First of all, check out the recently-published CCHA Preview and CCHA Watch List here on CHN for a comprehensive preview of all-things CCHA.

Alhough I’ll be at Agganis Arena (Boston, MA) tonight for Denver’s visit to Boston University (with no CCHA teams in sight), here are some quick thoughts about last night’s action involving CCHA teams:

Maybe Ferris Should Move to the ECAC

Named the CCHA offensive player of the week after a three-goal weekend against St. Lawrence a week ago, Ferris State forward Kyle Bonis showed no signs of slowing down in last night’s 4-0 victory against another ECAC foe, Rensselaer. Bonis, a junior, added another two goals — one of which was an empty-netter, giving him a total of five tallies for the young season.

The only CCHA player averaging more points per game so far is Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick and Notre Dame sophomore T.J. Tynan, whose seven points through three games trail only Minnesota sophomore Erik Haula, who has eight. Tynan’s second-period tally against Ohio State last night tied the Irish/Buckeyes contest 2-2, before classmate Anders Lee scored to put the Irish ahead for good.

But back to Ferris State for a moment: coach Bob Daniels said before the season began that he was “looking forward to increased goal production.” Though the sample size is small, perhaps the Bulldogs are already hoping to take a big step forward after finishing over .500 for the last two years. It’s been a decade since Ferris went to the NCAA tournament, winning 31 games behind then Hobey finalist and current NHL star Chris Kunitz.

The Bulldogs have also been helped in the early going by a power play converting on over 26 percent of its opportunities. And of note, Travis Oullete — after starting slowly last season — already has five goals this season as well.

Short Suspension: Smith Returns for Miami

After violating team rules and punished by sitting out Miami’s season opening split against Bemidji State last weekend, sophomore Reilly Smith returned to the ice last night for the RedHawks’ visit to Hamilton to take on Colgate.

One has to wonder if Smith’s offensive numbers from a season ago would carry over to this year — after all, recall that, as a sophomore, the Mimico, Ont., native led the RedHawks in scoring with 28 goals, overshadowed though by a combined 128 points from Hobey winner Andy Miele and All-American Carter Camper.

Well, through one game, Smith showed that maybe he doesn’t need Miele and Camper after all. With a hat trick last night, Smith led the RedHawks to a 4-3 win at Colgate. Smith was efficient too, scoring on three of his four shots on goal, and helping senior netminder Cody Reichard earn his first win of the season.

Still, Miami managed only 15 shots on goal for the entire game.

Greenham’s Streak Ends, Alaska Wins Anyway

After starting 79 consecutive games for Alaska, senior netminder Scott Greenham sat out last night’s Nanooks win against Mercyhurst. Junior Steve Thompson — an Anchorage native — earned the victory for Dallas Ferguson’s squad.

Greenham was a CCHA Second Team selection last year after compiling a .921 save percentage and a 2.19 goals-against-average.

by Joshua Seguin

With the first game in the past, UNH is prepping for a big Hockey East weekend beginning on Friday.

The return to action couldn’t come soon enough for Dick Umile’s team, after BU knocked the Wildcats around to start the season.

Despite the 5-0 loss, Umile and his saw it as a 3-0 game — the fourth g0al coming with an empty-net and the fifth in garbage time.

“Statwise the game was pretty even, we just have to play a full 60-minute game,” UNH coach Dick Umile said.

Umile looking for some finish

After the rough loss against Boston University last Saturday, the word used most around the UNH locker room this week was “finish.”

With multiple grade-A opportunities stopped by BU goaltender Kieran Millan in the early going, the young New Hampshire team has to find ways to score and play better defense, if this season is going to be as successful as the past 10 years for New Hampshire.

As much of the country and region continue to have doubts about the Wildcats, nobody in the dressing room is panicking or looking ahead of Friday.

Players such as John Henrion know that UNH played well enough at times to score goals but cannot get frustrated.

“Millan played well, but we had plenty of chances,” he said.  “We have plenty of guys that know how to score and no one is concerned. We just have to finish. We have a very deep team up front which was very evident from scoring opportunities that were spread across multiple lines and everyone needs to contribute, not just one line.”

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by Cara Spilsbury

1. Boston College

The Eagles are 2-0 on the season so far, the only Hockey East team with two wins, although they have yet to play a conference opponent. The team amassed 11 goals as it won the Ice Breaker tournament, defeating both Michigan State and North Dakota. Sophomore Bill Arnold recorded a team-high five points during the two games. Junior Chris Kreider was named tournament MVP.

