Less than a month remains in the season and the Big Ten is still in flux. Just eight points separate teams two through seven, which equates to roughly three conference games. The Buckeyes are in first by eight points, but the pair of weekend losses to the Gophers dropped Ohio State to seventh in the PairWise.

The Buckeyes right now are the only Big Ten team currently inside the top 16. Notre Dame and Penn State are outside the bubble at 17 and 18, respectively.

Michigan State is a lot better than people think

After splitting a series with Penn State, the Spartans are sixth in the conference and have been hopping up and down the standings the second half of the season. Backed by their top line of Taro Hirose, Patrick Khoderenko and Mitchell Lewandowski, the Spartans have contended this season. The goaltending has improved slightly as well, with freshman Drew DeRidder posting a team-high .910 save percentage. He’s been splitting starts with John Lethemon.

A few weeks ago I spoke with Khoderenko and he said this year the team believes they should be winning games. Danton Cole has only been at the helm for a few seasons, but the fact he’s coaching a team mostly comprised of Tom Anastos’ recruits and he’s getting them to win is a good sign for the Spartans.

It can be argued the Big Ten isn’t as strong this year as it was last year, which is true. But Michigan State’s play has improved regardless.

‘Tis the season of World Junior injuries

Penn State’s Evan Barrett was injured in Saturday’s game against Michigan State. Wisconsin is still without K’Andre Miller, who may miss the rest of the season. Those players were injured after returning from the tournament, but both Penn State and Michigan already lost players at the tournament in Aarne Talvitie and Josh Norris. And Will Lockwood was hurt at last year’s World Juniors.

What’s worse is that all these teams are fighting for home advantage in a very close Big Ten.

Ohio State’s Goaltending

Nappier leads the Big Ten in goaltending with a .939 save percentage. That’s 10 points above last year’s leader, Cale Morris. But, Nappier has started 10 less games than Morris and has played in seven less games because he’s been splitting starts with Sean Romeo. Romeo, a large part of Ohio State’s success last year, has a .908 save percentage.

Nappier is also the only goaltender in the top three who hasn’t held majority of his team’s starts this year. He shares that honor with Michigan State’s Drew DeRidder, who ranks fourth as a 00 freshman and has a .910 save percentage but has played in just 16 games. 

While Nappier’s numbers have been better all season, the team has fared about equally with Nappier and Romeo. Nappier has played in three of Ohio State’s losses while Romeo has played in two. That isn’t an indication of which goaltender is better, but rather perhaps an indication of why Steve Rohlik has kept the rotation despite Nappier’s higher save percentage. 

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC
2. Bentley
3. Air Force
4. RIT
5. Sacred Heart
6. Mercyhurst
7. Niagara
8. Army
9. Robert Morris
10. Holy Cross
11. Canisius

The Niagara Purple Eagles finally ended the Bentley Falcons’ impressive unbeaten streak this weekend. After Bentley pulled off a 3-1 win on Thursday, the Purple Eagles rallied for a 4-3 victory on Friday night. Ben Sokay had the game-winning goal – his second tally of the night – while Noah Delmas and Justin Kendall also scored for Niagara. That ended Bentley’s eight-game winning streak and 12-game unbeaten streak, with their last loss coming on December 30.

Overall, there were a lot of split series this weekend in Atlantic Hockey. The RIT Tigers beat Sacred Heart 2-0 in a matinee match on Friday on goals by Shawn Cameron and Jordan Peacock, but the Pioneers charged back for a 4-3 overtime win Saturday. Austin Magera had the game-winning goal with 39 seconds left in overtime.

Colin Bilek and Joseph Duszak scored for their respective teams as Army and Mercyhurst finished in a 1-1 tie on Friday evening at West Point. The Black Knights won the second half of the series with a 4-3 win on Saturday, powered by goals from Daniel Haider, Taylor Maruya, Zach Evancho and Dalton MacAfee.

