The fantastic start that the Charlotte Checkers got off to at the beginning of the year is looking rather important right now, as the team still sits in first place in the South Division despite losing their last five games. It was said that the Checkers were playing over their heads a little bit during October and November and that they would eventually cool down, which seems to be happening now. The Checkers high-powered offense has been limited to only nine goals over their last five games and they have been outscored 23-9 overall. It was very unlikely for the Checkers to keep scoring at the rate they were previously, but the offense has dried up a bit during the last few games and it doesn't help that they are giving up a lot at the other end of the rink, either. Has the Checkers performance on the ice been as ugly as it looks on the scoresheet, though?

In some ways, yes but they haven't been playing as bad as one would think.

Charlotte's Last Five Games

Other than goal differential, some of the Checkers numbers from the last five games aren't that horrible. The only game where they were completely destroyed was the 7-2 shellacking they took against Oklahoma City. Other than that, they have been fairly competitive in most of these games despite the terrible goal differential. Even with that stinker against OKC, the Checkers have been getting barely outshot during this stretch. So if the team hasn't been playing that poorly then why are they getting outscored so much?

The answer to that all comes down to shooting percentage, something that a lot of players on the Checkers have been getting the better of this season. There was a point where the Checkers scored on over 30% of their powerplay opportunities and had a few players with shooting percentages over 20%. Anyone who has taken a basic statistics course should know that those numbers aren't going to sustain over time and are going to come down eventually and that's exactly what we're seeing happen to the Checkers here. As a team, they have been shooting at only 5.8% during this stretch and their powerplay has converted only three times out of 20 opportunities. The first number is a much more extreme case of regression as the Checkers have seen their luck go in the complete opposite direction of where it was earlier. I don't think the team will get back to scoring as much as they were earlier in the season, but the offense should pick up a little if they continue to stay somewhat competitive in games.

On the other end, you have the team giving up 23 goals in 5 games and that can be traced back to goaltending. Dan Ellis and Justin Peters have a combined save percentage .865 during this stretch, which just isn't going to get it done. I'm not usually one to blame the goaltenders for everything because the defense obviously has to help them out a little but a save percentage under .900 during any stretch of time is usually a bad sign no matter what. I'll cut them some slack in the second OKC and first Rockford games, as the defense gave up a ton of shots those nights but it's hard to defend them in the three other contests. This is only five games and their true talent level is above what they have shown in this small sample size, but these two are going to need to play a little better.

That last statement sums up the Checkers last five games fairly accurately, too. This team isn't as good as what we saw for most of October and November but they aren't as bad as they've played the last five games either. I would expect them to get on track soon and they have a good chance to turn things around for the rest of the month with seven of the remaining 11 games coming at home. The Checkers seem to have a knack for extremes, so we could be in for another roller coaster ride later on in the year. 

Two weeks ago, Carolina Hurricanes fourth round pick from this year's draft, Trevor Carrick of the Mississauga Steelheads, was benched for a couple games after his team suffered a rough 8-0 loss at the hands of the Guelph Storm. Carrick was only on ice for a powerplay goal against, so I thought the benching was a bit odd, but Mississauga's coaching staff clearly saw something wrong with him in that game and was consequently benched. When a a player has to ride the pine for a game or two, many say that it messes with their confidence and can derail the rest of their season.

Carrick returned to the lineup in both fo Mississauga's games last week and recorded a point in each of them. He also scored his sixth goal of the season in Friday's game against the Niagara Ice Dogs, so it doesn't look like confidence is a big issue for him. I still think it's a little odd that Carrick was benched in the first place because from my viewpoint, he is having a very solid season and has made considerable improvements from last year. I'm probably not the most informed person about him or the Steelheads, though. Either way, he is back in the lineup now and producing which is good news for the Hurricanes. Unfortunately, the Steelheads lost both of their games this week and gave up an astonishing 56 shots in one of them which is probably a sign that Carrick's defensive play may have been what got him benched. Then again, if a team gives up that many shots in one game, it's more indicative of a team's entire defensive play rather than one player. I don't have access to watch these games and there is only so much information available, so I'm doing my best here folks.

Moving on, let's take a look at the week that was for the rest of the Hurricanes CHL prospects.

