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

His Statistics: Backstopped the RedHawks to two wins at Michigan State—including a 4-0 shutout Saturday—by turning aside all but one of the 54 shots he faced on the weekend.

His Impact: A preseason Frozen Four favorite basically written off after losing six of eight in October, Miami has crept to within three points of second-place Notre Dame and Western Michigan in the CCHA standings thanks to a 9-3-3 record since Nov. 1.

Knapp was the hero for the RedHawks in their sweep of Michigan State in East Lansing. He made 33 saves in his team’s 2-1 overtime win Friday, then stopped all 20 shots he faced in Saturday’s series finale. Knapp, who started the year by losing three of his first four starts, is 4-1-0 in his last five appearances. During that span, he’s lowered his GAA by a full goal (from 3.17 to 2.17) while boosting his save percentage from .888 to .917.

His Runners-Up: Daniel Bahntge, Mercyhurst; Daniel Carr, Union; Joey Diamond, Maine; Carter Rowney, North Dakota

Charles “Lefty” Smith never led the Notre Dame hockey team to an NCAA Tournament appearance, nor did he guide them to a conference regular-season or playoff championship. Heck, in his 19 seasons as the Fighting Irish head coach, the team won 20 or more games in a season just four times.

That said, Notre Dame would have never soared to its recent heights without Smith, who passed away last week just two days shy of 82nd birthday. In 1968, after a successful 10-year stint as a high school coach in South St. Paul, Minn., he guided the Irish from their modern-day debut  as a Division I independent to membership in the WCHA, then the CCHA and, ultimately, back to independent status. A number of standouts played for Smith—Bill Nyrop, Jack Brownschidle, Greg Meredith, and Dave Poulin, to name a few—but his most notable achievement might be that each of the 126 players who played for him completed their college eligibility and earned degrees.

After stepping down as head coach in 1987, he became facilities manager at the school’s Loftus Sports Center, a post he held until his retirement last month. The main ice sheet at Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena bears his name.

We’re at that point in the college hockey season when people start talking about the PairWise Rankings, even though they’re only relevant for a matter of hours on the day the NCAA Tournament field is selected. And while we really don’t pay attention to the ups and downs of the computer rankings, they did catch our eye when we noticed that Northern Michigan is currently tied for sixth in PWR.

No disrespect to the Wildcats, who’ve had a decent season thus far, but does anyone really believe they’re better than Minnesota (eighth in the Pairwise), Merrimack (tied for 11th), Colgate (21st), or Union (26th)? One could legitimately argue that NMU is the sixth-best team in the state of Michigan. Fortunately, these types of things have a way of working themselves out in the end.

What Happened: Most of the players who returned from the recently completed World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton slotted right back into their college lineups over the weekend, but in two notable instances players were held out of action. Canada’s Jaden Schwartz wasn’t in the Friday night lineup for Colorado College, which lost that night to visiting Cornell. Canada had played in the bronze-medal game the day before. United States captain Jason Zucker had the entire weekend off as Denver split a non-conference series with Alabama-Huntsville.

What We’re Watching: Hey, anybody notice we’re in the midst of another bunch of outdoor hockey games during this two-week span? Fenway Park hosted a Hockey East doubleheader on Saturday and will host two more games this weekend when Harvard plays Union and Boston College faces Northeastern. Michigan and Ohio State will play this weekend at the home of the Cleveland Indians. Here’s our take—there sure are a lot of these games seemingly every season. The concept is still a cool one and while it’s no longer a unique spectacle, it’s unique to most of the participating teams and cities that are getting on board. Far be it from us to chastise them for providing and enjoying the outdoor hockey experience.

What the … ? Cheers and congratulations go out to the Northern Michigan duo of Matt Thurber and Andrew Cherniwchan as each recorded a hat trick in the Wildcats’ 7-3 win over Alaska on Saturday night in Marquette. It was the first time that happened for a Northern Michigan team since the 1991-92 season.

