COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE: It’s extremely late in the season to be starting this, and it’s extremely late in the week (and in the day) to be posting this, but here we go.  To get out of the gate we’ll just focus on the top ten teams in the “here and now,” as of the end of last weekend . . . .

Last weekend featured two top-ten matchups.  First a great #1 vs #2 with Michigan State losing at Michigan last Friday night, and then Michigan State winning Saturday night in Detroit at Little Caesars Arena; the two traded ranking places as Michigan State is now #1 and Michigan is now #2.  In the other top matchup, North Dakota held at #3 after splitting its weekend at Minnesota-Duluth, dropping the opener Friday night, and then winning Saturday night; UMD held at #10 on the weekend’s results.

Elsewhere, Western Michigan held at #4 after splitting its weekend at Miami of Ohio, and Quinnipiac held at #5 after winning two at home, beating Brown Friday night, and Yale Saturday night.  Providence held at #7 after visiting and beating New Hampshire, and hosting and beating Vermont; Denver held at #8 after settling on a tied at Colorado College, then hosting and beating CC the next night; and Cornell held at #9 after splitting with Colgate, beating them at Colgate, and then losing to them at home the next night.  Pennsylvania State University held at #6 on its idle weekend.

Last weekend Michigan State had big-time help from its senior forward Charlie Stramel, of Rosemount, MN., who scored a goal and tallied an assist in his team’s overtime 3-4 loss at Michigan Friday night, and scored what became the second period game winner in his team’s 5-2 win over Michigan at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Saturday night, giving his team a split on the weekend, edging them up to #1, and edging Michigan down to #2.  The senior is first on his team in goals scored, with eighteen, and is tied for second in assists, with twenty.  Stramel, who was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the first round with the twenty-first pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, also scored nine goals and tallied eighteen assists last year for Michigan State.  As a sophomore at Wisconsin he scored three goals and added five assists, and as a freshman Badger, he scored five goals and added seven assists.  His home town of Rosemount, MN., is in the sun belt south of St. Paul, and is home to 27,000 residents who are spread among thirty-three square miles.

Last Saturday night is was really all Michigan State at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit as Gavin O’Connell put the Spartans on the board at the midpoint of the first for the 1-0 lead, and was followed six minutes later on a power play goal by Porter Martone to make it 2-0 Michigan State, as it stood at the end of the first.  Charlie Stramel stuck four minutes into the second to make it 3-0, Sparty, and Tiernan Shoudy followed two minutes later to make it 4-0.  A Michigan goal with a minute left in the frame ended the scoring in the second to make it 4-1 going into the second break.  Michigan scored again five minutes into the third to cut the deficit to 4-2, and with three minutes left in the game Tommi Mannisto found the empty net to make the final score 5-2, Michigan State.  Spartan Hockey is coached by fourth-year coach and 2005 Michigan State alum Adam Nightingale, who has a 91-41-9 record to date.  This will be his third consecutive season coaching the team to a winning season, and third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.  Michigan State, 22-6-0, and ranked #1, has a bye this weekend and plays next on Thursday and Friday, February 19 and 20, hosting Notre Dame.

This weekend there is another top-ten matchup as #2 Michigan hosts #6 Michigan State for two games with the first starting right about the time this will get posted, 3:30pm Pacific Time.

This provides the top ten teams, rankings, and records, in Monday’s poll:

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned and go Terriers ! (?)

— Tom