If there is one thing the Hurricanes seem to have a lot of, it is talented forward prospects with questionable NHL futures. Between Zac Dalpe, Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman, Riley Nash, Jeremy Welsh and Jerome Samson, I'm sure the Hurricanes will be satisfied if they can get at least two full-time NHL-ers out of that pack. The expectations for some of these players was once higher than it was now, but the truth with just about any prospect is that you never really know what you'll get out of them and the best you can hope is for them to have at least some future as an NHL-er. Every player listed above at least has some NHL experience and Bowman is looking like he is ready to be a third-liner at the next level, so the future isn't completely uncertain for them. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for one of Carolina's lesser-known prospects, Chris Terry.

A fifth round pick from the 2005 draft, Terry has been a very productive goal-scorer and offensive player at just about every level he has played in. He led the Charlotte Checkers in points last year 59 points in 74 games and was their leading goal-scorer the year before. Terry was also a very accomplished goal-scorer in junior hockey, as he was one of the Plymouth Whalers top point-getters in all of his last three seasons there. The fact that he has been able to carry over his productive from juniors to the pros should be a good sign as far as his development goes but for whatever reason, Terry has yet to be given a shot at the NHL level. Terry would likely have only stuck around for 10-15 games at the max given that's what happens to most call-ups but it is a little odd that he has yet to receive a shot in the NHL when you consider that he has been waiver exempt and one of Charlotte's most productive players.

The issue with Terry not receiving a shot with the Hurricanes yet likely stems from the timing of each situation. Terry's numbers in the AHL have always been impressive but he is lower on the prospect totem pole than Dalpe, Boychuk and Bowman. Those three were always more likely to get a call for a two-week stint in the NHL just to see what they can do and what their future looks like. Terry is also a goal-scorer whose skillset is more suited for a top-six role, so when the Hurricanes needed call up someone to plug in on one of the bottom-two lines, it was going to be Brett Sutter or Jerome Samson since they have more experience in those roles. Unfortunately, during the Maurice era, Dalpe and Boychuk would also get slotted into those roles but that's another issue for another day. The main point here is that Terry has always been in kind of a tough spot when it comes to getting NHL experience and it makes you wonder if he will ever get a shot with the Hurricanes.

Perhaps a better question is whether or not Terry has an NHL future at all. Sure, his numbers are good but there are tons of players who have been able to dominate at lower levels while not amounting to much of anything at the NHL. Does Terry fall into this class? Right now, it's tough to say because he has yet to be given a shot there and is going to lose a year thanks to the lockout. He may get a chance someday but it may come when he isn't with the Hurricanes organization. Should that happen, are the Hurricanes going to be missing out on anything special? A way to find out is to look at some comparable players to Terry and see what they did in the NHL.

There was a lot to be excited about with the Charlotte Checkers this weekend. The team had one of the best records in the AHL and just finished one of the toughest parts of their schedule where the majority of their games were on the road. This weekend's series against the Oklahoma City Barons was the first set of games of a long home-stand for the Checkers where they would play 10 games at the Time Warner Cable Arena. It was also the first meeting between the new South Division rivals who are likely to have many good battles this year and in upcoming seasons. There was definitely a lot of anticipation for this matchup, but things didn't exactly go as planned for the Checkers, as they ended up losing both games to the Barons. 

The Barons are team that I've talked about quite a bit on here because they have arguably the most NHL talent among teams in the American Hockey League thanks to the lockout and the Checkers got to see that first hand last weekend. The Barons outscored the Checkers by a combined score of 11-4 this weekend and outshot them 69-58. Although, most of this damage was done on Sunday afternoon when the Barons handed the Checkers their worst loss of the season by a score of 7-2. They just overpowered the Checkers in this game with their high powered offense featuring would-be NHL-ers like Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall, two of which had multi-point performances in both games. Eberle had four goals this weekend and the one most will remember is this beauty from Saturday's game where he undressed Charlotte defenseman Rasmus Rissanen to tie the game for the Barons. Justin Schultz also factored himself into the equation with one goal and a pair of assists in both games as he continues to dominate the AHL's scoring race.

