For the second straight season, there are 1119 women rostered by NCAA DI women’s hockey programs this season. Players represent 37 US states, 11 Canadian provinces and 18 different countries – 14 in Europe and 4 in Asia.
This data was collected by individually surveying the posted rosters of each NCAA DI team.
The US is home to the majority of players in NEWHA and the WCHA, while the split between US and Canadian players is much closer to equal in the ECAC and Hockey East. American players makes up less than half the total of players in the AHA.
Minnesota leads the way with 202 players. Ontario is the top Canadian province with 209 women calling it home.
Of the 1119 women rostered this season, hail from. The top three states by number of skaters are Minnesota, Massachusetts (114) and New York (52). Minnesota-born players make up 18% of all NCAA players this season and are 49% of the women playing in the WCHA in 2024-25. Massachusetts-born players make up 31% of Hockey East players.
In all, women representing 37 states are currently playing NCAA DI hockey. NEWHA leads the way with 78% of their players hailing from the US, followed closely by the WCHA, with 72% of their players claiming America as their home.
A full third of the women playing DI women’s hockey this season hail from Canada – 363 of the 1119 skaters. Players from 11 of the Canadian provinces and territories are taking the ice this season. The ECAC has the most players who call Canada home with 137 – that’s 44% of the women who play for ECAC teams.
There are 75 players from countries outside North America, up 15 from last season. They make up 7% of the total players rostered this season. Eighteen countries are represented – three more than last season – with players from Poland, China and Slovenia joining D1 teams. Hockey East leads the way in total number of non-North American countries represented with 10, while the 21 non-North American players skating in the AHA are most among the conferences.
St Olaf won the league tournament last season and is hoping for a repeat. (Photo provided by St. Olaf athletics)
The MIAC never seems to disappoint when it comes to being competitive. The race for the regular-season championship and the five conference tourney spots up for grabs always seems to be a fight to the finish.
Last year, Augsburg held a two-point edge over Bethel for the regular-season title, but the Oles, who finished fifth in the standings, ended up winning the conference tournament championship.
You just never know how things are going to go. Here’s a look at each team heading into the new year.
Augsburg (15-9-2, 12-3-1)
One thing about Augsburg is that it’s always in the discussion for a league championship. This year shouldn’t be an exception for the Auggies, the reigning regular season champion.
Cade Stibbe will lead the way after finishing third on the team in scoring last season, tallying seven goals and 12 assists.
Landon Parker also ranked among the top five in scoring for the Auggies, finishing fourth with six goals and 12 assists.
Nick Catalano and Peyton Hanson will provide help offensively as well. Catalano scored eight goals and dished out four assists. Hanson recorded six goals and six assists.
Michael Ferrandino is also a key returning player after dishing out seven assists to go along with four goals.
The Auggies lost one of the top goalies in the nation in Samuel Vyletelka, and finding someone to fill that void will be key. Josh Koziol is the only goalie back with experience from last season as he appeared in five games for the Auggies.
Bethel (18-6-3, 11-3-2)
Coming off an impressive season, the Royals have the pieces in place to build on what they accomplished last year.
Seventeen players are back, along with 12 newcomers, two of which are transfers. Those transfers are Shane LeVelle from Lindenwood and Liam Hennessy from Rivier.
One of the top players back is Tyler Kostelecky, an All-American last year, while Austin Ryman returns as one of the top goaltenders in the conference. Kostelecky scored 13 goals and dished out 13 assists. Ryman started 15 games and gave up just 33 goals. He racked up 451 saves and won 11 games.
Bethel tied the record for wins in a season, and it’s 72.2 winning percentage is the best in school history. The Royals played in the MIAC championship game last year and are hungry to get back there and finish the job this time.
St. Scholastica (15-10-1, 8-7-1)
The Saints are ready to march into another season and take aim at contending for a MIAC crown.
Though they have lost three of their top five scorers, including scoring leader Fillimon Ledenkov, the cupboard isn’t bare for St. Scholastica.
Nathan Adrian ranked third in scoring and finished last season with seven goals and 13 assists. Tristan Shewchuk was fifth in scoring, racking up eight goals and 11 assists.
Jaco Seitz will provide plenty of help offensively as well, coming off a year where he scored six goals and dished out seven assists.
Brodie Girod tallied seven goals last season to go along with three assists and Hunter Hanson finished with six goals and four assists.
The Saints will need to find someone to fill the void at goaltender as well after losing Jack Bostedt. Elino Rissanen is the only one back at that position with any experience for the Saints as he appeared in one game.
Saint Mary’s (10-14-2, 8-7-1)
The Cardinals welcome back 18 players, including two all-conference picks, and that should put them in position to compete for a playoff spot again.
Colin Tushie and AJ Rushowski both earned All-MIAC honors last season. Tushie scored 10 goals and eight assists while Rushowski appeared in 15 games between the pipes, racking up 506 saves and winning six games.
Gabe Potyk and Warner Young also return for the Cardinals, who scored 64 goals while allowing 94.
There are 15 new additions to the team as well, including Jake Cameron, Cole Mickie, Liam McInnis, Tommy Wright and Jack Bayless.
When it’s all said and done this season, the Cardinals should be back in the mix for an upper half finish in the standings and a postseason berth.
St. Olaf (14-12-3, 7-7-2)
The Oles have become a regular contender in the conference lately and are the reigning conference tournament champions. They won their second crown in the last three seasons in 2024.
Don’t be surprised if the Oles are hoisting a trophy again as they bring back 21 players including 12 of their top 15 scoring threats.
Leading the way is All-American Connor Kalthoff, who scored 16 goals last season and also dished out 15 assists.
Cody Sherman is back as well and was the second-leading scorer for the Oles a year ago. He came through with seven goals and 13 assists.
Jonathan Panisa and Jonathan Young were also in the top five in scoring for the Oles, combining for 17 goals and 15 assists.
Joey Kennelly and Tyler Green are also among the key players back after finishing with a combined eight goals and 17 assists.
Finding someone to step in goal is key. The Oles are also in good shape in goal as Thomas Lalonde is back. He started 16 games and fashioned a 2.11 goals against average. Lalonde made 374 saves and won 10 games.
Saint John’s (9-12-4, 6-9-1)
All-conference selection Matt DeRosa is back to help lead the way for the Johnnies after scoring a team-best eight goals. He also tallied five assists and will be a captain this season.
Jack Wandmacher was the team leader in points last season. He scored seven goals and dished out seven assists. He’s a clutch player, too, scoring two game-winning goals during a successful freshman campaign.
Spencer Rurud dished out eight assists and Jack Bisson came through with seven assists. Cam Boche is also a playmaker, tallying nine assists last year. Mason Campbell was one of the top rookies two years ago and took a team-high 68 shots last season.
The Johnnies also have depth at goal with Bailey Huber and Jon Howe returning this year. Huber recorded a 2.78 goals against average and Howe won six games while fashioning a 2.32 goals against average.
The Johnnies missed the conference playoffs last year, ending a run of five consecutive appearances, and that will be added motivation for them going into this season.
Gustavus (11-12-2, 6-9-1)
The Gusties are looking to turn things around and certainly have a chance to do it with its top three scorers back from last season.
Drew Holt was the top scorer for the Gusties, tallying seven goals and 11 assists, while Drew Ellings finished with eight goals and eight assists.
Jack Suchy is also back after coming through with eight goals and seven assists a year ago.
Wilmer Svensson returns as well and finished fourth in scoring with seven goals and eight assists.
That experience should prove beneficial to the Gusties, who also welcome back one of their top goalies in Marko Belak. He started nine of the 14 games he appeared in and fashioned a 3.08 goals against average.
Concordia (10-12-3, 5-9-2)
The Cobbers should have a shot at a winning season as their top two scorers return. Mason Plante led the team with 11 goals and 12 assists while Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe also scored 11 goals to go along with his 10 assists. The duo tied for the team-lead in goals last season.
Joe Harguindeguy also returns and tied for the team lead in assists (14). He also scored three goals.
Hunter Olson will provide a boost offensively, too, after coming through with eight goals and seven assists. Hanson O’Leary is a player to watch as well after tallying six goals and seven assists. The Cobbers also have Carson Triggs for another year. He scored five goals and dished out seven assists last season.
Dan Couture and Brock Moroz are the two goalies on the roster with experience. Couture played in seven games while Moroz appeared in three.
Hamline (7-16-2, 3-12-1)
The Pipers are poised to improve with 26 players back this season, including the top three scorers. Brandon McNamara headlines the group as he was the leading scorer on the team last season. He came through with 10 goals and 11 assists.
Bailey Sommers ranked second on the team in scoring, tallying seven goals and nine assists, and Carson Simon recorded eight goals and seven assists.
