College Hockey Stock Report: November 18, 2019

As the weather begins to get cold, revenge in college hockey continues to heat up en vogue.

Several schools and individuals earned some revenge over the weekend. Chris Bergeron, whose Bowling Green team's season ended in OT to Minnesota Duluth, defeated the Bulldogs with his new Miami team. The RedHawks entered Friday 2-5-2 and being handily swept by North Dakota, who earned a win and tie over a Denver team who ended the Fighting Hawks' 2018-19 season in the same building. Out East, Cornell defeated Clarkson in a battle of top-10 teams and rematch of the 2019 ECAC championship game.

Still, as fun as it can be to discuss teams and individuals earning revenge for what happened last season, the weather changing is a good time to remember how it's becoming more important to get revenge for what's happening this season. Records are being set. Identities are being formed. As the weather begins to get cold, 2019-20 has been heating up as a whole.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

Up: Michigan State

Picked to finish seventh of seven teams, the Spartans are getting off on the right foot with bragging rights to boot. Michigan State began Big Ten conference play 3-1 after sweeping in-state rival Michigan for the first time since October 2009. Danton Cole's team has shown flashes but is getting help from its depth that MSU missed.

Perhaps no game shows it better than Saturday's 3-0 win, in which Michigan State's John Lethemon earned his second shutout in as many weekends while the Spartans scored three goals from players not named Patrick Khodorenko or Mitch Lewandowski.

Down: The other Big Ten "M's"

Besides Michigan's follies against the Spartan, Minnesota was swept by Penn State at home. Both schools expected some early struggles. However, it's the way those struggles are happening that are worrying.

For Michigan, the Wolverines are dropping fast from the young team that beat Western Michigan. Mel Pearson's team has 1 Big Ten point in six games. Sure, injuries aren't helping, but it's concerning nonetheless. Four of those games came against the other teams picked to finish near the bottom while looking worse with each passing week.

(Heck, even Canisius is getting in on the Wolverines' style with throwback sweaters that look like the GLI love child of Michigan and Michigan Tech.)

For Minnesota, the Gophers turned a scoreless first period Friday into an 8-2 loss. Saturday's game featured 2-0 and 3-1 leads going away and losing 6-3. (One silver lining: Cullen Munson getting his first collegiate goal...as a junior.) Through six weeks, Minnesota has blown multiple tie games and third-period leads. Young team or not, that's not the identity any group wants yet one the Gophers, unfortunately, can claim.

College Hockey Stock Report: November 11, 2019

Sometimes the best-laid plans do not work out.

Before the season began, the entire WCHA women's league scheduled itself to be idle this weekend. The idea was that since many teams would be missing players for the Four Nations Cup,

Turns out, no team was missing players for the Four Nations Cup. The annual tournament ended up canceled by host Sweden after its national team declared its intentions to boycott as part of an ongoing dispute over equal pay and conditions. Instead, only a few players are in Pittsburgh playing in a USA-Canada rivalry series with most of them being on teams playing.

Another team with changing plans was Denver, whose 44-0-0 dream came to an end in Duluth. Kobe Roth and Noah Cates erased a 3-1 third period deficit Friday in a battle of NCHC contenders before the Bulldogs became the other one in Denver's 8-1-1 record.

Each weekend sees ups and downs as players and teams adjust to new situations. That's the fun and joy of the sport and one that bodes well for a handful of new trends on a weekend where not everything went to plan.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

College Hockey Stock Report: November 4, 2019

Welcome to November where the Ivy League men's teams finally play.

Seriously, it will be good to not need to bring up that fact each week. Everyone is underway. Everyone! The Dartmouth men's hockey Twitter is now back up to 80-20 hockey versus dog content just in time as teams are already tossing teddy bears.

And there will be plenty to discuss as conference play begins in full. With a last-minute goal, Ohio State opened its Big Ten slate by sweeping Michigan to advance to 6-1-1 on the season. Notre Dame sophomore defender Nick Leivermann continued to score at Mariucci and nowhere else. The Boston College men's and women's teams each beat Providence. Army upset AIC. Long Island University got its first program win ever by defeating St. Michael's 5-2 on Friday.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

Which teams enter 2019-20 with the biggest chips on their shoulders?

'Tis the season, so let's talk rankings.

Rankings: They're fun, highly debatable, and in college hockey, they don't actually matter. Only a math equation does. That doesn't stop us from analyzing every single ranking. We can't get enough.

Around this time year, it would be easy to make preseason rankings. That's not what I'm going to do, though. Instead, these are rankings where Minnesota Duluth doesn't automatically get placed first.

