The First Half Blog

Well it has been an exciting first half of the college hockey season and now we are closing in on the holiday tournaments, so I thought it would be appropriate now to overview the first half of the year.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have had the best first half of the season. The Gophers are 15-1-3 with their only loss coming against Maine on opening night. Minnesota has eased their way in WCHA play going 9-0-3 in 12 contests. This team is very dangerous on both sides of the ice. Offensively, the Gophers have 6 players with 20+ points and 9 players with at least 10+ points. The super freshman led by Kyle Okposo, Jay Barriball, and the first overall pick in the 2006 NHL draft Erik Johnson. And the goaltending you ask? There is no clear number one goaltender going into the second half of the season because Senior Kellen Briggs, and Sophomore Jeff Frazee have been playing outstanding in goal. This team has it all and will look to set team records and win their third National Championship in six years.

In the East the strongest team so far is New Hampshire. The Wildcats are 13-2-1 and 10-1-1 in Hockey East play with an eight point lead over Boston College and Vermont. However, no lead is safe in Hockey East. Boston College has two league games on hand while Vermont has three. Things could get interesting at the end of the year but for now the Wildcats are in the elite. With consistant play from goaltender Kevin Regan, as well as the scoring from Trevor Smith and Mike Radja, the Wildcats will be an interesting team to watch. Their schedule gets tougher beginning with the Florida College Classic against Cornell and possibly Maine. And not to forget the Wildcats have a home and home with BC and BU and a two game series at home against Maine, and to begin the month of January, the Wildcats will travel to Vermont for two.

The biggest surprise so far in the first half is easily Coach Jeff Jackson and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This team was picked in the middle of the CCHA, but that didint bother the Irish as Notre Dame has rose to second place in the CCHA. With great goaltending from Senior David Brown, and some solid play from Defensemen Wes O'Neill, the Irish have given up only 28 goals in 18 games. With a mediocre schedule from here on (toughest opponent Miami at South Bend for two), the Irish could be the team to beat in the CCHA, and could make some noise in the NCAA tournament come March.

Teams to watch out for in the second half:

Despite mediocre play, the Boston College Eagles are still ranked #7 in the polls and are 9-5-1. The Eagles though have some ground to make up from first place New Hampshire, however as said earlier the Eagles have two games on hand against UNH. BC is off until January 5th when they play Northeastern. This team has the players and the experience from last years surprise run. But mark this down right now, the BC-UNH series March 2nd and 3rd will be for the Hockey East title.

The Wisconsin Badgers started off 4-9-2, but have since won three in a row. If anyone out West is poised for a second half run its coach Mike Eaves' club. Senior Ross Carlson and Junior Defensemen Kyle Klubertanz are back from injury and both are a key factor to the Badgers second half of the season. And not to forget, the Badgers have Brian Elliott in net last years Hobey Hat Trick finalist who to me is still one of the best goalies in the country.

Teams that potentially will fall:

The North Dakota Fighting Sioux have lost four in a row at home none the less against Wisconsin and North Dakota. The schedule only gets tougher for the Sioux with Colorado College, Minnesota, Denver, and St. Cloud State (the top four teams in the WCHA) each twice. Coach Dave Hakstol will have his toughest test in his third year at the helms of North Dakota.

Out East Dartmouth could be a team who could be on the decline in the second half. The in conference schedule includes an improved Colgate team, a power in Cornell, Quinnipiac, Brown, Yale, and Clarkson. The Big Green are currently 5-4-2 and are winless in their last three. This team has the potential to fall but it is not a definate.

And finally let me give you my first half team:

Nathan Davis F Miami
T.J. Hensick F Michigan
Trevor Smith F New Hmapshire
Alex Goligoski D Minnesota
Mike Vanelli D Minnesota
David Brwon G Notre Dame

Enjoy the hollidays everyone and hockeynuts will be back after the new year.

Hobey Watch Dec 12

There are some changes in the Hobey Watch for December 5th so lets get right to them.

