For anyone who might think that playoff hockey hasn’t started yet this season, just checkout the scores that featured 17 one-goal games (would have been higher if not for several ENGs) and 11 overtime contests in the east for the week ending with Sunday’s late action in the MAC and NEHC. Talk about a lot of close and hard-fought games that also included some key conference battles like Chatham’s 7-6 OT win over Geneseo; two one-goal wins for Utica against Nazareth, Cortland eking a one goal win over Oswego and Endicott winning both an overtime game and a one-goal game against Suffolk in the CNE to name just a few of the high-drama games across the region. Here is the recap for an extremely exciting slate of games in the east:
CNE
The Endicott Gulls faced-off against a determined Suffolk team over the weekend and skated away with two very hard-earned victories over the Rams. Friday saw neither team able to score in the first 39:59 of the game before Joe O’Brien solved goaltender Atticus Kelly with just one second remaining in the second period to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Jack Costanza provided the home crowd a little last-minute action as he tied the game with just 28 seconds remaining in regulation. A power play in overtime took just 25 seconds for Andrew Kurapov to score the game-winning goal and send the Gulls off with a 2-1 win. On Saturday, scoring was even harder to find as Suffolk’s CJ Hapward and Endicott’s Ryan Wilson were almost perfect in their respective goals. John Goldowski scored the game’s only goal in the middle frame and Endicott eked out an important 1-0 road win over the Rams.
Curry kept pace to remain just above Endicott in the standings as the Colonels swept a weekend series with Johnson & Wales. The Wildcats used two power play goals in the first period for a 2-2 tie after twenty minutes of action, but Eelis Laaksonen helped the visitors to a 5-3 win as the forward scored two goals and added two assists for a four-point game to pace the Curry attack. Back home on Saturday, the Colonels celebrated 50-years of Curry hockey in style. After surrendering the first goal of the game to J&W’s Connor Nelson, five different players scored for Curry to pace a 5-1 win. Laaksonen capped off a strong weekend with the final goal of the contest on the power play that extended the Colonels’ win streak to seven games.
UNE stayed close to Curry and Endicott as they swept their weekend series against Wentworth. On Friday, the Nor’easters started fast with three goals in the first ten minutes of action and then held on as the Leopard rally fell one goal short in a 3-2 UNE win. Ryan Kuzmich scored a goal and added an assist while netminder Joey Stanizzi stopped 18 of 20 shots to earn the road win. On Saturday, the Nor’easters took a commanding 4-0 lead with two goals in each of the first two periods only to see the Leopards again fight back to a one-goal deficit. Ian Worthey, George Weiner, and Nicholas Sombrowski scored in just over a three-minute span midway through the third period putting pressure on UNE to close out another win. Drew Olivieri, who opened the scoring in the game, scored his second of the contest with just over two minutes remaining in regulation and UNE skated off with a 5-3 win. Olivieri finished the game with two goals and two assists for UNE.
Nichols has a three-game win streak on the heels of a non-conference win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth and a weekend sweep if Western New England to move to fourth place in the CNE. Nathan Carl’s two goals paced the Bison attack in a comfortable 6-1 win over the Corsairs on Tuesday. Facing the Golden Bears on the weekend, Nichols jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see WNEU rally to tie the score at 2-2 making overtime necessary. Ryan Austin wasted no time in deciding the game with his goal just thirty seconds into the extra session giving Nichols a 3-2 OT home win. Goaltender Nick Anderson stopped 21 of his 25 saves in the final forty minutes to keep the Golden Bears at bay. On Saturday, six straight goals including three in a row on the power play helped pace Nichols to a solid 7-1 win over WNEU. Seven different players scored for the Bison while CJ Zezima chipped in with a pair of assists in the win.
