DU's Rhett Rakhshani posted identical 2-1—3 scoring lines in wins against Nebraska-Omaha and Boston College.

RHETT RAKHSHANI
Denver
Sr. | F | Huntington Beach, Calif.

His Impact: Rakhshani was the catalyst as Denver captured its own holiday tournament with wins over Nebraska-Omaha and Boston College. Denver opened the tournament with a 7-0 win over UNO and Rakhshani posted two goals, an assist and was a plus-4.

Denver trailed Boston College 2-0 after two periods, but Rakhshani took over in the third period. He scored just 30 seconds into the period to cut the Pioneer deficit in half. Later in the period, he scored the game-tying goal with 5:16 remaining and then set up Joe Colborne’s game winner with 3:15 left on the clock.

His Runners-Up: Dan Bakala, Bemidji State; Brett Perlini, Michigan State; Kyle Rank, Bentley; Chris Rawlings, Northeastern; Jason Walters, Union

Among the longest shots to win any of the holiday tournaments, the Bentley Falcons left Storrs, Conn., with the trophy following 4-1 wins over host UConn and nationally-ranked Massachusetts in the UConn Hockey Classic. Goalie Kyle Rank was named tournament MVP after stopping 65 of 67 shots he faced in the two games, and made 42 saves in the win over UMass.

We panned Atlantic Hockey’s non-league performance in earlier editions of the First Shift, and will take this opportunity to salute Bentley’s big win. The Falcons are 6-4-2 in Atlantic Hockey, currently in fifth place, and have played fewer games than three of the teams ahead of them in the standings.

Regular readers of this site know that we’re not the greatest fans of post-game shootouts. Unfortunately, at many holiday tournaments across the country, the shootout is used to determine which teams advance and in some cases which teams win the tournament (Wisconsin). Our personal opinions aside, the holiday tournament season is probably the best time to use this format. With teams playing back-to-back nights and more than one game at each venue, there are time concerns and burdens on the players. Still, we applaud the Great Lakes Invitational and Beanpot for putting 20 minutes on the overtime clock.

We can accept that the CCHA uses the format for its league games, but why was there a shootout after Saturday’s 0-0 tie between Bemidji State and Western Michigan? When the host Broncos prevailed, fans left the rink with the perception that the Broncos won the game. Not bad for a team that failed to score an actual goal all weekend.

“Things just kind of turned for the worst and it just became a big distraction this year for us. And I think that’s one reason we were so up and down this year, because some of the things that he said to his players and some of the things that were done. People just didn’t cope with that.”

Texas Tech offensive lineman Brandon Carter made those remarks to ESPNDallas.com reporter Jeff Kaplan following the Red Raiders’ Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State last weekend. The situation surrounding the dismissal of Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach is bizarre, but the entire episode drives home an important lesson—that even though journalists and fans alike think they can dissect the problems plaguing Team X or get to the bottom of why Player Y isn’t performing, the truth is that we really don’t know.

Sure, we can speculate that a specific team’s issues stem from a lack of effort, an absence of finishers on offense, or zero attention to detail. And we might be right. Then again, maybe the guys hate each other, maybe they’ve tuned the coaching staff out, or, in the case of Texas Tech, the coach is a jerk.

On the strength of a pair of convincing wins over Michigan Tech and Rensselaer at the Great Lakes Invitational, Michigan State leapt past Bemidji State in this week’s INCH Power Rankings and both voter-driven polls. The Beavers didn’t help their cause with a scoreless tie at CCHA bottom-feeder Western Michigan, but the decision to flip the Spartans ahead of BSU wasn’t as easy as you might think.

@twolinepass America is a helluva country!

A simple statement from Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy that captured a lot of the pride and emotion evident on Twitter Sunday night after the United States defeated Sweden in the semifinals of the World Junior Championship.

It’s not Friday, but allow us to deviate from our weekly schedule to present the latest installment of the Four-cast. This edition will be the first of two focusing on important holiday tournaments.

Florida College Classic; Dec. 29-30
Germain Arena; Estero, Fla.

Bill Sweatt leads CC with 20 points in 18 games.

This is an intriguing tournament featuring four teams with something to prove. Is Cornell a legitimate top-five team and Frozen Four contender? Is Colorado College as good as its 11-4-3 record indicates or did they simply take advantage of a favorable home-ice schedule in the first half? Is Maine on its way back to the NCAA Tournament and contending for Hockey East honors? Can Princeton play up to its talent level after a difficult first half?

Maine and Cornell are the annual co-hosts of this event and it regularly draws competitive invited teams to fill the field. After lots of snowy bus rides and flights all year long, it’s even a bit of a reward for these teams to make it down to Florida’s gulf coast, where the current 10-day forecast shows high temperatures ranging between 66 and 82. Not too shabby, but the team that comes home with a couple of victories this week will have more to remember than pleasant weather.

Great Lakes Invitational; Dec. 29-30
Joe Louis Arena; Detroit, Mich.
Interesting field, albeit one that won’t drive ticket sales. Two inconsistent teams, Michigan and Rensselaer, meet in one first-round match, and two consistent teams, Michigan Tech and Michigan State, square off in the other (hey, we didn’t say both were consistently good).

