It's never too early to get excited for the
upcoming weekend. Six CCHA teams appear in the latest Inside
College Hockey Power Rankings and will face each other in
three very attractive early-season series this week.
Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors
and staff rank the nation's top teams (along with a note for
each team).
| No. |
Team |
|
Of
Note |
| 1. |
 Miami |
— |
Stuck in the middle with you: The RedHawks have scored
17 of their 26 goals this season in the second period. |
| 6-1-1 (3-1-0
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Northern Michigan, 4-3; W at Northern
Michigan, 2-1. THIS WEEK: at Michigan, at Michigan |
| 2. |
 North
Dakota |
— |
According to popular sports radio host Jim Rome, former
Sioux defenseman Mike Commodore, now with the Columbus
Blue Jackets, has an ownership stake in racehorses. Thankfully,
he's not riding them. |
| 4-1-1 (2-1-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: at Michigan Tech, at
Michigan Tech |
| 3. |
 Denver |
— |
Goalie Marc Cheverie will miss two to four weeks
after his left calf was cut deep by Minnesota State
skate in the third period of the Pioneers' win over
the Mavericks Friday. |
| 5-2-1 (3-0-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota State, 4-3; T vs. Minnesota
State, 4-4 ot. THIS WEEK: at Alaska Anchorage, at Alaska
Anchorage |
| 4. |
 Michigan |
 1 |
What can Brown do for you? Score goals, apparently.
Freshman forward Chris Brown is tied for the team lead
with four markers in six games. |
| 4-2-0 (2-0-0
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Lake Superior State, 5-1; W at Lake
Superior State, 6-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Miami, vs. Miami |
| 5. |
 Cornell
|
2 |
Not too shabby when your parents weekend game draws
Ron Francis. The Hall of Famer and fourth-leading scorer
in NHL history has a daughter at Cornell, and the Hurricanes'
Associate Head Coach caught Friday night's win over Niagara.
|
| 1-0-0 (0-0-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Niagara, 3-2 ot. THIS WEEK:
vs. Dartmouth, vs. Harvard |
| 6. |
 Nebraska-Omaha |
4 |
The Mavs ended up on the short end of a controversial
shootout loss to Bowling Green Friday. But since the game
goes into the record books as a tie, how controversial
can it be? |
| 4-0-2 (1-0-1
CCHA) LAST WEEK: T vs. Bowling Green, 3-3 ot; W vs. Bowling
Green, 3-1. THIS WEEK: at Michigan State, at Michigan
State |
| 7. |
 Yale |
2 |
Four third-period goals lifted Yale to a 5-2 win over
Princeton in the Bulldogs' first game of the season, a
non-league game. The second line of Denny Kearney, Broc
Little and Kevin Limbert is the best in ECAC Hockey. |
| 1-0-0 (0-0-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Ontario IT, 8-0 (Ex.); W
at Princeton, 5-2. THIS WEEK: at Rensselaer, at Union |
| 8. |
 Notre
Dame |
1 |
The scheduling gods, who allowed the Irish to play seven
of their first eight games at home with the lone road
match a trip to BU during fall break, send Notre Dame
to Fairbanks this weekend for two games with surprising
Nanooks. |
| 4-3-1 (1-0-1
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Ohio State, 3-1; T vs. Ohio State
2-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Alaska, at Alaska |
| 9. |
 UMass
Lowell |
2 |
The university reached an agreement with the city of
Lowell to take over ownership of Tsongas Arena in a mutually-beneficial
relationship, and the team got a nice bounce-back win
over BU on Saturday. |
| 4-2-0 (2-1-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston University, 5-4 ot;
W at Boston University, 3-2. THIS WEEK: at Vermont, vs.
New Hampshire |
| 10. |
 Boston
University |
 6 |
Friday's back-and-forth victory over UMass
Lowell is an early candidate for game of the year. The
Terriers rallied in the third period to take a late lead,
before the River Hawks forced the game to OT, which BU
won on a power-play goal by Colby Cohen. |
| 2-3-0 (1-2-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at UMass Lowell, 5-4 ot; L vs.
UMass Lowell, 3-2. THIS WEEK: at Northeastern, at Maine |
| 11. |
 Alaska |
2 |
Through six games, the Nanooks have scored 18 goals,
about one quarter the number (74) they scored in 39 games
last season. |
| 5-0-1 (2-0-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Ferris State, 3-1; W vs.
Ferris State, 3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Notre Dame, vs. Notre
Dame |
| 12. |
 Vermont
|
6 |
After scoring 14 goals in their first three games, the
Catamounts have scored a total of three in back-to-back
losses to Merrimack and Maine. |
| 2-3-0 (1-2-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L at Maine, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs.
UMass Lowell, vs. Providence |
| 13. |
 Bemidji
State |
1 |
At 5-0-1, BSU is off to its best start since winning
its first 11 games of the 1984-85 season. |
| 5-0-1 (2-0-0
CHA) LAST WEEK: W at Alabama-Huntsville, 2-1 ot; W at
Alabama-Huntsville, 2-1 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Robert Morris,
vs. Robert Morris |
| 14. |
 Princeton |
6 |
Princeton got a taste of what Harvard ran into last
spring, as Brown goalie Dan Clemente blanked the Tigers
for 61 minutes before Tyler Beachell scored a power-play
goal in overtime to give Princeton a win. |
| 1-1-0 (0-0-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Brown, 1-0 ot; L vs. Yale,
5-2. THIS WEEK: vs. St. Lawrence, vs. Clarkson |
| 15. |
 Colorado
College |
3 |
May the Schwartz be with you: Tiger freshman forward
Rylan Schwartz has seven points in six games to lead all
WCHA rookies in scoring. |
| 4-1-1 (3-0-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota Duluth,
vs. Minnesota Duluth |
| 16. |
 Michigan
State
|
3 |
The Spartans had six wins in October. They didn't win
their sixth game last year until Jan. 2. They're 3-0-0
at Munn Ice Arena, where they will play six of their next
eight games. |
| 6-2-0 (3-1-0
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Western Michigan, 2-1; W at Western
Michigan, 5-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Nebraska-Omaha, vs. Nebraska-Omaha |
| 17. |
 Massachusetts |
1 |
UMass saw its four-game winning streak snapped Saturday
despite outshooting Providence 48-17 in the game, including
21-0 in the third period, but their rally fell short due
to the 47-save effort of Friars goalie Alex Beaudry. |
| 4-1-0 (3-1-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at Providence, 5-3; L vs. Providence,
2-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Niagara, at Niagara |
| 18. |
 Minnesota
Duluth |
NR |
There should be plenty of entertainment in Colorado
Springs this weekend as the Bulldogs face Colorado College
in a series that features seven of the WCHA's top 15 scorers. |
| 5-2-1 (2-1-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Clarkson, 4-1; W vs. Clarkson,
4-2. THIS WEEK: at Colorado College, at Colorado College |
| 19. |
 Wisconsin |
NR |
Junior defenseman Brendan Smith had four assists in
the Badgers' impressive sweep of New Hampshire this past
weekend. |
| 3-2-1 (1-2-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. New Hampshire, 4-1; W vs. New Hampshire,
6-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota, vs. Minnesota |
| 20. |
 Boston
College |
5 |
Goalie John Muse ranks 63rd nationally in goals-against
average (3.69) and 75th in save percentage (.843) as the
Eagles have allowed 14 goals through four games. |
| 2-2-0 (1-2-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Merrimack, 4-3; L at Merrimack,
5-3. THIS WEEK: at New Hampshire, vs. Northeastern |