These are rankings for which teams can claim the biggest chips on their shoulders.

Playing the "proving them wrong" song can be a lifeline in sports, even if it ends up sometimes ringing hollow. College hockey is no exception. Let's be clear. All 60 teams would like to use the Rodney Dangerfield card. No respect!

Several players come to mind as those who used "us versus the world" and a chip on their shoulder as a motivation tactic. Both Denver and St. Cloud State got far with it last season after losing players early and head coaches to the NHL and Minnesota, respectively.

Without further adieu, here are the top 20 college hockey teams with the biggest chips on their shoulders. It's a ranking fitting for a year where the Frozen Four takes place in a city where "Detroit versus Everybody" exists as a mantra and lifestyle.

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

Harvard

2018-19 Record: 19-11-3 (13-7-2, T-3rd in ECAC)
Head Coach: Ted Donato, 16th Year
Top returning scorer: Reilly Walsh (12G-19A)
Top returning goaltender: Cameron Gornet (Sr.)

Put it on old Harvard to mix things up a little bit. The Crimson, of the four Beanpot schools, remain the last to appear in a Frozen Four. Ted Donato's team continues to be built in a way that works well in the current college hockey landscape, making it difficult to ignore the sound and the fury coming out of Bright Hockey Center.

Harvard enters 2019-20 with four NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons. Reaching that consistency has been in no small part thanks to recent recruiting classes replenishing lost talent.

Five of the seven players with at least 20 points last season were underclassmen. All return. While not the multiple first-rounders of nearby schools, Donato has a mixture of players selected in the top 3-4 rounds with undrafted guys who can both develop into solid college players for Harvard.

What's Old: Players getting their NHL rights traded over the summer and then leaving early.

What's New: Seriously, this would be a different feature if it came out in early May rather than September. Harvard players seem to take some leftover lessons from Jimmy Vesey and control their futures. Both Adam Fox and John Marino pulled the "we're staying in school" move right up until the NHL teams who held their draft rights moved them to teams they wanted.

Without getting into a college thesis about the ethics or pro and cons of utilizing CBA labor rights (I only have 600 self-imposed words, okay?), the loss of both defenders will be felt. Fox led the nation in assists (insert your "how do you like them apples?" joke here) with 39 and was a Hobey Baker hat trick finalist. Marino is mobile with a more defensive edge, providing a balance to offensively-happy defensemen like Fox and Reilly Walsh.

Starting goaltender Michael Lackey also departed, a side effect of the Ivy League not having a redshirt year. He's now at Providence. Cameron Gornet played well (.915% save percentage) late in the season during Lackey's absence due to injury. He will get the first crack.

Of the Crimson's seven first-year players, three were drafted in June: Forward John Farinacci (76th to Arizona), defender Henry Thrum (101st to Anaheim) and forward Nick Abruzzese (124th to Toronto).

Closing Thoughts: It would not be a stretch to call Harvard, after losing to Massachusetts in the first round, a potential national title contender if both Fox and Marino returned. The Crimson worked through some early team struggles into a 12-3 stretch in January and February.

Keeping most of that team - especially a blue line that can score at will, finishing with the second-highest power play (28.3%) in the country - together would raise expectations.

Still, there's plenty to like even without a preseason Hobey Baker favorite. Donato's teams have been able to bounce back from losing key players this decade (Vesey, Kerfoot, Ryan Donato, etc). Harvard's D departures pave an opportunity for junior Walsh and sophomore Jack Rathbone to take the next step in their development. (Walsh, in particular, has the tools to be a No. 1 D and play in all situations.) The same can be said with returning forwards such as Jack Drury, Jack Badini, Casey Dornbach and Henry Bowlby.

Recent 60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less) Features
Bowling Green
Penn State
Western Michigan
Union
Every Team So Far

--
If you enjoyed this blog, you can follow Nate on Twitter and like/subscribe to his Facebook page. Thanks!

College Hockey Stock Report (July/August 2019)

One more offseason month to go.

July 1st technically kicks off the season, as it's the date teams officially switch conferences or begin. There was one in Division 1 this year as Long Island University kicks off its inaugural women's hockey program. For the most part, we're still asking #IsItOctoberYet (or #IsItNovemberYet for those who are Ivy League schools). There's still a month (or two) until games begin.

Right now, players are coming back on campus. Classes are underway. Teams are starting up practices or even exhibition games.

