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.

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 34-18–52, 7 PPGs, 6 SHGs, +22 rating

The Skinny: In reviewing some of the candidates for the Hobey Tracker over the last couple of weeks, a remarkable statistic came to light regarding the nation’s top scorers. We’ve lauded Austin Smith’s goal scoring, and with 34 in 34 games that doesn’t change. The difference between Smith and some others — specifically Spencer Abbott and Jack Connolly — is that Smith does the majority of his damage in even-strength and short-handed situations. Of Smith’s 52 points on the year, just 13 have come during Colgate power plays. That’s 25 percent. Abbott has 27 power-play points of his 56 total (including 25 power-play assists). Connolly has more than half of his points on the man-advantage, 28 of his 54 total points. Not that there’s anything wrong with power-play production, but the even-strength and short-handed work done by Smith is another attribute we like.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 18-36–54, 8 PPGs, 3 GWG, +18 rating

There’s no denying Connolly’s consistency; he’s had at least one point in 31 of the Bulldogs’ 34 games to date and has been held scoreless in consecutive games just once. The issue, as was mentioned in the most recent INCH Podcast, is determining his impact independent of high-scoring teammates Travis Oleksuk (21 goals, 47 points) and J.T. Brown (20 goals, 42 points). Working in Connolly’s favor is the fact that whomever coach Scott Sandelin puts on his line—Brown, Oleksuk, Mike Seidel—produces offense.

Reilly Smith
Miami | Jr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 26-12–38, 8 PPGs, 8 GWGs, +18 rating

His point totals pale in comparison to Austin Smith and Connolly (and Maine’s Spencer Abbott, for that matter) but Reilly Smith has two factors working in his favor. One, he scores goals in bunches—after netting 28 goals last season, he’s potted 26 this season without the benefit of playmakers Andy Miele and Carter Camper. Second, he’s been remarkable over the last third of the regular season, leading the RedHawks from the middle of the pack in the CCHA to a likely NCAA Tournament bid by scoring 14 goals and 21 points in his team’s last 15 games.

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

Brian O’Neill, Yale: At the start of the year, O’Neill was on every preseason Hobey watch list worth a darn because he had been a huge part of Yale’s success over the last two seasons and was back for his senior campaign. Although a bit undersized, O’Neill has been a prolific point producer with 45 points as a sophomore and 46 in his junior year as Yale advanced to the NCAAs both seasons. Yale’s team success hasn’t been at that level this time around, the Bulldogs are just 13-13-3 headed into the ECAC Hockey playoffs, but it’s no fault of O’Neill’s. He’s got 40 points again on 19 goals and 21 assists and came through in the stretch run with 18 points in the team’s last 10 games. It’ll be interesting to see how voters handle his candidacy. He was a preseason favorite for the award, but with his team outside of the national rankings most of the year, he’s faded from the nation’s conscience.

Sebastian Stalberg, Vermont: Hockey East coaching staffs know plenty about this guy, and even in a poor season for the Catamounts, he’s in line for All-Hockey East honors and potentially some Hobey thoughts. Stalberg has 12 goals and 31 points in 32 games and the junior gets plenty of attention from opposing teams as the biggest scoring threat on an otherwise impotent scoring attack. He has little chance of garnering legitimate Hobey consideration this year, but if he’s back for a senior campaign, expect big things.

David Valek

DAVID VALEK
Harvard
Jr. | F | Zagreb, Croatia

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-0–4, GWG, +4 rating

His Impact: Valek scored four goals on the weekend as Harvard picked up two crucial victories over St. Lawrence and Clarkson to wrap up its regular season. The Crimson trailed 1-0 against St. Lawrence before Valek knotted the score just 65 seconds later. He added another in the third period as Harvard picked up the victory. His Saturday night effort against Clarkson, when a first-round playoff bye and home-ice quarterfinal series was on the line, was even more impressive. Once again Valek came through. He scored twice more, both in the third period, as Harvard capped a rally from a 2-0 deficit.

