College Hockey Roundup: Stray observations from conference tournaments; Hobey Top 10 unveiled
Plus: Women's Frozen Four; Updated national title contender confidence rankings
The last several days has been an absolute feast for college hockey fans without ever having to leave the couch. With men’s conference tournaments in full swing, the women’s national tournament underway this is possibly the most normal the season has felt to this point.
The spring is the best time of year for college hockey fans every year (2020 excluded) and with all games completed so far, we’re getting the intensity and entertainment that we’d all come to expect from this time of year. Nature really is healing.
The games that we’ve been treated to so far have shown the very best of what college hockey can be. There was a ton of overtime games, a lot of great individual efforts and some absolutely crazy comebacks. And it’s not even close to over yet.
The NCAA Women’s Frozen Four begins Thursday afternoon in Erie, Pa. Minnesota Duluth takes on Northeastern at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN3, while Ohio State meets Wisconsin at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU. It should be a great showcase for women’s hockey. For really strong women’s NCAA coverage, I highly recommend Nicole Hasse’s work for USCHO.com, and the crew over at The Ice Garden.
And if you do tune into the games, Northeastern’s Alina Müller is the nation’s top scorer and an absolute treat to watch for her speed and skill. Northeastern’s goaltender Aerin Frankel is sporting a .969 save percentage coming in and was the first-ever winner of the national women’s goalie of the year award. She’ll go head-to-head with Minnesota Duluth’s Emma Söderberg who has a .945 mark and is coming off of a 30-save shutout of Colgate in the quarterfinal. Wisconsin boasts former Patty Kazmaier Award winner Daryl Watts who owns the nation’s top points-per-game average at 1.79 with 34 in 19 games. Meanwhile, Ohio State gets by on a more balanced scoring attack, but Emma Maltais is a shooting machine, averaging nearly six shots on goal per game.
This is a great chance to see what women’s college hockey is all about.
This past week also gave me an opportunity to see an awful lot of NCAA NHL prospects, with so many of the conference tournament games readily available on TV or on streaming. I ended up watching a ton of it. So I spent time focusing in on individual players, but I was also looking at the individual teams, especially as we await the final decisions from the NCAA selection committee.
So with that, I updated my national title contender confidence rankings, looked at the players announced as Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists, and emptied my notebook full of random observations I made over the course of watching a few dozen college hockey games this week.
Updated championship contender confidence rankings
North Dakota: The deepest team in the country battled through significant injury concerns over the course of their run to the NCHC title, becoming the first No. 1 seed in conference history to claim the postseason title in the nation’s most competitive conference. That freshman Riese Gaber was the most outstanding player of the tournament shows that they can get impact contributions from all over their lineup. Shane Pinto (OTT), Jordan Kawaguchi, Matt Kiersted, Jake Sanderson (OTT) and a host of others made big-time plays, but that was a title won with a team effort. If they play that way and get healthy, I’m not sure anyone can slow them down.
Minnesota: The Golden Gophers had to win three games in three nights to secure the Big Ten title, so it was well earned. Jack LaFonatain (CAR) proved that he will always give his team a chance to compete. This is another team that has such tremendous depth, too. I thought Blake McLaughlin (ANA), Scott Reedy (SJS) and Sammy Walker (TBL) were impossible to consistently contain for opposing teams and each found ways to impact the game in the biggest moments. Their defense core is solid, too, with major contributions from Jackson LaCombe (ANA), Ryan Johnson (BUF) and perhaps most of all Brock Faber (LAK). The Gophers can fly as a team and have the right mix of experience on the roster this season to not allow themselves to play their way out of games.
Boston College: The Eagles may have had their confidence shaken in a stunning 6-5 overtime loss to UMass-Lowell in a Hockey East semifinal game the Eagles seemed to be in control of. It was not Spencer Knight’s (FLA) best game by any stretch, but that may have just been a bad period for him as opposed to a sign of things to come. On top of usual great goaltending from Knight, the Eagles are getting balanced scoring with some key leaders. Matt Boldy (MIN) and Alex Newhook (COL) can dominate on their own, but BC continues to get significant contributions from the likes of Marc McLaughlin, Mike Hardman, Nikita Nesterenko (MIN), Jack McBain (MIN) and a good group of mobile defensemen to challenge teams.
