This is it—the final weekend of the regular season in Hockey East and the WCHA and, by extension, the final Friday Four-cast of the 2011-12 season because we’ll be in full playoff mode next week. We’re a little light over here what with the fancy-schmancy playoff capsules for the first round of the Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, and ECAC Hockey tournaments taking center stage, but there’s more than enough for us to dissect.

Wisconsin at Minnesota (Fri.-Sat.)

Kent Patterson and Minnesota can clinch the WCHA regular-season crown in Minneapolis this weekend.

The Gophers are on the verge of winning their first WCHA regular-season title since 2007, but in order to do it they’ll have to take at least two points from Big Ten rival Wisconsin. At least they don’t need a sweep—Minnesota hasn’t taken a series from the Badgers since Nov. 18-19, 2006. Wisconsin, which split a series with the Gophers when the two teams met in Madison in November, has followed a five-game losing streak with three straight wins. Two of those wins came last weekend at Bemidji State, which doubled Wisconsin’s number of road victories this season.

Massachusetts vs. Merrimack (Fri. at Amherst, Sat. at North Andover)

Merrimack can lock down a home series in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs by leapfrogging or pulling even with fourth-place Maine—the Warriors hold the head-to-head advantage over the Black Bears, who are one point ahead of Merrimack but have just a single game Saturday against visiting New Hampshire. UMass’s situation is more dire; the Minutemen enter the weekend tied with Northeastern for the final Hockey East playoff spot, and don’t hold the tie-breaker over any of the teams near them in the league standings.

Michigan Tech at Colorado College (Fri.-Sat.)

There’s a chance these two teams, part of a logjam in the middle of the WCHA standings could end up playing one another in the first round of the league playoffs next weekend. Michigan Tech is in seventh place in the league, trailing co-fifth place Colorado College and Nebraska-Omaha by one point. The Huskies have been much better on the road this season, earning at least one point in all but one of their league series. The Tigers, meanwhile, have lost five of their last six, but have an 8-3-1 home mark against conference foes.

New Hampshire at Maine (Sat.)

There’s not a whole lot here in terms of playoff implications—Maine’s trying to hold onto fourth place in the Hockey East standings while New Hampshire can finish either sixth or seventh. The Black Bears have been solid during the second half of the season as evidenced by their 9-3-1 record over the last seven weeks, but the Wildcats very quietly put together a 5-2-1 mark in February. Some of the credit for that success goes to UNH rookie goalie Casey DeSmith, who posted a 2.22 GAA and a .933 save percentage last month. Maine forward Joey Diamond, meanwhile, has four goals, six assists, and a plus-minus rating of +8 in his last four games.

Also: As was mentioned previously, it’s the first weekend of playoff activity in Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, and ECAC Hockey. Read up on the first-round matchups in those respective leagues by following the links on the INCH front page. … Western Michigan earned a bye into the CCHA tournament quarterfinals, but the Broncos are holding an intrasquad scrimmage tonight. Coach Andy Murray told the Kalamazoo Gazette that it’ll be “an intense hockey game.” Uhh, OK then.

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

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 34-18–52, 7 PPGs, 6 SHGs, +22 rating

The Skinny: In reviewing some of the candidates for the Hobey Tracker over the last couple of weeks, a remarkable statistic came to light regarding the nation’s top scorers. We’ve lauded Austin Smith’s goal scoring, and with 34 in 34 games that doesn’t change. The difference between Smith and some others — specifically Spencer Abbott and Jack Connolly — is that Smith does the majority of his damage in even-strength and short-handed situations. Of Smith’s 52 points on the year, just 13 have come during Colgate power plays. That’s 25 percent. Abbott has 27 power-play points of his 56 total (including 25 power-play assists). Connolly has more than half of his points on the man-advantage, 28 of his 54 total points. Not that there’s anything wrong with power-play production, but the even-strength and short-handed work done by Smith is another attribute we like.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 18-36–54, 8 PPGs, 3 GWG, +18 rating

There’s no denying Connolly’s consistency; he’s had at least one point in 31 of the Bulldogs’ 34 games to date and has been held scoreless in consecutive games just once. The issue, as was mentioned in the most recent INCH Podcast, is determining his impact independent of high-scoring teammates Travis Oleksuk (21 goals, 47 points) and J.T. Brown (20 goals, 42 points). Working in Connolly’s favor is the fact that whomever coach Scott Sandelin puts on his line—Brown, Oleksuk, Mike Seidel—produces offense.

Reilly Smith
Miami | Jr. | F
To Date: 34 GP, 26-12–38, 8 PPGs, 8 GWGs, +18 rating

His point totals pale in comparison to Austin Smith and Connolly (and Maine’s Spencer Abbott, for that matter) but Reilly Smith has two factors working in his favor. One, he scores goals in bunches—after netting 28 goals last season, he’s potted 26 this season without the benefit of playmakers Andy Miele and Carter Camper. Second, he’s been remarkable over the last third of the regular season, leading the RedHawks from the middle of the pack in the CCHA to a likely NCAA Tournament bid by scoring 14 goals and 21 points in his team’s last 15 games.