The four-goal outburst was extremely uncharacteristic for Valek, who entered the weekend with five goals in 84 career games. The least surprising stat of the weekend is that he had eight blocked shots. That’s what his game is built around. He’s a reliable competitor among a solid group of forwards and does the little things to help Harvard win.

It paid off for the Crimson on the last weekend of the year, and they finished third in ECAC Hockey, after being picked in the league’s preseason media poll to finish 12th.

His Runners-Up: Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth; Eric Delong, Sacred Heart; Joey Diamond, Maine; Reilly Smith, Miami

Safe to say David Carle and Eric Ringel didn’t expect their hockey careers to play out the way they did— Ringel played in 23 games over two seasons for Notre Dame before a concussion and ensuing symptoms ended his playing days in 2009, while Carle never suited up for Denver after he was diagnosed with a heart condition prior to his freshman season in 2008. But even after hanging up their skates, both players stuck around to serve as student assistant coaches. Carle and Ringel were honored at Senior Day festivities at their respective schools this past weekend, and we’d like to salute them, too, for their contributions to Denver and Notre Dame.

As you probably know by now, we’re not fans of the shootout. So it pains us to see a rivalry as heated as the annual battle between Alaska and Alaska Anchorage for the Governor’s Cup decided by a shootout. Each team won at their respective home rinks, necessitating the need to break the tie using a method that’s slightly better than a coin flip. We like the rules governing the Colorado College-Denver Gold Pan series—win the trophy outright or it stays with the previous year’s victor.

What Happened?: It’s probably more appropriate to refer to this section as What Didn’t Happen, in regard to the wild finish in Atlantic Hockey on the last weekend of the regular season. Six teams headed into their final two games within three points of first place. Air Force was the one team that fully controlled its destiny, as the Falcons entered with a one-point advantage, but that went out the window with an overtime loss on Friday night at Robert Morris. Thing is, none of the other teams really took full advantage. Niagara pulled even by defeating RIT in a matchup of the second- and third-place teams. Fourth-place Mercyhurst lost to Canisius and fifth-place Bentley tied sixth-place Holy Cross. The following night, Air Force responded with a 3-0 win, and Niagara couldn’t match that result when the Purps tied 2-2 at RIT. Six teams had opportunities, but none of the six teams in contention managed to win twice on the weekend. Suppose that’s a fitting way to conclude one of the tightest conference races in any league in many, many years. Here’s the resulting playoff bracket in Atlantic Hockey.

What We’re Watching: There’s plenty of playoff and regular-season hockey this weekend, and one matchup we’ll monitor is the CCHA Tournament first-round series between Bowling Green and Northern Michigan. It’s a rematch from the first round of last year’s league playoffs in which the 11th-seeded Falcons upset the 6th-seeded Wildcats in three games, winning the decisive third game in double overtime. A redux isn’t necessarily in the cards, but one has to wonder if last season’s outcome is a motivator for Northern Michigan or gives Bowling Green a confidence boost.

What the …?: Worst. Deadline. Ever?

Actually, last year’s NHL trade deadline lacked blockbuster deals but with all the talk of Dustin Brown or Rick Nash potentially on the move this season, the end result was decidedly ho-hum. When the day’s biggest trade is arguably Andre Kostitsyn going from Montreal to Nashville or Paul Gaustad moving to the Predators from Buffalo, it’s a letdown. A few players with college ties were dealt Monday, most notably former Wisconsin defenseman Tom Gilbert going from Edmonton to Minnesota for defenseman Nick Schultz and ex-Nebraska-Omaha blueliner Greg Zanon shipped by the Wild to Boston for erstwhile Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer.

@DaveWarsofsky5 David Warsofsky

Big weekend for the terriers. Gonna be nice to play the first round infront of the best fans in college hockey

• The former Terrier had an eye on his ex-teammates who put together a road sweep of Vermont with a convincing 5-0 win on Friday night followed by a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win on Saturday. That concluded a difficult week full of off-ice headlines, and assured BU of a home-ice series in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. Warsofsky, by the way, has spent his rookie year in pro hockey with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he has 22 points in 48 games.