Goalie Maximillian Haselbacher also returns and that’s big for Hamline. He started 17 games last season, recording two shutouts and racking up 500 saves.
The Royals have added a few transfers as well who should help bolster the team. Thomas Carls comes in from Augsburg and Nicolas Haviar is from Utica. Cal Levis III transfers in from Dubuque.
USCHO Edge hosts Jim Connelly, Dan Rubin, and Ed Trefzger look at money lines and over/under for five games (plus our “pizza money” game) on November 1, 2024:
Matt Harlow is back at Northeastern after a stint with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack (photo: Hartford Wolf Pack).
Matt Harlow has been named an assistant coach for the Northeastern men’s hockey team.
Harlow spent the past three seasons as the director of hockey operations for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, assisting with all aspects of hockey operations including player personnel, player movement, and player contracts while also handling the day-to-day operations of the club.
“Matt Harlow will be a tremendous addition to our program. He has a ton of passion to coach, develop, and recruit,” said Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe in a statement. “He is someone I’ve worked closely with in the past and knew this was the right fit for our program. We are all really excited to bring Matt back to Northeastern.”
Previously, Harlow served as the director of hockey operations at Northeastern from 2019 to 2021. Harlow helped guide the program to two winning seasons that included the program’s third straight Beanpot championship in Feb. 2020, and the program’s first Belpot championship.
Prior to coaching and scouting, Harlow played both collegiately and professionally. Harlow graduated from Brown in 2015, following a four-year playing career at the school. Over the course of 127 games at Brown, Harlow scored 36 points on 17 goals and 19 assists.
Following his NCAA career, Harlow played in 47 ECHL games spread across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with the Elmira Jackals, Manchester Monarchs, and Alaska Aces.
Miami battled to a split last weekend with Lindenwood (photo: Lexie Cunningham).
On the face of it, considering Miami hasn’t finished a season with a winning record since 2015, it would’ve been understandable for Anthony Noreen to want to make a big rebrand out of the RedHawks.
New coach, new team, new us.
But it quickly struck him, after being announced on April 1 as the program’s seventh head coach, that the bones of Miami’s structure were right for the job at hand.
Noreen, who was hired one day before the NCAA’s transfer portal opened, did bring in four college veteran players whom he had either previously coached with or against in his last job, behind the bench for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. But as for Miami’s 17 returners from last year’s team that went 7-26-3, everyone was not only on board, but also highly determined.
“When I first got here, you don’t know what you’re going to do staff-wise and you don’t know who you’re going to keep player-wise,” Noreen said. “You look at the record from a distance and you start drawing conclusions, but I knew to some degree the previous staff, and that they were good hockey guys and good men and coaches.
“One of the most impressive things, and this speaks volumes about the university, (is that) every single player that was here who had eligibility to come back met with me. I set up shop at a local coffee shop and just said, ‘Hey, if you want to meet with me, this is where I’ll be and you’re welcome to come sit down with me,’ and every single guy, to a man, came and met with me and said, ‘Coach, if you’ll have me, I want to be back. Here’s what I think I can do, and here’s where I think I can be better.’
“They believe in this place, they love this place, and they want to be a part of it,” Noreen continued. “There’s something special here.”
Miami is off to a 3-3-2 start through the season’s opening month. The RedHawks were unbeaten (2-0-2) in their first four games, then lost three straight before earning a gutsy 4-1 win Saturday at home to Lindenwood. A Raimonds Vitolins shorthanded goal 11:31 into the third period and an empty-netter from Christophe Fillion — one of Noreen’s transfers, from Quinnipiac — made the final score not especially indicative of how the game went.
“We lost a hard-fought game on Friday night (4-2 to Lindenwood), and on Saturday, we had to kill nine minutes of penalties in the third period when we were up a goal,” Noreen said. “We blocked a ton of shots, scored a shorthanded goal and we were up 4-1 with less than 20 seconds left in the third period, and we had guys diving head-first to block shots. That’s what we want to be, and that was a really positive step, but we got right back to work this Monday.
“There’s been some good and some bad, and there have been nights where we felt we should’ve been better, and some nights we got what we deserved. In the early going, you evaluate every game and what really good players do is that they evaluate themselves. They identify what they like about their game, what we like about our game, where we can grow, where we can be better and how we can apply it. We’re making sure we live by a standard, and we have a standard of how we play and what we want to play to, and we don’t bend in that for anything or anybody.”
Miami is already coming up on the end of its nonconference slate, finishing it this weekend with a home series against Rensselaer. Then comes the meat grinder of an NCHC schedule, but Noreen isn’t looking past the Engineers. Next Friday’s road game against St. Cloud State is a while away still for a team in a situation like Miami’s this season.
“We have a ton of respect for our conference, and we know how difficult and challenging all those games are,” Noreen said, “but with a new staff, a new structure and all the things we have to worry about internally, we haven’t really talked past the next day’s practice.
“RPI has been really good so far this year, and we’ve pre-scouted them and stuff like that, but with our team, we have to focus on ourselves. We have to get our house in order, make sure we’re playing within our structure and the right way. That’s what we have to be focused on, while also telling the guys, ‘Hey, these are the major tendencies you’ll need to be aware of going into this series,’ but let’s get our internal stuff right.
“I think you’ve got to narrow the focus, especially with a totally new staff, new lines, new teammates and sometimes when you focus on too many things, it muddies the water a little bit,” Noreen continued. “You don’t want to be the master of none. You want to make sure that the things that are really important to us and the things that matter the most, let’s get those in place.”
Plymouth State forward Will Redick leads a potent Panther offense looking to extend their streak of MASCAC championships (Photo by Plymouth State Athletics
Plymouth State has ruled the roost in MASCAC hockey for several years in a row and in their final season in the conference face new challengers in Anna Maria and Rivier who now make the conference a 10-team league for the upcoming season. The former Independents will bring a lot of enthusiasm to their first season competing in a conference with a championship and national tournament opportunity on the line.
With many teams shifting to the Little East conference in the 2025-26 season, this year presents a unique opportunity to win the MASCAC in its largest ice hockey representation and the ten teams battling for bragging rights.
The Favorites
The Panthers bring a lot of offensive firepower to the ice with Connor Tait, Will Redick and Will Pray lead a deep group of forwards who are well equipped for providing goals in any and every situation on the ice. Colin Tracy is back as captain to lead from the blueline as a troika of goaltenders look to fill the crease vacated by Kalle Andersson. Coach Craig Russell saw the Panthers earn their first ever NCAA tournament win last season over Cortland in the first round. This year’s roster will be looking to build on that success starting with another MASCAC championship.
Anna Maria joins MASCAC for the 2024-25 season and brings a history of playing repeat champion Plymouth State very tight having won the last time the teams faced each other as non-conference opponents. Last year’s young roster will need to continue their development including goaltender Matthew Hennessey and forwards Matthew Byrne, Max Wennerberg and Brandon Della Paolera. Coach David McCauley has built a team that plays fast and physical which will keep them near the top of the MASCAC standings.
The Dark Horses
Fitchburg State under Dean Fuller’s tutelage always seems to be in the hunt for the conference title and this year should be no different with a strong nucleus of players returning for the Falcons. Goaltending will be strong with Max Macchioni and Frederick Soderberg both demonstrating the ability to steal wins for their team. Up front there is depth and balance showcased by forwards Michael Imala, Toivo Kramer, Kristopher Zapata and Oliver Cookson. If the blueline can find consistency from its younger players, the Falcons will be a factor.
Massachusetts-Dartmouth graduated a number of key contributors in each phase of the game. Goaltender Michael Davidson, defenseman Jake Maynard and forward Michael Perrone have all moved on from the Corsairs leaving ample opportunities for younger and new players to step up. Coach Erik Noack always has a roster with some exceptional talent and this year Collin Patterson and Tyler Stewart will be looked to for more production above and beyond their strong first-year seasons. If goaltending is established early in the season, the Corsairs will be a threat.
Players to watch
Anna Maria: Matthew Hennessey – goaltender; Brandon Della Paolera – forward
Fitchburg State: Michael Imala – forward; Toivo Kramer – forward
MCLA Cade Herrera – forward; Charlie Addessa – forward
Plymouth State: Will Pray – forward; Will Redick – forward
Rivier: Cody Rumsey – forward; Jon Tavella – forward
Salem State: Zach Dill – forward; Keagan O’Donoghue – forward
Westfield State: Cooper Board – forward; Christopher Miraldo – forward
Worcester State: Brigham Neuhold – forward; Jakub Kubik – goaltender
USCHO Predicted finish
Plymouth State
Anna Maria
Fitchburg State
Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Westfield State
Rivier
Worcester State
Framingham State
Salem State
MCLA
While Keene State will be part of the Little East next season, their inaugural season in D-III will see them play a number of MASCAC schools including Westfield State and Massachusetts-Dartmouth twice in November, Fitchburg State with a game in December and in January, 2025 and Worcester State in February, 2025.
