Stevie Moses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@TheRoEbOaT9 Garrett Roe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When a team rises from relative mediocrity and obscurity to maintain a presence as a league-title contender and nationally-ranked outfit, challenges inherently present themselves. No longer will they be able to “sneak up” on teams that might have underestimated them. Struggling teams near the bottom of the standings will target games against those teams as a season-highlight maker. Plus, your team’s own standards increase and there’s more on the line with each weekend series.

Union's Josh Jooris

Those are some of the challenges that Union is facing this year, on the heels of an historic 2010-11 campaign that saw Union qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the Division I level. There were some obvious departures, including senior forward Adam Presizniuk and senior defenseman Brock Matheson to graduation, sophomore goaltender Keith Kinkaid to professional hockey and head coach Nate Leaman to Providence. Still, seven of the team’s top nine scorers returned from that 26-10-4 team and associate head coach Rick Bennett was promoted to take over the Union bench full-time.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of sustaining success from year to year was described by goalie Troy Grosenick. There comes a time when realizing and building on success has to be done with a new attitude and some new ingredients.

“It’s not last year anymore,” he said. “We have to take what happened with a grain of salt and move on. There’s a point where every team becomes its own team, and we’ve done a pretty good job of getting over what happened last year and realizing that this is a new team. We want to be better.”

Some of the identity change from last year to this was bound to happen with the coaching change. A few new ideas and adaptations have Union poised for a big second half.

“Every year is a new challenge, and the way we look at it, we’re still building and are in a phase where we’re still learning. It’s been good and Coach Bennett has brought in some new perspectives,” leading scorer Kelly Zajac.

Zajac leads a balanced scoring ledger for the Dutchmen with 21 points in 21 games, including a team-high 17 assists. Seven players have 12 points or more so far this year, and Union’s power play is clicking at an impressive 26.9 percent, which ranks fifth nationally. That matches a recently-developed reputation, as Union had the nation’s top power play one year ago (29.5 percent) and had seven players record 30 points or more.

The bigger story this year is at the other end of the ice. Union owns the nation’s best overall team defense, and has allowed just 1.95 goals against per game.

“The team has been great defensively and the defense corps has done a great job in front of me limiting chances, plus the forwards are coming back hard and blocking shots. I think that’s shown in our results so far,” Grosenick said. “We know that if everyone in the room is doing their job, it will help get us through games and through the tough times, so I would say that our team unity and our team defense are our team strengths.”

Grosenick, a sophomore, has taken on an increased workload this year following Kinkaid’s departure. Grosenick played in just three games as a freshman, for about 85 minutes of actual game time. So far this season, he’s already made 16 starts and has gaudy numbers that include a 1.74 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. His record is 9-3-3.

Union bounced back from back-to-back losses at the end of December at Denver and Colorado College with a 3-3 tie against Harvard and a 7-1 win over Dartmouth. This weekend brings a couple of highly-anticipated opportunities. The Dutchmen will play at Harvard Friday night outdoors at Fenway Park. That’s followed up by a return trip home Saturday night against rival Rensselaer. It will be just Union’s eighth home game of the season, in the Dutchmen’s 23rd game overall. They close the season with six of their last nine games at Messa Rink.

The schedule sets up favorably for a good Union team that’s focused on what’s ahead, not what’s in the past.

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

His Statistics: Backstopped the RedHawks to two wins at Michigan State—including a 4-0 shutout Saturday—by turning aside all but one of the 54 shots he faced on the weekend.

His Impact: A preseason Frozen Four favorite basically written off after losing six of eight in October, Miami has crept to within three points of second-place Notre Dame and Western Michigan in the CCHA standings thanks to a 9-3-3 record since Nov. 1.

Knapp was the hero for the RedHawks in their sweep of Michigan State in East Lansing. He made 33 saves in his team’s 2-1 overtime win Friday, then stopped all 20 shots he faced in Saturday’s series finale. Knapp, who started the year by losing three of his first four starts, is 4-1-0 in his last five appearances. During that span, he’s lowered his GAA by a full goal (from 3.17 to 2.17) while boosting his save percentage from .888 to .917.

His Runners-Up: Daniel Bahntge, Mercyhurst; Daniel Carr, Union; Joey Diamond, Maine; Carter Rowney, North Dakota

Charles “Lefty” Smith never led the Notre Dame hockey team to an NCAA Tournament appearance, nor did he guide them to a conference regular-season or playoff championship. Heck, in his 19 seasons as the Fighting Irish head coach, the team won 20 or more games in a season just four times.

