NCAA D-III West Men’s Hockey Weekend Wrap

Concordia stretched its win streak to four games with a sweep of Gustavus. (Photo Credit: Katelyn Cardinale/Concordia Athletics)

Concordia accomplished what no opponent could do over the last six games – beat Gustavus.

The Falcons ended the Gusties’ six-game winning streak on Friday with a 3-2 win and then capped the weekend with an 8-6 victory on Saturday.

Concordia has suddenly become one of the hotter teams in the process, with its own win streak now at four games.

Down 3-2 after one, the Falcons and Gusties were tied at 5-5 after two. A big third period then sealed the deal on the win.

Six different players tallied an assist while Seth Bergeron came through with a pair of goals as he helped the Falcons improve to 7-6. Cameron Hrdlicka finished with 19 saves.

In Friday’s game, Hrdlicka made 25 saves while the Falcons overcame a 2-0 deficit to notch the victory. Concordia scored all three of its goals in the third, with Garrett McArthur scoring the game winner with less than three minutes to play.

Concordia is the winner of four in a row for the first time since 2021 and this is the first time since the 2019-20 season that the Falcons have a winning record in the fall semester.

Milestone Win

Aurora finished off a sweep of Hamline Saturday with a 4-1 win and the victory was a big one for head coach Jason Bloomingburg, who earned his 100th career win.

Hassan Akl scored a goal and dished out two assists to help lead the way for the No. 5 Spartans while Landry Schmuck and Jacob Brockman tallied two assists apiece. Matt O’Donnell stood tall in goal, racking up 26 saves.

The Spartans dominated the final two periods on Friday night in an 8-2 win, scoring seven of their eight goals in that time. Schmuck and Chayce Schmidt fueled the offense with two goals apiece

Schmuck also dished out an assist while Jacob Brockman tallied a goal and two assists. Schmidt finished with three points as well as he notched an assist.

Aurora is 9-2 and heads into the Christmas break on a four-game win streak.

Rivals split series

UW-Stevens Point and UW-Eau Claire took turns finding the win column in their weekend WIAC series.

The Pointers blanked the Blugolds 4-0 on Friday before falling 5-2 on Saturday.

No. 15 Stevens Point won the strength of Alex Proctor’s second consecutive shutout and Andrew Poulias’ stellar showing in his 100th career game.

Poulias finished with two goals and an assist while Proctor made 27 saves.

Saturday’s game was a little different as the Blugolds blew the game open in the third period, scoring three times to secure their second win over a ranked opponent this season.

Kade Peterson scored the game winner with less than three minutes to play and the Blugolds added two more goals to finish things off. Max Gutjahr recorded 24 saves as Eau Claire won its first game over Stevens Point since January of 2023.

Stevens Point is 6-4-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the WIAC while Eau Claire is 5-6-1 overall and 4-2 in league play.

Ranked Falcons salvage series

No. 13 UW-River Falls didn’t come out of the weekend empty handed as it won 3-2 in overtime on Saturday in the finale against UW-Stout. The Blue Devils won Friday’s opener by a 4-3 score.

River Falls improved to 7-4 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC after snapping a three-game losing streak thanks to a game-winning goal by Cole Telecki. It was his third goal of the season.

Max Collette and Jonny Meiers tallied two assists apiece and Brennan Boynton recorded 29 saves for his seventh win.

River Falls led 2-0 after two periods but the Blue Devils answered with two goals in the third to force OT.

The Blue Devils head into Christmas at 5-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in league play.

Superior stays in first

UW-Superior is atop the WIAC standings going into Christmas after dominating Northland 8-1 on Saturday.

The eight goals are the most by the Yellowjackets in a game since 2018. Superior improved to 8-3-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference.

Justin Dauphinais helped lead the way as he scored a goal. It’s the fifth consecutive game in which he’s found the back of the net.

Reed Stark also scored and has come through with a goal in four consecutive games, leading to his team-best total of eight.

Austin Paul tallied two goals and Zach Lussier recorded a goal and two assists. Jan Skorpik made 25 saves on his way to his second win of the year.

Northland has yet to win a game this season and is still searching for its first win since Oct. 27, 2023, when it beat Lawrence 3-2 in overtime. The losing streak is currently at 37 games. Logan Gallagher scored the opening goal of the game for Northland

It’s still Trine time

Sean Henry stole the show for the sixth-ranked Thunder in their 6-1 win over Buffalo State Saturday night.

Trine won Friday’s game 6-5 in overtime, and with the sweep, the Thunder are now 12-1-1.

Henry dominated the night as he scored a pair of goals and recorded two assists to help Trine improve to 4-0 in the state of New York this season.

Christian Wong-Ramos made 18 saves for Trine, which has won its last three.

Friday was far more interesting as Trine had to overcome a 5-2 deficit.

Brendan Hill scored two goals during the comeback and finished with three goals in all. Michael DiPietra came through with the game winner a little over two minutes into overtime. Tyler Blanchard added a goal and assist while Ronnie Petrucci earned the victory in goal, playing the final 28:43 and making eight saves.

Six in a row

Adrian kept its win streak intact and picked up two conference victories along the way with a sweep of MSOE.

The Bulldogs won 5-2 on Friday and 7-5 on Saturday as they stretched their winning streak to six games. They are 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the NCHA.

Frank Tafelski and Patrick Saini scored two goals each while Ben Loreto added a goal and an assist. Connor May dished out two assists.

Nolan Duggs got his first start in goal, picking up the win on the strength of 24 saves.

MSOE led 2-1 after one but trailed 5-3 going into the third. Jackson Hughes and Carson Jones each had a goal and assist for the Raiders. Ethan Mann and Rylan Jockims each finished with two assists.

The Raiders are 3-7-1 overall and 2-6 in the NCHA.

Adrian won Friday’s game by a 5-2 score thanks to Ryan Pitoscia, Ian Amsbaugh and Matt Couto all tallying a goal and an assist.