SHAWN HUNWICK
Michigan
Sr. | G | Sterling Heights, Mich.

His Statistics: 2 GP, 2-0-0, shutout, 53 saves, 1 GA in series sweep of Miami

His Impact: Some will make a claim that Hunwick is the best goalie in the country, and he made a case for that distinction this weekend in a key CCHA series at Yost Ice Arena against Miami. Hunwick’s 24-save effort in the series opener boosted Michigan to a 4-1 win. He blanked the RedHawks one night later with 29 saves, including one of the controversial variety when a shot on a Miami breakaway was reviewed on video and ruled not to have crossed the goal line.

The bigger picture is that Michigan has risen near the top of the CCHA standings with some stellar play over the last two months. The Wolverines are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games. Hunwick has played in 12 of those and has a 1.34 goals-against average and .957 save percentage during that stretch.

His Runners-Up: Spencer Abbott, Maine; J.T. Brown, Minnesota Duluth; Shayne Gostisbehere, Union; Jason Torf, Air Force

Midway through the second period of Friday’s 6-3 win at Ohio State, Michigan State defenseman A.J. Sturges scored his first goal of the season, cutting a two-goal Buckeye lead in half. Not only was the goal significant in that it sparked a Spartan comeback from a 3-1 first-period deficit, but it was also a milestone for Sturges, who in the fall of 2008 was severely beaten in an off-campus fight.

Sturges, a Madison, Wis., native, sustained a fractured skull and concussion and missed the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons due to his injuries. He spent most of last season getting back into game shape, appearing in one contest.

This season, Sturges has played in 10 games. His goal this past weekend was the second of his Spartan career—his first was Nov. 10, 2007, in a win against Mercyhurst at Munn Ice Arena. For some timeframe perspective, a guy named Justin Abdelkader also scored in that game. Good on you, A.J. Making it back on the ice was remarkable, and getting a goal is pure frosting.

Michigan’s impressive sweep of Miami was blemished when the two teams racked up 72 minutes in penalties in the final 3:20 of the Wolverines’ 3-0 win Saturday. Included in that total are fighting majors assessed to Miami’s Will Weber and Michigan’s Chris Brown that carry with them an automatic one-game suspension. For Weber, that means sitting out against Alabama-Huntsville Friday. Brown has to miss the Wolverines’ match at Michigan State that same night. Disadvantage, Michigan.

It’s clear that the frustration was building on both sides. The Wolverines felt the RedHawks were repeatedly running goaltender Shawn Hunwick with no consequence. The longer Hunwick kept the RedHawks off the board, meanwhile, the more Miami stewed.

We understand the regular season is a grind, points are hard to come by, and the cramped quarters of the CCHA standings make the weekly battles that much more ferocious. We’re not pointing fingers here; rather, we’re advocating that everyone play with a little more poise. It avoids situations that give the college game a bad look and ultimately hurt teams down the road.

What Happened?: It was a night of comebacks on Friday as three ranked teams turned early deficits into victories. The most dramatic comeback was achieved by Maine, as the Black Bears trailed Alabama-Huntsville 3-0 after two periods. Maine scored three times in the third period, including the tying goal in the last minute of the period, and then won 4-3 in overtime. Both Michigan State and Harvard fell behind 3-1 after one period in road games. The Spartans ended up defeating Ohio State and Harvard toppled Quinnipiac by identical 6-3 finals.

What We’re Watching: Is Michigan Tech the streakiest-scoring—and goal-allowing—team in college hockey? Based on recent results, the Huskies are in the midst of a trend that may warrant a closer look. After a little poking around, here’s what caught our eye:

Jan. 13 vs. Alaska Anchorage: The Seawolves score the game’s first goal. The Huskies then reel off five straight en route to a 6-2 win.

Jan. 14 vs. Alaska Anchorage: Tech scores three times in the game’s first 10 minutes. UAA scores the next four to take a 4-3 lead with 15:19 left in regulation, but the Huskies score the last three to win, 6-4.

Jan. 21 at Northern Michigan: The Wildcats score two goals in a 42-second span of the first period, but the Huskies score two power-play goals less than two minutes apart in the second. Alas, NMU scores three unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory.

Jan. 27 at Minnesota Duluth: Top-ranked UMD scores four goals in a 10-minute span of the first period. Tech counters by scoring four times over a 20-minute stretch of the second and third periods, salvaging a 4-4 tie.

Jan. 28 at Minnesota Duluth: The Huskies score four goals in the first period on their way to a 5-0 whitewash of the Bullodgs. That’s nine straight unanswered goals for MTU.

Feb. 3 at Minnesota State: The Mavs score three goals over a six-minute arc of the first period; the Huskies respond by tying the game with three straight of their own. Minnesota State earns a 5-3 win with two third-period goals.

Feb. 4 at Minnesota State: The hosts take a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, but Tech takes command by scoring six first-period goals and cruise to a 7-3 win.

What the …?: On a lot of nights, especially when television isn’t a part of the equation, college hockey fans can count on getting from the first-period puck drop to the final buzzer in about two hours and 15 minutes. That wasn’t the case at Princeton’s Baker Rink when the Tigers and visiting Dartmouth tussled for three hours and 19 minutes. Not that it was all related to the on-ice activity, although the game did end 3-3 after a scoreless overtime. An hour delay took place near the midpoint of the third period when a shot from Dartmouth’s Jesse Beamish hit the glass and shattered it. Earlier in the day, two other planes of glass were broken during the team’s pre-game skates – one by each team.

@fergy2004 Ryan

Do I want the patriots or giants to win to help the Sioux in the pairwise?

• Yup, it’s that time of the year. And they prefer to be called University of North Dakota.

Making up ground in the Atlantic Hockey chase is kind of like losing weight—all of the hard work doesn’t necessarily result in what you want to see.

Niagara, thanks to the hot hand of league goalie of the month Chris Noonan, has won six in a row. Still, the Purple Eagles remain in third place, a stone’s throw from the lead.

Niagara goaltender Chris Noonan enters the weekend ranked second in the nation in goals against average and first in save percentage.

“We’ve swept three weekends in a row and barely crept up,” sighed Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “It’s that time of the year when you hope your team is still in the conversation. All you can do is have your team empty the tank and watch the out-of-town scoreboard.”