Wisconsin: The Badgers have an absolute weapon in Cole Caufield (MTL), who scored three goals over their two Big Ten tournament games including an OT winner over Penn State and the goal that got them within one of Minnesota in a late comeback. They don’t have the same scoring balance as the teams ahead of them, but they’ve gotten good goaltending typically and have a veteran blue line led by Ty Emberson (ARI). With weapons like Caufield, Dylan Holloway (EDM) and Linus Weissbach (BUF), they are never out of any game as they showed in a comeback that just fell short against Minnesota.
Minnesota State: Suffocating team defense and great goaltending are hallmarks of the Mavericks’ run to the WCHA regular-season title and cruise through the conference tournament quarterfinals. They have a date with Northern Michigan on Friday in the semis. They’re 20-3-1 right now and no one in their conference looks particularly close to them. The question will always be, can they get it done in the NCAA tournament? They might have the goaltender who can make all the difference this time around.
UMass: The Minutemen will be playing for the Hockey East title Saturday. They do it with good balance in their lineup at all positions, including goaltending where either Matt Murray or Filip Lindberg (MIN) can five them a chance to win. Bobby Trivigno has been an absolute force offensively for them with good skill and playmaking ability, but then they have others stepping up like Hockey East co-rookie of the year Josh Lopina who is a great two-way center already in the college game. I really like UMass’ blue line, too, especially Zac Jones (NYR) who I feel is one of the best defensemen in the country right now, along with fellow sophomore Matthew Kessel (STL) who is breaking out this season with nine goals and 20 points. There aren’t a lot of holes in this lineup.
Michigan: Michigan had Minnesota on the ropes in their semifinal game and showed that they could absolutely hang with the class of the conference when necessary. It wasn’t just the superstar freshmen that were driving the bus for the Wolverines either. They’re getting big-time performances from their veterans, with Cam York (PHI) being among the best. He can take games over at times. With the offensive skill this group has and Strauss Mann playing some of his best hockey at this stage of the season, they’re a threat to any team in the bracket.
St. Cloud State: Teams forged in the crucible that is the NCHC are going to be battle tested coming into the tournament. The Huskies will also head in with a sour taste in their mouth knowing they were trending towards the postseason title before North Dakota found its way back in the final. Dávid Hrenák is a solid goaltender though the numbers aren’t as sterling this year. Veeti Miettinen (TOR) is an offensive force as a first-year player, but he doesn’t have to do it on his own. Sophomores Jami Krannila and Zach Okabe have really stepped up, junior defenseman Nick Perbix (TBL) has been a big-time producer, veteran Sam Hentges (MIN) is really picking up his game, too. They’re no easy out when it comes tournament time.
Minnesota Duluth: Though their postseason winning streak came to an end in the NCHC semifinals, the Bulldogs proved once again that they’re a tough out. They outlasted Western Michigan in a tough overtime game and got edged out by St. Cloud in the semis. They miss postseason stalwart goalie Hunter Shepard, but Ryan Fanti has been better than expected in his first year if not a game-stealer. But the hallmarks of UMD remain as they play every team tough with good defense and a veteran offensive attack led by juniors and seniors like Nick Swaney (MIN) and Cole Koepke (TBL), among others. Their defense is led by a freshman in Wyatt Kaiser (CHI) who has been so impressive in his jump from high school to the NCAA. He looks like the next in a long line of high-end UMD blueliners to make it to the next level. This is a team no one wants to see early in the tournament.
Quinnipiac: The Bobcats have a bye to the ECAC final where they’ll meet either Colgate or St. Lawrence. Colgate actually handed the Bobcats their last loss, which ended an eight-game unbeaten streak. QU has all of the pieces to put together a run though and that starts with goalie Keith Petruzzelli (DET) who has a .929 save percentage and has been so sharp in his senior campaign. Odeen Tufto is carrying the offense as per usual, but he’s got enough help with freshman Ty Smilanic (FLA) looking like a high-end collegiate scorer. I really, really like Quinnipiac’s blue line, too, with scorers like Zach Metsa and Peter DiLiberatore (VGK). Similar to Minnesota State, questions will be raised about the quality of competition they’ve faced this season until they prove it against the best of the rest.
