Vermont’s Natálie Mlýnková celebrates a last-second goal that lifted the Catamounts to a 2-2 tie at Providence on Feb. 10 (photo: Brian Foley).
Hockey East has announced that Vermont senior forward Natálie Mlýnková has been awarded the 2024 Cammi Granato Award as Hockey East player of the year.
She becomes just the second Catamount to win the award in program history.
Alongside Mlýnková, UConn head coach Chris MacKenzie was unanimously named Hockey East coach of the year by his peers for the first time in his career and is the first Husky bench boss to be so honored.
Boston College forward Sammy Taber was also honored as rookie of the year.
Mlýnková became the second Catamount to lead Hockey East in points, amassing 26 points on a league-best 15 goals and 11 assists in 27 league games. Her four power-play markers were second-most in Hockey East and her 269 faceoff wins ranked third. She finished with one shorthanded goal, one game-winning tally, 88 shots on net and a plus-seven rating in league play, all while taking just 10 penalty minutes.
Overall, she had a point in 20 of 35 games, including 10 multi-point efforts. She earned two Hockey East player of the week nods (Oct. 30, Feb. 12) and was named Hockey East player of the month in February.
Taber led all Hockey East rookies with 23 points and 15 assists in 26 league games. Her 23 points were the second-highest total among all players in conference play and was the only first-year in the top 24 of league scoring. She had 30 points overall on 12 goals and 18 assists in just 33 games, good for third among all league skaters and is fifth nationally among her classmates. Her plus-14 rating was seventh-best in Hockey East and second among first-year players.
She began her career in historic fashion, becoming just the second player to win rookie of the week three times in a row from Oct. 30 – Nov. 13. She again picked up the award on back-to-back weeks in January, earning five total on the year. She was also named rookie of the month for November and December. Taber recorded at least one point in 17 of her 33 overall outings, including seven multi-point outings and four games with at least three points.
MacKenzie is the first UConn head coach to be named Hockey East coach of the year and was named so unanimously by his peers after leading the Huskies to their first-ever Hockey East regular season crown in 2023-24. Posting a 19-4-4 record in league play, he surpassed the previous UConn record of 16 wins in Hockey East set in 2021-22 and led his team to a 21-game unbeaten run as UConn went 17-0-4 from Oc. 21 – Feb. 17.
MacKenzie’s Huskies allowed the fewest goals in Hockey East, just 28 in 27 games played. UConn’s team save percentage of .949 is the best in the NCAA and their 45 overall goals allowed and eight power-play goals conceded ranked second and third in the country, respectively. UConn played a disciplined game, allowing just 67 power-play chances, the second-fewest in the NCAA.
In Hockey East play, MacKenzie’s squad led several categories, including goals against average (1.04), save percentage (.955), power-play goals (17), shots allowed (629), power-play percentage (23.6%), power-play goals allowed (6), and power-play opportunities allowed (56), and were second in goals (70) and shot percentage (9.3%).
The top three finalists are expected to be announced on March 13, with the winner being revealed on March 23 as the highlight of Saturday at the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in Durham, N.H.
The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is named in honor of the late Patty Kazmaier, who was a four-year varsity letter-winner and All-Ivy League defenseman at Princeton from 1981 to 1986. An accomplished athlete who helped lead the Tigers to the Ivy League championship in three consecutive seasons (1981-84), Patty Kazmaier-Sandt died Feb. 15, 1990, at the age of 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.
Geneseo host Curry in first round NCAA tournament action on Saturday with both teams anxious to advance on the national stage (Photo by Geneseo Athletics)
Geneseo and Curry have so much in common entering their first round game in the NCAA tournament on Saturday night. Both teams secured the regular season title in the very competitive SUNYAC and CCC conferences but lost in the semifinal round of the conference tournament and have been idle for what will be two weeks when they drop the puck this weekend. Eerily, both teams feature highly skilled and productive forwards, a mobile defensive group and all-conference caliber goaltending. Add in a similar style of play and this game projects to be a battle of wills to determine a winner.
“They [Curry] are a really good team,” noted Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz. “I think they play a similar style to us so it should be a really good one on Saturday.”
Geneseo (21-5-0) is led by senior Peter Morgan (10G – 124A – 34 Pts; +12), Tyson Gilmour (11G – 20A – 31 Pts; +24), Luke Panchisin (11G – 19A – 30 Pts; +9) and Alex Dameski (19G – 10A – 29 Pts; +15) who has been a sniper on the power play for the Knights. An active defensive group includes Alex Wilkins (4G – 16A – 20 Pts; +21) and the team is backstopped by All-SUNYAC goaltender Adam Harris (16GP – 2.28GAA – .928 SP – 1 SO). The Knights p[lay an aggressive north-south game and have speed to challenge most opponents.
Curry (20-5-1) is very similar in style of play and boasts so high-skilled players of their own in forwards Gage Dill (10G – 17A – 27 Pts; +16), Eelis Laaksonen (12G – 15A – 27 PTs; +11), Tao Ishizuka (9G – 13A – 22 Pts; +15) and Killian Rowlee (10G – 4A – 14 Pts; +4). Matt Connor (5G – 13A – 18 Pts; +5) is an all CCC defenseman that plays a 200-foot game and freshman goaltender Shane Soderwall (19GP – 1.66 GAA – .942SP) enters the NCAA tournament fresh off being named Goaltender of the year in the CCC having posted some incredible numbers in his first season at the collegiate level.
While both teams have not ceased preparations following their losses in conference tournament play, the lack of action could create a “rest vs rust” scenario that both teams will need to make sure is only a positive in some added rest after a long season and a chance to recharge before a final push in the national tournament.
“We are rested,” said Schultz. “I believe this has been the best week of practice we have had all season and think we are in pretty good shape at this point of the season and ready for Saturday.”
Curry last played in the NCAA tournament last year where they exited in the quarterfinals while Geneseo returns after a year’s absence having lost in the national championship game to Adrian in the 2021-22 season.
High-flying action is slated for Saturday, March 9 at Ira S. Wilson Arena hosted by Geneseo with the winner advancing to quarterfinal action against top-seed and defending national champion, Hobart.
Ohio State’s Stephen Halliday and Penn State’s Christian Sarlo battle for the puck in the teams’ game last Friday night (photo: Ohio State Athletics).
After a hotly contested regular season, the first round of the Big Ten playoffs begins this week and it’s nearly impossible to predict who will advance to the semifinals.
Guess what? That’s exactly how I started this column heading into the Big Ten quarterfinals a year ago.
While it’s easy to reclaim that intro, the way that the 2023-24 season unfolded is anything but recycled.
Last year, Minnesota ran away with the Big Ten regular season title to earn a first-round bye. Ohio State and Notre Dame each earned home ice in the first round last season, Michigan and Wisconsin traveled.
This year, Michigan State earned the regular season title just last weekend against second-place Wisconsin, so the Spartans will get a weekend of rest while everyone else plays. This is Michigan State’s first B1G title, and in the first nine seasons of Big Ten hockey, The Spartans have never finished higher than fifth place.
The Badgers had a chance to put themselves ahead of the Spartans even before the teams met to end the season. With two games in hand on Michigan State during a mid-February weekend when the Spartans were idle, Wisconsin traveled to Ohio State where the Buckeyes took both games.
That was the first B1G sweep of the season for Ohio State against a Wisconsin team that was fourth in the country. The Buckeyes followed that up with a win the following weekend against then-No. 4 Michigan State, setting up that finale weekend between the Spartans and Badgers.
As things stand right now, four Big Ten teams are high enough in the PairWise Rankings to play in the NCAA tournament, but one team that went to the Frozen Four last year is on the bubble. Michigan State, Wisconsin and Minnesota are fifth, sixth and seventh in the PWR. Regardless of what happens in B1G playoff action, those three teams will be playing at the end of March.
Michigan’s fate, though, is less certain. At No. 13 in the PWR, the Wolverines need to get past Notre Dame in the quarterfinals – and it would help if they swept – to be on more secure NCAA tourney footing. Given where they sit, the Wolverines would also benefit from high seeds winning in both Atlantic Hockey and the CCHA. Upsets are bad for bubble teams.
But first things first. These are the quarterfinal Big Ten matches. All series are best-of three.
No. 7 Ohio State at No. 2 Wisconsin
The Buckeyes enter the playoffs on a three-game skid, having been swept at home by Penn State last weekend after a road split with Michigan State. Ohio State are 3-5-0 since the start of February, and those three wins represent three-fourths of their total conference wins this season.
The Badgers are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, with two of those losses coming in overtime. Wisconsin ended the season on a high note, posting a 4-1 win over Michigan State in their final game when they split with the Spartans last weekend.
Ohio State leads this all-time series 28-26-5. The teams split the season this year, with the Badgers winning 3-0 and 6-1 at home (Dec. 1-2) and the Buckeyes sweeping in their barn 3-2 (OT) and 3-1 (Feb. 16-17).
Here’s how the teams compare in a few categories.
Scoring offense: Ohio State, 2.68 goals per game (44th); Wisconsin, 3.33 (14th) Scoring defense: Ohio State, 3.41 goals allowed per game (t53rd); Wisconsin, 1.94 (3rd) Power play: Ohio State, 21.0% (27th); Wisconsin, 19.4% (35th) Penalty kill: Ohio State, 71.1% (60th); Wisconsin, 88.6% (2nd) Top scorer: Ohio State, Stephen Halliday (10-23—33) ; Wisconsin, Cruz Lucius (12-19—31) Top goal scorer: Ohio State, Scooter Brickey (12); Wisconsin, Lucius (12) Goaltender: Ohio State, Logan Terness (3.33 GAA, .896 SV%), Kristoffer Eberly (2.97 GAA, .910 SV%); Wisconsin, Kyle McClellan (1.91 GAA, .932 SV%)
These teams have met four times in Big Ten tournament play. The Buckeyes swept the Badgers in quarterfinal play in Columbus in 2020. Wisconsin beat Ohio State in the first-ever 2014 Big Ten tournament in St. Paul, Minn., and then again in the 2017 B1G semifinals in Detroit.
This series is the first playoff hockey action that the Badgers have hosted at the Kohl Center since the 2013 WCHA quarterfinals.
No. 6 Penn State at No. 3 Minnesota
The Nittany Lions are 3-5-0 since the start of February but ended the regular season with a home sweep of Ohio State. They’re 3-3-0 in their last six, with a win over Michigan and one OT loss to Wisconsin.
The Golden Gophers had the best record in the Big Ten to close out the season at 5-2-1 since the start of February, but they enter the B1G tournament on an overtime loss to Michigan in their split with the Wolverines last weekend. In that series, the Gophers scored 11 total goals, including five in the loss.
Minnesota is 27-18-1 all-time against Penn State, including a 3-1-0 record this season.
Here’s how the teams compare in a few categories.
Scoring offense: Penn State, 3.24 goals per game (17th); Minnesota, 3.53 (10th) Scoring defense: Penn State, 3.59 goals allowed per game (58th); Minnesota, 2.56 (15th) Power play: Penn State, 20.3% (30th); Minnesota, 23.8% (14th) Penalty kill: Penn State, 76.5% (50th); Minnesota, 78.8% (40th) Top scorer: Penn State, Aiden Fink (15-18—33); Minnesota, Rhett Pitlick (17-16—33) Top goal scorer: Penn State, Fink (15); Minnesota, Jimmy Snuggerud (19) Goaltender: Penn State, Liam Souliere (2.88 GAA, 9.05 SV%); Minnesota, Justen Close (2.39 GAA, .920 SV%)
Penn State has played more Big Ten playoff games (25) than any other league opponent, with a record of 15-10-0 in conference post-season play. Prior to their quarterfinal series against Ohio State last year, the Nittany Lions had never lost a best-of-three B1G playoff series.
These teams last met in the Big Ten playoffs when Minnesota beat Penn State 3-2 in single-elimination semifinal play Mar. 12, 2022.
No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 4 Michigan
The Fighting Irish were 2-6-0 in February, closing the season with a bye week the first weekend in March. Their last two losses came at the hands of their first-round opponent.
The Wolverines ended the regular season with a 6-5 OT road in a split series against Minnesota. Michigan went 6-4-0 in their last 10 games of the season.
These teams last played Feb. 23-24 in Yost Ice Arena, 4-0 and 2-1 Michigan wins. The teams split a pair of games in South Bend in early December. Michigan is 88-70-6 all-time against Notre Dame.
Here’s how the teams compare in a few categories.
Scoring offense: Notre Dame, 2.76 goals per game (40th); Michigan, 4.26 (3rd) Scoring defense: Notre Dame, 2.62 goals allowed per game (17th); Michigan, 3.03 (t35th) Power play: Notre Dame, 18.3% (38th); Michigan, 35.2% (1st) Penalty kill: Notre Dame, 82.9% (17th); Michigan, 78.5% (43rd) Top scorer: Notre Dame, Landon Slaggert (18-10—28); Michigan, Gavin Brindley (22-24—46) Top goal scorer: Notre Dame, Slaggert (18); Michigan, Brindley (22) Goaltender: Notre Dame, Ryan Bischel (2.46 GAA, .927 SV%); Michigan, Jacob Barczewski (2.79 GAA, .910 SV%)
These teams have met once in the Big Ten playoffs, a 2-1 semifinal win for Michigan Mar. 20, 2022.
The Wolverines are the defending Big Ten playoff champions. In fact, Michigan has beaten Minnesota in the title game in the last two consecutive years, each time by a score of 4-3. Michigan has three B1G playoff championships, more than any other team.
Notre Dame won the Big Ten championship in its first season with the league in 2018 and then again in 2019.
PSU captain Colin Tracy and his teammates will look to slow down Cortland in first round NCAA action on Saturday (Photo by PSU Athletics)
After winning their fifth MASCAC championship in a row, Plymouth State now seeks an elusive first win in the NCAA tournament hosting a red-hot Cortland squad that recently upset Geneseo and Plattsburgh on their way to their first ever SUNYAC title. The Panthers will host the first-round game against the Red Dragons in what should be a terrific battle between two highly skilled teams.
“Yeah, we will be ready for sure, said PSU head coach Craig Russell. “It will be a good test because they are playing really well right now, but this is what we have been waiting for. I like our group a lot and think we have a lot of depth in key areas for this time of the year. Now we just have to go out and prove it.”
The Panthers who are playing in their seventh NCAA tournament are led by MASCAC Player of the Year, Will Redick (26G – 29A – 55 Pts; +34) and Connor Tait (16G – 19A – 35Pts; +27) who are a dynamic duo on the ice and especially productive on the power play. A deep group of forwards (nine with more than 20 points) and defensemen contribute to strong 200-foot game in front of the MASCAC Defensive Player of the Year, goaltender Kalle Andersson (23GP – 1.75GAA – .934SP – 2SO) who already has twenty wins on the season.