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

Brian O’Neill, Yale: At the start of the year, O’Neill was on every preseason Hobey watch list worth a darn because he had been a huge part of Yale’s success over the last two seasons and was back for his senior campaign. Although a bit undersized, O’Neill has been a prolific point producer with 45 points as a sophomore and 46 in his junior year as Yale advanced to the NCAAs both seasons. Yale’s team success hasn’t been at that level this time around, the Bulldogs are just 13-13-3 headed into the ECAC Hockey playoffs, but it’s no fault of O’Neill’s. He’s got 40 points again on 19 goals and 21 assists and came through in the stretch run with 18 points in the team’s last 10 games. It’ll be interesting to see how voters handle his candidacy. He was a preseason favorite for the award, but with his team outside of the national rankings most of the year, he’s faded from the nation’s conscience.

Sebastian Stalberg, Vermont: Hockey East coaching staffs know plenty about this guy, and even in a poor season for the Catamounts, he’s in line for All-Hockey East honors and potentially some Hobey thoughts. Stalberg has 12 goals and 31 points in 32 games and the junior gets plenty of attention from opposing teams as the biggest scoring threat on an otherwise impotent scoring attack. He has little chance of garnering legitimate Hobey consideration this year, but if he’s back for a senior campaign, expect big things.

David Valek

DAVID VALEK
Harvard
Jr. | F | Zagreb, Croatia

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-0–4, GWG, +4 rating

His Impact: Valek scored four goals on the weekend as Harvard picked up two crucial victories over St. Lawrence and Clarkson to wrap up its regular season. The Crimson trailed 1-0 against St. Lawrence before Valek knotted the score just 65 seconds later. He added another in the third period as Harvard picked up the victory. His Saturday night effort against Clarkson, when a first-round playoff bye and home-ice quarterfinal series was on the line, was even more impressive. Once again Valek came through. He scored twice more, both in the third period, as Harvard capped a rally from a 2-0 deficit.

The four-goal outburst was extremely uncharacteristic for Valek, who entered the weekend with five goals in 84 career games. The least surprising stat of the weekend is that he had eight blocked shots. That’s what his game is built around. He’s a reliable competitor among a solid group of forwards and does the little things to help Harvard win.

It paid off for the Crimson on the last weekend of the year, and they finished third in ECAC Hockey, after being picked in the league’s preseason media poll to finish 12th.

His Runners-Up: Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth; Eric Delong, Sacred Heart; Joey Diamond, Maine; Reilly Smith, Miami

Safe to say David Carle and Eric Ringel didn’t expect their hockey careers to play out the way they did— Ringel played in 23 games over two seasons for Notre Dame before a concussion and ensuing symptoms ended his playing days in 2009, while Carle never suited up for Denver after he was diagnosed with a heart condition prior to his freshman season in 2008. But even after hanging up their skates, both players stuck around to serve as student assistant coaches. Carle and Ringel were honored at Senior Day festivities at their respective schools this past weekend, and we’d like to salute them, too, for their contributions to Denver and Notre Dame.

As you probably know by now, we’re not fans of the shootout. So it pains us to see a rivalry as heated as the annual battle between Alaska and Alaska Anchorage for the Governor’s Cup decided by a shootout. Each team won at their respective home rinks, necessitating the need to break the tie using a method that’s slightly better than a coin flip. We like the rules governing the Colorado College-Denver Gold Pan series—win the trophy outright or it stays with the previous year’s victor.

What Happened?: It’s probably more appropriate to refer to this section as What Didn’t Happen, in regard to the wild finish in Atlantic Hockey on the last weekend of the regular season. Six teams headed into their final two games within three points of first place. Air Force was the one team that fully controlled its destiny, as the Falcons entered with a one-point advantage, but that went out the window with an overtime loss on Friday night at Robert Morris. Thing is, none of the other teams really took full advantage. Niagara pulled even by defeating RIT in a matchup of the second- and third-place teams. Fourth-place Mercyhurst lost to Canisius and fifth-place Bentley tied sixth-place Holy Cross. The following night, Air Force responded with a 3-0 win, and Niagara couldn’t match that result when the Purps tied 2-2 at RIT. Six teams had opportunities, but none of the six teams in contention managed to win twice on the weekend. Suppose that’s a fitting way to conclude one of the tightest conference races in any league in many, many years. Here’s the resulting playoff bracket in Atlantic Hockey.

What We’re Watching: There’s plenty of playoff and regular-season hockey this weekend, and one matchup we’ll monitor is the CCHA Tournament first-round series between Bowling Green and Northern Michigan. It’s a rematch from the first round of last year’s league playoffs in which the 11th-seeded Falcons upset the 6th-seeded Wildcats in three games, winning the decisive third game in double overtime. A redux isn’t necessarily in the cards, but one has to wonder if last season’s outcome is a motivator for Northern Michigan or gives Bowling Green a confidence boost.

What the …?: Worst. Deadline. Ever?

