College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented one top fifteen matchup, the results of which only left one of the teams in the top fifteen, as Denver extended its winning streak to nine straight games with its sweep of Nebraska-Omaha, edging Denver up to #6 (they and a two others edged up on Michigan’s woes), and dropping UNO down two spots to #17; Denver has lost only one game in its last 18, going 14-1-3 in that stretch, starting January 1st.  And UNO wins a repeat trip to Denver this weekend for a best two-of-three series in opening round play of the NCHC Tournament!  North Dakota swept Western Michigan and held at #2, and St. Cloud State swept Colorado College and held at #5; all three of the games mentioned above were final regular season play for these teams in the NCHC.

Boston University swept UMass-Amherst in opening round play of the Hockey East Tournament, also edging BU up to #8 on Michigan’s losses, speaking of which . . . . Michigan was swept by Ohio State, yes, Ohio State, knocking Michigan down three notches to #9.  In final weekend play for the WCHC, Michigan Tech swept Northern Michigan, and held at #13; Penn State split with Wisconsin and held at #14, and Cornell swept Union College in opening round play of the ECAC tournament, moving Cornell up two slots to #15.

Seven top fifteen teams were idle with byes during opening round play of the Hockey East and ECAC tournaments.  An idle Quinnipiac held at #1, idle BC at #3, idle Providence at #4, and an idle Yale edged up to #7 on Michigan’s losses.  An idle Notre Dame held at #10, idle UMass-Lowell at #11, and an idle Harvard at #12.

Last weekend Boston University had huge help from its senior forward Danny O’Regan, of Needham, MA., who scored two goals and added two assists in his team’s 5-4 win over UMass-Amherst on Saturday night.  The 5’10” 185lb. forward is first on his team in goals scored with 16, and first in assists with 26. O’Regan has been a leading scorer all four years at BU, as he was third on the team in goals last year with 23, and fourth in assists with 27; his sophomore year he tied for first in goals with 10, and was fourth in assists with 12; and his freshman year he tied for second in goals with 16, and was second in assists with 22.  Before BU he played a year on the US National Under 18 Team and scored four goals and added six assists in fourteen games.

He joined the U-18 team after he completed four years at St. Sebastian’s in Needham, where he scored 32 goals and added 28 assists his senior year, and was named to the Massachusetts All-State First Team.  He was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft with the 138th overall pick.  His father, Tom O’Regan was a BU hockey captain, and he played 61 games for the NHL’s  Pittsburgh Penguins, and then eleven years professionally in Europe; his brother, Tommy O’Regan played for Harvard.  His hometown of Needham, MA. is home to 29,000 who are spread out among its 13 square miles at an elevation of 160 feet.  It borders the West Roxbury neighborhood of the city of Boston, and is a 13 mile drive from Boston University.  It was first settled in 1680, and was incorporated as a town in 1711.  It is also the hometown of former Terrier Mike Grier, who went on to play for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks and the Buffalo Sabres.

BU had an up and down second half this season, very much like its first half, unable to get a sweep against either Notre Dame or UMass-Lowell, and unable to come up with a win against Boston College in three tries.  And last weekend’s narrow wins (Friday 2-1 in OT, and Saturday 5-4) against an unaccomplished UMass-Amherst team, this season, were a bit surprising.  BU is 21-10-5, and is ranked #8.  This weekend they head to UMass-Lowell for second round play in the Hockey East Tournament for a best-two-of-three series on the Lowell ice; in their weekend of play there, Lowell had a big 6-3 win (and a good second half with wins over both Providence and BC, two teams BU could did not beat this year).  Lowell will be determined to extend it’s impressive 12-2-3 home record after having the benefit of a bye week off last weekend.  Looks pretty tough for BU.

And here’s a rarity for the Update — some commentary.  College Hockey has changed quite a bit since the days many years ago when I watched games live as a grad student at Boston University.  So many of the players now leave after only two years, or even only one.  Many, many more college players make it to the NHL today than was the case back then; in fact it was a rarity in those days.  Some teams have adapted to the increased churn in the roster better than others.  I don’t know that I personally like it as much — the decreased continuity in the rosters, etc…  One of the biggest recent changes in college hockey was the addition of the Big 10 Hockey league, a league which actually has something like 14 teams in it, but they still call it the Big Ten.  And then “Big 10” hockey has a whopping six teams in it.  And they get to have their own league, even though they only have six teams.  Complete with an NCAA auto-berth for their “tournament” winner, if you can call six teams a tournament.

