Vegoe’s Top 20 – 2/3/2025
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Team (Pairwise)
Boston College (1)
Michigan State (2)
Minnesota (3)
Maine (4)
Western Michigan (5)
Providence (7)
Denver (8)
Boston University (9)
Connecticut (6)
Ohio State (11)
UMass-Lowell (10)
Arizona State (13)
Quinnipiac (12)
Massachusetts (16)
Michigan (14)
Augustana (19)
New Hampshire (15)
Sacred Heart (26)
Minnesota State (18)
Wisconsin (17)
Last
–
–
+2
+2
-2
+1
-3
–
–
+2
-1
-1
+3
+3
-2
+2
+
+1
-4
-6
Boston College rested their star goalie Jacob Fowler in a top ten matchup with UMass-Lowell on Friday, but there was no let up by the rest of top ranked Eagles. Sophomore forward Ryan Leonard tallied a hat trick in the 4-0 shutout over the River Hawks and during the second period UMass-Lowell was held without a shot on goal. Leonard leads the nation in scoring with 22 goals this season, just ahead of Michigan State’s Isaac Howard (21) and Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud (20). The Eagles face Northeastern to kick off the Beanpot on Monday to kick off the week.
Michigan State had a slight stumble on Thursday night against Ohio State losing 4-2. The loss was their fourth of the season and their only regulation loss since their December 6 4-0 defeat to Wisconsin. The Spartans battled back on Friday to get the split, but their conference lead is just two points with six games to play.
“I thought the night before they deserved to win, they outplayed us,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said after Friday’s victory. “I thought (Friday) we got to our game right off the bat to limit them to three shots on net in the first and a really big second period for us. That was a good win for our team.”
Minnesota has had a couple let downs in the second half of the season and Friday night’s first period against Wisconsin looked like another one coming when they went to the locker room after the first period down 2-0. The Gophers responded by scoring the next eight goals of the weekend and pulled off their first season sweep over the Badgers since 2003. Minnesota coach Bob Motzko was hesitant to take too much out of this weekend, but he couldn’t help himself after the weekend.
“It was kind of fun to see our team,” said Motzko. “I’m going to say it… and you always getting a little nervous [making too much of this] and I’ve been a little critical, but we were back to what we knew we could do.”
Graduate goalie Liam Souliere got both starts for the Gophers this weekend and made 59 saves on 62 shots for the two victories. Minnesota gets the week off coming up and then finishes the regular season at Michigan, against Ohio State and then at Penn State.
Some surprises in college hockey this weekend included Western Michigan dropping a game to Colorado College and Minnesota State splitting with St. Thomas.
“This team has never stopped working. We’ve had a lot of moments this year where you doubt how they’re gonna win games sometimes,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “To have the last two Saturdays that we’ve had and be down three goals at Arizona State and finding a way to win, be down going in the third tonight and finding a way to win, … you have to find a way to manage and win those games. And I think that we’re starting to get that feeling back.”
The Broncos are on the bubble between at No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament right now — which is rare ground for the NCHC’s top team. According to PlayoffStatus.com they have 38% chance at a No. 1 and 37% to be in the No. 2 seed band. They still have 10 games to go in the conference with games at Arizona State February 21-22 looking like their toughest remaining series.
Minnesota State continued their rough stretch with their fourth series split in a row and sit at No. 18 in the Pairwise Ranking and trailing Augustana in the CCHA points percentage standings. The Mavs had a 2-1 lead past the midway point of the game Friday, but gave up the lead to two quick goals by the Tommies. Minnesota State had a 2-1 lead on Saturday, but gave up an extra attacker goal with just over a minute to go that sent them into overtime where Rhett Pitlick scored quick during the 3-on-3 session.
“They play with an offensive mind to get to the cage and they did so,” MSU coach Luke Strand said. “They capitalized on opportunities we haven’t necessarily been giving up. That’s the disappointing part… We’ve been able to put a bookend on things and close it out. Didn’t do it today.”