@saveuahhockey Save UAH Hockey

Did we mention that Denver was #11 and that this loss probably puts them out of the NCAA postseason? No? Well, now you know. — GFM

• OK, hold on a second here. We’re not taking anything away from Alabama-Huntsville’s excellent 3-2 win at Denver on Friday night, it probably supplanted Sacred Heart’s November win over Yale as the biggest upset of the season. But to claim that it affects Denver’s postseason standing is a little out of whack. If the Pioneers take care of business in the WCHA over the rest of the season, earn a top-four finish and make it to the Final Five, they’re going to be in the NCAAs no problem.

There’s no better way to get the second half of the season underway than with a slate of games that is arguably, from top to bottom, the best weekend of college hockey to date. In addition to a slew of games pitting ranked foes against one another, there are a few important conference matchups, a handful of intriguing non-league affairs, and a couple neutral-site games.

Chase Balisy and Western Michigan will try to snap Minnesota Duluth's 14-game unbeaten streak this weekend in Kalamazoo.

Minnesota Duluth at Western Michigan (Fri.-Sat.)
UMD hasn’t lost since mid-October, but the top-ranked Bulldogs haven’t played in nearly a month. They’ll face a Western Michigan team that has bounced back from a four-game Novemeber losing streak to post a 4-1-2 mark its last seven games. Lawson Ice Arena has been a tough venue for road teams even in the Broncos’ lean years, but since the start of the 2010-11 season, WMU is 19-7-4 at home. No question the place will be electric this weekend—both games will be sellouts, and the Lawson Lunatics will bring the venom usually reserved for visits from Michigan and Michigan State.

Notre Dame at Minnesota (Sat.)
The Fighting Irish and Gophers are similar in a few respects—both have slowed after getting out to strong starts, welcome back key players following a stint for the U.S. team at the World Junior Tournament, and boast deep, talented lineups virtually bereft of seniors. Minnesota has the edge in goal with Kent Patterson, but Notre Dame could get a boost if forward Anders Lee, a Twin Cities native who snapped a nine-game goal drought by scoring twice against Boston University last week, is back on track. This game starts a difficult month-long stretch for the Gophers, who follow this contest with league series against North Dakota, Colorado College, St. Cloud State, and Denver.

Merrimack at Boston University (Fri.)
Merrimack at Boston College (Sun.)
It’s too early to call this a make-or-break weekend for Merrimack, but it’s a noteworthy weekend on the schedule in evaluating exactly where the Warriors stand among the top teams in Hockey East. While they’ve already posted an overtime win over BU earlier this season, this back-to-back set will be more telling as to how Merrimack stacks up. After starting the season 9-0-1 through 10 games, Merrimack is just 2-3-2 in its last seven. Boston College comes into the weekend following a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational and Boston University suffered a 5-2 loss to Notre Dame during the holiday break. It’s a good chance for all three teams to start the second half in a positive manner.

Cornell at Colorado College (Fri.-Sat.)
Cornell heads to Colorado College for a two-game series this weekend before both teams head into an extended stretch of conference play to close the year. Keep an eye on the officiating standard as both teams have been tremendously proficient on the power play and relatively poor in penalty killing. CC is fifth in the country with a 25.3 percent conversion rate while Cornell is sixth at 23.9 percent. One big difference between the power-play units is that Colorado College has been stung for seven short-handed goals against while Cornell has not conceded any. While short-handed, both teams rank in the last 13 teams nationally as Cornell is 46th with a 78.2 penalty-kill success rate and Colorado College has killed off 77.6 percent, which ranks 48th.

Also: RIT, fresh off wins against top-20 opponents Ferris State and Lake Superior State at the Catamount Cup in Burington, Vt., last weekend, can add to its non-conference resume this weekend when it travels to Madison to face Wisconsin. … Speaking of Ferris, the Bulldogs have followed a 9-2-0 start by posting a 2-6-1 mark in their last nine games. They host Colgate, owners of a seven-game unbeaten streak. … Safe to say no one expected Michigan and Miami to be eighth and ninth, respectively, in the CCHA standings at the midway point of the season. Both teams can make up ground this weekend on teams they’re chasing—the Wolverines host fourth-place Lake Superior State and the RedHawks visit sixth-place Michigan State. … In the spirit of the original Winnipeg Jets, we encourage everyone attending Saturday’s Clarkson-North Dakota game in the ‘Peg to wear white. … They’ll be playing two games at Fenway Park Saturday—it’s Vermont against Massachusetts in one and New Hampshire and Maine in the other. We expect big things from the Black Bears’ Joey Diamond.