Hobey Baker Top 10 announced
The 10 players still in the running for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award were announced Wednesday afternoon. This group will be pared down to the Hobey Hat Trick with the winner announced next month. Here are the players still in the mix:
Matt Boldy, LW, Boston College (MIN)
Cole Caufield, RW, Wisconsin (MTL)
David Farrance, D, Boston University (NSH)
Dylan Holloway, C, Wisconsin (EDM)
Spencer Knight, G, Boston College (FLA)
Jack LaFontaine, G, Minnesota (CAR)
Dryden McKay, G, Minnesota State
Keith Petruzzelli, G, Quinnipiac (DET)
Shane Pinto, C, North Dakota (OTT)
Odeen Tufto, LW, Quinnipiac
The only thing I’m moderately surprised by is the number of goaltenders that made the list. It’s been exceedingly difficult for goalies to win the Hobey Baker, but in this bizarre year where very few players have put up eye-popping numbers, it makes sense that the goalies get their due. All of those guys were finalists for the Mike Richter Award as well. Both Spencer Knight and Dryden McKay were named their respective conference’s player of the year, with Keith Petruzzelli being named a finalist in the ECAC.
Also, I did like that David Farrance got the nod as a finalist despite the fact he has appeared in just 10 games this season. When he was in, he was making a huge impact for the Terriers and the history books will recognize him as one of the best players in the country this season, for whatever little there was of it at BU.
Ultimately, I think this probably comes down to Cole Caufield and Shane Pinto as the two best candidates, with Caufield holding a significant advantage at this point, as you’ll read more about below. I think the last of the Hobey Hat Trick could come down to Tufto and Knight.
Stray observations from the conference tournaments
The amount of time spent in front of a TV or computer screen or both watching the dozens of games that were easily accessible, it was a great way to break out the measuring stick for players, teams and all of that. I started making notes as I watched various teams and games and thought I’d empty that notebook right here.
The Boston College - UMass-Lowell game was INSANE — The most insane game of the postseason came Wednesday night as Boston College entered the third period with a 4-1 lead. They blew that lead, promptly regained it and even more promptly lost it again as Lowell tied the score 5-5 with 1:30 to play. BC even thought it had the game won in OT, but an offside review that was for me too close to call off of my TV screen, wiped it out and kept Lowell’s season alive. Then Mark Brown, who has been really, really good for Lowell in the Hockey East tournament so far, batted a puck past Spencer Knight and sent the RiverHawks to the Hockey East final. They entered the game as the No. 7 seed, with BC the star-studded No. 1 team in the country. That game reminded all of us that nothing is guaranteed in college hockey.
Spencer Knight’s (FLA) worst period of the season came at a rough time — Spencer Knight is the best goalie in college hockey this year in terms of both talent, potential and quite frankly how he’s played. But his performance during the third period of BC’s shocking 6-5 OT loss to UMass-Lowell was stunning itself. Knight got beat three straight times during the comeback from a 4-1 deficit on his blocker side. It was the same thing on the goal that made it a 5-5 game late in regulation. It was as if Knight suddenly got the yips on his right side. The 4-4 goal scored by Lucas Candotta actually hit Knight on the blocker and still went through him. The overtime winner I can’t put too much on him because it was a brilliant whack out of the air by Matt Brown, but that, too, beat Knight high blocker. He had no chance at that one, but still. Knight took a long time to leave the crease and the ice surface at Conte Arena and he just looked absolutely stunned to see how that game went. It was a weird time for his game to go away. He had not allowed three goals in a game the entire season. He allowed four goals in that third period alone. And to be fairer to Knight, the Eagles kind of fell asleep on him, too. They took their foot off the gas and Lowell pounced on the opportunities.
Norm Bazin keeps getting a lot out of his group at UMass-Lowell — Watching both of Lowell’s wins over BU and BC I couldn’t help but be impressed with how that team adjusts and finds ways to win games. If they need to play a more structured defensive game, they can. If they need to be physical, they can be. If they’re in desperation mode, they can find a way to generate offense. This is a team with only four NHL draft picks on it and they took out two teams that have guys that could be in the NHL as soon as this season. Not only that, Lowell has a ton of guys that will be on the roster next year. Sure, in past years Bazin had the great Connor Hellebuyck or Tyler Wall or Kevin Boyle. Great goalies have come from this program, but Lowell just won a pair of games with Henry Welsch, a freshman with an .894 save percentage and 11 NCAA appearances to his name (after this week’s games). This team gets contributions from all over its lineup and even when they don’t have a spectacular season, they always seem to have a chance at the end of the year. I think the coach deserves an awful lot of credit for that.
Cole Caufield (MTL) tightened his grip on the Hobey Baker — Caufield has scored so many big goals this season. There really aren’t any cheap ones. Fifteen of his 28 goals this season have come in the third period or overtime. The Badgers are simply never out of a game if they have No. 8 on the ice. He proved that again at the Big Ten tournament, scoring the game-tying and winning goals against Penn State in the semis and scoring the goal that brought UW within a goal of Minnesota in the comeback bid that ultimately fell short. He has 10 more goals than the next closest player while playing a highly-competitive schedule in a Big Ten that should send three teams to the national tournament.
