College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented a handful of top twenty matchups, and Boston College got the better of Denver on Friday night, nudging BC up to #3 in the rankings. Denver then lost to Boston University on Saturday night, and the weekend dropped Denver four spots to #9; BU dropped to #11, as their win was hot on the heels of losses to Connecticut and Merrimack College. Merrimack inched up to #16, as they went on to lose to New Hampshire on Saturday night. UMass-Lowell split the weekend with Minnesota-Duluth, and Lowell jumped up three pegs to #4, while UMD held at #6. St. Cloud State swept Miami of Ohio, lifting St. Cloud four spots to #10, and dropping Miami four spots to #19. And Michigan split the weekend with Robert Morris, dropping Michigan three spots to #13, as Robert Morris entered the top twenty at #20.

North Dakota swept Colorado College and held on at #1, Providence College swept Colgate and edged up to #2, and with a sweep of Dartmouth, Harvard leapt up four rungs to #7. After being swept by Western Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha dropped six spots to #8, Yale’s two wins over Princeton and UMass nudged Yale up to #12, and after splitting with Alaska-Anchorage, Bowling Green dropped a couple of pegs to #14. St. Lawrence nudged up to #15 on a tie and win over Penn State, and after sweeping Connecticut, Notre Dame entered the top twenty at #18. An idle Quinnipiac jumped up four spots to #5, and an idle Clarkson moved up a couple of rungs to #17.

Last weekend Providence got huge, huge help from sophomore defenseman Jake Walman, of Toronto, Ontario. The 6′ 1″ 193 lb. Walman nearly melted the ice with his hat trick, plus an assist, on Friday night and his goal and assist on Saturday night, in his team’s two wins over Colgate. Walman, remember, he’s a defenseman, is first on his team in goals scored, with 7, and is tied for third in assists, with five. What a season he’s having, compared to last year when he ended the season tied for 15th with one goal, and tied for third in assists with 15. Walman was drafted in the third round by the St. Louis Blues with the 82nd pick. And while we’re typing it up about Providence, these guys look like they’re poised for a killer year. Right now they are undefeated with a 6-0-1 record, ranked #2, hot on the heels of their NCAA Championship last season, and their roster shows that they’ve got just about everybody back! Don’t suspect you’ll have to “keep and eye on these guys,” as they should be in headlines everywhere all season long.

This weekend presents a couple of top twenty matchups as #6 Minnesota-Duluth will travel to play two games at #8 Nebraska-Omaha, and #7 Harvard will host #12 Yale for a game tonight in about ninety minutes.

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

[table id=113 /]

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

— Tom