College Hockey Update:  Last week featured three top-twelve matchups, and Minnesota-Duluth split with Denver, which kept Minnesota-Duluth at #1 and kept Denver at #2.  Boston College lost to Notre Dame, which edged BC down to #5 (BC had also beaten Northeastern the previous Tuesday), and lifted Notre Dame up two spots to #12.  Boston University split with Vermont, which edged BU down to #6, and edged Vermont up to #11.

Elsewhere, UMass-Lowell moved up two pegs to #7 after sweeping Merrimack College, North Dakota held at #8 after splitting with Western Michigan, and Minnesota edged up to #10 after sweeping Michigan State.  Idle Penn State held onto the #3 spot, idle Harvard moved up two slots to #4, and idle Ohio State edged up to #9.

Friday night in Denver, Alex Iafallo got the scoring started with seven minutes left in the first to give Minnesota-Duluth a 1-0 lead they took into the break.  But in the second, Kevin Conley started a Denver eruption when he scored seven minutes into the period to tie it at one apiece.  Four minutes later it was Logan O’Connor who gave Denver a 2-1 lead, and then only twenty-two seconds later, Troy Terry put Denver up 3-1.  Joey Anderson responded for UMD with six minutes left in the period narrow the margin to 3-2, Denver, which the teams took into the break.  Three minutes into the third Jarid Lukosevicius put Denver up 4-2.  UMD’s Sammy Spurrell found the net with only two minutes left in the game to close the margin to 4-3, and Denver took the win.  Shots on goal were somewhat even between the two teams in total and period-to-period.

Saturday night the two reconvened in Denver, and Denver came out swinging, looking for the sweep.  But in the first the only score came from Kyle Osterberg, to give UMD the 1-0 advantage.  In the second it was Billy Exell who scored to put UMD up 2-0 at the ten minute mark.  Three minutes later Evan Janssen scored for Denver to narrow the margin to 2-1, and that score stood to the break.  In the third Denver continued swinging away.  They had a slight shot advantage in each frame, and a solid advantage in the third.  But UMD goalie Hunter Miska was up to the task, stopping 38 of 39 Denver shots.  With 1:39 remaining, Denver pulled goalie Tanner Jaillet, who had stopped 23 of 25 UMD shots.  The extra attacker did not yield the desired game-tying goal, and instead Joey Anderson found the empty Denver net to make the final 3-1, and UMD took the win.  Denver outshot UMD 39 to 26 in this game.

Harvard has had huge help this season from senior forward Tyler Moy, of San Diego, CA, who is tied for first on the team in goals scored with eight, and is tied for fourth in assists with seven.  The 6’1″ 204lb senior also scored seven goals and added twelve assists as a junior, and notched 27 points as a sophomore.  Harvard is now 8-2-1, and is ranked #4.  They last played on December 3rd and their schedule is clear until Friday, December 30th, when they will host RPI for one game.

This week and weekend there are a total of only sixteen games scheduled, with three tonight and thirteen on the weekend.  There are no top-twelve matchups, and only one matchup of a top-twelve team with a top-fifteen team, as #1 Minnesota-Duluth will play a home-and-home pair against #15 Bemidji State, with Friday night’s game at Minnesota-Duluth and Saturday night’s game at Bemidji State.

This provides the top twelve teams, rankings, records, and last week’s results:

[table id=139 /]

I’m not sure of our publication schedule in the next couple of weeks (meaning I’m not sure we’ll be posting).  So just in case we don’t appear again until after the new year, I’ll say I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.  Looking back on the first half of this season, I’d like to thank John McLean for contributing the game summary for the Minnesota-Duluth/St. Cloud State game he attended on Saturday, November 5th.  Makes a difference for us all — it’s much appreciated, John.

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

— Tom