Tynan Ewart has been a bright spot on the back end this season for NMU (photo: Northern Michigan Athletics).
For Northern Michigan, this season is about the process, not results.
Maybe that sounds like a tired sports cliche, but considering this team had to refresh basically its entire coaching staff and roster in the span of five months, it’s a reasonable expectation.
Last weekend’s series against Arizona State is a case in point: The Wildcats, who are 1-5 overall, were swept by the Sun Devils at home, 3-1 and 2-0. Despite being massively outshot each time (40-17 and 38-22, respectively) both were tie games heading into the third period.
“We’re going to experience some growing pains because of how new our team is and how young our team is,” NMU coach Dave Shyiak said. “So that’s going to take a little bit of time, but we’ve seen progress. We like where we’re at as a team in terms of workload and culture. Obviously, you’d like to win a few games along the way, but we’re holding our heads high right now.”
Shyiak was brought in to be the head coach at his alma mater in June, just a few weeks after former head coach Grant Potulny stepped down to accept a head coaching position with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
The Wildcats were already set to see some major roster shakeup, but the coaching change meant that just four players stuck around–sophomore forward Tanner Latsch, junior defenseman Jakob Peterson, junior forward Zach Michaelis and sophomore forward Brendan Poshak. Latsch, who played in just eight games last season before a season-ending injury, was named team captain before the start of the season while Peterson, a Marquette native, was named an alternate captain.
“Well, the game is continuity,” Shyiak said. “Obviously, we’ve got only four guys from last year’s team. Until this season Tanner had only played eight games in college hockey, and JP was used limitedly. But what they do bring is a great attitude, team-first mentality. They were voted captains by our guys, and they’re leading this group the right way.
“They know the culture that we want to build here. It’s great to have guys that were around last year, and who can talk to them about Marquette and about our program and lead us the right way, and I think they’ve been doing a great job of that.”
As for the rest of the roster, 24 players are new to the Upper Peninsula. Shyiak had a limited amount of time to find players, and the resulting roster is a combination of freshmen and Division 1 and Division 3 transfers.
“Some of these guys are getting more minutes than they’ve ever had in their careers at the collegiate level, and some guys are still making the transition from junior hockey here. So we’re still kind of identifying our line combinations, and our ‘D’ pairings are getting to what we want, but that’s all going to take a little bit of time,” Shyiak said.
One player new to Marquette who is seeing plenty of playing time is goaltender Ryan Ouellette, who played two seasons at Niagara after a freshman year at NCAA D-III Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Ouellette has started five of NMU’s six games this season and has a .941 save percentage.
“He’s stepped in right away and has performed very, very well. He’s given us a chance in the games. He’s kept it tight when he’s needed to keep it tight. Obviously, he’s playing very well for us now,” Shyiak said. “You know, we’ve got to do a little bit better job in front of him, creating a little bit more offense to help him along the way too. We got to bring our shot count down. And that’s about more about our breakouts and taking care of the puck.”
After a 1-5 start against nonconference opponents (the Wildcats were swept at Colorado College then split with Alaska Anchorage at home in the two weekends before the ASU series) NMU starts off CCHA play with the biggest series on their calendar, a home-and-home with archrival Michigan Tech. The Wildcats actually played the Huskies once already this season, an exhibition game that finished as a 4-3 win for Tech in Houghton. Those 24 newcomers got a small taste of what Shyiak calls the best rivalry in college hockey back on Oct. 4, but the games for conference points obviously mean more.
“We are getting better, so let’s learn from that. Don’t worry about what happened (in our past six games). Our focus is for Friday night here against our biggest rival. We’ve got to take another step forward and continue to get better,” Shyiak said. “We’ve also got to find a way to win a hockey game. Our focus is on getting better against a great opponent, Michigan Tech. Obviously, they’ve been to the NCAAs three years in a row. I consider them one of the top teams in the CCHA.
“So the matchup is going to be good, it’s going to be heavy, it’s going to be fast, it’s going to be exciting for everybody, but let’s focus on getting ourselves better.”
Plattsburgh goaltenders Eli Shiller and Jacob Hearne backstop a strong Cardinal squad looking to re-claim the SUNYAC title (Photo by Gabe Pickens)
SUNYAC has also been impacted by conference re-alignment as the long-expected adoption of SUNY-Canton to the league was offset by the departures of Brockport and Geneseo to the UCHC for the 2024-25 season. So, the former nine-team league will play as an eight-team conference moving ahead with travel partners that will better facilitate travel and inter-conference play this season.
The Favorites
Plattsburgh lost the title last season despite a strong roster that featured key players that played well in a style built for playoff hockey. Despite losing to Cortland, the Cardinals return a terrific line-up that features depth in goal with Jacob Hearne and Eli Shiller. The defense is mobile and provides offense with Jack Ring and Spencer Bellina. The forward group lost some key producers but showed balance last year with Luk Jirousek, Tio D’Addario, Joshua Belgrave and Ryan Bonfield expected to have continued success on the scoresheet. Coach Steve Moffat’s group has great leadership and work ethic and are looking for more than the conference title this season.
Cortland broke through for their first conference title last year before bowing out in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Plymouth State. This year’s edition of the Red Dragons features some key ingredients from last year’s winning recipe including the defensive duo of Nick Serio and Evan Beaudry, forwards, Nick Settimo, Colby Seitz, Nate Berke and Cody Hildreth and a goaltending troika where competition will determine who mans the blue paint for Cortland this season amongst junior Ronan Mobley, sophomore Hunter Hein, and freshman Shane Shelest. Coach Joe Cardarelli and his staff want teams to have a hard time playing against the Red Dragons and when they are successful in that 200-foot game, they win and will be a factor come tournament time.
The Dark Horses
Oswego has been a perennial competitor for the SUNYAC crown and this year’s edition of the Lakers will rely on a very young roster that includes sixteen freshmen that will need to adjust and mature at the college hockey level quickly. Key to the maturation process will be the leadership and production of several returning players including Andrew Harley, Daniel Colabufo and Matt McQuade as well as the goaltending of junior Brandon Milberg. The schedule for the Lakers does not start out easy but if this group can find their game quickly, coach Ed Gosek will once again see Oswego competing for the SUNYAC title and more.
Buffalo State may be ready to shed the dark horse label this season with a talented roster looking to compete at the top of the standings. Goaltender Marcus Cumberbatch will backstop the Bengals with a strong supporting cast upfront including forwards Joe Glamos, Conor Bizal, Vadim Kiriakov, and transfer Nick Stuckless (Skidmore). Coach Steve Murphy has the opportunity to jump start the season as the Bengals host their own tournament to open the season with St. Anselm, Misericordia and Brockport as the competition for early season hardware.
Players to watch
Buffalo State: Marcus Cumberworth – goaltender; Joe Glamos – forward
Canton: Evan Pringle – forward; Niko Schoner – forward
Oswego: Daniel Colabufo – forward; Andrew Harley – forward
Plattsburgh: Tio D’Addario – forward; Jack Ring – defense
Potsdam: Mason Hoehn – forward; Ryan Mahlmeister – forward
USCHO predicted finish
Plattsburgh
Oswego
Cortland
Buffalo State
Fredonia
Morrisville
Canton
Potsdam
Opening weekend will see some great non-conference matchups including Plattsburgh traveling to Castleton, Oswego visiting Hobart and then hosting Elmira, and Cortland facing off with Lebanon Valley.
The St. Norbert Green Knights are once again among the teams to beat in the NCHA and are poised to contend nationally as well. (Photo provided by St. Norbert Athletics)
By Brian Lester
No question the NCHA is a pretty strong hockey conference, especially with two of the nation’s best teams in it.
Reigning league champion Adrian leads starts the year at No. 3 nationally in the USCHO.com poll while St. Norbert is ranked fifth and projected to be the Bulldogs’ biggest challenger to a title. The Green Knights and Bulldogs are tied for first in the NCHA’s preseason poll.
It will be a surprise if anyone but those two are playing for the NCHA crown later this season, but teams like Trine and Aurora could prove to be surprise contenders in a league that seems to get better every year.
No matter where a team stands in the conference, an ‘any given night’ mentality’ applies and teams have to be ready to be at their best or get beat. A record might look good on paper but guarantees nothing on game day.
The Adrian Bulldogs are the reigning league champ and tied for first in the preseason NCHA poll. (Photo provided by Adrian Athletics)
Adrian (24-7-1, 16-2)
A new era begins for the Bulldogs, who are now under the direction of first-year head coach Adam Phillips. Phillips takes over for Adam Krug – he left to coach in the AHL – and is no stranger to the program, serving as an assistant in the past, including during the national championship season at Adrian in 2022.
