A full slate of league play begins this weekend, and each team in the league has played between three and five non-conference games. It’s a small sample size, but based on the games thus far, here is the first edition of the CCHA Power Rankings. We’re at the stage of the season where these rankings are incredibly dynamic, with each team having the potential to move up (or down) several spots on an almost-daily basis. Also, keep in mind that power rankings represent a different consideration than ranking the “best” teams in the nation (which explains the difference between Michigan’s current national ranking and their power ranking here).

Tomorrow: the CCHA staff writers’ predictions for this weekend’s games.

1. Notre Dame (3-1-0)

The Irish already boast wins over Maine, Nebraska-Omaha, and Minnesota-Duluth, and goaltender Steve Summerhays has provided a steady presence for Notre Dame already. Summerhays and co. will be tested this weekend on the road against Northern Michigan. And… surprise, surprise. T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee (now playing at center instead of on the wing) lead the team in scoring through four games thus far.

2. Miami (3-0-1)

The RedHawks followed up an opening weekend sweep of Colgate with a tie and win against Providence. A pair of road games this weekend at Michigan and another two next weekend at Ferris State will be telling, but for now, underclassmen like Riley Barber are leading the way for Miami. CHN’s Caleb Saunders was reporting from the Miami/Providence series in Oxford last weekend and observed the quick start for the RedHawks’ freshmen goaltenders (haven’t we seen this before?). Here’s more from Caleb:

The freshman Ryan McKay made his second career start for Miami on Friday. His freshman counterpart Jon Gillies got the call for the Friars.  The two netminders are familiar with each other after both of them played in the USHL the last few years before going to their respective schools. McKay played three seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers and Gillies played two seasons with the Indiana Ice.

 “I’ve played against [Jon] Gillies the last few years, I’m friendly with him and he’s a good kid,” said McKay. (more…)

This week in Hockey East is for once a normal weekend in terms of games as there will be five, two game series’ going on throughout the conference. This will become the norm in the last two months of the season, but this one week early will give us an idea of who the strong teams are in the conference. This week Boston College again held the top spot in the CHN Hockey East Power Poll, but New Hampshire is nipping on their heels with a strong 3-0-0 start. This week could be the week where separation and teams begin to stand out. This week also features a new format with an added prediction after each preview. (more…)

Of the teams that have played, the top five are a combined 11-7-3 in non-conference play. Of those 11 wins, 9 of them have come against Hockey East and the CCHA. These wins will increase their chances making the tournament at the end of the season. It is getting to the point that teams will start standing out and this weekend St. Lawrence with their wins at Maine stood out; others have yet to make a big statement but this weekend is another chance to do so.  The Ivies have still yet to play a game, which means that ranking them will again be difficult in this installment. After this weekend, every ECAC team will have played a game and these rankings should take shape even more.

1. Cornell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) – Last week 1

The Big Red have yet to play a game and remain number one in these rankings, but Union is still nipping at their heels for the top spot. We should learn more about Cornell this weekend as they begin their season by hosting Colorado College for a pair at Lynah. (more…)

There is plenty of movement in this week’s rankings, as only four teams remain in the same spot as last week. Among the changes are a new first-place team and a new last-place team.

1. Boston College (2-1-0, 2-1-0 HE) — Last week: 2
The Eagles overcame a 3-0 third-period deficit to beat UMass 5-4 in overtime on Friday, then beat Northeastern 3-0 after raising their national championship banner on Saturday. The top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Pat Mullane and Steven Whitney combined for five goals and six assists on the weekend. After allowing three or more goals in each of his first two starts, Parker Milner earned a 26-save shutout Saturday. One concern for BC is that its third and fourth lines have yet to register a point this season.

2. New Hampshire (3-0-0, 1-0-0 HE) — Last week: 4
The Wildcats continued to roll with a 4-1 win over BU on Saturday. They’ve now scored at least four goals in all three of their games. Saturday featured a balanced attack, as all four lines scored and 10 different players registered a point. UNH scored a power-play goal for the third straight game and killed all five BU power plays. In net, Casey DeSmith stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced. (more…)

Although no one moves more than one spot this week, everyone came a little closer together. The teams at the top aren’t running away like we thought they might, and the teams at the bottom are certainly holding their own. The best illustration of this tightness is that only one team is under .500 right now.

1. Minnesota (3-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers faced much stiffer competition than the weekend before, losing 5-3 at Michigan Tech on Friday before rebounding with a 3-2 win Saturday. Michael Shibrowski got pulled from net Friday after giving up four goals on 14 shots. Adam Wilcox fared better on the weekend, stopping 27 of the 30 shots he faced. The third line of Nate Condon, Travis Boyd and Seth Ambroz came to life with three goals and five assists on the weekend.