Robert Morris and Holy Cross also split their weekend. The Colonials scored five goals, including three straight in the third period, en route to a 5-3 win. Eric Israel had a pair of goals, while Michael Louria, Alex Tonge and Jacob Coleman also scored for Robert Morris. But Tommy Nixon would post a 32-save shutout the next night in a 2-0 Holy Cross win. Michael Laffin and Anthony Vincent had the goals on Saturday for the Crusaders.

Elsewhere, Canisius and Air Force also split their series. The Falcons scored on all situations – even-strength, shorthanded and on the power play – in Friday’s 3-0 win, with goals from Walker Sommer, Kyle Haak and Alex Mehnert. The tables were turned on Saturday, as Canisius came off with a 3-0 win powered by a pair from Dylan McLaughlin. Felix Chamberland also scored, as the Griffs had a pair of power-play goals in the win.

Finally, in the last non-conference action of the season, conference-leading AIC fell twice to Arizona State by scores of 4-1 and 5-4. Joel Kocur had the lone goal in Friday’s loss, when Arizona State scored twice on the power play. Kyle Stephan, Ryan Polin, and Tobias Fladeby (2) scored on Saturday, but the Yellow Jackets fell in overtime when PJ Marrocco had the game-winner.

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC
2. Bentley (+1)
3. Air Force (-1)
4. RIT (+1)
5. Mercyhurst (-1)
6. Sacred Heart (+1)
7. Niagara (-1)
8. Army
9. Robert Morris
10. Holy Cross
11. Canisius

We’re heading into the home stretch of the Atlantic Hockey seasosn, and things are really starting to fall into place for how teams are going to finish the regular season. If everything holds, it looks like AIC and Bentley will be the top two teams in the conference, while Canisius and Holy Cross will be near the bottom.

This past weekend, Bentley helped themselves to a pair of wins over the Griffs, by scores of 3-2 and 6-4. As I’m writing this, the Falcons are facing off against the Purple Eagles and putting their seven-game winning streak (and 11-game unbeaten streak) on the line. Just how long can they keep this up?

Sacred Heart also jumped up one spot in the standings after a pair of wins over Niagara this past weekend. The Pioneers, like the Falcons, are also having a lot of success recently, with five straight wins.

Elsewhere, AIC beat Army twice, by scores of 3-0 and 5-2. The Yellow Jackets *also* have a five-game winning streak going, and they’re really proving themselves week after week, finding ways to win and maintaining that top spot in the conference. If they can keep it up, they’ll be in great shape heading into the postseason.

Finally, RIT and Holy Cross split their weekend series, with RIT winning 4-3 Friday before the Crusaders came back for a 3-2 win on Saturday.

Aside from tonight’s Bentley/Niagara matchup, this coming weekend will be a busy one. Those same two teams will finish off their series on Friday, but we’ll also see meetings between RIT and Sacred Heart; Mercyhurst and Army; Robert Morris and Holy Cross; Canisius and Air Force; and AIC and Arizona State. Just about three weeks until the end of the regular season, and there’s still some chance for change in the standings – so every game is critical.

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With the stretch run in offing, the league is still insanely close in key spots. Cornell has built a three-point edge in the league standings as they are unbeaten in 12 of their last 13 games, dating back to a loss against Dartmouth in late November. Colgate, who also has other big results, defeated the Big Red in overtime a few weeks back. The run from positions 2-8, however, is really close as six points separate Quinnipiac from Union in eighth place. Positions 2-5 are separated by just a pair of points, while Brown finds itself a meager three points out of a bye (yes that Brown).

The top-team’s had plenty of success in non-conference and have the ECAC is reaping the rewards, as four league teams would currently make the tournament with all four being in the top-13 of the all important pairwise. This does not include both Union and Yale, who are 20th and 23rd, respectively in the pairwise. Both have long shots, but Union has some big wins that has propped it up all season. It has become evident that the league could be wide open in the tournament, which could mean a team outside these six could win the Whitelaw, like Princeton did last season.

