The Minnesota State offense has been clicking this season (photo: Dylan Engel).
During his weekly media session, Minnesota State coach Luke Strand was asked about the significance of this weekend’s matchup in Mankato, Minn., between his Mavericks and Lake Superior State.
It’s a big matchup. After all, the Mavericks are in first place in the CCHA standings and riding high in the midst of a nine-game unbeaten streak. The Lakers, meanwhile, are 7-2-1 since the start of November and currently sit behind the Mavericks in second.
But Strand said that’s not something he’s even thinking about at this juncture.
“For the media, I’ll say yes. For us, you just told me what place everyone’s in,” Strand said with a smile on Tuesday. “We don’t really get into it. I know they’re a talented team that has skill. They play hard. They’ve beat some good opponents. They took (Michigan) State to overtime at the beginning of the year, and I know they had a hiccup against Ohio State, but at the same time, they’ve beaten some really good teams, and they play their backside off. I think they play a very complete game.”
The Lakers (8-7-1 overall, 6-2-0 in the CCHA) are coming off a weekend in which they split with defending MacNaughton Cup champions Bemidji State. The week before that, they swept St. Thomas.
And they’ve been getting it done with a lethal offense. In league play, their 31 goals scored are tied with St. Thomas for the league’s best. Sasha Teleguine, who had a hat trick in Saturday’s game against Bemidji State, is tied for the league’s overall goalscoring lead, while Connor Millburn has seven goals and 10 assists and currently leads the conference with 1.13 points per game. He’s currently on an eight-game point streak.
“I think they’re a really dangerous group,” Strand said of the Lakers’ offense. “They can come at you in waves. I think they’ve got some individuals, like Millburn and Teleguine, who have just been outstanding. You can’t beat them individually. They’ve got a whole group, like that Millburn line, which has been outstanding.”
The Mavericks, meanwhile, have been finding success in many different ways during their recent nine-game unbeaten streak, but it’s started with defense, specifically goaltender Alex Tracy, who has some of the best numbers in the country. He’s started every single one of MSU’s 18 games, has a 12-4-2 record, a 1.38 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage.
“We know it’s a heck of a test against a really good team,” LSSU coach Damon Whitten said during his weekly radio show. “It’s a little bit of a chess match against them this week, and matching some of that patience, some of that structure will be really important for us finding success on the ice.”
And the Minnesota State team defense has likewise been outstanding. In their 10 conference games so far this season, MSU has allowed a team to score more than two goals just once, and that was a 5-3 victory over St. Thomas. Their lone loss in that span was a 1-0 decision against Bemidji State. The Mavericks haven’t lost since.
“I do think ‘Trace’ has been great. Don’t get me wrong, but I think we also need to give some credit to what’s going on in front of him,” Strand said. “I think there’s been a little bit of balance to our team.”
Strand was specifically talking about the trust the entire team has in each other to play solid defense, pointing out that even a player like Rhett Pitlick, a prolific scorer, is someone who is making sure he does the little things and makes sacrifices to make sure MSU’s defense is solid.
“When you find us five-on-six late in a game, and Pitlick’s on the ice, I trust the kid. I think there’s just enough trust in our group this we probably defended hard as a group of five in front of Tracy. But at the same time, when we needed a stop, it’s 33 who has made some big saves at some big times.”
Overall, Minnesota State has allowed the fewest goals per game (1.50) in the country. Chalk most of that up to experience. The Mavericks’ defensive corps has a boatload of veteran defensemen on their backline like Steve Bellini, Jordan Power, Mason Wheeler, Campbell Cichosz and Ralfs Bergmanis.
“There’s some great balance there. (Cichosz and Wheeler) give us so many sturdy, steady minutes, and (Bergmanis), knock on wood, has been scored on I think one time five-on-five all year long,” Strand said. “Then we get the balance of offense with Evan Murr and Bellini and Luke Ashton, who has done a great job as a young player here… We’ve got a good combination of skill sets.”
This will be the final series of 2024 for both squads. It will be crucial in determining who leads the conference at the holiday break. Because the CCHA is calculating the final standings based on points percentage instead of the traditional way, every point matters. Current MSU has 23 points from 10 games, a .767 percentage, while LSSU is at 18 points from eight games (.750).
The permutations are confusing, but a Lakers sweep would bring them to .800 and into first place and likewise push MSU down to .638. An MSU sweep would likewise make them even harder to overtake at .805.
“It ratchets up in the second half of the season. We’ve done a good job to put ourselves in a good position, and I think this weekend will have a big part of that, but the stakes just get higher,” Whitten said. “The intensity rises. We’re starting to see teams shift into playoff positioning. There won’t be a lot of secrets in the second half.”
Colgate players celebrate a goal last weekend against Cornell (photo: Olivia Hokanson).
Mike Harder looked at his bench during Colgate’s weekend series against Cornell with the realization of how deeply injuries impacted his roster.
He was without skaters on his top lines or his special teams, and the Big Red’s vaunted defense made it exceptionally hard to prepare for those individualized situations before the team’s MASH unit accumulated a couple of extra hits in Friday’s game.
By the time Saturday rolled around, a loss to the Big Red already pushed the Raiders to the brink of their first scoreless weekend in conference play, and just like that, the potential first-place team in ECAC Hockey looked more like it was limping into semester break, both literally and figuratively.
That’s when Harder decided to convert his team into a MacGyver experiment.
In a back-and-forth game at Class of 1965 Arena, a crowd teeming with 2,222 maroon-clad fans watched a power play form from the simplest mentality in the coaching handbook. Cornell had spent the end of the second period and start of the third period eradicating a two-goal deficit to tie Colgate at 3-3, but with a five-minute major assessed to the charging Big Red, Harder called for two big bodies to stand in front of the net while other skaters shot from outside.
Traffic, he thought, would help something filter through, and both Michael Neumeier and Reid Irwin offered prophetic outcomes by advantageously scoring goals before Cornell’s box emptied. Boosted back to a two-goal lead, the Raiders added an empty net goal and showed exactly why the team entered its Christmas break in a wide open league’s first place position.
“It’s been great and a huge reward for guys who played through some [tough] things,” said Harder. “And it feels good [to enter break in first place]. We were picked [fifth], but right now, we know that if we take our foot off the gas in January, we’re going to find ourselves fall quickly off the top floor. If you’re not careful in this league, which is so tight, every game can become so huge. It’s been nice to have this stretch, but now we have to keep it going.”
Colgate is battle-tested enough to understand that first place carries a giant target to a league continuing to burst into wide-open parity. Bygone days of a one-team or two-team race no longer exist, but the Raiders found their way to the top of the table by managing their roster through extended hardship producing a single win in the first three weekends of their season. They defeated and drew Sacred Heart at home and bookended the weekend with sweep losses to UConn and UMass Lowell, but a pair of wins at Atlantic Hockey America’s RIT seemingly righted the ship just in time for league play.
It didn’t hurt that Colgate finally consistently played games in Hamilton, a nominally inaccessible place compared to the metropolis locations in ECAC’s eastern flank. The 5-3 win over Brown on the Bears’ first weekend helped jumpstart a stretch of eight points in four games that continued into a six-point sweep at home over Princeton and Quinnipiac after a five-point weekend at Harvard and Dartmouth, the surprise initial leader in the conference’s Pairwise Rankings clubhouse.
“We have a really good senior class,” said Harder. “[Former head coach and mentor Don Vaughan] did a really great job of getting these guys, and now we have players that can play a ton of minutes for us. We can look at our roster and know that Tommy Bergland, Reid Irwin and Nic Belpedio and three forwards like Brett Chroske, Ben Raymond and Alex DiPaolo are going to log a lot of minutes. But it’s not even just that because they exude this calm and determined demeanor that’s so great to be around.
“The rest of the group, even with nine new faces, knows that they can fold-in pretty quickly and understand the gravity of the moment by watching the way those six guys handle themselves. And when things get a little crazy – which ECAC games can get – they keep their cool and get out there to do their jobs. That’s been really fun to be around.”
Fun, along with humor and a dash of good hockey, is exactly how Colgate continued to persevere through a stretch of injury-addled weeks that slowly kept the lineup from attaining consistency.
Even after sustaining more bang-ups against Cornell, the 5-2-1 league record developed from a depth chart truly forged by being forced to work together. In total, 10 players have at least three goals with 13 players tallying at least three assists, and nine players entered Christmas break with a positive plus-minus rating.
Combined with timely goaltending from Andrew Takacs, who made 33 saves in the win over Harvard and found himself pressed closer to 30 shots by Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton (all wins, though Dartmouth technically lodged a tie ahead of the shootout victory), the Raiders find themselves building a new brand of hockey that’s differentiating itself as the 2023 championship begins to distance itself in the program’s rear view mirror.
“We had a meeting [after Cornell] and talked and asked the guys how they were going to get better over their break,” Harder said. “For some guys, that’s about getting healthy and getting their mental sharpness back or refined. It’s about talking to their coaches at home, their skating coaches, and their sports psychologists. For others, it’s about finding downtime without losing their edge.
“For the staff, this is a huge time. We need to familiarize ourselves with the CHL and figure out how we’re going to attack it or if we’re not going to attack it, how to do it. It’s about hitting the road and maybe using the advantage of hitting the road as a first place team. We need to learn some things, and that’s what we’re all trying to do.”
Colgate formally returns to the ice on Jan. 10 and 11 when it hosts Long Island for a pair of games at Class of 1965 Arena. Ahead of that series, a Jan. 4 exhibition against Canada’s Concordia University reintroduces the Raiders to competitive hockey before ECAC play restarts on Jan. 17-18 with the Quinnipiac-Princeton road trip.
USA Hockey assistant executive director of hockey operations and general manager for the 2025 World Junior Championship team John Vanbiesbrouck joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to preview the upcoming IIHF 2025 World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
RIT played well, but suffered a sweep against New Hampshire two weekends ago (photo: Alex Miller).
The first half of the 2024-25 season has not been kind to Rochester Institute of Technology.
Nearing the holiday break, the Tigers find themselves in an unfamiliar position —- near the bottom of the Atlantic Hockey America standings.
RIT has won the regular-season title the past two seasons and a playoff championship last year.
But Wayne Wilson’s team lost four first-team all-conference players in the offseason, three of whom were supposed to be back this season.
After the Tigers’ 6-3 loss to Boston University in the NCAA tournament last season, four players announced their transfer: Forwards Carter Wilkie (to North Dakota), Cody Laskosky (to Wisconsin), defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata (to Ohio State), and goaltender Tommy Scarfone (to Wisconsin).