Actually, last year’s NHL trade deadline lacked blockbuster deals but with all the talk of Dustin Brown or Rick Nash potentially on the move this season, the end result was decidedly ho-hum. When the day’s biggest trade is arguably Andre Kostitsyn going from Montreal to Nashville or Paul Gaustad moving to the Predators from Buffalo, it’s a letdown. A few players with college ties were dealt Monday, most notably former Wisconsin defenseman Tom Gilbert going from Edmonton to Minnesota for defenseman Nick Schultz and ex-Nebraska-Omaha blueliner Greg Zanon shipped by the Wild to Boston for erstwhile Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer.

@DaveWarsofsky5 David Warsofsky

Big weekend for the terriers. Gonna be nice to play the first round infront of the best fans in college hockey

• The former Terrier had an eye on his ex-teammates who put together a road sweep of Vermont with a convincing 5-0 win on Friday night followed by a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win on Saturday. That concluded a difficult week full of off-ice headlines, and assured BU of a home-ice series in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. Warsofsky, by the way, has spent his rookie year in pro hockey with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he has 22 points in 48 games.

Do you really need a flowery, drawn-out introductory paragraph spelling out what is up for grabs in the biggest showdowns in college hockey this weekend? This is crunch time. No more hand holding.

North Dakota at Denver (Fri.-Sat.)

Dillon Simpson and North Dakota are in Denver this weekend to renew their bitter rivalry with the Pioneers.

Sure, there’s a lot at stake here what with both teams jockeying for position in the WCHA standings and trying to enhance their chances for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid (if necessary), but the bottom line is these teams don’t like each other. At all. That said, DU and NoDak are eerily similar; both have dealt with an inordinate amount of injuries leading to struggles at times, but have persevered and played their best hockey over the last six weeks. The phrase “playoff-like atmosphere” can be misleading—we’ve seen a lot of league and national tournament games in half-empty rinks—but this series will be intense.

UMass Lowell at Merrimack (Fri.)
Merrimack at UMass Lowell (Sat.)

These teams meet at a crossroads, and it’s not I-93/I-495 interchange. The River Hawks are virtually assured of an NCAA Tournament bid; the Warriors, meanwhile, are 4-6-3 since Jan. 1, reside on the NCAA Tourney bubble and, more importantly, are staring at the possibility of opening the first round of the Hockey East playoffs at Maine. UMass Lowell blanked Merrimack, 3-0, the first time these two teams met two weeks ago at Tsongas Arena. Both Merrimack’s Joe Cannata and UML’s Doug Carr, Hockey East’s two best goalies, were sensational in goal that night. Expect more of the same this weekend.

Union at Cornell (Fri.)

It’s essentially a regular-season championship game when these two teams meet at Lynah Rink on Friday night. The Big Red are two points back of defending champion Union, and a Cornell victory would pull them even on points and give them a tiebreaker advantage headed into Saturday’s games. When the teams met three weeks ago in Schenectady, the game featured three ties and three lead changes and ended in a 4-4 deadlock. Not much has separated these teams all year long and they’ll have a chance to settle things on the ice this weekend.

Ferris State at Western Michigan (Fri.)
Western Michigan at Ferris State (Sat.)

Ferris State needs just one point to lock up the CCHA regular-season championship. Thanks to the league’s if-it’s-good-enough-for-the-NHL-it’s-good-enough-for-us philosophy, the Bulldogs could win the conference crown with a shootout loss, leading to undoubtedly the worst title-clinching celebration in the history of organized sports. There’s more here besides shootout schadenfreude, however. Western, vying for a first-round playoff bye and a boost to its NCAA Tournament profile, took both ends of a home-and-home series with Ferris in December. Certainly the Broncos remember; it’s one of the two times since Nov. 1 they’ve posted back-to-back wins.

Also: Here’s your updated Atlantic Hockey playoff situation: Someone will be the league champion Saturday night. The most unsettled conference in the country has a number of intriguing battles, led by first-place Air Force at seventh-place Robert Morris; second-place RIT in a home-and-home series with Niagara, one of three teams tied for third; and another third-place club, Bentley, in a home-and-home with sixth-place Holy Cross. … Colorado College makes its third visit to Minnesota in 36 days as the Tigers travel to Minnesota Duluth for a weekend series. CC and Denver are the only WCHA teams yet to play at Amsoil Arena. … All eyes in ECAC Hockey will be on Friday’s Union-Cornell tilt, but Saturday’s Union-Colgate match will be a good one, too. … Outside of Ferris-Western, the two biggest series on the final weekend of the CCHA regular season are Michigan State at Notre Dame and Ohio State and Miami in a home-and-home set. … One of college hockey’s biggest rivalries is renewed this weekend as Alaska and Alaska Anchorage play for the Governor’s Cup. The series starts Friday in Anchorage and shifts to Fairbanks Saturday. The Nanooks have won last two Governor’s Cup series and seven of the last ten.

When you think ahead 20 months to the beginning of the eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference, four regional rivalries look pretty obvious.

Denver and Colorado College, North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State, Western Michigan and Miami.

