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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike Clemente

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compare the two quotes below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For some of Minnesota State’s players and fans, a trip up Highway 169 for a visit to Mariucci Arena was once an intimidating experience. Facing the Golden Gophers on their huge home rink with dozens of championship banners overhead and a hostile crowd creating a din could be a trying time for the Mavericks. But for most, those butterflies are so three years ago.

Forward Mike Louwerse was part of Minnesota State's sweep of Minnesota last January.

On a roster dominated by seniors and juniors and on a team where those same upperclassmen are leading the way to a respectable record (6-7-1) as December’s games begin, there will be few surprises.

“That’s a big help, having a veteran hockey team that’s been around and is not going to be in awe many nights,” Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting said.

The Mavs travel to Minneapolis Friday, then host the Gophers Saturday, mindful that this has been a down year for their opponents and also fondly remembering their last meeting. Last January, the Mavs won 6-2 and 3-1 games for the first weekend sweep of the Gophers in the program’s history.

Leading the way then, as now, were veterans like Zach Harrison and Jerad Stewart, the seniors who are currently atop the Mankato scoring charts. But their coach notes some streaky play that makes the numbers somewhat deceptive. Of Stewart’s team-leading six goals, four came in one game (an 8-2 win at Alaska Anchorage). Harrison has equaled Stewart with a dozen points, but also got four of them in last Friday’s 5-2 win over Michigan Tech. That’s the life, and the hockey, that Mavs fans have come to expect.

“We’re going to play the way we play; fast, aggressive, with very good team speed,” said Jutting. “We try to create mistakes with pressure, and we’re deep, but without some of the top end kids you see elsewhere. We don’t have the kind of kid you’re going to see on the scoresheet every night.”

No-shows by the Mavericks have been rare despite their sub-.500 record. Jutting notes their back-to-back series at Denver and at home with Colorado College. The Mavs lost three times by one goal and tied 4-4 in Denver—”Four games where we played pretty well and had one point to show for it,” the coach said.

With the Gophers and series with future WCHAers Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha looming, the Mavs sense a chance to climb above .500 and position themselves a a home-ice contender in January.

No matter what comes next, not much of it will be a surprise for this band of veterans.

ONE LAST ROUND OF HOLIDAY THANKS

With Thanksgiving in the not-too-distant past, it makes sense to compile a quick list of what each of the WCHA’s 10 teams has to be thankful for. Just for fun, let’s flip the current WCHA standings and do them last to first.

Michigan Tech (3-9-0): The Huskies have got to be thankful that the first two months of a rough early season are over. They’re also thankful for thus far decent health (compared to last season’s medical disasters) and the talents of Brett Olson.

Minnesota (5-8-1): The Golden Gophers should be thankful that Nick Leddy’s injury was not the season-ending variety and that after a rough go of things in October and November, they’ve got about a dozen consecutive winnable games looming on their schedule.

Alaska Anchorage (6-10-0): The Seawolves are thankful for Saturday nights, which is when they’ve put up all four of their WCHA wins thus far. And they’re thankful to come home from Colorado College with their first road win of the season.

Minnesota State (6-7-1): The Mavericks are thankful for the ability to fly under the radar just a bit so far and that they’re not too far out of the race for home ice with some important games looming on the schedule. We wonder, should they be thankful for another set of Mavericks (Nebraska-Omaha) set to join the WCHA next season?

Wisconsin (8-5-1): For years, coach Mike Eaves has been telling us that the idea he is defense-first is a myth and he really does like an up-tempo game. With his team scoring nearly four goals per outing so far, Eaves should be thankful that his players are proving him right.

St. Cloud State (6-6-2): These underachieving Huskies should be thankful there are still three-plus months of hockey to be played and they have a chance to put their sluggish start behind them and live up to the promise all of the talent on their roster belies.

North Dakota (8-4-2): The blessings, as always, are many for the Fighting Sioux, who should be thankful for the world’s most opulent hockey rink to call their own. They should also be thankful that, for the time being, they’re still allowed to call themselves the “Fighting Sioux” and wear the colorful image of a proud warrior on their sweaters.

