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.

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.

Reilly Smith

REILLY SMITH
Miami
Jr. | F | Mimico, Ontario

His Statistics: Four goals in the RedHawks’ sweep of visiting Western Michigan, including all three goals (one of them short-handed) in Friday’s 3-1 win and the game-winner in Saturday’s 4-0 shutout.

His Impact: Since a disastrous October in which it won two of its eight games, Miami has climbed to within two points of first-place Ohio State in the CCHA standings by going 12-4-2 since Nov. 1. Smith has played a huge role in the RedHawks’ revival, scoring 14 goals and 20 points in those 18 games. His four goals this weekend give him 18 for the season—in all of college hockey, only Colgate’s Austin Smith (24) and Minnesota’s Nick Bjugstad (20) have more.

Smith and the RedHawks have a tough, but favorable, schedule from here on out with seven of their 10 remaining games at home, including a potentially huge home-and-home series with Ohio State to close the regular season. The only road series left on Miami’s slate is an equally important trip to Ann Arbor Feb. 3-4 to face Michigan.

His Runners Up: Shane Madolora, RIT; Mike Mangene, Maine; Bryce Merriam, Rensselaer; Justin Schultz, Wisconsin

While we chose Reilly Smith as the INCH National Player of the Week, it wasn’t an easy decision. The efforts of all the runner-up candidates made this the most difficult choice of the year, so we’ll take this time to salute them in greater detail. The goalies were at the top of their games, as RIT and RPI went to New England states and came home after four-point weekends. RIT’s Shane Madolora (62 saves) and RPI’s Bryce Merriam (81 saves) each had a shutout and allowed one goal in the other game. Matt Mangene of Maine led the Black Bears to a sweep of Boston College by scoring the overtime-winner in Friday’s victory and adding a hat trick in Saturday’s win. Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz had another big weekend to boost his Hobey candidacy with five points and a plus-seven rating in two wins against Alaska Anchorage.

Over the last several weeks, people have had the opportunity to login and vote for their favorite players or other deserving candidates in the first phase of the Vote For Hobey. With that, has come some campaigning and balloting updates (and even misinformed articles) from different factions in support of players. We’re all for the enthusiasm, but the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter at all in determining the top-10 Hobey finalists, let alone the winner. At this stage of voting, 58 coaches receive ballots. Additionally, the fan vote accounts for one percent of the total results – roughly a little more than half of one coach’s vote.

What Happened: Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson was understandably peeved after the CCHA denied the Fighting Irish’s appeal of its suspension of forward Riley Sheahan, causing the standout junior to miss Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Michigan. The league iced Sheahan for what it termed an “illegal hit” in the second period of Notre Dame’s Jan. 13 loss to Western Michigan.

Thing is, had the officials working that game made the correct call, it’s unlikely Sheahan gets suspended. Referees Keith Sergott and Matthew Miller saw the hit, but wrongly assessed the major penalty and game misconduct to Notre Dame’s Jeff Costello—hence the CCHA’s revisionist justice nearly a week later.

“It was more about the process. It wasn’t so much about the call,” Jackson told the Notre Dame Observer. “I hope they take a hard look at the official that involved and give him the same kind of suspension.”

What We’re Watching: We’re watching college hockey on TV—lots of it. With the proliferation of national and regional sports outlets and DirecTV, it’s the golden age of televised college pucks. But we’ve got a simple request for game analysts: less is more. Just because you’re on television for two to three hours at a time, you don’t have to try to cram everything you know about the game into that time frame. Tell us what we need to know, and move on.

What the …?: Saw some brief reports Monday from the Canadian Press about an AHL suspension to former New Hampshire defenseman Garrett Stafford. He’ll sit out one game for the Hamilton Bulldogs due to his actions in Saturday’s outdoor game against the Toronto Marlies. Stafford’s transgression? He apparently threw a water bottle at the Marlies’ bench.

@BruceCiskie Bruce Ciskie

Not surprised to see UMD lose a couple first-place votes. There are voters who use the Pairwise now that it has enough data to be valid.

