With the second half of the Hockey East and college hockey season beginning later this week, it’s time to look back on the first half of 2011-12.

While Hockey East as a whole was rocked by the arrest of now-former Boston University senior Corey Trivino, the first half did produce some fantastic performances and surprising results. We watched UMass Lowell become a national contender and Northeastern score nine goals on Notre Dame.

We saw Ludwig Karlsson, Doug Carr and Johnny Gaudreau emerge as stars in this league, while young players like Bill Arnold, Mike Pereira and Matt Nieto continued on their paths to becoming truly great players in Hockey East. We also received a healthy dose of the expected as Boston College ended the first half as the team top team in the conference, and Merrimack built on its success from last season to become a contender for a national championship.

In the first half of our look at the first half of the Hockey East season, we’ll focus on individuals in the league. In Part 2, we’ll focus on some of the players to keep an eye on and moments to remember. At the end we’ll look forward to the second half of the season, and what you can expect from around Hockey East. Hockey East writers Michel King, Scott McLaughlin, Jill Saftel, Josh Seguin and I collaborated on these lists, awards and predictions.  Read the rest of this entry »

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We’ve reached the unofficial halfway mark of the season. It’d been a fun and exciting first half of the season. Outside of conference play, the league as a whole as struggled. All 12 teams combined to go 11-46-7 in nonconference games. But there was one huge win and that belongs to Sacred Heart. Possibly the upset of the year, the winless Pioneers shocked Yale with a 7-6 win.

But once conference play started, the league changed and teams began to assert themselves. Traditional powers Air Force and RIT continued their run of success, the Falcons are in first in the standings while RIT sits in a three way tie for third with Mercyhurst and Robert Morris. Read the rest of this entry »

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With the WCHA at it’s true midway point for the next couple weeks, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at how I would vote these awards at the halfway point of the season. Obviously, there is a ton of hockey left to be played, and this is just one man’s opinion… but here is how I’d vote if the ballots were due today. I’m sure I’ll have no trouble soliciting some opinions — especially from North Dakota fans.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody. Rip away!

First Team
F — Jack Connolly (UMD)
F — Nick Bjugstad (MIN)
F —  Rylan Schwartz (CC)
D — Justin Schultz (WIS)
D — Brad Hunt (BSU)
G — Kent Patterson (MIN)
Here’s why: Connolly, Bjugstad and Schultz are no-brainers. Schwartz is tied with Bjugstad for the league lead in goals (16) but has also been clutch: He is second in power play goals and fourth in game winning goals. I love what Hunt brings; he is underrated on both ends of the rink. Patterson has already tied the school record for shutouts in a season.

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There was only a Atlantic Hockey game this week, but it was a huge game. RIT and Robert Morris faced off with a lot on the line.  A win for the Tigers would have moved them to first in the standings, while a Colonial win would tie them for second with RIT and Mercyhurst. Read the rest of this entry »

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The WCHA season has will reach its midpoint this weekend, as four teams have played 12 of the 28 conference games. Those four teams face off this weekend and everyone will be at 28 heading into Christmas.

Others will be in nonconference action before the holiday tournaments start in a little over a week. Because there is little action after this weekend until those holiday tournaments, I will be taking a one week break from the power rankings next weekend to enjoy the Christmas holiday with friends and family.

Without further delay, here are the final power rankings of the first half:

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 1)

The team that ended last season on top of all the rankings ends the first half on top of these ones. The Bulldogs haven’t lost a game in TWO MONTHS! That statistic alone might be the most amazing one so far. What’s almost as shocking is they’re not running away with the league — not by a long shot. Their three losses this season all came consecutively, and at one point, UMD was 1-3-0. Hard to believe. Duluth plays four conference road series the rest of the way — including one in Mankato and one in Anchorage, so the schedule doesn’t look too overbearing the rest of the way.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 2)

I’ll say it again: When Minnesota plays smart, determined and motivated, there isn’t a team that can run with them. Not even UMD, whom the Gophers swept to kick off the conference schedule. That team showed up in the third period last Saturday. But at times recently — especially on Fridays — Minnesota has not been that team. Yeah, they’re still a good team, but they’re not a great team. If Don Lucia can get this team focused for the stretch run, the Gophers have as good a shot as any to win a national championship.

