By Nate Ewell

In a prelude to Saturday’s opening game of the Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field, Miami edged Western Michigan in a shootout last Saturday in Kalmazoo. Junior Sean Kuraly (Dublin, Ohio/Indiana-USHL/SJ) fired a game-high eight shots on goal and scored his team-leading 12th goal of the year, displaying an offensive touch that longtime Miami fans have come to expect from the Kuraly name. Sean’s father, Rick, played for the then-Redskins in the early ’80s and set the school record for goals (101). Originally from Toronto, Rick settled in Ohio, and Sean is among a growing contingent of talented players from the state making an impact at the NCAA level and beyond.
Saturday’s game is on CSN Chicago; the second game, Michigan vs. Michigan State, is on BTN

Must Read/See/Head Material

The Bitter Southerner: Huntsville: The hockey capital of the South
Bemidji Pioneer: Bitzer leads strong defensive effort for BSU
St. Cloud Times: Cultured Russell plays power game for SCSU
BGSUFalcons.com: Falcons’ Friedman adjusting to college hockey
BU Today: Freshman hockey star the talk of the sport
AIC Yellow Jackets: Yellow a new shade of gold for Christian legacy
Valley News: Back on campus: Jessiman has come full circle
USCHO.com: Overlooked no more, Montour handles high expectations
ESPNChicago: Paliotta’s development has Hawks excited for future
BTN: Ohio State’s Chad Niddery feature

Five More Storylines No One Should be Without

Johnson leads OSU into his home state – Ohio State travels to Minnesota this weekend and hopes to get an offensive boost from second-leading goal scorer Matt Johnson (Stillwater, Minn./Tri-City-USHL) in his return to his home state. Johnson’s 10 goals include six since he was awarded an alternate captain’s “A” on Jan. 1 and are just three shy of his three-year career total entering this season. He and the Buckeyes killed time during last weekend’s bye by playing a ping pong tournament with the student section, the Knucklebucks – where Johnson shared the title.
Friday’s game is on BTN; Saturday’s game is on Fox Sports North+

Darou scores on ice, helps off it – After an 0-8-1 start, Northeastern climbed all the way back to .500 Tuesday night thanks to a late goal from junior defenseman Dustin Darou (Perth, Ont./Carleton Place-CCHL) that sends the Huskies into Monday’s Beanpot championship game. It was Darou’s second goal of the season (and his career), and he admitted post-game to not being much of a goal scorer. He did account for a big assist in the offseason, however: Darou launched an online fundraiser that raised enough money to provide a wheelchair-accessible minivan for close friend Tony Leduc, a 22-year-old in Darou’s hometown of Perth, Ontario, who was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Monday’s game will be on NESN and TSN2

Another Hughes fuels SLU – After a midseason lull (1-6-1), St. Lawrence has won five in a row heading into a weekend visit from Rensselaer and Union; the Saints, picked to finish 11th in ECAC Hockey, sit in second place. Ten Saints have goals in those five games, led by senior captain Gunnar Hughes (Westwood, Mass./Waterloo-USHL). Hughes comes from a tremendous hockey family, a legacy that includes two years he spent with his older brother, All-American defenseman George, at St. Lawrence. Their sister, Aleca, played at Yale and the trio’s parents, George (Harvard) and Allison (Boston University), both played college hockey. The elder George was teammates at Harvard with his brother, Jack, who went on to play for the NHL’s Colorado Rockies. | USCHO.com: Veteran core helps put SLU’s sights on a top-four finish

On PPG and GPA – Junior Andrew Gladiuk (White Rock, B.C./Nanaimo-BCHL) scored twice Saturday to finish Bentley’s sweep at Mercyhurst and hit the 100-point mark for his career, just the fourth junior nationwide to reach that milestone. His 34 points this season lead the team and rank tied for ninth nationally. Gladiuk puts up big numbers off the ice as well – he was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection last season with a 3.85 gpa. He is a corporate finance and accounting major at Bentley, which is ranked among the nation’s top 20 undergraduate business schools by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Most Career Points, Juniors
108 – Kevin Roy, Northeastern (ANA)
107 – Riley Barber, Miami (WSH)
102 – Jonny Brodzinski, St. Cloud State (LA)
100 – Andrew Gladiuk, Bentley
96 – Alex Petan, Michigan Tech

Highly engaged in Houghton – Michigan Tech senior Blake Pietila (Brighton, Mich./U.S. NTDP/NJ) heads into his final Winter Carnival weekend in Houghton – the end of a nine-game homestand for the Huskies – on his best offensive run of the season (six-game point streak, 5g-6a in that time). Named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week each of the last two weeks, Pietila shared the honor with teammate Tanner Kero (Hancock, Mich./Fargo-USHL) this week. Those two are co-captains, and have one more thing in common: both got engaged in December.

NHL Note of the Week

The NHL’s 16 20-goal scorers include six former NCAA players representing six schools:

Most Goals, NCAA Alums
27 – Joe Pavelski, SJ/Wisconsin
23 – Max Pacioretty, MTL/Michigan
21 – Zach Parise, MIN/North Dakota
21 – James van Riemsdyk, TOR/New Hampshire
20 – Phil Kessel, TOR/Minnesota
20 – Gustav Nyquist, DET/Maine

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

Providence will host Drew Brown Night Saturday to honor teammate Drew Brown (Grass Lake, Mich./Kent School), who has missed this season while battling Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer … RIT honors student manager Joe Vicario – a testicular cancer survivor who suffers from Goldenhar Syndrome – with special jerseys at its Saturday night game vs. Niagara … When Michigan and Michigan State face off at Soldier Field Saturday, it marks just the second time in 301 meetings that the teams play outside the state of Michigan (also Dec. 28, 1968, in Milwaukee) … Robert Morris rides a school-record six-game winning streak into this weekend’s series with Canisius, pitting the top two teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings … Rivals Denver and Colorado College face off Friday (CBSSN) in the second of four meetings to determine which team wins the Gold Pan Trophy.