Noah Laba was a top player the last few seasons for Colorado College (photo: Casey B. Gibson).
Colorado College junior forward Noah Laba has agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level contract with the NHL’s New York Rangers beginning with the 2025-26 season.
Laba will report to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack on an amateur tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
Laba tied for the CC team lead with 10 goals, tied for second with 26 points and finished fourth in the NCHC with a 57.3 faceoff winning percentage this season. He paced the Tigers with 20 goals and 37 points as a sophomore in 2023-24.
A second-team All-American and NCHC defensive forward of the year following the 2023-24 season, Laba collected 85 points (41 goals, 44 assists) in 100 career games with the Tigers.
Laba assumed a leadership role on the team this season, serving as an alternate captain, and is a three-time distinguished scholar-athlete by the NCHC and member of the league’s all-academic team.
A Northville, Mich., native, Laba was selected by the Rangers in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft.
Holy Cross’ Liam McLinskey has been a key player this season for the Crusaders (photo: Thomas Wolf Photography).
Atlantic Hockey America has announced its individual award winners for the 2024-25 season.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
FORWARD OF THE YEAR AWARD
AHA SCORING CHAMPION
Liam McLinskey, Sr., F, Holy Cross
Holy Cross senior Liam McLinskey is the dual winner of the Forward of the Year Award and the Player of the Year Award. McLinskey led Atlantic Hockey with 43 points on 20 goals and 23 assists during the regular season, and after collecting eight points through five postseason games, skates into Saturday’s championship game with 51 points on 23 goals and 28 assists. The senior forward orchestrated a seven-game goal streak from Nov. 7 – Nov. 30 and totaled 13 multi-point games in the regular season. McLinskey collected five points on two goals and three assists on Feb. 14 vs. Mercyhurst. McLinskey also took home the AHA Scoring Championship this season as the conference’s points leader in AHA contests during the regular season. The Pearl River, N.Y. native tallied 39 points on 19 goals and 20 assists in 26 league games. His rating of +20 in conference play also led all skaters in the league. McLinskey is the first AHA skater to earn back-to-back Player of the Year honors and conference scoring titles in league history.
BEST DEFENSEMAN AWARD
Mac Gadowsky, So., D, Army West Point
Army sophomore Mac Gadowsky is this year’s selection for the Best Defenseman Award. During the regular season, Gadowsky potted 12 goals and dished out 23 assists for 35 points. He was among the highest-scoring defensemen in the country, and led Atlantic Hockey blueliners in goals (11), assists (22), and points (33) in AHA play. His 33 points in league play not only led AHA defensemen, but ranked second among all skaters. For good measure, Gadowsky added four goals and three assists for seven points in five AHA postseason games. From Jan. 3 – Feb. 8, Gadowsky orchestrated an 11-game point streak that saw him tally 21 points (7g, 14a) in that stretch. His 16 goals on the season currently leads all defensemen in the country, while his 42 points are tied for the national lead among blueliners.
GOALTENDER OF THE YEAR
AHA GOALTENDING CHAMPION
Thomas Gale, Sr., G, Holy Cross
Holy Cross goaltender Thomas Gale takes home the Goaltender of the Year Award for 2024-25. Playing in all 26 league games, Gale led the AHA in save percentage (.940), goals-against average (1.71), and wins (19), while ranking second in minutes between the pipes (1547:14). The senior netminder also posted two shutouts in AHA play. Gale enters Saturday’s title game with 24 wins on the season, which is currently tied for third in the nation and is a Holy Cross single season record. His .930 save percentage on the season currently ranks ninth nationally. Gale is also the AHA Goaltending Champion for 2024-25, as his .940 save percentage during conference play in the regular season was tops in Atlantic Hockey. On Feb. 13, Gale was named a semifinalist for the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) Mike Richter Award for 2025, which is given annually to the top goalie in men’s NCAA Division I hockey.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Trevor Hoskin, Fr., F, Niagara
Niagara forward Trevor Hoskin is the AHA Rookie of the Year. Hoskin was among the nation’s top-scoring freshmen in 2024-25, and his 39 points on the season are currently tied for the national lead among rookies. In AHA play during the regular season, Hoskin led all rookies and ranked seventh among all skaters in the league with 29 points. In addition, his 20 assists in league play led all rookies and ranked fourth among all skaters. The Belleville, Ont. native orchestrated two seven-game point streaks on the season, with the first ranging from Oct. 12 – Nov. 1, and the second lasting from Jan. 4 – Jan. 25. He was named AHA Rookie of the Week on Jan. 27, and was named AHA Rookie of the Month for September/October and January. Hoskin is the second Purple Eagle to earn AHA Rookie of the Year honors, following Ludwig Stenlund in 2018-19.
CO-BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARDS
Austin Schwartz, Sr., F, Air Force
Ethan Leyh, Gr., F, Bentley
Air Force’s Austin Schwartz and Bentley’s Ethan Leyh are Co-Best Defensive Forwards for 2024-25. Schwartz is the only player to win or share Best Defensive Forward honors in back-to-back years in AHA history. The senior ranked as one of the top shot-blocking forwards in the country, and his 62 blocks on the season was tops among AHA forwards. He blocked 42 shots in 26 league games, and 10 of his 12 goals on the season came against AHA competition. On the season, his four game-winning goals were tied for second among all skaters in the conference. Leyh ended the regular season as Bentley’s leading scorer with 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points. In conference play, Leyh averaged 1.2 points per game with 30 points in 25 AHA games, with his 30 points ranking fifth in the league. Leyh was also strong in the face-off circle, as he won 301-of-524 face-offs (57.4 win percentage) in AHA play. The graduate student has added five points (3g, 2a) in four postseason games, and enters Saturday’s title game with 16 goals and 22 assists for 38 points on the season.
AHA INDIVIDUAL SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Mac Gadowsky, So., D, Army West Point
Army’s Mac Gadowsky is the sixth Black Knight to win the AHA Individual Sportsmanship Award. Playing in all 38 games for Army, Gadowksy was whistled for just three total penalties equating to six minutes on the season, despite seeing significant ice time for Brian Riley’s squad. He was whistled for just two penalties for four minutes while posting a rating of +14 in 26 league games in the regular season.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Bill Riga, Holy Cross
Holy Cross’ Bill Riga is the AHA Coach of the Year for 2024-25. Riga has led the Crusaders to a historic season that saw them claim the AHA regular season title for the third time in school history (2004, 2006), and has Holy Cross poised to play for the AHA postseason title on Saturday. The Crusaders were propelled to the top of the AHA regular season standings by reeling off 16 straight conference wins (including OT/SO) from Nov. 22 – Feb. 14, which set an Atlantic Hockey record. Riga’s squad collected 12 regulation wins, three overtime wins, and one shootout victory during the historic streak, and ended the season with a 19-5-2 record in league play. On March 3, Holy Cross entered both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls at No. 20. It was the first appearance for the Crusaders in the national polls since 2012. Holy Cross enters Saturday’s championship game ranked No. 19 in the latest USCHO Poll that was released on March 17.
AHA TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Niagara Purple Eagles
Head coach Jason Lammers and the Purple Eagles ended the 2024-25 regular season with the fewest penalty minutes in the AHA during league play. Niagara took 89 penalties equating to 192 minutes in 26 AHA regular season contests (7:23 per game). Overall, Niagara’s 7.5 penalty minutes per game on the season led Atlantic Hockey and ranked tied for seventh nationally. This is Niagara’s second AHA Team Sportsmanship Award, with the first coming in 2018-19.
Dick Umile takes in the action at UNH’s Frozen Fenway practice on Jan. 13, 2017 (USCHO.com file photo).
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation has announced its 2025 Legend of College Hockey recipient as Dick Umile from New Hampshire.
Umile guided the Wildcats for 28 seasons at his alma mater from 1990 to 2018, accumulating 596 career wins to rank tenth all-time in career Division I victories. He is one of only eight head coaches to claim 500 wins at one school.
During his illustrious career, Umile molded UNH into one of the top programs in Division I college hockey. He was behind the bench for four Frozen Four appearances, 18 NCAA national tournament appearances, eight Hockey East regular-season championships and two Hockey East playoff titles. His squads recorded 20 or more wins in 20 of his 28 seasons.
Umile coached 31 All-Americans and 12 Hobey Baker top ten finalists, including 1999 Hobey winner Jason Krog. Many of his alumni went on to successful NHL careers including brothers Trevor and James van Riemsdyk, Darren Haydar, Ty Conklin, Bobby Butler and many more.
Among his many accolades, Umile was named coach of the year 11 times, including all-New England honors four times and Hockey East coach of the year six times. He was also tabbed the Spencer Penrose Award winner as national coach of the year for the 1998-99 season.
A native of Melrose, Mass., Umile began his coaching career in the prep ranks in Massachusetts for 10 years before getting an opportunity to join Providence as an assistant coach in 1985. He remained there for three seasons, took on a similar role at UNH for two seasons before being named head coach for the 1990-91 campaign. Umile played three seasons for the Wildcats from 1969 to 1972, accounting for 144 points in 87 games.
Umile will be honored along with this year’s Hobey Baker Award winner at the annual Hobey Baker Award banquet and golf outing this summer in St. Paul, Minn. Banquet and golf information will be available soon by visiting hobeybaker.com.
Key Hobey Baker announcement dates for 2025 include:
Top Ten list of candidates: March 19
Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists: April 3
Hobey Baker Award announcement: April 11
The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced from a field of three Hobey Hat Trick finalists on Friday, April 11, 2025 during the Frozen Four in St. Louis. The award ceremony will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network and streamed live at hobeybaker.com.
MIchigan State goalie Trey Augustine is a Mike Richter Award semifinalist this season (photo: Michigan State Athletics).