MAC
Wilkes traveled to face Alvernia over the weekend and the Colonels battled the home team to a pair of 2-2 OT ties with each team picking up an extra point with one shootout win apiece. On Friday, Miles Harrington gave the Colonels a 2-1 lead in the second period only to see Owen Noll tie the game for the Golden Wolves in the third period. Neither team could decide the game in overtime leading to the first 2-2 OT tie with Wilkes taking the shootout. On Saturday, all the scoring took place in the third period with Alvernia taking a 1-0 lead off the stick of Edvin Robertsson just two minutes into the third period. Cam Low and Matt Carlson scored less than two minutes apart to give Wilkes another third period lead, but Alvernia’s Christian Heckman scored with just 68 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game. Following another scoreless overtime session, Alvernia capped off the weekend with a shootout win of their own.
Stevenson continued their winning ways in the second half as the took two wins over Lebanon Valley by identical 3-2 scores. Darion Benchich opened the scoring for the Flying Dutchmen on Saturday before Stevenson scored the next three in a row including Liam McCanney’s ENG that proved to be the game-winner when Harris Blackwood tallied in the final twelve seconds for LVC. On Sunday, the Mustangs took a comfortable 3-0 lead to the final two minutes of regulation when Cade Freer and Cade Helmer, on a late power play scored to make the game a 3-2 final as the Flying Dutchmen ran out of time.
King’s also swept a weekend series with Arcadia to move to 4-9-1 in the MAC. On Saturday, two goals in the second period and two in the third period erased a 1-0 deficit as the Monarchs won 4-1 over the Knights. Teodor Benno Vaage picked up two assists to pace the offense. On Sunday, three power play goals and a shorthanded goal accounted for all but one of King’s goals in a 5-0 win. Lee Kent picked up a goal and two assists while goaltender Diego D’Alessandro stopped 33 shots to earn the shutout.
MASCAC
Anna Maria extended their win streak to four games by knocking off league-leading Plymouth State and Westfield State to move comfortably into second place in the conference standings just four points behind PSU. On Thursday, the AmCats took advantage of Panther penalties by scoring two power play goals in a three-goal first period. There was no scoring in the fast-paced and physical game in the second period. In the third period PSU’s will Redick scored two goals, but Matthew Gilbert added another power play goal for AMC who held on for a 4-2 home win. Goaltender Cole Johnston was outstanding, stopping 42 of 44 Panther shots. On Saturday, there was no let down for the AmCats who took advantage of two goals from Liam Wells, including a shorthanded tally to close out the scoring in a 4-1 road win over the Owls.
Following a pair of non-conference wins over Keene State and Rivier, the Falcons returned to conference play a skated to a 2-2 OT tie with Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday. The Falcons kept their offensive game going strong with a pair of goals for a 2-0 lead late in the second period, but Blake Kashark halved the lead before the end of the second period and Vincent Nicosia tied the game late in the third period for the Corsairs. No scoring in overtime led to an exciting shootout where FSU outscored the Corsairs.
After routing Worcester State 9-3 on Thursday, Salem State took a clutch road win over MCLA on Saturday to sweep two important MASCAC contests. Henry Wilson, Seamus Cummings, and Luke Day each scored a pair of goals in Thursday’s comfortable win over the Lancers but on Saturday, goals were harder to come against a stout Trailblazers squad. Landyn Greatorex scored on the power play in the first period for a 1-0 Vikings lead. In the second period, the Trailblazers rallied with two goals less than a minute apart for a 2-1 lead after forty minutes of play. In the third period Keagan O’Donoghue tied the score with an assist from Greatorex who saw the favor returned by his teammate when he scored the ultimate game-winner just five minutes later. Will Nepveu continued his strong play in goal stopping 27 of 29 Trailblazer shots to earn the win.
