Minneapolis, MN – What appeared to be a high scoring game with two goals in the opening 4:15 turned into Wisconsin’s Landon Peterson having a remarkable night. The sophomore goaltender, starting for only the second time this season, made 41 saves Friday as the Badgers tied WCHA and Big Ten rival Minnesota 2-2 at Mariucci Arena.

The Gophers got on the board first after a rare Wisconsin defensive breakdown saw redshirt junior captain Zach Budish all alone in front of Peterson. Their lead was short-lived, though. 19 seconds later Badgers junior Michael Mersch scored the first of his two goals when he roofed a rebound past Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox to tie the game at one.

Wilcox, who made 22 saves, wasn’t as tested as his Wisconsin counterpart. He made a few good saves to keep his team tied yet also gave up a lot of rebounds that the Badgers took advantage.

The Gophers regained the lead 48 seconds into the second period following a Frankie Simonelli penalty for tripping Kyle Rau. Solid puck movement between Rau, Nick Bjugstad, Nate Schmidt and Zach Budish resulted in Erik Haula being open for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. However, it was the lone bright spot for a power play that went 1-5 – including two five minute majors – a week following Minnesota scoring 5 power play goals against Alaska-Anchorage.

While Peterson and the Badgers were out-shot 32-15 over the final 40 minutes, they weren’t outscored. Mersch scored his second goal 5:06 into the second when the Gophers were unable to clear the puck out of the zone and a pass by Jake McCabe found him wide open to Wilcox’s left. Minnesota had 8:35 of power play time on two separate 5 minute majors (to Joseph Labate and Tyler Barnes) and multiple opportunities but was unable to get past Peterson.

With the tie, Wisconsin moves to 1-2-2 in the WCHA (1-4-2 overall) while Minnesota is 3-2-2 in conference play (6-2-2 overall). (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…)

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…)

This week’s rankings feature a new No. 1 and a bunch of movement among the bottom seven teams. Let’s get right to it.

1. Denver (5-1-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Pioneers suffered their first loss Friday, falling 3-0 to St. Cloud, but they bounced back with a 6-1 win Saturday. Normally a split wouldn’t be enough to move into first, but Minnesota’s split was worse than Denver’s, and those two were neck-and-neck before the weekend. Chris Knowlton had a hat trick Saturday, while Nick Shore continued his strong start with two points. Denver is first in the WCHA in both offense and defense.

2. Minnesota (5-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers fall out of the top spot after splitting with Minnesota State. They won 3-2 on Friday before losing 5-3 on Saturday. Saturday marked Adam Wilcox’s first loss and first game in which he’s allowed more than two goals. Erik Haula had four points on the weekend, while Nate Schmidt had three. The Gophers went 4-for-11 on the power play and are now second in the league at 22.6 percent on the season. (more…)

Up

Zach Raubenheimer, Forward, Nebraska-Omaha

Raubenheimer was the difference on both nights – he had a pair of goals in both Friday and Saturday night’s games – for the Mavericks in their weekend sweep against Michigan Tech. With that weekend outburst, he exceeded his goal total from both is freshman and sophomore years, and he’s now matched his career output (five goals coming into the season) in just eight contests so far.

Connor Gaarder, Forward, North Dakota

The sophomore forward went off on Friday night against Boston University, sparking North Dakota to a 4-2 nonconference triumph with his first career hat trick. Gaarder now has five points in five outings this year, and it looks like he’s well on his way to a breakout campaign.

Joe Howe, Goalie, Colorado College

Howe has had a rough go of it over the past year, battling competition and other factors to find consistent playing time. His first start of the year wasn’t great, but he looked like the Joe Howe of old in a 33-save shutout on Saturday night – the most saves he’s made in a shutout since a 35-save effort in a 1-0 win in Mankato on Oct. 23, 2010.

Down

Andrew MacWilliam, Defenseman, North Dakota

MacWilliam is a hard-hitting, rock-solid blue-liner, but he didn’t have the best weekend against Boston University. MacWilliam was booted after a “hit to the head” midway through Friday’s game, then was on the ice for two of BU’s three third-period goals – and was a minus-3 total – in Saturday’s loss.

Seth Helgeson, Defenseman, Minnesota

If the Gophers want to live up to expectations, Helgeson has to be the shutdown guy at the blue line. This weekend, he wasn’t. Although he had an assist, he was on the ice for five Minnesota State goals (two power-play markers, three even strength goal), which simply isn’t good enough.

The end of Daylight Savings time this past weekend brought with it a few surprises as college hockey reaches its second month of the season. Zahn Raubenheimer scored twice in back-to-back games to help lead Nebraska-Omaha to a series sweep over Michigan Tech while the other Mavericks, Minnesota State, gave Mike Hastings his first WCHA win Saturday. Colorado College, meanwhile, went into Madison and swept the reeling Badgers.

