College Hockey Update:  Last weekend featured seven teams in four top-twenty matchups, and Quinnipiac topped Harvard Saturday night, after Harvard had lost to Boston University on Thursday night.  Quinnipiac held at #2, having also beaten Union College Friday; Harvard dropped a couple of spots to #7 on the two losses, and Boston University edged up to #10 after also beating UMass-Amherst Saturday night.  Boston College took down Providence on the BC ice Friday night, and the two tied in Providence on Saturday; Providence held at #3 on the weekend and BC jumped up three slots to #4.  Nebraska-Omaha lost for the first time in their new Baxter Arena, which opened this season, to Denver, and they lost twice; UNO fell three pegs to #9, and Denver jumped up three spots to #14.

Meanwhile, St.Cloud State edged down to #5 after splitting with Colorado College, Michigan moved up two slots to #6 after sweeping Michigan State, and Cornell edged up to #8 after sweeping Merrimack College.  UMass-Lowell edged down to #11 after beating New Hampshire, one game, and Yale held at #12 in a three-game week that saw them beat UMass, beat Arizona State, and tie with Michigan Tech.  Notre Dame moved up two pegs to #13 after getting a win and a tie from Western Michigan, Penn State edged down to #15 after splitting with Minnesota, Bowling Green held at #16 after splitting with Lake Superior State, and Minnesota-Duluth moved up a couple of pegs to #17 on a tie and a win weekend with Miami of Ohio.  St. Lawrence dropped five spots to #18 after being swept by Northeastern, Mankato edged down to #19 after splitting with Northern Michigan, and Rensselaer held at #20 after settling a tie with Princeton.  An idle North Dakota held at #1.

This season, current #1 North Dakota has had huge help from its senior forward Drake Caggiula, of Whitby, ONT.  He scored a goal and added an assist in the Fighting Hawks (just doesn’t sound right, does it?) last outing on Saturday January 2nd, a 4-1 win over Alabama-Huntsville.  The 5′ 10 ” 185lb senior leads his team in goals scored with 14, and is second in assists with 15, and has been a four-year key contributor.  As a junior he scored 18 goals (first on team), and tallied 18 assists (fourth on team); as a sophomore he scored 11 goals (third) and tallied 13 assists (tied for ninth), and as a freshman he scored eight goals (sixth) and tallied eight assists (tied for twelfth).

North Dakota is led by its first year coach Brad Berry, who moved up from his assistant coach position in May of 2015 after Dave Hakstol became the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Berry, a former NHL Defenseman, is from Bashaw, ALB., and played college hockey at North Dakota.  In addition to nine years as an assistant at North Dakota, he spent a year as a scout for the Dallas Stars and two years as an assistant coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Berry does not seem to have missed a trick, as he has the Hawks ranked #1 with a record of 18-2-2. North Dakota has an eight game winning streak, having not lost since November 21st, and is 12-1 since November 6th.  You have to wonder if anyone or anything can stop this North Dakota Steamroller.  This weekend we’ll see how the UNO Mavericks do against this seemingly unstoppable force, given two games to try, as #1 North Dakota will host #9 Nebraska Omaha.

This weekend will provide eight more teams in four more top-twenty matches:  #4 Boston College will play a home-and-home series with #10 Boston University; #5 St. Cloud State will travel to play two at #17 Minnesota-Duluth; #7 Harvard will host #18 St. Lawrence for one game Friday night, and #8 Cornell will travel to play one game against #20 Rensselaer on Friday night as well.  A great slate of matches, and a great weekend to test the true loyalty of some fans to their alma maters!

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

[table id=121 /]

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

— Tom