Outside of Zach Boychuk's two goals that put him tied for first for goals in the AHL, there are not many positive things to go over with the Checkers from that series. Both goalies played relatively poorly with Justin Peters giving up three goals on only 21 shots on Saturday night and Dan Ellis finally came crashing back down to earth on Sunday after giving up six goals on 29 shots. There wasn't much he could do about the goals he let in, but it was still a very ugly performance. Charlotte's defensemen also took home some ugly stat-lines from that game with the most concerning being Justin Faulk taking three penalties and getting tagged with a -5.

Some may panic about Charlotte's two losses this weekend because they came against a divisional opponent and it puts more pressure on them now to retain their top-spot but I think it's a bit too early to worry about that. There is still plenty of hockey left to be played and every team has their bad games. Charlotte was bound to run into a bump in the road sooner or later and that's what we saw this weekend. Plus, it's worth keeping in mind that the Barons not only have a lot of NHL talent on their team, but they have guys that would be playing big minutes on NHL clubs. Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins were all first-liners and among the best players on the Edmonton Oilers last year and Schultz has been at another level against AHL competition this season. Justin Faulk is the only player the Checkers have that can match up with them and we saw why this weekend. I'm interested to see how these two teams play each other in the future, especially after the lockout ends.

It wasn't all bad out of Checkers camp despite the two losses, though. They also had a road game against the Norfolk Admirals earlier in the week, which they won 5-2 on the back of three first period goals. Zac Dalpe also had a very good week, scoring on a rebound chance against Oklahoma City and recording an astonishing 14 shots on goal over three games. He was far more effective and dynamic offensively than he had been all season long and it should get some more people excited about him. Boychuk also recorded two goals, as mentioned earlier and is now the AHL leader in goals scored with 12. Bobby Sanguinetti had a good week at the office with three assists and Michal Jordan doubled his season total with three assists of his own this past week. Drayson Bowman also netted his 11th goal of the season and Chris Terry continued his strong start to the year with a goal and a assist. Also scoring this week was Jeremy Welsh, Riley Nash, Sean Dolan and Tim Wallace.

The Checkers now have some competition in the South Division with the Barons only two points behind them in the standings. They will have a chance to gain some separation from them this upcoming weekend when they take on the Rockford IceHogs in a weekend home series. Charlotte split the earlier series against Rockford this year, so this is going to be another good test for them. Hopefully they can regain their footing after the pair of tough games against the Barons.

It has been a rough month of November for the Guelph Storm, as they have gone through a bit of a cold spell after starting off the season on a very strong note. They had won only three of their 10 games in November heading into last week and were losing ground in the race for the top spot of the Western Conference of the OHL. While the team wasn't playing very well, Hurricanes second round pick Brock McGinn was quietly playing some of his best hockey of the season. In has recorded at least a goal in every week this month and was on-pace to have his best offensive season in junior hockey.

Not much was expected out of McGinn this year because he's still pretty young and his boxcar numbers have always been pretty underwhelming for most of his OHL career. That and his skillset is more suited for a checking line role and he has never been much of a scorer (career high in goals is 12), so it's hard to judge him based only on goals and points. After this week, it might be time to raise the bar for McGinn just a little bit, as he had six points (two goals, four points) in Guelph's three games this week and has already topped his career high in points. His six goals and 20 points in 27 games will not win him any scoring titles but it's still a career offensive season for him and he is on-pace to have a very respectable season from an offensive standpoint. A large part of that is due to his scoring outburst this week, but McGinn had been playing well prior to that so hopefully we will see him get his name on the scoresheet more frequently.

McGinn wasn't the only player who lit it up this week, as there were a couple other big performances to talk about among Carolina's CHL prospect pool.

The majority of my posts about the Checkers have been focused on their high-powered offense and whether or not it is sustainable in the long-run. This team's offense and scoring depth has played a large role in their hot start to the season, but something that might be getting overshadowed is the terrific play of goaltender Dan Ellis. After signing a tryout deal and beating out John Muse for the back-up goalie spot on the Checkers, Ellis has been lights out in his first nine games of the season. He currently has the best save percentage in the AHL with a .947 mark and the 5th highest goals against average at 1.71. With his last stint in the NHL being a major flop, not much was expected out of Ellis this year so the numbers he has been putting up are surprising to say the very least.

