College Hockey Update:  Oooooops.  I didn’t get to this until late yesterday afternoon, and I didn’t post it.  So this report is not an interim report for this weekend, but is a report of last weekend’s (October 25-27) results.  I’ll get back on track next week.

So last weekend we had some great top twenty matchups, and we’ll start with #1 Minnesota coming away with a tie and a win against Boston College — in the second game, Minnesota came out blasting, jumped on an early lead, and kept BC out of the net to take it 6-1; BC dropped to #8 on the weekend.  Both of these teams, Minnesota in particular, are starting out well, and are extremely highly ranked, but let’s not forget that both of them went in to the NCAA Tournament highly touted, and both lost in the first round — it’s a long season to go.  #2 Notre Dame beat Minnesota-Duluth, then lost to UMD the next night; UMD entered the poll at #20 on the weekend, while Notre Dame held at #2.  Notre Dame will open its first conference games as a member of Hockey East, against Vermont, this weekend.  You can bet with the red-hot start Notre Dame is off to, that they are expecting to make quit a first impression on Hockey East.  Elsewhere, Providence took a win and tie against Miami of Ohio, lifting Providence up to #3 in Monday’s poll, and dropping Miami to #6.  With the start Providence is having this year, you can bet that they are licking their chops to make up for many years of unhappy conference endings against Boston University this weekend, especially seeing that BU seems to be limping right now.  Speaking of which,  #4 Michigan beat Boston University, (BU also lost the next night to Michigan State), dropping BU to #18, and then Michigan lost to UMass-Lowell the next night (UML had beaten Michigan State the night before ), lifting Lowell to #15 in the poll.

As for everyone else, #5 North Dakota beat the US Under-18 team, while #7 Quinnipiac swept Holy Cross.  St. Cloud State, the school with the name too cool to be true, swept Colgate, and moved up a notch to #9 in the poll.  And RPI beat New Hampshire, and then tied Harvard, moving up to #10 in the poll.

Yale lost to Brown, then beat Princeton, dropping down four rungs to #11 in the poll, while Lake Superior State beat powerhouse Laurentian 9-2, lifting LSSU to the #12 ranking.  #13 Wisconsin was idle, while two wins against Nebraska-Omaha boosted Cornell up five spots to the #14 ranking.  #16 Mankato was idle, two wins over Colorado College entered Clarkson in the poll at #17, and a split on the weekend with St. Lawrence lifted Northeastern up a spot to the #19 ranking.

Going into this weekend, five schools are unbeaten — #1 Minnesota, #3 Providence, #9 St. Cloud State, #12 Lake Superior State, and #14 Cornell.  Of these, two have perfect records, #12 Lake Superior at 4-0-0 and #14 Cornell at 2-0-0.  We’ll see how long these shooting stars can keep it up.  The weekend twelve of the top twenty plays each other in six great matchups.  #3 Providence will play a home/road against #18 Boston University, while #5 North Dakota will host the only team from the fleet of WCHA teams sent to the NCAA tournament to make the Frozen Four last season, #9 St. Cloud State — should be a barn burner.  #7 Quinnipiac will play one at #14 Cornell Saturday night, #8 Boston College will home/road it two games against #19 Northeastern, #11 Yale will host #17 Clarkson Saturday night, one game, and #12 Lake Superior State will travel to play two at #13 Wisconsin.

Should be a great weekend!

This provides the top twenty teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s (October 25-27) results:

[table id=68 /]

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

— Tom