Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. No. 16 Penn State continues to roll
With a home sweep of Wisconsin in their opening weekend of Big Ten play, the Nittany Lions have improved to 8-0-0, the best start in the program’s history.
The 4-0 Saturday win was the first career shutout for junior Liam Souliere, whose 1.50 goals-against average and .945 save percentage put him within the top 10 in both categories among goalies nationally.
Through eight games, the Nittany Lions are averaging 4.62 goals per game, second nationally to B1G rival Michigan.
Penn State remains the only undefeated squad among teams with more than two games played this season.
Wisconsin falls to 2-6-0.
2. Vegas loves the Sun Devils
Trailing 2-0 by the midway point of the first period, Arizona State scored three unanswered goals to beat No. 6 North Dakota 3-2 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Saturday night.
Juniors Matthew Kopperud and Lucas Sillinger scored the first two ASU goals and senior Robert Mastrosimone had the game-winner less than a minute into the third period.
North Dakota is the highest-ranking team knocked down by the Sun Devils since Arizona State beat then-No. 4 Denver in 2019. With the loss, the Fighting Hawks are 3-3-1 on the year so far.
Following a sweep of Colorado College Oct. 21-22, Arizona State extends its win streak to three games. The Sun Devils are now 3-0 all-time in games played in Las Vegas. They’re 5-4-0 overall this season.
3. Vegas loves college hockey
The attendance at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in T-Mobile Arena, home of the Las Vegas nights was 15,503. By all accounts, the vast majority of fans in attendance were rooting for North Dakota.
According to Grand Forks Herald reporter Brad Elliott Schlossman, Fighting Hawks fans traveled from all over the U.S. – and some internationally – for the game.
Here's the latest map on where fans are traveling from to attend the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game. I believe I count 84 different cities in North Dakota, 94 in Minnesota… as well as a lot of states. https://t.co/grI9TzzXmA
— Brad Elliott Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) October 28, 2022
North Dakota lost the 2021 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game to Penn State in Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators.
4. No. 1 Minnesota splits first B1G series of season
The top-ranked Golden Gophers split their first Big Ten series of the season in Columbus against No. 11 Ohio State with a 6-4 loss Friday and a 4-2 rebound win Saturday.
After Friday’s game, coach Bob Motzko said, “Our energy was low, and we’re trying to find it, and you’ve got a few guys pushing. It was like a trip to the dentist tonight.”
The Gophers found the energy they needed Saturday, especially in the second period when goals scored 63 seconds apart put Minnesota ahead. Junior forward Mason Nevers scored his third of the season at 15:38, and sophomore forward Matthew Knies scored his fifth of the year at 16:41. That goal was Knies’ second game-winning goal this season. Minnesota improves to 5-3-0 overall.
Six different Buckeyes scored in their Friday win. Ohio State is now 7-2-1 overall.
5. No. 2 St. Cloud splits home-and-home with Bemidji State
Bemidji State became the first team to beat St. Cloud State this season with a 3-1 home win Friday night.
“I thought we played a really good 55 minutes,” said BSU coach Tom Serratore, whose Beavers are 3-2-1 overall. “The first five minutes, obviously giving a up a power-play goal right away, things could have went south. I thought our guys hung in there. We played good. I thought at the end of the day, we were hard to play against.”
The Huskies are 7-1-0 after earning the weekend nonconference split with a 4-1 home win over the Beavers the following night. Freshman forward Adam Ingram had the game-winning goal at 14:12 in the second period. It was Ingram’s second career goal and quite literally a highlight-reel play.
#SCTop10 🤝 @adamingram99 #GoHuskies | #HuskyHockey 🏒 pic.twitter.com/56cl1kuoMe
— St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (@SCSUHuskies_MH) October 30, 2022
6. No. 5 Massachusetts splits first Hockey East series of season
In another split featuring a top-10 team, Massachusetts and Merrimack exchanged overtime wins, each winning in its own barn in the opening HEA action of the season for the Minutemen.
Sophomore forward Taylor Makar had the game-winning goal in Massachusetts’ 3-2 home win Friday, scoring his third of the season at 1:12 in OT.
Senior Ben Brar’s goal at 3:37 in overtime Saturday gave the Warriors the 2-1 home win.
BRAR SENDS THE LAWLER FAITHFUL HOME HAPPY
THEEEEE WARRIORS WINN!!!!#GoMack x #MissionMerrimack pic.twitter.com/rOibGPJJxL— Merrimack Men’s Hockey (@MerrimackMIH) October 30, 2022
Massachusetts is 5-1-1 overall, Merrimack 4-3-0.
7. Splitting is trendy – as No. 9 Boston University knows
The fourth of the top 10 DCU/USCHO Division I Men’s Poll teams to split a weekend series was Boston University, who exchanged a pair of 2-1 games with No. 18 UMass Lowell, losing Friday and winning in overtime Saturday.
Freshman defenseman Lane Hutson had the only two goals in BU’s overtime win – the game-tying goal at 17:51 in the third, and the OT winner at 2:29.
Boston University improves to 4-3-0 on the season, while UMass Lowell is 5-3-0.
8. Extra! Extra!
There were 13 OT games on the weekend – seven Friday, six Saturday.
Among the notable overtime games was the 1-1 tie between No. 12 Notre Dame and Michigan State.
After beating the Spartans 4-0 in South Bend Friday night, the Fighting Irish trailed 1-0 Saturday until fifth-year defenseman Nick Leivermann netted his third of the season late in the second to knot it up.
After the teams remained scoreless through overtime, the Spartans earned the extra conference point in the shootout. Through 65 minutes of play, Michigan State’s Dylan St. Cyr made 38 saves and Notre Dame’s Ryan Bischel stopped 41.
The Spartans are 4-4-1 overall. Notre Dame is 4-2-2.
9. Another Michigan rookie hat trick
For the second time in two weeks, a Wolverine newcomer has netted his first career hat trick. The first was when forward Adam Fantilli scored three on the road against Lake Superior State. In Michigan’s home-and-home sweep of Western Michigan this past weekend, it was Rutger McGroarty with his first three collegiate goals – all on the power play, all in Saturday’s 6-5 OT road win.
In the two high-scoring, one-goal wins, seven of Michigan’s 11 goals came from its freshman class, including three more for Fantilli.
In Saturday’s OT win, the Wolverines scored four power-play goals for the first time since 2018, and with the 11-goal weekend, Michigan is now averaging 5.25 goals per game, first in the nation.
10. Welcome to the season, Ivies
All six Ivy League schools that make up the ECAC played their first official games of the season this past weekend.
In nonconference action, No. 20 Cornell dropped two road games to No. 19 Minnesota Duluth, 3-2 and 4-2.
Brown and Yale split a home-and-home series, with Yale winning at home 2-0 Saturday and Brown taking Sunday’s game 2-1.
No. 14 Harvard beat Dartmouth 5-2 Friday and Princeton 4-2 Saturday. Additionally, Dartmouth lost 8-3 to Army in nonconference play Sunday.