At first glance, this appears to be the Spartans’ tournament to lose mainly because they’ve got the best goaltending in the draw with sophomore Drew Palmisano. Don’t be surprised if Rensselaer knocks off Michigan in what could be a high-scoring affair; both teams like to push the tempo, and the Engineers tend to play to the level of their opponent, which explains why they’ve beaten New Hampshire, Yale, and Boston University and lost to Army and Niagara.

IIHF World Under-20 Championships; Dec. 26-Jan. 5
Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Playing on home turf in Saskatoon and Regina and winners of the last five World Junior Championship gold medals, Canada enters this year’s event as the odds-on favorite. Six of the 22 players on the Canadian roster are returnees from last year. That said, the most talented players in the lineup could be a trio of newcomers-forwards Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri, and Brayden Schenn. Sweden is considered the top threat to Canada’s supremacy.

The U.S. team, meanwhile, is a young group but one that knows how to win on an international stage-a lot of the names on this roster won gold at the World Under-18 Championship last spring. While there may not be the high-end talent like a Colin Wilson or James van Riemsdyk on the U.S. squad this time around, this team boasts great balance. Typically, the U.S. thrives in this event when it gets superb goaltending, which puts the onus on goaltenders Mike Lee, the St. Cloud State freshman, or US NTDP product Jack Campbell.

The U.S. should benefit from a favorable draw-others in Group A are Canada, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland-and should exit pool play as one of the tournament’s top four seeds. A difficult quarterfinal match against the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, or Sweden looms. Given the youth of this team, a top-four finish for the U.S. would be an outstanding effort.

UConn Hockey Classic; Dec. 29-30
Freitas Ice Forum; Storrs, Conn.
Sure, UConn’s annual holiday tournament doesn’t get the national attention of the three aforementioned events. It usually draws a field of teams from within the region, bringing together a quartet of clubs from Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey and ECAC Hockey. That’s the case this year, but the first semifinal is definitely worth taking note of as nationally-ranked teams Union and Massachusetts will drop the puck on this two-day event. That gives the UConn Classic one more ranked team in its field than the Great Lakes Invitational can claim.

Some players worth watching in the early semifinal include UMass standout James Marcou, the nation’s leader in assists and his wingman Casey Wellman, who has 13 goals. Union’s offensive strength is in its depth as eight players have 10 points or more already this season but keep an eye on senior Mario Valery-Trabucco, who has 10 goals and 21 points in 15 games played. Bentley and UConn met earlier this year in an Atlantic Hockey tilt and Bentley got a 4-3 win as Dan Koudys scored with five minutes left to play. Sean Ambrosie had a pair of power-play goals for UConn and Erik Peterson scored twice for Bentley in that one.

SURPRISE TEAM

With Michigan and Notre Dame falling out of the once-impenetrable top four and Michigan State bouncing back in, Ferris State has quietly snuck in the back door and, considering its two games in hand, could be within in striking distance of Miami at the top of the league. Bulldog coach Bob Daniels was hoping for an offensive outburst that never came last year, but the pucks have begun to find the back of the net more often in Big Rapids at the opponent’s end of the ice while staying out of the Ferris State goal consistently. The Bulldogs boast the league’s best offense at 3.44 goals per game while maintaining the second-best defense in the league and nation at 1.72 goals against per contest.

SURPRISE INDIVIDUAL

Anchoring the offensive outburst for Ferris State has been senior Blair Riley who is finally showing the sparks that have Daniels suggesting that Riley should garner some serious consideration from NHL clubs as an undrafted free agent next summer. Riley (14-7—21) has teamed up with linemates Cody Chupp and Casey Haines in a simple fashion—going to the net. Riley, Chupp and Haines know they’re not the fastest or most agile skaters in the league, but they make an effort to create pressure down low and knock in rebounds when they come loose.

WHAT HAPPENED TO …

Michigan's Louie Caporusso, who scored 24 goals in 41 games last season, has five through 18 games this season.

There have been several disappointing teams in the early stages of the current season, but the most curious has to be the woes of Michigan. Throughout Red Berenson’s years in Ann Arbor, the team always seems to find playmakers and offensive leaders, but no one has emerged from the pack thus far. For the Wolverines to bounce back in the latter half of the season, they’ll need Louie Caporusso, Carl Hagelin, or a teammate to take the team on their back and build some momentum.

BEST NEW FACE

Alaska boasted one of the best defensive teams in recent memory last year, but failed to find any kind of offensive groove throughout the year. Once freshman Andy Taranto arrived on campus, things began to change. Taranto’s team-leading 22 points, which is also good for second in the conference scoring race, have helped spark Alaska to a 3.00 goals scored per game average—more than a point better than last years 1.89 mark. Taranto’s best effort of the first half was a three-goal weekend against Northern Michigan that netted him CCHA Freshman of the Week honors for Nov. 30.

