Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1) Quinnipiac first in Friendship Four
Fans in Belfast were treated to some exciting college hockey over the weekend in the sixth edition of the Friendship Four Tournament, played for the first time since 2019.
Only one of the four games was decided by more than a goal: the Bobcats’ 5-2 win over Dartmouth on Friday. Seventeenth-ranked Massachusetts edged No. 14 UMass Lowell 2-1 in the other semifinal.
Saturday’s games were as close as can be. UMass Lowell’s Stefan Owens netted the game-winner in overtime vs. Dartmouth to clinch the third-place trophy, and the Championship game needed a 1-0 shootout win by Quinnipiac over Lowell to settle things after a 2-2 tie through regulation and overtime. Bobcats goaltender Yaniv Perets stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout to seal the championship.
2) Bears are mayors for a day
On Saturday, Brown spotted No. 8 Providence a 1-0 lead after one, but scored three times in a 4:17 span early in the second and then held off the Friars for a 3-2 win in the annual Mayor’s Cup.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Bears in the Cup game, played annually between the two Providence, R.I. schools. Mathieu Caron made 35 saves for Brown, which came into last weekend with just one win on the season. The Bears had shut out Holy Cross, 3-0, on Friday behind another strong performance from Caron, who posted 24 saves in that one for his third career shutout.
3) Cornell dominates Frozen Apple
Cornell raced to a 3-0 first-period lead en route to a 6-0 win over No. 6 Connecticut at the sixth Frozen Apple game, played at Madison Square Garden.
Rookie Dalton Bancroft scored his first collegiate hat trick for the Big Red, and goaltender Ian Shane made 27 saves for his fourth career shutout.
This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Cornell improved to 17-8-2 at the Garden and has won five times in a row there.
4) Soggy Music City
On Friday, a water main ruptured at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, home of the Predators and host to the 2022 Music City Classic between No. 18 Northeastern and No. 15 Western Michigan.
The subsequent flooding forced the game to be moved from Bridgestone (capacity 19,891) to the Predators’ practice facility, the Ford Ice Center (capacity 1,800).
In front of 1,272 fans, the Broncos, powered by a hat trick from senior captain Jason Polin, defeated the Huskies 6-4. It was Polin’s third three-goal game of the season.
5) Unbeaten no more
Harvard was the last unbeaten Division I team heading into last weekend’s series at Michigan, and after a 4-4 tie on Friday, the No. 9 Crimson suffered their first loss of the season, 4-1 to the fifth-ranked Wolverines.
Michigan goaltender Erik Portillo made 39 saves for his ninth win of the season. It was the final non-league game of the season for the Wolverines, who went 8-1-1 out of conference.
Harvard, which won the (meaningless) shoot on Friday after the tie, visits rival Cornell on Friday.
6) Battle in the desert
No. 2 Minnesota and host Arizona State split a pair of entertaining games at Mullett Arena over the weekend.
On Friday, the Gophers came away with a 3-2 win despite being outshot 30-24. Justen Close made 28 saves for his eighth win of the season, and Bryce Brodzinski scored to extend his point streak to six games.
The Sun Devils got revenge on Saturday, erasing a third-period deficit on a goal by Dylan Jackson with 3:09 left in regulation.
Senior Robert Mastrosimone scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season in overtime, sending the sellout crowd home happy.
There is nothing like college hockey at Mullett Arena pic.twitter.com/rE0ZXM9SHA
— Alek Timm (@alektimm) November 27, 2022
It was the first time this season that Minnesota lost when leading in the third period.
7) No. 1 Denver settles for a split
Top-ranked Denver hosted Omaha over the weekend, with the Mavericks recording their first-ever victory against a No. 1 team on Friday, a 3-0 win over the Pioneers.
UNO senior goaltender Jake Kucharski, a first-team all-star in Atlantic Hockey last season for American International before transferring to Omaha, made 22 saves for his fourth career shutout, his first in a Mavericks jersey.
The Pioneers were able to even the series on Saturday with a 6-3 win. Defenseman Mike Benning scored Denver’s first two goals of the game as the Pioneers built a 4-2 lead after two periods.
8) Historic win for LIU
Long Island recorded its first-ever win over a ranked team on Friday, defeating No. 12 Ohio State 3-2.
Anthony Vincent scored the game-winner for the Sharks with 7:53 left to play.
The visiting Buckeyes earned the spot with a 4-1 win on Saturday behind a natural hat trick from sophomore Cam Thiesing.
LIU had previously lost in overtime this season to (at the time) No. 7 Quinnipiac and No. 9 Northeastern.
9) Michigan State stays hot
The Michigan State Spartans continued their hot hand, with a 5-3, 4-0 sweep at Miami.
MSU has now won three in a row and seven of its last eight.
The Spartans never trailed on the weekend, capping things off with a clean sheet on Saturday by senior Dylan St. Cyr, who stopped all 39 shots for his 12th career shutout.
Freshman Karsen Dorwart had a natural hat trick for the No. 16 Spartans on Saturday.
10) Niagara carrying the banner
Atlantic Hockey has traditionally struggled in non-conference play, and this season has been no exception with a 19-36-4 record.
A bright spot has been Niagara, which swept visiting Colgate last weekend, 3-2 on Friday and 3-2 in overtime on Saturday, to raise its non-conference record to 4-0. The Purple Eagles also swept Omaha earlier in the season and are the only Division I team to record a victory against the U.S. Under-18 National Development Team (9-1).
Shane Ott scored the game-winning goal in both contests, including at 1:27 into overtime of the second game. NU goaltender Chad Veltri made 71 saves on the weekend, including a season-high 49 on Saturday.
