College Hockey Update:  Last weekend/night presented three top-fifteen matchups and Boston College won two of them, beating Notre Dame Friday night, and then they got the better of Harvard in the early game in last night’s opening round of the 64th annual Beanpot Tournament in Boston.  BC edged up to #4 in the poll, which came out prior to last night’s game, Harvard held at #7 (having beaten Princeton Friday night), and Notre Dame held at #10.

In the late game of last night’s Beanpot Tournament, Boston University beat Northeastern to advance to the Beanpot Championship game next Monday night, February 8th.  BU held at #9 in the poll, having also beaten Merrimack Friday night.

In the other top fifteen matchup, Yale beat Rensselaer Saturday night, and held on at #11, having lost to Union College Friday night.  RPI moved up a couple of spots to #14, having beaten Brown Friday night.

Over the weekend the third annual North Star Cup saw St. Cloud State beat a determined Mankato State on Saturday, while Bemidji State beat Minnesota.  On Sunday it was pretty much all St. Cloud over Bemidji State, and Mankato beat Minnesota in the consolation game. St. Cloud State held at #3 on its weekend, and Mankato edged up to #18 on its win over Minnesota.

Elsewhere, Quinnipiac held at #1 on its win over Princeton, North Dakota held at #2 on its sweep of Western Michigan, and Michigan edged up to #5 on its sweep of Penn State. Providence dropped a couple of spots to #6 after splitting with New Hampshire, and UMass-Lowell held at #8 after sweeping Arizona State.  Nebraska-Omaha held at #12 after splitting with Colorado College, Denver held at #13 after splitting with Miami of Ohio, and Michigan Tech moved up a couple of notches to #15 after managing a tie and a win against Bowling Green.

Friday night two of our readers, Olivia Schreader and Emma O’Brien, kept their own tradition alive, of getting together in Indiana for a Notre Dame hockey game, and they watched the contest with visiting Boston College.  Olivia provides this great summary of Friday night’s experience:

Emma O’Brien and I saw our second post-graduate Hockey Night in South Bend as the 5th-ranked Boston College Eagles took on the 9th/10th ranked Irish. (I noticed ND’s Twitter page referred to them as 9th ranked…but it looks like College Hockey Update listed them at 10th.) Notre Dame deemed the evening Military Appreciation Night, so aside from the game itself, fans witnessed a number of interesting and moving things. To start it off, a local member of the Indiana National Guard sang the national anthem. The puck drop was certainly memorable, as it was the first time a Division I hockey game had the puck drop performed by an EOD bomb robot. As the game progressed, Notre Dame honored Joe Kernan (former Indiana Governor, Navy Lieutenant, Vietnam Prisoner of War, and Notre Dame Alumni) in their traditional Fighting Irish Salute. And additionally, between the first and second periods, the “Chuck-a-Puck” fundraiser tested fans’ arms and accuracy with (soft) pucks being thrown toward an army helmet to raise money for Defending the Blue Line (http://www.defendingtheblueline.org/).

Notre Dame sought to defend its 12-game unbeaten streak…but it turns out that 13 really is an unlucky number. With 16 seconds into the game, BC landed its first goal. Convinced it was surely a fluke goal, Emma and I continued our steadfast support of Notre Dame. But the Irish failed to score in response. BC netted its second goal with 7:05 left in the first period. We tried to keep our hopes up, but the Irish could not seem to keep their plays together around the goal. Conversely, BC had greater luck, with its third goal scored with 5:02 left in the second period. Rather than witness an Irish goal in response, BC scored again with 2:18 left to go in the second period.

We stayed until the bitter end–mostly to catch up on Emma’s medical school in Indianapolis and my new job in Chicago–with the only reward being a jumbotron appearance as we swayed while solemnly singing the Alma Mater. Until next year!

Thanks Olivia, (and ed. note: the poll listed by CHU is one of the two polls that had Notre Dame ranked 9/10, and therefore is a repeat of the one that ranked Notre Dame at #10.  With all the screaming and yelling that goes on when the CHU staff tries to rank the teams, we can never issue our own poll.)

Last night Boston College had huge help from its freshman forward Colin White, of Hanover, MA., who scored the game winning point-blank wrister, and added an assist, in his team’s 3-2 win over #7 Harvard in the opening round of the Beanpot Tournament in Boston.  The 6″0″ 195lb freshman is first on his team in goals scored with 16, and is tied for first in assists with 19.  He played for the U.S. National Under-18 Team in 2014-15, and scored 23 goals and added 31 assists in 54 games.  He was an assistant captain of the National Under-17 Team in 2013-14, and scored 33 goals and added 31 assists in 47 games.  He scored 34 goals and made 42 assists in two seasons at Noble and Greenough from 2011-13.  He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the first round (21st) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.  White’s hometown of Hanover, MA., sits 25 miles south of Boston, and is home to its 14,000 residents who live among its 16 square miles.  It was established in 1649 by English settlers, and it was incorporated as a town in June of 1727.

This weekend presents two top fifteen matchups with #4 Boston College facing #9 Boston University in the Beanpot Championship game Monday night, February 8th in the Boston Garden, and #7 Harvard traveling to play one at #11 Yale on Saturday night.

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

[table id=124 /]

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

— Tom