Nicole's NCAA Notebook: October 14, 2024

• Gopher goalie Hannah Clark has just two starts so far this season (to Skylar Vetter's four) but she stood out in Minnesota's tie with Ohio State on Saturday, including a goal-line save. And her defense wasn't always giving her the support she needed - OSU's goal came from several failed clearances by the Gopher defense. Clark kept her cool after that early chaotic goal. That's not an easy place or opponent for a freshman to get their second career start, but she kept her team in the game in regulation and overtime and made several saves in the shootout.
• It might be to early to say that it's no longer the start of the season where inexperience or rust can be excused, but still, I was kind of surprised by some of the disorganized, messy play I saw from several ranked teams. A whole lot of goals this weekend were scored on turnovers from sloppy passes.
• Related: For as many gorgeous buried goals scored on the rush we saw, there were two or three plays where the playmaker made the wrong decision when it came to passing versus shooting. Again, we are in the first month, but it was sometimes painful to watch a player dish off a puck instead of taking the shot themselves.
• There are just three teams left who have not allowed a power play goal - St. Cloud State, New Hampshire and Franklin Pierce.
• Voting in the polls this week was interesting. Minnesota was #2, but dropped five of six points to #4 Ohio State. Ostensibly, OSU should move up, but #3 is Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs were swept convincingly by #1 Wisconsin, but are the team that knocked Ohio State from the top of the polls to start the season. It seems weird to move UMD up after two losses but it also seems wrong to put Ohio State ahead of UMD. I think I could talk myself in circles about this and come out with a different answer every time, to be quite honest.
• Fifteen of this weekend's games were decided by a single goal. It felt like every single game was up for grabs, even the ones that ended up multi-goal wins. It's shaping up to be a fabulously fun season.
• It seems really clear that Boston University was massively underrated heading into the season. The Terriers were picked SIXTH in the Hockey East coaches preseason poll. They nabbed their first shutout and ranked win this weekend after pushing Minnesota last week. They continue to get scoring from a lot of different players - they have nine different goal scorers and fourteen players with points through five games. They'll still have their ups and downs, but its clear the Terriers made a massive step up this offseason.
• St. Cloud State has started 6-0 for the first time in program history. They gutted out their wins this weekend and that kind of grit will serve them well this season.
• Both the Minnesota Women's Hockey team and that Minnesota Women's Soccer team played at Ohio State this weekend, so the hockey team went to support the soccer team game on Thursday and where able to witness the Gopher soccer team upset No. 8 Ohio State, which was Minnesota's first top-ten victory since 2015. Love seeing the women supporting each other.

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• Goals you need to see:

Perfect passing leads to a Vermont goal from Evelyne Blais-Savoie

Maddie Brown from Ella B0erger to give St. Thomas the win with 22 seconds left

Quick passes and nice moves lead to this Marianne Picard goal for Wisconsin

The strength and persistence of Union's Karianne Engelbert

Maeve Carey, Sydney Healey and Riley Walsh take it end to end for BU

Anna Segedi's game-winner for St. Lawrence that's also her 100th career point