NCAA Hockey Mid-Season 16

NCAA Hockey Mid-Season 16

January 8, 2021 · by · in Hockey

By JD Biagioni

The NCHC played bubble hockey, Arizona State joined the Big Ten, and the ECAC is down to four teams. Yeah, 2020 was a weird year all around, and college hockey did not escape unscathed. That said, we’re on track to have a 2021 Frozen Four, which is no small feat. Given the lack of non-conference games, Pairwise likely won’t determine the field of 16, so the eye-test will have to do. Halfway through the season, or before the season for Boston University, let’s take a look the tournament could look by breaking down what the 16 could look like. 

1. Minnesota – No one is stopping the Golden Gophers right now. Minnesota is the fourth team in the past 10 years to start a season 10-0-0, joining 2014-15 Michigan Tech, 2015-16 Quinnipiac and last season’s Cornell. Michigan Tech earned a No. 2 seed, while Quinnipiac got the No. 1 overall seed and Cornell was well on its way before the Covid-19 shutdown. Senior goalie Jack LaFontaine has been the best player in college hockey this season, posting a 1.00 goals-against average and a 0.965 save percentage in nine wins. The Gophers have also been perfect on the kill, turning away all 17 opportunities. 

 

2. Boston College – What a fascinating matchup Minnesota vs. BC would make, the nation’s top defense against its most prolific offense. The Eagles lead the nation with 4.50 goals scored per game even without Alex Newhook in the lineup. BC hasn’t entered the meat of Hockey East play but have already taken care of business against three of the conference’s best. 

He’s (almost) back!

3. North Dakota – The Fighting Hawks fell from their preseason No. 1 ranking but still sit at 7-2-1. Shane Pinto and Jordan Kawaguchi form one of the best one-two punches in the NCAA, and each has 13 points through 10 games. North Dakota could very well move back up during the season, but that would involve Minnesota or BC slipping up, which seems unlikely with the way the two are playing. 

4. Minnesota State – Tough to improve upon two seasons of 1.76 and 1.31 GAAs, right? Wrong. Dryden McKay continues to be one of the nation’s premier goaltenders, recording a 1.01 GAA and 0.953 save percentage in six games, four of which have been shutouts. If you need a goalie to win you one game, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than McKay, which is a quality you need in a team come March. 

5. UMass – Save for an early-season sweep by BC, Greg Carvel’s team has been nearly unbeatable. They’ve also been one of the luckiest, playing 13 games. Bobby Trivigno, once billed as a young Johnny Gaudreau, is having his best season yet. St. Lawrence fifth-year transfer Carson Gicewicz is tied for the team and national lead with eight goals. Defenseman Matthew Kessel also has eight and Zac Jones has five; UMass’ two d-men are the only two that rank in the top 50 nationally in goals. Matt Murray seems to have taken the reins back in net, starting 11 of the 13 games and winning nine of them. 

2020 Hobey Baker winner Scott Perunovich.

6. Bowling Green – They haven’t faced top-tier competition, but Jerry York’s former school is 9-1. The Falcons own two wins over Quinnipiac, but that’s about it as far as quality wins go. If they can keep up the momentum in WCHA play, they should be in.

7. Minnesota Duluth – With the pandemic, no team other than Duluth has won a National Championship since Denver in 2017. The Bulldogs started out strong in the highly-competitive NCHC bubble but scuffled towards the end. Still, they’re 6-3-2 and have some good wins. However, they’ve yet to fill the void left by 2020 Hobey Baker winner Scott Perunovich on the blue line. He had 40 points last year, and the current UMD defense leader has six through 11 games.  

8. Quinnipiac – While it has come against Atlantic Hockey teams, Quinnipiac has scored nine, eight and six goals in games this season. They have  a handful of players who know how to distribute the puck, led by Odeen Tufto who ranks first in the nation with 15 assists. Senior Keith Petruzzelli stands 6’5” in net and has been solid for four years with the Bobcats. 

9. St. Cloud State – After a dominant run, the Huskies took a step back last season, finishing 13-15-6. This year, they sit at 7-4-0 and boast two quality wins over Denver and one over North Dakota. Along with the rest of the team, senior David Hrenak seems to have rebounded in net, and forward Veeti Miettinen has had a scorching start to his college career. 

10. UMass Lowell – The Riverhawks are that team that doesn’t do anything particularly great, but they do everything well. Norm Bazin’s team is just an all-around solid team. They seem like a safe bet to be hovering around No. 10 when the season ends. The big development for UML is that freshman Henry Welsch seems to be separating himself as the team’s top goaltender. 

11. Michigan – You thought BC’s three first round picks in 2019 was impressive. Michigan has three players on the roster who aren’t eligible until 2021 but could all go in the top five of that draft, including one in Owen Power who could go first overall. The Wolverines also have Bruins prospect Johnny Beecher and Team USA World Juniors captain Cam York.

Owen Power is currently the top rated prospect in the 2021 NHL Draft class.

12. Clarkson – There are only four ECAC teams playing this season, and Quinnipiac and Clarkson are the two best. Given the schedule configuration, that likely translates to enough wins and a good enough record to put Clarkson in the tournament. 

13. Providence – I struggled to decide between Providence and Northeastern for this spot. We saw what a difference goaltending can make when Jaxson Stauber got his transfer approved after Providence’s sweep at the hands of BC. Maybe Devon Levi can provide the same spark for Northeastern, after missing the first half of the season training with Team Canada. For now, I’ll give the edge to the Friars, because they have the head-to-head advantage and can score with the best of them. Even without Jack Dugan, the offense still has electric potential. Tyce Thompson is probably the best scorer on the team, but watch out for Brett Berard who was a spark plug for Team USA at the World Juniors. 

14. Wisconsin – This is the Cole Caufield pick. The Badgers don’t really jump off the board with anything they do, but Caufield is arguably the most dangerous player in college hockey. The pressure he puts on opposing defenses opens up a lot of space for other players to operate. If Wisconsin can get some secondary scoring from guys like Owen Lindmark and Dylan Holloway, the team can outscore just about anyone. 

15. Nebraska-Omaha – Maybe it was the home ice advantage, but UNO was a pleasant surprise of the NCHC’s Omaha bubble in December. The Mavericks seem like one of those teams that builds up its resume early and hangs on to get one of the final berths. Like UML, they don’t stand out in any one category and they don’t have a start player, but the team is gelling right now. Let’s see if it continues.

16. AIC – An Atlantic Hockey team has to make the tournament, and Massachusetts-based AIC is the best bet to win the conference. The Yellow Jackets are 6-0 in conference and have a close loss against tournament-bound Quinnipiac. Plus, they were a fun 16-seed to watch in 2018 when they downed St. Cloud State. AIC is also the site of one of the best stories in college hockey this year; in December, forward Eric Otto played his first game in over two years after battling Stage Four Hodgkins Lymphoma.