• If this is indeed the case, and we have no reason to believe it’s not true, then what value do those voters bring to the polling process? Many fans like to clamor that the PairWise is the only thing that matters for NCAA Tournament selection and the polls are meaningless. That’s true … on one day of the year. The PairWise is designed to measure teams based on the entire season’s body of work and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. To view it as a ranking system is flat-out wrong. The benefit of voter-driven polls and compiling the INCH Power Rankings is that actual hockey coaches and media who closely follow the games can make their case based on what they’ve seen by watching teams all season long. Besides, do you really want to rely on a comparison system that currently deems CCHA ninth-place team Northern Michigan more worthy of an NCAA Tournament spot than WCHA leader Minnesota or ECAC Hockey leader Cornell?

Stevie Moses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@TheRoEbOaT9 Garrett Roe

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

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

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

Dane Walters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@2lidgett2quit John Lidgett

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

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

SPENCER ABBOTT
Maine
Sr. | F | Hamilton, Ontario

Spencer Abbott

His Statistics: 5-4—9 in the Black Bears’ sweep of Vermont, including both game-winning goals and a hat trick in Friday’s 6-4 win.

His Impact: Abbott, Maine’s top points-getter with 10 goals and 13 assists in 14 games crammed a month’s worth of scoring into one weekend in his team’s sweep of Vermont in Burlington this past weekend. The senior forward scored five goals and four assists as the Black Bears evened their record at 6-6-2 overall and 5-5-1 in Hockey East play.

In Friday’s 6-4 win, Abbott had a hand in all but one of Maine’s goals. Most notably, he scored three goals, including two in a 2:47 span of the third period that gave the Black Bears a lead it would not relinquish. In the series finale, Abbott scored twice in the second period to put the Black Bears up by a 4-0 margin. Maine would take a 5-0 lead early in the third period on a goal Abbott set up en route to a 5-2 win.

His Runners-Up: Kyle DeLaurell, Air Force; Tyler Gron, Northern Michigan; Brock Nelson, North Dakota; Austin Smith, Colgate

It’s been a rough go for Alabama-Huntsville. Not only had the Chargers gone 0-14-1 in its first 15 games while being outscored by a 60-11 margin, but University of Alabama bigwigs in October decided to pull the plug on varsity hockey at the end of the season. With that in mind, it’s hard not to feel good for Huntsville finally recording its first win of the year last Friday when the Chargers topped Nebraska-Omaha, 3-1 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. UAH forward Brice Geoffrion, who hails from the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, led the Chargers with two goals, while goaltender Clarke Saunders stopped 44 of the 45 shots he faced.

Incidentally, the Chargers’ last win came on Jan. 29 of last season, when UAH beat—you guessed it—Nebraska-Omaha in OT by a 2-1 score. Brice Geoffrion’s brother, Sebastian, scored the game-winner that night, and Saunders made 58 saves.

When social media and advertising go wrong, presented on Twitter by @Easton_Hockey.

Last week, the hockey manufacturer saluted the scorer of BU’s game-winning goal at Madison Square Garden as well as its own product in a series of tweets:

Exciting stick news: a stick we’re releasing next year was used in game action for the 1st time Saturday. (1/3)

Unbelievably, it was used to bury the OT winner. Ross Gaudet of BU used it to take down Vermont in MSG in front of 18,200 people. (2/3)

It’s the “Mako,” and it looks like this: http://twitpic.com/7m6dx1 (3/3)

The first and most obvious error is that the game was against Cornell. That’s a credibility problem. Second, calling out an individual player as a beneficiary in a pseudo-endorsement had to drive NCAA compliance personnel at BU nuts. Thirdly, did they see the goal? Gaudet deflected a puck off his own leg and into the net. The stick model was at least as effective as a shovel or canoe oar might have been under the same circumstances.

What Happened?: The past 10 months or so have been slightly chaotic for the sport, with the Big Ten announcing its intentions to form a college hockey conference, a handful of CCHA and WCHA expatriates breaking away to form the National College Hockey Conference, the remaining CCHA refugees flocking to the WCHA, and Notre Dame shuffling off to Hockey East.

