Durham, N.H.– New Hampshire ran out to a 3-0 second period lead then the Black Bears scored a goal late in the second period to begin a comeback bid, the goal was by Spencer Abbott. Maine scored again five minutes into the third period, again Spencer Abbott but the two goals were not enough to complete the impressive comeback. Senior UNH goaltender, Matt  Di Girolamo, made 33 saves in a strong performance late to hold onto to the game for the Wildcats. New Hampshire won their fourth straight game to even their record up at 4-4-1 after starting the season 0-4. Maine dropped to 3-4-1 on the season and had a very unsuccessful road trip south losing to Boston College on Friday night and UNH Saturday.

What I saw

-Maine used speed, skill, and finesse to keep UNH on its toes all night. The third period, even though the shots were in favor of New Hampshire, was dominated by Maine as the Black Bears carried play from the neutral zone into the UNH zone most of it. Maine attempted 21 shots in the third, only five of them making their way through. Maine just could not bury the third and tying goal, the one they seemingly needed on the weekend.

-UNH struggled possessing the puck in many cases. The defense did a great job of blocking shots and keeping shots to the outside.UNH often struggled just getting into the Maine zone but New Hampshire was very opportunistic on the night and buried three of the opportunities given to them. (more…)

What a game tonight at Mariucci Arena.

First things first:

The Gophers sweep North Dakota for the first time since December of 2005. It was Don Lucia’s first home sweep of North Dakota as Gophers head coach and Minnesota’s first sweep of the Fighting Sioux at Mariucci since 1996-97.

The win puts the Gophers 10 points ahead of North Dakota in the WCHA standings — still a long ways from the finish line, that 10 points back of a quality team like Minnesota likely means the MacNaughton Cup will be somewhere other than Grand Forks, N.D. come early March.

UND has gained a reputation as a bit of a slow starter during the Dave Hakstol era — but not this slow. This is North Dakota’s worst start in WCHA play in almost four decades, when UND started 1-9 in 1974.

If there was any doubt heading into the weekend about how good Minnesota is, that doubt is now gone. Yeah, North Dakota is down right now. But the Gophers showed a grit and determination Saturday night they haven’t shown in years. Despite heavily outshooting the Sioux through two and a half periods and having been blanked on their previously powerful power play, Minnesota refused to quit — tying the score with a greasy goal by Nick Larson with 6:04 left before scoring another dirty one by Kyle Rau with under a minute left. (more…)

LOWELL, Mass. — In the most surprising result of the Hockey East season thus far, UMass-Lowell blew the doors off Boston University to pick up a 7-1 victory, its first conference win of the season. BU (3-3-1, 2-2-1 HE) opened the scoring just 16 seconds into the game when Corey Trivino tipped in a shot from the point, but it was all downhill from there for the Terriers. The River Hawks (3-3-0, 1-2-0 HE) scored seven unanswered goals the rest of the way and outshot BU by an eye-popping 44-16 margin on the night. Six River Hawks recorded multi-point games, led by Scott Wilson’s goal and two assists, Matt Ferreira’s three assists and Derek Arnold’s two goals.

What I saw

-After giving up a goal 16 seconds into the game, the River Hawks utterly dominated the remainder of the first period. They controlled the puck and the pace of play pretty much all period and rarely let BU get set up in the offensive zone, even when the Terriers were on the power play. The tilted sheet of ice was reflected on the scoreboard, as Lowell outshot BU 15-3 in the opening frame and took a 2-1 lead into the locker room.

-The varsity vs. squirts feel continued in the second, as the River Hawks tallied four more goals and outshot BU 15-8 in the period. The Terriers repeatedly lost 1-on-1 battles and turned pucks over under Lowell’s relentless pressure. In the offensive zone, the Terriers remained allergic to the crease as they finished the first two periods with just three grade-A chances, compared to 14 for Lowell.

