College Hockey Monthly Awards

Here are the monthly awards for the month of Febuary in College Hockey.

Atlantic Hockey: David Borelli SR. F Mercyhurst- Had 8 goals and 4 assists for 12 points this month. Those totals pushed his goal total up to 25 and has 21 assists for 46 points making him one of the leading scorers in Atlantic Hockey.

CCHA: Jeff Lerg FR. G Michigan State- Went 5-0-1 in the month to end the regular season as the Spartans number one goaltender. He is 12-4-6 on the season with a 1.98 goals against average and a save percentage of .926.

CHA: Andrew Martens SR. D Bemidji State- He might not have the numbers of a goal scorer, but this guy has played solid defense as he will look to lead Bemidji State to a conference tournament title and an NCAA birth.

ECACHL: Kyle Wilson SR. F Colgate- Led the team in scoring in the regular season and also helped his team to a share of the ECACHL regular season title.

Hockey East: Ben Bishop FR. G Maine- He is now the number one goaltender for Maine and why not. He is 6"7 and covers the net well. He is 16-6-1 on the year with a 6-1-1 record for the month. His worse game he allowed 4 goals in the tie against Vermont and then the rest of the games he only gave up one goal per game.

WCHA: Ryan Poltuny JR. F Minnesota.- He is leading the country with 29 goals and is now one of the front runners for the Hobey Baker. Poltuny scored 9 goals on a very short month as the Gophers only played 6 games in the month of Febuary.

NCAA: Poltuny, Minnesota

College Hockey Weekly Report Minnesota clinches WCHA, 3 more to go

First off lets congratulate the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers for capturing the MacNaughton cup given to the WCHA Regular Season champion. The Gophers have been red hot since December 9, 2005 going 16-1-1 in that span with their only loss to North Dakota back on January 14.

Ryan Poltuny and Freshman Phenom Phil Kessel have been carying this team. The two forwards have a combined total of 92 points. Poltuny is leading the nation in goals with 29 while Kessel is the leading his Freshman class in points with 42 (14 g, 28 a).

And lets not forget the play of Kellen Briggs who is 18-4-3 with a 2.35 goals against average and a save percentage of .911.

So again congrats to Minnesota for winning the WCHA.

In other college hockey action:

Wisconsin has fallen from an earlier 8 point lead in the WCHA and is now in third place thanks to a Minnesota State sweep.

Boston University and Vermont tied twice this weekend.

Sacred Hart took two from Holy Cross, as they both are now tied for first in Atlantic Hockey with two games to go. Sacred Hart owns the tiebreaker.

Boston College could only get one win against UMASS-Lowell as their once 7 point lead in Hockey East is now down to two.

Denver and North Dakota split.

And New Hampshire was able to gain three points this weekend over Providence as the Wildcats will now look to capture home ice for the first round of the Hockey East touranment.

In college hockey action this coming weekend:

Denver and Colorado College will play each other home and home. Denver is currently second in the WCHA with 34 points and Colorado College is 5th with 31. An important game for seeding ini the WCHA.

Wisconsin has fallen as of late and the Badgers do not have an easy weekend to end the season. St. Cloud State will come to town as the Huskies will look to jump into the top 5 in the WCHA which would give them home ice for the first round. Right now the Huskies are tied with North Dakota for that fifth spot.

Boston College will look to get things straightened out after a off month in the month of Febuary. The Eagles will face New Hampshire in a key home and home series in which BC might need to sweep to win the Regular Season crown for the fourth straight year.

Maine and BU are tied for second right now but BU has the tiebreaker, look for both teams to make a race to the top of Hockey East.

Alabama-Huntsville will look to capture the CHA crown as they will face Bemidji State. The Beavers are only 4 points in back and a sweep could give them momentum going into the conference tournament.

Well that is the last weekly report for College Hockey this year. In the coming weeks look for more conference tournament previews and perdictions. And there are some shakeups in this weeks bracketology so make sure you check that out.

ECACHL Tournament Predictions and All-Conference Teams

The ECACHL tournament will start this weekend. Like the CCHA, the ECACHL accepts all 12 teams and they each have the same format.

Here are the matchups for the first round:

#5 St. Lawrence vs #12 Brown
#6 Union vs #11 Yale
#7 Rensselaer vs #10 Quinnipiac
#8 Clarkson vs #9 Princeton

Each series is best of three. Same playoff format as CCHA as mentioned with the highest seed playing the lowest seed in the quarterfinals, second highest vs second lowest, and so on.

Now its time to pick the tournament. Number of games in parenthesees.

