Things are getting even tighter across most of the conferences with stunning upsets, overtime thrillers and great overall action with many teams finding their game at the right time of the year. Here’s this week’s wrap-up for all the great action:
CCC
Salve Regina has surged to the top of the standings picking up a pair of wins and a shootout win last week. On Monday, the Seahawks won a wild one over the University of New England rallying from a 6-5 deficit in the third period to earn an 8-6 win. George Sennott, Cayden Kraus and Mitch Walinski each scored two goals for the Seahawks. After a hard fought tie with Suffolk where goaltenders Nicholas Latinovich and Cal Wilcox were stellar, Kaiden Kanderka scored the only goal of the shootout for Salve Regina. On Saturday, Curtis Carlson gave Nichols an early 1-0 lead before the Seahawks reeled off six unanswered goals for the 6-1 win. Kraus and John McLean each scored twice while Sennott added a goal and assist in the win that moved Salve Regina to the top spot in the conference at 12-3-1.
UNE rallied back after Monday’s loss with wins over Wentworth and Western new England to close out the week. On Tuesday, Austin Morgan scored two goals and Jared Christy picked up three assists in a 5-0 win over the Leopards. Billy Girard IV made 19 saves in the shutout win. On Saturday, the Nor’easters were led by Ryan Kuzmich’s two goals in a 6-2 win over the Golden Bears.
In a battle amongst top four teams, Endicott eked out a 2-1 win over Curry on Saturday. Andrew Kurapov assisted on Noah Strawn’s first period goal before scoring the game winner just over a minute into the third period. Conor O’Brien stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Gulls to earn the win and outduel Reid Cooper who made 41 saves for the Colonels in the loss.
Independents
Anna Maria and Albertus Magnus played on Saturday night with the AmCats coming away with a 6-3 win over the Falcons. Cam Tobey and Guillaume Coulombe each scored twice to lead the offense for Anna Maria. Brenden Boncore stopped 40 of 43 shots to get his second win of the season in net for the AmCats.
Milan Breczko scored two goals and Andrew LoRusso stopped 37 of 38 shots in a 3-1 win for Rivier over Stonehill on Saturday. The win was the Raiders’ fifth on the season and first in calendar 2022.
MASCAC
The battle at the top took place on Tuesday afternoon as Fitchburg State visited Plymouth State in a game postponed from the weekend’s blizzard conditions across New England. The Panthers took advantage of first period goals from Jacob Laurin and Anton Nasstrom for an early 2-0 lead. Mike McPherson added a power play goal in the second period and Kalle Andersson stopped all 26 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout. The win snapped the Falcons win streak while extending the Panthers run to four straight. That streak extended to six for the Panthers who added wins over Westfield State and Massachusetts-Dartmouth to solidify their spot at the top of the standings. After a 3-1 win over the Owls on Thursday, the Panthers took advantage of a four-goal first period to cruise past the Corsairs by a 7-3 score. Anton Nasstrom picked up a goal and added three assists in the win.
Fitchburg State rebounded after the loss to PSU with a 5-1 win over Salem State featuring two goals apiece from Zackery Diamont and Toivo Kramer and a new career save record established by goaltender Brian McGrath. On Saturday, McGrath posted a shutout and Gene Bouthiette scored a pair of goals to lead a 5-0 win over Framingham State.
In the non-conference battle for bragging rights in the City of Worcester, Worcester State pulled off a stunning overtime win over Assumption rallying from a three-goal deficit in the final two and a half minutes with their goalie pulled to tie the game at 6-6. In overtime, with a carry-over power play, Max Roth completed the incredible rally scoring the game winner less than one minute into overtime. Wyatt Friedlander picked up the win in goal, coming in relief and stopping 12 of 13 shots he faced for his first win of the season. Assumption’s Dante Maribito scored a hat trick for the Greyhounds who surrendered leads of 3-0, 4-1, 5-2 and 6-3 in the thriller.
