CONNOR KNAPP
Miami
Sr. | G | York, N.Y.

His Statistics: Knapp stopped all but one of the 60 shots he faced in the RedHawks’ weekend sweep of visiting Notre Dame, including 31 stops in Friday’s 3-0 shutout.

His Impact: In a series with huge conference and national tournament implications against Notre Dame this past weekend, Knapp refused to let the struggling Fighting Irish off the mat, making 31 saves in Miami’s 3-0 win Friday and turning aside 28 of 29 shots in Saturday’s 4-1 triumph. The wins allowed the RedHawks to move to within two points of fourth-place Michigan State and three points of third-place Western Michigan in the CCHA standings with two games remaining in the regular season.

Knapp earns INCH’s National Player of the Week honors for the second time in as many months, and with good reason—since Jan. 1, he’s been arguably the hottest goaltender in the country. The RedHawks are 10-4-0 since New Year’s Day and during that same span, Knapp is 8-2-0 with a 1.03 goals against average and .958 save percentage. He enters the weekend ranked second in the country with a 1.65 GAA and third in the nation with a .934 save percentage.

His Runners-Up: Kenny Agostino, Yale; Alex Grieve, Bentley; Erik Haula, Minnesota; Parker Milner, Boston College

He’s probably more pleased with his team’s seven-game winning streak, rise to first place in Hockey East, or third consecutive Beanpot title, but Boston College coach Jerry York deserves a moment in the spotlight after notching career win no. 900 Friday when his Eagles beat Merrimack. York is the second college hockey coach to reach the 900-win plateau, joining Ron Mason in that elite group, and it’s a matter of when, not if, the 66-year-old York surpasses Mason’s 924 victories to become college hockey’s winningest coach. When it happens, expect post-milestone comments similar to those heard in the Conte Forum interview room last weekend.

“When you sign up for a team sport, whether you’re coaching or you’re a player, it’s never about individual awards or accomplishments,” York told the Boston Globe‘s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell after Friday’s historic win. “We try to win trophies. When you’re a team, in a team setting, that’s got to be your goal.”

There was a time in December, and even continuing into the turn of the new year, when INCH staffers penciled in Notre Dame on the short list of favorites to win the national championship. As February comes to a close, it’s hardly a stretch to say that Notre Dame might not even be favored to win its series at home against Michigan State this weekend. The Fighting Irish looked like legitimate national threats, bolstered by wins over BU on Dec. 31 and Minnesota on Jan. 7. The bigger picture reveals a team that hasn’t met that potential, and its struggles have been in the offensive zone. Notre Dame has lost 13 of its last 19 games. In those 13 defeats, Notre Dame has scored just 17 goals. Ouch.

The bright side is that this team still has talent, and a little bit of time to get things figured out before the postseason begins.

What Happened?: Landing former National Hockey League Players Association head Paul Kelly as the first executive director of College Hockey Inc. back in November 2009 was quite a coup for the fledgling organization. And while his sudden resignation Monday was a surprise and the reasons unknown, it should be noted that in his 28 months at College Hockey Inc., Kelly lent instant legitimacy to the operation by giving college hockey a unified voice with a consistent message, not to mention the ability to bend the ears of the sport’s most influential leaders (Gary Bettman, for example). Coaches are thrilled with the inroads College Hockey Inc. has made on behalf of their programs over the last two-plus years; the work’s not done, but thanks to Kelly’s guidance, the framework for success is in place.

What We’re Watching: College hockey on TV. Lots of it. There are more games available on national and regional sports channels than ever before. With the increase in exposure of the game, especially on NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network, we feel it’s only appropriate to say thank you. Two of the key executives making a push to get college hockey games on the air in such quantity (and with strong production to boot) are Sam Flood at NBC Sports Network, who played Division III college hockey at Williams; and Ross Molloy of CBS Sports Network, a St. Lawrence grad. Might we recommend sending a thank-you note along to those folks and mention their names in correspondence with NBCSN and CBSSN to make sure they know college hockey fans appreciate what they’re doing.

What the …?: Longtime readers of our First Shift feature probably recall a section we used to include titled Rankings Outrage. Consider this a return to that thinking for what is a true anomaly, regarding this week’s USCHO poll. When the voter totals were compiled, Colgate actually moved into that national poll at the 20th position. This, following a weekend during which the Raiders lost twice, to unranked teams St. Lawrence and Clarkson. That’s how the math shook down when the votes were in.

@YogaMatt9 Matt Harlow

What happened to Lou Bega and where are mambos 1-4?

• Contemplative observation from Matt Harlow of Brown. Tweet at him if you’ve got an answer.