First, the MASCAC and ECAC Northeast opened the season nearly two weeks after their national counterparts. Then, there was little uniformity in the start of the season for each team.
In a three-day stretch of Friday through Sunday, two MASCAC teams and six ECAC Northeast teams opened the season, but Sunday afternoon brought one of the higher-profile nonconference matchups, as Curry College, ranked 15 in the USCHO.com preseason Division III men’s poll, lost 5-4 to No. 11 Neumann College Sunday in suburban Philadelphia.
The Colonels tied the game at 3-3 on a pair of goals less than three minutes into the second period on Greg Fosso’s tally at 2:16 and Steven Mohler’s power-play goal 41 seconds later.
But midway through the third, Neumann’s Cory Park broke a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game.
The Colonels open their ECAC Northeast schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday at Salve Regina.
Also in the ECAC Northeast
Becker defeated Stonehill, 5-1, on Friday (Stonehill’s second loss to an ECAC Northeast opponent in three days, after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Johnson and Wales), then lost to Suffolk 4-1 in the four-team Becker Ice Breaker Tournament in Marlborough, Mass., a nonconference game though an ECAC Northeast matchup.
Suffolk and Becker will meet two more times this season in conference play. Becker hosts the Rams at 1 p.m. January 28, while Suffolk hosts Becker in the regular-season finale for both teams February 18, with the time to be announced.
It might not necessarily be a game for all the marbles, but it will be for for some of them in an ECAC Northeast contest.
Suffolk (2-0) meanwhile, continues its nonconference and tournament slate on Friday as part of the Pepperidge Farm tournament Thursday and Friday in Worcester, Mass.. It will be another ECAC Northeast/MASCAC scramble, as Worcester State, Suffolk, Johnson and Wales, and Western New England make up the field.
Also in the MASCAC
In the MASCAC, Plymouth State defeated Southern New Hampshire, 6-0, in its season opener Saturday, outshooting New Hampshire 41-7, as Kyle Greco scored a goal and three assists in the win.
In a game on neutral ice — and in a bigger facility — Westfield State defeated Western New England 4-2 Friday at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., a precursor to Adirondack’s 2-1 win over Springfield in an AHL contest.
After Western New England’s Alan Martin cut the lead to 3-2 less than three minutes into the third, the Owls had to concentrate on defense, not getting insurance until Billy Miller scored an empty-net goal with 42-seconds left in regulation.
Westfield State won despite being outshot 10-6 in the third period, which begs the question: Does quality trump quantity?
Other openers
Salem State faces Wentworth at 7 p.m. Monday in the season opener for both teams.
Nichols opens its season against Westfield State at 8:10 p.m. at Levy Rink in Harrisville, R.I., about 20 miles from Nichols’s campus in Dudley, Mass.
Fitchburg State opens its season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against New England College.
Massachusetts-Dartmouth opens its season at 8:10 p.m. Wednesday at Becker.