Minnesota Duluth (9-4-1): The Bulldogs and their fans should be thankful for the fact that sometimes talented guys named Connelly come in pairs. They are also surely thankful for the persistent sound of construction coming from what used to be a parking lot outside the rink they’ve called home for more than four decades.

Denver (9-4-1): Ethnic and geographic diversity in college hockey is something to be thankful for if you’re a Pioneers fan. How else could a Persian-American kid raised on the roller hockey rinks of sunny Southern California come to dominate the WCHA as Rhett Rakhshani has thus far?

Colorado College (10-3-1): The Tigers and their army of fans who doesn’t seem to mind high altitude should be thankful that once again (see also: Bachman, Richard) they’ve got a freshman goalie in Joe Howe who looks poised to bring home playoff games, or more, to C-Springs this season.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TANNER HOUSE
Maine
Jr. | F | Cochrane, Alberta

His Statistics: 4-2—6, GWG, PPG, +5 in wins vs. UMass Lowell and St. Lawrence.

His Impact: Maine’s junior captain came through with a big weekend to help the Black Bears to a pair of noteworthy wins. House scored twice in Maine’s 3-1 win at nationally-ranked UMass Lowell. His first goal knotted the score 1-1 in the second period and he added another in the third period to give the Black Bears a 3-1 lead.

Saturday night’s 10-1 win over St. Lawrence at Portland included a two-goal, two-assist four-point effort from House. He scored a power-play goal in the first and scored again in the third period. Maine scored five goals in the first period en route to a big win.

The win over UMass Lowell helped Maine move into a tie for fourth place in the Hockey East standings as the Black Bears evened their conference record at 4-4-1. Maine is 5-2-1 in its last eight games to pull to within one game of the .500 mark after a slow start.

His Runners-Up: Carl Hagelin, Michigan; Keith Kincaid, Union; Danny Kristo, North Dakota; Chris McKelvie, Bemidji State; Eric Sefchik, Army

The INCH Player of the Week is presented by The INCH Shop

Brown’s 8-1 win over the weekend gave new head coach Brendan Whittet his first as a Division I head coach. The Bears emphatically defeated Connecticut after scoring five goals in the first period. Prior to that win, Brown had suffered three straight one-goal losses. His other rookie coaching colleagues, C.J. Marattolo of Sacred Heart got his first win in an impressive victory over Union and Bowling Green’s Dennis Williams is guiding an improved Bowling Green team that has wins over nationally-ranked Alaska and Michigan.

One reason the Big Ten wouldn’t mind adding hockey to the league’s stable of sports is to provide additional programming for the conference’s television outlet—especially on Friday nights, the dead zone of college athletics. But the Big Ten Network’s commitment to college pucks has to be called into question as based on its decision to forego televising any of last weekend’s College Hockey Showcase games, choosing to instead broadcast Northwestern men’s basketball on Friday and Saturday night.

In case you’re keeping track at home, four hockey programs—all of which have won national championships in the last 12 years—were bounced in favor of a hoops team that has never qualified for an NCAA tournament. That, Big Ten Net, is well below average.

“That was men against boys out there. They looked like the Maine Black Bears of old.”

St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh to Larry Mahoney of the Bangor Daily News following the Black Bears’ 10-1 thrashing of the Saints Saturday at Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center. Fifteen of Maine’s 18 skaters registered at least one point in the team’s best offensive output since a 12-5 win over Boston College on Nov. 22, 1997.

We could harp on voters who favored Michigan again—the Wolverines did beat Minnesota and Wisconsin last weekend to even their record at 7-7-0, so we’ll let it slide even though they’re 11th in the CCHA standings. We could pick on those whose ballots included sub-.500 teams Boston University, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Princeton. Our sights are set on an even bigger travesty, however.

In this week’s USCHO.com Division III men’s poll, bitter SUNYAC rivals Oswego and Plattsburgh are tied for first place and Plattsburgh has one more first-place vote—odd considering Oswego beat Plattsburgh, 5-2, in Plattsburgh’s rink a little more than three weeks ago. If two teams are considered the consensus top two in the country, wouldn’t logic dictate that the team that won the head-to-head matchup should be considered superior?

@kausatoday Who would have thought that Sidney Crosby and Dustin Penner would both have 15 goals and 15 assists after 27 games this season?

