David Pope is the goals leader in the NCHC.
The NCHC had its first full week of play in a while last weekend. Although all the teams were back on the ice, a few players that play for a few NCHC squads are playing for their countries in the Winter Olympics.
SCSU 20-6-4 (1) vs WMU 14-14-2 (17)
The St. Cloud State University Huskies came into the weekend looking to continue to show they are the best team in college hockey while the Western Michigan University Broncos tried to keep relevant in the NCAA tournament discussion.
It was about as back-and-forth of a game as you can have Friday evening.
The game got out to a quick start with the Huskies scoring the first goal in the first four minutes of the contest.
The Broncos quickly responded with two goals of their own. One of the goals came off the stick of Paul Stoykewych on a power play making the score 2-1.
With a 5×3 advantage, the Huskies scored the equalizer tying the game at 2-2.
Ryan Poehling scored his eighth goal of the season to put the Huskies ahead 3-2 with just over five minutes remaining in the period.
After an eventful opening period, the game slowed down in the second period.
Although out-shot 18-6, WMU came away with the only goal of the period when Adian Muir score his second goal of the game.
In the final period, the teams swapped goals, each scoring two goals.
The final goal of the period, and the goal to tie the game at 5-5, came with an extra attacker with less than a minute remaining in the game.
SCSU won in the shootout, 1-0 to secure the extra point in the conference standings.
Neither team could find the back of the net until the second period on Saturday.
Easton Brodzinski scored the game’s first goal on a power play for the Huskies just over four minutes into the middle period.
The Broncos stormed back with two goals of their own including a short-handed goal from Josh Passolt and Dawson DiPietro’s 13th goal of the season. The Broncos now had a 2-1 lead.
The lead carried over into the final period, but the Huskies shut them down from then on out.
SCSU scored three goals and allowed only one shot in the period on their way to a 4-2 victory over WMU.
SCSU heads home this weekend to gear up for a heavyweight matchup with the University of Denver Pioneers. The series will likely decide the conference champion. The Huskies were swept in Denver in November.
The Broncos remain at home where they will face the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs this weekend. The teams split their matchup earlier in the season with each team shutting out the other in their victories.
DU 17-7-6 (3) vs CC 13-13-4
The in-state rivals Denver University Pioneers and Colorado College Tigers faced each other last weekend in their second home-and-home series of the season.
The Tigers never stood a chance Friday night in front of their home crowd in Colorado Springs.
DU didn’t miss a beat without the talented Troy Terry, who is currently competing in the Olympics for the United States team.
After the first period, the Pioneers held a 1-0 lead from a Henrik Borgström goal.
DU added another goal to its lead exactly one minute into the second period to extend the lead to 2-0.
Brian Williams scored his third goal of the season for CC to cut into the lead, 2-1.
DU took over from that point on scoring two more goals in the second period, and another in the third en route to a 5-1 win.
While the Pioneers struggled on the power play, they went 0-5 on their opportunities, their defense completely locked down CC. They did not allow more than eight shots on goal in a period and out-shot the Tigers 41-20.
The following night in Denver, nothing went DU’s way.
CC’s Nick Halloran scored the only goal of the night for either team on a power play with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first period.
Once again, the Tigers were thoroughly out-shot, this time 40-22.
Like the previous night, their penalty kill was stellar blanking the Pioneers on their four chances.
Alex Leclerc showed why he has been one of the best goalies in the conference all season shutting out the dynamic DU offense while making 40 saves.
CC head to Omaha, Nebraska to take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha this weekend. They split their series in November. In the Tiger’s win, they shut out the Mavericks 4-0.
Denver heads to SCSU this weekend to face the Huskies. The Pioneers are 2-5-1 at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in the last five years.
MU 10-17-3 vs UMD 16-13-3 (9)
UMD came into the matchup struggling as they had lost three games in a row. Miami University RedHawks had been struggling as well winning only 2 games so far in 2018.
UMD took a 2-0 lead in the first period from goals by Joey Anderson, on the power play, and Billy Extell at even strength.
A goal in the second period, and one in the third period sealed the 4-0 route of the Hawks.
In the win, The Bulldog allowed only 16 shots all game while shooting the puck 35 times themselves and allowed no more than seven shots in a period. They held MU scoreless on their four power play opportunities as well.
Saturday was more of the same.
Jared Thomas scored in the opening period for the Bulldogs to put them ahead 1-0. That was all they would need.
Neither team could muster a goal in the middle period and the Bulldogs had a 1-0 lead going into the final period.
UMD scored two goals in the third period, one of which coming from an empty net goal in their 3-0 win over the Hawks.
For the second night in a row the Bulldogs shutout MU. This time, however, goalie Hunter Shepard was much more active. Shepard recorded 34 saves in the game compared to the 16 from the night before.
MU heads home to Oxford, Ohio this weekend for a date with the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. They are 1-0-1 in their season series against the Hawks this season.
The Bulldogs hit the road this weekend to Michigan to face the WMU Broncos. They split their series earlier this season. UMD is 2-2 in Kalamazoo in the last three seasons.
UND 14-10-8 (12) vs UNO 15-14-1
The University of North Dakota and the University of Nebraska-Omaha were looking to improve their pairwise rating last weekend with the conference title out of sight.
On Friday, there were a combined nine goals scored. Only two of the nine were with a goalie in the net or at even strength.
The scoring started with a goal from Jordan Kawaguchi for UND. in the first period. They added another goal on the power play and ended the first period with a 2-0 lead.
The second period was very different.
Tyler Vesel scored on the power play for the Mavericks in the opening three minutes of the period to cut the Hawk lead to 2-1.
UND quickly answered with their own power play goal to make the score 3-1.
The Mavericks scored three unanswered goals before the period was over, two coming from power plays. They Mavericks now owned a 4-3 lead heading into the third period.
UNO added two empty-net goals at the end of the period which lead to their eventual 6-3 victory.
Peter Thome got the start in net for UND in place of Cam Johnson. Thome struggled, letting in four goals with only 20 saves. Evan Weniger on the other side of the ice had a very good night making 38 saves while letting in three goals.
The scoring didn’t start until the second period on Saturday.
Shane Gersich got UND on the board with a goal just under halfway through the second period.
Two more goals in the final frame sealed the victory for the Hawks, one being an empty net goal.
Unlike the night before, each team’s penalty kill played much better. After going a combined 5-7 on power play opportunities on Friday evening, the teams went a combined 0-9 on Saturday night.
Cam Johnson returned to the net for the Hawks to earn a shutout. Johnson made 26 saves and only faced four shots in the final period.
The Fighting Hawks face MU this weekend in Oxford, Ohio. The Hawks hasn’t lost there since 2015.
UNO hosts CC this weekend at Baxter Arena in Omaha. The Mavericks are 4-2 against them in the last two seasons.
Points Leaders:
1. Nick Halloran CC 41 2. David Pope UNO 39
2. Henrik Borgström DU 39
