College Hockey Update:  Last weekend with so many teams in first round conference playoffs, there were only four top-twenty teams in two top-twenty matchups, with North Dakota edging down to #5 after splitting its weekend at Nebraska-Omaha, which edged UNO up to #19; and St. Cloud State edged up to #9 after splitting its weekend at Minnesota-Duluth, which also edged UMD up to #10 (both teams benefited from the #9 team being surprisingly swept on the weekend).

Mankato held at #1 after hosting and sweeping St. Thomas; and Denver held at #3 after sweeping a home-and-home series with Colorado College.  Michigan edged up to #5 after hosting and sweeping Michigan State; Western Michigan edged up to #7 after sweeping Miami-of-Ohio; and Notre Dame edged down to #8 after hosting, and losing to Wisconsin, and then winning two against Wisconsin.  Northeastern moved up two spots to #11 after a loss at Vermont, and then hosting and sweeping Merrimack; Massachusetts-Amherst dropped three notches after getting swept in a home-and-home series against Boston College; and Michigan Tech moved up two rungs to #13 after hosting and sweeping Ferris State.  Massachusetts-Lowell moved up two slots to #14 after sweeping a home-and-home series against New Hampshire; Ohio State dropped three spots to #15 after hosting, winning one, and then losing two to Pennsylvania State; and Boston University dropped two notches to #16 after splitting its weekend at Maine.  An idle Minnesota held at #2; idle Quinnipiac held at #6; idle Clarkson edged up to #17; idle Cornell edged down to #18; and idle Providence edged down to #20.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Denver had huge help from its sophomore forward Carter Savoie, of St. Albert, Alberta, who tallied an assist in his team’s 5-0 win Friday night, then scored two goals and added an assist in his team’s 5-2 win Saturday night as his team swept their home-and-home weekend series against Colorado College.  The 5’10” 193lb forward is tied for first on his team in goals scored, with twenty, and is sixth on the team in assists, with twenty.  During his freshman year he was first on the team in goals scored, with thirteen, and he tied for sixth in assists, with seven.  Savoie was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL entry draft by the Edmonton Oilers with the one-hundredth pick overall.  Founded in 1861, Carter Savoie’s hometown of St. Albert, Alberta, is home to 68,000 residents spread among its forty-eight square miles.  It sits on the Sturgeon River at an elevation of 2,300 feet, bordering Edmonton. St. Albert is also the birthplace of NHL great Mark Messier.  Does it get cold there? You betcha, with its record low of -57 degrees.

Friday night in Colorado Springs it was all Denver, as they outshot their host Colorado College 36-19.  Bobby Brink scored first for Denver (assist by Carter Savoie) for what would prove to be the game-winning goal, and was followed seven minutes later by a Cameron Wright goal, to make it 2-0, Denver.  In the second, goals by Kyle Mayhew and Connor Caponi extended the Denver lead to 4-0.  And the final goal by Carter Mazur in the third period gave Denver the 5-0 win.  Saturday night in Denver was a little bit different, but Carter Savoie opened the scoring on a power play goal nine minutes into the first for the 1-0 Denver lead, and it was followed four minutes later by a Brett Stapley goal, making it 2-0, which they took into the first break.  In the second, Ryan Barrow scored on the opening faceoff to make it 3-0, Denver, only eighteen seconds in the period.  Carter Savoie scored for Denver twelve minutes later, to make it 4-0, the score they took into the second break.  Denver had outshot Colorado College 29-7 in the first two periods.  But in the third, CC came out in a flurry, and scored a minute into the period to cut the lead to 4-1.  Denver scored four minutes later to extend the lead to 5-1, but the CC energy continued and resulted in a power play goal with a minute remaining to make the final score 5-2, Denver.  Colorado College outshot Denver 18-6 in the final frame.

The University of Denver was founded as a Methodist Seminary in 1864 by Governor John Evans, and was named the University of Denver in 1888.  It enrolls 5,700 undergraduates, and 5,900 graduate students.  In 1925 its sports teams were named the Pioneers, and they have won 24 NCAA Ski Team Titles, the most of all schools.  The University of Denver has won the NCAA Hockey Championship eight times (tied with North Dakota for second-most, right behind Michigan’s nine), most recently five seasons back, in 2017, giving them three NCAA Titles in this century alone.  Coach David Carle, an Anchorage, Alaska native, is in his fourth season, having started with an impressive 24-12-5 rooking campaign that saw the Pioneers reach Frozen Four in the NCAA Tournament.  The hockey team plays its home games in the 6,000 seat Magness Arena, completed and opened in September of 1999.  Denver, 25-8-1, and ranked #3, hosts Miami University of Ohio this weekend for a best-two-of three match in opening round action of the NCHC Tournament.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TWENTY MATCHUPS

Even though we are in early stages of tournament play, there are already three known top-twenty matchups, as #4 Michigan will host #8 Notre Dame Saturday night in one of two Big Ten semifinal games.  #7 Western Michigan will host #19 Nebraska-Omaha, and #9 St. Cloud State will host #10 Minnesota-Duluth, both in best-two-of-three matchups in opening round play of the NCHC Tournament.

THIS WEEK’S/WEEKEND’S CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

All games are single game elimination at the campus of the higher seed, Friday night, unless otherwise noted.

Atlantic Hockey

Well that didn’t last long.  All four of these matchups are best two-of-three.

• Bentley University at #22 American International College
• The United States Air Force Academy at The United States Military Academy (Army)
• Mercyhurst University at Canisius College
• Sacred Heart University at Rochester Institute of Technology

Big Ten

These two semifinal games will be played Saturday night.

• #27 Pennsylvania State at #2 Minnesota
• #8 Notre Dame at #4 University of Michigan

CCHA

These two semifinal games will be played Saturday night.

• #23 Northern Michigan University at #1 Mankato State University
• #25 Bemidji State University at #13 Michigan Technological University

ECAC

These four pairings will all be best two-of-three.

• St. Lawrence University at #6 Quinnipiac
• Union College at #17 Clarkson University
• Colgate University at #18 Cornell University
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at #21 Harvard University

HOCKEY EAST

These first three opening round games will be played tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 9, to determine the three teams to play the three highest seeds.

• University of Vermont at #20 Providence College
• University of Maine at #23 Merrimack College
• University of New Hampshire at Boston College

The Hockey East quarterfinals will then be played this Saturday night, March 12.

• TBD at #11 Northeastern University
• TBD at #12 University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• TBD at #14 University of Massachusetts at Lowell
• #16 Boston University at #26 University of Connecticut

NCHC

These first four opening round pairings are best two-of-three, but they are functionally quarterfinal matches.

• Miami of Ohio at #3 University of Denver
• Colorado College at #5 University of North Dakota
• #19 University of Nebraska-Omaha at #7 Western Michigan University
• #10 University of Minnesota-Duluth at #9 St. Cloud State University

ONE ADDITIONAL PAIRING

I think it’s just great that the only two Independents will play each other this weekend.  It looks as though it’s only two games scheduled, but wouldn’t it be great if it were a best-two-of three for their own championship?

• Long Island University at Arizona State University

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

[table id=234 /]

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

— Tom