Other than Penner’s family, some die-hard Maine and Edmonton Oilers supporters, and INCH’s Joe Gladziszewski, probably no one. But as USA Today NHL scribe Kevin Allen pointed out recently, the ex-Black Bear—who NHL GMs point to as the poster boy for not spiriting away restricted free agents from other teams—has so far this season proven to be worth every penny of his $4.25 million annual salary.

With no games on their schedule for the holiday weekend, one likes to think that the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs will be doing what most of us do after Thanksgiving: getting some rest and watching a little football.

The gridiron action comes courtesy of the defending D-II national champion Bulldog football team, which hosts powerhouse Grand Valley State on Saturday in the NCAA quarterfinals. And the weekend off for the hockey Bulldogs will come as a relief to the defensemen and goalies for the WCHA’s other nine teams, not having to face the league’s thus-far hottest offense.

Last weekend’s rare sweep at Minnesota was a prime example of the Bulldogs’ new puck-moving ways. Trailing 2-0 in the second period of both games, UMD rallied in both, winning 4-3 on Friday with 12 seconds remaining in overtime when Justin Fontaine worked in the corner down low, relentlessly keeping the play alive long enough to feed Travis Oleksuk for the game-winner. Coupled with Saturday night’s 3-2 win (on a Mike Montgomery goal with 2:02 to play), the Bulldogs moved into a tie for first place in the league with Colorado College and Denver - although the Tigers and Pioneers play this weekend and are likely to overtake the idle Bulldogs.

While Fontaine has the team lead in goals with 11 (including four in a 8-1 win over Michigan Tech a few weeks ago) and has garnered some early buzz as a guy with a chance to bring UMD its fifth Hobey, he’s not even the current offensive leader. That honor goes to native Duluthian Jack Connolly, who had a solid freshman season, but was out-shone in his own family when brother Chris helped Boston University to the 2009 NCAA title.

On a team recruited and coached by Scott Sandelin, himself a Hobey finalist defenseman as a senior, and led to the WCHA’s playoff title by a red-hot goalie last season, the focus was expected to be blue line play and goaltending if the Bulldogs were to contend in 2009-10. The reality is much different, as the tandem of Brady Hjelle and Kenny Reiter in goal has been good, not great (both sport saves percentages just a hair above .900), their impact has mattered less with the Bulldogs scoring in such numbers.

And with their next three WCHA series all at home, versus title contenders North Dakota, Denver and Colorado College, that weekend of rest is something of which the Bulldogs should take full advantage.

SIX YEARS LATER, A TRUE CLASSIC

Between Christmas and New Years’ Eve in 2003, I had the good fortune to be at the Ralph for the last Subway Classic. Although, other than the still-new opulence of the rink and the pre-game welcome to fans on the video board from Subway sandwich pitchman Jared, there was little that could be called “classic” about the gathering.

The Fighting Sioux, ranked among the tops in the nation at the time, were short players with Zach Parise off winning a gold medal for Team USA at the World Juniors in Finland, but still managed to capture the title. Part of that was due to their remaining talent, and part of it was the field of Brown, Wayne State and Findlay. It’s worth noting that two of those three don’t field D-I hockey programs anymore (and you can insert your own joke about 0-7-1 Brown’s current D-I legitimacy here).

Six years later, they’re getting together in the name of the five-dollar foot-long again in Grand Forks this weekend. And a glance at the field shows significant upgrades from the 2003 gathering, with a quartet of 2009 NCAA tournament teams gathering at the Ralph. The Sioux are expected to be short-handed again, with Chay Genoway still smarting from the check from behind he took versus St. Cloud State three games ago, and enter their first-rounder versus Ohio State on an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak.

Before the matchup with the Buckeyes, the Sioux and the fans in the Ralph will get to see the first-round Frozen Four rematch, when top-ranked Miami (9-1-4) faces 10-1-1 Bemidji State. It will be the Beavers and Buckeyes in the first game Saturday, with NoDak versus Miami to close out the weekend.

The weather outside has finally turned cold in recent days, and there will certainly be that biting west wind on the North Dakota prairie. But this is one weekend where there’s no place in the college hockey world we’d rather be than the Ralph.

