Unexpected Things in College Hockey

College hockey arrived over a month ago and we have seen some truly incredible things come out of that month. We have also seen a lot of unexpected things. So, here is my top “Unexpected in College Hockey.

Clarkson is ranked 5^th in the country in the latest USCHO poll.

I’m not sure anyone expected to see Clarkson in the top 20, let along a top 5 teams in the nation. The Golden Knights (Not the NHL team) are cruising after defeating the last unbeaten team in the nation, Cornell. The win on Saturday night earned them the recognition of being a top 5 team. With an impressive record of 10-3-1, they have shown up in the standings.

They were swept by Minnesota (ranked 6) at Minnesota, and they lost to UMass-Lowell. But an otherwise impressive record, including big wins against Penn State, Western Michigan, and Cornell helped to earn them their high ranking. The Knights currently hold the highest Save Percentage, .946%, and are 5^th in goals against. The Golden Knights (still not the NHL team) are showing that they might be in competition for the playoffs come April.

Big Ten hockey has the best inter-conference win percentage.

After this weekend, with the Big 10 going 8-0 out of conference, they moved to the top, beating out the NCHC. This is quite unexpected, just looking at the rankings people would assume that the NCHC would be the top but that’s just not true. Going an impressive 7-0-1 against teams from Hockey East, and a 10-3-0 against WCHA, it’s safe to say that the Big 10 is not the weakest conference, and it’s not even close. They have 5 teams ranked in the top 20 this week, including 2 in the top 6. College hockey fans obviously won’t stop complaining that the “Big 10 ruined college hockey,” but they might be wrong in saying that the Big 10 is the worst conference.

Boston University is 6-7-1 this season

Boston University is not off to a strong start; in fact, they don’t even have a winning percentage over .500 yet. BU came into the season ranked second, only behind the current number 1 team and last year’s national champions, Denver. BU went 2-0-0 in their first weekend before going 0-2-0 in their second. Since then it looks like the Terriers just haven’t clicked. They look like a team that has the potential that everyone thought they had. Yet here we are 14 games into the season and they are under a .500 record, tied in the rankings at 19^th overall. If Boston wants to see the NCAA playoffs this year, then something in their game plan needs to change.