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC
2. Air Force
3. Bentley
4. Mercyhurst
5. RIT
6. Niagara
7. Sacred Heart
8. Army
9. Robert Morris
10. Holy Cross
11. Canisius

Here’s a look at what happened this past weekend, when all 11 teams in Atlantic Hockey were active.

AIC Yellow Jackets Stay Hot: The Yellow Jackets continue to prove themselves as the real deal, extending their hold on first place with a pair of wins over Niagara. The Yellow Jackets beat the Purple Eagles 6-4 on Friday and 6-3 the following night. Four of their 12 goals came on special teams – but they also gave up three shorthanded goals over the course of the two games. Joel Kocur had a goal in each of the games. Netminder Zackarias Skog recorded an assist on Friday and made 12 saves; he also made 28 saves the following night. The Yellow Jackets have now won three straight.

Mercyhurst vs. Canisius: The Lakers jumped up one spot in the conference standings, beating Canisius and tying them the following night. Mercyhurst topped the Griffs 5-3 on Friday, powered by a strong first period with goals from Michael Bevilacqua, James Anderson and Dalton Hunter.  Stefano Cantali made 37 saves. Casey Jerry and Taylor Best had the goals in Saturday’s tie, which proved to be quite a different game. Colin DeAugustine made 35 saves for the Lakers, while Blake Weyrick had 21 saves.

Bentley Continues Unbeaten Streak: The Falcons are on a five-game winning streak and have a lengthy unbeaten streak going too (for more on that, check out my recent piece.) They topped Air Force 4-3 and 4-0 this past weekend. Brendan Hamblet had the OT game-winner on Friday; Jonathan Desbiens scored in each of the two games. Aidan Pelino made 37 saves, including 20 in Saturday’s shutout victory. Luke Santerno is fourth in Atlantic Hockey scoring, with 29 points in 27 games.

Sacred Heart Sweeps Robert Morris: The Pioneers have now won three straight and jumped up two spots in the conference standings with a sweep of Robert Morris, winning by scores of 6-2 and 3-1. Sacred Heart scored four unanswered goals, including a pair by Austin McIlmurray in the third period, to break a 2-2 tie and capture the win on Friday. Austin Magera had a pair of goals on Saturday, including the game-winning goal. With the losses, Robert Morris extended their losing streak to five games.

RIT Drops Two to Arizona State: The RIT Tigers fell twice to non-conference opponent Arizona State, losing by scores of 6-1 and 4-2. Ryan Kruper, Darren Brady and Jake Hamacher had the goals for the Tigers. Ian Andriano made 18 saves in Friday’s loss, while Logan Drackett had 23 saves Saturday. Arizona State will face AIC later this month in the final non-conference games of the season.

Holy Cross, Army Face Off: The Crusaders have finally climbed their way out of the basement in the Atlantic Hockey standings after tying the Black Knights 2-2 Friday and defeating them 5-4 Saturday. Logan Milliken and Johnny Coughlin scored for the Crusaders on Friday, while Dominic Franco and Zach Evancho both scored on the power play for Army in the tie. The teams traded goals on Saturday, with Anthony Vincent scoring the game-winner with 7:02 to play in regulation. Holy Cross had three power-play goals on Saturday, while Army scored once shorthanded and once with the man advantage.

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC
2. Air Force
3. RIT
4. Niagara
5. Mercyhurst
6. Bentley
7. Army
8. Robert Morris
9. Sacred Heart
10. Canisius
11. Holy Cross

Here’s a look at what happened this past weekend, when 10 of the 11 teams in Atlantic Hockey were active.

