The best thing about playoff hockey is you never really know what is going to happen. How about a No. 1 seed, three No. 2 seeds and four No. 3 seeds all being dispatched from their conference tournaments this week? The NEHC championship is going to be hosted by the No. 4 seed (Babson) playing against the No. 6 team (Skidmore). There were six overtimes and two lowest seeds that advanced setting up more drama for the upcoming week. Before we get there, here is the weekend wrap-up:
CCC
The University of New England earned the top spot and faced Western New England in quarterfinal action on Saturday. After Daniel Winslow gave the Nor’easters a 1-0 lead late in the first period, the game became the Jared Christy show. Christy recorded a natural hat trick during the second and third periods to give UNE a 4-0 lead before the Golden Bears broke the shutout bid of Billy Girard IV on a goal by Sam Mitchell. Alex Sheehy, Jake Fuss and Austin Morgan each had two points for the Nor’easters in the win.
Endicott’s Andrew Kurapov setup one goal and scored on the power play to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead after two periods of their quarterfinal matchup with Wentworth. In the third period the Gulls broke the game open as Connor Amsley and Ryan Gaulin each scored a pair of goals for a 6-1 win. Conor O’Brien made 25 saves to earn his 18th win of the season.
There are some matchups that look great on paper for the higher seeded team but not so much on the ice. For the second consecutive time, Nichols knocked Salve Regina out of the playoffs with a 3-1 win over the Seahawks. Despite being outshot by a 44-24 margin, the Bison took an early lead on a goal by Owen Gonter setup by Curtis Carlson. Peter Miko extended the lead to 2-0 and Carlson sealed the win with a late goal to support a 43-save effort by goaltender Korbinian Lutz.
Curry also faced a challenge from Suffolk’s goaltender, Cal Wilcox on Saturday but came away with a 2-1 win over the Rams. Devin Lowe gave the visitors a first period lead but goals by Timmy Kent in the second period and Alexander Bouchard in the third period were just enough to overcome a 45-save effort from Wilcox.
The semifinals are now set for Wednesday, March 2 with UNE hosting Nichols and Endicott hosting Curry.
MASCAC
While Plymouth State was enjoying the bye week from their winning the regular season, three quarterfinal games created a lot of excitement and a major upset as No. 2 seeded Fitchburg State was ousted by Framingham State. The Falcons threw 40 shots at Blake Carlson who stopped everything that came his way. Neither team could score in regulation time but as is often the case, an unsuspecting hero emerged for the Rams, with sophomore forward Kaleb Kinskey scoring his first collegiate goal at the eight minute mark of overtime to give the Rams the 1-0 victory.
The No. 3 seeded Worcester State lancers also ran into a hot team in the Salem State Vikings on Saturday, dropping a 4-3 decision on Saturday. The Vikings seemed to have control of the game when Keagan O’Donoghue scored an empty-net, shorthanded tally late in the third period to give the visitors a 4-1 lead. The Lancers fought back with the extra attacker to score twice in the final minute off the sticks of Max Moriarty and Mike Wilson but ran out of time before they could get the equalizer. Aaron Mercer made 35 saves in the win.
In the No. 5 vs. No. 4 game, it was again the visitor that came away with the victory as Westfield State downed Massachusetts-Dartmouth 2-1 in overtime on Saturday. After Melker Kroon and Chuck Costello exchanged goals in the first two periods, neither team could solve the goaltending excellence of Valtteri Valtonen (38 saves) and Daniel Davidson (33 saves) for their respective teams. It took an overtime and a quick strike attack from the Owls early in the extra session to punch their ticket to the semifinals on a goal from Justin Collins.
As all of the lower seeds won on Saturday, Tuesday’s semifinals look like this – Plymouth State hosts Framingham State while Westfield State will host their game against Salem State.
NE-10
Southern New Hampshire enjoyed the bye week from winning the regular season and probably enjoyed scoreboard watching the three quarterfinal games where two took overtime to settle.
Stonehill was the lowest seed in the tournament and traveled to face No. 2 St. Anselm on Saturday where the offense was on display for both teams. Will Christensen scored a pair of goals in the first period for the Hawks who held a 3-2 lead after the first 20 minutes. Ryan King tied the game for Stonehill in the second period setting up and exciting third period and overtime. Trevor Hott gave the home team a 4-3 lead in the first wo minutes of the third period but once again Stonehill fought back to tie with an unassisted goal from Max Pineo with less than seven minutes remaining. As neither team could score in regulation, the game went to overtime where Mike Seoane cashed in on a rebound off the post on a shot from John Peloso giving the Skyhawks the 5-4 victory. John Day made 35 saves in the win for Stonehill.
