Division 1 NCAA Hockey

[JMCx4]

Holiday interruptions are behind me, so it's time to renew my love for the women & their game(s).
---------------------------------------------
I'll kickoff - or faceoff, rather - my New Year action reviews with a look at the current Top 5 (make that 6) and how they've fared in the first two weeks after their year-end holiday breaks ...

• #1 Wisconsin (still smoking hot at 21-2-1-0) started 2020 with a pair of wins at "The Battle at the Burgh" tourney at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, PA: a 3-1 victory over the Robert Morris Colonials, followed by a see-saw battle vs. #3 Northeastern with the Badgers scoring in OT to take the inaugural tournament championship. Wisconsin continued on the road @ Bemidji State this weekend, splitting a pair with the unranked Beavers by identical 3-2 scores. The Lady Badgers will have next weekend off before hosting #2 Minnesota for a pair on Jan. 24-25.
  
• #2 Minnesota (improved to 19-1-3) have won their first four games of 2020: two against visiting Yale, then another pair @ St. Cloud State. The Lady Gophers will host tied-for-#5 Ohio State next Friday, followed by the same two teams on Saturday playing outdoors as part of the "Hockey Day Minnesota" festivities at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis.
  
• #3 Northeastern (17-3-1) took both of their Battle of the Burgh opponents to overtime, logging a 1-1 tie (then winning the shootout) against the Colgate Raiders before falling to #1 Wisconsin. The Lady Huskies regrouped this weekend with a home-and-home vs. Hockey East rival Boston College, shutting out the Eagles twice. Next weekend the Huskies will have another home-and-home conference match-up, this time with the OTHER Huskies from Connecticut.
  
• #4 Cornell (14-1-2) started their New Year with two home victories in Ithaca over Mercyhurst , the second one in OT. Big Red hit the highways in NY State this weekend, visiting Union College (1-1 tie) and RPI (2-0 victory). The Cornell ladies will host Dartmouth next Friday, then #9 Harvard on Saturday.
  
• #5 Clarkson (15-3-4) started 2020 play in New England, losing to Yale 5-2 before shutting out Brown 6-0 the next day. The Lady Knights were idle this weekend, while preparing for next weekend's home-and-home games vs. ECAC foe St. Lawrence U.
  
• Also #5 Ohio State (13 - 5 - 4) started their calendar year hosting WCHA rivals Minnesota State-Mankato for a pair, winning both games handily. Their next games will be in Minnesota to face the conference-leading Golden Gophers as noted above.

And continuing the tradition of following my hometown Lindenwood University Lady Lions, no matter the drama that ensues ... LU sophomore starting goaltender Annika Asplundh returned to the nets this weekend, keeping her fellow Lions competitive on the road vs. CHA rivals Penn State. Continuing the Lions' woes from 2019 (currently 2-14-3), they lost their games in University Park by one goal each in regulation play after falling behind (finals of 1-2 on Friday and 2-3 on Saturday). The Lady Lions will host CHA foes RIT for a pair next weekend.

 

[JMCx4]

The latest USCHO.com men's Div I rankings. How did Cornell sneak into a tie for #1 with the mighty Fighting Hawks?

Through Games JAN. 13, 2020

[TR][TH]
[TR][TH]RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
T-1	Cornell (21)	12-1-2	956	2
T-1	North Dakota (17)	17-2-2	956	1
3	Minnesota State (12)	20-3-1	928	3
4	Denver	15-4-3	823	5
5	Boston College	13-5-0	788	4
6	Penn State	16-6-0	743	6
7	Clarkson	15-4-2	708	7
8	Minnesota Duluth	12-6-2	623	9
9	Ohio State	14-6-2	612	8
10	Massachusetts	14-7-1	564	10
11	Providence	13-5-5	517	12
12	Northeastern	13-6-2	448	11
13	UMass Lowell	12-5-4	382	13
14	Arizona State	13-8-3	338	15
15	Bowling Green	13-9-2	249	16
16	Harvard	8-5-2	198	18
17	Northern Michigan	13-7-2	194	19
18	Notre Dame	10-9-3	145	14
19	Michigan Tech	13-10-2	121	17
T-20	Michigan State	11-10-1	58	20
T-20	Quinnipiac	12-8-1	58	NR

[TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY][/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

[TBODY][TR][TH][TR][TH]Others receiving votes: Army 32, Sacred Heart 32, Bemidji State 8, Michigan 5, Western Michigan 4, Dartmouth 4, Maine 3, New Hampshire 2, Minnesota 1[/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

And the Lady Gophers leapfrogged the Lady Badgers again in this week's women's USCHO.com rankings. I guess the voters penalized Wisconsin for splitting with Bemidji State.