Air Force Beats Robert Morris Twice: The Falcons topped the Colonials both night by a score of 3-1. Kieran Durgan, Evan Feno and Kyle Haak scored for Air Force on Friday, while Alex Tonge had the lone Robert Morris goal. Haak scored again on Saturday, while Walker Sommer and Brady Tomlak also registered goals. Jacob Coleman had Saturday’s goal the Colonials. Billy Christopoulos stopped 35 of 37 shots faced in the wins. At the other end, Francis Marotte made 45 saves but lost both games.

RIT Tops Army Twice: The Tigers beat the Black Knights 4-2 on both Friday and Saturday. Erik Brown, Gabe Valenzuela, Jake Hamacher and Regan Seiferling all scored in Friday’s win. Hamacher added a pair of goals the next night; Brown also scored in Saturday’s win, as did Shawn Cameron. Zach Evancho, Michael Wilson, Brendan Soucie and Taylor Maruya all scored for Army over the weekend. Ian Andriano stopped 61 shots over the course of the two games for RIT; Jared Dempsey had 23 saves on Friday for Army, while Trevin Kozlowski stopped 21 of 24 shots faced Saturday.

Bentley Continues Streak vs. Canisius: More about Bentley’s impressive streak to come, but the Falcons topped the Griffs twice this weekend by scores of 4-2 and 3-1 to extend their unbeaten streak to seven games. In both games, the teams remained scoreless until the second period. Tanner Jago opened the scoring Friday, with Jakov Novak, Jonathan Desbiens and Drew Callin also adding goals. Matt Hoover had both Canisius goals. On Saturday, the Griffs struck first (Nick Hutchison) but Bentley got three straight (Luke Santerno, Jake Kauppila, Desbiens) to secure the win. Aidan Pelino had 50 saves in the two games.

Sacred Heart, Holy Cross Split: The Pioneers, powered by five different goalscorers, beat the Crusaders 5-2 on Friday. Ryan Steele opened the scoring, while Mike Lee, Austin Magera and Nick Boyagian all scored within five minutes of each other in the third period. Vito Bavaro also added a goal, while Josh Benson had 20 saves. Kevin Darrar and Spencer Trapp had the goals for Holy Cross in Friday’s loss; Tommy Nixon had 27 saves. The next night, the Crusaders came out on top 4-1 thanks to goals from Ryan Leibold, Michael Laffin, Darrar and Anthony Vincent. Sacred Heart’s lone goal was scored by Marc Johnstone. Benson had 12 saves in the loss, while Holy Cross’ Erik Gordon made 32 saves.

Mercyhurst, AIC Split Weekend: The Lakers beat AIC 4-2 on Friday before dropping a thrilling 8-5 decision the following night. On Friday, Mercyhurst got goals from Joseph Duszak (2), Dalton Hunter and Jonny Lazarus. Brennan Kapcheck and Chris Theodore scored for AIC. Stefano Cantali recorded 24 saves in the win, while Zackarias Skog made 17 saves at the other end.

Saturday’s game was a bit more intense. AIC took a 2-0 lead on goals by Blake Christensen and Martin Mellberg before Mercyhurst got on the board with a goal from Duszak, his third of the weekend. The Yellow Jackets scored two more (Kyle Stephan, Justin Cole) before the Lakers struck again (Joshua Lammon). AIC then got three straight goals (Christensen, Luka Maver, Shawn McBride) – with just over 13 minutes left in regulation. The Lakers scored three times in a span of just over six minutes (Tommaso Bucci, Jonny Lazarus, Dalton Hunter), but the Yellow Jackets also added one more (Joel Kocur) to secure the win.

