COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE:  Far too late again, so will only cover the top twelve this week, and here we go with the sole top-twelve matchup last weekend in which Michigan held on to the #2 ranking after hosting, settling on a tie with, and then beating, Pennsylvania State — Penn State held at #6 on the results.  Elsewhere, North Dakota held at #3 after hosting and sweeping Miami of Ohio; and Western Michigan held at #4 after hosting and sweeping Arizona State.  Quinnipiac held at #5 after sweeping a home and home series against Princeton; Providence held at #7 after hosting and splitting the weekend with New Hampshire; and Denver held at #8 after visiting and sweeping Nebraska-Omaha.

Connecticut edged up to #10 after beating, and then settling on a tie at Maine; Cornell dropped two spots to #11 after settling on a tie at R.P.I. and then losing at Union College; and Boston College moved up two spots to #12 after hammering Boston University in the Beanpot Final last Monday night, February 9th, then splitting a home and home series with Merrimack College last weekend.  Michigan held at #1 on its idle weekend, and Minnesota-Duluth, also idle, edged up to #9 on Cornell’s rocky weekend.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Michigan had huge help from its junior forward Nick Moldenauer, of Mississauga, ONT., who scored two goals and added an assist in his team’s 6-3 win at home over Pennsylvania State last Saturday night, following their tie Friday night.  The 5’10” 180lb junior is tied for fifth on his team in goals scored, with twelve, and is tied for sixth in assists, with thirteen.  Moldenauer, who was selected with the 95th pick (3rd round) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2022 NHL entry draft, was tied for thirteenth in goals scored, with three, and tied for twelfth in assists, with seven, his sophomore season; as a freshman he tied for sixth in goals scored, with eight, and was eleventh in assists, with thirteen.  His hometown of Mississauga, Ontario, is home to its 718,000 residents who are spread out among 113 square miles, and sits at an elevation of 512 feet.  It borders Toronto on its eastern side, and was founded in 1805.

Last Saturday night it was all Michigan as Cole McKinney put them up 1-0 eight minutes into the first, and was followed about three minutes later when Nick Moldenauer scored off of a rebound to extend the lead to 2-0.  Pennsylvania State answered a couple of minutes later to tighten it back to 2-1, the score at the first break.  The second played much tighter, and Jayden Perron scored the sole goal of the period (assist by Nick Moldenauer) thirteen minutes into the period to again extend the lead to 3-1, the score at the second break.  The first half of the third again played tighter, but things became unraveled for Pennsylvania State when a Will Horcoff goal put Michigan up 4-1 on a power play at the midpoint, and was followed just three minutes later when Adam Valenti struck to make it 5-1.  Pennsylvania State didn’t give up, and scored three minutes later on a power play and then two minutes later full-strength, tightening things to 5-3.  With time running out it was Nick Moldenauer who found the empty net with a minute left in the game to make the final score 6-3, Michigan.  Michigan Hockey is coached by fourth-year coach and 2009 Michigan alum Brandon Naurato, who has a 91-47-10 record to date.  This will be his third season out of four winning twenty-plus games and taking his team to the NCAA Tournament (all of this eerily similar to Adam Nightingale of Michigan State, covered last week).  Michigan, 24-5-1, and ranked #2, travels to play a pair Friday and Saturday nights at Wisconsin with tonight’s game starting at 5pm Pacific Time, shortly after this item will post today.

This weekend also provides two top-twelve matchups as #5 Quinnipiac will host #11 Cornell for one game tonight, and #14 Boston College will host #10 Connecticut tonight, with Connecticut hosting the second game tomorrow night.

The regular season is drawing to a quick end here.  Four of the conferences will play this weekend and end the regular season next weekend — Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, the ECAC, and the NCHC.  The Big Ten and Hockey East will play one weekend longer.  All conferences will go into their conference playoffs the weekend following the end of their regular seasons.

This provides the top ten teams, rankings, and records, in Monday’s poll:

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned and go Terriers ! (??)

— Tom