Lots to talk about in the college hockey world this week led by an impressive gathering of talent in Grand Forks, the penultimate College Hockey Showcase, and a whole lotta red at Madison Square Garden.

Subway Holiday Classic, Grand Forks, N.D. (Fri.-Sat.): This on-again, off-again event hosted by North Dakota has a pseudo-Frozen Four feel with three top-10 teams—Miami, Bemidji State, and the homestanding Fighting Sioux—joined by Ohio State. It’s not a true tournament; Friday starts with the RedHawks and Beavers in a Frozen Four semifinal rematch from last April and NoDak and the Buckeyes in the nightcap. Saturday, it’s OSU facing BSU and top-ranked Miami butting heads with the Sioux.

The four games in this event range from intriguing to must-see. Naturally, the primary focus will be on Saturday’s finale pitting Miami against North Dakota, but Friday’s opener featuring Bemidji State and Miami is an interesting collision of a RedHawk team that prides itself on defense and has been the most consistent team in the nation to date and a Beaver squad that has been nearly unstoppable offensively. Plenty at stake for the hosts, too, as the Sioux have lost three in a row. Ohio State is more talented than its 5-8-1 record would indicate; the Buckeyes were victimized for 14 goals by Ferris State last weekend. 

Riley Nash and Cornell are off to Madison Square Garden this weekend to face defending national champion Boston University.

Cornell vs. Boston University, Madison Square Garden (Sat.): A couple of ancient rivals from the old-time ECAC meet in the Big Apple for the second time in three years. Coaches Jack Parker of BU and Mike Schafer of Cornell both played at the schools where they now coach and have an appreciation of what this rivalry meant to previous generations. Now, alumni and fans will fill MSG with much of the same passion. When the teams met in 2007, BU got off to a quick start, scoring three goals in the first 11 minutes and went on to a 6-3 victory.

This year’s game matches a Cornell team that has been pretty solid in winning six of its first eight games and an underperforming Terrier squad that has started its national championship defense with a 4-7-1 record. Cornell is looking forward to the opportunity to play in such a spectacle to help prepare itself for larger crowds and bigger games later in the year. This game might be considered small potatoes for the Terriers, who will also play in Fenway Park and the Beanpot later this season, but it’s a great opportunity for them to start to turn things around against a very good opponent.

Wisconsin at Michigan State (Fri.): When the Badgers and Spartans, Gophers and Wolverines annually get together for the College Hockey Showcase we’ve come to expect to see them all prominently placed in the national rankings. That’s not the case this year, and Friday’s game in East Lansing is the only one of the weekend pitting top-20 teams.

Both teams have excelled at the defensive end of the rink as Wisconsin ranks seventh nationally, allowing just 2.00 goals per game over its 12 games en route to a 7-4-1 record. The Spartans are ninth in defense, allowing 2.14 goals per contest over 14 games during which they’ve gone 9-3-2. Both teams can also score, and are averaging 3.00 goals per game or better. Success in Friday’s game will be found by the team that takes advantage of any defensive breakdowns, which could be rare. If they happen, both teams skill players are good enough to capitalize.

St. Cloud State at Denver (Fri.-Sat.): This series has trap written all over it for the Pioneers, who swept North Dakota at Magness Arena last weekend and have a home-and-home series with archrival Colorado College next weekend. Sandwiched in the middle is this set with the Huskies, the most deceiving .500 team in college hockey. That 5-5-2 mark doesn’t look great on paper, but it’s fairly impressive when you consider that the six opponents SCSU has faced thus far have a combined 40-23-10 record and four of them are ratedin the top 16 of this week’s INCH Power Rankings.

Also: Bentley, Lake Superior State, Union, and Rensselaer comprise the field for this year’s Rensselaer Holiday Hockey Tournament … Nice non-conference tilt on Saturday afternoon as Massachusetts travels to Quinnipiac … Michigan and Minnesota meet in Ann Arbor Friday. Since the two schools didn’t meet in football this season, does the winner of this game get the Little Brown Jug?

