Monday 10: Denver keeps getting victories, Wisconsin sweeps at Penn State, Hockey East upsets, Alaska Governor’s Cup series sees each team win

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Alaska and Alaska Anchorage split their Governor’s Cup series over the weekend in Anchorage (photo: Stephanie Burgoon).

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.

1. Twelve – make that 21 – in a row

Denver’s road sweep of North Dakota improved the Pioneers to 12-0-0 on the season. With No. 8 Colorado College’s overtime loss and tie at No. 13 Western Michigan, and No. 17 Dartmouth’s 4-4 tie vs. Colgate, DU is the last team this season with an unblemished record.

“It’s a really hard place to sweep,” said Denver coach David Carle. “Our first one-goal game of the year, our first 3-2 game of the year, and we feel fortunate to come out on the right side and come out of here with six points.”

Denver’s last defeat was the penultimate game of the 2023-24 regular season, a 4-3 loss to Colorado College on March 8. The Pioneers’ current winning streak is 21 games.

2. A Badger road sweep

It’s been a tough slog for Wisconsin in the first two months of the season, but the Badgers may have turned the corner with a sweep at No. 18 Penn State. Wisconsin prevailed with a 5-4 overtime win on Friday and a 6-3 win on Saturday. Before the weekend, the Badgers had not scored even three goals since an overtime win over Lindenwood on October 12.

“Our starts have gotten better, our secondary scoring has gotten better,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings told the Wisconsin State Journal. “And when we needed our power play to come through, it did.”

Wisconsin improves to 4-8-0 overall and 3-5-0 in Big Ten play.

3. Beavers upset the No. 3 Gophers

Bemidji State and Minnesota split a home-and-home Thursday/Saturday series, with the home team winning both.

The Golden Gophers won Thursday, 5-3, at 3M Arena at Mariucci, while Bemidji State took the Saturday night tilt at Sanford Center, 3-1. In the upset, Mattias Sholl made 38 saves and allowed just a 6-on-5 goal by the Gophers with 2:12 left.

Kirklan Irey scored just 21 seconds into the game and the game-winning goal midway through the first period to lead the Beavers.

It was the first victory for Bemidji over Minnesota on home ice.

4. Spartans sweep Irish

No. 4 Michigan State improved to 9-1-0 and 4-0-0 in conference as the only team with an unblemished record in the Big Ten with an 8-3, 4-3 weekend home sweep of Notre Dame. It’s the first time the Spartans have started at 4-0 in Big Ten history.

Michigan State extended its winning streak to seven games, the longest since the 2007-08 season, with the only loss in this campaign coming on October 11 to then-No. 2 Boston College.

5. An Alaska Governor’s Cup split

Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage will face each other six times this season in the Governor’s Cup series. The Nanooks took the opener, 3-2, on an overtime powerplay goal by Broten Sabo at 1:02 of the extra period on Friday, while the Seawolves cruised to a 6-1 win on Saturday to split the series at 1-1.

In Saturday’s game, Alaska Anchorage scored three empty-net goals in the third period. Porter Schachle scored the first at 14:37, and Dylan Contreras scored twice at 15:12 and 18:08.

“Solid effort by everyone in the lineup tonight,” said Anchorage coach Matt Shasby. “We took a step to establishing our identity.”

6. UMass, UConn get Hockey East upsets

Massachusetts spilt a Thursday/Saturday home-and-home against No. 10 Providence with the road team winning each game. The Minutemen rolled to a 5-1 win over the Friars on Saturday after losing 2-1 at home in the first game of the series.

UMass is now 7-2-1 in its last 10 at Providence.

“I thought the guys came out with the mission.” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “They played a great 60 minutes, and I couldn’t be prouder of this group. I’m hoping this will be a springboard for us.”

Connecticut picked up a home upset over No. 2 Boston College on Friday. BC scored with 1:14 left in the game to close the Huskies lead to 4-3 before UConn’s Ryan Tattle got an empty-netter that would prove to be the game-winning goal.

Boston College goalie Jacob Fowler received a roughing major and game misconduct at 4:49 of the second period and was relieved by Jan Korec. Fowler received supplementary discipline from Hockey East and will be ineligible for the Eagles’ Tuesday night game at Providence.

7. Army’s Cataldo off to great rookie season in net

Freshman goalie JJ Cataldo leads the nation in save percentage at 0.956 and is second in goals-against average at 1.34, having allowed just eight goals in his six games in net for Army. His Black Knights picked up 5-1 and 4-2 wins at Rochester Institute of Technology over the weekend.

Cataldo saw 34 shots on Saturday, but it could have been a lot worse. Army blocked a whopping 28 shots in the contest, including six by defenseman Sam Groebner, who also scored for the Black Knights. Army defensemen had not tallied a goal until this weekend. Mac Gadowsky scored twice on Saturday and got the first goal by an Army blueliner this season on Friday.

8. Who’s in first?

Conference schedules in D-I college hockey are really uneven here in mid-November, with some teams having only played two league games, while others have well over one-third of their conference contests in the books. So league points are all over the place.

In the Big Ten, Wisconsin has played eight league games while Michigan has had just two. Atlantic Hockey ranges from a low of five to a high of 10. In Hockey East, four teams have had eight conference games, while Boston College has played just three and is in 10th place in the standings.

It will all come out in the wash, but this early disparity could lead one to wonder if there’s any statistical or on-ice difference to be seen with front-loading or back-loading schedules. It could be argued that a younger team could be better served by having more conference games later in the season, or that an older team would benefit by taking advantage of a program just starting to get its underclassmen to coalesce.

9. Regressing, not progressing

Word came last Tuesday that American International would be dropping its men’s hockey program to Division II next season, as well as discontinuing its men’s wrestling and women’s tennis programs.

On Wednesday, AIC announced the change officially in its “Pathway to Progress” announcement. Despite D-II not having an NCAA championship in hockey and being limited to the Northeast 10, the college attempted to portray it as a positive move.

“Funds raised for the men’s ice hockey program will continue to be utilized to support the ice hockey program, allowing it to be competitively positioned among peers and offering a greater level of impact than if the program were to stay in Division I,” the press release stated.

10. Are smaller schools actually better positioned to expand college hockey?

Last Wednesday, College Hockey Inc. executive director Sean Hogan was a guest on the USCHO Spotlight podcast. He suggested that schools without FBS football are good targets to add D-I hockey.

“Where we’re going to see growth is – and this is my opinion – is at the Division I level with schools that might not have major college football,” Hogan said. “And what makes our brand – makes hockey – so successful and appealing to athletic departments is the big major national brands don’t always win our national championship.

“If done well, you can compete nationally at an elite level right away. You can bring a national championship level sport to your campus, build excitement around that sport, have sellouts in your building, and really have a hockey brand that’s nationally known. And that can be very appealing.”

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