In Sunday’s St. Cloud Times, reporter David Unze did a remarkable job spelling out how that school’s leaders—namely, president Earl Potter, special adviser to athletics Gino Gasparini, and coach Bob Motzko—worked to secure the Huskies’ future as the college hockey landscape dramatically changed. It’s a great look at the behind-the-scenes machinations of a Division I program.

What We’re Watching: Here at INCH, we’re all about college hockey, but we realize that some of the pleasure of following the game includes tracking players after they’ve moved on to professional hockey … and also tracking players who will be playing college hockey in future years. INCH’s Joe Gladziszewski had an opportunity to check out a United States Hockey League game in person for the first time this past weekend in Indianapolis and came away impressed. The host Indiana Ice lineup featured 11 college commits in its lineup and the visiting Sioux Falls Stampede had eight commits on the ice. There was a consistently strong level of play and several of the already-committed players made nice plays. Uncommitted prospects Christian Hilbrich and Ryan Cole of Indiana also caught our eye. We’re looking forward to seeing all of them again in the near future on college rinks.

What the …?: We’ll give full credit to the Northeastern Huskies, who have won five straight games despite facing an unusual schedule thus far. Northeastern opened the year with a school-record 12 straight games against Hockey East opponents. Following that dozen, things didn’t project to get any easier with a single game on the road against Michigan and a two-game set at Notre Dame one week later. The Huskies flew from the east coast to Detroit, got a win at Michigan, and then returned for classes. A week later, the Huskies flew to O’Hare  in Chicago en route to South Bend, where they earned a sweep of the Fighting Irish – the first home losses for Notre Dame in its newly-constructed arena. It was fitting that Northeastern capped its two trips to the Midwest in a weeklong span against Notre Dame, foreshadowing some of the Irish’s upcoming travel responsibilities to New England once that team joins Hockey East.

@umichhockey Michigan Hockey

The boys took time for a little curling after practice today in Fairbanks pic.twitter.com/PLOvQm7c

• We love it when teams go on the road and take advantage of some of the opportunities afforded them by being in a different place. Plus, curling is tons of fun. Our applause goes out to the Wolverines for their Thursday post-practice session prior to a Friday-Saturday set against Alaska.

J.T. BROWN
Minnesota Duluth
So. | F | Burnsville, Minn.

His Statistics: 2 goals, 3 assists, 1 power-play goal, and a plus-minus rating of +4 in the Bulldogs’ sweep of Minnesota State.

His Impact: The Bulldogs are the nation’s hottest team—they head into an idle Thanksgiving weekend with a 10-game unbeaten streak—and Brown has played a huge role in that surge. The 2011 NCAA Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player extended his scoring streak to six games with two goals and three assists as UMD swept the visiting Mavericks to move into second place in the WCHA standings, one point behind Minnesota.

In Friday’s 5-2 win, Brown had a goal and an assist and was on the ice for all but one of the Bulldogs’ goals. The following night, he added a goal and two assists as UMD cruised to a 7-3 victory. The sophomore enters the week ranked fifth in the nation in scoring (5-14—19) and tied for third in the country in assists.

His Runners-Up: Andy Iles, Cornell; Ludwig Karlsson, Northeastern; Alex Lippincott, Ohio State; Max Strang, Mercyhurst.

Colgate is off to a very good start. At 8-4-1 overall, the Raiders enter the week rated 14th in the latest INCH Power Rankings. Senior defenseman Kevin McNamara is also off to a great start. The Chestnut Hill, Mass., native, who entered the season with 38 points in 118 career games, has six points in 13 games thus far, but it’s what he’s doing off the ice that is more impressive.

During the offseason, McNamara spearheaded the Goals for Good effort, a charitable competition among the 12 ECAC Hockey schools. Goals for Good gives fans the opportunity to make a financial contribution to a charity chosen by their favorite team; donations can be tied to goals scored and/or wins. Pledges can be made at the Goals for Good website. At the end of the season, Goals for Good will make a $1,000 contribution on behalf of the team that raises the most money for its charity to the food bank in that community.

