College Hockey: A Shake Up In The Top Five

Read Time:3 Minute, 57 Second

Pulling up the standing will see the top five teams have not had much change. The big change is that the Penn State Nittany Lions have moved up one spot and the St. Cloud Huskies dropped two. But this is what makes college hockey so exciting. Many of us have a good feeling there will be a change in the weeks leading up to the road to Tampa. As far as the rest of the top ten we have two Big 10 powerhouses in the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes. The other three are the Harvard Crimson, Boston University Terriers, and Western Michigan Broncos. Let’s look back at the games in college hockey from last week.

The Golden Gophers had two games against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In the first game, the Irish would win in a shootout. Jackson LaCombe scored with 24 seconds left in the game to force overtime. Notre Dame scored once in the shootout and stopped all three of Minnesota’s shots. The game resulted in a tie. The Irish were 1-3 on their powerplays including the game’s first goal and they held the Golden Gophers to 0-1 for their power play opportunities. The next night game two was a shutout for the Golden Gophers. Justen Close made 38 saves and stopped the Fighting Irish. In the first game, the Irish stayed disciplined in this game not so much. They benefited from multiple penalties by Minnesota, had a power play goal, and a short-handed goal. The PPG was scored by Logan Cooley and the SHG was scored by Matthew Knies.

The Quinnipiac Bobcats who are ranked number one in college hockey played against the LIU Sharks. The Sharks have never won against the Bobcats and that streak continued. Zach Metsa became the latest Bobcat player to earn 100 points for his career. He had one of the five goals in Quinnipiac’s win. The Bobcats had three power-play goals. They also had two goals in the first two periods. They held the Sharks to just two goals which were scored in the first two periods. LIU had one power-play goal scored by Noah Kane in the second period. The Bobcats held the Sharks to just 20 total shots for the game. This was their 18th win of the season and are showing why they are the number-one team in the country.

The Penn State Nittany Lions had a Big Ten matchup with the Michigan State Spartans. Penn State had an early two-goal lead but let the Spartans score two goals in the third period to force overtime. In overtime, Cole Krygier scored to give the Spartans a win. The Nittany Lions outshot the Spartans 44-34 for the game. They were also perfect on the penalty kill 5 for 5 and they were 2 for 8 on the power play. Just like the Golden Gophers, Penn State earned a tie 4-4 despite the Spartans winning in a shootout in the second game. The Nittany Lions were only 1 for 5 on the power play, allowing the Golden Gophers to score two goals on four power plays.

The Denver University Pioneers had a two-game series against Miami Ohio. Both games ended in the same way with 7-0 wins in both. See, not all games in college hockey are close. The Pioneers did not score in the first period. In the second they scored six times. Carter King had three of the seven goals scored in the game. Magnus Chrona had a shutout on just 20 shots. In game two, Tristan Broz scored four of the seven goals the Pioneers scored. Broz is the first player to accomplish four goals on four shots. Oh, and by the way, Chrona had another shutout. The game was like the first one: no goals in the first but four in periods two, three, and three. Chrona made the same amount of saves 20 again so he allowed no goals on 40 shots in the two games.

Looking back at last week in college hockey we had some close games and blowouts. The Quinnipiac Bobcats continue to show why they are the number-one team in college hockey. The Golden Gophers are nipping on their heels as the number two team in the country. The Nittany Lions have the same record as the Golden Gophers, so they are neck and neck in the Big 10. The Pioneers have a big series this week as they will play two games against the St. Cloud Huskies. The Huskies are right behind the Pioneers. I am looking for another week as we inch closer to the Frozen Four in Tampa, Florida.