NE-10
League leading Southern New Hampshire split a weekend series with St. Michael’s over the weekend. On Friday, the Purple Knights broke out the offense in a 9-1 win. Five first period goals and six on the power play powered the runaway win for St. Michael’s that featured a four-point game from Case Kantgias. On Saturday, the game was much closer and took an overtime session to decide the outcome for the Penmen. George Thurston with and assist from Jake Cox scored in overtime to give SNHU a 5-4 win.
Assumption and St. Anselm also split a weekend series in NE-10 play. On Friday, Assumption’s Ronny Paragallo scored in the second period to break a 1-1 tie and help the Greyhounds to a 2-1 win backed by David Altman’s 37 saves. On Saturday, the Hawks raced to a 3-0 lead and extended the advantage to 5-0 on the way to a 6-2 win to earn a split of the series. Andrew Andary scored two goals and Matt Hayes added a goal and two assists for the Hawks who scored three special teams goals.
NEHC
On Friday night, Norwich continued their overtime magic with a big road win over Babson. Having taken a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals from Scott Swanson and Clark Kerner, the Cadets were forced to overtime when Paul Boutoussov scored for the Beavers on the power play in the third period. The Cadets also had a man advantage in the extra session on a last minute major penalty called on the Beavers and Brett Ouderkirk took advantage for the game winner in the 3-2 win. On Saturday, Ouderkirk and Kerner again scored for the Cadets in a 5-1 win over Southern Maine.
Hobart picked up a pair of wins to stay atop the NEHC standings. On Friday, the offense exploded for six first period goals on the way to a 12-2 win over Castleton. Aaron Maguyon recorded four assists to lead the Statesmen who saw 17 players record a point in the win. On Saturday, it took a massive comeback for Hobart to down Skidmore in a 5-4 win. The Thoroughbreds raced out to a 4-0 lead early in the second period only to see Hobart respond with five unanswered goals. Jake Gresh broke the ice for the Statesmen who then received two goals each from PA Martineau and Austin Mourar to complete the comeback win.
Five different players scored for Massachusetts-Boston in a 5-0 win over Johnson & Wales. Sam Best recorded 17 saves to earn the shutout as the Beacons outshot the Wildcats 61-17 that moved the Beacons to 9-4-2 in NEHC play.
NESCAC
Wesleyan was the big mover in the standings as the Cardinals extended their win streak to four games with wins over Williams and Middlebury. On Friday, Marc Smith recorded 24 saves to earn the shutout and goals from Go Uemura, Jake Lachance and Tyler Levine provided all of the scoring in a 3-0 road win over the Ephs. On Saturday, the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead only to see the Panthers battle back to within one goal after two periods of play. Owen Sweet and Wiggle Kerbrat broke open the game in the final two minutes of regulation for the 5-2 win.
Amherst also picked up a pair of wins in Maine to help their push in the conference standings. Ben Kuzma scored two goals and Connor Leslie picked up the win in goal in a 5-3 win over Bowdoin. On Saturday, in a game that featured MacDonalds on both benches, the Amherst pulled off a “mammoth” upset in defeating No. 15 Colby, 1-0. Connor Merrill with an assist from Matt Toporowski scored the only goal in the game in the second period and goaltender Dan Dachille made 32 saves to earn the shutout.
Tufts picked up a win and an overtime tie in games with travel partner Connecticut College over the weekend. On Friday, Josh Sarlo made 27 saves to make an early 3-0 lead stand up for a 3-2 Jumbo win. On Saturday, neither team could score until the third period where the Camels took a 2-0 lead on goals from Paul Capozzi and Steven Senese. Tufts answered back with goals from Harrison Bazianos and Andrew Maynard to tie the game at 2-2. Overtime couldn’t change the outcome of the regulation tie.
SUNYAC
In the upset of the weekend, Cortland downed No. 2 Geneseo on Friday night by a 2-0 score backed by the brilliant goaltending of junior Luca Durante. After a scoreless first period, Michael Sciore gave the Red Dragons the only goal they would need to support Durante in goal. Ethan Homitz added a second tally in the third period where Durante was his best stopping all 21 Knight attempts in the final period and totaling 41 saves to earn the shutout win.