One could say that Ellis has mostly been reaping the benefits of playing behind a strong offensive team like the Checkers, but that statement proves to be false when you look at how much support he has been getting from the rest of the team. The Checkers have actually been outshot 280-286 when Ellis has been in goal. They aren't getting dominated, but Ellis is still facing over 30 shots per night this year, so he has to do a good amount of work every game. That makes his .947 save percentage and two shutouts look even more impressive. Compare that to Justin Peters' .904 save percentage with a little over 27 shots faced per game, and you have to think that Ellis might be in consideration to earn the Checkers starting job relatively soon. Jeff Daniels seems to like the two-goalie tandem so I'm not sure how likely it is that Ellis will earn the starting job, but it's clear that he is performing at a higher level right now.

Does this early-season success mean a lot for Ellis' future? Predicting goaltending performance is a quagmire in itself and it's especially difficult here since Ellis has played in only nine games this season. History has shown that a goaltender who performs well in his first 15 games with a team will give him a prolonged chance to show what he can do. So even if Ellis' performance falls off the map over the course of the year, what he is doing right now might be enough to earn him the starting job in Charlotte and possibly a few games with the Hurricanes if Brian Boucher continues to have injury problems.

Ellis' great performance this season is a perfect example of how unpredictable goaltending can be in general, seeing how he was signed on a tryout contract after being a below-replacement level goalie in his last full NHL season. Trying to guess how he will perform after this stint is losing a battle, but for the time being, he is one of the main reasons why the Checkers have been as successful as they are this year. Yes, the offense has played a key role but having Ellis stop nearly 95% of the shots he has faced in half their games has factored into more than a couple wins. Jeff Daniels bringing him in on a low-risk deal has proved to be a very good move thus far.

If there is one thing that has helped take the minds of Hurricanes fans off the NHL lockout, it is the strong play of the Charlotte Checkers. After last night's win over the Norfolk Admirals, the Checkers have the AHL's best record at 12-3-0-2 and have won five of their last six games, earning points in all of those contests. They have managed to do this despite playing the majority of their schedule on the road, too so the team banking these early wins will certainly go a long way around playoff time. Having the farm team play well is always a good thing, but the most promising aspect from the Checkers start to the season is that most of their production is coming from players who would be battling for roster spots on the Hurricanes.

The AHL has seen a bit of a talent influx thanks to the lockout and there are a lot of players in the league who would be in the NHL right now. These are players who you would expect to thrive in the AHL since they are at a different level than everyone else. The Checkers best player, Justin Faulk, is in this class but just about everyone else who they have received top contributions from are some of their better prospects who were going to be fighting for roster spots during training camp. Guys like Zach Boychuk, Zac Dalpe and Drayson Bowman fit this label the most, as they have been among the Checkers best forwards and have been making the most of their time in the AHL.

There were a lot of people who thought that the lockout would hurt a lot of younger players like Dalpe, Bowman and Boychuk because it would damage their possibility of making the NHL, when it appears to have done the exact opposite. The lockout has allowed them to play in Charlotte without being exposed to re-entry waivers and the three of them, along with a couple others, are making strong cases to be in Raleigh full-time once the NHL resumes. This season was thought to be a "final chance" for players like Boychuk and Bowman to make the Canes full-time and while we will still have to wait for that day, they are doing their best to get the front office and coaching staff's attention by playing lights out hockey in Charlotte.

Take a gander at the AHL's leader boards and in just about every category, you'll see a player from the Checkers and most of them fall in the category mentioned above. Drayson Bowman currently leads the AHL in goals with 11 and Zach Boychuk is right behind him with 10. Boychuk is also 9th in the AHL in points with 16 in 17 games. These two along with Jerome Samson are also among the league leaders in shots on goal, producing over three shots per game. AHL success doesn't always translate over to the next level, so Hurricane fans will have to remember that when looking over these numbers but for the time being, it's great to see some of the Canes more promising young players producing well in the AHL.