TERRIERS TAKE TIME TO REGROUP

The annual break for exams and finals is normally a down time for a team to rest and regroup for the second half of the season. For Boston University, however, the three-week span between games couldn’t have been more tumultuous.

Chris Connolly

First came the dismissal of senior Corey Trivino following an alcohol-related incident on campus on Dec. 12. Four days later, sophomore Charlie Coyle, training with the United States team in advance of the World Junior Championships, announced he was leaving to sign with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. At the time of their departures, Trivino and Coyle ranked first and fifth on the Terrier roster in scoring, with a combined 16 goals and 15 assists between the pair.

The Terriers began putting things back together upon the team’s return from the holiday break, despite returning to action with a disappointing 5-2 loss at Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve.

“We had a great practice before we left Boston; practices were really, really sharp,” said head coach Jack Parker following the game against the Irish. “The turmoil (of the break) was over once we started practice on the 26th, and people had different roles. It’s time to move on, and nobody’s worried about it.”

“It is a big loss,” said senior captain Chris Connolly, “but I think we have a lot of depth, and it’s just going to take the adjustment of guys playing some different positions with some different players. We’re still in a very good situation – this is a very good team.

“I think everybody was excited,” Connolly added about the Terriers getting back on the ice for game action. “You spend the first half trying to put yourself in a decent position so you don’t have to dig yourself out of a hole, and I think we’d done that.”

— Kevin Zeise

EVALUATING THE CCHA

When it comes to passing judgment on college hockey teams after their performance in holiday tournaments, it can get a little tricky. Thinking back a few years to the Badger Holiday Classic, watching Yale throttle a competitive Ferris State team helped put things into perspective for both sets of Bulldogs, as Yale went on to an unforgettable loss to Boston College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and Ferris State narrowly missed the Big Dance.

But with the dawn of 2012, the CCHA heads into the second half of its penultimate season with just as must uncertainty as they left the first half of the year.

While the current first place team, Ohio State, made it through the holiday season unscathed with a 4-2 victory over Robert Morris and second-place Notre Dame beat both Boston University and the Russian Red Stars, none of those victories give faith that these favorites will run away with the title in the second half of the year. And the successes and failures of some of the second-tier competitors in the 2011-12 title race help gray the issue even more.

With third place Western Michigan splitting a road series at St. Cloud State and eighth-place Michigan beating both Boston College and sixth-place Michigan State in the Great Lakes Invitational, it’s hard to say whether the Broncos have matured as a national contender or whether the Wolverines can bounce back to preserve the program’s NCAA Tournament streak.

If anything, we’ve learned that while the conference may lack an inarguably favorable national contender that it had in Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame in past years, but also that it’s reasonable to say that the eventual conference champ will be battle tested and perhaps ready to make the noise that has put Michigan, Notre Dame and Miami in the Frozen Four over the past few years.

In short, buckle up and enjoy the ride: it’s far from over in the CCHA.

— James V. Dowd

NORTH DAKOTA, CLARKSON VENTURE ACROSS BORDER

It sounds like something urged by Deepak Chopra or some other self-help guru: If you’re seeking identity and success, a journey of discovery to a foreign land may be useful.

The North Dakota hockey team, which now has no nickname identity (for another three years, minimum) and is seeking more non-conference success, will do just that this weekend. Dave Hakstol and company travel to Winnipeg for a single-game engagement with Clarkson on Saturday.

Dubbed the U.S. College Hockey Classic, the game will be played at the MTS Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, which is 150 miles from the North Dakota campus in downtown Winnipeg. They’re planning to close the upper level at the 15,000-seat rink and are hoping for a crowd that fills the lower bowl. It’s the first time in nearly 60 years that NoDak has played a game in Canada.

“For us it’s not a novelty. For us it’s purely a business trip going to Winnipeg,” said Hakstol at his weekly press conference. “We have to win a hockey game. It’s a critical game for us.”

