The final weeks of the regular season are in full swing, and the action continues to be full of surprises with teams playing for much that is still on the line in most conferences. Hobart has clinched the regular season title in the NEHC and Plymouth State, despite their first loss in almost two full seasons, has done the same in MASCAC. Elsewhere the battles will likely continue right to the final whistle in two weeks but until then positions and seeding are very much on the line each time out and there is also some scoreboard watching that comes with what the standings look like after each slate of games. Here is this week’s recap for some thrilling action across the East:
CCC
The battle at the top of the conference finds Curry and Endicott tied in first place after this weekend’s action with Salve Regina in third and the University of New England now in fourth place.
Curry extended their win streak to nine games with a convincing sweep of Salve Regina over the weekend. On the road Friday night, both teams were finding their game in the opening 20 minutes with neither able to score. Early in the second period Matt Connor scored his first of two goals in the period and four for the Colonels who raced to a 4-1 lead after two periods of action. Goals just 19 seconds apart from George Vonakis and Killian Rowlee (second of the game) in the third period helped seal a 6-1 win. Back home on Saturday, Curry scored once in the first period, once in the second period and twice in the third in route to a 4-0 win backstopped by thirty saves from goaltender Shane Soderwall. Gage Dill scored one goal and added an assist for the Colonels.
Endicott’s Ryan Willett scored a pair of goals and added an assist in pacing the Gull offense to an 8-2 rout of Western New England on Friday night on home ice. On Saturday, the goals were harder to come by as The Golden Bears stunned the Gulls with a pair of shorthanded goals in a 3-3 overtime tie. Jackson Sterrett scored the only goal in the shootout to help the Gulls to the extra point which keeps them tied with Curry atop the CCC.
After dropping both games last weekend, UNE faced a Wentworth team poised for an upset and ran into the hot goaltending of Jack McGovern in a 3-2 loss to the Leopards. McGovern stopped 48 of 50 shots and goals from Mitch McGinn, Nicholas Sombrowski (final second of first period) and Gary Claps were enough to extend the Nor’easter losing streak to three games. On Saturday, four unanswered goals in the opening 40 minutes were more than enough to pace UNE to a 5-1 bounce back win over Wentworth.
Independents
Anna Maria and Canton played a two-game series with the AmCats skating away with a pair of wins on home ice this weekend. On Friday, three special team goals helped the AmCats to a comfortable 6-2 win over the Kangaroos. Matthew Gilbert scored two goals and Braeden McKinnon chipped in with a shorthanded goal and an assist to support goaltender Cole Johnston who stopped 40 of 42 shots to earn the win. On Saturday, Cam Tobey sparked an Anna Maria comeback with a pair of goals and Samson Mouland’s empty-net tally helped ice a 5-3 win and sweep over Canton. Johnston stopped thirty-eight shots in the win for AMC and the netminder added an assist on the game’s final goal.
Following Tuesday’s 5-3 win over Rivier to sweep the two-game series with the Raiders in their final home game, the Falcons closed out their season with a one-goal win against Alvernia on Friday night. Logan Bateman picked up the win making thirty-three saves in goal while William Lavigne, Gustav Muller, and Robert Barrasso provided all the scoring to help AMC close the season with a road win and a 16-9-0 record for the 2023-24 campaign.
MASCAC
Thursday night was the land of upsets as the top three teams in the standings all dropped decisions in MASCAC action including Plymouth State losing their first conference game in almost two full seasons.
Westfield State played host to the Panthers on Thursday and raced to a 3-0 first period lead in the opening five minutes of play on goals from Nicolas Coppola, Brett Williams, and Ryan O’Halloran. The Panthers rallied back with two power play goals in the second period but that is all the Owls and goaltender Valtteri Valtonen would surrender in a 3-2 upset win. Valtonen stopped 38 of 40 shots to pick up the first MASCAC win over PSU since the 2021-22 season. On Saturday, the Panthers rebounded with a 7-4 decision over MCLA while the Owls dropped a 6-2 decision to Worcester State.
The Trailblazers enjoyed their biggest win of the season on Thursday when they rallied for a 3-2 overtime win against Massachusetts-Dartmouth on the road. After falling behind 2-0 in the second period, Cody White cut the lead in half before Cade Herrera tied the game at 2-2 in the third period. Sean Schifferl with an assist from Charlie Addesa just over a minute into overtime gave MCLA a thrilling win over the Corsairs, 3-2. Goaltender Matthew Gover stopped 46 of 48 shots to earn the win.
Fitchburg State was also a victim of the upset bug on Thursday as the Falcons dropped a 6-4 game against Salem State. The Vikings were led by a goal and an assist from Erik Larsson and two goals and an assist from Zach Dill as Salem State never trailed in the contest. On Saturday, against a Massachusetts-Dartmouth team also looking to rebound after a loss, the Falcons used goals from four different players and thirty saves form Frederick Soderberg to earn a hard fought 4-2 win at home against the Corsairs.