Through Games JAN. 13, 2020

[TR][TH]
[TR][TH]RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Minnesota (10)	19-1-3	144	2
2	Wisconsin (5)	21-2-1	139	1
3	Northeastern	17-3-1	119	3
4	Cornell	14-1-2	108	4
5	Ohio State	13-5-4	86	5
5	Princeton	14-4-1	70	7
7	Clarkson	15-3-4	69	5
8	Boston University	14-5-2	41	8
9	Harvard	10-5-1	29	9
10	Minnesota Duluth	9-8-3	13	10

[TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY][/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

[TBODY][TR][TH][TR][TH]Others receiving votes: Quinnipiac 3, Boston College 2, Bemidji State 2[/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

A look at Top 10 women’s action over the past week …

• #1 Minnesota hosted co-#5 Ohio State for two games, the second game as part of the annual outdoor “Hockey Day Minnesota” event. The teams split the pair.
• #2 Wisconsin rested this past weekend, and await a visit from the Lady Gophers next weekend.
• #3 Northeastern continued to roll (or glide), shutting out Connecticut at both ends of a home-and-home pair. Freshman goaltender Gwyneth Philips blanked the other Huskies in Boston for Game #1, then Junior netminder Aerin Frankel matched the feat on the road in Storr. NEU takes its winning ways to Vermont next weekend for a pair vs. the Catamounts.
• #4 Cornell kept on winning, now 10-0-2 in ECACH play and 16-1-2 overall after two convincing home victories against conference foes. Their weekend started with a 5-1 offensive dominance of Dartmouth, and then Big Red shutout the Harvard ladies 7-0 on Saturday. Junior RW Maddie Mills scored the first two in Game #1 to raise her season points total to 23. Game #2 scoring featured Senior forward Paige Lewis with 3 assists and Freshman forward Izzy Daniel with 2 goals & an assist. Next week Cornell & Colgate will face-off in home-and-home action.
• The other-#5 Princeton Lady Tigers have been resting up since January 11th. Their next action will be on Tuesday, Jan. 28th @ Quinnipiac against ECACH rivals the Lady Bobcats.
• #7 Clarkson split a low scoring home-and-home pair vs. St. Lawrence. Now 16-4-4 overall with a 7-3-2 conference record, the Golden Knights will host unranked Dartmouth & Harvard next weekend.
• #8 BU took both games of a home-and-home over Holy Cross, each by a 4-1 score. The Lady Terriers host Hockey East rivals Merrimack next Friday, then return the favor with a visit to North Andover on Saturday.
• Before their Saturday defeat at Cornell, the #9 Harvard lost 5-2 at Colgate. The Lady Crimson remain New York road warriors next weekend, with visits to Canton (St. Lawrence) and Potsdam (Clarkson).
• #10 Minnesota-Duluth wraps up this week’s Top 10 review. The UMD ladies notched two victories at home vs. Bemidji State. Junior forward Ashton Bell recorded 4 points for the weekend, raising her season totals to 9+13=22. The Bulldogs will visit St. Cloud State for a pair next weekend.

Ending with my traditional peek at what’s up with the Lindenwood Lady Lions, whom I haven’t had the opportunity to see play since early December (when the “goalie flu” hit their team): They are now 4-14-3 Overall and 2-8-0 in the CHA, after recording their first two conference wins of the season this past weekend with back-to-back home ice shutouts of the visiting RIT Lady Tigers.

Lions Sophomore goaltender Annika Asplundh stopped all 54 RIT shots over the pair of games, while forwards Sierra Burt (Junior) & Jada Burke (Sophomore) each notched two goals. The Lions will be on the road the next two weekends, facing CHA-leading Robert Morris for a pair then returning to Mankato to play the two non-conference games postponed in early December against Minnesota State.

 

[JMCx4]

The latest USCHO.com poll for the women follows. The Lady Badgers idled themselves back into the top spot.

Through Games JAN. 20, 2020
(Current Rank, Team (# of 1st place votes), Overall Record, Points, Previous Ranking)

1	Wisconsin (8)	21-2-1	143	2
2	Minnesota (6)	20-2-3	138	1
3	Northeastern	19-3-1	116	3
4	Cornell (1)	16-1-2	111	4
5	Ohio State	14-6-4	91	5
6	Princeton	14-4-1	73	6
7	Clarkson	16-4-4	53	7
7	Boston University	16-5-2	53	8
9	Minnesota Duluth	11-8-3	28	10
10	Harvard	10-7-1	8	9

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others receiving votes: Quinnipiac 7, Boston College 2, Bemidji State 1, Colgate 1

And just for fun & contrast, the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll numbers for this week ...

Through Games JAN. 21, 202
(Current Rank, School (# of 1st place votes), Points, Overall Record, Previous Ranking)

1	Wisconsin (13)	184	21-2-1	2
2	Minnesota (5)	172	20-2-3	1
3	Northeastern	151	19-3-1	3
4	Cornell (1)	136	16-1-2	4
5	Ohio State	116	14-6-4	6
6	Princeton	92	14-4-1	5
7	Clarkson	69	16-4-4	7
8	Boston University	64	16-5-2	8
9	Minnesota Duluth	36	11-8-3	10
10	Quinnipiac	13	13-7-3	NR

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others Receiving Votes: Harvard 5; Boston College 3; Bemidji State 2; Colgate 2

 

[JMCx4]

This week's Top 20 rankings for Div I men's hockey, according to USCHO.com. Looks like the Cornell Big Red teams are both tearing up the ice ...