Hakstol, assistants Cary Eades and Brad Berry, and 11 of their current players are from Western Canada originally, and the coach admits that he’d been hoping to play a game in Manitoba or somewhere further west for years. When True North Sports, owners of the Jets, offered their rink, things came together over the past 18 months. Officials from College Hockey, Inc., are using the game as an opportunity to educate

a Canadian audience. They’ll host a free seminar on American college hockey at the rink before the North Dakota-Clarkson game.

“This is a great opportunity for fans in Winnipeg to get a first-hand look at the college game,” said Paul Kelly of College Hockey, Inc. “Any time new fans can see the quality of college hockey in person

it’s beneficial, and we applaud North Dakota, Clarkson and the MTS Centre for putting this event together.”

The less encouraging news for North Dakota fans is the continued mess of injuries plaguing the team. They got a win and tie with Harvard last weekend, but also lost sophomore forward Derek Rodwell for the

season with a shoulder injury. Hakstol said Corban Knight is unlikely to play against Clarkson, Rocco Grimaldi has yet to return, and Mario Lamoureux’s status is questionable for this weekend too.

In other words, the nickname category is far from the only place where North Dakota is seeking some identity as the team heads north of the border this weekend.

— Jess Myers

COLGATE VISITS FERRIS STATE IN KEY NON-LEAGUE MATCHUP

The Colgate Raiders are one of the nation’s most surprising teams so far this season and the Raiders have a chance to prove their national merit this weekend with a road trip to Ferris State against a Bulldog team that has spent the majority of the season in the national rankings. The Raiders carry a 12-4-2 record into the New Year and have rattled off a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) with the tie coming against Merrimack.

This is an uptick in the schedule for the Raiders as people start to look toward NCAA Tournament selection criteria. Colgate is one of the teams on the tournament bubble at this point and these will be the Raiders’ last two non-conference games before concluding the regular season with 14 games against ECAC Hockey opponents.

One of Colgate’s keys to success this year has been strong overall team defense. The Raiders are ranked eighth nationally in team defense by allowing just 2.17 goals per game. Sophomore goalie Eric Mihalik has handled the bulk of the goaltending duties and owns a 2.48 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in 12 starts, with an 8-3-1 record. Alex Evin has a 1.48 GAA and .948 save percentage in six starts. He is 4-1-1.

Colgate can also score some goals. The Raiders are tenth in the country with a 3.39 goals per game average, of course led by the point-scoring contributions of Austin Smith. Smith leads the nation in scoring with 19 goals and 31 points.

— Joe Gladziszewski

ARMY HOPES FOR BETTER SECOND HALF

Two wins by New Year’s Day is hardly what a senior-laden Army hockey team expected. Yet, these Black Knights are not demoralized.

“Injuries have hurt us,” said senior captain Marcel Alvarez, “But, honestly, we don’t try to use that as an excuse. We have to deal with some of that the rest of the season.”

Army lost two players – freshman right winger Tyler Pistone and junior forward Mike Santee – for the entire season before the first game. Junior defenseman Cheyne Rocha was lost to a broken leg in a Nov. 19 game with Brown. Couple those season-enders with a host of other injuries ranging from a weekend to several weeks in length, and coach Brian Riley was able to field only 17 skaters in a pair of recent games, and has a number of skaters playing out of position.

At 2-9-6, this is Army’s slowest start (for wins) since the 2001-02 season. Riley remains encouraged, though, because his team has managed points – albeit through a school-record six draws – in all but two weekends.

“It’s kind of a fine line between winning and losing,” Riley said. “In three of those (ties), we had breakaways in overtime, two of them while we were short-handed. That’s how close this team has been to winning a few more games.”

Special teams play has to improve, Riley said. The good news is Army has not allowed an even-strength goal in the past three games. The bad news is the Black Knights have allowed two power-play goals in each of the past four contests.

The roster situation will get better. Senior forward Danny Colvin is expected to return for this weekend’s series against Canisius. Junior defenseman John Clark may return in a few weeks. Senior defenseman Bret Larson, out since Nov. 11, should return in February.

