College Hockey Update:   Last weekend featured a couple of top ten matchups, and Minnesota-Duluth edged back up to #1 after beating Minnesota in the opening round of something called the Northstar Cup, or something along those lines.  Minnesota-Duluth went on to beat #23 St. Cloud State the next night to “win the cup;” Minnesota beat #24 Bemidji State in the consolation round, and Minnesota edged down to #7 on the weekend.  Apparently this North Star Cup is now over after four years in which four different teams (out of five eligible) won the championship — only Mankato did not win it in this stretch.  My Minnesota experts inform me that no one in Minnesota wants to see four of the five DI teams battle for the “Championship of Minnesota,” and that interest in the sport there peaks at the high school ranks.  Sad state of affairs for a state that views itself as a some kind of a “hockey capital” of sorts.  At any rate, this tournament certainly won’t be missed outside of Minnesota, and now we know that no one cares about these teams inside the state either.  It was an attempt to capture the level of notoriety of the Beanpot, the legendary in-season tournament for the Championship of Boston, and a feeble attempt at that.  But fear not!  The real live Beanpot is only five days away!  Speaking of Boston, Boston University beat UMass-Lowell Saturday night, and dropped down two spots to #3 ( this was after being swept two games by Merrimack, a team which went into the two game set with only eight wins on the season and only two in Hockey East.  Call it looking the other way, call it #1 went to their heads, call it what you want.  Coach David Quinn simply called them lazy.  Call it #1 for one day.  Whatever you call it, BU doubled Merrimack’s Hockey East win total in a four day stretch.); while UMass-Lowell dropped three notches to #10 (Lowell had lost to Northeastern the night before).

Elsewhere, Denver edged up to #2 after sweeping Nebraska-Omaha; Union College edged up to #4 after beating Clarkson but losing to #14 St. Lawrence University (See game notes on that game below, and a link to a game highlights video as well); and Harvard jumped up four pegs to #5 after beating #16 Cornell and Colgate.  Penn State dropped a couple of slots to #6 after losing to Princeton; Boston College jumped up five rungs to #8 after beating Connecticut and #17 Notre Dame; and Western Michigan edged up to #9 after splitting with Miami of Ohio.

Last weekend Western Michigan had huge help from its freshman defenseman Cam Lee, of Ferguson’s Cove, Nova Scotia, who scored his first goal of the season, and added an assist, in his team’s 2-1 win Friday night over Miami of Ohio, as his team went on to split the weekend with Miami.  Lee is tied for fourteenth on his team in goals scored, with one, and is tied for third in assists, with nine. Western Michigan is 14-7-3, is ranked #9, and will host Arizona State for two games this weekend.

In Friday night’s game, Cam Lee put Western Michigan up 1-0 on his goal six minutes in the first period.  Western Michigan really dominated the first period, out-shooting Miami 16-4.  In the second things tightened up as Miami slightly out-shot Western Michigan 7-5; a shorthanded Miami goal eight minutes into the period tied it at one apiece.  With about eight minutes left in the second, a Hugh McGing goal (Cam Lee on the assist) put Western Michigan up 2-1.  In the third the game loosened up a bit and Western Michigan slightly out-shot Miami 11-10, as the two skated to a stalemate in the period, giving Western Michigan the 2-1 win.

In Saturday night’s game the pace picked up quite a bit, particularly in terms of Western Michigan’s offensive effort.  Miami got on the board first on a power play goal only two minutes into the first period, but Colt Conrad responded with a Western Michigan goal only twenty seconds later to tie it at one apiece.  Then with only seventeen seconds left in the first, Miami scored on another power play to make it 2-1 Miami at the break.  Miami scored their two goals on only seven first period shots.  In the second the effort seemed to be coming from Western Michigan as they peppered the Miami goalie with 18 shots in the twenty minute frame, but the productivity came from Miami as they scored on a penalty shot only one minute into the period, and again only four minutes later.  Miami again scored two goals on only seven shots, and took a commanding 4-1 lead into the break.  In the third Western Michigan again dominated the period offensively with 17 shots on goal to Miami’s five.  Western Michigan scored on a Sheldon Dries power play goal only a minute into the period, and then on a Neil Goff goal only five minutes later, to make it 4-3, Miami.  Despite the offensive effort by Western Michigan, Miami held them out for the next fourteen minutes and won the game 4-3.  Miami goalie Ryan Larkin stopped 44 of 47 shots on goal Saturday night; he also stopped 30 of 32 shots on Friday night, giving him a total of 74 stops on the weekend out of 79 shots on goal.