Combining that with the graduation of keys players like Elijah Gonsalves and Gianfranco Cassaro, it was expected that the Tigers would take a step back.
But not this far back.
“It’s been a lot of things,” said Wilson, in his 26th season behind the RIT bench. “We obviously lost players, and injuries have played a role.
“I don’t want to use injuries as an excuse. We need to play better.”
Sophomore forward Matt Wilde and junior defenseman Xavier LaPointe both have missed significant playing time along with several others.
“Injuries are a part of the game,” said Wilson. “But we’re a better team with those guys in the lineup.”
The Tigers lost key players to graduation and transfer, but the cupboard’s not bare. There’s a nucleus of young talent, including the all-sophomore line of Wilde (14 points), Tyler Fukakusa (21 points), and Christian Catalano (14 points). Fukakusa leads the team in scoring, while Wilde has 14 points in 11 games since returning from injury. Catalano got the game-winner against Robert Morris in overtime on Saturday.
Rookie defenseman Tristan Allen’s 12 points lead all blueliners.
“The Fukukusa line has had to carry a lot of the burden,” said Wilson. “We need the other lines to step up.”
Last Saturday, the Tigers snapped an eight-game winless streak dating back to Nov. 9. RIT had one win in its previous 14 contests heading into the game.
“Some of those series, we played well, but not well enough,” said Wilson. The Tigers have splits on the road with Bentley and Mercyhurst, and a loss and tie at Sacred Heart. But RIT has home losses to Canisius and Army West Point (twice) and a road loss at Niagara.
“Against Army (5-1, 4-2 losses), we didn’t play well at all,” said Wilson. “That hurt us the the most. We needed to take care of business at home.”
RIT won its first home game in eight tries on Saturday, defeating Robert Morris 4-3 in overtime to earn a split with the Colonials, who took Friday’s game, 7-3.
With the Tigers now off for the holiday break, Saturday’s win provided an emotional lift.
“Any win at this point is good,” said Wilson. “An overtime win adds a little more. That’s when you all jump on the guy who scored. That’s different than scoring the game-winning goal in the second period.
“And if I had to pick, winning on Saturday is better than on Friday, because you’re feeling better going into the next week.”
Wilson hopes that the second half of the schedule, which has only two real road trips and ends with three straight home series, will provide a boost.
“We’re still figuring some things out,” said Wilson. “Our goal is to regroup and set ourselves up for the second half, and to take advantage of a favorable schedule.
“We’re still working on our identity with guys coming and going from the lineup. We’re going to need all hands on deck.
“We’re not used to this, but we’ll battle through.”
Minnesota’s Nathan Airey earned one of the two shutouts last weekend over Michigan (photo: Matt Krohn).
With one week of hockey for Big Ten teams before the holiday break, Minnesota tops the conference standings with 23 points, eight ahead of second-place Wisconsin.
Feeling a little déjà vu?
Maybe you’re flashing back to the middle of the 2022-23 season, when the Golden Gophers amassed 30 points in the first half, eight ahead of second-place Penn State and poised to outpace everyone for the remainder of that campaign.
By the end of 2022-23, Minnesota won the conference with 57 points, 19 ahead of Michigan, a team that pushed its way up to a second-place finish after ending the first half in fifth.
So where are the Wolverines now? Sharing fourth place with Ohio State, who swept Penn State at home.
To paraphrase Simon Pegg’s version of Montgomery Scott, I like this league. It’s exciting.
“Points are so hard to come by in this league,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik after Ohio State’s second win last weekend.
The Buckeyes began the weekend alone in fifth place with five points. The Nittany Lions were winless in six B1G games before dropping two more to Ohio State.
“We’re in the best league in the country,” said Rohlik. “Don’t let [Penn State’s] record fool you. That’s a really good hockey team. For us, it’s just one night at a time. Any time you can get two wins on a weekend in the Big Ten, you’ve got to be pretty pleased.”
Minnesota goaltender Liam Souliere had some similar thoughts after the Gophers’ win Saturday night.
“Sweeping in this conference is really hard, in the NCAA in general, too,” said Souliere. “The night before doesn’t mean anything.”
The Gophers didn’t just sweep the Wolverines. Minnesota shut out Michigan on consecutive nights, 6-0 Friday and 2-0 Saturday. The Wolverines had been averaging 4.00 goals per game coming into the series, and the consecutive shutout losses were the first for Michigan since the 1942-43 season.
Minnesota accomplished that impressive feat with two different starting goaltenders. Freshman Nathan Airey stopped 32 pucks in Friday’s game for his first collegiate shutout win. Souliere, a graduate transfer from Penn State, made 11 stops in the first nine minutes of his 2-0 shutout win Saturday and 11 more in the 51 minutes that followed that.
“He’s such an unbelievable partner,” said Souliere. “We’ve really gotten close. It’s been just so fun competing together every week. He’s such a great guy. We’re both learning from each other. We’re completely different, even though we’re playing the same position.
“I’m just so proud of him. He’s grown so much.”
That partnership between Airey and Souliere is one reason for Minnesota’s success this season. Airey’s numbers (1.99 GAA, .918 SV%) are good. Souliere’s are insanely good. The veteran goaltender is playing the best hockey of his collegiate career and leads the nation in goals-against (1.37) while sporting the third-best save percentage nationally (.943). Saturday’s shutout was the second of Souliere’s season, the fifth of his career.
Airey and Souliere have split series in net all season. After Saturday’s win, Gophers coach Bob Motzko said that someone commented in his post-game radio interview that the success of the two might be making it difficult to decide who to start. With typical Motzko wit, he shut that right down.
“My wife would hit me if I made a different move right now,” said Motzko, calling the decision to rotate goalies the easiest of his coaching career.
“They’re doing a great job [and] building confidence off each other, and they know it. They’ve got a good feel about how the team’s playing.”
As Airey was earning his first shutout in the opening game of Minnesota’s series against Michigan Friday, Ohio State’s Kristofer Eberly was following up a Thursday-night shutout 4-0 shutout of Penn State with a 27-save performance in Friday’s 4-2 win to secure the Buckeyes’ sweep. The games were the first back-to-back starts for the Ohio State sophomore, who had been splitting time in net with senior Logan Terness.
The Nittany Lions were more aggressive Friday after having been shut out Thursday, and Eberly survived a late push in Friday’s 4-2 penalty filled game.
“It’s obviously a little nerve-racking,” said Eberly, “but I think it’s my job to be the best guy out there during those kills.” He credited his performance to the trust he has in his teammates. “They did such a good job on the PK this weekend and I’m just super happy with them.”
Ohio State’s 19th-best (.833) penalty kill kept Penn State’s 13th-best (.245) power play to one goal for seven attempts in the series.
With the wins, the Buckeyes’ offense (3.31 goals per game) improves to 10th best nationally, tied with Massachusetts. Four different Buckeyes accounted for the eight goals against the Nittany Lions.
“I always say we have to win with our depth,” said Rohlik.
The first half of Big Ten conference play wraps up this weekend with three series played Dec. 13-14.
After splitting at home with Michigan State last weekend – and knocking the Spartans out of their first No. 1 spot in the USCHO.com Poll since 2007 – Wisconsin travels to Michigan. In second place, the Badgers are four points ahead of the Wolverines.
Ohio State hosts Notre Dame for two games. With three points in B1G play – two ahead of last-place Penn State – the Fighting Irish are looking for their second conference win of the season.
Minnesota, the team that replaces Michigan State in the top spot of this week’s poll, hosts the Spartans. Motzko said that the Gophers will be “tested” when they host Michigan State to finish the first half of the season because of injuries.
“We’ll be down a few people next week,” said Motzko.
On the final edition of the PodKaz before the winter break, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski look back at surprising results from last weekend, including Holy Cross’ overtime win over Boston College and Post shutting out Sacred Heart. The weekend results also included Minnesota Duluth getting five of six points against St. Cloud State and Princeton rallying past Quinnipiac in overtime.
The show wraps up with a look at college players in the Six Nations Tournament and a discussion of what surprises may lie ahead in the second half of the NCAA season.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].
Owen Cole celebrates his shootout winner for UMass Lowell last Friday after the River Hawks tied Boston College (photo: UMass Lowell Athletics).
If ever there was a team that needed a spark plug, it was UMass Lowell at the end of last season.
The River Hawks got it with a 2024-25 roster full of young players that have turned the River Hawks into not just a great comeback story, but a bona fide contender. After an 8-24-4 campaign last season (4-17-3 in Hockey East) – by far the worst of coach Norm Bazin’s otherwise illustrious 13-year tenure – the River Hawks are 10-4-2 overall (5-3-1), tied for second place in the Hockey East standings and are tied for 10th in the latest edition of the USCHO Division I men’s poll.
Among the River Hawks’ top six scorers, three are freshman and one is a graduate transfer.
“(It’s) a totally new team,” Bazin said. “Last year was not what we’re all about. And we hope to prove in the second half that we can turn in a very good season this year.”
Stressing that it’s not an excuse for Lowell’s poor performance last year, Bazin noted that the team was hampered by injuries all season long, including four players that required season-ending surgery.
While the new faces have served Lowell well, Bazin credits his upper-class leadership – he mentioned by name captains Owen Cole, Piers Brandon and Ben Meehan – as a driving force contributing to the team’s success.
“The leadership is excellent,” Bazin said. “They’ve all been major cogs – bringing everybody together, making them feel welcome. (They’re) excellent human beings.”
Another bright spot for Lowell has been the play of freshman Chris Delaney. Through 16 games, the forward from Hopkinton, Mass., has six goals and three assists, including an assist in Monday night’s 3-2 loss at Boston College.
“When he’s on, he’s an energetic player,” Bazin said. “He was certainly on all cylinders the first 13 (games) or so, and the last few, the gas tank is half empty. But that’s normal for a young guy who’s going through it for the first time. He’s a really good player. He brings energy, he brings you emotion to the lineup. And certainly, he’s a real spark plug when he’s on.”
Freshman Mirko Buttazzoni of Langley, B.C., leads Lowell in scoring with five goals and nine assists. He scored twice in a 3-3 tie vs. Boston College on Dec. 6, a contest in which the River Hawks earned the extra league point with a shootout win at the Tsongas Center.
Lowell will restart its season on Jan. 3 with an appearance in the Coachella Valley Cactus Cup tournament in Palm Springs, Calif., against Michigan Tech (CCHA). Omaha (NCHC) and Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey) are the other two participants. Hockey East play resumes a week later with a weekend series vs. Maine, with both games at home.
