With only one or two weekends left in conference play, all but Atlantic Hockey – clinched by American International – remain up for grabs for regular season titles. Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look back at a wild weekend of college hockey.
In Hockey East, No. 8 UMass and No. 14 UMass Lowell split their home-and-home weekend, while No. 6 Boston College won both halves against No. 10 Northeastern, including a thumping at home. Merrimack ended its season with a home-and-home upset of No. 15 Providence, while No. 17 Maine picked up three home points against Vermont.
In the NCHC, No. 1 North Dakota managed just a tie at St. Cloud State, while No. 4 Minnesota Duluth split with host No. 19 Western Michigan, and No. 7 Denver won in big fashion over Miami at home.
No. 11 Penn State ended its Big Ten season with 5-of-6 points at home against No. 18 Minnesota, but the conference race remains wide open, with No. 12 Ohio State controlling its own destiny.
In ECAC Hockey, No. 20 Harvard upset No. 5 Clarkson, giving No. 2 Cornell a two-point lead in the standings, but the Crimson stumbled Saturday at St. Lawrence. Meanwhile the race for a first-round bye and first-round home ice is tight heading into the league’s last weekend.
No. 3 Minnesota State kept up its winning ways with big wins over Alabama Huntsville, but it was Bowling Green’s two home wins that were most significant in the WCHA as the Falcons look to gain home ice for the first round of the playoffs.
In Atlantic Hockey, AIC’s 11-game winning streak and 20 league wins have sewn up first place, while Sacred Heart has at least a share of second place and the second playoff seed sown up. Rochester Institute of Technology and Army West Point each will finish either third or fourth, but a battle remains for the fifth-place first-round bye and home ice in the first round this coming weekend.
Plus, Wisconsin’s sweep of No. 9 Arizona State kept the Sun Devils from clinching an NCAA berth and put ASU near the PairWise bubble.
And Jim and Ed share some Miracle on Ice 40th anniversary remembrances and thoughts.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Frozen Four, April 9-11 in Detroit. Visit ncaa.com/frozenfour to get your tickets today.
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, in your favorite podcast app, or on Spreaker.
Sponsor this podcast: https://www.advertisecast.com/USCHOWeekendReview
About the hosts
Jim Connelly is a senior writer at USCHO.com and has been with the site since 1999. He is based in Boston and regularly covers Hockey East. He began with USCHO.com as the correspondent covering the MAAC, which nowadays is known as Atlantic Hockey. Each week during the season, he co-writes “Tuesday Morning Quarterback.” Jim is the winner of the 2012 Joe Concannon award. He a former color analyst for UMass-Lowell hockey’s radio network and studio analyst for NESN.
Ed Trefzger has been part of USCHO since 1999 and now serves as a senior writer and director of technology. He is the radio play-by-play voice for Rochester Institute of Technology hockey on the RIT Tigers Sports Network, and has been involved with the broadcasts as a producer, studio host, and color commentator since their inception. He is co-owner and president of broadcasting company Genesee Media, and was general manager of the former Rochester, N.Y., sports radio station 97.5 The Team.