Cortland enters their first NCAA tournament having defeated two nationally ranked teams on the road to win their first-ever SUNYAC title from the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Red Dragons are led upfront by Nate Berke (15G – 20A – 35 Pts; +16), Colby Seitz (12G – 17A – 29 Pts; +17) and Domenic Settimo (8G – 20A -28 Pts; +14) along with “Mr. Overtime”, Anthony Bernardo (10G – 9A – 19 Pts; +10) who scored the decisive goals in beating Geneseo and Plattsburgh. Cortland is big, fast and physical and has relied on terrific goaltending from senior jack Riedell (14GP – 2.07 GAA – .938 SP – 1SO) who has been stellar in Cortland’s recent run of success.
“Yeah, I think we may struggle with their combination of size and speed a little bit in the early stages,” noted Russell. “We haven’t played against a fast team in a while. I know we are fast too, but we will just have to make decisions quicker. If we play simply and within our structure, we will be fine.”
Plymouth State and Cortland have not played each other since the 2008-09 season but both come into Saturday looking for a win and chance to advance and face Utica in the NCAA quarterfinal round.
Plymouth State hosts the game at Hanaway Rink in Plymouth, NH at 7 PM on Saturday, March 9.
Elmira’s Nicholas Domitrovic hopes to be celebrating a national tournament victory when they host Endicott on Saturday night in first round action (Photo by Elmira Athletics)
After losing in the semifinals of the NEHC tournament, Elmira benefited from their strong regular season and competitive schedule to earn one of the four at-large bids to the national tournament. Their reward was being able to host a first round game against the two-time defending champions from the CCC, Endicott. Despite having not played in a span that will be almost two full weeks, the Soaring Eagles are eager for the challenge against a team that gained invaluable experience on the way to last year’s Frozen Four.
“We started out great, had a bit of a lull and really struggled coming out of the semester break,” noted head coach Aaron Saul. “We had some big wins and play in a very tough conference, so we are pleased to be here and have the opportunity to play in front of our fans who really want some more hockey this season. I think we are rested and ready to go against a team that obviously knows what it takes to move on in this tournament with their success last year in hosting the Frozen Four.”
Elmira (19-7-1) finished with a 9-2-1 record on home ice with their only two losses coming to Hobart and Skidmore late in the season. Upfront the Soaring Eagles have a deep group of forwards led by Shawn Kennedy (13G – 23A – 36 Pts; +17), Nicholas Domitrovic (17G – 18A – 35 Pts; +24) and Janis Vizbelis (16G – 16A – 32 Pts; +15) who can be explosive in all situations but flourish in 5-on-5 hockey. The team has depth and balance and sophomore Kyle Curtin (22GP – 2.42GAA – .930SP – 2SO) has emerged as the man in the crease whom the Soaring Eagles have great confidence.
“I like our four lines and their ability to create pressure and chances,” said Saul. “Kyle probably got more starts than we had planned due to some injuries among our other two goalies, but he has taken control of the crease and gives us a chance to win every game.”
Endicott earned their NCAA bid by winning the CCC with a 2-1 win over Salve Regina on Saturday. The Gulls are led by the CCC Player of the Year, Andrew Kurapov (11G – 20A – 31 Pts; +13) who netted the game-winning goal against the Seahawks in the championship game. Senior Jackson Sterrett (15G – 12A – 27 Pts; +7) adds size and clutch scoring for the Gulls who pressure the puck everywhere and take advantage of the stellar goaltending tandem of Ryan Wilson (12GP – 1.88GAA – .935SP) and Atticus Kelly (15GP – 1.86GAA – .942SP) in returning to the NCAA tournament with hopes of advancing to the title game this year.
“Endicott has been her before,” said Saul. “We are very pleased that they are the team to travel, and we get a home game in front of our great fans. It should be a great game and exciting with everything on the line in a win-or-go-home scenario.”
This is the 19th appearance for Elmira in the NCAA tournament and their first since the 2021-22 season while Endicott is making their fourth appearance having reached last season’s Frozen Four where they lost in the semifinals to eventual champion, Hobart.
The Soaring Eagles and Gulls will be playing their first-round game at the Murray Athletic Center (Ice Arena) on Saturday, March 9 at 7 PM.
Veteran college hockey writer Neil Koepke joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk about Michigan State and the Big Ten, including a look at this year’s Spartans and a capsule analsyis of the rest of this college hockey conference.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men’s Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour
Nils Wallstrom has been sharp in net this season for AIC (photo: AIC Athletics).
For the past several weeks, it’s been a “next man up” mentality for American International, which has seen a crippling rash of injuries over the final month of the regular season.
Key players including Alfred Lindberg (22 points), Brian Kramer (20 points), Alexander Malinowski (20 points), and John Lundy (19 points) all suffered what are likely to be season-ending injuries in a two-week span in late January and early February. That’s four of the Yellow Jackets’ top seven scorers. Other players are out indefinitely, and more are working through injuries.
“It’s been a challenge, losing so many players”, said AIC coach Eric Lang. “We carry a large roster, and if we didn’t, there were a couple of games that I’m not sure we would have been able to put a team on the ice. If we had 27 or 28 guys (on the roster), that would have been challenging.”
The Yellow Jackets went through a 1-5 stretch after the rash of injuries, but have righted the ship in recent weeks, ending the regular season on a 2-0-3 run, good enough for fifth place and a first-round playoff bye.
“At one point, we were going with 10 or 11 players who had zero points,” said Lang. “Against Army, I think that they had over 100 (combined) points more than our team did, so we had to accelerate our development.”
AIC has used 34 players in the lineup to date, but one constant has been freshman netminder Nils Wallstrom (2.42 GAA, .912 save percentage) supplemented by senior Alexandros Aslanidis (3.77 GAA, .868 save percentage).
Losing so much skill and experience has changed Lang’s approach.
“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves, defending and on our forecheck,” he said. “In the past, we felt like we could beat you 5-4. But that’s changed due to the amount of scoring we’re missing.”
But it’s been paying off over the final weekends of the season and heading into a showdown with Air Force.
“I’ve consistently told our guys how proud I am of our resiliency,” said Lang. “It’s been next man up, go for 45 seconds, and then the next guy in. There’s been a learning curve, but we’ve started to believe that we can take care of the puck, limit odd-man rushes, and be physical to hang around and pull out a good result.”
“We’re ready to take this reinvented version of AIC hockey into the playoffs.”
Looking ahead to the quarterfinals
This weekend will see the playoff field winnowed down to four as the three survivors from the first round join the top five seeds, which had byes last weekend.
These are best of three series.
No. 11 Robert Morris at No. 1 Rochester Institute of Technology
The Colonials pulled off the only upset of the first round with a 4-3 overtime win at Bentley. The Falcons erased a 3-1 RMU lead with a pair of third-period goals, but Cameron Garvey converted a Bentley turnover with 10 seconds left in overtime. Three of Garvey’s 11 goals have come against Bentley.
RIT captured its sixth AHA regular season crown this year and is seeking its fourth postseason title, the last coming in 2016. That was also the last time the schools met in the postseason, in the 2016 championship game won by the Tigers, 7-4.
RIT swept all four meetings between the schools this season.
No. 8 Canisius at No. 2 Holy Cross
Canisius advanced with a 5-2 win over Mercyhurst in the first round, while Holy Cross enjoyed a bye.
This series will be a rematch of last season’s Atlantic Hockey championship game when Canisius prevailed on home ice, 3-0.
This time, Holy Cross looks to have the advantage as the series’ No. 2 overall seed and host.
However, Canisius was the better team in head-to-head play this season, taking four of six points from the Crusaders.
No. 7 Niagara at No. 3 Sacred Heart
Niagara defeated Army West Point, 4-1 to advance in the first round.
