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.

“That’s what I love about this league,” St. Lawrence junior forward Kyle Flanagan said. “We know with a pair of wins this weekend we can move up to fourth place with some help from some other teams. It’s almost like we’re preparing for the playoffs every week.”

Greg Carey ranks second on the Saints in scoring with 24 points and scored two big goals in a win at Yale.

While the mathematics cited there are slightly exaggerated and wouldn’t assure St. Lawrence of that top-four perch in the standings just yet, the point is well-made. Every team has a lot left to play for and St. Lawrence has positioned itself for the stretch run by going from its lowest point in the season to one of its highest.

The Saints hit rock bottom on the road in the last weekend of January, in a 4-0 loss at Rensselaer and a 6-0 loss at Union on consecutive nights. It left the Saints mired in an eight-game ECAC Hockey winless streak, and tied for last place in the standings. A day off in the week that followed and a couple of energetic practices got St. Lawrence turned around.

They went to Yale and pulled out a 4-3 overtime victory, then went to Providence and earned a 5-3 win at Brown. In the game at Yale to start the weekend, St. Lawrence built a 3-1 lead after two periods before Yale rallied to tie it, and outshot the Saints 14-4 in the third period. St. Lawrence turned it around in overtime and got the game-winning goal on the power play from Greg Carey. It was Carey’s second of the night, and linemate Chris Martin also scored. Flanagan, who centered those players against Yale, had two assists.

“Guys were flying, and it was a great response. We stayed positive during the week even though we felt that the RPI and Union trip was the lowest part of the season,” Flanagan said.

The following night at Brown showed St. Lawrence what it takes to sustain success. First, an ability to handle adversity is necessary. Brown scored three first-period goals while St. Lawrence attempted to kill off a major penalty. The Bears’ goals came in a span of 2:08 during that major power play and they held a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Saints scored five unanswered goals over the last two periods, and they came from five different players. More importantly, each of the team’s four forward lines contributed at least one goal.

“Lately we’ve seen that we need to get consistency through all four lines,” Flanagan said. “We’re a pretty young team still and the biggest thing is to have everyone know their role and know that they make an impact for us. We had goals from all four lines on Saturday night.”

Flanagan has carried his share, and has maintained the point-per-game pace he’s been on since his freshman year, even though he missed eight games in the middle of the season due to a concussion. He teams with Greg Carey on a very strong first line, but the Saints are at their best when all 18 skaters are producing.

By virtue of being a young team — only three seniors have appeared in 20 or more games this year — it was inevitable that St. Lawrence would battle some inconsistencies. The Saints started the year with a coaching transition as Joe Marsh left to address medical concerns and assistants Mike Hurlbut and Greg Carvel took over the day-to-day operations of the team. After five losses to start the season, St. Lawrence showed signs of life with five wins in its next six games. Then came four more losses followed by a five-game unbeaten streak.

It’s been a streaky season, and perhaps last weekend’s sweep of Yale and Brown has set off another streak of success. The Saints play their next four games at Appleton Arena, and can leapfrog teams in the standings with a successful run on home ice.

“Our away record is actually better than our home record this year, and that’s frustrating because we love to play at Appleton,” Flanagan said. “We just have to come out a little harder and make it a difficult place to play.”

That opportunity starts this weekend when Quinnipiac visits on Friday and Princeton comes in on Saturday. St. Lawrence trails Quinnipiac by four points and is tied with Princeton. If the Saints are turning things toward another winning streak, it could pay big dividends in the standings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@fergy2004 Ryan

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

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

A span of scoring just six goals over a four-game stretch during the winless streak?
That was remedied with a seven-goal outburst over two nights.

Figuring out how to hold a lead late in the game?
Got that taken care of too, by preserving a one-goal advantage in the third period Friday by allowing just one shot against on the road, and stifling two late Big Red power-play chances to win 2-1.

Showing the fortitude to come from behind and continue the momentum from a big win one night earlier?
That was the case in front of a raucous pro-Raider crowd on home ice Saturday night when Colgate turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 victory with four third-period goals.

"We know we're a good team," Colgate defenseman Thomas Larkin said.

What that actually means in the long run is yet to be determined, but what it meant in the short term was that Colgate could put its most frustrating part of the season in the past and build toward the stretch run with renewed confidence. The four points go a long way in the standings, but the redevelopment of a confident psyche is more important.

“It’s probably the biggest thing we can take away from the game, and that’s what I told the team afterward,” Vaughan said following Friday’s win on the road. “Because of what’s happened to us recently, simply we haven’t been able to do that lately but it’s something that we know we’re capable of and it’s all about the process. Tonight we were able to execute.”

The Raiders outworked and outplayed Cornell in Lynah Rink for at least 40 minutes in the series opener. Defensemen aggressively stepped up in the neutral zone and forced Big Red players to cough it up.

“Certainly in the third period I thought we did a really good job of trying to make them go 200 feet to score,” Vaughan said. “We worked on it a lot this week in practice and it was effective.”

