What an interesting weekend around the conference as every team near the top of last week’s rankings took home a loss. Only Cornell took home two wins on the wacky weekend. RPI and St Lawrence had head-shaking losses to Atlantic teams on the weekend, which should have dropped them in the rankings but Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth have done nothing to prove to me they should move up. Make sure to read this week’s edition of Three Things I Think, which Turns out to be Three Things To be Thankful For this week, in celebration of Thanksgiving.

One of the biggest changes this weekend is that I have begun to take into account strength of schedule within the conference schedule as one of the biggest criteria. This week there were some honest changes that occurred because of it, mainly Yale moving down despite losing to a tough Cornell team; I will explain why when we get there. I am a couple off days early in my posts this week mainly because I will have two midweek games, Harvard at UNH on Tuesday and Providence at QU on Wednesday. (more…)

Finally, conference play is on the horizon. And it couldn’t have come any sooner.

The week of Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect and be thankful. That’s the case with this week’s Three Things, which looks at the odd scheduling quirk with half the conference idle and asks all six Big Ten teams one question.

Okay maybe this week only features two things. Or is it seven? I’m not sure. Either way read more after the jump. (more…)

I figured that I would change the format a bit this week in celebration of Thanksgiving because there are a lot of things that ECAC fans should be thankful for this holiday season.  Let us not forget though, while we are eating Turkey with family or enjoying some football with loved ones, that some teams (St. Lawrence and Princeton in the ECAC) are a long away from home or campus. Also many of the players that we cover and watch on a daily basis won’t be spending it with their families because they love playing the sport we all love watching.

This weekend there were many surprises in the conference, as Princeton snapped Quinnipiac’s 13 game unbeaten streak while both Rensselaer and St. Lawrence had head shaking losses to Atlantic Hockey teams. Cornell was the only team to sweep the weekend, defeating both Brown and Yale. It will be poised for a move up the ECAC Power Rankings this week. With Yale and Quinnipiac dropping games on the weekend there are no longer any undefeated teams within ECAC conference play, so now comes the fun I suppose. What are you thankful for? Here is a list of what I think ECAC fans should be thankful for. (more…)

Another weekend and for two teams it was moving weekend, as Union and Colgate both picked up huge sweeps. Union was CHN’s Team of the Week after sweeping Capital Region Rival, RPI, much to the surprise of many including myself. Colgate picked up the rare sweep in the North Country, of two highly ranked teams in last week’s Power Rankings, St. Lawrence and Clarkson.  Union and Colgate are likewise the biggest movers of the weekend. Some teams will play conference games this weekend while others will not, strange scheduling all around because of the holidays and some schools in the middle of exams, like Union. Without further ado here is the run down of where teams belong.

1. Quinnipiac (11-1-1, 5-0-1) – Last Week 1

Pretty sure this isn’t a question; if it is you have probably been living in a cave somewhere since last November. Read this week’s, Three Things I Think, as I elaborate on the Bobcats. Quinnipiac is on a 12 game unbeaten streak, picking up a sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth over the weekend. (more…)

A lot happened throughout the Big Ten with yet another weekend of non-conference play. Wisconsin traveled to Miami and Michigan went on the big stage to play Nebraska-Omaha in Omaha. Both B1G teams lost on national television Friday while winning the Saturday game, which has been par for the course so far this year. Other than Penn State beating Army to open Pegula Arena, every game initially intended for national broadcast has ended with the Big Ten team falling short.

Even 8-1-1 Minnesota’s tie and loss happened on BTN and NBCSN, respectively.

As conference play gets closer to starting, last weekend’s games – sandwiched around weeks where multiple Big Ten teams are off – does make me wonder what the national perception is so far for the conference. Has television hurt? Or are the non-televised games coming through to show a full picture where half the conference is among the nation’s top dozen teams?

(After the jump, Penn State’s measurement weekend, one area where Minnesota is struggling, and Wisconsin winning a game the Badgers needed.) (more…)

November is moving month in Hockey East. As teams wind down the portions of their schedules laden with non-conference games and play more league games, the league’s best teams typically reveal themselves now. It’s not uniform, and teams do occasionally  piece together successful years without great performances in November. Massachusetts-Lowell’s run from December through the Frozen Four last year is a good example.