Through Games JAN. 20, 2020
(Current Rank, Team (# of 1st place votes), Overall Record, Points, Previous Ranking)

1	Cornell (21)	13-1-3	951	1
2	North Dakota (13)	18-2-3	949	1
3	Minnesota State (16)	22-3-1	940	3
4	Boston College	15-5-0	836	5
5	Denver	15-4-5	811	4
6	Ohio State	15-6-3	700	9
7	Massachusetts	16-7-1	683	10
8	Clarkson	16-5-2	682	7
9	Penn State	16-7-1	602	6
10	Providence	14-6-5	535	11
11	Minnesota Duluth	12-8-2	505	8
12	UMass Lowell	13-6-4	424	13
13	Arizona State	15-8-3	420	14
14	Northeastern	13-7-2	368	12
15	Northern Michigan	13-8-3	206	17
16	Harvard	9-6-2	179	16
17	Quinnipiac	13-8-1	151	20
18	Bowling Green	13-11-2	124	15
19	Michigan State	12-11-1	104	20
20	Dartmouth	10-5-3	73	NR

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 65, Bemidji State 58, Army 31, New Hampshire 31, Michigan Tech 22, Michigan 21, Western Michigan 19, Sacred Heart 7, Omaha 2, St. Cloud 1

And equal time to the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine men's rankings ...

Through Games JAN. 20, 2020
(Current Rank, School (# of 1st place votes), Points, Overall Record, Previous Ranking)

1	Cornell (20)	479	1	13-1-3
2	North Dakota (10)	478	2	18-2-3
3	Minnesota State (4)	452	3	22-3-1
4	Boston College	404	5	15-5-0
5	Denver	394	4	15-4-5
6	Ohio State	314	9	15-6-3
7	Massachusetts	303	10	16-7-1
8	Clarkson	259	7	16-5-2
9	Penn State	233	6	16-7-1
10	Providence	186	11	14-6-5
11	Minnesota Duluth	171	8	12-8-2
12	Massachusetts Lowell	126	13	13-6-4
13	Arizona State	121	14	15-8-3
14	Northeastern	92	12	13-7-2
15	Northern Michigan	23	NR	13-9-3

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others Receiving Votes: Michigan State 21, Quinnipiac 12, Harvard 6, Dartmouth 4, Michigan Tech 2

 

[JMCx4]

A look at women’s play this past week, with a focus on conference races …

• #1 Wisconsin swept #2 Minnesota in Madison. The Lady Badgers now lead the WCHA standings by 1 point, with 2 games in hand over the Lady Gophers. #5 Ohio State has a solid hold on 3rd place in the WCHA, coming off a tightly played non-conference sweep in Columbus over Quinnipiac. The #9 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs sit in 4th place in the WCHA.
• #3 Northeastern extended their Hockey East lead with 2 victories at Vermont. The Lady Huskies are now 9 points ahead in the standings over the #8 BU Terriers.
• #4 Cornell remains undefeated in ECACH play, after sweeping a home-and-home vs. Colgate (both shutout games). The Big Red ladies lead the #10 Harvard Crimson by 5 points in the ECAC conference standings. The #6 Princeton Tigers – who have been idle the last two weekends – sit in the 4th ECAC spot, just one point behind the #7 ranked Clarkson.
• And out of the race (in both the NCAA rankings AND in the College Hockey America conference) … the Lindenwood Lady Lions dropped two more in Western PA to CHA conference co-leader Robert Morris. The surprising Mercyhurst Lady Lakers are tied with the RMU Colonials @ 18 points each.

 

[mk80]

A look at women’s play this past week, with a focus on conference races …

• And out of the race (in both the NCAA rankings AND in the College Hockey America conference) … the Lindenwood Lady Lions dropped two more in Western PA to CHA conference co-leader Robert Morris. The surprising Mercyhurst Lady Lakers are tied with the RMU Colonials @ 18 points each.

I think unfortunately this season will play out with the Lions in their usual spot in the standings. But I think the future is going to be good with Coach Looney and her staff. They got a nice trio of additions to the team over the break including two transfers F Bailey Coyne from Northeastern, and G Julia Maguire from Mercyhurst.

 

[JMCx4]

Semi-monthly update below of the women's D1 rankings per USCHO.com polling. The Lady Badgers remain in the #1 spot, while Cornell & Northeastern have climbed past Minnesota. The rest of the Top 10 stayed in their spots & order of ranking since the January 20th poll.

Through Games FEB. 2, 2020

(Current Rank, Team (1st place votes), Overall Record, Points, Previous Rank)

1	Wisconsin (14)	25-2-1	149	1
2	Cornell (1)	19-1-3	124	4
3	Northeastern	23-3-1	121	3
4	Minnesota	21-5-3	116	2
5	Ohio State	17-6-5	88	5
6	Princeton	17-4-1	77	6
7	Clarkson	18-4-6	55	7
8	Boston University	18-6-3	45	8
9	Minnesota Duluth	13-9-4	34	9
10	Harvard	12-8-1	10	10

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others receiving votes: Robert Morris 2, Quinnipiac 2, Bemidji State 1, Providence 1

 

[JMCx4]

And the men's side USCHO rankings, as play rolls into February. NoDak (the team, not the HFB member ) has overtaken Cornell to occupy the #1 spot. Clarkson & MN-Duluth have been climbing the ranks, while Denver & OSU slipped. The rest sre left to your interpretations ...

