This past weekend wasn’t as impressive as the weekend before within the conference but Quinnipiac had an impressive weekend and looked good in a sweep of UMass-Lowell. The Ivies will begin play this weekend with Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and Brown all participating in the Liberty Hockey Invitational at the Prudential Center, in Newark New Jersey. Cornell will open its season with a pair against Nebraska-Omaha, while Harvard opens its season against Bentley for the second straight season. Having these teams playing will give more options in next week’s edition but in hindsight there are still some major trends that stood out for me over the weekend.

Is it time to panic in Schenectady? (more…)

Making snap judgments after one weekend is a recipe for disaster. Or shows we’re human. Remember the whole “Big Ten did not embarrass themselves” narrative I wrote about opening weekend last week? That flipped faster than a virtual banner. It was an ugly Friday night on the road for anyone not named Minnesota. Penn State looked like a team developing against Air Force. Michigan State was overmatched against Massachusetts. Wisconsin…well the Badgers learned the Boston College goal celebration.

In fact, Wisconsin left Boston losing games to the Eagles and Boston University by a combined 16-5. Not quite the results the Badgers (nor the Big Ten, which went 3-6-1) were looking to get. Fortunately, a new narrative is always a week or two away.

(After the jump, Ohio State missing Brady Hjelle, Sam Warning’s early success and Michigan went 1-0-1 on the big Whittmore Center ice.) (more…)

The most surprising development of the weekend wasn’t the sweeps delivered by and to Massachusetts and Massachusetts-Lowell. It wasn’t the hard-fought decisions between Michigan and Durham or the split Merrimack played to with Mercyhurst. No, the 16 total goals Boston College and Boston University dropped on Big Ten foe Wisconsin dominated conversation after the games were done.

BC and BU played two very different games against the Badgers with the Eagles dominating UW completely. The Terriers, meanwhile, scored seven goals on just 26 shots in their 7-3 win. Ultimately, all that matters is the score, and the Terriers did plenty of scoring after losing, 3-1, to Rensselaer on Friday.

It’s not often Wisconsin — or any team — allows 16 goals in a two-game span. However, it did reveal some potential truths in Hockey East. Both BC and BU can score goals, even if they don’t have the puck all that much. Last Sunday, BC scored seven goals against RPI despite getting just 23 shots on goal. Both BC coach Jerry York and first-year BU boss Dave Quinn will take wins however they can get them. Both conceded after those games that they can’t expect those type of results to happen often. For Wisconsin, Saturday’s loss was a bit easier to handle than Friday’s. Oushooting BU 43-26 was a good sign. Allowing seven goals on 26 shots, especially when recording 43, suggests the Badgers got a bit unlucky at Agganis Arena.

Not time to worry for Lowell

Three losses in four games wasn’t the start Norm Bazin wanted. This isn’t foreign to Bazin’s Lowell teams, though. In 2011-12, the River Hawks were 2-3-0 in October. Last season, they were 4-7-1 in their first 11 games. The 2013-14 edition is, of course, a different team. There’s no way to say this club will bounce back with any certainty, but history suggests this slow start is hardly a death sentence for the team.

UML still hasn’t played a Hockey East game, so the 1-3-0 start hasn’t hurt its chances of a strong league record. Moreover, plenty of games remain against other potential NCAA Tournament teams, so there’s still time to put together a strong resume in the regard. Additionally, the River Hawk players expected to have big seasons are no strangers to difficult starts of their own. Scott Wilson is goalless through four games thus far, just as he was a season ago.

Both Doug Carr and Connor Hellebuyck have been fine in their starts. UML is in Michigan this weekend for games with Michigan State and Michigan. A strong showing out west is exactly what UML needs to put a troubling first four games behind it just as Hockey East play gets going in early November.

Goaltending battle brewing in Durham

Like UMass-Lowell, New Hampshire hasn’t started the season as well at it hoped with just one win. Also like the River Hawks, the Wildcats are still in fine shape as the season’s third weekend approaches. Goals are the issue for UNH with two or fewer in each of their last three games. Keeping UNH in games to this point has been strong defensive play led by goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Jeff Wyer. DeSmith was the guy last year, starting 38 of 42 games. UNH coach Dick Umile opted to open the job to a competition this season, and both look ready to challenge for the spot.

Wyer’s been a bit better thus far with a .962 save percentage and a 0.96 goals-against average compared to DeSmith’s .913 and 2.98. Umile will likely keep rotating his goaltenders for the time being. Wyer’s been great, but DeSmith’s track record means he’ll get every chance to fight for minutes.

Eventually, one will become the guy. None of it will matter if the Wildcats don’t start scoring goals. This is UNH, though. The offense will come at some point. Dalton Speelman is goalless through four games as is Grayson Downing. Talented freshman Tyler Kelleher scored in his first game and more should follow. If the Wildcats’ goaltending continues to impress, their inevitable goal-scoring form will make them a force nationally.