That said, Notre Dame would have never soared to its recent heights without Smith, who passed away last week just two days shy of 82nd birthday. In 1968, after a successful 10-year stint as a high school coach in South St. Paul, Minn., he guided the Irish from their modern-day debut  as a Division I independent to membership in the WCHA, then the CCHA and, ultimately, back to independent status. A number of standouts played for Smith—Bill Nyrop, Jack Brownschidle, Greg Meredith, and Dave Poulin, to name a few—but his most notable achievement might be that each of the 126 players who played for him completed their college eligibility and earned degrees.

After stepping down as head coach in 1987, he became facilities manager at the school’s Loftus Sports Center, a post he held until his retirement last month. The main ice sheet at Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena bears his name.

We’re at that point in the college hockey season when people start talking about the PairWise Rankings, even though they’re only relevant for a matter of hours on the day the NCAA Tournament field is selected. And while we really don’t pay attention to the ups and downs of the computer rankings, they did catch our eye when we noticed that Northern Michigan is currently tied for sixth in PWR.

No disrespect to the Wildcats, who’ve had a decent season thus far, but does anyone really believe they’re better than Minnesota (eighth in the Pairwise), Merrimack (tied for 11th), Colgate (21st), or Union (26th)? One could legitimately argue that NMU is the sixth-best team in the state of Michigan. Fortunately, these types of things have a way of working themselves out in the end.

What Happened: Most of the players who returned from the recently completed World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton slotted right back into their college lineups over the weekend, but in two notable instances players were held out of action. Canada’s Jaden Schwartz wasn’t in the Friday night lineup for Colorado College, which lost that night to visiting Cornell. Canada had played in the bronze-medal game the day before. United States captain Jason Zucker had the entire weekend off as Denver split a non-conference series with Alabama-Huntsville.

What We’re Watching: Hey, anybody notice we’re in the midst of another bunch of outdoor hockey games during this two-week span? Fenway Park hosted a Hockey East doubleheader on Saturday and will host two more games this weekend when Harvard plays Union and Boston College faces Northeastern. Michigan and Ohio State will play this weekend at the home of the Cleveland Indians. Here’s our take—there sure are a lot of these games seemingly every season. The concept is still a cool one and while it’s no longer a unique spectacle, it’s unique to most of the participating teams and cities that are getting on board. Far be it from us to chastise them for providing and enjoying the outdoor hockey experience.

What the … ? Cheers and congratulations go out to the Northern Michigan duo of Matt Thurber and Andrew Cherniwchan as each recorded a hat trick in the Wildcats’ 7-3 win over Alaska on Saturday night in Marquette. It was the first time that happened for a Northern Michigan team since the 1991-92 season.

@saveuahhockey Save UAH Hockey

Did we mention that Denver was #11 and that this loss probably puts them out of the NCAA postseason? No? Well, now you know. — GFM

• OK, hold on a second here. We’re not taking anything away from Alabama-Huntsville’s excellent 3-2 win at Denver on Friday night, it probably supplanted Sacred Heart’s November win over Yale as the biggest upset of the season. But to claim that it affects Denver’s postseason standing is a little out of whack. If the Pioneers take care of business in the WCHA over the rest of the season, earn a top-four finish and make it to the Final Five, they’re going to be in the NCAAs no problem.

There’s no better way to get the second half of the season underway than with a slate of games that is arguably, from top to bottom, the best weekend of college hockey to date. In addition to a slew of games pitting ranked foes against one another, there are a few important conference matchups, a handful of intriguing non-league affairs, and a couple neutral-site games.

Chase Balisy and Western Michigan will try to snap Minnesota Duluth's 14-game unbeaten streak this weekend in Kalamazoo.

Minnesota Duluth at Western Michigan (Fri.-Sat.)
UMD hasn’t lost since mid-October, but the top-ranked Bulldogs haven’t played in nearly a month. They’ll face a Western Michigan team that has bounced back from a four-game Novemeber losing streak to post a 4-1-2 mark its last seven games. Lawson Ice Arena has been a tough venue for road teams even in the Broncos’ lean years, but since the start of the 2010-11 season, WMU is 19-7-4 at home. No question the place will be electric this weekend—both games will be sellouts, and the Lawson Lunatics will bring the venom usually reserved for visits from Michigan and Michigan State.

Notre Dame at Minnesota (Sat.)
The Fighting Irish and Gophers are similar in a few respects—both have slowed after getting out to strong starts, welcome back key players following a stint for the U.S. team at the World Junior Tournament, and boast deep, talented lineups virtually bereft of seniors. Minnesota has the edge in goal with Kent Patterson, but Notre Dame could get a boost if forward Anders Lee, a Twin Cities native who snapped a nine-game goal drought by scoring twice against Boston University last week, is back on track. This game starts a difficult month-long stretch for the Gophers, who follow this contest with league series against North Dakota, Colorado College, St. Cloud State, and Denver.

Merrimack at Boston University (Fri.)
Merrimack at Boston College (Sun.)
It’s too early to call this a make-or-break weekend for Merrimack, but it’s a noteworthy weekend on the schedule in evaluating exactly where the Warriors stand among the top teams in Hockey East. While they’ve already posted an overtime win over BU earlier this season, this back-to-back set will be more telling as to how Merrimack stacks up. After starting the season 9-0-1 through 10 games, Merrimack is just 2-3-2 in its last seven. Boston College comes into the weekend following a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational and Boston University suffered a 5-2 loss to Notre Dame during the holiday break. It’s a good chance for all three teams to start the second half in a positive manner.

Cornell at Colorado College (Fri.-Sat.)
Cornell heads to Colorado College for a two-game series this weekend before both teams head into an extended stretch of conference play to close the year. Keep an eye on the officiating standard as both teams have been tremendously proficient on the power play and relatively poor in penalty killing. CC is fifth in the country with a 25.3 percent conversion rate while Cornell is sixth at 23.9 percent. One big difference between the power-play units is that Colorado College has been stung for seven short-handed goals against while Cornell has not conceded any. While short-handed, both teams rank in the last 13 teams nationally as Cornell is 46th with a 78.2 penalty-kill success rate and Colorado College has killed off 77.6 percent, which ranks 48th.

Also: RIT, fresh off wins against top-20 opponents Ferris State and Lake Superior State at the Catamount Cup in Burington, Vt., last weekend, can add to its non-conference resume this weekend when it travels to Madison to face Wisconsin. … Speaking of Ferris, the Bulldogs have followed a 9-2-0 start by posting a 2-6-1 mark in their last nine games. They host Colgate, owners of a seven-game unbeaten streak. … Safe to say no one expected Michigan and Miami to be eighth and ninth, respectively, in the CCHA standings at the midway point of the season. Both teams can make up ground this weekend on teams they’re chasing—the Wolverines host fourth-place Lake Superior State and the RedHawks visit sixth-place Michigan State. … In the spirit of the original Winnipeg Jets, we encourage everyone attending Saturday’s Clarkson-North Dakota game in the ‘Peg to wear white. … They’ll be playing two games at Fenway Park Saturday—it’s Vermont against Massachusetts in one and New Hampshire and Maine in the other. We expect big things from the Black Bears’ Joey Diamond.

TERRIERS TAKE TIME TO REGROUP

The annual break for exams and finals is normally a down time for a team to rest and regroup for the second half of the season. For Boston University, however, the three-week span between games couldn’t have been more tumultuous.

Chris Connolly

First came the dismissal of senior Corey Trivino following an alcohol-related incident on campus on Dec. 12. Four days later, sophomore Charlie Coyle, training with the United States team in advance of the World Junior Championships, announced he was leaving to sign with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. At the time of their departures, Trivino and Coyle ranked first and fifth on the Terrier roster in scoring, with a combined 16 goals and 15 assists between the pair.

The Terriers began putting things back together upon the team’s return from the holiday break, despite returning to action with a disappointing 5-2 loss at Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve.

“We had a great practice before we left Boston; practices were really, really sharp,” said head coach Jack Parker following the game against the Irish. “The turmoil (of the break) was over once we started practice on the 26th, and people had different roles. It’s time to move on, and nobody’s worried about it.”

“It is a big loss,” said senior captain Chris Connolly, “but I think we have a lot of depth, and it’s just going to take the adjustment of guys playing some different positions with some different players. We’re still in a very good situation – this is a very good team.

“I think everybody was excited,” Connolly added about the Terriers getting back on the ice for game action. “You spend the first half trying to put yourself in a decent position so you don’t have to dig yourself out of a hole, and I think we’d done that.”

— Kevin Zeise

EVALUATING THE CCHA

When it comes to passing judgment on college hockey teams after their performance in holiday tournaments, it can get a little tricky. Thinking back a few years to the Badger Holiday Classic, watching Yale throttle a competitive Ferris State team helped put things into perspective for both sets of Bulldogs, as Yale went on to an unforgettable loss to Boston College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and Ferris State narrowly missed the Big Dance.

But with the dawn of 2012, the CCHA heads into the second half of its penultimate season with just as must uncertainty as they left the first half of the year.