Minnesota’s Blake McLaughlin (ANA) has really grown into an impressive player — Having tracked McLaughlin since he was with the Chicago Steel and watching him progress, I’ve always liked his skill level, but often found myself wanting to see more out of him. I think he’s starting to deliver that now. He’s taken advantage of getting stronger in college and hasn’t lost any of that skill and creativity he possesses. I thought he was Minnesota’s best player in the final against Wisconsin, and that’s not just because he had four points. He can impact the game in so many different ways, has defensive responsibility and has added more edge to his package of tools. The reason the Gophers are having such a good season is that veteran guys like him have stepped up in a significant way with and without the puck. The Ducks certainly have to consider getting a contract in front of him as soon as the Gophers season is over.
The best is yet to come for UConn — I watched as the Huskies ended up dropping a 6-1 decision to Providence to end their season in the Hockey East quarterfinals. But I was also thinking back to the week prior when they beat those same Friars to secure home ice for that quarterfinal. Mike Cavanaugh has built an impressive program where I don’t think a lot of people thought it could be possible. The former BC assistant has been at the helm for eight years and has had to eat an awful lot of losses in that time. But there’s progress in the program. You can see it in the recruiting, finding ways to secure international players of high quality and also getting guys like Jonny Evans who will be four-year stalwarts. If the Huskies can bring everyone back next season, I think they’ve got a chance to be a home-ice team again next postseason. On top of that, reports that UConn will build a new hockey-specific facility could be a game-changer for the program.
I’m not sure what to make of BU this year — It seems like Boston University is going to get into the NCAA tournament despite playing only 15 games this season. They did win 10 of those games, but lost 2-1 to UMass-Lowell in the Hockey East quarterfinals where they were totally shut down by the RiverHawks. With key wins over UMass and Boston College, that might be enough on the resume to make it work. If I were on the selection committee, however, I don’t think I’d put them on my list for an at-large bid. The COVID situation did them no favors, they were without some of their best players when they were playing, but I don’t see a team that’s going to be able to make a run in the tournament based on what I’ve seen. Would I like to see David Farrance play a few more college games? Yes, but I don’t think that’s in the criteria.
The Big 10 All-Freshman Team was kind of funny — It was not unexpected, but seeing four of the six players named to the Big Ten’s all-freshman team come from one school was pretty comical. Michigan placed all three forwards and one of the defensemen on the team with Matty Beniers, Thomas Bordeleau, Kent Johnson and Owen Power being honored. Power and Bordeleau also earned All-Big Ten second team honors. Brock Faber of Minnesota was the non-Michigan skater to sneak onto the squad and Wisconsin goalie Cameron Rowe, who has really had an impressive first NCAA season was also on the team. Michigan’s freshmen really have been impressive and even though youth often hurts more than helps in the postseason, there’s no question that Michigan is better for having the group they do.
Mike Hardman is a top free agent — So I made my list of top undrafted free agents last week and absent from the list was Hardman, who is a sophomore at BC that teams are definitely trying to get signed. He could return to BC for another season or two if he so chooses, but if he doesn’t, there should be a line of NHL teams looking to make him an offer. Hardman has a lot of quality traits including good work ethic and solid finishing skills. He’s a big, strong forward who is difficult to take off the puck and does a good job in pursuit. When NHL teams look at UFAs, they look for guys that can fit roles. Hardman as a bottom-six energy player with some scoring pop seems like a fit. It will be interesting to see what he decides. The more I watched him recently, the more I regretted not getting him into a more prominent position on my list last week.
Bobby Trivigno is one of college hockey’s most underrated players — After putting up three points in UMass’ semifinal win over Providence, it was another reminder of just how important Trivigno is to everything the Minutemen do. He’s an undersized player, but has a good amount of grit in his game and does a great job with the puck on his stick. Trivigno has good shiftiness and plays well in small areas where he can combine his competitiveness and skill. UMass is one of the better teams in the country and could be Hockey East champion by this weekend. Trivigno leads that team in scoring with 10 points as he has 30 in 24 games.