BIGGEST UPSET

Bowling Green’s first points of the year came with a bit of a sour taste after the Falcons earned a shootout victory over Nebraska-Omaha while using an ineligible player in the shootout. While the two points stood, it was Bowling Green’s 3-1 win over Alaska two weeks later on Nov. 13 that stands out as the biggest upset of the first half. The three points Bowling Green took from the Nanooks put some distance between Alaska and the teams ahead of them in the standings, and stole some of the breathing room that Alaska would have enjoyed over Lake Superior State and Notre Dame teams currently nipping at its heels.

TOUGHEST ROAD OUT

Things haven’t panned out as expected for Ohio State, who many thought would come of age this year, but the good news is that at least some of the struggles can be attributed to a tough first-half schedule. The Buckeyes have played two games each against the two teams in the current INCH Power Rankings—Miami and Denver—and they have seen top-10 teams North Dakota and Bemidji State as well. Ohio State also traveled to Ferris State and Notre Dame for weekend series.

The schedule doesn’t get all that much kinder with road games at Michigan State and Miami still on tap as well as a home series against Ferris State at the end of January. Needless to say, the scheduling gods weren’t smiling on Columbus when this year’s slate was assembled.

TOUGHEST ROAD IN

Notre Dame gained some momentum with a win over Michigan this past weekend, but it could be a long road to a first-round bye that the Irish hope to compete for—literally.

From Jan. 16 through Feb. 25, Notre Dame plays eight of 10 games on the road, including contests at Michigan State, Lake Superior State, Western Michigan, Bowling Green and Michigan. No, those aren’t the most intimidating names in the CCHA this year, but that volume of road games will take a toll on any team. Also, don’t forget that the Irish start the second half at their own Shillelagh Tournament in suburban Chicago Jan. 2-3, where they will open against Colgate and would likely see North Dakota in the championship game if they can knock off the Raiders.

Defenseman Jeff Petry has played a major role in Michigan State's revival.

BIGGEST QUESTION ANSWERED

Michigan State has shown that last year’s disastrous season was only a blip on the radar. After the perfect storm ravaged hockey in East Lansing last year, the Spartans have bounced back nicely and currently occupy the second spot in the CCHA standings.

With Corey Tropp leading the way offensively with help from freshman Derek Grant and junior Andrew Rowe, and a reliable defense corps led by Jeff Petry, the transition from the unforgettable Jeff Lerg era to the age of Drew Palmisano and Bobby Jarosz has been relatively seamless. With 17 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, there will be some bumps in the road, but the Spartans have convinced outsiders that they won’t be falling back to the bottom half of the league any time soon.

BIGGEST QUESTION REMAINING

How will the changes in the way points are awarded affect the race for the regular-season title, home ice advantage in the playoffs, and first-round byes? Miami has a solid lead atop the table, but it starts to get a little crowded once you get past the RedHawks.

Ferris State sits one point behind Michigan State with two games in hand, and just three points—a single victory under the new system—separates a disappointing Notre Dame team in sixth place and Alaska, hoping to secure a first-round bye, in fourth. A jump up can seem much easier and seem to come much more quickly with three points, and a slide over several games can be psychologically exacerbated by opponents gaining three on a night where you lose.

INCH’s FIRST HALF ALL-CCHA TEAM

G-Cody Reichard, Miami: Reichard bounced back from the immense disappointment of last year’s national championship game with consistently outstanding performances throughout the first half of the season.

D-Zach Redmond, Ferris State: Redmond, an Atlanta Thrashers’ draft pick, has earned high marks since entering the league and continues to anchor a solid Ferris State defense with 20 blocked shots and a plus-minus rating of plus-7. The junior isn’t a slouch on the offensive side of the game either, notching 15 points in 18 games.

D-Jeff Petry, Michigan State: Petry, one of the Spartans’ captains, has played a major role in Michigan State’s success as one of the league’s most reliable defenders (+3) and adding in 16 points on two goals and 14 assists.

F-Corey Tropp, Michigan State: Coming off a suspension that ended his sophomore year in January, it was hard to know what to expect of Tropp this year, but the junior has been a catalyst for Michigan State’s revival, leading the nation with 16 goals—four of which were game-winners—and 27 points.

F-Blair Riley, Ferris State: Riley has finally brought together his game the way coach Bob Daniels had hoped he would throughout his career. The senior has a great grasp of his strengths and weaknesses, using that self-awareness to fashion a 14-goal, seven-assist performance in the first half.

F-Mark Olver, Northern Michigan: Olver is one of the most exciting players in the CCHA and he hasn’t disappointed during the first half of this year. The junior has shown the ability to score and set teammates up while compiling a 10-11—21 line and plus-minus rating of plus-5.

COREY TROPP
Michigan State
Jr. | F | Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

Michigan State's Corey Tropp heads into the holiday break as the NCAA leader in goals and points.

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-2-6, +4 rating. GWG in two wins over Bowling Green

His Impact: When Michigan State was in a couple of tough spots against Bowling Green, the Spartans’ leading scorer came through. In Saturday’s game at BG, Tropp scored the game-tying goal with 5:40 remaining in the third period to knot the score 2-2. He then assisted on Michigan State’s overtime winner, the first career goal by freshman defenseman Torey Krug.

