Weekend Preview: Clarkson women face off against Northeastern in Belfast

Buckeye men head to Lansing, Buckeye women play the Minnesota Ice Caps.

Some picks for contests to watch this weekend, from all different levels. First, though, I’ve picked a men’s and women’s pro to highlight this week.

Men’s pro of the week

Trevor Mingoia (Rögle BK)

Former Berkshire school and PC forward Trevor Mingoia was loaned to Rögle of the Swedish Hockey League recently. He had nearly a point-per-game for Västerviks of the Allsvenskan (2nd division), and since joining, has 4 points in 4 starts with Rögle this year. Former Gopher Leon Bristedt has 20 points in 29 games for Rögle.

Women’s pro of the week

Taylor Day (ECDC Memmingen)

The former University of Toronto goalscorer has 150+ points in less than 50 career games, pacing the Frauen-Bundesliga (German women's pro) in her 2nd season. She did that last year, too.

Big Ten matchup of the week

Ohio State (4-2-2, Big Ten) x Michigan State (2-5-1, Big Ten)

I've already mentioned that I think this is a big chance for Ohio State to lose momentum. Patrick Khodorenko can put the puck in the net even against a strong defensive team and we're coming back from a break, so there's that. Anyway, the only other Big Ten series is PSUxMinn and there should be a couple World Junior players absent.

Non-Big Ten matchup

St. Cloud (6-0-2, NCHC) x Union (3-4-1, ECAC)

This leads off the 'Three Rivers Classic' in Pittsburgh. Union are 9-4-4 when you add out of conference, and rated pretty highly. St. Cloud are 13-1-2 on the year and got 40 first place votes in USCHO’s poll. Blake Lizotte is heating up for SCSU, though they’ll be short Ryan Poehling for the World Juniors. For Union, the offense is cooling off. Leading scorer Cole Maier isn’t scoring as much, for one, but with that Ryan Walker has started to realize his point-per-game potential as a senior. Sebastian Vidmar picked up 4 points in a series against Canisius.

HM: UMass-Lowell (4-4-1, Hockey East) x UMass (7-0, Hockey East)

This should be a really electric year for this rivalry. Despite the unassuming record, Lowell have a very nice group of players, with plenty of secondary scoring. The Minutemen, led by sophomores Mitchell Chaffee (11 goals) and star defense Cale Makar (19pts) will want to keep the momentum going with a quality win.

Women's match-ups of the week:

Clarkson (5-3, ECAC) x Northeastern (12-1-2, Hockey East) in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Freshman Alina Müller has been stupid-good for the Northeastern Huskies, with 24 points in 15 games to lead Hockey East so far. The Swiss star lit it up in Switzerland for the ZSC Lions women’s team, the same organization Auston Matthews played for in his draft year. The Golden Knights haven’t lost since December 1, and the two-game series overseas could have a lot of implications for the rest of the season. They’re paced by sophomore Élizabeth Giguère, who exploded for 71 points as a freshman, and has 35 points in 18 this year. Senior Loren Gabel is nearing 100 career goals, Czech junior forward Michala Pejzlova and Quinnipiac transfer Taylar Cianfarano combine with junior defense Ella Shelton for a potent offensive group.

Minnesota Whitecaps (7-3, NWHL) x Ohio State (8-4, WCHA)

Former UNH captain and leading scorer, Elk River native Jonna Curtis leads the Whitecaps offensively. I think it’s interesting that the women’s pro teams match up against some of the best women’s college teams. It appears to be a two-game series. Sophomores Emma Maltais (28 points) and Tatum Skaggs (12 goals) have been bright stars for the Buckeyes offensively. Former North Dakota player and senior transfer Charly Dahlquist has 18 points in 18 games on the year, and stand-out defense Jincy Dunne has 17 through 20 appearances.

Minnesota-Duluth (4-6-2, WCHA) x Minnesota (9-2-1, WCHA)

The Minnesota Cup (which features MSU Mankato, SCSU, Minn Duluth and 'Minn Twin Cities', the Gophers) continues on into Sunday. The Bulldogs record may be unimpressive (5-8-1), but they have the strongest schedule in college hockey, per USCHO’s RPI. UMD freshman Anneke Linser was WCHA Rookie of the Week in early December and rides a four-game scoring streak into the game. Goalie Maddie Rooney should be no easy task to solve for the Gophers elite offense (out-scoring 54-16), who own a ten-game winning streak. Senior threats Nicole Schammel and Kelly Pannek sit at the top of the scoring with sophomore Grace Zumwinkle, who has the goalscoring lead with 13. Sophomore Emily Brown leads the WCHA in blue line scoring with four goals.

Linköping (17-7-1-1, SDHL) x HV71 (16-6-0-4, SDHL)

2nd overall 2017 NWHL pick Kennedy Marchment is on fire, having joined the SDHL right out of St. Lawrence. She has 23 goals in 26 games to lead the league. HV71 have a couple rookie NCAA stars as well, Minnesota-Duluth blue liner Jess Healy hasn’t missed a step coming into the league, posting 24 points in 26 games. Former Ohio State and Wisconsin forward Claudia Kepler has similar numbers for HV71 as well — a rookie — as is former Bemidji State defender Alexis Joyce. There’s a lot of Finnish talent up front on HV71, too.

