College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented a slate of six of the top fifteen teams playing each other, and Mankato State had a great weekend, earning a tie and a win over Michigan Tech; the results further cemented Mankato’s #2 ranking, and Michigan Tech edged down to #4. Elsewhere, Miami of Ohio scored a bunch on Denver Friday night, and Saturday night was Denver’s turn, as the two split, with Miami holding on to #5, and Denver holding at #7.  And Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha had the dogfight of the weekend, as the two teams tied both nights in low-scoring affairs; UMD held at #6, and UNO held at #8.

There were also two top fifteen teams which played other ranked teams.  Quinnipiac scored early for a big lead and then traded goals with Harvard for the win; Quinnipiac edged down to #11 (they went on to lose to Dartmouth the next night); while Harvard dropped three spots to #19 (even though they slammed Princeton the next night).  Meanwhile, UMass-Lowell scored early on Vermont Friday night and built a lead Vermont could not overcome; Saturday night was a dogfight the ended in a tie.  UMass-Lowell held at #14 on the weekend, and Vermont edged up to #17.

In other action, North Dakota swept a couple of close games from St. Cloud State and held at #1, and Boston University split with Northeastern, losing a close one, and winning a lop-sided one, edging BU up to #3, primarily on Michigan Tech’s poor showing against Mankato.  Providence swept two convincing wins over Maine, and the Friars jumped up three spots to #10, while Yale managed a tie with Colgate and a one-sided win over Cornell, and Yale held at #12.  Bowling Green’s split with Alaska-Anchorage, winning a close game, and losing a one-sided game, and the Falcons dropped a couple of slots to #13, while Minnesota split with Michigan State, and held at #15.

And Boston College split a weekend at Notre Dame and held on at #9.  This provides a summary of the Saturday night game, and largely the fun game experience had, by two of our readers, Olivia Shreader, and Emma O’Brien:

Olivia Schreader and Emma O’Brien write:

Field reporters Emma O’Brien and Olivia Schreader drove back in Notre Dame to see the final home game of the season for their beloved Irish.  While the pair, and now their expat counterpart Shannon McNaught, frequented the newly built Compton Family Ice Arena for their senior year season (winter 2011-12), neither Emma nor Olivia had been back on campus for a hockey game since graduating.  For Emma, this was a homecoming of sorts — her first return to campus since May, 2012.  After spending two years in Texas, she recently began medical school in Indianapolis allowing for a significantly easier 140-mile drive north to South Bend.  Olivia had made the 90 mile drive from Chicago numerous times, but only to see the football team take the field under a “blue-gray October sky” (or sometimes bitterly cold and rainy September sky . . . . whatever the temperature and month may be).

On Saturday, despite temperatures barely breaking out of the single-digits, the sun broke through South Bend’s permacloud to reveal a beautiful day for the senior game.  Campus as a whole had a somber tone after the passing of Notre Dame’s cherished Father Ted Hesburgh late Thrusday evening.  But crossing through the threshold into the Compton Center, Irish fans attempted to put their grief aside, in excitement for and appreciation of Notre Dame’s five senior players.

The Irish took the ice for warmups in green uniforms.  After their lackluster performance the previous night against BC, they were pulling out all of the stops for the last game.  While their standing in their first year of Hockey East was nothing to write home about, the Irish were playing for their pride — the game vs BC is the “holy war” after all.  At the conclusion of warmups, the seniors and their parents were each honored, including playing of the Austrian National Anthem for right winger Peter Schneider.

With the puck about to drop, Emma and Olivia groaned in anticipation of familiar awkwardness. Much like the final football game of their senior year (also playing BC), the audio team at the Compton Center decided to start the game with “Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys.  Sure the song has a nice Irish jig beat to it . . . . but not for playing a team from Boston!

Whle the Eagles had plenty of shots on goal — keeping goaltender Cal Petersen quite busy, the Irish proved to be more efficient with their shots, with Anders Bjork scoring the first goal, 4:56 into the game.  While the Irish didn’t score any additional goals in the first period, neither did the Eagles, so Notre Dame retained their lead going into the second period.

With 2:11 down in the second period, Vince Hinostroza scored a goal to give the Irish a nice 2-0 lead.  Sitting pretty after two periods, Notre Dame was jolted back into awareness when a BC goal by Cam Spiro came in at 4:35 into the third period.  However, with 3:25 left in the period, Austin Wuthrich answered the previous BC goal, giving ND the 3-1 lead.  As no more scores came in after that point (thanks to Cal Petersen’s 55 total saves — a clear MVP of the game), ND sealed the win for their seniors in their final regulation game.  Thanks Tom, for letting us hijack your blog for a post written with a heavy ND bias . . . . Go Irish!

