College Hockey Update:  Last week’s opening round conference tournament play presented, not surprisingly, no top-twenty matchups, so here we go:  Boston College held at #1 after hosting and beating New Hampshire; and North Dakota held at #2 after hosting and beating Miami of Ohio.  Mankato State held at #3 after hosting and sweeping Ferris State; and Minnesota held at #4 after beating Michigan State at Notre Dame.  Massachusetts edged up to #6 after hosting and beating Northeastern; Michigan edged down to #7 after beating Ohio State at Notre Dame; and St. Cloud State held at #8 after beating Colorado College at North Dakota; Minnesota-Duluth held at #9 after hosting and beating Western Michigan; Boston University dropped two spots to #11 after hosting and losing to UMass-Lowell (BU played brilliantly for the first three minutes of the first period); and Nebraska-Omaha edged down to #12 after losing to Denver at North Dakota.  Bemidji State moved up two pegs to #13 after hosting and sweeping Michigan Tech; Providence moved up three rungs to #14 after winning at Connecticut; and Bowling Green dropped three notches to #16 after hosting and losing two of three to Northern Michigan.  Lake Superior State edged up to #17 after hosting and sweeping Alabama-Huntsville; Army entered the top twenty at #19 after hosting and sweeping Sacred Heart; and Notre Dame edged down to #20 after hosting and losing to Pennsylvania State.  An idle Wisconsin held at #5; idle Quinnipiac moved up two slots to #10; idle American International edged up to #15 (these guys have not played a game since Saturday, January 30th — talk about the playoffs being a new season!); and idle Clarkson dropped four spots to #18.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend, Minnesota-Duluth had huge help from senior forward Koby Bender, of Cloquet, MN. (do you really think I could resist doing a feature on a guy from Minnesota with the last name of “Bender?”), who scored two goals Saturday night in his team’s NCHC Tournament opening round game against Western Michigan, helping his team earn a 5-4 win to advance to the second round Monday night against St. Cloud State. Monday night he scored another goal, but things didn’t go as well for Duluth, as St. Cloud St. prevailed by a 3-2 score.  The 6′ 1″ 200 lb senior is fifth on his team in goals scored, with six, and is fourth in assists, with twelve.  As a junior he tied for tenth in goals, with five, and tied for thirteenth in assists, with three; as a sophomore he tied for fourteenth in goals, with three, and he tallied one assist; as freshman he did not score any goals, and he tallied one assist.  His hometown of Cloquet is home to 12,000 residents spread among its thirty-five square miles at an elevation of 1,200 feet.  The first plan for streets and blocks was drawn up in 1883, it was incorporated as a village in 1884, and was incorporated as a city in 1904.  Part of Cloquet sits within, and serves as one of three administrative centers of, the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation.  Do you know how many gas stations Frank Lloyd Wright designed?  One, and you can find the R. W. Lindholm Service Station right there at 202 Cloquet Avenue, in Cloquet.  Oh, and this place, as many places in the far north, does get legitimately cold.  As in an average low in January of 1 degree, and average high in January of twenty degrees.  Today at the time of this writing however, it is a balmy thirty-eight degrees there, right on target for the average daytime high in March.

Saturday night in Grand Forks, N.D., Koby Bender put Duluth on the board only two minutes into the first, to give his team a 1-0 lead over Western Michigan.  Eight minutes later Western Michigan responded with a goal to tie it at one apiece, as it stood going into the first break; the pace of the first was pretty even, and Western Michigan out shot Duluth eleven to ten in the frame.  Western Michigan took a 2-1 lead halfway through the second on a power play goal, but six minutes later Duluth had a power play opportunity, and once again it was Koby Bender who scored, to tie it up at two apiece.  But Western Michigan was in this game for real, and scored with only a minute left in the second, to take a 3-2 lead into the second break.  Play was again even in the second, with each team registering ten shots.  Four minutes into the third Kobe Roth scored for Duluth on a power play, tying it at three apiece.  And four minutes later Cole Koepke netted on to give his Bulldogs the 4-3 lead.  And again the Broncos of Western Michigan replied to the alarms, scoring with just a minute left to tie it up at 4-4, as it stood at the end of regulation.  Play in the third was again even, with the Broncos out shooting Duluth nine to eight.  Duluth had more momentum in overtime, but it took fourteen minutes of play for their eight to five shot advantage to pay off, when Connor Kelley netted one for the 5-4 Duluth win. In Monday night’s semifinal game in Grand Forks, St. Cloud State scored seven minutes into the first to take the 1-0 lead, and Kobe Roth capitalized on another power play opportunity, scoring to tie it up for Duluth at one apiece.  But St. Cloud State scored on a power play of their own with two minutes left, for the 2-1 lead they took into the first break.  Play was even in the first, with each team registering eleven shots.  In a second period that saw St. Cloud State hammering the Duluth net, it was Koby Bender who scored thirteen minutes into the period to tie it up for his Bulldogs at two apiece.  But St. Cloud scored on a five on four with only three minutes to go in the second to take a 3-2 lead into the second break, after dominating the period in shots, eighteen to six.  In the third Duluth had the momentum, out shooting St. Cloud nine to five, but they could’t convert, and St. Cloud captured the 3-2 win, and advanced to play North Dakota in the NCHC Conference Championship Game on Tuesday night.

