Lowell, MA.- The first 35 minutes of the game were played to a scoreless tie, until Trevor van Riemsdyk worked his way down the right slot, received a pass from Kevin Goumas and roofed it to give UNH the 1-0 second period lead. UNH would increase that lead midway through the third period on a goal by Grayson Downing. From that point on the game was never in doubt and UNH would win it 3-0.

Casey Desmith shutout his third straight opponent, becoming the first UNH goaltender with three consecutive shutouts since the 1928-1929 season. The 178 minutes, and 52 seconds of shutout hockey is also the longest such streak for UNH in over 40 seasons. UNH improves to 7-1-1, 5-1-1 in Hockey East, while the River Hawks fall to 2-5-1, 1-4-1.

What I Saw

• Both UNH and UML played a desperate defensive game. Both teams were willing to put body and limb on the line to block shots. The teams combined for 28 blocked shots in the game, with UNH having the edge with 18 of those. Many of them would have been quality opportunities on net if they had gone through, but both defenses played committed on this night.

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Last weekend kept Hockey East in a rank and file Boston College, Boston University and New Hampshire world. This weekend is filled with lots of conference matchups and a weird scheduling quirk, as no teams will play on Saturday night. It will be highlighted by one matchup, on Sunday, which will pit Boston University and New Hampshire at Agganis Arena. Here’s to my weekly try of previewing the games: (more…)

It’s been two weeks since we published our CCHA Rankings and much has transpired within the league since that time. Here now is our latest edition of the Power Rankings:

1. Miami (6-2-2, 3-2-1 CCHA). Last time: 2.

The RedHawks have cut down on the number of opportunities they’re allowing to opposing teams, and the end-result has been two wins and a tie (with the added point of a shootout win) in their last three games. Riley Barber’s 14 points leads the nation in rookie scoring by a long shot, while Austin Czarnik paces the country in shorthanded goals (3) thus far. The duo was honored in October as the CCHA’s Rookie and Player of the Month, respectively, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. Can rookie netminder Jay Williams continue to carry the load between the pipes through the winter in Oxford?

2. Alaska (5-3-2, 3-2-1 CCHA). Last time: 4

The Nanooks have lost just one time in their last five games and enter this weekend’s series with Western Michigan after earning a win and tie in Columbus last weekend against Ohio State. Though Alaska has benefited from timely scoring from upperclassmen like Andy Taranto and Colton Beck and a penalty kill (89%) that ranks ninth nationally, the intriguing story has come in net, as coach Dallas Ferguson has equally played three goaltenders thus far. Rookie John Keeney was in net for both games at OSU last weekend and played well, turning aside 65 of the Buckeyes’ 67 shots on goal. (more…)

It was an up and down week for Atlantic Hockey teams. Some teams continued to succeed while others just can’t get going. As of right now the team to beat in Atlantic Hockey is Niagara. The Purple Eagles are perfect in league play and just continue to roll behind the play of Carsen Chubak.

1. Niagara – It was same old, same old for the Purple Eagles, who remained perfect in league play with a sweep of Army. The bad news: Chubak finally allowed a goal. Just one.

2. Holy Cross – The Crusaders got back to winning with 4-3 victory over Bentley, keeping them tied for first with Niagara. Now it’s time to see if the Crusaders can put a winning streak together. (more…)

Last week may have been one of the strangest weeks that the ECAC could ever have because few expected to win did so. In some ways it should just be a wash because of the strange results, but we did learn some valuable lessons from the weekend. These realizations have changed the rankings immensely.

I am convinced after their win against Union that Dartmouth is a contender and have thus moved them up to the top spot. Harvard is better than their recent results and so is Cornell. But Power Rankings are based more on a what are you doing for me now than what we think of the particular teams. Conference wins and losses also have much more weight than non-conference wins because it is easier to compare teams when they play each other. These concepts leave us with a lot of movement this week.

1. Dartmouth (5-0-1, 4-0-0)- Last Week 4

The Big Green are the final undefeated team remaining in the country and have proven to most casual observers that they may in fact be for real. With a big win against Union under their belt, Dartmouth will hit the road to take on Colgate and Cornell this weekend. They have won five games in a row led by a balanced attack on both offense and defense. The defense is ranked second in the country, allowing a meager 1.50 goals per game. The scary thing about Dartmouth is that their diamond in the rough, Dustin Walsh, has been gaining strength and has seen his playing time increase. Last weekend he was moved up to the second line with proven scorer Eric Robinson. This could be an indication they could be in this position for a while as Walsh will only get better and so will Dartmouth. (more…)

What we have here is a conference split in half. Denver maintains a strong grip on the top spot, but the next five are all very close. Then there’s a big drop-off to the bottom six, where everyone is searching for wins in hopes of breaking into that top tier.

1. Denver (7-1-0, 5-1-0 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Pioneers were certainly challenged by Minnesota State, but they still managed to come away with a sweep, winning 4-3 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday. Daniel Doremus and Chris Knowlton each had two goals on the weekend, with Doremus scoring Friday’s game-winner and Knowlton scoring Saturday’s. Denver went 0-for-12 on the power play in the series, but it’s still at a healthy 20 percent on the season.

