The WCHA women’s conference announced Sunday that Minnesota and St. Cloud State will meet in a WCHA league game on Thursday, Jan. 7.
The game will be played at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis and will count in the WCHA standings. The Gophers and Huskies will return to the ice that weekend for their previously scheduled Jan. 9-10 home-and-home WCHA series.
Thursday’s game is slated for a 3:07 p.m. CST start and will air on BTN Plus.
Minnesota will host Saturday’s game at 4:07 p.m. CST.
The Sunday, Jan. 10 game will be played at St. Cloud State and will begin at 3:07 p.m. CST. Saturday’s game will air on BTN Plus with Sunday’s game available on FloHockey.tv.
John Farinacci posted 10 goals among 22 points last season for Harvard (photo: Harvard Athletics).
The U.S. National Junior Team, behind two goals from John Farinacci (Harvard), earned a 5-2 victory over Slovakia Saturday night in Edmonton in quarterfinal play of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
With the win, the U.S. advances to the tournament semifinals where it will face Finland on Monday at 9:30 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
“It was a good game, and hats off to Slovakia who made it a really tough game,” said Team USA coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “I’m proud of the way we got through it, and we’re on to the next phase.”
Arthur Kaliyev (OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs), Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) and Matthew Beniers (Michigan) added goals and Spencer Knight (Boston College) finished with 16 saves in goal for Team USA.
Trevor Zegras (Boston University) had two assists in the game and leads all players in scoring at the tournament.
Slovakia got on the board with 1:28 left in the second period when Matej Kaslik fired one home from the right dot to break a tournament-record shutout streak by Team USA of 218:53.
Team USA has advanced to the semifinals of the IIHF World Junior Championship for the fifth time in the last six years.
In other action in Edmonton Saturday, Northeastern goalie Devon Levi made 29 saves as Canada knocked off the Czech Republic 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. Boston College forward Alex Newhook missed the game with an upper-body injury.
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Ryan Fanti made 19 saves but needed a goal from Noah Cates to earn a 4-3 OT victory over No. 6 St. Cloud State on Saturday (photo: Tom Nelson/St. Cloud State Athletics)
Noah Cates end-to-end rush that finished with a striped shot over the shoulder of St. Cloud goaltender David Hrenak at 2:00 of overtime ended a thrilling game that pit two of the nation’s top teams against one another with Minnesota Duluth earning a 4-3 victory.
Cates, despite skating the punk nearly 150 feet before firing the shot that resulted in the game-winning goal, credits linemate Kobe Roth for helping on the tally.
“I just cut through the middle,” said Cates. “Kobe did a great job, driving to the net taking the defenseman with him and I was able to put it through. He did a good job opening up that lane.”
The goal finished off a game fitting of two of the nation’s best. The pair battled back and forth, trading leads and showing off the prowess each team has on the power play.
Combined, the two teams scored five times with the man advantage in just eight combined opportunities. For Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin, that’s the ultimate blessing and curse.
“It’s great to score goals, but we don’t like giving them up,” laughed Sandelin. “It was some misreads and things we know we have to clean up [on the penalty kill]. But [St. Cloud is] a good team. They found some holes and we’ll work to clean that up.”
It was penalties and goals allowed while killing, in fact, that put Minnesota Duluth in a 3-2 hole after two periods. But Roth’s sixth goal of the season at 4:33 of the third forced the overtime period.
“5-on-5 we were getting some strong [effort],” said Sandelin. “We just had to remind them that. We knew we had a period, maybe more, to get that [going]. And we did that.”
It took little time for Minnesota Duluth to get on the scoreboard when Tanner Laderoute tallied at 1:36 of the first. St. Cloud’s Easton Brodzinski’s goal on the power play with 3:06 left in the period tied things at 1.
It was the start of an outburst of power play tallies. Nick Swanay’s goal with the man advantage at 2:21 of the second before Veeti Miettinen and Brodzinski, with his second, followed suit late in the middle frame.
No. 9 UMass jumped to a 4-0 lead before the two-minute mark of the second period and then held on despite a furious rally from 13th-ranked Northeastern, earning a 5-3 victory on Saturday and a weekend sweep of the Huskies.
The Minutemen have now won six straight games.
Matthew Kessel and Garrett Wait both registered a goal and an assist to pace the UMass offense.
Jerry Harding opened the score at the 2:33 mark of the first period. Kessel doubled that margin at 5:35 when he scored on a penalty shot. A late period goal by Zac Jones and another tally early in the second by Carson Gicewicz made things look easy for UMass, but penalties – and a successful Northeastern power play – made things anything but.
Zach Solow and Aidan McDonough each tallied with the man advantage to close the gap to 2. And Dylan Jackson’s first goal of his collegiate career with 5:41 left made it a one-goal game.
From there, though, UMass had a strong shut-down mentality and kept Northeastern from generating a lot of attack, a good quality for the Minutemen team moving forward.