2. Boston University

The Terriers opened the season strong by defeating UNH, 5-0. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan recorded his sixth career shutout in the win. The win was the team’s most decisive shutout victory since the 5-0 win against UNH in January 2009.

3. Merrimack

The Warriors faced a tough challenge to open their season, traveling to Orono to face Maine. However, the team rose to the occasion, defeating the Black Bears 2-1. This W marks the first time Merrimack has won at the Alfond Arena since 1997. Jesse Todd scored the game-winning goal short-handed in the second period and goalie Joe Cannata earned his 43rd career win.

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With week one in the WCHA in the rear-view mirror and conference play getting underway this weekend, here is a look at where the WCHA stands — at least in one man’s point of view.

1 — Colorado College (Last week: 1)
• The Tigers are tops on my list until someone beats them. They were just one of two teams to not play a game that counted last weekend, although they routed the U.S. Under 18 Team in exhibition action.

2 — Denver (Last week: 3)
• Like in-state rival CC, Denver also shutout the U-18 team in an exhibition game last weekend. Much will be known about the Pioneers after this weekend’s trip to Bean Town to face both BC and BU.

3 — Minnesota (Last week: 5)
• Kent Patterson held Sacred Heart without a single goal in 120 minutes of hockey last weekend and the Gophers’ freshmen showed up in a big way. If those two trends continue, Minnesota will surprise this season.

4 — North Dakota (Last week: 2)
• The Sioux struggled at home last weekend, needing a third period comeback to beat Air Force before dropping a 6-2 decision to the nation’s new No. 1 team, Boston College. Aaron Dell needs to be better, or Brad Eidsness might do to him what Dell did to Eidsness a year ago.

5 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 6)
• The national champs split at home, but split with one of the country’s best teams. A rivalry series against the Gophers this weekend at AMSOIL Arena will say a lot about where the Bulldogs stand early in the season.

6 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 4)
• A bad loss on Saturday to Colgate highlighted the inconsistencies in goaltender John Faulkner’s game. And with Alex Hudson still out because of a suspension, the Mavericks will need Faulkner to be better than that.

7 — Minnesota State (Last week: 8 )
• The purple Mavericks salvaged a split at nationally ranked RPI last weekend, but scored just two goals in the process. Austin Lee leads the early battle in goal, although coach Troy Jutting will probably let that battle continue for the next couple of weeks.

8 — Alaska-Anchorage (Last week: 10)
• UAA came from behind to grab a tie Friday against Clarkson before coming from behind again in a nonconference win over St. Cloud State. Mickey Spencer had a monster weekend, including a hat trick against the Huskies.

9 — Bemidji State (Last week: 11)
• BSU beat top-ranked Miami Friday and led after two periods on Saturday but couldn’t quite hold onto the sweep. Had they won twice, they’d be much higher on this list.

10 — Wisconsin (Last week: 7)
• The Badgers are extremely young and they will struggle early on. They lost to Northern Michigan Friday before salvaging a split Saturday, but finding goal scoring will be a season-long problem in Madison.

11 — St. Cloud State (Last week: 9)
• SCSU struggled in third periods last season and that issue surfaced again Saturday against Anchorage. If the opening weekend is any indication, Mike Lee is going to keep the Huskies in every game this season.

12 — Michigan Tech (Last week: 12)
• It was a great first act for Mel Pearson in Houghton, but a sweep of American International only closes the gap between Tech and the No. 11 spot in this poll. More success against Wisconsin this weekend could change that however.

THIS WEEKEND AROUND THE WCHA

Wisconsin at Michigan Tech
• Between Brett Olson, Blake Pietilla, Jordan Baker and Steve Seigo, it’s possible the Huskies have the better goal scorers in this series. With the Badgers better on the blue line, the difference in this series comes down to goaltending. Whoever figures it out this weekend will have the edge in this one.

Minnesota at Minnesota Duluth
• The Gophers have a chance to prove last weekend’s 15 goal outburst wasn’t a fluke. Minnesota needs production from freshmen like Kyle Rau and Seth Ambroz, but if they also get production from guys like Jake Hansen, they’re going to win a lot of games. Look for the UMD power play to make a difference here. They were 2 of 8 Friday in a win and just 1 of 6 Saturday in a loss. That one goal will make a difference in what should be a pair of close games.

