Three things I learned from Atlantic Hockey this weekend:
I would have liked to be at the John A Ryan Skating Arena on Saturday – Where one of those rare, Mighty Ducks-like moments occurred. Bentley and Niagara were tied at two goals each, when, with 1.3 seconds to play, Niagara’s Dan Baco covered the puck in his own crease. That gave the Falcons a penalty shot, but Brett Gensler’s attempt sailed wide, and the teams settled for a point each after a scoreless overtime.
West is still best – The western half of the league went 7-3-2 in eastern rinks this season to bring the total so far this season to 21-5-4 in favor of the west. Eight of the top ten teams in the standings are from the west “pod”, including the top four teams. But we have a long way to go.
Offenses are waking up – It’s been a down year offensively for most AHA teams (or, to look at it another way, a good year for defenses and goaltending). But Robert Morris scored a total of 15 goals this weekend, and Air Force had 11. An average of seven goals a game were scored in the games this past weekend.
Getting my vote:
Here’s how I’ll vote in tomorrow’s USCHO.com Division I men’s poll:
1. Boston College
2. Minnesota Duluth
3. Ohio State
4. Minnesota
5. Notre Dame
6. Merrimack
7. Colorado College
8. Western Michigan
9. Union
10. Denver
11. Boston University
12. Ferris State
13. Lake Superor State
14. Colgate
15. Michigan State
16. Cornell
17. Massachussetts-Lowell
18. North Dakota
19. Air Force
20. Yale