2. Denver (2-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) — Last week: 3
The Pioneers opened their season in impressive fashion, beating Massachusetts-Lowell 5-1 on Friday and Air Force 5-2 on Saturday. Daniel Doremus tallied two goals Friday and Nick Shore recorded a hat trick Saturday, while freshman defenseman Nolan Zajac opened his career with a goal and three assists on the weekend. Sam Brittain stopped 37 of 38 shots Friday and Adam Murray stopped 22 of 24 Saturday. (more…)

Up

Andrew Hamburg, Forward, Colorado College

Hamburg’s four-goal performance on Friday night against Air Force – making him the first Tiger since 2008 to strike four times in a game – is more than enough to warrant a spot on this list, but the feat is even more impressive when you consider the fact that it equaled his goal total from all of last year.

Andrew Walsh, Goalie, Bemidji State

Walsh knew he had to be good coming into the year, especially with the increased role following the departure of Dan Bakala. This weekend, he was great. In a pair of games he saw 64 shots, stopped 63 of them and helped the Beavers get off on the right foot.

Nic Kerdiles, Forward, Wisconsin

This is probably the only time that a player who hasn’t actually played will be featured here, but college hockey fans – no matter their allegiance – have to tip their caps at Kerdiles, who decided to stick it out at Wisconsin rather than bolt for the WHL. It’s a good move for him, it’s a good move for Wisconsin and it’s a good move for college hockey.

Down

Rylan Schwartz, Forward, Colorado College

While Hamburg was lighting it up, Schwartz was quiet in a pair of games this weekend. He did have an assist and five shots, but the Tigers will need him to be at the top of his game all the time to battle their way into the top-half of the WCHA.

Caleb Herbert, Forward, Minnesota Duluth

Herbert took a nasty hit to the head on Thursday night against Notre Dame, which could play into why he didn’t have a great weekend in South Bend, but he must be better. An assist and two shots for UMD’s top returning forward isn’t going to cut it.

Mark Alt, Defenseman, Minnesota

For a guy that had an absolute rock-solid campaign last winter, Alt had high expectations entering this year. Against Michigan Tech, he looked like a rookie. Alt wasn’t sharp all weekend, made some plays that turned into Tech goals and finished a minus-two on the weekend.

After this past weekend, every team in the WCHA has played at least one game that’s counted in the standings. Most, including an Alaska Gold Rush contest between Alaska-Anchorage and part of North Dakota, have been non-conference yet there was something sweet about the way the conference kicked off the last season as we know it.

The single opening series last weekend was between two teams in Michigan Tech and Minnesota who go back to the original 1951 founding of the league. They have a history that heated up in the 1970s with both teams being national title contenders and with the uncertainty of the future, the Gophers going up to Houghton may be a thing of the past. While the rivalry may have cooled off since, having a series between the home of the MacNaughton Cup and the team currently holding it is a good treat for fans who like tradition. (more…)

It was a rather disappointing weekend for Atlantic Hockey, going 1-8-2 in non-conference games. Holy Cross’ victory over Clarkson prevented the league from having a winless weekend. And so here are this week’s Atlantic Hockey Power Rankings.

1. Holy Cross – The Crusaders are the only unbeaten left in Atlantic Hockey, albeit they’ve only played two games. Paul Pearl’s team scored six goals in their first regular season game and followed it up with a win over ECAC foe Clarkson. Brandon Nunn has four points in the two games while Jake Youso looks primed for a big sophomore season.

2. Niagara – Aside from a 10-2 blowout lose at Colgate, the Purple Eagles have had a chance to win every game so far this season. Unfortunately, they’ve only come out with one win so far. In both games against Michigan State this weekend, the Purple Eagles led 2-0 going into the third period but could only muster one tie.

3. Bentley – Like Holy Cross, the Falcons have only played two games so far this season. They beat Sacred Heart before falling to Michigan. Brett Gensler, fresh off a 50-point season, already has six points in two games. (more…)

Durham, NH.-  Boston University looked to be in cruise control early as they scored just 43 seconds into the game off the stick of Wade Megan. But UNH would respond with two goals in 18 seconds by John Henrion and Nick Sorkin later in the period. These goals would prove to be enough on the night as UNH would go on to win 4-1.

The game was evenly played for most of the night, but the big difference was goaltending.  New Hampshire’s Casey Desmith gave his team a solid performance with 24 saves on 25 shots while BU freshman, Sean Maguire, struggled in his 30 minutes of play giving up four on 14 shots. He was replaced midway through the second period by Matt O’Connor, but the damage had already been done to the tune of a 4-1 lead for UNH. The 4-1 lead would hold until the final buzzer. (more…)

AMHERST, Mass. – Two goals and an assist from senior Pat Mullane helped Boston College overcome a 3-0 deficit after two periods and come away with a, 5-4, comeback win in overtime over Massachusetts Friday night at the Mullins Center. Johnny Gaudreau scored the game-winner three minutes, 32 seconds into overtime to complete the comeback. Mullane scored twice in the third period, including the game-tying goal at the 17:54 mark, and assisted on Gaudreau’s game-winner.