Noonan, a senior from Portage, Mich., has kept the Purple Eagles in the hunt with a tremendous month of January. He opened with a pair of two-goal losses at Connecticut but has since posted sweeps of Army (5-1, 3-0), American International (4-1, 6-1), and Robert Morris (a pair of 2-1 wins last weekend). He was 6-2 with a 1.18 goals against average and .959 save percentage, making 209 saves on 218 shots.

“We were hoping someone in the second semester, especially after the Minnesota tournament (Dec. 30-31), would be our no. 1 guy,” Burkholder said. “He certainly, when given the opportunity, has earned it and ran with it.”

Noonan is certainly in the conversation of the top netminders in the nation. His 1.69 goals against average ranks second (trailing only Union’s Troy Grosenick at 1.58), a considerable improvement over his 2.94 GAA mark of last season. Noonan’s save percentage is tops in the country at .942.

“He is just a very calming influence on the team,” Burkholder said. “He is one of the hardest working kids, always in the weight room and doing extra work. His game management and how he’s played and carried himself has been really good for this team.”

Standing tall at 6 feet, Noonan is athletic, cool in net, and game smart. “His emotions never show,” Burkholder said. “He’s never too high, never too low.” Sporting a tremendous glove, he’s very good at making the initial save and does a good job with rebound control. He handles the puck well and has the wherewithal to make a good breakout pass or throw the puck off the glass to clear the zone when necessary.

“He has the perfect goalie mentality,” Burkholder said.

Noonan played in one game as a freshman and by the end of his sophomore season, he helped Niagara knock off the country’s eighth-ranked team, Bemidji State, in a College Hockey America semifinal. Since the midway point of his sophomore season, Noonan has compiled a 19-7-5 record. “The kid is a winner,” Burkholder said.

No one is tearing up the scoresheet—Scott Arnold and Marc Zanette are tied for the team lead with 17 points—but the Purple Eagles are spreading the wealth with eight double-digit point getters and 16 players with at least two goals. Freshman Chris Lochner has been on a recent hot streak with seven goals, all since Dec. 31. Sophomore Patrick Divjak has vaulted to the team lead with 12 assists.

“These guys are confident,” Burkholder said. “There are smiles when they come to the rink.”

Niagara has home-and-home series with Mercyhurst (Feb. 3-4), Canisius (Feb. 14 and 16), and RIT (Feb. 24-25) and a two-game home series with Air Force (Feb. 10-11). Burkholder hopes his team can maintain its hot hand.

“We’re starting to play our best hockey,” Burkholder said. “There’s been years where we’ve limped down the stretch with injuries, fatigue, travel or whatever. We are refreshed, and winning has a lot to do with it.”

An old rivalry renewed: Army and the Royal Military College of Ontario resume a long-standing rivalry that saw its last contest in 2006. The series came to a disputed end when West Point objected to RMC’s use of post-graduate players. West Point will host the first two exhibition contests in 2012 and 2013 and the third game will be played in Kingston in 2014.

“We are thrilled to be playing RMC again and for our cadets to have a chance to compete against their cadets,” said Army coach Brian Riley, who was head coach in the last meeting. “Our guys will have a chance to experience this great rivalry like other Army players, and I really think they will enjoy playing in this series. The memories will last a lifetime.”

With six years between games, no current Army or RMC player has competed in this rivalry. Riley asked former players to send notes to the current Black Knights to express their feelings about how special this rivalry is to both schools. Saturday’s contest at Tate Rink will feature a reunion of long-time coaches Jack Riley of Army and Danny McLeod of RMC, both of whom are in their early 90s.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

More monthly awards: Bentley’s Brett Gensler and Alex Grieve were named the Atlantic Hockey player and rookie of the month, respectively.

Gensler produced seven goals and nine assists, notching a point in nine of 10 games. He had three goals and an assist against Holy Cross on Jan. 24. Gensler leads the league with 30 points and 20 assists in addition to his 10 goals.

Grieve scored seven goals and added six assists in January, raising his season totals to 10 goals and nine assists. He had a game-winning goal against Robert Morris on Jan. 6. Last weekend, Grieve posted three goals and four assists.

Weekly winners: Gensler and Grieve were the player and rookie of the week, respectively. Gensler had eight points in three games and Grieve posted seven points.

Garrett Bartus of Connecticut was the goalie of the week. Bartus stopped 64 of 65 shots as UConn beat Holy Cross, 3-1 and 3-0. He had 31 saves in the shutout win, his fourth of the season. Bartus owns the Huskies’ Division I career saves record with 2,439.

Finally, a win: It took 18 games but Sacred Heart finally won its first league contest of the season, 4-2 at American International. Drew George, Anthony Yelovich, Ben Ketchum, and Chad Filteau all scored for the Pioneers. It was the sixth time this season that Sacred Heart has managed to score four goals in a game. AIC answered with a 3-0 overtime win on Saturday in Milford. Sacred Heart is 1-17-1 in league play.

Finally, a bagel: Air Force senior Stephen Caple stopped 14 shots to lead Air Force to a 3-0 win at Canisius on Sunday. It was the Falcons’ first shutout of the season and the second of Caple’s career. It was the fourth time Canisius had been blanked this season, tying the school record. The teams played to a 1-1 draw on Monday.

Finally, a sweep: Connecticut beat Holy Cross, 3-1 and 3-0. Coupled with a 4-2 win in October, it was the first time the Huskies had swept the season series from the Crusaders as a Division I program.

A new leader: Rochester Institute of Technology took three of four points from Mercyhurst, jumping one point ahead of the Lakers for first place in Atlantic Hockey with four weekends of league play remaining. RIT got goals from five different players in Friday’s 5-1 win and secured a 2-2 tie on Saturday—it was the Tigers’ first home dates in nearly seven weeks.

Coming up: Home-and-home series pit American International and Holy Cross, Canisius and Robert Morris, Niagara and Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart and Bentley. RIT travels to Air Force for a pair, with Friday’s 10 p.m. ET game televised by CBS Sports Network.

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is presented to a deserving recipient on the day before the last college hockey game of the season. But that doesn’t mean that college hockey fans, players, and media members don’t think about it all season. Inside College Hockey’s Hobey Tracker looks at our picks for the top three candidates and other players worthy of discussion.

