College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented four pairs of top twenty matchups, as Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence skated to a scoreless tie, leaving Quinnipiac at #3 (Quinnipiac had beaten Connecticut and tied Clarkson earlier in the week) and leaving St. Lawrence at #14 (St. Lawrence had beaten Princeton the night before).  This was the first scoreless tie for St. Lawrence in the history of its program, dating back to 1925 and covering 2080 games, and was the first scoreless tie for Quinnipiac since 2009.  Two great goal tenders going bonkers, and in fact one of the plays made #4 on ESPN’s top ten plays last Saturday night, and it’s a beauty:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ezhwr_sportscenter-top-10-plays-of-the-night-saturday-november-21-2015-hd_sport

More top twenty matchups — UMass-Lowell came away with a tie and win against Notre Dame, edging  Lowell up to #4, and dropping Notre Dame down a couple to #18, while North Dakota managed a split with St. Cloud State, winning a close one-goal match Friday, but then getting pounded by St. Cloud Saturday night by five goals.  North Dakota edged down to #5, and St. Cloud State held on to the #7 spot.  Elsewhere, Yale skated to a scoreless tie against Cornell, edging Yale up to #10 (Yale beat Colgate the next night), and moving Cornell up a couple to #16 (Cornell beat Brown the next night), and Boston University split with Michigan, edging BU down to #11 (BU also won last night over Bentley, after the poll came out), while Michigan held onto #12.

Providence swept Northeastern and held on to the #1 spot, Boston College beat New Hampshire and held on to the #2 spot (Boston College also won last night, against Connecticut, after the poll came out), and Nebraska-Omaha came away with a tie and a win against Miami of Ohio, and UNO held at #6.  Denver also managed a tie and a win, in this case against Wisconsin, and Denver held on to #9, Merrimack tied UMass-Amherst and held on to #13, Bowling Green swept Alabama-Huntsville and held on to #15, and Minnesota-Duluth swept Colorado College and held on to #17.  Michigan Tech managed a win and a tie against Michigan State and held at #19, and Penn State also came out with a win and a tie, in this case against Alaska-Anchorage, and entered the top twenty at #20 — pretty darn good for Penn State, which has not been a DI team for very long at all.

Last weekend UMass-Lowell got huge help from senior forward Adam Chapie of Oxford, MI., who tallied an assist Friday night in his team’s 2-2 tie, and scored a goal and added another assist in his team’s 3-1 win, both against Notre Dame.  The 6’1″ 184lb Chapie ranks first on his team in goals with six, and third in assists with six.  Last year he scored 12 goals and added 19 assists, and in his sophomore year he scored 12 goals and added 12 assists.  Prior to Lowell, he played two seasons for the New Mexico Mustangs of the NAHL, and he scored 15 goals his first year there and 31 goals in his second.  Chapie’s UMass-Lowell team has only one loss, with a record of 9-1-3, and is one of only five teams with one loss or less, that have played eleven or more games so far.  The other four are #1 Providence at 8-0-3, #2 Boston College at 11-1-0, #3 Quinnipiac at 11-0-2, and #13 Merrimack at 6-1-4.  UMass-Lowell is ranked #4 and plays Northeastern Friday night in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

This weekend presents three top twenty matchups as #1 Providence will host #10 Yale Saturday night, #8 Harvard will open a tournament at Notre Dame against #18 Notre Dame, and #11 Boston University will face #16 Cornell in the biennial Red Hot Hockey match at Madison Square Garden in New York Saturday night.

Thanks to Bruce Carlisle for the history on the St. Lawrence shut out, and for forwarding the ESPN link.

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

 [table id=116 /] 

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

— Tom