“If we could’ve stayed out of the penalty box, it would’ve been a more convincing win,” said Carvel, happy with his team’s ability to close out the win but displeased with how penalties allowed Northeastern back into the game. “They’ve got a really strong power play. But we took a few too many penalties tonight for my liking.
“I thought 5-on-5 tonight we were playing really well.”
For Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, coming away from a weekend where his team competed well but didn’t record any points in the league standings, it’s difficult to find a silver lining. But the ability to find moments to teach his young team could prove beneficial as the season moves forward.
“Until we’re ready to make a full commitment to blocking shots and defending hard at our net, we’re going to have fleeting success,” said Madigan. “Those are the teachable moments coming out of this weekend.”
No. 20 American International 2, Long Island University 1
Twentieth-ranked AIC battled a plucky first-year LIU team, falling behind early before rallying for a 2-1 victory to improve to 6-2-0.
LIU’s Zach Bross opened the scoring while shorthanded, notching his third goal of the season at 12:49 of the first.
It remained that way until the midway point of the game when AIC’s Aaron Grounds struck at 10:01 to even things. Then at 17:38, Chris Theodore’s second goal of the year was the game-winner.
Stefano Durante stopped all six shots he faced in the third period for the win while Garrett Metcalf finished the night with 24 saves to fall to 2-2-0.
Penn State captain Alex Limoges rides a three-game, four-goal streak into East Lansing this weekend. (photo: Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics).
Happy New Year! When Drew Claussen posted the last picks blog of December 2020, the Big Ten hadn’t yet published the schedule for the rest of the season. Now we know that the rest of the season starts Jan 3. First a look at how Drew and I are doing with picks so far. That I’m performing worse than usual this season isn’t even newsworthy anymore.
Dec. 17-20
Drew: 1-2-1 (.375)
Paula: 3-0-1 (.875)
This season
Drew: 23-13-2 (.632)
Paula: 18-18-2 (.500)
This week
Technically speaking, we’re not midway through the Big Ten schedule, but it does feel as though we’re starting the second half of the season. To kick off the new year, there are two Sunday-Monday series, one conference tilt and one featuring Arizona State. All times are local.
Penn State at Michigan State
3:00 p.m. Sunday and Monday
Two points separate the sixth-place Spartans from the seventh-place Nittany Lions as January begins. After beginning the season 0-5, Penn State carries a three-game win streak into this series, having beaten Michigan Dec. 3 and swept Arizona State the following weekend. In their last series in December, the Spartans defeated and tied Notre Dame in two overtime games. Penn State leads this all-time series 11-15-4, but the teams have split each of their last two season series, each time going .500 at home and away. I can’t imagine that this series will be any different, but Drew and I differ on who wins when.
Drew: Michigan State 3-2, Penn State 5-2 Paula: Penn State 3-2, Michigan State 4-2
Arizona State at No. 1 Minnesota
3:00 p.m. Sunday, 7:00 p.m. Monday
The Sun Devils went 2-3-1 in December, but all three of those losses were by a goal and two came in overtime. In their last series, the Sun Devils tied the Buckeyes before beating Ohio State in another one-goal game. Minnesota brings its perfect 8-0 record into January, having last swept Michigan on the road Dec. 8-9. Fun fact about the Gophers — they have yet to trail an opponent this season. Drew is predicting that they’ll trail at least once this weekend. I don’t know if the Sun Devils will or will not lead this weekend, but I’m not picking against the Golden Gophers.
Drew: Arizona State 4-3, Minnesota 4-2 Paula: Minnesota 3-1, 3-1
Tweet us!
Follow Drew (@drewclaussen) and me (@paulacweston) on Twitter for our hockey takes, for Drew’s homebrew recommendations and photos of his adorable daughter, and for my occasional urge to break into song (poorly) with ukulele.
Well well well, with the New Year, we get some games with points on the line as the WCHA regular season kicks into gear with three conference matchups and one nonconference one between two teams searching to improve on their fortunes quickly.
With Bowling Green playing as well as it is offensively and with Michigan Tech playing as well as it defensively, both teams are involved in series this weekend that should be exciting to watch.
Meanwhile, we continue to wait for Minnesota State and Bemidji State to break out of their 2020 funks, and a series to start 2021 might be just what the doctor ordered.
