College Hockey Update:  Last week featured two top ten matchups, and Ohio State held at #5 after hosting, and salvaging a split with, Pennsylvania State, which held at #6; Pennsylvania State won the opener in Columbus Friday night, and Ohio State rallied for the win Saturday.  Denver held at #7 after they hosted, beat, and tied Providence, which edged the Friars down to #10.  Elsewhere, Massachusetts edged up to #3 after they hosted and beat Princeton; Mankato State edged down to #4 on its split weekend at Bemidji State; and Quinnipiac edged up to #9 after sweeping its weekend at Maine.  An idle St. Cloud State held at #1; idle Minnesota-Duluth held at #2; and idle Notre Dame held at #8 (Notre Dame hosted and beat Northern Michigan last night, after the poll came out on Monday).

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Last weekend Pennsylvania State had huge help from sophomore forward Evan Barratt, of Bristol, PA., who scored a goal and added an assist in his team’s 4-3 win Friday night at #5 Ohio State.  The 5’10” 190lb sophomore is first on his team in goals scored, with ten, and is tied for second in assists, with eleven.  As a freshman he was tied for fifth in goals, with eleven, and tied for fourteenth in assists, with seven.  He was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the third round of the 2017 NHL entry draft with the 90th pick overall.  Before Pennsylvania State he played for two seasons on the US National Team Development Program.  Barratt’s hometown was first settled in 1661, and was incorporated in 1720; it is home to its 10,000 residents.

Pennsylvania State was founded in 1855 and is located in State College, PA., about 100 miles or so east of Pittsburgh.  It enrolls 41,000 undergraduates, and 6,000 graduate students.  Its athletic teams are the Nittany Lions, and wear blue and white, although, like North Dakota, their original colors included pink, in this case, black and pink.  Pennsylvania State joined the Big Ten in 1991.  Pennsylvania State started hockey on an ongoing basis in 1938, and fielded a DI team from 1940-44, and 1946-47.  Hockey came back to Pennsylvania State as a club team in 1971 and remained a club team until going DI again in 2012, when it was an independent for the 2012-13 season.  It stimulated the formation of, and joined, Big Ten Hockey in 2012.  Guy Gadowsky became the coach in 2011, the last year as a club team.  He was the head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks for five seasons from 1999-2004, and his teams compiled a 68-89-22 cumulative record during his tenure.  He coached Princeton for seven seasons from 2004-2011, and his teams compiled a 105-109-15 record during his tenure.  Pennsylvania State is currently 10-3-0, is ranked #6, and will travel to play two games at Wisconsin this weekend.

Friday night Ohio State scored first on a power play, with three minutes left in the first period, and they took a 1-0 lead into the break, as well as a slight advantage in shots on goal, 13-10.  Pennsylvania State really came to life in the second, starting with a goal by Evan Barrat four minutes into the frame, followed by a Brandon Biro power play goal six minutes later, assisted by Evan Barrat, which put Pennsylvania State up 2-1 at the midpoint.  Ohio State responded with a short-handed goal two minutes later to tie it at two apiece, but Cole Hults scored on a 4×4 for Pennsylvania State a minute later to make it 3-2, Pennsylvania State, which is where it stood going into the second break; Pennsylvania State out-shot Ohio State 19-9 in the second.  The third was also a very lively period, and this time Ohio State had the momentum, and they scored three minutes into the period to tie it at three apiece.  But Pennsylvania State came back when Denis Smirnov scored on a power play six minutes later for the 4-3 lead.  Despite Ohio State out-shooting Pennsylvania State 22-14 in the third and adding an extra attacker for the last two minutes of the period, Pennsylvania State held them off, clung to their one goal lead, and took the 4-3 win.  The next night was another back-and-forth fight for the first two periods, which sent the game into the third tied at 2-2.  Despite only getting nine shots off in the third, Ohio State scored three times for the 5-2 win.

This weekend there are no top ten matchups, but three top ten teams will play against top twenty teams, starting with #2 Minnesota-Duluth hosting #15 North Dakota; these games will be shown on the Midco Sport Network Friday and Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time, and at 5pm Pacific Time on Fox Sports North+ Friday night, and on Channel 2 in Duluth Saturday night.  #4 Mankato State will play two at #20 Lake Superior State, games on FloHockey.TV Friday and Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time.  #9 Quinnipiac will host #19 Princeton Friday night and will play at #19 Princeton Saturday night.

Additional televised games are #3 Massachusetts hosting Connecticut Friday night at 4pm Pacific Time on NESN+; #5 Ohio State at Minnesota on Fox Sports North and Sports Time Ohio at 5pm Pacific Time Friday, and 2pm Pacific Time Saturday; #8 Notre Dame hosting RPI Friday night at 4pm Pacific Time on NBC Sports Channel; #12 Bowling Green at Alabama-Huntsville at 5pm Pacific Time Friday and at 2pm Pacific Time Saturday on FloHockey.TV; Boston University hosting Boston College Friday at 4:30pm Pacific Time on NESN; Ferris State at Alaska-Fairbanks Friday and Saturday at 8pm Pacific Time on FloHockey.TV; and Bemidji State at Michigan Tech Friday and Saturday at 4pm Pacific Time on FloHockey.TV.

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

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

— Tom