But just focusing on that quartet would ignore what has become the WCHA’s most hotly-contested rivalry over the past decade. Denver coach George Gwozdecky is known for a calm demeanor, but if you expected him to downplay the meaning of this weekend’s home series with North Dakota, you came away from his weekly radio show a bit disappointed.

“We respect them because they’ve had success, but we don’t like them,” Gwozdecky said of the Fighting Sioux, in an interview with 102.3 ESPN’s Nate Kreckman and Charles Johnson. “You want to drive them through the boards and through the walls in the arena.”

Sophomore defenseman Dillon Simpson and other young North Dakota players are making their first visit to Denver this weekend.

In the past 10 seasons, while winning a combined total of six WCHA regular season titles, these teams have met in an NCAA regional final (won by the Pioneers in 2004), an NCAA title game (won by the Pioneers in 2005) and most recently the WCHA Final Five title game last season (won by the Sioux in double overtime). Gwozdecky even acknowledged broken necks suffered by Robbie Bina of North Dakota and Jesse Martin of Denver, due to hits by members of the other team.

Neither team is likely to win the WCHA title this year. The Sioux have less than a one percent chance according to the PlayoffStatus.com web site, and the third-place Pioneers probably saw their hopes of a MacNaughton Cup die last Saturday night with a rare loss at Wisconsin.

“We’re still in third place. We’ve got teams chasing us, but our focus is on second place. Two points ahead of us is Duluth,” Gwozdecky said. “North Dakota is coming to town and no matter what the standings are, when these two teams get together it is exciting, it is intense.”

While we’d gotten used to North Dakota starting slow, then bolting to the top of the WCHA standings, it’s not going to happen this year. Too many injuries (coach Dave Hakstol couldn’t say whether regular goalie Aaron Dell would play this weekend) and the lingering effects of early defections have meant trouble. Still, since a 4-7-1 start, the Sioux are on a 14-4-2 run, and have re-inserted themselves onto the bubble for the NCAA tourney’s field of 16.

“It’s a big weekend throughout our league, and we focus solely on ourselves. We’re slowly scratching and clawing our way up in the standings, and we need to keep doing that this week,” Hakstol said in his weekly press conference. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in our league play in terms of the standings as well as the national scene. So there are a lot of different pieces of the puzzle to focus on.”

Goaltending is also a question mark in Denver, where Sam Brittain is back between the pipes after missing much of the season due to off-season surgery. But he’s not back to the form that led the Pioneers to within a goal of the WCHA playoff title last season.

“He’s getting there,” Gwozdecky said. “No, I don’t think he’s back where he was last March in the national tournament … but he’s getting there.”

North Dakota’s resurgence has been fueled by defense, and the players know that Denver’s offense will present a new level of challenge.

“We’ve got to be air tight,” Sioux defenseman Ben Blood said. “Any turnover is going to end up with a good scoring chance.”

Others chose to focus not on this season, or even last season, but to two years ago, when the Sioux were 0-4-0 against Denver in the regular season, but beat the Pioneers in the WCHA Final Five semifinals and won the playoff title.

“We didn’t play there last year but my freshman year we went in there and got swept, so for the older guys on the team, it’s kind of a sour taste in our mouths,” said Sioux forward Corban Knight, who was the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week most recently. “You look at the standings right now in the WCHA and that should be motivation enough for us to go in and have a good weekend.”

The Sioux even got the weekend started early, taking a charter plane to Denver on Wednesday night.

“We simply want to get ourselves ready, get ourselves prepared and do everything in our power to have good energy on Friday night,” Hakstol said.

Energy and intensity are rarely hard to find when these teams collide lately.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• Who doesn’t love cheap hockey tickets? In an effort to “Sell Out St. Cloud” this weekend when the Michigan Tech Huskies host the WCHA’s other set of Huskies, they’re offering all seats for $10 (or just $5 for kids). Tech still has an outside shot at home ice, which would be a first in nearly 20 years.

• Nice touch by the folks who staffed Wisconsin’s charter plane to Bemidji on Thursday for the Badgers first-ever visit to Bemidji State. Players boarding the plane were greeted by a red and white banner bearing the most famous slogan in Badger hockey history: “It’s a great day for hockey.” – Bob Johnson. In a long-overdue move, it was also recently announced that the rink at the Kohl Center will be named for Badger Bob, who passed away in 1991 shortly after leading the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup.

• It was an interesting week for student fans at Minnesota Duluth, involving accusations of impropriety, a stern warning from the school, and eventually an apology from some of those involved in an offensive chant during the Bulldogs’ last home series against North Dakota. One friend on Twitter went as far as to predict that there will be dead silence from the students this weekend when the Bulldogs host Colorado College.

• Credit Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore for having a sense of humor after a tough loss. In Friday’s 3-0 win by Minnesota over the Beavers, the Gophers played their first penalty-free game of the year. When a reporter joked that the Beavers’ power play had been particularly ineffective that night, Serratore smiled and said he was going to have to make some changes to the man-advantage unit at the next practice.