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC (+2)
2. Air Force (-1)
3. Niagara (+3)
4. Mercyhurst (-2)
5. RIT (-1)
6. Army (-1)
7. Robert Morris (0)
8. Bentley (0)
9. Sacred Heart (0)
10. Canisius (0)
11. Holy Cross (0)

Who’s Hot: The AIC Yellow Jackets won all three games they played over the past week and a half. They beat Sacred Heart 2-1 on January 15, then shut out Holy Cross 2-0 two nights later. The Yellow Jackets then beat the Crusaders on Saturday in the second half of the series, capturing a 3-2 win. Zackarias Skog backstopped AIC to all three wins, stopping 72 of 75 shots faced. Elsewhere, Niagara beat Mercyhurst twice this past weekend, outscoring the Lakers 12-7. Those were some much-needed wins for the Purple Eagles, who hadn’t won in…. well, a while. Those wins also helped bump them up three spots in Atlantic Hockey standings, putting them in a top-three position; junior forward Ben Sokay led the team with four points over the pair of games – the first time he’s had points in back-to-back games since December 2017.

Finally, you’ve got to give credit to Bentley, who has a five-game unbeaten streak going. They tied RIT in the opening game of last weekend’s series before beating them the next night.

Who’s Not: Holy Cross lost twice to the aforementioned AIC Yellow Jackets; those losses snapped a three-game unbeaten streak for the Crusaders. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst’s pair of losses to the Purple Eagles bumped them down a couple spots in the conference standings.

Who’s… Hanging Out: Canisius and Robert Morris split their weekend series. In non-conference action, Army beat the Royal Military College 5-2, while Quinnipiac topped Holy Cross 4-1 in a midweek matchup. Finally, Air Force fell to Sacred Heart before tying them the next afternoon.

This Weekend’s Action: We’ve got weekend series between Robert Morris and Air Force in Colorado; Army West Point visits RIT, and Holy Cross and Sacred Heart face off. AIC travels to Mercyhurst for a pair of games, and Canisius hosts Bentley for a series. There are about six weeks left in the Atlantic Hockey regular season, and every game is going to be critical for playoff standings going forward.

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Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. Air Force
2. Mercyhurst
3. AIC
4. RIT
5. Army
6. Niagara
7. Robert Morris
8. Bentley
9. Sacred Heart
10. Canisius
11. Holy Cross

Who’s Hot: The RIT Tigers climbed three spots in Atlantic Hockey standings, thanks to a pair of wins over AIC this past weekend. Overall, RIT has won three in a row and hasn’t lost a game since December 8. They’re on their way up, but will face a hot Bentley team this coming weekend. Speaking of….

Bentley beat Robert Morris twice this weekend, outscoring them 10-3 in the pair of games. Those two big wins were Bentley’s first conference action of 2019 and first since December 1. Thanks to those wins, the Falcons moved up two spots in Atlantic Hockey standings.

The Crusaders of Holy Cross, meanwhile, haven’t lost since January 4. Since then, they’ve beaten Mercyhurst once (a 5-4 victory) and tied and beaten Niagara. The Crusaders may still be at the bottom of Atlantic Hockey, but they’re only two points from bumping both Sacred Heart and Canisius down in the standings. What they do going forward could help move them out of the basement.

Mercyhurst’s Lakers beat Canisius twice this past weekend, which helped move them up to second place in Atlantic Hockey standings. Those two wins are helping turn things around for ‘Hurst, who had previously split a series against Holy Cross after dropping a pair of games to Ohio State to finish out the 2018 calendar year.

Who’s Not: AIC dropped both of its games to RIT this past weekend, by scores of 6-3 and 3-2. Overall, the Yellow Jackets have lost five of their last six games dating back to December 30. These losses have brought them down in the standings, from the top of Atlantic Hockey last week to third this week. While there’s still time to make up those losses and grab some points in the final few weeks of the season, they need a strong finish if they hope to be in the top of the conference at season’s end.

Canisius followed up their stellar wins over North Dakota by losing twice to Mercyhurst this past weekend, by scores of 6-2 and 6-3. The Griffs were outplayed in both games, and their goaltending struggled. These losses dropped them all the way to 10th in Atlantic Hockey, certainly not where Trevor Large and co. would like to be at this point in the season.