“With the intensity ratcheting up in the league, it’s going to get tighter,” Bazin said. “It always does, right? Seems like the playoff position isn’t figured out until the last game of the year, which makes Hockey East exciting for a lot of people. What’s it going to take? The veterans to lead and the young guys to follow them.”
Liam Fraser is off to a strong start to his senior season. (Photo provided by St. Norbert Athletics)
Liam Fraser had no idea how good NCAA Division III hockey truly was until he saw it up close in his first season at St. Norbert.
“It was definitely eye-opening, especially in this conference (NCHA),” Fraser said. “It took time to adjust to how much bigger, stronger and faster guys are here, but getting opportunities to play and find success, and in the role I’m in now, it’s so much fun.”
Fraser is well-adapted to the game now and has become one of the top scoring threats in program history. In November alone, the senior star tallied 13 goals and six assists while recording a hat trick along the way. His seven consecutive game-winning goals in the month are believe to be a D-III record.
In 100 career games, Fraser has 70 goals and 75 assists, and sometimes he still can’t believe he ranks among the best ever in a program rich in a history of success.
“It’s crazy to think about, and it’s not fully settled in yet,” Fraser said. “I’m just going out there and having fun, and trying to do my best each and every day while pushing the guys around me to be at their best, too. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
Growing up in Canada, hockey has always been his favorite sport, though he did take a stab at playing other sports.
“I did a little bit of everything when I was younger. I was in track, basketball and soccer, but hockey was always my favorite. My parents couldn’t keep me off the ice,” Fraser said. “I just have a passion for it and definitely have a lot of fun being on the ice.”
Fraser and the Green Knights are having a lot of fun this year. They won their first 11 games, marking their best start in program history, and currently sit at 12-1 overall and 7-1 in the NCHA.
“We have a competitive group of guys and we are producing more offensively, and defensively, we are getting the stops and the blocked shots we need to close out games. It’s been a great start and has been a lot of fun,” Fraser said.
Fraser is one of several players who have risen to the occasion for the Green Knights. Logan Dombrowsky leads the team in assists (15) and also has nine goals.
Brock Baker (3 goals, 8 assists) and Braden Lindstrom (2 goals, 9 assists) have 11 points apiece. A total of 17 players have scored at least one goal.
Fraser said he spent the offseason getting faster and stronger, and he said his personal success wouldn’t be possible without the coaches and teammates around him.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Fraser said. “It starts with the coaching staff and the great system they have in place. And I’ve played with and still play with a lot of great players, guys like Logan and Braden are great people and hard workers, and it’s fun to play hockey with guys like that.”
What Fraser loves about hockey are the relationships he’s forged over the years, as well as the fast-paced action on the ice.
“I have friends from all over, and I love how competitive hockey is,” Fraser said. “To be out there making a play, blocking a shot, winning a faceoff, it’s fun and my teammates are like brothers to me.”
Fraser and his teammates are hoping to keep things rolling and be in a position to contend for a conference title and more.
“We have to do the little things and the rest will take care of itself,” Fraser said. “We’ve had a lot of success, but it only gets harder moving forward. We have to stick to our game and the style of hockey we play. If we do that, we’ll be successful.”
Ben Robertson has been steady on the back end this season for Cornell (photo: Caroline Sherman/Cornell Athletics).
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Paula: Well, Dan, there’s a new No. 1 this week and I don’t think that anyone is surprised by that. What may be surprising is how many votes that new top team garnered for that position. There are other interesting narratives in this week’s poll as well.
With 38 first-place votes, Minnesota vaults from No. 4 to No. 1 in large part because of the Golden Gophers’ decisive sweep of visiting Michigan, two shutout wins against a team that had been averaging 4.00 goals per game (fourth nationally) prior to the series.
Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere each earned wins for the Gophers, with Airey stopping 32 in Friday’s 6-0 game and Souliere making 22 saves in Saturday’s 2-0 win. All six of Minnesota’s goals Friday night were scored even strength. Sam Rinzel’s game winner Saturday was a power-play goal and Jimmy Snuggerud added the empty netter in that game.
It’s just an impressive display, especially considering that the points that Minnesota earned in the sweep put the Gophers eight points ahead of second-place Wisconsin in the Big Ten, nine points ahead of third-place Michigan State — who just last week claimed 42 first-place votes to sit at No. 1 in that poll.
Boston College swept and is second in this week’s poll with six votes.
It’s interesting to me that Michigan State split with Wisconsin – a team that really struggled to get going this season – and fell to third while Denver split with a Western Michigan team that has been good all season, but the Pioneers are now in fourth place without a single first-place vote.
And Michigan only dropped from sixth to eighth, which tells me that poll voters are really paying attention to Minnesota now.
What stories does this week’s poll tell you, Dan?
Dan: Honestly, the poll gives me frustrations because I’m starting to see a blockade of teams that are preventing very good hockey teams from jumping into the rankings.
I have no problem with how the top of the poll is shaking down because I think those teams are unquestionably the best teams in the nation, and what we saw last year was a passing around of the No. 1 ranking torch. When Minnesota loses, Boston College will jump into the top spot until a loss sends Michigan State or Denver back into the top slot. Maine is a nice story but likely won’t make the jump (though I do account for one of the two first-place votes for the Black Bears), and a team like Western Michigan won’t ever grace the top of the poll unless the teams in front of it crater out.
I inherently don’t have a problem with that because those teams consistently win. I’m instead seeing a disconnect with how voters view the bottom of the poll. Like the top, a trend emerges for teams that don’t necessarily move throughout the rankings. UMass Lowell gradually worked its way up by going 10-3-2, but other teams won’t ever receive similar chances to move their way up the poll when teams like North Dakota, Quinnipiac and Arizona State are all occupying spots.
I think all of those teams are good teams, but I think a good chunk of teams simply have to win more frequently because they’re “not supposed to be there.” I think about teams like Clarkson, which is 11-5-2, or Bentley, which is 10-5-2.
The common response is that these teams don’t play the same caliber of opponent, and it’s proven in the PairWise, but Clarkson is six spots behind Cornell in the USCHO poll and four spots ahead of the Big Red in the Pairwise. Bentley is No. 29 in the Pairwise – right next to North Dakota, Cornell and Clarkson.
In the end, the PairWise winds up mattering at the end of the season, but I think I’m hitting the frustration point of the season where lesser-known teams don’t receive votes because they’re lesser-known teams. Do you agree or disagree with that assessment?
Paula: That is a good little rant-like passage, Dan, and I agree with you about the blockade. We’ve discussed this before, and there is deference given to teams that play in three specific conferences – and teams from the other three conferences have to work a lot harder to prove themselves.
The Big Ten, Hockey East and NCHC are consistently stronger conferences. That is a quantifiable thing. So far this season, B1G Hockey leads all conferences in nonleague play (.712 win percentage) followed by Hockey East (.694). NCHC (.587) and ECAC (.507) are the other two conferences above .500 for interconference win percentages.
The CCHA (.422) and Atlantic Hockey (.242) don’t provide evidence that bolsters confidence in the strengths of their leagues, but that shouldn’t mean that teams playing solid to excellent hockey in those conferences should be excluded completely.
I hear you. I no longer have Arizona State in my poll. In descending order, the bottom five on my ballot are North Dakota, Clarkson, Dartmouth, Quinnipiac and Bemidji State. I thought hard about Bentley, but with a six-game undefeated streak that included wins over Minnesota and North Dakota, the Beavers got my last spot.
Should Arizona State and North Dakota get more of the benefit of the doubt than, say, Bentley? If we’re looking at things that are quantifiable, I think it may.
Having said that, though, your comments had me checking the PWR, and at 26th, North Dakota is certainly in interesting company there right now. The five teams following the Fighting Hawks in the PWR are, in descending order: Bemidji, Bentley, Michigan Tech, Union, Wisconsin. How wild is it that the team currently sitting at 31st in the PairWise is also in second place in the Big Ten right now?
Looking at the PairWise Rankings, I’m intrigued by a lot of teams in the teens like New Hampshire, with its No. 14 spot and poll votes but not enough to crack the top 20. At No. 15 and with no AHA teams among the top 16 in the PWR, Dartmouth would be the cut-off if the season were to end today. That would leave Colorado College, Arizona State, Quinnipiac and Clarkson, all recognized in this week’s poll, out of the field. The distance between Colorado College’s poll placement and PRW ranking is wild – tied for 10th in the former and 19th in the latter.
Given all we’ve discussed here, Dan – the dominance of the top poll teams, the consistency of the teams that run from roughly No. 6 through No. 12, the relative strength of different leagues – how much of a chance do some of these teams below 20 in the PWR have of playing themselves into conference contention?
Ed Trefzger and Jimmy Connelly went into this a bit last week in the abstract, but the concrete – individual games, series, strength of schedule – is a wildcard, right? Last week, Ohio State was out. After sweeping a Penn State team significantly below them in the PWR, the Buckeyes are among the top 15.
Other than winning conference championships, what chance to good teams like Bentley and Bemidji State have, realistically? And is there anything you’d like to see tweaked in the formula?
Dan: It depends on how much I want to tear apart my own argument. Based on what I was saying, we logically would think that some of those teams should play themselves into contention by winning a championship.
A team like Cornell should play itself into postseason contention on the basis of being Cornell in ECAC, and ditto for North Dakota. Those were teams I thought would compete hard for a championship at the start of the year, so we should consider them among contenders for a conference championship.
Yet based on what I’m saying, the chasm between those top teams rotating around the No. 1 spot and the teams below them is growing significantly bigger. I don’t see Northeastern at No. 23 and think that it’s going to win the Hockey East championship when the strength of the conference is clearly in BC, Maine and Providence. Nor should I look at North Dakota, who seems to eat a ton of flack from me this week, and think that it’s a team that will overtake Western Michigan, Denver and St. Cloud. Heck, even Arizona State at 16 seems like a more logical spot than what I have right now.
Realistically, I’m all in on a tweaked field. For the longest time, I’ve been a proponent of using the mathematics as a guide but not as a be-all, and it’s gotten me into trouble on an annual basis because nobody wants to agree to move to the smoke-filled rooms of yesteryear. What I’m realizing, though, is that leagues carry significant freight when they’re bigger – with the exception of Hockey East – and that was a big reason why the old WCHA broke up and split apart to form the new CCHA.
Geography aside, we couldn’t help but notice that the three teams jettisoned included two of the lowest teams in the Pairwise Rankings around that time. Smaller leagues, while offering room for growth, can consolidate around winning more non-league games if it’s a league built around the more powerful teams.
Yet that’s the biggest issue. We don’t want to expand the national tournament, but access is locked because there are ways to use the collective strength to manipulate – I use that term in a good way – the numbers. I’m complaining without a solution, which is a big thing that angers me on a daily basis, but here I am.
