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.

A one-game-at-a-time approach has worked well for coach Norm Bazin and UMass Lowell.

So you’ll have to excuse UMass Lowell head coach Norm Bazin if he doesn’t quite get caught up in the hysteria of playoff hockey just yet. The first-year head coach has his team just one point out of first place in the league standings with a game in hand over league-leading Boston University, but the only thing on his mind right now is Friday’s game at home against Merrimack.

“Our team does well when concentrating on the next game, and the next game only,” Bazin said. “When we look at the big picture, it doesn’t bode well for us. We’ve got an inexperienced group, in age and youthfulness, and we do pretty well when the next game is the focus.”

For certain, Bazin has kept his troops focused on the task at hand for much of the season. After posting a 2-3-0 mark in October, the River Hawks have gone 16-4-0 since. Still, looking deeper at the schedule illustrates Bazin’s thoughts about focusing on the next game only. In each of the four losses since the first of November, one might reach the conclusion that the River Hawks might have been looking past their opponent, losing to New Hampshire, Northeastern, Vermont and Providence – all teams in the bottom half of the league’s standings.

While the River Hawks may be looking at the final eight games of the league season one at a time, it’s clear the road into the playoffs will present numerous challenges. Six of the final eight games are against teams in the top half of the standings, with just three points separating first from fifth place.

Bazin has had his team thinking of the season in three parts, with the third part — the final 10 games of the year — beginning last weekend with Lowell’s series at home against Vermont. The River Hawks captured the sweep in 3-1 and 6-4 victories, but not without some nerve-wracking moments. In the opener, the Catamounts scored the game’s first goal before Lowell rallied with two in the second period and one in the third. Saturday’s game saw a 5-2 third-period lead nearly evaporate as Vermont scored a pair of extra attacker goals 50 seconds apart before Josh Holmstrom capped the contest with a late empty net goal.

“We’re concentrating on 60-minute efforts,” Bazin said. “We want our guys to play in the moment — when we get away from that, we lose focus. It’s crucial for our young guys to keep playing in the moment, and we have to find a way to keep our guys grounded. We realize it’s not too far down – Vermont was a very good club, and those games could have gone either way.”

The River Hawks are well aware of just how narrow the gap between first and last place is in Hockey East; after all, it was just last season that UMass-Lowell was where the Catamounts now are, in last place in the league, and watching the playoffs from home.

Lowell’s change from last season to this has come on two fronts. Offensively, the River Hawks are benefiting from balanced scoring, with seven players already over the 20-point mark on the season. Last year, just two players — David Vallorani and Riley Wetmore — surpassed the 20-point mark for the entire season. Additionally, along with the balanced point totals, just two players — freshman Scott Wilson and sophomore Derek Arnold — have more than 10 goals on the year, with both players recording 13.

“It’s very important for our team to have scoring by committee,” Bazin said. “Any of those seven guys can lead our team in scoring for a given weekend. It bodes well for our team-first attitude, focusing on our team and not on individuals.”

While UMass Lowell has gotten offensive production from a number of sources, it’s been sophomore Doug Carr between the pipes who has kept the River Hawks steady this season. Carr’s numbers are very solid, posting a .923 save percentage and a 1.88 goals-against average. More impressive has been his consistency, as Carr has recorded just three shutouts on the year.

“He’s somebody who’s been very strong, somebody who’s been consistent, which is the key word when describing goaltenders,” Bazin said. “He’s had a great start to the season, and we’re anxious to see what the stretch drive brings. It’s a long season, full of potholes, and he’s done well to navigate through them so far. We’re cautiously optimistic that he can be a reflection of the team over the stretch run.

“We feel we’ve been able to accomplish things by scoring by committee, getting good leadership and goaltending and special teams, and just finding ways to play the same way both away and at home,” he added. “Our home arena has been very good to us. We’ve gotten great fan support at home in front of our fans, and that’s given us an edge. These are all factors that have allowed us to have an aggressive approach.”