• If Alaska Anchorage’s celebration after winning at St. Cloud State last Friday (3-2 in overtime) was a little over the top, and you advise the Seawolves to “act like you’ve been there before” well, they haven’t. The Seawovles had played 34 straight games in St. Cloud without a win. The last UAA victory there was on Nov. 7, 1987 – two years before the National Hockey Center (which is now the oldest college hockey rink used by a Minnesota-based men’s team) opened. Only two of the current Seawolves had been born then, and coach Dave Shyiak was a freshman at Northern Michigan that season.

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

His Statistics: Knapp stopped all but one of the 60 shots he faced in the RedHawks’ weekend sweep of visiting Notre Dame, including 31 stops in Friday’s 3-0 shutout.

His Impact: In a series with huge conference and national tournament implications against Notre Dame this past weekend, Knapp refused to let the struggling Fighting Irish off the mat, making 31 saves in Miami’s 3-0 win Friday and turning aside 28 of 29 shots in Saturday’s 4-1 triumph. The wins allowed the RedHawks to move to within two points of fourth-place Michigan State and three points of third-place Western Michigan in the CCHA standings with two games remaining in the regular season.

Knapp earns INCH’s National Player of the Week honors for the second time in as many months, and with good reason—since Jan. 1, he’s been arguably the hottest goaltender in the country. The RedHawks are 10-4-0 since New Year’s Day and during that same span, Knapp is 8-2-0 with a 1.03 goals against average and .958 save percentage. He enters the weekend ranked second in the country with a 1.65 GAA and third in the nation with a .934 save percentage.

His Runners-Up: Kenny Agostino, Yale; Alex Grieve, Bentley; Erik Haula, Minnesota; Parker Milner, Boston College

He’s probably more pleased with his team’s seven-game winning streak, rise to first place in Hockey East, or third consecutive Beanpot title, but Boston College coach Jerry York deserves a moment in the spotlight after notching career win no. 900 Friday when his Eagles beat Merrimack. York is the second college hockey coach to reach the 900-win plateau, joining Ron Mason in that elite group, and it’s a matter of when, not if, the 66-year-old York surpasses Mason’s 924 victories to become college hockey’s winningest coach. When it happens, expect post-milestone comments similar to those heard in the Conte Forum interview room last weekend.

“When you sign up for a team sport, whether you’re coaching or you’re a player, it’s never about individual awards or accomplishments,” York told the Boston Globe‘s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell after Friday’s historic win. “We try to win trophies. When you’re a team, in a team setting, that’s got to be your goal.”

There was a time in December, and even continuing into the turn of the new year, when INCH staffers penciled in Notre Dame on the short list of favorites to win the national championship. As February comes to a close, it’s hardly a stretch to say that Notre Dame might not even be favored to win its series at home against Michigan State this weekend. The Fighting Irish looked like legitimate national threats, bolstered by wins over BU on Dec. 31 and Minnesota on Jan. 7. The bigger picture reveals a team that hasn’t met that potential, and its struggles have been in the offensive zone. Notre Dame has lost 13 of its last 19 games. In those 13 defeats, Notre Dame has scored just 17 goals. Ouch.

The bright side is that this team still has talent, and a little bit of time to get things figured out before the postseason begins.

What Happened?: Landing former National Hockey League Players Association head Paul Kelly as the first executive director of College Hockey Inc. back in November 2009 was quite a coup for the fledgling organization. And while his sudden resignation Monday was a surprise and the reasons unknown, it should be noted that in his 28 months at College Hockey Inc., Kelly lent instant legitimacy to the operation by giving college hockey a unified voice with a consistent message, not to mention the ability to bend the ears of the sport’s most influential leaders (Gary Bettman, for example). Coaches are thrilled with the inroads College Hockey Inc. has made on behalf of their programs over the last two-plus years; the work’s not done, but thanks to Kelly’s guidance, the framework for success is in place.

What We’re Watching: College hockey on TV. Lots of it. There are more games available on national and regional sports channels than ever before. With the increase in exposure of the game, especially on NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network, we feel it’s only appropriate to say thank you. Two of the key executives making a push to get college hockey games on the air in such quantity (and with strong production to boot) are Sam Flood at NBC Sports Network, who played Division III college hockey at Williams; and Ross Molloy of CBS Sports Network, a St. Lawrence grad. Might we recommend sending a thank-you note along to those folks and mention their names in correspondence with NBCSN and CBSSN to make sure they know college hockey fans appreciate what they’re doing.

What the …?: Longtime readers of our First Shift feature probably recall a section we used to include titled Rankings Outrage. Consider this a return to that thinking for what is a true anomaly, regarding this week’s USCHO poll. When the voter totals were compiled, Colgate actually moved into that national poll at the 20th position. This, following a weekend during which the Raiders lost twice, to unranked teams St. Lawrence and Clarkson. That’s how the math shook down when the votes were in.

@YogaMatt9 Matt Harlow

What happened to Lou Bega and where are mambos 1-4?

• Contemplative observation from Matt Harlow of Brown. Tweet at him if you’ve got an answer.