Also worth bearing that I’d throw anyone out there for this, not just Bentley. Given my affiliation, I know it sounds suspect, but I’d actually argue that Bemidji deserves a bid over BU right now.
Paula: Dan, I enjoy when you throw shade – at specific teams, at the system, at yourself, even at me.
I agree that a solid argument could be made that Bemidji is playing better hockey right now than Boston University is, but that’s not the same thing as advocating for the Terriers to be tossed in favor of the Beavers. Not on my end anyway.
The poll, at least, gives people with knowledge of the game the opportunity to provide some perspective on what’s happening right now, rather than reducing all of it to math.
I am in favor of the math, for what it’s worth. I don’t miss the days of bubble-team coaches cornering me at tournaments and either making a plea for their squads – as though I ever had any influence – or ranting about their exclusion. The math is nice and neat.
What’s also, unfortunately, nice and neat is the haves-have nots world of college hockey. It’s been that way for the 30 years I’ve been covering, and back in the old CCHA days, I did a lot of throwing of shade myself.
You say it all when you say that we aren’t willing to expand the national tournament and that locks access. Yes, my friend. Yes.
But between now and the end of the season, there is a lot of hockey to played, as the old saying goes. I’m looking at the final week of first-half Big Ten play and I’m positively drooling. After those consecutive blankings in Minnesota last weekend, Michigan hosts Wisconsin, Michigan State travels to Minnesota and Ohio State hosts Notre Dame.
Following that, there’s an amazing lineup for the Great Lakes Invitational and the Frozen Confines in Wrigley Field should be fun.
I’m also looking forward to two off-brand (how’s that for shade) series this weekend, both in the NCHC: the home-and-home Colorado College-Denver series and the St. Cloud-North Dakota tilt.
What on-ice matches are you watching as this first half comes to a close, and what are you looking forward to during the holidays or as the second half starts up?
Dan: From a holistic perspective, I’m actually very much looking forward to seeing players start to separate themselves for the Hobey Baker Award over the next month or two. Given the talent that’s flowing, especially through those top teams, I think the race for the Hobey Hat Trick is loaded with electricity.
As for the rest of the year, I’m looking forward to leaving out the cookies and milk for the big fat man with the long white beard. He’s coming down my chimney in a few weeks – shoutout my kids – and marrying into an Italian Catholic family means I’ve got a full-fledged Feast of the Seven Fishes ahead of me!
Minnesota players celebrate their weekend sweep over Michigan with back-to-back shutouts (photo: Brad Rempel).
Minnesota jumps up three spots this week, getting 38 first-place votes as the new No. 1 team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll.
Boston College earned six first-place votes and is up one spot to No. 2, Michigan State, with four first-place votes, is down two spots to No. 3, Denver is down two spots to No. 4, and Maine stays fifth with two first-place votes in this week’s rankings.
Western Michigan is up one to No. 6, Providence is up three to No. 7, Michigan falls two to No. 8, St. Cloud State remains ninth, Colorado College falls two to No. 10, and UMass Lowell is up four to sit in a 10th-place tie this week.
No new teams enter the poll this week.
In addition to the top 20 teams, 14 others 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.
Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger review games of the weekend and news of the week.
Derek speaks about fans at RIT ranking him last among USCHO podcast hosts and the recent U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame dinner in Pittsburgh. The hosts analyze recent game results, with a focus on Michigan State, Wisconsin, Denver, and Minnesota. They commend Minnesota for likely becoming the new No. 1 team and delve into the Big Ten and Hockey East standings. The episode also includes a review of an unexpected game cancellation for AIC due to goalie injuries and the ongoing debate over appropriate roster sizes in college hockey. Finally, they play a segment of “Buy or Sell” regarding conference strengths and NCAA tournament predictions.
Times are approximate.
00:15 Introduction and Hosts’ Banter
03:15 Weekend game highlights
05:07 Wisconsin’s performance
07:30 Denver and Western Michigan recap
10:13 Minnesota’s dominance
15:34 Providence and Colorado College
19:51 Other key games
28:46 Roster sizes and discussion of AIC’s possible forfeit
39:47 Buy or Sell (or Hold?)
47:03 Conclusion and Sign-off
St. Norbert split with Trine over the weekend in a big NCHA series. (Photo Credit: Patrick Ferron/St. Norbert Athletics)
Two top 10 teams in the USCHO.com poll went at it over the weekend as Trine faced St. Norbert, and ultimately, the two teams ended their series with a split.
The No. 7 Thunder handed the Green Knights their first loss of the year on Saturday, winning 4-0 on the road over the second-ranked team in the country.
Christian Wong-Ramos came up big as he made 29 saves on his way to his third shutout win of the year.
The Thunder are now 10-1-1 overall and 6-1-1 in the NCHA.
St. Norbert is 12-1 overall and 7-1 in the conference and won Friday’s game 2-1 as it handed Trine its first loss of the year. Cameron Morris scored the game winner in that one. Hunter Garve came through with 23 saves.
Neither team could convert on the power play as the Green Knights went 0-for-2 and the Thunder were 0-for-3.
While the two teams split, Trine comes out of the weekend still atop the standings, holding a point lead over St. Norbert.
Gusties continue win streak
Gustavus was once 0-3. Six wins later, the Gusties are the hottest team in the MIAC.
They completed a sweep of Augsburg over the weekend, winning both games by a 5-1 score, and are still in first place in the conference, sitting at 5-1 in MIAC play and 6-3 overall.
Marko Belak racked up 25 saves in Saturday’s win, with Jackson McCarthy tallying two assists and Grant Ellings racking up a goal and an assist. The game was tied at 1-1 before Gustavus scored the next four goals.
Belak finished with 14 saves and Jack Suchy recorded a goal and assist to help lead the offense for Gustavus, which is in the midst of its best win streak since the 2013-14 season.
Saints split with Pipers
St. Scholastica ended its weekend series with Hamline with a 6-1 win.
Nathan Adrian scored twice and dished out an assist while Jacob Seitz tallied a goal and assist. Eino Rissanen made 26 saves as the Saints improved to 7-4-1 overall and 3-3 in the MIAC. Hamline dropped to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
St. Scholastica saw its five-game win streak snapped on Friday as Calvin Knight scored a game-winning goal with 37 seconds remaining to lift Hamline to a thrilling 5-4 win.
Carson Simon had a big night for the Pipers, coming through with a hat trick. He also dished out an assist. Along with Knight coming up big in crunch time, he also tallied three assists. Brandon McNamara made big plays as well, finishing with four assists, while Maximillian Haselbacher racked up 28 saves.
Good weekend for the Cardinals
Saint Mary’s was nothing short of dominant as it opened its series against Concordia with a 5-0 win on Friday. The Cardinals then played the Cobbers to a 2-2 Saturday but came away with a shootout win.
A.J. Ruskowski stopped a season-best 44 shots, including all three attempts in the OT shootout.
On Friday, Ruskowsk recorded his first shutout of the season. Joona Juntunen and Warner Young each scored a goal and had an assist. Tommy Wright finished with two assists.
The Cardinals are 5-3-1 overall and are still unbeaten in the MIAC with a 3-0-1- record.
Blugolds pull off upset
UW-Eau Claire needed a big win and the Blugolds got it, blanking 10th-ranked UW-River Falls 3-0 on Saturday.
Max Gutjahr stopped 25 shots and made 14 of those saves in the final period as the Blugolds won their first game over a top 10 opponent since January of this year. The win also capped a weekend where Eau Claire won both games via shutout as it beat Northland 6-0 one night earlier.
Tyler Herzberg , Max Dronen and Connor Szmul all scored for the Blugolds, who improved to 4-5-1 overall and 3-1 in the WIAC.
Two thrilling wins
UW-Superior went to overtime in both of its games over the weekend, knocking off No. 10 UW-River Falls 3-2 before closing things out with a 4-3 OT win over UW-Stout on Saturday.
The Yellowjackets kept their unbeaten streak in Friday games intact, improving to 5-0 as they took down the Falcons. Reed Stark was the hero, scoring at the 2:50 mark of the extra session for the win. Kobe Grant made 39 saves for his second win and helped Superior end a five-game winless streak against River Falls. Daniel Rozsival and Justin Dauphinais also scored goals for the Yellowjackets. He had an assist on the game-winning goal as well.
Stark again was clutch when it mattered most as he also scored the game winner in Saturday’s win over the Blue Devils. He scored at the 2:10 mark of OT and also racked up two assists in the victory.
It’s the first time all season Superior as won back-to-back games as it improved to 6-3-1 overall and 3-1 in the WIAC.
Shootout win
UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout played to a 2-2 tie on Friday but the No. 13 Pointers managed to win the shootout.
They wrapped up the weekend with an 10-0 win over Northland, improving to 4-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in conference play.
Alex Proctor made 32 saves. Fletcher Anderson and Chris Engelbert both scored in the shootout. Andrew Poulias and Peyton Hart scored in regulation for the Pointers.
Stevens Point scored eight goals in the third in its win over Northland and six of those goals came off the power play, setting a school record. Proctor recorded his first shutout of the year.
A sweep for the Bulldogs
Sixth-ranked Adrian needed overtime to finish off a two-win weekend against the Sabres.
Ryan Pitoscia was the hero, scoring in OT to lift the Bulldogs to a 4-3 win.
Ian Amsbaugh played a key role in the win, scoring a goal and tallying two assists, while Dershahn Stewart racked up 25 saves. Stewart had 25 saves in Friday’s 4-3 win, which didn’t come easy as Adrian saw a 3-0 lead disappear before Patrick Saini scored the game winner. Connor May finished with two assists. Stewart made 11 of his saves in Friday’s win in the third period. Adrian is 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the NCHA and has won its last four games.
Spartans go unbeaten against Vikings
Aurora swept Lawrence with a pair of 5-1 wins and improved to 8-2 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
In Saturday’s win, Aurora put together a complete game, with Hassan Akl leading the way with a pair of goals. Akl also came through with three assists and JaCob Mucitelli made 20 saves.
Four goals over the final two periods were key for Aurora in Friday’s victory. Five different players scored a goal and Jacob Brockman came through with two assists. Mucitelli made 16 saves.