Then we have the story of Union College. which went into Saturday’s game as the only team in the country with 18 wins, aiming to make themselves the only team in the country with 19 wins.  But St. Lawrence had other things in mind as they hosted the Dutchmen at Appleton Arena on their campus in Canton, NY.  Our contributing field reporter, Bruce Carlisle, watched the game, and provided this game summary:

Bruce Carlisle writes:

With all of the non-conference games behind them, the ECAC season reached the end of
January with an exclamation point.  #4 Union took on #16 St.Lawrence Saturday night
in the marquee matchup between the two teams tied for first in the ECAC.  With both
teams coming off Friday night wins, Union over Clarkson, and the Saints over RPI, the
stage was set for a barn burner and the capacity, three deep at the rail crowd got
exactly what they came for.  Union features the top two scoring forwards in the
country while St. Lawrence would have Kyle Hayton vying for his 51st career victory
in the net.  

The Saints would have their work cut out for them, outplaying Union in the first
period but coming up short at 1-0 with Union's Ryan Walker scoring late in the
period.

This only set the stage for, by most accounts, the wildest period of hockey at
Appleton of the year.  First, SLU's Nolan "Fridge" Gluchowski took a lead pass from
freshman sensation and Florida Panthers Draft pick Ben Finklestein to tie up the
game at 1 with a breakaway goal. 

But Union quickly struck bank scoring two goals, both on beautiful three on one tic
tac passing plays to silence the Appleton faithful. 

The silence did not last -- as the Larrie's All-American Defenseman Gavin
Bayreuther, back from a serious hand injury, took a feed from workhorse third winger
Woody Hudson at center ice, skated untouched to the top of the right circle and let
a wrister rip for his seventh goal of the season.  So now it's 3-2 but fans, the
second period is not over yet . 

A quick digression.  Who is Alex Gilmour?  He's a 6'5" freshman who joined the team
and started his college career in Canton just four weeks ago. Nobody knows how the
Skating Saints managed to find him or why he was not recruited elsewhere.  All we
know is that since joining the team he has been on fire.  Saturday night was no
exception. At 16:26 of the second frame Gilly let go with a slapshot that Union
goalie Alex Sakelleropoulos did not even see and tied up the game sending the North
Country fans into a frenzy.  

The stage is now set for the third period.  Both teams are playing like the tourney
teams they.are likely to be -- with playoff level intensity.  The play goes back and
forth, end to end,  up and down the ice.  Union manages the most pressure but the
stingy Saints defense is having none of it.  Neither Union's Mike Vecchione nor
Spencer Foo, the two leading scorers in the NCAA, can extract a point from Hayton who,
as always, stands tall.  This game sure looks like it's headed for overtime and
possibly a second tie for the season. 

But Noooo.  With 17.8 seconds remaining a faceoff is whistled in the Union end of
the ice. St. Lawrence Coach Morris, playing a hunch, sends out Gilmour to take the
draw. He also puts a second freshman, Finklestein at the right point. Gilmour wins
the draw cleanly, back to Big Ben. Fink puts a wrist shot right in front of the net
and Gilmour, who has positioned himself perfectly, tips it in -- on a set play like
you read about -- to collect his sixth goal in just nine games as a Saint-- 
sending Appleton into pandemonium.  Final score SLU 4 Dutchmen 3. Saints take over
first place in the ECAC. 

[Bruce provided this link to video highlights.  Great goals, saves and hits!
The Union game is second, after RPI:

https://youtu.be/8cDSMHvu20c ]

This all on a night when the hated Bobcats of Quinnipiac were humiliated by nascent 
Arizona State and the favored Big Red of Cornell were upset by Dartmouth and in the 
biggest upset of all the Princeton Tigers upended #3 Penn State. Can't beat the ECAC. 
A truly great night of college hockey.

Thanks Bruce!  What a great summary, beaming with enthusiasm!

This weekend features a great top-ten matchup as #6 Penn State travels to play two games at #7 Minnesota.  Oh, and did we mention earlier that a real live in-season, local-team tournament is coming up in five days?  That’s right, the 65th Beanpot for the Championship of Boston kicks off Monday at 2:00pm Pacific Time, when #5 Harvard takes on Northeastern, and then at 5:00pm Pacific Time when #3 Boston University takes on #8 Boston College.  Anything that has happened so far this season is out the window as this tournament means something and the teams will be playing out of their heads as a result.  While Boston University has the most wins in the history of the tournament, with thirty, and Boston College is second with twenty, this tournament has been the domain of Boston College since 2010, as they won six of the seven tournaments in that span.  Championship and consolation rounds will be played the following Monday, February 13th.  In the area, or going to Boston and want tickets?  Forget it, all tickets for the two nights, all 35,000 of them, sell out the first day they go on sale.  You might be able to get scalper’s tickets for $40 up in the nosebleed sections, but for the best seats you’d probably have to pay around $350.

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

[table id=145 /]

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

— Tom