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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@twolinepass America is a helluva country!

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

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

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

Bill Sweatt leads CC with 20 points in 18 games.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SURPRISE TEAM

Tanner House is one of the Maine players that has contributed to an improved offense.

We knew Maine would be an improved team this year after missing the Hockey East playoffs in 2007-08 and earning the eighth seed in 2008-09. After all, for the first time in two years, the Black Bears actually returned their core group of top-notch players. Sophomore forwards Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn have paced Maine’s scoring punch, and sophomore goalie Scott Darling has provided stability in net.

The Black Bears are 7-4-1 (15 points) in Hockey East play, and they’re in third place in the standings, three points behind New Hampshire and one point behind Boston College. Maine’s most noticeable difference is its scoring ability. It’s third in Hockey East in scoring with 3.65 goals per game (0.02 goals per game behind leaders UNH and UMass), which is a glaring upgrade from the last two seasons. The Black Bears were ninth in scoring last season with 2.21 goals per game and eighth in 2007-08 with 2.26 goals per clip. Maine also has seven players with at least 12 points this season.

SURPRISE INDIVIDUAL

The Man on the Mountain is dead, but New Hampshire’s ability to churn out high-scoring forwards will live forever. The latest example is senior forward Bobby Butler, who was a hardnosed role player for the majority of his first three seasons in Durham but now sits tied atop Hockey East with 13 goals. Butler is third in the league with 24 points and second on UNH with 11 assists. He’s definitely shown signs of a kid who can put up these numbers, posting a 9-21-30 line last season, and his 30 points were tied for third on the Wildcats. However, now that it seems to be his team - Butler is one of four UNH seniors, and his game has helped the Wildcats vault to first place in Hockey East during what appeared to be a restocking year - Butler is making the most of the opportunity.

WHAT HAPPENED TO …

There’s no “it” factor for the Boston University Terriers this season. The ruthless attitude they displayed during the final minute of last season’s national championship has stayed behind in Washington D.C., and as coach Jack Parker has already put it, BU is too happy with its 2008-09 accomplishments. BU couldn’t overcome an early-season injury to junior forward Nick Bonino, a preseason Hobey Baker candidate who missed five games with a shoulder injury and has just four goals and six assists in 11 contests.

Sophomore goalie Kieran Millan has also completely fallen off the map. After going 29-2-3 with a .921 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average during his freshman season, he’s 3-9-0 with an .862 save percentage and 3.52 goals-against average this year. Millan is last in winning percentage, save percentage and goals-against average among all Hockey East goalies who have played in 33 percent of the team’s minutes.

BU is seventh in Hockey East in goals scored (2.75 per game) and last in goals allowed (3.50), and it has surrendered a league-worst 23 goals in the third period. The Terriers are 2-7-2 (six points) and ninth place in the league standings, just one point ahead of Providence, which has a game in hand. Plus, BU has won back-to-back games once this season, and that was sandwiched between a two-game losing streak and four-game losing streak. Since winning those consecutive games, BU is 2-7-3.

Boston University has far too much talent to let this continue, but there is almost no room for error in the second half. Without a monumental winning streak - and there’s no evidence to believe the Terriers are capable of one at this point - BU will likely have to win the Hockey East postseason title to earn an NCAA tournament berth.

BEST NEW FACE

Stephane Da Costa

Merrimack freshman forward Stephane Da Costa sent out a public-service announcement in his second career game, as he became the first Warrior in Hockey East history to score five goals in one night. In doing so, Da Costa also became the first freshman in school history with a natural hat trick, which he accomplished in a 10-minute span in the first period. He also became the first Warrior to score three goals in a game in four years, and the first one to do it at Lawler Arena in seven seasons.

Da Costa leads the Warriors with nine goals and 19 points, and he’s second on the team with 10 assists and a plus-four rating. Merrimack junior forward Chris Barton said Da Costa sees the ice really well and is the type of player who is cerebral enough to make things easier for the rest of his line. Da Costa has also earned the respect of his teammates by displaying a hard work ethic, and Barton believes Da Costa will be a legitimate player in Hockey East for quite awhile.