Justin Schultz
Wisconsin | Jr. | D
To Date: 26 GP, 12-26–38, 5 PPG, GWG, +15 rating

The Skinny: Dare we say that Schultz, the country’s leading scorer among defensemen and the sixth-best scorer overall, is mired in a bit of a slump? In seven games since erupting for two goals and two assists in a Jan. 6 win against RIT, Schultz has just one goal and five assists, well below his scoring clip of nearly 1.5 points per game. One could argue Schultz’s recent drop in production is enough to move him out of the Big Board’s top spot, but then again, we’re carping about a blueliner who averages a point and a half per game. Throw in a plus-minus rating of +15 (sixth among NCAA defensemen) and his paltry 10 penalty minutes in 26 games, and you’ve got a pretty impressive resume.

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | F
To Date: 26 GP, 26-15–41, 6 SHG, 4 PPG, 5 GWG, +21 rating

The Skinny: Smith moves up one spot this week on the Big Board following a momentum-building weekend for the Raiders in which their leading actor gave an award-worthy performance. Colgate was mired in a six-game winless slide (Smith still got seven points in that stretch) but broke through with two wins against then-first-place Cornell. Smith was a huge factor all night and assisted on the Raiders’ first goal in a 2-1 win on the road. He then scored twice at home as Colgate scored four in the last 20 minutes to complete a 5-3 comeback win. Smith’s first goal knotted the score at 1-1, and his second tied the score 3-3 in the third period. It was a short-handed goal, his sixth of the season, which leads the country.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 26 GP, 15-25–40, 5 PPG, 2 GWG, +16 rating

The Skinny: Not since the second game of the season, way back on Oct. 8, had Jack Connolly been kept off the scoresheet. Then it happened on consecutive nights as Michigan Tech went to Duluth and got a tie and a win on the road, and became the only team other than Notre Dame to hold Connolly without a point in a game this season. Connolly also had a minus-3 rating in the series, and Michigan Tech scored nine straight goals on the weekend after Duluth built a 4-0 lead on Friday night. While our Big Board flip-flop between Smith and Connolly has a lot to do with recent performance, it’s a really close call between all three of the top candidates at this point.

A deeper look at a Hobey hopeful and an issue (or issues) surrounding his candidacy.

Doug Carr, UMass Lowell: Since first-year head coach Norm Bazin anointed Carr the full-time starter in early November, the River Hawks have been nearly unstoppable. The Hanover, Mass., native has a 15-4-0 record on the year, putting UMass Lowell, which won five games last season, on track for an NCAA Tournament berth. He’s fifth in the nation in goals-against average (1.82) and save percentage (.935), and only Minnesota Duluth’s Kenny Reiter and Minnesota’s Kent Patterson have more wins. Assuming the River Hawks continue on their current trajectory—especially with games against Boston University, Maine, and Merrimack on the horizon—Carr will be strong candidate for one of the 10 Hobey finalist spots.

Shane Madolora, RIT: Last season, Madolora kicked his game into high gear during the second half of the season, and it appears he’s doing the same this season. In his last six starts, including last weekend’s win and tie against Mercyhurst that moved the Tigers into first place in Atlantic Hockey, Madolora is 5-0-1 with a 0.66 goals against average and a .975 save percentage. He enters this weekend’s series at Air Force ranked third nationally in both goals-against average (1.78) and save percentage (.937); his numbers would likely be more impressive had he not missed five games early in the season after running into an issue with the NCAA Clearinghouse.

DAN SULLIVAN
Maine
So. | G | York, Pa.

His Statistics: Sullivan stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced in the Black Bears’ 4-2 win at Boston University Friday, then made a career-high 38 saves to lead Maine to a 3-1 triumph Saturday and a series sweep of the host Terriers.

His Impact: The charging Black Bears are 11-2-1 since Thanksgiving and—fresh off sweeps of perennial Hockey East heavyweights Boston College and Boston University—enter February with as much momentum as any team in the country.

Sullivan’s consistency in goal is one reason for Maine’s surge. His 38 saves in Saturday’s 3-1 win against BU marked the fourth time in his last five starts he’s made 30-plus saves; in his last five appearances, Sullivan is 4-0-1 with a 2.33 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Among Hockey East goalies, only UMass Lowell’s Doug Carr has more wins than Sullivan.

His Runners Up: Garrett Bartus, Connecticut; Cody Ferriero, Northeastern; Derek Graham, Ferris State; Luke Salazar, Denver; Joe Wilson, Colgate

Congratulations to ex-Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott, who preceded his first NHL All-Star Game appearance over the past weekend by signing a two-year contract extension with the St. Louis Blues, the team that picked him off the scrap heap for little more than the league minimum in the offseason, for a reported $3.6 million. Elliott won the battle for Ottawa’s starting gig prior to the start of the 2010-11 season but struggled, lost the job, and was dealt to Colorado. At the break, the Blues are two points behind Detroit in the Central Division standings thanks in large measure to the goaltending platoon of Elliott and Jaroslav Halak—St. Louis has allowed 102 goals in 49 games, second fewest in the league.

We understand that student media generally serves a very specific audience, primarily composed of its peers, which is why it’s not the best move for a college newspaper staffer to call out student peers on the sports pages. A columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun put a strongly-worded rip-job together following the Big Red’s men’s hockey losses against Colgate over the weekend, and wasn’t afraid to name names. The bigger problem was that he named the wrong one by assigning culpability for Colgate’s game-changing short-handed goal to Cornell senior forward Sean Collins, when two defensemen actually coughed the puck up on the play.

What Happened: The American Hockey League held its annual all-star classic Sunday and Monday in Atlantic City and many former collegians participated. Recent college alumni included the likes of Cory Conacher from Canisius and ex-Miami teammates Andy Miele and Carter Camper. Some of the league’s elder statesmen also came from the college ranks including Krys Kolanos, Clay Wilson and Darren Haydar. Former Maine goalie Ben Bishop earned MVP honors after stopping 10 of 11 shots in the third period and all four shootout attempts to lead the Western Conference to an 8-7 shootout victory. A total of 26 players who played at least one year of college hockey took part among the 48 players overall.

What We’re Watching: Ferris State extended its unbeaten streak to eight with two wins against Michigan State this past weekend, climbing to first place in the CCHA standings. The Bulldogs close the regular season with four tricky series (at Northern Michigan, vs. Bowling Green, home-and-home with Notre Dame and Western Michigan), significant because staying in the top four of the league standings and retaining a home-ice spot for the CCHA playoff quarterfinals is more important for Ferris than any other team in the league. The Bulldogs are a sterling 11-1-2 at home this season and a mediocre 6-7-1 away from Big Rapids. In those seven losses—six on the road and one at a neutral site—FSU has scored a total of five goals and has been shut out on four occasions.

What the …?: Through 20 games of Harvard’s season, they’ve posted a record of 6-6-8. Yup, that’s eight ties in 20 games for the Crimson with just six wins and six losses. With that kind of ledger, it’s bound to create some statistical oddities. How about this? At this point in the year, only four teams have fewer wins – Vermont (5), American International (5), Army (3) and Sacred Heart (2). But on the other side, only two teams have fewer losses – Minnesota Duluth (5) and Merrimack (5).

@Akillorn19 Alex Killorn

Guess I got caught picking my nose on national tv. Whatever, where I come from they call that a #powermove

• When you score two goals on national TV against an ancient rival, extra-curricular activities can be overlooked. The real power moves came in the Harvard senior’s two-goal performance against Yale – the first was a wraparound goal and the second came when he drove the net and scored the game-winning goal. By the way, if you haven’t seen Killorn play, check out the early game at the Beanpot on Monday. He’s worth the price of admission and worth setting your video recorder to see.

Winning doesn’t cure all ills but it sure goes a long way.

Air Force had struggled mightily since New Year’s Eve. The Falcons took a 7-1 shellacking from Denver on home ice. They traveled to Holy Cross for a pair and managed just one point. Bentley visited Colorado Springs and took home three points. Air Force had slipped to fourth place in Atlantic Hockey and was in danger of dipping further in the tight race.

Paul Weisgarber and Air Force got back on track against Army.

“We had not been playing Falcon hockey,” coach Frank Serratore said. “The energy, the vigor and passion has not been there. When that’s happening, it doesn’t matter who you are playing. If we don’t have that as a foundation, we ain’t going to have success against anybody.”

So Air Force traveled to West Point with a lot on the line, beyond the fact this was another renewal of the passionate service-academy rivalry with Army.

The weekend didn’t get off to an ideal start as Army managed a late short-handed goal to forge a 3-3 overtime tie before a national television audience. It wasn’t totally satisfying for the Falcons, but it wasn’t a complete loss either.

“Before the (Saturday) game I talked to the team,” Serratore said. “I said, ‘All right, we took a step. Are we going to take another step today or are we going to step back?’”

Serratore got the answer he was looking for. Air Force totally dominated Army through nearly 50 minutes of action and Jason Torf finally won his first game of the season as the Falcons prevailed 4-2.

“I thought our team was tremendous,” Serratore said. “The effort was tremendous. The first two periods, shots were 17-6 (in our favor). We worked hard but we were forced to overcome a lot of adversity.”

Air Force took seven penalties and gave Army six power-play opportunities – the Black Knights capitalized just once, with less than a second to play in regulation. Most impressive was the Falcons’ ability to kill off a five-minute major assessed to Chad Demers for charging into Army goalie Rob Tadazak to open the second period – Serratore claims Demers was “chopped down” before crashing into the freshman. Army managed two shots in the opening 45 seconds of the man-advantage and nothing else.

Torf was not spectacular with just 16 saves, but he didn’t have to be. It was his first win in a season that came to a crashing halt on Oct. 8 when Torf tore his groin against Michigan State. He resumed light skating in December and saw his first action on Jan. 14 against Bentley when he made 21 stops and lost a 2-1 decision.

“He’s played two games and played very well,” Serratore said of Torf, who dazzled as Andrew Volkening’s replacement in 2010-11, posting a 16-9-3 record and 2.87 goals against average. “We’re all very proud of Jason.”

Senior Stephen Caple played in Torf’s absence, posting a 10-4-5 record and 2.29 goals against. Caple made 18 saves in Friday’s tie, but he gave up a short-handed goal to Mark Dube with 3:39 left in regulation.

“Steve Caple not only filled in for Torf, he more than filled in,” Serratore said. “He was 9-2-2 in the games before Christmas. He came back and I threw him to the wolves at Colorado College, saying ‘Put up or shut up,’ and he put up and beat them. How do I not come back with that guy? The next week at Holy Cross he showed up when everybody else on our team didn’t. (Friday) night he did his thing – he wasn’t great but he certainly wasn’t bad. He’s earned the right to be considered in the mix.”

For now, Air Force doesn’t have a No. 1 goalie.

“Right now we feel we have two guys that deserve to play,” Serratore said. “We’ll probably let it play out a little bit.”

It was the first time Air Force had beaten Army at Tate Rink since Jan. 2004 and the first time the Falcons escaped West Point with at least three points since Dec. 2001.

Air Force has proven to be one of the toughest teams down the stretch in Atlantic Hockey play. Was a three-point weekend at West Point the start of something good?

“I would like to think so but we’ll see (Sunday) at Canisius,” Serratore said. “I liked what I saw (Saturday night against Army). If we can replicate that we will have a good stretch run. I hope we can build off this and we should be able to. The formula they had tonight will work regardless of who we play. We just have to stick to it.”

ARMY UPDATE

Bad situation made worse: Army freshman goalie Rob Tadazak was run into twice during Saturday’s game against Air Force. The second collision resulted in a concussion, said coach Brian Riley. As of Wednesday, Tadazak was still suffering headaches and his short-term status is in doubt. Tadazak is 0-6-3 with a 3.01 goals against in nine starts and one relief outing.

The job falls to junior incumbent Ryan Leets, who is off to a 2-8-4 start with a 3.27 goals against.

Army is in the midst of a six-game winless streak (0-1-5). Army opened the season at 0-4-2 and went 0-5-4 between wins over Sacred Heart on Nov. 11 and RPI on Dec. 30.

“We’re a team that’s challenged offensively to score goals,” Riley said. “It’s almost like the longer the game goes without us scoring, the pressure just builds. When we do score that first goal they just seem to be a lot looser.”

An unfriendly barn: Army is winless (0-7-3) in 10 games at Tate Rink, something unheard of in West Point history.

“We do think about it,” co-captain Mike Hull said. “We want to win for our team and for our fans who support us so well but at the same time we don’t let that affect us going into the game. We don’t think, ‘Oh crap we haven’t won at home’ and get uptight or too tense. Does it sting a little bit? Of course but we don’t let it negatively affect us.”

Army plays a home-and-home with Bentley this weekend, and hosts Canada’s Royal Military College on Feb. 4 in a renewal of what had been the longest-running international hockey series.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

If the playoffs started today: First-round matchups would have No. 12 Sacred Heart at No. 5 Niagara, No. 11 Army at No. 6 Connecticut, No. 10 American International at No. 7 Holy Cross and No. 9 Canisius at No. 8 Bentley. The byes would go to No. 1 Mercyhurst, No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology, No. 3 Robert Morris and No. 4 Air Force.