Once again the top spot remains the same, but there is a shakeup in the Hat Trick. Here are the results for this week.

Nathan Davis F Miami (JR): Davis only had a one point weekend against Ohio State, but his stats were still good enough to keep Davis in the top spot for the seventh week in a row. With some time off before the Ohio Hockey Classic where Davis can again shine against Bowling Green and against the winner/loser of the Ohio State Minnesota-Duluth game.

Season Stats: 14 g, 21 a, 35 p

David Brown G Notre Dame (SR): Brown moves up one spot from last week as he had a solid weekend against Michigan. Although Brown allowed six goals this weekend, the Irish still swept the Wolverines. So far this season Brown has not let up more than three goals in every game. Still solid and the results move Brown to the number two spot in the Hobey Watch this week.

Season Stats: 13-3-1, 1.64 gaa, .933 save pct, 2 shutouts

Trevor Smith F New Hampshire (SO): Guess what it is not a CCHA sweep this weekend as New Hampshire's Trevor Smith enters for the first time this season. Smith had a two point weekend, and T.J. Hensick did not have any points this weekend. True Hensick has better stats, but Smith is making an impact on this Wildcat squad as the leading scorer in Hockey East.

Season Stats: 11 g, 13 a, 24 p

The rest of the top five

T.J. Hensick F Michigan (SR): Hensick falls two spots this weekend to number four on the Hobey Watch. I am not saying that Hensick doesn't deserve to be in the top three, but he had a lackluster weekend getting exactly 0 points against Notre Dame. True he is the third leading scorer in the country, but its his lack of scoring goals that made him fall to the fourth spot this week.

Season Stats: 7 g, 26 a, 33 p

Jeff Jakatis G Lake Superior (SR): The Lakers are another surprise team in the CCHA, and goaltender Jeff Jakatis has helped Lake Superior get back on the map. A combined total of 91 saves in two games against Ferris State helped Jakatis this week (three games with 40+ saves this year) and the year is looking brighter for the upstart Lakers. With 11 out of their final 16 conference games at home, it is defenitley possible to see Lake Superior in the NCAA's this year and exepct Jakatis to have a big second half of the year.

Season Stats: 7-4-2, 1.57 gaa, .956 save pct, 3 shutouts

This weeks darkhorse:

Scott Parse F Nebraska-Omaha (SR): After a quiet early part of the year, Parse has put that aside and has shined in his last three games. With 10 points in his last three games, Parse was the easy choice to be this weeks darkhorse.

Season Stats: 11 g, 17 a, 28 p

Thats all for the Hobey Watch for December 12. The next couple of weeks will be quiet in college hockey with finals week happening everywhere, but hockeynuts will continue to provide you with in depth previews and analysis for the quiet weekend of December 15th. The holiday tournaments are also approaching and some previews for that will be on hockeynuts so stay tuned as the college hockey season has hit the mid point of the season.

Weekly Wrap Up Notre Dame sweeps Michigan

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish continued its success story this season by sweeping perennial CCHA power Michigan.

On Friday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, the Irish came away with a 7-3 victory on the road in a hostile environment. Seven different players for Notre Dame scored goals (Tom Sawatske, Garrett Reggan, Erik Condra, Josh Sciba, Ryan Thang, Christian Hanson, and Evan Rankin) as the Michigan defense struggled to keep the puck out of the net again. This has been a constant struggle for the Wolverines all season and if they want to improve, the defense has to start playing better. For David Brown, it was another solid night for the goaltender, stopping 26 of 29 Michigan shots on goal. On the other end it was a nightmare for Billy Sauer as he got pulled after the second period only stopping 11 of 16 Notre Dame shots on goal. Nevertheless Notre Dame continued its hot streak.

