COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE:  Last week presented a pair of top twenty matchups, and Wisconsin moved up two spots to #5 after splitting its weekend at Michigan, which edged the Wolverines up to #7; and Bowling Green tumbled two pegs to #14 after getting swept at home by Lake Superior State, lifting the Lakers into the top twenty at #20.  In addition to these two matchups from the weekend, #20 Lake Superior beat #18 Michigan Tech on Tuesday night, after the poll came out.  Boston College held at #1 after sweeping a home and home series from Massachusetts-Lowell; and North Dakota held at #2 after hosting and sweeping Denver. Mankato State held at #3 after sweeping its weekend at Alabama-Huntsville; and Minnesota edged up to #4 after sweeping its weekend at Notre Dame. St. Cloud State held at #6 after splitting its weekend at Miami of Ohio; and Minnesota-Duluth dropped four notches to #8 after hosting and getting swept by Western Michigan.

Nebraska-Omaha edged up to #9 after hosting and sweeping Colorado College; Boston University moved up two slots to #11 after sweeping its weekend at Vermont; and Quinnipiac edged down to #12 after settling on a tie, then earning a win at Colgate.  Providence edged up to #15 after hosting and beating Connecticut; Northeastern moved up two spots to #16 after sweeping its weekend at New Hampshire; and Michigan Tech entered the top twenty at #18 after hosting and sweeping Ferris State.  An idle Massachusetts edged down to #10; idle Clarkson edged up to #13; idle American International edged down to #16; and idle Robert Morris held at #19.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Wisconsin had huge help from sophomore forward Dylan Holloway, of Bragg Creek, ALB., who scored a goal and added an assist Sunday night in his team’s 3-2 win, helping his team to salvage a split on their weekend at Michigan.  The 6’1″ 203 lb sophomore is tied for second in goals scored on his team, with eight, and is second in assists, with seventeen.  As a freshman he tied for fifth on the team in goals scored, with eight, and tied for ninth in assists, with nine.  He went very high in the 2020 NHL entry draft, getting selected with the fourteenth pick overall by the Edmonton Oilers.  Holloway’s hometown of Bragg Creek saw its first white settlement in 1894, and is a little spot that is home to only 590 residents spread among four square miles at an elevation of 3,440 feet.  It sits at the confluence of Bragg Creek and the Elbow River, about nineteen miles west of Calgary.  Its proximity makes it a great spot for day trips from Calgary, particularly for those who like cross country skiing.

Sunday night in Ann Arbor Dylan Holloway put Wisconsin on the board nine minutes into the first to give the Badgers the 1-0 lead, which held to the end of the frame.  Play was pretty even, as Wisconsin fired off seven shots to Michigan’s five in the largely defensive period.  Things opened up in the second, and Michigan tied it up 1-1 at the thirteen minute point, but Roman Ahcan found the net on a power play five minutes later and the Badgers regained the lead, 2-1, as it stood going into the third.  Wisconsin again had a narrow advantage in shots in the second, 14-12.  In the third Dominick Mersch struck immediately to give Wisconsin the 3-1 lead, and then the Badgers largely controlled the tempo from then on, with a 13-9 shots advantage.  Michigan added an extra attacker with a little under three minutes left and it paid off right away, as they narrowed the score to a 3-2 game.  But Wisconsin was up to the task and they tightened things up, and the game ended 3-2 Wisconsin, for the split on the weekend. This was a huge reversal from the previous night when Mathieu De St. Phalle put Wisconsin on the board for the 1-0 first period lead, as Wisconsin had an 11-7 shots advantage.  In the second Michigan had a slim 12-11 shots advantage, but boy oh boy did they make them count, racking up four unanswered goals in the frame for a 4-1 lead going into the third.  Michigan dominated the action in the third with a 17-8 shots advantage.  Wisconsin was largely back on their heels yet managed to hold Michigan off until the fifteen minute point, when the Wolverines scored the proverbial icing on the cake goal to take the opening game of the weekend, 5-1.

Ok, the enlightened College Hockey Update reader already knows that there is no such animal as a golden gopher, and that Minnesota is known as the Gopher State not because of an affinity for gophers, but because of a group of determined Minnesotans who were “digging” for money for a new railroad.  So, how about Wisconsin, the Badger State?  Well, it’s sort of a similar story.  Early Wisconsinites of the 1820’s who were lead miners would initially live in the mines with their families until such time as they could build or arrange for above ground housing (I can’t imagine that living in and around lead twenty-four hours per day was too healthy . . . . . ).  Since these folks were living underground, they were referred to as “badgers.”  The name stuck and became the nickname for the state, and therefore of the University of Wisconsin, which was founded in 1848.  What a big school this is — it has 44,000 students, 30,000 of whom are undergraduates.  It is located on a 936 acre campus in Madison, the capitol of the state with a population of 260,000, and the key town in a population area of 655,000.  Madison was founded in 1836 as the capitol of the Territory of Wisconsin and it sits on an isthmus between two lakes, Mendota and Menona; it was named for President James Madison, and it has thirty-nine streets named after the other signers of the U.S. Constitution.  Wisconsin boasts a couple of major scientific discoveries by one of its professors, Elmer McCollum, namely Vitamin A in 1913, and Vitamin B in 1916.  Another professor, Harry Steenbrock, invented the process of adding Vitamin D to milk — irradiating with ultraviolet light.  And a couple of guys from Texas were in the band The Ardells at the University in the early sixties — Steve Miller started the band and was joined a year later by his childhood buddy Boz Scaggs; the two stayed together through Miller’s first two albums in 1968.

Hockey first started at the University in 1922, but was discontinued in 1935; it was reintroduced in 1963.  They have played at the Kohl Center (also used for UW basketball), which seats 15,000, since 1998.  Typically known for drawing large crowds, in 2009-10 Wisconsin had an average attendance of 15,048 for hockey games.  The Wisconsin mascot is named Buckingham U. Badger.  Wisconsin has won the NCAA Hockey Championship six times:  Three times, in 1973, 77, and 81, when coached by Bob Johnson, father of ’77 team member Mark Johnson, who also played on the 1980 Olympic goal medal team and who currently coaches the Wisconsin women’s hockey team; Two times,  in 1983 and 1990, when coached by Jeff Sauer;  and, Once in 2006, when coached by Mike Eaves, another member of the 1977 championship team.  The Badgers have been coached by Tony Granato since the 2016-17 season.  Granato was a monster college hockey player, playing wing at Wisconsin for four seasons, and racking up 100 goals and 120 assist for the Badgers from 1983 to 1987.  And it didn’t stop there, as he went on to play fourteen NHL season, compiling 248 goals and 244 assists over 774 games.  He was hired as an assistant coach by the Colorado Avalanche in 2002, and was promoted to head coach in December of that season, and held that position the following 2003-04 season as well.  He was then replaced as head coach and was an assistant the following four seasons, and again was head coach for the 2008-09 season.  He then went on to be an assistant coach on the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-14, and with the Red Wings from 2014-16.  In his first season as the coach of the Badgers his team had a twenty win season, which was followed by three fourteen win seasons for a total record of 62-74-12 for the four seasons.  Wisconsin, 14-8-0, and ranked #5, hosts Notre Dame for two games this weekend, Friday and Saturday nights.

This weekend presents a pair of top twenty matchups as #2 North Dakota hosts #9 Nebraska-Omaha for two games Friday and Saturday nights; and #18 Michigan Tech hosts #20 Lake Superior State this Tuesday night.

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

[table id=223 /]

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

— Tom