College Hockey Update:  Last weekend featured a top-twelve matchup, and Massachusetts held at #8 after splitting their home-and-home weekend with Massachusetts-Lowell, with each team winning at home, which moved UMass-Lowell up two spots and into the top twelve at #12.  Elsewhere, Cornell edged up to #1 after sweeping its weekend on the road at both Yale and Brown; and Mankato State edged up to #2 after hosting and sweeping Alabama-Huntsville in rather convincing fashion.  North Dakota dropped two pegs to #3 after a tie and a loss at St. Cloud State; and Boston College moved up two notches to #4 after sweeping its home-and-home weekend with Northeastern, tumbling the Huskies down three slots and out of the top twelve to #13.

Minnesota-Duluth edged down to #5 after splitting its weekend at Western Michigan; Denver edged up to #6 after hosting and sweeping Miami-of-Ohio; and Clarkson dropped down two spots to #7 after their weekend at home yielded a loss to Harvard, and a win over Dartmouth.  Pennsylvania State moved up two pegs to #9 after they hosted, tied, and beat Minnesota; Ohio State moved up two notches to #10 after sweeping their weekend at Michigan State; and Bemidji State moved up two slots and into the top twelve at #11 after they beat and tied Alaska-Anchorage on the road.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Bemidji State had huge help from senior forward Adam Brady, of Delhi, ONT, who scored two goals in his team’s 4-1 win Friday night at Alaska-Anchorage.  The 5’11” 202lb senior is first on his team in goals, with 17, and is fourth in assists, with 14.  As a junior he was sixth in goals, with eight, and third in assists, with thirteen; as a sophomore he was fifth in goals, with eight, and was tied for second in assists, with eighteen; and as a freshman he did not get into any games.  His hometown of Delhi is home to 4,200 residents in its three square miles, and it sits about 100 miles due west of Buffalo, NY, about 160 miles east of Detroit, MI., and 90 miles southwest of Toronto, ONT.  It was settled in 1812 by Frederick Sovereen, who, amazingly enough, grew tobacco there, pressed it, and maufactured plug tobacco.  Dehli bills itself as “The Heart Of Tobacco Country,” and signs stating this greet visitors as they enter the town.  It was established as Sovereen’s Corners in 1826, incorporated in 1893, and absorbed into the Delhi Township in 1974.

Friday night in Anchorage Adam Brady scored at the end of the first period to put Bemidji State up 1-0 in a pretty evenly played period in which Bemidji held a 10-8 shots advantage.  Five minutes into the second Brady struck again on a power play opportunity to increase the Bemidji lead to 2-0, and five minutes later Carter Jones scored to make it 3-0, Bemidji, which was the score at the end of the second, as Bemidji dominated the pace in the period, out-shooting Anchorage 11-3.  Only a minute into the third Owen Sillinger extended the Bemidji lead to 4-0, and Bemidji dominated the third as well, out-shooting Anchorage 12-6.  Anchorage scored on a power play with time running out in the game, to make the final 4-1.  Saturday night wasn’t as easy for Bemidji.  Charlie Combs scored six minutes into the first to give Bemidji a 1-0 lead as they controlled the pace in the first, out-shooting Anchorage 11-6.  The pace evened up in the second, as Bemidji had a shots advantage of 12-10, and Anchorage scored to tie it at one apiece with time running out in the period.  Anchorage scored again, three minutes into the third on a power play, to take the 2-1 lead, and they controlled the pace of the period, out-shooting Bemidji 16-6.  But Bemidji came through with a short-handed goal with three minutes left to tie it at two apiece and send it into OT.  Neither team scored in the five minute OT frame, and this one went down in the books as a 2-2 tie.

Bemidji State was founded in 1919 as a teachers’s college; it became Bemidji State College in 1975, and in 1998 it became Bemdji State University, or Minnesota State University-Bemidji.  It enrolls 5,900 undergraduates, and another 500 graduate students among its forty-seven different area of study.  It is located in Bemidji, MN., a town of 15,000 residents among its fourteen square miles at an elevation of 1,365 feet.  It sits on the shores of Lake Bemidji, including a picturesque isthmus between it and Lake Irving, on the southeastern edge of Buena Vista State Forest, and a few miles northwest of Chippewa National Forest.  This is all in the northernmost quarter of the state, so yes, we are talking some serious cold country.  The Bemidji teams are called the Beavers, and their colors are green and white.  This team is a real point of pride among its alumni and Minnesotans of all walks, and many, many Minnesotans proudly wear their athletic gear — in fact one of our readers submitted this picture for us.

Bemidji State hockey started in 1946 and played until 1967 as a DI independent; it played from 1967 to 1981 as a DIII team, and switched to DII in 1982.  Bemidji switched to DI in 1999 as a founding member of the College Hockey America Conference, and switched to the WCHA in 2010.  Bemidji has been coached by Tom Serratore (Bemidji ’87) since 1999, and during that time he as coached them into the NCAA Tournament four times, in 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010, including a trip to the Frozen Four in 2009.  Now in his twentieth season, Serratore’s teams have a cumulative record of 315-295-89.  Bemidji State, 19-8-5, and now ranked #11, hosts #2 Mankato State this weekend for two games, for some serious top-twelve matchup action.  Incidentally, I understand that just a moment after this picture was taken, this proud Minnesotan broke into the “Bemidji Beaver Strut,” or some such thing, for a minute or two.  The CHU editorial staff is working diligently on obtaining the video of this, and will post it immediately if it is obtained.

This weekend also features another top-twelve matchup as #1 Cornell will host #7 Clarkson on Saturday night.

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

[table id=215 /]

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

— Tom