One of the best things that Colgate had going for it Friday, a fast start to the game, didn’t happen on Saturday. The home team trailed by two, but turned the momentum with a breakaway goal by Joe Wilson and knotted the score with the nation-leading 26th goal of the season by Austin Smith less than two minutes later. Those top-line players (joined by centerman Chris Wagner) carried Colgate’s offense. Add that bit of good news to the other positives from the weekend.

Senior captain and defenseman Thomas Larkin said it bodes well for the future of Colgate’s season.

“We know we’re a good team and everyone has kept their heads up throughout this slump. We just wanted to get back to the way we were going before Christmas. Everyone was staying up,” Larkin said. “Maybe last year guys would slump their shoulders a little more or put their heads down, but this year we know we’re not supposed to lose. We’re expecting to win and that’s just how we come into every game.”

Last season’s doldrums for Colgate amplified losing streaks and sucked momentum from the things that did go right. This pair of wins shows how far the mentality of the team has come, and that the Raiders are ready for the final, important weeks of the season.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Akillorn19 Alex Killorn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five of Marshall Everson's seven goals on the season have come while the Crimson's potent power play has been on the ice.

So, while the results were somewhat typical, a deeper examination reveals something that hasn’t come with as much regularity as five extra minutes of hockey following the third period. Harvard’s effort Saturday night at Cornell, nationally-ranked in the top-10 and standing atop ECAC Hockey, was one of the best start-to-finish performances of the season for a team that has struggled with consistent efforts throughout games.

“I like our character. Our guys keep working, they keep coming back. We’ve had some periods over the season and periods of games where we’ve been bend-don’t-break, but I really feel like we’re getting better and better as the season goes on,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said following the come-from-behind tie at Cornell.

“I think five-on-five our scoring can improve, and I think the entire game, our whole effort. Tonight we felt that we played very competitively for the entire game. I think our guys really battled and we were able to play the way we wanted to play for 65 minutes.”

Harvard has played seven of its last eight games against nationally-ranked opponents. Lining up against the likes of Union, Boston University, North Dakota and Cornell has prepared the Crimson for what they’ll have to face down the stretch. They’ve come from behind to record ties against North Dakota and Union, as well as against Rensselaer in recent weeks due to a steady demeanor in times of adversity.

“We just concentrate on not being too high or too low,” forward Marshall Everson said. “Throughout the year we’ve had these situations where we’ve been down maybe going into the third and you just have to have that will and determination to get back into the game. I think the fact that we’ve been able to do that multiple times this year shows the character of the guys in the locker room.”

Everson is part of the nation’s top power-play unit, and Harvard is clicking at better than 33 percent on the year. The unit’s key to success is a combination of a number of factors. There are some set plays and the groups are able to pre-scout opponents, but the real factor is quick puck movement and chemistry among talented players that allows them to adapt to whatever penalty-killing they face. In seven of its last eight games, the Crimson power play has scored on its very first power-play opportunity of the game. That’s a nice way to start.

Harvard’s penalty killing has improved in recent games, but the five-on-five goal differential is an area that Harvard will focus on.

The difference between wins and losses, or wins and ties, has been a steady effort over the duration of the contest. Everson said his team is starting to understand what it takes.

“We just have to make sure that we’re consistent. I think tonight was one of the first games where we played a whole 60, 65 minutes,” he said. “If we really focus on that, from the drop of the puck to the last buzzer, if everyone’s giving 100 percent, doing their jobs, we can start to look at the goals we set at the beginning of the year.”

With some of the building blocks in place, and some confidence in signs of improvement, the treading-water nature of Harvard’s season to date leaves the Crimson within sight of long-range objectives. Harvard plays six of its last nine conference games at home, and has already played its four games this season against league front-runners Cornell and Union. Harvard is just two points behind third-place Quinnipiac heading into this weekend.

“I take some satisfaction in the fact that I know that we can reach another level, and even though we’ve had a lot of ties, we’ve stayed within reach of the pack and at this point we control our own destiny,” Donato said. “I think Cornell and Union have created a little bit of separation but I think everyone else is in the mix here. A lot of the teams that we’re competing against we have a chance to play against coming up.”

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• We’ll always encourage you to get out to the rinks and catch the action in person, and so this weekend we’ll also encourage you to set your television recording devices as two ECAC Hockey contests will be nationally televised on Friday. Cornell-Colgate will air on CBS Sports Network and Harvard-Yale will be shown on NBC Sports Network. Keep in mind that both games are 7:30 starts, a half-hour later than the typical starting time.

• St. Lawrence has been without head coach Joe Marsh for the season to date as he addresses some health concerns, and he confirmed Thursday in a report in the Watertown Daily Times that he won’t return to the bench this season. Saints assistants Mike Hurlbut and Greg Carvel have handled the coaching duties.

• A stick tap to RPI for its recent two-win weekend at Brown and Yale. It’s a team that has possibly deserved better results, but the Engineers’ effort never wavered despite losing streaks of eight games and six games earlier this season.

• Harvard isn’t the only team in the league with a potent power play. A total of 19 Division I teams are converting 20 percent or better of power-play opportunities this season, and six of them play in ECAC Hockey – Harvard (33.8%), Union (25.0%), Yale (23.6%), Princeton (22.4%), Cornell (21.4%), and St. Lawrence (20.2%).

• If you can’t wait until the weekend of March 16-18 for the ECAC Hockey Championship weekend in Atlantic City, the Boardwalk Hall venue will host this weekend’s AHL All-Star Classic, with a skills competition Sunday followed by the game on Monday. Those events will be shown on regional sports networks throughout the country. Former Brown goalie Yann Danis is on the Western Conference roster along with ex-RPI forward Brandon Pirri. Former Clarkson defenseman Mark Borowiecki has recently been named as a replacement on the Eastern Conference roster.

Reilly Smith

REILLY SMITH
Miami
Jr. | F | Mimico, Ontario

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@BruceCiskie Bruce Ciskie

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

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

Quinnipiac's Zack Currie has emerged into the type of player that could garner all-league honors on the blue line.

The Bobcats are dealing with a scheduling quirk this month, facing two consecutive weekends without a game on the schedule before returning to action against Harvard and Dartmouth on the first weekend in February. It’s not a new thing, Quinnipiac has dealt with this for several years as a member of ECAC Hockey, but has had success getting non-conference games to fill some of the void in late January. This year, an agreement with the US National Team Development Program fell through and the Bobcats had two weeks off.

With that comes some challenges, but also some opportunities to heal physically and set things up for the final eight games of the regular season.

“We definitely need to stay sharp and we want to be fresh and healthy for the stretch run,” Pecknold said. “We’ve been really banged up at the end of the year the last two or three seasons, and this gives us a chance to rest some players. For example, if we were playing this Friday we would probably be without two regulars in our lineup due to injury, but they will probably be ready to go when we play Harvard.”

The spring semester hasn’t started yet at Quinnipiac, so there was plenty of time for practice as well as team activities. There was an extra day off for the players, but they’ve also spent time this week volunteering at youth hockey practices in the area. This weekend, they’ll head outdoors for some ice time and also help young players as well as a learn-to-skate group on the outdoor rink.

Some shootout contests and fresh drills have been cycled into the normal practice routine, but there’s also some serious work being done. Quinnipiac is focusing on some areas that have generally been pretty good according to Pecknold’s assessment through the first 26 games of the season, but can be solidified for the end of the season.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively but we can be better in our zone and in the neutral zone. The penalty killing has been good but needs to be more consistent,” he said. “And we’re still not scoring as many goals as we could be. I’m happy with the chances we’re getting, but that is probably down to a lack of confidence.”

The top line of Connor Jones, Kellen Jones and Matthew Peca has carried the scoring load for Quinnipiac and junior defenseman Zack Currie has really emerged as a go-to player and top-pair defenseman for the Bobcats. Currie has seven goals and 14 points on the year, after totaling just 16 points in his first two seasons.

Quinnipiac gave itself some momentum into this time off with a convincing win over nationally-ranked Colgate Saturday afternoon at home. The Bobcats were one-goal losers to Cornell despite outshooting the Big Red 33-19 in the game on Friday, then trailed 1-0 to Colgate after the first period Saturday. Quinnipiac outscored the Raiders 7-0 over the final 40 minutes and got goals from seven different players.

“That was a huge win because you can’t get swept at home,” Pecknold said. “It was imperative. Forget about the break, forget about the fact that you need the two points, we just had to get the win. Colgate played very well in the first period, and then we really got it going.”

With a 13-8-5 record so far, and 5-5-4 mark in ECAC Hockey, Quinnipiac has positioned itself to chase a top-four spot in the league playoffs and with a very strong finish to the year and deep run in the ECAC Hockey tournament is still in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. How the Bobcats manage this time off, and if they can maintain their health will go a long way toward determining the team’s fortunes down the stretch.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• It’s an interesting little road trip for Harvard, as the Crimson have shown signs of making a move this season but have also let some games get away from them – most recently by squandering a two-goal third-period lead against Boston University. After a nice comeback tie at North Dakota in late December, Harvard is poised to line up against two of the top teams in ECAC Hockey with contests at Colgate and Cornell this weekend.

• Brown has just one loss in its last seven games (4-1-2), and that was a 3-2 overtime loss at home to Princeton. The streak started with a 6-4 win over Yale at home in early December, and in the other three wins and two ties the Bears didn’t allow more than two goals. That’s been enough for an offense that ranks 45th nationally in goals per game, and Brown has evened its record at 7-7-3 overall and 4-4-2 in the league.

• Princeton is another interesting case, as the Tigers have just one loss in their last six (2-1-3). In addition to the aforementioned overtime win over Brown, Princeton probably had its best overall weekend of the year with a 6-2 win over Colgate and a come-from-behind 3-3 tie with Cornell. Princeton scored three goals in the third period of that tie against the Big Red to rally from a three-goal deficit. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents 27-22 in the third period of games this year.

• Eight teams in the ECAC Hockey standings are within two games of the .500 mark in league play, which will set up a frenetic finish to the regular season that will see some drastic standings shifts if teams come away with four-point (or zero-point) weekends.

• If you didn’t catch this week’s INCH Hobey Tracker, check it out for prominent mentions of Colgate’s Austin Smith and Union’s Troy Grosenick.