College Hockey Mid-Season Report

Well we are halfway through the season and there is lots to talk about in the world of College Hockey.

First off lets start with the teams Who's Hot

Wisconsin (14-2-2 11-1-2 in the WCHA)-Great goaltending from Brian Elliott has been the key to the teams success. Elliott is 14-2-2 with a stingy 1.43 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Head Coach Mike Eaves has been doing a great job with a young team with just 5 seniors on the team. If the Badgers continue there great play then they could be headed to the Frozen Four in which they are the host site at Milwaukee.

Boston College (9-4-1 8-2-1 in Hockey East)- Again Jerry York is doing a great job with such a young team. With only 3 seniors on the team, the younger guys are stepping up including Nathan Gerbe, and Brock Bradford. Sophomore goaltender Cory Schneider has been the backbone of the team. He along with Freshman forward Nathan Gerbe will be playing in the World Junior Championships for team USA during the holidays. Sophomore Forward Dan Bertram will also be in the World Junior Championships for team Canada.

Miami (Ohio) (12-2-2 10-1-1 in the CCHA)- This team is the biggest surprise in College Hockey. The Redhawks were picked as low as 6th in the CCHA and not even in the top 20 when the season began. The 2 goaltender system has worked for the Redhawks as Sophomore Charlie Effinger and Freshman Jeff Zatkoff have been doing well spliting time in net. Lately Miami is 6-0-1 and has not lost a game since November 12th.

Other Teams to watch out for the 2nd half of the season:

Minnesota
Michigan
Vermont
Cornell
Boston University

Who's Not

Northeastern (1-9-4 1-6-4 in Hockey East)- Nothing has gone right for new head coach Greg Cronin and the Huskies. There only bright spot was a tie against Boston College and a win against UMASS-Amherst. The Huskies' schedule does not get any easier. They have yet to play Boston University, and still have Boston College twice on the schedule. Other tough games include Maine and Providence.

Michigan State (7-7-5 4-5-4 in the CCHA)- Things started off well for the Spartans after defeating North Dakota and split with Cornell. Then the Spartans did not win a game from November 8th until December 2nd when they defeated Bowling Green. From 11/8-11/26 the Spartans went 0-5-3 scoring only 19 goals and gave up 28 in that span.

Brown (2-8-1 2-5-0 in the ECACHL)- After a stellar Freshman season, goaltender Adam D'Alba and the rest of the team has been struggling. Picked to finish 5th pre-season, the Bears have lost 6 out of their last 7 games going 0-6-1. The leading scorer for Brown only has 9 points and the team is struggling to score goals.

Other Teams who might be on the decline

New Hampshire
Quinnipiac
Minnesota-Duluth
UMASS-Lowell
Notre Dame

Heres the 1st half All-American team

G- Brian Elliott JR Wisconsin
D- Peter Harold SR Boston College
D- Matt Carle JR Denver
F- Marty Seritch SR Colorado College
F- Brett Sterling SR Colorado College
F- Ryan Poltuny JR Minnesota

And finally a little Frozen Four Perdiction

Wisconsin
Minnesota
Boston College
Colorado College

In the coming weeks look for Bracketology Wednesday, More Weekly Reports and Previews in the coming weeks. Until then I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

College Hockey Weekly Report Wisconsin Still Reigns Supremacy even with loss to Michigan Tech

Michigan Tech on Friday night probably pulled the biggest upset of the season by defeating Wisconsin in Madison. However the Badgers stormed right back on Saturday shuting out Tech 7-0 after their 4-2 loss on Friday.

Brian Elliott earned his third shutout of the season on Saturday as he continues to play well in goal. At this point in time he could be considered a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award handed out in April, the day before the National Championship game.

Staying out West, Minnesota swept North Dakota on the Sioux's home ice. Ryan Poltuny of the Gophers had 3 goals in the sweep. Kellen Briggs played both games in net stopping 49 of 55 shots this weekend. He made a case that he should be the starting goalie in the stretch run for the Gophers.

In other College Hockey Action this weekend:

Boston College swept UMASS-Amherst scoring 11 goals and only allowing 1 in two games as the Eagles shutout the Minutemen 7-0 on Friday at The Heights and finished off the sweep with a 4-1 victory in Amherst on Saturday night.

Boston University went 1-1 this weekend as they lost to Providence but bounced back and defeated Dartmouth.

Michigan got a much needed sweep against Nebraska-Omaha.

Ohio State also got a sweep against Union.

And Miami (Ohio) got 3 points from two tough ECACHL teams St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

Next Weeks action includes:

North Dakota will look to rebound from its sweep of Minnesota as they face nationaly ranked Bemidji State from the CHA.

St. Lawrence will travel to Vermont, which should be a great one.

And Lake Superior will look to move up in the rankings as they face Notre Dame in South Bend.

I will not have a weekly preview this week only because there are only a few games this weekend because of finals week. So make sure you read the weekly report next week and also next week I will preview some of the Holiday Tournaments.

College Hockey Preview Another Big Early Season Series in the WCHA

For the past month or so the schedule is favoring the big teams in the WCHA. This time North Dakota will take on Minnesota in the series of the week.