Through Games FEB. 2, 2020

(Current Rank, Team (1st place votes), Overall Record, Points, Previous Rank)

1	North Dakota (49)	21-3-3	998	2
2	Cornell	15-2-4	913	1
3	Minnesota State (1)	24-4-2	903	3
4	Boston College	16-7-0	839	5
5	Clarkson	19-6-2	768	6
6	Minnesota Duluth	15-9-2	749	10
7	Denver	17-6-5	739	4
8	Massachusetts	16-9-2	597	7
9	Penn State	17-9-2	535	8
10	Providence	14-7-5	497	9
11	Arizona State	18-9-3	489	12
12	Northeastern	14-7-2	482	13
13	Ohio State	16-9-3	471	11
14	UMass Lowell	13-7-5	307	14
15	Northern Michigan	16-8-4	290	15
16	Quinnipiac	16-9-1	257	18
17	Harvard	10-6-4	192	16
18	Bemidji State	16-8-4	131	19
19	Michigan State	13-12-1	107	17
20	Sacred Heart	18-8-2	73	20

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Others receiving votes: Maine 52, Bowling Green 27, Minnesota 22, Notre Dame 20, Western Michigan 19, Boston University 5, Michigan Tech 4, New Hampshire 4, Dartmouth 4, Michigan 2, Omaha 2, AIC 2

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

And the men's side USCHO rankings, as play rolls into February. NoDak (the team, not the HFB member ) has overtaken Cornell to occupy the #1 spot. Clarkson & MN-Duluth have been climbing the ranks, while Denver & OSU slipped. The rest sre left to your interpretations ...

Sacred Heart recently announced the approval for an on-campus arena. (source: Plans for New Sacred Heart University Arena Unveiled - Arena Digest)

Considering that they played in a rec rink until 2016 and had their first winning season in almost 10 years last season, the program is definitely on the up and up with a #20 ranking.

 

[JMCx4]

I’m fancying this format for women’s weekly play with conference info, so I’ll continue in the absence of vocal objections. I’ll cover the first half of the women’s 2020 Beanpot Tournament in another post, at my first opportunity after the Semifinal Round is completed on Tuesday night February 4th.

• #1 ranked Wisconsin rolled over unranked St. Cloud State in WCHA play @ LaBahn Arena-Madison this past weekend, with scores of 5-0 and 11-1. Junior goalie Breanna Blesi posted both victories (the first & second of her college career), while facing 28 total SOGs for the weekend. Wisconsin junior forward Daryl Watts now has 22 goals & 42 assists for 64 total points, giving her a wide lead on the women’s Division 1 overall scoring table ahead of sophomore forward teammate Sophie Shirley (25G + 27A = 52 points). Both Wisconsin snipers have played 28 games so far in 2019-20. The Lady Badgers’ weekend blowouts padded their lead in the WCHA standings, now sitting 4 points ahead on #4 ranked Minnesota & 10 points ahead of #5 ranked OH State.
• New #2 Cornell are now 19-1-3 overall and 13-0-3 in ECACH play, leading the ECAC conference standings with 29 points to give the Big Red a 4 point lead over #6 ranked Princeton & 6 points over #10 ranked Harvard. The Cornell ladies have 8 wins in 2020 so far (6 in conference play plus 2 ECACH ties - vs. unranked Union College and #7 ranked Clarkson).
• #3 Northeastern has now won 8 games in a row in Hockey East play, from early January to the first weekend in February. Just one of those victories required overtime play, a 3-2 final vs. the CT Huskies last Friday night. The NEU Lady Huskies have increased their Hockey East lead to 11 points over the #8 BU Terriers, and they are 12 points ahead of unranked BC in the HE conference race.
• Since playing & winning the 2020 Hockey Day in Minnesota outdoor game on Jan. 18th, #4 Minnesota have gone 1-3 in WCHA play (losing a road pair to Wisconsin & splitting a pair of shutout games on home ice this past weekend vs. #9 ranked Minnesota-Duluth). The Lady Gophers have just four WCHA games left in their season to keep up with the Badgers and stay ahead of the Buckeyes for favorable first round conference tournament seeding.

I’m gonna forgo reporting this past weekend’s results for my favorite Lindenwood Lady Lions, and resume with first-hand accounts of better news from their pair of games hosting CHA co-leader Mercyhurst next weekend. Hope springs eternal.