The teams tussled again Saturday in East Lansing and Tropp continued his big weekend by factoring on all four Michigan State goals in a 4-1 win. He assisted on Jeff Petry’s first-period power-play goal and then scored three straight goals over the second and third periods for the hat trick.

He is the only player with more than one hat trick this season and he leads the nation in goals (16) and points (27). Tropp has been called for just seven minor penalties in 20 games this year.

His Runners-Up: Bryan Flynn, Maine; Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin; Mario Vallery-Trabucco, Union; Paul Zanette, Niagara; Ryan Zapolski, Mercyhurst

The upcoming week is largely bereft of college hockey action with just six non-conference matches on the slate between Tuesday and Sunday. There is an exhibition game that piques one’s interest, however, as North Dakota hosts the U.S. under-20 squad this Saturday—it’s the U.S. team’s lone domestic tune-up prior to the start of the the IIHF World Junior Championship, which runs from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As an added bonus, the game is scheduled to be televised on Fox College Sports (DirecTV channel 617) at 8 p.m. ET.

Immortality takes many forms. For example, in his team’s loss to Rensselaer Saturday, Boston University defenseman Eric Gryba picked up a holding minor and a 10-minute misconduct at 8:13 of the second period to reach 295 career penalty minutes, eclipsing the school record of 288 set by Freddy Meyer. With all the PIMs he’s amassed, what’s another bench minor?

“We have a lot of guys who are underachieving now, or who overachieved last year.”

BU coach Jack Parker to John Connolly of the Boston Herald following the Terriers’ 5-3 loss to Rensselaer at Agganis Arena Saturday. The defending champs are in a death spiral that would make the Pittsburgh Steelers jealous. BU is 2-7-3 since Halloween and sits in ninth place in the Hockey East standings, one point ahead of 10th-place Providence.

This time around, we’re the subject of outrage.

Can you explain to the logic of how a team that splits with the No. 2 team in the country, and then splits with the No. 1 team in the country can fall three spots in your rankings?—Glen, St. Paul, Minn.

Glen refers to Minnesota Duluth dropping a few notches despite respectable splits against North Dakota and Denver. Our first impulse was to thank him for insinuating that logic plays a role in anything we do. He should listen to a podcast.

As we’ve often said regarding our Power Rankings, hockey is not played in a vacuum. And UMD’s slide isn’t really a result of anything they’ve done. As a staff, we felt the need to reward Ferris State (owners of a 10-game unbeaten streak) and Wisconsin (10-3-1 after a 1-2-1 start), so both crept ahead of UMD in recent weeks. Simple as that.

@CHockeyattheJoe Wearing my Blue and Yellow, because I am going to the U of M Game tonight!!! Come find me, I will be the one with the GLI stuff

Regional authenticity fail. Ask a Michigan fan if they wear blue and yellow, and you’re liable to end up wearing blue and black. As an aside, do you realize that there will be more nationally-ranked teams playing at the UConn Hockey Classic (Union, UMass) than at the Great Lakes Invitational (Michigan State)?

Most of the college hockey-playing country is in the grips of winter weather—snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain, Arctic air, or some combination therein. It’s perfect pucks weather, though, and we’re here with our picks for the four best matchups of the weekend.

Wisconsin at North Dakota (Fri.-Sat.): It’s the battle of an unstoppable offense against a stingy defense. Surprisingly, it’s the Badgers who pace the WCHA in scoring at four goals a game and the Sioux who share the league lead in scoring defense at two goals a game—NoDak is tied with Wisconsin for that honor, so it appears some things never change.

Anyhoo, the outcome of this series may be defined by who doesn’t play. North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway is still sidelined by the lingering effects of a concussion suffered weeks ago, and top forward Chris VandeVelde was shelved for last Saturday’s loss at Minnesota Duluth. He could go this weekend, however. Among the Wisconsin wounded is goaltender Brett Bennett; he was hurt in practice this week and won’t make the trip to Grand Forks. Scott Gudmandson will go both nights for Bucky.

Michigan vs. Notre Dame (Fri. at Ann Arbor, Sun. at Notre Dame): Two teams whose first halves have not gone according to script meet in a home-and-home series this weekend. The Wolverines have rallied from last month’s five-game losing streak to win four of their last five. Notre Dame, meanwhile, is 2-4-3 in its last nine games. Scoring has been the Irish’s big problem—during the aforementioned nine-game stretch, the Fighting Irish have netted a total of 16 goals and have scored two or fewer goals in seven of those matches.

Zane Kalemba and Princeton will try to get off the schneid against UMass Lowell this weekend.

Princeton at UMass Lowell (Fri.-Sat.): Another candidate for “What Happened To?” honors in the first half of the season is Princeton. The Tigers are in the throes of a five-game losing skid and six-game winless streak. The problem? Not scoring enough and letting in too many—Princeton has been outscored in its last five by a 22-9 margin. UMass Lowell snapped a three-game mini-slide last Saturday by beating UMass at Tsongas Arena.