While the current first place team, Ohio State, made it through the holiday season unscathed with a 4-2 victory over Robert Morris and second-place Notre Dame beat both Boston University and the Russian Red Stars, none of those victories give faith that these favorites will run away with the title in the second half of the year. And the successes and failures of some of the second-tier competitors in the 2011-12 title race help gray the issue even more.

With third place Western Michigan splitting a road series at St. Cloud State and eighth-place Michigan beating both Boston College and sixth-place Michigan State in the Great Lakes Invitational, it’s hard to say whether the Broncos have matured as a national contender or whether the Wolverines can bounce back to preserve the program’s NCAA Tournament streak.

If anything, we’ve learned that while the conference may lack an inarguably favorable national contender that it had in Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame in past years, but also that it’s reasonable to say that the eventual conference champ will be battle tested and perhaps ready to make the noise that has put Michigan, Notre Dame and Miami in the Frozen Four over the past few years.

In short, buckle up and enjoy the ride: it’s far from over in the CCHA.

— James V. Dowd

NORTH DAKOTA, CLARKSON VENTURE ACROSS BORDER

It sounds like something urged by Deepak Chopra or some other self-help guru: If you’re seeking identity and success, a journey of discovery to a foreign land may be useful.

The North Dakota hockey team, which now has no nickname identity (for another three years, minimum) and is seeking more non-conference success, will do just that this weekend. Dave Hakstol and company travel to Winnipeg for a single-game engagement with Clarkson on Saturday.

Dubbed the U.S. College Hockey Classic, the game will be played at the MTS Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, which is 150 miles from the North Dakota campus in downtown Winnipeg. They’re planning to close the upper level at the 15,000-seat rink and are hoping for a crowd that fills the lower bowl. It’s the first time in nearly 60 years that NoDak has played a game in Canada.

“For us it’s not a novelty. For us it’s purely a business trip going to Winnipeg,” said Hakstol at his weekly press conference. “We have to win a hockey game. It’s a critical game for us.”

Hakstol, assistants Cary Eades and Brad Berry, and 11 of their current players are from Western Canada originally, and the coach admits that he’d been hoping to play a game in Manitoba or somewhere further west for years. When True North Sports, owners of the Jets, offered their rink, things came together over the past 18 months. Officials from College Hockey, Inc., are using the game as an opportunity to educate

a Canadian audience. They’ll host a free seminar on American college hockey at the rink before the North Dakota-Clarkson game.

“This is a great opportunity for fans in Winnipeg to get a first-hand look at the college game,” said Paul Kelly of College Hockey, Inc. “Any time new fans can see the quality of college hockey in person

it’s beneficial, and we applaud North Dakota, Clarkson and the MTS Centre for putting this event together.”

The less encouraging news for North Dakota fans is the continued mess of injuries plaguing the team. They got a win and tie with Harvard last weekend, but also lost sophomore forward Derek Rodwell for the

season with a shoulder injury. Hakstol said Corban Knight is unlikely to play against Clarkson, Rocco Grimaldi has yet to return, and Mario Lamoureux’s status is questionable for this weekend too.

In other words, the nickname category is far from the only place where North Dakota is seeking some identity as the team heads north of the border this weekend.

— Jess Myers

COLGATE VISITS FERRIS STATE IN KEY NON-LEAGUE MATCHUP

The Colgate Raiders are one of the nation’s most surprising teams so far this season and the Raiders have a chance to prove their national merit this weekend with a road trip to Ferris State against a Bulldog team that has spent the majority of the season in the national rankings. The Raiders carry a 12-4-2 record into the New Year and have rattled off a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) with the tie coming against Merrimack.

This is an uptick in the schedule for the Raiders as people start to look toward NCAA Tournament selection criteria. Colgate is one of the teams on the tournament bubble at this point and these will be the Raiders’ last two non-conference games before concluding the regular season with 14 games against ECAC Hockey opponents.

One of Colgate’s keys to success this year has been strong overall team defense. The Raiders are ranked eighth nationally in team defense by allowing just 2.17 goals per game. Sophomore goalie Eric Mihalik has handled the bulk of the goaltending duties and owns a 2.48 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in 12 starts, with an 8-3-1 record. Alex Evin has a 1.48 GAA and .948 save percentage in six starts. He is 4-1-1.

Colgate can also score some goals. The Raiders are tenth in the country with a 3.39 goals per game average, of course led by the point-scoring contributions of Austin Smith. Smith leads the nation in scoring with 19 goals and 31 points.

— Joe Gladziszewski

ARMY HOPES FOR BETTER SECOND HALF

Two wins by New Year’s Day is hardly what a senior-laden Army hockey team expected. Yet, these Black Knights are not demoralized.