While Bazin tries to keep his team focused on the next opponent, the fact of the matter is that the next six games will determine not only where the River Hawks finish the regular season, but also whether or not they will have an opportunity to continue in the national tournament. Quite a leap from a team with just five wins a year ago.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• Hockey East can certainly make a case as the best offensive league in the country. Half of the league’s teams are ranked in the top 14 nationally in scoring offense, led by UMass-Lowell (3rd), Maine (4th) and Boston University (5th).

• Boston College appears to be heating up at the right time. The Eagles have 14 goals in their last three games, all wins, including a 7-1 victory over Northeastern in last Monday’s Beanpot semifinal. The Eagles are at Vermont tonight before facing Boston University on Monday in the 60th Beanpot championship.

• Massachusetts, currently lying in ninth place, has its work cut out for it to attempt to climb into a playoff spot. The Minutemen have yet to win a game on the road this season, going 0-9-2 in road games. Four of UMass’ eight remaining games are on the road, including two at Maine and one each at Boston University and Merrimack.

• Parity has truly found its way into Hockey East. Last season, only six teams finished the season with double digit wins. This season, eight teams are already there, with a ninth — Massachusetts — needing one more win to join that group.

Torey Krug

Any elite player like Krug loves the big stage, and the then-sophomore seemed to take it upon himself to seize the next opportunity to exact healthy revenge – a Jan. 7 home game against the Wolverines. The blue-liner made the most of it, notching a hat trick and finding himself on the ice for an eventual overtime game-winner from Daultan Leveille in a 4-3 victory, marking one of the most memorable single-player performances against a Michigan team that ended up in the national championship game last spring.

Just over 13 months to the day, Krug again will take the big stage in two big games against the Wolverines this weekend – Friday at home and Saturday at Joe Louis Arena – this time with even more on the line. Perhaps more motivational than hurt pride for last year’s sub-.500 Spartan team that Krug wanted to avenge, the captain now has a chance to lead his team to a victory that could bring it one step closer to reaching heights few imagined for this year’s Michigan State squad at the beginning of this year – a high seed for the CCHA playoffs and an NCAA Tournament bid.

This time around, Krug’s focus will be less on doing it all himself – not that he wouldn’t love another shower of green hats from the stands either night – and more on playing a well-rounded game and taking advantage of his teammates’ strengths. A year older and a year wiser, Krug realizes that the key to being consistently competitive with NCAA Tournament-caliber teams is making sure to take care of all the tiny details that can change a game between contending teams in an instant.

“When you play in games with higher implications or against really highly skilled teams, sometimes you try to do too much and take too many chances,” Krug listed as the most important lesson he’s learned with experience. “That is probably my biggest downfall. I need to play within myself, and by that I mean not try to do everything myself.”

Krug’s realization is a microcosm of the entire team’s progress this year, as his fellow skaters have learned to play to their own strengths without being complacent.

“There has been a change in attitude and a change in accountability,” Krug said. “Guys understand their roles on the team and they come to the rink every day working hard. When you’re satisfied with your game, you don’t work as hard to become satisfied and you don’t start playing better or making the players around you better.”

That growth has been fostered by first-year head coach Tom Anastos and his attention to detail in practice, but also from a team that’s transitioning from being one of the youngest in the league to a veteran-laden team that’s more ready to compete in the fast, physical college game.

“I think it’s a little of both,” Krug said. “The coaches brought a lot of change, but at the same time, the team has matured a lot. If you look at our lineup, we are only playing three or four freshman a night, and if you look around the country there aren’t too many teams like that.”

While the improved culture and on-ice success – the Spartans have already matched their 2010-11 win total with six regular season games to go – has been rewarding thus far, Krug is far from satisfied with the improvement. The captain knows he has another year of eligibility, but he wants to take care of business now for this year’s senior class.