Do you really need a flowery, drawn-out introductory paragraph spelling out what is up for grabs in the biggest showdowns in college hockey this weekend? This is crunch time. No more hand holding.

North Dakota at Denver (Fri.-Sat.)

Dillon Simpson and North Dakota are in Denver this weekend to renew their bitter rivalry with the Pioneers.

Sure, there’s a lot at stake here what with both teams jockeying for position in the WCHA standings and trying to enhance their chances for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid (if necessary), but the bottom line is these teams don’t like each other. At all. That said, DU and NoDak are eerily similar; both have dealt with an inordinate amount of injuries leading to struggles at times, but have persevered and played their best hockey over the last six weeks. The phrase “playoff-like atmosphere” can be misleading—we’ve seen a lot of league and national tournament games in half-empty rinks—but this series will be intense.

UMass Lowell at Merrimack (Fri.)
Merrimack at UMass Lowell (Sat.)

These teams meet at a crossroads, and it’s not I-93/I-495 interchange. The River Hawks are virtually assured of an NCAA Tournament bid; the Warriors, meanwhile, are 4-6-3 since Jan. 1, reside on the NCAA Tourney bubble and, more importantly, are staring at the possibility of opening the first round of the Hockey East playoffs at Maine. UMass Lowell blanked Merrimack, 3-0, the first time these two teams met two weeks ago at Tsongas Arena. Both Merrimack’s Joe Cannata and UML’s Doug Carr, Hockey East’s two best goalies, were sensational in goal that night. Expect more of the same this weekend.

Union at Cornell (Fri.)

It’s essentially a regular-season championship game when these two teams meet at Lynah Rink on Friday night. The Big Red are two points back of defending champion Union, and a Cornell victory would pull them even on points and give them a tiebreaker advantage headed into Saturday’s games. When the teams met three weeks ago in Schenectady, the game featured three ties and three lead changes and ended in a 4-4 deadlock. Not much has separated these teams all year long and they’ll have a chance to settle things on the ice this weekend.

Ferris State at Western Michigan (Fri.)
Western Michigan at Ferris State (Sat.)

Ferris State needs just one point to lock up the CCHA regular-season championship. Thanks to the league’s if-it’s-good-enough-for-the-NHL-it’s-good-enough-for-us philosophy, the Bulldogs could win the conference crown with a shootout loss, leading to undoubtedly the worst title-clinching celebration in the history of organized sports. There’s more here besides shootout schadenfreude, however. Western, vying for a first-round playoff bye and a boost to its NCAA Tournament profile, took both ends of a home-and-home series with Ferris in December. Certainly the Broncos remember; it’s one of the two times since Nov. 1 they’ve posted back-to-back wins.

Also: Here’s your updated Atlantic Hockey playoff situation: Someone will be the league champion Saturday night. The most unsettled conference in the country has a number of intriguing battles, led by first-place Air Force at seventh-place Robert Morris; second-place RIT in a home-and-home series with Niagara, one of three teams tied for third; and another third-place club, Bentley, in a home-and-home with sixth-place Holy Cross. … Colorado College makes its third visit to Minnesota in 36 days as the Tigers travel to Minnesota Duluth for a weekend series. CC and Denver are the only WCHA teams yet to play at Amsoil Arena. … All eyes in ECAC Hockey will be on Friday’s Union-Cornell tilt, but Saturday’s Union-Colgate match will be a good one, too. … Outside of Ferris-Western, the two biggest series on the final weekend of the CCHA regular season are Michigan State at Notre Dame and Ohio State and Miami in a home-and-home set. … One of college hockey’s biggest rivalries is renewed this weekend as Alaska and Alaska Anchorage play for the Governor’s Cup. The series starts Friday in Anchorage and shifts to Fairbanks Saturday. The Nanooks have won last two Governor’s Cup series and seven of the last ten.