Bowling Green at Ferris State
Jack: The first true conference series of the WCHA season, Bowling Green is an impressive 9-1-0 and has scored a nation-high 40 goals. Ferris is still looking for its first win, but earlier this week against Northern Michigan the Bulldogs managed to get some goals into the back of the net. They lost 6-5 in overtime, but that’s an encouraging sign. I still can’t look past Bowling Green this weekend, but I think it will be a high scoring affair. Falcons win 5-3 Saturday, 6-5 Sunday
Daver: I like the way the Falcons have started the season. They have a balanced offense led by three seniors in Cameron Wright, Connor Ford and Brandon Kruse. The trio all have 11 points each and look unstoppable early in the season. The Bulldogs are still young and trying to find their way. I know the wins are coming, but it is tough to feel that it will start with this weekend. Falcons sweep, 4-1, 3-1
Alabama Huntsville at Michigan Tech
Jack: The Chargers haven’t hit the ice since Dec. 6. By the time they get under way Saturday afternoon, it will have been almost a full month between games. Tech played two series in the week before Christmas. Because they’ll be eager to go, I think the Chargers should be able to nick something from the Huskies this weekend. Huskies win 3-1 Saturday, Chargers win 2-1 Sunday
Daver: Boy the Huskies have been solid since their home opener split with the Mavericks, splitting with Bemidji State before sweeping rival Northern Michigan. They also boast one of the top penalty kills in the country. Add to that, WCHA goaltender of the month Blake Pietila, and that is a formidable defense to contend with as an opponent. The Chargers enter the weekend struggling to score goals, and that does not bode well against the Huskies. Huskies sweep, 3-1, 4-2
Minnesota State at Northern Michigan
Jack: Both teams should be excited to play different teams for once. The Mavs have played Bemidji State three times and Michigan Tech twice, while NMU has played Tech twice and Ferris twice. A change of scenery might do both teams some good. I think we’re looking at a split. Wildcats win 4-3 Saturday, Mavericks win 4-1 Sunday
Daver: The Mavericks have not looked like the Mavericks of old yet, but this could be the weekend they break out. Cade Borchardt and Julian Napravnik have both gotten off to good starts while Reggie Lutz and Jake Jaremko are starting to heat up. They’ll face a motivated Wildcats squad that has seen an infusion of offence from A.J. Vanderbeck, who looked very good against the Huskies a couple of weeks ago. He has five goals in his first four games this season. Mavericks sweep, 3-2, 4-2
Bemidji State at Lake Superior State
Jack: Something of a “makeup” series for both teams to compensate for losing the Alaska schools, this series also happens to be a rematch of the final game of the 2019-20 season, which saw the Beavers beat the Lakers in Game 3 of their WCHA quarterfinal series in Bemidji. It was the last time the puck dropped in the WCHA before the pandemic. This is technically a nonconference series for both teams, so there are no points on the line, but the Lakers will be looking to keep up their momentum — they haven’t lost yet this season but they also haven’t played since Dec. 6 against Huntsville. This one also feels split to me. Beavers win 3-2 on Saturday, Lakers win 4-2 on Sunday
Daver: The Lakers have easily been the surprise of the season thus far. They have played extremely well and are getting contributions from their leaders like Ashton Calder, who is averaging a goal a game thus far. On the flip side, much was made of the Beavers before the season began, but 2020 was not kind to the team picked second by the media and the coaches. They are not far away from winning games, so look for them to jumpstart things this weekend. Lakers win Saturday 3-1, Beavers win Sunday 4-1
Two late goals by UMass combined with a strong special teams game gave the ninth-ranked Minutemen a 4-3 road win over No. 13 Northeastern (photo: Jim Pierce/NU Athletics)
In an absolute back-and-forth heavyweight battle of nationally-ranked teams on Friday, the club many consider one of the heaviest came out on top thanks to a late-game rally.
No. 9 Massachusetts won a tough, physical battle over No. 13 Northeastern, with two late goals, both resulting from the Minutemen getting physical position in from of the Huskies net, the difference maker in a 4-3 UMass win.
Josh Lopina and Oliver Chau each scored in the final 10 minutes of play for the Minutemen, canceling out a rally by Northeastern in which it climbed from its own deficit in the final period to grab a lead.
“It’s a real sign of the character of this team to battle back,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel, whose team has now won five straight after a loss on the road at Merrimack on December 5. “We found a way to beat a good team on the road.”
Carvel, in fact, points to that road loss at Merrimack as a game that helped his players realize what might have been missing from its character, allowing the Minutemen to work harder to establish an identity he feels is required to win.
“[Friday’s win] is a continuation of what I’ve seen building over the last couple of weeks,” said Carvel. “The game at Merrimack on the road was an eye opener. The week off after gave us a week to reset and gave us a chance to figure some things out.”
Friday’s game, while entertaining to watch, was heavily defined by penalties and special teams play. Each team had six power play opportunities with UMass scoring twice and stopping Northeastern in every one of its chances.
Late in regulation, with Northeastern trailing, 4-3, a penalty derailed any hope for a comeback – though not immediately.
After a scrum in the corner behind the UMass net and a subsequent whistle, Carvel and his staff challenged the play, asking referees Geno Binda and Terence Murphy to review the play. When they pair emerged from the video area, a major penalty was assessed for spearing, putting UMass on the power play for the remainder.