“My main goal as a leader of this team is to make sure that the seniors win some playoff games,” Krug said. “Our goal as a team is to get to Tampa and we have 10 seniors who haven’t won a playoff game at Michigan State yet. It’s my goal to change that.”

Locking down home-ice in the conference playoffs, and perhaps a first-round bye would be the optimal path to earning some playoff victories for the departing seniors, and that road will begin with a Michigan team that’s trying to do precisely the same thing this weekend.

On Saturday, Lucia took in a game at Notre Dame’s new rink and came away impressed with his alma mater’s digs. And on Sunday he went to a football game of some renown in downtown Indianapolis.

Mariucci Arena (Courtesy gophersports.com)

So it makes perfect sense that Lucia returned from the home of the Irish, and from the Super Bowl, thinking about a once-revered but aging structure that can benefit from having some work done to bring it back up to enviable status again.

A lot of people have those same thoughts after seeing Madonna.

On his weekly radio show, Lucia told Wally Shaver and Joe Anderson that in order to keep pace with arena improvements taking place elsewhere, he’d like to see Mariucci Arena get remodeled team areas, a bigger and better weight room, new amenities in the coaches’ offices, a high-definition scoreboard, and an improved sound system.

The rink is less than 20 years old, but since the first puck was dropped there in 1993, it’s gone from being the newest to the fourth-oldest in the 12-team WCHA. And with newer rinks at three of the other four Minnesota-based college hockey schools (St. Cloud State’s rink opened in 1989, and will undergo a sizable remodeling project soon), Lucia knows that he may be at a facilities disadvantage when it comes to recruiting.

“Kids want to see what you have and they’re going to compare it from one school to the next,” Lucia said on 1500 ESPN in the Twin Cities. “You want to have kids come in and look through your area and have a little bit of that ‘wow’ factor. I think that’s important.”

The clamor for new facilities is a familiar one in the Minnesota athletic department. There’s a new football stadium on campus, they’ve been trying to find a way to get a new baseball park for years, and Gopher basketball coach Tubby Smith has been campaigning for a practice facility since arriving in Minneapolis.

MICHIGAN TECH TAKING IT OUTSIDE

For one day anyway, Winter Carnival was not the biggest news on the Michigan Tech campus. Yes, the snow sculptures (2012 theme: “From All Over the State, What Makes Michigan Great”) the pageant and the hockey series with Nebraska-Omaha are all big events in Houghton, but the bigger news is still 11 months and about a 10-hour drive away.

On Wednesday it was announced that in conjunction with the 2013 Winter Classic between the Maple Leafs and Red Wings at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, an outdoor rink at Comerica Park in Detroit will be the home of the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational. Michigan Tech is co-host of the tournament, which will be an all-Michigan affair (Western Michigan, Michigan and Michigan State are the other participants. The tournament will be held Dec. 29-30 at the home of the Detroit Tigers.

Tech last won the GLI in 1980, with current Huskies coach Mel Pearson scoring the game-winner to beat Michigan for the title.

BACK TO BEING THE SIOUX, FOR NOW

The easy joke is that the once-retired Fighting Sioux nickname at North Dakota is taking its retirement advice from Brett Favre. On Jan. 1, the controversial moniker was officially retired by the school, and the teams have been referred to simply as North Dakota for the first five weeks of 2012.

Now, the nickname is back, at least temporarily. On Tuesday petitions were filed in the North Dakota state courts calling for a statewide vote on whether or not the nickname should stay. The petitions being filed reinstated a 2011 state law which requires the school to refer to its athletic teams as the Fighting Sioux.

That law, also controversial, was repealed by the North Dakota state legislature in November at the request of those fearful that NCAA sanctions will hurt the school if the nickname’s use continues.

On the ice, things won’t look much different either way. The hockey team was still playing with sweaters bearing the Sioux name and logo, awaiting new sweaters that are due to arrive later in the season. And the ice surface at Ralph Engelstad Arena still had the Indian head logo and “Home of the Fighting Sioux” on it anyway.

