We could use a little Ming-Ming this weekend, because it’s about to get REAL serious in college hockey. The conference races, with teams tangled together in the standings like bubble gum in a pony tail. And while it is serious business for teams from coast to coast, it’s seriously thrilling for college hockey fans; this may be the most unpredictable collection of conference races we’ve seen in years. We’re certain the teams below will do their best to contribute to the chaos.

Minnesota vs. Denver (Fri.-Sat.)

Nick Bjugstad and Minnesota hope to skate away with the WCHA regular-season title; first, they'll have to contend with teams such as this weekend's opponent, Denver.

The Gophers are the nation’s top-ranked team and the Pioneers are coming off a loss and tie against Colorado College, so it feels as if these teams are trending in opposite directions. Widen that view; you’ll see that post-Christmas, DU is 7-2-1 while the Gophers are 5-4-0. As we’ve mentioned previously, the Pioneers are getting healthier—goaltender Sam Brittain could start both games this weekend—but forward Beau Bennett (out 14 games and counting with a wrist injury) and defenseman David Makowski (out eight games with an upper-body injury) aren’t ready to go. And while we tend to think of Minnesota as an offensive juggernaut, the Gophers have really scratched and clawed their way to top of the WCHA standings—10 of their last 13 games have been decided by one goal.

Yale at Colgate (Friday)
Yale at Cornell (Saturday)

This season hasn’t gone as planned for preseason favorites Yale, but it can all be remedied by a late-season run. The Bulldogs aren’t focused on what the standings look like from week-to-week, but on improving the way they’re playing headed into the ECAC Hockey tournament. It’s a real test this weekend, as they’ll visit second-place Colgate on Friday and then head to Lynah Rink on Saturday. Even though Yale is building from within, some long-range goals are still within reach. A strong finish over the last six games of the regular season could have them in a top-four spot in the standings, guaranteeing Yale a weekend off followed by a quarterfinal series on home ice. Five of the Bulldogs’ last six games are against teams ahead of them in the standings, so they control their own destiny.

Merrimack at UMass Lowell (Friday)
Maine at UMass Lowell (Saturday)

While Boston University and Boston College fans are all Beanpot-ty this weekend, surprising UMass Lowell has a chance to slip ahead of the Terriers into first place in Hockey East. So, too, could Merrimack. But probably not both, because the River Hawks and Warriors play at Tsongas Arena Friday and the loser is likely relegated to third place in the league come Sunday. These games against Merrimack and Maine might represent UMass Lowell’s best chance to gain the upper hand in Hockey East—the River Hawks are 8-1-0 against conference foes at home, but just 5-5-0 in league road games and they close the regular season with home-and-home series with Boston University, Merrimack, and Providence.

Michigan vs. Michigan State (Friday at East Lansing, Saturday at Detroit)

With just a single game separating the Wolverines and Spartans in the CCHA standings, the latest installment of hockey’s version of the Great Lakes State’s most heated rivalry has a lot of the line – A sweep would propel the winner into legitimate contention for the regular season title and the loser onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Wolverines come into the series hot, having lost just a single game since Dec. 3, while the Spartans look to build on last weekend’s road sweep at Ohio State, and both schools would love nothing more than to take a big step towards conference glory while casting doubt on their least favorite sibling’s ticket to the NCAAs.

Also: It’s Winter Carnival time at Michigan Tech, which means elaborate snow sculptures, no classes, extended periods of recreating, and a couple of hockey games. Even without the hoopla, the Huskies’ series with Nebraska-Omaha is significant—Tech, UNO, and North Dakota enter the weekend in a three-way tie for fifth in the WCHA standings. … While we’re on the topic, North Dakota travels to Minnesota Duluth for a series with the Bulldogs. One plus about playing for the Fightings: if you’re on the bus, you’re in the lineup. Freshman forward Brendan O’Donnell this week was shelved for the remainder of the season, so NoDak must make do with a lineup of 18 healthy skaters. … The CCHA race is as clear as the final season of “Lost”, so odds are the Notre Dame-Ferris State home-and-home series and the Ohio State-Western Michigan series will further muddy the waters. The Buckeyes are 0-6-4 since Jan. 7. … Atlantic Hockey scoffs at the CCHA standings jumble. Participants in this week’s AHA shell game are first-place Air Force, which travels to fourth-place Niagara, and third-place Mercyhurst and fifth-place Robert Morris, combatants in a home-and-home set that starts in Erie Friday.