A major factor in Carvel calling for the coach’s challenge was the player who was speared.
“We saw it clearly,” said Carvel. “The kid who got speared is Anthony Del Gaizo. He’s not a kid who will roll around the ice. He didn’t go down but it was clear he was hurt. So we had our timeout left, so there was little risk [to challenge].”
Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, who was displeased with the officiating on multiple occasions, chose not to comment further.
“I won’t talk about the penalties here,” Madigan said. “If I do, I may go sideways, so I won’t say anything about the officials at all.
“We lost the special teams game, there. We had some good looks so we’ve got to bear down on our power play. And we’ve got to defend better on their power plays.”
Northeastern opened the scoring early on the first of two goals by Jordan Harris. But before the first period was over, UMass had responded twice on power play goals from Carson Gicewicz and Garrett Wait.
The game remained that way until the third when Ty Johnson scored his fifth in seven games for Northeastern to even the score and Harris struck for his second.
The difference maker, though, was the two goals, both coming from the goalmouth after surrendered rebounds. That pushed UMass over the top
“They’re a very good team and they go to the net really hard,” Madigan said of UMass. “We talked about it all week long that we’re going to have to defend hard at the net.
“We were on the wrong side of some of those scrums. We worked hard in practice and it didn’t result in the game tonight.”
In a New Year’s afternoon matinee when it seemed like goal were simply impossible to come by, Michael Callahan’s tally in a sudden-death shootout was the difference maker as 15th-ranked Providence and Vermont skated to a scoreless tie, and Providence took the extra league standings point with his shootout winner.
.@_MikeCallahan24 rips one top shelf for the shootout winner to give us the extra point in the Hockey East standings!
Jaxson Stauber stops all 23 shots he faced plus 5-of-6 shootout attempts for his second shutout of the season.#GoFriarspic.twitter.com/gEE2sjsnrV
Providence held a 31-21 advantage in shots through regulation but both Vermont netminder Tyler Harmon and Friars goalie Jaxson Stauber whitewashed the competition.
After a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime where each team mustered two shots, it was the Catamounts the struck first in the shootout on Jordan Kaplan’s first-round tally. Facing defeat, Greg Printz evened the score in the third round. Then after Stauber’s stop of Bryce Misley in round five, Callahan roofed the winner for the extra point in the Hockey East standings.
No. 10 Clarkson 4, Colgate 1
Jack Jacome and Zach Tsekos each tallied a goal and two assists and No. 10 Clarkson earned a 4-1 road victory over Colgate.
Max Newton was third in the nation in faceoff percentage during the 2019-20 season (photo: UAF Athletics).
Merrimack has added forward Max Newton as a transfer from Alaska.
The senior, who will be eligible immediately, posted 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) in 36 games and finished third in the nation with a .642 faceoff percentage last season with the Nanooks.
In three seasons with Alaska, Newton collected 18 goals and 43 points in 93 games.
Boston College goalie Spencer Knight earned his second straight shutout at this year’s World Junior Championship with 27 saves Thursday night against Sweden (file photo: Matt Zambonin/HHOF-IIHF Images).
Behind a 27-save performance Thursday night from Spencer Knight (Boston College) and a goal and two assists from Trevor Zegras (Boston University), the U.S. National Junior Team earned its third straight shutout with a 4-0 victory over Sweden in its final preliminary round game of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton to earn first place in Group B.
Through the preliminary round, Zegras leads the tournament with 13 points (six goals, seven assists).
“I’m very proud of the way that we came back in this tournament from losing our first game, to then win our group is a good accomplishment,” said Team USA coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “I think we continue to be a disciplined team which has been very important to our success and now the tournament begins. We have to reset our mindset, we can’t live in the past of the success we’ve had, and we need to get ready for the second phase of the tournament.”
Drew Helleson (Boston College), Ryan Johnson (Minnesota) and Alex Turcotte (Wisconsin) also scored for Team USA.
The U.S. will now face Slovakia on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the tournament live on NHL Network. Game time is set for 10:30 p.m. EST.
Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by Minnesota Duluth beat writer Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune to preview the No. 4 Bulldogs at No. 6 St. Cloud State in NCHC play.
Jim and Ed also look ahead to another NCHC series, No. 16 Denver vs. Colorado College, a Hockey East home-and-home series between No. 13 Northeastern and No. 9 UMass, the start of ECAC Hockey play, and Arizona State’s games at No. 1 Minnesota.
The hosts and guest also opine on the proposal by NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton to use historical data to allocate at-large bids in this season’s NCAA tournament.
Quinnipiac picked up four wins over the past week (photo: Rob Rasmussen).
Last time: 2-1-1
Overall: 9-7-1
The end of 2020 marks the start of the conference schedule for ECAC Hockey. All four of the league’s participating teams are set to be in action this week for this first time all season. Here’s a look at the schedule over the next few days:
Thursday, Dec. 31
Quinnipiac at St. Lawrence, 4 p.m.