After a day off, the two teams were at battle again this time at South Bend. This game was a little closer but still the same result. Michigan opened up the scoring 42 seconds into the first period when Travis Turnbull put the puck past David Brown and the Wolverines gained the early 1-0 lead and took a 2-1 lead after one. After the second period Michigan took a 3-2 lead. However, the Wolverines could not hang on in the third period. The collpase started at the 7:13 mark of the third when Ryan Thang tied it on the Irish's third power play goal of the night. 30 seconds later Garrett Regan scored his second of the night, third of the seriesd, and the game winning goal. David Brown stopped all nine Michigan shots on goal in the third and the Irish took the 4-3 victory. Notre Dame was 3-7 on the power play while Michigan was 0-6. In the series the Irish were 5-14 while Michigan could only get one power play goal out of 13 opportunities. Thats the stat of the series for you.

In other college hockey action this weekend:

Wisconsin got back on its winning ways as they went on the road to Grand Forks and swept the North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

Boston College and UMASS-Amherst split in Hockey East action.

New Hampshire improved its winning streak to nine and are now unbeaten in their last 12 (11-0-1) as the Wildcats defeated St. Lawrence.

And St. Cloud State swept Colgate in non league action.

Next weeks top games include:

Vermont @ St. Lawrence
Dartmouth @ Harvard
Denver @ Alaska-Anchorage (2 game series)

As finals week comes many of the teams have the week off until after christmas. But keep it right here on hockeynuts for all your college hockey needs as we inch closer to the return of Bracketology 2007 edition starting the first week of January.

Weekly Preview Michigan and Notre Dame collide in a home and home battle

This weekends big battle is a home and home series in the CCHA as #5 Notre Dame faces #7 Michigan.

Notre Dame goaltender David Brown will have a tough task this weekend facing the #1 offensive team in the CCHA. Led by T.J. Hensick, the Wolverines are averaging about 4.4 goals per game. Although Michigan only has four players with 10+ goals, the Wolverines have five players with 20+ points already, and those five are averaging more than one point per game.

On the other side of the ice for Michigan they need to find a way to play better defense. Goaltender Billy Sauer is 11-5, however, he has allowed 52 goals and his goals against average is 3.31. The Fighting Irish only have one player with 10+ goals in Mark Van Guilder. Michigan will need to look out for Van Guilder as he is known to get on a hot streak at any point of the season.

This is a battle of mismatches as Notre Dame is strong defensively, but lately have not found a way to put the puck in the net. This is the exact opposite for Michigan as we all know they are strong offensively, but on defense the Wolverines cannot stop the puck from going into the net. Should be a great home and home series beginning tommorrow.

The other top games include:

North Dakota will host Wisconsin. While North Dakota is having an up and down year, the Wisconsin Badgers are the exact opposite and are looking for wins in a hurry.

Boston College will face UMASS-Amherst in a home and home series in Hockey East action.

Colgate travels to St. Cloud State for two games.

And New Hampshire will look to continue its unbeaten streak to 12 (10-0-1 in their last 11) as the Wildcats will host St. Lawrence.

Other games to watch out for this weekend:

Alaska Anchorage @ Colorado College (2 games)
Michigan State @ Northern Michigan (2 games)
Minnesota @ Michigan Tech (2 games)

As mentioned we are getting closer to the midway point, and by the first week of January Bracketology returns on hockeynuts. There will be more things to talk about in college hockey throughout the year so keep it here for all your college hockey needs.

Players of the Month November

Here are the monthly awards for the month of November.

Atlantic Hockey: Eric Ehn F Air Force (JR): Ehn might not of scored too many goals this month, but he still helped out the team by dishing out a lot of assists. This month Ehn had a four point night and two three point nights. Ehn currently leads Atlantic Hockey in scoring and is tied for second with T.J. Hensick of Michigan for the most points.

