CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard opened its ECAC schedule with a 3-2 win over Brown Friday night at the Bright Hockey Center. After falling behind, 1-0, at 3 minutes, 24 seconds of the second period, the Crimson erupted for three goals in a span of 5:06. With 1:46 left in the second period, Matt Lorito halved the Harvard advantage, but a scoreless third period gave the Crimson a win.

Brown goaltender Marco De Filippo made 39 saves in the loss. For the first two periods, De Filippo totaled 27 saves, but not many were particularly dangerous scoring chances. In the third period, however, he made six saves on grade-A looks, and 12 overall to keep Brown with one. Harvard goaltender Raphael Girard matched him, though, with 12 of his own to seal the win for the Crimson.

What I Saw

• Harvard missed far too many opportunities in the first period, making the game closer than it should’ve been. Early-season rust aside, the puck movement the Crimson displayed simply deserved better finishing. Against Bentley last Saturday, the Crimson’s goals came, mostly, on some serious displays of skill. Its puck movement improvement significantly on Friday, and the Bears seemed happy to give Harvard as much space as it wanted. After Brown broke through in the second, the Crimson clicked offensively. Still, this game should never have finished, 3-2. Brown’s De Filippo played fairly well in goal, but missed Harvard chances made him look better than he really was. Harvard will take the two points to kick off ECAC play, but it needs to finish those chances against the ECAC’s elite. (more…)

Hanover, NH.- The first two periods were an offensive showcase, or a showcase in a lack of defense, as the teams skated to a 6-3 Dartmouth lead after two. In the first six and a half minutes the teams combined for four goals. The lead was enough for Dartmouth and they would hold on to win 7-4. Dartmouth improved to 2-0-1 (1-0-0) and Yale falls to 1-1-1 (0-1-0).

Dartmouth raced out to an early lead three minutes and 27 seconds in as Matt Lindblad scored on a bad rebound off the pad of Yale goaltender, Nick Maricic. The 1-0 lead would not last long as Yale’s, Stu Wilson, would send a puck from right below the goal-line off the shoulder of Dartmouth goaltender, Charles Grant, to tie the game at one. The tie would last all of 47 seconds as Eric Robinson received a feed in the high slot and sent a wicked wrister past the Yale goaltender to make it 2-1. Dartmouth would again be the beneficiary of a bad rebound by Maricic as Dustin Walsh and Eric Linblad came in on a 2 on 1. Walsh took the original shot and Linblad put it under Maricic to make it 3-1 and end the goalies night. Yale would again make it a one goal game off a rebound goal scored by Antoine Lageniere late in the first period.

In the second period, Dartmouth would add three more to their total, while Yale added another. Brandon McNally and Eric Robinson scored even strength and Tyler Sikura scored a shorthanded goal for Dartmouth. Antoine Laganiere added his second of the night for Yale at 12:35 of the second to make it a three goal game after two. Dartmouth had three players with two goals, as Tyler Sikura, Matt Lindblad and Eric Robinson all had two markers in the game.

What I Saw

Yale struggled on defense for much of the first two periods. Defensive breakdowns were abounded throughout, even when   Dartmouth wasn’t scoring. From leaving skaters wide-open in the slots and just bad positioning the Yale defense fought the puck the whole night.

A Notre Dame sweep of Northern Michigan and an array of series splits (Miami-Michigan, Superior-Michigan State, Ferris-Alaska) highlighted the weekend action in the league last weekend. Meanwhile, Western Michigan had the weekend off, and Ohio State earned a win and a tie at Bowling Green, with the Falcons earning an extra point in the Saturday night shoot-out.

Tomorrow: the CCHA staff writers’ predictions for this weekend’s games (including an explanation for how and why I went 10-0-0 with last weekend’s picks…). For now, here are this week’s power rankings

1. Notre Dame (5-1-0). Last week: 1.

It’s a good time to be a sports fan in South Bend, with the re-emergence of Notre Dame football this season. On the ice, a balanced attack allowed the Irish to go on the road last weekend and sweep a strong Northern Michigan team. The Irish only swept one series on the road all of last season, and again, the scoring wealth has been spread to beyond just the names we talk about ad nauseam on a weekly basis (T.J. Tynan, Anders Lee). For instance, through the first six games of the 2012-13 season, 11 different Notre Dame players have scored the team’s 17 goals .

