This means, barring a last-minute long-shot reprieve, this season will be the final one in Atlantic Hockey for the Yellow Jackets, who won four regular-season titles from 2019 to 2022 and enjoyed three playoff championships/NCAA appearances in 2019, 2021, and 2022. The 2019 team upset St. Cloud State, the No. 1 team in the nation, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
AIC came within one win of another playoff title last season, clearly the sign of a successful program.
But due to what the school’s administration euphemistically called “Pathways to Progress,” it was decided that the resources allocated to running a Division I hockey program would be better used elsewhere.
It was shocking news for coach Eric Lang, his staff and his players.
When Lang shared the news with his team, he made them a promise.
“When we first got the awful news, we had a team meeting,” said Lang. “I said to them, ‘I will place every single one of you. You have my word on that.'”
But Lang realized that it would take more than phone calls to accomplish that.
“We’re not having a great season for a lot of reasons,” he said. “Some of the guys are having down years and maybe not feeling confident about their future.”
Another consideration was the plight of players in the portal and the changes happening in college hockey like admitting CHL players, potential roster reductions as a result of the House vs. NCAA settlement, and the fact that many players in the portal don’t have a strong resume.
“Some guys in the portal haven’t played a lot,” said Lang. “Some have, but a lot of players were only playing five or six minutes a game and playing it safe and conservative because they want to stay in the lineup.
“It would be great to get 70 or 80 kids who are in the portal and put them all under one roof, showcase their abilities.”
Thus was born the Men’s College Hockey Transfer Showcase, to be held at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, Conn., on April 5-6.
“It kind of happened organically,” said Lang, who conceived of and is organizing the event. “The feedback is unbelievable. The momentum and traction has been great. We’ve got college hockey coaches coming and some prominent coaches helping to run it.
“We’re planning on four teams but could go as high as six teams, which would be great.”
Lang says that seeing and talking to the players in person can be crucial to finding a good match for both parties.
“When you’re looking at a kid in the portal, you’re usually doing everything over video and then they show up on campus,” said Lang. “This is a chance to look guys in the eye and get a better understand of what they are looking for.”
Lang said he’s focusing on getting this showcase off the ground, but is open to having more, including in other parts of the country.
“Right now, we want to do as good a job as possible at one location,” he said. “But if things work out, we can do more to make the travel easier for players in the midwest.”
Besides finding his and other players a home there’s the matter of ending this final season in the best way possible.
“There’s no script or playbook to coach under this devastating news,” he said. “We’re hoping for a ‘Major League’ ending, but we’re facing a lot of challenges.”
And Lang also needs to find himself a home. With the success he’s had at AIC, that shouldn’t be a problem.
“My personal goal is to continue to coach Division I hockey,” he said. “We’ll see what’s next.”
Oswego is among teams scoring in bunches since the turn of the New Year and will look for more in a key SUNYAC game with Cortland this weekend (Photo by Taylor Streiff)
The battles for conference supremacy begin in earnest this week as virtually every game has implications in the standings up and down the conference slates. While some of the leaders might have a false sense of security based on the current point spreads, no team is taking anything for granted with the number of weekends dwindling down to just a handful and approximately ten games remaining for everyone. Wins matter and points matter and both can lead to some needed tie-breaker scenarios that may help teams come playoff time – if you are thinking the games feel like playoff intensity already, you and the coaches probably are in agreement across the board.