Still, it's tough to say whether or not the strong offensive numbers will be enough for Boychuk or Bowman to earn a roster spot on the Hurricanes because the coaching staff is going to choose whomever fits the team the most and that doesn't always correlate to boxcar stats. We know that Muller isn't going to call-up a player like Boychuk or Bowman to plug him in on the fourth line and play 5-8 minutes a night because that isn't playing to their strengths and doesn't do the team much good. This is what Paul Maurice often did with the younger players and most of their stints were over before they even started because of that. A top-six spot is also out of the question with the moves the Hurricanes made over the off-season, so it's more likely that one of the players in Charlotte right now will have to settle into a third line role with the Canes.

With Brandon Sutter out of the picture, it's unknown how the Canes third line will be constructed in the upcoming season, but I think it's fair to say that whoever plays on this line is going to need to have some two-way skill to earn a full-time spot. This would give the edge to Bowman since he has played in this type of role before, can be trusted with killing penalties and has more NHL experience than most of the guys on the Checkers right now. It's still hard to ignore what Boychuk is doing in Charlotte right now and I'm sure the Canes coaching staff has taken notice of it. His size and defensive play have always been the major knocks on his game and that might prevnet him from landing a third-line spot on the Canes, but if his numbers in Charlotte are enough to at least make the coaching staff give him another look, then hopefully he can seize the opportunity as well as he has in the AHL so far.

The last sentence sums up what this is all about, which is making the most of your opportunities. Going into this season, Boychuk knew that he had to really step up his game if he wanted to succeed in the Hurricanes organization and the lockout has given him another chance to show the coaching staff what he can do. He seems to have gotten the message, as he is playing some of the best hockey of his professional career right now and while it may not translate to success at the next level, it might be enough for him to catch the attention of Kirk Muller and the Hurricanes to give him another chance at the NHL. If he can continue to play this well and make a good impression, he might be able to stick around for longer than some thought.

There has been almost nothing but bad news concerning the lockout but outside all of the mudslinging and PR battles, hockey is still being played elsewhere and players like Boychuk, Bowman, Dalpe and Terry are making the most of it.

Before this weekend, the Charlotte Checkers had been involved in only one shootout all season and it came on opening weekend against the Texas Stars. They ended up on the losing end of that game and found themselves in a similar situation this past weekend against the same opponent, oddly enough. The shootout wasn't a major weakness for this team last year but they definitely had their struggles and it looked like it would continue this season after they dropped their first two shootout decisions of the year, scoring only twice in 19 attempts in the process. This mindset would fade out quickly, as the Checkers found themselves in another shootout the next night against the San Antonio Rampage and ended up getting the win in five rounds.

The shootout is unfortunately a necessary evil in professional hockey right now and it's something the Checkers have struggled with thus far, but at the end of the day, Charlotte ended up getting five out of a possible six points on this road trip and I think most will be satisfied with that. It's always critical to earn points against divisional opponents and the Checkers were able to do just that this weekend. Granted, they were playing the two bottom teams in the South Division, but these are still games the Checkers have to win or at least earn points in to continue to gain separation from the rest of the pack. They seem to be doing just that right now, as they currently sit six points ahead of the second place Oklahoma City Barons and are still neck-and-neck with the Abbotsford Heat for first place in the South Division.

The end result was good for the Checkers, but there are some things to be a little concerned over. The most notable one being the team getting outshot 92-87 over the three games this weekend. They weren't getting pasted territorially, but they were still on the losing end of the shot battle against two pretty weak teams. It isn't something to fret over since the Checkers have been good at controlling possession this year and off-games tend to happen. Still, I was expecting a more dominant performance but the Rampage really made the Checkers earn those two wins this weekend.

It actually looked like San Antonio was on their way to pulling off an upset on Friday night when they jumped out on top with two early goals. The Checkers have been in this scenario numerous times this season, though and once again, they were able to battle back and get themselves back into the game. Nicolas Blanchard got things started off with a short-handed goal that came off an odd-man rush and the Checkers just seemed to build off that.  Zac Dalpe would then tie the game early in the third period after keeping in a bad clearing attempt from the Rampage and firing home a wrist-shot. Dalpe struck again less than three minutes later as Chris Terry was able to force a turnover in the neutral zone and create an odd-man rush the other way. Jerome Samson would later ice the game with a bomb from the point for his third goal of the season.