#5 St. Lawrence over #12 Brown (2-0)
#6 Union over #11 Yale (2-1)
#10 Quinnipiac over #7 Rensselaer (2-1)
#8 Clarkson over #9 Princeton (2-0)

Quarterfinal round:

#1 Dartmouth over #10 Quinnipiac (2-1)
#8 Clarkson over #2 Colgate (2-1)
#3 Cornell over #6 Union (2-0)
#4 Harvard over #5 St. Lawrence (2-1)

Semifinals

#8 Clarkson over #1 Dartmouth
#3 Cornell over #4 Harvard

Consolation

#4 Harvard over #1 Dartmouth

Championship

#3 Cornell over #8 Clarkson

Now here are the all ECACHL teams:

1st team:

T.J. Trevelyan SR. F- St. Lawrence
Kyle Wilson SR. F- Colgate
Tyler Burton SO. F- Colgate
Reid Cashman JR. D- Quinnipiac
Keith McWilliams SR. D- Rensselaer
David McKee JR. G- Cornell

2nd team:

Matt Moulson SR. F- Cornell
Brian Leitch FR. F- Quinnipiac
Kevin Croxton SR. F- Rensselaer
Mike Madill SR. D- St. Lawrence
Sasha Pokulok SO. D- Cornell
Mike Devine SO. G- Dartmouth

All Freshman team

Brian Leitch F- Quinnipiac
David Marshall F- Quinnipiac
Kevin DeVergilio F- St. Lawrence
Matt Generous D- St. Lawrence
Brendan Milnamow D- Union
Bud Fisher G- Quinnipiac

Awards:

Player of the year: T.J. Treveylan F St. Lawrence
Rookie of the year: Bud Fisher G Quinnipiac
Coach of the year: Don Vaughan Colgate (18-10-6)

CCHA Playoff Preview and Predictions and All-CCHA Teams

The CCHA wrapped-up its regular season this week. Miami was the regular season champion and gets a bye. The other three teams who got the first round bye are second seed Michigan State, third seed Michigan, and fourth seed Northern Michigan. The rest of the teams seeded 5 through 12 will be in action this week.

Here are the first round matchups:

#5 Nebraska-Omaha vs #12 Bowling Green
#6 Lake Superior vs #11 Western Michigan
#7 Ferris State vs #10 Ohio State
#8 Notre Dame vs #9 Alaska-Fairbanks.

The higher seed will host the three game series. The top seed will play the bottom seed in the first round, second highest seed vs second lowest seed so on and so forth.

Here are my first round picks. The number of games that I think will be played will be in parenthesees.

#5 Nebraska Omaha over #12 Bowling Green (2-0)
#6 Lake Superior over #11 Western Michigan (2-0)
#7 Ferris State over #10 Ohio State (2-1)
#8 Notre Dame over #9 Alaska-Fairbanks(2-1)

Quarterfinal round:

#1 Miami over #8 Notre Dame (2-0)
#2 Michigan State over #7 Ferris State (2-0)
#6 Lake Superior over #3 Michigan (2-1)
#5 Nebraska-Omaha over #4 Northern Michigan (2-0)

Semifinal round:

#1 Miami over #6 Lake Superior
#5 Nebraska-Omaha over #2 Michigan State

Consolation game

#2 Michigan State over #6 Lake Superior

Championship game

#1 Miami over #5 Nebraska-Omaha

Now its time for my all CCHA conference teams and awards.

1st team:

Scott Parse JR. F- Nebraska-Omaha
Bill Thomas SO. F- Nebraska-Omaha
T.J. Hensick JR. F- Michigan
Jack Johnson FR. D- Michigan
Andy Greene SR. D- Miami
Jeff Lerg FR. G- Michigan State

2nd team:

Alex Foster SO. F- Bowling Green
Nathan Davis SO. F- Miami
Brent Walton SR. F- Western Michigan
Mitch Ganzak SO. D- Miami
Nathan Oystrick SR. D- Northern Michigan
Jeff Jakaitis JR. G- Lake Superior

All Freshman Team

Erik Condra F- Notre Dame
Dan Riedel F- Ferris State
Tomas Klempa F- Nebraska-Omaha
Jack Johnson D- Michigan
Tyler Eckford D- Alaska-Fairbanks
Jeff Lerg G- Michigan State

Awards:

Player of the year: Scott Parse JR. F- Nebraska-Omaha
Rookie of the year: Jack Johnson D- Michigan
Coach of the year: Jim Roque- 1st year Lake Superior (15-12-7)

College Hockey Preview Important Games on an Important Weekend

While the CCHA and the ECACHL have their last games this weekend, everyone else has the next two weeks. The CCHA regular-season champion has been crowned already and the ECACHL will crown its champion this weekend.

One team who will look to clinch its regular season this weekend is Holy Cross as the Crusaders have a 3 point lead over second place Mercyhurst with 4 games to go. Every other major conference (besides the CCHA and the ECACHL) have 2 weekends basically to crown its regular season champion.

Thus lets get to the important games this weekend.

