College Hockey Update:  Last week presented two top-fifteen matchups, and St. Cloud State held at #1 after they hosted, tied, and beat Denver, edging the Pioneers down to #4; that’s two very tough weekends in a row the Huskies have come out with a win and a tie — they are coming together at the right time and seem very geared up for the playoffs.  Penn State jumped up three spots to #15 after they hosted and swept Minnesota, beating them badly and knocking the Gophers down three pegs to #11.  Elsewhere, Cornell held at #2 after they won at RPI, then lost at Union College; and Mankato State edged up to #4 after they hosted, beat, and tied, Bemidji State.

Notre Dame held at #5 after  they hosted and split with Michigan State; Ohio State held at #6 after they hosted and swept Wisconsin; and Minnesota-Duluth moved up two rungs to #7 after they visited, spanked, and swept Western Michigan.  Northeastern jumped up three notches to #8 after sweeping New Hampshire in a home-and-home series; Providence dropped two spots to #9 after visiting and losing one game to UMass-Amherst; and Clarkson held at #10 after a weekend at home in which they tied Princeton and beat Quinnipiac.  Michigan edged up to #12 after hosting and sweeping Arizona State; North Dakota edged down to #13 after visiting and splitting with Miami of Ohio; and Nebraska-Omaha held at #14 after they hosted, beat and tied Colorado College.

College Hockey Update Featured Player

Last weekend Nebraska-Omaha had huge help from sophomore forward Tristan Keck, of Morris, Manitoba, who scored a goal and added two assists in his team’s 4-2 win Friday night, and scored a goal in his team’s 2-2 tie Saturday night, both at home against Colorado College. Friday night Keck scored four minutes into the first period to put Omaha up 1-0, then only three minutes later it was a Zach Jordan goal (Tristan Keck on the assist) that gave Omaha a 2-0 lead they held through the rest of the period; Omaha had a slight 13-10 shot advantage in the period.  In the second Omaha took control, out-shooting CC 19-7, and Teemu Pulkkinen scored on a power play to give Omaha the 3-0 lead, five minutes into the period.  Seven minutes later, Luka Buchta scored on a 4×4 (Tristan Keck on the assist) to make it 4-0.  In the third period Colorado College flexed and out-shot Omaha 15-11.  They converted on two opportunities two minutes, and eleven minutes into the period, but it was not enough, and Omaha held them off for the last nine minutes, making the final, 4-2, UNO.

At 5’8″ and 168lb, Tristan Keck is a lefty, and is tied for fourth on his team in goals scored, with nine, and is seventh in assists, with eleven.  Last year he tied for tenth in goals scored, with four, and he tied for fifteenth in assists, with three.  Before Omaha, he played four seasons with Winkler, a town 35 miles away from his hometown of Morris, in the Manitoba Junior Hockey Leauge.  In 2015-16 he scored 39 goals and added 44 assists in 60 games.  He scored 131 goals and added 113 assists over 212 games in his four seasons at Winkler.  Morris, Manitoba, is home to 1,885 residents, and is thirty miles south of Winnipeg.  It was first settled in the late 1700s, and was incorporated in 1883.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha was first established as a Presbyterian Theological Institute in 1908, and became part of the University of Nebraska system in 1930.  Today it enrolls 12,500 undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students.  The sports teams at UNO have been called the Mavericks since 1971.  UNO started its hockey program in 1997 and played for two years as an independent, then joined the CCHA in 1999.  Mike Kemp was the head coach the fist twelve years, and was followed by North Dakota coaching legend Dean Blais in 2009, who coached the team for eight seasons, through last season.  He was succeeded by Mike Gabinet, who played at UNO from 2000-04.  He was an assistant coach at the Northen Alberta Institute of Technology from 2012-15, and was head coach there in the 2015-16 season.  He was an assistant coach at UNO last season, and is in his first year as head coach at UNO.  Nebraska-Omaha has made three NCAA Tournament appearances, in 2006, 2011, and 2015, including one trip to the Frozen Four in 2015.  Nebraska-Omaha is 16-14-2, is ranked #14, and will close out its NCHC regular season play this weekend when they travel to play two games at #7 Minnesota-Duluth.

This weekend presents a top fifteen matchup in regular season play in addition to the # 7 UMD vs #14 UNO matchup mentioned above, as #1 St. Cloud State travels to play two games at #13 North Dakota.  In addition, there is one top fifteen matchup in conference tournament play in the Big Ten, as #11 Minnesota gets to go right back to #15 Penn State for first a first round, best-of-three series; in the Big Ten, six of seven teams are paired this weekend to set a slate of three semi-finalists, while conference regular season champion #5 Notre Dame has a bye, and awaits the results.  So in the Big Ten, #6 Ohio State hosts Michigan State for a best-of three series, and #12 Michigan hosts Wisconsin for a best-of-three series.  The only other top fifteen team in tournament play this weekend is #3 Mankato State, hosting Alaska-Fairbanks in a best-of-three series in the opening round of the WCHA Tournament.  All other top fifteen teams have byes in their conference tournaments.

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

[table id=170 /]

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

 — Tom