“Injuries have hurt us,” said senior captain Marcel Alvarez, “But, honestly, we don’t try to use that as an excuse. We have to deal with some of that the rest of the season.”

Army lost two players – freshman right winger Tyler Pistone and junior forward Mike Santee – for the entire season before the first game. Junior defenseman Cheyne Rocha was lost to a broken leg in a Nov. 19 game with Brown. Couple those season-enders with a host of other injuries ranging from a weekend to several weeks in length, and coach Brian Riley was able to field only 17 skaters in a pair of recent games, and has a number of skaters playing out of position.

At 2-9-6, this is Army’s slowest start (for wins) since the 2001-02 season. Riley remains encouraged, though, because his team has managed points – albeit through a school-record six draws – in all but two weekends.

“It’s kind of a fine line between winning and losing,” Riley said. “In three of those (ties), we had breakaways in overtime, two of them while we were short-handed. That’s how close this team has been to winning a few more games.”

Special teams play has to improve, Riley said. The good news is Army has not allowed an even-strength goal in the past three games. The bad news is the Black Knights have allowed two power-play goals in each of the past four contests.

The roster situation will get better. Senior forward Danny Colvin is expected to return for this weekend’s series against Canisius. Junior defenseman John Clark may return in a few weeks. Senior defenseman Bret Larson, out since Nov. 11, should return in February.

— Ken McMillan

Great Lakes Invitational at Detroit
Boston College vs. Michigan; Michigan State vs. Michigan Tech (Thu.)
Third-Place Game and Championship (Fri.)

The Lions are in the playoffs for the first time since 1999; maybe Brett Olson and Michigan Tech can win the Huskies' first Great Lakes Invitational title since 1981 this week in Detroit.

By far, the Great Lakes Invitational highlights the holiday tournament schedule with four participants that have all been nationally ranked at some point this season. A resurgent Michigan Tech squad was one of the first half’s pleasant surprises under new coach Mel Pearson (previously an assistant coach at Michigan) and this is MTU’s best chance at winning the title in many years. The Huskies haven’t won the tournament they host since 1981. Boston College and Michigan State have the chance to meet on Saturday, a midseason reunion of sorts after they played one of the first games of the college hockey season at the Ice Breaker in North Dakota in early October.

Air Force at Colorado College; Union at Denver (Fri.)
Denver at Air Force; Union at Colorado College (Sat.)

It’s a travel-partner sort of weekend in Colorado, which should make Union comfortable even though the Dutchmen are the geographic outlier. Three of the four teams come into this weekend set with some momentum, as Union is 4-0-2 in its last six games, Air Force has won four in a row and CC has won four of five. Denver has split its last three two-game weekends and also dropped an OT game at Colorado College earlier this month. Jason Zucker of Denver and Jaden Schwarz of Colorado College are out of the lineups, due to their involvement in international play.

Boston University at Notre Dame (Sat.)

Ringing in 2012 with a New Year’s Eve battle between the Terriers and Fighting Irish at the Compton Family Ice Arena isn’t a terrible way to spend the final days of the holiday season. Both teams could use a little good news—Notre Dame had lost four in a row before beating Ferris State in its last game prior to the break and, although BU has won seven of its last eight, the Terriers have to adapt to life without forwards Corey Trivino (booted from the team) and Charlie Coyle (off to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after the World Junior Championship). The WJC also means lineup shuffling for both coaches, as BU is without defenseman Adam Clendening and the Irish play without defenseman Stephen Johns and forward T.J. Tynan.

Catamount Cup at Burlington, Vt.
Ferris State vs. RIT; Lake Superior State at Vermont (Thurs.)
Lake Superior State vs. RIT; Ferris State at Vermont (Fri.)

At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a marquee event but for Ferris State, Lake Superior State, and RIT, the opportunity to get two wins against quality non-conference opponents definitely helps the NCAA Tournament resume (and yes, it’s getting to that time where we have to start thinking about stuff like that and, yes, UVM has struggled to date, but a road win against a Hockey East foe never hurts.) It’s also a chance for Ferris and Lake State to start the second half of the season with a bang—both teams have lost four of its last six games.

Also: Other holiday tournaments include the UConn Hockey Classic (Army, UMass Lowell, Rensselaer, and the host Huskies) and the Florida College Classic (Clarkson, Cornell, Maine, and Massachusetts) on Thursday and Friday, and the Ledyard Bank Tournament (Holy Cross, Merrimack, St. Lawrence, and host Dartmouth) and the Mariucci Classic (Niagara, Northeastern, Princeton, and host Minnesota) on Friday and Saturday. … A trio of nice non-conference series in WCHA-land this weekend as North Dakota hosts Harvard, Western Michigan travels to St. Cloud State, and Quinnipiac visits Nebraska-Omaha. … Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins and a future Frozen Four site, hosts Friday’s game pitting Ohio State against Robert Morris. The Pens are out of town the following day, so you won’t have to worry about running into Sidney Crosby. Better yet, Sidney Crosby won’t have to worry about running into you.

