Michigan has the highest scoring group of defensemen, but three WCHA teams are next.

The Wolverines' blue-liners have combined for 98 points. Second are the Gophers' D-men with 90 points (17 goals, 73 assists).

Tied for third in this category are Wisconsin, the Gophers opponent this Friday, and St. Cloud State with 78 points apiece.

CAREER STANDOUTS

Four of the top 15 career scoring leaders in Division I hockey play in the WCHA:

ACTIVE NCAA CAREER SCORING LEADERS
Player (Yr, School) GP G A TP
1. Jack Connolly (Sr., UMD) 159 64 127 191
2. Brian O'Neill (Sr., Yale) 132 67 90 157
3. Austin Smith (Sr., Colgate) 148 77 78 155
4. Brian Flynn (Sr., Maine) 146 67 85 153
5. Spencer Abbott (Sr., Maine) 145 52 88 140
6. Cameron Burt (Sr., RIT) 142 42 92 134
7. Kelly Zajac (Sr., Union) 152 37 88 125
8. Chris Connolly (Sr., Boston U.) 146 36 83 119
9. Justin Florek (Sr., No. Mich.) 154 52 62 114
10. Reilly Smith (Jr., Miami) 116 62 50 112
11. Justin Schultz (Jr., Wisconsin) 116 39 72 111
12. David Vallorani (Sr., UML) 142 40 70 110

Brad Hunt (Sr., BSU) 146 24 86 110
Drew Shore (Jr., F, Denver) 114 47 63 110
Andrew Miller (Jr., Yale) 94 23 87 110
16. Travis Oleksuk (Sr., UMD) 127 45 64 109

ATLANTIC HOCKEY PLAOFFS

Eight of the 12 teams in the Atlantic Hockey Conference open best-of-three, first-round playoff series. The schedule:

Canisius at Connecticut

American International at Robert Morris

Sacred Heart at Bentley

Army at Holy Cross

The four top seeds have byes. They are: Air Force, Niagara, RIT and Mercyhurst.