Denver grabbed four points at Alaska Anchorage last weekend, then the Pioneers got changed and high-tailed it for the airport, catching the red-eye flight to Colorado, via Seattle. The sun was up and it was mid-morning in Denver by the time they touched down, but as Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky surveyed his team as they got off the plane, he didn’t see a tired and weary bunch. He saw smiles.

It’s a far cry from where this team was a month ago, when injuries and inconsistency had taken the popular pick to win the WCHA title and left the team scratching and clawing to stay above .500. Now, since that head-scratching loss to Alabama-Huntsville in their first outing of 2012, the Pioneers have won five in a row and find themselves just two points back of second-place Minnesota Duluth heading into a home-and-home series with archrival Colorado College.

In his first start of 2011-12 after returning from a knee injury, goaltender Sam Brittain made 24 saves in a 6-3 win at Alaska Anchorage last weekend.

“We’ve put ourselves in position with 10 games remaining in the season to see if we can track down Duluth and stay ahead of some of the competition that’s right on our heels,” said Gwozdecky in his weekly news conference.

The turnaround has been fueled by a combination of positives that were nowhere to be found in the first half. The team is getting healthier just as key rookies are stepping up their games, and an overall emphasis on team defense is allowing the goal scorers to do more.

“There was a general feeling that we’d be able to outscore anybody,” Gwozdecky said of the team’s mentality in October and November. “If the other team got five, we’d get seven. If they got four, we’d get six. But a real positive adjustment has been made in the way we’re playing team defense.”

And a key element in that defensive picture was the return of goalie Sam Brittain, who hadn’t played since last season after undergoing surgery. Brittain got the call on Saturday night in Anchorage and stopped 24 shots in a 6-3 win. Still, the coach expected rust, and got it, from the goalie.

“It was not going to be a shock to any of us if he started off rusty, and I think he did,” Gwozdecky said. “He was not the Sam Brittain that any of us knew from last year.”

But in the second period, when a 5-0 Pioneers lead was quickly cut to 5-3, the Pioneers saw flashes between the pipes of the kid who won 19 games as a rookie a year ago. “As has always been the case with Sam, when he’s challenged he buckles down and closes the door.”

The door may be tougher to close this weekend, with Colorado College right behind the Pioneers in the standings. And on Thursday the Pioneers lost a key cog in their offense when Gwozdecky suspended rookie forward Ty Loney indefinitely for a violation of team rules. Loney, the son of Stanley Cup-winner Troy Loney, has 16 points in his first 20 college games and had posted a dozen points in the Pioneers last seven games since being promoted to the team’s top line.

That may be a blow for a Denver team on the rise, but with a visit from the Front Range rivals looming on Friday and a trip to Colorado Springs set for Saturday, there’s little need for extra inspiration.

“It’s CC week,” Gwozdecky said. “You can certainly sense that in the building, and at practice and in our locker room. It’s always a special atmosphere. This series is as big as they get at this time of year.”

NEED BUCKS? GET A BIG PUCK

For years they’ve tried all of the conventional channels to get funds for improvements to the rink in Mankato. Opened in 1995, the Verizon Wireless Civic Center has been the home of Minnesota State hockey as the program transitioned from Divison II to Division I independent to the WCHA, but school and community officials say the time for upgrades is long overdue.

Officials in the state legislature twice approved the needed funds, only to have then-Governor Tim Pawlenty veto the money both times. Now, they’re taking an interesting new approach to raise awareness of the financial needs for the home of the Mavs.

This week the school unveiled an initiative called Greater Mankato Carries the Puck. Starting before Friday’s home game with Michigan Tech, MSU will have a replica puck nearly five feet in diameter that supporters can sign to show they support state dollars to improve the rink. They’re hoping to gather 1,000 signatures and bring the puck to the State Capitol in a few weeks to present to Governor Mark Dayton (a former Yale goalie).

“We are really excited about our opportunity to help rally support for this project,” said Minnesota State athletic director said Kevin Buisman, in a statement released by the school. “These planned improvements would have a dramatic impact on our program by creating a new modern home for our men’s and women’s teams that will be attractive to both current and prospective student-athletes.”

