Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
JIM: It’s always nice to share this page with you Paula, and I’m trusting that one month in this college hockey season is as enjoyable for you as it is for me.
As we’ve hit the one-month mark and all 63 teams have now officially opened their seasons, I can admit that I maybe wasn’t prepared for just how different college hockey might look this season. I know we’ve talked about CHL players in the NCAA and the difference those players are making, but when I look at certain team records, I’m left scratching my head.
Let’s just look at the eight teams who comprised in the fields in the three most recent Frozen Fours. Boston University has participated in all three and Michigan and Denver competed in two each, so the other five teams are Boston College, Minnesota, Quinnipiac, Western Michigan and Penn State. Two of those teams are having elite starts as both Michigan and Penn State are both 9-1-0. But the other six teams hold a collective record of 21-24-5, with Minnesota’s 2-7-1 mark the most notably obtuse of those records.
I don’t know that I can draw much of a conclusion of that group of six. But a few of those are considered college hockey blue bloods – BC, BU, Denver and Minnesota.
That has me wondering why have these teams, in particular, struggled out of the gate?
PAULA: I am as perplexed as you are, Jim.
There’s always the danger or reading too much into early-season performances and this season, but as Bob Motzko himself reminded us about a year ago, championships aren’t won in this part of the season, but what teams do now can certainly undermine the ability to compete for a title next spring. That has to be a concern for all three of these programs, Motzko’s included.
Of the four elite programs you mention, Denver is an outlier. The Pioneers are 4-3-1 – a rough start, but not insurmountable – and their numbers are good so far. They’re fifth in the country in scoring margin (2.12) so they’re putting them in the net and keeping them out in the ways they should. The Pioneers have solid goaltending in freshman Quentin Miller (1.47 GAA, .930 SV%). They do have 10 freshmen on the roster, and it may be that they’re still in search of the chemistry that will bring everything together.
Yeah, the Pioneers split at home against Alaska Anchorage this past weekend, but after losing 4-3 in OT Friday, Denver returned with a 6-0 rout Saturday. I think the Pioneers will be in the mix at the end of the season.
None of the other three programs you mention has a winning record in the early going, and each was swept this past weekend. We know that correlation isn’t causation, but Boston University and Boston College are among the teams with the fewest CHL rookies this season and Minnesota has none. Each of the three teams has drafted talent and excellent veterans who returned, so it does make me wonder how much of an impact major junior talent is having on college hockey this season.
Boston University has a dozen freshmen, so the Terriers may be experiencing some growing pains. Among these three teams, only BU is scoring more than three goals a game, but the Terriers are allowing 4.00 goals per game on average. Each of these teams needs to shore up its goal. Of these three, only BC’s Louka Cloutier had a GAA that is among the top 50 goaltenders in the NCAA right now.
Ironically, Denver has two freshmen goaltenders on its roster, and Miller is the one who didn’t come from the CHL. There are five freshmen on Denver’s team that do come from the CHL, so make of that what you will.
Whose fast start has surprised you, Jimmy? I will admit that both Michigan and Penn State have impressed me out of the gate – not that I expected either of those programs to tank, but each seems so finely tuned early in the season.
JIM: You make a good point about Denver, and of those four blue bloods, I worry about the Pioneers the least. Yes, Fridays haven’t always been kind, but the team has always bounced back with a better defensive performance on Saturday. That’s reassuring.
As for teams that have surprised me out of the gate, three I have pointed to thus far are Wisconsin, Union and Miami. Wisconsin isn’t too far removed from some success under Mike Hastings reaching the NCAA tournament two seasons ago. But Union has only made one NCAA appearance since winning the title in 2014. And Miami had just three wins last year and hasn’t been above .500 since 2015. All three of these teams have had strong starts, Wisconsin still without a loss at 6-0-2.
Union has gotten strong performances in net from Cameron Korpi, the transfer from Michigan, who is 5-1-1 with a .924 save percentage of a stingy goals against average of 1.56. I admit that I was cautious in my praise for Miami but going on the road this weekend and earning a split with Arizona State certainly validates Miami’s 7-1-0 mark at this point.
There are also individuals who are opening my eyes. It’s great to see Max Plante healthy for Minnesota Duluth. He already has 19 points and nine goals in just 10 games for the Bulldogs, another team that has been a pleasant surprise after a down season. And while we’ve talked a lot about Gavin McKenna at Penn State as being a star from the CHL ranks, it’s hard to look past what Justin Poirier is doing at Maine right now with eight goals in his first eight games.