Last week my picks finished at 8-4-0 (.667) which frankly was a bit on the disappointing side. Win streaks are fickle these days so the teams on them should cherish the momentum and still strive for better because everyone else is too. Overall, my season numbers are now 78-41-6 (.648) which now means that I need to build some momentum and trust my instincts among picks that can find the emerging hot teams. Here are this week’s game picks for the east:
Thursday, January 23, 2024
Plymouth State v. Anna Maria
The AmCats are the conference newcomers and coming off a pair of big wins last week to build some momentum into this critical matchup with the unbeaten Panthers in MASCAC play. Tight confines for the home team guarantees the physical part of the game and probably the power plays that come with some frequent penalty calls. Visitors will look to show why they are unbeaten and special teams lead the way – PSU, 5-4
Westfield State v. Massachusetts-Dartmouth
The Corsairs lost a lot of goals with the departure of Collin Patterson to Utica but Tyler Stewart and company seem to have picked up the slack and find a way to score just enough for an important win over the Owls on home ice – UMD, 4-3
Friday, January 24, 2024
Wilkes v. Alvernia
The MAC standings leaders have struggled since returning from the semester break and will need to re-kindle their play from the first half if they want to keep the top seed and regular season title. Can’t sweep a weekend if you don’t win on Friday so look for some urgency from the Colonels who eke out a one-goal road win – Wilkes, 3-2
(12) University of New England v. Wentworth
The Nor’easters are among the top three in the standings and will want to keep the pressure on both Endicott and Curry for all those scoreboard watchers out there. Ryan Kuzmich has been a leader on the scoresheet scoring some important goals for the visitors who benefit from his skill sets late in this tightly contested affair – UNE, 4-2
Norwich v. (1) Hobart
The Cadets have won four in a row but somehow that pales in comparison to the 39 in a row for the Statesmen who will be very focused at home in “The Cooler.” Really tough to score against Hobart and whether it is Beaver or Goyer in goal the task is too much for the visiting team – Hobart, 3-0
Amherst v. (9) Hamilton
The Continentals play the second half of their travel partner games this weekend at home after four wins in two weekends away from their own rink. The students should be back and the atmosphere helps the talented Continentals score early to outpace the Mammoth in a fast-paced NESCAC battle – Hamilton, 5-2
Keene State v. Buffalo State
Technically it is a home game for the Bengals but playing at the Riverworks in the late afternoon means the teams better be focused on the action on the ice and not the views of the river so readily available form the venue. The Owls will bring some intensity to this non-conference matchup but the home team will look to rebound from last week’s loss to Hobart at home. ENG seals a nice win – Buffalo State, 5-3
Saturday, January 25, 2025
(2) Utica v. Nazareth
The Golden Flyers will wonder who made the schedule up as they face Utica for a pair of games after facing Geneseo last week. Nazareth is tough at home and Logan Tobias keeps the home team close but unfortunately, a goal short to the Pioneers – Utica, 3-2
St. Anselm v. Assumption
The hawks have been scoring in bunches which had been the calling card for the Greyhounds until recently. Expect a lot of offense in this one in a game that goes back and forth right through and including overtime where Luke Linart gives the Hawks a big conference win – St. Anselm, 6-5
Albertus Magnus v. Salve Regina
These two teams are new competitors in the NEHC and both would like to build some momentum into the final stretch run for playoff position. The Falcons have been rolling lately and continue to build on their strong wins against Babson last weekend with a one-goal win over the Seahawks – Albertus Magnus, 3-2
Oswego v. (15) Cortland
TAKE TWO – This time there is no charity game; no neutral site and no lack of SUNYAC points available as was the case just a week ago in a non-conference game in Skaneateles. Red Dragons need to get things going at home and no better opponent than Oswego to motivate a solid 60-minute effort. Nate Berke scores late in the third period for the win – Cortland, 4-3
Johnson & Wales v. (7) Curry
The Wildcats should not be taken lightly by the Colonels who will need the usual goaltending from Shane Soderwall and some timely goals from Killian Rowlee and Eelis Laaksonen for a nice CNE win – Curry, 4-1
Lots of games to like this week across all the conferences in action. Expecting some upsets of course but also looking for the cream to rise to the top as the best teams show why they are so consistently good – “Drop the Puck!”
Quinn Finley has scored 18 goals this season for the Badgers (photo: Wisconsin Athletics).
“There’s a real piece to sophomore slumps.”
That’s the way that Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings began to answer a question in his weekly press conference about Badgers forward Quinn Finley, who most decidedly is not experiencing that stereotypical setback.
After a 10-goal rookie campaign, Finley leads Wisconsin with 18 goals and 15 assists, and the sophomore is tied with Michigan State’s Isaac Howard for most goals per game nationally (.75).
Finley and linemates Gavin Morrissey at center and Ryan Mosley on the right wing have accounted for 38 of Wisconsin’s 75 total goals this season. The trio has a mix of experience and new energy – Mosley is a graduate student transfer from Michigan Tech and Morrissey is a freshman – that has helped the Badgers weather some rocky patches this season. The three have also combined for 12 of Wisconsin’s 20 power-play goals, seven of those scored by Finley.
Finley’s escape of the sophomore slump is something that Hastings attributes to the player himself, singling out “the work that Quinn put in this last summer, his personal expectations for himself, his consistency on the practice rink and the weight room.”
When Finley returned for his second season, said Hastings, “I thought confidence was oozing out of him no matter where he was at.”
Hastings added that he’s not surprised that Finley, who’s registered at least a point in all but four of the 24 games he’s played this season, returned ready to go from the start.