The Big Ten announced the 2024-25 hockey postseason awards on Tuesday.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Isaac Howard, Jr., F, Michigan State
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sam Rinzel, So., D, Minnesota
GOALTENDER OF THE YEAR
Trey Augustine, So., G, Michigan State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Michael Hage, Fr., F, Michigan
COACH OF THE YEAR
Steve Rohlik, Ohio State
SCORING CHAMPION
Isaac Howard, Jr., F, Michigan State (33 points)
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
F — Isaac Howard, Jr., Michigan State
F — Jimmy Snuggerud, Jr., Minnesota
F — Aiden Fink, So., Penn State +
D — Matt Basgall, Jr., Michigan State
D — Sam Rinzel, So., Minnesota
G — Trey Augustine, So., Michigan State
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
F — T.J. Hughes, Jr., Michigan
F — Quinn Finley, So., Wisconsin
F — Cole Knuble, So., Notre Dame
D — Ethan Edwards, Sr., Michigan
D — Simon Mack, Sr., Penn State
G — Arsenii Sergeev, Jr., Penn State
ALL-BIG TEN HONORABLE MENTION
F — Karsen Dorwart, Jr., Michigan State
F — Connor Kurth, Jr., Minnesota
F — Matthew Wood, Jr., Minnesota
F — Davis Burnside, Jr., Ohio State
F — Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Gr., Ohio State
F — Riley Thompson, So., Ohio State
F — Reese Laubach, So., Penn State
F — Ryland Mosley, Gr., Wisconsin
D — Jacob Truscott, Gr., Michigan
D — Ryan Chesley, Jr., Minnesota
D — Damien Carfagna, Jr., Ohio State
G — Liam Souliere, Gr., Minnesota
G — Logan Terness, Sr., Ohio State
BIG TEN ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
F — Michael Hage, Fr., Michigan
F — Charlie Cerrato, Fr., Penn State
F — Gavin Morrissey, Fr., Wisconsin
D — Cade Christenson, Fr., Penn State +
D — Logan Hensler, Fr., Wisconsin +
G — Cameron Korpi, Fr., Michigan
BIG TEN SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS
Jacob Truscott, Gr., D, Michigan
Matt Basgall, Jr., D, Michigan State
Aaron Huglen, Sr., F, Minnesota
Tyler Carpenter, Sr., F, Notre Dame
Patrick Guzzo, Gr., F, Ohio State
Carson Dyck, Sr., F, Penn State
Anthony Kehrer, Gr., D, Wisconsin
+ unanimous selections
This year’s honors included individual awards, all-Big Ten teams, the all-freshman team and sportsmanship awards. Voting was conducted by conference head coaches and a media panel.
ECAC Hockey has announced Clarkson’s Ethan Langenegger as the recipient of the Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year for the 2024-25 season.
The additional finalists for this award were Kyle Chauvette (Union) and Lawton Zacher (Brown).
Langenegger joined the Golden Knights this year as a graduate student transfer and played a critical role in Clarkson ending the season ranked nationally. The Kamloops, B.C., native appeared in 20 contests posting a 13-6-1 record. The netminder totaled 450 saves with a .913 save percentage (third in ECAC) and ended the season with a 2.23 GAA (fourth in ECAC).
Over the course of the season, Langenegger earned two goaltender of the week honors and was goaltender of the month for November. In addition to the ECAC accolades, Langenegger was also selected as a 2025 Hobey Baker Award nominee.
All statistics correspond to the final regular-season statistics in ECAC Hockey play only.
Trevor Connelly (16) celebrates a goal after scoring for Providence last December (photo: Providence Athletics).
Welcome to Week 10 of Bracketology.
Each week from now until Selection Sunday coming up in five days on March 23, I will outline the current 16 teams in the men’s NCAA Division I tournament and attempt to seed a bracket based on the current field.
This past weekend’s playoff games across all six leagues provided plenty of excitement, some mild upsets, and most important to this conversation really made the PairWise bubble come into clearer form.
We now have 11 schools who have clinched at-large bids in the tournament. They are: Boston College, Michigan State, Maine, Minnesota, Western Michigan, Boston University, Connecticut, Providence, Ohio State, Denver and Massachusetts.
We can add to that list Minnesota State. The Mavericks will face St. Thomas in the CCHA championship game on Friday night, but the Tommies are still ineligible for the NCAA tournament while they wait out the final season of reclassification from Division III to Division I. Thus, regardless of the winner on Friday, Minnesota State earns the conference’s autobid.
Adding those together you have 12 spots spoken for. The AHA and ECAC Hockey champions will take up two additional spots. Thus, there are two bids still remaining.
Right now, three teams can earn that bid at-large: Quinnipiac, Penn State and Michigan. There are six teams that can alter the cutline by a team winning its conference tournament from outside the top 16. They are: Arizona State, North Dakota, Northeastern, Clarkson, Cornell and Dartmouth. Quinnipiac is the only team on that list that can qualify through either an automatic qualifier or an at-large bid, and no coincidence, the Bobcats have the best chance of the bubble teams to make the field of 16.
The order of bubble eliminations seems to be Michigan, Penn State and Quinnipiac. Thus, if from that list of six teams above, one team wins their conference championship, Michigan will be out. If two teams from that list win, Michigan and Penn State are out. And if three teams win (NCHC, Hockey East, ECAC), the trio of Michigan, Penn State and Quinnipiac will all be eliminated.
That’s a lot to unpack. But for now, let’s take the 16 teams and develop a bracket based on the current PairWise.
1. Boston College
2. Michigan State*
3. Maine*
4. Minnesota
5. Western Michigan*
6. Boston University
7. Connecticut
8. Providence
9. Ohio State
10. Denver
11. Massachusetts
12. Quinnipiac*
13. Penn State
14. Michigan
15. Minnesota State*
16. Holy Cross*
* Automatic qualifier (right now, highest remaining seed in each tournament)
With the field of 16 in place, we can now seed the four regions using basic bracket integrity (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, etc.).
1. Boston College
8. Providence
9. Ohio State
16. Holy Cross
2. Michigan State
7. Connecticut
10. Denver
15. Minnesota State
3. Maine
6. Boston University
11. Massachusetts
14. Michigan
4. Minnesota
5. Western Michigan
12. Quinnipiac
13. Penn State
As a reminder and also for those who aren’t regular readers of Bracketology, there is one thing that the committee seems to avoid at all costs and that is first-round matchups between teams from the same conference. This week, we have a bit of a mess.
Let’s begin with 13 Penn State and 14 Michigan, which are both four seeds. They cannot play either 2 Michigan State or 4 Minnesota. Thus, Boston College, the tournament’s top seed, would be forced in this scenario to play either Michigan or Penn State. We also have issues in the matchup between 6 Boston University and 11 Massachusetts. This one is a little easier to solve by simply switching 12 Quinnipiac and 11 UMass.
So knowing we have to realign the 1 vs. 4 matchup in each bracket, I think that’s the best place to start. It would be ideal to have Boston College, the overall No. 1 seed, to play the lower ranked of those two Big Ten teams, Michigan. Maine would then face Penn State, while Michigan State would face the lowest remaining seed, Holy Cross.
Let’s see what that has done to the bracket.
1. Boston College
8. Providence
9. Ohio State
14. Michigan
2. Michigan State
7. Connecticut
10. Denver
16. Holy Cross
3. Maine
6. Boston University
12. Quinnipiac
13. Penn State
4. Minnesota
5. Western Michigan
11. Massachusetts
15. Minnesota State
This isn’t ideal given that Boston College has been the clear cut number one team in the PairWise for more than two months and locked up the number one overall seed this weekend despite losing to Northeastern. Such a heavy number one seed should not be running into a team from the Big Ten when there are lower-ranked teams in the field. But to avoid the Big Ten matchups in the first round, there is no other solution right now.
With all of those changes, we now need to assign regions to each four-team bracket. Penn State as the host team in Allentown plays in that region. When we place Penn State and its four-team bracket in Allentown, we still have the other three top seeds in each region (Boston College, Michigan State and Minnesota) all playing in regions closest to campus.
To accomplish that, we place Boston College to Manchester, Michigan State to Toledo and Minnesota to Fargo.
Manchester Region
1. Boston College
8. Providence
9. Ohio State
14. Michigan
Toledo Region
2. Michigan State
7. Connecticut
10. Denver
16. Holy Cross
Allentown Region
3. Maine
6. Boston University
12. Quinnipiac
13. Penn State
Fargo Region
4. Minnesota
5. Western Michigan
11. Massachusetts
15. Minnesota State
Are there any other changes to make? How about switching Ohio State and Denver to have the Buckeyes playing in their home state? I like this.
Otherwise, attendance seems decent across the board. Manchester needs Boston College and Providence to drive things. Toledo will now have Michigan State and Ohio State to help fill the building, which has a capacity just over 8,000. Allentown will be sold out thanks to Penn State. And Fargo, with both Minnesota and Minnesota State, should be near capacity.
So that’s my final bracket for this week:
Manchester Region
1. Boston College
8. Providence
10. Denver
14. Michigan
Toledo Region
2. Michigan State
7. Connecticut
9. Ohio State
16. Holy Cross
Allentown Region
3. Maine
6. Boston University
12. Quinnipiac
13. Penn State
Fargo Region
4. Minnesota
5. Western Michigan
11. Massachusetts
15. Minnesota State
Last in: Michigan, Penn State First out: Arizona State, North Dakota
One other note: I was tempted to go with an alternate version of the bracket that switched Holy Cross and Minnesota State. The reasoning isn’t important, but that would have set up a first-round game between Minnesota and Holy Cross in North Dakota, the sound of which might make Gopher fans cringe.
Keep an eye out for Bracketology Extra, each night throughout the conference semis and finals with updates based on each evening’s results. And of course, look out for Bracketology Final late on Saturday evening as I put forth my final bracket for the NCAA tournament.
Arizona State swept Minnesota Duluth over the weekend in the NCHC playoffs (photo: Arizona State Athletics).
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Dan: Well, Paula, we’ve finally made it to the last weekend of the postseason!
For all of the projecting and preseason banter, the excitement surrounding the weekly grind or first weekend of the regular season, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – that tops watching teams hoist a trophy. I’d argue that the conference tournament is even better than the national tournament because of the familiarity between the teams…a thought that I think you first pitched to me earlier this year.
I want to roll back a bit about what I’ve seen in the eastern leagues because the biggest news of the weekend came from Hockey East and Northeastern’s upset over Boston College. The Eagles are still the No. 1 team in the Pairwise Rankings and won’t land anywhere outside of Manchester, but losing to the Huskies added the type of drama associated with single-elimination games. That the best team in the country doesn’t make TD Garden’s semifinal or championship is exactly what the playoffs are all about, and there’s A LOT to unpack about how that happened.
Joining Northeastern are three teams each angling to end some droughts. Maine, for example, hasn’t won a Hockey East championship since Ben Murphy’s triple-overtime goal in 2004, and UMass, the most recent champion, last won it in 2022 to win consecutive championships. Northeastern won the regular-season championship that year but failed to advance to the Garden, keeping the Huskies shortened drought at 2019.
The Minutemen might still have damp grounds from that electric run during the early part of the decade, but my dark horse – Connecticut – is still alive. The 2000 MAAC champions might hang their first Hockey East banner in Boston, which would be sweet revenge for Nutmeggers who harbor a little bit of revenge in their hearts for its ACC neighbor market to the northeast.
Before I get rolling too deep, let’s shift it westward because Hockey East isn’t the only upset-addled league. After a hot streak took the No. 30 Penn State team to No. 12, the Nittany Lions lost in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. They’re back to the bubble, now, and I can’t get over how quickly fortunes changed after they plowed through the conference’s second half.
Paula: Penn State’s extraordinary second half is evidence of two things: first is what can happen when all the pieces come together at the right time for a team, and second is how winning builds confidence.