Minnesota was swept last week by Wisconsin on the Gophers home ice. North Dakota is coming off a sweep against Michigan Tech scoring 14 goals in two games against the Huskies and only allwoing 1 goal.

Drew Stafford a junior for North Dakota has 4 goals and 3 assits for 7 points in his last 3 games and is the leading scorer for the Sioux, while goaltender Jordan Parise is having a stellar year in net going 9-2-1 with a save percentage of .935.

For Minnesota, Freshman Phil Kessel is continuing to prove that he should be the #1 pick in next years NHL Entry Draft. Even though he was held scoreless against Wisconsin, Kessel is still leading the team in points with 21 (8 goals, 13 assists).

This is a key series for both teams, Minnesota cant afford to be swept again. If they do the team will be at .500, while North Dakota wants to prove that they belong in the top 5, with a win they could sneak in.

In other College Hockey Action this weekend

Boston University will look to continue its momentum from last Saturday's win over Boston College as they will face Providence the top team in Hockey East.

Boston College will look to rebound from its loss to BU as they face UMASS-Amherst in a home and home series.

New Hampshire will look for consistency as they face Harvard and UMASS-Lowell this weekend both in Durham.

Colorado College will look to rebound after getting swept by Denver as they face Minnesota-Duluth for 2 in Colorado Springs.

A key CCHA series will also take place as Nebraska-Omaha will face struggling Michigan in Ann Arbor.

And Miami (Ohio) will look to continue to be the surprise team in the country as they will host St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Could the Redhawks get some first place votes this week?

Tune into the weekly report for all results next week.

College Hockey Weekly Report Wisconsin continues its hot streak

The Wisconsin Badgers have proved so far this year that they are the best team in College Hockey.

This weekend the Badgers swept arch-rival Minnesota at Marriuci Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Brian Elliott is continuing to prove that he is the best goalie in the country. At this point he could well be the favorite to win the Hobey Baker Award. On Friday night Elliott made 35 saves, 27 of them came in the second and third period. Wisconsin was up 4-1 late in the third but gave up two late in the game but survived as the Badgers won 4-3. Saturday was no different as Elliott earned his second shutout of the season as the Badgers won convincingly in a 4-0 shutout of the Gophers. Elliot stopped all 32 Gopher shots giving him 67 saves on the weekend.

In other action this weekend:

Denver got back on the winning track as they swept the highly offensive powerhouse in Colorado College.

Miami (Ohio) moved up to #2 in the polls as the surprising Redhawks swept the Michigan Wolverines in Oxford.

Boston College and Boston University split the home and home series with both teams getting their win at home.

And Providence cracked the top 20 this weekend with an impressive victory over Maine, and continuing to Saturday as they defeated town-rival Brown in the Mayor's Cup.

This weekends games coming up include:

Minnesota and North Dakota will battle it out as two of the WCHA powers will battle it out in Grand Forks.

Boston College will face UMASS-Amherst in BC's last two games of the semester before they travel to Denver for the Denver cup without 3 players including goaltender Cory Schneider who will be playing in the World Junior Hockey Championship.

And St. Lawrence and Clarkson will travel to Ohio as they will face Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State.

Who will prevail? Tune into the Weekly Report for all the results.

College Hockey Preview Rivalry Week

It is rivalry weekend in college hockey. Boston College vs Boston University, Denver vs Colorado College, and Wisconsin and Minnesota are all playing tonight.

The BC vs BU wekkend looks like the most intreging rivalry this weekend. BC is off to a solid 6-3-1 start to the regular season, while BU is 4-5-2 looking for some wins before the return of co-captain David Van der Gulik who should be back by late December or early January.

Kevin Gillespie got a shutout last week against defending National Champion Denver, but look for John Curry to start in this weekends series.

For BC Cory Schnider got a shutout to boost his confidence this weekend as the Eagles blanked Merrimack 3-0.

Chris Collins for BC and Peter McArthur for BU will be the fowards to watch for as Collins leads BC in goals and points while McArthur leads the Terriers in goals.

Denver and Colorado College will resume their rivalry as well. Denver is struggling so far after being ranked pre-season #2 as they are off to a 6-6-2 start. Colorado College on the other hand has done well with the best offense in the country. Brett Sterling leads the country with 27 points and also in goals with 16. If Denver wants to win this weekend they will need a better offense and good goaltending from Peter Mannino and Glen Fisher.

And Minnesota and Wisconsin will face-off against each other in another big rivalry game on rivalry weekend. They are 1-2 in the WCHA standings (Wisconsin #1, Minnesota #2). Freshman forward Phil Kessel has been living up to the hype leading the Gophers with 21 points and is tied for 7th in the country in scoring. For Wisconsin, player of the month Brian Elliott has been playing great with an 11-1-2 record with a 1.41 goals against average and a save percentage of .942.

This weekend should be great with all the rivalries but their are some other big non-rival games.

Michigan and surprising Miami (Ohio) will face off for the rights for 1st in the CCHA.

St. Lawrence will look to continue its hot start as they face Hockey East foes UMASS-Lowell and New Hampshire this weekend.

And Vermont will host UNH and UMASS-Lowell at Gutterson Field House.

Who will be the big winners in rivalry week? Tune into the weekly report to find out.