After months of up, down and all-around for teams through the conference standings, last weekend’s penultimate weekend of regular-season play finally brought a definitive answer to something in the CCHA. With a pair of decisive wins at home against Bowling Green, Ferris State locked down at least a share of a well-earned conference title.

Jordie Johnston is having a breakout senior season with career highs in goals, assists and points.

While there’s been a great deal of volatility – Ohio State and Notre Dame plummeting from contention after strong first halves, Michigan bouncing back from a dreadful November funk to become an NCAA lock (and the one team that could, with some help from Western Michigan, pluck a share of Ferris State’s conference title) among other storylines – the Bulldogs have been the epitome of consistency since Jan. 1. After a respectable, if not spectacular start to the year, Ferris State racked up a 14-game unbeaten streak en route to a championship that most thought improbable heading into the season.

“I don’t know if there’s necessarily one thing that made the difference,” Ferris State forward Jordie Johnston said. “It’s just the accumulation of everyone being positive and just having a good outlook on this year. Whenever expectations are low about how your team is supposed to do throughout the polls and things like that, you have the will to go out and prove people wrong.”

Johnston, a senior who had compiled just a 10-11-21 line in his first three years in Big Rapids, has played a key role in propelling the Bulldogs by jump-starting the offense with a 16-15-31 line this year. When reflecting on what has made this season so special personally, Johnston believes it was getting back the basics that helped propel him to senior year success.

“I’ve been working on what you can control yourself,” Johnston said. “I would say it’s just a matter of putting all the things together. You need to learn to analyze the game and not focus on how your production has dipped, and if you do the smart things and focus on things you can control, your game changes a lot.”

Giving credit to his linemates and teammates for contributing to that personal success, he saw similar attitudes throughout the team paying off on a larger level.

“We definitely have always had that defensive edge and it’s no secret that we have some pretty good goaltenders, so we did know that was going to be there coming into the season,” Johnston said. “I think for the most part it’s just how everyone on the team gelled together and there were some line combinations that seemed to work right from the get-go with guys who came back this year with a lot of confidence.”

Johnston has seen a relatively successful Ferris State team before, as the Bulldogs of two years ago won 21 games. That team found itself likely a single win out of the NCAA Tournament after falling short during the CCHA Championship weekend, losing one-goal games to NCAA Tournament teams Northern Michigan and Miami. Leading the squad to such success was a top line of Blair Riley – one of the nation’s most dynamic scorers that year – and his linemates Casey Haines and Cody Chupp, a trio that carried the team throughout most of the year.

While the current squad might lack some the offensive flash that Riley provided, its more balanced lineup has been even more productive in aggregate.

“I think that it’s a fair thing to say that this year we are a more balanced team,” Johnston said. “That team with (Riley) and those guys, they had a ton of skill and a lot of the strong defensive play and goaltending we have now , but we were still developing our style of game at that time. If we did have those skilled players combined with the mindset we have this year, we would have been a lot more productive back then. I think definitely we learned a lot from our experiences with that group of guys and that’s helped us know what it takes to win and we have implemented a lot of things we learned from them.”

As the Bulldogs try to earn that one magic point that will secure the regular-season title this weekend, they’ll need to utilize that balance against an equally deep and tough opponent in Western Michigan. The Broncos have beaten the Bulldogs twice already this year and knocked them out of the playoffs in a third game, overtime thriller in the quarterfinal round of the CCHA playoffs in Kalamazoo last year, making a potential clinching victory even more special for Ferris State.

“We definitely consider Western to be our biggest rival,” Johnston said. “They knocked us out of the playoffs last year in overtime in heartbreaking fashion, so we definitely have some wounds we’d like to close against them. And obviously they’re not that far behind in the race for home ice and everything like that, they definitely have a lot on the line and we have a lot on the line so this weekend will exemplify how big of a rivalry we have against each other.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@YogaMatt9 Matt Harlow

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

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

When Scott Greenham arrived back in Fairbanks after earning his first college victory in his first regular-season start for Alaska—a 5-0 white-washing of Connecticut that clinched the Kendall Hockey Classic championship for the Nanooks—he was as happy as anyone that he had helped the team to victory so soon after arriving on campus.