You know, I almost always come back to something that Minnesota coach Bob Motzko has said when I’m looking for perspective, and early in the season he said that while teams can learn from losing, they can also learn from winning. That’s what Penn State did in the second half.
Things began to look up for Penn State when goaltender Arsenii Sergeev returned to action Jan. 3, when the Nittany Lions tied Notre Dame in the Frozen Confines game. Then Penn State won its first Big Ten game of the season against the Fighting Irish two nights later in South Bend. Counting last weekend’s semifinal loss to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions lost just four games in the second half, a run coupled with the strength of the Big Ten that put them in NCAA tournament contention.
It’s a great story, but it shouldn’t overshadow what Ohio State has accomplished this season. The Buckeyes have had some bumps along the way, but they are one of nine teams with 24 or more wins this season, which takes the kind of tenacity and confidence that Ohio State showed in that overtime win against Penn State.
I love Penn State’s story this year, but Ohio State is still standing. The Buckeyes are the only team in the Big Ten that hasn’t captured a playoff championship, and doing so against the defending champs in East Lansing is a daunting task. In fact, Ohio State has two conference titles to its credit. Two. Ever. They won the inaugural CCHA conference championship in 1972 and won again in 2004.
You mention one and done, Dan. The difference between Notre Dame – the last-place team in the Big Ten – and Michigan State in semifinal play last weekend was one goal. Anything can happen.
And, yes, that’s what makes this time of year so exciting. Conference championships are the best thing about college hockey, and that is the proverbial hill upon which I will die.
Switching gears to the NCAA tourney and the PairWise, both Penn State and Michigan sit on that very uncomfortable PWR bubble at 13th and 14th respectively, so each is pulling for favorites this weekend.
I love upsets, though. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Based on what we saw in semifinals last week, do you see upsets that may burst some bubbles – PairWise or otherwise – this weekend?
Dan: The only team that’s likely still fighting the tide is Quinnipiac, which moved to No. 12 with its two-game sweep over Brown. Most scenarios have the Bobcats finishing on the inside of the bubble, but a semifinal loss to Cornell would still hurt bad enough to drop them under the project cut line, which sits anywhere from No. 13 to No. 14.
Penn State obviously stands to gain the most from a Quinnipiac loss because the Nittany Lions won’t lose by not playing, but dropping Quinnipiac as low as No. 14 would open the door for an elimination scenario if the wrong team wins one of the other leagues. That said, it would still take an entirely direct scenario – a good chunk of which still exists – and a large number of those scenarios are buried with a win over Cornell. None of those situations, though, include a second bid for ECAC.
Aside from all of that, Michigan’s loss in the first round of the Big Ten postseason is becoming increasingly more disastrous.
Of this weekend’s games, I know I’m going to be fixated on one in particular – back to that in a bit – but I’ll keep a side-eye on the Minnesota State-St. Thomas game. Jim Connelly took the Tommies as his dark horse in the CCHA tournament, and playing Minnesota State looks a bit like their national championship game because the draconian rules governing the reclassification process will prevent them from advancing to the NCAA tournament. I’m not saying Minnesota State won’t have something to play for (there I go with a double negative again), but the Mavericks are in the tournament with a loss.
Let’s play a hypothetical and let the Tommies win. How would you have extrapolated their chances into the NCAA Tournament since they unquestionably would’ve been the No. 16 seed? Are we missing a chance to watch the underdog make some noise?
Paula: To be honest, the CCHA is somewhat of a mystery to me this season. That no one in that conference has been strong enough to crack the PWR for most of this season is baffling. I know you and I have talked quite a bit about strength of schedule and how that impacts both the CCHA and Atlantic Hockey, but seeing programs like Bowling Green, Lake Superior, Michigan Tech, and Northern Michigan make absolutely no national noise this season has been as baffling as it is disheartening.
Even Minnesota State’s excellent season hasn’t been enough to place them firmly in the PairWise rankings. They had early wins over Michigan and North Dakota and an early sweep of Omaha. They have 18 conference wins and now 26 overall wins.
And yet the Mavericks sit at No. 16 in the PWR. It’s wild.
The Tommies topped the preseason CCHA poll, but that speculation was fairly divided. St. Thomas earned three first-place votes as did Bemidji State, with Michigan Tech getting two and Minnesota State picking up one. I’m not sure I would have had the Tommies contending for the title, but I’m not sure I would have had the Mavericks there, either. But it’s not like I wouldn’t have, either. Like I said, the CCHA makes no sense to me this season.
Another conference that has confused me is the ECAC. You mentioned Quinnipiac – another team that had to work hard to play its way into NCAA tournament territory – but I’d like to know how Quinnipiac is the only ECAC team among the PWR top 15.
Part of what’s happening with the CCHA can be explained by the fallout of the creation of the Big Ten, but ECAC? What happened?
Dan: I wish I had a magic wand to explain what happened to the league that I’m covering on a more regular basis for these pages.
I’m going to fire up a Delorean and hit the accelerator pedal to 88 mph with the intention of going back to 2023. Harry Styles had just won the Grammy for album of the year while Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” claimed Record of the Year honors (remember when literally everyone was doing a TikTok dance to that? Or is that just my….wife…yeah…definitely my wife…)
ECAC had four bids to the 2023 national tournament. Quinnipiac was about to win the national championship as the No. 2 seed with the best record in the country ahead of the tournament, and Cornell was a four seed capable of beating Denver in the first round. Colgate won the conference championship in a stroke of goodwill to Don Vaughan. Things were awesome.
Then things fell apart. Quinnipiac’s success is sustainable as a national powerhouse, but the rest of the league sagged. The bottom four consistently weighted the Pairwise values against ECAC, and Quinnipiac finally took its “downturn,” which really meant it didn’t have 30 wins to anchor a top seed in the tournament.
Why things fell apart is a combination of factors that are being addressed in smaller doses. The transfer portal era really ravaged a couple of teams, and I think the post-COVID struggles finally caught up to Harvard. Cornell wasn’t healthy this year. Dartmouth got better, but the bottom of the conference just weren’t good enough to prevent things from falling. Combined with the overall power of Hockey East, that was a tough ask.
I’m cautiously optimistic about the league’s ability to return to form over the next few years. Ted Donato is a master recruiter at Harvard, and Union is opening up a new building to replace Messa Rink. Cornell will transition to Casey Jones, who was an outstanding coach at Clarkson, and JF Houle’s continued transition should keep Clarkson in the conversation. Combined with Quinnipiac, those have been the biggest surges within the league lately (don’t forget that there was a time when Union was the No. 1 seed). I don’t know if four or five seeds are in the works, but the league should jump back to the two-bid or three-bid conversation sooner rather than later.
Of course, it’s dependent on the power leagues giving up some of their ground, and Hockey East isn’t going to be doing that any time soon. Neither is the NCHC, which looks downright scary. Western Michigan built something special, and it looks like North Dakota is on the run towards a tournament berth. Arizona State is a great addition. CC is right in there. St. Cloud, Duluth, hoo boy that’s a good league, isn’t it?
Paula: Honestly, I think Western Michigan has been the under-the-radar team all season – not within the NCHC, obviously, but to the rest of the college hockey world hyper-focused on Hockey East and the Big Ten.
In fairness to everyone talking about B1G and HEA all season, those two conferences have been deeper than deep and likely in ways that aren’t sustainable for many years. We know how things cycle in college hockey, especially because of how small the field is for the entirety of Division I men’s play, and you just mentioned how recently ECAC hockey was measurably better.
Compared to a few years ago, the NCHC isn’t nearly as dominant as it was overall, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t see the conference produce a national champion this year.
Boston College and Michigan State each have .771 overall win percentages. Western Michigan’s is an insane .792, and the Broncos have the nation’s current top offense (4.06), sixth-best defense (2.06), eighth-best power play (25.5%) and fourth-best penalty kill (87.1%). That quadruple threat – being among the top 10 nationally in all four of those categories – is matched by only one other team currently among the 16 teams in the PairWise, Quinnipiac.
With the possibility of playing either Hampton Slukynsky or Cameron Rowe in net – both of whom were named to all-NCHC teams this week – and a slew of players that can find the net, the Broncos are going to be one of the hardest teams to beat in the NCAA tournament. Given Boston College’s loss this past weekend, I’m surprised that Western Michigan garnered only five first-place votes in this week’s poll.
The NCHC tournament this weekend is the hottest ticket in men’s college hockey. Western Michigan and Denver are already in the NCAA tourney, so they can afford to be dialed in on the immediate prize of the conference championship. Denver plays Arizona State, and at No. 15 in the PWR, the Sun Devils define what it means to be a bubble team at this time of year.
But Western Michigan will face the neediest team in the field, North Dakota, who currently sits at No. 17 in the PWR. To get the chance to play for a conference title, the Fighting Hawks swept Omaha in quarterfinal play after splitting with the Mavericks the final weekend of regular-season play. In mid-February, the Fighting Hawks split a series with Denver and two weeks ago split with Western, and this was after the Pioneers and Broncos each swept North Dakota earlier in the season.
Yes, Dan, the NCHC is a good conference. A very good conference. They’re not as deep this season as the Big Ten and Hockey East are, but it’s easy to imagine two NCHC teams in St. Louis next month – even if the conference advances only two teams to the NCAA tournament.
The one-and-done format from here on out makes everything so much more exciting, and there really is nothing like a conference championship. It seems like a million years ago now, but soon after I began covering the CCHA – some time back in the late 1990s – Bob Daniels told me that the first goal his team set every year was the league title. Now that Daniels has coached his last game at Ferris State, I wish I still had the direct quote. It came in a week late in the season, when coaches of other CCHA teams were pressing me about their chances to make the national tournament. They wanted scenarios, possibilities, probabilities. All of this was before the PairWise was a public thing, when there was still some mystery about it all.
Having picked up on what other coaches were thinking, I asked Daniels about looking past conference play to national play. He was so earnest when he explained why a conference title was a thing never to be devalued at a time when so many people were focusing on bigger crowns.
At another point, Daniels reminded me of something that has never not been true: it’s really hard to end another team’s season. When surviving to play another game is the only option, teams play with a ferocity that they may not have had mere games and weeks before.
Two weeks ago, when Notre Dame took Minnesota out of the Big Ten playoffs by taking that best-of-three series on the road, I am ashamed that I was as surprised as I was. The Fighting Irish were playing for more than mere survival. They wanted to give Jeff Jackson a remarkable sendoff, and they came really close to doing just that against Michigan State last weekend.
Here’s to conference championship weekend. Like everyone, I’m looking forward to seeing who emerges to play another game – and when champions are crowned, I’ll spare a thought for the guys at the other end, especially the ones who will have donned that uniform for the last time, ever.
Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com have a look at the 2025 Frozen Four in this edition of the PodKaz. But first, they take a look back at the NCAA regionals and opening-night wins by St. Lawrence, Minnesota Duluth and Clarkson.But home ice held in the regional finals, where Wisconsin, Minnesota, Cornell and Ohio State advanced to the Frozen Four in Minneapolis.The Patty Kazmaier Award will be presented on Saturday, and Nicole and Todd give thoughts on the Wisconsin trio named as finalists for the award.
And the episode wraps up with a look at Friday’s semifinals, Ohio State vs. Cornell and Wisconsin vs. Minnesota.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].
Isaac Howard has led the Michigan State offense all season long (photo: Michigan State Athletics).
Michigan State is back at No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll, picking up 33 first-place votes this week to move up one spot in the rankings.
Boston College is down one, getting 12 first-place votes, while Western Michigan stays third with five first-place votes. Maine stays fourth and Minnesota is again fifth.
Denver holds steady at No. 6, UConn is up one to No. 7, Boston University jumps up a spot to sit eighth, Ohio State is up one to No. 9, and Providence falls three notches to No. 10.
Holy Cross, unranked last week, reenters the rankings at No. 19 this week.
In addition to the top 20 teams, nine others received votes in this week’s rankings.
The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 50 voters, including coaches and media professionals from across the country. Media outlets may republish this poll as long as USCHO.com is credited.
Reese Laubach has had a strong season up front for the Nittany Lions (photo: Penn State Athletics).
After this weekend’s games, the PairWise bubble became very well defined. So much so that the three teams on the bubble know exactly what needs to happen for them to make or miss the NCAA tournament.
Let’s start with the known. Twelve teams have clinched their NCAA bids:
Boston College
Michigan State
Maine
Minnesota
Western Michigan
Boston University
Connecticut
Providence
Ohio State
Denver
Massachusetts
Minnesota State*
* The CCHA champion will be either Minnesota State or St. Thomas, but St. Thomas isn’t eligible for the tournament. Thus, Minnesota State has clinched the CCHA autobid
Two additional champions will be represented by the Atlantic Hockey American and the ECAC champions. That accounts for 14 teams, leaving two spots. Right now, three teams are looking to take those spots: Quinnipiac, Penn State and Michigan.
Of those three, only one team controls its destiny, Quinnipiac. If they Bobcats win the ECAC championship, they will automatically qualify.
There are six other teams who can take away one of these bids by winning their conference tournaments.
NCHC: Arizona State, North Dakota
Hockey East: Northeastern
ECAC: Clarkson, Cornell, Dartmouth
We can further break this down by individual scenarios that would qualify or disqualify the bubble teams. There are a total of 4,096 current scenarios remaining. Here they are broken down by the number of teams that could get bumped off the bubble.
So you can see, the odds of all three bubble teams reaching the tournament aren’t very good: Just 384 out of 4,096 scenarios, or 9.3 percent of the time. That’s the exact same odds for all three of these teams to MISS the tournament.
The most likely outcome, though, is for two of the three teams to make the tournament. And every one of those scenarios includes Quinnipiac and Penn State in the field and excludes Michigan.
There’s still plenty to play for this weekend. But now you know which teams to root for and against to help your favorite team’s chances.
Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley. and Ed Trefzger review games of the weekend and news of the week.
We look at quarterfinal results in Hockey East, NCHC, and ECAC Hockey, including Northeastern’s upset of Boston College, North Dakota’s road sweep of Omaha, and Cornell’s sweep of Colgate.
In semifinal results, we look at the AHA and Bentley’s sweep at Sacred Heart and Holy Cross winning two at home against Army West Point, bringing an end to Brian Riley’s tenure as the Black Knights’ head coach. In the Big Ten, Ohio State advance in overtime past Penn State and Michigan State’s lone goal vs. Notre Dame advanced the Spartans and meant the final game for Jeff Jackson as coach of the Fighting Irish. In the CCHA, both Minnesota State and St. Thomas advanced, but the Tommies’ ineligibility for the NCAA tournament means the Mavericks picked up the autobid.
We also look at the PairWise rankings, where 12 teams are in and on the bubble are Michigan, Penn State, and Quinnipiac. Only the Bobcats control their own destiny among those three.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men’s Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour
Times are approximate:
00:15 Introduction and sponsorship
00:36 Northeastern’s upset over Boston College and Hockey East Quarterfinals recap
04:54 Hockey East Semifinals preview
07:32 NCHC Quarterfinals recap
10:14 ECAC Quarterfinals recap
15:25 Atlantic Hockey Semifinals recap
22:43 Big Ten Semifinals recap
26:37 Ohio State’s remarkable season
27:06 Jeff Jackson’s legacy
27:56 Michigan State and tournament seeding
28:26 CCHA championship scenario
32:35 NCAA Tournament bubble wWatch
44:02 Potential Regional matchups
46:19 Wrapping up and final thoughts
Utica’s Matt Wood scored twice in the first period to propel the Pioneers to a 5-1 win over Fitchburg State and a quarterfinal date against St. Norbert (Photo by Michaela VanWormer)
The first round of the 2024-25 NCAA D-III men’s ice hockey championship tournament is in the books with six teams joining Curry and Hobart in the quarterfinal round set for Saturday, March 22. The first round saw six games with three set between teams from the east, two from teams from the west and one east v. west matchup. While St. Norbert and Aurora advanced in the west pairings, Geneseo, Hamilton, and Utica advanced in the east with Trine taking the one inter-regional matchup in their first NCAA tournament game against Oswego. Lots of exciting action to recap so here is the wrap-up for the east:
Stevenson v. Geneseo
Geneseo’s Peter Morgan celebrates game-opening goal of the Knights first round win over Stevenson (Photo by Benjamin Gajewski)
The Mustangs traveled to face the Knights but were clearly ready to play as they poured sixteen shots on Knights’ goaltender Adam Harris in the first period but were unable to score a goal. Geneseo also found Stevenson’s Ford DeLoss difficult to solve as they fired thirteen attempts in what proved to be a scoreless first period.
In the second period, senior Peter Morgan found a puck left loose by DeLoss and the Knights took a 1-0 lead with the only marker of the second period.
In the third period, Evan Beers scored on a power play midway through the final period of regulation to tie the score at 1-1. The lead was short-lived as Zach Purcell gave the lead back to Geneseo off a nifty play by Filip Wiberg for a 2-1 advantage. Carter Diceman iced the contest with a late empty-net goal for the 3-1 final score that advanced Geneseo to a quarterfinal date against Aurora on Saturday, March 22.
“It could have been better, it could have been worse,” noted Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz on his team’s play on Saturday. “It was a slow start, but we got better as the game went on – not going to win many NCAA games with that explanation though.”
Both goaltenders were outstanding with DeLoss finishing with thirty-nine saves on forty-one shots while Harris stopped twenty-nine of thirty to pick up the win. Purcell finished the night with a goal and an assist while Diarmad DiMurro chipped in with a pair of assists in the win.
Fitchburg State v. Utica
The Falcons were coming in on a high having won the MASCAC tournament while Utica was looking for a reset after losing the UCHC championship game on home ice to Geneseo just a week ago. The 1 PM matinee was the first game of the day with both teams looking to establish their game on the ice early.
It was Utica’s Matt Wood who set the tone early with a pair of goals in the opening ten minutes of play to give the Pioneers the lead. Wood’s first tally was a sensational deflection past netminder Max Macchioni off a shot from Andrew Della Rovere and just a couple of minutes later Wood was again in the right place to put a rebound of a Johnny Mulera shot past Macchioni for a two-goal lead.
Utica dominated the second period, but Macchioni was stellar in goal keeping the host team at bay until Aiden Hughes finally got the puck past him with just over a minute remaining for a 3-0 lead after two periods of play.
In the third period, Eric Vitale netted an unassisted goal before Hunter Dunn broke Ryan Piros’ shutout bid in the final five minutes of regulation play. Gabriel Lundberg closed out the scoring for Utica in the 5-1 win that advanced the Pioneers to a quarterfinal date with St. Norbert next Saturday at 1 PM.
“I didn’t like our start,” commented Utica head coach Gary Heenan. “We were very “east-west” and turned the puck over far too many times. We cleaned it up and executed in the second and third periods. It was great to be on home ice. Next, we have an exciting opportunity to play next against a program with five national championships.”
Macchioni stopped thirty-eight shots for the Falcons while Piros finished with seventeen saves and the win for Utica.
Hamilton v. University of New England
The NESCAC champions traveled to Maine to face a Nor’easters squad that has seen recent NCAA tournament success including the Frozen Four just two seasons ago. Both teams were very evenly matched on paper and the action on the ice reflected that quickly.
Just over seven minutes into the first period, UNE’s Ryan Kuzmich capitalized on a fortunate puck bounce and scored an unassisted goal past goaltender Charlie Archer to give the host team a 1-0 lead. Hamilton answered back before the end of the first as Devon deVries tied the score off a nice play by Jackson Krock and Ryan Sordillo gave the Continentals a 2-1 lead with his goal in the final thirty seconds of play.
Things tightened up in the second period with scoring chances being limited but Hamilton’s Justin Biraben extended the lead to 3-1 with an assist going to Ryan Brown.
The third period saw UNE pull to within a goal on Jayden Price’s power play goal just over three minutes after the puck drop. That would be the only puck to get past Archer and Krock provided an insurance marker in the final minute into an empty-net for a 4-2 win.
“I thought our first period was great,” said Hamilton head coach Rob Haberbusch. “UNE capitalized on a fortunate bounce, and we went down early but we stayed the course and battled back to take the lead into the intermission. We got into some penalty trouble in the second period which shifted the momentum, but I thought we did a good job all night of just managing the game that we had in front of us.”
Krock paced the offense for Hamilton with a goal and an assist while Archer picked up the win making twenty-one saves. UNE’s Joey Stanizzi stopped nineteen Hamilton attempts on goal. The Continentals advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in their history and will face top-seed Curry on Saturday, March 22 at 3 PM.
Oswego v. Trine
The Thunder were playing in and hosting their first NCAA tournament game in a rink where they were undefeated during the regular season (Sure that Brian Lester will have more in his wrap-up column). Their opponent was a young Oswego squad that found its game to capture the SUNYAC crown and as expected the action was a back-and-forth affair from the opening puck drop.
Both teams were trying to establish their game in the opening twenty minutes with Oswego capturing the shot advantage (10-8) but neither team was able to score.
In the second period, goaltender Ronnie Petrucci kept the visitors off the board and Drew Jeffers and Brendan Finn solved Brandon Milberg in the Lakers net for a 2-0 advantage to close out the second period.
In the third period, Sean Henry extended the advantage to three goals with a goal in the opening minute of play. Jess Horacek finally got Oswego on the board with a power play goal and over six minutes remaining but that would be the only goal Petrucci would surrender in the game. Tyler Fox iced the contest with his ENG in the final fifteen seconds of play for a 4-1 win that extended Trine’s home win streak this season to thirteen games.