Big Ten Hockey destroyed the composition of the long-standing WCHA and CCHA, all in the name of making sure that the money they generate at the gate stayed in the Big Ten.  Nice guys.  Glad you’re here.  Then the NCHC was formed for a lot of the same reasons, perhaps out of desperation, maybe motivated by some Big Ten style greed.  Here’s the killer.  Now we have this Big Ten Hockey league, and they’re not really very good at all.  So after a couple of years of not being a very good league, instead of looking at themselves, the quality of their coaching and recruiting, and trying to fix it, they are pointing the finger at everyone else and saying “it’s their fault.”  Yep, schools that are accepting students after a year or two in an elite junior league, are the supposed cause of the grotesque results of a bad idea turned nightmare, called Big Ten Hockey.  And they’ve petitioned the NCAA to make it illegal!

Apparently the Big Ten did a shallow evaluation of their situation vs. everyone else (I imagine these idiots label everyone else as “the bad guys” in their meetings), and found that the Big Ten doesn’t do as good of a job of getting the best/better experienced hockey players from these junior leagues as “the bad guys” do.  And they have come up with the ingenious idea, “Since we stink at it, let’s outlaw it!”  Oh they are masking it in various ways, claiming the current situation hurts the sport, etc . . . .  Gosh, just think, if they are successful, then every team can be as bad as a Big Ten team!!  Won’t that really improve the sport??!!  This is a tough one for me, as I actually miss the continuity that used to exist in college hockey.  But not that tough. These cry-babies from the big ten (I can’t even capitalize it any more) would look a lot more genuine if they were winning it every year, and they saw that they had a difference no one else was doing, and they tried to make a rule making everyone do it their way.  Or if they were winning it every year and they saw a difference that everyone else was doing that was hurting the other teams, and so they tried to make a rule stopping everyone else from that destructive practice.  Actions such as those would improve the sport.  But this is just the opposite, and it’s embarrassing.  Or at least it would be in most circles.  Circles where people have dignity.  I guess that just doesn’t apply to the little six.  I’m surprised that they didn’t get their mommies to call the NCAA for them.

Back to reality . . . . 

This weekend presents three top-fifteen matchups as #1 Quinnipiac will host #15 Cornell for a best-two-of-three series in second round action in the ECAC Tournament, #8 BU will travel to #11 UMass-Lowell for a best-two-of-three series in second round action in the Hockey East Tournament, and #9 Michigan will host two games against #15 Penn State in the last weekend of play before the start of the little six cry-baby tournament; it’s a BYOM weekend for them (bring you own mommy).

Conference Tournament Play This Weekend:

Atlantic Hockey

• Bentley University at #22 Robert Morris University
• Canisius College at #27 United States Air Force Academy
• Rochester Institute of Technology at Mercyhurst University
• United States Military Academy (Army) at College of the Holy Cross

ECAC

• #24 Clarkson University at #18 St. Lawrence University
• #15 Cornell University  at #1 Quinnipiac
• Dartmouth College at #7 Yale University
• #23 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at #12 Harvard University

Hockey East

• #8 Boston University at #11 UMass-Lowell
• Merrimack College at #4 Providence College
• #21 Northeastern at #10 Notre Dame
• Vermont at #3 Boston College

NCHC

• Colorado College at #2 University of North Dakota
• #26 Miami University of Ohio at #20 University of Minnesota-Duluth
• #17 University of Nebraska-Omaha at #6 University of Denver
• Western Michigan University at #5 St. Cloud State University

WCHC

• University of Alaska-Fairbanks at #13 Michigan Technological University
• Bemidji State University at #25 Bowling Green State University
• Lake Superior State University at #16 Mankato State University
• Northern Michigan University at #13 Ferris State University

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

[table id=129 /]

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

— Tom