Parkner Milner stopped 20 shots for BC while UMass sophomore Steve Mastalerz made 37 saves in a losing effort in his season debut. The Eagles outshot the Minutemen 42-24 on the night and 16-5 in the third period alone, four of those shots found the back of the net.

What I saw

The Eagles finally got back to that championship form after going down 3-0 late in the second period. BC started to control the puck on the offensive end and it became clear that UMass was tiring defensively playing with only five defensemen after Joel Hanley, who is a fixture on the Minutemen special teams play, received a game misconduct only one minute, 35 seconds into the game for hitting from behind. The Eagles responded well by constantly attacking and making life difficult on Mastalerz, who was forced to make some solid glove saves to keep the shutout in tow after two periods. As BC pushed the attack in the third period, UMass appeared to get complacent and spent a majority of the period skating backwards, resulting in such a discrepancy in shots in the third.

The Minutemen looked like a much faster team than the Eagles were for a majority of the first two periods, winning the race for the puck and playing more physical than BC. One thing UMass showed throughout the game was the ability to block shots, which was key in killing the five-minute major on Hanley’s game misconduct. The team spoke during the week of the importance of getting pressure and creating traffic in front of the net in order to beat Parker Milner, and that’s exactly what they did throughout the first two periods. As a result the Minutemen found the net on their second-chance opportunities, including Rocco Carzo’s first of two goals coming off a rebound on the backhand and his second coming off a loose puck after Steven Guzzo’s shot attempt was deflected.

The way the game ended was clear confirmation that BC was simply more talented and more accustomed to winning than the Minutemen. The Eagles refused to show any sign of slowing down despite such a large deficit in the game, and came out and attacked right away in the third period, only needing one minute, 11 seconds to get on the board in the frame. After cutting the lead to 3-2 on a goal by Destry Straight, UMass responded immediately with a goal from Darren Rowe to put the Minutemen up 4-2 at the 9:35 mark. But yet again, BC went to work and continued to attack a wearing UMass defense that once again started to get complacent.

What I thought

Mullane showed everyone why he is the captain of this team, leading the charge back in the third period and overtime. The Eagles fed off the energy he brought to that top line featuring him, Gaudreau and Steven Whitney, who proved to be the difference after accounting for the final three goals in the game. Although it took BC’s top group until the 16:44 mark to get on the board, they were the premier aggressors throughout that game-changing third period and it only made sense for them to be the difference in the game.

Both teams took a step in the right direction Friday. After a poor outing against Northeastern at Matthews Arena last Saturday in their season opener, the Eagles were once again off to a slow start through a period and a half, but finally started playing on that championship level that carried them to the national championship last season. Each of the first two lines contributed to that attack. After going 0-2 in Amherst last season, outscoring the Minutemen 5-1 in the final 23-plus minutes is certainly a relief. UMass also has to feel pretty good about the way it skated with BC throughout the night. The Minutemen certainly were the better team in the first two periods, the scoreboard says it clearly, but that inability to match the Eagles’ talent-level and being a man down defensively caught up to them in the end.

UMass still has a long way to go to become a contender in Hockey East. The team certainly looks like its buying into the way Micheletto wants them to play, which is a fast and physical style, but with no consistency between the pipes with Mastalerz and fellow sophomore Kevin Boyle both trying to earn a No. 1 role and only four seniors on the roster, this may be something that can’t change overnight. Carzo said after the game that the team started to get comfortable and that some guys believed the game was sealed well before the final horn went off. With losing seasons in four of the past five years, I think the team simply showed that it is not used to being a consistent winner, which is something that will need to be built over time.

What they said

“It was a game of almost two halves I thought where UMass certainly had the better of the first half of the game. They made some really good plays on the puck on us and had that 3-0 lead. I though we started to get back into the game and had an excellent third period. … It showed a lot of resolve from us and I feel good about our team character to hang in there and still not get discouraged about the scoreboard.

“We started to play BC hockey. We were more thorough, we were skating better and just playing with more of a purpose.”

-BC coach Jerry York

“Heck of a hockey game, excited to get into league play. It’s always good to challenge ourselves against one of the better teams in our conference. I was real proud of the way our guys got after it tonight.

“It would’ve been nice to get out of the first two minutes of the third period and been able to push the momentum a bit and the tempo of the game. I think that (first BC goal) prevented us from being on our toes and put us on our heels a bit. In the early stages of where we are it’s an important lesson for our guys moving forward. The way we’re going to play will be more like you saw in the first 40 than the last 20.”

-UMass coach John Micheletto

What else you should know

The Eagles return to Conte Forum Saturday night for a rematch against Northeastern for its home-opener at 7 p.m.

The Minutemen return to the ice Friday night at Agganis Arena for the first of a home-and-home next weekend with Boston University at 7:30 p.m.

Pat Mullane notched his 100th career point with the assist on Gaudreau’s game-winning goal in overtime to cap off a three-point night.

Rocco Carzo’s two goals marked the first multi-point night of the senior’s collegiate career.