Notre Dame’s scoring depth might be league’s best

Consecutive sweeps of Western Michigan and Michigan Tech were exactly what Notre Dame wanted from its first four games. And the club’s success has looked exactly as expected. Steven Summerhays has been strong in goal, and scoring has come from everywhere. Six different players have at least four points with freshman Vince Hinostroza (three goals and three assists) leading the way.

The Irish have room to grow even further. Senior Bryan Rust is yet to score while sophomore Thomas di Pauli has just one point. As the Fighting Irish improve, their offense is only going to generate more goals. Within Hockey East, every contender should boast similar depth eventually. Finding it already is a great sign for Notre Dame, especially with so many experienced players as part of their nucleus.

Seven players finished the season with at least 20 points for Notre Dame last year. That number should grow even further this season. Hockey East is a league dominated by goaltending. When league play begins, goals will be at a premium. Notre Dame is dealing with the same early year rust as every one else, and they’re still averaging more than four goals per game to this point. Once line combinations settle, the Irish could be a devastating offensive club.

The strength of Hockey East, paired with the Fighting Irish’s general lack of experience with the league, made it difficult to peg UND early in the season.

Hockey East play doesn’t begin for two more weeks, but Notre Dame should be able to enter that series at Vermont on a high note. They’re off to Duluth next weekend for a pair of games with the Bulldogs. A split with UMD and a 5-1-0 start is a very real possibility for the club.

Durham, NH- The game was as evenly played as possible and the weekend was as a whole as well. On Friday night, UNH dominated long stretches of play in route to a 1-1 tie. On this night, despite the 35-24 shot advantage to Michigan, stalemate was the best adjective one could find to describe this game.

UNH opened the scoring at six minutes, 18 seconds of the first period when Trevor van Riemsdyk sent an innocent looking point shot towards the net, which Kevin Goumas tipped into the net to give UNH the early lead. The goal was the first of the season for Goumas, who saw limited action last weekend because of an oblique injury. Alex Guptill answered about three minutes later on the power-play when he was left untouched of Casey Desmith and put it past him to send it into the first intermission tied at 1.

The second period was much of the same, as the teams each had 12 shots on net. Michigan took the lead, on the power-play four minutes into the period as Luke Moffatt found a puck at Desmith’s feet that he put behind him for the 2-1 lead. UNH answered later in the period to send it into the second intermission tied at two. It stayed that way through another stalemate period and the team’s entered the overtime tied, for the second night in a row.

Unlike last night this one would have a winner. Freshman, JT Compher went around the back of the net found a trailing Derek Deblois in the slot who took a shot. Casey Desmith left a rebound to his stick side which Tyler Motte found and was true to give Michigan the 3-2 overtime victory over UNH. Michigan improves to 3-0-1 on the season, while UNH falls to 1-2-1. (more…)

Lowell, Mass – UML and Quinnipiac were both Frozen Four participants last season, but they didn’t play each other . You couldn’t tell by the play on the ice. After a scoreless first period where Quinnipiac dominated play, the Bobcats came out in the second and stifled a good Lowell team, holding them 0-5 on the power-play and limiting them to no quality chances.

Jordan Samuel-Thomas opened the scoring at two minutes, three seconds of the second on a beautiful slot to slot pass from Peter Quenneville leaving the former with nothing but a wide open net to shoot at. QU took a 2-0 lead seven minutes later as Connor Clifton sent a point shot in that deflected off of Connor Jones into the net. The Bobcats finished the scoring in the second at 13:25 of the period when Derek Smith’s point shot beat Connor Hellebuyck to give Quinnipiac the 3-0 second intermission lead.

It was much of the same in the third period, as Lowell turned it up a bit scoring an early third period goal but they would eventually fall  3-1 to the Bobcats. Lowell falls 1-2-0 on the young season, while Quinnipiac improves to 2-1-0. (more…)

It is a bit early to be doing Power Rankings, but in all reality the season has to start at some point and no better time than right now. Many teams have begun the season, including Clarkson and Colgate who have combined to play 7 games already. Both of those teams have looked good in the early going and all the other teams that began last weekend looked good as well, as the conference has gone 10-4-1 in early non-conference action. To preface, the preseason rankings are the ones that will be seen on the ECAC preview article when it is released on the site. It has changed a bit in my mind, already but I have tried to keep teams, mainly the Ivy’s, that haven’t played in their positions. It was tough mainly because the teams that have played, looked really good. (more…)

Hockey East coaches lauded realignment for several reasons. Primarily, they seemed pleased with fewer conference games in the season’s first few weeks. There was one league game last weekend with Boston University upending Massachusetts, 3-1. Saturday’s game between UMass and UMass-Lowell was a non-conference game, played as part of the series between the two schools for the Alumni Cup — awarded to the team that wins the annual three-game series.