BICKEL A THREAT ON ICE, AND ON SCREEN

Former Gopher Stu Bickel has made a rookie splash with the New York Rangers as their designated fighter, and has quickly become a fan favorite in the Big Apple with his willingness to drop the gloves. And when he’s finished with a bout, the video folks inside Madison Square Garden treat Rangers fans with a clip of Stu’s long-lost relative, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro’s character in “Taxi Driver”) staring at the screen and sneering, “You talkin’ to me?” A classic scene, evoking New York City at its grittiest.

HOBEY QUARTET IN DULUTH

With a campaign promoting Jack Connolly for the Hobey Baker Award in full swing, Minnesota Duluth will honor the four previous Bulldogs to win the trophy this weekend when they host North Dakota. Tom Kurvers (1984), Bill Watson (1985), Chris Marinucci (1994) and Junior Lessard (2004) will be recognized at Friday’s game. Interesting fact to note: Marinucci is the only one of the 31 Hobey winners to play for a sub-.500 team.

GRAND FORKS: CRADLE OF COACHES

Speaking of the Sioux-Bulldogs get-together, credit Sioux assistant coach Cary Eades for pointing out that five of the six coaches on the two benches this weekend are North Dakota alumni. Bulldogs coaches Scott Sandelin and Jason Herter, and Sioux coaches Dave Hakstol, Dane Jackson and Eades all played for North Dakota. Bulldogs assistant coach Derek Plante is the only one behind either bench with no green in his hockey past (unless you count that Stanley Cup he won with the Dallas Stars in 1999).

HAPPY TRAILS TO THE TIGERS

Colorado College’s trip to northern Minnesota for this weekend’s series at Bemidji State went off without a hitch, and there are no severe weather predictions for this weekend. So unlike last year, when a snowstorm grounded their flights home from Minnesota, the Tigers won’t likely need a 1,200-mile bus ride to get back to Colorado Springs.

TRIVIAL MATTERS AT ST. CLOUD STATE

Houghton isn’t the only place where Huskies play, or where there are big doings on campus this weekend. While the St. Cloud State Huskies have the weekend off, we like to think at least a few of Bob Motzko’s players will be pouring through reference books late at night, racing other teams for the right answer.

This weekend marks the 33rd annual edition of SCSU Trivia Weekend where teams from throughout the region compete in a 50-hour round-the-clock marathon to find answers to hundreds of truly obscure and supposedly Google-proof questions. Tom Nelson, the Huskies hockey sports information guru notes that in the run-up to Trivia Weekend, thousands of books (everything from encyclopedias to children’s lit) are checked out of libraries throughout central Minnesota, as competitors seek to load up on any and all reference materials.

The contest was started in 1980 by a campus radio station looking to give students a break from the cabin fever that sets in during a long Minnesota winter. In that spirit, we’ll offer the weekend’s first trivia question (although it’s hardly Google-proof).

Tweet your answer to @JessRMyers. First correct answer gets a RT:

Who is the only St. Cloud State player to take a penalty in overtime of a NCAA tournament game won by the Huskies, and what was the call?

First, it was Mercyhurst. Next, it was Rochester Institute of Technology. Now the top spot belongs to defending playoff champion Air Force following its home sweep of RIT last weekend.

Jason Torf posted 29 saves on Friday in a 3-0 win and made 32 stops on Saturday in a 4-2 victory, earning the league’s goaltender of the week award. The losses were the first for Shane Madolora since January 6. Air Force has beaten RIT in five consecutive games at Cadet Ice Arena.

With three weekends left in the regular season, Air Force has moved into first place with 29 points. RIT pulled into a tie for first with a 3-1 win over Canisius on Thursday night but Air Force holds the first tie-breaker with a 2-1 series edge.

Air Force used goals from Casey Kleisinger, Chad Demers and John Kruse for the opening win against the Tigers. The defense came to the rescue on Saturday – trailing 1-0 headed into the third period, goals from Adam McKenzie, Tim Kirby and Scott Mathis gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead. Greg Noyes pulled RIT within a goal with 63 seconds left and goalie Shane Madolora pulled but Kleisinger popped an insurance goal into the empty net with 13 seconds remaining.