— Ken McMillan

Great Lakes Invitational at Detroit
Boston College vs. Michigan; Michigan State vs. Michigan Tech (Thu.)
Third-Place Game and Championship (Fri.)

The Lions are in the playoffs for the first time since 1999; maybe Brett Olson and Michigan Tech can win the Huskies' first Great Lakes Invitational title since 1981 this week in Detroit.

By far, the Great Lakes Invitational highlights the holiday tournament schedule with four participants that have all been nationally ranked at some point this season. A resurgent Michigan Tech squad was one of the first half’s pleasant surprises under new coach Mel Pearson (previously an assistant coach at Michigan) and this is MTU’s best chance at winning the title in many years. The Huskies haven’t won the tournament they host since 1981. Boston College and Michigan State have the chance to meet on Saturday, a midseason reunion of sorts after they played one of the first games of the college hockey season at the Ice Breaker in North Dakota in early October.

Air Force at Colorado College; Union at Denver (Fri.)
Denver at Air Force; Union at Colorado College (Sat.)

It’s a travel-partner sort of weekend in Colorado, which should make Union comfortable even though the Dutchmen are the geographic outlier. Three of the four teams come into this weekend set with some momentum, as Union is 4-0-2 in its last six games, Air Force has won four in a row and CC has won four of five. Denver has split its last three two-game weekends and also dropped an OT game at Colorado College earlier this month. Jason Zucker of Denver and Jaden Schwarz of Colorado College are out of the lineups, due to their involvement in international play.

Boston University at Notre Dame (Sat.)

Ringing in 2012 with a New Year’s Eve battle between the Terriers and Fighting Irish at the Compton Family Ice Arena isn’t a terrible way to spend the final days of the holiday season. Both teams could use a little good news—Notre Dame had lost four in a row before beating Ferris State in its last game prior to the break and, although BU has won seven of its last eight, the Terriers have to adapt to life without forwards Corey Trivino (booted from the team) and Charlie Coyle (off to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after the World Junior Championship). The WJC also means lineup shuffling for both coaches, as BU is without defenseman Adam Clendening and the Irish play without defenseman Stephen Johns and forward T.J. Tynan.

Catamount Cup at Burlington, Vt.
Ferris State vs. RIT; Lake Superior State at Vermont (Thurs.)
Lake Superior State vs. RIT; Ferris State at Vermont (Fri.)

At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a marquee event but for Ferris State, Lake Superior State, and RIT, the opportunity to get two wins against quality non-conference opponents definitely helps the NCAA Tournament resume (and yes, it’s getting to that time where we have to start thinking about stuff like that and, yes, UVM has struggled to date, but a road win against a Hockey East foe never hurts.) It’s also a chance for Ferris and Lake State to start the second half of the season with a bang—both teams have lost four of its last six games.

Also: Other holiday tournaments include the UConn Hockey Classic (Army, UMass Lowell, Rensselaer, and the host Huskies) and the Florida College Classic (Clarkson, Cornell, Maine, and Massachusetts) on Thursday and Friday, and the Ledyard Bank Tournament (Holy Cross, Merrimack, St. Lawrence, and host Dartmouth) and the Mariucci Classic (Niagara, Northeastern, Princeton, and host Minnesota) on Friday and Saturday. … A trio of nice non-conference series in WCHA-land this weekend as North Dakota hosts Harvard, Western Michigan travels to St. Cloud State, and Quinnipiac visits Nebraska-Omaha. … Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins and a future Frozen Four site, hosts Friday’s game pitting Ohio State against Robert Morris. The Pens are out of town the following day, so you won’t have to worry about running into Sidney Crosby. Better yet, Sidney Crosby won’t have to worry about running into you.

In following up with the recently-published conference midseason reports, Inside College Hockey figured this lull in the schedule would be a great time to reflect on the first half from an awards perspective, and so we present the first edition of the Hobey Tracker for the 2011-12 campaign. We’ll look at a group of seven standouts (listed alphabetically) who have established themselves as top candidates so far, and mention six more worthy of consideration.

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 year long. Inside College Hockey’s Hobey Tracker looks at our picks for the top candidates and other players worthy of discussion.