In following up with the recently-published conference midseason reports, Inside College Hockey figured this lull in the schedule would be a great time to reflect on the first half from an awards perspective, and so we present the first edition of the Hobey Tracker for the 2011-12 campaign. We’ll look at a group of seven standouts (listed alphabetically) who have established themselves as top candidates so far, and mention six more worthy of consideration.

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 year long. Inside College Hockey’s Hobey Tracker looks at our picks for the top candidates and other players worthy of discussion.

Nick Bjugstad
Minnesota, So., F
20 GP, 16-11–27

Bjugstad was a fast-starter this season with six goals and 11 points in the Gophers’ first seven games. He gets his points in bunches, with 10 multi-point nights in 20 games, but he’s also been held off the scoresheet entirely in five other games.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth, Sr., F
18 GP, 12-17–29

A finalist for this award last year, Connolly has shown that he’s as dynamic on his own as he was with one of the nation’s top lines for the national champs last year. He had an impressive total of 13 points through 10 games this season, but heated up with 16 points in the Bulldogs’ last eight contests, as UMD continues to roll.

Cal Heeter
Ohio State, Sr., G
11-2-1, 2.11 GAA, .926 sv. pct.

The Buckeyes have been one of the biggest surprises in the first half of the season, and Heeter has played a big role in that success. He’s given up two or fewer goals in 10 of his 15 starts and has seven starts in which he’s allowed a goal or less.

Chris Krieder
Boston College, So., F
18 GP, 12-11–23

Kreider started his season strongly in leading Boston College to a pair of wins at the IceBreaker tournament, and has continued to post steady point totals in a very consistent year. He has points in 16 of BC’s 18 games so far, but has just five multi-point games on the season.

Justin Schultz
Wisconsin, Jr., D
18 GP, 9-19–28

A 2011 Hobey finalist after leading the nation’s defensemen with 18 goals and 47 points, Schultz is on pace to surpass both totals this season. He’s scored at least one point in all but two of the Badgers’ 18 games, and enters the holiday break having scored five goals in his last four games.

Austin Smith
Colgate, Sr., F
17 GP, 18-10–28

Arguably, the front-runner for the Hobey at this point in the season, Smith is meeting some of the high expectations that accompanied him to Colgate for a resurgent Raider team. He’s the nation’s leading scorer, has five short-handed goals on the year, and has at least two points in eight of 17 games played.

T.J. Tynan
Notre Dame, So., F
20 GP, 7-20–27

Tynan has cooled after a blistering start—he notched 14 points in the Irish’s first seven games—but he’s still producing at a good enough clip to rank tied for third in the country in scoring. Though he’s more playmaker than sniper, Notre Dame is 6-1 this season when he scores a goal.

Danny Biega, Harvard; Joe Cannata, Merrimack; Kyle De Laurell, Air Force; Paul Karpowich, Clarkson; Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College; Jason Zucker, Denver

SURPRISE TEAM

Kurtis Bartliff has recently returned to the Colgate lineup, giving the Raiders more depth at forward.

Without a doubt, it’s Colgate. The Raiders have been consistently strong from the start of the finish. They opened some eyes with a pair of wins at the season-opening Maverick Stampede in Omaha by defeating Robert Morris and the host UNO.

They followed that up with a split at home against Miami and that really caught people’s attention. From that point forward, it’s been more of the same. The Raiders haven’t lost consecutive games this season, and closed the first half with a 5-0-1 record in their last six games.

SURPRISE INDIVIDUAL

When underclass goalies Keith Kinkaid of Union and Allen York of RPI decided to forego their remaining college eligibility to play professional hockey, followers of ECAC Hockey knew to keep an eye on the guys that would inherit those positions at the Capital Region schools. Union sophomore Troy Grosenick has taken the starting goaltender role and has been excellent so far. He has started 12 of Union’s 16 games on the year, and has a 7-2-2 record with gaudy totals including a 1.78 goals-against average and .931 save percentage. He has also been consistent. Only three times all year has he given up more than two goals (a win, tie and loss) and he’s also posted two shutouts.

