College Hockey Update:  Last weekend featured one top twelve match-up, and UMass-Amherst held on at #2 after being beaten by Providence, which rose up two spots to #8.  Elsewhere, St. Cloud State held at #1 after sweeping Nebraska-Omaha (St. Cloud goalie David Hrenak allowed only one goal over the two games, improving his stats to a 2.06 GAA and a .909 saves %, but was rushed to the University of Nebraska Medical Center after the game for treatment for a cake-eating overdose); and Minnesota-Duluth held at #3 after they split their weekend at North Dakota.  Mankato State held at #4 after splitting its weekend at Alaska-Fairbanks; and Quinnipiac held at #5 after hosting and beating St. Lawrence, then hosting and getting beaten by Clarkson.  Denver edged up to #6 after hosting and splitting with Miami-of-Ohio; Ohio State edged down to #7 after losing, and then settling on a tie, at Michigan; and Northeastern jumped up three pegs to #9 after sweeping its weekend at New Hampshire.  Western Michigan dropped two notches to #10 after splitting its weekend at Colorado College; Cornell dropped two slots to #11 after hosting and getting beaten by RPI, then hosting and beating Union College; and an idle Arizona State edged down to #12.

Saturday night in Providence, Cale Makar put UMass-Amherst on the board first, eleven minutes into the first period on a four-on-four, after consecutive high-sticking calls against each team, for the only goal in a six-penalty period in which Massachusetts slightly out-shot host Providence College 14-12.  It was a fairly frenetic first with a playoff feel to it.  The second also had a playoff feel to it, but it was the other side of hockey that was showcased in a period with only a bit more than half the shots taken in the first (Providence 9, to UMass 6), but despite the defense and the low number of shots, the offenses found the net.  Jason O’Neill tied it up for Providence six minutes into the frame, and then Josh Wilkins gave Providence the 2-1 lead only two minutes later.  It was stingy defenses by the penalty kill teams that kept this one from turning into a runaway for either team.  Niko Hildenbrand tied it up for UMass with only three minutes left in the second, and the teams went into the second break, knotted at two apiece.  In the third the two teams played it as if there would be no tomorrow, picking up the pace, and with UMass seeming to have the advantage in the tempo, with a 16-9 shots advantage in the period.  But Providence found a way to net the only goal of he period when Scott Conway, of Basingstoke, England, scored the game winner with only three minutes remaining.  The story of this game was the ability of Providence to score three goals in two periods in which they were limited to only 18 shots, and the ability of their goalie, Hayden Hawkey, to stop all shots in a third period barrage of sixteen shots, and to stop 34 of 36 in the game.

College Hockey Update Featured Player

Most people have the impression that places such as Phoenix are just hot as blazes in the summer, and that it stays fairly warm there all year round.  But the truth is that the average high for June, July, and August, are only 104, 106, and 104, and that on average, it gets down to 78, 84, and 83 during those months.  In the December, January, and February, the average high drops like a rock to 66, 67, and 71, and the average low gets to a bone-chilling 45, 46, and 49 in those months.  Probably a lot chillier than you’d think.  So, hockey in Phoenix, cold stuff, what’s the angle?  Simply enough, there is a great attraction to be indoors in a nice cool rink in the summer.  When I arrived to graduate school at Boston University, with my Santa Clara pal Jim Slaughter, I was amazed to learn that he had grown up ice skating and playing ice hockey in the town of Indian Wells in the Mojave Desert.

No, the College Hockey Update Featured Player of this week is not Jim Slaughter, the attorney in Irvine, CA., but rather Johnny Walker, the nation’s leader in goals, from Arizona State University.  Walker, of Phoenix, AZ., leads his team in goals scored, with 23, and is tied for seventh on the team in assists, with 11.  As a freshman he led his team in goals scored, with seventeen, and was eighth on the team in assists, with seven; his seventeen goals broke the ASU team record for goals by a freshman, and placed him second in the nation among freshmen.  Before Arizona State, he played for three seasons (2013-16) for the Minot Minotauros of the NAHL, and the 2016-17 season for the Chicago Steel of the USHL; he was sixth on the Steel in goals, with sixteen, and was fifteenth in assists, with thirteen.

Arizona State University was founded in 1885.  Today, among its five campuses, it enrolls 73,000 undergraduates and 20,000 graduate students, with the main campus, in Tempe, enrolling 52,000 undergraduates on its 662 acres.  Arizona State’s 17 colleges offer 350 different degrees, and its faculty includes 4 nobel laureates.  Its sports teams are called the Sun Devils, and they wear maroon and gold.  ASU became a member of the Pacific Ten Conference (now the Pac-12) in 1978; they have won 24 NCAA championships.  Some recognizable alumni include:  Baseball, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Barry Bonds, and Rick Monday; Basketball, James Harden, and Byron Scott; Football, Pat Tillman, Terrell Suggs, Jake Plummer, Danny White, Brock Osweiller, Eric Allen, Mark Gastineau, Mike Haynes, and Charley Taylor; Sports Broadcaster Al Michaels; and Entertainers Steve Allen, David Spade, Nick Nolte, Lynda Carter, Linda Ronstadt, and Jane Wyman.

ASU hockey started as a club/ACHA sport in 1973, and had much success at that level.  In the 2015-16 season ASU split its schedule between ACHA and NCAA D1 opponents in preparation for the next year as a D1 Independent.  In the first two years as a D1 Independent, their records were 10-19-3 and then 8-21-5.  Indianapolis native Greg Powers, an ASU goalie from 1995-99, came on as an assistant coach in 2010, and is in his third year as an NCAA D1 Independent Coach.  They play their games at the 840 seat Oceanside Arena in Phoenix, as they have limited options in there; it’s either the 17,000 seat Gila River Arena, or these smaller, less than 1,000 seat arenas.  Ironically, if they were located in Tucson (home of the U of Arizona), they would have the 6,700 seat Tucson Convention Center Arena at their fingertips.  ASU was hoping to have access to a larger, but less costly arena as a result of the NHL Coyotes building a new arena in Phoenix, but this plan has run into financing problems, as well as the Coyotes questioning their future location and rumors of a move to Houston.  So for now, it’s Oceanside Arena.

Arizona State, a team in only its third D1 year, and coming off of an 8-21-5 season, is a very real contender for a spot in the NCAA Tournament this season.  Things that could hurt their chances would be if they were to be swept on their last weekend of play, and then having no conference tournament to play in after that; if the right combination of teams were to shine in those tournaments, ASU’s standing could change.  But it does look really good for them right now.  Arizona State, 21-10-1, and ranked #12, travels to play two games, and close out their regular season schedule at the University of Minnesota, this weekend.

College Hockey Update Fun Corner Photo Of The Week

This Weekend’s Top Twelve Match-ups

This weekend features one top twelve match-up when #1 St. Cloud State travels to play two games at #10 Western Michigan.  And we are really down to the end of the regular season, with this being the last weekend of regular season play for Atlantic Hockey, The Big Ten/Seven; The ECAC, and The WCHA, after which they will start their conference tournaments next weekend.  Hockey East and the NCHC have two more weekends of regular season play remaining (including this upcoming weekend), after which they will start their conference tournaments.  So . . . . who do you think will make it all the way to the Frozen Four in Buffalo?

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

[table id=192 /]

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

— Tom