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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@YogaMatt9 Matt Harlow

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

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

Whoever said there’s two sides to every story would love to be a season-ticket holder for Brown this year. On one side, Brown is the last-place team in ECAC Hockey, mired in a six-game losing streak and ranked among the bottom-15 teams in the country in scoring offense, scoring defense and power-play efficiency. On the other side, it’s a team that has twice beaten Union, knocked off Cornell and Yale, and posted wins on the road against New Hampshire and Providence.

Mike Clemente and Brown have some big wins this season. They could be a tough out in the playoffs.

“We’ve beaten some really good teams, that’s been a positive. There’s games that I look at our team and I see the makings of a pretty good hockey team and a program for the future. Then there’s other games where we don’t look very good,” Brown head coach Brendan Whittet said.

“I don’t think we handle the downs very well. Some of that has to do with the youngness of our hockey team. That’s not an excuse, but when you’re playing eight freshmen regularly you’re going to have mistakes and growing pains. What you need is a group of older guys that can lead those younger guys, and I think we’re a little short in numbers of guys who play in those upper classes.”

There are some bright spots among those younger players, specifically freshman winger Ryan Jacobson, who is second on the team in goals (10) and points (18).

“He’s another one of those young pups that’s running around for us. He’s a freshman, he’s got a nose for the net and he plays the game hard. He has good footspeed and plays a pretty tenacious game,” Whittet said of Jacobson, who only trails senior forward Jack Maclellan on the Brown scoring charts.

Maclellan is putting up another all-league worthy campaign with 27 points in 25 games. Some of the other freshmen that have made an impact include Matt Lorito and Massimo Lamacchia. That means there’s optimism for the extended future, and Whittet is excited about the potential of the incoming recruiting class. For now, the third-year head coach is dealing with some frustration in the pace in which progress is achieved.

“It’s a longer process than I would have ever anticipated, I’ll tell you that. I came in my first year and there were some good players that were left by Roger Grillo and his staff, and I felt we were able to get the most out of that team. Last year, I thought we took a step back in a lot of aspects. This year we’ve kind of continued on that same track, a lot of highs and lows. We’ve just got to maximize the highs and minimize the lows, and right now we’re in a pretty low spot.”

The fragile psyche of a team that has experienced highs and lows has been on display lately. Two weeks ago, Brown built a 3-0 lead in a game against St. Lawrence before yielding the final five goals of the game on home ice. The next time out, at Cornell’s Lynah Rink, Brown scored in the last minute of the first period and opening minute of the second period, but again closed the game by allowing five straight goals to its opponent.

There have been high points too. After getting a tie and win at Clarkson and St. Lawrence in mid-January, Brown was 4-4-2 in ECAC Hockey and well within range for a first-round home-ice playoff series. Since then, the Bears are just 1-7-0 in their last eight and have fallen to the bottom of the standings. Another stumbling block for the Bears is that they haven’t been very good on home ice, with a 3-6-1 record at Meehan Auditorium.

“There’s times where we look very dynamic and we look like a team that’s cohesive and on top of it. And there’s other games we just look like we’ve never played. Some of it is understanding how to win, the will to win that it takes,” Whittet said. “I think, unfortunately, when you lose it breeds losing and when you win it breeds winning. Right now we’re not in a good place, so we’re trying to work our way out of it.

Brown still controls its ability to move into the fifth-through-eighth place tier in the standings with a couple of strong weekends to close the regular season. The Bears have head-to-head games against Dartmouth, Quinnipiac and Princeton, teams that it can realistically catch in the standings chase. More importantly for Brown, is to get some confidence back and get ready for the playoffs. It’s a team that has proven it can beat the elite teams in the league, and a young lineup will have a full season of experience. Senior Mike Clemente has proven he can be a tough puzzle to solve in the postseason, and the Bears only have to look at last year’s playoff results to know that they can make a deep run.

We’ll just have to wait and see which side of the story is told.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• Blah, blah, blah, there’s coachspeak and cliché about how close the league is and how tight the games are every weekend. Every team can win on a given night, etc. You’ve heard and read it all before. So we give full marks to Mike Schafer for putting it in perspective earlier this week. I asked him if he thought there was some stratification in the league, and that Union, Cornell and Colgate might have separated themselves a little bit. His answer:

“It doesn’t feel that way. Every night you play against a team, and if the fans didn’t know and there was no program and no media, I think the fans would have a hard time telling you who the best team that they’ve seen this year, that’s a visiting team in our rink. I think you would get a lot of different answers on that question,” Schafer said. “I think points-wise the league has kind of shaped itself out, but I really don’t believe it has in a game-in, game-out basis this year. It’s really difficult.”

• Austin Smith moved to the top spot in the latest edition of our Hobey Tracker, and I used the term “realistic optimism” to describe thoughts about him potentially getting to the 40-goal mark. Smith has 32 goals. With four regular-season games remaining and two playoff games guaranteed, an extended postseason run for the Raiders would certainly make those chances more likely. How rare would that achievement be? The last college player to score 40 or more goals in a season was Dean Fedorchuk of Alaska-Fairbanks. He totaled 42 goals in the 1993-94 season.

• A note on Harvard’s 10 ties this season: It might bring good news. With an assist from our friends at College Hockey Inc., two other teams have qualified for the NCAAs with 10 ties in a season since the field expanded to 16 teams. Last year, a 19-12-10 Western Michigan team made the field, and Minnesota State pulled off the feat in the 2003 tournament with a 20-10-10 record. The 2008-09 Colorado College Tigers weren’t as fortunate. They ended the year 16-12-10 and didn’t get an NCAA invitation.

• It’s Friday night, which means there’s college hockey on NBC Sports Network, and this week it’s an ECAC Hockey matchup as Dartmouth visits Yale. It’s a 7:30 p.m. start in New Haven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kyle Bonis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@tommillergf Tom Miller

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

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

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

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

Minnesota vs. Denver (Fri.-Sat.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When the standings are bunched as tightly as they are this year in ECAC Hockey, every team believes it has a shot. It doesn’t matter that St. Lawrence suffered an 0-7-1 run over eight conference games during the middle part of the season. Two wins last week changed the team’s entire outlook with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

“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.

If timing is everything, then Colgate might have had everything last weekend. The Raiders were mired in a six-game winless streak before one of its most difficult weekends of the season, and turned that into an opportunity to correct what was going wrong. All of the things that could have planted doubt in the minds of Colgate were seemingly remedied during a home-and-home series against travel partner and then-first-place Cornell. Consider the following in Colgate’s two wins:

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.