This is a team with no shortage of experience as 20 players return for a program coming off a Frozen Four trip.
Yes, the top three scorers are gone, but Bradley Somers is back after tallying 13 goals and 25 assists. Jacob Suede is also back, scoring 12 goals and dishing out 22 assists last year.
Matt Couto will provide plenty of help to the offense as well. He dished out 16 assists a year ago. And it never hurts to have a goalie with experience. Dershahn Stewart started 28 games and gave up only 49 goals. He made more than 700 saves.
Adrian is going to get every team’s best shot. The best teams always do. But these Bulldogs are poised to contend for a conference and national title this season.
St Norbert (23-7, 15-3)
The Green Knights are coming off a season where they finished as the runner-up in the conference and played in the NCAA tournament.
Expectations are always high for one of the top programs in Division III hockey, and this year is no exception.
Liam Fraser will help pave the way for a special year as he was the team’s second-leading scorer last season. A first-team all-conference selection last season, he tallied 17 goals and 27 assists. Logan Dombrowsky had an impressive freshman campaign with the Green Knights, scoring 14 goals and recording 23 assists. In fact, he was the NCHA’s Freshman of the Year.
T.J. Koufis and captain Carter Hottman are also back in the fold, meaning the Green Knights have four of their top five scoring threats back from last season. Koufis finished with six goals and 20 assists while Hottman racked up 10 goals and 10 assists. Dayton Deics, a returning first-team all-league pick, finished with three goals and 15 assists.
St Norbert should be solid in goal as well with Hunter Garvey returning. He played in 23 games and made 517 saves while recording a goals against average of just 1.90.
With the experience and talent the Green Knights have on their roster, it won’t be a surprise at all if they win the NCHA and contend for a national title as well.
Trine (20-8, 13-5)
No one can overlook Trine when it comes to discussing the NCHA title race. The Thunder bring back a wealth of experience. Sean Henry is among the key returnees after scoring five goals and dishing out 12 assists as one of the top defenders in the conference.
Like Henry, Sam Antenucci was an all-conference pick and led the team in points (34) and goals (15). He ranked second on the team in assists.
Michael DiPietra was an all-freshman team selection after tallying seven goals and eight assists, and should be even better this year with more experience under his belt.
And Josh Wright showed a lot of promise despite missing eight games due to injury. He finished with 17 points and should be even more productive this year.
Trine also has its top two goalies back as well in Kyle Kozma and Christian Wong-Ramos. Kozma played in 23 games and had a 2.33 goals against average.
The addition of Ronnie Petrucci gives Trine even more depth in goal. He played for the Little Flyers in Philadelphia, and last season, he stopped 92 percent of the shots he faced and recorded three shutouts.
Aurora (15-12-1, 12-6)
Sixteen players are back for the Spartans. That group includes leading scorer Chase Broda, who tallied 12 goals and 15 assists on his way to helping Aurora finish fourth in the league. His presence, along with the return of Hassan Akl and Jakson Kirk, who ranked second and third on the team in scoring, should have Aurora’s offense running smoothly.
Akl scored five goals while handing out a team-leading 18 assists and Kirk racked up a team-best 15 goals to go along with seven assists.
Aurora scored 93 goals last season as a team. The defense should be in good shape as well with the top two goaltenders back.
JaCob Mucitelli started 20 games and fashioned a 2.77 goals against average. Matt O’Donnell earned six starts and had a goals against average under three as well (2.97). Both stopped more than 90 percent of the shots they faced.
Newcomers Landry Schmuck, Simon Diaz and Mathis Bedard will provide added depth for the Spartans.
MSOE (14-11-2, 8-9-1)
Carson Jones leads the way for the Raiders, who hope to be one of the top teams in the conference. Jones was an all-conference pick as a sophomore. Jones stuck for 12 goals and also dished out 20 assists. Casey Roepke was an all-rookie pick last year and tallied 16 assists. Then there’s Seth Bernard, who finished with 15 goals and 12 assists while tying for the most shorthanded goals in the nation last season.
The Raiders gained valuable experience over the summer, taking a trip to Latvia and facing the country’s world junior team as well as a pro team out of Finland. MSOE also took on Castleton State. There’s no question the chance to play overseas should pay dividends for the Raiders heading into a new season.
A total of 23 players return for MSOE, as well as six newcomers. Included in that group is Nikolai Charchenko from Colorado College and Ethan Mann, a former Wisconsin commit.
Concordia (8-19, 6-12)
With 22 players back and only three players lost to graduation from last year’s squad, hopes are high for the Falcons going into a new season.
Alex Ochitwa will help lead the way after scoring the most goals last season, punching in 11. He also dished out 10 assists as he tied for the team lead in points.
Riley Klugerman shared team scoring honors with 21 points, with most of his impact being made as a playmaker. Klugerman rang up 18 assists to go along with his three goals. The duo of Ochitwa and Kluerman should make Concordia a tough team to deal with night in and night out.
The Falcons also welcome back their goalie in Gabe Rosek, who racked up 820 saves last season.
Connor Van Weelie, Jack Guvenal and Levi Carter, all from Canada, headline a strong cast of newcomers who should make an immediate impact for the program.
Concordia did drop its final five games of last season but a strong start early in the season will go a long way in setting the tone for success this year.
Marian (9-17-1, 5-12-1)
Jaymes Knee is among the key returning players for the Sabres, finishing second on the team in goals (7) and points (18) despite playing in only 20 games. If he’s healthy all season, he could very well end up as the team’s top scoring threat.
Daunte Fortner is also back after leading the team in assists (13) a year ago, and like Knee, he’s a senior.
The other key returning player to watch is Andreal Proctor-Ramirez, who started five games in goal last season and made 142 saves. The sophomore stopped 91 percent of the shots he faced, shaking off an injury he suffered in game two of the season to get back on the ice by February.
Several newcomers should help Marian’s cause as well, including Dayne Tews, who played three years with the Grande Prairie Storm and scored 11 goals and dished out 14 assists in his final 25 games there. Eemil Rautio and Brady Brenner are new additions to watch as well.
Lake Forest (7-18, 4-14)
There are 26 players back for the Foresters, including the team’s leading scorer from last season in Chase Freiermuth, who finished his season with 14 goals and 12 assists. His presence on the ice will play a huge role in helping Lake Forest take aim at a winning season.
Colin Bella is coming off an impressive freshman campaign, earning a spot on the all-freshman team in the conference. Those are among 10 players who finished in double figures in points last season. Matteas Derraugh is also returning for the Foresters after dishing out 12 assists last year. He also scored two goals. The team leader in assists also returns in Logan Kittleson, who finished last season with 18 to go along with six goals.
Lake Forest has the experience back to take significant steps forward from an offensive standpoint and there is depth at the goalie position, with Bobby McCloskey, Kohl Reddy and Dylan Kruss all seeing valuable time on the ice last season. McCloskey played the most, logging more than 700 minutes, and earning four wins.
Dubuque (3-19, 3-15)
The Spartans begin their second year as a program. Along with 13 returning players, they have added transfers and freshmen who should make an impact as well.
Chris Curr returns at goal and his in his fifth year as a college athlete. Josh King is also in his fifth year while Max Messier is a senior.
Messier and King were the top scoring threats for the Spartans, with Messier leaving the team with four goals and five assists.
King came through with a team-best five goals and three assists.
Curr started 10 games in goal and stopped nearly 92 percent of the shots he faced while earning three wins.
The roster will have no shortage of new faces as 21 have joined the team. Two of the key newcomers are Nikita Borodeyenko from Merrimack) and Layten Liffrig. Zach Burfoot should be an impact player as well. Borodeyenko played two seasons at Merrimack and appeared in 20 games there.
With a year of experience, the Spartans should be an improved team this season.
Lawrence (8-17-2, 6-10-2)
Ryan Orr is now the head coach at Lawrence, taking over for Brett Wall, who landed a job the Janesville Jets of the NAHL.
He’s familiar with the league since he used to coach at Marian and the defensive side of the ice should be strong with goalie Nolan Mahaffey back. He started 18 games and won seven games while fashioning a 3.39 goals against average. Jayden Jensen tallied four goals and nine assists as a defenseman last year and will be looked upon to help lead the way again this season.
Ethan Beaumont returns, which is good news for the Vikings. He was the leading scorer a year ago, finding the back of the net six times and dishing out 14 assists.
Cory Checco and Jack Michels are fifth-year seniors and that experience is big for a team looking to take steps forward. Michels came through with nine goals and nine assists, finishing third in scoring on the team, while Checco racked up seven goals to go along with 10 assists. He was fifth on the team in scoring.