Nick Bjugstad
Minnesota, So., F
20 GP, 16-11–27

Bjugstad was a fast-starter this season with six goals and 11 points in the Gophers’ first seven games. He gets his points in bunches, with 10 multi-point nights in 20 games, but he’s also been held off the scoresheet entirely in five other games.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth, Sr., F
18 GP, 12-17–29

A finalist for this award last year, Connolly has shown that he’s as dynamic on his own as he was with one of the nation’s top lines for the national champs last year. He had an impressive total of 13 points through 10 games this season, but heated up with 16 points in the Bulldogs’ last eight contests, as UMD continues to roll.

Cal Heeter
Ohio State, Sr., G
11-2-1, 2.11 GAA, .926 sv. pct.

The Buckeyes have been one of the biggest surprises in the first half of the season, and Heeter has played a big role in that success. He’s given up two or fewer goals in 10 of his 15 starts and has seven starts in which he’s allowed a goal or less.

Chris Krieder
Boston College, So., F
18 GP, 12-11–23

Kreider started his season strongly in leading Boston College to a pair of wins at the IceBreaker tournament, and has continued to post steady point totals in a very consistent year. He has points in 16 of BC’s 18 games so far, but has just five multi-point games on the season.

Justin Schultz
Wisconsin, Jr., D
18 GP, 9-19–28

A 2011 Hobey finalist after leading the nation’s defensemen with 18 goals and 47 points, Schultz is on pace to surpass both totals this season. He’s scored at least one point in all but two of the Badgers’ 18 games, and enters the holiday break having scored five goals in his last four games.

Austin Smith
Colgate, Sr., F
17 GP, 18-10–28

Arguably, the front-runner for the Hobey at this point in the season, Smith is meeting some of the high expectations that accompanied him to Colgate for a resurgent Raider team. He’s the nation’s leading scorer, has five short-handed goals on the year, and has at least two points in eight of 17 games played.

T.J. Tynan
Notre Dame, So., F
20 GP, 7-20–27

Tynan has cooled after a blistering start—he notched 14 points in the Irish’s first seven games—but he’s still producing at a good enough clip to rank tied for third in the country in scoring. Though he’s more playmaker than sniper, Notre Dame is 6-1 this season when he scores a goal.

Danny Biega, Harvard; Joe Cannata, Merrimack; Kyle De Laurell, Air Force; Paul Karpowich, Clarkson; Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College; Jason Zucker, Denver

SURPRISE TEAM

Under first-year head coach Mel Pearson, Brett Olson and Michigan Tech are challenging for an upper-division finish in the WCHA standings.

The numbers read like some recounting of Old Testament lore when you consider that Michigan Tech has gone more than 30 years since its last trip to a Frozen Four or even winning its own holiday tournament. So you’ll forgive those who have lived and died with the Huskies for years if they get a little giddy over things like being at .500 or better at the break and being in true contention for a home series in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. It’s been a nice combo of familiar faces that are healthy, new faces that are competitive, and a coaching staff that could be nicknamed “Wolverines North” that has given the Huskies some much-needed feistiness on the ice and on the bench.

SURPRISE INDIVIDUAL

We figured Minnesota could score some goals and its goaltending was solid last year, but the young defense was supposed to be a big problem. Instead, sophomore Nate Schmidt has played sound on the blue line and been a huge contributor to the Gophers offense, leading the WCHA with 20 assists so far. It seems that Wisconsin isn’t the only place where you have to beware of offensive defensemen.

WHAT HAPPENED TO…?

We thought the dead puck era of a decade ago was over at Alaska Anchorage. We always knew the Seawolves were generally sound defensively and in goal, but in picking them to follow last season’s strong finish and earn a first-round home playoff series this year, we figured Dave Shyiak’s crew would score goals. It hasn’t happened yet, at least not with any consistency, although last weekend’s nine-goal outburst at Colorado College is a sign of progress. With a favorable second-half schedule, there might be a home-ice run still left in reserve.

BEST NEW FACE

It makes perfect sense that Denver, which gave us goalies Sinuhe Wallinheimo and Wade Dubielewicz, now has the equally unpronounceable Juho Olkinuora manning the gap between the pipes. With last year’s star goalie Sam Brittain missing at least half the season recovering from surgery and backup Adam Murray both inconsistent and injured at various times, rookie Olkinuora has stepped up and produced some of the league’s best goalie numbers.