Jeff Jackson also showed trust in now-backup goaltender Mike Johnson, the senior who has waited patiently on the bench given Steve Summerhays’ strong start to the year. This weekend, the Irish welcome Western Michigan to town for a Friday-Sunday series, to avoid conflict with the football team’s game against Pitt on Saturday.

2. Miami (4-1-1). Last week: 2.

The RedHawks followed up an opening weekend sweep of Colgate with a tie and win against Providence, then went on the road last weekend and used a strong third period surge on Saturday night to skate out of Ann Arbor. All this led to a trio of big announcements on Thursday: that Austin Czarnik has been named the CCHA Player of the month (his eight points tie for the CCHA lead as do his five assists), that Riley Barber has been named the league’s Rookie of the Month (his four goals are tied for the team lead), and that Miami will host an NCAA Regional in Cincinnati in 2014.

3. Michigan (3-2-0). Last week: 6.

The Wolverines’ third period hiccup on Saturday night against Miami cost them a shot at the No. 2 spot in the Power Rankings this week. A.J. Treais and Alex Guptill continue to produce, as does rookie phenom Jacob Trouba… but the concern in Ann Arbor is the goaltending situation. Freshmen Steve Racine and Jared Rutledge have split time in net, but Racine has clearly outplayed the more highly touted Rutledge thus far. Keep a close eye on how Berenson manages the situation this weekend as the Wolverines head to the nothern peninsula to take on a strong but reeling Northern Michigan squad. 

4. Alaska (3-2-1). Last week: 4.

After a strong performance in a 2-1 win over North Dakota, Nanooks goaltender allowed six in Friday’s game at Ferris State last weekend. Backup Sean Cahill played well the following night, allowing Alaska to leave Big Rapids with a weekend split. In Saturday’s game, Alaska senior forward Andy Taranto notched two assists, and is just seven points away from the century mark for his career.

5. Western Michigan (3-1-0). Last week: 5.

The Broncos have played well thus far this season (and were idle last weekend), but their real test comes this weekend with a road series at Notre Dame. Sophomore goalie Frank Slubowski made all four starts against the Fighting Irish last season, posting a 2-1-1 record with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.

6. Ohio State (2-2-2). Last week: 8.

The Buckeyes have played all six games on the road and have managed a .500 record, including a win over Minnesota-Duluth. OSU’s next four games are in Columbus, and the ongoing developing story regarding the Buckeyes’ two rotating goaltenders (senior goalie Brady Hjelle and freshman goalie Collin Olson ) continues.

7. Northern Michigan (3-3-0). Last week: 3.

Recently a CHN Team of the Week, the Wildcats stumbled last weekend, though against a strong opponent. The tests keep coming for NMU, with back to back weekend series now with Michigan this week,  Miami next week.

8. Ferris State (2-2-2). Last week: 7.

Despite the Bulldogs’ split against Alaska, goaltender C.J. Motte continued to impress, with 76 saves during the weekend — the most in a weekend series by a FSU goaltender since 1992.

9. Michigan State (2-3-1). Last week: 9.

10. Lake Superior (3-3-0). Last week: 10.

11. Bowling Green (1-4-2). Last week: 11.

The first full conference game weekend is in the books and little is decided on the fate of certain teams. It is too early to see if UNH’s strong, undefeated October will lead to anything in terms of success. If one thing is for certain we should have known that Boston College would emerge as the early favorite and this has been the case. This week’s power rankings saw a lot of movement but those two teams continue to hold the top two spots.

While most teams are engaging in conference action this weekend, Boston University will head west for the matchup of the week nationally when they tangle with national power North Dakota. I think most fans in Hockey East would love to be in North Dakota, but in any case there are many games locally that might catch your attention. Here’s to previewing all the action from Hockey East: (more…)