Guys crushed the run test this morning & came back in great shape. First on ice practice tomorrow. No matter how many times you have done it, start of a new season is so exciting #300s #passfail #dayone

— Derek Schooley (@derekschooley) August 27, 2019

With one more offseason month to go, it's time to bring back the stock report and take a measure of what's going on over the past two months. And if this isn't enough, make sure to follow along my "60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less)" series profiling all sixty D1 men's hockey programs.

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 9

On this week's That Gopher Hockey Puckcast, certain Twin Cities suburbs get disparaged.

We also get joined by Inside College Hockey's Mike Eidelbes to preview #6 Minnesota's match-up with Big Ten newcomer #4 Notre Dame this weekend. Mike also gives his thoughts on the Big Ten and college hockey landscape before closing with the time Mike covered Phil Kessel's college commitment.

Drew and I went over Minnesota sweeping Harvard at home, Rem Pitlick's consistency, Tyler Sheehy scoring the OT winner Saturday and his line playing well, and Harvard names. We ended by opening the mailbag to discuss the World Juniors, polls and more.

Those handing hats to future Stanley Cup champions can directly download here.



As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes. While you're at it, please leave a review and give us five stars. It helps out the podcast.

Plugs and stuff

-Mike occasionally writes for Inside College Hockey and the Week of INCH will return in 2018. You can follow Mike on Twitter @INCH.

-Drew can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey and football for the Minnesota Daily.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

Game Story: Tyler Sheehy scores in OT as Gophers sweep Harvard (Zone Coverage)

On shot No. 44, Merrick Madsen made his first mistake.

He didn’t make many Saturday night in a game where Minnesota continuously tested the Crimson defense. Unfortunately for Madsen, Rem Pitlick made him pay for it on shot No. 45.

Minnesota outshot the 13th-ranked Crimson 50-16 at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Gophers needed all 50 shots to solve the Harvard goaltender, who made few mistakes Saturday. Junior captain Tyler Sheehy set off the home crowd with his game-winning goal 35 seconds into overtime in a 2-1 win and series sweep.

“That one felt good. That was one of my favorite goals I’ve scored just because we deserved to win tonight and so coming out with anything less than a win would have been unacceptable,” said Sheehy.

Madsen stopped a Tommy Novak redirection early in the first period to set the tone for Saturday’s game. No. 7 Minnesota (9-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten) outshot the Crimson 16-7 in the first period, but neither team was able to score a goal.

“It was one of those games where sometimes the goaltender has something to say about who is going to win the game,” Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said about Madsen, who finished with a career-high 48 saves. “He’s an elite goalie. He’s been that his whole career.”

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Harvard Saturday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

Harvard (2-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) at #7 Minnesota (8-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: November 18, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic/Zone Coverage/Wellsociated Press

Last night's recap: Casey Mittelstadt & Minnesota Get Highlight-Reel Win Over #13 Harvard (Zone Coverage)

Winners of six straight at home, Minnesota is finding comfort in the friendly confines of Mariucci Arena.

While Harvard head coach Ted Donato did not make an excuse, he did believe it took his team some time to get used to the Olympic-sized ice sheet.

"(Minnesota's) a good hockey team, but hopefully we'll be a little better tomorrow," he said. "I think there's an adjustment for any team who comes to the big ice surface and they certainly have guys who can get around the ice well and get you out of your zone skating. That's not something that is surprising to us."

Adjustment or not, everything clicked Friday for Minnesota through forty minutes. The Gophers left the ice leading 4-0 and kept a speedy Harvard team in check.

"I don't know if it was the best, but we did a pretty good job other than if we turned the puck over and some vulnerable errors that could get us in trouble. Harvard's got such good speed that they are going to come back at you," said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "We did a good job at getting sticks on pucks and blocking shots."

Now in Saturday's rematch, both teams believe they can improve upon last night's results. Donato would like to see his team get off to a better start and be better on both ends of special teams. Harvard went 0-4 on the power play Friday night and didn't test Gopher goaltender Eric Schierhorn.

As for Minnesota?

"We need to do the same tomorrow and not even let them get a couple goals in there and close a little better," Rem Pitlick said Friday.

Line Combinations:

For the fourth time this season, Minnesota goes with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Nate Knoepke makes his second appearance of the season while Ryan Norman sits to make room. (Jack Glover was healthy when I asked Wednesday.)

"From a defensive standpoint, (7D) allows us to get one of the freshmen involved in the game with the comfort of knowing that one of the veterans is still availble to us," Lucia said. "From a forward standpoint it allows us to mix and match.

