Happy Tuesday everyone!

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Moose stays in first place, though with a razor-thin edge over House of Seven Gabels. Behind them, our two pollsters Nathan Vaughan and Grant Salzano are nipping at each other’s heels. Highest rise this week was And Don’t Call Me Shirley, up three places in the densely-populated 390-point range. Full standings are above and on the summary tab of the sheet.

What happened this weekend?

Reviewed in more or less the order that they were previewed last week, except when putting them in a different order would make my powers of prediction look better.

Big games:

• Wisconsin and Minnesota split their series, 2-1 Wisconsin in the first came, 3-1 Minnesota in the second. Wisconsin outshot Minnesota in both games. Brad Frost fiddled with the Minnesota lines in the second game but left the Zumwinkle-Wente-Schammel line alone, which was a good call since Nicole Schammel (Minnesota, $44, 32.1 SP, 4.1 WP, 1 pick) ended up Minnesota’s highest scorer from the weekend. Sophie Skarzynski (Minnesota, $31, 21 SP, 3.6 WP, 0 picks) took the “I play for Minnesota and I also score” role in second place. The highest scoring skater for Wisconsin was Maddie Rolfes (Wisconsin, $32.9, 19.4 SP, 1.9 WP, 0 picks). We’ve seen Wisconsin’s offensive output drop off as previous seasons have gone on. The coming weekend’s series against St. Cloud is their chance to show this year will be different./

Probably close games:

• ECAC: RPI scored more than three goals for the first time this season to take down Union 4-1. (The second game of the series was rescheduled to Tuesday January 29th). Last week’s overtime hero Blake Orosz (RPI, $21.9, 18.8 SP, 4 WP, 0 picks) was involved in all four goals with a hat trick and an assist, and Jaimie Grigsby (RPI, $21.1, 13.4 SP, 4.1 WP, 0 picks) got four assists and another .1 fantasy points to make it, I think, the first time an RPI player has made it onto the team of the week, which is an especially impressive achievement given that she only had one game to do it in.
• Hockey East: As a wise man once said, I disagree with KRACH here, I think the Maine-Merrimack series is Merrimack’s to lose. Merrimack took this 3-0, 3-1, with two big results for Samantha Ridgewell (Merrimack, $42.3, 32.35 SP, 3.95 WP, 0 picks) and solid scoring for Katelyn Rae (Merrimack, $39.8, 28.1 SP, 4 WP, 3 picks). In both games Merrimack’s third goal was an empty netter. Maine are looking a little lost at the moment.
• WCHA: Minnesota State lost 3-1 to St. Cloud with Emma Polusny (St Cloud, $27.8, 20.15 SP, 1.6 WP, 1 pick) in net, despite outshooting them 30-20 and playing with the extra attacker for almost the last three minutes of the game. They then turned round and beat Bemidji 2-1 despite being outshot 22-20. Laura Kluge (St Cloud, $16.9, 11.4 SP, 2.1 WP, 0 picks) figured in two of the Bemidji goals and obviously Abigail Levy (Minnesota State, $41, 35.75 SP, 1.75 WP, 8 picks) was the highest scorer for Minnesota State./

Maybe close games:

• CHA: Penn State beat Lindenwood 3-0, 2-1. The first game was the fourth shutout of the season for Jenna Brenneman (Penn State, $26.6, 25.45 SP, 2.65 WP, 1 pick), which apparently ties a program record.
• ECAC: The game I thought was probably close wasn’t really and a different one was, see below.
• Hockey East: The Providence-New Hampshire series was close on average, with Providence taking the first 4-0 and New Hampshire taking the second 5-0. Maureen Murphy (Providence, $49.2, 36.2 SP, 0.1 WP, 11 picks) was held off the board altogether. Meghara McManus (UNH, $18.9, 11.7 SP, 3.2 WP, 0 picks) had a season-best weekend for UNH, but goalie Kyra Smith (UNH, $27.5, 25.6 SP, 3.9 WP, 0 picks) was UNH’s star.
• WCHA: I said I thought KRACH was underrating Ohio State in their series with Minnesota Duluth, but it turned out KRACH was underrating Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs destroyed the Buckeyes 5-2 and 6-3. The second game was actually only 4-3 to UMD until 18:34 of the third, but then (a) UMD got the empty netter and (b) Paetyn Levis (OSU, $10.2, 3.7 SP, 1.6 WP, 0 picks) took a penalty for “That’s not how you spell ‘Peyton’” and UMD scored on the power play with four seconds left. Andrea Brändli (OSU, $33.7, 27.2 SP, 0.15 WP, 0 picks) was chased from the net after allowing four goals in the first period of the first game and sophomore Lynsey Wallace played her first five periods of the season.
  
