Vegoe’s Top 20 – 1/20/2025

Michigan State may have lost a game in 3 on 3 overtime to Michigan this week, but the main reason for a new No. 1 in this Top 20 is because of the impressive weekend Boston College put together. The Eagles won three games during the week against some decent competition. They took down Harvard 3-1 at Cone Forum and then swept their home and home with Providence 3-0 and 4-1.

Their goaltender Jacob Fowler had two nice games against the Friars when his team needed him. His coach Greg Brown told The Heights “The most impressive thing about him is the level of concentration he can keep for a long time,” Brown said. “It makes him very consistent at a high level… If a goal does go in, [Fowler’s] immediately on to the next play, another sign of great mental strength.”

Next up for the Eagles is a rivalry series with Boston University who has climbed their way back into my Top 10. It should be a great college hockey series in what looks like the best conference in college hockey this season.

The Gophers have dropped a bit in this ranking — they did not look great in their Friday game at Ohio State and some of the same issues showed up again Saturday against Notre Dame. Minnesota was able to rally enough to force overtime, and some were not impressed with the officiating during the third period Saturday, but the Gophers left the game to a toss up after the Fighting Irish got inspired performances from Cole Knubel and Danny Nelson.

A big riser this week is Connecticut as they defeated Maine at Alfond Arena on Friday and earned a tie on Saturday. The Huskies are ninth in the Pairwise Rankings and fourth in Hockey East behind BU, BC and Maine. “I liked our fight. Even when we went down 2-1, our game got better as it went on. That power play goal was a big goal for us,” UConn Coach Mike Cavanaugh said to the Bangor Daily News. “To come up here and get a win and a tie isn’t a bad weekend.”

St. Cloud State is on the cusp of danger for their season after getting swept two weekends in a row by Minnesota Duluth and Arizona State. The Sun Devils are the surprise of the season and sit at No. 12 in the PWR, but the Huskies have fallen to No. 22 in the PWR and eighth in the NCHC. Coach Brett Larson’s team still has some time to respond.

 “I think we played one of the best teams in the country this weekend. I think we showed we can play with anybody in the country. We just need to make sure this team sticks together and I know they will because we have good leadership and we keep fighting,” Brett Larson told Mick Hatten. “I told the guys that that five-minute major was a microcosm of the year. It was kind of these last four games in a way. It hasn’t gone the way we wanted, but we kept fighting. As long as this group stays together, I think we can keep getting better and play our best hockey at the end of the year.”

Besides BC-BU this week, we’ll also see Minnesota travel to play Michigan State. The series at Munn Ice Arena could decide who controls their destiny to win the Big Ten and more importantly who can get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. PlayoffStatus.com gives the Gophers a 46% shot at getting a top seed right now and the Spartans a 95% chance — so big weekend ahead. The other interesting game on the docket will be UConn and Quinnipiac. The Bobcats have been on a good run this year and their series with the Huskies will have big PWR implications for ECAC and Hockey East.