Torey Krug

Any elite player like Krug loves the big stage, and the then-sophomore seemed to take it upon himself to seize the next opportunity to exact healthy revenge – a Jan. 7 home game against the Wolverines. The blue-liner made the most of it, notching a hat trick and finding himself on the ice for an eventual overtime game-winner from Daultan Leveille in a 4-3 victory, marking one of the most memorable single-player performances against a Michigan team that ended up in the national championship game last spring.

Just over 13 months to the day, Krug again will take the big stage in two big games against the Wolverines this weekend – Friday at home and Saturday at Joe Louis Arena – this time with even more on the line. Perhaps more motivational than hurt pride for last year’s sub-.500 Spartan team that Krug wanted to avenge, the captain now has a chance to lead his team to a victory that could bring it one step closer to reaching heights few imagined for this year’s Michigan State squad at the beginning of this year – a high seed for the CCHA playoffs and an NCAA Tournament bid.

This time around, Krug’s focus will be less on doing it all himself – not that he wouldn’t love another shower of green hats from the stands either night – and more on playing a well-rounded game and taking advantage of his teammates’ strengths. A year older and a year wiser, Krug realizes that the key to being consistently competitive with NCAA Tournament-caliber teams is making sure to take care of all the tiny details that can change a game between contending teams in an instant.

“When you play in games with higher implications or against really highly skilled teams, sometimes you try to do too much and take too many chances,” Krug listed as the most important lesson he’s learned with experience. “That is probably my biggest downfall. I need to play within myself, and by that I mean not try to do everything myself.”

Krug’s realization is a microcosm of the entire team’s progress this year, as his fellow skaters have learned to play to their own strengths without being complacent.

“There has been a change in attitude and a change in accountability,” Krug said. “Guys understand their roles on the team and they come to the rink every day working hard. When you’re satisfied with your game, you don’t work as hard to become satisfied and you don’t start playing better or making the players around you better.”

That growth has been fostered by first-year head coach Tom Anastos and his attention to detail in practice, but also from a team that’s transitioning from being one of the youngest in the league to a veteran-laden team that’s more ready to compete in the fast, physical college game.

“I think it’s a little of both,” Krug said. “The coaches brought a lot of change, but at the same time, the team has matured a lot. If you look at our lineup, we are only playing three or four freshman a night, and if you look around the country there aren’t too many teams like that.”

While the improved culture and on-ice success – the Spartans have already matched their 2010-11 win total with six regular season games to go – has been rewarding thus far, Krug is far from satisfied with the improvement. The captain knows he has another year of eligibility, but he wants to take care of business now for this year’s senior class.

“My main goal as a leader of this team is to make sure that the seniors win some playoff games,” Krug said. “Our goal as a team is to get to Tampa and we have 10 seniors who haven’t won a playoff game at Michigan State yet. It’s my goal to change that.”

Locking down home-ice in the conference playoffs, and perhaps a first-round bye would be the optimal path to earning some playoff victories for the departing seniors, and that road will begin with a Michigan team that’s trying to do precisely the same thing this weekend.

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.

Hunwick’s no longer just a good story; he’s legitimately among the best netminders Michigan’s ever had – boasting the best save percentage and goals-against average in program history at this point. And as the Wolverines find themselves in an interesting psychological position – seventh place in the standings but just five points out of first – Hunwick finds himself with the opportunity to do more than inspire walk-ons everywhere, he’s got the chance to put this team on his back as they attempt to end a national title drought that’s fast approaching a decade and a half.

After coming within an overtime goal of the Frozen Four in 2010 and an overtime goal of the national championship last April, Hunwick knows that every second counts as the clock ticks down towards the end of the season, and that ticking is as loud as ever with just four regular-season series remaining.

Having had summers and seasons to reflect on those two crushing disappointments, the lesson Hunwick took away, one that he’ll be sure to convey to his teammates in the coming weeks, is that even a seemingly innocuous mental mistake at any point in the game can make all the difference.

“The thing that you learn when you lose in overtime two years in a row is that every shot counts,” Hunwick said. “You have to play hard every shift, whether it’s the first shift of the game or the last, you need to go hard all the time. If you knew you were going to lose in overtime, you might change something earlier in the game that might have prevented it from getting to overtime.”

And if there’s anyone who notices those tiny moments, bounces, lapses or surges that can change the course of a game – and in a tightly-contested year like this season they matter every night – it’s Hunwick.

Thinking back on his team’s victory over Boston College at the Great Lakes Invitational from over a month ago, a win that seemed to give the team great confidence, Hunwick easily recalled the details of a contest that seems to mimic Michigan’s season.

