College Hockey Stock Report: October 21, 2019

Another weekend gone answered some questions.

We learned Wisconsin can win defensive battles. We learned the Stefanos Lekkas and Jeremy Swayman experiences continue on for another season. We learned it's never too early for a players-only meeting, as was the case after Penn State followed up a 7-0 shutout win with a 4-0 shutout loss. (We're also learning that Hockey Bear is taking no prisoners this year.) We heard the Battle Hymn in Minneapolis, had an amazing matchup in Mankato, first wins for Merrimack and Colgate, and upsets in Columbus and Boston.

We saw the first-ever instance of 3x3 OT in women's D1 hockey when Minnesota State "defeated" Ohio State to take the extra conference point. Once again, Robert Morris took it to a perennial powerhouse, tying and falling 6-5 to Clarkson.

All in all, it was a quality weekend. Here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape as this week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down and what trends should be followed.

60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Union

Union College

2018-19 Record: 20-13-6 (10-10-2, 7th in ECAC)
Head Coach: Rick Bennett, 9th Year
Top returning scorer: Anthony Rinaldi (11G-12A)
Top returning goaltender: Darion Hanson (Jr.)

2014 Frozen Four appreciation week rolls on with a profile of the Dutchmen. (Sadly, if not for moving AIC up for making the NCAA Tournament, Union, of all teams, fittingly would have been the Labor Day profile.) The Pairwise continues to have a cold sense of humor, even if Shayne Gostisbehere is not on the ice.

Union won at least 20 games for a third straight season thanks in part to non-conference success. A 4-0-1 start with a sweep of Northeastern at Matthews Arena, the Friendship Four title in Belfast, a dominant win over St. Cloud State at the Three Rivers Classic plus a goaltending duel for the Mayor's Cup over RPI stand out.

Conference play was not as successful.  Union's seven non-conference wins in 12 games nearly matched its 10 ECAC wins. The Dutchmen finished seventh in ECAC (one point away from fifth), entering 2019-20 taking some time to reassess and rebuild back into contention following the departure of its top three scorers and other major contributors.

What's New: One reason to reassess and rebuild is that Bennett has 12 newcomers this season. Eight forwards, two defenders and two goaltenders make up the Dutchmen's Class of 2023.

As a group, the new Union players are from mostly outside the Northeast. Bennett's Minnesota pipeline continues to flow as three of the eight forwards - Christian Sanda (Vadnais Heights), Colin Schmidt (Wayzata) and Chaz Smedsrud (Luverne) - hail from the "State of Hockey." Defender Dylan Anhorn helped Prince George (BCHL) capture the Fred Page Cup (as BCHL champions) and Doyle Cup (between the BCHL and AJHL champs).

Garret Nieto is the younger brother of Brown goalie Gavin Nieto, which will either make for a fun ECAC brother battle or mass confusion of people thinking they are seeing double - four G. Nietos! The other incoming goalie is the appropriately named Merek Pipes.

Potential leading scorer Liam Morgan left in August for Belfast. Union's annual Mayor's Cup game with RPI for Capital Region bragging rights is scheduled for January 25th.

Closing Thoughts: It wasn't planned, but coincidentally having the two 2014 championship game teams go back-to-back shines a light on the similar position both are in five years later. The connection remains. Both have Luverne freshmen (Smedsrud and Jaxon Nelson) as part of large rookie classes. Even Colin Schmidt was at one time a Minnesota commit.

Then there's the fact Union, like yesterday's team (and the other 2014 Frozen Four semifinalists), has not hit its expectations. On one hand, the Dutchmen keep winning 20+ games and beating elite teams. On the other hand, Bennett's teams have made a single NCAA Tournament appearance in the five seasons since winning the 2014 national championship.

Bringing in a large freshman class to replace major contributors can take some time to adjust, but the expectations should be a little lower. Union does not, on paper, get an easy start to the season, opening against a BU team in a similar position before playing Northeastern and Massachusetts on back-to-back October weekends. Searching for the consistency missing in recent seasons and having time to find it leads to an intriguing situation. The ECAC portion of the schedule might be that much more important.

Recent 60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less) Features
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Every Team So Far

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That Gopher Hockey Puckcast: Episode 1 (We did not come up with an episode title)

We back.

The most popular question I've gotten over the last month has been "when are Drew and you doing another podcast?" Well, I'm happy to say the podcast will return this season under a new home and new name.

The first new episode of "That Gopher Hockey Puckcast" (as opposed to the other one) can be listened to below. We're excited to join the Zone Coverage Podcast Network and work with some of my favorite folks in the Twin Cities.

For episode 1, Drew and I, along with producer Tom Schreier, catch up an entire offseason, last weekend's Ice Breaker tournament (I was there, Drew was covering from afar) and games against UMD and Union, the UMD losing streak, incoming freshmen, our thoughts on the upcoming season, Big Ten, Penn State and finally we bring out the old mailbag and answer your burning questions. You can listen below.




For those who subscribed to the old podcast the old feed will not update. You have to re-subscribe here or search iTunes for "Cast in Gold." That might change in the future, but for now that's the name and feed it is under.

Those who want to direct download can do so here.

Follow Drew on Twitter @covedrew and read his work at the Minnesota Daily. You can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate, on Facebook and of course read my work both here and at The Athletic.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota vs Union Line Combinations, UMD Loss & More

Eight is not great when it comes to Minnesota's losing streak against its in-state neighbor 150 miles north.

Minnesota Duluth's Parker Mackay scored 1:45 into overtime to hand the visiting Gophers a season-opening 4-3 loss in the Ice Breaker tournament. It's the eighth straight defeat to UMD dating back to October 2014.

"It sucks to say, but right now the numbers don't lie. They got our number these last few years. We were really hoping to change that tonight," Tyler Sheehy said after Friday's loss. "We tried to play with a chip on our shoulders. That was something that has been going on these past few years. We weren't able to come out on top tonight." 

Minnesota now faces Union today in the tournament consolation game.

As a reminder, today's game is NOT on television in the Twin Cities. Here's why. I'm in Duluth and you can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate.