While No. 1 Quinnipiac escaped this weekend unscathed, it wasn’t easy being at the top of the USCHO.com poll.
That leads this list of the top 10 things from this weekend in our Monday 10 feature:
1. Quinnipiac is scored upon – which is the closest this team is coming to finding bad news these days
The breaking news for No. 1 Quinnipac is that the Bobcats allowed goals this weekend. After back-to-back shutouts of St. Lawrence and Clarkson – not to mention three shutouts in four games – when Quinnipiac fell behind 1-0 to Yale on Friday, it felt like breaking news. From that point in the game, though, Quinnipiac scored five straight to win 5-1 and coupled with a 5-2 win over Brown on Saturday, it was yet another sweep for the Bobcats. The Friday win clinched a third Cleary Cup – the ECAC regular-season title – for Quinnipiac, as this team continues to roll towards the finish line.
2. Ohio State impresses both indoors and out
It looked as if Michigan was positioned to take the second seed in the Big Ten tournament after Minnesota was ready to clinch things heading into this weekend (and did so convincingly over Penn State on Friday), but Ohio State certainly made a statement this weekend. The Buckeyes skated to a 3-3 tie in Columbus and won the shootout on Thursday and then, in front of more than 40,000 on Saturday outdoors at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland, defeated the Wolverines 4-2. The five-point weekend in the Big Ten pulled Ohio State into a tie with the Wolverines for the second spot heading to the last weekend.
3. And about those Gophers
As mentioned, Minnesota clinched the Big Ten regular-season title on Friday, scoring the first six goals of the game before the midway point of the second en route to a 7-2 victory over Penn State. While the Nittany Lions put forth a better fight on Saturday Matthew Knies spoiled the evening in Hockey Valley, scoring the tying goal with 41 seconds remaining and the game-winner at 2:49 of overtime. Minnesota seems almost locked into the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, currently at 70 percent to land in the top spot.
4. Merrimack is back from the dead after a sweep of Boston University
Merrimack was the dark-horse darling of the first half of the season. But a 3-8-1 skid after the break, including three straight OT losses in Hockey East play heading into this weekend, had the Warriors reeling. Somehow, though, facing off against first-place Boston University gave Merrimack the life it needed. A 4-1 win at home on Friday was followed by a 4-3, come-from-behind victory with 0.1 seconds left in overtime on Saturday over the Terriers, producing a five-point Hockey East weekend. The weekend, which solidified Merrimack’s place in third in Hockey East and leaves them with a hope of a first-ever regular-season title, didn’t do much to help in the PairWise where Merrimack still remains in 19th.
5. Minnesota State moves to first in CCHA, but can’t put stranglehold on title
After Friday’s 4-1 victory for Minnesota State over Bemidji State, one might have felt that the Mavericks were ready to seize control of the CCHA standings as the season comes to a close. Minnesota State trailed Michigan Tech by a single point headed to the weekend while the Huskies were idle. The Mavericks moved two points ahead and could’ve extended that lead on Saturday before both Mankato and Tech faceoff next weekend to close the season. But a 2-1 loss to Bemidji State spoiled Minnesota State sweep and placed the Mavericks just two points ahead of Michigan Tech as the pair square off this weekend with a regular-season title on the line.
6. Cornell’s falters put NCAA bid at risk
While there were plenty of great stories from this weekend, for Cornell, Friday and Saturday may have felt like some lost opportunities. Facing Clarkson and St. Lawrence at home, the Big Red were looking for victories to further cement their position not just in the ECAC standings but, more importantly, in the PairWise. Instead, a 4-3 loss to Clarkson on Friday and a 1-0 loss to St. Lawrence a night later not only dropped Cornell to third place in the ECAC, but more importantly to the PairWise bubble. Cornell is in a three-way tie for 14th with Northeastern and Notre Dame. The tie breaker – RPI – places the Huskies higher than Cornell, but the Big Red still lead Notre Dame by .0019 percentage points in the RPI. Not a lot of room for error for the Big Red.
7. Alaska rallies for sweep of LIU to keep hope alive for NCAA bid
Independent Alaska rallied on back-to-back nights, including overcoming a 3-0 deficit on Saturday against LIU to earn a weekend sweep and keep alive the team’s hopes for an at-large NCAA tournament bid. The Nanooks, which improved to 18-10-2, have four games remaining – two on the road at Arizona State and two at home versus Lindenwood – with a legitimate hope of an NCAA bid. Currently, the odds of earning that bid are less than 20 percent, but a perfect finish and a 23-10-2 record makes things possible for the Nanooks, who currently sit 17th in the PairWise.
8. NCHC still has plenty of possibilities
For a while, it looked like Denver’s race to a regular-season title might be a foregone conclusion. But a 6-5 loss for the Pioneers on Saturday night to Minnesota Duluth places Western Michigan withing striking distance with two weekends remaining for each team. Moreover, the fact that the Pioneers and Broncos will face off against one another this weekend at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo brings in the fact that Western could actually take over the top spot in the league if they were to earn a regulation sweep. In essence, the entire NCHC standings feel up for grabs – at least the top four and spots 5-7 do. While Miami is cemented in last and it is unlikely that any of the current top four would lose home ice, nothing much feels secure in this league.
9. Will Northeastern be Hockey East’s second team?
To understand how volatile the bottom of the PairWise bubble is right now, look at the plight of Northeastern this past weekend. The Huskies began things inside the bubble on Friday morning, 15th in the PairWise. Idle on Friday, Northeastern fell all the way to 19th after Friday’s games were completed. But after a 3-0 win on the road at Vermont – a victory that maybe seems inconsequential in helping Northeastern’s RPI – the Huskies moved all the way back to a three-way tie for 14th in the RPI, holding that No. 14 spot based on the RPI tiebreaker. Why so much fluctuation? The fact that Northeastern at 14 and Merrimack at 19 are separated by .0067 in RPI has a ton to do with it. Every single game can change that number and there will be plenty of movement going forward.
10. The Beanpot overtime – and shootout – debate
It feels like it’s been weeks since Northeastern earned its fourth Beanpot title in five years over Harvard last Monday. But it was less than a week ago that much of the college hockey world exploded over social media because one of the legendary college hockey tournaments was decided by a shootout. The NCAA a few years back mandated that any in-season tournament use a five-minute overtime to decide a final score – the impetus being that teams who played lengthy overtime games during in-season tournaments didn’t want to the charged for a loss in the PairWise if they were to lose. Since that time, though, the overtime and shootout structure have overtaken the sport and the NCAA rules committee decided all in-season tournament games needed to be decided in either 3-on-3 OT or a shootout. It was less than ideal for the Beanpot, which has a legacy of great overtime battles – and heroes – that make the lore of the tournament more special. And while it is understandable that the NCAA likes uniformity, it is more important the governing body allow events such as the Beanpot, the GLI, or any other tournament the ability to find their own solution on how to crown a champion.