Ayrton Martino has collected two goals and two assists for four points this season for Clarkson (photo: Clarkson Athletics).
The average college hockey fan wouldn’t view Jean-Francois Houle’s career path for a potential return to his alma mater.
The former Clarkson scoring wizard in the 1990s returned to the Golden Knights after ending his on-ice career but jumped on an arc within earshot of a bench boss job within the NHL. He spent five years in the QMJHL before ascending to the AHL’s Laval Rocket, who rewarded him in May with a contract extension for the main development pipeline to one of hockey’s tent-pole franchises.
Pointing him back to Potsdam for a head coaching vacancy at Clarkson was nothing short of a college hockey coup, but three weeks after Montreal confirmed his status for the Rocket, he mutually parted ways to become head coach of the Golden Knights.
Almost immediately, a smooth coaching change pointed a rebooting team towards its upwards swing, to which hope and expectation, those fickle attributes merged and melded more often at Clarkson than most places, are once again aligning after tasting success in the first seven games.
“We’re playing with confidence right now,” said Houle of his team, which swept Michigan Tech this past weekend to improve to 5-2 on the year. “Ethan Langenegger made some big saves for us over the weekend. It was hard to play up [on the Upper Peninsula], but I think our players responded pretty well. There were a lot of good teaching moments; we had some penalty trouble, so our penalty kill and special teams, the power play, were excellent, but we had good teaching moments for our club.”
Clarkson entered this season by turning the corner from the unexpected downswing that began in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two-time NCAA tournament participants won a Whitelaw Cup as ECAC’s postseason champion in 2019, but a third-straight appearance on the national stage unexpectedly ended when the pandemic broke out during the 2020 postseason. Instantaneously, a 23-win team and second place finisher behind No. 1 Cornell lost its shot at a national championship, after which the 2020-2021 team was eliminated from the four-team when the novel coronavirus canceled its participation.
The 2021-22 team returned to form by winning 21 games, but relative weaknesses surrounding ECAC’s return to a full 12-team complement sent the second place Golden Knights onto the wrong side of the Pairwise Rankings’ bubble when they lost their semifinal matchup to a Harvard team that later knocked them out of the tournament with a 3-2 win in the conference championship game.
None of that signaled a warning to Clarkson that the good times atop the league fast approached their end, but the 16-win team from 2022-23 coupled with a fifth place finish last year to create a cyclical event perceptively in line with a league featuring rising teams at Dartmouth, which finished one point ahead of the Golden Knights for fourth place, and Colgate, which nipped one point behind second place Cornell.
Both would have finished tied or within one game of Clarkson under older scoring rules, which likewise would have moved the Big Red within four points – or one weekend’s work – of sending the fifth-place team into second.
Nothing rocked the proverbial boat on the program, and even changing coaches over this offseason appeared ridiculously smooth after Jones left to create a succession plan with retiring Cornell head coach Mike Schafer. Few players left for greener pastures in the transfer portal, and arrivals from Langenegger, Ryan Bottrill, Garrett Dahm and Ray Fust bolstered an incoming recruiting class already identified for particular systems.
“It was smooth because ‘Jonesy’ went to his alma mater while I went to my alma mater,” Houle noted. “I’ve known him and the team through their success over the past five or six years, so there wasn’t much turnover. The two assistants that were here – Chris Brooks and Cory Scheider – have been awesome. They’ve been really good in retaining the players that were here and retaining some of the recruits that we had, so that made it a smoother transition for me, and it’s just been good to be back in this environment, trying to teach some young players how to be good players and good citizens.”
The whole process somehow blended continuity into change, and Clarkson launched into its season with a 2-2 start after splitting home wins over Canisius and Niagara with losses to RIT and Notre Dame. None of those games successfully produced the full 60-minute effort desired by the coaching staff, but the first period leads against Canisius and Notre Dame contrasted mightily with the closeout issues against RIT and the slow start against Niagara.
In particular, the Knights needed to gel, and the first road trip to Vermont illustrated a massive step forward when the defense blocked 17 shots in a 3-1 comeback win that spilled into last weekend’s sweep over Michigan Tech. A return of sorts for Langenegger, who played at Lake Superior State before moving east, Clarkson stormed forward against the Huskies by gaining goals from freshmen Ty Brassington and Jack Sparkes in a 4-1 victory.
One night later, Clarkson earned its first weekend road sweep over the same opponent in four years when it earned a 2-1 overtime winner with 17 seconds remaining in the extra period.
“It’s kind of normal to have a little bit of a slow start on the road,” Houle emphasized. “But once you find your feet, you start playing better as the second and third periods go on. You get more comfortable, and the details of the game get better as the game goes on. We had the opposite against Notre Dame at Clarkson where we lost in the third, so this is all part of great teaching moments for our players, win or lose. I believe you need those teaching moments for your team to progress.”
It’s through those lenses that Clarkson is starting to knock on its return to the national polls. Thirty-one vote points were good enough to place the Golden Knights 23rd among Division I programs, and the virtual tie with Omaha is pushing them to a place that hasn’t been seen since the start of the 2022-23 season. The No. 18 team at the start of the year, two straight losses to Hockey East teams dropped the Golden Knights out of the polls, but reasons are increasingly putting them on the map for national voters as ECAC play looms in the middle of November.
“There’s a lot of parity,” said Houle. “The league, on any given night, anybody can win. At the end of the day, it’s played on the ice, so when the puck drops, it’s the team that works the hardest that will probably win. For me, competing for the full 60 minutes is very, very important.
“It’s the emphasis that we put on our players right now because the ECAC is a tough league to play in. You have to be ready because one little mistake or a mental mistake, could end up in the back of your net.”
Clarkson hosts Alaska for two games this weekend at Cheel Arena before Stonehill makes a one-game trek to the North Country on Nov. 9 ahead of the first weekend of ECAC play at Rensselaer and Union’s Capital District arenas.
Maine head coach Ben Barr joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk Black Bears hockey through the early part of the season, transfer portal, recruiting, factors toward recent success, CHL eligibility, pending legislation, rule changes, and series this coming weekend vs. Merrimack.
Tyler Wallace is averaging a point per game through six games this season with Niagara (photo: Niagara Athletics).
Parity continues to reign in Atlantic Hockey America.
Ask any coach about the league and they’ll tell you one of its strengths is that the margin between the top and bottom is small.
To date, there have been six conference series, with four resulting in splits, and two more that featured one team getting four of the six points.
One of the teams that managed four is Niagara, which battled Robert Morris last weekend in a home-and-home series.
The Purple Eagles won at RMU, 7-3 but settled for a 4-4 tie at Dwyer Arena, with the Colonials picking up the extra point in the shootout.
“They were good games,” said Niagara coach Jason Lammers. “We didn’t get home (from Robert Morris) until three in the morning (on Saturday), and I was impressed with the way we responded.”
There’s anticipation and excitement in the air at Niagara, a feeling that the Purple Eagles are ready to return to the top of the conference.
“We think we’re building something special,” said Lammers. “COVID really hurt us, [and] I feel like we lost two years of progress. But we have tremendous support from the university (including) $4.5 million in improvements to our rink.”
Niagara has also done well with recruiting. There are three NHL draft picks in Atlantic Hockey America, and two are on the Purple Eagles roster: defenseman Braden Doyle, a graduate transfer from Northeastern (a 2019 sixth-round pick by Los Angeles) and rookie Trevor Hoskin (a 2024 fourth-round pick by Calgary).
Hoskin was a late bloomer who found his way to Niagara after scoring 100 points in 52 games for Cobourg (OJHL). He’s currently third on the team in scoring with three goals and four assists in six games.
“He committed in November, ” said Lammers. “He had some connections to some of our players. We’re all about building connections and he felt Niagara was a good fit for that.”
Also on the roster are three players from Latvia: rookies Deivs Rolovs (goalie) and Rainers Darzins (forward) as well as junior forward Glebs Prohorenkovs. Rolovs and Darzins played for Latvia at last year’s World Juniors tournament.
“We’ve also got players from Norway and Japan as well as guys that speak French,” said Lammers. “It’s an eclectic group that learns from each other. It’s important for us in developing better players and men.”
Niagara lost nine players to the transfer portal at the end of last season, but brought in six new ones, including brothers Ross and Brett Roloson from Lake Superior State. It was a package deal that also included their father, former NHL all-star goalie Dwayne Roloson. He recently came on board as the director of hockey development for the Purple Eagles.
“We’re good friends through (UMass) Lowell,” said Lammers, who was an associate head coach for the Riverhawks from 2011 to 2015. Roloson was an All-American at UMass Lowell in 1993-94.
“We had the chance to take both boys, it was a no-brainer.”