Normally an old goalie from 15 years or so ago dropping the puck before a game wouldn’t be a noteworthy event. But in the case of Wisconsin alum Kirk Daubenspeck, when they honor him before the Badgers’ game with Denver on Friday, it will be part of a truly miraculous comeback.

A year ago, while driving on a fog-bound rural road west of Madison, Daubenspeck collided with the back of a semi truck, shearing the top off his Audi, and producing an accident scene so horrific that police assumed a fatality would be found inside the wreckage.

But at the last second, Daubenspeck had ducked below the dashboard. And while his injuries were still very, very serious (he was in a coma for nearly a week, was hospitalized for more than a month, and has no memories of the accident or much of his time spent in recovery), he’s still here. His Badger teammates that he played with until graduation in 1997 raised more than $100,000 to help pay medical bills. And while there are still daily struggles, the old goalie has returned to work selling medical equipment.

“I’m damn proud of the distance I’ve come,” Daubenspeck told Andy Baggott of the Wisconsin State Journal this week.

While the Badgers say welcome back to their old goalie, they also had a goodbye this week in Madison. On Thursday, the Badgers held their final practice at the rink formerly known as the Dane County Coliseum. The 8,000-seat facility located a few miles south of campus was the Badgers home ice until 1998 when the Kohl Center opened. The Dane was known as one of the more intimidating places to play in all of college hockey.

The Bob Johnson Hockey Facility, attached to the Dane, has been the Badgers’ permanent practice home since the 1990s, but with La Bahn Arena, the future home of Badgers women’s hockey, set to open next season adjacent to the Kohl Center, the Badger men are moving back to campus.

Wisconsin’s first game at the Coliseum was on Nov. 24, 1967, an 11-3 win over UW-Superior.

MAVS AND SIOUX TAKE IT OUTSIDE TOO

It would hardly be a normal week in college hockey without another announcement of an outdoor game. This week it was Nebraska Omaha’s turn, as they Mavs revealed plans to host North Dakota under the clear prairie skies a year from now.

Omaha’s 24,000-seat baseball park, which also hosts the College World Series each June, will be fitted with an ice rink for USHL, high school and college games. Tickets go on sale Oct. 1.

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

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | F
To Date: 30 GP, 32-15–47, 5 PPGs, 6 SHGs, +24 rating

The Skinny: Smith elevates into the top spot on our Big Board by virtue of his status as the nation’s premier goal-scorer. His most recent hot streak includes goals in six of Colgate’s last eight games, a total of 10 goals in that span. He has surpassed the 30-goal mark, last achieved by an ECAC Hockey player when RPI’s Brad Tapper scored 31 in the 1999-2000 season. His pace hasn’t slowed at any point this season and there’s realistic optimism that he could get to 40 for the year, provided Colgate makes an extended postseason run.

Spencer Abbott
Maine | Sr. | F
To Date: 29 GP, 16-33–49, 2 PPGs, +9 rating

The Skinny: Over the last two-plus months, the Black Bears have won 14 of 18 games, putting themselves in prime position to earn an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2007. Abbott, Hockey East’s leading scorer with 49 points in 29 games, has been the catalyst for Maine’s success. During the aforementioned 18-game stretch, he’s scored 11 goals and 36 points. Perhaps Abbott’s most interesting statistic is while he leads the conference with 26 power-play points, he ranks in a tie for 36th in the league with two power-play goals.
Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 30 GP, 17-31–48, 7 PPGs, +18 rating

The Skinny: Prior to recording two goals and three assists in the Bulldogs’ 5-4 win against visiting North Dakota last Saturday, Connolly had been in a bit of a scoring drought, picking up just three assists in his previous five games. His Hobey profile may not be what it was back when UMD was curb-stomping every opponent, but a late-season push for the WCHA regular-season title and an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed would restore that luster. Worth watching: since early November, they’ve only seen regular time together on the power play, but will J.T. Brown’s injury impact Connolly’s numbers?

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

Chris Kreider, Boston College: It’s been a season of ups and downs for Boston College, and also for the guy many consider to be BC’s best player. After the first few weeks of the season, Chris Kreider was poised for a huge year with eight points in his first six games and a big weekend at the IceBreaker Tournament. He maintained his scoring pace, a little over a point-per-game, through the first half, then things slowed down. Kreider had just two points, both goals, in a nine-game slump. He’s come out of that with 10 points in his last five games on four multi-point nights. That included a goal in Monday’s Beanpot final, the third straight year he’s scored in the Beanpot championship game. He might get another boost in name recognition in a couple weeks, as the New York Rangers could deal his draft rights in an attempt to bolster their Stanley Cup chances.

Brett Gensler, Bentley: He’s only a sophomore, and already one of the most prolific offensive talents in Atlantic Hockey, part of a Bentley team that has greatly improved from the 2010-11 season. Gensler was a 24-point producer as a freshman and has already eclipsed that mark with 34 points through 30 games this season on 13 goals and 21 assists. Remarkably, only one of his goals and six of his assists have come on the power play. That means he does most of his damage at even strength, and his +8 rating reflects that — especially on a team with a negative-three goal differential. The Falcons finished 10-18-6 last year and ended the regular season in 10th place in Atlantic Hockey. They’re 11-12-7 this year, and just two points behind a third-place tie in the league.

