College Hockey: Another Week of Top Five Shakeups

Just like a week ago, there was another shake-up in the top five of college hockey. The number one team last week, the Quinnipiac Bobcats have fallen to number four. The team that was number four has become the top team in college hockey. The St. Cloud Huskies are now the new team on top. The number two team is still the Minnesota Golden Gophers followed by the Denver University Pioneers who stayed in the same spot. The Boston University Terriers remained the number five team. This is what makes college hockey so exciting. From week to week, as we see in college football, things can change.

Let’s start with the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Bobcats played the Cornell Big Red on the road. This was a game that many did not expect. The Bobcats got shutout 4-0. This was the first time in 17 games that they have been defeated. Quinnipiac also ended their eight-game winning streak. Cornell also outshot the Warriors 24-21 The winning goal came in the first period scored by Ben Berard. The other three goals were scored by Dalton Bancroft, Jack O’Leary, and Ondrej Psenicka. The following night the Bobcats were on the road again playing Colgate Raiders. Unlike the game against the Big Red, the Bobcats started the game by scoring the first two goals. The first off the stick of Collin Graf in the first period. The second one off is the stick Christophe Fillion in the second period. Unfortunately, that is where the scoring would end for Quinnipiac.

The Raiders score a goal in the second period to draw within one goal. Ethan Manderville scored for Colgate to make it an interesting game. The three periods were all Raiders as they scored twice and won the game 3-2. Ryan McGuire scored the tying goal and Ben Raymond scored the winning goal at the 9:50 mark of the final period. The Bobcats dropped both of their games. They have two games coming up this week so let’s see if they can bounce back. The one thing the Bobcats have is time to bounce back and I do not see why it cannot happen.

Let’s jump to the new number one team, the St. Cloud Huskies. They played the number three Denver University Pioneers. The Huskies won both games and this is why the Huskies are the new number-one team in college hockey. The first game was quite a blowout with St. Cloud winning 7-3. Two of the seven goals scored by the Huskies came off the stick of Jami Krannila. St. Cloud scored four goals in the second period. After two periods they led 5-3. The Pioneers did not score a goal in the final period. The funny stat is that it was close in shots with the Huskies edging out the Pioneers 33-31. In the second game the next night the game was much closer, but it still was won by the Huskies. St. Cloud won 2-0.

There were no goals scored in the first period, but two goals were scored in the second period. The goals came from Jack Rodgers and Zach Okabe. The winning goal came from Rodgers and Okabe added a power play goal. With that win, they can boast the number-one ranking. As Huskie fans, they must be excited. They beat the defending national champion last year. Just like in game one the shots were close as the Huskies outshot the Pioneers 23-19.

The number two Minnesota Golden Gophers stayed right where they were last week. They played Big 10 rival the Michigan Wolverines. In these games, they went 1-1. Both games went to extra hockey in overtime. The Golden Gophers started the game with a power play goal off the stick of Jimmy Snuggerud. The best period in this game was the second one where we had four goals scored. Three of the goals were scored by the Wolverines. At the time the leading goal came from Gavin Brindley. The tying goal from Minnesota came shortly after the Michigan goal it came from Jackson LaCombe. In overtime on the power play the Golden Gophers put the game on ice with a goal from Matthew Knies and LaCombe assisted on that game-winning goal.

In the second game, the roles were reversed. The Wolverines won game two in overtime. They scored the first two goals and had two goals in the first and second periods. The Golden Gophers responded with one goal in the first and two in the second to trail 4-3 going into the final period. Minnesota had a goal from Bryce Brodzinski who had two goals in the game and got the tying one to force overtime. Michigan got a goal from Jacob Truscott to get a win for the Wolverines. Now they are looking up at St. Cloud. Maybe they can take over the top spot in college hockey next week.

The Terriers of Boston University stayed in the fifth sport they had two wins this past week. Both wins were over the Maine Black Bears. Both games were blowouts with a 5-1 win in the first game and the second a 9-6 win. The Terriers started off the game with four goals, two in the first two periods. The Black Bears added their only goal in the second period. The winning goal came from Matt Brown in the first period. The second game had 15 goals total. The first period had seven of those 15 goals. Four were scored by Boston University. The final Terriers’ goal came from Lane Hutson. Four goals in the second period with two for each team. When the Terriers won the game in the final period, they had three goals to the Black Bears one goal. What a game that ended in a 9-6 final.

Well, just like last week, there were blowouts and close games. The biggest change is that the St. Cloud and Quinnipiac switch spots in the rankings. The Golden Gophers, Denver University Pioneers, and Boston University Terriers all stayed where they were last week. But Denver dropped two to the new number one in the St. Cloud Huskies. The Terriers had two high-scoring games scoring a combined 14 goals in the two wins over the Maine Black Bears. It should be another exciting week in college hockey as we get closer to Tampa, Florida.

What are your thoughts on this week in college hockey? Leave a comment below.

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