College Hockey Preview National Powers battle it out

Well we didint have to wait too long for the re-match of the national championship game last year between Denver and North Dakota now did we. The two teams will battle it out this weekend at the Ralph Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, ND.

For North Dakota, revenge is on their mind right now after losing last years championship game losing 4-1 to Denver. Peter Mannino of Denver made 44 saves including 23 third period saves to close out the season.

For Denver look out for freshman Brock Trotter who is leading the team in scoring with 3 goals and tied for points 5 with early season Hobey Baker Canidate Gabe Gauthier. The goaltending has been a little bit of an issue for Denver as both goalies Glenn Fisher and Peter Mannino have a goals against average of over 3.00.

For North Dakota their top 3 scorers happen to be Freshman. T.J. Oshie leads the team with 3 goals and 5 assits for 8 points as he is tied for 9th in NCAA scoring. Fellow Freshman Jonathan Towes has 6 points with 3 goals and 3 assists, and Ryan Duncan has 5 points 3 goals 2 assists.
Goaltender Jordan Parise is 3-0-1 with an amazing goals against average of 1.22 so far in this early season. Look for him to play a key role in this series.

In other college hockey action this weekend

Maine will look to continue their fast start with their first 2 Hockey East games of the year (both on the road) as they will face Boston College and UMASS-Amherst. Ben Bishop the Freshman goalie is on a hot streak so is his counterpart Matt Lundin who had his first career shutout on Saturday against Alabama Huntsville.

Boston College will face Maine and Providence this weekend both at Conte Fourm as they look to improve in Hockey East play as they tied Northeastern 1-1 on Saturday. Cory Schneider will need to play well in order for BC to win this weekend. So far he has given up 10 goals in 3 games. Look for Senior Chris Collins who leads the team in scoring also to play an important role this weekend.

Providence goalie Tyler Sims will look to continue his shutout streak as the Friars will face Merrimack 0n Friday and BC on Saturday.

Boston University will look to rebound from its defeat against RPI as they will travel to Lowell to face the River Hawks on Friday. UML will need to look for some scoring as they have had only 1 goal in Hockey East play so far.

And finally, Goaltender David McKee of Cornell will open their season with Michigan State. One of the early favorites to win the Hobey, McKee will look to improve on his amazing season last year. Cornell has alot of Senior leadership and are one of the early favorites to go to the Frozen Four this year.