Alexander Babich finished with a pair of assists to pace the Thunder.
Trine will travel to Geneva, NY on Saturday, March 22 where they will face the defending two-time national champions from Hobart at 7 PM.
Three quarterfinal games feature east v west matchups with Utica playing St. Norbert: Geneseo facing Aurora and Trine matching up with Hobart. Hamilton against Curry is the fourth quarterfinal matchup. Host location for the Frozen Four will be determined by the winners on Saturday and bids submitted over a month ago for the non-per-determined venue this season.
Luka Sukovic scores the overtime winner Saturday night for Clarkson (photo: Jim Meagher).
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Northeastern upsets No 1. Boston College
For the first time in Hockey East history, a ninth seed has made it to TD Garden.
Northeastern became the first nine seed to advance to the Hockey East semifinals after a 3-1 win over top-seeded and overall No. 1 Boston College on Saturday.
Cam Lund and Joe Connor scored 2:09 apart in the second period for the Huskies, and Ryan McGuire’s empty-net goal sealed the deal for Northeastern, which will face Maine in the Hockey East semifinals on Thursday.
#9 NORTHEASTERN UPSETS #1 BC IN THE QUARTERFINALS 🚨
Cameron Whitehead stopped 30 of 31 shots for the Huskies.
Boston College remains the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
2. Maine, Boston University, UConn punch tickets to the Garden
The rest of the higher seeds in Hockey East advanced with victories on home ice on Saturday.
No. 4 Maine defeated No. 19 Mass-Lowell, 7-1 thanks to goals from seven different players and 27 saves from Albin Boija. It’s the first time since the 2005 and 2006 seasons that the Black Bears have made consecutive trips to the semifinals.
At Agganis Arena, ninth-ranked Boston University defeated No. 14 Massachusetts, 3-2 in overtime to advance.
Cole Eiserman’s goal 2:59 into overtime sent the Terriers to the Hockey east Semifinals. Massachusetts should still be a lock for the NCAA tournament.
Eiserman called Game! Boston University advances to the Hockey East Semifinal with a 3-2 OT win over UMASS Amherst behind a Cole Eiserman Game Winner pic.twitter.com/bAIF6sX934
Providence remains a lock for the NCAA tournament. Hockey East has six teams safely in the NCAA field, with Northeastern as a seventh should the Huskies win the HEA title.
3. A pair of Game 3s result in Clarkson, Denver advancing
There were only two Game 3s necessary this weekend, and Clarkson and Denver moved on with victories.
The host Golden Knights outlasted Harvard, winning 3-2 and then 2-1 in overtime, losing the middle game 3-2 in OT.
All three games went down to the wire. The only game ending in regulation was on Friday, with Ryan Bottrill’s second of the contest for Clarkson with 27.6 seconds left giving the Golden Knights the win.
On Saturday, Harvard forced a third game thanks to Casey Severo’s OT winner at 6:09 of the extra frame, but Clarkson advanced to Lake Placid on Luka Sukovic’s GWG 7:10 into overtime on Sunday.
— Clarkson Men’s Hockey (@ClarksonMHockey) March 16, 2025
In the NCHC, Denver needed three games to advance over Colorado College, 1-3, 6-3 and 9-2.
The Tigers, swept by Denver the week before, took Game One at Magness Arena on Friday. Colorado College erased a 1-0 Pioneers lead with three unanswered goals in the third.
On Saturday, Denver scored three goals in the second period en route to the win. Zeev Buium paced the Pioneers with two goals. Colorado College goalie Kaidan Mbereko was injured making a save early in the third period and didn’t return, nor did he play in Sunday’s deciding game. Rookie Carsen Musser finished Saturday’s game and took the loss on Sunday.
Denver scored three power-play goals and a shorthanded tally in Sunday’s 9-2 win.
4. Western Michigan, Arizona State, North Dakota sweep in the NCHC
NCHC regular-season champion and third-ranked Western Michigan advanced to the Frozen Faceoff with a pair of 6-2 wins over St. Cloud State.
Alex Bump had three goals in the series with Matteo Costantini, Iiro Hakkarainen and Tim Washe potting two goals apiece.
Newcomer Arizona State punched its ticket to the Frozen Faceoff with a 4-3, 6-5 (OT) sweep of Minnesota-Duluth.
Saturday’s game was a wild affair that saw the Sun Devils erase a 3-0 deficit and earn the win thanks to a Ryan Kirwin goal at 6:08 of overtime.
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) March 16, 2025
North Dakota was the only lower seed to advance, sweeping host Omaha in a pair of 3-2 games.
In Game One, the Mavericks outshot the Flying Hawks 17-0 in the third period but couldn’t solve goalie T.J. Semptimphelter for the equalizer.
Saturday saw UND erase a 2-0 third period deficit thanks to goals from Carter Wilkie and Cade Littier, and Jayden Jubenvill scored the game-winner with 1:36 left in regulation.
The Fighting Hawks, Sun Devils and Broncos plus Game Three winners Denver advance to St. Paul.
5. Quinnipiac, Cornell, Dartmouth join Clarkson in Lake Placid
No. 13 Quinnipiac advanced to the Whitelaw Cup semifinals for the fifth-straight season with a 4-1, 4-0 sweep of Brown.
Victor Czerneckianair and Tyler Borgula each scored a pair of goals in the series, and Matej Marinov stopped 54 of 55 shots, including all 34 for the shutout on Saturday.
The other two sweeps in the quarterfinals went to the visitors. Cornell defeated Colgate, 4-1 and 3-0 to advance to Lake Placid for the third straight season.
On Saturday, Cornell goaltender Ian Shane had 21 saves to record his 14th career shutout. It was the first time Colgate had been held scoreless since Nov. 12, 2022, exactly 100 games ago.
Dartmouth also pulled off a mild upset, sweeping Union, 3-2 and 7-2 in the final games at Union’s Messa Rink.
Luke Haymes, Nate Morgan and Sean Chisholm each scored a pair of goals in the series for the Big Green, which advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive year.
The victories extended Dartmouth’s winning streak over Union to seven games.
6. Michigan State, Ohio State advance to Big Ten championship
In single-elimination semifinals, Michigan State and Ohio State prevailed over Notre Dame and Penn State, respectively, setting up an MSU-OSU final in East Lansing on Saturday.
Top-seeded and second-ranked Michigan State got a goal from Isaac Howard 19 seconds into the third period, and Trey Augustine stopped all 18 shots for a 1-0 win over Notre Dame.
It was the first postseason shutout for MSU since 2013. Owen Say made 45 saves in defeat for the Irish.
Ohio State’s Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, who has scored more than his share of game winners, lit the lamp 14:31 into overtime to put the No. 19 Buckeyes into the Big Ten championship game with a 4-3 win over visiting Penn State.
The Buckeyes are headed to the #B1GHockey CHAMPIONSHIP‼️
It was Fontaine’s second goal of the game and 16th of the season. Logan Terness made 31 saves for the win.
7. Minnesota State the first team to make the NCAA tournament field
The Mavericks, behind Alex Tracy’s fifth shutout of the season, defeated Bemidji State 4-0 in the Mason Cup semifinals Saturday night.
Adam Eisele scored two goals for Minnesota State, which advances to the CCHA title game. But the Mavericks already know they will get the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament, because their opponent in the championship game is St. Thomas, which is ineligible for the NCAA tournament because it’s transitioning from Division III to Division I.
The Tommies dispatched Bowling Green 3-2 in the other semifinal, setting up this unusual situation. Win or lose, Minnesota State will advance.
8. Holy Cross, Bentley reach Atlantic Hockey title game
The battle for the Riley Trophy and the NCAA berth that goes with it is down to the final two teams. Top seed Holy Cross will host third-seeded Bentley next Saturday for the Atlantic Hockey America title.
The Crusaders outlasted Army West Point, 3-2 (OT) and 5-1.
On Friday, Crusaders Thomas Gale and Devin Phillips were the heroes, with Gale recording a career-high 45 saves in net. Phillips scored the game-winner 3:15 into overtime.
Saturday’s win was Gale’s 24th of the season, a new school record.
The Crusaders will host Bentley, which pulled a mild upset in a 5-2, 3-0 sweep of Sacred Heart. On Friday, A.J. Hodges scored a natural hat trick in the third period to help Bentley pull away after falling behind 2-0.
On Saturday, Falcons goalie Connor Hasley recorded his 11th shutout of the season, tying him with Yaniv Perets (Quinnipiac in 2021-2022) for second most ever. Niagara’s Greg Gardner holds the single-season record with 12 (1999-2000)
Bentley will play for a championship for the first time since 2006, when it also faced Holy Cross. The Crusaders went on to win that game and post a historic upset of Minnesota in the NCAA tournament.
9. Saying goodbye
This past weekend saw the end of a pair of long coaching careers. Army West Point’s Brian Riley is retiring after 21 seasons at West Point. He was preceded as head coach by father Jack and brother Rob. Next season will be the first without a Riley at the helm for Army in 75 years.
Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson is also calling it quits after 601 wins and a pair of national championships at Lake Superior State.
Cornell’s Mike Schafer’s career isn’t quite finished as Cornell will play at least one more game next weekend. Schafer currently has 558 wins, all at Cornell.
10. Bubble teams will be scoreboard watching
A quartet of teams: Quinnipiac (12th in the PWR), Penn State (13th), Michigan (14th) and Arizona State (15th) are on the bubble heading into conference championship weekend. Quinnipiac and Arizona State can win their way in, while Penn State and especially Michigan must wait it out, hoping against upsets in the ECAC (Cornell, Dartmouth, Clarkson) Hockey East (Northeastern), and NCHC (North Dakota, Colorado College).
St. Lawrence scored three goals in four minutes late in the first period and then their defense and Emma-Sofie Nordström stood strong to carry the Saints to the NCAA quarterfinal. First, Abby Hustler cleaned up a loose puck to make it a 1-0 game. Just 15 seconds later, Kennedy Wilson forced a turnover and her ensuing shot from the slot quickly made it a 2-0 game. With under two to play in the period, Hustler scored with a rocket from the circle while on the power play to send SLU to the locker room with a 3-0 lead. After a scoreless second, Penn State cut into the lead with a power play goal from Kendall Butze to make it 3-1. But the Nittany Lions could not complete a comeback and Kristina Bahl’s empty-netter secured the 4-1 win for St. Lawrence.
