Monday, December 03, 2012

College hockey round-up, Week 8

There's a shake up atop the NCAA hockey standings, as Boston College has been unseated as the top school in the nation, as revealed in the new poll released on Monday.

New Hampshire swept two from Hockey East rival UMass-Lowell by identical 5-2 scores to jump one spot to #1, the first program other than BC to hold the post this season. The Wildcats are undefeated in their last eight games (7-0-1), a streak which has thus far produced three consecutive shutouts. Sophomore defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (brother of JVR, another UNH alumus) recorded just one assist over the weekend, but ranks fourth on the club in scoring with 13 points (5G, 8A) in 14 games.

Dick Umile's top-ranked club squares off against Jack Parker's BU Terriers this coming Thursday in another tough Hockey East contest.

BC, for its part, split a home-and-home series with rival Boston University, and grabbed headlines on Saturday when head coach Jerry York earned his 924th career win as his charges beat BU by a 5-2 count, tying him with Ron Mason for the all-time NCAA record. On Friday, the Terriers downed the Eagles, 4-2, halting their rivals' national-best 10-game win streak and putting talk of setting the record against a bitter rival on national television on hold.

York will have another chance to set the record at Providence on Friday night in BC's last game before the end of semester break. 

For the first time all season, there is a tie in the rankings, as Boston U. and Western Michigan both ascended in the poll but tied for seventh spot.

No. 12 Union College was rescued from a total dud of a weekend with a late rally in a home contest against Princeton. After being blanked by a 4-0 count to Quinnipiac on home ice Friday, the Dutchmen needed goals from sophomore defenseman and Flyers' unsigned prospect Shayne Gostisbehere and Daniel Carr in the final 7:03 of regulation to pull out a 4-4 tie against Princeton.

The Tigers received offense from Tyler Maugeri, Eric Carlson, Will MacDonald and Tom Kroshus. Princeton (3-4-3) also tied RPI, 2-2, one day earlier.  They will conclude their pre-holiday slate with a home-and-home against Quinnipiac.

Penn State enjoyed a split in the comforts of home. The Nits beat the Arizona State Sun Devils 8-3 and lost 3-1.In the series opener on Friday, freshman David Glen torched the opposition for a hat trick and four other players recorded multi-point efforts. The hosts rolled up a 52-27 shot advantage en route to their largest offensive performance in program history as well as tying the record for largest margin of victory.

Here's PSU head coach Guy Gadowsky in the afterglow:

Curtis Loik's short-handed tally in the third period was not nearly enough in ASU's 3-1 victory on Saturday. P.J. Musico made 27 saves but allowed two scores from Kale Dolinski and one by Faiz Khan for the Sun Devils.  

Penn State has four games on the docket before the semester break, beginning with a pair at Holy Cross this weekend.

No comments: