What an interesting weekend in college hockey. After looking at all the scores, I’m not sure anything makes sense. But when does it ever? The Buckeyes finally were defeated, and by Robert Morris by 6-2. The next night they skated to a 4-4 tie, so the Buckeyes still have just one loss on the season. Matt Tomkins started on Friday and Logan Davis came on in relief, so Christian Frey is most likely still injured. Ohio State took 37 shots on net on net in both games and John Wiitala accounted for two goals on Saturday. The Buckeyes led by two goals in the last game but the Colonials tied it.

The renewal of the great Minnesota-North Dakota rivalry featured a couple of exciting, fast-paced college hockey games (until the third period of Saturday night’s game, but I digress). Friday’s game was a back-and-forth scoring affair. The Fighting Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Gophers tied it. The second was scoreless and the team exchanged goals in the third with Tommy Novak tying it with 1:17 left. Minnesota won 2-0 on Saturday but the game was still close and the Gophers won because of Eric Scheirhorn’s impressive play in net. And of course the teams got into a scuffle when the game ended.

Michigan unsurprisingly defeated Arizona State. In the 4-1 win, Will Lockwood scored twice and Zach Nagelvoort made 31 saves. That was Nagelvoort’s second start of the soon and first since Michigan opened its season against Union. The fact that Red Berenson chose to start Nagelvoort, finally, against Arizona State says a lot about his role with the team so far.

The Spartans split their series with Michigan Tech. The first night Mason Appleton tied the game late in the third and scored the game winner in overtime. Both of Appleton’s goals were power play goals. Ed Minney made 22 saves in the start, but he didn’t look extremely solid. John Lethemon got the nod the next night but, from what I saw, didn’t look too stellar either. He made 23 saves in the 5-1 loss. The Spartans have now won two of their last three.

Penn State swept Niagara by 5-1 scores each night. The Nittany Lions took 56 shots on Thursday and followed with 51 on Friday. The Nittany Lions oddly do not lead the country in shots, but they’re second and have been peppering opponents. That isn’t surprising given their recent opponents and that taking a lot of shots is part of coach Guy Gadowsky’s strategy. On Thursday, Peyton Jones got a night of rest in favor of Chris Funkey. Andrew Sturtz added three goals on the weekend and now had eight.

The Badgers again split their series with Northern Michigan, following a 5-2 loss with a 2-0 win. In the loss, Matt Jurusik gave up four goals on 10 shots, which isn’t good. Jack Berry made six saves in relief. Berry made 22 saves in the shutout win the next night, which was also his first career start. The worst news of the weekend for the Badgers was that Grant Besse was hurt on Friday. He did not play Saturday, but per Wisconsin State Journal reporter Todd Milewski, head coach Tony Granato said Besse could’ve played Saturday and wanted to, but the coaches chose to sit him.

(After the jump: Rohlik deserved his extension, Minnesota is lethal, the good in Michigan State’s offense)

Rohlik deserved his extension

Steve Rohlik was given a contract extension at the beginning of the year and the Buckeyes finally started the season well. The Buckeyes have a loss now, and I’m not sure how they’ll finish, but I think giving Rohlik a contract was the right move. Record-wise the Buckeyes haven’t accomplished much and still haven’t made it back to the NCAA tournament but Rohlik has kept the team competitive over the past few years. He’s also kept their offense producing, even after Ohio State lost Max McCormick and Ryan Dzingel.

He’s also faced quite the challenges – most notably his first season when both his goaltenders were injured and he had a third-string goalie and a baseball catcher as his two options. He navigated the team through it, and the netminding mishap didn’t phase the team.

Whatever their record has been, his Buckeyes have always been a tough team to play against. That’s been especially true at the end of each season, when they’ve been one of the best teams in the Big Ten down the stretch. Unfortunately it’s been a few down years for the conference and that’s affected all of the teams, but Rohlik has done a great job with the Buckeyes all things considered.

Also it’s been three years, which has given Rohlik enough time to recruit his own players. And some of them are pretty good.

Minnesota is lethal

I have to take back some of what I said about the Gophers last weekend. I finally got to watch them closely this weekend (although it’s important to remember that Clarkson/St. Lawrence and North Dakota are very different teams, so it’s hard to compare what I saw this week to what happened last), and I was pretty impressed. Minnesota is definitely better than I thought it was, but North Dakota also probably isn’t as good as everyone thought they were. What impressed me the most with Minnesota, which I shouldn’t be surprised over, is how lethal they can be.

I believe that was something North Dakota mentioned in pre-game press conferences and something we noticed last weekend. There’s a ton of talent on that team on paper, and it translates well on ice. The Gophers can strike quickly and can create good scoring chances out of almost nothing. It makes Minnesota a fun team to watch, and I believe they can become a team capable of winning the Big Ten. 

Michigan State’s offense is also better

As strange as this is to type, it’s true. This may never show up on the scoresheet in shots, goals, points or wins, but it’s evident if you watch the Spartans play this year. The forward core is pretty young, with Michigan State relying on players like Mason Appleton. There are some Spartan veterans who can score, like Joe Cox and William Haag, but right now the underclassmen are leading. Appleton has three goals and eight points, freshman Taro Hirose has six points and sophomore Zach Osburn has five.

I’ve only been able to watch one game, and it was the overtime win over Michigan Tech, but the players were able to set up, pass easily to each other, find the right lanes and create some good chances that I can’t remember seeing from the Spartans recently.

— Boston College is quietly on a six-game unbeaten streak after starting the year 1-2, including a loss to Air Force. The Eagles have scored four goals or more in four of those six games and have scored six or more three times. Despite the offensive output — the Eagles have 35 goals in nine games — they have not a single player scoring more than one point per game. Matthew Gaudreau and Chris Brown lead the team with eight points in nine games and Colin White and Casey Fitzgerald have seven points in eight games. The scoring has been spread out, with 15 different players scoring at least one goal and nine players scoring two or more; BC has six players with at least three goals. It’s all about depth at BC right now, with Joseph Woll (.931) playing more than well between the pipes.

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This weekend features an easier non-conference schedule for some Big Ten teams. Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin have easy competition for this weekend. The Spartans will have a tougher test against Michigan Tech, and Minnesota will have a really hard time against the Fighting Hawks.

It’s way too early to look at the pairwise, but it’s never too early (and this is the only time, really) to compare non-conference records. The Big Ten is still second to the NCHC, but their winning percentage stands at .618. The Big Ten has played six games against Atlantic Hockey, while the NCHC has only played two.

The matchup to watch is really Minnesota against North Dakota. The Gopher still have to prove themselves, and North Dakota is a pretty good test. Not to mention the two teams are rivals, and those feelings haven’t changed despite the great shift in college hockey conferences.

Oh, and the Buckeyes are now the only undefeated team in college hockey.

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First Denver, then St. Cloud State, and now Minnesota-Duluth — the third consecutive NCHC team to be named CHN Team of the Week (check out the full story here).

UMD was dominant on special teams, scoring three power play goals and two shorthanded goals during the weekend sweep of the defending national champions, North Dakota. In Saturday’s 3-0 shutout in particular, the Bulldogs were dizzying to watch (just check out the beautifully worked shorthanded goal by Kyle Osterberg with less than a minute to play in the period, as an example).

I spoke with UMD senior Alex Iafallo yesterday, who played a big role in UMD’s weekend sweep — the first time North Dakota had been swept in a weekend series since St. Cloud State pulled off the feat in November 2013.

Iafallo, the NCHC Offensive Player of the Week, scored his first career hat-trick in Friday’s 5-2 win and added an assist in each game as well. The senior from Eden, N.Y., has been remarkably consistent through his career in Duluth — scoring 22 points as a freshman, 25 as a sophomore, and 23 as a junior.

He already has nine points — through eight games — this season, his senior campaign. Yesterday, he spoke about his outlook for the season, both from an on-ice production standpoint, as well as leadership.

“I just kind of want to keep the path going,” said Iafallo. “I want us to play as good as we can every night. It’s not all about points, but I have to do my role, and make sure I’m ready every night — whether it’s a 200-foot game, or scoring goals. I’ve got to make sure I’m ready.”

Many think of UMD as the nation’s top team now, and the Bulldogs certainly won’t be overlooked the rest of the way — trying to make their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

And perhaps it’s never too early to play with a tournament mindset.

Continued Iafallo, “From the team aspect, we want to play every game like it’s our last. That’s how I’m approaching this season leadership-wise and make sure everyone’s working hard, on and off the ice.”