  At the other end of the ice, UMD were dominant, with top-eight positions in the team of the week for Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, $27.9, 17.8 SP, 8.2 WP, 1 pick), Sydney Brodt (Minnesota-Duluth, $22.2, 14.9 SP, 5.8 WP, 2 picks) and Ashton “Cartoonishly violent” Bell (Minnesota-Duluth, $24, 13.4 SP, 4.4 WP, 1 pick). Of Maddie Rooney (Minnesota-Duluth, $45.9, 28.75 SP, 3.75 WP, 12 picks), Ohio coach Nadine Muzzeral said “she played like a gold medal winning goalie. I don’t know how some of those shots didn’t go in but they didn’t.”  A huge turnaround for Minnesota Duluth, who now have a chance to further improve morale against struggling Quinnipiac./

Probably not close games:

• CHA: RIT surprisingly strolled past Mercyhurst 4-2 in their first meeting of the season. The second game of the weekend was postponed due to the weather, which means Mercyhurst and RIT will probably meet three times in February. Syracuse beat Robert Morris 3-2 in overtime in their first game, but in the second the form book held and Robert Morris had a straightforward 5-1 win. Lexi Templeman (Robert Morris, $28.8, 22.5 SP, 4.1 WP, 1 pick) and Connecticut Whale draft pick Maggie LaGue (Robert Morris, $38.7, 26.2 SP, 4. WP, 1 pick) had big weekends. (There’s a great profile of LaGue by Ice Garden contributor Gabriella Fundaro here).
• ECAC: Anything can happen when you’re St. Lawrence! and yes, they tied with Brown 3-3, which is Brown’s best result since they beat Colgate and Cornell back at the start of November. St. Lawrence also beat Yale 5-1. Kalie Grant (SLU, $21.5, 19.3 SP, 5.0 WP, 0 picks), who is quietly having a very good season compared to last year, had a very good weekend. Up the road, Clarkson demolished Yale 5-1 and Brown 6-0 with the scoring led by, as you’d expect, Elizabeth Giguère (Clarkson, $79.8, 48.7 SP, 7.1 WP, 15 picks), Michaela Pejzlová (Clarkson, $65.7, 40.8 SP, 5.1 WP, 11 picks), and Loren Gabel (Clarkson, $73.8, 40.8 SP, 5 WP, 18 picks). With her first goal in the Yale game, Gabel took sole possession of the Clarkson all-time scoring record. Also, per Title IX Hockey on Twitter, in the Brown game Josiane Pozzebon became just the 14th Clarkson player and the first defender to record at least one Power Play Goal, Shorthanded Goal, Game Winning Goal, and Empty Net Goal.
  
  Over in New England, Harvard goalie Lindsay Reed (Harvard, $33, 25.3 SP, 1.75 WP, 8 picks) had another tough weekend, as Harvard lost to Colgate 4-2 and Cornell 6-0. Both of those matchups were only one-goal losses for Harvard earlier in the season. Reed was pulled halfway through the Cornell game for the first time in her career and Becky Dutton got to play her first minutes of this season, after playing seven games last season. Further North, Dartmouth arguably had an even worse time than Harvard as Cornell won 3-0 (a weekend shutout for Cornell) and Colgate won 5-1. Shae Labbe (Colgate, $42, 27.3 SP, 5.2 WP, 1 pick) and Maddie Mills (Cornell, $42.2, 24.6 SP, 4.1 WP, 1 pick) had great weekends.
  
