Come back each week for a preview of interesting NCAA games coming up and some thoughts on what happened in the previous week's action. Check out Thursday's How to Watch for links to all the weekend's games.
(2) Ohio State at (3) Minnesota
Friday and Saturday at 2:00 PM Central
There are six undefeated teams left (not counting Ivy League teams, who are in action for the first time this week) and four of those teams play each other. The Gophers and Buckeyes both have yet to lose a game and face off in Minneapolis this weekend.
Minnesota has been flying with a high octane offense that's averaging more than six goals per game, led by Abbey Murphy, whose 12 goals are 7 more than anyone else in the country. The Gophers have been moving the puck extremely well and that has left opposing defenses scrambling. It's unlikely things will go quite so smoothly against Ohio State, but one thing to watch for here is to see where the give and take is - each team is used to holding possession and controlling the game, so how do theyplay when they get pushed out of their comfort zone?
A key for the Gophers will be what happens if their top line is neutralized. Murphy has been the key so far, but if Minnesota is going to have a great season, they need their second and third lines to step up and even be leaders when Murphy is with Team USA. This is a group that is likely to be missing several players during the Olympics, so I'd like to see some more secondary scoring and input from those lines now.
Ohio State has seen a bunch of contributions from their young intenational players, as expected. It will be important for them to get Joy Dunne more involved. It may be nitpick, but something to keep an eye on is that they are currently 15th in the country in team defense (of course that just means they're giving up two goals per game). They let in just one against St. Cloud State last weekend, but allowed seven to Colgate the weekend before.
The teams split last season's series. OSU had the better of things in the regular season, winning two games and earning a tie in a third, but Minnesota got their second win in the WCHA tournament semifinal. This should be a fast-paced, physical and high-scoring series and a heck of a lot of fun to watch.
(12) Northeastern at (7) Quinnipiac
Friday at 3:00 PM and Saturday at 1:00 PM Eastern
These are two of the other undefeated teams that are facing off. Quinnipiac played two close games in their opening weekend with Maine, but cruised through series against Providence and Syracuse. Northeastern swept RIT and took games from Providence and RPI last weekend. Their four goals allowed are the fewest in the country so far.
The two teams split a series last season, with NU taking game one, 4-2, and QU winning game two, 3-0. The teams look to be pretty evenly matched again this season. They're both building out from stellar Swedish goalies - Felicia Frank for Quinnipiac and Lisa Jönsson for Northeastern.
The Bobcats are a little more settled in their game and Kahlen Lamarche looks to be in midseason form, continuing on from her strong offensive season last year. For Northeastern, the offense is being led by captain Lily Shannon. The Huskies had a bit more roster turnover and I think we'll need a few more games to see whow else is going to emerge to standout from their lineup. Rookie Stryker Zablocki got her first goal last weekend and has the skills to have a big impact early.
Northeastern could use the quality win bonus of taking down a top 10 opponent as they'll get fewer opportunities once conference play begins. Quinnipiac has been one of the first teams out of the NCAA tournament in the past few seasons. They're looking to solidify their spot in the NPI.
Boston College vs. (5) Cornell
Friday at 4:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM Eastern
With a bit of chaos from other teams in the middle of the rankings, I've been eager to see what Cornell can do this season. Boston College had a very rough start to the season with a series against Minnesota they'd rather forget, but they've rebounded with three solid wins over Saint Ansel, Holy Cross and Providence. Importantly, they've averaged more than four goals scored in each of those games.
This will be a good test for both teams - Cornell tends to be a defense-first team and they have one of the best goalies in the country in Annelies Bergmann, but they graduated some of their top scorers and need to regroup and redefine their identity a bit. They made the Frozen Four last season, but lost in the semifinal to Ohio State.
Boston College needs to show they can hold their own against a ranked team and that the games against the Gophers were an anomaly. I've really liked their puck movement and that they're getting contributions across the board. Rookie Ava Thomas has been outstanding and leads the team with five goals and 11 points. She and Kate Ham have done the bulk of the team's scoring, so getting even more players involved should be the goal.
(Photo: Northeastern Women's Hockey/Instagram)