After the Wolverines jumped out to a 2-0 lead – a lead that might have been four or five goals had some bad bounces, breakaways and near-misses gone their way – Boston College climbed back into the contest and seized control in the second period, tying the game and looking poised to run away with it.

But then there was that moment, a sliver of opportunity, the type of moment that Hunwick referenced when talking about the little things that can turn a game and a season around.

Forward A.J. Treais forced the issue when Boston College mishandled a puck at the point, and parlayed a give-and-go play with teammate Luke Glendening through the neutral zone into a go-ahead goal that put the Wolverines in control.

Michigan has only lost one game since that night after having won just two of its previous 10, and the Wolverines find themselves not on the outside of the national tournament looking in, but as a potential participant with a high seed if they can come up with a strong finish to the regular season.

It’s a different story than the team from two years ago that rallied to finish just two games over .500 and a different tale than last year’s team that was strong throughout the year. But those experiences helped Hunwick learn what it takes to lead a team down the stretch – something he’s done well this year, with a little help from his defense.

“I think that each year has been a different roller coaster,” Hunwick said. “I think that this team is in a pretty good place, starting with our top four on defense. That’s really been the key to our second half run.”

Hunwick credits his defense with making the most of extended playing time in the first half of the year while Jon Merrill was suspended, and thinks that their ability to settle into permanent roles upon his return has been the key to team success, and will be the key for any tournament triumph.

But before tournament season, the Wolverines will try to remain a key player in the CCHA title race and the race for home ice in the conference playoffs this weekend when they host a Miami team that has seemed to have Hunwick’s number. Hunwick is just 1-4-1 all-time against the RedHawks, including the double-overtime loss in a 2010 regional championship game, but he’s ready to seize each moment and change that this weekend.

“Miami has had a great record against us in (recent seasons),” Hunwick said. “We can’t take that away from them, but we can start to change that this weekend. Their team is well-coached by Coach Blasi and they have an unbelievable amount of depth. When we went down to Miami they came out all over us and played a physical game. We just need to dictate the tempo and play our type of game.”

With a surging Miami team followed by series against heated rival Michigan State and a Northern Michigan team that Hunwick will no doubt be ready to play against after a dust-up in Marquette last fall on the horizon, Hunwick has a lot to keep track of – rivalries, his final games at Yost Ice Arena and conference titles.

But ultimately, not that he’s looking past any single opponent, or even taking a tournament bid for granted, the senior has his eye on the big prize.

“Winning the CCHA regular season championship and playoff championship were great experiences,” Hunwick said. “But Michigan hasn’t won a national championship in 14 seasons, and that’s what I am striving for, that’s the one I want to put on the mantle.”

Now it’s up to Hunwick and his teammates to live up to that lesson the goaltender learned in Marches and Aprils past – the lesson that every moment counts, and they can’t afford to slip up for even a second if Hunwick’s vision of another trophy on Yost’s mantle is to come true.

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.

There’s lots of discussion around the conference – can Ohio State hang on, can Western Michigan bounce back from disappointing losses at Miami, are the RedHawks and Wolverines going to stay hot and finally live up to preseason expectations?

But for all of this talk, there’s a team very much in the mix for the regular season title and a ticket to the dance that hasn’t been talked about nearly as much as those who’ve been at the top of the table all year long, or the big name teams that are bouncing back – the Ferris State Bulldogs.

After closing out 2011 with three losses, the Bulldogs are 4-0-2 since Jan. 4, including a four-point weekend against Alaska and a five-point haul at Ohio State last weekend that has coach Bob Daniels’ squad just four points out of first place with two games in hand relative to most of the contending teams.

“We haven’t talked about winning the (regular season) title recently,” Daniels said. “But it’s our goal every year to win some kind of championship – a regular season championship, a playoff championship or a tournament championship.”

Heading into the year, Daniels thought his team might have more offensive firepower than past year, and, just as he predicted, the team isn’t a squad that scores four or five goals per game, but a few solid forward lines are able to keep the team competitive and prevent opponents from using checking lines to shut down a single group of forwards.

But despite that depth up front, defense and goaltending have been Ferris State’s bread and butter, just as they seem to be every time the Bulldogs creep into the top tier of the conference and the NCAA Tournament picture.

Blue liner Chad Billins has been one of the conference’s top defenders at both ends of the ice, pairing a plus-8 rating with a 3-14-17 line offensively. And the defensive corps got a boost mid-year with the addition of freshman Simon Denis, who missed the early part of the year due to injury, as the rookie has notched 7 assists and a plus-1 rating in 13 games.