Bemidji State at Colorado College
• This is a series the Tigers should control, especially at home. But the Beavers have a way of slowing down teams to play at their pace. If BSU can do that at Colorado Springs, they could steal a point or two from this one. But if the Tigers control the pace, BSU likely can’t keep up.

Denver in Boston to take on BC, BU
• An early season trip to Boston will be a definite measuring stick for preseason conference favorite Denver. Without the luxury of playing a series last weekend, the Pios head east to face the nation’s top-ranked team first in what could be a wake up call for netminder Adam Murray, who has struggled in his two years in Denver thus far.

UNO, UAA in Alaska Goal Rush
• Like last weekend, the Seawolves will play a conference for in a nonconference contest as UAA and UNO face off Saturday in Fairbanks. Another win would go a long ways towards cementing the Seawolves among the “improved,” as many have predicted early on. The Mavericks, meanwhile are looking to get the bad taste out of their mouths after a bad loss to Colgate at home last Saturday. UNO faces Alaska Saturday while UAA takes on Mercyhurst.

St. Cloud State at Northern Michigan
• The Huskies hit the road again, as they will for much of the first few weeks of the season. At one point, it was thought SCSU’s arena renovations would hinder its ability to play at home, but hang ups in that process have unnecessarily put St. Cloud on the road for 10 of its first 15 games. A win in game one would go along ways towards helping SCSU secure a road sweep against a team they’re certainly capable of beating twice.

Massachusetts-Lowell at Minnesota State
• The Mavericks swept three series a year ago, including one against Lowell back east. Early on, the Mavs are already battling injuries, as their captain Tyler Elbrecht will miss several weeks with a broken arm. Freshman forward Max Gaede also missed a game with injury last weekend and will be out. This is a series, at home, the Mavericks need before jumping into conference play and it’s one, injuries or not, they should be able to get.

Maine at North Dakota
• In another return match-up from last season, the Fighting Sioux will look for some payback after getting swept in Bangor last October. It was the only time all season UND was swept, and was the only time UND lost consecutive games all season. A 7-3 loss in game one was really the end of Brad Eidsness’ run as starting goaltender, (he allowed three goals on five shots before being pulled for Aaron Dell) so it’s somewhat ironic that Dell may be in a similar position this time around.

After a one weekend of play, there were some clear winners and losers in the WCHA. Here are some thoughts on who those may be:

WINNERS

• Michigan Tech. The Huskies didn’t open with a power house like a couple other teams in the league did. In fact, they may have opened with the worst team in Division I hockey. But Tech hasn’t been that far from the bottom either in recent seasons, and sweeping their season opening games will definitely help get new coach Mel Pearson’s message across early. Afterall, this is a team that won just four games all of last season. The Huskies should now be able to equal and pass that pretty easily. At least that’s the hope.

• Bemidji State. Any time you can roll into the home arena and beat the No. 1 team in the country, you’re doing something right. The Beavers were down 1-0 after one Friday and 2-1 after two, but a stellar third period was enough to nab the victory. Kudos to BSU for responding after the Red Hawks tied the game at three late in the third period. Bemidji stemmed the tide and was able to, not only score the game winner, but add an insurance marker too. BSU led in the second period of game two as well, but Miami isn’t the top team for nothing. A great two points for the Beavers.

• Minnesota State. Same thing on a smaller scale. Not much is expected of the Mavericks this season, but they came out of York, N.Y. with a split against RPI. The Engineers entered the weekend ranked No. 18 and coming off an NCAA Tournament bid last season. But the Mavs used stellar goaltending from senior Austin Lee Friday to win a low-scoring affair. Mankato was also able to overcome a pair of injuries — one to captain Tyler Elbrecht — in the win. Elbrecht will miss several weeks with a broken arm, a big loss for a MSU D-core already short on experience and size. Freshman Brett Stern must step in now and play a much more important role. Another concern: The Mavs scored just two goals on the weekend. While getting a win was nice, they’ll need more offense to sustain themselves in conference play.

• Minnesota. Yeah, it was against Sacred Heart. But the Gophers left no doubt this weekend. Kent Patterson became the first Gopher to secure consecutive shutouts in the same weekend against the same team since Adam Hauser did it over a decade ago. Another positive: Minnesota had 10 different players score at least one goal and 16 different players score points this weekend. This from a team that struggled to score in stretches last year. The opponents will most definitely get better, but you can’t argue with the results for the Gophers.