Quinnipiac is in the midst of a four-game winning streak and has already played eight games, while this is the first game of the season for St. Lawrence Quinnipiac 4, St. Lawrence 1
Friday, Jan. 1
Clarkson at Colgate, 5 p.m.
I expected both of these teams to be strong defensively this season, but both have taken part in plenty of shootouts in the early going. Colgate has scored at least four goals in two of its three games this season after reaching that mark only five times last year. The Golden Knights have scored at least four goals in four straight games, including a 5-4 loss to Colgate on Dec. 23. This one should be another shootout and I think home ice gives the Raiders the edge. Colgate 5, Clarkson 3
Sunday, Jan. 3
St. Lawrence at Quinnipiac, 1 p.m.
The venue may be different, but the result will be the same. Quinnipiac 5, St. Lawrence 2
Colgate at Clarkson, 4 p.m.
Golden Knights bounce back at home. Clarkson 4, Colgate 3
Holy Cross has gone 4-4-0 this season (photo: Holy Cross Athletics).
Due to a positive case of COVID-19 within the Tier 1 group, the Holy Cross men’s hockey team will pause all activities until further notice.
The program will follow all COVID-19 isolation and quarantine protocols and will postpone games against AIC (Jan. 2-3) and Army West Point (Jan. 6).
Potential makeup games will be announced at a later date.
The Tier 1 designation consists of individuals for whom physical distancing and/or face coverings are not possible or effective during athletic training or competition, including student-athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and physical therapists, medical staff, equipment staff and officials.
This Week’s Picks*: *All games are subject to change.
Thursday, December 31 Robert Morris at Niagara
Fun story: Bentley played Air Force on New Year’s Eve, 2010. I invited my girlfriend at the time to the 5 p.m. puck drop but omitted any details about the JAR. She was a recent Bentley alum and loved hockey, so I planned a New Year’s date night around a college game for her alma mater, which she was unaware played Division I. Don Juan over here watched her mildly gross out over the old smell of Zamboni exhaust in the JAR, and I subsequently ruined dinner after botching the measurement of stir fry rice (apparently six cups was wrong). We’ve been married six years, and we’re having our first child in April. I don’t know what that means for this game, but anyone planning date nights tonight should only cook two cups of rice. Or don’t. It’s a better story that way. Robert Morris wins.
Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3 Mercyhurst vs. Canisius
Atlantic Hockey’s greatest classic rivalry finally hits the ice with Canisius’ return to hockey. The Golden Griffins split their opening weekend against Robert Morris, but the pause ultimately put this team into a weird position of completely restarting its season. A home-and-home with Mercyhurst always feels good to me, and this year’s Laker team is on a tear. Last year, the Griffs swept the Lakers in their only meeting at the end of the season with an aggregate 9-2 win. I think the Lakers get some revenge this weekend. Mercyhurst sweeps.
Army West Point vs. Sacred Heart
Another classic rivalry between two teams vying for a boost in the standings. Sacred Heart’s .500 three points is a smidge better than Army West Point’s .333, but the six points in this weekend would go a long way to vaulting both teams into the upper echelon especially since AIC is off after its series against Holy Cross was postponed. I like a split in this series with two welcome back games for the ages.
Long Island University vs. Bentley
These are sneaky big games for the Falcons after the “first half” ended with five points but four losses. The lone non-conference games on the schedule, LIU is an opportunity to reboot and tinker over two nights while fighting for wins against a team that’s been on fire to start its program. The long layoff after RIT aside, Sunday’s game is the inaugural home game at the Northwell Health Ice Center. That’s a huge accomplishment for the Sharks, who I hope will debut some gorgeous sweaters for the weekend. I think it’s going to be a watershed moment for the program, and I really want to take a Shark sweep, yet I can’t shake the feeling that Bentley plucks the home game on Saturday. Split.
RIT at Robert Morris
RMU’s game against Bowling Green is its only game after December 5 but before Niagara. Having that game – and the Bowling Green game before it – should remove any rink rust, which is good because RIT tied Colgate and beat Niagara around the holidays. This could be an all-time great series for two teams starting to pick up steam, but everyone knows how high I am on the Colonials. RMU sweeps.
Sunday, January 3 and Monday, January 4 Air Force at Niagara
I hate referring to teams as desperate, but there’s a distinct chance both teams enter this series still looking for their respective first win in league play. In a percentage-based points format, a big weekend can turn things around on a dime, but neither team can really afford to lose points on the back end. That’s going to make for an exciting series. Last year, Air Force swept past Niagara at home with a pair of one-goal wins, but the Purple Eagles won five of six points at home earlier in the season. Both of those games went to overtime with one 5-on-5 regulation overtime and a 3-on-3 extra point tie overtime coming on the next night. Based on the layoff, I’m picking Niagara, but don’t be surprised if Air Force grabs a game or more. Niagara sweeps.