New Hampshire and Providence will face each other home and home as both teams are looking to fight for home ice in the first round of the tournament. UNH has been inconsistant all year and it showed this past weekend against Boston University where they won 7-4 and then lost on home ice to BU the next night 3-2. Providence in the meantime is coming off a split of Northeastern and is 4-6-1 in its last 11 games. Something has gotta give this weekend.

Boston University will travel to Vermont for 2 at Gutterson Field House in Burlington. BU is currently 2 points behind Boston College for first place in Hockey East, while Vermont is in sixth place right now 4 points behind 4th place Providence. Look for this series to be very physical.

Cornell has Union and Rensselaer this weekend as the Big Red will look for its second straight ECACHL regular season title and their fourth in five years.

And in the WCHA, Denver will host North Dakota for two. This is an important series for both teams. Neither team can afford to be swept so look for the teams to play with desperation. This is the time North Dakota starts to rise up to the competition, they proved it last year by making the national championship game and lost to Denver. Denver needs to at least take one this weekend as they are currently 18-12-2 and are three points behind Minnesota (who swept Denver this weekend) in the WCHA. After this series Denver will play Colorado College in another key end of the year series.

Well thats all for this week.

Next weeks articles will include:

The Weekly Report
Bracketology Wednesday week 8
And the CCHA and ECACHL conference tournament previews and also perdictions of those tournaments and the all conference teams.

Bracketology Wednesday Week 7

Some major changes in this weeks brackets.

But first lets breakdown the conferences and who is in.

WCHA: 5 (Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin)
CCHA: 4 (Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska-Omaha)
Hockey East: 3 (Boston College, Boston University, Maine)
ECACHL: 2 (Cornell, Harvard)
Atlantic Hockey: 1 (Holy Cross)
CHA: 1 (Alabama-Huntsville)

Now lets breakdown the rankings.

#1 Minnesota (21-6-5)+
#2 Wisconsin (21-7-3)+
#3 Miami (21-7-4)-
#4 Boston University (19-9-2)=
#5 Michigan State (19-10-7)+
#6 Colorado College (21-12-1)+
#7 Cornell (17-6-4)=
#8 Maine (21-10-1)+
#9 Boston College (19-9-2)-
#10 Michigan (18-12-4)-
#11 Nebraska-Omaha (18-11-5)+
#12 Denver (18-12-2)-
#13 North Dakota (20-13-1)+
#14 Harvard (15-10-2)+
#15 Holy Cross (21-7-2)=
#16 Alabama-Huntsville (16-10-2)=

Out from last week are Providence and St. Cloud State.

Time to place the teams

The #1 seed in the tournament is Minnesota and they will be in the East regional with Alabama-Huntsville, Cornell, and Michigan.

East: #1 Minnesota vs #4 Alabama Huntsville, #2 Cornell vs #3 Michigan.

The second overall seed in this weeks brackets is Wisconsin and they will be in a region with Boston College, Colorado College, and Holy Cross.

Midwest: #1 Wisconsin vs #4 Holy Cross, #2 Colorado College vs #3 Boston College.

The third overall seed and thrid #1 seed is Miami and there region features Maine, Nebraska-Omaha, and host North Dakota.

West: #1 Miami vs #4 North Dakota, #2 Maine vs #3 Nebraska-Omaha.

And the final #1 seed is Boston University and their region has Denver, Harvard, and Michigan State.

#1 Boston University vs #4 Harvard, #2 Michigan State vs #3 Denver.

The Frozen Four bracket looks like this:

East vs Northeast
West vs Midwest

Bubble Teams: New Hampshire, Providence, Vermont, St. Lawrence, Colgate, and St. Cloud State.

Thats all for this week. The CCHA and the ECACHL end their regular season this week, and more important games will be featured in the preview.

College Hockey Weekly Report a Minnesota sweep

The Minnesota Golden Gophers went into the weekend in second place in the WCHA. When it was all set and done the Gophers moved into first place sweeping Denver (then first place). With the help of Ryan Poltuny's 2 goals (pictured above) the Gophers defeated Denver Friday night at Mariucci Arena 3-2. Poltuny also scored the game winner.

Saturday night Freshman Phenom Phil Kessel had 3 assists in the 5-1 win over the Pioneers. The Gophers dominated the game outshooting Denver 41-23. Kellen Briggs started both games in goal and allowed 3 goals and had 44 saves in this weekend's sweep.

In other college hockey action this weekend:

Ben Bishop and Maine swept Boston College in Orono as Bishop played great in net. The 6"7 goaltender should be considered the #1 goalie for the Black Bears for the rest of the year.

Boston University and New Hampshire split, but BU is now only 2 points behind Hockey East leader BC.

Michigan State swept CCHA regular season champion Miami.

And Nebraska-Omaha improved its NCAA status getting 3 points against Michigan.

In this weeks action:

Boston University will travel to Vermont for 2 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

New Hampshire and Providence will face each other in a key Hockey East matchup which could determine who gets home ice in the first round.

And the CCHA and ECACHL will conclude its regular season.

