NCHC Week 3 Round-Up: Stars, Highlights and Thoughts

The NCHC had a pretty dang good weekend last week.  Teams that had non-conference games went 3-1-0, while conference play led St. Cloud State, Western Michigan, and Nebraska Omaha all completing weekend sweeps against their opponents.

So who's streaking?  Well it seems as though everyone, with the exception of Minnesota Duluth and Nebraska Omaha, has got some sort of streak going on...

• St. Cloud State has yet to lose this year, riding a 6 game unbeaten streak.
• Western Michigan is currently unbeaten in their last 4 games.
• Miami is riding a smaller 3 game win streak.
• Colorado College is winless in their last 5 games
• Denver and North Dakota haven't found a victory in their last 3 games.

Weekend Scoreboard

Three Stars

Josh Archibald - F - Nebraska Omaha

Archibald finished the weekend with two goals and two assists for four points in Nebraska Omaha's NCHC opening weekend sweep over Denver.  The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect's biggest accomplishment on the weekend?  Burying both overtime goals for the Mavericks this weekend.  The Maverick junior has six goals and four assists in eight games thus far this year.

Joey LaLeggia - D - Denver

LaLeggia exerted his typical offensive presence while back on the blue line this past weekend, scoring two goals and earning an assist against Nebraska Omaha.  The Edmonton Oilers prospect's most impressive weekend statistic was during the Pioneer's man-advantages.  LaLeggia tallied a goal and an assists for two power play points on the weekend, and leads the NCHC overall with four power play goals.  The Pioneer junior five goals and two assists in eight games this year.

Frank Slubowski - G - Western Michigan

Slubowski denied 57 of the 60 shots that were fired upon him between the two games that coach Andy Murray gave him the nod to start.  Providing a strong foundation for the Broncos in their weekend sweep of Colorado College, Slubowski finished the weekend with a 1.48 GAA and a .950 save percentage.  The Bronco junior has a 2.15 GAA and a .931 save percentage in his eight games between the pipes this season.

Highlights & Thoughts

As noted at least two or three other times in various articles over the last few days, St. Cloud State did, in fact, sweep North Dakota in Grand Forks.  Feel Free to click the link in the first sentence if you'd like more details!  Other than the brief summary, Los Angeles Kings prospect Nic Dowd had a game winning goal and two assists to lead the Huskies with three points on the weekend.  Kalle Kossila, Jimmy Murray, and Los Angeles Kings prospect Jonny Brodzinski all had two tallies on the weekend as well.

Nebraska Omaha seems to have found some traction as they came out of Denver with a sweep.  Pittsburgh Penguins prospects Josh Archibald and Jake Guentzel led the team with four points apiece, even skating a +3 rating at the end of the weekend.  Dean Blais's goaltenders, junior Ryan Massa and freshman Kirk Thompson, responded in a positive way after last weekend by stopping 63 shots on the weekend, each allowing only 2 goals.

Minnesota Duluth was forced to shuffle lines against Ohio State as sophomore Justin Crandall remained back in Duluth with a minor injury, but still found a way to win on Friday, 3-1, but fell on Saturday, 4-2.  The Bulldogs received all their scoring from freshmen on Friday (Kyle Osterberg, Sammy Spurrell, and Dominic Toninato), and on Saturday, it was more of a mix (Alex Iafallo & Caleb Herbert).  Although UMD killed all nine of OSU's power play attempts, the won just 37.1% of faceoffs throughout the weekend, killing the amount of puck possession the team had.  In a brighter light, Minnesota Duluth is ranked 5th in the country for team defense, allowing just 1.88 goals per game, and 3rd in penalty kill with a tremendous 93.6%

NCHC Standings

Enjoy,

--

Give SB Nation College Hockey a follow on twitter and keep up with the latest college hockey news here -> Follow @sbncollegepuck

Matt Christians covers Minnesota Duluth and the NCHC for SB Nation and College Hockey News. You can also give him a follow here -> Follow @matt_christians