The school is seeking $31 million from the state for the project.

While this weekend’s slate of Hockey East games contains several key matchups, plenty of attention is already being cast toward Monday, when the 60th edition of the Beanpot will be contested at the TD Garden in downtown Boston. And despite being the new guy on the block in terms of serving as a head coach in the event for the first time, Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan is certainly no stranger to the event, arguably having seen the event from more different angles than any of his coaching counterparts.

Madigan played at Northeastern from 1981 to 1985 and won two Beanpots during that span. He was also behind the bench as an assistant coach for the Huskies’ last win in the tournament in 1988, and has been in the Northeastern administration since 1993. Through the years, Madigan has had a front-row seat in watching the tournament’s evolution.

Jim Madigan won two Beanpot titles as a Northeastern player; This month, Steve Quailer and the Huskies will try to get him his first as a coach.

“One of the biggest changes in the Beanpot has just been the venue itself,” Madigan said. “The old Garden was great, but it was time to get a new building, and the Bruins did a great job with the current Garden. But with the old one, you could really touch everyone inside the venue; it had more of an intimate feeling about it, just because of the way it was built.

“Athletically, in the ’80s, when you had different teams winning, it was great,” Madigan added. “When two teams haven’t had success, it takes away from the flavor of it a little bit – it’s healthier when other teams are winning the tournament. But it’s still that same cachet event that carries significance in the city, from hockey fans to businesses to the schools to the alumni and administration. It’s still very popular, and has a huge appeal in the city, and it’s still difficult to get tickets for.”

Another part of the tournament’s evolution has come with the makeup of the teams. Years ago, when the four Boston-area schools had rosters composed mainly of local players, the casual fan often knew the players for years, having followed their career through youth hockey, then to the high school and prep school ranks, and into college. Similarly, the players grew up playing with and against each other, breeding a level of familiarity and a sense of getting bragging rights over friends and neighbors.

Today, the teams recruit players from far and wide; indeed, among the three Hockey East schools in the tournament, only 20 players call Massachusetts home. Yet, as Madigan points out, a different kind of familiarity exists among players and between the teams and the the passionate fans who fill the Garden.

“Recruiting has spread out nationally, and while the players might not be from the same area anymore, they’re all familiar with each other,” Madigan said. “They play with and against each other at national team programs, national team camps, the USHL… they’ve played against each other enough and still know each other, so they still have that desire to beat their friends at the other schools. They’re representing their school, and that means an awful lot.

“As far as the fans, school pride overrides; our alumni follow Northeastern,” he added. “Because of the internet and websites that do a good job of covering hockey, our alumni follow players who verbally commit to our program earlier and earlier, and they know the kids earlier. Our hardcore fans are watching our future players on video, and calling after having watched players who have verbally committed. They still follow the players, but in a different way — they’re not watching them in high school and prep schools at a tournament at the Garden, but through a different forum and a different venue.”

While the tournament may have its detractors, especially outside of New England, the fact remains that it’s still an integral part of the tradition that makes college hockey what it is.

“I think the appeal is still there, and the reason why is because of the teams themselves,” Madigan said. “Every year, you have some of the top teams in the country playing, and the results go toward playing in the stretch drive. They’re also important when you’re playing toward the national picture, so it has that significance. The players want to win this not only for themselves, but also your part of the city, and also create a memory for the rest of their lives. For the players and the alumni, it still carries that same importance.”

As far as his club is concerned, Madigan first has his team focused on Friday night’s matchup with Massachusetts, trying to continue momentum after last weekend’s sweep at Vermont. Northeastern currently holds a precarious one-point lead over New Hampshire for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs, with eight league games remaining for the Huskies and nine for the Wildcats.

But once the final horn sounds after game with the Minutemen, the attention shifts to Monday night’s matchup with Boston College, without focusing on snapping the school’s Beanpot drought.

“We don’t want our guys to wear the burden of not having won it,” Madigan said. “Last year’s kids played their hearts out; they played for their current team, for their school.

