College Hockey Update:  Last week featured a top-twelve matchup as Notre Dame hosted Ohio State for two games, and edged down to #6 after they lost to Ohio State Friday night, and they then beat Ohio State Saturday night; Ohio State held at #7 on the results of the weekend.  Elsewhere, St. Cloud State held at #2 after they swept their weekend at Colorado College; Mankato State edged up to #3 after sweeping Minnesota in a home-and-home series, knocking Minnesota out of the top twelve to #16; and Providence edged down to #4 after they won at Holy Cross Saturday night.  Denver jumped up three spots to #5 after they hosted and swept Western Michigan; Pennsylvania State dropped two pegs to #8 after hosting and splitting with Arizona State; and UMass-Amherst moved up two notches to #9 after their win at New Hampshire Saturday night.  Bowling Green edged down to #10 after hosting and splitting with Northern Michigan; North Dakota jumped up three slots to #11 after hosting and sweeping Wisconsin; and Union College jumped up five spots to #12 after hosting and beating both St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

Last weekend St. Cloud State had huge help from their junior forward Ryan Poehling, of Cakeville, MN., who scored two goals Friday night in his team’s 5-3 win, and tallied an assist in his team’s 2-1 win Saturday night, both at Colorado College.  The 6’3″ 200lb junior is tied for third on his team in goals scored, with three, and is tied for fourth on the team in assists, with five.  As a sophomore, he tied for fourth in goals scored, with fourteen, and was seventh in assists, with seventeen; as a freshman he was seventh in goals, with seven, and tied for twelfth in assists, with six.  St. Cloud State is off to a great start this year with its first year coach, Brett Larson, who came from a three year stint as an assistant at Minnesota-Duluth.  Prior to that he was an assistant at Ohio State for two years following two years as the head coach of the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL; prior to the Musketeers he was an assistant for his first three year stint at UMD.  Larson played college hockey for four years at UMD as a defenseman, after graduating from Denfeld High School in Duluth, MN.; Denfeld is universally regarded as fielding the best high school hockey team in Duluth, as well as being the best academic high school in Duluth, both particularly from the late sixties through the mid nineties.  St. Cloud State is 7-1-0, is ranked #2, and will host #5 Denver this weekend in what promises to be a knock-down, drag-out thriller series.

As reported last week, Cakeville is also the hometown of Nick Swaney, of the University of Minnesota at Duluth hockey team, and of Ryan’s sibling St. Cloud State teammates: his twin older brothers, Jack and Nick; it is also the hometown of St. Cloud State senior goalie David Zevnik.  An update on last week’s report — after St. Cloud State earned the sweep Saturday night, and in commemoration of last week’s landmark Minnesota State legislation that approved the name change of the Poehling family hometown to Cakeville, MN., the team celebrated with four different cakes, brought in from Eagan, MN., in the team locker room.  Much to the consternation of the Cakeville celebrants, a joint suit was filed by the cities of Edina, MN. and Eagan, MN., in the Minnesota State Supreme Court on Monday, November 5th, to block this name change, citing statistics that the residents of the two complaintant cities have the highest per capita cake consumption in the U.S., and that they both consume 11% more cake per capita than the proposed recipient town of the moniker “Cakeville.”  This promises to be a fight for the heart and soul of the three cities involved, and of each and every one of the proud cake-eating residents of these towns.  All eyes will be on the town of St. Cloud this weekend, as a sweep by St. Cloud State over Denver could launch a full-fledged cake bonanza in their locker room Saturday night.

Last Friday night in Colorado Springs, it was the host Tigers in control of the game early on, scoring nine minutes into the first to take a 1-0 lead, and then on a power play with a minute left in the period to take the 2-0 lead into the break; CC had St. Cloud State back on their heels a bit, and they had a slight advantage in shots of 8-6 in the first. In the second the momentum was all St. Cloud State, playing both a blistering offensive effort, and a suffocating defense, as their shots on goal advantage of 18-1 reflects, but CC stepped up and held St. Cloud State to only one goal by Ryan Poehling eleven minutes into the frame; CC went into the second break with the 2-1 lead. In the first half of the third the two teams battled it out, and it was Patrick Newell who tied the game at 2-2 on a power play for St. Cloud at the nine minute point; but only half a minute later CC scored again, re-taking the lead at 3-2. The second half of the third was in St. Cloud’s hands. A goal by Easton Brodzinski thirteen minutes into the period tied it at 3-3, and then Patrick Newell struck again to make it 4-3, St. Cloud, with three minutes remaining. CC simply could not overcome what was happening on the ice (a 17-6 St. Cloud State shot advantage) and added and extra attacker, but Ryan Poehling found the empty net only fifteen seconds after the CC goalie was pulled, making the final 5-3, St. Cloud State. St. Cloud State went on to beat CC Saturday night, again coming from behind with two third period goals to win it 2-1 and complete the sweep of the weekend series.

Sticking with serious reporting here, I have received this link from our contributing field reporter, John McLean.  An important historical figure in Minnesota-Duluth hockey,  Keith “Huffer” Christiansen, was lost on Monday when he succumbed too early in life to lung cancer at the age of 74.  Christiansen, the WCHA Player of the Year in 1967, was named as a center to the All-American West First Team in 1967, along with goalie Tony Esposito.  He played on the 1972 US Olympic Silver Medal Team, and was inducted to the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.  A Canadian from Fort Frances, ONT., he moved to International Falls, MN., and played on the High School team there that won the Minnesota State Championship in 1962.  Lucky are those who were able to see him do his thing on the ice.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/hockey/4524629-umd-hockey-great-christiansen-dies-74

This weekend features two top-twelve matchups. Tonight #4 Providence travels to play the first of a home-and-home series at #9 UMass-Amherst; game televised on NESN+ at 4pm Pacific Time, about three hours from the time of this posting. Friday and Saturday nights #2 St. Cloud State hosts #5 Denver; Saturday’s game will be televised on Fox Sports North+ at 4pm Pacific Time. Also Saturday night will be game two, this one at home for #4 Providence against #9 UMass-Amherst; game televised on NBC Boston Sports Channel at 4pm Pacific Time. In addition, televised games include #1 Minnesota-Duluth hosting Colorado College at 4pm Pacific Time Saturday on ALTITUDE; #15 Northeastern hosting Connecticut at 4pm Pacific Time Friday on NESN (DirecTV 628, Dish 434), and #15 Northeastern hosting UMass-Lowell at 4pm Pacific time Saturday on NESN+. Also, #16 Minnesota at #20 Wisconsin at 4pm Pacific Time on both Friday and Saturday, games on both Fox Sports Wisconsin and Fox Sports North.

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

[table id=178 /]

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

— Tom