I feel the need to knock on wood as I type this. But should all of the scheduled games on the Hockey East slate go off as expected, we will see, by far, the busiest weekend of the season as we turn the page from 2020 (can’t do that soon enough) to 2021.
So as I bid all readers an early Happy New Year, here are our picks for this weekend:
Jim last week: 1-1-1
Jim to date: 13-5-4
Marisa last week: 1-1-1
Marisa to date: 10-8-4
Wednesday, December 30
Massachusetts at New Hampshire
This is a difficult game to handicap. While UNH tends to be a good home ice team under Michael Souza, the stops and starts that the Wildcats have endured are relevant. UMass, on the other hand, has played three games in the last 11 days, putting forth a perfect 3-0-0 mark.
Massachusetts vs. Northeastern (Fri. at NU; Sat. at UMass)
These two teams have played some of the more entertaining games in recent years and based on both starting strong, you might expect more of that.
Jim’s picks: NU 4, UMass 3; UMass 4, NU 2 Marisa’s picks: UMass 4, NU 3, UMass 3, NU 2
Vermont at Providence
While the Providence team is still missing some key players (and its head coach) because of World Juniors, they’ve played so pretty good hockey without. It’s difficult to know what to expect from Vermont, but a 2-2 tie with nationally-ranked Northeastern in their last game out provides a lot of hope.
Jim’s picks: PC 3, UVM 1; PC 4, UVM 1 Marisa’s picks: PC 3, UVM 1; PC 3, UVM 2
Connecticut vs. New Hampshire (Fri. at UNH; Sat. at UConn)
Connecticut is playing some excellent hockey of late, highlighted by a 2-0 shutout of Providence this past week. If that continues, they’ll be a lot for UNH to handle.
Maine at UMass Lowell
Both of these teams have endured stops and starts due to COVID and both will be champing at the bit to play actual games. This likely isn’t the cleanest series as the pair shake off a lot of rust, but expect goaltending to be critical for both teams as neither features too much experience between the pipes.
Jim’s picks: UML 3, Maine 2; UML 2, Maine 1 Marisa’s picks: UML 3, Maine 2; UML 4, Maine 1
Denver’s Bobby Brink recorded two goals Tuesday in Team USA’s 7-0 World Junior win over the Czech Republic (photo: Nick Monaghan/DU Athletics).
Trevor Zegras (Boston University) had two goals and three assists, Bobby Brink (Denver) scored twice, and Spencer Knight (Boston College) made 22 saves to help the U.S. National Junior Team to a 7-0 victory over the Czech Republic in Edmonton Tuesday afternoon in the third game of preliminary round play at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
With the victory, the U.S. has clinched a spot in the tournament quarterfinals on Jan. 2. Team USA will close out preliminary round play on Thursday against Sweden at 9:30 p.m. EST and the game can be seen live on NHL Network.
“It was a hard-fought win and I don’t think the score is predicated on how the game went,” said U.S. coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “It was a tight game and we had to stick with it. I’m proud of the way guys stayed with it until we could break the game open.”
Arthur Kaliyev (OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs), Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) and Matthew Boldy (Boston College) also scored for the Americans.
With his three assists this afternoon, Zegras is now tied for second all-time with 14 career assists for Team USA in World Junior play.
Jack: We here in the Midwest are still getting used to single midweek games, but this matchup should be good. Bowling Green is looking for the season sweep of RMU. I think they get it. Falcons win 4-2
Daver: Boy Bowling Green has been off to a great start to the young season. I believe it remains safe to say that the Falcons offense is ready to keep this run going. Falcons win, 4-1
Northern Michigan at Ferris State
Jack: The Big Rapids leg of a home-and-home series that started Dec. 16 in Marquette. Ferris is still looking for their first win. I think it will be close. Bulldogs win 2-1
Daver: The Wildcats finally got their feet wet a couple of weeks ago with a win over the Bulldogs before a couple of tough losses to Michigan Tech. With time to regroup, I expect them to get back to winning. Wildcats win 4-2.
NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton gets interviewed at 2013 media day (USCHO.com file photo)
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Paula: Jimmy, usually the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a down time for TMQ, but in this most unusual hockey season, we perhaps should have anticipated that something would surface to merit comment this week, which is exactly what happened in the form of NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton’s unconventional ideas about how to choose the 2021 tournament field.
And what a timely gift.
At 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve, our friend Brad Elliott Schlossman published an article in the Grand Forks Herald and subsequently in The Rink Live in which Fenton suggests looking at how many teams on average each conference has placed in the national tournament going back seven years to college hockey’s most recent alignment to choose the field in 2021.