In an e-mail, McNamara said that the effort is off to a good start, but he’s trying to get the word out to fans from other ECAC Hockey schools. We’re happy to help, Kevin.

Saying big things were expected from Maine this season might be a bit of an overstatement, but certainly, the Black Bears’ current 3-6-2 mark is not indicative of where the bar was set for this team in October. Maine’s biggest issues appears to be goaltending — sophomores Martin Ouellette and Dan Sullivan have combined for a 3.12 goals against average and a .883 save percentage and have allowed three or more goals in eight of 11 games to date — and scoring depth, where the forward trio of Spencer Abbott, Joey Diamond, and Brian Flynn have scored 16 of the team’s 30 goals.

What Happened?: Cornell sophomore goalie Andy Iles has been kind of a big deal for a long time, dating back to leading his high-school team to the state finals as a freshman. A distinguished tenure in junior hockey, including the U.S. National Team Development Program, helped him get some international experience as a teenager. He chose to play college hockey at Cornell, in his hometown of Ithaca, N.Y. That decision brought lots of pressure, because of the local hockey knowledge and the outstanding history of success by Big Red goaltenders.

Iles proved to be capable in a platoon situation as a freshman, but now has the clear-cut number-one goaltending role in hand. Skeptics of Iles’ early performances both as a freshman and in the early part of this sophomore campaign were prominent, and some fans were claiming “Iles is not the answer” on a Cornell message board. He posted back-to-back shutouts this past weekend including a 32-save blanking of Quinnipiac on Saturday.

What We’re Watching: In researching the candidates for the First Shift’s player of the week, we were drawn to the interesting story of Ohio State sophomore forward Alex Lippincott. He earned CCHA Player of the Week honors following a four-point game in the Buckeyes’ Saturday victory at Michigan. That two-goal, two-assist performance came after Lippincott was a healthy scratch in the first game of the weekend series. In the game that preceded Ohio State’s trip to Yost, Lippincott had a goal and an assist in a win over Northern Michigan. Lippincott has dressed in just eight games this year, but has six points in his last two games. We’ll be keeping an eye on this guy when he gets back in the lineup.

What the …?: You may think the highlight of this weekend’s Minnesota State-Minnesota Duluth series was the four second-period goals the Bulldogs scored in a 96-second span—the goals came so quickly, UMD coach Scott Sandelin told the Duluth News-Tribune’s Kevin Pates that he didn’t see two of them—en route to a 7-3 win Saturday.

Nope.

UMD backup goalie Aaron Crandall provided the weekend’s crescendo when he was captured on the Amsoil Arena video board during a break in the action doing the Berney, an Internet-fueled dance craze that honors the titular character from the 1989 movie “Weekend at Bernie’s” backed by a song from Louisiana-based hip-hop artist Infiniti So Awesome. Well played, Crandall, but next time, do it on the ice.

Nick D'Agostino

NICK D’AGOSTINO
Cornell
Jr. | D | Bolton, Ontario

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4 goals, 3 PPG, 2 GWG

His Impact: Talented defenseman Nick D’Agostino has shown offensive flair through his first two seasons at Cornell, but he never had a weekend like this. D’Agostino scored a pair of power-play goals in the first period Friday as Cornell took a 3-0 lead and went on to a 4-2 win at Harvard. The following night, D’Agostino scored a power-play goal to give Cornell a 2-1 lead in the second period, and then scored at the 9:23 mark of the third period that broke a tie and gave the Big Red a 3-2 victory.

D’Agostino has four goals and four assists through five games this year. He had 18 points as a freshman and 17 as a sophomore.