Post playing for the first time in the NE-10 playoffs earned their first tournament win with a 3-1 decision over St. Michael’s on Saturday. Niko Grollman scored his first of two goals to level the game at 1-1 in the second period. Connor Barter would score the eventual game winner while Grollman added an insurance goal in the third period to support Brandon Brown’s 27-save effort for the Eagles.
Assumption and Franklin Pierce played a seesaw affair on Saturday that needed overtime to settle as well in their NE-10 matchup. Collin Philippon, Ronny Paragallo and Michael Zampanti gave the Greyhounds a 3-0 lead ,but the Ravens weren’t going to go away quietly. One goal from Chris Stevenson and two more from Conor Foley tied the game at three midway through the third period. Nothing was decided in regulation and the Greyhounds found some overtime magic off the stick of senior Robert Holyoke with assists to Devan Sheth and goaltender David Altman at the 9:11 mark.
On Tuesday, March 1, Southern New Hampshire will host Post in the semifinal round while Assumption will play Stonehill.
NEHC
The No. 1 seed Hobart and No. 2 seed Elmira both played host on Saturday in semifinal games and both now find themselves awaiting their NCAA fate looking for an at-large bid after losses to Skidmore and Babson respectively.
Skidmore’s Zach Frisk, Zach Lindewirth and Kaeden Patrick (all freshmen) scored all the goals that Tate Brandon would need in downing Hobart by a 3-2 score. Brandon was especially good in the final two periods where he made 24 of his 32 saves for the game. The win was the Thoroughbreds first in seven appearances in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
Babson used Ryan Black’s overtime goal to down Elmira 3-2 on Saturday night. Black’s goal was his eighth game-winning goal of the season which leads the nation across all NCAA divisions. After Babson’s Matt Wiesner and Elmira’s Adam Eby exchanged first period goals, the goaltending was on display for both teams. In the third period, Elmira’s Shawn Kennedy and Babson’s Mike Egan exchanged power play goals just 30 seconds apart to end regulation tied at 2-2. With just over a minute left in the extra period, Black fired in a rebound that beat Elmira’s Chris Janzen for the win. Brad Arvanitis made 47 saves for the Beavers.
Babson as the highest remaining seed will now host Skidmore in the championship game on Saturday, 3/5.
NESCAC
After Tufts downed Middlebury, 4-1 and Connecticut College upset Bowdoin by the same score on Friday night, the quarterfinal matchups were set for the weekend with three games being played on Sunday afternoon.
Connecticut College earned the right to face a red-hot Trinity squad and saw the game quickly go awry when the Bantams posted goals by Lucas Michaud and Gerard Maretta in the first 22 seconds of action. Paul Selleck and Cole Poliziani would make it 4-0 before the end of the first period and the Bantams would add Michaud’s second of the game to close out a 5-0 win. Jax Murray picked up three assists and goaltender JP Mella picked up the 34-save shutout. The win extended the Bantam streak to six games.
Tufts drew another Maine opponent this week with a game against the top-seeded Colby squad. The first period ended with the teams deadlocked at 1-1 and then the home team got the offense rolling. John McElaney and Jacub Thousand gave the Mules a 3-1 lead after two periods before McElaney would net his second and setup Carter Breitenfeldt for the final goal in a 5-1 Colby win. Andy Beran stopped 19 of 20 shots in the win that secured Colby being the host site for the semifinals and championship game next weekend.
Hamilton traveled to Wesleyan for their quarterfinal matchup on Sunday and no surprise the game was close between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the NESCAC tournament. The Continentals proved to be the only visiting team to win in the quarterfinal round with a 3-2 win over the Cardinals. Nick Rutigliano, Cade Groton and Sean Thompson each scored to give the Continentals a one goal lead with Thompson’s goal proving to be the decisive one late in the second period. Goaltender Sean Storr made 26 saves to earn the victory.
In the only game played on Saturday, No. 3 seed Williams hosted Amherst in a re-match from the final weekend of the regular season. The Ephs took the season sweep by adding a quarterfinal playoff win by a 3-1 score. In a game that showed some high intensity, the Ephs scored once in each period to put away the challenge from the Mammoths. Niko Karamanis and Jack Forrest gave Williams a 2-1 lead and Sean Clarke’s empty-net goal sealed the victory.
Next Saturday, Colby will play host to the remainder of the tournament. The Mules will host Hamilton while Trinity will face-off against Williams in the other semifinal. The winners advance to the championship game on Sunday, March 6.
SUNYAC
The Geneseo Knights and Oswego State Lakers both earned byes to the semifinals as the quarterfinal round played out on Saturday in the SUNYAC playoffs.