“This time of year, the focus is on the last month of the schedule,” he continued. “Everyone’s playing for playoff contention, whether they’re trying to get into the tournament or to improve their seed. The Beanpot aligns well with the run to the playoffs and playoff hockey. Every game is sudden death in the Beanpot, just as it is for us right now — we have to win to solidify a playoff spot.

“The Beanpot, though, shouldn’t need any additional motivation. If I have to motivate a player on Monday night, then I’ve got the wrong player.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Without looking at the standings, guess which of the nation’s five first-place teams has the largest lead over their nearest competitor heading into the weekend. If you picked Minnesota, you’re right—the Gophers own a five-point edge over second-place Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA. That’ll likely change this weekend; the Gophers are idle while the Bulldogs are at Alaska Anchorage. With tight races in every league as we head down the stretch, we’ve hardly seen the last of the jockeying for position … especially given some of the horses lined up to run this weekend.

Denver's Drew Shore is tied for fourth in the country with 39 points in 25 games.

Colorado College vs. Denver (Friday at Denver, Saturday at Colorado Springs)
These two teams are separated by one point in the WCHA standings (warning: these tight quarters become a theme) but are trending in opposite directions. The Tigers are 3-4-1 since Christmas and all eight games have been decided by one goal or less, including two matches in which empty netters with less than 10 seconds in regulation provided the final margin of victory. The Pioneers have won seven of eight since Christmas—outscoring their opponents during that span, 36-17—and they’re getting healthier. The latest DU player discharged from the sick bay was goaltender Sam Brittain, who stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced in a 6-3 win at Alaska Anchorage Saturday. The Pios won’t have Ty Loney in uniform this weekend; George Gwozdecky on Thursday indefinitely suspended the freshman forward, who has seven goals and 12 points in his last seven games, for violating team rules.

Miami at Michigan (Fri.-Sat.)
The CCHA standing are so tightly packed—the RedHawks are one of three(!) teams tied for second, while the Wolverines are four points behind in seventh—that every game impacts the league race. Even so, these teams have developed a healthy rivalry over the last few years, one that’s swung in Miami’s favor. The RedHawks are 8-3-1 in their last 12 games against the Wolverines including a sweep in their last trip to Yost Arena in two seasons ago, pretty heady stuff for a team that had won just three times in its previous 47 visits to Ann Arbor. Michigan forward David Wohlberg, who was dinged in practice late last week, and didn’t skate Monday or Tuesday as a precaution, should be in the lineup this weekend.

Colgate at Union, Cornell at Rensselaer (Friday)
Colgate at Rensselaer, Cornell at Union (Saturday)
If you were to gauge this weekend based on the preseason polls, Colgate would appear to be the outlier, but that’s not the case as we enter the February schedule. The Colgate Raider, along with Cornell and Union, are vying for top-four berths in ECAC Hockey. After struggling through the first half of the season, RPI is back in the mix and is playing well with four wins in its last six games. The Engineers are also poised for their biggest weekend of the year, starting with Spirit Day on Friday against Cornell and the annual Big Red Freakout! on Saturday against Colgate. Meanwhile, over in Schenectady, Cornell and Union will meet in what has become one of the must-circle dates on the league calendar each year.

RIT at Air Force (Fri.-Sat.)
It wasn’t that long ago that neither Air Force nor RIT were Atlantic Hockey members. Now, it’s the league’s marquee series. The Tigers moved into first place after taking three of four points from Mercyhurst last weekend, but there’s no time to rest on those laurels; the Falcons are tied for third in the league, just two points behind RIT. Not unlike last weekend’s RIT-Mercyhurst series, these games match Air Force’s offensive prowess—the Falcons are second in the league in scoring—against the Tigers’ stingy defense, currently ranked tied for second in the country. Apropos of nothing, this statistic: through 26 games, RIT has been shorthanded 144 times whereas, in its 25 games, Air Force has been shorthanded 94 times.

