College Hockey Update:  Last week featured a pair of top-ten matchups, and Cornell held at #2 after beating Ohio State at the Fortress Invitational in Las Vegas, knocking the Buckeyes down two spots to #8 (Cornell tied Providence in 2OT the next night, while Ohio St. beat Army the next night); and Denver moved up two pegs to #5 after they hosted and swept Massachusetts, edging UMass down to #10.  Elsewhere, North Dakota held at #1 after they hosted and swept Alabama-Huntsville; Mankato held at #3 after they hosted and swept Alaska-Fairbanks; and Boston College edged up to #4 after they hosted and beat Vermont, one game.  Pennsylvania State moved up two notches to #6 after they hosted and swept Niagara University; Clarkson dropped down three slots to #7 after they hosted and lost to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then hosted and beat Union College; and Minnesota-Duluth edged up to #9 on their win at Merrimack College last Monday night, December 30th — this score was reported here in last week’s posting, and is being repeated because it happened after last week’s poll was issued, and the score might have impacted this week’s rankings.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last weekend North Dakota had huge help from junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi, of Abbotsford, B.C., who scored two goals in his team’s 5-2 Friday night win, and scored a goal and added an assist in his team’s 5-2 Saturday night win, as they completed their home sweep of Alabama-Huntsville. The 5’9″ 185lb forward is first on his team in goals scored, with ten, and is first on the team in assists, with eighteen.  As a sophomore he led the team in goals, with ten, and was also first in assists, with sixteen.  As a freshman he scored five goals and tallied fourteen assists.  His hometown of Abbotsford is home to 142,000 residents spread among its 145 square miles, and sits at an elevation of 125 feet.  It is right on the border with Washington, and is the furthest southwest part of metropolitan Vancouver.  Its first white settlement was in 1858 as a camp to build the new railroad; it was established as a town in 1892, then incorporated in 1945.  It has an interesting history of growth — perhaps an unusual one.  As late as 1971 its population was only 706; in 1972 it merged with an apparently much larger district called Sumas, and in the 1976 census, the population of Abbotsford was 9,500!  And that’s not all — its population in 1991 was 18,000; it merged with a district called Matsqui in 1995, and in the 1996 census the population of Abbotsford was 106,000!  I guess all those people really wanted to live in a place called Abbotsford!

Friday night Alabama-Huntsville got on the board first, right off the faceoff and only eighteen seconds into the game, and they played a pretty solid first period, as North Dakota out-shot them 10-7.  But with four minutes left in the first, Jordan Kawaguchi scored to tie it at one apiece, the score going into the first break.  In the second, Grant Mismash (what a great name, huh?) scored four minutes into the frame to give North Dakota the 2-1 lead.  But three minutes later UAH scored and tied it at two apiece.  But then Mismash score again at the midway point to give North Dakota the 3-2 lead.  UAH managed to score while being badly out-shot in the period 16-4.  In the third North Dakota out-shot UAH 10-4, but didn’t get on the board again until Jordan Kawaguchi tallied the insurance goal with four minutes left, making it a 4-2 game.  With a minute to go, Cole Smith found an empty net to make the final 5-2, North Dakota.  Saturday night’s game was very similar with North Dakota taking a 2-1 fist period lead after having gone up 2-0 to start it, then seeing the game tied at 2-2 in the second.  Jordan Kawaguchi scored the game winner early in the second to make it 3-2 at that point.  We’ve seen these before, but this one is Kawaguchi’s — a goal shot between the legs.  This was the game winner, and was not only the play of the week for the Grand Forks Herald, but was also the 3rd best play of the day/night on ESPN:  https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/hockey/4851402-Kawaguchis-between-the-legs-goal-earns-Sports-Sundays-Play-of-the-Week .  North Dakota scored again early in the third for the 4-2 lead, and the Hawks again found an empty net late to make the final 5-2; North Dakota out-shot UAH 38-13, but you have to admit that Huntsville managed to make it interesting at points in both games.

This season Jordan Kawaguchi leads a group of four players, himself included, who have scored 34 of the 81 North Dakota goals (42%).  They are Shane Pinto, with nine, Westin Michaud, with eight, and Cole Smith, with seven.  Kawaguchi also leads a group of five players, including himself, who have tallied 62 of the 131 assists the team has registered (47%).  They are Adam Collins and Matt Kiersted, with twelve each, Jacob Bernard-Docker, with eleven, and Colton Poolman, with nine.  And none of the three players he leads in the top scorers are on this second list!  These eight players are the engine for nearly half of North Dakota’s fireworks — this team is getting a lot of its production out of a good number of different guys.

This weekend features a top ten home-and-home matchup as #4 Boston College hosts #10 Massachusetts Friday night; BC travels to UMass Saturday night.

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

[table id=208 /]

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

— Tom