This is actually the first weekend of the season that I'm home and not going to a hockey game. That's not a bad run. Anyway, here's a brief recap of last night.

Minnesota came out and built a pretty quick 4-0 lead on Michigan Tech and cruised to a 4-1 victory. A solid win by Minnesota on the road. Tech has done a nice job stealing points here and there, but they didn't have the firepower to compete with Minnesota.

The strangest game of the night happened in Colorado Springs. Alaska-Anchorage built up a 4-0 lead in the first period, and chased starter Matt Zaba. Colorado College came back, scoring three goals in the third period to send the game to overtime, and then Anchorage scored a short-handed goal in overtime to earn the win.

Notre Dame beat Michigan 7-3 in Ann Arbor. Michigan didn't get a great performance from their defense and from goalie Billy Sauer, who only made it through two periods. Notre Dame's ability to take advantage of mistakes, along with Michigan's propensity for defensive mistakes was a bad combination for the Wolverines.

Michigan State beat Northern Michigan 3-2. Chris Mueller scored the first two goals of the game, including one on a penalty shot. Justin Abdelaker scored an empty-netter that ended up being the game-winner when Northern score 5-on-3 with 2 seconds left.

Wisconsin beat North Dakota 4-3 in Grand Forks. The Badgers finally got some goals in front of goalie Brian Elliott. They could be a tough team to beat in the second half of the season. North Dakota only has one win in their last 6 games, and the struggles, at least by their standards, of Jonathan Toews and T.J. Oshie continue.

Lake Superior and Ferris State skated to a 1-1 tie. Jeff Jakaitis faced 50(!) shots and only allowed the one goal. That makes tonight's game huge, since a 3 point weekend in the CCHA is an excellent weekend.

Miami continued to seperate themselves from the pack with a 5-2 win over Ohio State. Jarod Palmer had a three point night for the Redhawks.

Minnesota State earned a tie last night against Denver. Denver is another team that is struggling right now. After a good first period, the Mavericks outplayed the Pioneers the rest of the night. Glenn Fisher played a great game to give the Pioneers the tie. The Mavericks powerplay percentage has only been 11% since losing powerplay specialist Mick Berge to a shoulder injury, compared to around 25% when Berge was healthy.

Bemidji State beat Duluth 5-2 last night. The game was tied 2-2 going into the third, and Bemidji dominated the Dogs in the third.

Alaska held on to beat Bowling Green 4-3 in Fairbanks last night. Kyle Greentree scored two goals for the Nanooks.

Jase Weslosky had another impressive win, as St. Cloud beat Colgate 3-1. In three games, Weslosky is now 3-0, with a GAA of 1.00 and a 96.3 save percentage. Andreas Nodl had two goals for the Huskies.

Omaha got a bit of a scare last night when Bentley jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the Qwest Center last night, but the Mavericks rebounded and won the game 5-2.