NE-10
Assumption has a commanding lead in the NE-10 standings but picked up their 20th win of the season on Tuesday night in a non-conference win over Conn College, 3-2. Jonathan Surrette’s shorthanded goal midway through the third period broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Greyhounds a big win over the Camels. Continuing in non-conference play on Saturday, Assumption dropped Rivier 3-0 with forward Ronny Paragallo figuring in all the scoring with a goal and two assists while netminder Thomas McLarnon made twenty-two saves to earn the shutout.
Southern New Hampshire swept a weekend series with Franklin Pierce with a pair of one-goal wins. On Friday, Kurt Watson scored two goals as the Penmen raced out to a 3-0 lead but had to hold off the Ravens and Declan House who scored twice in a 3-2 loss at SNHU. On Saturday, Nick Fish tied the score at 2-2 for FPU just 20 seconds into the third period but neither team could break the tie in regulation. SNHU’s Matt Amante did not waste much time scoring the overtime winner just over a minute into the extra period for a 3-2 win and weekend sweep that improved their NE-10 record to 8-7-1.
St. Michael’s completed a sweep of the season series with St. Anselm with 5-0 and 3-2 wins over the Hawks on home ice. On Friday night, Brennan McFarland assisted on three Purple Knight goals as SMC expanded on a 2-0 lead with three third period goals in a comfortable win over the Hawks. On Saturday, Max Burum and Liam Lyons gave the visitors a 2-0 lead, but Case Kantgias and Ty Bloom leveled the game at 2-2 after two periods of play. Kantgias provided the game winning goal late in the third period as goaltender Marshall Murphy made twenty of his twenty-eight saves in the final two periods for a 3-2 win that moved the Purple Knights record to 9-6-0 in NE-10 play.
NEHC
Hobart clinched the regular season title in the penultimate weekend with a pair of road wins over Johnson & Wales and Massachusetts-Boston. On Friday, two goals and an assist from Ignov Belat and one goal and two assists from Tanner Hartman helped pace the Statesmen to a 5-2 win over the Wildcats. On Saturday, six different goal scorers helped pace a comfortable 6-1 win over the Beacons. Kahlil Fontana led the offense with a goal and two assists.
After rallying from a two-goal deficit on Tuesday for a 4-4 overtime tie against Plattsburgh, the Cadets returned to NEHC play with a game against travel partner New England College on Saturday. Goals by Paul Schmid and Cooper Bertrand just 11 seconds apart in the third period helped break open a 2-2 tie on the way to a 5-2 win. Schmid finished the game with a goal and an assist while Bertrand added two assists to his goal in the win.
After posting a 5-1 win over Babson on Friday night, Skidmore looked for a weekend sweep of NEHC games, but Southern Maine had other ideas. Jakub Suran tied the score at 2-2 in the second period before Ethan MacDuff gave the visitors a 3-2 lead at the second intermission. Matt Sullivan’s power play goal in the third period was the only marker in the final 20 minutes as goaltender Mason Palmer made forty-one saves to hold off the Thoroughbreds.
Elmira returned to their winning ways with a weekend sweep of UMB and J&W by scores of 6-2 and 5-2. On Friday, Janis Vizbelis recorded a hat trick as the Soaring Eagles expanded a 1-0 lead with three goals in the second period on the way to a four-goal win over the Beacons. On Saturday, Vizbelis opened the scoring as Elmira scored the first four goals of the game in a 5-2 win over the Wildcats.
NESCAC
Trinity stayed comfortably atop in the NESCAC standings with a pair of 3-2 wins over Williams and Middlebury. On Friday night, the Bantams rallied from a 2-0 deficit on a pair of goals from Christian Hayes before Kyle Tomaso netted the game-winner on the power play in the third period. Saturday afternoon saw the Bantams surrender tying goals to Middlebury twice including Andrej Hromic’s goal with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation time for a 2-2 tie after 60 minutes of play. Tomaso again proved to be the hero for the Bantams as his goal after an end-to-end rush just 32 seconds into overtime sealed the 3-2 win over the Panthers.
After tying through overtime with Amherst, 2-2 on Friday night, Bowdoin picked up a big win over Hamilton on Saturday, 3-2. Patrick Callahan scored a pair of power play goals and Bryce Bollman scored what proved to be the game winner in the final minute of the second period. Alex Kozic stopped 37 of 39 shots as the Continentals outshot the Polar Bears by a 39-22 margin.