In a thrilling series between Top 5 teams, Geneseo skated away with a 1-1 OT tie and a 5-2 win over the Pioneers to enter the break unbeaten (Photo by Benjamin Gajewski – Geneseo)
It was quite a weekend for ranked teams who played each other in the east in what was for many the final weekend of play in the first half of the season. Hobart flexed its muscles handing rival Elmira a couple of lopsided defeats to remain undefeated on the season while Geneseo with a win and an overtime tie against Utica showed they too were worthy of their unbeaten record and sitting atop the UCHC. Wilkes and Stevenson split their weekend series as did Curry and UNE while Hamilton kept cruising in NESCAC. Elsewhere there were more great games, the usual surprises, and overtimes and, yes, even celebrity sightings at rinks where the home team showed off a bit for A-listers (see SUNYAC update below for more details). Here is the wrap-up across all the conferences in the east as we head to the semester break for most of the teams:
CNE
Endicott capped off a 3-0-0 week with a weekend sweep of Western New England. After shutting out Connecticut College, 3-0 on Tuesday night, the Gulls closed out their first half in CNE play with 4-1 and 6-1 wins over the Golden Bears. Andrew Kurapov paced the attack on Friday with a goal and an assist as the Gulls scored two early and two late goals to earn the win at home. On Saturday, the Golden Bears took a 1-0 lead off the stick of Nolan Dawson only to see the Gulls score the next six goals in 6-1 loss. Primo Self scored two goals and added an assist as Endicott produced three power play goals. Endicott is 7-1-0 in league play.
Curry and the University of New England split a two-game series with each team capturing a 2-1 win on home ice. Friday night saw the Nor’easters break a 1-1 tie in the third period on a goal by Chip Hamlett and goaltender Joey Stanizzi stopped 22 of 23 Colonel attempts in a 2-1 win. Back home on Saturday it was the colonels who returned the favor with George Vonakis producing the third period game-winning goal in front of Goaltender Shane Soderwall who stopped 29 of 30 UNE shots.
Suffolk extended their win streak to three games with a weekend sweep of Johnson & Wales by identical 1-0 scores. Michael McEachern’s first period goal was all goaltender CJ Hapward needed from the offense as he stopped all 22 Wildcats shot to pickup the shutout win on Friday. On Saturday, McEachern set up Ryan Webb’s second period goal and Hapward made 17 saves to post back-to-back shutouts for the sweep. The weekend wins moved the Rams to 6-4-2 overall and 3-4-1 in league play.
MAC
Wilkes looked to further solidify their position atop the MAC standings with some good results from a weekend series against an always contending Stevenson squad. On Friday, it was some special teams magic that helped the visiting Mustangs to a 2-1 overtime win. Liam McCanney scored Steven’s regulation goal while the team was shorthanded, and lake Benson sealed the win on the power play in the extra session. Goals were far more plentiful in Saturday’s re-match as the Colonels scored three times with the man advantage to stretch out a 5-1 lead before the Mustangs closed to within a goal at the end of the second period. Joe Johnson provided the only tally of the third period for the final margin of 6-4 and a weekend split for the Colonels.
Neumann played Alvernia to close out the first half of the season and also split their series and in the process picked up their first loss of the season. On Friday Max Donohoe recorded a hat trick and what stood as the game-winning goal as the Knights eked out a 5-4 win over the Golden Wolves. On Saturday, the visitors took advantage of a goal and an assist each from Frazer Dodd and Isaac Chapman in a 3-2 win to split the series. Goaltender Will Augustine stopped 32 of 34 shots to pick up the win for Alvernia.
Arcadia and Lebanon Valley also closed out the first half playing a weekend split with the Flying Dutchmen claiming victory on Friday night by a 3-1 score. Cade Helmer scored a pair of goals for LVC in the win. On Saturday, the Knights rebounded with a 4-1 win spearheaded by two goals from Jude Cole. Cole opened the scoring and then provided one of two empty-net goals for the Knights to provide the final margin of victory.
MASCAC
Plymouth State won a pair of games to remain unbeaten in MASCAC play entering the semester break. On Thursday, the Panthers took a big road win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth by a score of 4-2. The Panthers started fast on first period goals from Brendan Doyle, David Matousek and Tikhon Ashikhmin and took advantage of Patrick O’Connell’s ENG in the third to post the road victory. On Saturday, Aiden Winslow proved to be a very hot goaltender for Westfield State as the Owl netminder stopped 43 shots including 20 in the third period alone to keep WSU in the game. A scoreless regulation tie was ended just 24 seconds into the extra session as Will Pray and Connor Tait set up Rider McCallum for the game-winner in a 1-0 win.
Fitchburg State also closed out the first half with a pair of wins in conference action starting with Thursday’s 1-0 overtime win over MCLA. Both goaltenders were outstanding, but Frederick Soderberg proved to be one save better as Jack Johansen finally solved the Trailblazers’ Matthew Gover in the first minute of overtime for a 1-0 win. On Saturday, the Falcons surrendered the first goal of the game to Framingham State before responding with five unanswered goals to cruise to a 5-1 win. Five different players scored with Samuel Rennick pacing the attack with a goal and two assists.
On Sunday, in a non-conference game, the Falcons dropped a 4-0 decision to Keene State who swept two weekend games of their own having downed St. Michael’s on Saturday in overtime, 4-3, on a goal from Corey Tumenas.
Anna Maria closed out the first half with a split in their final two MASCAC contests. After blowing out Framingham State on Thursday by a score of 7-2, the AmCats lost their scoring mojo in a 3-1 loss to Worcester State on Saturday. Guillaume Coulombe paced the offense against the Rams scoring two goals and assisting on a third in the win over the Rams. On Saturday, the Lancers had the hot goaltender as Wyatt Friedlander stopped 46 of 47 shots and Martin Dlugolinsky scored a pair of goals in a 3-1 win over the AmCats.
NE-10
In a league where you play all your conference foes four times, the familiarity often breeds some interesting results as was the case in Post securing a weekend sweep of games over Assumption. Aidan Canady produced a goal, and an assist and Wyatt Noble scored the game winner in the third period as the Eagles took a 5-3 win over the Greyhounds on Friday. Goaltender Benjamin Cunneen stopped 51 of 54 shots to backstop Post to the win. On Saturday, Cunneen was again impressive stopping 43 of 44 shots as the Eagles eked out a 2-1 win with Scotty Swain netting the game-winning goal midway through the third period.
Southern New Hampshire moved above .500 in NE-10 play with a weekend sweep of Franklin Pierce to conclude their first semester in conference play. On Friday, the Penmen used goals from Tyler Murray and Ryan Pomposelli and 31 saves from netminder Collin Berke to post a 2-0 shutout win over the Ravens. On Saturday, the game was again low-scoring as the Penmen rallied from a one-goal deficit to earn the 2-1 win with Murray scoring the winning goal late in the third period.
NEHC
Hobart hosted rival Elmira and demonstrated why they are the nation’s #1 team with a pair of dominant wins over the Soaring Eagles. On Friday, a five-goal third period blew open the contest and helped the Statesmen to a comfortable 7-1 win over the visitors. Chirs Duclair opened and closed the scoring for Hobart while Bauer Morrissey added a pair of assists. On Saturday, Hobart closed out the first half with a solid and balanced 6-0 win with six different goal scorers supporting Mavrick Goyer in goal. Goyer made 16 saves to earn the shutout win that moved Hobart to 10-0-0 on the season.
Babson took advantage of a weekend sweep of New England College to close out the first half at 5-3-0 in NEHC action. On Friday, Danny Cavanagh, Wyatt George, Tommy Rooney, and Brendan Kennedy scored four unanswered goals to pace a 4-1 Babson road win. Goaltender Nate Mueller made 20 saves to earn the win. On Saturday, the Beavers started fast taking a 2-0 lead only to see Egor Osipik answer with a pair of goals form the Pilgrims to tie the game at 2-2. Ian Driscoll answered with a power play goal and Thomas Kramer added the final tally in the final minute of the third period for a 4-2 win. Mueller was again solid in goal making 28 saves to backstop the Babson sweep.
Skidmore traveled to play Massachusetts-Boston in the final series before the semester and each team took a win over the weekend. On Friday, the Beacons scored a pair of power play goals and two shorthanded goals to pace a 6-3 win over the Thoroughbreds. Jazz Krivtsov led the attack with two goals and an assist. On Saturday, the Thoroughbreds rebounded with a 4-0 win with Evan Brown assisting on three of the Skidmore goals. Goaltender Tommy Aitken stopped 38 Beacon shots to earn the shutout win and help Skidmore move to 5-3-0 in NEHC play.
NESCAC
Hamilton hosted Williams and Middlebury over the weekend and extended their win streak to three games with 5-1 and 6-0 wins respectively over the Ephs and Panthers. On Friday, the Continentals erupted for four goals after a scoreless first period with Jacob Ierfino scoring twice to lead the attack in a 5-1 win. On Saturday, Ierfino got the party started in the final minute of the opening period and Hamilton added five more goals from five different players to post the 6-0 win over Middlebury. Goaltender Charlie Archer stopped 24 shots to earn the shutout for Hamilton who will close out the first half with a non-conference game on Friday against Nazareth.
Amherst also extended their win streak to three games with a weekend sweep of Middlebury and Williams. On Friday, the Panthers got on the board first off the stick of Revy Mack before the Mammoth scored four unanswered goals on the way to a 4-1 win. On Saturday, Amherst came back from a 3-1 deficit with two third period goals by Max Thiessen and Bobby Luca to tie the score at 3-3. Josh Burke provided the overtime winner on the power play for Amherst with just two seconds remaining in the extra session in an exciting 4-3 win over the Ephs.
Conn College split a series against Bowdoin and Colby to finish the first half at 4-2-0 in NESCAC play. After falling to Bowdoin 5-1 on Friday night where the Polar Bears raced to a 3-0 lead on the way to a comfortable win, the Camels rebounded against a hot Colby squad on Saturday. The Camels started fast with the first three goals and cruised to a 6-3 win over the Mules. Logan Cleary and Will Lawrence each scored a goal and added an assist for the Camels.
SUNYAC
Fredonia leveled their conference record at 3-3-0 on the final weekend of the semester with a sweep of Plattsburgh and Potsdam by identical 2-0 scores. Spurred on by the celebration of the 30th anniversary of their NCAA team, the Blue Devils were motivated by a attendance by alumni and a pre-game talk from NBA legend Charles Barkley and took advantage of 32 saves from Charles-Anthony Barbeau and goals from Luke Morris and Riley See in a 2-0 win over the Cardinals. Fredonia completed their weekend success with a 2-0 win over Potsdam where Barbeau recorded his second shutout in a row by again recording 32 saves in the win. Morris again provided the game winner while Gavin Bloder added some insurance just thirteen seconds after Morris scored on the power-play.
