NFL
By Jason Gulden
Hello again, NCHC fans. Hope you all enjoyed this past weekend and the amazing action we saw across the conference. Former conference foes met; we saw a Battle of Colorado Springs and some upsets, including a heartbreaker in Ann Arbor.
Let’s look back at the NCHC action from this past weekend.
Thursday Night
NCHC action got underway with a battle between former WCHA conference foes. North Dakota traveled to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers. The Fighting Hawks scored goals from Jack Kernan, Cole Reschny, and Anthony Menghini, but it wasn’t enough, and North Dakota fell 5-3.
Friday Night
In game 2 of the weekend series between North Dakota and Minnesota, North Dakota looked to split the series. Unfortunately for the NCHC and North Dakota, they couldn’t, and North Dakota fell 5-3 again. Miami (OH) would welcome Alaska Anchorage to town. They cruised to a 5-1 win on goals from Ilia Morozov and David Duputy.
Omaha would travel to Maryland Heights to take on Lindenwood. They came away with a 7-4 win, with 2 goals from Maxine Pellerin and a goal each from Marcus Broberg, Myles Hilman, Marc Lajoie, and Marcus Nguyen, who scored the game-winner at the 4:35 mark of the 3rd.
St. Thomas returned to action and began a home-and-home series with Minnesota State. Minnesota State came to St. Paul and left with a 3-1 win over the Tommies. Lucas Van Vliet would score the lone goal for St. Thomas. Minnesota Duluth and Bemidji State would also start a home-and-home series. The Bulldogs won 4-1 in Duluth. Ty Hanson and Zam Plante each scored a goal and an assist.
Boston College would travel to Denver to take on the Pioneers. Denver looks to rebound after Michigan swept them last weekend, beating the Eagles 5-2. Kieran Cebrian would net two goals, including an empty-netter, to seal the win for the Pioneers. If I’m a Western Michigan fan or Player, the last team I want to see on the schedule is Michigan, and I’d rather not take a trip to Ann Arbor.
If you forgot, these two teams met on the gridiron in early September. Michigan got an extra second after the TV clock showed 0.0. Michigan got another play and scored the game-winning touchdown, beating the Broncos 13-12. Fast forward to Friday night. The same two schools faced off, but this time on the ice. Michigan would once again break the Broncos’ heart. With 0.1 seconds left in the 3rd period, Michigan’s Will Horcoff scored the game-winning goal.
That was just the start of a rough weekend for Western Michigan. More on that when we get to Saturday games. The last matchup was the Battle of Colorado Springs. It was a home-and-home series, with the first game at Ed Robson between Colorado College and Air Force. It was the 100th game ever played at Ed Robson. I have had the privilege of attending multiple games during that stretch, including the Saturday night game against UMass earlier in the season.
Well, this game was no different. I attended to watch my beloved Colorado College Tigers secure the Pikes Peak Trophy for the 9th straight season with a 6-2 victory. Ryan Koering, Colton Roberts, Bret Link, Klavs Veinbergs, Wilson Bjorck, and Carmelo Cardwell scored, with Cardwell scoring his first Tigers goal.
Saturday Night
As I noted in the previous section on Western Michigan, Friday’s loss was just the start of a rough weekend. They returned home to play an exhibition game against Wisconsin. They fell 4-0. Miami (OH) needed extra time to complete the sweep of Alaska Anchorage. Cal Huston would score the game-winner 20 seconds into the extra period.
Minnesota Duluth and Bemidji State would shift their series to Bemidji. The Bulldogs secured the sweep with a 3-0 win. Ty Hanson scored 2 goals, and Zam Plante scored the other. St. Thomas would travel to Mankato to finish its home-and-home series with Minnesota State. Minnesota State earned the sweep with a 2-0 win. Omaha would finish its series with Lindenwood. The game went to overtime, and at the 2:29 mark, Sean Tscigerl sent the Mavericks back to Omaha with a 4-3 victory to complete the sweep.
Boston College and Denver finished their series at Magness Arena. The game goes down in the record books as a 2-2 tie. Boston College would score the lone goal in the shootout. Colorado College and Air Force would conclude their in-city battle when the series shifted to the Air Force Academy.
In 1994, the Old Broadmoor World Arena, not the new one, but the one on the hotel site, was torn down, leaving Colorado College with nowhere to play. The Air Force offered Colorado College the chance to play its home games at the Cadet Ice Rink. That’s when my love for Colorado College Tigers hockey was born. I went to many games up there until they moved to the new Broadmoor World Arena, then to Ed Robson.
It felt fitting to cap off this weekend of the Battle of Colorado Springs with a trip to the Cadet Ice Rink to watch the Tigers take on the Falcons from Air Force.
The Falcons outplayed Colorado College in the first period, outshooting them 13-2. Thankfully for Colorado College players and fans, the period ended 0-0. Owen Beckner and Carmelo Crandell each scored two goals for the Tigers in the final two periods, and Colorado College swept Air Force 4-0. Carmelo’s last goal came with 0.5 seconds left in the third.
Rankings
As I mentioned, I attended Saturday night’s game at the Air Force Academy. After the gates opened and I found our seats with the family, we decided to walk the concourse. I was standing there, looking over the ice, when I saw 2 nicely dressed people to my left.
I turned to them and asked if they were Colorado College players. They said yes. I went over and asked about the rankings. Some photos online say 11, and others say 10. So I asked them, which one should I follow more?
Like college football, they have the media poll and the coaches’ poll. You only hear about the Media poll until the College Football Poll is released in late October/Early November. After Colorado College, Freshman Forward Sebastian Vitali and Junior Defenseman Nick Baer told me that both the USCHO and US Hockey polls matter, I decided to rearrange this section. Instead of just giving the USCHO rankings, I’m going to provide the US Hockey ranking as well.
One important piece of information for later in the season. These rankings won’t determine who makes the NCAA tournament and the seedings. That is the NPI, and those rankings change after every game instead of every week.
In the USCHO poll, we still have 5 of our teams ranked and 3 teams getting votes. The 5 teams ranked are: Denver at #3, which moved up 1 spot from last week. Western Michigan drops 1 spot to #6. Minnesota Duluth moved up 2 spots to #7. Following being swept by unranked Minnesota, North Dakota drops 5 spots to #8. Colorado College would move up 3 spots to #9.
Miami (OH), Arizona State, and St. Cloud State received votes this week, but not enough to reach the top 20. In the US Hockey Poll, the same 5 teams are ranked, and 2 teams received votes. The 5 teams ranked are Denver (#3) and Western Michigan (#5). Minnesota Duluth is ranked #7. North Dakota is ranked #8, and Colorado College is ranked #10. Miami (OH) and Arizona State received votes in this poll but didn’t rank in the top 20.
Closing
Once again, what a fun weekend across the NCHC. Now the fun really gets going. The 24-week battle for the Penrose Cup, the regular-season winner, begins. All that action kicks off Friday, when 8 of our 10 teams begin conference play. I will be back later in the week to preview those games and announce the Player of the Week for October 19-25. Until the next article, NCHC fans, have a great week, and I will talk to you soon.