“We build our team with defensemen that can skate. That is by design,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We would not have had the success that we have had without skill on our blue line.”

It is only the second time RIT has been swept in a weekend league series, with Air Force performing the trick back in 2009.

Air Force is gaining some scant notice in the national polls, ranking 20th and 24th. The Falcons play a pair at Niagara this weekend, host Mercyhurst on Feb. 17-18 and close with a two-game set at Robert Morris on Feb. 24-25.

Good bounce back: Chris Haltigin, Taylor McReynolds and Matt Garbowsky scored for RIT in its 3-1 win over Canisius on Thursday night in Buffalo. The teams meet again on Saturday in Rochester.

“I thought we had a pretty good effort tonight, although we left a three or four more goals on the table and didn’t capitalize on lots of chances,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “We got the job done tonight. Canisius has done a good job keeping themselves in a lot of close games and I am sure Saturday will be the same.”

RIT hosts Robert Morris on Feb. 17-18 and plays Niagara in a home-and-home on Feb. 24-25.

If the playoffs were to start today: Air Force (29 points), RIT (29), Mercyhurst (28) and Niagara (27) would earn first-round byes. The best-of-three series in the first round would be No. 12 Sacred Heart (4) at No. 5 Robert Morris (25), No. 11 American International (10) at No. 6 Bentley (24), No. 10 Army (11) at No. 7 Connecticut (23) and No. 9 Canisius (21) at No. 8 Holy Cross (23).

Safe to say, no league race in Atlantic Hockey or Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League history has seen nine teams within eight points with just three weeks remaining.

Player of the week: Niagara sophomore Ryan Murphy posted three goals and two assists in a weekend split with Mercyhurst. His two goals and an assist spearheaded a 6-1 win on Friday. Murphy had a goal and assist in a 3-2 loss on Saturday.

Rookie of the week: Holy Cross goaltender Matt Ginn made 53 stops in a 6-1, 4-0 sweep of American International College. The shutout was his second of the season. Ginn improved his record to 9-6-1.

A rough go: Connecticut played the final non-conference contest of the regular season, losing 4-3 at Princeton. Atlantic Hockey teams finished 17-57-8 against teams from the other four major conferences and independent Alabama-Huntsville. The league membership was 8-25-5 against teams from ECAC Hockey, 2-6-0 against Hockey East members, 2-12-2 against CCHA clubs and 1-13-0 against those from the WCHA.

Broom-worthy: There are only two head-to-head matchups that have resulted in three-game sweeps this season with Bentley topping Sacred Heart and Connecticut topping Holy Cross.

Fly, Falcon, fly: Bentley has points in four of its last five games (2-1-2). The Falcons scored five goals over the final 30 minutes of a 5-2 win over Sacred Heart on Friday – a year ago Bentley rallied from a 4-1 third-period deficit to beat the Pioneers 5-4 in overtime. Brett Gensler scored a goal with 0.2 seconds left on the clock to pull into a 3-3 tie on Saturday. Jamie Nudy and Justin Breton had scored 13 seconds apart in the second period to pull the Falcons within 3-2.

Army showing life: The Black Knights of the Hudson have won three games in a row following a 2-15-7 start. Army posted a 3-1 win at Bentley on Jan. 28. In Saturday’s renewal of its long-standing exhibition series with Royal Military College of Canada, the Black Knights pummeled the Paladins 9-1. Army denied Connecticut a season sweep with a 4-2 win in Storrs on Tuesday.

