College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented nine top twenty teams in five top twenty matchups, and North Dakota moved up a couple of pegs to #2 on its sweep of Minnesota-Duluth (North Dakota was also aided by falls by Quinnipiac and Boston College), which knocked UMD down a couple of spots to #19.  Quinnipiac was thumped by Boston University for their first loss of the year, in a game that looked like another Quinnipiac win out of the gun as they scored with about fourteen minutes remaining in the first period for the 1-0 advantage; but BU goals eight minutes later, early in the second, and midway through the third, capped off by an empty netter with only twenty seconds left in the game, were all unanswered, and BU left with a solid win in hand.  Quinnipiac edged down to #3 (and has an amazing 15-1-2 record), while BU edged up to #11 (BU had lost to Yale the night before, which moved Yale up a couple of rungs to #13).  Boston College edged down to #4 after blowing a 3-1 third quarter lead with only thirteen minutes left, to Notre Dame; Notre Dame moved up a couple of slots to #16.  And St. Cloud State edged up to #5 on its convincing sweep of Denver, which knocked Denver down six spots to #17.  St. Cloud has quite a record going into the Christmas break — 14-4-0 — and the only games they have not won have been a loss to #2 North Dakota, two losses to #3 Quinnipiac, and a loss to #6 UNO.

Elsewhere, Providence (the only remaining unbeaten team) held at #1 after beating Brown, Michigan edged down to #10 on its split with Minnesota, Bowling Green moved up a couple to #12 after sweeping Bemidji State, and Penn State moved up a couple to #14 after beating Princeton — Penn State at #14 so early in its existence, very impressive!  St. Lawrence dropped a couple of spots to #15 after splitting with Vermont, Mankato moved up a couple of slots to #18 after sweeping Alabama-Huntsville, and Merrimack edged down to #20 after settling on a tie with Connecticut.  An idle UNO edged down to #6, an idle Harvard held at #7, an idle UMass-Lowell held at #8, and an idle Cornell edged up to #9.

In all ten of its games played this season, #7 Harvard has only surrendered 15 goals, and has recorded four shut outs.  Harvard has been helped greatly this season by the play of sophomore goalie Merrick Madsen, of Acton, CA.  The 6′ 5″ 190lb Madsen has played seven games without a loss (5-0-2), and in seven games has surrendered only seven goals, which somehow computes to a GAA of 0.98 (seems as though it should be 1.00?), and he has a saves percentage of .966. And he is the sole source of all four of Harvard’s shut outs — over half of his games played!  His freshman year he saw very limited action, appearing in only two games, and registered a 2.77 GAA and a saves percentage of .846.  He was drafted by Philadelphia with the 162nd pick overall, in the sixth round of the 2013 NHL entry draft.  Madsen’s hometown of Acton, CA., is 47 miles north of Los Angeles, and its 7,600 residents are spread out among its 39 square miles at an elevation of 2,700 feet.  It was originally a railroad camp from 1873-76, and became a gold mining town in 1887, and soon thereafter its residents turned to farming.  Acton’s first saloon, The Forty Niner, opened in 1889, and is still there, complete with its hitching post for horses.

Harvard hockey dates back to 1898, and since 1979 they have played their games in the Bright Landry Center, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, although Harvard somehow contends it is in Cambridge . . . .  The Bright Landry Center seats 3,095, and has standing room available for another 500 attendees.  It has an unusual rink size of 204 feet (four feet over normal for college) by 87 feet (two feet over normal for college.  Harvard is coached by Ted Donato (Harvard  ’91), who has a 163-170-45 record in his twelve, and now a-half, seasons.  He has coached Harvard to three 21-win seasons, and took all three of these teams to the NCAA Tournament (2004-5, 2005-6, and 2014-15).  He graduated from Memorial Catholic High School, coincidentally the same high school attended by former BU player and coach Jack Parker, but with a big difference — Donato left as its all time leading scorer.  He has a brother, Dan, who also played DI Hockey (at BU), and he currently coaches his son, Ryan, who was drafted by the Boston Bruins.  Donato scored 50 goals and made 94 assists in his four year career at Harvard, was on the 1989 NCAA Championship Team, and was the 1989 NCAA Championship Tournament Most Outstanding Player.  The Dedham, MA. native went on to play 13 years in the NHL, and scored 150 goals and made 197 assists in 796 games.  He also played on seven US National Teams.  Harvard has only one loss so far this season, which puts it in a select group with only three other teams with one loss or less so far this season:  #1 Providence, #3 Quinnipiac, and #9 Cornell.  Harvard, ranked #7, plays next on New Year’s Day at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis, against Ferris State; the other Tournament contestants are Minnesota and Connecticut.

This week there are no top twenty matchups, and only two top twenty teams will play games as #6 UNO will host Arizona State for two games, and #20 Merrimack will host Canisius for one game.  There will only be a total of eight DI games played this weekend.

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

 [table id=119 /]

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

— Tom