College hockey saw some great action this week, making for a big shift from last week’s NCAA Hockey Rankings.
The University of Denver Pioneers visited the state of Massachusetts this weekend, taking on the formerly ranked No. 6 Boston University Terriers and No. 19 Boston College Eagles. The Pioneers were able to take both games, maintaining their ranking of No. 1, according to US College Hockey Online’s Men’s Division I Poll.
In a back-to-back fashion, the Boston schools made their way to Rhode Island to face-off against the No. 11 ranked Providence College Friars. This allowed the Friars to climb to the rank of No. 6. Meanwhile, BU dropped down to No. 12 while BC fell to an unranked-status with a measly 1-4-1 record.
The Harvard Crimson maintained their No. 3 ranking in their first game of the season with a 5-0 win over the Dartmouth Big Green, dropping them to a 0-2-0 record.
US College Hockey Online Men’s Division I Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Last Poll |
| 1 | Denver | 4-0-2 | 991 | 1 |
| 2 | St. Cloud State | 5-0-0 | 952 | 2 |
| 3 | Harvard | 1-0-0 | 900 | 3 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 5-2-1 | 775 | 4 |
| 5 | Minnesota | 5-3-0 | 759 | 7 |
| 6 | Providence | 5-2-0 | 689 | 11 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 6-3-0 | 654 | 5 |
| 8 | Minnesota Duluth | 4-2-2 | 621 | 10 |
| 9 | Minnesota State | 5-2-0 | 605 | 12 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 4-3-1 | 515 | 8 |
| 11 | Quinnipiac | 3-1-1 | 459 | 13 |
| 12 | Boston University | 3-4-1 | 436 | 6 |
| 13 | Clarkson | 4-3-1 | 422 | 9 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | 5-1-1 | 422 | 14 |
| 15 | Northeastern | 4-2-1 | 268 | 20 |
| 16 | Ohio State | 5-1-2 | 220 | NR |
| 17 | Penn State | 4-4-0 | 194 | 15 |
| 18 | Cornell | 2-0-0 | 133 | NR |
| 19 | Air Force | 5-2-1 | 108 | 18 |
| 20 | Michigan Tech | 4-4-1 | 95 | 16 |
No. 1 Denver Visits Boston
Denver’s men’s ice hockey team waltzed down the Freedom Trail in Boston this weekend, taking two wins home with them on the flight back to Colorado. On Friday evening, the Pioneers did battle with the Terriers at Agganis Arena, taking the matchup by a score of 4-3.
Denver junior Colin Staub netted two powerplay goals in the first period before assisting fellow junior Troy Terry’s game-winning goal in the third period. Florida Panther’s prospect, Henrik Borgstrom, managed an assist in the game before lighting the lamp against BC on Saturday.
Ty Amonte, Bobo Carpenter, and Dante Fabbro managed goals for BU but ultimately came up shorthanded to the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Jake Oettinger made 22 stops in the loss.
On Saturday night, Denver tallied half-a-dozen goals on Chestnut Hill en route to a 6-1 win over BC. Borgstrom scored two powerplay goals – the first, coming in the second period, would go on to become the game-winner.
Blake Hillman notched two goals himself while Tyson McLellan and Dylan Gambrell managed a goal each. The Pioneers only needed 28 shots to get the job done.
Christopher Brown scored the lone goal for the Eagles on a third-period power play with helpers from Casey Fitzgerald and JD Dudek. Joseph Woll was dished the loss, registering 22 saves and six goals against.
Tanner Jaillet should be happy with his two wins on the road trip, racking up 51 saves while only giving up four goals to two nationally ranked teams.
Hockey East: Providence Hosts BC & BU
BC skated into Providence, Rhode Island on Friday night to take on the then-No. 11 ranked Friars. Providence College took the Hockey East matchup by a score of 2-1.
Connor Moore scored the Eagles’ lone goal of the night, assisted by Mike Booth and Casey Carreau. Goaltender Woll was exposed to 36 shots and managed to get in front of 34 of them.
Hayden Hawkeye was credited with the win on 24 saves while Spenser Young assisted both Providence goals, the game-winner a powerplay goal scored by Ben Mirageas. The other was an even-strength goal netted by Erik Foley.
Foley went on to score again on Saturday night when the Friars played host to BU. His two goals this weekend bring him to three goals and an assist through five games so far this season. He hopes to improve upon his 15-goal, 19-assist performance in 36 appearances during his sophomore season.
Hawkeye was once again between the pipes for Providence and managed a 3-0 shutout. Vimal Sukumaran and Brandon Duhaime pitched in with the other two goals.
The Terriers’ Oettinger was thus handed his second loss of the weekend, making 28 stops against the Friars. It was certainly a disappointment for fans of BU who thought their No. 6 ranked team would be able to thwart the No. 11 Providence College hockey club.
The Terriers dropped to the No. 12 team in the nation while the BC Eagles have been rendered unranked. Cornell (18) and Ohio State (16) have jumped up from their unranked status this week as a result.
ECAC: Harvard Routs Dartmouth
Harvard kicked off their season in an ECAC matchup with Dartmouth on Sunday night. Though this was their first game of the 2017-18 campaign, Harvard has been ranked as a top-three team in the nation since early October.
Boston Bruins prospect Ryan Donato, a junior at Harvard, became the Crimson’s special teams specialist for the evening. He notched a short-handed goal in the first period before netting a powerplay goal in the second.
Joining him on the scoresheet were Henry Bowlby, Lewis Zerter-Gossage, and Jake Horton, who also tallied a helper on Donato’s first goal. They chased Big Green’s Devin Buffalo from the crease after he gave up five goals on 18 shots. Adrian Clark came off the bench to make 13 saves and shutting out Harvard for the remainder of the night.
Meanwhile, Merrick Madsen took the goal for the Crimson, managing to save all 19 shots he faced. Better yet, Harvard’s penalty killing unit thwarted Dartmouth on four powerplay attempts, resulting in a penalty kill of 100% to start the season.
For anyone wondering why a 0-0-0 Harvard team has been high in the rankings since the start of the season, this was why.