Also: Sticking in Atlantic Hockey, the league’s second-place team, Niagara, faces Mercyhurst, the team tied for third with Air Force, in a home-and-home series. Friday’s game is at Niagara, with the two teams heading to Erie for Saturday’s rematch. … In this week’s First Shift, we noted the importance of Ferris State gaining a home-ice berth for the CCHA playoffs due to their mediocre road record. If the Bulldogs are going to get that prize, they’ll have to win a few games on the road starting at Northern Michigan this weekend. … In its first season as a WCHA member, Nebraska-Omaha managed to beat every team in the league except Bemidji State. In fact, the Mavericks were winless in their first seven tries (0-5-2) against the Beavers before beating them in Bemidji in mid-November. The two teams meet in Omaha this weekend. … Merrimack hosts Boston University Friday, then travels to Massachusetts Saturday. The Warriors can take over sole possession of first place in Hockey East with a win against the Terriers and a win or tie at UMass. … Speaking of the Terriers, the Beanpot opens Monday with BU facing Harvard and Boston College taking on Northeastern. The Beanpot is pretty much inconsequential to anyone outside of the greater Boston area. Unless the Patriots win the Super Bowl, in which case it becomes inconsequential to everyone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Akillorn19 Alex Killorn

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

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

With a month to go in the CCHA regular season and nine teams within a weekend of first place in the conference, there is very little that’s clear about who will end up on top, who will end up in the NCAA Tournament and who might make some noise once they reach those points.

There’s lots of discussion around the conference – can Ohio State hang on, can Western Michigan bounce back from disappointing losses at Miami, are the RedHawks and Wolverines going to stay hot and finally live up to preseason expectations?

But for all of this talk, there’s a team very much in the mix for the regular season title and a ticket to the dance that hasn’t been talked about nearly as much as those who’ve been at the top of the table all year long, or the big name teams that are bouncing back – the Ferris State Bulldogs.

After closing out 2011 with three losses, the Bulldogs are 4-0-2 since Jan. 4, including a four-point weekend against Alaska and a five-point haul at Ohio State last weekend that has coach Bob Daniels’ squad just four points out of first place with two games in hand relative to most of the contending teams.

“We haven’t talked about winning the (regular season) title recently,” Daniels said. “But it’s our goal every year to win some kind of championship – a regular season championship, a playoff championship or a tournament championship.”

Heading into the year, Daniels thought his team might have more offensive firepower than past year, and, just as he predicted, the team isn’t a squad that scores four or five goals per game, but a few solid forward lines are able to keep the team competitive and prevent opponents from using checking lines to shut down a single group of forwards.

But despite that depth up front, defense and goaltending have been Ferris State’s bread and butter, just as they seem to be every time the Bulldogs creep into the top tier of the conference and the NCAA Tournament picture.

Blue liner Chad Billins has been one of the conference’s top defenders at both ends of the ice, pairing a plus-8 rating with a 3-14-17 line offensively. And the defensive corps got a boost mid-year with the addition of freshman Simon Denis, who missed the early part of the year due to injury, as the rookie has notched 7 assists and a plus-1 rating in 13 games.

Next up on the docket for the Bulldogs is a Michigan State team that also finds itself trying to survive in the dogfight that this year’s CCHA has been. The Spartans arrive at Ewigleben Ice Arena on a four-game unbeaten streak of their own, and Daniels sees a lot of parallels between his team and Tom Anastos’ squad from East Lansing.

“There isn’t a lot of difference between our two teams,” Daniels said. “I don’t know that I can say there is anything that we do better than them, and I don’t know if I can say there’s anything they do better than us. (Ferris State and Michigan State) both have two or three lines that can score, both teams have two goaltenders that can help them win every night, and both teams have a headline defenseman – they have Torey Krug and we have Chad Billins.”

With a trip to Northern Michigan, a home-and-home with Notre Dame, a home series with Bowling Green and a home-and-home to close the year against Western Michigan, Ferris State has a great opportunity to take points from the teams in front of them. But for those opportunities to be meaningful, the Bulldogs have to start with a solid performance this weekend.

Winning doesn’t cure all ills but it sure goes a long way.

Air Force had struggled mightily since New Year’s Eve. The Falcons took a 7-1 shellacking from Denver on home ice. They traveled to Holy Cross for a pair and managed just one point. Bentley visited Colorado Springs and took home three points. Air Force had slipped to fourth place in Atlantic Hockey and was in danger of dipping further in the tight race.

Paul Weisgarber and Air Force got back on track against Army.

“We had not been playing Falcon hockey,” coach Frank Serratore said. “The energy, the vigor and passion has not been there. When that’s happening, it doesn’t matter who you are playing. If we don’t have that as a foundation, we ain’t going to have success against anybody.”

So Air Force traveled to West Point with a lot on the line, beyond the fact this was another renewal of the passionate service-academy rivalry with Army.

The weekend didn’t get off to an ideal start as Army managed a late short-handed goal to forge a 3-3 overtime tie before a national television audience. It wasn’t totally satisfying for the Falcons, but it wasn’t a complete loss either.

“Before the (Saturday) game I talked to the team,” Serratore said. “I said, ‘All right, we took a step. Are we going to take another step today or are we going to step back?’”

Serratore got the answer he was looking for. Air Force totally dominated Army through nearly 50 minutes of action and Jason Torf finally won his first game of the season as the Falcons prevailed 4-2.

“I thought our team was tremendous,” Serratore said. “The effort was tremendous. The first two periods, shots were 17-6 (in our favor). We worked hard but we were forced to overcome a lot of adversity.”

Air Force took seven penalties and gave Army six power-play opportunities – the Black Knights capitalized just once, with less than a second to play in regulation. Most impressive was the Falcons’ ability to kill off a five-minute major assessed to Chad Demers for charging into Army goalie Rob Tadazak to open the second period – Serratore claims Demers was “chopped down” before crashing into the freshman. Army managed two shots in the opening 45 seconds of the man-advantage and nothing else.

Torf was not spectacular with just 16 saves, but he didn’t have to be. It was his first win in a season that came to a crashing halt on Oct. 8 when Torf tore his groin against Michigan State. He resumed light skating in December and saw his first action on Jan. 14 against Bentley when he made 21 stops and lost a 2-1 decision.

“He’s played two games and played very well,” Serratore said of Torf, who dazzled as Andrew Volkening’s replacement in 2010-11, posting a 16-9-3 record and 2.87 goals against average. “We’re all very proud of Jason.”

Senior Stephen Caple played in Torf’s absence, posting a 10-4-5 record and 2.29 goals against. Caple made 18 saves in Friday’s tie, but he gave up a short-handed goal to Mark Dube with 3:39 left in regulation.

“Steve Caple not only filled in for Torf, he more than filled in,” Serratore said. “He was 9-2-2 in the games before Christmas. He came back and I threw him to the wolves at Colorado College, saying ‘Put up or shut up,’ and he put up and beat them. How do I not come back with that guy? The next week at Holy Cross he showed up when everybody else on our team didn’t. (Friday) night he did his thing – he wasn’t great but he certainly wasn’t bad. He’s earned the right to be considered in the mix.”

For now, Air Force doesn’t have a No. 1 goalie.

“Right now we feel we have two guys that deserve to play,” Serratore said. “We’ll probably let it play out a little bit.”

It was the first time Air Force had beaten Army at Tate Rink since Jan. 2004 and the first time the Falcons escaped West Point with at least three points since Dec. 2001.

Air Force has proven to be one of the toughest teams down the stretch in Atlantic Hockey play. Was a three-point weekend at West Point the start of something good?

“I would like to think so but we’ll see (Sunday) at Canisius,” Serratore said. “I liked what I saw (Saturday night against Army). If we can replicate that we will have a good stretch run. I hope we can build off this and we should be able to. The formula they had tonight will work regardless of who we play. We just have to stick to it.”

ARMY UPDATE

Bad situation made worse: Army freshman goalie Rob Tadazak was run into twice during Saturday’s game against Air Force. The second collision resulted in a concussion, said coach Brian Riley. As of Wednesday, Tadazak was still suffering headaches and his short-term status is in doubt. Tadazak is 0-6-3 with a 3.01 goals against in nine starts and one relief outing.