 

[JMCx4]

42nd Women's Beanpot Schedule
(All times Eastern)

Semifinal Round (Tuesday, February 4, 2020) (TV-NESNplus)

• Harvard 1 vs. Northeastern 3, 5:00 p.m. ... NESN Women's Beanpot Wrap (HU vs NEU)
  
• Boston College 0 vs. Boston University 4, 8:00 p.m. ... NESN Women's Beanpot Wrap (BC vs BU)

Championship Round (Tuesday, February 11, 2020) (TV-NESNplus)

• Consolation Game - Harvard 1 vs. Boston College 3, 5:00 p.m. ... 2020 Women’s Beanpot Wrap: BC Beats Harvard In Consolation Game

• Championship Game - Northeastern 4 vs. Boston University 3 (2OT), 8:00 p.m. ... 2020 Women’s Beanpot Final Wrap: Northeastern Claims Title Over BU In OT Thriller

 

[JMCx4]

68th Men's Beanpot Schedule
(All times Eastern)

Semifinal Round (Monday, February 3, 2020) (TV-NESNplus)

• Northeastern 3 vs. Harvard 1, 5:00 p.m. ... Beanpot Wrap: NEU-HU Semifinal Game
  
  
• Boston College 4 vs. Boston University 5 (2OT), 8:00 p.m. ... Beanpot Live: BU-BC Semifinal Game

Championship Round (Monday, February 10, 2020) (TV-NESNplus)

• Consolation Game - Harvard 2 vs. Boston College 7, 5:00 p.m. ... Boston College Men’s Hockey Launches Harvard Into Sun, Decimates Crimson 7-2 in Beanpot Consolation

• Championship Game - Northeastern 5 vs. Boston University 4 (2OT), 8:00 p.m. ... 2020 Beanpot: Northeastern beats Boston University hockey in 2OT for third straight title

 

[JMCx4]

Mostly-weekly D1 women's updates for the Top 10 nationally ranked teams ...

• ECACH: #2 Cornell defeated #10 Harvard on Friday in Boston, then traveled to New Hampshire to shutout unranked Dartmouth on Saturday. #6 Princeton defeated visiting RPI, then wrapped up their home weekend with a shutout of Union. #7 Clarkson recorded 2 shutouts at home, against Brown & Yale.
  
• Hockey East: #3 Northeastern defeated their unranked hosts Merrimack on Friday. #8 Boston U visited Worcester on Saturday afternoon, and came away with a victory.
  
• WCHA: #1 Wisconsin surprisingly split a pair in Mankato vs. Minnesota State. #4 Minnesota notched two wins over conference rivals Bemidji State in Bemidji. #9 Minnesota-Duluth hosted #5 Ohio State, and won both games.

Plus a CHA news note: The Lindenwood University Lady Lions relied on another pair of strong goaltending performances by sophomore Annika Asplundh, solid team defense especially on the PK, an effective forechecking strategy & signs of a rejuvenated team attitude to split a pair of 1-goal games at home against Conference #2 Mercyhurst U.

 

[JMCx4]

Switching focus, the men's weekly rankings from the USCHO.com poll ...

Through Games FEB. 9, 2020

[TR][TH]
[TR][TH]RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	North Dakota (48)	21-3-3	998	1
2	Cornell (1)	17-2-4	927	2
3	Minnesota State (1)	26-4-2	920	3
4	Minnesota Duluth	17-9-2	794	6
5	Clarkson	20-6-2	787	5
6	Denver	17-6-5	739	7
7	Boston College	16-8-1	704	4
8	Massachusetts	18-9-2	684	8
9	Penn State	18-9-3	596	9
10	Arizona State	20-9-3	529	11
11	UMass Lowell	15-7-5	465	14
12	Northeastern	15-8-2	431	12
13	Ohio State	16-10-4	367	13
14	Providence	14-9-5	363	10
15	Quinnipiac	17-9-2	294	16
16	Bemidji State	16-8-4	180	18
17	Maine	15-9-4	159	NR
18	Harvard	11-7-4	150	17
19	Northern Michigan	16-10-4	146	15
20	Sacred Heart	18-8-2	92	20

[TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY][/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

[TBODY][TR][TH][TR][TH]Others receiving votes: Michigan State 67, Western Michigan 42, Minnesota 32, Notre Dame 10, AIC 8, Bowling Green 7, New Hampshire 4, Boston University 3, Michigan 2[/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

And a top-to-bottom look at the D1 women's stack via the RPI rankings for this week ...