(8) St. Lawrence vs. (2) Ohio State
An early major penalty gave St. Lawrence a long power play and Aly McLeod took advantage quickly, scoring to put the Saints up 1-0. Sloane Matthews tied the game later in the frame and a quick rush in transition had Makenna Webster putting the Buckeyes up 2-1 before the first intermission. The second period was scoreless despite OSU outshooting St. Lawrence 22-1. Emma-Sofie Nordström was spectacular for the Saints, matching her career high of 43 saves in the game. The Buckeyes kept pushing in the second and broke through, scoring four goals in the final 10 minutes to close out the game, earn a 6-1 win and advance to their fifth straight Frozen Four. OSU will play Cornell in the first semifinal at 4 pm central on Friday.
Ithaca, NY regional
Sacred Heart vs. (6) Minnesota Duluth
It took the Bulldogs a little time to get on the board on Thursday, but Clara Van Wieren scored late in the first and that seemed to shake things loose for UMD. In the second, Danielle Burgen scored twice and Olivia Mobley lit the lamp once to extend the lead to 4-0. Grace Sadura extended the lead to 5-0 before Sacred Heart ruined the shutout when Kate Helgeson lit the lamp to make it 5-1. Mobley’s late goal secured the 6-1 win for Minnesota Duluth.
(6) Minnesota Duluth vs. (3) Cornell
A program record crowd of program record of 3,135 spectators saw the Cornell Big Red earn a trip to their fifth-ever Frozen Four thanks to a wrap around goal from Alyssa Regalado early in the third. Minnesota Duluth had a late power play, but waited a bit to pull their goalie and could not capitalize to tie the game and force overtime. Annelies Bergmann made 28 saves in the game while Ève Gascon made 20. Cornell will face Ohio State at 4 pm central time in the first national semifinal.
Minneapolis regional
(5) Colgate vs. (4) Minnesota
Hannah Murphy made 41 saves for Colgate in the loss.
Ohio State players celebrate a goal during the Buckeyes’ Big Ten semifinal win Saturday night (photo: Ohio State Athletics).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll of March 10 fared in games over the weekend of March 14-16.
No. 1 Boston College (26-7-2)
03/15/2025 – Northeastern 3 at No. 1 Boston College 1 (Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 2 Michigan State (25-6-4)
03/15/2025 – Notre Dame 0 at No. 2 Michigan State 1 (Big Ten Semifinal)
No. 3 Western Michigan (28-7-1)
03/14/2025 – St. Cloud State 2 at No. 3 Western Michigan 6 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – St. Cloud State 2 at No. 3 Western Michigan 6 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 2)
No. 4 Maine (22-7-6)
03/15/2025 – No. 19 UMass Lowell 1 at No. 4 Maine 7 (Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 5 Minnesota (25-10-4)
Did not play.
No. 6 Denver (28-10-1)
03/14/2025 – RV Colorado College 3 at No. 6 Denver 1 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – RV Colorado College 3 at No. 6 Denver 6 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 2)
03/16/2025 – RV Colorado College 2 at No. 6 Denver 9 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 3)
No. 7 Providence (21-10-5)
03/14/2025 – No. 7 Providence 1 at No. 8 Connecticut 3 (Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 8 Connecticut (21-10-4)
03/14/2025 – No. 7 Providence 1 at No. 8 Connecticut 3 (Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 9 Boston University (21-12-2)
03/15/2025 – No. 14 Massachusetts 2 at No. 9 Boston University 3 (OT, Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 10 Ohio State (24-12-2)
03/15/2025 – No. 11 Penn State 3 at No. 10 Ohio State 4 (OT, Big Ten Semifinal)
No. 11 Penn State (20-13-4)
03/15/2025 – No. 11 Penn State 3 at No. 10 Ohio State 4 (OT, Big Ten Semifinal)
No. 12 Arizona State (21-13-2)
03/14/2025 – Minnesota Duluth 3 at No. 12 Arizona State 4 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – Minnesota Duluth 5 at No. 12 Arizona State 6 (OT, NCHC Quarterfinal Game 2)
No. 13 Quinnipiac (24-10-2)
03/14/2025 – Brown 1 at No. 13 Quinnipiac 4 (ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – Brown 0 at No. 13 Quinnipiac 4 (ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2)
No. 14 Massachusetts (20-13-5)
03/12/2025 – Vermont 1 at No. 14 Massachusetts 2 (Hockey East Opening Round)
03/15/2025 – No. 14 Massachusetts 2 at No. 9 Boston University 3 (OT, Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 15 Minnesota State (26-8-3)
03/15/2025 – Bemidji State 0 at No. 15 Minnesota State 4 (CCHA Semifinal)
No. 16 Michigan (18-15-3)
Did not play.
No. 17 North Dakota (21-14-2)
03/14/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 3 at No. 20 Omaha 2 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 3 at No. 20 Omaha 2 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 2)
No. 18 Clarkson (23-11-3)
03/14/2025 – Harvard 2 at No. 18 Clarkson 3 (ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – Harvard 3 at No. 18 Clarkson 2 (OT, ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2)
03/16/2025 – Harvard 1 at No. 18 Clarkson 2 (OT, ECAC Quarterfinal Game 3)
No. 19 UMass Lowell (16-16-4)
03/12/2025 – RV New Hampshire 2 at No. 19 UMass Lowell 3 (OT, Hockey East Opening Round)
03/15/2025 – No. 19 UMass Lowell 1 at No. 4 Maine 7 (Hockey East Quarterfinal)
No. 20 Omaha (18-17-1)
03/14/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 3 at No. 20 Omaha 2 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 1)
03/15/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 3 at No. 20 Omaha 2 (NCHC Quarterfinal Game 2)
Hunter Garvey and St. Norbert topped Gustavus to advance in the NCAA tourney. (Photo Credit: Patrick Ferron/St. Norbet Athletics
St. Norbert set a record for most wins in NCAA Division III tournament history by beating Gustavus 3-2 in the opening round Saturday night.
The Green Knights now have 35 wins, the most ever by a program. This their 22nd appearance in the tourney.
Leading 2-0 after two, the Gusties battled back and got within a goal after Wilmer Svensson found the back of the net but could never come up with the equalizer.
An empty-net goal by Bryan Gilman with under two minutes to play sealed the deal as the Green Knights advance to play Utica next weekend in a quarterfinal game.
Curtis Hammond led the way for St. Norbert, scoring a goal and dishing out an assist while Hunter Garvey made 21 saves. Logan Dombrowsky also scored in the win, tallying his 17th goal of the year and 50th point of his career.
The Green Knights, ranked third in the country in the USCHO.com poll and back-to-back champs of the NCHA, improved to 24-5-1 and are unbeaten in their last 11 games.
For Gustavus, which was in the tourney for the first time since 2012 after winning its first MIAC crown since that season, ends the year at 16-10-2. They won five more games than they did all of last year.
The Gusties lost their top defenseman, Jack McCarthy, to injury in the first minute of the game but refused fold without a fight.
Hunter Newhouse scored with 34 seconds to play to try to spark a last-ditch rally. It was his 13th goal of the year. Colin Androlewicz made 26 saves.
Spartans moving on
Aurora made its first NCAA tourney appearance a memorable one as it defeated UW-Eau Claire 3-2 in the opening round on Saturday.
Jackson Kirk and Keaton Lipsett staked the No. 5 Spartans to a 2-0 lead. Kirk’s goal was his 12th of the year.
But the unranked Blugolds cut the lead to one on a goal by Leo Bacallao in the third. Eau Claire tried to even the score but fell short in that quest.
Juliano Santalucia then added an empty-netter with less than a minute to play to make it 3-1. Jadon Reimer answered for Eau Claire, scoring with 17 seconds to play to keep hope alive of potentially tying the game in the final seconds.
JaCob Mucitelli made 24 saves for the Spartans, who are 24-4-1. Their win total is the highest in program history. The Spartans are 14-1-1 in their last 16 games and now face Geneseo at home in the next round.
Eau Claire ends the year at 14-16-1. The Blugolds won the WIAC and were playing in their first NCAA tournament since 2013 when they won the national title. They qualified in 2020 but didn’t get a chance to play because of the pandemic.
Max Gutjahr stopped 34 shots, holding his own against one of the nation’s top scoring offenses.
Eau Claire won six of its final nine games as it got hot at the right time to win the conference title and earn a bid to the tourney.
Trine Time
The Thunder scored two goals in the second period and went on to knock off Oswego 4-1 in the opening round of the NCAA tourney.
Trine was making its first ever trip to the NCAA tournament and had the luxury of playing at home, where it has not lost all season, sporting a 13-0 record. The seventh-ranked Thunder are now 21-6-2. The 21 wins are the most program history.
Drew Jeffers and Brendan Finn put the Thunder up 2-0 after two and stretched their lead to 3-0 after Sean Henry scored. Tyler Fox scored an empty-net goal for Trine’s final tally of the night.
Roman Petrucci stepped up in goal, making 26 saves, and he got plenty of help from the defense, which came up with 13 blocked shots.
Trine was playing in its first game in two weeks after losing in the NCHA tournament two weeks ago. The Thunder face a tall order next weekend as they will take on top-ranked Hobart in the quarterfinal round.
Northeastern is all smiles after beating No. 1 Boston College 3-1 Saturday night to clinch a berth in the Hockey East semifinals. (Photo: Northeastern Athletics)
Hockey East tournament
Northeastern 3, No. 1 Boston College 1
Northeastern shocked No. 1 Boston College 3-1 on Saturday night to advance to the Hockey East semifinals and to become the first No. 9-seed to make the semifinal round in league history.
After a scoreless first period, the Huskies struck twice in the second to carry a 2-0 lead into the final frame. With his seventh career goal against BC, Cam Lund broke the scoreless deadlock when he buried a snipe from the slot at 14:11. Jake Higgins and Jack Williams assisted.
Only 2:09 later Northeastern doubled its lead when Joe Connor cleaned up a rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
Northeastern held a two-goal lead until the 17:26 mark in the third when BC’s James Hagens scored after goalie Jacob Fowler was pulled for an extra attacker goal to make it 2-1. Ryan McGuire scored on an empty net with two seconds remaining to put the game away for Northeastern.
Maine will be the opponent on Thursday night at TD Garden.
No. 4 Maine 7, No. 19 UMass Lowell 1
Behind seven goals from seven different players, No. 4 Maine cruised to a 7-1 win over UMass Lowell in the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal before an announced crowd of 5,043 on Saturday night at Harold Alfond Sports Arena.
With the win, the Black Bears advance to the Hockey East Tournament semifinal on Thursday at TD Garden in Boston, where they will face Northeastern.
After a scoreless first period, the Black Bears found the back of the net three times in the middle frame. Maine scored twice in the final three minutes for a 7-1 final.
Maine’s seven goals were its most in a Hockey East postseason game since scoring seven Lowell in 2005. Albin Boija made 27 saves and is now 2-1 in the Hockey East Tournament.
The Black Bears advanced to their consecutive Hockey East Tournament semifinal, marking back-to-back trips for the first time since going in 2005 and 2006.
