College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented a few top twenty matches, and Quinnipiac managed a tie against RPI, and the Bobcats held on at #1 (Quinnipiac also tied Maine during the week), while RPI held on at #16, and they went on to beat Union College Saturday night. Providence split with UMass-Lowell, edging Providence down to #4, while Lowell held on at #8. Harvard beat Cornell, and moved up two spots to #7 (Harvard had also beaten Colgate the night before), while Cornell dropped four slots to #14, as they had also lost to Dartmouth the night before.

North Dakota managed a tie and a win over Colorado College and remained at #2, St. Cloud State swept Western Michigan and moved up two pegs to #3, and Boston College beat UMass-Amherst and tied with Connecticut, edging BC down to #5.  Boston University swept Maine and moved up two spaces to #9, Notre Dame swept New Hampshire and jumped up three spots to #10, and Yale tied Clarkson and beat St. Lawrence and held at #11.

Nebraska-Omaha was swept and thumped by Miami of Ohio and dropped 5 slots to #12, Denver swept Minnesota-Duluth in a couple of close games and moved up a couple of pegs to #13 and knocked UMD out of the top twenty, and Penn State split with Ohio State and edged down to #15.  Bowling Green swept Alaska-Anchorage and held at #18, Mankato swept Lake Superior and held at #19, and Minnesota swept Wisconsin, and entered the top twenty at #20. An idle Michigan held at #6, and an idle Michigan Tech held at #17.

St. Cloud State is having a tremendous year, and they just keep on winning.  They are one of only two teams that have already won 20 games (the other is North Dakota), and it’s still January!  Looks like the sky is the limit for these guys this year.  St. Cloud State got huge help from its freshman forward Patrick Newell, of Thousand Oaks, CA., Friday night, as he scored two goals and added an assist to help his team crush Western Michigan 8-2.  The 5’10” 150lb forward is tied for eighth in goals on his team with six, and is tied for ninth in assets with nine. Before coming to St. Cloud State, he played for both the Indiana Ice of the USHL and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL in the 2012-13 season, scoring a total of 13 goals and tallying a total of 24 assists.  In 2013-14 he went back to the Indiana Ice and scored 17 goals and added 33 assists, and in 2014-15, he played for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL and scored 19 goals and made 42 assists.

His hometown of Thousand Oaks, CA., is in the southeastern corner of Ventura County and sits about 35 miles west of Los Angeles.  Its 129,000 residents are spread among its 55 square miles at an elevation of 886 feet in the Conejo Valley.  They have to weather some pretty cold winters, as the average low for December is 38 degrees, and the record low one February was a numbing 19 degrees.  The area was originally inhabited by the Chumash Indians, and the Spanish first explored the area when Juan Cabrillo landed at nearby Point Mugu in 1542.  It was on the Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara stage coach line in the late 1800s and the Stage Coach Inn was established there in 1876.  One of the first Southern California amusement parks, Jungleland, opened there in the 1926 as a support for Hollywood, and it was used for movies in the 1940s and 50s, such as Tarzan; it closed in late 1969.  Thousand Oaks was incorporated as a city in 1964, and is the home of $20 Billion-per-year Biopharmaceutical giant Amgen.

This weekend/Monday presents a couple of “in-season” hockey tournaments, one a long-standing and storied tournament steeped in tradition; the other a johnny-come-lately.  The North Star College Cup is an odd bird, and is Minnesota’s attempt at copying the prestigious and storied Beanpot Tournament.  It involves five teams, but only four per year, isolating out one school each year — except for the University of Minnesota, which is in the tournament every year.  This will be the third year for this, and Minnesota won the first, and Bemidji State the second editions.  On Saturday, #3 St. Cloud State faces #19 Mankato, and #20 Minnesota faces Bemidji State, with the winners playing the Sunday late game, and the losers meeting up in the Sunday early game.

Monday night, February 1, the 64th Annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament gets underway in the Boston Garden, as #5 Boston College faces #7 Harvard in the early game at 2pm Pacific Time, and #9 Boston University faces Northeastern in the late game at 5pm Pacific Time.  The tournament concludes on the following Monday, February 8 with the consolation game at 1:30pm Pacific Time, and the championship game at 4:30pm Pacific Time.  The first round matchup of #5 BC and #7 Harvard should be a screamer as the rankings indicate.  The second game Monday between #9 BU and Northeastern should be a monster game as well, despite Northeastern’s status as the only non-top-ten team in the tournament.  Northeastern is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, owning a six game winning streak and an eight game unbeaten streak.  They have only one loss in their last eleven games, and their record over that span is 8-1-2.  Their only loss is to #5 Boston College and their two ties are with #1 Quinnipiac and #5 Boston College.  Things have really turned around for the Huskies since they beat Colgate in the second round of the Friendship Tournament on November 28th in Belfast.  This should be quite a tournament.

In addition, this weekend presents #5 Boston College traveling to play one game at #10 Notre Dame Friday night.  #6 Michigan will travel to play one game at #15 Penn State on Thursday night, and then both will travel to play again in New York on Saturday night in Madison Square Garden.  And #11 Yale will host #16 Rensselaer on Saturday night.

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

[table id=123 /]

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

— Tom