National leaders: Niagara’s Chris Noonan ranks second in goals against average (1.73) and Shane Madolora of RIT is third (1.86). Noonan ranks first in save percentage (.941), Madolora is third (.933) and Brooks Ostergard of Robert Morris is fourth (.932). Madolora is tied with Minnesota’s Kent Patterson with six shutouts. Marc Zanette of Niagara is tied for third in short-handed goals with three. Cody Wydo of Robert Morris and Adam Mitchell of RIT are tied for seventh with four game-winning goals. Nardo Nagtzaam of Mercyhurst ranks sixth among rookies for points per game (0.89).

Road warriors: Three Atlantic Hockey clubs have earned .500-or-better records on the road. Air Force is 6-5-4 (.533). Mercyhurst is 8-8-3 and Niagara is 6-6-5.

Looking ahead: Air Force travels to Niagara and Army hosts Holy Cross for weekend sets. Home-and-home series pit American International and Bentley, Robert Morris and Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart with Connecticut.

“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.

INCH Podcast – Feb. 8, 2012 (.mp3)

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.

Niagara, thanks to the hot hand of league goalie of the month Chris Noonan, has won six in a row. Still, the Purple Eagles remain in third place, a stone’s throw from the lead.

Niagara goaltender Chris Noonan enters the weekend ranked second in the nation in goals against average and first in save percentage.

“We’ve swept three weekends in a row and barely crept up,” sighed Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “It’s that time of the year when you hope your team is still in the conversation. All you can do is have your team empty the tank and watch the out-of-town scoreboard.”

Noonan, a senior from Portage, Mich., has kept the Purple Eagles in the hunt with a tremendous month of January. He opened with a pair of two-goal losses at Connecticut but has since posted sweeps of Army (5-1, 3-0), American International (4-1, 6-1), and Robert Morris (a pair of 2-1 wins last weekend). He was 6-2 with a 1.18 goals against average and .959 save percentage, making 209 saves on 218 shots.

“We were hoping someone in the second semester, especially after the Minnesota tournament (Dec. 30-31), would be our no. 1 guy,” Burkholder said. “He certainly, when given the opportunity, has earned it and ran with it.”

Noonan is certainly in the conversation of the top netminders in the nation. His 1.69 goals against average ranks second (trailing only Union’s Troy Grosenick at 1.58), a considerable improvement over his 2.94 GAA mark of last season. Noonan’s save percentage is tops in the country at .942.

“He is just a very calming influence on the team,” Burkholder said. “He is one of the hardest working kids, always in the weight room and doing extra work. His game management and how he’s played and carried himself has been really good for this team.”

Standing tall at 6 feet, Noonan is athletic, cool in net, and game smart. “His emotions never show,” Burkholder said. “He’s never too high, never too low.” Sporting a tremendous glove, he’s very good at making the initial save and does a good job with rebound control. He handles the puck well and has the wherewithal to make a good breakout pass or throw the puck off the glass to clear the zone when necessary.

“He has the perfect goalie mentality,” Burkholder said.

Noonan played in one game as a freshman and by the end of his sophomore season, he helped Niagara knock off the country’s eighth-ranked team, Bemidji State, in a College Hockey America semifinal. Since the midway point of his sophomore season, Noonan has compiled a 19-7-5 record. “The kid is a winner,” Burkholder said.

No one is tearing up the scoresheet—Scott Arnold and Marc Zanette are tied for the team lead with 17 points—but the Purple Eagles are spreading the wealth with eight double-digit point getters and 16 players with at least two goals. Freshman Chris Lochner has been on a recent hot streak with seven goals, all since Dec. 31. Sophomore Patrick Divjak has vaulted to the team lead with 12 assists.

“These guys are confident,” Burkholder said. “There are smiles when they come to the rink.”

Niagara has home-and-home series with Mercyhurst (Feb. 3-4), Canisius (Feb. 14 and 16), and RIT (Feb. 24-25) and a two-game home series with Air Force (Feb. 10-11). Burkholder hopes his team can maintain its hot hand.

“We’re starting to play our best hockey,” Burkholder said. “There’s been years where we’ve limped down the stretch with injuries, fatigue, travel or whatever. We are refreshed, and winning has a lot to do with it.”

