College Hockey Update:  In a top-ten faceoff last weekend, Minnesota-Duluth edged down to #2 after they split their weekend at Denver; Denver held at #7 on the results.  Elsewhere, St. Cloud State edged up to #1 after hosting and sweeping Bemidji State; and Mankato State held at #3 after hosting and sweeping Ferris State.  UMass-Amherst held at #4 after they traveled to, and beat Holy Cross Friday night, and hosted and beat New Hampshire on Sunday; Ohio State edged up to #5 after hosting and sweeping Wisconsin; and Pennsylvania State edged down to #6 after hosting and splitting with Michigan.  Notre Dame held at #8 after they traveled to, and swept, Michigan State; Providence held at #9 after sweeping a home-and-home series with Merrimack; and Quinnipiac shot up four spots to #10 after traveling to earn two wins at Cornell and Colgate.

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Last weekend UMass-Amherst had huge help from its sophomore forward Mitchell Chaffee, of Rockford, MI., who scored a goal in his team’s 3-1 win over Holy Cross Friday night, and scored another in his team’s 4-2 win over New Hampshire on Sunday.  The 6’0″ 205lb forward is first on his team in goals scored, with eight, and is tied for fourth in assists, with six; as a freshman he tied for first in goals, with thirteen, and tied for fourth in assists, with eleven.  Before UMass, he played two years for the Bloomington Thunder and the Fargo Force of the USHL, and he scored fifteen goals and tallied 14 assists in his 103 USHL games.  His hometown of Rockford, MI., is also home to 5,700 residents, and is fourteen miles north of Grand Rapids, MI., on the Rogue River.  It was first settled by European Americans in 1843.  It is the birthplace and hometown of offensive tackle Joe Staley, of the San Francisco 49ers, a team that might not make it to the super bowl this year.  Or any year in the foreseeable future, or any other type of future.

The University of Massachusetts enrolls 24,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students on its 1,500 acre campus just north of downtown Amherst.  It offers 109 undergraduate degree programs, 77 master’s degree programs, and 48 Ph.D.programs.  It was founded in 1863 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College; in 1931 it became Massachusetts State College; it became the University of Massachusetts in 1947.  Its sports teams are called the Minutemen, and their colors are Maroon, Black, and White.  UMass Hockey plays in the 8,600 seat Mullins Center, which was built in 1993.  UMass has one NCAA DI Tournament appearance in its history, in 2007, in which they won in the opening game, and lost in the second round.  They also claim the longest college hockey game ever, played in the 2015 Hockey East Tournament against Notre Dame, in which UMass prevailed towards the end of the fifth overtime, at the 151 minute and 42 second point, by the score of 4-3.  A couple of notable UMass hockey alumni are Jonathan Quick, goalie of the Los Angeles Kings, who was with the team for two Stanley Cup Championships, and Conor Sheary, forward on the Buffalo Sabres, who also was with the Pittsburgh Penguins for two Stanley Cup Championships.  What an incredible turnaround for UMass by third year coach Greg Carvel, who played college hockey at St. Lawrence in his hometown of Canton, NY, from 1989-93, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1992.  In Carvel’s first year at UMass the team finished 5-29-2, and last year improved to 17-20-2.  UMass-Amherst is now 10-1-0, is ranked #4, and will host #18 Princeton for one game this Saturday night.

Last Friday night at Holy Cross the numbers show it was all UMass as Mitchell Chaffee scored seven minutes into a first in which the Minutemen outshot the Crusaders 19-6.  UMass also outshot Holy Cross 14-8 in the second, but Holy Cross held UMass scoreless for thirty-three minutes following the Chaffee goal, scored one of their own a half a minute into the sceond, and took the 1-1 tie into the second break.  The third slowed down and UMass outshout Holy Cross 9-4, and converted on a Bobby Kaiser goal four minutes into the third for a 2-1 lead.  Holy Cross held UMass scoreless for the next fifteen minutes, and added an extra attacker, but Cale Makar quickly found the empty net for Holy Cross to make the final 3-1 for the UMass win.  Sunday UMass hosted New Hampshire, and again scored first, this time three goals by midway in the second.  All were powerplays including the third goal by Mitchell Chaffee, which gave them a 3-0 lead.  New Hampshire scored a couple of goals later in the second, but UMass scored late in the third to make take the 4-2 win.

This weekend features two great top ten matchups as #5 Ohio State hosts #6 Pennsylvania State for two games, and #7 Denver hosts #9 Providence for two games; none of these four games will be telecast.  Games you can see without attending them are: 1) #3 Mankato State at Bemidji State for two games (both games at 5pm Pacific Time Friday and Saturday on FloHockey.tv); 2) #10 Quinnipiac at Maine one game Saturday at 4:30pm Pacific Time on WVII (channel 7 in Bangor, Maine), and on Fox College Sports; 3) #13 Northeastern at RIT Saturday for one game at 4pm Pacific Time on NESN+; 4) #17 North Dakota hosts Alaska-Anchorage for two games at 5:30pm Pacific Time Friday, and 5pm Pacific Time Saturday, both games on Midco Sports Network; 5) #20 Lake Superior State hosts Northern Michigan for two games Friday and Saturay, both at 4pm Pacific Time on FloHockey.tv; 6) Alaska-Fairbanks at Michigan Tech for two games Friday and Saturday, both games at 4pm Pacific Time on FloHockey.tv; and 7) Michigan State at Minnesota for two games Friday and Saturday, both games at 5pm Pacific Time on Fox Sports North.

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

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Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

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

— Tom