Kyle Bonis

KYLE BONIS
Ferris State
Jr. | Forward | Lindsay, Ontario

His Statistics: Two goals and two assists in the Bulldogs’ sweep of Notre Dame, including two goals and an assist in Friday’s 3-0 win at Compton Family Ice Arena.

His Impact: Ferris State has rocketed to the top spot in every ranking imaginable on the strength of a 12-game unbeaten streak, one that reached a dozen with two wins against Notre Dame last weekend. Bonis sparked Ferris to its 3-0 win at Notre Dame Friday, factoring in on all three of his team’s scores with two goals and an assist. He added an assist in Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Fighting Irish in Big Rapids.

Bonis, who scored a total of 16 goals as a freshman and sophomore, has 15 goals through 32 games on the season, one fewer than team leader Jordie Johnston. Among CCHA skaters, only Miami’s Reilly Smith and Johnston have more goals than Bonis.

His Runners-Up: Greg Carey, St. Lawrence; John Gaudreau, Boston College; Drew George, Sacred Heart; Carter Rowney, North Dakota

With the explosion in social media, we’re kind of surprised we hadn’t seen this sooner. Army is giving fans the chance to decide which sweaters its hockey team will wear for Friday’s game against American International by voting at the school’s Facebook page. Voters have three choices—gold, gray, or white—and the virtual polls close Thursday. It’s a fun and easy way for fans to interact with the program, and there are no bad choices. All three sweaters look great to us.

For most of us media types, a team’s nightly line chart is a tremendously valuable resource to glean loads of information in a very concise format. (SIDs, if you’re reading, we especially like when a player’s birthdate and draft status is included). However, that comes with an aesthetic responsibility and most line charts meet the basic standard. Simple, easy-to-read fonts make the most sense. Make sure uniform numbers are the biggest element on the page, and using conference and team logos is A-OK.

We also believe in an element of respect for the game and a nod to the hockey gods, which made us take note when Yale’s line chart this past weekend included a logo for the upcoming 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa on the lower-right corner. Yep, that’s a Yale team that has never been to the Frozen Four, and is currently 10-13-2 on the season and stands tied for eighth in the ECAC Hockey standings. We understand that every team has aspirations, but let’s keep it realistic for now, and maybe add that to the mix after a team wins two NCAA Tournament games this spring.

What Happened?: While most of the hockey world was atwitter — or on Twitter — about the 2013 NHL Winter Classic featuring Original Six rivals Detroit and Toronto at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, college hockey fans took note that the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational will be played outdoors at Detroit’s Comerica Park. The tournament field features traditional participants Michigan, Michigan State, and Michigan Tech along with Western Michigan. It’ll be a tremendous stage for college pucks in the state of Michigan; we’re curious to see how hockey’s first multi-day outdoor event plays out.

What We’re Watching: In compiling the latest edition of the INCH Power Rankings, Bemidji State seriously caught our eye for really the first time this season. On further examination, the Beavers are compiling a very good season despite flying under the radar. With eight of Bemidji State’s first 10 games on the road this season, including trips to Miami, Colorado College and Minnesota Duluth, it was bound to be a tough start. A mid-November split against North Dakota, really set the team in motion and they’ve been on a roll since the start of December. In eight two-game weekends since then, Bemidji State is 10-4-2. The only “bad” weekend in the stretch came when they were swept at Denver, and there’s no shame in that (just ask the Gophers). More consistent play from senior goalie Dan Bakala has steadied the team, and they get scoring from committee. It’s kept them in the race for a home-ice berth in the WCHA playoffs, and with the last two weekend series against the teams currently 11th and 12th in the standings, Bemidji State has a good say in controlling its own destiny. Plus, they might be catching Minnesota at a good time this weekend, and it’s a series that Bemidji State always uses to measure itself.

What the …?: A few weeks ago in the Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, who’s had two recruits spurn him for the major junior ranks in recent months, said college teams are at a disadvantage when battling Canadian Hockey League teams for talent. Last week, Sportsnet.ca columnist Patrick King fired back, opining that college hockey has only itself to blame. The bulk of King’s reasoning was flawed at best, but his suggestion that goaltender Jack Campbell eschewed Michigan for the Windsor Spitfires because the Wolverines wouldn’t save a spot for him on the roster is ridiculous.

“[Campbell’s] college options would be lessened if he waited to declare his destination after attending the United States National Team Development Program and the NHL draft, since a team would make sure those spots are taken care of well in advance,” King wrote.

Hardly. Campbell had been a Michigan verbal commit for some time and was a mortal lock to be the Wolverines’ no. 1 goalie the moment he stepped on campus. As Mark Twain once said, get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

@tommillergf Tom Miller

@UNDSID I was hoping for a headline of rowdy rowney sniper, but it was voted down.