Colorado College at St. Cloud State (Fri.-Sat.): Despite its strong start, we’ve viewed Colorado College with a healthy dose of skepticism to date because of the Tigers’ relatively soft schedule and preponderance of home games. On the flip side, we’ve given St. Cloud State the benefit of the doubt because its first-half slate ranks among the toughest in the country and it has played the bulk of his games on the road.

The Huskies are two games above .500, but they’ve got a road win against Denver and those three-point weekends against Union and Minnesota Duluth back in October are looking pretty good right now. The Tigers, who played 10 of their first 14 games at World Arena, embark on a stretch during with eight of their next 10 are on the road.

Also: More ECAC Hockey-Hockey East crossover as Rensselaer heads east for a game against reeling Boston University and St. Lawrence travels to Vermont … Maine started the season 1-5-0, but is 7-2-1 since. The Black Bears host Northeastern Saturday … Minnesota Duluth hosts Denver in a key WCHA series.

TV Schedule (All times Eastern): Friday—Wisconsin at North Dakota, NHL Network and Fox College Sports, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday—Wisconsin at North Dakota, Fox College Sports, 8 p.m.

The holiday break in college hockey presents an interesting dichotomy for teams. For teams that have played well and exceeded preseason expectations it can be a nervous time, as coaches and players fear that a few weeks off can bring on some rust that stops a hot team in its tracks. But for teams that haven’t quite come out of the gate as expected, it’s a welcome rest and a time to regroup mentally before the push to tournament time in March.

Jeff Jackson

After being projected near the top of the CCHA to begin the season, Notre Dame is one of the latter teams – a club hoping that some time off can help it regain lost confidence after falling to the depths of the CCHA’s offensive rankings in its first 18 games.

While the Fighting Irish still find themselves in the top half of the league standings, their anemic 2.00 goals scored per conference game is the lowest average in the CCHA. And while Alaska proved last year that defense can keep a team competitive, near misses and inconsistency have taken a mental toll on Notre Dame’s forwards.

“For the first six weeks we were challenged because we were not scoring goals consistently,” coach Jeff Jackson said. “It got to the point where some of our guys started losing confidence offensively. We were averaging two goals a game and we’re a better offensive team than that.”

Before the team gets almost three weeks off they face one more challenge: a home-and-home series against and equally frustrated Michigan team. And while Notre Dame isn’t in any way looking past a rivalry series that could go a long way in boosting either squad’s confidence, Jackson is hoping a solid performance this weekend and a few weeks off can help his players clear their minds.

“Maybe the Christmas break will be good for us mentally,” Jackson said. “At some point it’s a confidence issue, and some guys are working hard but not working smart. It’s like a baseball player who is in a (hitting) slump – he can’t let it affect the other parts of his game.”

After scoring 10 goals in three games before last weekend’s series at Miami, it seemed that the Irish offense might have finally turned the corner. But a slew of injuries on the blue line, including anchor Ian Cole sitting out last Saturday’s game, has the Notre Dame defense short-handed. That forced forwards to play back on the blue line and complicated its offensive bounce back – resulting in the first goal-less weekend of Jackson’s tenure in South Bend.

Against Michigan this week, the Irish will again be shorthanded on defense, and the focus will be on managing the transition game with forwards who are used to being on the receiving end of exit passes rather than dishing them out.

“It’s going to be a matter of making sure that we do a good job protecting the puck,” Jackson said. “We have to make sure that we don’t turn the puck over with forwards on defense leading our transition.”

With the offense running on empty and an inexperienced blue line, goaltending – an area of concern for Notre Dame headed into this year – will be in the spotlight. Despite public concerns about the tandem of Brad Phillips and Mike Johnson before the season, Jackson was confident in his netminding duo and he has been pleased with their play thus far.

“Going into the season, (goaltending) was the biggest question mark about our team,” Jackson said. “In reality, that has been one of the least parts of our concerns. Brad and Mike are playing well, and they have done a good job but are put under a lot of pressure when one mistake can cost them the game.”

If the holiday break can help heal the Irish defense and revive the offense, Johnson – a freshman who has notched an impressive .940 save perecentage – and Phillips look like they can be in the position to help their team regain a spot in the league’s top four and contend for a playoff title.

And as impractical as the offensive bounceback may seem, the struggles are eerily reminiscent of Jan. and Feb. 2008 when Notre Dame couldn’t seem to find the back of the net against anyone other than Bowling Green. That year, remember, the Irish got hot at just the right time, averaging five goals per game en route to the national championship game.

MIKE CLEMENTE
Brown
So. | G | Great Falls, Va.

His Statistics: 3 GP, 3-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .971 save pct.

Mike Clemente

His Impact: It wasn’t surprising to see Brown’s talented sophomore goalie come up with a big mid-week performance in a win at Harvard. Clemente stopped 42 of 43 shots on the night, his third straight win over the Crimson on Harvard’s home ice - dating back to last spring’s back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs. In those three games Clemente had a 0.33 goals-against average and stopped 128 of 129 shots, a .992 save percentage.