“I’m appreciative of all the work he put in and utilizing everything we have here at the university to help make himself better,” said Hastings, “but the one ingredient in that we don’t get to be a part of is the effort and the attitude that he’s put into it, so I’m happy for him having the success that he has.”
He added that Finley is “a guy who’s more worried about what’s out the windshield than what’s in the rearview mirror.”
That very Midwestern looking-through-the-windshield line applies to the entire Wisconsin team, too, as it struggles to reach the level of success it did last year. That sophomore slump thing feels an awful lot like what this Wisconsin team seems to have been fighting all season, collectively, in Hastings’ second year as the Badgers’ head coach, but Hastings is a classic no-rearview-mirrors kind of guy.
“You know, the page turns once you get to January,” said Hastings. “You’ve got people looking towards…a light at the end of the tunnel where it’s getting shorter every week.”
At this point last season, Wisconsin was 10-2-0 in Big Ten play and sitting in second place, four points behind Michigan State. Now as the available track shortens toward the end of January, the Badgers are tied for fourth place in the Big Ten standings with Michigan, the opponent they face at home this weekend. Each team has played 14 games and each has 20 points, a full 12 points behind first-place Michigan State.
Tied for points and conference win percentage (.476), there are some notable differences between the squads. Michigan is the No. 10 team in the country, sitting at 10th in the PairWise Rankings, too, with an overall record of 14-9-1. In Big Ten play, the Wolverines are 8-6-0 with four wins having come in overtime.
Wisconsin is 5-9-0 in B1G games with seven overtime contests and the variety of points that were earned in those. The Badgers are 10-12-0 overall and are 17th in the PairWise. Wisconsin’s PWR has improved this season; in the first half, the Badgers didn’t sit anywhere near the PWR bubble that they inhabit now.
Wisconsin and Michigan split a pair of games in Yost Ice Arena in mid-December, with the Badgers taking the first contest 4-0 and the Wolverines rebounding with a 3-2 overtime victory the following night.
While Hastings isn’t the type to look back, he of course knows the value of learning from the past. In prepping for the Wolverines, Hastings said there will be “a little bit of the old and the new” to view.
“In today’s world with what we can get on video availability, we watch every single game that Michigan’s played, and they can do the same to us,” said Hastings. “So you go and see if anything has changed, anything that really sticks out.”
He said that the Badgers will look at what worked for them that weekend as well as what Michigan’s been doing lately to succeed.
Hastings said that in the second half, the Badgers are “worried about ourselves and trying to get to our game as quick as possible while we give the respect that’s definitely due to Michigan and what they do.”
One thing the Badgers want to do is break a pattern of second-night setbacks. Last weekend at home, Wisconsin beat Long Island 6-3 Friday while Saturday’s game was a 2-2 tie with the Sharks coming from behind twice to tie the game. Dating back to the end of November, the Badgers are 5-1-0 in first games of two-game sets and 1-3-2 the following night.
Hastings says that it’s part of “human nature” to be “a little satisfied” after a good first game while perhaps forgetting that the team that lost that game is “a little irritated” and brings more the second night.
“For us,” said Hastings, “it’s growing in that maturation process of understanding immediacy, what’s going on right now and deal with that, and then understand [that] once that’s over, you put it in a box and it’s gone and go back to what it is in your daily.”
Hastings said the Badgers are looking forward to playing this rematch with Michigan at home for a number of reasons, including have the crowd on their side when the momentum swings in a game.
“And then just the benefit of [something] which we need to take care of and take advantage of is sleeping in your own bed at night and not getting on a plane and going somewhere and sleeping in a hotel room,” said Hastings.
The Badgers are 4-6-2 at home this season.
“We’ve got to make this place a difficult place to play,” said Hastings. “This year, at times we’ve done that and at times we haven’t.”
For what it’s worth, Finley and Mosley each had goals against Michigan in Wisconsin’s shutout win, and Morrissey had the goal that sent the Saturday game to OT.
Friday’s game between the Wolverines and Badgers begins at 7:00 p.m. CT. Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. puck drop will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
New Hampshire has struggled at times this season but looks to turn it around starting this weekend (photo: Gracie Gagne).
Checking in on a few trends around the league on the eve of CT Ice and a big series between a couple of prominent programs:
— New Hampshire has a big problem: It can’t score.
The Wildcats have lost four straight by a combined score of 15-7 and were held to just one goal on 34 shots in a frustrating 2-1 overtime loss at Boston University on Saturday.