3 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 5)

Teams 3-5 in this week’s power rankings are so close, you could really pull them out of a hat. UNO gets the third spot because its win at Ralph Engelstad was the most impressive of the weekend. Maverick goaltenders held North Dakota to just two goals on the weekend and salvaged just two points — a statistic that always astonishes me when I see it. You usually see it happen once a year in the league. We’ll see how critical those points are in March. Things will also get a little more difficult for UNO now that Alex Hudson is gone. Since his return from an early season suspension, Omaha has been an outstanding team . They struggled early without him.

4 — Denver (Last week: 4)

The Pioneers split a pair of one goal games at Bemidji State last weekend to remain in neutral in the power rankings. At the halfway point, Denver isn’t nearly as high in the standings as some had predicted, but they’ve overcome a number of injuries to big-time players. As those guys start to work their way back into the line-up, we’ll see who the real Pioneers are.

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Well, we’ve reached the halfway point of the season as teams get some time off for finals and winter break. It’ll be a couple weeks before we get a full slate of conference games again. We’ll see you in 2012 for the next Power Rankings. Here are this week’s rankings.

1. Air Force – The Falcons didn’t play this past weekend but have done enough this season to remain in first in the standings and No. 1 in the Power Rankings. Stephen Caple continues to play well in net and continues to get offensive support. Kyle De Laurell and Cole Gunner are proving to be a dynamic duo as the top two scorers in Atlantic Hockey.

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These will be the last power rankings before the new year. Only two Hockey East teams play this weekend, as Merrimack hosts Union and Vermont hosts St. Lawrence. Then everyone’s on break until the holiday tournaments. The last week was an exciting one around the conference — and not just on the ice — but there wound up being no movement from last week’s power rankings.

1. Boston College (12-6-0, 9-4-0 HE) — Last week: 1

BC beat Providence 4-1 last Tuesday before closing out the first semester with a 3-2 loss at Lowell on Friday. The Eagles enter the break in a bit of a funk — at least by their standards — having gone 4-5-0 in their last nine games. They still lead the conference in offense and rank second in defense, though. Chris Kreider has at least a point in all but two games this season, and he’s now tied for the league lead with 23 points.

2. Merrimack (10-2-2, 7-2-1 HE) — Last week: 2

The Warriors followed up their first two losses of the season with a 5-2 win over Vermont last Wednesday and a 1-1 tie at Colgate on Saturday. They continue to lead Hockey East in defense, but they rank seventh in the league in offense and have scored just one goal in three of their last four games. After giving up six goals two Saturdays ago against Providence, Joe Cannata rebounded by stopping 66 of 69 shots in the two games last week. Read the rest of this entry »

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Air Force – The Falcons didn’t play this weekend. They return to the ice on Dec. 30 when they travel to Colorado College.

AIC – The Yellow Jackets were swept at RIT. Nielsson Arcibal had a goal and two assists while Adam Pleskach and Nathan Sliwinksi had a goal and assist each.

Army – The Black Knights fell to Holy Cross in their only game of the weekend.  Mac Lalor’s third goal of the season accounted for the Black Knights only tally. Read the rest of this entry »

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There are no more CCHA league games until 2012, so as we head into the holiday break, here’s a look at the CCHA standings — compared to the projected standings as predicted in the pre-season by the media.

First, the 2011-12 pre-season media poll:

… Compared to the current CCHA standings: Read the rest of this entry »

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Michigan Tech winning in Minneapolis? Alaska-Anchorage winning in Colorado Springs? Yeah, this was a crazy weekend.

Of course Minnesota and CC showed why they’re perennial contenders — finishing games in the third period Saturday night to salvage splits.

There is plenty to love if you’re a Michigan Tech fan though. My Monday feature is on the Huskies and how they’re close — but there’s still some things to learn.

Like handling success with aplomb. Daniel Sova tied the game tonight and shushed the Mariucci crowd. That didn’t sit well with a couple of Gopher players I chatted with after the game. They showed it too, blowing the doors off Tech with four goals in the next 17 minutes. But they’ll learn — and Pearson is a heck of a coach.

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