Danton Cole’s gutsy goaltending decision nearly pays off — Michigan State had long odds to advance in the Big Ten tournament, but did the Spartans ever put a big scare into Minnesota before the Gophers went on to win the next two and the Big Ten title. Instead of going with junior Drew DeRidder who was a finalist for Big Ten goalie of the year, Cole started freshman Pierce Charleson who had just two collegiate starts under his belt prior to Sunday. However, one of those starts came the week prior when Charleson stopped 47 shots in a 2-1 loss to Wisconsin. He was even better in the game against Minnesota, holding Michigan State’s 1-0 lead until the late stages of the third period. They ultimately fell in overtime, but Charleson gave the Spartans every opportunity to hang in the game. That could have changed the whole complexion of the Big Ten tournament until the Gophers found a way. You just never know this time of year who can step up.
Nate Leaman’s name keeps popping up for NHL jobs — The Providence College head coach has been attached by various reports as an option for the newly-vacant Buffalo Sabres job. After leading the U.S. to the gold medal at the World Juniors and having built successful programs at both Union College which won a national title just after he departed and Providence College which won a national title soon after he arrived, he has a track record of building winning hockey clubs. Jacob Bryson, who played for Leaman is a current Sabre.
I think Leaman is going to get a head coaching job in the league before long, full stop. I don’t know if the Sabres gig is the right one for him. There’s so much toxicity in that organization right now that I think trying to bring in a rookie head coach to right the ship does not put either Leaman or the organization in a great position to succeed. One of Leaman’s closest friends and his current associate head coach is Ron Rolston, who was the head coach for the Sabres after being promoted from the AHL team after they fired Lindy Ruff. Rolston wasn’t put in a position to succeed as the organization entered the first phase of what has been a seemingly unending rebuild.
If the Sabres call and Leaman answers, I won’t blame him. There are only 31, soon to be 32 of those jobs around in a given year and it’s really hard to get any one of them. But the job that remains in Buffalo is one I just can’t see trying to get someone to solve in their first go-around in the league.
North Dakota is scary good — I’ve said it a lot this year and I’ve written about them a lot because they’ve given me a lot to write about. The more I watch North Dakota, however, the more I believe it’s going to take whoever plays them in the tournament a near-perfect game to bounce them. Anything can happen in single elimination, but I just don’t know who slows this team down. They have speed, they have skill and they have the trademark heavy game that North Dakota always plays. Shane Pinto is possibly the best center in college hockey right now and one of the great clutch performers. Jordan Kawaguchi looked in top form after nursing an injury for a while and made some big plays for the team. Freshmen like Riese Gaber and Jake Sanderson are playing leading roles. North Dakota did not have Ottawa first-rounder Jacob Bernard-Docker for their last two games of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and while they missed him, they didn’t miss him enough to not win. Adam Scheel is solid between the pipes and this team simply battles for every inch of ice. Good luck to the field.
I miss the PairWise — Listen, the Pairwise isn’t perfect, but boy if I don’t miss it. We’ve heard a lot of coaches make cases for their teams and why they should be in the tournament as an at-large bid. Denver’s David Carle drew some criticism from the college hockey world for suggesting his Pioneers should be in the tournament despite a sub-.500 record, especially when you take into account their strength of schedule. It’s a fair argument to make in a year where subjectivity actually matters. The NCAA selection committee has their criteria, but after watching the women’s selection process leave out a team like Minnesota, it reminded everyone that the process is not going to feel fair to everyone. There are more teams who feel they have a case to be in the tournament than those that will actually be among the 16 who get in.
The other thing about the Pairwise is that it gave us some certainty at this stage of the season. We knew which teams would be in and would be out. There was a lot of fun in these weeks of the conference tournaments plugging in the possible outcomes to see who needed what to happen to get in.
I used to do the bracketology for NCAA.com for men’s hockey and I can’t even really figure out how this is going to work, who goes where and why. Luckily, my pal and smarter bracketologist Nate Wells took a stab at it on his blog, so check that out here.
This does make the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday on ESPNU at 7 p.m. a heck of a lot more meaningful because it’s actually going to tell us the tournament field instead of it already being decided by an algorithm. It will offer some drama and intrigue in that way, which will be fun, but it’s going to be tough for the committee to get it as right as the computers often do.
Make sure to check out Talking Hockey Sense with Chris Peters early next week when we are joined by a very special guest for a college hockey-specific episode of the podcast. If you haven’t yet, details to subscribe to the podcast (which is free) are here.
Also, consider getting the full experience of Hockey Sense by becoming a paid subscriber. All NHL Draft content, including the forthcoming 2021 NHL Draft rankings is part of the premium content offerings. Also, don’t miss tomorrow’s breakdown of 2023 Draft phenom Connor Bedard.