to #6; Minnesota-Duluth split with St. Cloud State, edging the Bulldogs down to #7; and Bowling Green split the weekend with Ferris State, as the Falcons held at #8.

Last weekend Michigan Tech had huge help from junior forward Malcolm Gould, of North Vancouver, BC, as the Huskies scored fifteen goals in two games, getting one of them Friday night from Gould, and then two from him Saturday night.  The 5′ 11″ 180 lb. forward is tied for second on the team in goals scored, with 14, and is tied for fourth in assists, with 14.  As a sophomore he scored six goals and added three assists, a mirror-image of his three goal, six assist freshman year.  Prior to Michigan Tech, he played in the BCHL in 2011-12 with the Chilliwack Chiefs, as he scored 36 goals and added 36 assists in 60 games; he played for the Quesnel Millionaires in 2010-11, as he scored 14 goals and added 17 assists in 57 games.

His hometown of North Vancouver sits on Barrard Inlet, across from the city of Vancouver.  It has industry of its own in shipping, chemical manufacturing, and film.  Its 5.5 squre miles are home to 48,000, and was established in the 1860s with the building of a water powered sawmill and the shipping out of harvested Douglas Firs.  This “north shore” area was incorporated in the 1880s, but the city went bankrupt in 1907, and as a result other towns and districts were formed in the area, and the city of North Vancouver was then limited to its current small area.

With the season’s end drawing near, let’s take a quick look at how things have gone for the top ten teams since Christmas:

1. North Dakota:     9-2-1     last three games:     2-0-1
2. Mankato State: 10-2-2    last three games:     1-1-1
3. Boston Univ.:      8-2-2     last three games:     2-1-0
4. Michigan Tech:  11-4-1     last three games:     3-0-0; 8 straight wins
5. Nebr.-Omaha:     6-4-0    last three games:     1-2-0
6. Miami of Ohio:    7-4-1     last three games:     3-0-0
7. Minn.-Duluth:     8-5-1     last three games:     2-1-0
8. Bowling Green:   7-4-3    last three games:     2-1-0
9. Univ. Denver:      6-5-2    last three games:     1-1-1
10. Boston College:  9-3-1     last three games:     2-1-0

Over the next two weekends, all six conferences have regular season conference games scheduled.  In three weeks, only three conferences, NCHC, WCHA, and The Six, will have regular season conference games remaining, and in four weeks, only The Six will still be in conference play.  Conference tournaments will soon start up, and then off to the NCAA Tournament, culminating this year at the Boston Garden for the Frozen Four.  Who do you think will make it that far?  Who would you pick right now to make it to the Frozen Four?

This weekend presents one top ten matchup as #6 Miami of Ohio will host #7 Minnesota-Duluth for two games.  Should be a killer matchup as the teams are looking down the stretch at home-ice implications in their conference tournament.  In addition, there will be one top ten team playing another ranked opponent, as #10 Boston College will host #16 UMass-Lowell, a team that is fighting to stop from sliding into the abyss after a very good start this year.

Monday night, unless another five feet of snow hits Boston during the day on Monday, the final and consolation games of the Beanpot Tournament will be played.  Another storm is due to hit Boston between now and then, but it seems as though, with six feet of snow on the ground, sub-zero temperatures and high winds, that the Bay-Staters are just accepting this as life for the for the time being, and I’d bet they’ll play the games — before something worse happens.  So, the early game is #10 Boston College facing #14 Harvard — BC gets two games in a row against two teams fighting to remain on playoff-caliber radar — for the consolation game, at 2pm Pacific Time. The late game is #3 Boston University facing Northeastern for the Championship game; Northeastern is now #21, and after starting a dismal 0-8-1, is now 14-11-4, having gone 14-3-3 since then; is 9-1-3 since Christmas, has a six-game winning streak, and is unbeaten in its last eight games — they are one of the hottest, hottest teams in college hockey right now.  And BU gets to play them not only Monday night, but will then face them twice on the following weekend!

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

[table id=106 /]

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

— Tom