His Runners-Up: Conor Allen, Massachusetts; Josh Archibald, Nebraska-Omaha; Branden Komm, Bentley; T.J. Tynan, Notre Dame

We raved about the job Jeff Blashill did last season turning around moribund Western Michigan. Now, it looks like Norm Bazin might be doing something similar at UMass Lowell. The River Hawks swept Maine in Orono this past weekend for its fourth and fifth wins of the season—pretty heady stuff for a group that won five of 34 games a year ago. The sweep was the River Hawks’ first against a Hockey East opponent since beating Vermont in the first round of the league playoffs in 2008. The biggest differences? UML is on pace to score 131 goals (nearly 50 more than it netted a year ago) and goaltending, where sophomore Doug Carr (2.20 GAA, .913 save pct.) has emerged as the River Hawks’ go-to guy.

Sure, it’s still feels relatively early in the season, but as you examine schedules further; several teams have already played 12 games, which is equivalent of approximately one-third of the season. So, we’re standing at the season’s first-period intermission and really don’t know much yet. Every weekend brings surprises, but this past weekend’s set of results provided even more confusion. The top-seven teams in the Nov. 6 edition of the INCH Power Rankings combined to lose eight games. Unexpectedly slow starts for the likes of Rensselaer and North Dakota are head-scratchers at this point in the year.

What Happened?: How about, What Happened Again? Yale goalie Jeff Malcolm recorded his third consecutive shutout in three starts since getting dinged for six goals against in a home loss to Cornell. The following night, Malcolm denied all 39 shots on goal from Colgate. This past weekend Malcolm’s streak continued with 27 saves against RPI and a 45-save blanking of Union.

What We’re Watching: Each week, our Friday Fourcast highlights the best of the weekend ahead in college hockey, which usually means we bypass games during the week. Consider this item a Tuesday Twocast, then, because you’ll want to keep an eye on a couple matches tonight. One is Union at Rensselaer—even though the Dutchmen lost to Yale and Brown this past weekend and RPI snapped an eight-game losing skid by beating Brown Saturday, this rivalry has intensified in recent years. The other is Western Michigan at Notre Dame pitting the Irish, owners of a seven-game unbeaten streak, against the Broncos, who’ve dropped three straight after getting off to a 6-0-3 start.

What The …?: Even though it hosted a Frozen Four a few years ago, Ohio State’s Value City Arena is, first and foremost, a basketball facility. In the past, the Buckeyes hockey team has been bounced from the building for events sucha as the state girls’ basketball tournament. Last Friday, OSU’s game against Northern Michigan at VCA started at 12:05 p.m. so the Buckeyes’ men’s basketball team could have the building that night for its season opener against Wright State. Now we’re all for Friday afternoon hockey, especially if we can get away from work to watch, and it didn’t seem to bother the Bucks, who won 4-1, but being a third-class citizen in one’s home barn stinks. Wonder if these scheduling oddities will continue once Big Ten hockey play commences?

@scottmayfield2 Scott Mayfield

Huge win for @DU_Hockey last night against CC. Big step in the right direction for this season

 @GarrettNoonan13 Garrett Noonan

Beauty win for the boys against bc

• To the victors go the spoils, and those spoils include saluting your teammates for big wins in rivalry games – as did Denver freshman defenseman Scott Mayfield and Boston University sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan. Those wins could be a launching point for both teams.

TIM SCHALLER
Providence
Jr. | F | Merrimack, N.H.

Tim Schaller

His Statistics: 2 GP, four goals, hat trick, 3 PPG, SHG, GWG

His Impact: Schaller was all over the scoresheet in Providence’s Friday victory over Vermont. He had two power-play goals, scored a short-handed goal in the second period that proved to be the game-winning goal to complete his first-career hat trick in a 5-2 win over Vermont. In Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Catamounts, Schaller scored a third-period power-play goal.

You’ve got to get a lot of shots to score a lot of goals, and Schaller is doing his part. He had 14 shots on the weekend, five Friday and nine Saturday, and his four-goal weekend moved him into the team’s goal-scoring lead with five on the season. He entered the season with seven goals in 67 career games. Providence has four wins this year, all of which have come in Hockey East play. That matches last year’s win total in conference games (4-16-7).

