With only two weeks to go, the top twelve teams are solidifying — which teams on the fringe are going to come through, and which teams will fall out?  We are right around the corner from the conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament.   Who is going to be in Pittsburgh for the Frozen Four — what’s your bet?

Starting with last weekend’s heralded matchups, #1 Quinnipiac easily handled #15 Yale, and went on to tie Brown (Yale went on to beat Princeton). #4 Boston College battled to an OT win against #17 Merrimack, and then lost to #12 UMass-Lowell after this week’s poll came out; UMass-Lowell had quite a weekend/Tuesday as they swept #19 Boston University prior to beating BC. And BU managed to find a little daylight amidst the darkness that has descended upon them, as they got a convincing win against Merrimack Tuesday night. #6 North Dakota split with #10 Denver, first losing a close one and then taking a convincing win on Denver’s ice. #8 Western Michigan and #11 Notre Dame fought to two ties with each other.

In other action, #2 Minnesota managed a win and a tie against Minnesota-Duluth, and #3 Miami of Ohio swept Lake Superior State. #7 St. Cloud State split with Colorado College. St. Cloud State finds itself atop the standings of the WCHA by two points over Minnesota, by three points over North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha, and by four points over Mankato State. Should St. Cloud State win the WCHA regular season championship, it would be the first time ever, and it would be the last time ever for a regular season champion in the WCHA as we know it now, with its current member-teams. #14 Niagra swept Mercyhurst, and #16 Wisconsin split wtih Paterno State (should I even be reporting this — Paterno State isn’t even a DI team yet, is it?). #18 Dartmouth lost to Clarkson and beat St. Lawrence, while #20 Providence swept Northeastern. #8 Mankato State and #13 Nebraska-Omaha were both idle.

Coming up this weekend there are a handful of top twenty matchups. #1 Quinnipiac will travel to play one game at #18 Dartmouth; this is actually the last weekend of regular season play for the ECAC, and for both the CCHA and Atlantic Hockey as well. #2 Minnesota will host #10 Denver for two games, and #4 Boston College will play a home/road pair with #20 Providence College. #12 UMass-Lowell will play a home/road pair with #17 Merrimack, and #13 Nebraska-Omaha will host #16 Wisconsin for two games — the Friday night game will be telecast on NBC Sports Channel at 5:30pm Pacific Time.

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

[table id=62 /]

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

— Tom