For the most part, though, the next few weeks will offer an idea of the team’s truly contending for first-round byes in the Hockey East Tournament and at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. Teams like Boston University and New Hampshire, which have struggled at times in the early part of the season, need to win games for the rest of the first half to make up for some of the issues they had in October and November.

North Dakota visits Agganis Arena next weekend. BU needs both of those games, as well as major success in the rest of the first half, if it’s going to make any noise in the league and the national picture. UNH, meanwhile, has won five straight games by a combined score of 24-4. Neither Massachusetts, Brown nor Northeastern, the teams UNH beat in that stretch, are particularly strong teams at this point. So these wins don’t make UNH a legitimate contender in the Hockey East race. They have improved the Wildcats’ mindset, though. Winning games cures all wounds. After their last five games, UNH is ready to make a push as the end of the first half approaches.

(After the jump: Hockey East’s contenders are already clear; UNH is what we thought they were; Ross Mauermann is off to a great start for PC.)

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Another weekend in the books and some big surprises from the ECAC, as Union pulled off the sweep of its capital region rival and the North Country went 1-3 against Cornell and Colgate. Not that any of those were very surprising because right now any team within the first 10 positions could end up at the top come the end of the season. Parity is reigning supreme throughout the conference with no team except for Quinnipiac proving to be dominant. But then again it appears that the Bobcats are at the same level that they were last season at this time. It is really scary to think about that I suppose if you’re another team in the ECAC. Here are the noteworthy thoughts of the week. (more…)

Durham, NH – The Huskies and the Wildcats played their second in as many nights, as UNH took home a 3-0 victory down at Matthews Arena on Friday night. On this night, the teams played a very even first half of the game, leaving the first period scoreless and staying that way for the first 30 minutes of the game. The second half of the second period, however, was a much different animal. UNH scored two quick ones in 40 seconds to take a 2-0 lead  in the second period, as Nick Sorkin scored on the power-play and Casey Thrush would answer moments later.

UNH  added a pair of power-play goals in the third period, while its counterpart added a lone goal. New Hampshire was 3-4 on the power-play and Northeastern was 1-7. UNH completed the weekend sweep of the huskies with the 4-1 win. The win was UNH’s fifth consecutive and it improved its record to 6-5-1 overall, 4-2-0 in Hockey East. The loss dropped the Huskies record to 6-5-0, 1-4-0 in the conference. (more…)

GRAND FORKS, ND – North Dakota finally looked to have found the traction they’ve been looking for since their 4-game skid.  Rocco Grimaldi lit the lamp first off of a power play goal, decreasing UMD’s former #1 ranked penalty kill, followed by a weird goal (see below) from Michael Parks.  UMD’s Alex Iafallo and Adam Krause responded 20 seconds apart, Krause scoring on the power play, to tie the game at twos.

Jordan Schmaltz buried the game winner off a beautiful wrister from the point, which ended up counting as the game winner, but Stephane Pattyn would record an empty-net goal before time expired, giving North Dakota the 4-2 victory.  North Dakota is now 4-4-1 overall and 3-4-0 in the NCHC, while Minnesota Duluth stands at 4-4-1 overall and 1-2-0 in NCHC action.

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Orono, ME-  The crowd has returned to the Alfond and on this night the electric, sold-out crowd was treated to quite a show by its hometown team. Maine opend the scoring at 10 minutes, one second of the first period as Devin Shore slid a puck past Sean Maguire on a two on one to give the Black Bears the early lead. With six seconds remaining in the first, Maine made it 2-0 on a 5 on 3 power-play, as Connor Leen found the back of the net. Maine took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Maine would take over play mid-way into the second period, as Ben Hutton would score a 5 on 3 shorthanded goal that signified the beginning of the end for BU. Maine would add two more in the second period to give them the commanding 5-0 second intermission lead. Maine added two more in the third period and the Black Bears would pick up the 7-0 win over the Terriers. The margin of defeat was the worst for BU since 1995. Maine improves to 5-4-1, 2-2-1 in Hockey East while BU falls to 4-6-0, 2-3-0.

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