NE-10
Following a 7-0 loss to D-I Stonehill on Tuesday night, St. Anselm returned to NE-10 play with a two-game series on the road against Assumption and captured two big wins to extend their lead in the standings. On Friday, the Hawks took advantage of a hat trick from Garrett Alberti and a goal and two assists from Hunter Brackett in a 6-1 win. Goaltender Cam Carroll made thirty-five saves for the Hawks to earn the win. On Saturday it was Brackett with two goals for the Hawks while Alberti added a goal and an assist in a 4-0 Hawks win. Tucker Hanson stopped 34 Greyhound shots including twenty in the opening period to earn the shutout win.
St. Michael’s extended their win streak to three games with a weekend sweep of Franklin Pierce. One special team’s goal in each period was enough to pace the Purple Knights to a 3-1 win over the Ravens on Friday. Jack Macdonald opened the scoring with a first period shorthanded goal before Case Kantgias and Quinn McCarthy each scored on the power play in the second and third periods respectively to provide a comfortable margin for netminder Evan Plunkett who surrendered just one goal late in the third period. Seven first period goals provided the fireworks on Saturday as the Ravens scored first but the Purple Knights answered back with five of their own, all at even-strength, on the way to a 7-3 win and weekend sweep. Seven different players scored for St. Michaels with six players recording two-point games as the Purple Knights helped keep the Ravens winless on the season.
Southern New Hampshire and Post split their series creating a cluster of teams battling in third through fifth in the standings. On Friday, two goals from Scotty Swain and a goal and an assist from Holden Beckett helped the Eagles to a 5-1 win over the Penmen. Dillon Phillips and Kyle Slingerland helped SNHU to an early first period lead and Bryan McLachlan scored what proved to the game-winner as all the scoring took place in the opening 20 minutes of a 3-2 SNHU win.
NEHC
Hobart returned to home-ice for the first time in 2025 with a two-game series against the second place (now third with two games in hand on Babson) Norwich Cadets and the Statesmen kept their unbeaten streak going with a pair of 4-1 wins over the Cadets. Dominic Schimizzi scored in the first period and Tristan Fasig extended the Hobart advantage to close out the second period setting up a dynamic third period. Johnny Johnson scored to cut the lead in half with a power play goal early in the third period, but Norwich penalties led to extra-man markers from Schimizzi and Tanner Daniels to close out the scoring for the final margin. On Saturday, the teams were tied after one period of play before Luke Aquaro and Easton Ryan scored in the opening three minutes of period two to move Hobart to a 3-1 advantage. Austin Mourar closed out the scoring in the third period for the Statemen who moved to 17-0-0 overall and 12-0-0 in NEHC play.
Babson and Elmira played a two-game series with each taking a one-goal win in two very entertaining hockey games. On Friday, the Soaring Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the first period and held that advantage entering the third period. Babson finally broke through with a power play goal from Johnny McElaney at the twelve-minute mark and carried that momentum into goals from Raphael Marcoux and Brendan Kennedy in the next four minutes to hold on for a thrilling 3-2 win. On Saturday, Joseph Kramer’s shorthanded goal in the second period erased a 2-1 Elmira advantage. Neither team could score in the final period of regulation play, but Shane Haviland scored on the power play in overtime to give Elmira a 3-2 OT win and split of the weekend series.
If goals were on your must-see list for games this weekend, then the Massachusetts-Boston and VSU Castleton series should have been on your list of games to watch or attend. The two teams combined for nineteen goals with eh Beacons taking and overtime tie (shootout win) and an overtime win. On Friday, the Beacons took advantage of two goals each from Chris Repmann and Jack Ford to post a 5-2 lead in the third period, but the Spartans fought back with three late goals in the final four minutes of regulation to earn a 5-5 OT tie. Aiden Robson scored one goal and assisted on three others, including the game-tying goal in the dying seconds of the third period. On Saturday, it was the Beacons who flipped the script to rally for the one-goal road win. After Andrew Stefura gave the Spartans a 4-3 lead with just over four minutes in regulation time remaining, Jack Ford tied the score with a power play goal just thirty seconds later and Michael Krupinski netted the game winner with just ten seconds remaining in regulation for the 5-4 win.
