College Hockey Update:  Last weekend featured one top-ten matchup of teams that are still in the top ten, and one in which a team was knocked out of the top ten and one rose into the top ten; first, Boston University knocked of Quinnipiac Saturday night, 3-0.  BU jumped up four spots to #4 (they had also beaten Sacred Heart the night before), and Quinnipiac dropped a couple of pegs to #6. BU fans don’t start licking your chops too quickly — a week ago the Terriers were ranked #2, went to Denver, and were easily swept by the Pioneers who scored early and often, knocking BU down to #8 — it’s early in the season.  Meanwhile, St. Cloud State swept Minnesota last weekend, and St. Cloud jumped up four rungs to #10, while Minnesota dropped five slots and out of the top ten down to #12.

North Dakota held on at #1 after they swept Bemidji State, Denver moved up three spots to #3 on their sweep of Michigan State, and UMass-Lowell held at #5 after beating St. Lawrence, and then losing to Clarkson.  Notre Dame dropped four pegs to #7 after suffering a tie and a loss to Penn State, Boston College moved up two to #10 on solid wins over Colorado College and Holy Cross, and Mankato State held at #9 after they split with Alaska-Fairbanks.  An idle Minnesota-Duluth held at #2.

North Dakota had huge help last weekend from sophomore forward Brock Boeser, of Burnsville, MN., who scored all three of his team’s goals Friday night, and scored two goals Saturday night, as his team swept Bemidji State.  Boeser is first on his team in goals scored, with six, and first in assists with six.  Boeser is tied for second in the country in goals scored with freshman Mitchell Fossier, of Maine, and junior T.J. Moore, of Holy Cross; the trio is behind senior Mike Vecchione of Union College, who has scored eight goals.  Boeser’s six assists put him in a twelve-way tie for fourth in the country.  Last year, as a freshman, Boeser led his team in goals scored with 27, and was second in assists with 33.

In last Friday night’s game, Bemidji State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring both goals in the first nine minutes of the opening period, while shots on goal were pretty even as Bemidji had nine and North Dakota had eight.  In the second it was all North Dakota, as they outshot Bemidji 11-4, and Boeser scored on a five-on-three power play with five minutes left in the frame.  North Dakota continued to dominate in the third, outshooting Bemidji twelve to five, and Boeser scored four minutes into the period to tie it at two, and then scored with seven minutes left in the game, on a penalty shot, to make the final score 3-2.

Bemidji state scored first Saturday night as well, only three minutes into the game, but Boeser led his team a minute later with a goal to tie it at one, and then his teammate Shane Gersich scored with twenty seconds left to give North Dakota a 2-1 lead, off of their 12-4 shot advantage, at the break.  In the second, Bemidji came back with shots on the net but they were held out, and Zach Yon scored only twenty seconds into the period, and Boeser added one with only two minutes remaining, to extend the North Dakota lead to 4-1, off of their 14-10 shot advantage.  In the third North Dakota added yet another when Rhett Gardner scored on a power play four minutes into the period, giving his team a 5-1 lead.  But Bemidji State fought hard in this game and came back with power play goals two minutes later and then at the ten minute point, to make it 5-3.  Bemidji found the net again on an extra attacker, short-handed goal with only forty seconds remaining, but they ran out of time and North Dakota prevailed 5-4.

This weekend there is a scorcher of a top ten matchup as Brock Boeser and his #1 North Dakota Fighting Hawks travel to play two games at #2 Minnesota-Duluth.  That game starts in about three hours, so if you were in somewhere such as Minneapolis, and you wanted to go see that, it would be time to head for the car!  Should be a great one!

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

[table id=132 /]

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

— Tom