College Hockey Update:  Last weekend presented one top-ten matchup as Minnesota flexed some hockey muscle and moved up two spots in the poll to #5 after they handily swept Penn State; Penn State dropped four notches to #10.  Elsewhere, Minnesota-Duluth retained the #1 spot in the poll after they tied and beat Nebraska-Omaha, and Boston University held at #3 after they beat UMass-Amherst.  Harvard edged up to #4 on its win over Dartmouth; Union dropped two slots to #6 after a loss to Cornell and a win over Colgate; and Boston College edged up to #7 on their win over New Hampshire.  Western Michigan edged up to #8 on its win and tie with Arizona State; UMass-Lowell edged up to #9 on wins over Northeastern and New Hampshire; and an idle Denver retained the #2 ranking.

Last weekend Minnesota-Duluth had huge help from senior forward Dominic Toninato, of Duluth Minnesota, who scored two goals Friday night in is team’s 2-2 tie, and tallied two assists Saturday night in his team’s 5-0 win, both against Nebraska-Omaha.  The 6’2″ 200lb senior is fourth on his team in goals scored, with eight, ninth on his team in assists, with seven, and he has been a top contributor to UMD throughout his career there.  As a junior, he tied for first on the team in goals, with fifteen, and tied for eleventh in assists, with six; as a sophomore he was first on the team in goals with sixteen, and tied for eighth in assist with ten; and as a freshman he tied for sixth in goals, with seven, and tied for eleventh in assists, with eight.  Duluth is 18-5-5 and is ranked #1 in the poll.  They have this weekend off, and play next on Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18, at Colorado College.

Friday night both Duluth and Omaha started out slowly in a scoreless first period in which Duluth took only five shots, and Omaha only three.  Things picked up rapidly in the second when Dominic Toninato scored only twelve seconds into the period.  Omaha converted a power play opportunity midway through the period to tie it at one apiece, and Toninato returned the favor with a minute left in the period on a Duluth power play to take the 2-1 lead; in the second, Duluth took fifteen shots, and Omaha took twelve.  The action continued in the third but neither team allowed a goal until, with just under two minutes to play, Omaha scored on a four-on-four to tie it at two apiece, and that’s how it ended in both regulation and overtime.

Saturday night was just a pasting, as Adam Johnson scored with eight minutes left in the first to put UMD up 1-0.  In the second Alex Iafallo scored six minutes into the period on a power play (Toninato on the assist) to make it 2-0, and two minutes later Joey Anderson scored on another Duluth power play  to make it 3-0.  In the third Avery Peterson scored thirteen minutes into the frame to make it 4-0, and with two minutes left, Neal Pionk scored to make it 5-0 (Toninato on the assist), which was the final score.

And Monday night the 65th Beanpot got underway in Boston.  In the early game, Northeastern and #4 Harvard skated to a scoreless first, and each team scored once in the second to go into the third at one apiece.  Harvard went on to score at the eight, ten, and twelve minute marks, to take a commanding 4-1 lead over the Huskies.  But with six minutes left to play, Nolan Stevens scored on a Northeastern power play goal to make it 4-2, and two minutes later Adam Gaudette netted his second of the night to make it 4-3.  Northeastern’s comeback ended that way, a goal short, as Harvard advanced to the championship game next Monday night.  In the second game, #7 Boston College got off to a very slow start as they were out-shot 12-2, resulting in a goal for #3 Boston University by Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson only four minutes into the period.  With BU up 1-0, BC came alive in the second, and BU comparatively went into hibernation as BC out-shot them 17-5.  But BU was efficient on their shots, as Chad Krys scored on a BU power play three minutes into the period to make it 2-0.  BC cut the lead to 2-1 four minutes later with a goal of their own, but BU managed a second goal on their five second period shots four minutes later when Clayton Keller scored a short-hander to make it 3-1, BU.  In the third BU out-shot BC 11-5 but both teams skated to a stalemate in the period and BU took the 3-1 win.  Next Monday night in the early consolation game #7 Boston College will face Northeastern, and in the late championship game it will be #3 Boston University facing #4 Harvard.

This weekend there are two more top ten matchups as #3 Boston University plays at #9 UMass-Lowell Friday night, and #4 Harvard will host #6 Union College Friday night as well.

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

[table id=146 /]

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

— Tom