The non-conference matchups around the league yielded some interesting results, especially with Providence’s sweep of Minnesota State and Sacred Heart’s unlikely win over UMass-Lowell. These early-season games don’t tell us too much about the teams around the country since clubs have so little time to prepare. However, their significance can’t be ignored. These games will come into play come Pairwise time. They don’t count in the league standings, but coaches and players want wins just the same.

Rankings:

1. Providence (2-0-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East)

The Friars’ success in 2013-14 depends upon greater contributions from a handful of players as well as even better goaltending from sophomore Jon Gillies. PC received both of those in a pair of wins over Minnesota State at the newly renovated Schneider Arena. Sophomore forward Mark Jankowski scored a pair of goals, as did sophomore defenseman John Gilmour and junior center Ross Mauermann. Gillies stopped 64 of 65 shots he saw over the weekend, earning a shutout in Saturday’s 3-0 win over the Mavericks. PC has a Hockey East championship and NCAA Tournament berth in its mind this season. Two wins over a Minnesota State likely to improve on last year’s season is a good start toward the latter.

This Weekend: Friday home against American International

2. Notre Dame (2-0-0; 0-0-0 Hockey East)

Holding Western Michigan without much production is hardly a difficult task, but the Fighting Irish managed to keep the Broncos scoreless altogether. UND swept the home-and-home pair with WMU with a suffocating defense and 44 total saves from senior Steven Summerhays. Offensive depth is a clear strength for the Irish. It revealed itself throughout the weekend. Seven players scored goals for UND in the wins. Meanwhile, senior defenseman Shayne Taker picked up four assists in the wins.

This Weekend: Friday and Sunday home against Michigan Tech

(more…)

College Hockey is back and Atlantic Hockey got some national attention over the weekend with Sacred Heart’s stunning win over UMass-Lowell, as well as Bentley taking down the University of Nebraska at Omaha. It is sure to be a great season for Atlantic Hockey and each week we’ll have new and updated power rankings for the league. Here are the rankings for Week 1:

1. Niagara (1-2, 1-0 AHA) – In a wild game in their home opener Niagara was down 3-0 midway through the first period to cross-town rival Canisius, but stormed back to win 6-4 for their first win of the season as well as getting off on the right foot in conference play. Niagara had already dropped two games to Clarkson earlier in the month. They will play their second straight conference game when they travel to Robert Morris this weekend.

2. Mercyhurst (0-3, 0-0 AHA) – Mercyhurst is 0-3 on the year, but those losses have come to national powers in Minnesota, Clarkson and Ferris State, all away from home. These games will only help them once the conference schedule starts to get going. They will continue with their tough schedule with two games against Merrimack this weekend.

(more…)

While the other conferences were overly-written about in the offseason because of the massive change of landscape that has occurred around College Hockey, the ECAC stayed relatively uniform and out of the national news. In some senses, it has been left in the shadow of the other conferences despite its most crowning achievement in two decades, Yale’s national title victory in April.

Last season, was a successful one for the conference and if it is any indication this season could be much of the same. In the first two weeks of the season, the conference has gone 10-4-1 in non-conference games. Of course the Ivy league teams don’t join the party for another two weeks but the conference as a whole looks to be deep and stacked, especially at the forward position. Colgate and Clarkson have combined for half of the games that have been played, and for two teams that struggled for large portions of last year they have impressed. Those two have combined for a combined 5-2-0 mark in the early going.

With week one in the books, trends are starting to take shape. Here are three of the most noteworthy: (more…)

Welcome to the first-ever “3 Things I Think” about the Big Ten. Like the title says, each week I will discuss 3 topics going on in the Big Ten hockey world.

In a way, this blog has been a long time coming. It has been nearly 3 years since Terry Pegula donated $88 million (later adding a cool $14 million) to Penn State to kick the wheels in motion for the conference. Since then, the thought of Big Ten has been in the back of college hockey fans’ minds as the 2013-14 season drew closer and closer.

In a different way, this blog is about the present. Enough has been written about college realignment in the last few weeks to last a lifetime. Most has been fitting. This season is different than past years and the effect one way or another will be felt for years to come. Or as College Hockey News managing editor Adam Wodon put it, “not since the Louisiana Purchase has the stroke of a pen changed the landscape so much.” Honestly, it’s weird to see the Big Ten on the ice rather than WCHA or CCHA.

But right now all that matters is opening weekend. Let me tell you, being back at the rink is great.

(After the jump, the Big Ten’s opening weekend, Pegula Arena & the best goal in conference history) (more…)