-Just like every other aspect of the game, the River Hawks dominated special-teams play. They went 2-for-10 on the power play and held the Terriers to just one shot (one!) on their six man advantages. Lowell did a good job moving the puck on the power play and was particularly effective down low by simply out-muscling the BU defense for position. When the Terriers were on the power play, they failed to get much of anything going as the River Hawks consistently took away passing and shooting lanes. It certainly helped that the Terriers did a lot of standing around. (more…)

DURHAM, N.H. – The game started at a frantic pace. Umass scored the game’s first goal at 1:28 of the first period. UNH responded with two goals of their own in the next 2:13 and Umass tied it up 11 minutes later. UNH used a demoralizing goal with six seconds remaining in the first to take the lead for good. From that point on UNH ran away from the Minutemen scoring three goals in 5:20 of the second period and won the game 7-3 on the backs of seven different goal scorers.

What I saw

-Umass used two different freshmen goalies in the game, in starter Steve Mastalerz and Kevin Boyle. Neither of which had much success solving UNH’s offensive prowess on the night, but they in most cases were not the blame. The Umass defense had a poor showing on the night with Wildcats being left open almost at will in front of the net for most of UNH’s seven goals. The young defense will surely improve as the season goes on.

-UNH responded well to an early goal by Umass at 1:28 of the first period by scoring two of their own in the next two minutes of the first period. The game was not perfect for New Hampshire, as the defense did show signs of weakness on the three Minutemen goals. Scoring seven goals is always a positive for a team that struggled early with scoring. The goals are seemingly coming in bunches right now for New Hampshire, whom are using a very balanced attack. Tonight seven different players scored goals for the Wildcats. Albeit not a perfect game, UNH proved their resilience to come back from an early setback to dominate large stretches of a game. (more…)

A bit of a different look at Friday’s rivalry game between Minnesota and North Dakota.

THE BOTTOM LINE

At the University of Minnesota’s media day Wednesday, Gopher captain Taylor Matson predicted a “bloodbath.”

And while the blood wasn’t necessarily flowing, the Gophers and North Dakota combined for 69 minutes in penalties Friday (29 penalties in all) in a 2-0 Minnesota victory at Mariucci Arena, with much of the action coming in a rough second period.

Seth Ambroz got the festivities started with a five minute major for contact to the head just 30 seconds into the middle frame, although he also checked UND captain Mario Lamoureaux from behind. Minnesota killed the five minute UND power play however, and according to numerous players and coaches after the game, that was the turning point.

Tied 0-0 at the time, the major penalty seemed to stir the emotions a bit, and at 11:47, feelings boiled over as a melee ensued, sending 3 players from each team to the box. North Dakota got the extra 2 minutes though, setting up a Gopher power play. Minnesota took advantage as Nick Bjugstad scored what amounted to the game winner with the extra attacker on.

The Gophers got a separation goal with 8 minutes and change remaining in regulation when Nick Larson’s pass sent Tom Serratore in on Aaron Dell for a breakaway. The sophomore buried his second goal of the season to make it 2-0.

For the night, Minnesota outshot North Dakota 32-24. It was a historic night for Gopher goalie Kent Patterson, as the senior secured his fifth shutout of the season — tying a school record set by Robb Stauber in 1987-88. Just nine games into the year, Patterson may have a couple chances to break that record this season.

Stauber, by the way, won the Hobey Baker Award that season.

AROUND THE LOCKER ROOM

On Patterson tying the shutout record

• “Our team has been doing a great job of letting me see pucks,” Patterson said. “I’m going to have to make a few big saves every once in a while, but guys are back checking through the middle and picking up guys so they aren’t getting those opportunities.”

• “I enjoy each and every day. When I do get a shutout, great, but you have to take the good with the bad.” Patterson said. “I just have to make sure I come to the rink everyday preparing for each game individually, and take my game day by day.”

• “He’s something special, he gives us a chance to win each and every night,” Matson said. “He does all the little things right and everything is going well for him right now.”

On getting the separation goal

• “That was great to see, especially off the face off,” Patterson said. “Tom works hard. He had a huge blocked shot at the beginning of the game. He deserved that goal, he worked his butt off.”

• “We’ve been doing a great job of scoring first this season, but that second goal was huge for us,” Matson said. “Especially off the face off, we’ve been stressing intensity off the face off this season, so it was big to get that goal from our fourth line.”

• “We didn’t have a lot of breakdowns, but that was one of them,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. “They took advantage of it.”