Clemente’s spectacular string continued through the weekend, with 36 saves in a 3-1 win over Princeton and 22 saves in a 2-1 win over first-place Quinnipiac. In Brown’s three victories for the week, Clemente stopped 100 of 103 shots.

The bigger picture for the Bears shows that things are trending upward after a couple of difficult seasons. Brown has won four straight and could earn a fifth straight win Tuesday when they host American International. Brown’s last five-game winning streak came back in the 2003-04 season when Yann Danis was a senior.

His Runners-Up: Cody Campbell, Alabama-Huntsville; Jacques Lamoureux, Air Force; John Muse, Boston College; Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp, Miami; Brendan Smith, Wisconsin

Can we call this group of dedicated fans Carter's Campers?

College hockey fandom takes many forms, whether it’s the Lynah Faithful chucking fish or the kids at Yost hurling obscenities. Down in Oxford, Ohio, Miami has always had solid support, but as the RedHawk program has risen to national prominence, the team’s fans have ratcheted up the fervor. Witness the accompanying visual evidence of RedHawk boosters camping outside Goggin 2.0 prior to last weekend’s series with Notre Dame.

It’s not Krzyzewski-ville, nor is it of the magnitude of the tent city that sprung up prior to the Miami-Michigan series of a couple years ago that pitted the nation’s two top-ranked teams against one another, but we love it. The only thing that could possibly make us happier is if one of the tents belonged to RedHawk forward Carter Camper.

An apparent officiating error was made at the end of Saturday’s game in Duluth between North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth. Late in the third period, the puck apparently struck the protective screen above the glass, and play continued. Later in the shift, Minnesota Duluth scored the game-tying goal with 33 seconds remaining in the third period. The Bulldogs eventually won the game in overtime.

Our beef isn’t that the call was missed, because it’s an extremely difficult call for refs to make for two major reasons - lighting and perspective. The officials are looking up at a dark puck on a dark net against a dark background. Fans and television cameras often catch the action from a higher perspective against the white background of the ice. It’s not an ideal situation.

The NCAA Rulebook says that a linesman’s responsibilities include making decisions on pucks being out of play, and from their perspective at the blueline while the puck is in an attacking zone, it makes sense to us that they should call the puck out of play more aggressively.

Compare the two quotes below.

US National Team Development Program goalie Jack Campbell: “My goal is to be playing in the National Hockey League within a year or two, and I did not want to put Michigan’s hockey program in a bad position where I left after one season.”

Michigan State senior basketball player Isiah Dahlman: “I just loved this place so much, it felt like home for me. I didn’t want to transfer somewhere (and) give up my goals just because it wasn’t going right for me.”

Campbell, a highly touted netminder, had verbally committed to Michigan but last month decided he would go the major junior route instead. Dahlman, a heralded recruit when he came to East Lansing a few years ago, saw a lot of action as a freshman but has played sparingly since. Campbell has been criticized by some for spurning Michigan, while Dahlman is seen as not having lived up to his billing. The interesting parallel regarding these quotes is that while Dahlman and (especially) Campbell have been vilified to a certain extent, they’re doing what they feel is best in order to achieve their goals–Dahlman’s, athletically and otherwise, have changed along the way, while Campbell feels he’s best served by taking an alternate route.

The bottom line is that while college sports fans may feel these student-athletes have failed to meet our expectations or let us down, we have to respect that they’re pursuing dreams and seeking fulfillment. Too often, we lose sight of that.

“I have a vote in the [USCHO/CBS College Sports] poll and I picked Union 14th,” the Schenectady Daily Gazette’s Ken Schott wrote in his Parting Schotts blog Monday. “Why not?”

The Dutchmen are 18th in the INCH Power Rankings and 20th in the USCHO/CBS College Sports poll and also received votes in this week’s USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today poll, so it’s not like Union doesn’t belong among the country’s top 20. They’re a definite contender in ECAC Hockey and we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them knocking on the door of the top-10 in the national rankings before the end of the season.

But Schott, who’s covers the Union hockey beat, issued a challenge, and we’re willing to bite because we think he’s holding a little bit of hometown reverence for the team at this early stage of the season. The Dutchmen (7-3-5, 3-0-3 ECAC Hockey) have no wins against ranked opponents and their best win was a 3-1 victory over Colgate at home this past weekend. Union swept Maine on the opening week of the season, also at home, but the Black Bears played without starting goalie Scott Darling. Also included in the Union c.v. is a home loss to Sacred Heart in overtime and a 0-0 tie against Lake Superior State in a neutral-site game.

@unomavmania UNO fell out of the INCH Power Rankings this week joining unranked programs Michigan, Minnesota and Notre Dame.

• That’s the kind of positive spin we like to see from Nebraska-Omaha fans and the MavMania fan site. Even though the upstart Mavs dropped from the INCH Power Rankings, associate yourselves with other traditional powers. Our only regret is that the tweet didn’t also throw Boston University in the mix.