BIGGEST UPSET

Merrimack beat Boston College, 5-3, at Lawler Arena on Nov. 1, giving the Warriors their first victory against BC since Feb. 15, 2003. The Eagles were 16-0-4 against Merrimack during that stretch, including a 4-3 victory at Conte Forum two nights before. It wasn’t easy for the Warriors, who erased a 1-0 deficit by posting five consecutive goals. They clung to the victory, as senior goalie Andrew Braithwaite stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced in the third period.

TOUGHEST ROAD OUT

UNH went 0-1-1 in an October series at home against top-ranked Miami, and two weeks later, the Wildcats got smoked in a pair of games at Wisconsin. Throw in a game against rival Maine, one against Boston College, two against Lowell, two at UMass, a home-and-home with BU and a road trip to Vermont, and the Wildcats should be impressed with their first-place position in Hockey East.

TOUGHEST ROAD IN

At least Northeastern’s hockey team has a second half to complain about, unlike the university’s newly-defunct football program. The Huskies will have some serious work to do if they want to qualify for the Hockey East playoffs a year after one of their most successful seasons in school history. After the conclusion of the Beanpot, Northeastern closes out its schedule with home-and-homes against UMass, BC, UNH and BU. Prior to that gauntlet, the Huskies have two games against Lowell (and possibly three, depending on how the Ledyard Bank Classic unfolds) and a two-game trip to Vermont. If the Huskies falter, NU athletic director Peter Roby will kill the program (we’re joking, hopefully).

MUST-SEE GAME

Red Sox fans might not like this, but Jack Parker figures to spend more time in left field at Fenway Park in 2010 than Jason Bay. Parker’s Terriers take on Boston College at Fenway on Jan. 8, as a follow-up to the NHL Winter Classic between the Bruins and Flyers on New Year’s. The best college hockey rivalry in the Northeast - and maybe the country - takes the stage at one of the greatest sporting venues in the history of time.

BIGGEST QUESTION ANSWERED

How will Lowell handle its most significant preseason expectations of the decade? Despite a late hiccup (2-4-0 in their last six), the River Hawks have proven they’re worthy of a national tournament bid. They still go through stretches when they struggle to score, but the River Hawks get great defensive efforts on a routine basis, and they’ve got the best goaltending tandem in Hockey East with seniors Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton.

BIGGEST QUESTION REMAINING

Can Merrimack return to the postseason? The Warriors, who have missed the postseason in five consecutive years, are 4-6-0 (eight points) in league play, which is a nice start considering their recent history. They’re in eighth place, but one of the teams behind them is the defending national champions. Judging by the Hockey East standings heading into the holiday break, you’ve got to believe the Warriors will be in a head-to-head fight with Northeastern (4-7-1, nine points) for the eighth and final playoff position.

INCH’s FIRST HALF ALL-HOCKEY EAST TEAM

G-Scott Darling, Maine: The sophomore leads the league in winning percentage (9-3-1, .731), and he’s third with a 2.47 goals-against average and fourth with a .912 save percentage.

D-Nick Schaus, UMass Lowell: The best defenseman in the league leads all blue liners with a plus-12 rating, and he has somewhat surprisingly added some scoring punch. Schaus leads the team, as well as all Hockey East defensemen, with 14 assists and 18 points this season.

D-Blake Kessel, New Hampshire: Kessel, Blake Kessel, what? Kessel, Blake Kessel, what? Watch him … on the UNH D. Watch him … on the UNH D.

F-James Marcou, Massachusetts: The junior leads Hockey East with 21 points and 26 assists, and he is a major reason why UMass is in position to contend for a home-ice spot in the playoffs.

F-Gustav Nyquist, Maine: The sophomore leads the team with 11 goals and 25 points, and he’s tied for the lead with 14 assists. Maine fans are hoping they can credit Nyquist with being the player who successfully turned around the program.

F-Bobby Butler, New Hampshire: Butler has two game-winning goals this season, which gives him 10 for his career. He’s always cool in crunch time, which figures to be a real asset for UNH in a few months. Butler also has a league-best plus-13.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Even as this appeared to be the year of the underdog in Hockey East, the top of the league standings are littered by its traditional powers.