Players of the week: Daniel O’Donoghue of Mercyhurst shared the award with Cody Crichton of Robert Morris. O’Donoghue, a sophomore forward, had two goals and two assists as Mercyhurst beat Holy Cross 3-2 in overtime and tied 5-5. Crichton, a senior forward, had a goal and assist on consecutive nights as Robert Morris won a pair at Connecticut, 4-3 and 2-1, putting an end to the Huskies’ four-game win streak.

Goalie of the week: RIT senior Shane Madolora won for the fourth time and third time in the past four weeks. Madolora stopped 62 of 63 shots as RIT blanked Bentley 2-0 and beat the Falcons 2-1 – Bentley had its six-game league unbeaten streak come to an end. The shutout win was Madolora’s third in a row, and he extended his streak to 211 minutes, 1 second. Madolora ranks third in the nation with a .935 save percentage.

Rookie of the week: Chris Lochner of Niagara posted his first career hat trick, all on the power play, as the Purple Eagles beat AIC 6-1 on Saturday.

Clean sweep: Canisius beat Sacred Heart 2-0 and 4-3. It was the first Golden Griffin sweep of the Pioneers since the 2003-04 season. Tony Capobianco posted his first career shutout with a 28-save effort on Friday.

Coming up: It’s first versus second as league leader Mercyhurst visits runner-up Rochester Institute of Technology in a Friday-Saturday set. The Eastern pod teams all play home-and-home sets with Bentley opening at Army, Holy Cross at Connecticut and Sacred Heart at American International. Likewise for Niagara, opening at Robert Morris. Air Force visits Canisius on Sunday.

It’s kind of a slow weekend in the sports world with the big events being the NHL All-Star Game (somewhat watchable), the NFL Pro Bowl (hardly watchable), and a full slate of NBA action (completely unwatchable). The same could be said for the coming weekend in college hockey with only one big-time clash (Maine at Boston University) on the docket. But there are a few other series that warrant a closer look. One worth watching is a battle between the top two teams in Atlantic Hockey as Mercyhurst visits RIT.

Matt Nieto leads Boston University in scoring with 23 points in 20 games.

Maine at Boston University (Fri.-Sat.): Outside of Minnesota Duluth, no one’s been better than the Black Bears and Terriers over the last two months. Hockey East-leading BU is 12-2-0 since its Nov. 13 shutout of Boston College and Maine, the league’s fourth-place team, is 9-2-1 since Thanksgiving. This series represents the last big hurdle for both teams in what remains of the regular season; the Terriers’ toughest remaining games are a single game at Merrimack and a home-and-home series with UMass Lowell, while the Black Bears’ biggest remaining test is a single game at Lowell. This could be a goal-filled weekend at Agganis Arena what with the Black Bears and Terriers both among the top six in the country in scoring offense and power-play success rate. Enhancing the teams’ power-play potency this weekend is the fact that Boston University and Maine just happen to be the two most penalized teams in the nation.

Colgate vs. Cornell (Friday at Cornell, Saturday at Colgate): These travel partners will play a seldom-seen ECAC Hockey home-and-home weekend beginning Friday night at Lynah Rink in a nationally-televised game. These teams spent most of the first half of the year at or near the top of the league standings. Lately, fortunes have changed a little bit. Colgate is 0-for-2012, with five losses and a tie since the turn of the New Year. A once seemingly impregnable Cornell  team on home ice that achieved five straight shutouts at Lynah Rink was beaten for five aggregate goals last weekend by Dartmouth and Harvard. The return-game Saturday night at Starr Rink in Hamilton always draws a full house. The Raiders need a big weekend to get turned back in the proper direction, and Cornell can maintain its hold on first place by taking care of business against its local rival.

Mercyhurst at RIT (Fri.-Sat.): The top two teams in what is a ridiculously tight Atlantic Hockey race (nine clubs within seven points of first place entering the weekend), the Lakers and Tigers have been on a roll over the last two months—since Dec. 1, Mercyhurst is 8-2-2 and RIT is 9-4-0. The similarities pretty much end there. The Lakers have leaned on the country’s 13th-ranked scoring offense (3.19 goals per game) and sixth-best power play (23.6 percent); the Tigers have the nation’s third-best scoring defense (2.04 goals allowed per game) and 16th-best penalty kill (84.6 percent). Bolstered by the strong play of goalie Shane Madolora, RIT has allowed one or fewer goals in eight of its last 13 games, but with eight of its last 12 matches decided by one goal or ending in a tie, Mercyhurst is accustomed to playing in tight games.

Wisconsin at North Dakota (Fri.-Sat.): A sweep by either the Badgers or NoDak probably puts the final nail in the coffin of the losing team’s NCAA Tournament hopes. That we’re even talking about either team making the NCAAs speaks volumes about the rampant above-average-ism in college hockey this season. That said, both North Dakota and Wisconsin are in good shape considering extenuating circumstances. The painfully young Badgers (a combined four juniors and seniors) are 7-2-1 since Thanksgiving. North Dakota isn’t painfully young, just painfu. With five players on the shelf nursing various injuries, North Dakota has been dressing 17 players and two goalies as of late. Still, the team is 9-3-1 since Turkey Day.

Also: It’s typically been one of the marquee matchups in Hockey East, but it’s fair to say there’s a little shine off this weekend’s Boston College-New Hampshire home-and-home series. Since starting the season by winning eight of their first nine, the Eagles are 7-9-1. The Wildcats have lost eight of their last 12 games. … Denver travels to Alaska Anchorage for a WCHA series. The Pioneers could regain the services of goaltender Sam Brittain and defenseman John Ryder, both of whom have been sidelined with injuries. Brittain has yet to play this season. … Miami is surging, but the NCAA criteria computations inexplicably love Northern Michigan, the CCHA’s ninth-place team. Those two teams meet in Oxford this weekend. … Michigan State hasn’t played a true road game since Dec. 9 and the Spartans’ last road series was a mid-November trip to Northern Michigan. They’re at Ferris State this weekend; the Bulldogs, 4-0-2 in their last six games, have a 9-1-2 mark in Big Rapids this season.

Reilly Smith

REILLY SMITH
Miami
Jr. | F | Mimico, Ontario

His Statistics: Four goals in the RedHawks’ sweep of visiting Western Michigan, including all three goals (one of them short-handed) in Friday’s 3-1 win and the game-winner in Saturday’s 4-0 shutout.