Key games in the CCHA include Ohio State and Northern Michigan and Michigan State and Lake Superior.

And the final two games for Cornell will decide the regular season champion in the ECACHL. Cornell would need a win and a Colgate loss (or possibly 2 wins if Colgate wins on Friday) to clinch the ECACHL regular season crown.

Its getting close to conference tournament time. And Week 7 of bracketology will have all sorts of shakeups in the bracket. Tune in tommorrow to find out if your team is in on Bracketology Wednesday.

College Hockey Preview Miami wins CCHA while Minnesota and Denver battle for tops in the WCHA

First off lets congratulate the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks for claiming the CCHA crown and their first since the 1992-93 season after defeating Ohio State Tuesday night 6-3 in Oxford.

So one down five more to go. And a big game for the top spot in the WCHA will happen this weekend as first place Denver travels to second place Minnesota. Denver is ahead by the slightest of margin 1 point over the Gophers. Junior Defensmen Matt Carle will look to improve his case for the Hobey Baker, while Freshman Phenom Phil Kessell will try to improve his case for WCHA rookie of the year. Earlier this year in Denver, Minnesota gained 3 points. This series should be interesting and is the top series this weekend.

In other College Hockey action this weekend:

Boston College will look to avenge their loss to Boston University in the Beanpot Championship as they look forward to gaining their 4th consecutive Hockey East regular season title. This week the Eagles travel to Oreno to face Maine for 2. Maine won at Chestnut Hill earlier this year 2-1.

Boston University will look to improve their pairwise rankings as they will face New Hampshire for a home and home series.

Harvard travels to upstate New York to face Colgate and Cornell.

The top 2 teams in Atlantic Hockey will face each other as Holy Cross travels to Mercyhurst for 2.

And as mentioned CCHA Regular Season Champion Miami will face Michigan State. Miami wants the top spot in the brackets while Michigan State will look to improve its NCAA status.

Which teams will prevail? Turn to the weekly report to find out all of this weekend's big games, and don't forget Bracketology Wednesday week 7 this coming week.

Bracketology Wednesday Week 6

There are some changes in the rankings and some new teams in this week

Lets Breakdown the confrences and the teams that are in.

WCHA: 5 (Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin)
CCHA: 4 (Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska-Omaha)
Hockey East: 4 (Boston College, Boston University, Maine, Providence)
ECACHL: 1 (Cornell)
Atlantic Hockey: 1 (Holy Cross)
CHA: 1 (Alabama-Huntsville)

Out from last week are Colgate and Ferris State.

Now lets break down the overall seedings.

#1 Miami (21-5-4)+
#2 Minnesota (19-6-5)-
#3 Wisconsin (20-7-2)+
#4 Boston University (18-8-2)+
#5 Denver (18-10-2)+
#6 Boston College (19-7-2)-
#7 Cornell (16-5-4)-
#8 Colorado College (19-12-1)-
#9 Michigan (18-11-3)+
#10 Michigan State (17-10-7)-
#11 Maine (19-10-1)=
#12 St. Cloud State (17-10-3)-
#13 Nebraska-Omaha (17-11-4)+
#14 Providence (15-11-2)+
#15 Holy Cross (20-7-1)=
#16 Alabama-Huntsville (16-8-2)=

Now lets place the teams

The #1 seed in this weeks bracket is Miami and they will be placed in Albany in the East regional and their bracket includes Alabama-Huntsville, Boston College, and St. Cloud State.

#1 Miami vs #4 Alabama-Huntsville, #2 Boston College vs #3 St. Cloud State.

The #2 seed and second #1 seed is Minnesota and they will be in the West Regional in Grand Forks with Cornell, Holy Cross, and Michigan.

#1 Minnesota vs #4 Holy Cross, #2 Cornell vs #3 Michigan.

The 3rd #1 seed is Wisconsin and they will stay in state in the Midwest regional in Green Bay with Colorado College, Michigan State, and Providence.

#1 Wisconsin vs #4 Providence, #2 Colorado College vs #3 Michigan State.

And the final #1 seed is Boston University and they are the host in Worcester in the Northeast regional and there bracket includes Denver, Maine, and Nebraska-Omaha.

#1 Boston University vs #4 Nebraska-Omaha, #2 Denver vs #3 Maine

Bubble teams this week include Colgate, New Hampshire, Lake Superior, and North Dakota.

The Frozen four bracket will look like this:

East vs Northeast
West vs Midwest

Well thats all for this week. Did your favorite team make it in? If not there are still 5 more weeks until the NCAA tournament which means there will be 6 more bracketologies.

Big games this weekend involving the bracket and make sure you read the weekly preview for all previews for key games.

Beanpot Wrapup BU gains 50% of Beanpot victories

For the 27th time in 54 years the Boston University Terriers won the annual Beanpot and claim bragging rights for the best college hockey team in Boston (well for now anyway)

Boston College started off well as the Eagles took a 1-0 lead into the second period with a goal from Peter Harrold.

