College Hockey Update:  Last week featured one top ten matchup, and Boston College edged down to #5 after splitting a home-and-home series with Massachusetts, losing at home to UMass Friday night, and winning at UMass Saturday night; UMass held at #10 on the results of the weekend.  Elsewhere, Cornell edged up to a shared #1 after its win at Rensselaer Friday night, then settling on a tie at Union Saturday night; North Dakota held at #1 after it hosted, lost to, then beat Nebraska-Omaha.  Mankato held at #3 after sweeping its weekend at Ferris State; Denver edged up to #4 after hosting and sweeping St. Cloud State; and Pennsylvania State held at #6 after its win at Robert Morris Saturday night.  Clarkson held at #7 after it hosted and beat both Princeton and Quinnipiac; Minnesota-Duluth edged up to #8 after it hosted, beat, and then tied Western Michigan, and Ohio State edged down to #9 after splitting its weekend at Wisconsin.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Cornell had huge help from junior forward Tristan Mullin, of Cartwright, MAN., who scored a goal and added an assist in Friday’s 3-0 win at RPI, and scored a goal and added an assist in Saturday’s 3-3 tie at Union.  The 6’2″ 196lb forward is fourth on his team in goals scored, with five, and is tied for tenth in assists, with five.  As a sophomore he tied for fifth in goals with eight, and tied for fifth in assists, with thirteen; his freshman year he tied for tenth in goals with four, and tied for nineteenth in assists with two.  His hometown of Cartwright saw its first white settlement in 1879, and is home to 302 residents today.  While the town was initially founded on Badger Creek, it moved two miles away in its entirety in 1885 to be right on the new railroad line.  It is located seven miles north of the North Dakota border, due north of a place called Hansboro, North Dakota (which is eleven miles south of the border with Canada, and 100 miles west of the border with Minnesota).  When I saw the name Cartwright, I was going to make a bad joke that they had a place there called the Ponderosa, only to find out that in reality, the big festival of the year in Cartwright is called . . . . Ponderosa Days!  It is held on an annual Canadian long weekend in August, and features the Ponderosa Days Parade.  So shame on me!  Surprisingly (to me) Cartwright is home to two trailer manufacturers, a truss rafter manufacturer, a ready-to-move house manufacturer, and about a dozen additional, smaller manufacturers, that collectively employ over 100.

Friday night at RPI, Tristan Mullin got Cornell on the board seventeen minutes into the first on a power play when he was at the left side of the RPI net and one-timed a quick pass across the crease for the 1-0 lead, which, with Matthew Galajda stopping all twenty-five RPI shots, would prove to be the game winner.  Cornell dominated the momentum of the first, out-shooting RPI 16-3.  In the second it was more Cornell domination as they out-shot RPI 14-6, and increased their lead to 3-0 on goals at the seven minute point by Brendan Locke (assisted by Tristan Mullin), and at the nine minute point by Jeff Malott.  The scoreless third period was more evenly played, with RPI having an 8-7 shot advantage.  Saturday night Tristan Mullin again scored the first goal of the night three minutes into the period, to give Cornell a 1-0 lead over Union.  But Union scored later in the first to tie it up, and again late in the second on a power play to take the 2-1 lead into the third.  One minute into the third Michael Regush scored (assisted by Tristan Mullin) to tie it at two apiece, but Union scored on another power play to take the 3-2 lead nine minutes into the frame.  Only a minute later Brendan Locke scored his second of the weekend for Cornell, making it 3-3.  The teams skated scoreless for the last ten minutes of regulation, and the five minute OT frame as well, to end in a 3-3 tie.

This season the five players that lead the Cornell team in goals — Morgan Barron (9), Brendan Locke (8), Michael Regush (6), Tristan Mullin (5), and Jeff Malott (4) — account for thirty-one of the fifty-five goals scored by the team (56%).  And the six players that lead the team in assists — Cam Donaldson (11), Morgan Barron (9), Yanis Kaldis (9), and Brendan Locke, Alex Green and Sam Malinski, with eight apiece — account for 53 of the 102 assists made (53%).  With only two players making both these “leaders” lists, Cornell has a lot of guys — nine — accounting for the majority of its offensive production.  Throw in Matthew Galajda, who has played every minute of every game, compiling a .939 saves percentage and a GAA of 1.46 along the way, and you might have explained most of what’s going on with this team.   Cornell, 12-1-2, and newly ranked #1, hosts #17 Northern Michigan for two games this weekend.

This weekend features two top ten vs. top fifteen matchups, as #3 Mankato travels to play two games at #15 Bowling Green, and #5 Boston College will play one game Friday night at #13 Massachusetts-Lowell.

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

[table id=209 /]

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

— Tom