His Impact: Since a disastrous October in which it won two of its eight games, Miami has climbed to within two points of first-place Ohio State in the CCHA standings by going 12-4-2 since Nov. 1. Smith has played a huge role in the RedHawks’ revival, scoring 14 goals and 20 points in those 18 games. His four goals this weekend give him 18 for the season—in all of college hockey, only Colgate’s Austin Smith (24) and Minnesota’s Nick Bjugstad (20) have more.

Smith and the RedHawks have a tough, but favorable, schedule from here on out with seven of their 10 remaining games at home, including a potentially huge home-and-home series with Ohio State to close the regular season. The only road series left on Miami’s slate is an equally important trip to Ann Arbor Feb. 3-4 to face Michigan.

His Runners Up: Shane Madolora, RIT; Mike Mangene, Maine; Bryce Merriam, Rensselaer; Justin Schultz, Wisconsin

While we chose Reilly Smith as the INCH National Player of the Week, it wasn’t an easy decision. The efforts of all the runner-up candidates made this the most difficult choice of the year, so we’ll take this time to salute them in greater detail. The goalies were at the top of their games, as RIT and RPI went to New England states and came home after four-point weekends. RIT’s Shane Madolora (62 saves) and RPI’s Bryce Merriam (81 saves) each had a shutout and allowed one goal in the other game. Matt Mangene of Maine led the Black Bears to a sweep of Boston College by scoring the overtime-winner in Friday’s victory and adding a hat trick in Saturday’s win. Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz had another big weekend to boost his Hobey candidacy with five points and a plus-seven rating in two wins against Alaska Anchorage.

Over the last several weeks, people have had the opportunity to login and vote for their favorite players or other deserving candidates in the first phase of the Vote For Hobey. With that, has come some campaigning and balloting updates (and even misinformed articles) from different factions in support of players. We’re all for the enthusiasm, but the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter at all in determining the top-10 Hobey finalists, let alone the winner. At this stage of voting, 58 coaches receive ballots. Additionally, the fan vote accounts for one percent of the total results – roughly a little more than half of one coach’s vote.

What Happened: Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson was understandably peeved after the CCHA denied the Fighting Irish’s appeal of its suspension of forward Riley Sheahan, causing the standout junior to miss Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Michigan. The league iced Sheahan for what it termed an “illegal hit” in the second period of Notre Dame’s Jan. 13 loss to Western Michigan.

Thing is, had the officials working that game made the correct call, it’s unlikely Sheahan gets suspended. Referees Keith Sergott and Matthew Miller saw the hit, but wrongly assessed the major penalty and game misconduct to Notre Dame’s Jeff Costello—hence the CCHA’s revisionist justice nearly a week later.

“It was more about the process. It wasn’t so much about the call,” Jackson told the Notre Dame Observer. “I hope they take a hard look at the official that involved and give him the same kind of suspension.”

What We’re Watching: We’re watching college hockey on TV—lots of it. With the proliferation of national and regional sports outlets and DirecTV, it’s the golden age of televised college pucks. But we’ve got a simple request for game analysts: less is more. Just because you’re on television for two to three hours at a time, you don’t have to try to cram everything you know about the game into that time frame. Tell us what we need to know, and move on.

What the …?: Saw some brief reports Monday from the Canadian Press about an AHL suspension to former New Hampshire defenseman Garrett Stafford. He’ll sit out one game for the Hamilton Bulldogs due to his actions in Saturday’s outdoor game against the Toronto Marlies. Stafford’s transgression? He apparently threw a water bottle at the Marlies’ bench.

@BruceCiskie Bruce Ciskie

Not surprised to see UMD lose a couple first-place votes. There are voters who use the Pairwise now that it has enough data to be valid.

• If this is indeed the case, and we have no reason to believe it’s not true, then what value do those voters bring to the polling process? Many fans like to clamor that the PairWise is the only thing that matters for NCAA Tournament selection and the polls are meaningless. That’s true … on one day of the year. The PairWise is designed to measure teams based on the entire season’s body of work and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. To view it as a ranking system is flat-out wrong. The benefit of voter-driven polls and compiling the INCH Power Rankings is that actual hockey coaches and media who closely follow the games can make their case based on what they’ve seen by watching teams all season long. Besides, do you really want to rely on a comparison system that currently deems CCHA ninth-place team Northern Michigan more worthy of an NCAA Tournament spot than WCHA leader Minnesota or ECAC Hockey leader Cornell?

There’s a logjam atop the Atlantic Hockey standings with six weeks to go but one team that is making a decided run to the top is Connecticut.

Garrett Bartus

The Huskies have opened the new year on a roll, sweeping Niagara at home and Canisius on the road. The eight-point surge has pushed the Huskies into a third-place tie with Air Force and Robert Morris with UConn holding a tie-breaker edge with one more victory.

Connecticut leapfrogged three teams with the 6-2, 4-3 sweep of Canisius in Buffalo – it was the first time Canisius has lost a home set since Holy Cross did the trick in Oct. 2009. Junior Garrett Bartus posted both wins, stopping 54 shots, to even his record at 10-10-2. Returning all-star Cole Schneider had three goals and an assist – two of his tallies came in the final 10 minutes on Sunday as the Huskies rallied from a deficit. Schneider has a point in 13 of his last 14 contests and leads the team with 26 points, one point off the league lead.

Three members of Schneider’s sophomore class have also vaulted to the team lead in points. Brant Harris leads the team with 13 goals and has 21 assists. Billy Lattta has 19 points and Jordan Sims has 18.

Connecticut’s offensive output is slightly down from last year but the defense is allowing one fewer goal per game (2.59). Another notable improvement is the power play – the Huskies lead Atlantic Hockey with a 28.3 percent conversion rate, nine full points ahead of last season.

When the league returns to Eastern and Western pod schedules next week, Connecticut faces a favorable schedule. The Huskies are already 6-2 at Freitas Ice Forum in Storrs, and the remaining league slate has seven home contests out of 11.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

If the playoffs were to start today – Mercyhurst, RIT, Connecticut and Air Force would own the first-round byes. The best-of-three series would pit No. 12 Sacred Heart at No. 5 Robert Morris; No. 11 Army at No. 6 Bentley; No. 10 American International at No. 7 Holy Cross; and, No. 9 Canisius at No. 8 Niagara. Of course, only five points separates first place from eighth place and there’s still six-plus weeks to go.

