Last weekend featured one top-ten matchup as Boston University hosted Colgate Saturday afternoon, and after falling behind 1-0, managed to tie it up, fall behind again, and then storm through the third to take the win; but this was the BU highlight of a nightmare week.  It all started with, uh, have you heard anything about Harvard lately?  Last Tuesday night, BU took an early second period lead, but Harvard came back quickly with two goals to take the lead; BU managed to tie it up in the third, but Harvard snagged the win half way through the OT.  And Sunday afternoon up at Dartmouth, BU managed to . . . . not score a goal in a shutout loss.  The loss/win/loss week for BU dropped them a couple of pegs to #3; BU’s sole win knocked Colgate out of the top ten down to #13, and Harvard, after beating then-ranked #1 BU, went on to stick a loss on then-ranked #4 UMass-Lowell, rising up nine spots to #9 in the poll.  A couple or few weeks ago we had a headline, “Is Boston University For Real?” (jury may still be out on that one), and if the question is about Harvard, the answer does seem to be a big yes.  On their loss, UMass-Lowell dropped down a few spots to #7.

Last week also featured three top ten teams playing top twenty teams (one of them we just covered — UMass-Lowell and Harvard), and they were all filled with thrills and spills, sort of.  North Dakota fought a tough Nebraska-Omaha team to a tie Friday night, and the team to be named later narrowly won the next night; North Dakota edged up one notch to #1 on its weekend.  Minnesota made quick work of Boston College on Friday night, then travelled actually into the city of Boston on Saturday night, some five miles away, to play Northeastern at the historic Matthews Arena, and . . . . Northeastern stuck a loss on the Gophers, knocking them down three spots to #6.

Elsewhere, Mankato State travelled to, and smothered, Lake Superior State, scoring a total of ten goals, and allowing none.  And . . . . Mankato leaped up five spots to #2.  At 11-3-0 they seem very, very real.  Michigan Tech swept Alabama-Huntsville, and edged up a spot to #5.  And on idle weekends, Miami of Ohio edged up a spot to #4; Minnesota-Duluth held at #8; and Denver held at #10.

Last Friday night Mankato State had huge, huge help from its junior forward, Brett Knowles, who recorded a hat-trick in Mankato’s 7-0 demolition of Lake Superior State.  the 5′ 11″ 186 lb. junior is from Vanderhoof, BC, where, at the time of this writing, 11:10am Pacific Time, it’s 10 degrees, with a forecasted high of 13, and a forecasted low of 1.  And it’s foggy.  Where do they get fog if everything is frozen, and there’s no warm water to create fog in cold air?  Just asking the question, as I have no idea.  Knowles is tied for sixth on his team in goals, with three, and has not yet tallied an assist.  Before coming to Mankato, he played four seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL.  In 2010-11, he scored 30 goals and made 28 assists in 57 games.  In 2011-12, he scored 10 goals and made 26 assists before being traded to the Cowichan Valley Capitals, where he scored 12 goals and made 19 assists in 26 games.  Now, back to his hometown.  Vanderhoof is right in the middle of British Columbia, and sits at 2,100 feet, and is on the Nechanko River, which I suspect is a solid block of ice right now.  While the town might seem small, with a population of 4,500, the population of the greater area is 10,000.  And while being in the center of British Columbia might seem remote, the town is on a highway that runs east-to-west, and is only 24 miles away from Fort Fraser, to the west, which has a population of 1,000.  And it’s only an eleven hour drive to cover the 550 southbound miles to Vancouver.  The predominant industries in Vanderhoof are forestry, agriculture, and mining, and the town is perhaps best known for its Annual Wild Turkey Chase, which takes place on the first Sunday of May.  Record lows in Vanderhoof are:  October, -18; November, -40; December, -53; January, -50; February, -39; March, -29; and April, -2.  I guess you’d really want to avoid December and January.

This weekend presents three top ten teams facing top twenty teams:  #3 Boston University has a home/home weekend with #18 Merrimack; #5 Miami of Ohio will host two games against #12 Nebraska-Omaha; and #9 Harvard will travel Saturday night to play at #15 Quinnipiac.

This provides the top ten teams, rankings, records, and last week’s results:

[table id=96 /]

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

— Tom