NFL
By Jason Gulden
Welcome back, NCHC fans. Have I mentioned how much fun NCHC hockey is for a college hockey fan? One week, you think your team is out heading down a rough road, and then a couple of weeks later, you right the ship and are now in the thick of the race for the Penrose Cup.
Well, NCHC fans, that’s what’s currently taking place up in Western Michigan. After 2 weeks of conference play, Western Michigan was 1-3 and in last place in the conference standings. Since then, they have rattled off 4 straight wins after sweeping Omaha this past weekend. They earned 6 points each of the last two weekends. They currently stand tied for 1st place in the conference standings with Denver University at 15 points.
Speaking of Denver University, they manhandled Arizona State on Friday night down in the desert. Denver scored 7 times on their way to a 7-1 victory. Saturday night, Arizona State scored the game-winning goal in Overtime on their way to a 3-2 win. Arizona State is currently in 4th place with 10 points, 3 behind North Dakota.
Speaking of North Dakota, they decided to take a break from league action and took on the US Under-18 National Team. North Dakota would take care of business by winning 6-1. Saturday night, they were off and won’t return to conference play until December 5th when they take on St. Cloud State.
Speaking of St. Cloud State, they took a trip to Oxford, OH, to take on struggling Miami (OH). Friday night, Miami (OH) would get a much-needed win in overtime by the score of 6-5. Saturday night, St. Cloud State would get its revenge and beat Miami (OH) 4-2. Following the weekend, St Cloud State would be up by 3 points on Miami (OH) for 7th place in the conference. Miami (OH) is dead last with 5 points and in 9th place.
The team that is between St. Cloud State and Miami (OH) in the standings is Colorado College. Colorado College would welcome a hot Minnesota Duluth team to Colorado Springs. Starting the game on Friday night, Colorado College would have a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately for Colorado College fans, and the excitement from Duluth fans, it was then the Max Plante show at Ed Robson. Max would have the natural hat trick to guide Duluth to a 4-2 comeback victory against the Tigers.
Saturday night, it was Colorado College’s turn to play spoiler as Duluth would have a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. At the 2:54 mark of the 3rd, the Tigers would tie the game at one. 50 seconds into overtime, would send 3,417 happy Colorado College Tigers fans home with a 2-1 win over Duluth. Colorado College needed this win as they have 7 points and are in 8th place in the conference.
With their win and overtime loss, Duluth now has 14 points and sits 1 point ahead of North Dakota for 3rd place in the conference.
This coming weekend, all the teams will be playing non-conference games. The standings will stay the same until December 5th, when six of the nine teams return to league play while the other three teams are off.
Before we get to that weekend, we must get through this Thanksgiving weekend’s worth of games. I will be back on Friday to preview those games, update the USCHO rankings, and announce who won the players of the week for this past weekend’s games.
Before I wrap up this article, I have something that I would like to say to all the NCHC fans out there.
Thank you to all the NCHC fans who read my articles multiple times a week when they get published. It truly means the world to me to provide you with coverage of the best college hockey conference in the United States. To all the fans in the United States, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Talk to you all this weekend.