Sacred Heart, which earned a first-round bye, comes into the series on a
0-3-1 skid, while Niagara is 3-1 in its last four games.
This is a rematch of a quarterfinal series from last season when Niagara pulled off a 2-1 upset series win. That was the first-ever postseason meeting between the schools.
The teams split their only meetings in the regular season back in October.
No. 5 American International at No. 4 Air Force
Both teams had a first-round bye and had an extra week to prepare for this series, which features two of the winningest programs in conference history. They’ve combined to win 10 playoff titles, including five of the last six.
They last met in the postseason in 2022 in the Atlantic Hockey championship game in Utica, NY. AIC prevailed in that one, 7-0.
The teams split their lone conference series this season.
Awards season
It’s almost that time of the year when the league hands out awards and announces its all-league and all-rookie teams. We’ll be handing out our kudos as well over our final three columns of the season.
Let’s start with the rookies. Here are our picks:
F: Matteo Giampa, Canisius
F: Tanner Klimpke, Robert Morris
F: Matthew Wilde, RIT
D: Mac Gadowsky, Army West Point
D: Trent Sambrook, Mercyhurst
G: Nils Wallstrom, AIC
Check back next time for our picks for all-conference teams.
Steve Wiedler signed a four-year contract extension with Vermont and had the interim tag removed from his title last month (photo: Vermont Athletics).
To compare the sports world to the regular world is always fraught, but one thing is similar — everybody wants job security, whether you work in a factory or coach a Division I men’s college hockey team.
Vermont’s Steve Wiedler entered the season with an uncertain future, being named interim coach of the Catamounts just weeks before the season began, following the dismissal of three-year coach Todd Woodcroft. Wiedler now has the security he was searching for, as the university dropped the interim tag in late February and signed Wiedler to a four-year contract extension.
“It felt like every game was Game 7,” Wiedler said in an interview with USCHO.com. “But inside that, there were things that I learned.”
Although he had plenty of coaching experience (four seasons as an assistant at American International (Atlantic Hockey), one as AIC associate head coach, and two years as an assistant with the Catamounts), Wiedler was forced to learn on the go as a head coach. He leaned heavily on the mentorship of those with whom he previously worked closely.
“The guys in my past that I’ve worked for had definitely helped set me up for success,” Wiedler said. “(They) taught me a lot of things and provided some good pressure to develop, but also taught me a whole bunch of different things in terms of what it means to be a coach and a leader.”
Not only was Wiedler thrust into the head coaching position with little time to prepare, he was also tasked with turning around a Catamounts program that finished dead last in Hockey East the previous season. So far, Vermont has posted a 13-16-3 overall record (7-12-3 Hockey East) and enters the final weekend fighting for home-ice advantage in the first round of the upcoming conference tourney.
The Catamounts are in the midst of their winningest season since 2018-19 when they went 12-19-3.
Adding to Wiedler’s task this season was the weight of the interim tag. Wiedler said he confronted the stress of uncertainty head on.
“If I would have hid from the stress, that would’ve been a bad thing,” he said. “If I would have faked my way through that stress, I think it would have been unhealthy, masking things. It was stressful.”
UVM will be at Connecticut on Friday and Boston University Saturday. The Hockey East tournament — single elimination and every team qualifies — starts March 13. Last year, the Catamounts pulled off a first-round upset at Maine.
Wiedler said he and his assistant coaches have worked to instill a value system that centers around player responsibility and pride in the program, all the way down to the “VCat” logo.
“It’s their program, not mine,” Wiedler said. “It’s the players’ program and they have to have accountability to each other. They really are the guardians of the culture. I’ll set the standard, we’ll set the standard as the coaching staff. But it’s got to be player driven.”
In their first games after Wiedler was extended, the Catamounts had a rough go at Boston College — the No. 1 team in both the Hockey East standings and the USCHO.com D-I men’s poll — losing 7-1 and 4-2. But the season has been full of highlights, including wins over then No. 9 Maine, then-No. 17 New Hampshire and a pair of wins over UMass, when they were ranked 14th and 10th.
“There are nine million nuanced things to being a hockey coach,” Wiedler said. “To make decisions when you don’t have the security of your future and to come out on the other side of it, I think it reaffirms that doing things the right way is usually the way to go.”
Ty Gallagher has been a steady force on the BU back end this season (photo: Kyle Prudhomme).
Welcome back to Bracketology.
If you’re ever heard the term of going down a rabbit’s hole, that’s what I am facing this week. I began putting my brackets together and thought I had a perfect bracket together that would maximize attendance and keep top seeds local.
And then I hit a roadblock.
I won’t even get into that roadblock, but I can tell you I was so deep in the rabbit’s hole, I had to find my way out and start over.
This week, UMass has moved to 12th in the PairWise, which moved the Minutemen to a No. 3 seed and avoids conflicts with Hockey East’s two No. 1 seeds – Boston College and Boston University.
But to say this week is easy is hyperbole. That said, let’s get to it.
I’ve decided to take an old-school approach and, instead of seeding the bracket from 1 through 16 first, I’m going to place the top seeds as close to home as possible and then add in the host teams.
Thus, we have:
Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2.
3.
4.
Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2.
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4.
Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2.
3.
4.
Maryland Heights, Mo. Regional
1. Denver
2.
3.
4.
UMass has to go to Springfield, but as the 12th overall seed, they don’t belong in the same bracket as 2nd overall Boston University, so the “bracket integrity” we often reference is already gone.
Let’s plug in the second, third and fourth seeds as appropriately as we can, maintaining the 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc., as much as possible.
Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2. Quinnipiac
3. Maine
4. Bemidji State (or CCHA champion)
Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4. RIT (or AHA champion)
Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2. Wisconsin
3. Colorado College
4. St. Cloud State
Maryland Heights, Mo. Regional
1. Denver
2. Michigan State
3. Providence
4. Michigan
We immediately have one first-round conference matchup – North Dakota vs. St. Cloud. This requires a switch. You don’t want to move North Dakota from Sioux Falls, so you have to switch St. Cloud. The Huskies cannot switch with Michigan as that would create a Denver vs. St. Cloud first round. So the closest No. 4 seed is RIT.
Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2. Quinnipiac
3. Maine
4. Bemidji State (or CCHA champion)
Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4. St. Cloud State
Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2. Wisconsin
3. Colorado College
4. RIT (or AHA champion)
Maryland Heights, Mo. Regional
1. Denver
2. Michigan State
3. Providence
4. Michigan
Technically, this bracket works and satisfies all requirements. But would I make further changes? There are two to consider.
First, I’d love to get Wisconsin to Maryland Heights, which is a community known for its love of the Badgers. Though there aren’t a ton of tickets to be sold for this region in a small building, I’d still love to see it backed with Badgers fans.
The other is to bring Providence back to its home city, even though the Friars aren’t the hosts (Brown is host).
Let’s deal with Wisconsin first. Swapping the Badgers and a conference opponent, Michigan State, only changes things by one seed (they are the No. 6 and No. 5 overall seeds, respectfully). I don’t have a problem with this.
Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2. Quinnipiac
3. Maine
4. Bemidji State (or CCHA champion)
Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4. St. Cloud State
Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2. Michigan State
3. Colorado College
4. RIT (or AHA champion)
As for getting Providence closer to home, I’m not very sympathetic for this. You would have to swap Maine and Providence, and realistically the Maine fanbase is probably more supportive than Providence’s and likely brings the same number of fans to the regional. Thus, I’m not going to make this switch right now. If, say, this was switching Providence for Colorado College and moving the Tigers to Maryland Heights and the Friars back to their home city, I’d do that in a heartbeat.
