Jacob Allen

There were a ton of key matchups this weekend in Cawlidge Hawkey. As many as there were, here were the five biggest ones.

Nebraska-Omaha @ Notre Dame

Nebraska Omaha went on the road to Notre Dame and beat a good Irish team 6-4 on Thursday, thanks to two goals a piece from David Pope and Steven Spinner. Omaha tendy (goalie), Evan Weninger made 31 saves on 35 shots, good enough for the win.

Notre Dame came back and beat them 5-4 on Friday to split on the weekend.

Notre Dame (4-3-1); Omaha (3-2-1.)

North Dakota @ Colorado College (CC) 

Colorado College has come out hot this year for a 5-3 record after a bismal 8-24-4 record last year. They continued to surprise this weekend after topping North Dakota 2-1 at home on Friday night. They ended up splitting the weekend series after a 6-4 loss on Saturday, but look for CC to surprise some teams this year and actually be competitive in the NCHC.

North Dakota (5-2-1); Colorado College (5-3-0)

Clarkson @ Minnesota 

I know that people don’t know a lot about hockey, and I highly doubt you know who Clarkson is, but they just went into Minneapolis and played the Golden Gophers tough for 2 games. They lost 3-1 the Friday night and 2-1 Saturday night.

I personally do not know a whole lot about Clarkson either, let alone their hockey team, but John Buccigross, or Bucci, has put them on my radar. He talked about them and how this would be a big weekend for them, and they showed out. Look for Clarkson to be a fun team to root for come tournament time.

Clarkson (4-3-1); Minnesota (5-3-0)

Denver @ Boston & Boston College

The top ranked Denver Pioneers traveled to Boston to face the Boston Terriers and Boston College Eagles. Friday night they topped the Terriers 4-3 in a very good hockey game. American Hero, Troy Terry, netted the game winner with 17 seconds left to play in regulation.

They pumped Boston College the next night by a score of 6-1, with goals from Dylan Gambrell, Henrik Borgström (2), Blake Hillman (2), and Tyson McLellan. The Pioneers had great production from their first line, Colin Staub (3 pts), Troy Terry (5 pts), and Dylan Gambrell (5 pts) as well.

The Pioneers still look like the best team in the nation and will be featured later this week as my top ranked team in Cawlidge Hawkey.

Denver (4-0-2); Boston (3-4-1); Boston College (1-5-1)

Arizona State @ Colgate

Arizona State traveled to New York to face Colgate, losing 3-0 on Friday before getting a 1-1  tie on Saturday. This was truly not a bad weekend for the Sun Devils as they continue this transition to NCAA Division 1 college hockey.

Arizona State was outshot 34-20 on Friday night and 48-22 on Saturday. The Sun Devils can win games if their goalie isn’t getting peppered every game. Look for them to be blocking shots in practice, and for that to relay over to this weekend’s game against Alabama-Huntsville.

Arizona State (1-5-1); Colgate (3-2-3)

Bucci’s New Top 10