Fenton’s argument is based on the lack of intraconference competition for most of the D-I teams playing this season, rendering the RPI and the PairWise Rankings essentially useless for determining participation in the 2021 tournament. In Schlossman’s article, Fenton says that the league commissioners have been “heavily involved” in discussions about how the selection committee will pick a field especially, says Fenton, where it concerns at-large bids.
Schlossman rightly points out how Fenton’s ideas don’t negate other complications related to the selection process, like how there are only four ECAC teams playing this season and the imbalance in the NCHC’s own schedule.
There is a lot to process here, Jimmy. As much as I like data-driven decisions, I have some questions and reservations. Is Fenton’s suggestion that the committee turn to the data provided by the last seven years the most logical and fairest way to approach this problem? What are your initial thoughts about this?
Jim: Well, let’s look at an excerpt from Brad’s column:
The current conference alignment has been in place since 2013-14, when the NCHC and Big Ten formed.
Excluding 2019-20, when the pandemic shut down the college hockey season before the NCAA tournament field was picked, the average number of NCAA-tournament teams per league since realignment is: Atlantic Hockey 1, Eastern College Athletic Conference 3.16, Big Ten 2.16, Hockey East 4, NCHC 3.83 and Western Collegiate Hockey Association 1.67.
If you include 2019-20, using the Pairwise at the time of the shutdown, it would be: Atlantic Hockey 1, ECAC 3, Big Ten 2.28, Hockey East 4, NCHC 3.71 and WCHA 1.71.
Like you said, I don’t actually mind a data-driven approach, but there are also issues.
Would an approach that uses historical numbers of bids, as Brad suggests based on Fenton’s comments, be pigeon-holing the committee into only selecting at-large teams that creates a field that mimics years past? Thus, once Atlantic Hockey receives its automatic qualifier, they’re done?
The same might be said for the ECAC, as the conference typically has 3 bids with 12 teams, but proportionally would receive just one bid this year with only four teams playing. Clarkson and Quinnipiac – both nationally ranked – might have something to say about that.
Yes, at a 10,000-foot view, Fenton’s suggestion seems to have some merit. But when my (somewhat feeble) mind tries to imagine execution, there seems to be major concerns.
We’ve talked about how the tournament would be seeded in the past, so in addition to asking for your comments, maybe you could play the czar of college hockey and give me a suggestion on how to approach.
Paula: While I don’t think that any living soul wants to see me ascend to the role of czar of hockey – including me – I’ll take a stab at this.
Warning: I’m going to oversimplify it. I’m also going to completely ignore Fenton’s suggestion for a moment, but I’ll get back to that.
A few weeks ago in this column, you suggested that each conference be given two autobids, one for the conference’s playoff champions and another for the league’s regular-season champs. That guarantees at least two teams from each conference and a total of a dozen teams. I like this as a start.
In the case where the conference playoff champions are also regular-season champions, I suggest that the team with the highest conference win percentage among the remaining team be chosen for a given league’s second spot.
Twelve is a good number to start. That would leave four at-large bids, unless the championship field is cut to 12 – and I am totally good with that for this season. After all, there are nine teams not competing this season because of the pandemic. The field is smaller and – as Josh Fenton pointed out – there is too little intraconference play to determine cross-referencing for at-large bids based on play this season.
Shortening the field to 12 makes sense for other reasons. While the NCAA is all about giving as many student-athletes that championship experience – and I think that is an admirable aim – what kind of playoff experience are we really anticipating come March? A 12-team field in a bubble or pod is easier to manage than 16 teams. I know that we all want to expand the sport rather than shrink it but having two teams from each conference may heighten rather than diminish interest. It would be intense.
If the NCAA insists on a 16-team field, I would again default to win percentages. After the field of 12 autobids are chosen from each of the six conferences, give the autobids to the top four win percentages from all of D-1 hockey following that.
I know that some people will scream about that, about how that’s not “fair” because some leagues are historically stronger than others. Too bad, I say. Let’s keep the tournament in the here and now. This is a really tough season for everyone. I say let’s reward the programs – and the student-athletes – who have excelled within their conferences and see how they play in the 2021 tournament.
Jim: I will admit that Fenton’s suggestions may have, in a way, influenced my thinking on this topic.
Like I already said, I don’t want to look at the field for the NCAA tournament and begin just handing out bids because of what happened in the past. But what if we put certain restrictions on how many bids a conference can receive.
Because we can’t really make a comparison to the strength of one conference versus another, personally I think it would be sensible to cap the number of teams any conference can place in the field at 50 percent. The ECAC would be limited to just two bids, but with only four teams, that’s fair. The two conferences most impacted would be the Big Ten (limit of three teams with only seven members), and the NCHC and WCHA with a maximum of four teams (50% of their current eight members). Certainly Hockey East and Atlantic Hockey could each earn five, but AHA has never had more than two and it has been rare that Hockey East receives five bids.
