Last Week: 9-0-1
This Season: 18-8-3

Thursday

Boston College 3, Vermont 1 
BC seemed to figure something out on Saturday against Merrimack. Granted, the game was a little more even than the 4-1 score would suggest, but I think the Eagles finally have some confidence cooking and playing at home will be a big help here.

UMass 5, Providence 3
The Minutemen are for real. This is the most exciting matchup of the weekend. Right now, Providence and UMass look like the best two teams in Hockey East. UMass is pumping this game as their biggest home game in a decade, and it might be. I’m expecting a charged-up UMass team to come out flying and pick up a memorable win.

Friday

Boston College 5, Vermont 2
The Eagles will pick up their first sweep of the season, and they’ll get their offense going against the Catamounts, who have defended pretty well (as far as goals against) but have allowed some big shot totals this season.

Boston University 3, UConn 2
This is one of the tougher games to pick this weekend. BU looked good on Saturday night to get its first win, but they looked bad in some early-season games. UConn, meanwhile, has been slow but steady. I think BU edges out a close one.

UMass Lowell 2, New Hampshire 1
UNH is struggling to score goals but have defended well. UMass Lowell has more firepower, but they’ve been in the same position. The River Hawks come out victorious in a low-scoring game.

Merrimack 2, Bemidji State 1
Craig Pantano has rebounded well after getting pulled, including posting a shutout over BU one game after getting yanked against Army. Pantano was pulled against BC on Saturday as Merrimack faces a Bemidji team that is 4-1 despite scoring just 1.67 goals per game. Pantano powers the Warriors to a win on the road.

Saturday

Northeastern 3, UMass Lowell 1
So far, Northeastern has been able to find pieces for its lost firepower up front. Oh, and Cayden Primeau continues to shine.

Providence 3, UMass 2
The Friars come back and get some redemption for the Thursday game at home. Both of these games are going to be close, though.

New Hampshire 3, Boston University 2
I’m not sure what to make of this game. We could see UNH break out of a funk on home ice, or we could see BU’s skill players take advantage of more time and space on the larger ice. Both teams are also likely to be in for a grind the night before. 

Bemidji State 2, Merrimack 1
Bemidji gets the split with the Warriors with some stellar goaltending, which the Beavers have received all season.

Tuesday

UConn 4, Brown 1
I watched Brown-Vermont a few weeks ago, and it was a tight game despite Brown not being all that stellar. The Bears have made some inroads with recruiting in recent months, but they’re going to struggle against a more-talented UConn squad.

Happy November! The results from last weekend make minimal sense. I know it’s already November, but teams are still finding out who they are. Now if it’s still going on in December, I guess we’re just back to the usual weird inconsistency we’ve seen from the Big Ten in years past. Most likely though this will all settle down soon.

Ohio State and Notre Dame will still be the best

The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish met for the first time since their thrilling Big Ten final last year. The games went how you’d expect, ending in a couple of low-scoring, one-goal games. I know the Buckeyes were rocked by Bowling Green last weekend, and Notre Dame hasn’t exactly been stellar either so far, but these two are still some of the best and this past weekend proved that.

Some people asked me why I picked Notre Dame over Ohio State when I made my conference picks, and the reason lies with goaltending. Cale Morris is still better than Sean Romeo, and I’ll take that over the stifling defense Ohio State *usually* has. (I have to say usually because of that game against Bowling Green. Yikes). Both teams are going to have games where they stumble (like Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin in Chicago last year), which is why I always take the goaltenders. 

Outdoor games are still overrated

People can say I hate fun, which may sometimes be fair. Mostly I love fun, but I don’t think any amount of fun is worth outdoor games. It’s not even because I think they’re overdone, or boring or just a money-making gimmick (although I do think those things). Ultimately I don’t like teams playing in them because they put players at much higher risk for injuries. I was there three years ago when Denna Laing was hurt skating on outdoor ice with sub-par conditions. And last year Will Lockwood got hurt because he was also skating on questionable ice.

I get that it’s a fun event. I’ve gone as a fan once, and while I wouldn’t go again, I do think it’s something people should experience once. But it makes injuries way more likely to happen because there are factors that either can’t be controlled or won’t be controlled when it comes to ice conditions.

Anyway, the point of this rambling, angry-man-yells-at-cloud post is that the Wolverines and the Fighting Irish will be playing in an outdoor game in South Bend. 