Heading into the final weekend of conference play of the season’s first half, New Hampshire (7-2-2, 16 points), Boston College (6-3-2, 14 points) and Maine (6-4-1, 13 points) have locked down Hockey East’s top-three spots, overtaking UMass Lowell (5-4-1, 11 points) and Massachusetts (5-4-0, 10 points) to reclaim their upper-echelon status.

“We started off the year a little shaky there, but we’ve got a young team overall,” UNH sophomore defenseman Blake Kessel said. “I think our guys really finally stepped up their game and proved that we’re just as good as anyone out there as long as we play our game.”

To point out the obvious, the standings don’t hold a whole lot of weight until March, but UNH and BC have served notice that they’re not ready to fall off despite the departures of significant upperclassmen. All the while, Lowell (which started 4-1-1 in Hockey East before losing three of its last four games) and UMass (started 4-1-0 before dropping three of its last four league games), have fallen back to earth.

The River Hawks, who were universally picked to finish in the top two in Hockey East, have been riding the momentum they created last postseason. For much of this season, they’ve been nationally recognized as one of the best teams in the conference.

“To be honest, I think guys are just focusing on our business,” Lowell junior forward Scott Campbell said. “It’s nice to get the recognition in the polls, but we’re trying to just take care of our game and go about it that way. We’ve got an older group of guys here, a mature group, and a lot of the guys were there through it last year. I think a lot of the guys know what it takes.”

There have been some surprises along the way, both positively and negatively. Obviously, Maine’s resurgence was slightly unexpected, but the Black Bears overcame an 0-2-0 start in league play to go 6-2-1 in their last nine Hockey East games, including a current four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1).

Similar to Lowell, Maine can trace its strong start in 2009-10 to last season’s playoff with Boston University. The Black Bears, who finished eighth in Hockey East, pushed BU to three games at Agganis Arena, and it gave them the confidence they could compete with anyone if they went to the rink with the right attitude.

“[Boston University] had a great team last year, and we felt we could play with the best team in the country,” Maine sophomore forward Gustav Nyquist said. “Obviously, we felt that we could do something special this year. A lot of different teams lost a lot of guys. We’re pretty much the same team here, so obviously we felt that helped us to realize we could do something special this year.”

And then, there’s the curious case of the Terriers, who again had fallen into the same trap that has bitten them at some point of every season in recent memory.

“We have a saying at BU that attitude is everything,” BU coach Jack Parker said, “and our attitude wasn’t too hot earlier on in the year because of, I think, a hangover of the NCAA championship, and feeling sorry for ourselves because a lot of guys were injured.”

The Terriers (2-7-2, six points) are in ninth place in Hockey East, one point ahead of last-place Providence, which has three games in hand on BU. As Parker said, they struggled without the injured Nick Bonino, and they’ve also been hurt by a sophomore slump from goalie Kieran Millan. The talent is still there, and the Terriers still have time to make a second-half run but they’ve got very little room for error.

“I think we have to work a little bit harder this year,” BU sophomore David Warsofsky said. “We had a lot of talented guys last year - not saying we don’t have that talent this year - but last year we had a lot of guys contributing and we always seemed to find that answer. This year, we’ve struggled to find that answer.”

There is plenty of shuffling left in the standings, as each team still has a minimum of 16 conference games remaining on its schedule. Plus, UMass and Vermont, which are tied for fifth in the middle of the standings, are six points behind first-place UNH and five points ahead of the cellar-dwelling Friars. No team is locked into its position, as any good or bad stretch will give its season a brand new outlook.

There are just four conference games remaining before the league’s holiday break - all of them are this weekend - which gives a few teams a chance to get that last bit of momentum in place before the stretch run begins in January.

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

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

Mike Clemente

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compare the two quotes below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gustav Nyquist is not Teddy Purcell. Nor is he Andrew Sweetland.

However, after Nyquist’s stellar freshman season at Maine in 2008-09, it was tough for Black Bear fans to differentiate between the three. Fearing the worst and a repeat of recent history, those in Orono worried about Nyquist following the footsteps of Purcell and Sweetland, and bolting town early.

Nyquist, though, had different ideas.