Niagara hasn’t won a game since December 7 – which is obviously not good for the Purple Eagles. They tied and lost to Holy Cross this past weekend, and they’ve dropped a few games lately in the final minutes. These strings of non-wins have dropped them all the way to sixth in Atlantic Hockey, a place they’ll try to dig out of starting this weekend against Mercyhurst.

Robert Morris, meanwhile, have dropped four straight games, including the pair to Bentley this past weekend. They let the Falcons put up five goals in each of those games and have overall allowed 22 goals against in the last four games. Ouch!

Finally, Sacred Heart only played one game this past weekend, dropping a 3-1 decision to Yale. The Pioneers haven’t won since December 8, falling to Vermont, AIC and Yale in the stretch since then. They’ll hit a busy stretch here with eight games in the next 19 days, starting with a battle against the Yellow Jackets Tuesday night.

Army, Air Force Tie: In the ever-heated battle of Army West Point vs. Air Force, the winner is…. no one. The two teams tied twice this past weekend (say that five times fast). The score each game: 2-2. The weekend series marked the return to conference action for both teams; Army hadn’t played an Atlantic Hockey team since their bout with Canisius way back on December 1. Since then, they lost to Dartmouth, Brown and RPI.

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It’s been a busy week and a half in Atlantic Hockey, between non-conference action against teams like the University of North Dakota and Vermont, and in-conference action between foes like RIT and Niagara and Holy Cross and Mercyhurst.

Here are the current Atlantic Hockey standings:

1. AIC
2. Air Force
3. Niagara
4. Mercyhurst
5. Army
6. Robert Morris
7. RIT
8. Canisius
9. Sacred Heart
10. Bentley
11. Holy Cross

Here’s a look at what each team did this past week:

AIC: The Yellow Jackets fell to UMass 6-1 on Saturday, January 5, but rallied back with a 6-5 win over conference opponent Sacred Heart on Tuesday, January 8. Captain Shawn McBride had the lone goal in the loss to UMass. The Yellow Jackets held on for a win against the Pioneers despite giving up three straight goals in the final 25 minutes of play. Martin Mellberg had a hat trick, while Jeff Baum, Tobias Fladeby and Kyle Stephan also scored. They’ll now prepare to host RIT for a pair of games this upcoming weekend.

Air Force: The Falcons dominated St. Lawrence on Friday, beating them by a decisive 7-1 score. Air Force scored six straight goals before giving up one. Evan Giesler and Kyle Haak each scored twice. Kieran Durgan, Evan Feno and Walker Sommer also scored. They followed it up with a 4-1 loss to Western Michigan University as part of the Ice Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada; Matt Koch had the lone goal. It’s an exciting weekend ahead as Air Force hosts Army for a pair of sold-out games.

Niagara: It was a rough weekend for the Purple Eagles. They managed to tie RIT 4-4 on Friday but fell to the Tigers the following night, 2-1. Luke Edgerton had a pair of goals Friday, while Niko Kovachis and Ludwig Stenlund also scored. Kovachis also scored Saturday on the power play, the lone goal in the loss. Niagara gave up the game-winning goal on the man advantage with just two seconds remaining in regulation – a heartbreaker of a loss. They’ll hit the road this weekend for a series against Holy Cross.

Mercyhurst: The Lakers split their series with Holy Cross this past weekend, beating them 4-3 before falling 5-4 the next night. Joseph Duszak had a hat trick in Friday’s win, while James Anderson also added a goal – which Duszak assisted on. Duszak also scored in Saturday’s loss. Taylor Best, Derek Barach and Joshua Lammon  had the other goals for the Lakers. Mercyhurst will now take on a home-and-home with Canisius.

Army: The Black Knights had just one game this past weekend, a 2-1 overtime loss to non-conference foe RPI in Troy, NY. Brendan Soucie had the only goal for Army, while Jared Dempsey made 28 saves. They’ll hit the road this weekend for a pair of games against Air Force in what should be a thrilling matchup as usual.