Through Games FEB. 9, 2020

[TR][TH]
[TR][TH]RANK	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE	OVERALL	AWAY	NEUTRAL	HOME
1	Wisconsin	WCHA	26-3-1	10-3-1	4-0-0	12-0-0
2	Cornell	ECAC Hockey	21-1-3	9-1-2	0-0-0	12-0-1
3	Minnesota	WCHA	23-5-3	10-3-1	2-0-1	11-2-1
4	Northeastern	Hockey East	25-3-1	13-1-0	1-1-1	11-1-0
5	Princeton	ECAC Hockey	19-4-1	7-1-1	1-1-0	11-2-0
6	Ohio State	WCHA	17-8-5	6-3-3	1-1-0	10-4-2
7	Clarkson	ECAC Hockey	20-4-6	6-4-4	2-0-0	12-0-2
8	Minnesota Duluth	WCHA	15-9-4	2-7-2	3-0-0	10-2-2
9	Boston University	Hockey East	20-6-3	12-4-0	0-0-0	8-2-3
10	Harvard	ECAC Hockey	13-10-1	7-4-0	0-3-0	6-3-1
11	Quinnipiac	ECAC Hockey	17-10-3	7-6-1	2-0-0	8-4-2
12	Robert Morris	CHA	16-9-3	7-3-2	1-1-0	8-5-1
13	Colgate	ECAC Hockey	14-12-6	4-7-1	1-2-1	9-3-4
14	Bemidji State	WCHA	14-15-3	6-8-1	1-0-0	7-7-2
15	Boston College	Hockey East	14-12-3	7-5-0	0-1-1	7-6-2
16	Mercyhurst	CHA	15-9-4	5-8-1	1-1-0	9-0-3
17	Providence	Hockey East	15-11-4	8-5-2	0-0-0	7-6-2
18	Yale	ECAC Hockey	14-11-0	5-8-0	1-0-0	8-3-0
19	UConn	Hockey East	15-13-2	10-4-0	0-4-0	5-5-2
20	New Hampshire	Hockey East	15-12-4	7-5-3	0-0-0	8-7-1
21	Maine	Hockey East	12-12-7	7-6-3	1-0-0	4-6-4
22	Minnesota State	WCHA	11-15-5	5-7-2	0-2-1	6-6-2
23	St. Lawrence	ECAC Hockey	11-12-7	6-8-3	0-0-0	5-4-4
24	Sacred Heart	NEWHA	17-10-0	7-7-0	0-0-0	10-3-0
25	Penn State	CHA	10-11-7	3-5-5	0-1-0	7-5-2
26	Vermont	Hockey East	10-14-7	5-5-4	0-0-0	5-9-3
27	Syracuse	CHA	10-16-2	6-5-2	0-0-0	4-11-0
28	St. Cloud State	WCHA	5-20-4	4-10-2	0-1-1	1-9-1
29	Franklin Pierce	NEWHA	11-10-0	4-6-0	0-1-0	7-3-0
30	RIT	CHA	9-16-3	1-8-1	0-0-0	8-8-2
31	Saint Anselm	NEWHA	10-10-2	6-7-1	0-0-0	4-3-1
32	Dartmouth	ECAC Hockey	5-17-3	1-10-2	0-0-0	4-7-1
33	Union (N.Y.)	ECAC Hockey	5-20-5	1-10-3	1-0-0	3-10-2
34	Lindenwood	CHA	5-19-3	1-11-1	0-0-0	4-8-2
35	Long Island University	NEWHA	10-17-0	5-8-0	0-0-0	5-9-0
36	Holy Cross	Hockey East	3-21-5	2-12-2	0-0-0	1-9-3
37	Merrimack	Hockey East	4-21-5	0-9-3	0-2-0	4-10-2
38	Brown	ECAC Hockey	3-19-3	1-12-1	0-0-0	2-7-2
39	Rensselaer	ECAC Hockey	0-29-1	0-14-1	0-1-0	0-14-0
40	Saint Michael's	NEWHA	4-13-1	2-7-1	0-0-0	2-6-0
41	Post	NEWHA	2-16-0	1-9-0	0-0-0	1-7-0

[TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY][/TH][/TR][/TH][/TR][/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

Men's 2020 Beanpot final results from Monday updated above. Women play tonight.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Men's 2020 Beanpot final results from Monday updated above. Women play tonight.

A Northeastern three-peat!
Great finish to the final, BU scores in the last second to force overtime, but takes a costly penalty (questionable call) and the Huskies made them pay. Game was fast paced, physical and a great crowd at the Garden.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Maine now ranked #17 in the latest NCAA poll. That team looked to be a bottom feeder, when they were shut out by the University of New Brunswick (U Sports), on home ice, earlier in the pre-season.

 

[JMCx4]

And that's a wrap for the women's 2020 Beanpot. Both men's and women's finals went to double-overtime, and the Northeastern Huskies squads each beat their BU Terriers rivals. Always a good time for those in attendance, and each crowd got to spend significant time on the edges of their seats this year. Two for the ages.

 

[tealhockey]

Maine now ranked #17 in the latest NCAA poll. That team looked to be a bottom feeder, when they were shut out by the University of New Brunswick (U Sports), on home ice, earlier in the pre-season.

Hockey East has insane parity this year

 

[JMCx4]

On the women's side, both national polls (USCHO.com & USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine) and the RPI rankings (see below) now have Cornell in the #1 spot ahead of Wisconsin & Minnesota. Crunch time is approaching ...