• Alaska-Anchorage. If the Seawolves nonconference game against St. Cloud State is any indication of what we’re going to see in conference play this year, it’s gonna be an awesome season. The Huskies led 2-0 then 2-1 in the third period before UAA junior Mickey Spencer scored goals two minutes apart to pull Anchorage even and in front with under six minutes to play. A goal by Jared Festler with the SCSU net empty and under a minute to play  made it 3-3 before Spencer struck again in overtime to cap the comeback win. The OT goal capped a six-point weekend for Spencer who had 13 points in the two years prior. It also capped a weekend of comebacks for UAA, as they tied Clarkson Friday after trailing on two different occasions in that one as well.

• Minnesota Duluth. A split at home against Notre Dame puts them in the winners category, if only because the Irish are one of the top teams in the nation.

LOSERS

• North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux had to come from behind to beat Air Force Friday before getting hammered by Boston College Saturday. Aaron Dell allowed five goals on just 10 shots against BC, a far cry from his all-league showing last season. The one positive: Early season struggles aren’t exactly new to UND. And it wasn’t exactly unexpected this season. North Dakota is young and will take some lumps through the holidays. This weekend will help them in the long run.

• Nebraska-Omaha. In what should have been an easy couple of wins at home, UNO was impressive in a 5-1 win Friday over Mercyhurst before a disappointing loss to Colgate the next night. The Mavericks badly outshot the Raiders, but an inconsistent effort in goal by John Faulkner doomed UNO. Faulkner’s inconsistency last year was a problem for Omaha, and he must get it corrected if they hope to have another top-6 finish in league play.

• St. Cloud State. The Huskies defeated Alaska Friday and looked to be headed to a win again Saturday. But a problem that plagued SCSU last season surfaced again — third period malaise. The Huskies must get this straightened out. If they don’t, another disappointing season will ensue.

• Wisconsin. Northern Michigan at home needs to be at least three points. It wasn’t. Joel Rumpel was impressive Saturday in a 3-2 win to salvage the split. But Landon Peterson allowed three goals on just 19 shots in a 3-2 OT loss Friday. That battle in goal will be the defining one for the Badgers, at least early on.

There will definitely be some movement in my WCHA Power Rankings, which I will post Thursday. My conference preview is also posted on the College Hockey News main page. It is in two parts, which I will link here and here.

As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@CHNDanMyers). Let’s try and get to 500 followers by the end of the week! Spread the word!

Several Atlantic Hockey teams put up strong showings in the weekend of play, but no AHA teams earned a victory.

Air Force had a lead on North Dakota entering the third period before the Fighting Sioux scored twice to steal a win. While the Falcons didn’t get the win, the fact that they stayed with and were beating the No. 3-ranked team for most of the game must give them some confidence. And, without Jacques Lamoureaux and Derrick Burnett this season, this should make Falcon fans very happy.

One of the more surprising teams this weekend was American International. The Yellow Jackets were swept by Michigan Tech, but they were very competitive and even had a lead entering the third period of the first game. And while they couldn’t hold the lead, it’s definitely a good sign for the future of the Yellow Jackets.

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Welcome, all, to the first edition of “The Midwest Coast Bias” — the newest and trendiest CCHA blog, at least while the CCHA still exists. Thanks to my colleagues, including Joe Meloni and Scott McLaughlin (Hockey East), Justin Churchill (ECAC) and Dan Myers (WCHA), the new CHN blogs have you covered from coast to coast … and now, in this space, even in between.

Some initial thoughts from the first weekend of play:

The Murray Era Begins

Fresh off their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996, the Western Michigan Broncos kicked off the 2011-12 campaign by sweeping Alabama-Huntsville in convincing fashion — outscoring the Chargers 11-1 and holding UAH to just 22 shots all weekend. Enjoying the wins the most, perhaps, was “rookie” head coach Andy Murray, who now has a pair of NCAA wins to go along with his 333 as a former head coach in the NHL.

Alabama-Huntsville, meanwhile, has to feel like the kid who always loses in musical chairs. But that’s another story.

