{"id":98592,"date":"2014-10-12T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T00:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/nchc-blog\/?p=224"},"modified":"2014-10-12T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T00:43:09","slug":"nchc-experiences-topsy-turvy-opening-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2014\/10\/12\/nchc-experiences-topsy-turvy-opening-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"NCHC experiences topsy-turvy opening weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
Anyone expected NCHC teams to come flying off the blocks this last weekend and tear into its nonconference opposition will have come away at least a little disappointed.<\/p>\n
Unless he or she only paid attention on Saturday and Sunday. Better times were had then.<\/p>\n
Seven of the league’s eight affiliate teams opened their 2014-15 regular season slates on Friday, and five of them fell. Colorado College and Nebraska-Omaha won their first counters of the season against Alabama-Huntsville and Minnesota State, respectively, but a quintet of NCHC schools weren’t as fortunate.<\/p>\n
North Dakota and St. Cloud State lost at home on Friday to Bemidji State and Colgate, respectively. Miami lost 3-2 on the road against intrastate rival Bowling Green, Western Michigan lost 4-2 at Canisius, and Minnesota-Duluth was edged out by Minnesota 4-3 at the IceBreaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind.<\/p>\n
The NCHC’s teams that played last weekend – Denver was the only one that didn’t – fared much better Saturday and Sunday. It started on Saturday night, where the league went 4-1 against several of its counterparts, and only UNO fell in its rematch with Division I college hockey’s other set of Mavericks.<\/p>\n
Sunday went even better, with Miami besting BGSU 3-2 in the second leg of a home-and-home series while UMD blanked Notre Dame 3-0 in the third-place game of the IceBreaker.<\/p>\n