  Finally, Quinnipiac played Sacred Heart and only managed a 2-1 victory. Quinnipiac are a mystery.
• Hockey East: Boston University blitzed Holy Cross 4-1 and 7-1, with widespread scoring led by Reagan Rust (BU, $22.2, 11.9 SP, 4 WP, 0 picks) and a solid 3.1 points for Jesse Compher (BU, $52.9, 42.4 SP, 3.1 WP, 11 picks). Boston College eased past Vermont 4-2 and 5-2, with Megan Keller (BC, $59.2, 41.4 SP, 4.1 WP, 11 picks) continuing to dominate scoring for BC and Caitrin Lonergan (BC, $49.4, 20.3 SP, 4 WP, 6 picks) rediscovering her scoring touch too. And Northeastern did fine against Connecticut without Chloe Aurard, winning 5-2 and 4-1 with balanced scoring led by Alina Mueller (Northeastern, $45.2, 33.7 SP, 3.8 WP, 16 picks). Fans of the Natalie Snodgrass shot percentage story will be delighted to hear that she got no goals (or assists) on seven shots this weekend, for a shot percentage of no shot percentage. /

Team of the week

For the first time in a while, the team of the week isn’t the top twelve skaters and three goalies. That team violated both the rule on the number of players from one team (Clarkson, obviously, but also Minnesota-Duluth, which is why Maddie Rooney isn’t on the list below) and the rule on cost (with all four most expensive players — Giguère, Gabel, Pejzlová, and Megan Keller — making the initial list). This gives us the following final team of the week:

Roster: Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, F, 8.2), Elizabeth Giguère (Clarkson, F, 7.1), Sydney Brodt (Minnesota-Duluth, F, 5.8), Shae Labbe (Colgate, F, 5.2), Michaela Pejzlová (Clarkson, F, 5.1), Loren Gabel (Clarkson, F, 5), Kalie Grant (SLU, F, 5.), Ashton Bell (Minnesota-Duluth, F, 4.4), Lexi Templeman (Robert Morris, F, 4.1), Jaimie Grigsby (RPI, F, 4.1), Reagan Rust (BU, D, 4), Katelyn Rae (Merrimack, F, 4), Samantha Ridgewell (Merrimack, G, 3.95), Kyra Smith (UNH, G, 3.9), Julia Vandyk (Colgate, G, 3.45)

Score: 73.3

Cost: 583.90

Individual Awards

We have our third eight-point weekend of the year, one week after the second! Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, $27.9, 17.8 SP, 8.2 WP, 1 pick) scored two goals and two assists in each of the UMD games against Ohio State. This almost doubles her season fantasy points. Last year she was UMD’s highest scorer last season with 24 points, so it’s surprising she had been so relatively quiet this year to date. Fun fact: as a high school senior she was apparently the best lacrosse player Minnesota had ever seen. Congratulations to Andrew Kalman of Rink Rodents, who was the only fantasy manager to have her on his team.

Most points: Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, 8.2 points this week (WP), 17.8 points this season (SP)), from Elizabeth Giguère (7.1 WP) and Sydney Brodt (5.8 WP)

Most overlooked (highest scoring player that no-one picked): Kalie Grant (SLU, 5. WP, 19.3 SP)

Biggest boost (highest scoring player that only one manager picked): Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, 8.2 WP, 17.8 SP)

Biggest contribution (highest value of points this week * number of teams they’re on): Elizabeth Giguère (Clarkson, 7.1 points * 15 picks = 106.5 total contribution)

Best Freshman: Alina Mueller (Northeastern, 3.8 WP, 33.7 SP)

Best Sophomore: Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, 8.2 WP, 17.8 SP)

Best Junior: Sydney Brodt (Minnesota-Duluth, 5.8 WP, 14.9 SP)

Best Senior: Shae Labbe (Colgate, 5.2 WP, 27.3 SP)

Best D: Josiane Pozzebon (Clarkson, 4.3 WP, 22.9 SP)

Best F: Naomi Rogge (Minnesota-Duluth, 8.2 WP, 17.8 SP)

Best Goalie: Samantha Ridgewell (Merrimack, 3.95 WP, 32.35 SP)

That’s it!

Everyone’s playing this week: Cornell, Penn State, RPI, Syracuse, and Union have three games, and Princeton only have one. The Comp Schedule tab has already updated with new times for rescheduled games, though I need to check that it isn’t also counting postponed games for the points per game calculation. Costs are on the Cost tab of the sheet. Trades to tigFantasyHockey@gmail.com by 11:59 pm Eastern on Thursday January 24th please!