• A suggested headline to North Dakota sports information director Jayson Hajdu ended up earning a retweet from Hajdu, and a spot as this week’s Tweet of the Week. It certainly brought a smile to those familiar with 1980s pro wrestling characters, and was a fitting descriptor after Carter Rowney’s two-goal, one-assist effort in North Dakota’s 3-1 win at Minnesota Duluth.

Those of you with preschool-aged children are probably familiar with “The Wonder Pets,” the Nickelodeon series chronicling the adventures of three classroom pets who save baby animals from peril in their down time. One of the Wonder Pets is Ming-Ming, a fluffy little duckling best known for assessing perilous situations and singing, “This … is … serious!”

We could use a little Ming-Ming this weekend, because it’s about to get REAL serious in college hockey. The conference races, with teams tangled together in the standings like bubble gum in a pony tail. And while it is serious business for teams from coast to coast, it’s seriously thrilling for college hockey fans; this may be the most unpredictable collection of conference races we’ve seen in years. We’re certain the teams below will do their best to contribute to the chaos.

Minnesota vs. Denver (Fri.-Sat.)

Nick Bjugstad and Minnesota hope to skate away with the WCHA regular-season title; first, they'll have to contend with teams such as this weekend's opponent, Denver.

The Gophers are the nation’s top-ranked team and the Pioneers are coming off a loss and tie against Colorado College, so it feels as if these teams are trending in opposite directions. Widen that view; you’ll see that post-Christmas, DU is 7-2-1 while the Gophers are 5-4-0. As we’ve mentioned previously, the Pioneers are getting healthier—goaltender Sam Brittain could start both games this weekend—but forward Beau Bennett (out 14 games and counting with a wrist injury) and defenseman David Makowski (out eight games with an upper-body injury) aren’t ready to go. And while we tend to think of Minnesota as an offensive juggernaut, the Gophers have really scratched and clawed their way to top of the WCHA standings—10 of their last 13 games have been decided by one goal.

Yale at Colgate (Friday)
Yale at Cornell (Saturday)

This season hasn’t gone as planned for preseason favorites Yale, but it can all be remedied by a late-season run. The Bulldogs aren’t focused on what the standings look like from week-to-week, but on improving the way they’re playing headed into the ECAC Hockey tournament. It’s a real test this weekend, as they’ll visit second-place Colgate on Friday and then head to Lynah Rink on Saturday. Even though Yale is building from within, some long-range goals are still within reach. A strong finish over the last six games of the regular season could have them in a top-four spot in the standings, guaranteeing Yale a weekend off followed by a quarterfinal series on home ice. Five of the Bulldogs’ last six games are against teams ahead of them in the standings, so they control their own destiny.

Merrimack at UMass Lowell (Friday)
Maine at UMass Lowell (Saturday)

While Boston University and Boston College fans are all Beanpot-ty this weekend, surprising UMass Lowell has a chance to slip ahead of the Terriers into first place in Hockey East. So, too, could Merrimack. But probably not both, because the River Hawks and Warriors play at Tsongas Arena Friday and the loser is likely relegated to third place in the league come Sunday. These games against Merrimack and Maine might represent UMass Lowell’s best chance to gain the upper hand in Hockey East—the River Hawks are 8-1-0 against conference foes at home, but just 5-5-0 in league road games and they close the regular season with home-and-home series with Boston University, Merrimack, and Providence.

Michigan vs. Michigan State (Friday at East Lansing, Saturday at Detroit)

With just a single game separating the Wolverines and Spartans in the CCHA standings, the latest installment of hockey’s version of the Great Lakes State’s most heated rivalry has a lot of the line – A sweep would propel the winner into legitimate contention for the regular season title and the loser onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Wolverines come into the series hot, having lost just a single game since Dec. 3, while the Spartans look to build on last weekend’s road sweep at Ohio State, and both schools would love nothing more than to take a big step towards conference glory while casting doubt on their least favorite sibling’s ticket to the NCAAs.

Also: It’s Winter Carnival time at Michigan Tech, which means elaborate snow sculptures, no classes, extended periods of recreating, and a couple of hockey games. Even without the hoopla, the Huskies’ series with Nebraska-Omaha is significant—Tech, UNO, and North Dakota enter the weekend in a three-way tie for fifth in the WCHA standings. … While we’re on the topic, North Dakota travels to Minnesota Duluth for a series with the Bulldogs. One plus about playing for the Fightings: if you’re on the bus, you’re in the lineup. Freshman forward Brendan O’Donnell this week was shelved for the remainder of the season, so NoDak must make do with a lineup of 18 healthy skaters. … The CCHA race is as clear as the final season of “Lost”, so odds are the Notre Dame-Ferris State home-and-home series and the Ohio State-Western Michigan series will further muddy the waters. The Buckeyes are 0-6-4 since Jan. 7. … Atlantic Hockey scoffs at the CCHA standings jumble. Participants in this week’s AHA shell game are first-place Air Force, which travels to fourth-place Niagara, and third-place Mercyhurst and fifth-place Robert Morris, combatants in a home-and-home set that starts in Erie Friday.