Monthly Stats: 5 g, 10 a, 15 p
Season Stats: 15 g, 18 a, 33 p

CCHA: Nathan Davis F Miami (JR) and T.J. Hensick F Michigan (SR): I don't normally give out co-players of the month but for this month it was hard to choose between the two. Davis for the sixth week in a row is the top player in the Hobey Watch and Hensick has moved up to second in the Hobey Hat Trick. Hensick has gathered at least one point in seven consecutive games while Davis (pictured above) is continuing to take over as an elite player in the country

(Davis) Monthly Stats: 9 g, 11 a, 20 p
Season Stats: 14 g, 2o a, 34 p

(Hensick) Monthly Stats: 4 g, 18 a, 22 p
Season Stats: 7 g, 26 a, 33 p

CHA: Les Raney F Niagara (SO): Raney had solid stats for the month and is leading the Purple Eagles in almost every category. The Purple Eagles will look to make a push starting this month to their first NCAA apperance since 2004. With Ted Cook and Sean Bentivoglio second and third in the league in scoring, it is safe to say that this Niagara team is the best offensive team in the conference.

Monthly Stats: 6 g, 9 a, 15 p
Season Stats: 12 g, 17 a, 29 p

ECACHL: Dan Rosen G Brown (FR): Rosen was the best goaltender in the league by far in the month of November. Although he only played in six games, Rosen has solidified himself as the number one goaltender on the Brown squad that has improved and is the surprise of the ECACHL for the month.

Monthly and Season Stats: 4-2-0, 1.37 gaa, .958 save pct.

Hockey East: Dean Strong F Vermont (SO): With a streak of six consecutive games with a goal, it was a no brainer for Strong to recieve Hockey East player of the month. Strong has proven that he can be a goal scorer in this league and also has helped Vermont rise to second place in Hockey East behind New Hampshire. This could be the sleeper player in the country, not to forget Trevor Smith of New Hampshire as well.

Monthly Stats: 6 g, 4 a, 10 p
Season Stats: 10 g, 7 a, 17 p

WCHA: Andreas Nodl F St. Cloud St. (FR): Many players were considered to be player of the month in the WCHA but Nodl has been on of the better Freshman players in the country. Coming from Austria, Nodl has felt comfortable with the college game. If he continues to play well then expect Nodl to be a high draft pick.

Monthly Stats: 5 g, 7 a, 12 p
Season Stats: 8 g, 12 a, 20 p

NCAA Player of the Month: It was hard to decide this one but Nathan Davis will get the hockeynuts NCAA Player of the Month for November.

Tommorrow we will preview the weekend ahead in college hockey including a home and home showdown in the CCHA between Notre Dame and Michigan.

Hobey Watch Dec 5

In this weeks edition of the Hobey Watch we have some changes in the top five, but a lack of movement in the top three. Let's get right to it.

Once again there is no change in the top spot and the top three has the same players. But anyway here is the Hobey Hat Trick.

Nathan Davis F Miami (JR): Although he was held scoreless on Friday, Nathan Davis came right back on Saturday against Ferris State with a four point night. Davis has now held the top spot for the sixth consecutive week. This week is a no brainer as Davis took the lead in the NCAA scoring race. This weekend Miami and Ohio State have a home and home series. Expect Davis to have good numbers again this weekend.

Season Stats: 14 g, 20 a, 34 p

David Brown G Notre Dame (SR): Brown stopped 38 of 41 Alaska shots on goal this weekend. The Irish are off to their best start in team history and Brown has had great games. Brown has not given up more than three goals all season. This weekend Brown and the Irish have a tough task with a home and home series against Michigan. Brown's numbers might not be stellar with a loaded offensively talented team in Michigan, but Brown will be up to the task.

Season Stats: 11-3-1, 1.45 gaa, .935 save pct. (1 shutout)

T.J. Hensick F Michigan (SR): The second leading scorer in the country, Hensick helps complete the CCHA sweep of the Hobey Hat Trick for the third week in a row. He might not have the goals, but Hensick has the assists to prove that he is one of the best centers in college hockey. Hensick is averaging an NCAA best 1.94 points per game. Expect this weekends series against Notre Dame to be exciting.