"We've scored the most goals when we've played 11 instead of 12. It allows us to get our top guys out a little more."

Although the Gophers twice scored six goals when utilizing 11 forwards, the third time saw Minnesota shut out against North Dakota.

Harvard makes one change wth Mitchell Perrault replacing Ferederic Gregoire on the fourth line.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers

Forwards
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Casey Mittelstadt (#21) -  Brannon McManus (#7)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Scott Reedy (#19)
 Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Ryan Lindgren (#5) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Tyler Nanne (#29)
Sam Rossini (#28) - Ryan Zuhlsdorf (#20)
Nate Knoepke (#24)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Brock Kautz (#1)
Nick Lehr (#34)

Harvard University Crimson

Forwards

Henry Bowlby (#28) - Ryan Donato (#16) - Lewis Zerter-Gossage (#77)

Seb Lloyd (#15) - Jake Horton (#19) - Michael Floodstrand (#44)

Ty Pelton-Byce (#17) - Jack Badini (#33) - Nathan Krusko (#13)

Benjamin Solin (#11) - Eddie Ellis (#7) - Mitchell Perrault (#9)

Defense

Wiley Sherman (#25) - John Marino (#12)

Jacob Olson (#26) - Adam Fox (#18)

Adam Baughman (#20) - Reilly Walsh (#2)

Goaltenders

Merrick Madsen (#31)

Michael Lackey (#35)

Cameron Gornet (#32)

Game Story: Casey Mittelstadt, Minnesota Get Highlight-Reel Win Over #13 Harvard (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Casey Mittelstadt bounced right back from a rough weekend. So did the Gophers.

Minnesota scored four times in the first two periods Friday, and held on for a 4-2 victory over No. 13 Harvard to get back in the win column. Mittelstadt, held off the scoresheet last weekend versus Michigan, finished with two points and a highlight-reel goal in the second period against Crimson goaltender Merrick Madsen.

“Obviously, there’s going to be times where you don’t play your best, and for us that might have been last weekend,” said Mittelstadt. “We came out and tried to play with pace, make plays and when we do that we play pretty well.”

Facing a Harvard team (2-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) that made the 2017 Frozen Four, the seventh-ranked Gophers (8-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten) put together one of its best performances of the season during the first two periods.

Minnesota’s defense was able to hold a speedy Crimson attack at bay while limiting turnovers. Eric Schierhorn made 26 saves in goal for the Gophers. Meanwhile, the team’s penalty kill went 4-4.

“I thought Eric played well tonight,” said head coach Don Lucia. “Our penalty kill has been good. They were dialed in and, if we had to make a save, Eric made it.”

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Harvard Friday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

Harvard (2-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) at #7 Minnesota (7-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: November 17, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS/TSN5 in Canada
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic/Zone Coverage/Wellsociated Press

Pregame reading: Gopher hockey loses its finishing touch in disappointing weekend at Michigan (The Athletic), Harvard 1989 shocker still haunts Gophers 28 years later (The Athletic)

Pregame listening: That Gopher Hockey Puckast Episode 8

"That's the million dollar question."

Said by Don Lucia earlier this week, the Gopher head coach was responding to the question "how do you pull the positives all together?" Minnesota has found success on defense, allowing 2 and 1 goals against in back-to-back weekends, as well as offense, scoring 10 goals in 2 games.

However, the two have yet to go together in the same weekend.

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 8

On this week's That Gopher Hockey Puckcast, "Daily Sports Reporter" Drew Cove signs a newspaper for producer Tom Schreier. They also discuss hockey.

Nate returns from Ann Arbor where he witnessed Minnesota's disappointing weekend against Michigan. Along with Drew and Tom, they touch on the Gophers being unable to hold on to 3-0 and 4-0 leads, along with what went wrong and some positives to take away from the OT loss and tie to the Wolverines.

They also answer your questions, discuss commits and preview this weekend's series against Harvard.

Those wondering what 90's jersey Giles was wearing can directly download here.



As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes. While you're at it, please leave a review and give us five stars.

Plugs and stuff

-Drew can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey and football for the Minnesota Daily.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

Radio: WCCO Radio on Sports Sunday with Steve Thomson (March 26, 2017)

Topics this week included Minnesota's loss to Notre Dame, whether this season was a disappointment or not, both Penn State and UMD winning the day before, and my article on next season's team on this site.

Direct: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/audio/steve-thomson-and-eric-nelson/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/steve-thomson-and-eric-nelson/id403228796?mt=2

My segment begins just before the 30 minute mark of the 4pm hour on Sunday March 26th.