The lack of scoring punch is not lost on coach Mike Souza, who said he’s overall pleased with his team’s effort despite its recent skid.
“We talked a lot about being shovelers, not shooters, making sure we got guys in and around the net,” Souza said. “Hackin’ and whackin’. (It’s) about creating second opportunities in and around the goal. (If) those chances weren’t there, I’d be more concerned, but I’m optimistic and have a lot of confidence in my team. And I think that the kids have confidence in themselves.”
UNH, currently No. 18 in the USCHO men’s D-I poll and No. 16 in the PairWise, is last in Hockey East with a 2-7-2 conference record — a stark contrast with its extremely successful non-conference slate, where it went 8-1-1, contributing greatly to its prominent place in the PairWise.
It’s also not lost on Souza that a string of moral victories will do little to get UNH back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.
“Yeah, we played great,” Souza said. “We thought we played a great game (vs. BU) but we scored one goal and didn’t win. So who gives a (expletive)? I think our kids understand that though. And it’s not me dictating that to them all the time.”
The Wildcats will attempt to get back on track this weekend with a pair of home games against Vermont (both games at 7 p.m. on ESPN+).
— It’s been an up-and-down season for Massachusetts, which is just one game over .500 at 11-10-2 overall, and 4-7-2 in conference play, good for ninth place. The Minutemen will be looking for their first series sweep of the season when it hosts independent Alaska-Fairbanks for two games this weekend at the Mullins Center.
“I’ve had to get stern with them a few times, and every time I do, they respond really well,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “So that’s, to me, a positive that the group is unified and they want to do good things.”
Carvel said analytics show the Minutemen are among the top 10 or 12 teams in the country in most categories, except goaltending. While the team’s aggregate save percentage is solid (currently .914), Carvel said UMass lags in the advanced metric of “expected goals” — basically, the actual number of Minutemen goals is below what metrics say it should be.
“So that’s really the only analytic — and it’s probably the most important analytic,” Carvel said. “We’re getting a ton of chances. We need to find ways to score goals. We’re out-chancing teams most every night, and our goaltenders need to make a little more timely saves.”
— Connecticut coach Mike Cavanaugh participated in the Beanpot as an assistant coach at Boston College from 1995 to 2013. As his Huskies prepare to take on Quinnipiac in this weekend’s CT Ice tournament, Cavanaugh said he thinks CT Ice — now in its fifth season — can someday rival the Beanpot in terms of prestige and status.
“I have always said from my years of coaching in the Beanpot and now this tournament, I think it is a great dress rehearsal for what is to come,” Cavanaugh said. “When you are playing in a game when there is a trophy on the line, and it is basically single elimination, it prepares your team to play a little bit differently.”
Sacred Heart and Yale are on the other side of the bracket. This year’s tournament will be held at Sacred Heart’s Martire Family Arena on Friday and Saturday with games at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. each night on SNY. UConn-Quinnipiac will headline the first game Friday.
Quinnipiac is looking for its fourth straight tournament title after thrice defeating UConn in the championship.
— Oh, and BC and BU face off this weekend in a home-and-home series, starting Friday at Agganis Arena and moving down Comm. Ave. for a Saturday night tilt at Silvio O. Conte Forum. Both games will be at 7 p.m. on NESN.
The upcoming series will lack some of the hype surrounding last season’s, which took place the same weekend. The schools at the time were Nos. 1 (BU) and 2 (BC) in the USCHO.com D-I men’s poll for the first time in their storied, decades-long rivalry, and both with identical 16-4-1 overall records.
This year, only the Eagles are in the top 2, at No. 1, while the Terriers enter the weekend ranked a (ho-hum) eighth. It’s the only scheduled matchup of the season between BC and BU, although it could very well serve as a preview of the Beanpot championship game on Feb. 10 and/or the Hockey East final on March 21.
Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini was named the 2024 Hobey Baker Award winner in his freshman season with the Terriers (photo: Jim Rosvold).
It’s Hobey Baker time.
Beginning at 11 a.m. ET today, fan balloting opened for the 2025 Hobey Baker memorial Award.
Awarded annually to college hockey’s top player, the Hobey Baker’s tremendously popular fan voting will run from Jan. 22 until March 9 at midnight.
College hockey fans can cast their vote by going to the voting website.
Follow the prompts to make your selection from this year’s outstanding crop of over 90 college hockey players representing 64 NCAA Division I schools. Spend some additional time to check out the detailed bios on each candidate. Throughout the first phase of voting, video highlights of each of the nominees will be featured on Instagram.