Niagara hosts Rochester Institute of Technology tonight before taking on Mercyhurst in a home-and-home series this weekend.
“I like midweek games,” said Lammers. “It works well with local teams. I think it’s better for fans. I’d support more of an established deal where there’d be games on Wednesdays and Saturdays instead of usually just playing on weekends. People are busy and can’t always spend their weekends at the rink. I think we’d get more hockey fans that way.”
Stevenson’s Liam McCanney, returns to help the Mustangs pursue a MAC conference title and NCAA bid (photo: Sabrina Moran/SKM Photography).
The MAC was largely played as a subset to the UCHC schedule in recent years with just a handful of teams competing in both conferences and all were dependent upon winning the UCHC for a shot on the national tournament stage. As we enter the 2024-25 season, the re-aligned MAC finds seven teams moving over from the UCHC and the addition of first-year program, Misericordia to make up the eight-team conference that will compete for a title and auto-bid to the NCAA tournament.
Arcadia announced new head coach Ryan Heickert last spring. Heickert brings experience from Bryn Athyn as well as Neumann who will be a familiar opponent this season. Misericordia will enter the D-III ranks this season under the leadership of head coach Kevin Cole.
The Favorites
Stevenson has been on the brink of championship hockey in recent UCHC seasons but were unable to topple Utica in championship games. This season, coach Dominick Dawes will have the team very focused on translating their past MAC success into a title that puts them on the national stage. Forward Liam McCanney leads a deep group of forwards that now includes transfers Dylan Florit (Arcadia), Jack Gough (Adrian) and Blake Benson (Endicott). Evan Beers leads a strong defensive group that will need to be on top of their game as the Mustangs look from their current stable of goaltenders to replace All-American Ty Outen who moved on to D-1 at Long Island University. If goaltending is consistent, this team has all the ingredients to win the Mac and first auto-bid to the national tournament.
Wilkes returns a very experienced roster led by a deep forward group including seniors Nick Swain and Max Cocchi. The blue line is also experienced with seniors Cole Jungworth, Luke Dobles and Joe Johnson providing experience in front of a pair of seniors in veteran goaltender Jack Perna and Salve Regina transfer Anthony Del Tufo. Many think that experience is a key to success and if that is the case, coach Tyler Hynes team should be in the hunt for the MAC championship in early 2025.
The Dark Horses
Alvernia coach Andrew Burke will need to find both leadership and point production form his roster to replace Logan vande Meerakker who has moved on to graduation. Goaltender Jackson Fellner enjoyed a very successful freshman season and will need to build on that foundation for a successful 2024-25 campaign. Issac Chapman and Hunter Alden both produced over twenty points next season and will need to lead a balanced group of forward lines to produce goals in front of Fellner. Don’t be surprised if the Golden Wolves emerge as contenders early in the MAC.
Neumann’s second-year coach, Michael Heddon will need to find some production from a roster that lost several key contributors up front. Yancy Whittaker and Luke Croucher will need to lead and produce a younger forward group in search of offense for the Black Knights.
Players to watch
Alvernia: Isaac Chapman – forward: Jackson Fellner – goaltender
Arcadia: Bryce Battaglia – forward; Brendan Dicker – forward
Misericordia: Justin Beers – defense; Jack Tos – forward
King’s: Ethan Hersant – forward; Kent Lee – forward
Wilkes: Cole Jungworth – defense; Nick Swain – forward
USCHO predicted finish
Stevenson
Wilkes
Alvernia
Neumann
King’s
Lebanon Valley
Arcadia
Misericordia
Arcadia and Misericordia both kick-off their seasons in the Western Massachusetts Invitational and Buffalo State Tournament respectively in search of early season hardware. Geneseo will host Wilkes, Stevenson plays host to Canton while Alvernia also hosts a SUNYAC opponent with Cortland playing the Golden Wolves.
Utica defenseman Brian Scoville returns to captain the Pioneers towards another conference title in the re-tooled UCHC (Photo by Kaleigh Sturtevant – Utica Athletics)
The UCHC was among the most impacted D-III hockey conferences moving from an 11-team league in 2023-24 to just a six-team conference in 2024-25 before further planned re-alignment for the 2025-26 campaign. Misericordia, with head coach Kevin Cole, will field its inaugural D-III hockey squad this season that enables an eight-team MAC league creating their own conference away from the UCHC with an auto-bid to the national tournament. Brockport and Geneseo have departed the SUNYAC to join the UCHC this season and the end result is a six-team UCHC featuring defending champion Utica, Chatham, Nazareth, and Manhattanville.
The Favorites
Utica reached the Frozen Four last season where they fell to eventual national champion Hobart. This season, coach Gary Heenan has a deep team that is expected to win the UCHC and pursue another opportunity at a national championship. The goaltending tandem of Bryan Landesberger and Ethan Roberts returns with All-American Brian Scoville leading the defense. An abundance of riches at forward includes Eric Vitale, Shane Murphy, John Gutt, Jakob Breault, Andrew Della Rovere and Matt Wood who showed productivity and versatility last season with different lines. Added firepower comes with the addition of transfer Johnny Mulera from Salve Regina who has proven to be a prolific point producer in his time with the Seahawks. Utica is the defending champion and will look to maintain their dominance in the newly configured UCHC.
Geneseo brings a championship pedigree to the UCHC as a direct challenger to Utica’s recent dominance. Coach Chris Schultz has seen his Knights’ teams dominate the SUNYAC in stretches and have success in reaching the Frozen Four. This year’s Geneseo squad will rely on some significant leadership in all facets of the game. The goaltending tandem of Adam Harris and Jacob Torgner is outstanding while the forward group features Peter Morgan, Stefan Miklakos, Alex Zameski, Cooper Fensterstock, and Zach Purcell. The defense is led by Diarmad DiMurro and Dakota Zarudny. A new league brings new challenges but Geneseo is familiar with most of these teams in prior non-conference battles that will have more meaning and points attached this year.
The Dark Horses
Manhattanville will rely heavily on the goaltending of Sebastien Woods and leadership and scoring of senior Artem Matiechenko. The majority of the roster (17 players) is made up of sophomores and freshmen which will need some gelling as a group for the Valiants to realize their full potential. Coach David Turco always has his team ready to go for a full sixty minutes of more so there will be no easy points taken from games against Manhattanville who will be looking to establish some dominant play at the their home rink in Rye, NY and the Playland Ice Casino.
Nazareth will be playing this season as a send-off to long-time coach and national championship coach, George Roll who has enjoyed an outstanding career with the game he loves so much. Coach-in-waiting, James McDonald will be a crucial element in how the Golden Flyers go this season noting that while the top three scorers from last season return (Anthony Quinlivan, Blake Frost and Logan Tobias) the team did not have a 20-point player nor a ten-goal scorer. Jump starting the offense will be essential to the team’s compete level in conference so look for some of the younger players to contribute where it matters most, on the scoreboard.
Players to watch
Brockport: Josh Grund – forward; Chase Maxwell – forward
Chatham: Nick Cyprian – forward; Bekk McClaine – forward
Geneseo: Peter Morgan – forward; Adam Harris – goaltender
Utica: Johnny Mulera – forward; Brian Scoville – defense
USCHO predicted finish
Utica
Geneseo
Nazareth
Manhattanville
Brockport
Chatham
The start of the season brings the annual east-west rivalry of Utica traveling to face Adrian along with Nazareth traveling to Elmira, Geneseo hosting Wilkes and Brockport playing St. Anselm in the opening round of the Buffalo State tournament.
Arsenii Sergeev has been steady in goal this season for Penn State (photo: Alaska Athletics).
For the Big Ten, the season is starting and fast and, well, big.
With 37 games played collectively against nonconference foes, the Big Ten’s .703 win percentage in non-league play leads all conferences as November begins, with Hockey East (.628) and the NCHC (.627) not too far behind.
Last weekend, six of the league’s seven teams went 9-3-0 in nonconference play, and No. 11 Michigan earned a 5-4 overtime win against the U.S. National Team Development Program in exhibition play.
The early going feels more like predictor than mere prologue, with B1G teams seeming to settle into roles and places they may maintain all season, starting with the three losses from last weekend.
No. 19 Notre Dame split with visiting Long Island, beating the Sharks 4-1 Friday before losing 5-2 Saturday. In the loss, the teams were tied 1-1 with each scoring early in the second period, but the Sharks scored three unanswered by the early going in the third and the Irish never recovered. Through the first two periods, LIU outshot Notre Dame 35-13.
“That’s three games in a row that we haven’t been nearly as good as we should be,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson after the loss. “When that happens, I have to take responsibility. I don’t think we were ready to play yesterday and I’m not sure we were much better prepared to play today.”