WHAT HAPPENED TO …

After losing a stellar senior class and the previously-mentioned standout goaltender York to professional hockey, it was expected that Rensselaer would probably drop down the standings a bit after playing in the NCAA Tournament last spring. Nobody expected the drop to be as severe as it has been so far. RPI currently sits last in ECAC Hockey with a 1-6-0 record, and is 3-13-0 overall. The Engineers have scored just 20 goals in 16 games, and the team’s leading scorer is defenseman Nick Bailen, with eight points.

BEST NEW FACE

One coach in ECAC Hockey remarked earlier this season that he thought Cornell’s freshman class was the best in the nation – better than even the highly-touted incoming groups at Miami, Denver and Boston College. That bunch has not disappointed, even though standout forward Philip Hudon never ended up on the Big Red roster. And among the newcomers, Brian Ferlin has stood out at the top of the class. He’s got good size and finds a way to get into prime scoring areas. He’s scored five goals and has 12 points through 11 games, and could very likely end up playing for the United States at the upcoming World Junior Championship.

BIGGEST UPSET

Easiest call I’ve ever had to make for one of these categories in nine years of writing this midseason report. November 22, 2011. Sacred Heart 7, Yale 6. Whaaaaaa? Yup, Sacred Heart entered the game 0-11-0 on the season, while Yale was 5-1-1 and still ranked among the top-10 in most college hockey rankings. Sure it was a Tuesday-night road game, and there’s no doubt that both of Yale’s goaltenders struggled (seven goals against on 19 shots), but that one was a real head-scratcher.

TOUGHEST ROAD OUT

Not only did St. Lawrence open its season with four of its first five games against teams that were nationally-ranked at some point during the season, but the Saints found out prior to the start of the season that head coach Joe Marsh would be away from the team indefinitely due to medical concerns. Assistant coaches Mike Hurlbut and Greg Carvel were in charge, and it took the team some time to adapt. After starting the year with four losses, a three-week break helped turn things around a bit. The Saints went 6-5-0 in their last 11 games before the break, including a non-conference split at home against a surprising Michigan Tech team. Seven of the team’s 10 losses are against teams that are currently ranked.

TOUGHEST ROAD IN

Defenseman Danny Biega leads Harvard in scoring ... again.

It’s not fair to call this the halfway point of the season for Harvard, because the Crimson have played just 10 games.

They have 19 games left, and that schedule includes two games EACH against North Dakota, Boston University, Yale and Union. Of the other 11 games, a trip to Colgate and Cornell is in the mix, along with a possible matchup against Boston College in the second week of the Beanpot.

MUST-SEE GAMES

Two years ago, Cornell and Colgate broke a pattern and split up their home-and-home series instead of playing those games on the same weekend. This season, the pattern holds and the top-two teams in the current ECAC Hockey standings are set up for a huge pair of games, Jan. 27 at Lynah Rink in Ithaca and the following night at Colgate’s Starr Rink.

BIGGEST QUESTION ANSWERED

Cornell goaltender Andy Iles was a highly-touted recruit and performed admirably in a platoon role as a freshman one year ago. If there was a doubt as to how the hometown-goalie would handle the role as the team’s number-one guy as a sophomore, that doubt has been erased. Iles has started all 11 games for the Big Red, and has five shutouts with a 1.62 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.

BIGGEST QUESTION REMAINING

Union and Yale have been atop the ECAC Hockey standings in recent years and were both expected to compete for the top spots in the standings again this year. Right now, both are looking up at Colgate and Cornell, even though they’ve got games in hand. Will they emerge to challenge the season’s early leaders in the second half? We’ll find out over the course of January and February.

INCH’s FIRST HALF ALL-ECAC HOCKEY TEAM

G- Paul Karpowich, Clarkson: Some other goalies in the league have better numbers, but Karpowich’s .938 save percentage and 1.93 goals-against average are nothing to sneeze at. No goalie in the league means more to his team’s chances for success.

D- Danny Biega, Harvard: No surprise here, Biega does everything for the Crimson and is off to another great start with 14 points in 10 games.

D- Kier Ross, Cornell: After playing as a forward and a defenseman for his first three years, Ross is wearing the ‘C’ this year on the blue line. His leadership and consistency means a lot to a very young team, even though Nick D’Agostino leads the way in scoring for Big Red defensemen.

F- Jeremy Langlois, Quinnipiac: The junior leads the Bobcats with 12 goals and 19 points through 19 games, as Quinnipiac is currently in third place, and has an impressive home-ice record of 8-1-2.

F- Austin Smith, Colgate: Not only is he the front-runner for ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors, he’s probably the leading candidate for the Hobey Baker Award. His 18 goals leads the nation, and he’s second in all of college hockey with 28 points.