But as Greenham and his teammates enjoyed the victory, the then freshman netminder, winner of more than a few junior hockey honors while playing for the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Oakville Blades, thought it was a little odd that everyone was so excited about a single weekend so early in the season.

Despite their record, Scott Greenham and his Alaska teammates believe they can be playoff spoilers.

“I remember coming back on that Saturday night and celebrating those wins and everyone seemed overly happy for a win,” Greenham said. “I remember asking one of the seniors at the time why everyone was so happy with just one weekend win and they were telling me it’s because you don’t know when your next win will be.”

Coming off two miserable seasons in which the Nanooks won a combined 20 games, jaded attitudes in the locker room weren’t all that surprising.

But that quickly changed under head coach Dallas Ferguson, who would go on to lead Alaska to 17, 18, and 16 wins over the next three campaigns and the Nanooks’ first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010.

And while the 2011-12 season seems like a step back—Alaska is 11-15-4 heading into this weekend’s series at Michigan State—the tone Ferguson set when he arrived has his team believing it can be a spoiler come playoff time.

“Coach Ferguson came in and built up a system where we go into every weekend and every game expecting to get wins,” Greenham said. “Now we all believe that no matter what happens, we’re going to be able to win a game and pull through even if we’re behind. We believe we can get those goals and come back. That kind of confidence is what you need to win in the playoffs.”

Alaska’s struggles to reach .500 stem mainly from two prolonged stretches, an eight-game winless streak in October and November and a five-game winless streak in December and January. But despite those extended rough patches, the Nanooks have been able to bounce back mentally and physically and play well enough to surprise potential playoff opponents.

“It’s just the belief that we have,” Greenham said of the winless streaks. “We were losing, but it was only the Ohio State game that we lost 6-0 that we really got blown out, so we know we can play with every team that we come up against. It was a little bit frustrating at the start because we were losing, but we also knew that we could have won those games if we didn’t make a mistake here or there. We all knew we would be able to do it. It just took a full team effort for 60 minutes, and that’s what we were lacking, a full 60 minutes.”

Greenham points to success against some of the conference’s top teams to support that belief.

“I think we’re going to be one of those dangerous teams,” Greenham said. “If you look at the teams that we’ve beaten, we’ve beaten Michigan, Western Michigan, Lake State and all of those teams that are in the top 20 in pretty much every ranking system … we beat Ferris State and they’re No. 1 in the country and we had another couple of tight games with them, too.”

With a series against Michigan State in East Lansing this weekend and a home-and-home series for the Governor’s Cup with Alaska Anchorage remaining, Greenham and his teammates want to build momentum prior to the playoffs. With very little separating the teams in the CCHA, there’s potential for a team like Alaska sneaking up from the lower half of the standings to deliver an unpleasant playoff surprise.

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.

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | F
To Date: 30 GP, 32-15–47, 5 PPGs, 6 SHGs, +24 rating

The Skinny: Smith elevates into the top spot on our Big Board by virtue of his status as the nation’s premier goal-scorer. His most recent hot streak includes goals in six of Colgate’s last eight games, a total of 10 goals in that span. He has surpassed the 30-goal mark, last achieved by an ECAC Hockey player when RPI’s Brad Tapper scored 31 in the 1999-2000 season. His pace hasn’t slowed at any point this season and there’s realistic optimism that he could get to 40 for the year, provided Colgate makes an extended postseason run.

