↑ Northeastern – These Huskies picked an opportune time to earn their first weekend sweep of the weekend. It took just one goal each day for them to take down Connecticut in a bit of revenge from last season's regular season and Hockey East Tournament losses. It's been 14 years since Northeastern earn back-to-back shutouts against a ranked opponent. Shoutout to rookie goalie Lisa Jönsson, who earned her first two career shutouts and made 61 saves over the course of the weekend.
↓ Rivalry Series injuries – USA vs. Canada is never going to be chill, but since these games are truly just exhibitions and in this case, are basically the opener of the senior/professional season, it's a shame that so many players came out banged up. USA Hockey would only say Cayla Barnes had a lower body injury and Montréal Victoire fans are incredibly hopeful that benign description precludes a broken ankle or worse. Taylor Heise was injured in practice before the games even started and was replaced on the US roster by Casey O'Brien. Marie-Philip Poulin went hard into the boards, as did Laura Stacey. Both continued playing, but the point is that it's easy to imagine there were a lot of banged up players after those three games and hopefully it doesn't affect either the college or pro season.
↑ College kids shine in Rivalry Series – Four of USA's goals in the opening 7-2 win and their only goal in the final game were scored by collegians. Arguably the stand out moment from the whole weekend was Chloe Primerano's game-winning shootout goal. Even as the PWHL has taken center stage this past year, it's very cool to see the young talent make a major impact.
↓ Consistency – With teams 1-4 on a bye week, there was some opportunity for movement in the middle of the polls, but each of those teams left points on the table. As a fan, I love that nothing is a given and teams that have traditionally been at the bottom of the standings are giving the top teams hell and bucking expectations. But no matter how much the gap has shrunk and how much parity exists, teams that want to be playing in the NCAA Tournament can't afford anything other than six points - it's one of those things that separates the top tier from everyone else. Of course teams lose and no one is perfect, but the NPI is brutal and it's gutting through those tough games and earning regulation wins that raise a team to the next level.
↑ Milestones – Quinnipiac coach Cass Turner reached 200 wins as a Bobcat when her team defeated Harvard 1-0 on Saturday. Her blueliner, Kendall Cooper, became the ninth Bobcat to reach 100 points on Friday when she assisted on the game-winning goal in overtime to defeat Dartmouth 2-1.
↑ Top tier matchups on deck – This weekend we'll see #1 Wisconsin at #2 Ohio State, #3 Minnesota at #4 Minnesota Duluth as well as home and home series between #9 St. Lawrence and #6 Clarkson and #11 BC and #14 BU.
(Photo: Twitter/USAHockeyNTDP)