Clearly, Iafallo is a player to watch for the rest of the season — a key component to what is shaping up to be a well-balanced offensive attack for UMD.

The Ivy League schools began play over the weekend. For some, it proved to be a rough night. For others, there were moments that showed hey they may have something to add. For Dartmouth, the one game it played had to be a big momentum boost for the coming weeks heading towards ECAC play. All told, the Ivies had a 4-4-0 record on the weekend, including the Big Green’s win over Michigan on Saturday night.

Union swept RPI in the opening league games of the 2016 season, continuing their hot start. The Dutchmen are now 6-1-1 on the season. Their offense is led by rejuvenated senior Mike Vecchione, who has 10 goals on the year and the game-winner against the Engineers on Saturday. The only team that has defeated Rick Bennett’s charges this season was Michigan at Yost. They will play at Holy Cross tonight, which has a win against Providence and defeated Brown on Friday, 3-0.

The league has in some senses struggled this season in non-conference play, but it was probably never going to equal last year’s impressive non-conference season. So many teams are young and have players in new roles. Other than a 5-1-3 record against the Atlantic, the ECAC has a record of 13-19-4 against the BIG and Hockey East. It has been tough sledding in some games, but with the Ivies back I suspect it will all get better. I also totally expect Clarkson and SLU to break their respective slumps at some point. Both teams have a good number of talented players. Without further ado here are my thoughts of the week: (more…)

In the Halloween edition of Three Things I Think, we’ll go over some of the scariest things happening in college hockey/the Big Ten. (Maybe not, but I really love Halloween.) Things aren’t scary for the Big Ten, but probably for everyone else in college hockey who’s slowly watching the Big Ten’s non-conference record grow. It’s the kryptonite that’s kept multiple Big Ten teams out of the NCAA tournament for the past few years, but will most likely be the reason the Big Ten gets more than one team in this year.

Leading the conference is still Ohio State, which is still undefeated. But the Buckeyes did play Niagara and easily defeated the Purple Eagles by scores of 10-2 and 6-2. The Buckeyes are the only undefeated team in the country (not including the Ivies, which just began playing this weekend). That’s a little bit of a flip for the Buckeyes, who usually start the season slowly but end strong. Speaking of the Buckeyes, head coach Steve Rohlik was signed to an extension recently.

Ohio State wasn’t the only team to sweep the weekend, as Wisconsin came back from the North Country with a pair of wins. The Badgers defeated St. Lawrence 5-2 and then Clarkson 5-4. The Saints and Golden Knights are more along the top of the ECAC (although I’m not sure what being at the top of the ECAC actually means right now), so it’s a pretty good showing for the Badgers. Minnesota also took a trip to North Country but left with a split. The Gophers gave up three goals early to Clarkson but came back and won in overtime. They scored twice in roughly 20 seconds on Saturday night to take St. Lawrence into overtime for the tie.

Penn State also swept the weekend, but that’s not surprising with a pair of games against Canisius. The Nittany Lions took the first game 4-1 – and took 65 shots on net. Yes, 65 shots on net. On Saturday they followed with a shameful 47 shots and won 4-2. The Spartans picked up their first win of the season, defeating Princeton 6-2. It’s good the Spartans won, but keep in mind it was Princeton’s first game of the season. It’s always tough for teams to take the ice for the first time against a team that’s already played four times.

Michigan was the only team that didn’t win this weekend. The Wolverines dropped their first game 3-0 to Vermont and then the second 3-2 at Dartmouth. It’s not a good sign when you lose to a team that’s playing their first game of a season, and this weekend showed us Michigan still has a long road ahead. It looks like Zach Nagelvoort has officially been removed from the rotation, as both Hayden Lavigne and Jack LaFontaine took to the net this weekend. I haven’t seen them play, but 39 saves for Lavigne and 32 for LaFontaine isn’t bad.

There might not be anything scary to talk about, except apparently the pairwise is floating around. In the end of October? If that’s not scary I don’t know what is. (Actually I do and it’s Providence’ mascot, the Friar. Also possibly Quinnipiac’s mascot, who proposed to me in Albany last year and I’m fairly certain was going to kidnap me.)

(After the jump: I’m not impressed with Minnesota and Lucia, what’s good for Michigan and who’s going to win the conference)

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