However, I’m happy leaving the brackets as they are, despite the number of rabbit holes I may have dug this week.
Thus, the final bracket is:
Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2. Quinnipiac
3. Maine
4. Bemidji State (or CCHA champion)
Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4. St. Cloud State
Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2. Michigan State
3. Colorado College
4. RIT (or AHA champion)
The North Dakota defense was on full display last weekend against Western Michigan (photo: Russell Hons).
Third-ranked North Dakota’s 3-0 home win Saturday over No. 12 Western Michigan saw the Fighting Hawks capture their fourth Penrose Cup title in five years, as the NCHC’s regular-season champion.
That kind of regular success always looks a little bit different from one year to the next, and this season has been no exception. Seven freshmen and seven transfers make up a hefty chunk of UND’s roster, and to hear Hawks coach Brad Berry say it, his returning players were more important to their program’s 21st conference crown than outsiders might know.
“Our leadership has included showing those 14 players what our culture is about, what our expectations are here and what our standards are each and every day that you walk into the Ralph (Engelstad Arena),” Berry said. “That comes from continuity of returning players passing all that onto the new faces in our lineup.
“This year’s team found a way to find some chemistry early. It was a situation where they got together in the summer and trained together in off-ice workouts and got to meld together as a team to get close, and that transferred over into when they got here in late August to start our academic year, and then into our games in October. It comes from good leadership in the locker room, and we’ve got very skilled players here who have accepted their roles on the team. It’s a situation where the players have really driven the bus this year.”
Berry also pointed to UND’s play this season at the back end of the ice. Senior goaltender Ludvig Persson has been good, posting a .908 save percentage and continuing to be the reliable option that he had been prior to this season for Miami, but the defense in front of him has been another reason why UND (24-8-2) has six more wins than it did at the end of last season.
“We have very high-skilled players and we have players who play and compete hard, and we call it heart skill. Those guys have had an opportunity to showcase their talent through the air, but the other part for me is that I feel we’ve been strong in goal this year,” Berry said. “Having Ludvig come in here was a big deal for us.
“Last year, our play away from the puck and our goals-against wasn’t great, and it led to us falling short of where we needed to go. It’s been very consistent and strong for us this year in goal, and it has given us a chance, and our guys have played very well without the puck, as far as a lot better defensively in front of our goaltender. That’s the biggest difference for us this year.”
UND finishes its regular-season slate this weekend on the road against Omaha, where the Hawks had to claw out of a one-game hole to win in three last March in the first round of the NCHC playoffs. The Mavericks currently find themselves fifth in the conference but could jump into the top half just in time with good results against UND, and if fourth-place Colorado College struggles in its home-and-home series against Denver.
“Omaha’s going to be a hard-working team, and they’re going to play with a lot of energy this week, because they’re playing for a lot,” Berry said. “They’re playing for moving up in the PairWise (Rankings) to get into the national tournament, and there’s still a home-ice spot available for the playoffs.
“They’re going to be playing for a lot, but so are we. We want to stay as a No. 1 seed for regionals, and we want to move up from where we are in the PairWise, and we want to keep moving forward here with the momentum that we’ve got.”
Beni Halasz was in net for Northern Michigan’s two wins last weekend against Bowling Green (photo: Northern Michigan Athletics).
As those who have followed the conference currently known as the CCHA for the past decade know, things in this conference are rarely easy.
Even though Minnesota State had previously won six consecutive MacNaughton Cups, the path to the MacNaughton is rarely easy. Championships are usually won by a few points here and a few points there. It typically follows that any team can beat any team on a given weekend.
Last weekend’s regular-season finale was the epitome of this. Going into the final two games of the season, two teams were still alive for the MacNaughton Cup, and six teams had the possibility of finishing in home ice slots.
In the end, Bemidji State ended up winning the MacNaughton by nine points, while second place and seventh place were separated by just five points.
But–as most coaches will tell you–it’s a new season now. Previous records don’t matter. Every team has the chance to win four games and make a run to win the Mason Cup.
Take it from Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore, whose top-seeded Beavers, coming off their first MacNaughton Cup championship since 2017, will host eighth-seeded Ferris State in the first round of the CCHA’s Mason Cup playoffs.
“The first round of the playoffs is always stressful for everybody,” Serratore said. “They’re tight games, and typically there’s always many games in one. You just have to keep an even keel. Now we’re at the point where it’s win or go home.”
Win or go home is right, especially considering that this season, nobody in the CCHA is going to be an at-large NCAA tournament team. The team who wins the Mason Cup is moving on to the national tournament (aside from St. Thomas, who is ineligible for the tournament as they transition to Division I…. but we’ll discuss that more in-depth if it happens).
For reference, here’s a list of the first-round matchups, with the teams’ final conference record and total league points in parenthesis:
1. Bemidji State (15-7-2, 48 points) vs. 8. Ferris State (6-17-1,19 points)
2. St. Thomas (12-11-1, 39 points) vs. 7. Lake Superior State (11-12-1, 34 points)
3. Michigan Tech (12-10-2, 39 points) vs. 6. Bowling Green (11-12-1, 35 points)
4. Minnesota State (12-10-2, 38 points) vs. 5. Northern Michigan (10-10-4, 36 points)
That’s a lot of matchups between teams who could have been on the other side of the home-ice cut line if a single result had gone their way. In such a tightly-contested league, every coach is expecting a battle in their quarterfinal round.
Take, for example, Bemidji’s matchup with Ferris. On paper this looks like the easiest to predict. However, there’s more than meets the eye: The Bulldogs beat the Beavers once in Big Rapids and forced overtime in one of their games in Bemidji. All four matchups between them were in doubt until the final buzzer.
“I don’t look at anything, what place they’re in, their PairWise, anything,” Serratore said. “If you start looking at that kind of stuff, your mind will start playing tricks on you. All I can tell you is that we’re 2-1-1 against them this year. They beat us (in Big Rapids), we went to an overtime game when we were here, and they’ve all been tight games. They beat us in the playoffs here before. Really, it doesn’t matter. Any matchups in college hockey, every game is going to be a nailbiter.”
St. Thomas head coach Rico Blasi pointed out that his team’s matchup with Lake Superior State could have gone the other way.
“This is a really good hockey team. They play hard, they’re really well structured. They really took it to us the second night here…. There’s a lot of good things that they do, and they’re a really good hockey team,” Blasi said in his media conference on Monday. The Tommies and the Lakers split their lone two-game series in Mendota Heights in November. “Second to seventh place, it could easily be flipped right now, and we could just as easily be going to Lake State, so this is a big time challenge and a step for our program.”
The Tommies, in their third year after moving up from Division III, have taken great strides since their inaugural season and had a chance to win the MacNaughton before injuries started to pile up in the second half of the season.
“As I look at the regular season overall, with the adversity that we’ve had since January 1, not having a full lineup, we’ve lost I think 150 man games,” Blasi said. “I’m really proud of how we finished the regular season. But now we’ve got a new season and all bets are off.”
The Tommies finished tied for second along with Michigan Tech, who was the team most picked to win the CCHA at the start of the season. Tech also had to deal with some injuries and adversity throughout the year but played their way into a home ice spot in the final six games of the season, taking 12 of 18 points.
“When I look at the whole grand scheme of things, we were picked to win the league, and we finished tied for second, with a pretty good finish. In our last three weeks we played teams that were all ahead of us. I give our guys a ton of credit.,” Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said in his media session this week. “There were a lot of expectations, and I like that. I like those expectations, but when all is said and done my message to the group was that you had a really good run of consistent hockey to end the year.