Some other players for Linköping include Minnesota-Duluth grads Lara Stalder (16 goals), Sidney Morin (25 points) and Pernilla Winberg (36 points). UNH alum Nicoline Sondergaard Jensen has 23 points in 26 games, with Norwegian Madelen Haug Hansen right behind her.

BC (10-5, Hockey East) x New Hampshire (4-8-1, Hockey East)

For a team that boasts the only freshman to win the Patty Kazmaier award in Daryl Watts and just generally an embarrassment of riches talent-wise, I’ve caught a number of their games and been relatively unimpressed! Not because the team is bad, but because they don’t seem to be anywhere near their potential. This team clearly has so many gifted players. The execution in the final third of the ice hasn’t been there, and with it the production: Watts had 82 points in 38 games last season, well over a goal-per-game. Only 11 tallies in 20 this year.

A bright spot for BC: Megan Keller, and the whole defense, have been stepping up in a big way in the games I’ve seen, not just offensively, although Keller does lead the team with 22 points. This offense, which for all purposes should be high-octane, will have some extra space to work with on the ocean of a sheet at Whittemore. Hopefully they can turn around the 1-4 streak (going into the break) since they’ll need everything flying for Northeastern next week.

BU (5-4-4, Hockey East) x Maine (4-7-1, Hockey East)

Terriers head up to Orono for two, after a low-scoring outing that saw star scorer Jesse Compher’s 14-game scoring streak come to a close. Maine’s offense hasn’t been a problem, averaging about 3 per game, but they’ve been off for a full month. Freshman Celine Tedenby has 16 points in 16 games. Junior forward Tereza Vanišová is a proven threat for the Black Bears up front with 14 goals in 18 starts.

High School Hockey (Boy’s)

The Minnetonka Skippers host Benilde-St. Margaret's

The Skippers are undefeated. Benilde aren’t, but they’re in prime position to give Minnetonka a slap in the face. Michigan Tech recruit Grant Docter on defense leads a Minnetonka offense with a variety of weapons, while Benilde’s offense runs largely through Blake Mesenburg and defenseman Nate Schweitzer (Colorado College).

Also, Flood-Marr champs Salisbury head to Deerfield's new rink after hosting Brunswick the Friday prior.

High School Hockey (Girl’s)

Minnesota Girls Hockey Hub did some great previews, so I’ll link two of those here:

Upstate Showdown: Grand Rapids / Greenway Lightning (13-3) x Brainerd / Little Falls Warriors (12-2-1)

Private School Rivalry: Blake (14-1) vs Breck (11-4)

Nobles (7-0-2) x Kent (7-1)

The Nobles program is historically a powerhouse, with the potential to exit the decade having lost less than 20 games total, and they come hot off a 5-1 win at Southfield. This year is another strong one for the Bulldogs, while Kent will roll into Dedham short-handed a number of players for Worlds. The Kent offense averages well over 5 goals a game but most recently lost to Tabor in the Taft tournament, 3-4, going into the break. Tabor have a great team as well, they’ll face off against Nobles in mid-February.

Junior Hockey Match-Ups

Muskegon (23-5-1-0) x Cedar Rapids (13-12-2-1)

Muskegon have a strong hockey team this year too and they’ll drive 400+ miles to Cedar Rapids to face a team who are 18 points behind and lost decidedly (4-0) to them just before Thanksgiving. The RoughRiders celebrate 20 years in Cedar Rapids over the homestand. Muskegon’s draft-eligible scorer Egor Afanasyev is a real threat at 17-years-old, but this team has a lot of threats, and most of them aren’t that young. UNO recruit Nolan Sullivan had started to heat up his production in his second year, but has cooled down through December until scoring in his last game against the Chicago Steel. For Cedar Rapids, Jets 3rd round pick Nathan Smith (Mankato recruit) leads the team in scoring with 24 points, and he’s put up 8 in his last three. Irish recruit Grant Silianoff is sparking up, with a point in each of his last five appearances (stop-gapped by an appearance at the World Junior A Challenge).

Jr. Bruins (40 pts) x Jr Rangers (35 pts)

In the middle of the USPHL Winter Showcase, two of the top teams in the league. The Jr. Bs are 500 lately. Brad Ong has 9 points in 7 games through December, Colin Slyle has 10, while the Jr. Bruins don’t seem to have had the services of prolific playmaker Sasha Peresunko since November. He had 4 points in 5 games at the Division 1-B World Juniors for Ukraine.

AAA Hockey Match-Up

#1 ranked USA Bantam team Little Caesars plays Don Mills Flyers U14s in their 2nd game of the Silver Sticks in Port Huron, Ontario. Don Mills Flyers 03s are 53-1-4 this season, but the U14s are 15-18-11.