Let’s say that the ECAC, NCHC and Big Ten all max out their bids – that would be nine total, leaving seven spots for the WCHA, Hockey East and Atlantic Hockey. Look at that, I’m already beginning to find fault with my approach, as I see the WCHA and Atlantic Hockey deserving off a minimum of three bids combined and possibly as high as five, leaving Hockey East, the conference with historically the most bids on average over the last seven years, possibly with just two bids.
So I’m back to the drawing board. And I still like the thought of giving each conference the possibility of two bids – one for the regular-season champion and one for the tournament champ. While there is a possibility of that accounting for 12 of the 16 bids, it is possible that only six automatic bids are accounted for (and most likely that number rests somewhere in the middle, like nine).
Maybe, then, we go back to Fenton’s historical approach and fill however many bids remains by prioritizing the conferences that have historically had the most bids.
Is that somehow a compromise?
Paula: I have real issues with looking at the historical data to determine what is fair right here and right now for these student-athletes playing during extraordinary times.
It doesn’t seem right to discount the varied circumstances that affect each program in the present, and that’s what looking at data from the past seems to do. Sure, Jim, it’s a compromise – but is it one that is fair to all involved?
What about the two independent teams? I don’t know how Arizona State and Long Island University will end their seasons, but they don’t have the kind of historic data that Fenton mentions and so, it seems, they’d be out of the picture. What if either one of them catches fire and winds up with a killer win percentage? Do we just toss that aside?
And with all respect to Josh Fenton – someone I’ve known, liked, and respected for many years, someone who has done a fantastic job with the NCHC – it is a whole lot easier to propose such a selection process when your conference has, historically, placed close to an average of four teams per year in the tournament since its inception.
I don’t want to see conferences like Hockey East and the NCHC – who have historically been the strongest leagues since the realignment – disgruntled, but we literally have no way of measuring meaningful intraconference comparisons this season — and shouldn’t this season’s tournament be about this season, especially given that this season is historic in its own way?
Jim: Oh boy, the independents. I’m not sure how I left those teams out, especially given the fact that Arizona State made the tournament in 2019 and would’ve if the 2020 event was played. That, right there, is history.
You are correct that this year’s tournament needs to be about this year. It would be easiest to simply let this season play out, but I think you and I have been around college hockey for long enough to understand that the teams – and fans – involved seem to like the objective approach of the PairWise, not the subjective. And I’m sure that is what led to Fenton’s proactivity.
Thus, it probably is a good idea to find a way to place some structure around this season, including how this tournament is selected.
And, rest assured, no matter what the outcome, someone won’t like it.
Due to a combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Omaha hockey program, the North Dakota at Omaha series scheduled for this weekend, Thursday, Dec. 31 and Friday, Jan. 1, at Baxter Arena has been postponed.
This series has been rescheduled for Jan. 29-30 at Baxter Arena.
The decision to postpone the series is consistent with the NCHC COVID-19 protocols, developed by the conference’s health and safety competitions committee.
“We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to play this week, but we need to follow the advice of our doctors and medical staff to ensure the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes,” said Omaha coach Mike Gabinet in a statement. “We have learned a lot about perseverance and patience during this season, and this is yet another challenge that we will work hard to overcome.”
Fans who have purchased tickets for this week may use them on the rescheduled dates or redeem them for any remaining home games this season by emailing the Baxter Arena ticket office at [email protected].
All future dates are subject to ticket availability.
Tim Washe (left) played the 2019-20 season for the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers (photo: Nanaimo Clippers).
Western Michigan announced Tuesday the immediate additions of goalie Ross Hawryluk and forwards Matteo Pecchia and Tim Washe to the 2020-21 roster.
All three are freshmen and are eligible to play during this weekend’s series against Miami.
Hawryluk joins the Broncos after two seasons with the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. In 37 games, he posted a 19-8-4 record, a 2.54 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
He was also selected for the NHL Prospects Game between Canada West and Canada East, with Hawryluk representing West, and also played for Saskatchewan in the Junior Hockey League All-Star game between Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“Ross is very calm in net and has a big body presence,” said WMU coach Andy Murray in a statement.
Pecchia was named the Most Improved Player in the OJHL last season. Playing for the Mississauga Chargers, he posted a career-high 50 points on 21 goals and 29 assists and served as an assistant captain. Pecchia was set to captain the squad this season before joining the Broncos.
“Matteo has been committed to us for a long time,” Murray said. “He’s got really good speed and is very tenacious on the puck. His team is not playing right now and it made sense for us to bring him in.”
Washe is the younger brother of WMU captain Paul Washe, and posted 19 points on 10 goals and nine assists in his first career season in the BCHL last season with the Nanaimo Clippers.
“Tim is a very strong skater and, like his brother, is very strong on faceoffs,” said Murray. “He was also in a situation where his junior team was not playing.”
