Weekly Preview Pairwise Weekend

This weekend is a huge weekend for four teams that are bunched in in the Pairwise Rankings and they are Boston College, Vermont, Minnesota, and Denver.

First lets preview the Boston College vs Vermont two game series at Gutterson Field House.

Boston College climbed a little closer to the first place team in Hockey East the New Hampshire Wildcats and they now trail by six points in the standings. Vermont on the other hand has fallen a little bit as they are now nine points behind UNH.

Last weekend against Merrimack Brian Boyle had a six point weekend (1 g, 5 a) including a five point night on Friday. Benn Ferriero scored a hat trick as well on Friday in a 6-1 victory. Is the offense for Boston College coming back after a 10 goal weekend?

The Vermont Catamounts on the other hand are struggling to score goals. Their defense is doing well and the play of goaltender Joe Fallon has been great, however the Catamounts need to score goals in order to have an impact series against the Eagles. With seven goals in the last four games, the offense is not getting it done.

The question for BC is can they get more out of their offense? Will Brian Boyle have a second half surge for the Eagles? And for Vermont the question is who will step up and score goals? Fallon can not do it alone in this key series.

The other big game features the Denver Pioneers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Both teams are in the top of the pairwise rankings. Denver is tied for second with Colorado College with 20 points, and they are currently seven points behind first place Minnesota.

Last week in the two games the Golden Gophers scored two goals in a split with Wisconsin (1-2, 1-0) in a defensive struggle. The Gophers have only scored three goals in their last three games but they went 2-1. Kellen Briggs got his first loss of the season, but Jeff Frazee, who Briggs is spliting time with, helped out with his first shutout of the season. Minnesota's offense will need to find a way to get goals as they face a solid Denver defense.

On the other end of the ice, Denver has posted an 8-1-1 record in their last 10. The Pioneers are coming off a sweep against Niagara and are Minnesota's biggest threat in the standings right now. The goaltending has been solid with Glenn Fisher getting the most starts, but Peter Mannino, who was a hero in Denver's National Championship team, has also been seeing playing time. Brock Trotter has made a big impact this year as a Freshman leading the team in scoring. Ryan Dingle, the teams leading goal scorer and the fourth leading goal scorer in the country should play a major role in this series.

Overall I see this series as a potential turning point in the season for both teams. Minnesota wants to prove that they have the best home ice advantage in the country, while Denver wants to prove that they can win on the road and get more momentum going into the stretch run. Should be an interesting series to watch.

The other big games include:

New Hampshire and UMASS-Amherst will have a home and home series.

Lake Superior travels to Michigan State in another tough contest for the Lakers who were swept by Notre Dame last weekend.

Up and coming Bemidji State will have a home and home series against North Dakota.

And Michigan heads to Alaska for two in Fairbainks.

A lot of big games for this weekend, and hockeynuts is here for your exclusive coverage of all the action in the college hockey world.