Tigers maul Pioneers – Rochester Institute of Technology pulled off a couple rarities in college hockey, posting consecutive shutouts and scoring double digits. Playing like pros in Bridgeport’s AHL arena, the Tigers romped over Sacred Heart 10-0 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday. The 10 goals set a Div. I school record. The last double-digit output was a 12-2 win over Lebanon Valley on Feb. 18, 2005. Single-game marks of 17 assists and 27 points (by 14 different players) were set, and five third-period goals tied a mark. The last time RIT posted consecutive road shutouts was Feb. 4 and 6, 1981.

Tiger honors – With such a huge weekend in Bridgeport, it’s no wonder RIT secured three of the top weekly awards. Michael Colavecchia scored four goals and had an assist, securing player of the week honors. His Saturday hat trick was only the sixth in RIT’s brief Division I history. He leads the team with 20 points, split evenly. Shane Madolora posted consecutive shutouts for the second time in his career, stopping all 41 shots, to earn goalie of the week honors. He has a 2.00 goals against overall and 1.54 in league play. Madolora’s five shutouts ranks second in the nation, and he has 11 for his career. Forward Brad McGowan earned rookie of the week honors, posting a goal and two assists. His 10 points, split evenly between goals and assists, leads all RIT first-year players.

Lost weekend – It’s not often Air Force comes out on the short end of a weekend home series. Air Force forged a 2-2 draw with Bentley on Friday and lost 2-1 on Saturday, falling to 0-3-2 in its last five games. Bentley sophomore Branden Komm made 40 saves in the tie, the fourth time he has stopped at least 40 shots, and he made 19 saves in Bentley’s first win at Air Force since 2006. Komm has allowed two-or-fewer goals in 12 of 18 starts, including four in a row and in his last 10 league contests.

Niagara swamps Army – Niagara swept a home series with Army, prevailing 5-1 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday. Army has lost four in a row and is 1-9-4 in its last 14. Chris Noonan stopped 67 of 68 shots to post the wins, and the shutout was the second of his career. Noonan dipped his goals against under two to 1.99 (tied for sixth nationally) and improved his save percentage to .934 (tied for third in the nation). Marc Zanette had two goals and an assist.

Slowed but not undaunted – Just because you sit in first place doesn’t guarantee a road win. Mercyhurst bowed at American International 3-2 on Friday but responded with a 7-2 win on Saturday. Mercyhurst junior Paul Chiasson had three goals on eight shots. Forward Nardo Nagtzaam had a goal and two assists in the second contest, earning rookie of the week honors. He has nine goals and 12 assists in 22 contests. Laker sophomore Jordan Tibbett made his first start in 15 months and posted his first career win with a 27-save performance. AIC’s Blake Peake had a goal and four assists.

A narrow split – Robert Morris pulled out a 4-3 overtime win over Holy Cross on Friday, but the Crusaders evened the score with a 1-0 victory on Saturday. Derek Kump made 29 saves for his first collegiate shutout. Erik Vos had three of Holy Cross’ goals, raising his total to a career-high 10. Robert Morris goalie Brooks Ostergard actually raised his save percentage to .934, ranking second in the nation. Colonial freshman Cody Wydo score twice – his 11 goals is tied for third among the nation’s rookies.

Power outage – Army has scored three goals in just five contests this season, going 1-1-3. When scoring two goals, Army is 1-2-2. The Black Knights have scored one goal or been shut out in 10 of 21 games (0-9-1).

Powerless Pioneers – Sacred Heart did itself no favors in its 10-0 and 3-0 losses to RIT. The Pioneers failed on all 14 power play opportunities.

Academies on display – Friday’s Air Force-Army game at West Point will be televised by CBS Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. Both weekend games at Tate Rink have been sold out.

Coming up – It’s the final weekend of East vs. West pod play, with the final five weeks reserved for geographic rivals. Heading East are Mercyhurst (at Holy Cross), RIT (at Bentley), Robert Morris (at Connecticut) and Air Force (at Army). West-bound clubs are AIC (at Niagara) and Sacred Heart (at Canisius; both games are afternoon tilts). Mercyhurst won the last four against Holy Cross but they all came in Erie; the Lakers are 15-4 in Worcester.

Stevie Moses

STEVIE MOSES
New Hampshire
Sr. | F | Leominster, Mass.

His Statistics: Five goals in the Wildcats’ wins against Providence and Dartmouth, including the lone tally in UNH’s 1-0 win at Schneider Arena Wednesday and four goals in a a 4-1 victory over the Big Green in Manchester, N.H., Saturday.

His Impact: It hasn’t been a banner year for New Hampshire—the Wildcats enter the week in eighth place in the Hockey East standings, just one point ahead of ninth-place Northeastern—but it’s been a pretty good one for Stevie Moses. The senior forward took over first place in the Hockey East goal scoring race this past weekend, netting the lone goal in UNH’s 1-0 win at Providence Wednesday, then added four goals Saturday as the Wildcats cruised past Dartmouth, 4-1, in a non-conference match in Manchester, N.H.

Moses, who also scored four goals in his team’s Nov. 26 win against Alabama-Huntsville, leads the Wildcats with 16 goals, 26 points, and five power-play goals.

His Runners Up: Michael Colavecchia, RIT; Troy Grosenick, Union; Alex Guptill, Michigan; Drew Shore, Denver

North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol took swift and decisive action against Ben Blood Monday, pulling the ‘A’ from the senior defenseman’s sweater for his role in a confrontation in the postgame handshake line Saturday following NoDak’s 6-2 loss to visiting Minnesota.

“Regardless of any provocation, Ben’s actions in the postgame handshake were not acceptable,” Hakstol said in a prepared statement. “The handshake is a traditional, gentlemanly part of our game where, at the end of a hard-fought battle, opponents show good sportsmanship and shake hands like men.”

Blood tussled with Minnesota freshman forwards Seth Ambroz and Kyle Rau in the handshake line. Blood was possibly provoked by a slash from a Minnesota player late in the third period of the game, and as the final horn sounded Saturday, Blood whistled a slap shot that hit Ambroz, resulting in a brief skirmish.

It’s a tough way for Hakstol to teach Blood a lesson, but it’s the right move. Ultimately, this experience will make Blood a better player, a better teammate, and a better leader.

