We’ve entered conference play territory and have already seen some surprises in the early week two of hockey out west. Some teams have made a few statements and have put their name in the conference title-contender discussion. We also saw the new kids on the block get their first ever weekend-sweep to sit themselves tied for first in the NCHA, who would’ve thought?
MIAC
Beginning with the defending national champs #1 Gustavus, they had an off week, but it’s worth mentioning the collective effort made by ALL MIAC teams to show their support for Jori Jones (2003-2023). She’ll be honored this season as the Gusties host St. Scholastica this Saturday at 2pm CT for their home opener, (prior to Saturday, Gustavus visits St. Scholastica on Thursday at 6pm CT).
To add to this, ALL MIAC teams will be wearing a “JJ 33” sticker on all-skater & goalie helmets this season, her number has been painted on the ice behind each goal, her jersey has been hung up in the rink and has been put on hold for the time being (no one else wears it) and her locker room stall has been decorated and dedicated to her with various personal items and mementos. Class act by all the teams in the league to wear her number & initials on their helmets, look out for those in any games you watch online and/or in-person.
Getting back to the recap side of things, we’ll start with Saint Mary’s, a team that hasn’t won more than 13 games since 2004, made a few statements over the weekend including a ranked victory over #7 UW-Eau Claire. Newly appointed Head Coach Chad Davis, who’s had success at various programs in the past, most notably Adrian College. Davis left Adrian with a record of 152-37-10 which included 4 straight regular season titles (‘14-’18), 3 straight conference championships (15’-18’), and 3 straight NCAA tournament appearances (‘15-18’). He then went to RIT (NCAA D1) and has returned to D3 as head coach of Saint Mary’s who he’s got rolling along now.
Saint Mary’s faced the WIAC’s finest this past weekend, #7 UW-Eau Claire & #4 UW-River Falls. After blanking Lake Forest 15-0 in two combined games, they were faced with their first real test with the Blugolds in Minnesota. The Cardinals went up 1-0 in the first with a goal from Maggie Albers and added an empty netter with just under 2 minutes to go in the 3rd (18:05 by Reese Heitzman) to seal the deal for the Cardinals. Eau Claire added a shorthanded goal at 19:46 (Sydney Johnson) to end the game 2-1 and give Saint Mary’s a massive victory for the program.
On Saturday, the Cardinals visited the Falcons of River Falls, Wisconsin in a game in which River Falls took a 3-0 lead after 2 periods, MaKenna Aure was the star of the day scoring the opening goal of the game in the 1st (8:17) and adding a pair of assists, contributing on each Falcons goal. Saint Mary’s added one in the 2nd period, but both teams went scoreless in the 3rd to end the game 3-1 in favor of River Falls.
Goaltender Celeste Rimstad made 29 saves in the victory vs UWEC & 42 saves in the loss to UWRF, a great weekend for her making 71 cumulative saves.
Conference play begins this weekend in the MIAC, no conference games were played last week.
NCHA
Sitting atop the NCHA conference standings are the usuals, Adrian, St. Norbert, and…… Dubuque? Oh yeah, that first year program in Iowa. Head Coach Madyson Moore seems to have her Spartans playing well early, now obviously I’m not saying they’re ready to go beat Adrian, but you couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season as they swept Trine, winning 5-4 & 2-0.
Friday was loaded with action as we saw 9 goals total, 4 of them coming in the 1st period of play. Trine opened the scoring a quick 44 seconds in (Payton Hans, 00:44), to which Dubuque answered 4 minutes later, scoring at the 4:58 mark was Madilynn Schiile, the first ever NCHA goal for the Spartans. A pair of powerplay goals were had by each side, the last one coming at the late 19:50 mark of the period by Dubuque’s Gracie Hall to end the first tied 2-2.
Dubuque went up 4-2 going into the 3rd period, but Trine tied it in a funny manner if you’re not a Dubuque player, fan, or coach. Ellie Warhoftig scored 41 seconds into the period, then with less than 20 seconds left in the game, Kailey Mleko fired one home to send the game to overtime. A lot of quick/late goals in this one, and that didn’t stop in overtime. Dubuque’s Madilynn Schiile scored her 2nd of the game a rapid 17 seconds (00:17) into overtime, giving her team their first ever victory.
In game two Dubuque won 2-0, both goals coming shorthanded (one was an empty netter). Goaltender Savannah Wuitschick was credited with the 43-save shutout victory in game two, she also made 58 saves in game one. An amazing pair of performances, combining for 101 saves over the weekend… Respect.
The last comment to be made on these games were the fact they were loaded with penalties, Dubuque had 6 in game one & 5 in game two, while Trine had 3 in game one & 8 in game two.
Other NCHA Results:
Thursday:
Aurora 5-3 Concordia (Wis.)
Friday:
#9 Adrian 8-0 Marian
St. Norbert 3-1 Lake Forest
Saturday:
#9 Adrian 5-1 Marian
Concordia (Wis.) 3-2 OT Aurora
St. Norbert 6-0 Lake Forest
WIAC
Conference play begins this weekend, so nobody has played each other yet, but all teams were in action this past weekend.
As mentioned, UW-Eau Claire & UW-River Falls both faced Saint Mary’s. Eau Claire’s other game was against St. Scholastica on Saturday and then Concordia (Wis.) on Tuesday (11/7). The highlight here was star 5th year senior Sophie Rausch netted a pair of hat tricks in the two games, bringing her point total in the first 3 games of the season to 7 (6G, 1A).
River Falls went unblemished on the weekend, defeating Saint Mary’s and then prior they beat Saint Benedict 5-0 on Thursday (11/2).
UW-Stevens Point split a pair of games with St. Kates, falling 2-0 on Saturday and winning 4-0 on Sunday.
UW-Superior fell in both games, Hamline winning Friday’s contest 5-2 & Augsburg winning Saturday’s contest 8-1.
Northland fell in both home games to St. Olaf. The Ole’s took game one 5-1 & game two 3-1.