@demike3316 Just got a twitter account for a class and I AM LOST

• We were honored to be one of the first Twitter accounts that RIT goalie Jared DeMichiel decided to follow when he joined the Twitter community, apparently for a class project. DeMichiel, by the way, has a 1.37 goals-against average and 8-0-1 record during RIT’s current 10-game unbeaten streak, the longest in the nation. He was also the 1,000th follower of @INCH. We’re grateful and flattered to be followed by so many great Tweeps.

After a spectacular start to the season coming on the heels of a season to forget, the Michigan State Spartans were the darlings of the CCHA. And even though the green and white came back to earth with a pair of frustrating losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota in the College Hockey Showcase last weekend, it’s not time to panic in East Lansing just yet.

The Spartans fell behind early against the Badgers and never seemed to recover, and then struggled to find the back of the net for more than two and a half periods against Minnesota. And after junior Andrew Rowe finally snuck behind Minnesota netminder Kent Patterson to tap in a goal and tie the score with less than four minutes remaining, the Gophers regained the lead for good 39 seconds later when Mike Carman used a screen to beat Drew Palmisano from the high slot.

“Disappointing for sure,” head coach Rick Comley said of the goal. “It wasn’t even dangerous, we just gave them the puck. But again, young kids sometimes, it’s not easy every night for them. Minnesota’s a good team, they’re struggling a bit, but they had 17 NHL draft picks dressed tonight. They skate very well, but we had plenty of chances. We know it’s a really tough stretch of games. I told them, ‘Just relax, you played hard, you tried hard, you could have won the game. So, you know, lesson learned and plow ahead.’ ”

While Comley and the Spartans are still optimistic about the team’s prospects going forward, Comley’s experience told him that there would be rough spots like last weekend’s struggles.

“At 9-2-2 you’re going ‘Wow’,” Comley said. “But you had to be careful. Because the first 10-game stretch was super, the next 10 look much more difficult and we’re fighting our way through that. You plug away for the first half then you find out for sure. Young kids are up and down. You don’t dress 14 freshmen and sophomores and don’t pay some price of inconsistency.”

The Spartans play a pair of tough series over the next two weekends, traveling to Marquette to play a Northern Michigan team that is 3-0-3 in its last six games and then a home-and-home series against a Bowling Green team that has wins over Alaska and Michigan, as well as a shootout win at Notre Dame.

Heading in to the 2008-09 season, Ferris State coach Bob Daniels was confident that it was the year his team would finally shed its reputation as a club that got by on strong defense and goaltending with an offensive outburst. All of the pieces were in place, from an offensively productive blue line to a handful of forwards with excellent goal-scoring potential.

Blair Riley leads the top offense in the CCHA in Big Rapids.

As the year progressed, things didn’t pan out as planned. The Bulldogs languished in the bottom quarter of the CCHA’s scoring charts and an end-of-the-season slide cost Ferris State a first-round bye and came to a conclusion with a pair of three-goal losses to Nebraska-Omaha in the CCHA playoffs.

“I’m still a little befuddled why we couldn’t score consistently last year,” Daniels said. “We still had a shot at a top-four spot, but we lost our last five or six games, but I still think we had a decent year.”

Things have finally turned the corner in Big Rapids during the early stages of the present season, with Ferris State jumping out to a 9-3-2 record on the back of the conference’s most prolific offense, which has averaged an impressive 3.57 goals per game and a defense that allows just 1.93 goals against.

A major player in the Bulldogs offensive turnaround has been last week’s INCH National Player of the Week Blair Riley, a senior who was the first player in the country to reach 12 goals before last weekend’s bye.

Riley has teamed up with fellow seniors Casey Haines and Cody Chupp to the tune of 19 combined goals in 14 games. The senior gives credit to his teammates for finding the optimal style of play for their skill sets.

“We’re all the same type of player,” Riley said. “We’re all cyclers down low, not offensive, speedy players, so we’re not going to score off of the rush too often … Mostly I’m successful when the puck is in the offensive zone. When I’m down low, I can use my size to get the puck into the net.”

Riley’s path to Big Rapids was somewhat convoluted, with his name coming across Daniels’ desk as an emergency replacement late in the recruiting cycle. After some discussions about Riley’s game and what Ferris State had to offer, Riley committed to the Bulldogs without having been to campus.

Daniels immediately liked what he saw, and had high hopes for Riley from the beginning. While the potential was there, Riley managed just three goals during his freshman year and struggled during the first half of his sophomore year before a breakout hat trick during the UConn Hockey Classic Championship game on Dec. 30, 2007.

And while he regressed to a seven-goal total in his junior year after 14 in 2007-08, Daniels believes that magical night and the early stages of this year are more representative of Riley’s talents.

“I don’t think it’s a fluke, I believe that this is what you can expect from him,” Daniels said. “In his first year, he was in condition for Division I hockey, then in the second half of his sophomore year he scored 10 goals. He has an NHL shot and an NHL release, so I really was confused a year ago when he wasn’t scoring.”

While most took Riley’s early season success with a grain of salt after the Bulldogs played Canisius, Connecticut and Robert Morris in the early going, two shootout wins at Miami and - two weeks ago - an eight-goal haul at home against Ohio State followed by a three-goal comeback have people believing in Ferris State.