“I’m not in a hurry here,” said Nyquist, who led all Hockey East freshmen last season with 13 goals. “I know in order for me to play in the big league, I have to get stronger. We don’t play that many games out here, so it’s good for me to develop outside the ice, too, in the weight room and stuff. It’s a good mix here. You play two [games] a weekend, and during the week, I have time to improve my strength outside the ice. So that’s good for me.”

Nyquist was also in a completely different situation than Purcell and Sweetland. The Detroit Red Wings selected Nyquist in the fourth round of the 2008 draft, so his options beyond Maine are pretty cut and dry. If he turned pro after his freshman season, he’d be stuck in the minor leagues while waiting to get his turn in Detroit. More than anything, the Red Wings want Nyquist to add some size and strength, which obviously doesn’t happen overnight.

Purcell and Sweetland were both undrafted, which created a wider array of options. While Purcell has thrived in the Los Angeles Kings’ organization - making his decision to leave early look like a pretty good one - Sweetland has remained in purgatory in the Florida Panthers’ system, and he has yet to sniff the NHL.

“Purcell and Sweetland, they were both free agents, and they had great freshman years so I think they wanted to take the easiest way out and sign right away,” Nyquist said. “I’m drafted here by Detroit, and they have a great organization and they let me develop here [at Maine] in a great way. I just want to help the team out right now and concentrate on Maine because I think we can do something special this year.”

Nyquist has helped the Black Bears turn it around this season. They’re riding a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1), and they’re coming off of their best weekend of the season with a 3-1 win at UMass Lowell on Friday before handing St. Lawrence a 10-1 beatdown Saturday. In those three games, which includes a 3-3 tie with Boston College, Nyquist has two goals and five assists. He and his two linemates - center Tanner House and left winger Brian Flynn - have compiled nine goals and 12 assists during that stretch.

“We feel great about ourselves right now,” Nyquist said. “We know we’re a good team, and we showed that last week against UMass Lowell and a big win against St. Lawrence. We’ve just got to keep going here, find some consistency.”

Maine has rebounded from a 1-5-0 start to pull its record to 6-7-1. It’s 4-4-1 in Hockey East play and hosts Providence twice and Northeastern once before its Christmas break. The Black Bears are tied for fourth - three points shy of first place and four points above last - and can make a strong push in the next two weekends to create momentum for the second half.

Maine has lacked a strong second half in each of its last two seasons while trying to jump back to the top portion of the Hockey East standings. The Black Bears were 4-4-1 through nine games last season but went 3-13-2 the rest of the way. They were 3-4-2 through nine games in 2007-08 but finished 6-11-1.

Because Nyquist has given the program some solidarity for a couple seasons, though, the optimism seems to be higher in Orono, as Maine fans can root for a star player who is investing as much into the program as they are.

“Obviously, it’s a great hockey program up here in Maine,” Nyquist said. “They’re used to winning a lot. Obviously, they’re a little bit disappointed, but the home games are unbelievable. They’re pretty much sold out almost every night. Maine hockey is the biggest thing in the entire state, so obviously the fans are used to winning a little bit more. But I think they like their team this year, and I think as long as we work hard every night, they’ll be there with us.

“We could do something special this year.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fifteen current collegians, including three players from both Boston University and Wisconsin, are among the 29 players on the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster, released today by USA Hockey. The group will participate in a pre-tournament camp Dec. 17-19 in Grand Forks, N.D., and the roster will be trimmed for the IIHF World Junior Championship that begins Dec. 26 in Saskatchewan.

Meanwhile, Canada’s 36-player selection camp will feature three college players - Louis Leblanc of Harvard, Patrick Weircioch of Denver, and Minnesota-Duluth defenseman Dylan Olsen.

Seven of the 15 college players on the U.S. preliminary roster play in the WCHA. Hockey East has four representatives, the CCHA has three and Rensselaer of ECAC Hockey has one.

One player on the roster (former London Knight John Carlson) plays in the AHL, nine play major junior hockey and four are with the U.S. National Team Development Program. The USNTDP selectees include Minnesota-Duluth commit Justin Faulk, Michigan commit Jon Merrill and Denver commit Jason Zucker.

A complete roster is available on usahockey.com (Word .doc).