Season Stats: 7 g, 26 a, 33 p

The rest of the top five:

Kevin Porter F Michigan (JR): A two point weekend helped Porter get back in the Hobey Race. The leading goal scorer and the second leading point scorer on the Wolverines, Porter has proven that he is an offensive threat on this solid Michigan team. Porter is one of five Michigan players with 20+ points and one of four with 10+ goals.

Season Stats: 13 g, 16 a, 29 p

Trevor Smith F New Hampshire (SO): Smith did not do much this past week as he only got one point against Merrimack, but the Wildcats are still #2 in the country and #1 in Hockey East. The Wildcats will travel to Lowell tommorrow night and will host St. Lawrence in a non-conference showdown on Friday.

Season Stats: 11 g, 11 a, 22 p

This weeks darkhorse:

Jeff Jakatis G Lake Superior (SR): After a solid season in 2005-2006 which included four shutouts, Jakatis has stepped up his game. Although he is splitting time with Freshman Pat Inglis, Jakatis still has the numbers to be this weeks darkhorse. The Lakers are off to a 10-5-1 start and just cracked the top 20 for the first time this season. This weekend the Lakers travel to Ferris State and Jakatis should have no problem trying to stop an offensively challanged team in the Ferris State Bulldogs.

Season Stats: 6-4-1, 1.70 gaa, .949 save pct. (3 shutouts)

Thats all for this weeks Hobey Watch. Tommorrow I promise I will name the players of the month for the conferences and the national player of the month of November. We are getting closer to the halfway point of the season, and there is still more to come.

Weekly Wrap-Up Eagles Get Lucky

On Saturday night at Agganis Arena the Boston University Terriers host the Boston College Eagles in what was supposed to be a home and home series. The game that was scheduled for Friday December 1 was postponed due to the weather and the fog on the ice at Conte Fourm.

Even though the two teams did not play on Friday, the Eagles and the Terriers sure did not dissapoint the fans on Saturday. It was a high-flying, fast pace action throughout the game.

The only goal was scored (well he didin't really score) by Nathan Gerbe when Terrier goaltender John Curry watch the puck go off his own teammates skate which deflected off Curry's skate. It was confusing to describe it but nevertheless the Eagles got lucky and got the 1-0 victory.

Goaltender Cory Schneider was outstanding in net stopping all 34 Terrier shots on goal. Schneider might of left big rebounds in front of the net, but the defense was able to clear the puck or Schneider was able to make a great save off the rebound.

Besides the own goal, Terrier netminder John Curry was also solid stopping 22 of 23 BC shots on goal. The stats might of seemed like Curry had an easy third period, but he didin't. BC only put on three shots on goal in the third period, but the Eagles had their chances throughout the game.

Both teams need to get into their rythm still as BC nor BU has established that prolific goal scorer. Expect the next game (1/26/07 or before that if they make it up) to be more fast paced and possibly higher scoring.

Other games from this past weekend:

Colorado College swept Denver in a home and home series in the WCHA. The young Colorado College team have now won seven out of their last eight. Denver is having an up and down year but expect the Pioneers to be back in the swing of things this weekend as they host the last place Minnesota State Mavericks for two.

New Hampshire defeated Vermont to increase their lead in Hockey East to six points. The Wildcats and Catamounts will meet again for two at the Gutterson Field House in the first week of January.

Minnesota escaped with three points at Minnesota State.

And Notre Dame swept Alaska in CCHA play.

This weeks top five games include:

Notre Dame and Michigan in a home and home series (game[s] of the week)
UMASS-Amherst and Boston College in a home and home series
Colgate @ St. Cloud State for two
Wisconsin @ North Dakota for two
St. Lawrence @ New Hampshire

For those of you who were waiting for Saturday's report from Conte Fourm, well you will have to wait a bit for the behind the scenes look. But Hockeynuts will continue to go on. The players of the month will be announced on Wednesday for the month of November, and don't forget about the Hobey Watch and the weekly preview coming up.