The job falls to junior incumbent Ryan Leets, who is off to a 2-8-4 start with a 3.27 goals against.

Army is in the midst of a six-game winless streak (0-1-5). Army opened the season at 0-4-2 and went 0-5-4 between wins over Sacred Heart on Nov. 11 and RPI on Dec. 30.

“We’re a team that’s challenged offensively to score goals,” Riley said. “It’s almost like the longer the game goes without us scoring, the pressure just builds. When we do score that first goal they just seem to be a lot looser.”

An unfriendly barn: Army is winless (0-7-3) in 10 games at Tate Rink, something unheard of in West Point history.

“We do think about it,” co-captain Mike Hull said. “We want to win for our team and for our fans who support us so well but at the same time we don’t let that affect us going into the game. We don’t think, ‘Oh crap we haven’t won at home’ and get uptight or too tense. Does it sting a little bit? Of course but we don’t let it negatively affect us.”

Army plays a home-and-home with Bentley this weekend, and hosts Canada’s Royal Military College on Feb. 4 in a renewal of what had been the longest-running international hockey series.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

If the playoffs started today: First-round matchups would have No. 12 Sacred Heart at No. 5 Niagara, No. 11 Army at No. 6 Connecticut, No. 10 American International at No. 7 Holy Cross and No. 9 Canisius at No. 8 Bentley. The byes would go to No. 1 Mercyhurst, No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology, No. 3 Robert Morris and No. 4 Air Force.

Players of the week: Daniel O’Donoghue of Mercyhurst shared the award with Cody Crichton of Robert Morris. O’Donoghue, a sophomore forward, had two goals and two assists as Mercyhurst beat Holy Cross 3-2 in overtime and tied 5-5. Crichton, a senior forward, had a goal and assist on consecutive nights as Robert Morris won a pair at Connecticut, 4-3 and 2-1, putting an end to the Huskies’ four-game win streak.

Goalie of the week: RIT senior Shane Madolora won for the fourth time and third time in the past four weeks. Madolora stopped 62 of 63 shots as RIT blanked Bentley 2-0 and beat the Falcons 2-1 – Bentley had its six-game league unbeaten streak come to an end. The shutout win was Madolora’s third in a row, and he extended his streak to 211 minutes, 1 second. Madolora ranks third in the nation with a .935 save percentage.

Rookie of the week: Chris Lochner of Niagara posted his first career hat trick, all on the power play, as the Purple Eagles beat AIC 6-1 on Saturday.

Clean sweep: Canisius beat Sacred Heart 2-0 and 4-3. It was the first Golden Griffin sweep of the Pioneers since the 2003-04 season. Tony Capobianco posted his first career shutout with a 28-save effort on Friday.

Coming up: It’s first versus second as league leader Mercyhurst visits runner-up Rochester Institute of Technology in a Friday-Saturday set. The Eastern pod teams all play home-and-home sets with Bentley opening at Army, Holy Cross at Connecticut and Sacred Heart at American International. Likewise for Niagara, opening at Robert Morris. Air Force visits Canisius on Sunday.

It’s kind of a slow weekend in the sports world with the big events being the NHL All-Star Game (somewhat watchable), the NFL Pro Bowl (hardly watchable), and a full slate of NBA action (completely unwatchable). The same could be said for the coming weekend in college hockey with only one big-time clash (Maine at Boston University) on the docket. But there are a few other series that warrant a closer look. One worth watching is a battle between the top two teams in Atlantic Hockey as Mercyhurst visits RIT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last weekend’s results could have hardly come as a surprise to followers of the Harvard Crimson this season. A road trip to Colgate and Cornell, both stacked in the top-four of the ECAC Hockey standings, yielded two points. On a pair of 2-2 ties. Those deadlocks were the seventh and eighth ties of the season for Harvard, and they’ve only played 18 games (4-6-8).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

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

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

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

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

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