Boston University took over from the second period on as they outplayed the Eagles the rest of the way. BU would tie it at 1 with a goal from Brian Ewing after Cory Schneider left a rebound right in front of the net. BU would take a 2-1 lead nearly 5 minutes later as Jason Lawrence shot it past Schneider. BU would take the lead into the intermission.

The third period saw BC trying to get back into the game. They did that with a goal from Stephen Gionta who tied the game at 2. But Boston University would not let down. After a questionable penalty call on Brian Boyle, Peter McArthur (pictured above) would score on the power play and gain a 3-2 lead. Boston College only had 11 shots on goal in the second and third period combined as they were outplayed throughout the final two periods. McArthur gained the Beanpot Most Valuable Player.

Harvard won the consolation game 5-0 over Northeastern.

But it was BU who gained supremacy.

The aftermath of the Beanpot will take over now as BC, BU, Harvard, and Northeastern have tough schedules the rest of the way.

BC will travel to Maine for 2 this weekend.

BU will have a home and home with New Hampshire.

Northeastern will have Providence this weekend home and home.

And Harvard has the fewest games left out of all the Beanpot schools, but this week will be their biggest test as the Crimson travel to Cornell and Colgate two of the top teams in the ECACHL.

Well thats all for the 54th Beanpot. A great tournament this year and lets hope next year's will be even better.

College Hockey Weekly Report Wisconsin shines in Lambeau

Wisconsin and Ohio State played in one of the biggest game of the year. Well thats according to the attendence, but it was still a big game with both teams looking to improve their NCAA tournament resume.

The Badgers prevailed in this game 4-2 with goals from Adam Burish in the first period to go up 1-0. Ohio State tied it at 1 with a goal from Dave Barton, about 5 minutes later the Badgers re-gained the lead at 2-1 with a goal from Kyle Klubertanz. Wisconsin would gain a 3-1 lead with a goal from Andrew Joudrey. Ohio State made it 3-2 with about 4 minutes left in the game but Robbie Earl would get an empty net goal as the Badgers took the 4-2 win.

After the game there were a few Badger players doing the "Lambeau Leap" into the crowd. The attendence was over 41,000 the second best attendence ever in college hockey only behind the Michigan Michigan State game played at Spartan Stadium in October, 2001 where the attendence was over 74,000.

In other college hockey action this weekend:

Denver moved ahead in the WCHA standings with a sweep of Minnesota State.

Minnesota went 1-0-1 at Michigan Tech during the winter carnival.

Maine got 3 key points against Vermont at Burlington. The Black Bears will be looking forward to hosting Boston College for 2 this weekend.

And Lake Superior and Michigan split in Ann Arbor.

Next weeks games include:

Boston College and Maine will play each other at Alfond Arena. Maine has already defeated Boston College earlier in the year.

Boston University will play New Hampshire as BU will look to move up the Hockey East standings.

The two top teams in the WCHA will play each other as Minnesota will host Denver.

Holy Cross will look to improve on its lead in the Atlantic Hockey standings as they will face Mercyhurst.

And two key games in the CCHA as Michigan travels to Nebraska-Omaha, and Miami will travel to Michigan State.

Those games and more will be in the college hockey preview. And do not forget Bracketology Wednesday week 6 as a couple of changes have been made for this weeks bracket.

Beanpot Final Preview BC vs BU

Boston College and Boston University will meet once again for the rights to the Beanpot and bragging rights.

So far BU has the season edge 2-1 over BC. A third win will mean that BU will win the regular season series against BC for the first time since 2002 where the Terriers won the season series 3-1 over the Eagles.

For BU they are looking for their 27th beanpot in 54 years. BC will be looking for #14 and win #100 in the all time series.

As I pointed out in Tuesday's 1st round review that the game should be even, with BC having the slight edge on offense and BU having the slight edge on defense. So this game should come down to the goaltenders John Curry for BU and Cory Schneider for BC two of the best goaltenders in Hockey East.

Both teams are coming off victories on Friday night BC over Providence 8-3 and BU over UMASS-Amherst 3-0.

Players to watch for:

For BC Senior Forward Chris Collins has been playing great and will be looking to add some points from his already fine season (24 g 23 a 47 p) also Brian Boyle has been playing well as of late and Stephen Gionta just came of a hat trick night against Providence. But for BC to win this game they will need offense from line 2 with Nathan Gerbe, Dan Bertram, and Brock Bradford.

For BU Kenny Roche has 9 goals during the Terriers 10 game winning streak, while Brad Zancanaro and Peter McArthur are leading the team in scoring, while Brandon Yip is having a fine Freshman year. David Van der Gulik will look to help play a key role in the final, look for him to possibly have a breakout game.

The best rivalry in college hockey is back and should be a good one. Should be a classic.

