College Hockey Update:  Last week presented a couple of top-twelve matchups, as North Dakota hosted Minnesota; Minnesota took Friday night 2-1, and North Dakota came back strong for the 4-0 win Saturday night.  North Dakota held at #4 in the poll and Minnesota edged up a spot to #7.  Clarkson copied North Dakota as it hosted and blanked Providence 4-0 Saturday night; Clarkson jumped up three pegs in the poll to #9 (they had lost to UMass-Lowell Friday night), and Providence edged down a notch to #11 (they had beaten St. Lawrence Friday night).

Elsewhere, Denver hosted, tied, then beat Lake Superior State, holding onto #1; and St. Cloud State hosted and convincingly swept Boston College, edging St. Cloud up a rung to #2, and dropping Boston College six spots to #19.  Wisconsin visited and split with Northern Michigan, edging the Badgers up to #5; and Boston University hosted and tied with, then visited and beat, Connecticut, edging BU up to #6.  Notre Dame hosted, and split with Sacred Heart, dropping Notre Dame three pegs to #8; Minnesota-Duluth hosted, tied, and beat Merrimack College, edging UMD down to #10; and Mankato State dropped two rungs to #12, after they visited and split with Bowling Green.

Saturday night Denver had big help from junior Troy Terry, of Highlands Ranch, CO., in their game agaisnt Lake Superior State.  Lake Superior scored the first two goals in Friday night’s game, which ended in a tie.  Saturday night, Lake Superior again scored first about nine minutes into the first, for the 1-0 lead.  But Troy Terry responded with about three minutes left in the first, to tie at one apiece.  In the second, Terry scored with about two minutes left on a five-on-three power play, to give Denver the 2-1 lead.  In the third period Denver goals at the one, nine, and eighteen minute marks, by Michael Davies, Griffin Mendel, and Jaakko Heikkinen gave Denver the 5-1 win.  Denver outshot Lake Superior 54-16 in the game, pretty much repeating what they did Friday night, when they outshot Lake Superior 66-17, but with very different results.

Troy Terry’s hometown of Highlands Ranch, twelve miles due south of the University of Denver, is home to about 97,000, and sits at about 5,900 feet.  As a youngster, Terry saw many games, and dreamed of playing, at the University of Denver, and then moving onto the NHL.  Terry spent a year with the US National Under 18 Team, scoring 19 goals and adding 25 assists over 66 games.  He has been a factor since arriving at Denver.  In his first season he tied for sixth on his team in goals, with nine, and he was seventh in assists, with thirteen.  Last year he tied for first in goals, with 22, and he was third in assists, with 24.  So far this season, the 6 foot, 179lb. forward is tied for first in goals, with three, and is tied for fifth in assists, with two.  Terry was selected by Anaheim in the fifth round, with the 148th pick overall, in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Looking at the game stats for last weekend was eye-popping, as all the names on the team this year are the same names as last year!  It’s amazing to think how good this team could be.  Coach Jim Montgomery is blessed to have so many of his players returning.  Montgomery is in his fifth season as the Denver coach, coming there directly from his job as Head Coach and General Manager of the Dubuque Saints of the USHL, where he coached his team to the League Tournament Championship twice in his three years there.  Previously he had been an assistant at RPI for four seasons, and an assistant at Notre Dame for two seasons.  He played college hockey at the University of Maine, and is the all-time scoring leader in Hockey East with 103 goals and 198 assists.  He was also on Maine’s 1993 NCAA Championship team, and was named as the Tournament Most Outstanding Player.  And that was on a team with Paul Kariya.  Montgomery played in 122 games in the NHL over two separate three-year stints, scoring nine goals, and adding 25 assists over those two stretches.  He seems to have been quite a good hire five years ago, and he seems to have his team in a good position for this season.

#1 Denver travels to Boston to play #6 Boston University tonight, and then out to Newton, MA, to play #19 Boston College tomorrow night.  One has to imagine that starting with a tie on each of their first two weekends of this season, that they’ll be out so show that those were flukes, and they truly deserve their #1 ranking.  Could be some tough time on the ice for BU and for BC.

In addition to the Denver/Boston University game tonight, this weekend presents two more top-twelve matchup as #7 Minnesota hosts #9 Clarkson for two games, and as #6 Boston University travels to play #11 Providence tomorrow night.

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

[table id=153 /]

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

— Tom