COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE — RECAP:  OK, we’ve been dark for a few weeks so what I’ll attempt to do is sort of a recap of what has gone on week by week that has led us to this week’s NCAA Tournament.  So, starting with play from Thursday, March 5 through Sunday, March 8th — that was the last weekend of regular season for the Big Ten and Hockey East.  That weekend Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, the ECAC, and the NCHC all started their conference tournaments, and since this would generally put the best teams against the worst, there were no top twenty matchups that weekend in those conferences.  Almost all teams remained ranked very close to where they were/had been in the poll with several exceptions that I will call attention to as I go along — Quinnipiac, Pennsylvania State University, Boston College, and Dartmouth.  so let’s go —

There were three top ten matchups that weekend, as Providence edged up to #5 after hosting and beating Connecticut, while UConn held at #14 as they had beaten New Hampshire two nights earlier.  Pennsylvania State University dropped four spots to #10 after hosting and getting swept by Wisconsin, edging the Badgers up to a rankings tie with Pennsylvania State at #10; and Massachusetts moved up two pegs to #15 after hosting and beating Boston College and then winning again at New Hampshire; Boston College dropped four rungs to #17 after hosting and losing again to Northeastern.  This was huge for Boston College, which had risen from the #14 spot in the February 9th poll to the #10 spot in the February 23rd poll.

Elsewhere North Dakota edged up to #2 on its NCHC Tournament home sweep of Nebraska-Omaha; and Michigan State edged down to #3 after hosting, beating, and tying Minnesota in its regular season final series.  Western Michigan held at #4 on its NCHC Tournament home sweep of Colorado College; and Denver edged up to #6 on its NCHC Tournament home sweep of Miami of Ohio.  Minnesota-Duluth moved up two slots to #8 on its NCHC Tournament home sweep of St. Cloud State; Augustana rose two spots to #13 on its CCHA Tournament home sweep of Bemidji State; and Mankato State held at #16 after hosting and beating Ferris State two out of three in the CCHA Tournament.

St. Thomas edged up to #18 on its CCHA Tournament home sweep of Lake Superior State; Michigan Tech edged up to #19 on its CCHA Tournament home sweep of Bowling Green; and Union College entered the top twenty at #20 on its home win over Brown in an ECAC first-round single game elimination.  Michigan held at #1, Quinnipiac edged down to #7, Cornell held at #9, and Dartmouth held at #12, all on idle weekends, the last three on early round byes in their conference tournament.

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FEATURED PLAYER FROM THAT WEEKEND

On Saturday, March 7, Providence had huge help from its sophomore forward Logan Sawyer of Orangeville, ONT., who scored the third period game-winning goal, helping his team to its 3-1 home win over Connecticut in their regular season finale.  The 6’2″ 195lb sophomore is second on his team in goals scored, with thirteen, and is tied for fourth in assists, with thirteen; as freshman he tied for eighth in goals scored, with six, and tied for eighth in assists, with ten.  He was selected 78th overall in the third round by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

The Saturday, March 7th game in Providence was a tough, close game, and Connecticut sensed the urgency once they fell behind and gave it all they had.  Providence was first on the board seven minutes into the first when Aleksi Kivioja score to make it a 1-0 game.  Providence had a shots advantage of 11-7 in the first as they took the one goal lead into the break.  One might imagine some extra “motivational” words from the coach in the Connecticut locker room during the break, as UConn came out and converted an early power play opportunity only three minutes into the second, tying it up at one apiece.  But they were not done, and they really controlled the pace, out-shooting Providence 22-12; yet Providence held their ground and took the 1-1 tie into the second break.

Providence emerged energized in the third and a Logan Sawyer goal only two minutes into the period gave the Friars a 2-1 lead.  Providence managed to slow the tempo down in the third, and was only out-shot 9-7.  Connecticut added an extra attacker with ninety seconds to go, couldn’t convert, and with one tick left, a Graham Gamache shot found the empty net, giving Providence a 3-1 win.  This win put Providence at 23-9-2, ranked #5, and set them up to play Merrimack College in the Hockey East Tournament on Saturday, March 14th.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS WEEKEND OF MARCH 13-15

These were the matchups for the next weekend’s conference tournaments:

FRIDAY, MARCH 13

AHA, best two out of three

• Holy Cross at Bentley
• Robert Morris at Sacred Heart

ECAC, best two out of three

• Clarkson at #7 Quinnipiac
• Harvard at #9 Cornell
• Colgate at #12 Dartmouth
• Princeton at #20 Union

HOCKEY EAST, single game elimination

• Maine at #17 Boston College

ADDITIONAL GAMES, SATURDAY, MARCH 14

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT, single game elimination

• Ohio State at #3 Michigan State
• #10 Pennsylvania State University vs #1 Michigan

CCHA TOURNAMENT, single game elimination

• #13 Augustana at #18 St. Thomas
• #19 Michigan Tech at #16 Mankato State

HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT, single game elimination

• Boston University at #14 Connecticut
• Northeastern at #15 Massachusetts
• Merrimack at #5 Providence

NCHC TOURNAMENT, single game elimination

• #4 Western Michigan at #6 Denver
• #8 Minnesota-Duluth at #2 North Dakota

That was all for going into the weekend of March 13-15, so that’s all for right now.

More to come . . . .

This provides the top twenty teams, rankings, and records, as of the March 9 poll:

That’s all for now.

Stay tuned, and go Terriers ! (????)

— Tom