Spencer Abbott
Maine | Sr. | F
To Date: 29 GP, 16-33–49, 2 PPGs, +9 rating

The Skinny: Over the last two-plus months, the Black Bears have won 14 of 18 games, putting themselves in prime position to earn an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2007. Abbott, Hockey East’s leading scorer with 49 points in 29 games, has been the catalyst for Maine’s success. During the aforementioned 18-game stretch, he’s scored 11 goals and 36 points. Perhaps Abbott’s most interesting statistic is while he leads the conference with 26 power-play points, he ranks in a tie for 36th in the league with two power-play goals.
Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 30 GP, 17-31–48, 7 PPGs, +18 rating

The Skinny: Prior to recording two goals and three assists in the Bulldogs’ 5-4 win against visiting North Dakota last Saturday, Connolly had been in a bit of a scoring drought, picking up just three assists in his previous five games. His Hobey profile may not be what it was back when UMD was curb-stomping every opponent, but a late-season push for the WCHA regular-season title and an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed would restore that luster. Worth watching: since early November, they’ve only seen regular time together on the power play, but will J.T. Brown’s injury impact Connolly’s numbers?

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

Chris Kreider, Boston College: It’s been a season of ups and downs for Boston College, and also for the guy many consider to be BC’s best player. After the first few weeks of the season, Chris Kreider was poised for a huge year with eight points in his first six games and a big weekend at the IceBreaker Tournament. He maintained his scoring pace, a little over a point-per-game, through the first half, then things slowed down. Kreider had just two points, both goals, in a nine-game slump. He’s come out of that with 10 points in his last five games on four multi-point nights. That included a goal in Monday’s Beanpot final, the third straight year he’s scored in the Beanpot championship game. He might get another boost in name recognition in a couple weeks, as the New York Rangers could deal his draft rights in an attempt to bolster their Stanley Cup chances.

Brett Gensler, Bentley: He’s only a sophomore, and already one of the most prolific offensive talents in Atlantic Hockey, part of a Bentley team that has greatly improved from the 2010-11 season. Gensler was a 24-point producer as a freshman and has already eclipsed that mark with 34 points through 30 games this season on 13 goals and 21 assists. Remarkably, only one of his goals and six of his assists have come on the power play. That means he does most of his damage at even strength, and his +8 rating reflects that — especially on a team with a negative-three goal differential. The Falcons finished 10-18-6 last year and ended the regular season in 10th place in Atlantic Hockey. They’re 11-12-7 this year, and just two points behind a third-place tie in the league.

Kyle Bonis

KYLE BONIS
Ferris State
Jr. | Forward | Lindsay, Ontario

His Statistics: Two goals and two assists in the Bulldogs’ sweep of Notre Dame, including two goals and an assist in Friday’s 3-0 win at Compton Family Ice Arena.

His Impact: Ferris State has rocketed to the top spot in every ranking imaginable on the strength of a 12-game unbeaten streak, one that reached a dozen with two wins against Notre Dame last weekend. Bonis sparked Ferris to its 3-0 win at Notre Dame Friday, factoring in on all three of his team’s scores with two goals and an assist. He added an assist in Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Fighting Irish in Big Rapids.

Bonis, who scored a total of 16 goals as a freshman and sophomore, has 15 goals through 32 games on the season, one fewer than team leader Jordie Johnston. Among CCHA skaters, only Miami’s Reilly Smith and Johnston have more goals than Bonis.

His Runners-Up: Greg Carey, St. Lawrence; John Gaudreau, Boston College; Drew George, Sacred Heart; Carter Rowney, North Dakota

With the explosion in social media, we’re kind of surprised we hadn’t seen this sooner. Army is giving fans the chance to decide which sweaters its hockey team will wear for Friday’s game against American International by voting at the school’s Facebook page. Voters have three choices—gold, gray, or white—and the virtual polls close Thursday. It’s a fun and easy way for fans to interact with the program, and there are no bad choices. All three sweaters look great to us.

For most of us media types, a team’s nightly line chart is a tremendously valuable resource to glean loads of information in a very concise format. (SIDs, if you’re reading, we especially like when a player’s birthdate and draft status is included). However, that comes with an aesthetic responsibility and most line charts meet the basic standard. Simple, easy-to-read fonts make the most sense. Make sure uniform numbers are the biggest element on the page, and using conference and team logos is A-OK.