On the intensity and atmosphere

• “It was the type of game we expected. It was hard hitting, it was physical, it was blocked shots, it was goaltending. The game was settling in and you knew it was going to be a low scoring game,” said Gophers head coach Don Lucia. ”

• “These games are pretty special to us, there was a lot more hitting, a lot more intensity. The atmosphere was something special to be apart of here tonight,” Matson said.

On killing the UND 5×3 power play in the second period

• “I think the pivotal moment for us was that 5-on-3,” Lucia said. “It was a 0-0 game and we were able to get a little bit of momentum from our [penalty] kill.”

• “It was a huge momentum boost, especially when the crowd gets into it like that,” Patterson said. “It gets our bench going and gave our guys a momentum boost.”

IN OTHER ACTION FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Michigan Tech 1, Minnesota State 0
St. Cloud State 7, Wisconsin 2
Nebraska-Omaha 7, Colorado College 5
Denver 3, Minnesota Duluth 3 (OT)
Bemidji State 3, Lake Superior State 2 (OT)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Merrimack’s perfect start and 11-game home winning streak came to an end Friday night, as Northeastern forced a 1-1 tie at Lawler Arena. Merrimack’s Rhett Bly opened the scoring at 14:20 of the second period when he took a Jesse Todd pass, snuck behind the Husky defense and beat Chris Rawlings (34 saves) five-hole. After killing off six penalties in the first two periods, including a five-minute major, Northeastern (1-4-2, 1-4-2 HE) tied the game 57 seconds into the third when Justin Daniels knocked home a rebound for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Joe Cannata made 30 saves for the Warriors (6-0-1, 4-0-1 HE).

What I saw

-Northeastern lacked discipline and was playing with fire by taking so many penalties. Two of the Huskies’ penalties came in the offensive zone — a hook by Vinny Saponari as he was trying to force a turnover, and a trip by Joseph Manno after he gave the puck away. Additionally, Manno’s trip came just 20 seconds after the freshman had served an elbowing penalty. Another freshman, Adam Reid, received a five-minute major and game misconduct in the second for hitting to the head. Then in the third, Cody Ferriero negated a hitting after the whistle penalty on Kyle Bigos by retaliating with a slash.

-The Huskies looked like a totally different team from when they were here two weeks ago. In that meeting (a 4-1 loss), Merrimack dominated time of possession and wore the Huskies down, ultimately scoring three goals in the third to seal the victory. This game was much more of a back-and-forth affair — at least, it was when the Huskies weren’t in the sin bin. Instead of wearing down as the game went on, this time it was the Huskies who controlled play in the third. They outshot Merrimack 15-10 in the frame (and then 2-0 in overtime), and had more chances to capture two points than the Warriors did. (more…)

With one month in the books, here is a look at my WCHA power rankings for the first weekend of November:

1 — Colorado College (Last week: 1)

An easy sweep at a helpless RPI squad keeps this team in front. The Tigers have yet to lose this season, although they have only played a league-low four games thus far.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 3)

Yeah, UAA has slowed down a bit. But the Seawolves hadn’t been swept at home in almost two years, so last weekend’s double play in Alaska was actually pretty impressive.

3 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 4)

The Bulldogs have used a soft part of their schedule to get on a four-game unbeaten run. They’ll be tested in Denver this weekend though.

4 — Denver (Last week: 2)

After embarrassing Minnesota State two weeks ago, the Pioneers were embarrassed last Friday by Michigan Tech. Getting only one point in Houghton is a disappointment, no matter how improved they actually are.

5 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 5)

The Mavericks can’t make a habit of falling behind 3-0 in games. They did twice at Wisconsin last weekend and were lucky to get two points out of the weekend.

6 — North Dakota (Last week: 6)

A ho-hum split against St. Cloud State is fine, but the Huskies were without perhaps their best player in Mike Lee. UND expects to win every game at The Ralph, so when they don’t, it’s a bad weekend.

7 — Wisconsin (Last week: 8 )

The Badgers should have taken four points from UNO at the Kohl Center last weekend. Allowing a team to come back from a three goal deficit on the road is inexcusable.

8 — St. Cloud State (Last week: 9)

With Lee on the shelf, perhaps for the rest of the season, Ryan Faragher needs to play like he did last weekend. If he does, the Huskies could be OK.

9 — Michigan Tech (Last week: 11)

It’s safe to say, winning in Houghton will be no easy task this season. The Huskies are undefeated at MacInnes this season and just dismantled Denver last weekend.