The University of Minnesota at Duluth was established in 1947 and has roots going back to 1902, originally as a teachers’ college.  It enrolls 9,200 undergraduates, 700 graduate students, and 1,300 other students on its 244 acre, fifty building campus.  UMD comprises eight schools and colleges and offers fourteen degrees in 85 majors, as well as twenty-six graduate programs.  1980 Olympic hockey players John Harrington and Mark Pavelich both played hockey at UMD, and both are credited with assists on Mike Eruzione’s winning goal against the Russians in those Olympics.  Brett Hull played for two years at UMD as well.  The UMD athletic teams are the Bulldogs, and the UMD Hockey head coach is Scott Sandelin, who is in his twenty-first season there, with a 405-331-91 record to date.  Sandelin played college hockey at North Dakota.  His UMD teams have made nine NCAA Tournament appearances, four times in the final championship game, including all of the last three tournaments.  In addition his teams won the championship in 2011, and the last two tournaments, 2018, and 2019.  Defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth, 14-9-2, and ranked #9, is now waiting to learn who and where they’ll play in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Championship Tournament.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TWENTY MATCHUPS

Well, let’ see here, as we report both games that have happened (since the poll came out), and games that are coming up:  #2 North Dakota prevailed over #8 St. Cloud State last night to take the NCHC Championship, and we already reported that #8 St. Cloud beat #9 Minnesota-Duluth on Monday night, above.  In addition, #4 Minnesota beat #7 Michigan in a Big Ten semifinal Monday night, and then #4 Minnesota beat #5 Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game last night.  So the NCHC and the Big Ten are done.  Tonight #6 Massachusetts beat # 14 Providence.  This weekend the only top twenty matchup scheduled #13 Bemidji State hosting #17 Lake Superior State. Additional top twenty matchups can and likely will occur in three of the four conferences finishing their tournaments this weekend.

REMAINING PLAYOFF GAMES COMING UP (all games are single game elimination at campus of higher seed on Friday, with winners facing each other the next night, Saturday, unless otherwise noted):

Atlantic Hockey, games at Mass Mutual Center, Springfield, MA.

• #15 American International College vs. Niagara University
• #19 U. S. Military Academy at West Point (Army) vs. Canisius College
• Bentley University cancelled remaining play for 2020-21

ECAC

• Colgate University at St. Lawrence University
• Winner faces #10 Quinnipiac University at Quinnipiac, Saturday
• #18 Clarkson cancelled remaining play for 2020-21

Hockey East, Saturday, March 20th

• University of Massachusetts-Lowell at #6 University of Massachusetts
• UMass-Lowell beat both #11 Boston University and #1 Boston College

WCHA, all games at Mankato State University

• Northern Michigan University at #3 Mankato State University
• #13 Bemidji State University vs. #17 Lake Superior State University

THE NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL

Here’s what will happen next for us readers:  I’ll send the NCAA tournament bracket Monday night, March 22nd via email.  When you receive it, please make your picks and email to me right away, following the directions on how to send me your picks (in a single typewritten line), by the deadline, Thursday, March 25th.  It’s right around the corner, the NCAA Tournament and the Frozen Four!  Who do you think will make it to the Frozen Four?

NOTE:  You should be receiving two notices when there is a new posting:  1) One via an email directly from me, during the day when the posting is made; and 2) One via an email from the system hosting the website, at night, after I have sent out my email.  If you are only receiving the night time email from the system hosting the site each time there is a new posting, you will not receive a bracket from me, since brackets are sent via my personal email, so you should send an email to me right now advising me of this, and I’ll add you to one of three email lists to which I send notices.   Send an email to my personal email address:  [email protected]

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

[table id=227 /]

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

— Tom