We also believe in an element of respect for the game and a nod to the hockey gods, which made us take note when Yale’s line chart this past weekend included a logo for the upcoming 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa on the lower-right corner. Yep, that’s a Yale team that has never been to the Frozen Four, and is currently 10-13-2 on the season and stands tied for eighth in the ECAC Hockey standings. We understand that every team has aspirations, but let’s keep it realistic for now, and maybe add that to the mix after a team wins two NCAA Tournament games this spring.

What Happened?: While most of the hockey world was atwitter — or on Twitter — about the 2013 NHL Winter Classic featuring Original Six rivals Detroit and Toronto at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, college hockey fans took note that the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational will be played outdoors at Detroit’s Comerica Park. The tournament field features traditional participants Michigan, Michigan State, and Michigan Tech along with Western Michigan. It’ll be a tremendous stage for college pucks in the state of Michigan; we’re curious to see how hockey’s first multi-day outdoor event plays out.

What We’re Watching: In compiling the latest edition of the INCH Power Rankings, Bemidji State seriously caught our eye for really the first time this season. On further examination, the Beavers are compiling a very good season despite flying under the radar. With eight of Bemidji State’s first 10 games on the road this season, including trips to Miami, Colorado College and Minnesota Duluth, it was bound to be a tough start. A mid-November split against North Dakota, really set the team in motion and they’ve been on a roll since the start of December. In eight two-game weekends since then, Bemidji State is 10-4-2. The only “bad” weekend in the stretch came when they were swept at Denver, and there’s no shame in that (just ask the Gophers). More consistent play from senior goalie Dan Bakala has steadied the team, and they get scoring from committee. It’s kept them in the race for a home-ice berth in the WCHA playoffs, and with the last two weekend series against the teams currently 11th and 12th in the standings, Bemidji State has a good say in controlling its own destiny. Plus, they might be catching Minnesota at a good time this weekend, and it’s a series that Bemidji State always uses to measure itself.

What the …?: A few weeks ago in the Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, who’s had two recruits spurn him for the major junior ranks in recent months, said college teams are at a disadvantage when battling Canadian Hockey League teams for talent. Last week, Sportsnet.ca columnist Patrick King fired back, opining that college hockey has only itself to blame. The bulk of King’s reasoning was flawed at best, but his suggestion that goaltender Jack Campbell eschewed Michigan for the Windsor Spitfires because the Wolverines wouldn’t save a spot for him on the roster is ridiculous.

“[Campbell’s] college options would be lessened if he waited to declare his destination after attending the United States National Team Development Program and the NHL draft, since a team would make sure those spots are taken care of well in advance,” King wrote.

Hardly. Campbell had been a Michigan verbal commit for some time and was a mortal lock to be the Wolverines’ no. 1 goalie the moment he stepped on campus. As Mark Twain once said, get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

@tommillergf Tom Miller

@UNDSID I was hoping for a headline of rowdy rowney sniper, but it was voted down.

• A suggested headline to North Dakota sports information director Jayson Hajdu ended up earning a retweet from Hajdu, and a spot as this week’s Tweet of the Week. It certainly brought a smile to those familiar with 1980s pro wrestling characters, and was a fitting descriptor after Carter Rowney’s two-goal, one-assist effort in North Dakota’s 3-1 win at Minnesota Duluth.

Those of you with preschool-aged children are probably familiar with “The Wonder Pets,” the Nickelodeon series chronicling the adventures of three classroom pets who save baby animals from peril in their down time. One of the Wonder Pets is Ming-Ming, a fluffy little duckling best known for assessing perilous situations and singing, “This … is … serious!”

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.

With fireworks lighting up the evening sky and the reminder of a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of a bitter rival in large font on giant scoreboards, one has to believe that Michigan State defenseman Torey Krug walked out of the Big Chill at the Big House on Dec. 11, 2010 champing at the bit for his next shot at his team’s arch-nemesis.

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.