Atlantic Hockey

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the games of the past week and a couple of news items.

Last week there were four undefeated teams who had seen action, but this week there’s only one of them standing alone on top. Minnesota’s perfect 8-0 record has the poised and confident Golden Gophers reaching No. 1 in the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll.

The teams right behind all had one or more losses in the past week, including North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth in the very competitive NCHC pod in Omaha, and Boston College, which lost its first game of the season to UConn.

The WCHA is down to eight teams with the announcement of Alaska’s suspended season – which the team is working to reverse – and off to a great start is Bowling Green.

Plus, we ask whether the IIHF is really doing all it can to protect players as they head to Edmonton.

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Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the games of the past weekend and news of the week.

The top three teams all season in the USCHO.com Division I men’s ice hockey poll remain undefeated: North Dakota, Boston College, and Minnesota Duluth. They’re joined by a 6-0 Minnesota.

In the NCHC Pod, despite an 0-3 record, Denver is playing well and 2-2 Omaha is off to a strong start.

Weekend upsets include Michigan Tech over Minnesota State and two splits: Merrimack with UMass and Mercyhurst with Bowling Green.

World Junior camp is underway, leaving a lot of holes for top teams and leaving out three Boston University players because of COVID-19 protocol.

Wisconsin on Monday announced it’s on a pause.

And a bit of a rant – the first of the season! – from Ed about what people don’t get about the aforementioned USCHO.com poll.

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Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the games of the past weekend, including Arizona State’s sweep of a depleted No. 14 Wisconsin, Notre Dame’s road sweep of No. 4 Michigan, No. 2 Boston College’s home-and-home wins over No. 7 UMass, and RIT’s come-from-behind win on Friday in a weekend split with No. 9 Clarkson.

We also discuss the large number of canceled or postponed games and whether playing makes sense (spoiler alert: it does) and how difficult it is to prevent the virus from impacting a team.

We take a look at the upcoming NCHC bubble in Omaha and ask whether that could be a preview of this year’s NCAA tournament protocol.

And we note that the pandemic can hit very, very close to home.

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Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the games and news of the week, including Michigan’s strong start, the NCHC pod arrangements, and the large number of postponed games thus far.

Plus how will the cancellation of eight teams’ seasons affect ECAC Hockey in the future?

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Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look back at the first weekend of college hockey for the 2020-21 season.

Wisconsin picked up six points in the Big Ten with a weekend road sweep at Notre Dame while Michigan won both ends of a home series against Arizona State.

Eight teams have cancelled their 2020-21 campaigns, including the Ivy League as a whole, and others have seen delays and postponements.

Alabama Huntsville has $17 million contributed to fund operations for the next decade, while Long Island University has defied critics and is ready to get its new program underway this week.

And the training camp for the Canadian World Juniors team has three NCAA programs facing a dilemma.

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Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look back at the weekend of March 5-8, which saw four conferences begin playoffs and two others wrap up their regular seasons.

In ECAC Hockey, Princeton’s two overtime wins advanced the Tigers past Dartmouth, while it took two overtimes for Yale to advance past Union in the league’s only game three.

The big surprise in Atlantic Hockey was that there were no surprises; all three higher seeds advanced, though only Robert Morris needed three to move past Holy Cross, including a game two overtime win.

In the Big Ten, the higher seeds all won as well. Notre Dame will miss the NCAA tournament after a disappointing second semester, while Wisconsin will await decisions by three first-round draft picks who might turn pro.

The WCHA saw two lower seeds advance. Bowling Green swept Alaska and Michigan Tech downed rival Northern Michigan in a three-overtime thriller.

Hockey East settled its playoff lineup and home ice as did the NCHC, which decided everything on Friday except whether North Dakota would be alone in first place. The Fighting Hawks’ win over Omaha gave them sole possession of the Penrose Cup.

Arizona State continues to watch the PairWise, which Bemidji State showed over the weekend still has some volatility.

Plus we weigh in on the impact of the coronavirus as Rensselaer announced its series against Harvard will be played at an empty Houston Field House.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Frozen Four, April 9-11 in Detroit. Visit ncaa.com/frozenfour to get your tickets today.

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Playoff fields are set in four conferences after last weekend, while two conferences still have a final week left in their regular season. Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the results of February 27-29, 2020.

In Hockey East, Boston College has clinched the regular season and UMass has locked up home ice, but four teams are still battling for the last three playoff spots.

In the NCHC, North Dakota has won a share of the regular-season Penrose Cup, but Minnesota Duluth could share that title, while St. Cloud still has a shot at home ice.

Cornell’s highly-anticipated Saturday contest with Clarkson was a bit anticlimactic after the Golden Knights’ tie with Colgate on Friday clinched the Cleary Cup for the Big Red, but the surprise team in ECAC Hockey is Rensselaer, which earned a first-round playoff bye.

With its season completed last week, Penn State had to await the results of the weekend to see whether it would hold onto first place in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions won their first Big Ten regular-season title after Minnesota and Ohio State managed just one point each on the weekend.

In the WCHA, Minnesota State clinched sole possession of first place with a weekend split with Bemidji State, while Alaska’s sweep of Alaska Anchorage gave the Nanooks home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Atlantic Hockey’s repeat regular season champion American International had already clinched the league, but three teams competed over the weekend for the first-round bye, which Niagara won with a sweep of Robert Morris.

And Arizona State’s PairWise position was shored up by the weekend’s results, with the Sun Devils at No. 12.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Frozen Four, April 9-11 in Detroit. Visit ncaa.com/frozenfour to get your tickets today.

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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.

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Hockey East announced today that New Hampshire deputy athletic director Steve Metcalf will become the fifth commissioner of the conference this spring. Hosts Jim Connelly  and Ed Trefzger discuss his hiring.

Also in this episode, a look around the conferences and results from the weekend of February 14-16:

In the NCHC, a weekend sweep by No. 1 North Dakota over No. 6 Denver has cemented the Fighting Hawks atop the conference and guaranteed an NCAA berth.

The Big Ten remains tight, with Minnesota’s five-of-six point weekend at Notre Dame giving the Golden Gophers a share of first place with Penn State.

Cornell and Clarkson have opened up some space atop ECAC Hockey.

Hockey East remains jumbled, with three teams gaining weekend sweeps, leaving five points separating first through ninth place, and just two points among the top five.

Bemidji State’s weekend sweep gains ground on Minnesota State, but the idle Mavericks need just two points to clinch.

Sweeps by Army and RIT have given them the edge in the race for home ice and a first-round bye in Atlantic Hockey, while American International and Sacred Heart have clinched it.

And Arizona State’s weekend sweep has the Sun Devils nearly a lock for the NCAA tournament pending a road trip to Wisconsin next weekend.

Plus, Jim gives his odds for teams to make the NCAA tournament at this point in time as we look at the PairWise Rankings.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Frozen Four, April 9-11 in Detroit. Visit ncaa.com/frozenfour to get your tickets today.

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