By Arthur Lane
USCHO.com released their weekly top 20 nation poll for men’s hockey yesterday:
These rankings are getting harder and harder to put together. Parity has struck college hockey in a way this season we haven’t seen in quite some time. The team that has stood out through all the parity is still the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who remain first in this week’s USCHO.com poll after sweeping Notre Dame at Mariucci this weekend. We talk about the Golden Gophers in depth every week, so I’ll just leave it at that for Minnesota.
Boston University jumps into the top three after beating rival Boston College 5-3 Friday night. I caught the third period of this game in which the Terriers dominated, scoring three unanswered goals to upend the Eagles. Jack Eichel continued his dominate start to the year with four points on the weekend as BU fought for a tie against upstart UConn. Terriers have plenty of potential but are still so young. I don’t take as much stock in a tie with UConn following a big win the night before against your rival and UConn isn’t too shabby as BC found out earlier in the week.
Michigan Tech cracks the top five as they are still undefeated after sweeping Alaska-Anchorage at home. I certainly like Tech but let it be known they are only in the top five because of the parity in college hockey. Everyone is losing around them while they continue to win. Two first place votes in the USCHO.com poll is ridiculous in my eyes, this team is not anywhere close to the best in the nation. Jamie Phillips continues to carry the Huskies through the first half of the year.
Colgate only moves back two in the poll after getting ran off the ice Friday night at Quinnipiac 5-0, then returning the favor to Princeton 5-1 the following night. The Red Raiders, one of the preseason favorites to make it to the Frozen Four, have been bitten by the injury bug early in the season. Top returner Tylor Spink has yet to play and fellow junior Mike Borkowski sustained a serious lower body injury in Friday’s loss. This team will have to regroup if they want to make a return trip to the NCAA tournament, but it is not out of the question if net minder Charlie Finn continues his hot start (minus the Quinnipiac game).
Boston College stays eighth in the poll but nosedives in mine. I can’t lie; I’ve been waiting for a chance to drop BC because I really haven’t bought into that team yet. I fully expect the Eagles to be in the conversation come the end of the season, but right now they are so young. Thatcher Demko hasn’t had a lot of help in front of him defensively. BC has a quick turnaround against a solid Harvard squad Tuesday night in another pre-Beanpot clash with a Boston school.
Lots of shake up in my top 10 this week:
Game of the Week:
North Dakota hosts Miami in a NCHC battle. The NCHC has six of its eight teams in the national poll. North Dakota is riding an eight game unbeaten streak into this upcoming weekend. The offense has been led by Drake Caggiula and Michael Parks after leading scorer Mark MacMillan went down with an injury. Troy Stecher has been great on the blue line with eight points and a plus eight to lead the team. Zane McIntyre has been solid in net posting a 7-1-1 record with a 1.94 GAA and a .927 save percentage.
Miami has muscled through their schedule thus far defeating every team they’ve faced at least once. They split series’ with Bowling Green, St. Lawrence, and Minnesota Duluth and have swept Ohio State and Colorado College. The Redhawks have had a very balanced scoring attack with four scorers among the top 24 in the country. Jay Williams has taken most of the time in net, posting a 7-1 record.
Can North Dakota slow down the Redhawks offense? Can North Dakota continue to score without their top scorer in Mark MacMillan? With North Dakota assert themselves atop the NCHC? We shall see. Till then, have a good week.