No. 9 Boston University 3, No. 14 Massachusetts 2 (OT)
Freshman Cole Eiserman scored 2:59 into overtime to lift No. 9 Boston University to a 3-2 win over No. 14 UMass in a Hockey East quarterfinal contest on Saturday night before a crowd of 5,563 at Agganis Arena.
BU led by a goal on two separate occasions, but UMass twice equalized, including with 8:43 remaining in regulation to force overtime. After Mikhail Yegorov made the final of his 36 saves, freshman Sascha Boumedienne cleared the rebound off the crease and sent Eiserman on a 2-on-1 with senior Jack Hughes. Eiserman skated into the left circle before ripping a shot under Minutemen goalie Michael Hrabal’s pads for his team-leading 21st goal of the season.
Sascha Boumedienne scored his third goal of the season and joined Eiserman as Terriers with multiple points. Shane Lachance got BU on the board first with his 11th goal of the season while Hughes, sophomore Tom Willander and Ryan Greene each had an assist. For Greene, the assist marked the 100th point of his career.
BU will face UConn in the Hockey East semifinals on Thursday at TD Garden.
B1G tournament
No. 2 Michigan State 1, Notre Dame 0
Isaac Howard scored 19 seconds into the third period, and that was all No. 2 Michigan State needed for a 1-0 win over Notre Dame in the B1G semifinals on Saturday before a crowd of 6,555 in East Lansing, Mich.
For the second straight season, the Spartans will host the conference championship game. Ohio State will be the opponent on Saturday.
Hobey Baker Award and Richter Award contender Trey Augustine posted an 18-save shutout.
It was the first shutout in a postseason game by Michigan State since the 2013 CCHA quarterfinal series against Miami, which was a 3-0 win in Game 1. It was also Michigan State’s first postseason win by a 1-0 score since Jeff Lerg shut out New Hampshire in the first round of the 2006 NCAA tournament.
Notre Dame goalie Owen Say had 45 saves, matching his 45 stops against the Spartans in the final game of the regular season in South Bend, Ind.
No. 19 Ohio State 4, No. 11 Penn State 3 (OT)
Gunnarwolfe Fontaine’s game winner at 14:31 of overtime propelled No. 19 Ohio State into the B1G championship game, giving the Buckeyes a 4-3 win over Penn State.
The Buckeyes’ opponent will be Michigan State on Saturday.
It was Fontaine’s second goal of the game and 16th of the season. Riley Thompson and Davis Burnside assisted. Nathan Lewis and Patrick Guzzo also scored. Logan Terness had 31 saves.
NCHC tournament
No. 3 Western Michigan 6, St. Cloud State 2
Western Michigan closed the NCHC quarterfinals with a 6-2 win over St. Cloud State on Saturday night at Lawson Arena for their NCAA-leading 28th win of the season.
With a pair of 6-2 wins, the Broncos advanced to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn., next weekend.
Western Michigan led 2-0 after two periods, and outscored St. Cloud 4-2 in the third to seal the win. Tim Washe and Alex Bump scored twice for the Broncos. Hampton Slukynsky made 18 saves in net to earn his 13th win of the season.
No. 6 Denver 6, Colorado College 3
Denver was a 6-3 winner over rival Colorado College on Saturday night, evening their NCHC quarterfinal series at a game apiece. A decisive third game will be held Sunday at 6 p.m. MDT.
After the teams skated to a 2-2 tie in the first period, Denver outscored the Tigers 3-1 in the middle frame.
Zeev Buium led the Pioneers with two goals.
Matt Davis had 19 saves in net.
No. 12 Arizona State 6, Minnesota Duluth 5 (OT)
Ryan Kirwin scored at 6:08 of overtime to earn Arizona State a 6-5 win over Minnesota Duluth on Saturday night, giving the Sun Devils a sweep of their NCHC quarterfinal series.
Arizona State advanced to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn., next weekend.
Artem Shlaine scored twice for Arizona State, which trailed 3-0 after the first period. The Sun Devils tied the game after a three-goal flurry in the first 5:01 of the middle frame. Duluth led 4-3 after two stops. Bennett Schimek tied the game 5-5 at 13:21 of the third period.
Luke Pavicich and Gibson Homer combined for 44 saves in net for Arizona State.
No. 17 North Dakota 3, No. 20 Omaha 2
Down by a pair of goals entering the third period, No. 17 North Dakota rallied for a 3-2 win over Omaha in Game 2 of the NCHC quarterfinals, earning the series sweep.
The Fighting Hawks advanced to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn., next weekend.
Carter Wilkie and Cade Littier each scored in a 29-second span of the third period to tie the game. Jayden Jubenvill broke the deadlock with just 96 seconds remaining in regulation.
Goalie T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 32 saves to earn the second postseason victory of his career.
ECAC tournament
No. 13 Quinnipiac 4, Brown 0
No. 13 Quinnipiac is heading back to Lake Placid, N.Y., and the ECAC’s championship weekend after finishing off a dominant sweep of Brown. The Bobcats took the second game of the best-of-3 by a 4-0 final behind a standout performance from Matej Marinov (34 saves) and a two-goal outing from Tyler Borgula.
Mason Marcellus and Victor Czerneckianair also scored for Quinnipiac.
It’s the fifth consecutive ECAC semifinals for Quinnipiac, which seeks its second Whitelaw Cup. Quinnipiac has outscored its opposition 35-10 in its last eight home playoff games.
Harvard 3, No. 18 Clarkson 2 (OT)
Harvard forced a Game 3 in its ECAC semifinal series with Clarkson, rallying from two goals down to win 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night.
Casey Severo scored the winning goal for the Crimson at 6:09 of the extra frame. Severo has now scored two overtime goals in the last three weeks.He has goals in two of three playoff games this season and is up to 16 on the year.
The first minutes of the second period featured a flurry of goals. After Clarkson went up 2-0 less than a minute into the frame, Zakary Karba and Mason Langenbrunner responded less than a minute later with two goals in 2:10 to tie the game 2-2.
The two-goal comeback was Harvard’s first in the postseason since Game 1 of the 2022 ECAC quarterfinals.
Cornell 3. Colgate 0
Cornell shut out Colgate 3-0 to sweep the best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series at the Class of 1965 Arena Saturday night.
Dalton Bancroft (goal, assist) and Michael Suda (two assists) led the Big Red in scoring, while Ian Shane had 21 saves to move past Ken Dryden for the fourth-most shutouts in program history with 14.
Sullivan Mack and Charlie Major scored for Cornell, which will be make the trip to Lake Placid, N.Y., for the third consecutive season and the sixth time since 2017.
Colgate’s Andrew Takacs made 19 saves for the Raiders, who were held without a goal for the first time since 2022, snapping its NCAA-leading 100-game scoring streak.
Dartmouth 7, Union 2
Dartmouth scanned its QR code to the ECAC semifinals with a 7-2 win over Union on Saturday to complete the sweep.
Emmett Croteau made 28 saves for his 13th win of the season.
A baker’s dozen different players recorded at least one point for Dartmouth, with Luke Haymes and Nate Morgan scoring two goals each.
Dartmouth has now defeated Union seven straight times. The Big Green advanced to the ECAC Semifinals for the second straight season. It is the first time since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons that Dartmouth has advanced to the ECAC Semifinals in back-to-back seasons.
CCHA tournament
No. 15 Minnesota State 4, Bemidji State 0
CCHA Player of the Year Alex Tracy posted his fifth shutout of the season with 27 saves as Minnesota State defeated Bemidji State 4-0 in the CCHA Mason Cup semifinals Saturday night at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
Adam Eisele scored two goals. The Mavericks advance to the conference championship, where they will try to hoist the Mason Cup for the third time in team history on Friday against St. Thomas.
With St. Thomas ineligible for the NCAA tournament, Minnesota State clinched the league’s automatic berth. The Mavericks have won four straight games and are unbeaten over their last 10, dating back to a Jan. 31 loss to the Tommies.
St. Thomas 3, Bowling Green 2
Red-hot St. Thomas is heading to the CCHA championship game for the first time in program history after a 3-1 win over Bowling Green. It was the Tommies’ eighth straight win.
Liam Malmquist and Cooper Gay each scored, each earning a share of the school record for goals in a season with 19. Casy Laylin also scored. Jake Sibell made 32 saves on 33 shots to extend his win streak to 12 games. He is now the single season program record holder in wins with 12.
The Tommies will visit Minnesota State for the Mason Cup on Friday.
AHA tournament
Holy Cross 5, Army West Point 1
Holy Cross beat Army 5-1 in Game 2 of the Atlantic Hockey America semifinals at the Hart Center Saturday night to earn the right to host the championship game next weekend.
Goalie Thomas Gale recorded 29 saves, extending his win total to a team-record 24.
With a goal and a pair of assists, Liam McLinskey became the first Crusader to hit the 50-point mark in a season since Tyler McGregor in 2005-06.
Holy Cross will host Bentley Saturday night for the AHA’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.
Bently 3, Sacred Heart 0
Bentley will play for a championship for the first time since 2006, after a 3-0 win over Sacred Heart to clinch a series sweep on Saturday night in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals.
The Falcons will play at Holy Cross in the final Saturday night. It will be only the second AHA final appearance for Bentley.
Goalie Connor Hasley recorded his 11th shutout of the season and third in four postseason games. Hasley, who made 26 saves, is now tied for the second most shutouts in a single season in NCAA history.
Ethan Leyh bookended the goals by scoring 56 seconds into the game and an empty netter with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.
Minnesota State earned the first automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA men’s hockey tournament Saturday, six days before the CCHA playoff championship will be decided.
The Mavericks are the only team left in the CCHA tournament that’s eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament this season.
Minnesota State’s 4-0 win over Bemidji State in the CCHA semifinals on Saturday, coupled with St. Thomas’ 3-1 win over Bowling Green earlier in the day, meant the Mavericks and the Tommies will play for the championship in Mankato on Friday.
St. Thomas isn’t eligible for the NCAA tournament until 2026 because it’s still in a transition period from Division III to Division I. That was moved up from 2027 because of an NCAA rule change in January changing the delay in tournament eligibility from five years after the program’s move to Division I to four years.
The Tommies can win the CCHA championship by defeating Minnesota State but the Mavericks are going to get the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament either way.
MADISON — The top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers staged another come-from-behind win to defeat Clarkson and advance to their program’s 16th Frozen Four Saturday afternoon.
As has been the case over the past few weeks, the Badgers went down early as Clarkson scored on a Nicole Gosling wrister from the top of the circle that beat UW goalie Ava McNaughton top self 4:59 into the game to give the Golden Knights 1-0 lead.
Wisconsin controlled play for much of the game, but Clarkson was spectacular at disrupting everything the Badgers tried to do. The Golden Knights lifted sticks, were strong with poke checks, blocked passes and shots and generally made it difficult for the home team to complete a play.
