Last weekend in a show of strength, nearly all top ten teams managed to avoid taking any losses, except for Minnesota Duluth and Cornell, which each took one. St. Cloud State settled on one tie, and all other top ten team outings were victories.  New to the top ten this week at # 10 is Boston College.

So last week I mentioned that Air Force had a rather heavy weekend coming up with games against both Colorado College and Denver.  In the first game against Colorado College, Air Force was generally outplayed, and CC won 2-0.  The next night Denver score first about midway through the second, bur from that point on, Air Force had the # 2 team on its heels, and the Falcons scored early in the third to tie it up 1-1.  Could it be a night for more Air Force glory, as in that brutal spanking they administered to Michigan in last year’s NCAA tournament?  Air Force continued to press, and the game ended 1-1 in regulation.  In OT, Air Force stayed on the attack, but with less than a minute remaining, a Denver shot ricocheted off the back of an Air Force defender and into the goal to give Denver the win 2-1.  Last week I also mentioned that there would be a “cool” game as Michigan traveled to Wisconsin.  I failed to note that it would be an outdoor game.  I suppose it doesn’t get much cooler than a February night in Wisconsin, and it was a thriller for the 55,000 in attendance watched Michigan break a 1-1 tie early in the third to go up 2-1.and then saw Wisconsin come from behind and score two late goals by Brendan Smith, the second of them with only about a minute left to play, to win the game 3-2.  And then there was also Boston’s Beanpot Tournament Final.  I have to admit that when the contestants are not highly ranked, it seems this tournament loses at least a little of its luster, and that it would be bettor reading if Northeastern and/or Harvard would make a little better run at it than they have been able to do.  Nonethless, this year’s matchup of then-ranked # 14 Boston College, and struggling Boston University turned out to be a great contest.  BU, who edged BC recently at both Fenway Park, in front of 39,000, and then again on BC’s home ice, scored in the first, only to watch a storm unleashed as Boston College scored three unanswered goals in the second, and another early in the third.  With BU down 4-1, it was certainly over, right?  Midway through the third on a shorthanded break, David Warsofsky took the assist to score and make it 4-2.  With more than three minutes remaining, a BC penalty put BU on the power play, and coach Jack Parker smelled blood; he pulled the goalie and sent in an extra attacker to skate 6 on 4.  Shades of last year’s NCAA Tournament!  And it worked – Colby Cohen scored to make it 4-3, with a little under three minutes remaining, putting BC back at full strength, but nervous.  Coach Jerry York of must have seen last year’s NCAA Championship game, as he quickly called a timeout to stabilize and calm his team down.  And it worked.  While BU mounted a blitz on the BC goal late in the game, solid BC defensive play and goaltending prevailed, sending the coveted pot of beans three miles up Commonwealth Ave. to the home of the Eagles.

This weekend two top ten teams will meet when # 5 Yale faces off against # 8 Cornell.  With only four weekends remaining in regular season play, this is crunch time for sure, and teams that are going to make a run at it have to do it now.  Who do you think will make it to this year’s Frozen Four?

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

Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll

1 Miami (46) 20- 4-6 996       1

2w Lake Superior St. 2-0/10-4

2 Denver ( 3) 18- 6-4 949       2

2w Mercyhrst 4-1/USAFA 2-1

3 Wisconsin ( 1) 16- 7-4 899       3

w Michigan 3-2

4 St. Cloud State 18- 8-4 844       4

t/w Alaska Anchorage 4-4/6-0

5 Bemidji State 18- 6-2 703       7

idle

6 Yale 14- 6-3 650       8

2w Dartmouth 4-2/Harvard 6-3

7 Minnesota-Duluth 18-11-1 642       6

l/w Michigan Tech 1-3/3-2

8 Cornell 13- 6-3 637       5

w/l Quinnipiac 2-0/Princeton 3-5

9 Colorado College 17-10-3 635       10

2w USAFA 2-1/Mercyhrst 5-1

10 Boston College 15- 8-2 598       14

2w UMass Amh. 7-1/BU 4-3

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