However, last weekend’s two biggest series appropriately ended up in splits.  After Ryan Faragher shut out a potent Denver offense, the Pioneers came roaring back Saturday to put up a six-spot on St. Cloud State. Up in Grand Forks, North Dakota hosted Boston University in (what unfortunately seems to be a rare meaningful) non-conference play and UND came within a period of keeping the Terriers winless in eight tries at the Ralph. Both were predictable where one team showed off each night but is there anything wrong with that?

After the break:  North Dakota and St. Cloud State’s comeback players, Wisconsin’s injury curse and Minnesota’s goodwill from the preseason is gone (more…)

Minneapolis, MN – For the first time this season, Minnesota came back to win a game in which they trailed. Redshirt junior captain Zach Budish scored the game winner with 14:20 left in regulation as the Gophers defeated in-state rival Minnesota State 3-2 Friday night in the first game of a home-and-home series.

The Mavericks took an early 1-0 lead when sophomore defenseman Zach Palmquist tapped home a pass from JP Lafontaine past Minnesota goalie Adam Wilcox 4:50 into the game. However, Gopher sophomore Travis Boyd tied the game six minutes later on the power play when his shot found a way past screened Minnesota State goalie Phil Cook.

Cook, who made 29 saves, shrugged off the goal and spent the next shutting down an offense that spent entire shifts in the Mavericks zone. Minnesota had chances to take a lead throughout the second period but it was Minnesota State freshman Teddy Blueger who came through for his team on a third effort midway through the second period. It proved to be the Mavericks’ high point, unfortunately, as goals by Minnesota sophomore defenseman Nate Schmidt and Budish gave the Gophers the lead for the good.

With the win, Minnesota improves to 5-1-0 (3-1-0 WCHA) while Minnesota State drops to 2-3-2 (0-3-0 WCHA). (more…)

The top three remain the same, but that’s about it. Due to the fact that there wasn’t a single split last weekend, everyone else is either rising or falling.

1. Minnesota (4-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) — Last week: 1
It wasn’t pretty, but the Gophers survived a scare from Canisius and came away with a 1-0 win Sunday. Kyle Rau scored the game’s lone goal 12 seconds in and Adam Wilcox made 20 saves to pick up his first career shutout. The gap between first and second in these rankings certainly shrunk this weekend, but I’m not going to drop Minnesota after a win, even if the game was closer than it should’ve been.

2. Denver (4-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Pioneers remained perfect after wiping the floor with Michigan Tech, winning 5-1 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday. They’ve scored five goals in all four of their games, and they haven’t allowed more than two in any of them. Nick Shore tallied four points on the weekend to give him nine in four games, good for first in the league in points per game. David Makowski also had a four-point weekend, while Shawn Ostrow and Joey LaLeggia chipped in three apiece. (more…)

Up

Drew LeBlanc, Forward, St. Cloud State

LeBlanc was granted a medical redshirt after suffering a terrible leg injury last winter, and many expected his return to bolster the Huskies offense immediately. It has. For the season, LeBlanc has 10 points, five of which (two goals, three assists) came last weekend against Minnesota State.

Joel Rumpel, Goalie, Wisconsin

After a lackluster debut against Northern Michigan a couple weeks ago, it looks like Rumpel is back on his game. While helping the Badgers earn three points in Duluth last weekend, he posted a shutout and a .969 save percentage and was the main reason why UW was in the position to make its third-period comeback on Saturday night.

David Makowski, Defenseman, Denver

Denver’s loss of scoring was a big worry surrounding the team at the beginning of the year. So far, though, it hasn’t been much of a problem, thanks largely to the contribution from the blue line. Makowski is just another example of a defenseman stepping up to put up points for the Pios, notching two goals and two assists this weekend in a sweep over Michigan Tech.

Down

J.P. Lafontaine, Forward, Minnesota State

After six games, Lafontaine is living the sophomore slump. He posted great rookie numbers in 2011-12, but Lafontaine has been invisible for the Mavericks so far this year, and his single assist at this point proves it. Against rival St. Cloud State last weekend, he had zero points and was a minus-four.

Matt White, Forward, Nebraska-Omaha

Omaha’s best returning forward hasn’t played well this year. White is way below his usual points-per-game mark, and his single point (a second-period goal on Friday) is a big reason why the Mavericks continued to struggle against Bemidji State.

Pheonix Copley, Goalie, Michigan Tech

Following a very solid showing against then No. 1-ranked Minnesota at home two weekends ago, Copley was given a taste of what it’s like to play on the road in the WCHA this past weekend in Denver. On Friday, he gave up four goals on 15 shots and was yanked after the second period. In Saturday night’s rematch, he surrendered five goals on 28 shots.