The Irish split with visiting Alaska the week before, losing 1-0 Oct. 19. Said Jackson, “I don’t think our respect level for Alaska or Long Island was where it needed to be.”
The other B1G team on the wrong side of the scoreboard last weekend was Wisconsin, who dropped two in a row to No. 1 Denver. While the Pioneers are capable of beating anyone in college hockey right now, Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings isn’t looking at anyone but the Badgers for the losses – and for Wisconsin’s 1-5-0 start to the season.
“At the end of the day, our entire game has to continue to grow,” said Hastings in his weekly press conference. “Last week, I thought that happened through four-and-a-half periods. I saw that growth. Last period-and-a-half, I thought we took a half a step back.
“Some of the things we’re encountering right now that we haven’t encountered in the past, we have to manage them and do it as a group.”
One factor in Wisconsin’s rough start is offense. The Badgers have scored just 10 goals through six games this season. In advance of Wisconsin’s road series against Notre Dame this weekend, Hastings talked about building confidence and encouraging players to “draw from those experiences when they’ve been able to work themselves out of a little bit of an offensive slump.”
Of the four B1G teams that swept opponents, two played against in-state rivals. No. 15 Ohio State won home-and-home games against Bowling Green, a rivalry that dates back to 1966 and includes 192 games played.
After Friday’s 3-1 home win, Steve Rohlik talked about the importance of overall team defense.
“If you’re good in your ‘D’ zone, you can create a lot of things offensively,” said Rohlik. “Our goaltenders are playing really well right now, but guys … are digging in and blocking a lot of shots. It’s kind of a team thing.”
Rohlik praised the Buckeyes’ defense and resilience after Saturday’s 2-0 road win. Through six games, the Buckeyes are allowing just 1.33 goals per game and Ohio State’s penalty kill is 16-for-18 this season. Logan Terness and Kristoffer Eberly are splitting time in the Ohio State net, and Eberly’s GAA in three games is 1.00.
The second team playing for home state bragging rights was No. 4 Minnesota, who beat St. Thomas 7-1 at home Friday before winning 6-2 in Xcel Energy Center Saturday. Minnesota leads the nation in goals with 33 through six games while holding opponents to 12 total.
While the Tommies and Gophers first faced off nearly a century ago, this a new potential rivalry between the teams whose rinks are about 14.5 miles apart as the crow flies. Minnesota is 4-0 against St. Thomas since sweeping them last season, the first meeting between the teams since the 1926-27 season.
And in spite of the disparity between the programs – St. Thomas in its fourth season of Division I play and building a program, Minnesota in the national title mix year after year – Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said that showing up well against in-state rivals is a point of pride for the Gophers.
“We addressed it this year with our guys at the start of the year,” he said. “It started with our exhibition game with St. Cloud. We wanted to really be on top of our game and take our nonconference against in-state teams seriously because they take it seriously against us and they want to come after us.”
Minnesota hosts Penn State this week in the first conference action for each team. The Golden Gophers ended the Nittany Lions’ 2023-24 season in the first round of the Big Ten playoffs with 5-1 and 3-2 wins. In the final two periods of that second game, the Nittany Lions outshot the Golden Gophers 35-7. “That was one of our best performances we had that year” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky, but he stresses that the Nittany Lions “aren’t there yet” as they return to Minneapolis.
“I think there are aspects of our game that are better right now than what we had then,” said Gadowsky. “However, as a whole, it takes a lot of lessons throughout the season to get to that level.”
One thing that’s working particularly well for Penn State is its penalty kill, which is a perfect 23-for-23 to start the season. Gadowsky credits assistant coach Juliano Pagliero for that. “He’s looked at [the penalty kill] all summer and has found not only what needs to improve but what we have done well.
“I will say that quite often, the most important penalty killer is your goaltender, and I think with Arsenii [Sergeev], we have great goaltending, and I think that really helps.”
No. 3 Michigan State’s only stumble this season was a 3-0 home loss to No. 2 Boston College Oct. 11, and the Spartans followed that with a 4-3 win for a weekend split. With a road sweep of Canisius, Michigan State extended its current win streak to three games.
The second win on the weekend came with Luca Di Pasquo in net, making his first start of the season.
“I thought he played great,” said Spartans coach Adam Nightingale. “He’s a really good goalie. We’ve said that all along.”
Nightingale said that Di Pasquo and starting goalie Trey Augustine are competitive with each other.
“It’s Luca’s job to be ready to go, and he did that,” Nightingale said.
Nightingale added that Canisius played hard and pushed the Spartans, and that Michigan State had to play better the second night to win, adding, “A sweep in college hockey on the road’s not easy.”
Everyone plays this weekend except for the Spartans, who take the ice again when they host the Buckeyes Nov. 8-9 for Michigan State’s first taste of Big Ten hockey this season. Ohio State is already 2-0-0 in B1G Hockey, having swept Wisconsin on the road Oct. 18-19.
Hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com welcome Brown coach Mel Ruzzi, whose team defeated Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend to improve to 4-0.
Those weren’t the only surprising results of the weekend, and Nicole and Todd discuss the key games. Plus: Some thoughts on news that the PWHL is looking to expand and a look ahead at upcoming contests.
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 todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Vinny Borgesi has been an offensive spark plug for Northeastern this season (photo: Jim Pierce).30
Though its roster lacks a returning senior from last year, Northeastern will nevertheless be relying on veteran leadership for success this season.
While much has been made of the heralded freshman classes that highlight the rosters of crosstown rivals Boston College and Boston University, the Huskies’ top two scorers — forward Jack Williams (2-4-6) and defenseman Vinny Borgesi (1-5-6) — are both juniors. Coach Jerry Keefe said a lot is expected of Northeastern’s junior class, which is anchored by the aforementioned duo as well as forward Cam Lund and defenseman Jackson Dorrington.
“Our junior class is really important from a leadership standpoint,” Keefe said. “We’re relying on them not only for production on the ice but obviously driving our culture here. All four of those guys do a great job of that.”
Northeastern’s schedule so far has been anything but kind, with its last four games against a pair of teams in the top tier of the USCHO Division I men’s poll — No. 1 Denver and No. 7 Maine. The Huskies (1-3-1) came away with just one point during that brutal stretch (a 2-2 home shootout loss vs. Maine on Oct. 26).
Nevertheless, Keefe likes what he sees in his team so far this season, which opened with a 5-1 home win over Stonehill (Atlantic Hockey) on Oct. 12, which followed a 4-2 exhibition win over ECAC Hockey powerhouse Quinnipiac.
“We’re doing a lot of good things right now,” Keefe said. “We’re trying to just go game to game here, not focus on what happened last week or two weeks ago. We’re just learning from each game, moving on to the next one. But I think our team’s doing a lot of good things.”
Northeastern has struggled to score. The Huskies have been held to two goals or fewer in their last four games. Of course, they’ve gone up against two of the nation’s better goaltenders in Denver’s Matt Davis and Maine’s Albin Boija.
“We’re fighting to score goals right now,” Keefe said. “It’s not a lack of chances, they just have not gone in the net for us. So it’s not like we’re not creating offense. We have to finish better, simple as that. Sometimes, throughout the year, that just happens to your team a little bit and you give credit to the other team’s goaltender.”
Although it isn’t necessarily reflected on the scoreboard, the Huskies have gotten a solid effort from sophomore goalie Cameron Whitehead, who finished with a .914 save percentage over the weekend against Maine, recording back-to-back games with at least 30 saves. His 64 saves ranked first among all league goaltenders for the weekend.
“He gives us a chance every single night, it’s that simple,” Keefe said. “He’s been very good, and we’re going to need him to be very good. Any team that has goals of going far, you need great goaltending, and we feel we definitely have that here.”
Northeastern is off this weekend. The bye comes at an opportune time for the Huskies, who, in addition to getting a chance to recover from some injuries, will use the time to take a breather from a tough schedule that won’t get any easier — Northeastern returns to action Nov. 8, when it opens a home-and-home series at No. 12 Providence.
“It gives us a chance to work on some things this week that you might not have time to do throughout the year when you don’t have time (because) you’re always gearing up for the next opponent,” Keefe said. “This week we get to put a little more focus on our team and some of the things we can work on to finish a little bit better and take advantage of some special teams, which we need to get better at.”
Scott Swanson and Stan Jatczak are the Misericordia assistant coaches for the team’s inaugural 2024-25 season.
Scott Swanson and Stan Jatczak have been named assistant hockey coaches at Misericordia.
The Cougars will begin their inaugural season of competition at Buffalo State on Nov. 1.
Swanson served as a team captain of the Springfield Pics junior hockey team and was a three-time team captain in five seasons at Norwich.
