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Back to Class: A pair of North Dakota prospects are on fire

Danny Kristo - UND Athletics

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET as Harvard takes on Yale.

North Dakota is climbing their way up the rankings and they’ve got a pair of senior forwards to thank for that.

Corban Knight, a Florida Panthers prospect, and Danny Kristo, a Canadiens prospect, are as on fire as hockey players can get. Knight has scored a point in 17-straight games while Kristo has been white-hot with 16 points in his last six games. Knight’s 31 points on the season are good enough to put him second in the country while Kristo’s 30 tie him with two other players for third.

Meanwhile, the two have combined to pile up 31 points together over their last seven games. Who do they think they are, Gretzky and Kurri?

With the kind of offensive heat they’re bringing, North Dakota has surged because of it. While they split their weekend series with Colorado College over the weekend, their record over their last nine games is fantastic at 7-1-1. As of this writing, they’re No. 7 in the country in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll and they’re one point out of the top spot in the WCHA.

If North Dakota is to continue their climb to the top, the road ahead won’t help them. Their next three weekends see them visit the top-ranked Gophers and then host St. Cloud State and resurgent Wisconsin. The WCHA is a meat grinder as it is, but UND is about to find out if their young guns have what it takes to lead them to first place.

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Crucial week for Alabama-Huntsville: The future of the Chargers’ hockey program may be decided at this week’s NCAA convention. It would be really, really, really, really, really nice if the WCHA would lend a hand and invite them to the conference. Being the only independent team in college hockey is killing this program.

Quinnipiac keeps on rolling: We might as well keep tabs on the Bobcats’ ridiculous roll. While they tied Rensselaer on Friday, they came back from down 2-0 to beat Union 3-2 on Saturday. They’re still unbeaten in the ECAC (11-0-1) and they’re 14-0-2 in their last 16 games. They’re 10 points ahead in their conference. Good hockey is definitely being played in Connecticut.

Wolverines struggling: One team that’s a mainstay atop the CCHA standings is usually Michigan. Not so much this year. This year they’re tied for eighth with Michigan State and the losses are piling up all over. They’ve lost three in a row at home (two to Alaska, one to Bowling Green) and over their last 14 games, they’ve gone 3-10-1. Poor goaltending is killing them and Red Berenson cannot be pleased.

Games of the weekend: North Dakota vs. Minnesota duke it out twice and that’s as good as it gets. Miami and Wisconsin doing an out-of-conference double-dip is worth a watch as well.

(Photo: UND Athletics)