Through Games FEB. 16, 2020

Rank / School / Overall / Away / Neutral / Home

1	Cornell	23-1-3	11-1-2	0-0-0	12-0-1
2	Wisconsin	26-4-2	10-3-1	4-0-0	12-1-1
3	Minnesota	23-5-3	10-3-1	2-0-1	11-2-1
4	Northeastern	26-4-2	14-1-1	1-1-1	11-2-0
5	Ohio State	18-8-6	7-3-4	1-1-0	10-4-2
6	Princeton	20-5-1	8-2-1	1-1-0	11-2-0
7	Clarkson	21-5-6	6-4-4	2-0-0	13-1-2
8	Boston University	22-6-4	13-4-0	0-0-0	9-2-4
9	Minnesota Duluth	16-9-5	3-7-3	3-0-0	10-2-2
10	Quinnipiac	18-11-3	8-7-1	2-0-0	8-4-2
11	Harvard	15-11-1	9-4-0	0-4-0	6-3-1
12	Colgate	15-13-6	5-8-1	1-2-1	9-3-4
13	Boston College	16-13-3	8-6-0	1-1-1	7-6-2
14	Providence	16-12-4	9-5-2	0-0-0	7-7-2
15	Mercyhurst	16-9-5	5-8-1	1-1-0	10-0-4
16	Robert Morris	16-10-4	7-4-3	1-1-0	8-5-1
17	Bemidji State	15-16-3	7-9-1	1-0-0	7-7-2
18	Yale	15-12-0	5-8-0	1-0-0	9-4-0
19	UConn	16-14-2	10-4-0	0-4-0	6-6-2
20	New Hampshire	15-14-4	7-6-3	0-0-0	8-8-1
21	Maine	13-13-7	7-6-3	1-0-0	5-7-4
22	St. Lawrence	12-13-7	6-8-3	0-0-0	6-5-4
23	Minnesota State	11-16-6	5-7-2	0-2-1	6-7-3
24	Sacred Heart	19-10-0	9-7-0	0-0-0	10-3-0
25	Syracuse	12-16-2	6-5-2	0-0-0	6-11-0
26	Penn State	10-13-7	3-7-5	0-1-0	7-5-2
27	Vermont	10-16-7	5-7-4	0-0-0	5-9-3
28	Franklin Pierce	13-10-0	6-6-0	0-1-0	7-3-0
29	St. Cloud State	6-21-4	4-10-2	0-1-1	2-10-1
30	RIT	11-16-3	1-8-1	0-0-0	10-8-2
31	Dartmouth	7-17-3	3-10-2	0-0-0	4-7-1
32	Saint Anselm	11-11-2	6-7-1	0-0-0	5-4-1
33	Holy Cross	5-21-5	2-12-2	0-0-0	3-9-3
34	Union (N.Y.)	5-22-5	1-10-3	1-0-0	3-12-2
35	Long Island University	11-18-0	6-9-0	0-0-0	5-9-0
36	Merrimack	5-22-5	1-10-3	0-2-0	4-10-2
37	Lindenwood	5-21-3	1-13-1	0-0-0	4-8-2
38	Brown	3-21-3	1-12-1	0-0-0	2-9-2
39	Saint Michael's	4-15-1	2-7-1	0-0-0	2-8-0
40	Rensselaer	0-31-1	0-14-1	0-1-0	0-16-0
41	Post	2-18-0	1-9-0	0-0-0	1-9-0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

And for the DI men, the two polls have the same top 4 (NoDak, Cornell, MN State & Minn-Duluth). The RPI rankings shuffle them differently for this week ...