After downing Brockport 7-3 on Friday, Oswego was set to try an extend Geneseo’s losing streak, but the Knights bounced back with a big home win against the Lakers, 4-2. Greg Koutsomitis, Tommy Winn and Dan Bosio gave Geneseo a 3-0 lead in the final ten minutes of the first period and Alex Wilkins extended the lead to 4-0 in the second period. The Lakers would score twice on Matt Petizian who stopped 34 of 36 shots in the win that keeps the Knights atop the standings in the SUNYAC with just two weekends remaining in the regular season.
Unable to score many goals or win many games Potsdam had been struggling for most of the season but scored eleven goals over the weekend to earn wins over Fredonia and Buffalo State. On Friday, the Bears were led by Jack Loran and Ethan Clark who each picked up a goal and two assists in a 6-2 win over the Blue Devils. On Saturday, the Bears surrendered and early goal to Troy Button but then scored five unanswered for the 5-1 win. Loran added a goal and an assist to his weekend totals while Drew Rose added two goals as the Bears built their win streak to two and jumped up in the SUNYAC standings.
UCHC
Wilkes traveled to Stevenson for a mid-week matinee that finished with a dramatic overtime win for the Mustangs. Tied at 2-2 after forty minutes of action, Xavier Abdella gave the visiting Colonels a 3-2 lead, but Alex Rivet tied the game at 3-3 sending the game to overtime. Eric Olson scored for the Mustangs to knock off the No. 8 ranked team 4-3. Ryan Kenny played big in goal for Stevenson stopping 30 of 33 shots in the win. The Colonels rallied back for a pair of convincing wins over the weekend downing Arcadia 7-0 and Lebanon Valley, 8-1. Tyler Barrow and Phil Erickson each scored a pair of goals in the win over the Knights while Ben Stefanini scored two goals and added an assist in the win over the Flying Dutchmen.
Stevenson stayed hot adding two more wins for the week with an overtime victory against Neumann and a shutout win over Manhattanville. In the seesaw battle with Neumann, Mac Lowry tied the game in the third period at 4-4 and Chat Watt scored to win the game in overtime less than two minutes into the extra session for the 5-4 road win. On Saturday, the Mustangs completed their big week by knocking off Manhattanville by a 2-0 score. Frank Vitucci and Watt’s shorthanded tally were all the scoring that goaltender Ryan Kenny would need as he made 33 saves for the shutout win.
Utica cruised to a 7-1 win over Nazareth led by Buster Larsson’s four-point game on Friday night. In a non-conference game with Canton on Saturday, the Pioneers surrendered the first goal before scoring the next five goals by five different players in a 5-1 win. Dante Zapata scored one goal and added two assists to extend the Utica win streak to 12 games.
Three Biscuits
Blake Carlson – Framingham State – stopped 48 of 50 shots in the Rams’ 3-2 overtime win against Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Thursday.
Buster Larsson – Utica – scored one goal and added three assists in the Pioneer’s 7-1 win over Nazareth on Saturday.
Luca Durante – Cortland – made 41 saves including 21 in the final period to help Cortland knock off No. 2 Geneseo 2-0 on Friday night.
Bonus Biscuits
Brian McGrath – Fitchburg State – broke the school’s career save record in a win against Salem State and added a shutout in a win over Framingham State.
Dan Dachille – Amherst – made 32 saves in Amherst’s 1-0 win over No. 15 Colby on Saturday.
Aaron Maguyon – Hobart – picked up four assists in Hobart’s 12-2 win over Castleton on Friday night.
The weeks in the regular season are winding down but not so the intensity of play as teams are battling to finish strong and set themselves up for a great playoff run. Still a lot of re-scheduled games on the calendar as the available day wind down so teams are going to have to stay fresh and energized down the stretch.
