College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented five pairs of top twenty matchups, and one rematched last April’s NCAA Championship duo, Providence College and Boston University, which yielded two ties on the weekend.  Friday night in Providence, Mark Jankowski broke the scoreless tie on a power play with about seven minutes remaining in the second, to put Providence up 1-0.  With about two minutes left in the third, BU added an extra attacker, and thirty-six seconds later it paid off as Ahti Oksanen knotted it at 1-1 with about a minute and half left, which is how it ended in regulation and in OT. Saturday night in Boston was different as Providence took control early, scoring with three minutes left in the first to make it 1-0, and again on a two man advantage power play with about eight minutes left in the second to make it 2-0.  BU came to life in the third, scoring three goals, the first a power play goal with about thirteen minutes remaining, then a full strength goal with about ten to go, and then on another power play goal with about eight minutes left.  But Providence came right back and scored  on a power play to knot it at 3-3, where it ended in regulation and after OT.  Just as I feared, BU couldn’t get a win over Providence given two opportunities to do it.  Providence held at #1 in the poll, and BU edged up to #10.

Meanwhile there is the story of the team with the perfect record.  Quinnipiac went into last weekend at 8-0-0, and took down Harvard; this edged Quinnipiac up to #3 (Quinnipiac also beat Dartmouth the next night), and Harvard edged down to #8 after they went on to beat Princeton the next night.  Quinnipiac came out of the weekend at 10-0-0 and then beat Connecticut on Tuesday night, after the poll came out, to improve to 11-0-0.  They have about the same record as the Golden State Warriors, but they only play about twenty or so more games, unlike the Warriors!  Is there anyone who can beat these guys?  Quinnipiac had huge help last weekend from junior forward Tim Clifton, of Matawan, NJ., who scored two goals in his team’s 4-1 win over Harvard on Friday, and scored a goal and added an assist in their 6-2 win over Dartmouth on Saturday. Clifton is tied for first in goals on his team, with seven, and is tied for 14th in assists on his team with two.  last year the 6″ 1″ 190lb Clifton scored 9 goals and added 8 assists, and as a Freshman he scored 3 goals and added 7 assists.  Can Quinnipiac keep winning?  They will have to get by two more ranked opponents this weekend when they host #20 Clarkson on Friday night, and a very sharp looking #14 St. Lawrence team on Satruday night, and St. Lawrence looks ready for the battle.

Back to last weekend — Denver earned a win and tie against Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver edged down to #9, while UMD dropped four rungs to #17.  Bowling Green split with Michigan Tech, and Bowling Green held at #15, while Michigan Tech edged up to #19.

St. Lawrence is looking like a team to look out for, as they hosted and beat Clarkson 3-0.  St. Lawrence edged up to #14, while the result edged Clarkson down to #20.   A little on this matchup — while these teams first faced each other in the 1925-26 season, this was the first time they had faced each other as two ranked teams since 2009.  Last Friday night’s 3-0 shutout was the first ever for St. Lawrence over Clarkson at its Appleton Arena in its 65 year history, and it was the 200th meeting of the two programs.  And while it was only the fourth shut out by St. Lawrence over Clarkson in the 90 years the two teams have played, it was the second since the start of last season, the second for sophomore goalie Kyle Hayton, and it was the sixth shutout in his young St. Lawrence career.

Elsewhere last weekend, a Boston College win over Michigan State kept BC at #2, a sweep by North Dakota (the team no longer to be named later) over Miami of Ohio edged North Dakota down to #4 (on the ascent of Quinnipiac to #3),  and a split between Mass-Lowell and Maine kept Mass-Lowell at #5.  St. Cloud State moved up two spots to #7 after sweeping Western Michigan, Yale dropped to #11 after beating RPI but then losing to Union, and Michigan held at #12 after beating Niagara.  Merrimack edged up to #13 after gaining a win and a tie against UMass-Amherst, Notre Dame rose up two spots after gaining a win and a tie against Northeastern, and Cornell entered the top twenty at #18 after sweeping Colgate.  Nebraska-Omaha, idle, held at #6.

And in North Dakota, it’s all over.  The former Fighting Sioux are now the Fighting Hawks.  Sadly it’s rather generic, and it’s what is to be expected when you have thousands of people voting on a name — most people lean to what they have already heard a thousand times because it feels safe, and they miss the entire point of having a name.  So there will be no Roughriders or Nodaks, but instead another team called the Hawks.  I still think North Dakota should have changed their name to the Proud Sioux, and then waited for the explanation as to how that would be offensive. Either that, or they should have changed it to the Fighting Tribe, which no one could claim title to, and left it at that.  Oh well, no one asked me, and now they’ve got this Hawk thing.  As Donald Trump said, “A Hawk is a stupid bird, and birds don’t play hockey.”  Well, these Hawks certainly do . . . .

Here’s a great photo from a long time ago. This is the marquee outside of Madison Square Garden for an ECAC Hockey Tournament in December of 1966.  This Tournament was held in the sixties and seventies.  This is long before the formation of Hockey East, so Boston University was in the ECAC, and had a junior wing by the name of Jack Parker playing in this tournament.  Not exactly sure how they came up with this format for a four day tournament, but it looks like Minnesota (the non-ECAC invitee)  and Clarkson were both awarded byes.  In 1966, the champion was Boston University, and the results were:  Sat, Dec 17, BU 13 Princeton 6, St. Lawrence 6 Yale 5; Sun, Dec 18, Yale 7 Princeton 6; Mon, Dec 19, Clarkson 5 St. Lawrence 2, BU 8 Minnesota 5; Tue, Dec 20, Minn 11 St. Lawrence 3, BU 3 Clarkson 2.  And the NCAA Tournament Champion that season, in 1967, was . . . . Cornell, beating Boston University.

This weekend presents five more top twenty matchups, as #3 Quinnipiac will host #20 Clarkson on Friday and #14 St. Lawrence on Saturday.  The #4 Fighting Hawks will travel to play two at #7 St. Cloud State.  Wouldn’t we all love to be somehow magically at all four of these games!  Also, #5 Mass-Lowell will host #16 Notre Dame for two games, #10 Boston University will host #12 Michigan for two games, and #11 Yale will host #18 Cornell Friday night for one game.  What a great weekend!

Thanks to Bruce Carlisle for the insight on the St. Lawrence/Clarkson rivalry,and for forwarding the great picture of the 1966 Madison Square Garden marquee.

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

[table id=115 /] 

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

— Tom