San Antonio got off to a hot start on Sunday night, as well and took a early 1-0 lead with a goal from Greg Rallo, one that Peters would probably want to have back. Once again, though, the Checkers responded late in the first period as Jerome Samson was able to create a breakaway opportunity after exiting the penalty box. He was shut down but the Checkers were able to set up a play after this and Brett Sutter took advantage of the opportunity by scoring his sixth goal of the season. Going into the second period down 2-1, the Checkers tied the game less than a minute into the period after Zac Dalpe found Bobby Sanguinetti wide open in the slot and he fired home a laser of a wrist shot past Rampage goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris. Unfortunately, Sanguinetti would end up helping the Rampage recapture the lead after committing a bad turnover that led to a goal by Scott Timmins. Zach Boychuk would then go onto save the day for Charlotte in the third period, scoring a goal that came as the result of a terrific individual effort. Chris Terry would go onto win the game for the Checkers in the shootout and give Charlotte a weekend sweep of the Rampage.

The only thing that kept Charlotte from a complete three-game sweep of Texas this weekend was a shootout loss at the hands of the Texas Stars. The Stars had the upper-hand in shots in this game but the Checkers had plenty of chances that ended up getting shut down by goaltender Christopher Nilstrop. Their best opportunity was either Riley Nash's breakaway or Drayson Bowman's rebound chance that Nilstrop managed to get to just in time. That being said, Charlotte's Dan Ellis also had to do plenty of work to keep this a tie game, as well. The Stars had a couple of odd-man rush opportunities that Ellis had to shut down and the defense was guilty of a couple of bad turnovers. Justin Krueger in particular had a bad one in the third period that ended up turning into a prime scoring chance for the Stars. In the end, the Checkers got a point and most fans will take that.

Notable performances

• Zach Boychuk's goal was not only a terrific play, it was his tenth goal of the season which ties him with Drayson Bowman for the team lead and with four others for the top spot in the AHL.
  
  
• Bowman had only one assist on the weekend but he also recorded 14 shots on goal over the three games. This improves his shot rate to 3.44 shots per game on the season, which is the highest mark on the team.
  
  
• Tommi Kivisto made his AHL debut on Sunday night after spending most of the year with the Florida Everblades.
  
  
• Zac Dalpe has quietly been on a tear these last six games or so. He two goals and an assist in three games this weekend and he has quietly become the Checkers third leading scorer. He is also very close to recording at least three shots per game, putting him in company with only three other Charlotte players.
  
  
• Bobby Sanguinetti had 9 shots on goal in three games this weekend. His coverage and play in his own end was very shaky this weekend, but he is at least producing as an offensive defenseman.
  
  
• Dan Ellis' shutout against Texas was his second of the season and he now has a save percentage of .947 on the season.

After a pre-Thanksgiving showdown against Norfolk in Wednesday, Charlotte will return to the Time Warner Cable Arena, where they will play their next 10 games. They definitely need to take advantage of this stretch coming up after playing so well on the road to start the year. They will start things off with a two-game series against their new South Division adversaries, the Oklahoma City Barons on Saturday night.

Victor Rask, Carolina's second round pick from 2011, was able to get his first taste of professional hockey this year after spending the first month of the season with the Charlotte Checkers but earlier this week, the team finally made the call to send him back to the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. Rask had five points in 10 games with the Checkers and seemed to be playing well by the eye-test but the problem was that he couldn't seem to stay in the lineup. Charlotte has a lot of players on their roster now thanks to the NHL lockout, which has led to Jeff Daniels and the rest of the coaching staff inserting guys in and out of the lineup on a daily basis to keep things fresh. Rask ended up being one of those players, as there were many weekends where he would be scratched for one game of a back-to-back.

Sending Rask back to juniors means that he will likely play every night and get the top-six minutes that he needs to develop. It also prevents the team from unnecessarily burning a year off his ELC. Rask is still only 19-years old and is still another year from being considered an overager, so sending him back to junior is no big deal and is likely the best move for both parties involved. I'm sure the Hitmen are glad to have Rask back in the lineup since he had the second most goals on the team last season and the third most points. They are currently in a tight race with Keegan Lowe's Edmonton Oil Kings for first place in the Central Division of the WHL and getting Rask back will provide a huge boost for the team.

In fact, Rask provided some immediate help to the team in his season debut yesterday by recording an assist and being on-ice for two goals. It's hard to ask for a better season debut than that.