TV schedule (all times Eastern): Friday—Minnesota at Michigan, FSN North, 7:30 p.m.; Ohio State at North Dakota, Fox College Sports, 8:30 p.m.; St. Cloud State at Denver, FSN Rocky Mountain, 9:30 p.m. Saturday—Massachusetts at Quinnipiac, NESN, 3 p.m.; Miami at North Dakota, Fox College Sports, 8:30 p.m.;

BLAIR RILEY
Ferris State
Sr. | F | Kamloops, British Columbia

His Statistics: 4-2—6 in a sweep of Ohio State, including a hat trick Friday.

His Impact: If you hadn’t taken notice of Ferris State’s fine start of the season prior to this past weekend’s sweep of Ohio State, the Bulldogs emphatically announced themselves as a team to be reckoned with in the CCHA in a pair of noteworthy wins. Blair Riley was a big part of the weekend sweep and is this week’s INCH National Player of the Week.

Riley factored in half of Ferris State’s scoring bonanza with three goals and an assist in Friday’s 8-1 win. Riley added a goal and assist in Saturday’s comeback victory, during which the Bulldogs trailed by three goals on three separate occasions. Riley scored his goal, his 12th of the year, with 8:13 to play in the third period and it brought the Bulldogs to within one. They later tied the score with a power-play goal with 51 seconds left in the period, assisted by Riley, and won it with another PPG 4:38 into overtime.

Riley’s 12 goals and 16 points lead the Bulldogs. He has shown offensive upside throughout his Ferris State career, including a 14-goal, 24-point campaign as a sophomore.

His Runners-Up: Chris Auger, UMass Lowell; Joe Colborne, Denver; Cory Conacher, Canisius; Brad Hunt, Bemidji State; David McIntyre, Colgate

The INCH Player of the Week is presented by The INCH Shop

What better way to get the holiday season started the right way than by offering some delights in the college hockey schedule? This week’s slate includes seven games on Tuesday—including a couple of good matchups when Colgate visits Cornell and Massachusetts visits Vermont—and a pair of games on Wednesday. The non-conference matchups highlight the weekend slate with Miami, Bemidji State, and Ohio State heading to North Dakota for the Subway Holiday Classic and  Michigan State and Michigan hosting Wisconsin and Minnesota in the annual College Hockey Showcase.

As reported by Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, WCHA brass recently conducted an emergency conference call with the NCAA Rules Committee. It seems they wanted a clarification on hits to the head. Chris Dilks of the Western College Hockey Blog reported on the answer the WCHA received, as issued by NCAA secretary-rules editor Steve Piotrowski:

“A player shall not make contact with an opposing player’s head or neck area in any manner,” and added the notation: “The rules committee instructs officials to use a zero tolerance policy in this area.”

Seems pretty clear to us, and we didn’t need a conference call.

“At the end of the first (period), stuff really got wild and the last two periods were nuts. It was really fun to play in. I felt a little tired, maybe more from my exams schedule, but overall I felt pretty good.”

“It’s definitely entertaining to watch and entertaining to be a part of. Testosterone gets going amongst the guys.”

Denver goalie Marc Cheverie uttered both of those quotes to the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers following Friday’s 34-save, 1-0 shutout win over North Dakota. Not surprisingly, the contest featured numerous post-whistle scrums and plenty of tenacity between the clubs. We get the feeling that Chevy wouldn’t have minded the old-time hockey era.

Honestly, the weekly First Shift isn’t meant to be used solely as a metaphorical Michigan punching bag even though it might seem like it in recent weeks. So this week we’re not so much pointing toward the Wolverines’ on-ice performance as much as the national rankings voters that have deemed their efforts thus far worthy of recognition. Michigan, tied for ninth place in the CCHA and a team with a 5-7-0 overall record received enough points to rank second of others receiving votes (22nd) in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll and fourth of others receiving votes (19th) in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

@Steve Rushin Got hatted at the Giants game y’day. Lady asked for ID. I removed my hat. She howled at my bald head and handed me a beer.

The more senior members of the INCH staff nodded and chuckled after reading the tweet from Rushin, the former Sports Illustrated scribe. Sometimes it is easier to doff the cap instead of digging your driver’s license out of your pocket. Humbling? Yes, but still more convenient.