Cortland won they only game they were able to play as Saturday’s contest against Oswego was postponed due to rink and ice issues. On Friday, the Red Dragons improved to 5-0-0 on the road with a 3-1 win over Canton. Trailing 1-0 after two periods, Cortland saw third period goals from Dino Mannetta, Domenic Settimo and Colby Seitz to down the battling Kangaroos.
In yet another game that is becoming increasingly formulaic in D-III hockey, Canton rallied on Saturday from a 3-1 third period deficit to Morrisville with two goals by Brendan Morrow and Reilly McKinnon’s EAG in the final thirty seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Jackson Drysdale provided the game winner with just one minute remaining in the bonus period for a 4-3 Kangaroo OT win.
UCHC
In the new contending battle for UCHC supremacy, Utica traveled to face Geneseo for a weekend series that featured a pair of top five teams in the rankings nationally. On Friday, Jakob Breault for the Pioneers and Alex Dameski for the Knights exchanged goals in what finished as a thrilling 1-1 overtime tie (Utica won the shootout). Goaltenders Bryan Landesberger (Utica) and Adam Harris (Geneseo) were outstanding in the game that had a definite playoff feel. On Saturday, Harris (50 saves) and Peter Morgan with two goals were too much for Utica as the Knights skated off with a solid 5-2 win in a game that featured pure action and zero penalties. The win kept Geneseo among the unbeatens as they close the first half at 10-0-1.
Chatham ended the first half on a positive note taking two games at home against Manhattanville to post their first conference wins on the season. The Cougars downed the Valiants on Friday as Michael Roby had a hand in all the Chatham scoring with two goals and an assist in a 3-2 win. On Saturday, Roby setup the game winner from Camden Smith midway through the third period in a hard-fought 2-1 win to sweep the Valiants.
Three Biscuits
CJ Hapward – Suffolk – stopped a combined 39 shots from Johnson & Wales to help the Rams to a pair of 1-0 wins over the Wildcats which moved Suffolk to fourth in the CNE standings.
Charles-Anthony Barbeau – Fredonia – picked up a pair of shutout wins over Plattsburgh and Potsdam with matching 32-save performances for the Blue Devils over the weekend.
Max Donohoe – Neumann – recorded a hat trick in pacing the Knights to a thrilling 5-4 win over Alvernia on Friday night.
For most the first half of the season has come to a close at the semester break. There are a very few games upcoming during the upcoming week, but this past weekend should have everyone excited and waiting with great anticipation for the second half and pursuit of conference and national tournament glory. Will be checking in with Santa later this week so we can see who is on his naughty and nice list entering the holiday season.
Valtteri Piironen (right) embraces Tyriq Outen (left) after LIU’s 3-2 win against Vermont on Friday night (photo: LIU Athletics).
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Minnesota blanks Michigan twice
The sentence “Michigan was shut out on back-to-back nights” isn’t very common in the English language. In fact, the last time that happened in a series was way, WAY back in January of 1943, when the Gophers’ Mack Thayer made 80 saves to shut out the Wolverines.
This past weekend, two goalies helped share the load for the Gophers, who are now 8-0 in the Big Ten and have won six straight since losing to Bemidji State on Nov. 16. On Friday, Nathan Airey earned his first collegiate shutout with 32 saves in a 6-0 win. And on Saturday, Liam Souliere got in on the action, with 22 saves in a 2-0 win.
2. WMU takes four points from Denver in epic series split
Western Michigan came within 64 seconds of an outright sweep of defending national champion Denver.
Instead, the Pioneers’ Samu Salminen scored late in Saturday night’s game to tie it up and Carter King netted the overtime game-winner to help Denver escape with two points in the series. However, it was WMU who earned the majority of the points and stayed atop the NCHC standings.
The Broncos beat the Pioneers 3-2 on Friday night, getting goals from Tim Washe, Matteo Costantini and Zack Sharp to earn the win. The Broncos, now 10-3-1, now go into Christmas break with a four-point lead on second-place Arizona State in the NCHC standings and will return to action Dec. 29 in the Great Lakes Invitational.
3. Providence sweeps CC as Leaman bests Mayotte
Coming into the weekend, the big storyline for the Providence-Colorado College matchup revolved around the programs’ head coaches. Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte was an assistant coach at Providence under Nate Leaman from 2014-2019.
After this weekend’s results, it seems that, at least for now, the mentor has bested the mentee. Providence beat Colorado College 4-3 and 5-1, as the Friars extended their winning streak to five. Nine different players scored for Providence on the weekend, while Taige Harding had four assists for the Friars in Saturday’s game.
Providence, who is 4-1-0 against NCHC teams this year, is off for the holidays and returns for the Ledyard Bank Classic Dec. 28. Colorado College returns to action next week against rivals Denver.
4. Dartmouth drops a pair for first time this season
A pair of 3-2 decisions went the wrong way for Dartmouth this weekend.
The Big Green, who started the season on a five-game win streak, dropped a pair of road games to St. Lawrence and Clarkson this past weekend, dropping to 6-3-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in ECAC play. On Friday, Dartmouth outshot St. Lawrence 31-19 but the Saints’ Mason Kucenski was the difference-maker in the game with 29 saves. On Saturday, Clarkson’s Ayrton Martino scored the game winner late in the third period to give the Golden Knights the victory.
The Big Green have one more game before the holiday break, and it should be a big one – a contest against in-state rival New Hampshire on Friday.
5. Colgate earns hard-fought split with Cornell
Elsewhere in the ECAC, there’s a little surprise: Colgate is sitting atop the league standings.
The Raiders, 8-8-2 overall and 5-2-1 in conference play, earned four of six points this weekend from Cornell to stay on top of second-place Quinnipiac.
On Friday night in Ithaca, the Raiders went up 2-0 with goals in the first two periods but let the Big Red back into it. Ryan Walsh’s power-play goal midway through the third period tied it at 2-2; Charlie Major won it for Cornell in overtime. On Saturday in Hamilton, the Raiders made sure not to let that happen, winning 6-3. The Raiders took a 3-1 lead late in the second period before two goals from Ondrej Psenicka, one seconds before the second period ended and the second just 1:42 into the third, tied it up at 3-3. However, the Big Red took a major penalty a minute later, and the Raiders took full advantage. Michael Neumeier and Reid Irwin scored on the man advantage 39 seconds apart to give Colgate a 5-3 lead, then Max Nagel put it away late in the period with an empty-netter.
Colgate is now off until Jan. 10, when they will host Long Island in nonconference action.
6. North Dakota fends off Miami to sweep in Oxford
North Dakota had to dig deep this weekend against Miami. In both games, Miami gave North Dakota fits, but ultimately the Fighting Hawks fended off the RedHawks both nights and escaped Oxford with a sweep.
On Friday night, Miami led 4-2 after two periods but UND scored three times in the third period to win 5-4. Ten different UND players recorded at least a point, including Sacha Boisvert–who scored the game-winner with 23 seconds left and also recorded an assist in the first period. In Saturday’s game, UND went up 2-0 early but Miami answered in the second period to tie it up going into the third period. Once again, the Fighting Hawks broke out in the final 20 minutes. Jackson Kunz, who netted a goal on Friday, scored the eventual game winner just three minutes into the third, then Jayden Perron gave UND some insurance five minutes later.
The Fighting Hawks, now 9-7-1 overall, host St. Cloud State this weekend to close out the first half of the season.
7. Sacred Heart, Bentley keep pace atop AHA standings
Sacred Heart completed a five-point weekend, and combined with Bentley’s four-point series, helped the Pioneers maintain a two-point lead in the Atlantic Hockey America standings this weekend.
The Pioneers, who are now 8-5-2 in AHA play, beat Canisius 4-2 on Friday behind a pair of goals by Reid Pabich. On Saturday the Griffins rallied from a 3-1 deficit to the the game but the Pioneers ultimately won the shootout 3-2. Bentley, meanwhile, also won 4-2 on Friday night, besting Mercyhurst behind two goals by Ethan Leyh. However, Saturday night’s game finished 2-2 and the Lakers took the extra point in the shootout.
The Pioneers have 29 points as the teams break for the holidays, with Bently sitting at 27. Niagara is in third with 27.
8. Minnesota State takes five points from BGSU, extends unbeaten streak to nine
When Minnesota State opened its CCHA schedule on Nov. 1 against longtime rivals Bemidji State, it did so in inauspicious fashion: a 1-0 shutout loss on the road.
Since then, however, it’s been all gas, no breaks for the Mavericks. They haven’t lost in regulation since.
On Saturday night, the Mavericks completed a five-point sweep of Bowling Green and extended their unbeaten streak to nine. MSU beat BGSU 4-1 on Friday thanks to a 20-save effort from Alex Tracy then dispatched the Falcons 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night when Rhett Pitlick scored twice, including the game winner in overtime.
This weekend’s results extended MSU’s unbeaten streak to nine games; they haven’t lost since that game in Bemidji in November and have been taken to a shootout twice (a win against St. Thomas and a loss to Northern Michigan).
9. UMass tops BU
UMass started its home-and-home series with Boston University on the perfect note.
The Minutemen blanked the Terriers 4-0 on Saturday night in Boston. Sophomore goaltender Michael Hrabal stopped all 32 shots he faced for UMass. Daniel Jenčko, Lucas Olvestad and Kenny Connors all scored on the power play for the Minutemen, while Ryan Lautenbach also scored. Lucas Mercuri also had four helpers for UMass, which improves to 8-6-2 overall.
BU, which is now 8-6-1 overall, hadn’t lost to the Minutemen at home since Feb. 1, 2019. The teams will head to Amherst for the series finale on Wednesday.
10. LIU splits with Vermont
Long Island has been one of the feel-good stories of the college hockey season so far.
The Sharks kept some of that going this weekend, splitting with Vermont and climbing up to No. 21 in the PairWise Rankings in the process.
On Friday, what was a night game going into the third period got interesting early, with Onni Leppänen broke a 1-1 tie just more than a minute into the final frame. Andrius Kulbis-Marino added the Sharks third goal on an empty-netter late in the period, but Max Strand helped the Catamounts get one back with a minute to go in the game. Tyriq Outen, who made 30 saves, helped the Sharks keep their lead with the extra attacker. On Saturday, however, Vermont won a wild 7-4 game. The teams combined for five goals in the first period and Austin Brimmer scored twice for LIU, but Thimas Sinclair likewise scored twice for Vermont to help the Catamounts hold on for the win.
The Sharks, now 8-6-1, take on fellow independent Stonehill next weekend to close out the first half of their season.