After the jump, we will take a closer look at Rask's performance along with the rest of the Canes CHL prospect pool.

Once again, there aren't many notable individual performances to speak of among the Carolina Hurricanes NCAA prospect pool, but still plenty of things to talk about regarding their teams. It was also one of those weekends where there was a lot of good news mixed in with bad, so we're going to follow the same format as last week and break things down by those two topics. There's only so much that can happen over the span of two games, so I'm expecting for there to be more weekends like this over the course of the season but hope that we start to see one of these players break out relatively soon. 

Until that day, we'll continue to discuss the happenings of NCAA hockey and what is happening with the teams currently housing Carolina prospects.

Michigan Wolverines (Phil Di Giuseppe)

Good News

The Wolverines took down their in-state rivals Michigan State 5-1 in the first game of their weekend series on Friday. This was a pretty close game for the most part but Michigan exploded in the third period with three unanswered goals included a bomb on the powerplay from Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Trouba. Di Giuseppe did not record a point in either game but he was definitely involved with five shots on goal and he had one really good scoring chance in Saturday night's game but was robbed by the Spartan goaltender.

Bad News

On that note, the Wolverines were blown out 7-2 in Saturday night's game and were pretty over-matched by Michigan State in all phases of the game. They fell into a 3-0 hole early and just seem to keep digging themselves deeper as the game went on. Di Giuseppe didn't commit any critical errors in this game from my view point but he ended up getting tagged with a -2 after being on-ice for two Spartan goals.

The Wolverines are still ranked but they are under .500 in conference play and have a tough series against #7 ranked Notre Dame coming up this weekend followed by a home game against Bowling Green the following Wednesday.

Harvard Crimson (Danny Biega)

Good News

Biega recorded 5 shots on goal this weekend and Harvard won their second conference game of the year by shutting out RPI 4-0. We are also going to get a chance to see Biega first-hand next week when the Crimson take on Cornell on a game that will be televised on the NBC Sports Network. Remember to set your calendars for that.

Bad News

While the shutout over RPI was nice, Harvard also dropped a 6-2 decision to Union College in a rematch of last year's ECAC championship game. The Crimson still have a winning record on the season at 3-2 but their two losses were both very, very ugly and it doesn't help that they both came at home. Biega also had a rough night by taking two penalties and ending up a -3. Here's to hoping that he'll play better with the NBC Sports cameras rolling next week.

Harvard will be on the road for the next few weeks when they take on Cornell, Colgate and Merrimack Colleg.e

Minnesota Golden Gophers (Mark Alt)

Good News

Alt was the only Carolina NCAA prospect to record a point this weekend, as he recorded an assist on Eric Haula's goal in Minnesota's game against Alaska-Anchorage. The Gophers were also the only team in this group to not lose any of their games this weekend, picking up a 4-0 win in their first game against UAA and tying them 2-2 in the second game. A little fun fact from the first game is that all of their goals came on the powerplay.

Regardless, Minnesota appears to be in good shape for now with a 6-2-1 record and a 3-2-1 record in conference play. They will have a struggling Wisconsin club at home next week in what should be a good WCHA matchup.

Bad News

The one blemish from Alt's stat-line this weekend was his four penalty minutes from the 4-0 win on Friday night. Two of them came after elbowed an Anchorage player in the head and from the sound of things, it wasn't pretty. Discipline hasn't been that much fo a problem for Alt this year, but let's just hope we don't see him deliver a hit like that again.

Ohio State Buckeyes (Collin Olson)

I'll keep things short here. The good news is that Olson had the best game of his college career on Saturday night against Alaska-Fairbanks, stopping 42 of 45 shots and keeping the Buckeyes in the game for the entire way. The bad news is that the Buckeyes lost that game 3-1 as their offensive issues this year continue. They have yet to score more than three goals in a game and have been stuck playing for the shootout in a lot of cases because of it. They have only two regulation wins on the year and three OT/shootout decisions. This has to be frustrating for Ohio State fans but Canes fans should be happy that Olson has performed well in limited action. He has allowed only 11 goals on 140 shots, good for a save percentage of .921.

The Buckeyes have a CCHA matchup with Northern Michigan on the schedule for next week.