Beware the Bulldogs
Don’t look now, but Minnesota Duluth has won four games in a row, and six of its last seven while going undefeated in those games. This weekend, the Bulldogs, who have been many NCHC writers sleeper pick for the second half, including mine, posted an impressive sweep of North Dakota, winning 5-3 and 5-2 and moving into sole possession of fifth place in the NCHC, and only one point behind North Dakota for the final home ice spot for the NCHC playoffs. The Bulldogs have also won five straight in conference during their streak.

Friday, the Bulldogs scored twice on the power play en route to taking a 3-1 lead after two periods, and that’s when things got interesting, as during a 3:12 span early in the first, North Dakota twice pulled within one goal, but the North Dakota rally fell short, as Hunter Shepard made 15 saves in the third to preserve the win and Riley Tufte added an empty-netter to seal the win.

Saturday, Joey Anderson continued his hot play, netting four points, and Scott Perunovich had two goals, including the game-winner, as the Bulldogs scored five unanswered goals and rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Shepard made 18 saves in the win.

Denver gets important sweep
The Denver Pioneers have been off since sweeping Minnesota Duluth at the beginning of December, going 3-3-2 in that stretch. This weekend, the Pioneers may have taken an important step toward getting their mojo back by convincingly sweeping No. 15 Omaha, 5-0 and 4-0. The sweep moved Denver back into first in the NCHC as 2017 Mike Richter Award winner Tanner Jaillet made 64 saves on the weekend in the two shutouts. Jaillet looked like the goalie who backstopped the Pioneers to the national championship last year. Top-scoring forward Henrik Borgström had a goal and four assists on the weekend, and rookie defenseman Ian Mitchell had four assists. The Pioneers also got two goals from Troy Terry, who has struggled offensively during Denver’s rough stretch. As Denver coach Jim Montgomery stated, “For Troy Terry to be scoring goals, it’s always a good sign for Denver hockey.” The Pioneers also scored four power-play goals on the weekend, including three on Friday.

St. Cloud continues to struggle
On Hockey Day Minnesota, the host St. Cloud State Huskies lost 5-2 to in-state rival Minnesota State, giving up two goals in each of the first two periods and an empty-netter in the third. The Huskies outshot the Mavericks, 30-26, but the defense struggled. Jeff Smith gave up three goals on 10 shots in the first two periods before being replaced by Dávid Hrenák, who gave up one. Since the break, the Huskies, who were the no. 1 team in the country to start the year, have gone a middling 2-3-2, and their path won’t get easier, as they travel to Duluth to take on the red-hot Bulldogs.

It was a tough weekend for the Clarkson Golden Knights. First on Friday, their 14 game winning streak came to an end in a wild contest against the Harvard Crimson as the two teams skated to a 6-6 tie.

Freshman sensations Jack Jacome and Josh Dickson each had three points as Jacome had two goals and a assist while Dickson had a goal and a helper.

Jacome is fifth in the nation in freshman scoring with five goals and 16 assists. Dickson is 12th in the nation with 11 goals and eight assists.

Lewis Zerter-Gossage scored with 59 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game into overtime.

It was Zerter-Gossage’s second goal of the game.

With the tie, their unbeaten streak remained for another 24 hours as Dartmouth College came into Potsdam looking for an upset. They did just that as the Big Green came away with the 3-2 victory.

The loss was the Golden Knights first since Oct. 28 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Matt Baker had two goals for the Big Green in the victory.

Dartmouth must be use to these upsets by now as they upset the Denver Pioneers on Dec. 16 in Denver. The Pioneers were also the No. 2 team in the USCHO poll when they lost to Dartmouth.

Cornell continues to roll in a sweep of Colgate

Somewhat lost in Clarkson’s 15 game unbeaten streak has been the run the Big Red have been on. While they haven’t had a double digit win streak like the Golden Knights have this season they currently have the highest winning percentage in college hockey at .868 with a record of 15-2-1.

This weekend they had a pair of 2-0 victories over travel partner Colgate. Matthew Galajda was in goal for both games to earn the shutouts.

What Colton Point has done in Colgate’s crease has been phenomenal all season to keep the Raiders in games. It’s too bad the offense isn’t there most nights to help him out. The lack of offense could keep them from getting a first round bye.

Standings taking shape

After this weekend the tiers in the standings are becoming clear. The top four have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Clarkson is 10-1-1 in the ECAC with 21 points while Union College is one back with wins over Yale and Brown over the weekend. Their record is 10-4. Cornell with a 9-1-1 record and Harvard with a 8-3-1 record each have 19 points.

There’s a three way tie for fifth. Colgate, Dartmouth and Yale each have 13 points. The Raiders have the advantage with two games in hand over Dartmouth and three games in hand over the Bulldogs.

The third tiers led by Brown and Quinnipiac as they both have 10 points. Princeton is one point behind them and Rensselaer has eight points. Quinnipiac and Princeton both have games in hand over Brown and RPI.

St. Lawrence is still looking for their first win in ECAC play as they sit in 12th with one point.