Phase 2 of fan balloting will feature the top 10 Hobey Baker finalists beginning March 19 and closing March 30. The fans’ vote accounts for a percentage of the total ballot in each phase in selecting this year’s award recipient.
Award criteria include candidates exhibiting the exceptional character traits of the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker. A legendary American hero, Baker was a World War I fighter pilot and was known as America’s greatest amateur athlete in his day, excelling at hockey and football at Princeton. Award candidates must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of his team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game. Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.
Key Hobey Baker announcement dates for 2025 include:
— Top 10 list of finalists: March 19
— Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists: April 3
— Hobey Baker Award announcement: April 11
The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced from a field of three Hobey Hat Trick finalists on April 11 during the NCAA Frozen Four championship in St. Louis. The award ceremony will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network and streamed live at hobeybaker.com.
John Emmons scored his first collegiate goal last Saturday night for Miami (photo: Lexie Cunningham).
Miami may be mired in a 14-game losing streak, but first-year RedHawks coach Anthony Noreen is keen to make his team one that nobody will want to face down the stretch.
Better conditioning was evident both of the last two weekends for Miami, even if it didn’t show up on the scoreboard as the RedHawks lost four games to Denver and Omaha by a combined 17-4. Last week, after dropping a 4-1 home decision Friday against UNO, the RedHawks started and ended brighter in a 3-1 defeat to the Mavericks the following night.
“It’s something that we’ve put a major emphasis on here,” Noreen said, of Miami’s conditioning, after Saturday’s game. “It’s been the whole season, but I think we’ve really doubled down on it after the series at UNO (Nov. 22-23, when Miami lost 3-0 and then 8-1 in the rematch) and just made sure we had a long time there with a few amount of games (before the semester break).
“We might not be able to make our group the most skilled group or the most talented group in the country, (but) we think that’s a controllable. We think your conditioning is a controllable, and if it’s a controllable, we have to be elite at it. That’s something we’re going to take a lot of pride in. Both weekends, last weekend and this weekend, right down to the very end, it wasn’t down to a lack of conditioning or legs or effort. Obviously, we just need to get a little bit better execution.”
They certainly had that in the first period of Saturday’s game. The RedHawks controlled most of that period and led 12:37 in on freshman John Emmons’ first collegiate goal. UNO went on to score three unanswered, including two goals in the final minute of the first period, but the teams skated to a scoreless third.
“It’s our job to give (Miami’s players) a plan, and it’s our job to give them a couple adjustments from last night to tonight and present a video session,” Noreen said Saturday, when asked about the RedHawks’ good start to the game. “Everything they did to get that game going from the start was a choice. It had nothing to do with skill, it had everything to do with a mindset and putting the team first and playing connected.
“It was every guy, it was four lines, it was every ‘D’ and I thought that was the majority of the weekend. The majority of the weekend looked like that, where we were connected, we were selfless, we worked, there was a ton of hustle, we had second effort, and you love that. That’s growth.
“We have to eliminate some of the mistakes, and for this group right now, it seems like when there’s a breakdown, there’s a mistake, it goes in the back of the net, and that’s why this game humbles you. We need to build on the good, we need to continue to learn from the bad. I thought we got better from last week to this week, without a doubt.”
Miami’s mettle will certainly be tested this Friday and Saturday at No. 3 Western Michigan. The RedHawks then return home to entertain a surging No. 11 Arizona State team Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
Reed Stark is playing a key role in UW-Superior’s success this season. (Photo provided by UW-Superior Athletics)
Reed Stark has an interesting story to tell when it comes to how he ended up at UW-Superior.
It was late summer, 2021, and he reached out to one of his former coaches about trying to find a place to play at the collegiate level. Fortunately, his former coach happened to be good friends with Yellowjackets coach Rich McKenna.
“He called him up and said, ‘hey, I got this kid that wants to play out west,’” Stark said. “Rich gave me a call, we talked for maybe an hour and then I applied the next day and drove out there. I never toured the school or anything.”
Call it a prayer answered.
“It was a Hail Mary to call my old coach,” Stark said. “The WIAC is a good league and it turned out to be a good fit.”
And he’s never looked back as he has made the most of his opportunities with the Yellowjackets, who are 13-3-1, winners of nine in a row and atop the WIAC standings.
“Everything is clicking at the right time and everyone is playing big,” Stark said. “It’s a fun time to be a Yellowjacket.”