His Runners-Up: Nick Dineen, Colorado College; Troy Grosenick, Union; Jordie Johnson, Ferris State; Max Strang, Mercyhurst

Tough break, literally, for St. Cloud State senior forward Drew LeBlanc, the Huskies’ captain and leading scorer, who slid into the boards late in the second period of the Huskies’ 3-3 tie against visiting Wisconsin, fracturing two bones in his leg. So why the salute for LeBlanc, who has played in 129 straight games for the Huskies since arriving on campus? Well, we’re struck by his demeanor following the injury.

“I got out there [to LeBlanc] and he said, ‘Coach, I broke my leg,’” SCSU head coach Bob Motzko told Mick Hatten of the St. Cloud Times. “[The injury] was one of the more gruesome things I’ve seen. He’s got two broken bones and a compound fracture and he’s on the ice and he did not show one ounce of pain.”

LeBlanc, who had surgery Sunday to repair the damage, could return to the Huskies by season’s end. He was plotting an even quicker return to campus.

“He wanted to go to class [Monday] morning,” Motzko said. “His mom, dad and coach told him it would be OK for him to miss class. He’s a straight-A student and … he’s in the hospital room and mad he can’t go to class.”

Hockey is an emotional game, and one of the arguments for fisticuffs remaining in the rulebooks at higher levels is that players have the opportunity to take care of perceived transgressions against teammates with a scrap and five-minute major. That, of course, doesn’t exist in college hockey and instead you can end up with unseemly and awkward situations similar to what happened during Friday’s Minnesota-North Dakota game at Mariucci Arena. Gopher players took exception when they felt goalie Kent Patterson was run into by a North Dakota player midway through the second period. In attempting to stand up for their teammate, several one-on-one wrestling matches took place inside the Minnesota end of the rink and words were exchanged between players from both sides. Tempers were elevated and both penalty boxes filled. It got weird, didn’t it?

What Happened: From the Save UAH Hockey Facebook page: More than 2,500 people were at Huntsville’s Von Braun Center Friday to watch the Chargers face Ohio State. The announced attendance for Saturday’s series finale was 1,351. Now, what could’ve caused such a precipitous drop in paying customers from Friday to Saturday?

What We’re Watching: Perhaps this should be titled “What We Will Be Watching”, referring to Versus last week unveiling its 2011-12 national college hockey broadcast schedule. Versus, which becomes NBC Sports Network on New Year’s Day, kicks off its 16-game slate Dec. 31 with Boston University-Notre Dame and ends with the Hockey East tournament semifinals and finals. More televised college hockey is good for the sport, of course, and it won’t hurt to have it on an outlet that reaches more than 75 million households nationwide. And the initial lineup is quite diverse, featuring familiar names like Boston College, Denver, and Michigan and not-so-usual suspects like Dartmouth, Minnesota Duluth, and Yale.

What The … : The road trip is a time-honored tradition among college hockey fans, a tribute to camaraderie and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to see their team play. But for Colorado College fans, the thought of hopping into the car and driving a few hours for a weekend series wasn’t an option; the trips were either way too far or, in the case of Air Force and Denver, ridiculously close.

This past weekend, however, the Colorado Springs Gazette’s Joe Paisley bumped into a dozen Tiger fans who made the 1,200-plus mile round trip from Colorado Springs to Omaha for the team’s series at Nebraska-Omaha. CC lost Friday’s opener but won Saturday’s finale, making the eight-hour trip home a bit more tolerable. And even though it was the first roadie for these fans, they traveled like seasoned pros and definitely captured the spirit of the thing.

“We just wanted to make sure we were [in Omaha] in time to drink beer,” CC fan Ken Rownd told Paisley.

@umichhockey Michigan Hockey

MICHIGAN GOAL!!! An empty netter for Kevin Lynch puts the icing on the cake at 19:00. The Wolverines now have a 5-2 lead.

• As a matter of consistency, we’d like to restate our preference that a No-Cheering-In-The-Press-Box expectation also applies to media and official team accounts on Twitter. Fortunately we don’t see as many exclamation marks in the team’s press releases.

JUSTIN FLOREK
Northern Michigan
Sr. | F | Marquette, Mich.