2. Minnesota (6-2-1, 3-2-1 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Gophers took three of four points at Alaska-Anchorage, winning 4-0 on Friday before tying 2-2 on Saturday. That’s enough to hang onto the second spot for another week, but the four teams behind them are certainly knocking on the door. Erik Haula had three points in the series, while Kyle Rau, Travis Boyd and Nate Schmidt all had two. Minnesota went 5-for-11 on the power play and is now at 28.6 percent on the season. (more…)

A lot can and will change over the next few months, but it’s starting to look like Hockey East features a clear top three, and then a bunch of question marks. Lowell was in that top tier before the season, but didn’t hang around too long. Northeastern, Providence and Merrimack have all fumbled away chances to join the club. Now it looks like UMass might be the closest, but the Minutemen still have some work to do — getting over .500, for one.

1. Boston College (8-1-0, 7-1-0 HE) — Last week: 1
The Eagles extended their winning streak to eight by beating Notre Dame 3-1 on Friday and BU 4-2 on Sunday. Johnny Gaudreau scored three goals on the weekend and now has a 12-game point streak dating back to last season. Pat Mullane, Bill Arnold, Kevin Hayes and Patrick Wey all had two-point weekends. BC has now allowed just 10 goals in its last seven games. The only negative this weekend was that the power play, which came in at 40 percent, went 0-for-12.

2. New Hampshire (6-1-1, 4-1-1 HE) — Last week: 2
The Wildcats beat Vermont 4-0 on Saturday in their only game of the weekend, marking their second straight win by that score. Casey DeSmith stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn his third shutout in the last four games. He now leads Hockey East with a .953 save percentage and 1.36 goals against average. Austin Block scored twice on Saturday, and Kevin Goumas had three assists. Block is tied for the league lead in goals, while Goumas is first in assists. (more…)

To an extent, the Hockey East season has produced its share of surprises thus far. Boston College’s race to the top of the league may not qualify exactly, but it’s still a little interesting that BC has been this good in the season’s first two months. In its three recent national championship seasons, BC posted a combined .526 winning percentage in October and November. Compared to its current 8-1-0 record, these seasons didn’t see the same hot starts. The Eagles were as talented as ever in these seasons, but certain parts of Jerry York’s machine took a little longer to start clicking.

In 2007-08, BC began the year with 4-4-5 record. The next title run saw BC begin the year with a 6-3-2 record, while last year looked a bit more like this one with the Eagles racing to a 10-4-0 start. York preaches simple philosophies designed to get his club peaking at the right time of year. Last season, that process began in late January and continued through early April. With eight consecutive wins after a season-opening loss to Northeastern, BC has steadily improved with every game this year. This early-season success suggests another year of consistent improvement may very well make the 2012-13 Eagles a team college hockey will never forget.

It’s a goaltenders’ world

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Up

Rylan Schwartz, Forward, Colorado College

After beginning the season with just five points through eight games, Schwartz officially broke loose against Bemidji State last weekend, notching five points (two goals, three assists) while helping the Tigers to a big WCHA sweep over the Beavers. That’s the Rylan Schwartz we expected to see, and it’s probably safe to say that he’s not finished putting up crooked numbers on a week-by-week basis.

Tony Cameranesi, Forward, Minnesota Duluth

For a team struggling to find consistent scoring, Cameranesi has been a welcomed addition to the Bulldogs. In his first eight collegiate outings, Cameranesi is second on the team in points with seven, including four in a series at Omaha last weekend. He’s probably UMD’s best center at this point, too, and he’s getting top-six ice time in all situations because of it.

Ryan Walters, Forward, Nebraska-Omaha

The Mavericks have won four in a row after starting the season with spotty play, and a big reason why has been the play of Walters. After opening with just three points in seven games, he’s gone off in his last three outings, posting eight points during that span. Last weekend against UMD, he had a pair of goals and three assists to spark the Mavs to a big series sweep.

DOWN

Zach Palmquist, Defenseman, Minnesota State

Last week’s WCHA Defensive Player of the Week wasn’t quite as good this weekend, to say the least. While his Minnesota State team was being swept in Denver, Palmquist recorded no shots, was a minus-3 and was on the rink for five of the Pioneers’ seven goals on the weekend.

Jordan George, Forward, Bemidji State

Coming off a season where he tallied almost 20 goals – he fell just a single goal shy – George has only a single goal so far this season. He’s supplemented that tally with just three assists, which is part of the reason why the Beavers average only 2.7 goals a game.

Nick Bjugstad, Forward, Minnesota

Sure, Bjugstad’s five goals in nine games is a good amount, but it’s not exactly what was expected out of Bjugstad. He’s only recorded a pair of assists and one multi-point game so far, which is way down from his production at this point last season, when he had 13 points and five multi-point games in the same span. For the Gophers to get the consistency in non-power play situations, Bjugstad has to be the Bjugstad we all expected him to be.

This past weekend went well for a pair of WCHA teams who completed back-to-back sweeps at home. Out in Colorado Springs, Colorado College took down Bemidji State to remain undefeated in WCHA play. Meanwhile in Omaha, last week’s CHN team of the Week, the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks continued their hot streak by sweeping Minnesota Duluth in a Saturday-Sunday series.

There were a lot of similarities between how the Tigers and Nebraska-Omaha got things done. They each defeated teams from the state of Minnesota (the great state that it is) and even had matching 3-2 and 6-3 scores.

With a number of teams in WCHA looking uneven and parity splitting the conference into two tiers – there seems to be an even cutoff between the top and bottom six – getting off to a good start is that much more important for two teams picked to finish in the middle of the pack. That’s been the case so far; currently the Mavericks and Colorado College are second and third, respectively. It’s a testament to both teams finding their way despite losses and for all of this, they should be happy with their early November performance.

After the break, Denver begins to separate from the pack, Minnesota-Duluth is in the WCHA cellar and I make a not-so-bold prediction about North Dakota (more…)