“We went through the top of the league in the last three weeks, all of them playing their game, on a roll, playing for a championship. we were really the only team that was fighting from the outside… We were five points out of a home ice playoff berth. Two games out with four games left, and we ended up finishing second place. I look at all the positives. It’s the end game we’re after. The journey helped us grow, and to get where we are right now, I like where we’re at (going into the playoffs).”
The final playoff series is a rematch of last season’s CCHA Mason Cup championship game, which was hosted by Minnesota State. This time, the Wildcats are heading back to Mankato a few weeks earlier, but NMU head coach Grant Potulny said that wasn’t the first thing on his team’s mind.
“Things work out the way they’re supposed to work out, and it worked out that we’re supposed to play Mankato in the first round this year,” Potulny said. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it, they finished four we finished five and you’ve got to go win two games on the road, which is no easy task. If you’re thinking about last year, it’s not going to do you any good for this year.”
Cortland’s 15-4-0 and making a comeback after their slow start to the season (Darl Zehr Photography)
The 2024 D-III Women’s NCAA Tournament is upon us, here we are with our game picks as Myself, Tim Costello, & Brian Lester make our Round One picks!
2024 Women’s D-III NCAA Tournament Bracket (Graphic by Scott Huston, Contributor – @DIIIHockeyNews)
#8 Hamilton (15-6-6) vs. #10 Nazareth (22-6-1)
Brian Lester
The Continentals fell short of a conference championship, but the good news is they have new life in the tournament. They haven’t played their best down the stretch, winning just two of their last six, but two of those games ended in a tie. Another was a one-goal loss.
When these two teams played in the regular season, Nazareth prevailed 2-1 in overtime, something the Continentals have played in 12 times this season.
For the Golden Flyers, this is their third consecutive trip to the tourney and they are coming off their third conference title in a row. Interestingly enough, this is also the third year in a row these two teams have met in the tournament. Keep in mind, Nazareth has won 15 consecutive games and is impressive on the road, going 9-1-1, and it hasn’t given up more than a goal in any game during its streak. We’re going with the upset as Nazareth avenges last year’s 3-1 loss. – Nazareth, 3-2
Tim Costello
The Golden Flyers have had a great season and face a Hamilton team that lost the NESCAC championship game after knocking off the top seed, Amherst. Sage rink will be buzzing and All-NESCAC defensive player Sami Quackenbush will make sure her team moves to action for the weekend. Close game goes to the Continentals – Hamilton, 3-2
Chris Sugar
Nazareth is one of the youngest teams in D-III, they’ve had an excellent season under Head Coach Chris Baudo once again. Winner of this game visits Adrian, it’ll be a great game. I like Nazareth to take this one, I think they make the next step this season. Hamilton performed great in their NESCAC quarterfinal game vs Trinity who upset many teams this season, but ultimately, I like Nazareth on the road. – Nazareth 3-2 OT
#6 Middlebury (16-6-4) vs. Western New England (17-7-3)
Brian Lester
Middlebury just won its 12th conference title over the weekend. Now, it takes aim at an NCAA tourney run. Don’t bet against the Panthers. After all, they do have goalie Sophia Will on their side. She recorded a total of 50 saves in wins over Colby and Hamilton and missed on just one save out of 77 attempts in the conference tourney.
And here’s the other thing. Middlebury has a winning tradition. It won a national title in 2022 and has won five titles in all.
That kind of history can be intimidating for a team making its first ever trip to the tourney, which is what Western New England is doing in just its third year as a varsity sport. The Golden Bears is 1-3 against nationally ranked opponents this year and is led by Rieley Jessie-Gerelli, who has recorded five shutouts in goals. Look for Middlebury to move on. – Middlebury, 4-0
Tim Costello
The Golden Bears hit the road to face a Middlebury team that has found its game over the last four weeks and having surrendered just one goal in the NESCAC tournament. Home ice does matter at this time of year and so does experience where coach Bill Mandigo has taken teams on tournament runs. WNEU stays close but the Panthers close it out – Middlebury, 2-0
Chris Sugar
This game between Middlebury and Western New England is one where I say let’s go Golden Bears, give it a great fight and maybe shock the world, but I can’t see Bill Mandigo’s Panthers losing this one. Middlebury was great in-conference, decent out-of-conference, and will be interesting to see how they fare vs Plattsburgh in the quarterfinals. The Panthers fared very well during conference-play this season, allowing very few goals including only one during the NESCAC tournament, WNE will need to play the game of their life if they want to win this one and visit the Cardinals. – Middlebury 4-1
#7 Cortland (20-5-2) vs. #14 Elmira (20-7-1)
Brian Lester
Cortland is riding high after stunning Plattsburgh for the conference title 2-1 in overtime and has 20 wins on the year, tying for the most in program history. The Red Dragons are also headed to the dance for the first time, which only adds to an already memorable season. Goalie Molly Goergen was the MVP of the tourney and Dany Donegan is just hit the 100-point milestone.
Elmira split with Cortland in the regular season, winning 3-0 and losing 2-1. That loss was on the road. The Soaring Eagles are in the tourney for the 36th time and they are 21-14 there, earning a championship game spot seven times. Erika Goleniak leads the team with 14 goals and 17 assists. Tradition and history tells you Elmira is the favorite. But I’m going to say the magic continues for Cortland. – Cortland, 2-1
Tim Costello
Sometimes it isn’t about the pedigree it is the roll teams get on in March that makes the difference. Hard to argue the long and prominent history of the Elmira program but Cortland just feels different having knocked off Plattsburgh for the SUNYAC title. That kind of win can take you a long way – Cortland, 4-2
Chris Sugar
Cortland and Elmira are intriguing, both teams finding themselves into the tournament when it wasn’t necessarily expected. Elmira hadn’t fared well vs Norwich but avoided them in the NEHC’s when USM defeated the Cadets, Cortland defeated Plattsburgh who hadn’t lost a league title since 2011. Elmira’s goaltending has been on a rotation and the team has hit a few bumps in the road this season. I think Cortland with home-ice takes this one, Red Dragons seem to really have it this year. – Cortland 3-1
The NCAA National Collegiate women’s hockey tournament bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, and Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) and Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) have a look at the conference tournament games that will happen before then. Jeremy Gibson, chair of the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship Committee and athletic director at Merrimack, joins the show to discuss how the group makes its decisions and what latitude it has with teams and seeds.
Union topped Cornell 3-2 last Friday night in Ithaca, N.Y. (photo: Lexi Woodcock/Cornell Athletics).
The wild ECAC Hockey season that featured more parity than any recent memory ended this past weekend, which means the road to Lake Placid, the Whitelaw Cup and the NCAA tournament kicks off for real this week with single-elimination first round games.
After a week in which virtually every spot aside from first-place Quinnipiac remained up for grabs, here’s the final result:
1. Quinnipiac
2. Cornell
3. Colgate
4. Dartmouth
5. Clarkson
6. Union
7. St. Lawrence
8. Harvard
9. Princeton
10. Yale
11. Brown
12. Rensselaer
Unlike last year, when three teams tied for the final two home slots, the only tiebreaker required came in the race for ninth place, where Princeton and Yale broke a tie for 25 points with the Tigers’ two-game season sweep. That means the 2024 ECAC Tournament looks a little something like this:
First Round: Single Elimination
Friday, March 8
No. 9 Princeton at No. 8 Harvard: 7 p.m. (Bright-Landry Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass.)
No. 10 Yale at No. 7 St. Lawrence: 7 p.m. (Appleton Arena, Canton, N.Y.)