Next up on the docket for the Bulldogs is a Michigan State team that also finds itself trying to survive in the dogfight that this year’s CCHA has been. The Spartans arrive at Ewigleben Ice Arena on a four-game unbeaten streak of their own, and Daniels sees a lot of parallels between his team and Tom Anastos’ squad from East Lansing.

“There isn’t a lot of difference between our two teams,” Daniels said. “I don’t know that I can say there is anything that we do better than them, and I don’t know if I can say there’s anything they do better than us. (Ferris State and Michigan State) both have two or three lines that can score, both teams have two goaltenders that can help them win every night, and both teams have a headline defenseman – they have Torey Krug and we have Chad Billins.”

With a trip to Northern Michigan, a home-and-home with Notre Dame, a home series with Bowling Green and a home-and-home to close the year against Western Michigan, Ferris State has a great opportunity to take points from the teams in front of them. But for those opportunities to be meaningful, the Bulldogs have to start with a solid performance this weekend.

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?

That talk should only get louder in the coming weeks after Western completed a home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame last weekend, cementing the team as a legitimate contender for its first conference title. With the six-point weekend, the Broncos sit just one point behind Ohio State with two games in hand.

Chase Balisy

The key to this unprecedented opportunity for the Broncos is that through the transition of practice and training habits and on-ice strategy under Andy Murray this season and Jeff Blashill last year, one thing hasn’t been lost – the passion Western Michigan teams always had for the game, even when they were limited to spoiling a weekend for the conference’s big guns rather than actually contending.

But, in past seasons, that passion often came  with costly penalties and mistakes, a downside the Broncos revisited two weekends ago when they were swept at home by No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth – a downfall that many took to be a sign that Western wasn’t ready to compete nationally.

Against the Bulldogs, the Broncos found themselves tied heading to the final frame of both games – 1-1 on Friday, 2-2 on Saturday.  But two third-period penalties Friday and one Saturday resulted in an early power play goal both nights that sparked three-goal rallies and gave the games a blow-out feel if one simply looked at the box score.

Sophomore forward Chase Balisy looked back on those games this past Tuesday and echoed sentiments we’ve heard from Western Michigan so many times in the past.

“Against (Minnesota-Duluth) I thought we played well, but the third periods didn’t go our way,” Balisy said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the country and we just took too many penalties. We’re an emotional group of guys and we play with a lot of heart, but we can’t take that many penalties.”

The difference is that this time, the lesson was learned and the Broncos turned things around, playing spotless third periods against Notre Dame (2 goals scored on Friday, 1 Saturday) and rebuilding any lost faith in the club from supporters and media after the prior weekend’s disappointments.

“I think that this past weekend we did a better job of controlling that, even though the Notre Dame series was very physical,” Balisy said. “A lot of guys are banged up this week.”

Balisy credits another year of experience for what was an extremely young team last year for helping them keep their composure and stay in the title race.

“I’d say we definitely have more experience,” Balisy said. “We only lost a few seniors from last year and most of our forwards lines are intact, so we pretty much have the same team that made it to the CCHA finals last year.”

And while those seniors lost might have been few in number, Balisy notes that they played a huge role in his personal development as a college hockey player, as well as in the growth of the team as a whole.

“Last year I had no idea what to expect,” Balisy said. “I was just 18 years old, and the seniors really took me under their wing.”

That maturity and experience that Balisy and his teammates bounced back with against Notre Dame will continue to be important in the coming weeks, as they might complete the transition from underdog to the team with a target on its back if they take over the league’s top spot.

That quest starts with the team that ended the Broncos’ Cinderella story at Joe Louis Arena last year – the Miami RedHawks.

Miami hasn’t been a player in the title race thus far, but they’ve been hot as of late. Balisy gives them credit for a being a tough, physical team to play against and has seen the team trending upwards over the past month after a slow start.

It won’t be easy to win on the road at Steve Cady Arena, but with the chip on its shoulder after the championship game loss last March, the Broncos will throw everything possible at the RedHawks, hoping to come out of the weekend on top of the conference standings.

Should that happen, everyone will be talking about the Broncos, but Balisy and his teammates are ready to handle the pressure of being the favorites.

“At the beginning of the year, our goal was to win the CCHA Title, the playoff title and the National Championship,” Balisy said. “Every year those goals are the same, but now, with 12 games left, people will start to talk about it more.”