It was sort of an “anything goes” weekend for college hockey, and it ended with the Miami of Ohio Redhawks ranked # 1 after they managed a tie and a win against Alaska Fairbanks.  In a great, great matchup of then-ranked #1/#3 Denver and Wisconsin, it was just fight to the death stuff you would have been willing to pay $50 to see live, with the first night ending in a 3-3 tie, and the second close to the same, but with the Badgers prevailing over Denver by a 4-3 margin, Wisconsin is now # 2 and Denver # 3.  In a great inter-conference matchup, # 4 North Dakota and # 8 Cornell split the weekend.

And in the category of major movers and shakers, look out for new # 5 St. Cloud.  The Huskies swept Minnesota, and vaulted up seven spots from # 12.  They have lost only 1 of their last 13 games, and I imagine that these guys are in the top ten to stay.  Add to this mover and shaker category the team that wrecked Yale’s shot at a two-win weekend, St.Lawrence.  The Saints put Yale away by a 4-2 margin.  St. Lawrence has lost only 1 of their last 8 games and they are for real.  Look for them in the top ten in the next two to three weeks, and to cause a lot of teams great heartache in the ECAC and NCAA tournaments.  By the way, one of the co-captains on the Saints, Aaron Bogosian, is having a great year, and is the cousin of our fellow reader, Deb Bogosian.  What?  Another mover and shaker?  This team was pretty much everyone’s darling last year, Bemidji State, and they just jumped up seven ranking slots from # 14 to # 7 on the sweep of last week’s # 4 ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs; Minn-Duluth is now at # 9.  Ferris State dropped from # 8 to # 10 after splitting with Michigan.  And what of my pick last week to break into the top ten, Boston College (# 11 at the time)?  Did they smear lowly Boston University all over the BC home ice in retaliation for BU embarrassing them in front of 39,000 at Fenway Park two weeks earlier?  Well, not exactly – BU popped ‘em 5-4, in front of BC’s home crowd.

Well ok then, what’s next in this topsy-turvy season?  This weekend finds two red-hot top-ten matchups as # 3 Denver travels to play two at # 4 North Dakota, and # 2 Wisconsin travels to play two at # 9 Minnesota-Duluth.  I have to think that any one of those four games would be a treasure to see.  Then Monday night, February 1, a great college hockey tradition continues with the in-season Beanpot Hockey Tournament in Boston.  The 5pm ET game features BC against Harvard, and the 8pm ET game features BU against Northeastern, with the winners pairing up and the losers pairing up in the championship and consolation games one week later, Monday, February 8.

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

Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll

1 Miami (37)                 16-4-6   984       2

t/w Alska Frb 1-1/5-0

2 Wisconsin ( 8)           14-6-4   938       3

t/w Denver 3-3/4-3

3 Denver ( 5)                14-6-4   917       1

t/l Wisconsin 3-3/3-4

4 North Dakota( 0) 13-8-5   748       5

l/w  Cornell 0-1/3-1

5 St. Cloud State ( 0)    16-7-3   679       12

2w Minnesota 4-3/4-1

6 Yale ( 0)                    11-5-3   637       6

w/l ckn 3-2, st lwr 2-4

7 Bemidji State ( 0)      17-5-2   633       14

2w Minn Dul 4-1/5-4

8 Cornell ( 0)                10-5-3   631       9

w/l No Dakota 1-0/1-3

9 Minnesota-Duluth(0) 16-9-1   622       4

2l Bemiji State 1-4/4-5

10 Ferris State ( 0)       17-7-2   601       8

l/w Michigan 0-2/3-2

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