College Hockey Update:  Last week featured one top-ten vs. top-twelve matchup, and Boston College jumped up four spots and into the top ten at #10 with its win at Harvard Friday night, knocking the Crimson down three pegs to #12 (Boston College had also hosted and beaten Yale last Tuesday night, November 26th).  Elsewhere, Mankato State held at #1 after sweeping its weekend at Minnesota-Duluth; and Cornell held at #2 after beating Boston University at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.  North Dakota held at #3 after sweeping its weekend at Minnesota; and Pennsylvania State edged up to #6 after winning at Merrimack College Friday night, and losing at UMass-Lowell Saturday night.

Ohio State jumped up four notches and into the top ten at #7 after hosting and sweeping Michigan State; Northeastern also jumped up four slots and into the top ten at #8 after wins against New Hampshire and Colgate at the Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Notre Dame slipped down four spots to #9 after getting swept by Bowling Green in a home-and-home series.  An idle Denver held at #4; and idle Clarkson edged up to #5.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend Pennsylvania State had huge help from senior forward Liam Folkes, of Scarborough, Ontario, who scored three goals Friday night in his team’s 7-0 win at Merrimack College, and tallied an assist Saturday night in his team’s 2-3 loss at Lowell.  The 5’8″ 182lb forward is second on his team in goals scored, with eight, and is tied for eighth assists, with six. As a junior he scored eighteen goals and added twenty-four assists; sophomore year he scored thirteen goals and tallied ten assists; and freshman year he scored six goals and added seven assists.  His father, Carl, ran track at the University of Toronto, and was a member of Canada’s 1988 Olympic 4 x 400 meter relay team.  Scarborough, Ontario, first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and incorporated as a town in 1850, is home today to its 630,000 residents.  It sits right on the eastern side city limit of Toronto, so you know it’s a legit cold weather haunt (first hint was it’s in Canada), with January average hi/lo of 28/16, and a January mean of 22; the record low there is -25.

Friday night was almost more of a live practice for Pennsylvania State than it was a game. Liam Folkes single-handedly saw to the total annihilation with goals seven and seventeen minutes into the first, and then nine minutes into the second, for the 3-0 lead.  Safe to say the guys from Merrimack had no idea at all what had hit them as they were outshot 15-3 in the first. As if this weren’t enough, Kris Myllari and Evan Barrat added goals at the fifteen and sixteen minute points of the second for the 5-0 lead going into the second break.  In the third the fun continued as Denis Smirnov added a goal at the five minute point of the third, and Alex Stevens added a power play goal with two minutes left in the game, to make the final score 7-0. Saturday night wasn’t so easy as Massachusetts-Lowell got on the board with two minutes left in the first for the 1-0 lead.  Evan Barrat responded for Pennsylvania State three minutes into the second (assist by Liam Folkes) to tie it at one apiece, but UMass-Lowell scored just two minutes later to regain the 2-1 lead.  With only twenty seconds left in the game, Nate Sucese scored on a power play to tie it again at two apiece, and force OT.  This was the second night in a row Pennsylvania State badly out-shot their opponent (36-18 in regulation), but in OT shots were even at one apiece, and as Mass-Lowell had hung tough throughout the game, they did so on a power play opportunity in OT and one shot was all it took to get the 3-2 win over Pennsylvania State.

Pennsylvania State was founded in 1855 and is located in State College, PA., about 100 miles or so east of Pittsburgh.  It enrolls 41,000 undergraduates, and 6,000 graduate students.  Its athletic teams are the Nittany Lions, and wear blue and white, although, like North Dakota, their original colors included pink, in this case, black and pink.  Pennsylvania State joined the Big Ten in 1991.  They started hockey on an ongoing basis in 1938, and fielded a DI team from 1940-44, and 1946-47.  Hockey came back to Pennsylvania State as a club team in 1971 and remained a club team until going DI again in 2012, as an independent for the 2012-13 season.  It stimulated the formation of, and joined, Big Ten Hockey in 2012.  Guy Gadowsky became the coach in 2011, the last year as a club team.  He was the head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks for five seasons from 1999-2004, and his teams compiled a 68-89-22 cumulative record during his tenure.  He coached Princeton for seven seasons from 2004-2011, and his teams compiled a 105-109-15 record during his tenure.  His DI Pennsylvania State record to date, now in his eighth DI season, is 136-114-19, bringing his lifetime record to 309-312-56, now in his twentieth season.  Pennsylvania State, 11-4-0, ranked #6, will travel to play two games this weekend at Michigan on Friday and Saturday nights.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE HEY THAT’S PRETTY COOL CORNER

In this age of raze it to the ground and build something not related to anything, we see an entirely different approach being taken in Canton, N.Y., on the campus of St. Lawrence University.  Their lovable time-capsule hockey home, Appleton Arena, soon to be 70 years old, has seemingly outlived its purpose in these modern times of large dressing/locker rooms, strength and conditioning facilities, training/rehab facilities, offices, and conference rooms.  But these guys have opted to retain their quonset-hut style building with its rich-looking stained and varnished wooden bleachers, update the interior a bit, and build everything they need right around it, so they’ll have both the old and the new.  The finished product will actually seat a couple of hundred less than the existing capacity of 3,200, and is targeted to be completed in mid-January.  It’s quite an undertaking, and in the meantime the Skating Saints are playing their home games over at SUNY Canton, past the Hoot Owl, across the river, and a couple of miles away, in a little 900 seat arena.  The last few seasons at St. Lawrence have been rather lean for the Saints, and this year is not an exception yet.  The new facility has in and of itself delivered some renewed enthusiasm regardless, and combined with a new coach in place this season it seems the fans have a feeling of good hope.  We wish them the best.  Photos below.

This weekend features one top-ten matchup in a rather unusual home-and-home weekend series, with the two home sites a 900 mile drive apart; #9 Notre Dame travels to play at #10 Boston College Friday night, and will then host Boston College Sunday afternoon.

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

[table id=204 /]

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

— Tom