Through Games FEB. 17, 2020

Rank / School / Overall / Away / Neutral / Home

1	North Dakota	23-3-3	7-2-3	0-0-0	16-1-0
2	Minnesota State	26-4-2	12-1-1	1-1-0	13-2-1
3	Cornell	19-2-4	8-2-1	2-0-1	9-0-2
4	Minnesota Duluth	17-9-2	8-5-0	0-0-0	9-4-2
5	Denver	17-8-5	7-4-4	0-0-0	10-4-1
6	Boston College	19-8-1	11-3-0	1-0-1	7-5-0
7	Clarkson	22-6-2	11-2-2	0-0-0	11-4-0
8	Massachusetts	18-9-2	9-5-1	0-0-0	9-4-1
9	Northeastern	17-8-3	5-6-1	3-0-1	9-2-1
10	Penn State	19-10-3	9-5-1	0-0-0	10-5-2
11	Arizona State	22-9-3	10-6-0	0-1-1	12-2-2
12	Bemidji State	18-8-4	8-6-1	0-1-0	10-1-3
13	Ohio State	16-10-4	5-7-0	2-1-1	9-2-3
14	Maine	16-10-4	5-9-2	0-0-0	11-1-2
15	UMass Lowell	15-9-5	9-4-1	0-0-0	6-5-4
16	Minnesota	14-11-5	6-4-3	0-0-0	8-7-2
17	Western Michigan	15-10-5	5-5-4	1-0-1	9-5-0
18	Quinnipiac	18-10-2	6-7-2	1-0-0	11-3-0
19	Providence	15-9-6	7-3-3	2-0-2	6-6-1
20	Michigan	14-12-3	6-6-1	1-1-0	7-5-2
21	Michigan State	14-14-1	6-7-0	1-1-0	7-6-1
22	Boston University	12-9-8	4-5-3	0-1-2	8-3-3
23	Notre Dame	12-12-6	4-5-4	0-0-0	8-7-2
24	Northern Michigan	16-12-4	7-5-3	0-0-0	9-7-1
25	Harvard	11-8-6	5-2-3	2-2-1	4-4-2
26	Omaha	12-13-5	7-7-2	0-0-0	5-6-3
27	St. Cloud State	11-12-5	4-7-4	1-0-0	6-5-1
28	New Hampshire	15-13-2	4-8-1	1-1-0	10-4-1
29	Michigan Tech	18-14-3	11-6-1	2-0-0	5-8-2
30	American International	18-11-1	9-7-0	0-0-0	9-4-1
31	Sacred Heart	19-10-2	12-3-0	0-0-0	7-7-2
32	Bowling Green	15-13-4	8-4-3	0-2-0	7-7-1
33	Alaska	14-13-5	9-6-1	0-0-0	5-7-4
34	RIT	17-11-4	8-7-1	1-1-0	8-3-3
35	Army	17-11-2	9-5-1	0-2-0	8-4-1
36	Dartmouth	11-10-4	3-7-2	0-0-0	8-3-2
37	Wisconsin	11-18-1	3-10-1	0-0-0	8-8-0
38	UConn	12-13-4	6-5-1	0-2-1	6-6-2
39	Yale	11-12-2	4-7-2	1-1-0	6-4-0
40	Rensselaer	13-15-2	7-8-1	0-0-1	6-7-0
41	Colgate	10-14-6	6-7-2	1-1-0	3-6-4
42	Colorado College	9-16-2	4-8-0	1-0-0	4-8-2
43	Miami (Ohio)	6-17-5	4-7-2	0-0-0	2-10-3
44	Holy Cross	10-15-5	4-5-4	0-0-0	6-10-1
45	Lake Superior State	10-20-4	3-13-1	0-1-0	7-6-3
46	Bentley	13-16-3	5-9-1	0-0-0	8-7-2
47	Merrimack	7-21-3	4-10-1	0-0-0	3-11-2
48	Niagara	9-17-4	4-13-2	0-0-0	5-4-2
49	Robert Morris	10-16-4	6-8-0	0-0-0	4-8-4
50	Air Force	8-16-5	2-9-4	0-0-0	6-7-1
51	Canisius	8-17-5	2-8-4	0-0-0	6-9-1
52	Ferris State	7-22-2	4-10-1	0-2-0	3-10-1
53	Union (N.Y.)	7-20-3	4-11-0	0-0-2	3-9-1
54	Brown	6-17-2	2-10-1	0-0-0	4-7-1
55	Vermont	3-21-5	1-11-3	0-0-0	2-10-2
56	Princeton	4-17-4	2-7-2	0-2-0	2-8-2
57	Alaska Anchorage	4-20-6	1-13-2	0-0-0	3-7-4
58	Alabama Huntsville	2-22-6	0-14-4	0-0-0	2-8-2
59	St. Lawrence	3-23-4	3-11-1	0-1-1	0-11-2
60	Mercyhurst	5-24-1	2-11-1	0-0-0	3-13-0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[JMCx4]

Skipping the usual women's rundown for the top teams this week, because I was preoccupied by a weekend trip up to Madison to watch the Badgers men & women play one each.

On Friday night @ Kohl Center, the men came out flying against visiting Penn State (#1 in the B1G) and took a 3-1 lead into the 1st intermission. The Nittany Lions regrouped & dominated the 2nd, tying the game 3-3. Third period play was also in favor of Penn State, who outshot the home team that period by a margin of 2 to 1. But Wisconsin's freshman forward Dylan Holloway scored the GWG with just over one minute left in regulation, to give the Badgers the 4-3 victory.

On Saturday afternoon, Mrs. JMC 'n' me switched over to LaBahn Arena to see the #2 ranked Lady Badgers host the then-#6 OH State Buckeyes. [Our first game in that small ice facility. Very impressed, except for the exceptionally narrow bench seats throughout. ] The first period featured good rushes in both directions, with relatively clean high intensity play. But NCAA Div I women's leading scorer Abby Roque received an unfortunate 5-minute major late in the 1st for boarding an OH State opponent, and the Lady Buckeyes took full advantage to score 3 PPGs in the initial 3:17 of the middle period & take a 3-0 lead. They kept the pressure on the home team the rest of the game, though Abby did exact a small measure of revenge in the middle of the 2nd by scoring the Lady Badgers' only goal on a (wo)man advantage of their own. Final score was 3-1 visitors, but still a very entertaining match for the Badgers' sellout crowd (which is getting to be a habit for their loyal fans).

We skipped the UW vs. OH State women's "Fill The Bowl Game" @ Kohl on Sunday afternoon to rest up for our drive back home on Monday (old folks need their strength). But I'm sure we weren't missed, as the announced attendance was 14,361 for the lady's final home game of the regular season (a 1-1 tie in regulation with Wisconsin getting the extra WCHA standings point with a 3-on-3 OT goal by sophomore forward Britta Curl).

No traveling next weekend, so we'll be back to our regularly scheduled DI women's summary coverage early next week. As the iconic sign says inside LaBahn Arena ...