BIGGEST UPSET

With a crowd of less than 1,000 in attendance at the cavernous home of the Nashville Predators, fans of Nebraska-Omaha can take some solace in the fact that hardly anyone witnessed their team’s 3-1 loss to previously-winless Alabama-Huntsville on Dec. 2. The Chargers got 44 saves from goalie Clarke Saunders (who will play at North Dakota next season) and a pair of goals from Nashville townie Brice Geoffrion (whose brother won the Hobey Baker Award for Wisconsin). The Mavericks bounced back to win their next two, but that loss will hurt when a computer program decides which teams are NCAA tourney-worthy.

TOUGHEST ROAD OUT

If Bemidji State headed out onto the ice of the Sanford Center wearing their dark green sweaters at any point over the past few months, it would’ve been an honest mistake born out of habit. The Beavers have a good chance to be a .500 team at the holiday break, and that’s after a grueling first-half schedule in which they traveled to Miami, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State, and Lake Superior State (a 22-hour round-trip bus ride). Of course, the second half isn’t exactly an easy ride for the Beavers either, with trips to Denver, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota, and Alaska Anchorage looming.

TOUGHEST ROAD IN

If you’re among those still wondering if Michigan Tech is for real, you’ll know a lot more on March 4. After playing eight of their first 10 games at home, the Huskies will get a healthy dose of those little hotel soap bars in the second half with trips to Detroit for the Great Lakes Invitational (where they’ll face Michigan State and either Michigan or Boston College), Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota, and Colorado College all still to come.

MUST-SEE GAMES

Minnesota at North Dakota, Jan. 13-14

It’s sure to be bitterly cold in January in Grand Forks, just like the rivalry between these border buddies. We’ve got a feeling that this series will determine whether Minnesota has what it takes to stay in contention for the WCHA title and whether North Dakota’s surge late in the first half is for real.

BIGGEST QUESTION ANSWERED

Is Don Lucia’s job safe? Well, the Minnesota coach answered that one with more than a dozen wins (and a few weeks spent ranked first in the nation) and a nice contract extension. Both occurrences have quieted the nattering nabobs who had all but forgotten about those two NCAA championship banners Lucia had installed at Mariucci Arena.

BIGGEST QUESTION REMAINING

Will Denver ever get healthy, and if so, will there still be time for the Pioneers to make a run at WCHA and NCAA titles? Coach George Gwozdecky has a ton of talent, and a ton of ailments, on a team picked by many to win the league. They’re within striking distance and could still be scary good if they can put anything resembling a full-strength team on the ice.

INCH’s FIRST HALF ALL-WCHA TEAM

Minnesota's Nick Bjugstad

F–Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth: Making a strong case for the school’s fifth Hobey and the third NCAA title in his immediate family, J-Conn leads the Bulldogs and the league offensively.

F–Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota: The biggest on-ice factor in the Gophers re-emergence as a title contender is this massive center who is causing havoc near the blue paint with a nasty shot.

F–Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College: It figures that a Schwartz brother keys the Tigers’ offensive success. With 14 goals so far, Rylan is doing little brother Jaden proud.

D–Justin Schultz, Wisconsin: Already hyped in the New York City media as the second coming of puck-moving defensemen like Brian Leetch, the Rangers prospect is running the Badgers’ show.

D–Brad Hunt, Bemidji State: The Beavers rely on hard work down low when they’re overmatched talent-wise and nobody works harder or causes opponents more trouble than Hunt.

G–Kent Patterson, Minnesota: With three months to play, he’s already set the school’s single-season shutout mark with six and has all 14 of the Gophers’ wins.

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.

Not one of our top four matchups of the week, but certainly the best tournament name in hockey history.