Thanks to both Emma and Olivia!  Sounds like you both had a blast.

Last weekend Providence had huge help from senior forward Shane Luke, of Dauphin, MB., who scored a goal and added two assists in Friday night’s 5-2 win, and then scored a goal in Saturday night’s 5-2 win, both against Maine.  The 5′ 11″ 180lb. senior is tied for second on his team in goals scored, with thirteen, and is second in assists, with eighteen.  His freshman year he scored five goals and had six assists in 21 games, he had five goals and thirteen assists his sophomore year, and he scored ten goals and had ten assists as a junior.  Prior to Providence, he played for two seasons for the Dauphin Kings of the MJHL.

His hometown of Dauphin has a population of 8,300, and is named after nearby Lake Dauphin, which was named in 1741 by French explorers.  The area was first settled in 1883 in two separate villages.  After a rail line was completed in 1896, the the two villages both moved to the current site of Dauphin, on the rail line.  It was incorporated as a village in 1898 and as a town in 1901.  It soon became a transportation center for grain, and farming still plays the central role in the local economy today.  The town sits right on the 51st Parallel, North, and it does get chilly up there. The average high in January is 14 degrees. The average daytime median is 4 in January.  And the average low in January is -4.  Travel note to Dauphin in January, take a warm coat.  The record low in Dauphin is -48.  Dauphin is the hometown of Barry Trotz, head coach of the Washington Capitals, and of James Ball, silver medalist in the 400 meter sprint in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Summer Games.  It is also the hometown of Captain Ernest C. Hoy, a WWI flying ace who recorded 13 victories in six weeks in 1918, and who flew the first Air Mail flight over the Canadian Rockies.  Canada’s most decorated serviceman, Lt. Col. William G. Barker, was also born in Dauphin, in 1894.

What about Providence?  We’ve reported on the successful history of their coach, Nate Leaman, previously.  Providence College was established in 1917, and began classes in 1919.  It is located two miles west of downtown Providence, and it has 3,900 undergraduates, and 700 graduate students.  Its four schools offer 49 majors and 39 minors, and have 340 full-time faculty members.  Providence sits on a 105 acre campus, and it’s sports teams are called the Friars, and they wear black and white.  Silver was recently added as a modern “current” accent color. Providence was accepted into the NCAA in 1948, and established ROTC in 1951.  It went co-ed in 1967 and is now 58% women and 42% men.  The bulk of its students come from the three southern New England States and the Mid-Atlantic states.  Its graduates include New Jersey Devils President/CEO Lou Lamoriello (for whom the Hockey East Championship Tournament Trophy is named), Boston Celtics President Rich Gotham, and Basketball Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkins and John Thompson.  In addition, two-time NCAA Basketball Championship Head Coach Billy Donovan, of the Florida Gators, is also a Friar.  Friar Hockey has made ten NCAA tournament appearances, and three times to the Frozen Four, in 1964, 1983, and 1985.  They play their games at the Schneider Arena, which was completed in September of 1973, and seats 3,030.

Providence is in, well, Providence.  The town was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, an exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  It sits at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay.  Today its population is 183,000; the population peaked at 254,000 in 1940. The metropolitan area is home to 1.6 million people as it extends into southern Massachusetts, and runs right alongside the Boston metropolitan area.  Oh, and it’s in a small state.

This weekend features a great top fifteen matchup as #1 North Dakota will travel to play two games at #5 Miami of Ohio.  Should be a great weekend there.  North Dakota does seem to be on a rather unstoppable roll now at the end of the season.  This will be the last weekend of regular season games for the NCHC and for the WCHA.  For the six, this weekend will be followed by next weekend as their last weekend of regular season games.

Atlantic Hockey starts its tournament this weekend in best of three matches involving six of the eleven teams, with five teams having byes.  Next weekend they will move to best of three quarterfinals.  The ECAC and Hockey East also start their tournaments this weekends with identical formats:  Best of three matches involving eight of their twelve teams, with four teams having byes; next weekend they will both have best of three quarterfinals.

All of which begs the question, which teams will, eventually, end up in the Frozen Four in Boston’s Garden on April 9 and 11?  Think you know?  Have any ideas?

This presents the top fifteen teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

[table id=108 /] 

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

— Tom