College Hockey Preview Going outdoors

The Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic in Lambeau Field was the most talked about story in College Hockey during the offseason. Now Wisconsin and Ohio State will collide at the famous stadium where the Green Bay Packers play.

This is not the first time in college hockey that the game was held outdoors. As most people around college hockey recall that Michigan and Michigan State played outdoors at Spartan Stadium with a record crowd of over 74,000 the best attendance mark ever in not only college hockey, but the biggest crowd ever in the United States.

Anyway back to the Frozen tundra classic. Ohio State has had an up and down year after being picked 1st pre-season in the CCHA polls. The 14-13-4 Buckeyes will look for any break they can if they want to make a run at the NCAA tournament.

Wisconsin is another team who is struggling. After being ranked #1 for a couple of months, the Badgers were the team to beat. But with an injury to star goaltender Brian Elliott, the Badgers have been falling down the polls. Right now the Badgers are looking for anything to bring back momentum as they have lost 5 out of their last 6 games.

This should be a classic. As it is right now there have been 40,000 tickets sold, look for the game to have a little over 45,000.

In other college hockey action this weekend.

Boston College and Providence will face each other as the Friars will look to climb back up the Hockey East standings, while the Eagles will look to widen the gap against the Friars.

Boston University will play UMASS-Amherst as the Terriers have won 9 in a row and are looking for more momentum going into the Beanpot final against Boston College. UMASS is coming off a 4 point weekend against Boston College and UMASS-Lowell.

Maine and Vermont will play each other as both teams are looking to move up the Hockey East standings.

St. Cloud State has played well coming into the new year as the Huskies will have a huge test this weekend as they will host Colorado College.

And Lake Superior will travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan.

Who will prevail? The Weekly Report will have all your answers to this weekends game, plus dont forget about a special preview of the final in the Beanpot.

Bracketology Wednesday Week 5

Once again there are new teams, and new placements.

Before I get into the seedings and the placements lets breakdown the teams and the confrence bids.

WCHA: 5 (Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin)
CCHA: 4 (Ferris State, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State)
Hockey East: 3 (Boston College, Boston University, Maine)
ECACHL: 2 (Colgate, Cornell)
Atlantic Hockey: 1 (Holy Cross)
CHA: 1 (Alabama-Huntsville)

Now lets seed the teams. New teams are in bold

#1 Minnesota (18-6-4)=
#2 Miami (20-5-4)+
#3 Cornell (16-4-3)+
#4 Wisconsin (19-7-2)=
#5 Boston College (18-6-2)-
#6 Boston University (16-8-2)=
#7 Colorado College (18-11-1)=
#8 Michigan State (16-10-7)+
#9 Denver (16-10-2)=
#10 St. Cloud State (16-9-3)=
#11 Michigan (17-10-3)-
#12 Maine (18-10-0)-
#13 Colgate (15-8-5)-
#14 Ferris State (14-10-6)+
#15 Holy Cross (19-6-1)+
#16 Alabama-Huntsville (14-8-2)+

Out from last week: Lake Superior, Providence, Mercyhurst, Bemidji State.

Now lets place the teams

The top team in this weeks bracket is Minnesota and they will be in the West region in Grand Forks, ND with Alabama-Huntsville, Denver, and Michigan State.

West: #1 Minnesota vs #4 Alabama-Huntsville, #2 Michigan State vs #3 Denver.

The second seed in the bracket (2nd #1) is Miami and they will be in the Northeast region in Worcester, MA with host Boston University, Holy Cross, and Michigan.

Northeast: #1 Miami vs #4 Holy Cross, #2 Boston University vs #3 Michigan.

The third seed is Cornell (3rd #1) and they will be in the East Region held in Albany and this region includes Boston College, Ferris State, and St. Cloud State.

East: #1 Cornell vs #4 Ferris State, #2 Boston College vs #3 St. Cloud State.

And the final #1 seed is Wisconsin and they will be in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay with Colgate, Colorado College, and Maine.

#1 Wisconsin vs #4 Colgate, #2 Colorado College vs #3 Maine.

The Frozen Four bracket will look like this:

West vs Midwest
Northeast vs East

On the Bubble: Providence, Lake Superior, Vermont, and St. Lawrence.

Well thats all for this week, big games this weekend and will be included in the preview.

College Hockey Weekly Report Cornell takes over ECACHL lead

This past weekend in a home and home series Cornell came up big against Colgate. 2 victories for the Big Red gave them the lead in the ECACHL standings.

On Friday night Raymond Sawada for Cornell scored two goals in the 4-1 victory. Cornell goalie David McKee had a solid performance stopping 22 out of 23 Colgate shots.

