College Hockey Update:  Last weekend featured a top-ten matchup, and North Dakota held at #1 after flexing some top-ranked muscle as they hosted and swept Denver, edging the Pioneers down to #7.  Elsewhere, Cornell held at #2 after hosting and beating both Union and R.P.I.; and Clarkson held at #5 after winning two on the road at Quinnipiac and Princeton.  Boston College edged up to #6 after beating Harvard in the Beanpot Consolation Game on Monday, February 10th, and then sweeping a home-and-home series with Merrimack on the weekend; Arizona State edged up to #9 after hosting and sweeping Alaska-Anchorage; and Northeastern moved up two spots and into the top ten at #10 after tying Boston University in the Beanpot Final on Monday, February 10th, and then sweeping a home-and-home series with UMass-Lowell on the weekend.  An idle Mankato held at #3; idle Minnesota-Duluth held at #4; and idle Massachusetts held at #8.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER

Last week (going back to Monday, February 10th), Northeastern had huge help from senior defenseman Ryan Shea, of Milton, MA., who scored a goal and added an assist in his team’s 3-0 win at Lowell Friday night.  He also tallied two assists in his team’s 4-4 tie against Boston University, helping his team win their third straight Beanpot title on Monday night, February 10th, at the TD Boston Garden. The 6’1″ 195lb defensman is tied for seventh on his team in goals, with five, and is first on the team in assists, with twenty-four.  As a junior he tied for thirteenth on the team in goals, with three, and was seventh in assists, with thirteen; as a sophomore he tied for seventeenth in goals, with one, and was sixth in assists, with sixteen; and his freshman year he tied for fourteenth in goals, with one, and was eighth in assists, with thirteen.  He was selected in the fourth round, with the 121st pick overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks, in the 2015 NHL draft.  He attended Boston College High School, where he scored fourteen goals and added fifty-four assists in sixty-four games.  His father, Dan, played hockey at Boston College from 1984 to 1988, where he scored sixty-nine goals and added 121 assists in 155 games.   His hometown of Milton is home to 27,000 residents spread among thirteen square miles, and sits immediately adjacent to Boston, on Boston’s southeast side.  It was originally settled in the 1630s by Puritans, and the earliest record of commerce there is the establishment of a grist mill in 1634.  Many settlers came to Milton from England in the late 1650s, after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the end of the English Civil War.  Milton incorporated in 1662, and a gun powder mill was established there in 1674.

Friday night in Lowell, after a pair of penalties left the host team double-short-handed, Tyler Madden scored seven minutes into the first to put Northeastern up 1-0 (assist by Ryan Shea).  The play was pretty even in the game, with Northeastern out-shooting Lowell 8-6 in the first, and Lowell having a 10-8 advantage in shots in the second.  But Ryan Shea managed to score six minutes into the second, putting Northeastern up 2-0.  The two teams stalemated from that point on to the end of the game.  Lowell out-shot Northeastern 8-6 in the third but couldn’t convert, adding an extra attacker with two minutes to go in the game.  But with just a second left, Grant Jozefek found the empty net, making the final 3-0, Northeastern.  Saturday night at Northeastern wasn’t quite so easy, with Lowell out for revenge and playing at a fever-pitch.  The River Hawks out-shot Northeastern 14-4 in the first, and scored thirteen minutes into the frame for the 1-0 lead.  In the second the pace evened up, with each time firing seven shots.  And Mike Kesselring evened things on the score board with a goal seven minutes into the period to tie it at one apiece.  In the third play was pretty even again, Lowell with ten shots to Norteastern’s nine, but it was Matt Demelis who scored the game winner, to make it 2-1, Northeastern, nine minutes into the period.

Northeastern Hockey started in 1929, and with the exception of a three year suspension of play from 1943-46 during World War II, they have fielded a team every year since then.  Northeastern was an independent until the 1961-62 season, when they joined the ECAC, where they stayed until the 1984-85 season, when they joined Hockey East as a founding member.  Northeastern had a great season in 1980-81 when they won the ECAC title, earned the first NCAA playoff berth in their history, and made it to the Frozen Four, ending the year with a 25-9-2 record under Coach Fern Flaman.  Northeastern has had only six NCAA appearances since then, and has not made it past the first round.  But three of these appearances have been in the last four seasons, in 2016, 2018, and last year, when Northeastern took the Hockey East title.  Jim Madigan has coached Northeastern for eight full seasons, and is in his ninth.  With three twenty-win seasons already under his belt (last year 27 wins), he currently has the Huskies at 17-8-3 and ranked #10.  Northeastern plays a home-and-home series against #6 Boston College, tomorrow, Thursday night at home, and Friday night at B.C.  Both of these games will be broadcast on NESN, both at 4pm Pacific Time on Thursday and Friday.

In addition to this top ten matchup, this weekend also features a top ten vs. top fifteen matchup with #8 Massachusetts playing a home-and-home series against #14 UMass-Lowell, Friday night at Lowell, and Saturday night at Massachusetts.  The Saturday game will be shown on NESN+ at 4pm Pacific Time.

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

[table id=214 /]

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

— Tom