College Hockey Update:  There were no top-ten matchups last weekend, and it presented a fairly light schedule; however a pretty big surprise was St. Cloud State visiting Princeton and coming back home with not one, but two ties; St. Cloud held at #1 on the results of their weekend in New Jersey.  Another pretty big surprise was Denver hosting, and losing to, Merrimack College; Denver took it all out on The Air Force Academy the next night, hosting and pasting the Falcons to the tune of 6-0, and Denver dropped two spots to #4 on their weekend at home (also factor in Denver’s split with Dartmouth right before Christmas).  Cornell held at #5 after hosting and beating Canisius; and Mankato State held at #7 after hosting, losing to, and beating Northern Michigan.  Ohio State edged up to #8 after hosting and sweeping Niagara; Northeastern edged down to #8 after beating American International University (also factor in Northeastern’s tie with Merrimack right before Christmas); and Minnesota held at #10 after they hosted, and swept Army.  An idle Notre Dame edged up to #2; idle Clarkson edged up to #3; and idle North Dakota held at #6.

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Ohio State had huge help last weekend from senior forward Matthew Weis, of Freehold, NJ, who assisted on the near-last second game winning goal Friday night, and scored two power play goals Saturday night, including the game winner, as his team hosted and swept Niagara University, with final scored of 3-2, and then 4-1.  Weis is third on his team in goals scored with seven, and is tied for second on the team in assists with twelve.  He has been a consistent contributor all four years:  As a junior he was seventh on the team in goals with nine, and tied for fourth in assists with 22; As a sophomore he was tied for fourth in goals with  eleven, and was third in assists with 21; and As a freshman he was fifth on the team in goals with eight, and was second in assists with fourteen.  Before Ohio State he played for the Green Bay Gamlers of the USHL, where he scored 23 goals and added 24 assists in 52 games during the 2013-14 season, and scored 13 goals and added 27 assists in 56 games during the 2012-13 season.  His hometown of Freehold, NJ, was founded in 1693, has 36,000 residents, and is in Northern New Jersey, twenty miles south of Newark, in Monmouth County.

Ohio State University was founded in 1870 and enrolls 46,000 undergraduates, and 14,000 graduate students on its Columbus, Ohio campus of 1,764 acres which sits two miles north of downtown Columbus.  Its sports teams are called the Buckeyes, named after the Buckeye tree.  The Hockey program started in 1961, and competed in the CCHA from its inception in 1971 through the 2012-13 season, after which they became a member of the newly formed Big Ten Hockey (then containing six teams, now seven with this year’s addition of Notre Dame, a team which does not compete in the Big Ten in any other sport), the same conference in which their teams normally compete.  Ohio State has appeared in the NCAA Hockey Tournament in 1997, 98, 99, 2003, 04, 05, 09 and 2017; they also appeared in the Frozen Four in 1998.  Ohio State is coached by Steve Rohlik, who played college hockey at Wisconsin from 1986-90, and was 1990 WCHA Tournament MVP.  He was an assistant coach at Wisconsin for the 1990-91 season, then at UNO from 1997-2000, UMD from 2000-10, and at Ohio State from 2010-13.  In 2013 he became Head Coach and in his first four seasons his teams amassed a 67-63-18 record, and last year went 21-12-6 and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance under his direction.  Ohio State is currently 12-4-4, ranked #8, and plays next this Friday and Saturday when they travel to play two games at Michigan State.

Last Friday night at Ohio State, it was the Buckeyes who took the early lead on a Matt Miller goal with four minutes left in the first period, and then on a Sam McCormick goal only half a minute later to make it 2-0; Ohio State out-shot Niagara 13-8 in the period.  But Niagara came back with a power play goal midway through the second, as they out-shot Ohio State 12-9 and ended the period down 2-1.  With only six minutes left in the second, Niagara struck again to tie it at two apiece.  But with only six seconds left, Tanner Lacynski scored, assisted by Matthew Weis, to give Ohio State the 3-2 win.

Saturday night in Columbus Ohio State again jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on another Matt Miller goal at only the one minute mark, and then on a Matthew Weis power play goal just six minutes later, which would prove to be the game winner.  Niagara did score right at the end of the period to end the first 2-1, Ohio State.  In the second period it was another Matthew Weis power play goal with six minutes remaining to extend the Ohio State lead to 3-1, and then two minutes into the third a John Wiitala goal made the final 4-1, Ohio State.

This weekend features a top-ten matchup as #1 St. Cloud State and #10 Minnesota will play a home-and-home series at St. Cloud State Saturday night, and then at Minnesota Sunday night.  Who wouldn’t want to see that one (matchup)?  Or should I say those two (games)?

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

[table id=162 /]

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

— Tom