New England College extended their win streak to four games with two victories over Southern Maine over the weekend. Egor Osipik scored two goals and Jack Herron assisted on every Pilgrim goal in a 3-0 shutout win over the Huskies. Goaltender Anthony Beaulieu made 26 saves to earn the shutout on Friday night. On Saturday NEC fell behind early but scored the final three goals of the game with Herron scoring one goal and assisting on two more for a six-point weekend as the Pilgrims moved to 5-6-1 in NEHC play.
NESCAC
Hamilton took advantage of a light schedule with a single game against travel partner Amherst at home on Friday night. In a game that saw Luke Tchor net a hat trick, the Continentals could never build a cushion as the Mammoth battled back with Oliver Flynn’s goal in the third period to trail by one goal. Goaltender Aksel Reid made 29 saves to preserve the one goal advantage in a 4-3 win that moved Hamilton to 9-1-0 in NESCAC play.
Trinity lost ground to Hamilton as the Bantams came away with a split of their two games against Connecticut College and Tufts. On Friday, Trinity rallied from a 2-0 deficit to the Camels to take a 3-2 lead on a goal from Jacob Karpa. John Russo tied the score at 3-3 before the end of the period on the power play but the third period belonged to Trinity who took advantage of goals from Ryan Panico and Richard Boysen to take a 5-3 win. On Saturday, the Bantams ran into a hot goaltender as Gustave Bylin made twenty-nine saves to shut down the Bantam offense in a 2-0 Jumbo win. Max Resnick and Brendan Fennell provided all the goals Bylin would need for the Jumbos who are now in a logjam of teams separated by just three points in the standings from fifth place to tenth place.
After a slow start to the season, Wesleyan moved into contention with a road sweep of games over Tufts and Conn College. Friday’s playoff style game with the Jumbos saw Jack Marottolo score in the opening period on the power play and Owen Sweet score an empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation for a 2-0 Cardinal win. Goaltender Patrick McDevitt was simply outstanding as the netminder made forty-nine saves to earn the shutout win where the Cardinals were outshot by a 49-20 margin. On Saturday, a pair of ENGs helped provide some cushion in a 6-3 win over the Camels. Andrew Haxton and Owen Sweet each scored two goals for Wesleyan who won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Colby remained in third place in the standings having split weekend games with Williams and Middlebury. On Friday, the Mules got goals from Jack MacDonald in the first period, Massimo Gentile in the second period and Matthew MacDonald in the third period for a 3-0 win over the Ephs. Cooper Rautenstrauch stopped twenty-seven shots to earn the shutout win. Saturday’s contest against the Panthers saw goals in abundance as the teams were tied 2-2 after one period and 4-4 after two periods of play before Middlebury scored the only markers in the third period to steal a 6-4 win over the Mules. Revy Mack scored what proved to be the game-winner before Reece Brednich added an insurance goal in the final five minutes of play.
SUNYAC
Following a 6-2 win over Morrisville on Friday night, Cortland put last weekend’s charity game behind them and leveraged a 4-3 home win over Oswego to move to the top of the SUNYAC standings. The Lakers also came off a Friday night win over Canton by a 5-1 score to set up a great rivalry game. The Lakers and Red Dragons exchanged goals for a 1-1 tie before the excitement of the second period that ultimately decided the game. Justin Legault scored a power play goal in the opening minute of play and Collin Vassallo tied the game again on the man advantage and less than five minutes remaining in the period. Domenic Settimo’s second goal of the game gave the hosts another one goal lead with under two minutes to play in the period and a lot of drama in the last minute of play. Daniel Colabufo scored a shorthanded goal with 52 seconds remaining and the Red Dragons scored the ultimate game-winner with just eleven seconds on the clock as Nathan Garnier beat the clock with a PPG to close play in the second period. Despite chances for both teams there were neither goals nor penalties in the third period as Cortland held on for a 4-3 win.
