We had a couple of heralded matchups last weekend, and starting things off, then #1 New Hampshire hosted then #7 Boston University on Thursday night, and BU went up early, with a 3-0 lead midway in the second.  But New Hampshire shut BU down for the remainder of the game and scored two goals to make it 3-2 with eight minutes remaining, but BU held on for the 3-2 win.  BU did itself no favors with ten penalties and twenty minutes in the box, but UNH was only able to capitalize on one of the opportunites, scoring their first goal in the second period on a powerplay.  BU additionally beat Maine Saturday night 1-0.  UNH is now at #2 in the rankings, and BU is at #6.

In our other heralded matchup, then #6 Denver travelled to play two at then #9 North Dakota.  This one had interesting written all over it, as Denver had hit a recent rough patch and deviated from their very strong start and winning ways, and North Dakota seemed to be strong, yet have the tendency to drop games at the same time.  This one seemed like a possible pivotal weekend for each team.  Friday night the two teams see-sawed, trading goals in the first thirty minutes of the game, playing to a 2-2 tie to that point.  Then they stalemated for the next thirty minutes to end it in that score, 2-2.  Saturday night was a whole different story, as Denver scored first, but North Dakota fired back with four unanswered goals to go up 4-1.  Denver came back late in the second with two power play goals within 17 seconds of each other to make it a 4-3 game.  But North Dakota scored again late in the third to make it 5-3 and then with a minute left found and empty net to make it a 6-3 final.  The weekend elevated North Dakota to the #8 ranking, and dropped Denver to #11.

Elsewhere, newly #1 Boston College thought they had it in the bag against a very determined Providence as BC led 2-0 and then 3-1 early in the third, but Providence scored right after BC’s thrird goal to make it 3-2 and held on until late in the game, when adding an extra attacker paid off as they scored with eleven seconds to go, to tie it up 3-3.  Providence held on in OT to take home, and send BC back to Boston with, the tie.  #3 Notre Dame swept Michigan State, #4 Minnesota earned a win and a tie against Colorado College, and #5 Miami of Ohio split with Lake Superior State.  #7 Western Michigan swept Feris State, and #9 Quinnipiac swept Princeton.  #10 Dartmouth beat Vermont, one game, and #12 Cornell was idle.

In the next two weeks, Hockey East and the ECAC will be almost entirely off until December 27, while the WCHA and the CCHA will play this weekend.  Top matches for this weekend are #14 UNO travelling to #20 Mankato for two games, and #17 St. Cloud State hosting #21 Colorado College for two games.

Do you have a view on the top ten or top twelve teams?  I’m providing my view on the top ten, and providing another view from our Contributing Field Reporter, Greg Schreader, and here’s what we came up with — you can compare it to the rankings below.  If you have your own view, feel free to post it in comments on the site.

• Greg:  1.UNH 2.BC 3.Minn 4.N Dame 5.Miami 6.BU 7.W Mich 8.N Dak 9.Denv 10.Dart
• Tom:  1.BC 2.UNH 3.Minn 4.N Dame 5.Miami 6.BU 7.N Dak 8.W Mich 9.Denv 10.Quinn

This provides the top twelve teams, rankings, records, and most recent results:

[table id=51 /]

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

— Tom