10 — Bemidji State (Last week: 7)

Tom Serratore said he may have found his team in Duluth last weekend, despite the fact the Beavers were swept by the Bulldogs. A road trip to Lake Superior State this weekend will not be an easy task, however.

11 — Alaska-Anchorage (Last week: 10)

The Seawolves are trending down after a solid start to the year. A week off could be just what UAA needs to try and get back on track next weekend at Minnesota Duluth.

12 — Minnesota State (Last week: 12)

The Mavericks should have about half their injured guys back and available for this weekend’s series in Houghton. But with how Tech is playing at home, two points for MSU would be quite the accomplishment.

• Be sure to check out my feature about Minnesota as they head into this weekend’s series with North Dakota. I will be at Mariucci Arena this weekend documenting the festivities.

There’s been a lot of talk in the early going this year about upstart teams like Lake Superior (7-1-0 and first place in the league), Bowling Green, Ferris State, etc. And more on those teams in just a moment. But first, somehow — and perhaps not surprisingly, given their coach — the Michigan Wolverines haven’t seemed to miss a beat despite losing one of the all-time great Michigan senior classes last year.

Yesterday, the CCHA honored Michigan senior Shawn Hunwick as the league’s goaltender of the month and freshman Phil Di Giuseppe as rookie of the month. In October alone, Hunwick posted a 6-0-1 record with one shutout, a 1.37 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in those contests.   (more…)

This weekend was the last weekend of nonconference play for the AHA. All teams start their conference schedules this upcoming week. After this weekend, some teams are in better shape than others. UConn and Holy Cross highlighted this past week’s game, with UConn pulling out the win.

(more…)

Another week in the books and with October hockey in the books, here are three things I think about the WCHA this week.

• OK, so Michigan Tech wasn’t going to go undefeated in conference play. But just a week after being swept by Bemidji State, the Huskies put up a three-point weekend against conference favorite Denver. Don’t look now, but Tech is all alone in second place with the league’s worst team, Minnesota State, headed to Houghton this weekend. If the Huskies sweep the Mavericks this weekend, they’ll almost certainly avoid last place in the conference standings this season. If Tech is for real, it is this weekend’s series that will tell the story. One would expect a team to have no trouble getting hyped to play the Denvers of the world. But with a banged up, bad hockey team coming to their building, getting ready this weekend may prove a bit more difficult.

• As I said before the start of the season, way too many folks were overvaluing the goaltending in Anchorage. One of the darlings of the preseason media poll, several believed the Seawolves were ready to compete for a home ice spot after UAA upset the Gophers in the first round last year to advance to the Final Five. Fact is, UAA got a nice five game stretch from Chris Kamal at just the right time last season. Anchorage didn’t bring in any blue-chip freshmen, and other than that five game stretch, Kamal and Rob Gunderson have done zilch to prove themselves among the best in the league. They did lose their best offensive threat in Tommy Grant. And all of that led many to believe Anchorage actually improved during the offseason? I didn’t buy in, putting UAA 10th in my poll, and that may be a little high. The Seawolves have had trouble scoring so far in conference play, so unless Kamal is going channel his ‘inner-late-2010-11’ self, UAA will continue to struggle to get points in the conference. There’s simply too much uncertainty around this squad right now.

• Speaking of uncertainty, it was reported by Brad Schlossman over the weekend that Mike Lee has an injury — potentially a serious one — that could cost him the rest of this season. If that’s the case, St. Cloud State could be in free fall mode. Already shaky along the blueline, adding a major question mark in goal could be too much for SCSU to overcome this season. Lee has the ability to win games by himself when he’s right, and it remains to be seen whether the Huskies have another goalie that can do that. Ryan Faragher pitched a shut out Friday in Grand Forks and was solid this weekend in helping the Huskies get two points at Ralph Engelstad. But is a long term answer in goal for the Huskies? Behind Faragher, SCSU has former Hill-Murray standout Joe Phillippi and senior Nate Hardy. Neither have played a single minute of meaningful hockey past the NAHL level. Until two weeks ago, neither had Faragher. More should be known about Lee’s status as soon as this week, but reports from the Granite City don’t sound encouraging.