Buffalo State played a rare outdoor game against Keene State on Friday and skated away with a 4-2 win over the Owls. Vadim Kiriakov opened the scoring for the Bengals and assisted on David Tolan’s game-winner in the third period before Aiden Dufault iced the contest with an empty-net goal and final two-goal margin.
While Plattsburgh downed Amherst 2-1 on Saturday, they built some positive momentum entering the weekend with a 7-3 conference win over Potsdam on Wednesday night. Leading by a 3-2 score entering the third period, the Cardinals scored four unanswered goals to cruise to a comfortable win. Jake Sacratini and Aaron Catron scored two goals apiece and Kevin Weaver-Vitale added a goal and two assists in the important SUNYAC win.
UCHC
Geneseo played a home-and-home series with Chatham and Friday’s game may have been one of the craziest played this season as the Cougars upset the Knights, 7-6 in overtime. Goals came fast and furious as the Cougars held leads of 3-2 and 6-4 after the first and second periods but Geneseo kept fighting back. Luke Panchisin made it 6-5 early in the third period before Zach Purcell completed his hat trick to tie the game at 6-6 and send the game to overtime. Nick Cyprian, who already had a three-point game for the Cougars sent the home fans home delighted as he netted the OT winner in the final minute of the extra session for the 7-6 upset win. On Saturday, the Knights bounced back at home as they raced to a 5-0 lead on the way to a 7-3 win. Purcell added another goal and an assist while Alex Dameski added a goal, and an assist and Carter Diceman scored two goals.
Utica extended their win streak to five games as they took a pair of one-goal wins over Nazareth to move one-point ahead of Geneseo in the standings. On Thursday, the Pioneers jumped to a 2-0 lead only to see the Golden Flyers answer back to tie the score in the second period. In the final minute of play in the middle period, Jakob Breault and Drake Morse scored eleven seconds apart to give Utica a lead they never relinquished. Morse finished the game with three goals and two assists while Breault added one goal and four assists in a 5-4 win. On Saturday, Breault scored the only two goals the Pioneers could generate as they eked out a 2-1 road win. Ryan Piros held the Golden Flyers at bay stopping 37 of 38 shots in the one-goal win.
Manhattanville swept their weekend series with Brockport by 3-2 and 3-0 scores. On Friday, Ryan McKenna’s third period goal broke a 2-2 tie for a big Valiants’ road win. On Saturday, goaltender William Billiquey stopped all 37 Golden Eagle shot attempts and Elijah Devereaux scored one goal and added an assist in a 3-0 shutout win.
Three Biscuits
Matteo Orme Lynch – Fitchburg State – scored a natural hat trick with two off the goals assisted by his twin brother, Elowan in an 8-2 rout of Rivier on Thursday night.
Nick Cyprian – Chatham – called game with the overtime goal in a thrilling 7-6 OT win for the Cougars over Geneseo on Friday night. Cyprian had a four-point night for the Cougars including two goals.
Patrick McDevitt – Wesleyan – stopped all forty-nine shots by Tufts in a 2-0 Cardinal win against the Jumbos on Friday night as Wesleyan was outshot by a 49-20 margin.
For those who may remember the D-III built roster that played in the World University Games hosted in Lake Placid, New York in 2023 and won a silver medal, the best showing by a US team in the history of competing in the WUG. This past week in Torino, Italy a roster of primarily ACHA club team players and coaches played very well in the round robin portion of the tournament and made it to the medal round where they lost to Canada in the semifinals and lost out to Ukraine in the bronze medal game finishing fourth overall. Sorry that the timing, travel, and cost made it prohibitive for the D-III players to participate again this year but congratulations to the ACHA players that enjoyed a very successful tournament.
The action and the standings are must-see as we head into February. Can’t imagine that any coach is not telling their team it takes the full effort for sixty minutes and likely more as key battles for position in conferences are basically every week for the remainder of the regular season.