Michigan State vs. Michigan (Friday at Ann Arbor, Saturday at East Lansing): Pretty safe to assume that, at the start of the season, no one predicted the Spartans would come into this weekend as the team playing with an abundance of confidence and the Wolverines would be searching for answers. But that’s what has happened. Michigan snapped a five-game losing streak and seven-game winless streak with a 1-0 overtime win at Alaska last Saturday. Michigan State, on the other hand, is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games. The Spartans might be the hardest-working team in college hockey, the the Wolverines have more talent. Maybe this rivalry will provide the spark U-M needs to get on track.

Merrimack at Colgate (Saturday): The second-place team in Hockey East travels to central New York to face the second-place team in ECAC Hockey. Merrimack’s 10-game unbeaten streak came to an end last weekend when the Warriors were swept by Providence, but the Warriors rebounded nicely with a win against Vermont Tuesday. The Raiders, in the midst of a stretch in which they play six of seven at home, They’ve won five in a row and have outscored opponents by a 21-7 margin during that span.

Boston College at UMass Lowell (Friday): The surprising River Hawks are in great shape in the Hockey East standings—with 12 points, they’re in a fourth-place tie with Providence, but UML has played just nine league games. Boston College and Boston University, two of the teams currently ahead of the River Hawks in the standings, have played 12 conference matches. UML has won four in a row and seven of its last eight, but the Eagles swept the River Hawks in a late October home-and-home series. Goaltender Brian Billett has led BC to wins in his last three starts, in which he has allowed a total of four goals.

Miami vs. Ohio State (Friday at Columbus, Saturday at Oxford): In the most recent INCH Podcast, much of the discussion on Ohio State centered around Cal Heeter, the Buckeyes’ remarkable goaltender. Let it be known that the Bucks can score a little bit, especially in CCHA play—OSU averages 3.5 goals per league game. The Bucks can further solidify their status as one of the country’s top teams in this weekend’s home-and-home with Miami. After an ugly 2-6-0 start, the RedHawks ran off an eight-game unbeaten streak to get back to .500, a run that ended last weekend with two disappointing losses at Northern Michigan in which Miami scored a single goal each night.

Also: Nebraska-Omaha heads to North Dakota for a WCHA series. And, yeah, Dean Blais returns to Grand Forks, but that’s not as quirky and awesome as the three UNO freshmen whose fathers are ex-NoDak standouts—forward Josh (Jim) Archibald, goaltender Dayn (Ed) Belfour, and forward Dominic (Rick) Zombo. … Two teams fresh off disappointing sweeps—Ferris State and Notre Dame—tangle in a home-and-home this weekend. The series starts in Big Rapids, then moves to Notre Dame. … Once again, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Union, and Rensselaer schlep off to Lake Placid for a Saturday doubleheader (Knights vs. Saints and Dutch vs. Engineers) at a rink of some significance to hockey fans in this country. But this time, the event has a name, and a fantastic one at that—the Festivus Faceoff. I got a lot of problems with you people.

Eighteen collegians were among the 29 players named by USA Hockey to the preliminary roster for the IIHF World Junior Championship, which starts later this month in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta.

Included in that group are current collegians who represented the U.S. at the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo. They are Minnesota forward Nick Bjugstad, Boston University forward Charlie Coyle, North Dakota defenseman Derek Forbort, Michigan defenseman Jon Merrill, and Denver forward Jason Zucker.

Other collegians named to the preliminary roster are Yale forward Kenny Agostino, Nebraska-Omaha forward Josh Archibald, Boston College forward Bill Arnold, Vermont forward Connor Brickley, BU defenseman Adam Clendening, Miami forward Austin Czarnik, Cornell forward Brian Ferlin, BC forward John Gaudreau, St. Cloud State defenseman Kevin Gravel, Notre Dame defenseman Stephen Johns, Minnesota forward Kyle Rau, and Notre Dame forward T.J. Tynan. Cornell goaltender Andy Iles is the team’s emergency goaltender; he will not attend the pre-tournament camp.

The U.S. team—winners of the bronze medal at last year’s WJC in Buffalo and the gold medal in the 2010 WJC in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan— opens its pre-tournament training camp Dec. 17 in Camrose, Alberta. The final 22-player roster will be announced Dec. 22, which opening-round play scheduled to begin Dec. 26. The tournament concludes with the Jan. 5 gold-medal game.

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.