PAULA: I have thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve seen of Plante this season and not just because he’s a Detroit Red Wings draft pick and I, having been victimized by geography, am a diehard Wings fan now. He’s fun to watch. The term “hockey sense” may be one of the most overused in the business, but Max Plante has that in abundance.
There have been several players with fast starts that have been fun to watch throughout DI. You mention McKenna and my mind immediately goes to JJ Wiebusch, the Penn State sophomore with 11 goals in 10 games after adding a goal each night in the Nittany Lions’ road sweep of the Buckeyes. Wiebusch had 14 goals in 40 games last year.
Another Big Ten player on fire is Michigan’s Will Horcoff, who has 10 goals in 10 games, including two power-play markers in Michigan’s Friday win over Notre Dame and the game-winning OT goal against the Irish Saturday.
After scoring 13 goals in 35 games for St. Cloud State last year, sophomore Austin Burnevik has 10 goals in nine games. Burnevik had a goal in each game of the Huskies’ split with Western Michigan. St. Cloud may be a bit of a dark horse this season.
Not to keep harping on the Big Ten, but I’ve been surprised by the play of three freshmen goaltenders from the CHL and how they’re impacting not just their teams, but the entire B1G conference (potentially, anyway). There’s no question in my mind that Michigan owes its quick start at least in part to Jack Ivankovic (1.50 GAA, .934 SV%), formerly of the OHL. A solid net this year makes the Wolverines look like contenders.
Penn State is loaded with talent this season, and that extends to net. Josh Fleming (1.75, .939) came to PSU from the QMJHL, and he’s been splitting time in net with Kevin Reidler, a sophomore transfer from Omaha. And Wisconsin’s hot start is due in part to the play of goaltender Daniel Hauser (1.35, .940), a 21-year-old freshman who played five seasons in the WHL.
It may seem like hyperbole, but I can already see the potential for play in the Big Ten to be elevated for what we’re seeing from the nets of those three teams alone – and that’s without discussing Michigan State’s Trey Augustine and Ohio State’s Kristoffer Eberly, two solid veterans. B1G Hockey hasn’t been known in recent years for its goaltending and defense overall, and this season feels very different because of a few key players. It’s wild.
JIM: I will admit that I have a level of excitement for the Big Ten this year. Those seven schools have attracted some top-end talent from both the CHL and elsewhere. There is more NIL money in that league than elsewhere. And right now, there seems to be a level of enthusiasm for the league that maybe didn’t exist in the early days of the conference.
But I have to pull a term I use in golf all the time: When is the Big Ten going to “pay it off.” In golf, we use that term when someone knocks it close and then has to focus on the birdie putt to make sure that of the good work to done set up a birdie (or eagle, or whatever) doesn’t go to waste.
Sometimes I feel that way about the Big Ten. The league has found a new level of dominance in recent years. But the conference has the same number of national championships as Atlantic Hockey and the CCHA in recent years.
To further muddy sports metaphors: At some point, doesn’t it feel like we are getting our hopes up to see a team in the Big Ten break through only to have Lucy pull away the football come April?
PAULA: TOO SOON, JIM! TOO SOON!
Sorry to yell. I was flashing back to 2018, sitting around a table in the lobby of that singularly desolate St. Paul media hotel with a bunch of dejected Big Ten folks – reporters, people from the league, a couple of fans – and I confess that this is still my biggest apprehension about B1G hockey.
And you’re absolutely right: it’s way past time for the Big Ten to pay off. A national championship was clearly on the minds of B1G coaches at the start of this season, and maybe that’s because they know something about what we’re sensing, that the Big Ten may be more talent-laden than it ever has before.
Yes, the conference has more NIL money than any other, and it has revenue sharing that is kind of staggering. As was made clear to me in my research for my Oct. 15 article about that money in the Big Ten, some B1G hockey programs won’t see a lot of that money trickle down to them because schools will prioritize other sports.
Even before the financial side of things changed NCAA sports, Big Ten teams had many advantages for recruiting and facilities that other programs may not have, and yet here many of us are, waiting for a national champion to emerge from the conference. I know there’s still a lot of resentment toward the conference among D-I fans, but the fact remains that the Big Ten is still the highest-profile conference, and its success can bring attention to D-I men’s hockey overall.
As you’ve pointed out, the Big Ten really has ramped it up a notch for the past three seasons, dominating nonconference play and garnering some well-deserved attention, and seemingly building up to legitimate national championship chances.
I’d like to say that I like the league’s odds in Vegas, but it’s so early – and I look a little too much like Charlie Brown.