First Weekend College Hockey Wrapup

With the first weekend in the books, the college hockey season is finally underway. There were a few high-profile interconference matchups this weekend, and we'll take a look at them.

Icebreaker Tournament
Held in St. Paul this year, the Icebreaker featured Minnesota, Michigan, Boston College and RPI. As is to be expected probably, the Gophers won the tournament on home ice. In the first semifinal surprising RPI took a 3-0 lead before the Gophers made a frantic comeback, scoring 4 unanswered goals. Sophomore Kyle Okposo, a preseason 3rd team All-American from St. Paul, netted the game winner with just 1:11 remaining in regulation.

The other semifinal was a fantastic contest between Michigan and Boston College. With 8 minutes left in the game, Michigan was up by two goals, but then BC tied it to force overtime. Benn Ferriero scored the tying goal at the 13:43 mark. But Michigan freshman Louie Caporusso picked a good time to score his first collegiate goal as the Wolverines knocked off the #2 ranked Eagles.

In the championship game Minnesota goalie Jeff Frazee had a career high in saves with 44 as Minnesota knocked off Michigan to win the Icebreaker tournament. It truly was a matchup of youth, as both Minnesota and Michigan are going to need serious contribution from freshmen this year, as both have lost experienced players: Minnesota's Alex Goligoski and Mike Vanelli and Michigan's Jack Johnson and TJ Hensick. While this was a good opener for both teams, you have to figure both will improve immensly from now until postseason time.

Hall of Fame Game
In the US Hockey Hall of Fame game, preseason #1 North Dakota went up against #3 and defending national champion Michigan St. While it appeared to be a close game on paper, Michigan St. proved to be no match for the Sioux, who won 6-0. The fact that Michigan St. goaltender Jeff Lerg is the preseason first team All-American speaks to just how good UND's offense is. Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan scored a goal, as did his linemate and fellow Hobey candidate TJ Oshie.