Tufts played a pair of games with travel partner Connecticut College and split the series with the Camels. On Friday, Conn College rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the score in the final half minute of regulation on a goal by Owen Cleary. Quinn Kennedy provided the game-winning goal midway through overtime in the Camels’ dramatic 4-3 win. On Saturday, the Jumbos eliminated all drama with Tyler Sedlak and Harrison Bazianos scoring two goals each while goaltender Peyton Durand stopped twenty-two shots to earn the shutout in a 4-0 win.
SUNYAC
The contenders have emerged in recent weeks with Plattsburgh, Geneseo and Oswego battling for the top spot while Cortland continues to look to challenge the Big 3 down the stretch.
Geneseo had games with two contenders this weekend and emerged victorious with a close road win at Cortland followed by a rout of long-time rival Oswego on Saturday at home. At Cortland, the Knights found the Red Dragons to be a persistent challenge as the home team twice responded to goals by Zach Purcell to tie the game with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation. In the last minute, Stefan Miklakos stunned the home crowd with the winning goal that helped Geneseo escape with a huge 3-2 road win. On Saturday, Geneseo hosted the Lakers and Tyson Gilmour had himself a night for the Knights scoring three goals and assisting on two more as the home team ran away with a 7-1 win and weekend sweep of two pivotal SUNYAC contests.
Plattsburgh returned to SUNYAC action after a non-conference tie with Norwich on Tuesday and faced a stern test against Potsdam. Mason Hoehn tied the game for the Bears in the third period at 2-2 but the Cardinals found late game magic off the stick of Luk Jirousek for a 3-2 lead and iced the win with a shorthanded, empty-net goal from Joshua Belgrave, his second of the night, and skated off with a 4-2 win.
Cortland rebounded from Friday’s loss to Geneseo with a 5-1 win against Brockport on Saturday. With a 1-0 lead starting the second period, Sutter Donegan, Cameron Knowlton, and Anthony Bernardo all scored in the first six minutes of the second period to stretch the lead and cruise to an important road win.
Buffalo State tied Morrisville 1-1 on Wednesday night before facing off against Post in a non-conference game on Saturday. The Bengals needed a Vadim Kiriakov goal in the third period to tie the game at 2-2 and a Nick Stuckless goal assisted by Kiriakov in the final minute of overtime to skate off with a 3-2 win.
UCHC
Utica continued to cruise atop the UCHC standings following their two-game sweep of King’s over the weekend. A hat trick from Eric Vitale and two goals from Matt Wood paced a runaway 9-0 win on Friday night and the Pioneers continued the offensive fireworks with a 7-0 win on Saturday. John Gutt scored a pair of goals while Wood added a goal and two assists while Utica extended their win streak to ten games.
Stevenson swept a pair of games from Neumann to extend their current win streak to eight games. Liam McCanney scored a first period natural hat trick on Friday in a 5-2 win over the Black Knights. On Saturday, McCanney broke a 3-3 tie in the final minute of the second period and the Mustangs tacked on two more third period goals by Graeme McCrory and Jack Meloff to complete a 6-3 win.
Wilkes also won their two-game series with Nazareth by scores of 7-1 and 3-2. On Friday, five power play goals and a five-goal third period broke open a 2-1 game as the Colonels cruised to a lopsided 7-1 victory. Matt Carlson scored a pair of goals while Cam Lowe chipped in with four assists for the Colonels. On Saturday, the Golden Flyers took an early 2-0 lead only to see Wilkes chip away with a goal in each period for a come-from-behind, 3-2 win. Luke Dobles scored the game-winning goal and goaltender Jack Perna made thirty saves to earn the win.
Three Biscuits
Sean Schifferl – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts – completed the scoring in overtime in the Trailblazers’ 3-2 comeback win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Thursday night.
Tyson Gilmour – Geneseo – recorded a hat trick and added two assists in the Knights’ runaway win over Oswego on Saturday, 7-1.
Janis Vizbelis – Elmira – scored a hat trick to lead the Soaring Eagles to a 6-2 win over Massachusetts-Boston on Friday night.
Bonus Biscuits
Liam McCanney – Stevenson – scored a natural hat trick in the opening period in a 5-2 win over Neumann on Friday night.
Kyle Tomaso – Trinity – scored the game-winning goals in a pair of Trinity wins over Williams and Middlebury over the weekend.
Ronny Paragallo – Assumption – figured in all the scoring in the Greyhounds’ 3-0 non-conference win over Rivier on Saturday.
There are just one or two weeks remaining on the schedule across the conferences to earn or improve one’s playoff position or build momentum into the all-important conference tournaments upcoming. Tiebreakers are on the line and there are still several critical matchups where head-to-head games will carry a lot of weight in needed points. There continue to be spoilers out there so look for some surprises yet to happen in upcoming action in February.
