↑ Quinnipiac's Kahlen Lamarche – The junior was already having a stellar start to the season before this past weekend, but she took things to a new level, scoring six goals in a row in the Bobcats' weekend series with Northeastern. She was reponsible for six of QU's eight goals and now has 12 goals in eight games (and didn't light the lamp in the first three games of the season!) It's one thing to be on a roll, but it's another to face a ranked team who knows you're going to be the primary scoring threat and still be successful. Just a truly spectacular performance and I can't wait to see what she does next. Reminder, Lamarche scored 14 goals all of last season.
↓ Boston University – It has been a ROUGH start to the season for the Terriers, who had such a high last season making the NCAA Tournament and now are 0-5 after sweeps by Minnesota and Colgate and a loss to Brown. They have to find a way to right the ship as Hockey East conference play starts. The lopsided scores against the Gophers are going to ruin their Team Defense numbers for the season, so I'll take that with a grain of salt, but ultimately 1.4 goals per game on 22 shots per game just isn't going to be enough.
↑ PWHL training camp rosters full of NCAA grads – I'm still working on all the breakdowns, but 209 of 234 women invited to PWHL camps played NCAA Division I women's hockey - that's a whooping 89%.
↓ Northeastern – Being swept by Quinnipiac was not what the Huskies wanted from their weekend. They had some chances to swing things their way, but ultimately walk away with no points and sitting 12th in the polls. They have a bye this weekend before playing BU in two weeks and I'd imagine they'll be looking to regroup and find a way to nab every possible point in conference play. The way the early season has played out, there's even more competition than I might have initially thought for an at-large bid and I'm not sure Hockey East will get one.
↑ Assumption – The Greyhounds swept LIU with a pair of overtime wins that were their first-ever against the Sharks.
↓ Weekday "brunch" games – Do I personally love spending all of Friday literally watching games? Sure, but it's my job to be available and watch them. Most fans simply cannot attend or watch games at 12 or 1 pm on a Friday (or earlier) and once again this weekend there are a number of games scheduled to start before a lot of people even take their lunch break.
↑ St. Thomas – After splitting a weekend series with #10 St. Cloud State and starting the season 5-3, the Tommies have entered the poll for the first time in their NCAA-era history.
(Shoutout to Adam Steinbach and Drew Kohrs for providing a new stash of Stick Taps and Snark photos to use - thanks so much!)