Saturdays game saw an exciting third period. Colgate was down 2-1 until 12:46 into the third where Kyle Wilson tied the game on a 5 on 3 power play at 2. It was a back and forth game the rest of the way but Cornell got the upper hand. Mark McCutcheon scored the game winning goal with 39 seconds left in the game to give the Big Red the 3-2 victory at Colgate and gaining a two game sweep. Also Cornell gained some national recognition by moving up the polls to #3 in the country.

In Other College Hockey Action this weekend

As mentioned before in the Beanpot report Boston College and Boston University will face each other in the finals of the beanpot.

North Dakota and Colorado College split at Colorado Springs.

Wisconsin could only get a split from Minnesota-Duluth as the Badgers have won 1 out of their last 6 games.

And Michigan and Ohio State split at Ann Arbor.

In next weeks action

Wisconsin will face Ohio State in the Frozen Tundra Classic at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI.

Maine and Vermont will face each other as both teams will look to move up in the Hockey East Standings in a must win situation for both teams.

Colorado College and St. Cloud State will face each other where St. Cloud State will look to gain some more national recognition.

And BC and BU will have tough opponents before they play each other in the Beanpot final as BC will face Providence, and BU will play UMASS-Amherst who just came up a 4 point weekend.

Big games this weekend but before that look for Bracketology Wednesday week 5.

Beanpot Week One BC vs BU once again

Once Again it will be Boston College vs Boston University in the Beanpot final.

Boston College defeated Northeastern 5-2 with Chris Collins scoring twice on the power play and short-handed. BC jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one. Northeastern would cut the lead to two twice but could not get any closer as the Eagles defeated the Huskies to advance to the finals. Cory Schneider stopped 28 out of 30 shots on goal.

Boston University defeated Harvard 5-3 but Harvard made things interesting in the third period. Despite trailing 4-1 in the second period, the Crimson did not give up. Harvard cut the lead to 4-3 late in the third period behind a goal from Dave Watters. Harvard had many chances late in the game but BU goaltender John Curry did a great job in net, in fact Harvard had 25 shots on goal in the third period and Curry stopped 23 of them. David Van der Gulik scored the empty netter and got his first goal of the year after coming back from an injury.

Now lets see whos got the edge in next weeks final.

Offense: Slight edge to Boston College, BU has scored more goals than BC on the year but don't forget BC has one of the nations leading goal scorers in Chris Collins who has 22 goals on the season and is leading Hockey East in scoring with 42 points. BC also has Brian Boyle who has been playing well as of late he has 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points. BU does have a pretty good offense with Brad Zancanaro and Peter McArthur each with 24 points. And dont forget about Kenny Roche who has 7 goals in his last 10 games. But the slight edge belongs to BC with Boyle and Collins possibly being the best one two punch in Hockey East.

Defense: Slight edge to Boston University. Since the 9 game winning streak BU has only allowed 17 goals which averages to less than 2 a game. BC has some good young defensemen, but BU has the more experience and look for that to be the key in stopping BC's scoring attack.

Goaltending: Even. Both goaltenders Cory Schneider and John Curry have had a great year. Schneider had a shutout streak of over 200 minutes last month, while Curry was named defensive player of the month for the month of January. Look for the final to come down to the goaltending. And lets not forget both goalies are good in clutch situations.

Well on Monday we will find out who the best college hockey team is in Boston. Don't forget to look at the weekly report for the results from the past weekends games around the nation.

Beanpot Preview

The first two Mondays in February happens to be one of the most exciting college hockey tournaments in America. It is called the Beanpot and it has the four major college hockey schools in the Boston area as Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard compete for bragging rights.

This year the two first round games will start off with BC and Northeastern at 5. Although Norhteastern has only 1 win, BC cannot take them lightly. The Huskies have played tough against the Eagles all year and even though they are 0-2-1 against BC, the scores have been very close. Look for Senior captain Yale Lewis and leading scorer Jimmy Russo to lead the Northeastern attack. BC on the other hand is coming off a difficult loss Friday night to UMASS-Amherst. Look for them to come out hungry as Chris Collins, Cory Schneider, Brian Boyle, and the rest of the team to come out strong.

The second game of the double header will start around 8 as Boston University will look to make it 27 Beanpots in 54 years. However, they have to go through a good well-balanced hockey team in Harvard to get there. Boston University has won 8 in a row and are the hottest team in the country right now. A key part of that is thanks to the return of David Van der Gulik, who came back in December after an injury that kept him out since October. For Harvard they have to play better than they have in the past which included a narrowly escaped 2-1 win over struggling Brown on Friday night. Senior goaltender John Daigneau has played well for Harvard all year, but he will look to shine in the Beanpot and looks to lead Harvard to their first Beanpot since 1993.

BU has won 26 Beanpots and are looking for number 27. BC will look to get some revenge if they play BU in the finals. And the underdogs Northeastern and Harvard will look to make things interesting as they will look for the upset victory.

Who will it be playing in the finals on Monday Feb 13? The Weekly Report will have all results from the Beanpot plus a look at what is happening in the nation.