Though reading too much into this particular nonconference game is entirely unwise, it’s still worth keeping an eye on WMU sophomore forward Chase Balisy, who scored a goal and added four assists over the weekend. An NHL draft pick of the Nashville Predators and a CCHA All-Rookie Team selection a year ago, the California native helped spark a line that accounted for 13 points over the weekend. Just as impressively, they held the puck for long periods of time, playing ‘keep-away’ so effectively that Murray spoke of “time of possession” after the game — as if he had just won a football game.

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It was about as good a start to the season as Boston University could’ve hoped for. The first two periods were fairly even in terms of play, but the Terriers found the back of the net twice on goals by Wade Megan and Corey Trivino, both of which came on nice setups from Chris Connolly. Matt Nieto scored the backbreaker 1:15 into the third, Alex Chiasson and Kevin Gilroy tacked on insurance markers, and Kieran Millan stopped all 35 shots he faced as the Terriers came away with a 5-0 win over UNH.

What I saw

• BU’s top two lines were dominant. The lines of Chris Connolly-Corey Trivino-Sahir Gill and Matt Nieto-Charlie Coyle-Alex Chiasson seemed to be buzzing around the UNH net all night. Parker moved Gill from center to wing and Coyle from wing to center during the week, and the changes seemed to benefit everyone involved. The Trivino line registered a goal and four assists, while the Coyle line finished with two goals and three assists. Regardless of how Parker arranges up his top two lines going forward, those are six very talented players — four of them are first- or second-round NHL picks — who could give opponents fits all season.
• The Terriers got to the net. This applies to not just the top two lines, but the whole offense. At times last season, BU seemed incapable or unwilling to get to the dirty areas in front of the net and fight for deflections and rebounds. That wasn’t the case Saturday. UNH goalie Matt Di Girolamo rarely had a clear line of vision, and there were Terriers in the vicinity of most of his rebounds. BU wound up with 23 shot attempts from grade-A areas.

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by Joe Meloni

Little went New Hampshire’s way in its season-opening loss to Boston University Saturday night. The Wildcats played even with BU for the first half of the game.

Beginning the period down, 2-0, UNH opened the third looking to start a comeback, but Matt Nieto’s 1:15 in essentially put the game away for the Terriers.There were certainly some growing pains for UNH, but the Wildcats managed to create some offense early. Senior goaltender Matt Di Girolamo was good despite the four goals allowed — the fourth BU score came on empty-net — with 32 saves. On the other end, Kieran Millan frustrated the UNH offense with some spectacular saves, earning the shutout.

What I saw

• UNH’s speed that is always present gave BU some problems in the early stages of the game, leading to a couple power plays in the first period. The UNH man advantage, though, struggled to finds its rhythm as so many do in the first few games of the season.
• Matt Di Girolamo allowed four goals, but the senior goaltender kept New Hampshire even as long as he could. BU created six Grade-A opportunities in the first period, but Di Girolamo stood strong. Poor defending resulted in most of the looks.
• A few tough penalties stymied any comeback chances for UNH, but the penalty kill prevented the Terriers from extending their lead earlier than they did. Di Girolamo played a major role in that. BU didn’t get many shots through, but created quality chances when they did.

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by Joe Meloni

Ultimately, they won’t be satisfied with the point, but the Huskies will take it right now since they were two seconds from beginning the season with a loss. Given the way things are looking at Maine right now — NU trailed the Black Bears, 4-1, in the second when I started writing this — that point Braden Pimm’s shoulder stole from UMass is looking pretty good.

Pimm received credit for the goal, but UMass junior Rocco Carzo’s failed clear with 12 seconds left in regulation gave the Huskies that final chance to best UMass goaltender Kevin Boyle.

What I saw

• Boston University transfer Vinny Saponari’s comfort with his new teammates grew with every shift. While he called Agganis home, Saponari made it clear he was capable of being an impact player in this league. He picked up a pair of assists in the game, including the key play on the sequence that led to Pimm’s game-tying goal with 2 seconds left.

• The Huskies showed some serious potential on offense. The mistakes that plague early-season games where certainly there, but they pieced together some fantastic breakouts and extended possessions.

• On the other end, Northeastern’s defensemen struggled to close down UMass forwards, allowing the Minutemen to make plays in space and along the half-wall. Against teams relying on their speed, giving them too much space is just asking for problems. The sheer size of the Northeastern defensemen will be an asset down low, but the NU blue liners showed little mobility.

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