After perusing the social networks on a weekly basis, we’re inundated with complaining. From your favorite team’s results to downgrading a rival, travel woes or even the weather, people are always complaining. Why should we pile on and bring more negative into the world? Instead, we present this:

What Happened?: OK, OK, so we’re probably beating a dead horse at this point, but it’s our horse and it’s our beatin’ to dole out. One of the aspects of outdoor hockey games that we enjoy is that often teams will wear an alternate sweater for the special event, and that was the case over the last few weeks. While New Hampshire and Maine stuck to their tried-and-true uniform looks, as well as Michigan and Union in alternate black sweaters, other teams presented new looks to mixed results. Our favorite of the bunch were the designs sported by Harvard, and we were less impressed by Ohio State’s pseudo-pajama look. Northeastern wore red against Boston College, dressed in gold; and one week earlier Massachusetts sported a big M on the crest of their sweater against Vermont with a retro diagonal UVM on their road greens.

What We’re Watching: Usually, it’s the time of the year when we’ve got a pretty good idea of which teams have established themselves as the truly elite groups in college hockey. This year, that seems to be a bit murkier. Some of the top teams really haven’t run away from the pack and other contenders are showing obvious flaws. You don’t have to look much further than the overall records. At this time last year, eight teams in the country had 15 wins or more. This year, there are just two – Minnesota (16) and Minnesota Duluth (15). We’ll see what happens over the next six or seven weeks, but all indicators point to a wide-open playoff season where any number of teams could make legitimate championship runs.

What The …?: It’s not often that you see a coaching staff or bench assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for working the referees, as the officials usually exercise a degree of restraint to accompany the requisite thick skin required to do the job. That wasn’t the case Sunday at Clarkson, where both benches were whistled for unsportsmanlike minors during the game. Yale’s unsportsmanlike penalty came in overtime, giving Clarkson a power play that the Golden Knights converted for a victory. Whoa.

@TheRoEbOaT9 Garrett Roe

Some people are pretenders and just run from adversity. Especially guys who flake and transfer schools midseason. #bestofluck #kidding

• That tweet from former St. Cloud State forward Garrett Roe was a not-so-veiled shot at sophomore Mitch MacMillan, an ex-teammate of Roe who decided to transfer to North Dakota where his brother, Mark, is a freshman forward. Roe now plays for the Adirondack Phantoms of the American Hockey League. Sure, it’s tough to lose a player to a rival via transfer, but Roe’s objection seems over the top.

Sure, we’ve mocked the proliferation of outdoor hockey games in the past. And, some would argue, rightly so. This weekend, however, isn’t the time to get up on our soapbox. Sure, there are outdoor games on the slate, but this time around it’s more than just a spectacle—these contests will play significant roles in the races for league titles in the CCHA, ECAC Hockey, and Hockey East.

Fenway Park is the site of Friday's important ECAC Hockey showdown pitting Union against Danny Biega and Harvard.

Outdoor Hockey (Fri.-Sat-Sun.): As outdoor games have proliferated throughout the years, one of the strangest facts about them in our eyes is that most of them have been league contests and factored in the standings. That’s the case again this weekend when three prominent games involving league rivals take place on baseball diamonds. It starts with Friday’s game at Fenway Park where Union and Harvard meet in an ECAC Hockey contest. They played last week and tied 3-3 at Union’s home rink. That’s followed Saturday at the same site where Boston College and Northeastern will meet. Northeastern is one of the nation’s hottest teams, but had a slow start in Hockey East games. They’ll have a chance to knock off the league’s first-place team.  Sunday, it’s the second-half of a two-game weekend when Michigan and Ohio State will play at Progressive Field in Cleveland, home of the Cleveland Indians. Ohio State currently leads the CCHA with a 10-3-3 league record and owns a seven-point advantage over Notre Dame and Western Michigan.

Minnesota at North Dakota (Fri.-Sat.): While there’s a tendency to believe these teams are trending in opposite directions, that isn’t really the case. Sure, the Gophers aren’t crushing their opponents’ skulls like they did during the first six weeks of the season and North Dakota has played light years better than it did during its 4-7-1 start, but the roles haven’t completely reversed.

Minnesota is deeper and more talented than the injury-riddled North Dakotans, but the Gophers can be maddeningly inconsistent—those who witnessed the boatload of giveaways and odd-man rushes against in last weekend’s loss to Notre Dame can certainly attest to that. NoDak, meanwhile, has been relying almost solely on the Corban Knight-Danny Kristo-Brock Nelson line for offense and the re-emergence of goalie Aaron Dell, who has a 1.97 GAA and a .923 save percentage in his last seven starts. But credit coach Dave Hakstol and his staff for patching together a lineup that has clicked thus far.

Notre Dame vs. Western Michigan (Fri. at Notre Dame; Sat. at Kalamazoo): The Fighting Irish and Broncos enter the weekend tied for second in the CCHA standings, seven points behind first-place Ohio State. Notre Dame comes into the home-and-home with a little momentum courtesy of impressive wins against nationally ranked Boston University and Minnesota; the Irish also appear to have found a no. 1 goaltender in Steve Summerhays. Western Michigan was swept by top-ranked Minnesota Duluth last weekend, but the games were closer than the final scores indicate—both nights, the Broncos led after one period and were tied heading into the third period.

Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska-Omaha (Fri.-Sat.): About a week ago, Dean Blais and Scott Sandelin were guiding the U.S. entry at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta. This weekend, the two coaches will patrol opposite benches as Sandelin’s top-ranked Bulldogs head to Omaha to face Blais and the Mavericks. UMD hasn’t lost in forever, but this might be the time and place its 16-game unbeaten streak ends. UNO can keep pace with the Bulldogs offensively, but whether or not the Mavs get reliable goaltending will likely spell the difference here. More that 15,000 fans are expected to pack CenturyLink Center Friday; when it comes to big games, dating back to the old Bullpen, Mavs crowds have historically risen to the occasion and given their team a boost.

Also: That creeping sound you hear is preseason Frozen Four favorite Miami ever so slightly tiptoeing back into the race for the CCHA regular-season title. The RedHawks get the chance to run down one of the teams ahead of them in the league standings, Lake Superior State, this weekend. … Big showdown in Hockey East this weekend as Maine travels to Merrimack for a two-game set. The Black Bears have won seven of their last eight while the Warriors are 2-4-2 in their last eight … Neither Dartmouth nor New Hampshire are having the type of seasons they envisioned. Still, the battle for the RiverStone Cup has routinely been one of the better non-league games in recent years. The teams faceoff Saturday in Manchester, N.H.