Robert Morris: Robert Morris lost both of their non-conference games this past weekend, dropping decisions to Brown (7-4) and St. Cloud State (5-2). Grant Hebert had a hat trick on Friday; Eric Israel also scored. On Saturday, goals came from Nick Prkusic and Nick Lalonde. They’ll host Bentley this weekend for a series.

RIT: The Tigers tied with Niagara on Friday 4-4 before beating them the next night, 2-1. Alden Dupuis scored twice Friday, with Abbott Girduckis and Will Calverley also adding goals. RIT scored twice on the man advantage. On Saturday, Girduckis had the opening goal for the Tigers. Niagara tied it in the third period, but RIT stole the game with just two seconds remaining in regulation, as Adam Brubacher scored the game-winner on the power play. They’re back in action this weekend with a pair of games against AIC.

Canisius: The Griffs were named the CHN Team of the Week after beating North Dakota twice over the past weekend. Canisius pulled off upsets by scores of 3-1 and 2-1 despite being outshot badly in both games. Grant Meyer had a goal in each game, while David Parrottino, Cameron Heath and Felix Chamberland also scored. Goaltenders Blake Weyrick and Matt Ladd combined for 78 saves. The Griffs will now look to feed off those big wins in the home-and-home against Mercyhurst this weekend.

Sacred Heart: The Pioneers fell 3-2 to non-conference Vermont. Ryan Steele and Jordan Kaplan had the goals for Sacred Heart, including one on the man advantage. Kaplan also had an assist. They also fell to AIC, 6-5, on Tuesday. The Peioneers got goals from five different players: Ryan Steele, Nick Boyagian, Austin Magera, Vito Bavaro and Marcel Godbout. They’ll face another tough opponent this weekend, playing Yale on Saturday.

Bentley: The Falcons tied non-conference Dartmouth this past Saturday, 3-3. Jonathan Desbiens scored a pair of goals in the tie. Drew Callin also notched a goal as the Falcons overcame a 2-0 deficit. Aidan Pelino made 24 saves. They’ll return to Atlantic Hockey action this weekend in the series against Robert Morris.

Holy Cross: Though they’re last in Atlantic Hockey, Holy Cross held their own this past weekend against Mercyhurst. They fell 4-3 on Friday but received goals from Michael Laffin, Matt Slick and Conner Jean. They then beat Mercyhurst 5-4 the following evening thanks to a late goal from Kevin Darrar. The Crusaders scored four straight en route to the win. Spencer Trapp, Johnny Coughlin, Peter Crinella and Neil Robinson scored. Three of Holy Cross’ five goals came on the power play. They’ll host Niagara for a pair this weekend.

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Despite minimal conference games, the last few weeks have told us a ton about a lot of teams in the ECAC. Mainly there have been some positives, but many more setbacks as teams have tried to get back in a rhythm of playing regular games. The highlights of non-conference play, thus far, have been Union’s win over St. Cloud, who is second in the pairwise, and Clarkson’s recent win over Minnesota Duluth. The Golden Knights seem to be trending in the right direction and are certainly a team to watch going forward.

In terms of the Pairwise, Quinnipiac is fifth, while Union (15), Clarkson (16), Cornell (17), Yale (20) and Harvard (22) are bubble bound. If any of those bubble teams can pick up wins in the second half, it could mean good things for their chances of getting to the tournament come March. That said, the .477 winning percentage of league teams against the other conferences will make it tough for teams to break into the top-15.

As teams head into a more consistent conference schedule, it seems like teams like Clarkson, Brown and Harvard are trending in the right direction, while Quinnipiac, Yale and Dartmouth are trending down a tad. On Brown, we have to give them credit for the job they are doing in recent weeks…
The Bears are 4-1-2 in their last seven games and over the weekend won the Three Rivers Classic. They could have beat Providence, as well, just last week but fell just short., mainly because a questionable PC goal was allowed to stand.

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