Michigan State is on fire

I mean in a good way. The Spartans are quietly winning. Actually, almost everyone in the conference is winning, or sort of winning, because every team except for Minnesota has t least four victories. The Spartans just suffered a loss at Ferris State but had won three in a row, before the loss. Two of those wins came at Cornell, and that’s pretty impressive.

I don’t think Michigan State’s success is a fluke, and I think they can do some damage in the Big Ten this year. That top line of Taro Hirose, Mitchell Lewnadowski and Patrick Khodorenko has to be one of the most underrated lines in college hockey and they’ve already amassed 28 points so far. Khondorenko already has five goals and Hirose’s 12 points are tied for the Big Ten lead.

But the kicker — and what will define how far Michigan State’s success goes — is John Lethemon. Before the season, Danton Cole spoke a little bit about how Lethemon grew and what the team was expecting from him. So far he’s done well, posting a .919 save percentage. 

It was an exciting weekend in Atlantic Hockey, as the Air Force Falcons recorded their first sweep at the Army West Point Black Knights since 2004, and RiT’s Erik Brown became the all-time goal scoring leader for his team’s D-I history.

Air Force topped Army twice, with a 4-2 victory in each game. The Falcons received goals from Matt Pulver, Zack Mirageas, Brady Tomlak and Trevor Stone in Friday night’s win. Stone and Tomlak also scored in Saturday’s win, with Kyle Haak and Kieran Durgan adding goals. Billy Christopoulos made 47 saves over the course of the weekend to help Air Force to the victories.

Army’s goals on the weekend came from Dominic Franco, Trevor Fidler, Marshal Plunkett and Daniel Haider. Both goals in Friday’s game came on the power play.

Mercyhurst topped RIT 4-3 on Friday. The Lakers took a 2-0 lead on goals by Wes Baker, but the Tigers tied it with a pair of goals in the second period from Jake Hamacher and Abbott Girduckis. Tommasi Bucci gave the Lakers the lead, and Baker completed the hat trick to make it 4-2. Jordan Peacock got one back for the Tigers, but the Lakers pulled off the win.

The teams then skated to a 2-2 tie on Saturday. Erik Brown scored the 56th goal of his collegiate career with 30 seconds left in regulation to tie the game. Brown’s goal made him RIT”s all-time leading scorer in the program’s Division-I history.

Jake Hamacher also scored for the Tigers. Mercyhurst got goals from Joseph Duszak and Taylor Best.

Elsewhere, Niagara and Robert Morris split their weekend series. The Colonials pulled off a 3-1 win Friday, with goals from Kyle Horsman, Daniel Mantenuto  and Luke Lynch. Nick Farmer scored the lone goal for the Purple Eagles.

Niagara rebounded for a 4-2 win the following night. Alex Truscott, Eric Cooley, Ryan Cox and Justin Kendall all scored for the Purple Eagles. Nick Lalonde had a pair of goals for the Colonials in the loss.

Sacred Heart and Bentley split their weekend series, while Canisius and AIC did the same.

The Pioneers topped the Falcons 3-2 Friday before dropping a decision by the same score Saturday. Sacred Heart scored on even-strength (Ryan Steele), the man advantage (Jason Cotton) and shorthanded (Austin Madera) in Friday’s win.

Dylan Pitera and Jake Kauppila scored for Bentley on Saturday, with Drew Callin tallying the game-winning goal in overtime.

Canisius topped AIC 4-2 on Friday before falling to the Yellow Jackets 6-1 Saturday.

The Griffs got goals from Mitchell Martan, Matt Hoover and two from Dylan McLaughlin on Friday night, including one that made Sportscenter’s Top 10. Luka Maver and Darius Davidson scored for the Yellow Jackets in the loss.

The Yellow Jackets poured on the offense Saturday night. Kyle Stephan had a pair of goals, with Maver, Tobias Flabby, Chris Theodore and Davidson also scoring. McLaughlin had the lone goal for Canisius, his third of the weekend.

In non-conference action, Holy Cross fell 3-0 to nationally-ranked Providence on Saturday.

This coming weekend will see conference play between Holy Cross and Niagara; Bentley and Air Force; Sacred Heart and Army; and AIC and RIT. Robert Morris faces a pair of games against Penn State, while Mercyhurst visits St. Lawrence. Canisius also hosts Clarkson Saturday before visiting RIT next Tuesday.

Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. Air Force
2. Army
3. AIC
4. Canisius
5. Niagara
6. Bentley
7. Robert Morris
8. RIT
9. Mercyhurst
10. Sacred Heart
11. Holy Cross

Another week in the books, but this one lacked big surprises. Cornell got back on track with a pair of wins, like I predicted they would. So did Union. I argued that both teams will still be good regardless of results in one week, and it seems both have come true to their identity. Union picked up a pair of wins against Clarkson and SLU, at home, while Cornell held serve against Brown and Yale. Quinnipiac got tripped up by Dartmouth, which provided the Bobcats their first loss, and Rensselaer went 1-1 after win against SLU and a loss to Clarkson.

It is much too early to talk about standings and stuff, but it is interesting to see RPI at the top after the struggles they have had in recent seasons. Dave Smith has instilled confidence in that group, which is only growing. A 6-0 setback to Clarkson on Friday was tough but the Engineers provided a good bounce-back in a 3-2 win against SLU. The pairwise is literally the same, you can look at it but it means zilch until about Christmas.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts:

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Last Week: 5-5-1
This Season: 9-8-1

Thursday

Northeastern 4, Boston University 2
The Huskies are playing well, and BU can’t seem to figure anything out. BU looks sloppy and unorganized, and while I think the Terriers have more talent than Northeastern, right now, Northeastern is playing like the team that has things put together.

Friday

Merrimack 2, Boston College 1
Merrimack traditionally struggles at Conte Forum, but BC has run into problems at Lawler Arena in the past. And those BC teams have been better than this version. Given BC’s struggles to score goals, they could struggle again to find time and space to use their skill in the tighter confines of Lawler Arena.

Maine 3, UMass Lowell 1
The Black Bears are struggling right now, and seemed to get derailed a bit in a trip at Minnesota Duluth a few weeks ago, but this is a good spot for them to get back on track at home.

UConn 3, Vermont 1
Vermont has had an up-and-down first half. They picked up a nice win at Brown on Sunday, even though I thought the Bears outplayed them at even strength. UConn is playing above expectations recently and they look like the better team right now.

Saturday

Boston College 3, Merrimack 1
The Eagles will get back on track at home against a Merrimack team that’s beat up and will be missing some players due to injury. 

Boston University 3, Northeastern 2
Yes! That’s right. I think BC and BU both get their first wins of the season on Saturday night at home. You have to figure that BU gets a win at some point, right?

UMass 5, New Hampshire 2
UMass looked incredible last weekend against Merrimack. Cale Makar might be the best player in the league. UMass can score goals and UNH has been trying to figure things out still. 

Vermont 3, UConn 2
Vermont comes back and earns a split with UConn after the Huskies are able to catch them on Friday night.

UMass Lowell 2, Maine 1
If Lowell is going to get a split up at Maine, it’s going to require one of the teams to be low-scoring like this one. Tyler Wall steals them two points.

Providence 4, Holy Cross 0
The Friars fell asleep against Sacred Heart earlier this season and had to settle for a tie. That’s not going to happen this time around with Holy Cross. 

The first full weekend of league action begins this weekend with some juicy matchups. Princeton at Dartmouth is probably the game of the weekend, but Harvard hosting the Tigers and Quinnipiac are both right on its heels. In New York, it seems like the matchup of the week will be Union, who will try to recover from its weekend sweep at the hands of RPI, against Clarkson. As usual, league games will be tight and there will be a surprise here and there.

Friday

Brown (0-2-0, 0-1-0 ECAC) at Colgate (2-3-0, 0-0-0); 7pm.

Bruno probably deserved a better fate in both games it played last weekend, but it was unable to get a result. The Raiders started 2-0, but have lost three in a row, and will look to get on track. Gate won both meetings last season and will seek to regain the momentum it had to start the year. Despite the two game sweep of New Hampshire opening weekend, the Raiders will be looking for goals, as they have scored just six in five games.

Gate 3-2

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After a decent first three weekends for the league, this weekend turned downright scary for teams like Cornell and Union, both of whom were expected to be near the top of the league. Cornell, surprisingly, gave up nine goals to Michigan State in a weekend sweep, while Union dominated both games but got swept by its rival, Rensselaer. It was all a weird weekend for many teams in the league, which included a 13-goal thriller for Dartmouth and Harvard, Brown playing well enough to win both games but getting swept, and Quinnipiac scoring nine goals against AIC on Saturday night.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts for the week:

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