The Badgers took advantage of an early penalty with a goal from KK Harvey to go up 1-0 just two minutes into the game on Friday. But the Mavericks pushed back on the Badgers, ultimately outshooting them 24-23 over the game and keeping the nation’s top offense in check. Wisconsin showed off their skills in transition with some tic-tac-toe passing that led to Kirsten Simms scoring five minutes into the second to make it a 2-0 game. MSU’s Madison Mashuga continued her hot streak, scoring on the power play late in the second to make it a 2-1 game. But Minnesota State could not find the back of the net in the third and Wisconsin held off a bit of a score from the Mavericks for the win. On Saturday, the Badgers seemed to have reset and they looked a bit more like the top team in the country. Maggie Scannell opened the scoring finishing a play that started with a long pass from Katie Kotlowski that sprung Scannell alone into the zone to make it 1-0. Edwards doubled the lead near the end of the first after a turnover to make it 2-0 at the intermission. Harvey showed off her vision in the second as she held the puck between the circles and found a perfect lane to send the puck bar down and make it a 3-0 game. O’Brien lit the lamp 25 seconds into the third on a power play odd-player rush and Scannell added her second of the game on the power play later in the period to secure a 5-0 win and weekend sweep for Wisconsin.
(3) Minnesota at St. Thomas
The Gophers were dominant on Saturday as Abbey Murphy tallied two goals and three assists to lead Minnesota to a 5-0 win. Josefin Bouveng had the lone goal in the first and Nelli Laitenen’s assist on the tally was her 50th point as a Gopher. Bouveng scored again, this time on the power play, midway through the second and that seemed to really open things up for Minnesota. Murphy scored two goals in a row shortly after to make it 4-0 at the second intermission. Chloe Primerano scored her second goal of the season in the third to secure the 5-0 win. It was freshman goalieHannah Clark’s first career shutout. In the second game, it took half the first period for the teams to really ramp up, but then things happened quickly. Peyton Hemp put Minnesota up 1-0, but Rylee Bartz replied for St. Thomas to make it a 1-1 game. That didn’t last long as 26 seconds later Laitenen put Minnesota ahead 2-1. The Gophers gave themselves some breathing room in the second with goals from Hemp and Sydney Morrow to make it 4-1 after two. Murphy scored early in the third to make it 5-1, but former Gopher Sadie Lindsay replied to make it 5-2. The Tommies could not mount more of a comeback and Primerano added a power play goal with 1.6 seconds left in the game to secure the 6-2 win and weekend sweep for Minnesota.
(4) Minnesota Duluth at (8) St. Cloud State
In the first game, Alice Sauriol gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead early in the first and they would hold that for 40 minutes as Sanni Ahola made 34 saves in the game. Olivia Wallin fed Olivia Mobley from behind the net and Mobley tied the game early in the third. The teams could not find a winner through overtime. In the shootout, Ève Gascon made all three saves and Mobley scored the only goal to give the Bulldogs the extra league point. On Saturday, Sauriol and Taylor Larson forced a turnover at the blue line and took off in transition. Sauriol’s shot was saved, but the rebound came right to Larson, who put it back to give St. Cloud the 1-0 lead. As with the first game, that lead would hold for more than 40 minutes into the third. It was once again Mobley, who grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and skated through the defense to score short-handed and tie the game 1-1 four minutes into the third. With under four minutes to play, Clara Van Wieren picked up the puck in her own defensive end and weaved through traffic before unleashing a shot just past the blue line that beat Ahola to give Minnesota Duluth their first lead of the weekend. Mary Kate O’Brien added an empty-netter to secure the 3-1 win.
Dartmouth at (6) Clarkson
The Big Green gave Clarkson all they could handle on Friday night and this game was tied into the third period. Dartmouth opened the scoring with their first shot of the game as Lauren Messier took a deflection off a Golden Knights player and put it in the back of the net. That seemed to shake Clarkson up and they quickly responded with goals from Anne Cherkowski and Raedyn Spademan a minute apart to make it a 2-1 game for the home team. Sena Catterall’s power play goal early in the second extended the lead to 3-1. Dartmouth started to push back through the second and found purchase late when Meredith Jensen’s shot from the blue line made it through traffic to the back of the net to make it 3-2. Four minutes into the third, the Big Green capitalized on a power play as Laura Fuoco put away a loose puck in the crease to tie the game. The tie was short lived as Dartmouth was able to kill a power play, but gave up a goal to Haley Winn just after the penalty expired to give Clarkson the 4-3 advantage. The Big Green had a great opportunity late and pulled the goalie on the power play to have a 6-on-4 advantage, but despite several chances, couldn’t find the back of the net and the Golden Knights got an empty-netter from Jenna Goodwin to secure the 5-3 win.
Harvard at (6) Clarkson
The Golden Knights jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and never looked back as they took a 5-1 win over the Crimson on Saturday. Anne Cherkowski, Baylee Kirwan and Rhea Hicks each scored in the first. Ella Lucia pulled one back for Harvard in the waning seconds of the first to send the teams to the locker room with Clarkson up 3-1. Caroline Goffredo added a goal in the second and Kirwan’s second of the game in the third secured the win for the Golden Knights.
(9) Quinnipiac at Princeton
This battle of the number two offense at Princeton and the number two defense at Quinnipiac went to the Tigers on Saturday. As expected, it was a chess match of back and forth play. After no scoring in the first, Laurence Frenette picked up a puck that slid off Emerson Jarvis’ stick as she drove the net and redirected it into the net. The Bobcat defense did a good job keeping Princeton’s offense in check. The Tigers are averaging nearly 40 shots per game this season, but managed just 22 in this game. Sarah Paul got Princeton on the board early in the third on the power play. As the focus of the play shifted to the goaltender’s right, Paul cheated into open ice at the top of the circles and was free to one-time a pass from Angelina DiGirolamo. In overtime, Doyle left her net to gather a loose puck as Paul chased it down. Doyle’s pass off the boards went to the stick of Princeton’s Jane Kuehl, who showed great vision and patience as she held the puck and crashed toward the far post, passing it behind Doyle and through the crease to a waiting Paul, who tapped it in to give the Tigers the win.
(10) Boston College at Holy Cross
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead early in the first on a power play goal from Sammy Taber that came off the faceoff. Despite outshooting the Crusaders 19-6 in the middle frame, BC could not find the net. After more than 50 minutes of scoreless hockey following the early goal, Holy Cross tied the game as Mackenzie King cleaned up a loose puck during a scrum in front of the net to tie the game 1-1 and force overtime. In the extra frame, Alexia Moreau held the puck in her defensive zone while her teammates switched out and then carried the puck in on her own and wristed the puck into the net to end the game. The victory gave Holy Cross their first ever series win over Boston College as the teams had split their previous two meetings.
Harvard at (11) St. Lawrence
After a back and forth first frame, the Saints blew this game open in the second, scoring four consecutive goals to take a 4-0 lead into the third. Abby Hustler opened the scoring with a shot from down low to make it 1-0. Anna Segedi scored on a wraparound to make it 2-0 a few minutes later. Taylor Lum deflected the puck in to make it 3-0 and Alexia Côté’s shot to the upper corner closed out the second to give SLU a 4-0 lead. In the final frame, Antonina Dinges got Harvard on the board after a turnover and Sophie Ensley scored with 10.2 seconds left on the clock, but the Crimson ran out of time and St. Lawrence took the 4-2 win.
Dartmouth at (11) St. Lawrence
Tori Verbeek completed a pretty passing play at the end of the first to give St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Sarah Thompson redirected the puck in the second to extend the Saints’ lead to 2-0. Emma-Sofie Nordström recorded her fourth shutout of the season to help SLU to the 2-0 win and weekend sweep.
(12) Penn State at Mercyhurst
It was a streaky game on Friday. After a scoreless first period, Maddy Christian scored twice for Penn State in the middle of the second to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead. Mercyhurst replied with a goal from Makayla Javier with three minutes to go in the first and a power play goal from Julia Schalin in the opening minute of the third to tie the game 2-2. But PSU responded quickly as Grace Outwater scored to make it 3-2 and Tessa Janecke added an insurance goal late to secure the 4-2 win. On Saturday, Alyssa Machado opened the scoring midway through the first, putting back a rebound to give Penn State the 1-0 lead. The Lakers tied the game later in the first as Kylee Mahoney took the puck nearly end to end to make it 1-1. In the second, Janecke sniped a goal to make it 2-1, but with 29 seconds left in the period, Mahoney scored her second with a rip from the top of the circles to tie the game once more. Janecke scored the game winner in the third, taking a turnover on a breakaway and beating the goalie to give the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead they’d hold until the final buzzer.
(14) Yale at Union
Gracie Gilkyson ripped a shot from the blue line in the first to give Yale a 1-0 lead. Anna Bargman doubled the lead in the first minute of the second. Maddie Suitor cut into the lead for Union with a power play goal late in the second to make it 2-1. Emma McGowan scored her first career goal, cleaning up a loose puck in the third to make it 3-1 and secure the win for the Bulldogs.
(14) Yale at RPI
The Bulldogs skated to a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to a shorthanded goal from Carina D’Antonio. With under four to play in the opening frame, Nyah Phillips scored on a two-on-one break with Georgia Bailey to tie the game 1-1 heading into the first intermission. The Engineers were fired up heading into the second and scoring twice in the opening three minutes. Taryn Rathwell scored her first career goal 1:45 into the frame before Sabrina Beaudoin tucked the puck home just 31 seconds later to give RPI the 3-1 lead. Reese Keating made 18 of her 39 saves in the third to keep Yale off the board and the Engineers earned their 11th win of the first half. It’s the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Engineers have won 11 of their first 19 games.
(15) Connecticut at Maine
Special teams were crucial in this game. UConn outshot the Black Bears 19-10 in the first period, but the teams headed to the locker room in a scoreless tie. Maine scored first when Adriana Van De Leest let go a wrister from the top of the circles to make it 1-0. They doubled their lead on Frederikke Foss’ first career goal. Van De Leest’s shot off the post was free in the crease and Foss put it back to make it a 2-0 game just past the midpoint. Just a minute later, the Huskies scored a power play of their goal when Jada Habisch found space in front of the net and one-timed a pass from Kyla Josifovic. Connecticut tied the game just before intermission when Riley Grimley was able to pick up an errant pass and go in alone on net to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third. UConn took their first lead of the game just 12 seconds into the third off the opening faceoff as Livvy Dewar hit Christina Walker in stride and Walker was in alone on net to make it 3-2. Maine forced overtime late when the puck deflected off a player and landed at the stick of Lily Fetch, who did not miss. Maine took a penalty for too many players on the ice with 1:19 left in regulation. They were able to get the game to overtime, but with the extra player in the extra frame, Ava Rinker was able to send a pass through the crease to Josifovic, who put it away from one knee to give UConn the 4-3 OT win.