Saturday, March 9
No. 11 Brown at No. 6 Union: 4 p.m. (Messa Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.)
No. 12 RPI at No. 5 Clarkson: 7 p.m. (Cheel Arena, Potsdam, N.Y.)
Quarterfinal Round: Best-of-Three Series
Friday-Saturday, March 15-16 (If Necessary: Sunday, March 17)
No. 5 Clarkson or best-remaining seed at No. 4 Dartmouth
Second-highest remaining seed at No. 3 Colgate
Second-lowest remaining seed at No. 2 Cornell
No. 12 RPI or lowest-remaining seed at No. 1 Quinnipiac
Championship Weekend: Single Elimination
Friday-Saturday, March 22-23
Semifinal 1: March 22, 4 p.m.
Semifinal 2: March 22, 7 p.m.
ECAC Championship: March 23, 7 p.m.
How bad did I get it?
I’m doing things a little bit differently this year and borrowing some formatting from Atlantic Hockey colleague and mentor/writing sibling Chris Lerch by introducing a look at how badly I got my preseason predictions. I actually went through things on Sunday night and didn’t think I did bad, but a couple of really big misses are going to stick out:
Quick thoughts:
-I’m pretty sure Quinnipiac could drop internal votes from the voices in my head and still finish first.
-Cornell gave the Bobcats a good run for their money at the end of the season, but a good hockey team finished a couple of hairpoints behind. I’d personally love to see what the Big Red could do with the same number of games.
-I’m notoriously low on the format, but Reid Cashman and Dartmouth cashed big time checks by taking seven different games to the shootout. They also won three of them with an extra fourth overtime win, which means a team with the same number of wins as Union or St. Lawrence gained its first bye in nine years with the same number of losses as Cornell, one of the least-defeated teams in the nation.
-I specifically said Harvard walked a balance beam heading into the season, but the well-documented struggles from the first half of the season cost the Crimson a shot at a first round bye. That they’re playing at home for the first round is a credit to their resilience across the final two months.
-A changeover in head coach didn’t stop Colgate from reaching a first round bye for the first time since 2014-2015.
Previewing the First Round
RPI at Clarkson
RPI’s game at Clarkson took place in November, but the Engineers’ win at Cheel Arena was the last Golden Knights’ Friday night loss at home. They had dropped the two previous Fridays to single games against Penn State and Lake Superior State, but RPI’s entry marked a turning point for a team that finished the year by only losing three other games in its own building.
If there’s a key to this game, it’s what happens if and when RPI specifically takes a penalty. Clarkson’s power play was 51st in the nation at just under 16 percent, but the Engineers paired a team that absorbed a top-20 PIM rate with a penalty kill that ranked last in Division I as one of two teams under 70 percent. That said, removing the 40-plus power play goals by opponents drops the Engineers from 4.1 goals per game allowed to a 2.76 goals against average, meaning Clarkson could have its hands full if the game stays five-on-five.
Brown at Union
Brown’s last-day shootout win over Harvard saved the Bears from a second consecutive trip to the North Country by instead sending them to a place where they previously earned a 3-2 overtime victory. Somewhat surprisingly, it was their first overtime win since a 2022 first round series game against St. Lawrence, but it helped pave a road that ended with a second straight 11th place finish while the Garnet Chargers fell out of first round bye contention only after splitting their final two weekends.
Straight from the fun fact department, this is just the second time the two teams will ever cross paths with one another in a postseason game, but their only other meeting was notable for the fourth-seeded Dutchmen’s win over the seventh-seeded Bears in the 2013 ECAC Championship at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. That the teams are in this position is a bit of a surprise after Brown gained significant steam near the middle of the season, but an unkind final two months prevented a regulation regular season win after the Harvard-Dartmouth sweep.
Yale at St. Lawrence
The Saints were an exceptional second half team that did a great job of avoiding regulation losses down the stretch, and after their 5-1 loss at Cornell in February, St. Lawrence didn’t lose a game by more than one goal until the final game at Quinnipiac. The team earlier beat the Bobcats with a bruising 3-1 decision at home, then rode three shootout games and an overtime win to over Colgate to a seventh-place finish.
Yale is a prime dark horse candidate because of its strength on the defensive end and in net, in particular. Goalie Jack Stark joined Cornell’s Ian Shane and Quinnipiac’s Vinny Duplessis as the three goalies averaging less than two goals per game in ECAC play, and his save percentage moved from .922 to .928 – both tops in the league – after removing his five non-conference games that featured a five-spot by Denver around Thanksgiving.
Princeton at Harvard
Princeton’s first game was at Harvard, but the 4-4 tie started a trend where the Tigers gained a second point after the third period. Of their Ivy League-leading six wins against Ancient Eight rivals, three required overtime, which in turn allowed Cornell to claim the “league title” while simultaneously enabling the Crimson to earn home ice despite having four less overall wins and two less league wins.
That said, handicapping this game is nearly impossible because both games took place in the first half of the year. After a 5-2 win at Baker Rink closed 2023, a six-game losing streak tailspun Princeton into a 1-8 stretch where the only win was an overtime non-conference victory over Army. The sweep over Yale and Brown helped, but Harvard finished the season with one regulation loss after the Beanpot and a 2.00 goals against average in games aside from that 6-2 loss at Union.
Dan Laughlin has been UW-Superior’s women’s hockey head coach since 2003 (photo: Holden Law).
Wisconsin-Superior has announced that Dan Laughlin, one of the longest-tenured coaches in NCAA Division III women’s hockey, is retiring.
“Coach Laughlin has been the backbone of our women’s hockey program for the past two decades. His legacy leading the program extends well beyond the awards, accolades and championships,” said UW-Superior athletics director Nick Bursik in a statement. “We are thankful for his service, leadership and the positive impact he has had on the lives of hundreds of student-athletes. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
A 1994 graduate of UW-Superior, Laughlin started his coaching career with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers before returning to UW-Superior as an assistant women’s hockey coach in 2002. He became the program’s fifth head coach in 2003, and his hiring made an immediate impact.
In his first season, Laughlin guided the Yellowjackets to 19 wins and the program’s second of four NCHA regular-season championships. In 2007-08, the Yellowjackets set a program record with 23 wins and the team advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament for the only time in program history, where they finished fourth. Laughlin’s teams won three NCHA regular-season titles (2004, 2007, 2008), one NCHA playoff championship (2008) and qualified for two NCAA tournaments (2006, 2008).
In addition to team success, Laughlin helped his players achieve individual accolades. Two players – Erin Kegley and Gina Baranzelli – received NCHA player of the year honors. On 12 occasions, Yellowjackets coached by Laughlin were named All-American by the ACHA, including Kegley, who was a four-time All-American (2004-2007). Including this season, 44 players received all-conference recognition from the NCHA or WIAC.
Laughlin earned personal accolades himself, as well. He was named the NCHA coach of the year four times (2004, 2007, 2008, 2012) and WIAC coach of the year twice (2015, 2018). Further, Laughlin was a finalist for the NCAA Division III women’s hockey coach of the year award on seven occasions.
Laughlin’s final victory in 2023-24 was his 300th at UW-Superior and in 21 seasons with the Yellowjackets, he fashioned a mark of 300-209-44. Combined with his time as an assistant coach, Laughlin was behind the bench for 308 of the 359 wins in the history of the Yellowjacket women’s hockey program to date.
A national search to hire Laughlin’s replacement is underway.
Quinnipiac split over the weekend but is still in a good place for an NCAA tournament berth as the Bobcats look to defend their national championship (photo: Rob Rasmussen/P8Photos.com).