F- Jeremy Welsh, Union: The junior forward for Union isn’t slowing down after scoring 16 goals as a sophomore. He’s already got 12 this year, and leads the Dutchmen forwards in goals and points.

DANE WALTERS
Western Michigan
Jr. | F | St. Paul, Minn.

Dane Walters

His Statistics: Five points in the Broncos’ tie and win against Bowling Green, including three goals and an assist in Saturday’s 6-1 win in Kalamazoo.

His Impact: Walters’ play helped Western Michigan launch into the holiday break with a five-game unbeaten streak. He had an assist in the Broncos’ 3-3 tie at Bowling Green Friday, then scored the first hat trick of his college career as WMU routed the Falcons, 6-1, at Lawson Arena.

Though 18 games this season, Walters, one of the Broncos’ assistant captains, leads the team with nine goals, 17 points, and a plus-minus rating of +10. He’s scored five goals and seven points in WMU’s last three games.

His Runners-Up: Michael Colavecchia, RIT; Zach Lehrke, Minnesota State; Patrick McNally, Harvard; Kieran Millan, Boston University

The United States Hockey Hall of Fame enshrined five members on Monday night, including three former college players. Chris Chelios played two years at Wisconsin and one with the United States Olympic team prior to beginning a standout NHL career that spanned parts of 27 seasons during which he won the Norris Trophy three times. Gary Suter played two years at Wisconsin before going on to the Calgary Flames, where he won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year. He played 1,145 professional games and totaled 845 points. Keith Tkachuk had 40 points in his only season at Boston University and then totaled 1,065 points in his NHL career.

Announcer Mike Emrick is among the best-liked play-by-play men in the business and endears himself even further to college hockey fans by regularly mentioning the schools where NHL players plied their trade before heading to pro hockey. “Doc” earned a master’s degree from Miami and a doctorate degree from Bowling Green.

As always, when compiling the INCH Power Rankings, it gives us a first look ahead at the upcoming schedule. This week, the realization was mostly, “What upcoming schedule?” There are only 10 Division I men’s ice hockey games scheduled for this weekend, plus North Dakota’s exhibition. We understand that semester breaks and finals week at most institutions have something to do with it, but it’s a bit of a tough realization that college hockey fans will have to wait until holiday tournaments for a full slate of action after being treated to a great first few months of the year.

What Happened: Rare are the occasions when college hockey players take part in an actual, gloves-off fight. What took place between coaches from Michigan Tech and Minnesota at Mariucci Arena last Saturday was even more unique.

Chippiness on the ice peaked late in the third period of the Gophers’ 6-2 win—to the tune of 51 minutes in penalties in the last 3:11 of regulation—and that venom spilled over to the benches, sparking a shouting match between Michigan Tech assistant coach Bill Muckalt and Minnesota head coach Don Lucia and assistant Grant Potulny.

“There was some talk going back and forth,” Lucia said Monday on his weekly radio show. “I don’t think that is the way we want to finish a game. I don’t think that is the way they want to finish a game. It is regrettable and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

What We’re Watching: In the most recent INCH Podcast, our panel mentioned that Alabama-Huntsville goaltender Clarke Saunders would continue his college hockey career at North Dakota next season. Of course, Saunders made up his mind before new UAH president Robert Altenkirch saved Chargers hockey from the chopping block.

However, the Grand Forks Herald’s Brad Elliott Schlossman reported Monday that despite the reprieve for Alabama-Huntsville, Saunders is following through on his plan to transfer. And according to Schlossman, Saunders will be eligible to play next season since he announced his intention to transfer after UAH opted to drop varsity hockey at the end of this year. At first glance, this development seems insignificant, but it could have a far-reaching impact on not on Alabama-Huntsville but also programs that accept UAH transfers.

What the … ? Great point brought up by INCH’s Hockey East correspondent Kevin Zeise in response to the logo for last weekend’s Festivus Faceoff, the Lake Placid doubleheader featuring Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Union, and Rensselaer—where’s the Festivus pole? In the “Seinfeld” Festivus episode, the pole was integral to the plot. Leaving it out of the logo seems egregious, but, again, credit for naming the event after Festivus in the first place. We might need a Festivus pole, but we don’t need another Holiday Classic.

@2lidgett2quit John Lidgett

Good Luck to the boys on the battle to stay eligible @joewill426 @chriswags23 @Firdogger @UncleLeids @Longer11 @ochoTRON @ClaytonJardine

• For some students at Colgate, the end of the semester means a chance to put the finishing touches on academic excellence. For freshman forward John Lidgett, it’s about encouraging his teammates to meet some minimum standards. Attaboy keeping the main thing the main thing, John, and compliments on your Twitter handle.