College Hockey Update:. Last week featured two top-fifteen matchups, and Wisconsin edged down to #7 after hosting and splitting with Clarkson, which lifted Clarkson two spots to #11; and Providence edged down to #8 after visiting and beating Boston College and knocking the Eagles down five pegs to #15 (Providence hosted and lost to UMasss-Lowell Saturday night). Elsewhere, Mankato State held at #2 after they swept the weekend at Alabama-Huntsville; UMass-Amherst held at #3 after hosting and beating American International, one game; and Notre Dame held at #5 after hosting and sweeping Lake Superior State.  Minnesota-Duluth moved up two notches to #6 after sweeping a home-and-home series with Minnesota; Quinnipiac held at #9 after hosting and beating Vermont, one game; and Northeastern edged up to #10 after splitting the weekend at St. Cloud State.  Pennsylvania State held at #12 after hosting and beating Robert Morris, one game; Ohio State moved up two slots to #13 after sweeping the weekend at Mercyhurst; and North Dakota moved up two spots to #14 after hosting and sweeping Bemidji State.  An idle Denver held at #1, and idle Cornell held at #4.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last Friday night UMass-Amherst had huge help from junior forward John Leonard, of Amherst, MA., who scored two goals in his team’s 4-1 home win against American International College. The 5’11” 190lb forward is tied for second on his team in goals scored, with three, and has yet to tally an assist this season.  As a sophomore he led his team in total points with sixteen goals and twenty-four assists; as a freshman he scored thirteen goals and tallied fifteen assists.  He spent two seasons, from 2015-17, with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL, scoring twenty-four goals and adding nineteen assists in 110 games during that time.  He also scored 91 goals and added 60 assists in 72 games over three years at Springfield Academy in Massachusetts, and was named an All-Massachusetts player in 2014-15 after he scored 47 goals and added 28 assists that season.  His father, John, was an assistant Basketball coach at UMass-Amherst from 2001-05.  His hometown of Amherst, settled in 1703, and incorporated in 1759, has a population of 38,000 who are spread among the town’s 27 square miles.  In addition to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, it is home to Hampshire College, and Amherst College.  Amherst sits in the Connecticut River Valley, and it gets chilly there in the winter.  The record low is -30 degrees, and the average high/low in January are 34/13.

Friday night in Amherst, Massachusetts got on the board first when Anthony Del Gaizo scored only three minutes into the first period.  But UMass got sloppy and a defender lost track of his assignment, who bolted to the net and scored for AIC on a quick pass to tie it at one apiece only three minutes later, which is how the first ended.  By a combination of a mountain of time in the penalty box, and some basic undisciplined play, UMass was held scoreless for fifty-four minutes after their first goal.  In the third period John Leonard scored what would be the game winning goal, with only three minutes left.  Only thirty-six seconds later, Cal Kiefiuk added a goal to make it 3-1, UMass, and with only a minute left in the game, it was John Leonard who found the empty net on an AIC extra-attacker lineup, to make the final 4-1 UMass.

The University of Massachusetts enrolls 24,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students on its 1,500 acre campus just north of downtown Amherst.  It offers 109 undergraduate degree programs, 77 master’s degree programs, and 48 Ph.D.programs.  It was founded in 1863 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College; in 1931 it became Massachusetts State College; it became the University of Massachusetts in 1947.  Its sports teams are called the Minutemen, and their colors are Maroon, Black, and White.  UMass basketball gave the world Julius Erving; Dr. J. really invented the emphasized vertical game in basketball, or at least took it to “new heights.”  UMass Hockey plays in the 8,600 seat Mullins Center, which was built in 1993.  UMass has two NCAA DI Tournament appearances in its history, in 2007 in which they won in the opening game, and lost in the second round, and last season in which they made it to the final game. They also claim the longest college hockey game ever, played in the 2015 Hockey East Tournament against Notre Dame, in which UMass prevailed towards the end of the fifth overtime, at the 151 minute and 42 second point, by the score of 4-3.  A couple of notable UMass hockey alumni are Jonathan Quick, goalie of the Los Angeles Kings, who was with the team for two Stanley Cup Championships, and Conor Sheary, forward on the Buffalo Sabres, who also was with the Pittsburgh Penguins for two Stanley Cup Championships.  Last year was an incredible turnaround for UMass by third year coach Greg Carvel (now in his fourth year), who played college hockey at St. Lawrence in his hometown of Canton, NY, from 1989-93, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1992.  In Carvel’s first year at UMass the team finished 5-29-2, and and in his second year improved to 17-20-2.  Last year they finished the season 31-10-0.  UMass-Amherst 4-0-1, and ranked #3, plays a home-and-home series this weekend against #10 Northeastern, at Northeastern tonight, and at home tomorrow night.

This weekend features two top-fifteen matchups in addition to UMass-Northeastern:  #7 Wisconsin plays the second of its two games at #12 Pennsylvania State tonight (Pennsylvania State beat Wisconsin in the first game last night, after the poll came out earlier in the week); and Saturday night #8 Providence College hosts #15 Boston College for one game.

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

[table id=199 /]

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

— Tom