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.
Ed: Jim, we saw the last four regular-season champions crowned last weekend, and all but Hockey East and the NCHC are now in the playoffs.
The top two teams in the Big Ten and CCHA met to decide the regular-season titles. (Hats off to the schedule makers in those two conferences!)
Let’s start with the CCHA.
Bemidji State needed only two points on the weekend, but clinched in a convincing way over Minnesota State with a pair of shutouts, 6-0 and 2-0. Tom Serratore’s Beavers have been terrific down the stretch, unbeaten in their last eight games and picking up 21 out of 24 league points. Bemidji also only allowed 14 goals in those contests while piling up 31, a big turnaround from some lopsided numbers before semester break.
Should the Beavers win the CCHA – their only route into the NCAA tournament – they’d likely be the 15th or 16th overall seed. While Bemidji would be a big underdog against Boston College or Boston University, I’m certain they wouldn’t underestimate a Tom Serratore-coached team playing this well.
Jim: I think the CCHA championship is the best regular-season story this year.
Bemidji State went 7-1-2 down the stretch to win the title, its first since 2017. And Tom Serratore guided this team down the stretch to win this title, despite the significant feedback I received from CCHA fans that told me the Beavers had no chance.
You mentioned that three other teams clinched this weekend, which included Michigan State, North Dakota and Boston College.
All three were impressive, but I have to talk about BC, which has won 12 straight Hockey East games and beat New Hampshire 1-0 on Sunday to clinch the Eagles’ 18th league title, expanding their record.
BC is proving they can win games in multiple ways. They can score, no doubt, but on Sunday they proved they can stop teams as well.
Is BC the most complete team out there?
Ed: I will say without a doubt Boston College is the most complete team. I said, “Yes!” to myself immediately when you asked and then I decided to look at some numbers to see if I could back that up.
Individually, BC has the top three scorers in the nation – all Hobey Baker nominees – in Will Smith (17 goals and 37 assists for 54 points), national goal-scoring leader Cutter Gauthier (31-20–51), and Gabe Perrault (15-35–50). Plus Ryan Leonard is not far behind at 25-23–48. Rookie goalie Jacob Fowler is No. 8 in goals against and tied for fifth in save percentage.
Overall, Boston College is second in the nation in scoring and fourth in team defense. The Eagles have the No. 3 power play at 27.94% and the top penalty kill at an astronomical 90.08%.
So whether it’s a gut reaction or a dissection of the numbers, I have to not only call them complete, but maybe the biggest favorite to win the tournament that we’ve seen in quite some time. They’re all but a lock for the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and have already sewn up a No. 1 regional seed.
At this point, BC, BU, North Dakota, Denver, Michigan State, and Wisconsin are the teams that are locks for the NCAAs. As we head into playoffs and into Hockey East’s last week, there are still up to eight at-large berths up for grabs.
Last weekend saw some teams help their cause and others slip into dangerous territory in the PairWise. Who gained the most from last weekend?
Jim: That’s a difficult question.
Honestly, Boston College probably did the most, winning twice in regulation against New Hampshire while No. 2 in the PairWise, Boston University was idle. The Eagles lead in the RPI is now greater than .0200, which virtually anoints the Eagles as the number one overall seed.
But two teams who really helped their cause were Massachusetts with a pair of overtime wins versus UMass Lowell and Colorado College, which tied and beat Minnesota Duluth.
Neither of these teams took all six points, but honestly at the PairWise bubble, that doesn’t matter. Not losing is the key for every bubble team right now and UMass moved to 12th overall while Colorado College is now 11th overall. Math says UMass still has a better chance to make the tournament, but both teams did themselves well with this past weekend.
Teams that did not help their cause included St. Cloud State, Western Michigan and Cornell. All are at or near the current bubble.
What concerns you most about these teams?
Ed: Let’s start with St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The Huskies can finish anywhere from second to fourth in the NCHC regular season, while the Broncos will finish either fifth or sixth. So it’s possible that they could meet in St. Cloud for the conference quarterfinals. Wins by Western Michigan would be more valuable as the road team and a series like that could make or break either team in the PairWise if swept.
But this coming weekend, St. Cloud visits Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan is home against Miami to wrap up the season. The Broncos should be expected to prevail against Miami, while SCSU and UMD have a bit of a rivalry match, even in a somewhat down year for the Bulldogs. St. Cloud as the road team would really help itself with a sweep, while WMU gets a little less out of two wins as the home team against a lower-ranked opponent. In either case, anything less than a win and an overtime win probably means treading water in the PairWise for both.
Cornell still has a mathematical path to an at-large bid, but it’s only about a 4% chance. The Big Red had the opportunity to move up in the PWR, but a loss to Union on Friday coupled with an overtime loss to Clarkson and a tie with St. Lawrence on a north country swing the weekend before really makes winning the ECAC Hockey playoffs virtually the only route for the Big Red. That has to be disappointing when just three weeks ago, Cornell was in position for an at-large bid.
I mentioned eight at-large berths as the maximum still up for grabs. Upsets in Hockey East, the Big Ten, the NCHC, and anyone other than Quinnipiac winning the ECAC means fewer at-large bids. What teams do you see, if any, that are teams to watch for an upset in a conference championship?
Jim: I feel like you are baiting me with this question as I have said all season that I feel like the top 14 in the PairWise will still make the field.
For the most part, that hasn’t changed. Obviously the AHA and CCHA champions will take the final two spots, but I do feel like the other four champions will come from teams inside the current top 14.
But I will answer the question.
Honestly, the ECAC has the best chance of an upset. Cornell is currently outside of the cut line and could win the tournament. I want to add Colgate and Clarkson to that list as well.
In the NCHC, unless Omaha goes on a run, I don’t see anyone busting the bubble. Big Ten, maybe Notre Dame, but not really.
That leaves me with Hockey East. Could New Hampshire make a run? Yes. Maybe if UConn gets hot with a goalie. But honestly, I think one of the best Hockey East teams win that title.
I still hold the cut line at 14, relying on Quinnipiac to win in Lake Placid. Maybe naive, but that’s where I am today.
Michigan State remains sixth, Quinnipiac stays seventh, Minnesota retains the No. 8 spot, Maine holds steady at No. 9. and Colorado College is up one to No. 10 this week.
Providence falls one spot out of the top 10, sitting 11th this week.
No new teams enter this week’s rankings.
In addition to the top 20 teams, nine other teams received votes in this week’s poll.
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.
Hobart is back to defend its 2023 NCAA championship (photo: Kevin Colton – HWS).
Defending champion Hobart, Trinity and Utica got spots in the quarterfinals as the brackets were revealed Monday for the 2024 NCAA Division III men’s hockey tournament.
Thirteen teams were picked, including four at-large picks to go along with nine automatic qualifiers. Defending national runner-up Adrian, Curry, Elmira and Geneseo were chosen as the at-large teams.
Winners of five first-round games played on March 9 will join Trinity, Hobart and Utica in the March 16 quarterfinals. The final four teams standing will go to the Koeppel Community Sports Center in Hartford, Conn., for the semifinals on March 21, with the winners facing off for the championship on March 23.
The first round games are: Endicott at Elmira, Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Adrian, St. Olaf at St. Norbert, Curry at Geneseo and Cortland at Plymouth State.
The NCAA National Collegiate women’s hockey tournament bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, and Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) and Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) have a look at the conference tournament games that will happen before then. Jeremy Gibson, chair of the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship Committee and athletic director at Merrimack, joins the show to discuss how the group makes its decisions and what latitude it has with teams and seeds.