College Hockey Preview ECACHL's top 2 teams battle it out

The top 2 teams in the ECACHL will collide this weekend as Colgate battles Cornell in a huge home and home series. This is the time of the year where Cornell plays very well, and also it is the time of year where Colgate usually struggles. Something has gotta give this weekend right?

Well for Cornell to make a run Goaltender David McKee will have to get back in form from his brilliant Sophomore year. He is having a solid Junior season, however the team is struggling to score goals and stay consistant. That will have to change.

Colgate however has won 5 in a row including a victory against St. Lawrence which gave them sole posession of the ECACHL lead just a couple of weeks ago. Sophomore Forward and my ECACHL player of the month Tyler Burton is the leading scorer for the Raiders and look for him to play a key role in this series. The Defense is solid allowing about 2.5 goals per game and allowing less than 2 goals a game in their 5 game winning streak.

This should be an intresting home and home series. What I might pick is a defensive game one night, than an explosive offensive game the next night.

Also another big rivalry game this weekend as New Hampshire will travel to Maine for 2 at Alfond Arena. Both teams will look to improve on their pairwise rankings as UNH and Maine are on the outside looking in in the suggested pairwise rankings and the tournament projections.

UNH will have to play without 7 players including 5 double digit scorers including the teams leading scorer Daniel Winnik and also linemate Brett Hemingway as well as defensmen Mike Radja and forward Sean Collins. However they will be back Saturday night since it is only a 1 game suspension.

Maine on the other hand is beggining a tough road ahead including 2 this week with UNH as well as traveling to Vermont for 2 and hosting Boston College for 2. Maine will need to win some key games in order to move up in the pairwise and solitify their chances in the NCAA tournament. Look for the Black Bears to be a sleeper team in the month of February.

In ohter college hockey action this weekend

North Dakota will travel to Colorado College for a key two game series in the WCHA. This is big for both teams as they look to improve in the porjected NCAA Tournament brackets. Colorado College has a good pairwise ranking at 6 while North Dakota fell from last weeks sweep agaisnt St. Cloud State at Grand Forks.

Vermont and Providence will face each other for 2 at Schneider Arena. Providence has been playing very well lately and Vermont has lost 3 of 4.

And a key CCHA game will feature Lake Superior and Nebraska-Omaha. Lake Superior is currently third in the CCHA standings while Nebraska-Omaha will look to climb up the standings.

In the coming weekend look for a special Beanpot preview.

Bracketology Wednesday Week 4

The brackets for this week has some major changes. First lets breakdown the confrences and their bids

WCHA: 5 (Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin)
Hockey East: 4 (Boston College, Boston University, Maine, Providence)
CCHA: 3 (Lake Superior, Miami, Michigan)
ECACHL: 2 (Colgate, Cornell)
Atlantic Hockey: 1 (Mercyhurst)
CHA: 1 (Bemidji State)

Now lets seed them new teams are in bold

#1 Minnesota (18-6-4)+
#2 Boston College (17-5-2)-
#3 Miami (19-4-4)+
#4 Wisconsin (18-6-2)-
#5 Boston University (14-8-2)+
#6 Cornell (14-4-3)+
#7 Michigan (15-9-3)+
#8 Colorado College (17-10-1)-
#9 Maine (17-9-0)+
#10 Colgate (15-6-5)+
#11 Denver (16-10-2)-
#12 St. Cloud State (14-9-3)+
#13 Lake Superior (14-7-5)+
#14 Providence (14-9-1)+
#15 Mercyhurst (15-10-0)=
#16 Bemidji State (13-8-3)=

Now lets place them

The number 1 seed overall is Minnesota and they will be out west in Grand Forks, ND with Bemidji State, Colorado College, and Maine.

West: #1 Minnesota vs #4 Bemidji State, #2 Colorado College vs #3 Maine

The second overall seed is Boston College and they will be in the East regional in Albany with Cornell, Denver, and Mercyhurst.

East: #1 Boston College vs #4 Mercyhurst, #2 Cornell vs #3 Denver

Miami is the third overall seed and they will be in the Northeast with host Boston University, Providence, and St. Cloud State.

Northeast: #1 Miami vs #4 Providence, #2 Boston University vs #3 St. Cloud State

And finally the last #1 seed fourth overall is Wisconsin and they will be in Green Bay (Midwest regional) with Colgate, Lake Superior, and Michigan.

Midwest: #1 Wisconsin vs #4 Lake Superior, #2 Michigan vs #3 Colgate

Bubble teams: North Dakota, St. Lawrence, Vermont, New Hampshire, St. Lawrence, and Michigan State.

The four teams that were in last week who are out this week are North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Michigan State.

Frozen four bracket looks like this:

West vs Midwest
East vs Northeast

Well thats all for this week. Did your favorite team make it in? If not there is still time and make sure you check out the brackets every Wednesday to see if your favorite team is in.