This Week in Hockey East: Coming off third straight Beanpot title, Northeastern aiming to rise in standings, get better playoff position

If the season ended today, and games in hand were ignored, Northeastern would miss the Hockey East playoffs after finishing in ninth place. The Huskies, however, would qualify for the NCAA tournament as an at-large team based on being 12th in the PairWise (photo: Rich Gagnon).

Bracketology: Figuring out problems on how to best seed the 2020 NCAA hockey national tournament

We’re down to five and a half weeks until selection Sunday, and as things begin to shape up in terms of what teams are getting closer to punching their NCAA tickets, we are also running into some problems on how to best seed the tournament (photo: Jim Rosvold/University of Minnesota).

This Week in WCHA Hockey: Humitz, Calder helping fuel Lake Superior State’s playoff push

When the month of October ended, Lake Superior State was 2-6-0, having lost consecutive games to Denver, Michigan and Notre Dame. The Lakers followed that up with a sweep of Ferris State to open November only to drop 11 of their next 14 games and find themselves on the outside looking in as 2019 ended (photo: LSSU Athletics).

Michigan’s Mel Pearson on this season’s Wolverines, the Big Ten race toward the playoffs: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast season 2 episode 19

One of the hottest teams in college hockey – and just two games out of first place in the Big Ten – is Michigan. Wolverines head coach Mel Pearson joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk about this year’s team, its senior leadership, overtime rules (and the Big Ten coaches’ preference for NHL-style OT), the difficulty of getting back to the Frozen Four, and what makes Yost Ice Arena special. Plus a look ahead at this weekend’s upcoming games with rival Michigan State.

This episode of USCHO Spotlight is sponsored by the 2020 NCAA Frozen Four, April 9 and 11 in Detroit. Visit ncaa.com/frozenfour for tickets.

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Penn State alone in first in Big Ten, Maine continues to surprise Hockey East, PairWise Update: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 18

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look back at the D-I college hockey weekend of February 7-9, 2020.

No. 9 Penn State moved into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten by picking up four of six points against No. 13 Ohio State, while Michigan stayed hot with a sweep of Wisconsin.

No. 6 Minnesota Duluth moved to within two points of No. 1 North Dakota in the NCHC race with a sweep of Omaha, and jumped to No. 4 in the PairWise.

In the WCHA, No. 3 Minnesota State kept its winning ways going with a sweep of No. 15 Northern Michigan.

Hockey East continues to be tight with the weekend highlighted by Maine’s home win over No. 12 Northeastern, moving the Black Bears to No. 13 in the PairWise, along with No. 8 UMass’s home-and-home sweep of No. 10 Providence, and wins for No. 14 UMass Lowell over No. 4 Boston College and Merrimack.

Clarkson and Cornell are tied atop the ECAC Hockey standings with the Golden Knights’ win over rival St. Lawrence and the Big Red’s home-and-home sweep of Colgate.

Atlantic Hockey’s standings remain tight with Bentley’s win over Army, RIT’s four points at Robert Morris, and Canisius holding Air Force to one point on the road.

Arizona State swept its weekend, but dropped two spots in the PairWise.

We also look at where things stand now in the PairWise Rankings, and pay tribute to Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon, who announced he’s stepping down at the end of the season.

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.

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GOTW: Behind two-goal night from Biro, Penn State bests Ohio State 6-3, re-takes top spot in B1G Hockey standings

It was a battle to the end, but No. 9 Penn State survived a third-period rally by No. 13 Ohio State, scoring twice into an empty net to earn a 6-3 road victory and move back into solo first place in the Big Ten standings. For much of the game, it felt like Penn State … Read more

Atlantic Hockey Picks: February 7-11

Last Week: Dan: 10-2-0 Chris: 9-3-0 On The Season: Dan: 115-45-18 (.697) Chris: 104-56-18 (.634) This Week’s Picks: Friday, February 7 and Saturday, February 8 Mercyhurst vs. Niagara Chris: Friday’s game is at Niagara while Mercyhurst hosts on Saturday. Both teams have been struggling this season, but Niagara looks like it’s on the upswing lately, … Read more

Picking The WCHA: Feb. 7-8

Picking The WCHA: Feb. 7-8

Last week we had a few shocks in league action: Minnesota State had to rally to get a tie and an extra point in Anchorage while Alabama Huntsville earned a split with Michigan Tech. Bemidji State managed to sweep Bowling Green. The one result last week that wasn’t a shock was Northern Michigan sweeping Ferris … Read more

Hockey East picks: Feb. 7-10

In the words if the immortal Jim Carrey: “So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance?” Sure, I entered last weekend with an eight-game deficit to Dave, but an 8-2-0 mark was good enough to gain two games and slowly chip away at the lead. Realistically, though, I have about as much chance as Jim Carrey’s character … Read more

Pickin’ the Big Ten: Feb. 7-8

Greetings! A big weekend in the B1G, with the top four teams facing off against each other. Wisconsin also travels to Michigan and Notre Dame takes the weekend off. First, let’s see how Paula and I did last week. Last week Drew: 2-3-1 (.417) Paula: 3-2-1 (.583) This season Drew: 73-44-10 (.614) Paula: 61-56-10 (.520) … Read more