With December upon us, many schools wrapped up the first half of their schedule this past weekend with holiday breaks upcoming. The others will do so this coming weekend.
Atlantic Hockey:
Bentley swept its weekend set with Mercyhurst and enter the break with five straight wins. They now lead Atlantic Hockey by six points over RIT. Air Force had an impressive weekend, sweeping Canisius with Saturday’s win coming in the shootout.
Big Ten:
The Big Ten featured three series this weekend with all three being splits.
CCHA:
Minnesota State and Bemidji State had weekend sweeps while Ferris State and Lake Superior State split their weekend set. In non-conference play, Northern Michigan had the best weekend of all, sweeping Minnesota Duluth.
ECAC:
Cornell had an interesting weekend. After a 2-1 win over Colgate on Friday, they were cruising to another victory Saturday leading Clarkson 4-0 late in the third period. However, the Golden Knights scored four times in the third period, including three goals with the goalie pulled to force overtime. Clarkson would end up earning the extra point in the shootout.
Hockey East:
Northeastern once again impressed this weekend, sweeping Providence to take the lead in Hockey East.
NCHC:
The weekend’s most anticipated series came from the NCHC where St. Cloud State and North Dakota met for a big series. After an 8-1 beatdown of North Dakota on Friday, St. Cloud struggled in Saturday’s 5-3 loss.
Here are this week’s HockeyBuzz NCAA Top-10 Power Rankings:
1) Western Michigan 12-4-0 (5-3-0 NCHC) | Last week: 2
The Broncos make their first appearance atop the rankings after another weekend sweep, this one over Miami. The Broncos are averaging 4.18 goals per game, second in the country. After three straight losses, the Broncos have now won six straight, scoring 34 times during their win streak.
Up next: vs. Omaha Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
2) Minnesota State 14-4-0 (10-2-0 CCHA) | Last week: 4
The Mavericks continue to take care of business, this time with a weekend sweep of Michigan Tech. Friday’s contest needed overtime with Nathan Smith netting the game winner. The Mavericks have allowed three goals in their last six games.
Up next: At Bemidji State Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
3) Quinnipiac 12-1-3 (5-0-1 ECAC) | Last week: 5
The Bobcats swept a pair of conference games with RPI and Union, sweeping both. Quinnipiac has not allowed a goal in three straight and continue to roll in the ECAC. They’re allowing a NCAA-best 1.19 goals per game.
Up next: At Long Island Dec. 10 vs. Long Island Dec. 11
4) Michigan 13-5-0 (6-4-0 Big Ten) | Last week: 3
Michigan suffered its worse loss of the season on Friday, falling to Minnesota 5-1. But the Wolverines bounced back on Saturday with a 6-2 victory, one that featured a Michael Pastujov natural hat trick.
Up next: At Ohio State Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
5) Minnesota Duluth 10-5-1 (3-2-1 NCHC) | Last week: 1
The Bulldogs were swept this weekend by Northern Michigan and have now lost three of their last five. Duluth was without star goalie Ryan Fanti this weekend due to COVID issues. Fanti has four shutouts in his last seven games and has not allowed more than two goals in a game since Nov. 5. It would have been interesting to see how different things would have gone had the Bulldogs had Fanti for the weekend.
Up next: Vs. Denver Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
6) St. Cloud State 10-6-0 (4-4-0 NCHC) | Last week: 7
St. Cloud makes the jump over North Dakota after splitting with the Fighting Hawks this past weekend. The Huskies had the more lopsided win of the two (8-1 Friday) and that’s why they are making the jump ahead of North Dakota.
Up next: At Bemidji State Dec. 31
7) North Dakota 11-6-0 (6-2-0 NCHC) | Last week: 6
As mentioned above, it was a weekend split with St. Cloud. The Fighting Hawks 6-2 conference record keeps them from falling any further in the rankings. They lead the NCHC over Western Michigan by three points.
Up next: At Colorado College Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
8) Notre Dame 11-4-0 (5-3-0 Big Ten) | Last week: 8
The Irish split their weekend set with Ohio State, dropping Friday’s contest 4-2, snapping their six-game win streak. Notre Dame bounced back on Saturday with a convincing 5-1 victory with five different Notre Dame skaters finding the back of the net.
Up next: vs. Michigan State Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
9) Minnesota 10-8-0 (6-4-0 Big Ten) | Last week: 9
Their split with Michigan was enough to keep them a point back of the Wolverines in the Big Ten. Their win Friday was one of their most complete efforts of the season and it was Michigan’s worse loss of the year. The Golden Gophers on most nights show up to play and should remain right there with Michigan through the end of the season.
Up next: At Michigan State Jan. 7 & Jan. 8
10) Denver 10-4-0 (4-2-0 NCHC) | Last week: NR
After a weekend sweep of Arizona State, the Pioneers have now won six in a row after a four-game losing streak. It certainly appears that Denver has figured things out and are finally back to the style of hockey they want to play.
Up next: At Minnesota Duluth Dec. 10 & Dec. 11
Previously ranked teams missing the cut: Cornell
Other teams considered: UMass, UMass-Lowell, Northeastern
Top-10 Power Rankings:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Prospect Reports:
Nathan Smith - Minnesota State/Jets Prospect
Josh Doan – Arizona State/Coyotes Prospect
Scott Morrow – UMass/Hurricanes Prospect 
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