Trevor Connelly (16) scored for Providence in the Friars’ 4-3 win Friday night at home over Colorado College (photo: Providence Athletics).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of Dec. 2 fared in games over the weekend of Dec. 6-7.
No. 1 Michigan State (12-2-0)
12/06/2024 – No. 1 Michigan State 0 at Wisconsin 4
12/07/2024 – No. 1 Michigan State 3 at Wisconsin 2 (OT)
No. 2 Denver (13-3-0)
12/06/2024 – No. 2 Denver 2 at No. 7 Western Michigan 3
12/07/2024 – No. 2 Denver 3 at No. 7 Western Michigan 2 (OT)
No. 3 Boston College (11-3-1)
12/04/2024 – RV Connecticut 1 at No. 3 Boston College 2 (OT)
12/06/2024 – No. 3 Boston College 3 at No. 14 UMass Lowell 3 (OT)
For the first time since 1943, No. 4 Minnesota shutout No. 6 Michigan on back-to-back nights, completing the weekend sweep with a 2-0 blanking of the Wolverines (Photo: Jim Rosvold)
Certainly Michigan, one of the nation’s top college hockey programs, doesn’t get shutout on back-to-back nights too often. Well, the last time that rival Minnesota did that, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president.
Eighty-one years after, the No. 4 Gophers once again completed that feat, shutting down the No. 6 Wolverines for the second-straight night, 2-0, blanking a Michigan team that two weekends ago scored 16 goals in two games against Penn State.
The year was 1943 the last time Minnesota whitewashed a weekend with the Wolverines. After Saturday’s 6-0 victory, Saturday required a first-period goal from Sam Rinzel on the power play and an empty-net tally by Jimmy Snuggerud for the decisive weekend sweep.
The top-ranked Spartans rallied from 2-0 down and Isaac Howard scored with 2:00 remaining in overtime to help Michigan State split the weekend series at Wisconsin, 3-2.
Wisconsin still earns four-of-six points on the weekend against the nation’s newly-minted No. 1 team after Friday’s 4-0 victory.
The Badgers seemingly were writing a similar script to Friday early in the rematch. Owen Lindmark gave Wisconsin a 1-0 lead on the power play with 3:42 remaining in the first and Christian Fitzgerald extended that advantage at 3:16 of the second.
Michigan State finally struck on the power play in the second when Charlie Stramel, a transfer from Wisconsin, scored in the building he used to call home.
Joey Larson knotted the game at 2:24 of the third to set up Howard’s heroics.
Massachusetts 4, No. 11 Boston University 0
UMass took advantage of a penalty-plagued game by No. 11 Boston University, scoring three times on the power play to post a 4-0 shutout of the Terriers to win the opening game of a two-game home-and-home series.
They two clubs will faceoff again in Amherst on Wednesday.
Boston University was whistled for 46 minutes worth of penalties, including majors to both Cole Hutson and Brandon Svoboda. The Svoboda major proved most costly for the Terriers, who allowed two power play goals during the five minutes at the end of the second period to give UMass a 3-0 lead.
Daniel Jencko, Lucas Olvestad and Kenny Connors all notched power play tallies for the Minutemen and Ryan Lautenbach, who gave UMass the 1-0 lead early in the first, scored what turned out to be the game-winner.
Michael Hrabel earned the shutout by making 32 saves.
No. 20 Clarkson 3, No. 13 Dartmouth 2
It was a lost weekend for No. 13 Dartmouth, which followed up a loss at home on Friday against St. Lawrence with another defeat at the hands of No. 20 Clarkson, 3-2. Dartmouth has now lost three straight games after staring the season 5-0-1.
Clarkson finished its ECAC weekend with back-to-back wins having defeated Harvard, 4-3, on the road on Friday.
The Golden Knights never trailed on Saturday jumping to leads of 1-0 on Tristan Sarsland’s goal at 12:01 of the first and a 2-1 advantage when Ellis Rickwood scored at 9:45 of the second.
Dartmouth drew even late in the middle frame when Hayden Stavroff scored.
But Aryton Martino’s goal with 2:55 remaining in regulation was the game-winning goal.
Clarkson improves to 5-1-0 in the ECAC and sits just a single point behind first-place Quinnipiac, which posted a pair of 3-1 victories over Rensselaer and Union on the weekend.
No. 2 Denver 3, No. 7 Western Michigan 2 (F/OT)
Second-ranked Denver rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 with Samu Salminen tying the game with 1:06 remaining in regulation and Carter King netting the overtime game-winner as the Pioneers avoided a weekend sweep in Kalamazoo with a 3-2 victory.
Western Michigan won in regulation on Friday, 3-2, thus taking four of the six NCHC league points against the defending national champions over the weekend.
Alex Bump and Grant Slukynsky tallied for the Broncos while Zeev Buium had the remaining goal for Denver.
From left, Ryan Leonard, Michael Hage, Kaidan Mbereko, Alex Tracy (photos: Boston College Athletics, Michigan Athletics, Colorado College Athletics, Minnesota State Athletics).
The Hockey Commissioners Association has announced its monthly men’s honors for November.
Boston College sophomore forward Ryan Leonard is the player of the month, Michigan forward Michael Hage is rookie of the month, and Colorado College junior Kaidan Mbereko and Minnesota State junior Alex Tracy are co-goaltenders of the month.
While playing the hardest schedule in the NCAA, Leonard led the country in goals (8), game-winning goals (4), and shots on net (52), while powering the Eagles to a 7-2-0 record. His 13 points were second in the nation and he was third with a plus-nine rating. No player in Hockey East had more goals, points, or game-winning goals.
Hage led all rookies in the nation with 1.43 PPG as the Wolverines went 7-1, playing against ranked squads, including Boston University and Western Michigan. Had the game winner vs. WMU.
Mbereko averaged 28 saves per game in a 5-2-1 month for No. 8 CC. Had a .941 save percentage and 1.71 GAA.
Tracy had great numbers of 1.23 and .955 while averaging 26.5 saves per game. Allowed zero or one goal in six of eight games. Had 43 saves in only loss in the month (1-0 at Bemidji State).
From left, Issy Wunder, Mackenzie Alexander, Lisa Jönsson and Ava McNaughton (photos: Princeton Athletics, Northeastern Athletics, Wisconsin Athletics).
The Hockey Commissioners Association has announced its monthly women’s honors for November.
Princeton junior forward Issy Wunder is the player of the month, Princeton forward Mackenzie Alexander is rookie of the month, and Northeastern junior Lisa Jönsson and Wisconsin sophomore Ava McNaughton are co-goaltenders of the month.
Wunder racked up a phenomenal 12-10-22 line in nine games (2.44 PPG) for the Tigers. Keyed a 4-3 win over No. 5 Colgate with 1-1-2 and finished the month with a five-goal effort at Stonehill.
Alexander went 5-17-22 in nine games, going 3-5-8 in four games against top-15 opponents. Had six assists in final game at Stonehill.
Jönsson went 4-1 with numbers of .980 and 0.60, with three games against ranked opponents. Currently leads the nation with .964 and 1.01 on the year.
McNaughton’s line: 6-1, 1.20, .956. Includes two shutouts against No. 8 St. Cloud State and a 31-save, 4-2 win at No. 2 Ohio State.
Wisconsin players mob Owen Mehlenbacher after his goal Friday night on home ice against Michigan State (photo: Wisconsin Athletics).
Down goes No 1.
Wisconsin used a 26-save shutout from goaltender Tommy Scarfone to help defeat top-ranked Michigan State 4-0 Friday night at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.
Quinn Finley scored twice for the Badgers, while Owen Mehlenbacher and Tyson Dyck also scored.
Western Michigan took a 3-0 lead into the third period and while Denver scored twice in the final stanza, the Broncos held on for a 3-2 win at Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Girts Silkalns also scored for UMass Lowell and Beni Halasz made 16 saves between the pipes.
Andre Gasseau, Mike Posma and Gabe Perreault netted the BC goals and Jacob Fowler stopped 26 shots in goal.
No. 4 Minnesota 6, No. 6 Michigan 0
Matthew Wood scored two goals and goaltender Nathan Airey stopped all 32 shots he faced as Minnesota shut out Michigan 6-0 at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn.
Jimmy Snuggerud, Aaron Huglen, August Falloon and Connor Kurth added goals for the Gophers.
Michigan netminders Logan Stein and Cameron Korpi made 33 saves.
Omaha 4, No. 9 St. Cloud State 3 (OT)
Sam Stange was the overtime hero for Omaha, scoring at 1:48 of extra time to lift the Mavericks to a 4-3 win over St. Cloud State from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
Jack O’Leary and Ryan Walsh also scored for Cornell and Ian Shane made eight saves in goal for the Big Red.
For the Raiders, Brett Chorske and Ryan Spinale scored and goalie Andrew Takacs finished with 28 stops in the Colgate crease.
St. Lawrence 3, No. 13 Dartmouth 2
Nicholas Beneteau’s goal at 4:41 of the third period stood as the game winner as St. Lawrence held on for a 3-2 win over Dartmouth at Thompson Arena in Hanover, N.H.
Adam Eisele, Brian Carrabes, Luke Ashton and Kaden Bohlsen scored for the Mavericks and goalie Alex Tracy made 20 saves.
Adam Zlnka scored for the Falcons and Cole Moore finished with 20 saves of his own in the Bowling Green net.
No. 16 North Dakota 5, Miami 4
North Dakota got third-period goals from Cody Croal (14:37), Jayden Perron (18:17) and Sacha Boisvert (19:37) to complete the comeback and down Miami 5-4 at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.
Jackson Kunz and Dalton Andrew added goals for the Fighting Hawks and TJ Semptimphelter made 13 saves in goal.
For the RedHawks, Raimonds Vitolins, Ryan Sullivan, Johnny Waldron and Michael Feenstra scored and Ethan Dahlmeir and Bruno Bruveris combined on a 33-save effort between the pipes.
No. 17 Ohio State 4, Penn State 2
Four different players scored for Ohio State as the Buckeyes took a 4-2 win over Penn State at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Cullen Potter, Ryan Alexander and Sam Court also scored for ASU with Luke Pavicich making 35 saves in goal.
Dominic James posted a pair of goals for UMD, Max Plante added a goal, and Klayton Knapp and Zach Sandy combined on a 23-save performance in goal for the Bulldogs.
No. 20 Clarkson 4, Harvard 3
Ayrton Martino scored two goals and Ethan Langenegger made 25 saves as Clarkson edged Harvard 4-3 at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Boston, Mass.