“I was really happy with the effort that our players put forth today. I thought we played the way we needed to to give ourselves a chance to win this game,’ said Clarkson coach Matt Desrosiers.
The Badgers were frustrated and trying to find a way through the stout Clarkson defense. They finally broke through with 8:24 left in the second when Ava Murphy cheated up from the blue line into open ice in the far faceoff circle and received a pass from Casey O’Brien from below the blue line. Murphy went down to one knee and one-timed the shot past Clarkson goalie Holly Gruber to tie the game.
“I saw an opening down low, so I decided to jump into it, and I saw Casey O’Brien had the puck, and she’s obviously a very talented player, so I knew she could get it to me. I just kind of put everything into it that I had and I was lucky enough it went in,” said Murphy, who was the player in the box when Clarkson scored and also broke up a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Golden Knights in the third period.
Gruber was outstanding for the Golden Knights, stopping 34 shots, several at point blank range. She was helped by a team in front of her willing to sacrifice everything to keep the puck away from the net. They were credited with 15 blocks, but that number does not capture the work they put in to stop the Badgers at nearly every turn.
“We came in with a game plan. I think we executed that to the best of our ability. Our game plan was just to shut them down defensively and defense leads to offense. We knew they were going to be high in shots. We knew we might only have limited chances, but that was our plan coming in and we obviously didn’t end up on the right side of the scoreboard, but we’re happy with our play for the most part,” said Clarkson defender and co-captain Gosling.
It looked like Clarkson might have some momentum to start the first and they quickly doubled the four shots they’d managed in the opening frame, but got no more on net after the midpoint of the game and had just three shot attempts over the final 10 minutes.
Wisconsin took the lead when Kelly Gorbatenko scored what would prove to be the game winner with just more than two minutes left in the second. Wisconsin lost possession of the puck trying to move into the zone, but Gorbatenko followed the play and muscled through some traffic to pick up the loose puck. She quickly angled in towards the net and flipped a backhander up and over Gruber’s shoulder to give Wisconsin the 2-1 lead. The goal was scored just as a Badger power play expired and counted as even strength.
“I saw K.K. (Harvey) go drive wide earlier, so I was like, OK, I’ll try that too. I just drove on the net and was able to get away from the first defender. I was just trying to get a shot on net, and I was a little surprised myself a little bit there that it went in, but I was just so excited for our team because we had a couple of shifts before that and we were in their offensive zone the entire time, so it was good just to kind of capitalize on a great team effort there,” said Gorbatenko.
The Badgers outshot the Golden Knights 29-8 over the first two periods, but Clarkson returned the pressure more in the third. The Badgers struggled to adjust to their opponents offensively, often trying to make too many passes and losing possession of the puck. Clarkson had a 12-9 advantage in shots in the third, but couldn’t seem to find the answer. Wisconsin killed two penalties and extended their lead on the power play when Laila Edwards put a Kirsten Simms pass in the net to make it 3-1.
The Golden Knights pulled Gruber with about four minutes to play and got a late power play that put them up 6-on-4, but the Badgers were able to hold them off and Lacey Eden was awarded an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left on the clock when she was tripped at the goal mouth to complete the 4-1 win for Wisconsin.
Depth has been a hallmark of the Badgers’ season and the players have all talked about how much trust they have with one another. Coach Mark Johnson noted that it was some of his less-touted players that had the biggest impact on Saturday.
“It’s fun to watch some of the players that don’t always get talked to or their names in the paper or interviewed have an impact. As we all know, it takes the entire group for us have success at different points in the season. If you go back with every play we’ve had, they’ve had an impact on a game and they’ve done something in a real positive way. That’s why we’re in the position we are, because we’ve had a team that’s been able to have different contributions from a lot of different people,” he said.
Wisconsin advances to the Frozen Four where they will face familiar foe Minnesota, who won their quarterfinal game over Colgate Saturday afternoon 3-1.
Hassan Akl leads a high-flying Spartan offense into the NCAA tournament against Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Steve Woltmann/Aurora Athletics)
Here we are at the final three weeks of game action that will determine the 2024-25 national champions. Fourteen teams have made the cut for this year’s tournament and not without some surprises in the mix. Kudos to the NCAA (don’t say that often) for opening up the checkbook and spending some money to set the all-important travel schedules that align best with the seeding and regional alignment. The Frozen Four will be held at a yet to be determined site based on bids received from teams in the field so we will likely have a scenario like 2023 where Endicott was awarded the final rounds following the quarterfinal results. Could be interesting to see where the final games of the season will be played for the national championship trophy.
My picks last Saturday went 6-3-0 (.667) for the conference championship weekend with my Cinderella picks failing to find the glass slipper fit. My final season numbers stand at 137-63-10 (.676) which were overall pretty good but not at the 70% success rate I targeted way back in October, 2024.
As has been the tradition over the past several seasons, the final picks will be a competition between East (Tim Costello – TC) and West (Brian Lester – BL) for bragging rights to end the season. The competition has been pretty close over the past seasons with many other interested parties like D-III Hockey News, Let’s Go Knights, NESCAC Hockey and, of course, Mr. SUNYAC chiming in as competitors to our USCHO challenge – feel free to play along and see how you do as compared with the USCHO pundits. First round action is set for twelve teams on Saturday and the matchups are terrific. Here is how Brian and I see the outcomes for the first round:
Saturday, March 15, 2025
NCAA First Round
Oswego v. Trine
TC – The youthful Lakers have matured quite a bit in the second half including their capturing the SUNYAC title. The Thunder lost early in their conference tournament so have been waiting for the chance to get back on the ice and play for the season’s biggest trophy. The atmosphere will be electric in Angola, Indiana but the team that has been playing each weekend will end up finding the winning formula in a game where overtime is needed – Oswego, 4-3
BL – The Thunder are making history as they head to the NCAA tourney for the first time. And the experience is even better because they get to play at home. Ranked seventh nationally, they face a Laker team that is No. 14 in the country.
The Thunder didn’t win their conference tournament, but they are a tough team to beat and are battle tested. And keep in mind they are unbeaten at home, sporting a 12-0 record.
Oswego won the SUNYAC title and are led by Brandon Cohen, who has tallied 19 goals. This will be the first trip out west this season for the Lakers and it will be interesting to see how they handle it – Trine, 5-4
Hamilton v. University of New England
TC – Two teams that on paper and ranking appear to be very evenly matched will face-off in Biddeford, Maine. The Continentals are fresh off their first ever NESCAC title and have the sensational goaltending of Charlie Archer anchoring them. UNE hasn’t seen a competitive game since the semifinal round of the CNE tournament where they lost to Endicott. ENG creates final margin in a dogfight that goes to the visitors – Hamilton, 4-2
BL – It’s a matchup featuring eighth-ranked Hamilton and ninth-ranked UNE.
The Continentals come in with 20 wins on the season and have won their last three. They average nearly four goals per game and allow under two an outing. Luke Tchor leads the way offensively with 16 goals and 17 assists.
The Nor’easters have been tough at home, going 8-3 and they are putting up just over four goals per game. Drew Olivieri leads the way with 11 goals and 24 assists. They haven’t played in nearly two weeks, so it will be interesting to see how they handle the time off – UNE, 4-3
Stevenson v. Geneseo
TC – The Mustangs took out Wilkes to win the MAC and are very familiar with playing games in New York and playing low-scoring playoff style hockey. The Knights have been known for their fast starts and a strong first period on Saturday catapults the new UCHC champions to the quarterfinal round with a less than comfortable win on home ice – Geneseo, 4-2
BL – Fourth-ranked Geneseo battled unranked Stevenson in this one. The Ice Knights are UCHC champs and Filip Wiberg is one to watch after being named the tourney MVP. He has 15 goals and 15 assists on the year. Geneseo is in the tourney for the eighth straight season.
Stevenson is making its first NCAA tourney appearance and hoping to keep this historic season going. Ford DeLoss is tough in goal. He was the MAC tourney MVP – Geneseo, 5-2
Fitchburg State v. Utica
TC – This game features two teams that really can’t be coming from more opposite mental states. The Falcons have been on fire through the MASCAC playoffs and goaltender Max Macchioni has been sensational through their recent win streak. The Pioneers are pressing the reset button for the national tournament having been routed in the UCHC title game by Geneseo. Something has to give and the Pioneers take advantage of special teams to eke past a determined and aggressive FSU squad – Utica, 5-3
BL – Ranked sixth in the USCHO.com poll, Utica is looking to capitalize on home ice advantage. The Pioneers are hoping to shake off the sting of a tough 7-3 loss in the conference final against Geneseo. That’s not always an easy thing to do.
Fitchburg has won its last four but is just 6-5 on the road this year. The Falcons have a solid goalie in Max Macchioni and he’ll be key if Fitchburg is going to pull off a win on the road – Utica, 5-3
Gustavus Adolphus v. St. Norbert
TC – The champions of the MIAC and NCHA play a first round game with the Green Knights having an unbeaten record against the Gusties in past NCAA action. Logan Dombrowsky and Liam Fraser are among the premier offensive talents in the country, and they lead the home team to a solid win over a pesky opponent – St. Norbert, 4-2
BL – The third-ranked Green Knights have been one of the best teams in the nation all year. They are the back-to-back NCHA champs and are in the NCAA tourney for the 22nd time in program history, the second-most ever.
They have two of the best scoring threats in Liam Fraser and Logan Dombrowsky, and when that duo is on, the Green Knights are tough to stop.
Gustavus won the always interesting MIAC and is in the tourney for the first time since 2012. The Gusties have nothing to lose and would love nothing more than to pull off an upset here. They are certainly capable of doing it – St. Norbert, 4-2
Wisconsin – Eau Claire v. Aurora
TC – The regular season champions from the NCHA are appearing in their first NCAA tournament and face an UW – Eau Claire squad that got hot at the right time of the season to win the WIAC. The Spartans have never beaten the BluGolds but Hassan Akl and Landry Schmuck will have a lot to say about the outcome as these prolific scorers help the home team to their first NCAA tournament win with bonus hockey included – Aurora, 3-2
BL – The Spartans have had a year to remember and have been one of the nation’s top teams all season. This will be their first game against Eau Claire since 2016. The Spartans are 0-2 against the Blugolds.
Eau Claire has won six of its last eight and has momentum on its side right now after punching a ticket to the tourney for the first time since 2020. Though Eau Claire didn’t get to play in it that year due to the pandemic. Max Gutjahr has been impressive in goal, and he’ll be key against an Aurora team that has put up 134 goals – Aurora, 4-3
By Saturday night or maybe even early Sunday morning we will know who has advanced to the quarterfinals where the six winning teams will join Curry and Hobart with a chance to reach the Frozen Four. Everything is on the line now to advance or call an end to the 2024-25 season – “Drop the Puck