He led Norwich to two NEHC regular-season championships and two playoff championships while compiling a plus-45 rating in 102 career games. Swanson was named and NSCA All-American and received the NCAA Elite 90 Award while leading Norwich to a runner-up finish in the 2019 NCAA D-III tournament.
After graduation, Swanson spent the 2022-23 season playing semi-professional hockey in Åmål, Sweden, and has spent more than 10 years as a coach at former U.S. Olympian Steve Jensen’s Heartland Hockey Camps.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management with a focus in financial economics along with a minor on entrepreneurship.
Jatczak, a graduate of Trine, earned his bachelor’s degree in business management and his master’s in business administration.
He served as a team captain at Trine and went on to play three years of professional hockey in Germany and the Netherlands.
Jatczak previously served as a skill development coach for the Winnetka (Ill.) Warriors Hockey Club and the Paul Vincent Hockey School.
Endicott are two-time defending champions in the now named CNE but will face strong challenges from a number of conference foes (Photo by Endicott Athletics)
Gone is the Commonwealth Coast Conference as this season a re-brand re-names the 40-year old league to the Conference of New England or the CNE. While the eight-team league for hockey maintains the same number of competitors, two Rhode Island schools have swapped leagues for the 2024-25 season with Salve Regina moving to the NEHC while Johnson & Wales move to the CNE for the season.
Over the past few seasons, the top four teams (now minus Salve Regina) have been battling for the league title with multiple teams enjoying a championship and others with at-large berths in the NCAA tournament. With the number of at-large bids decreasing due to the addition of the MAC conference this year and Little East next year, the impetus to win the CNE is a must for any team with national championship aspirations.
The Favorites
Curry very nearly de-railed Hobart’s national championship run falling on the road in the quarterfinals in quadruple overtime, 4-3. The game saw freshman goaltender Shane Soderwall make 98 saves and the now sophomore netminder is back to help the Colonels in pursuit of an elusive conference title and national title run. There is a great supporting cast including Matt Connor on the blueline and Gage Dill bringing some dynamic skill at forward. The first four games may say a lot about Curry’s aspirations as they face Massachusetts-Boston and Norwich before opening the CNE schedule with a pair of games against rival Endicott.
Endicott returns to play as the two-time defending conference champions but without key offensive pieces who have graduated including Jackson Sterrett, but conference player-of-the-year, Andrew Kurapov returns to lead the attack. The strength of the Gulls is their goaltending tandem of Atticus Kelly and Ryan Wilson who enter their third season paired together having alternated games during each of the past two seasons. RJ Tolan teams have always been fast and deep so look for the Gulls to find some new names to be frequent contributors on the scoresheet.
The Dark Horses
UNE has lost a big contributor to their recent success in goaltender Billy Girard IV who has moved on to Boston University so look for a battle among Joey Stanizzi, Stefan Carney and Stefan Kulhanek as the main man in the crease for the Nor’easters. Leadership and skill upfront is still strong for coach Kevin Swallow’s squad with Ryan Kuzmich, Anthony Sciucco and Dylan Schuett expected to help bring this year’s edition of UNE hockey to success on the ice. Chip Hamlett and Jacob Pellerin lead an aggressive defensive group. If the goaltending steps up, look for the Nor’easters to be among the teams battling at the top of the standings.
Coach Alex Gacek has re-tooled the Nichols roster adding ten freshman to a roster dominated by sophomores (10) with a season under their belt. Leadership will come from senior forwards nathan Carl and Luke Harvie along with graduate student Joey Allegrini on defense. If the Bison gel quickly, they could be a very relevant dark horse come the playoffs.
Players to watch:
Curry: Matt Connor – defense; Gage Dill – forward
Endicott: Atticus Kelly – goaltender; Ryan Wilson – goaltender
Western New England: Sam Mitchell – forward; Justin Sullivan – forward
USCHO Predicted finish
Curry
Endicott
University of New England
Nichols
Johnson & Wales
Suffolk
Wentworth
Western New England
There are some interesting non-conference matchups slated for the opening weekend including Plymouth State visiting the University of New England, Norwich traveling to Curry and Endicott hosting Southern Maine. Nichols will play in the Worcester City Cup tournament looking for some early season hardware against a strong field of teams including Assumption, Anna Maria and Worcester State.
Goaltender Damon Beaver has never won a major conference recognition in the NEHC but his stellar play has led to two NEHC titles and back-to-back NCAA championships and Hobart is looking to extend their championship run (Photo by Hobart Athletics)
The 2024-25 season already brings us several conference re-alignments and a new playing league to the D-III mix that will impact conference races and national tournament bid opportunities next spring. In what will be the final season of the NEHC as we have seen it in recent years, the conference adds Albertus Magnus from the Independent ranks and Salve Regina from the CCC (Now CNE), replacing Johnson & Wales, for an eleven-team race to the league championship. No doubt the depth and skill of the teams will be on display as competitors, old and new, seek to unseat the two-time NEHC and national champions from Hobart.
The Favorites
While a couple of key offensive pieces have moved on to the D-1 ranks (Tanner Hartmann to Brown and Artem Buzoberya to Bentley), Hobart still has impressive talent that puts them among the best teams in the nation. Goaltenders Damon Beaver and Mavrick Goyer make it exceedingly difficult for teams to score and the defense led by Cooper Swift, Austin Mourar and Bauer Morrissey contribute on both ends of the ice. Up front Luke Aquaro, Matthew Iasenza, Chris Duclair, and Ignat Belov lead a deep group of forwards that will attack with speed. Hobart will be motivated by the intense competition as they pursue a final NEHC championship and a third consecutive national title.
Skidmore played for the conference championship last season against Hobart and has visions of winning that round this season to claim the conference title. There is a strong nucleus returning for coach Rob Hutchison starting with forwards Kaeden Patrick, Cooper Rice, and Jaden York. On defense Danny Magnuson and Will Dow-Kenny lead a mobile group that like to engage on the offensive end. In goal, the departure of Tate Brandon opens the crease to competition for senior Blaine Moore, junior transfer Joshua Seeley (Bentley) as well as sophomore transfer Tomy Aitken (Stevenson) and sophomore Alex Bonrouhi. If the Thoroughbreds can find consistent goaltending from the current stable of netminders, look for Skidmore to be in the hunt for a conference crown.
The Dark Horses
Norwich is always a team that will contend near the top of the standings and this year’s edition of the Cadets displays a lot of talent among the forward group led by Clark Kerner, Bryan O’Mara, Joe Johnson, and Alex Lewis. Strong defensive play is a hallmark of Norwich teams and this year’s squad sees a large and mobile group of defenders in front of a tandem of outstanding goaltenders in Sami Molu and Bryce Walcarius. The Cadets issues in recent years have been the ability to score goals so if Kerner & Company can light the lamp more frequently, the Cadets will be in the hunt in February.
Babson is always a threat in the conference and this year should be no different as the Beavers return a solid group who play a very up-tempo system and take advantage of opponents’ mistakes. The veteran group is led by fifteen juniors including forwards Egan Schmitt, Ian Driscoll, Cam Joslin, and Ryan Murphy. The Beavers have depth and play a very disciplined game that can frustrate the best of opponents. Do not be surprised to dee the Beavers in the mix come playoff time.
The Soaring Eagles of Elmira always seem to play themselves into contention at the right time of the year and this year’s veteran group led by forwards Ryan Reifler, Bailey Krawczyk, goaltender Kyle Curtin and defensive transfer Shane Miller give coach Aaron Saul some firepower to go with a goaltender known to steal wins. During the COVID year when the UCHC was one of just a couple leagues playing, Elmira found a way to win the title before joining the NEHC and would surely love to repeat that championship occurrence in this their final season in the NEHC.
Players to watch:
Albertus Magnus: Nick Durajlija – defense: Tyler Ignazzitto – forward
Babson: Wyatt George – forward; Egan Schmitt – forward
Elmira: Kyle Curtin – goaltender; ; Ryan Reifler – forward
Hobart Luke Aquaro – forward; Damon Beaver- goaltender
UMass-Boston: Evan Coogins – forward; Jazz Krivtsov – forward
New England College: David Novotny – forward; Kai Tomita – goaltender
Norwich: Clark Kerner – forward; Bryan O’Mara – forward
Salve Regina: Cayden Bailey – goaltender; Hoon Kim – defense
Skidmore: Will Dow-Kenny – defense; Jaden York – forward
Southern Maine: Austin Marini – forward; Matt Sullivan – forward
Featured matchups amongst the great non-conference games on opening weekend are: Curry vs Massachusetts-Boston; Plymouth State vs. Babson; Southern Maine vs. Endicott and Oswego vs. Hobart.
Hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com welcome Brown coach Mel Ruzzi, whose team defeated Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend to improve to 4-0.