An old rivalry renewed: Army and the Royal Military College of Ontario resume a long-standing rivalry that saw its last contest in 2006. The series came to a disputed end when West Point objected to RMC’s use of post-graduate players. West Point will host the first two exhibition contests in 2012 and 2013 and the third game will be played in Kingston in 2014.

“We are thrilled to be playing RMC again and for our cadets to have a chance to compete against their cadets,” said Army coach Brian Riley, who was head coach in the last meeting. “Our guys will have a chance to experience this great rivalry like other Army players, and I really think they will enjoy playing in this series. The memories will last a lifetime.”

With six years between games, no current Army or RMC player has competed in this rivalry. Riley asked former players to send notes to the current Black Knights to express their feelings about how special this rivalry is to both schools. Saturday’s contest at Tate Rink will feature a reunion of long-time coaches Jack Riley of Army and Danny McLeod of RMC, both of whom are in their early 90s.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

More monthly awards: Bentley’s Brett Gensler and Alex Grieve were named the Atlantic Hockey player and rookie of the month, respectively.

Gensler produced seven goals and nine assists, notching a point in nine of 10 games. He had three goals and an assist against Holy Cross on Jan. 24. Gensler leads the league with 30 points and 20 assists in addition to his 10 goals.

Grieve scored seven goals and added six assists in January, raising his season totals to 10 goals and nine assists. He had a game-winning goal against Robert Morris on Jan. 6. Last weekend, Grieve posted three goals and four assists.

Weekly winners: Gensler and Grieve were the player and rookie of the week, respectively. Gensler had eight points in three games and Grieve posted seven points.

Garrett Bartus of Connecticut was the goalie of the week. Bartus stopped 64 of 65 shots as UConn beat Holy Cross, 3-1 and 3-0. He had 31 saves in the shutout win, his fourth of the season. Bartus owns the Huskies’ Division I career saves record with 2,439.

Finally, a win: It took 18 games but Sacred Heart finally won its first league contest of the season, 4-2 at American International. Drew George, Anthony Yelovich, Ben Ketchum, and Chad Filteau all scored for the Pioneers. It was the sixth time this season that Sacred Heart has managed to score four goals in a game. AIC answered with a 3-0 overtime win on Saturday in Milford. Sacred Heart is 1-17-1 in league play.

Finally, a bagel: Air Force senior Stephen Caple stopped 14 shots to lead Air Force to a 3-0 win at Canisius on Sunday. It was the Falcons’ first shutout of the season and the second of Caple’s career. It was the fourth time Canisius had been blanked this season, tying the school record. The teams played to a 1-1 draw on Monday.

Finally, a sweep: Connecticut beat Holy Cross, 3-1 and 3-0. Coupled with a 4-2 win in October, it was the first time the Huskies had swept the season series from the Crusaders as a Division I program.

A new leader: Rochester Institute of Technology took three of four points from Mercyhurst, jumping one point ahead of the Lakers for first place in Atlantic Hockey with four weekends of league play remaining. RIT got goals from five different players in Friday’s 5-1 win and secured a 2-2 tie on Saturday—it was the Tigers’ first home dates in nearly seven weeks.

Coming up: Home-and-home series pit American International and Holy Cross, Canisius and Robert Morris, Niagara and Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart and Bentley. RIT travels to Air Force for a pair, with Friday’s 10 p.m. ET game televised by CBS Sports Network.

Hunwick’s no longer just a good story; he’s legitimately among the best netminders Michigan’s ever had – boasting the best save percentage and goals-against average in program history at this point. And as the Wolverines find themselves in an interesting psychological position – seventh place in the standings but just five points out of first – Hunwick finds himself with the opportunity to do more than inspire walk-ons everywhere, he’s got the chance to put this team on his back as they attempt to end a national title drought that’s fast approaching a decade and a half.