“Early on, a lot of people had doubts about our strength of schedule, even guys on the team weren’t convinced that we were a contending team,” Riley said. “Any time you can get eight in the goal at this level, that’s a sign of a good team.”

Riley and the Bulldogs face a tough Nebraska-Omaha team this weekend that could go a long way in giving the team some legitimacy as a contender for a first-round bye or a league title.

But regardless of how Ferris State continues from here on out, Daniels is confident in one fact: the undrafted Riley should be one of the hottest NHL free agent commodities next summer.

And if anyone knows what it takes to overcome undrafted status to become a regular NHL skater it’s Daniels, as one can’t forget the success of two-time Stanley Cup Champion Chris Kunitz who grew a greal deal under Daniels’ tutelage.

We’re supposed to be professionals—emphasis on supposed—but there are days when we lack the creativity necessary to pull a witty headline from nether regions of our brains. And there are also times when we’d rather dispatch with the pleasantries and get right to the hockey. This would be a mixture of both.

Colorado College vs. Denver (Friday at Colorado Springs, Saturday at Denver): Colorado College ranks ahead of Denver in every major statistical category (scoring offense, scoring defense, power-play and penalty-killing success rates, fewest penalty minutes) and both teams are among the top seven in the INCH Power Rankings and the voter-driven polls. Still, a Tiger sweep would be considered a pretty big upset.

That’s not a rub on Colorado College, which has been one of the nation’s biggest surprises to date. But its resume is fairly pedestrian; the team’s biggest achievement is a win and tie at Wisconsin in the Badgers’ first series of the year. The Pioneers’ cache, meanwhile, is more impressive with a sweep of North Dakota and back-to-back shutouts at Minnesota—the Gophers might be down, but that’s still a quite an accomplishment. Don’t be surprised if the goaltenders, DU veteran netminder Marc Cheverie and CC neophyte Joe Howe, are the deciding factors in this series.

UMass forward James Marcou is the nation's leading scorer with 23 points in 12 games.

Boston College at Massachusetts (Friday): It’s the Minutemen’s annual attendance-drive game when Boston College visits. UMass has adopted and promoted the slogan Operation 8K with a goal of drawing 8,000 fans or more to Mullins Center for the contest. Last year’s Operation 8K game drew 8,389 fans, which is the single-game home attendance record for UMass.

They’re hoping to exceed that this time around, and it’s not just a matter of rivalry for this game. It’s a big game near the top of the Hockey East standings. These two teams are currently tied for second place, just two points behind New Hampshire, although UMass has two games in hand on both UNH and BC. The Eagles won two of the three meetings between the teams last season.

Notre Dame at Miami (Friday-Saturday): Someone taking part in INCH’s weekly chat at ESPN.com asked how we saw the series between the Fighting Irish and RedHawks shaking out. Our answer? Expect two ties—Notre Dame is 2-0-3 in its last five games, while Miami is 1-1-4 over its last six outings. If either team has a glaring weakness, it’s the Fighting Irish’s inability to score. Notre Dame averages just 2.4 goals per game but it’s not for lack of effort; in the 10 games the Irish have both outshot their opponent and attempted 27 or more shots on goal, their record is a ho-hum 4-4-2.

Quinnipiac at Yale (Friday): A matchup of ECAC Hockey’s Connecticut-based teams brings regional rivalry into the picture, but it’s also an important game in the ECACH standings. Quinnipiac is a perfect 7-0-0 in league games so far but travels to take on the defending league champions in this matchup, who are 2-1-2 through five league contests. If the Bulldogs can find a way to slow down Quinnipiac and hand the Bobcats their first league loss of the campaign, it could slow down Quinnipiac’s runaway start to the season. After the game against Yale, the Bobcats have five games against teams that have a combined record of 25 games under .500.

Also: Excellent slate of games in the Capital District this weekend as Colgate and Cornell visit Rensselaer and Union in ECAC Hockey action … BU hosts BC Saturday. Think Terrier fans will remind Eagle supporters which team is reigning national champ? Think Heights denizens will remind the hosts which team is in last place in Hockey East? … Minnesota Duluth welcomes North Dakota to the DECC. The Bulldogs are off to their best start in 14 years … RIT can extend its winning streak to 10 with a sweep of Holy Cross in Worcester … Ohio State hosts Michigan, which is 2-0 in the post-Robbie Czarnik era. That begs the question, why does someone who’s turns 20 next month go by Robbie?

TV Schedule (all times Eastern): Friday—Denver at Colorado College, Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, 9:30 p.m.; Minnesota State at Minnesota, Fox Sports North, time TBA (tape delay following Wild hockey). Saturday—Michigan Tech at Wisconsin, Fox Sports North Wisconsin, 8 p.m.; Colorado College at Denver, Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, 9 p.m.; Minnesota at Minnesota State, Fox Sports North, time TBA (tape delay). Sunday—New Hampshire at Vermont, ESPNU, 3 p.m.