His Statistics: 2 GP, 1-4—5 in the Wildcats’ win and tie against Michigan.

His Impact: Florek has always been a reliable scorer—he entered the season with 35 goals and 81 points in 120 career games—but the Marquette native looking more like the elite power forward people thought he’d be when he joined the Wildcats following a stint with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

With five points in NMU’s win and tie against previously unbeaten Michigan this past weekend, Florek now has nine points (five goals, four assists) in six games for the Wildcats, who are off to their best start since 2005-06. He’s figured in on nearly half of his team’s 21 goals this season, including five of eight goals against the Wolverines.

Among CCHA skaters, only Notre Dame’s Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan have more points than the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Florek, and only Lee and Ferris State’s Travis Ouellette have more goals. He’s second in the league to Oullette with three power-play goals and his six power-play points leads the conference.

His Runners-Up: Bill Arnold, Boston College; Ryan Leets, Army; Allan McPherson, Clarkson; Jason Zucker, Denver.

The issues surrounding the demise of the Alabama-Huntsville hockey program are too numerous and complex to attack in this limited space; it’ll likely be the lead item on an INCH Podcast later this week. Instead, we’ll focus on the many great moments in Charger hockey history, including NCAA Division II national championships in 1996 and 1998 and runner-up finishes in 1994 and 1997, College Hockey America regular-season championships in 2001 and 2003, and CHA playoff titles in 2007 and 2010.

Alabama-Huntsville was 0-2 in two trips to the NCAA Tournament, but they were memorable appearances—in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich., the Chargers took top-seed Notre Dame to double overtime before losing, 3-2, and in 2010, UAH nearly bounced another top seed, Miami, in the Midwest Regional first round in Fort Wayne, Ind, losing 2-1.

Every so often, a team will get bitten by the injury bug. Then there’s Minnesota State, which has been mauled by the injury grizzly.

The Mavericks headed to Denver with 18 skaters and two goaltenders—injuries kept forwards J.P. Burkemper, Michael Dorr, Max Gaede, and Eriah Hayes and defensemen Tyler Elbrecht and Danny Heath at home. Then things got worse. In Friday’s 4-2 loss to DU, forward Chase Grant suffered a lower-body injury that, according to Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting via Shane Frederick of the Mankato Free Press, could keep him out for a while. The following night, defenseman Brett Stern was hurt in the first period of MSU’s 10-2 loss and did not return.

Mercifully, the Mavs are off this weekend.

What Happened?: Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena is a beautiful venue, but like any new facility there are a few kinks to work out. About 30 minutes after the inaugural game at the 5,000-seat rink Friday, someone or something inadvertently set off a fire alarm, prompting the building to be evacuated until the Notre Dame Fire Department arrived and gave the all clear. We’re not sure what went down, but our hunch is that someone found out what they thought was a shortcut to the parking lot wasn’t that at all.

What We’re (Not) Watching: Harvard, yet. It was nice to see the Ivy League schools get into some sort of competitive action this past weekend with some exhibitions and scrimmages, including Harvard’s game against Western Ontario. Up next for the Crimson … no games this weekend. Harvard plays its first regular season games Nov. 4-5 at home against Princeton and Quinnipiac. By the time the Crimson and Bobcats take the ice that Saturday night at Bright Hockey Center, Quinnipiac will have played 10 games.

What the …?: Through five games this season, Boston University has been as predictable as a Tracy Morgan soliloquy. In their opener, the Terriers shut out New Hampshire (which seemed impressive at the time). The following weekend, BU lost at Providence, then beat Denver the next night. Then this past Saturday, the Terriers were beaten by Holy Cross. Sense a trend? No, neither do we.

@Walldawg27 Andrew Wallace

Big fan of the cauliflower ear look. Open invitation for someone to sock me in the ear #streetcredit

• The biggest problem we had in this selection was choosing which of Bowling Green sophomore forward Andrew Wallace’s tweets to choose for this honor. His entire timeline is gold, including the claim that he leads the nation in “practice bar-downs” – not bad for a guy with five career points in 45 games. He’s a beauty.