After coming within an overtime goal of the Frozen Four in 2010 and an overtime goal of the national championship last April, Hunwick knows that every second counts as the clock ticks down towards the end of the season, and that ticking is as loud as ever with just four regular-season series remaining.

Having had summers and seasons to reflect on those two crushing disappointments, the lesson Hunwick took away, one that he’ll be sure to convey to his teammates in the coming weeks, is that even a seemingly innocuous mental mistake at any point in the game can make all the difference.

“The thing that you learn when you lose in overtime two years in a row is that every shot counts,” Hunwick said. “You have to play hard every shift, whether it’s the first shift of the game or the last, you need to go hard all the time. If you knew you were going to lose in overtime, you might change something earlier in the game that might have prevented it from getting to overtime.”

And if there’s anyone who notices those tiny moments, bounces, lapses or surges that can change the course of a game – and in a tightly-contested year like this season they matter every night – it’s Hunwick.

Thinking back on his team’s victory over Boston College at the Great Lakes Invitational from over a month ago, a win that seemed to give the team great confidence, Hunwick easily recalled the details of a contest that seems to mimic Michigan’s season.

After the Wolverines jumped out to a 2-0 lead – a lead that might have been four or five goals had some bad bounces, breakaways and near-misses gone their way – Boston College climbed back into the contest and seized control in the second period, tying the game and looking poised to run away with it.

But then there was that moment, a sliver of opportunity, the type of moment that Hunwick referenced when talking about the little things that can turn a game and a season around.

Forward A.J. Treais forced the issue when Boston College mishandled a puck at the point, and parlayed a give-and-go play with teammate Luke Glendening through the neutral zone into a go-ahead goal that put the Wolverines in control.

Michigan has only lost one game since that night after having won just two of its previous 10, and the Wolverines find themselves not on the outside of the national tournament looking in, but as a potential participant with a high seed if they can come up with a strong finish to the regular season.

It’s a different story than the team from two years ago that rallied to finish just two games over .500 and a different tale than last year’s team that was strong throughout the year. But those experiences helped Hunwick learn what it takes to lead a team down the stretch – something he’s done well this year, with a little help from his defense.

“I think that each year has been a different roller coaster,” Hunwick said. “I think that this team is in a pretty good place, starting with our top four on defense. That’s really been the key to our second half run.”

Hunwick credits his defense with making the most of extended playing time in the first half of the year while Jon Merrill was suspended, and thinks that their ability to settle into permanent roles upon his return has been the key to team success, and will be the key for any tournament triumph.

But before tournament season, the Wolverines will try to remain a key player in the CCHA title race and the race for home ice in the conference playoffs this weekend when they host a Miami team that has seemed to have Hunwick’s number. Hunwick is just 1-4-1 all-time against the RedHawks, including the double-overtime loss in a 2010 regional championship game, but he’s ready to seize each moment and change that this weekend.

“Miami has had a great record against us in (recent seasons),” Hunwick said. “We can’t take that away from them, but we can start to change that this weekend. Their team is well-coached by Coach Blasi and they have an unbelievable amount of depth. When we went down to Miami they came out all over us and played a physical game. We just need to dictate the tempo and play our type of game.”

With a surging Miami team followed by series against heated rival Michigan State and a Northern Michigan team that Hunwick will no doubt be ready to play against after a dust-up in Marquette last fall on the horizon, Hunwick has a lot to keep track of – rivalries, his final games at Yost Ice Arena and conference titles.

But ultimately, not that he’s looking past any single opponent, or even taking a tournament bid for granted, the senior has his eye on the big prize.

“Winning the CCHA regular season championship and playoff championship were great experiences,” Hunwick said. “But Michigan hasn’t won a national championship in 14 seasons, and that’s what I am striving for, that’s the one I want to put on the mantle.”

Now it’s up to Hunwick and his teammates to live up to that lesson the goaltender learned in Marches and Aprils past – the lesson that every moment counts, and they can’t afford to slip up for even a second if Hunwick’s vision of another trophy on Yost’s mantle is to come true.