Cortland, who earned the home-ice spot by beating Fredonia on the final day of the regular season, hosted the Blue Devils again on Saturday. The teams were tied at 1-1 after the first period before Cortland took a second period lead on a goal from Matt Jahn. A three-goal third period sealed the 5-1 win as Fredonia outshot the Red Dragons by a 40-36 margin with Luca Durante making 39 saves in the win.
In perhaps the wildest game of the weekend, Brockport traveled to No. 3 Plattsburgh and skated away with a 7-6 overtime win where the Golden Eagles rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final two minutes of regulation. Brockport started fast taking a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals from Connor Galloway. They extended the lead to 3-1 early in the second period on a power play goal from Andrew Hartley before the home team found their offense with five unanswered goals. Christian DeFelice scored twice in the period to give the Cardinals a 6-3 lead at the second intermission, but there were more fireworks to come. Jacob King’s power play goal early in the third period closed the gap to 6-4 before the late drama ensued for the Golden Eagles. With the extra attacker on the ice, Anthony Hora scored at 18:28 to make it 6-5 and just 15 seconds later Galloway completed his hat trick to tie the game at 6-6. In the overtime session, it was Brockport’s Scott Ramaekers that scored the golden goal for the Eagles and advanced them to the semifinals by a 7-6 final. Nolan Egbert made 46 saves, including 22 in the first period to earn the win for Brockport.
The semifinals are set for Wednesday, March 2 where Geneseo will host Brockport and Oswego will host Cortland.
UCHC
The quarterfinals played out on Tuesday and Wednesday with a bit of drama and an upset to kick-off the conference tournament. While No. 1 Utica easily dispatched Lebanon Valley, 11-1 on Tuesday night and No. 2 Wilkes took out Neumann, 7-4, the other two quarterfinals were much more competitive.
Chatham earned its first ever playoff win with a hard-fought and gritty 4-2 win over Nazareth on Wednesday earning them a semifinal date with Wilkes. Four different Cougars scored in the quarterfinal win. Playing against No. 3 Stevenson, Manhattanville stunned the Mustangs with a three-goal first period led by two goals from AJ Bella, on the way to a 4-1 win and a semifinal matchup with Utica.
Looking for more early magic against Utica, Manhattanville was stymied by Chris Dickson in the Utica goal as the first period was scoreless. In the second period Eric Holland and John Moncovich gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. Buster Larsson and Regen Cavanaugh would score in the third period for the final 4-0 score. Dickson made 16 saves to earn the shutout win.
Chatham’s Matthew Doyle gave the Cougars an early 1-0 lead against Wilkes, but the Colonels would then score the next five goals on the way to a 5-1 win. Phil Erickson and Ben Stefanini would give the Colonels a 2-1 lead before the end of the first period and Tyson Araujo, Taylor Brierley and Donald Flynn would score in the second period to give Wilkes a comfortable lead. Michael jones-Paterson stopped 34 of 35 shots to pick-up the win.
Wilkes will travel to face Utica for the UCHC championship on Saturday, March 5.
Three Biscuits
Blake Carlson – Framingham State – stopped all 40 shots he faced from Fitchburg State as the Rams upset the Falcons 1-0 in overtime on Saturday.
Ryan Black – Babson – scored his nation-leading eighth game-winning goal in Babson’s 3-2 overtime win over Elmira on Saturday.
Connor Galloway – Brockport – recorded a five-point game including three goals and two assists for the Golden Eagles in their come-from-behind, 7-6 win over Plattsburgh in overtime on Saturday night.
Bonus Biscuits
Zach Frisk – Skidmore – scored the Thoroughbreds’ second goal and setup the game winner in their 3-2 upset of Hobart on Saturday.
Kaleb Kinskey – Framingham State – made the most of his first collegiate goal with the overtime winner against Fitchburg State on Saturday.
Brad Arvanitis – Babson – stopped 47 of 49 shots to backstop the Beavers to a 3-2 overtime win at Elmira on Saturday.
Jared Christy – University of New England – scored a hat trick in the Nor’easter’s 4-1 quarterfinal win over Western new England on Saturday. Christy became just the second player in program history to achieve the feat.
Scott Ramaekers – Brockport – netted the overtime winner for the Golden Eagles in their 7-6 overtime win over Plattsburgh on Saturday.
Robert Holyoke – Assumption – scored the overtime winning goal to advance the Greyhounds past Franklin Pierce on Saturday, 4-3
Justin Collins – Westfield State – scored the overtime goal advancing the Owls past Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday.
John McElaney – Colby – scored two goals and set up another in Colby’s 5-1 win over Tufts in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Sunday.
With all of the upsets and top seeds getting bounced, it is not just the conference titles that get interesting but also the makeup of the contenders for the NCAA tournament. One more week of action to go starting with some mid-week semifinals and conference championships next weekend.