Stark is in his fourth season with Superior and is on track for the best season of his career here.
It’s a welcome sight for Stark, who has battled through some adversity the last two years after finishing second on the team in goals (10) as a freshman.
“It’s been going pretty good,” Stark said. “I’m trying to ride this wave as long as possible, especially after the last two years. “Sophomore year I had covid and moo and missed a good chunk of the year. Last year I pulled a groin week one and played through that. “It’s nice to be healthy and playing well.”
Stark has scored a team-leading nine goals to go along with five assists. He credits his linemates for putting him in a position to succeed.
Justin (Dauphinais) and Daniel Rozsival) are playing great. They are a lot of fun to play with and it makes it easy for me to get opportunities in a game,” Stark said.
Stark is from New York and has always been a hockey player.“My older brother got me into it,” Stark said. “I played a little lacrosse in high school but hockey took over.”
He still returns home in the summer to get work in with a former junior hockey teammate who plays hockey for Providence.
“Logan Will has been my best friend since we were 15 and he stays in New York with me in the summer. We train hard during that time,” Stark said. “It’s really paid off.”
Stark and the Yellowjackets haven’t lost a game since Nov. 30 and the highlight of the run so far has been a championship win in the Codfish Bowl Tournament, the oldest tourney in D-III hockey. Superior was the first team from the west to ever win it.
With the final month of the regular season on the horizon, Stark is looking forward to seeing the Yellowjackets keep things going.
“We just want to keep the Mojo going,” Stark said. “We know the WIAC is tough, but if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll be okay. Everyone believes that. It’s a cool feeling.”
Ryan Ouellette has stepped up as of late in the NMU crease (photo: Northern Michigan Athletics).
Don’t count out Northern Michigan just yet.
Sure, the Wildcats struggled mightily to start the 2024-25 season, but that was to be expected. The coaching change at the end of the spring — Grant Potulny left to coach in the AHL and Dave Shyiak was hired to take his place in June — also caused a massive roster turnover.
Just four players returned from seasons past. Twenty-four Wildcats were new, and most of them didn’t set foot on campus in Marquette until enrolling for school in the fall.
It led to some predictable results. NMU went 1-18-1 in the 2024 portion of the season. Their lone win came Oct. 18 against Alaska Anchorage, while their only conference points were Nov. 16, when they managed to tie Minnesota State and win a shootout.
But it seems that the start of 2025 has given the Wildcats a new outlook, as NMU is 3-1-0 in its last four games. This included an upset win over Minnesota State followed by a series sweep (their first of the season) at Bemidji State.
“I actually think we’ve been playing real well for a while now, but the wins just haven’t been adding up for us,” said NMU freshman forward Ryan Duguay. “It’s nice to finally get those wins now.
“Obviously, at the start of the year, it was a big change for a lot of us. We’re a brand-new group here. So, it took a little while to maybe get used to each other. But for the last probably two, three months, I think we’ve been in every game. We’re competing with every team, from the ones on top all the way down to maybe some not as good teams. And I think we’re putting together some good efforts and just needed to get those wins. They have been adding up lately, so it’s been great.”
Duguay has had a big part in these past few Wildcat wins. The Edmonton native scored all three goals against Minnesota State on Jan. 10, helping the Wildcats earn a 3-2 victory over the nationally-ranked Mavericks. He added another the next night (a 6-1 MSU win) then got yet another this past Saturday–the first goal in a 3-1 win against Bemidji State. In all, Duguay currently leads the Wildcats with six goals on the season.
“I think it was a bit of an adjustment for me,” Duguay said of finding his scoring touch. “You know, it’s a tough level. It took me a little while, but I feel like my conference has finally got up. I usually consider myself a goal scorer, so it was a little hard not being getting a lot of chances at the start of the year, but I’m getting opportunities now, and finally finding my game again. And the wins make it feel a whole lot better.”
It’s been a struggle for the Wildcats to score in general this season–netting just 36 goals in 24 games (1.50 goals per game). However, they’ve been able to keep games close for the most part thanks to the stellar goaltending of Ryan Ouellette. The transfer from Niagara has faced more shots than any other goaltender in the CCHA, and his save percentage is at .922.
“Yeah, he’s been amazing. He’s been the backbone of our team all year long,” Duguay said of his goaltender. “He’s kept us in a lot of games, probably a bit too many at times, because at times we’re not the best in front of him, so it’s always good to trust the goalie back there. He has good games every night.”
So now that the Wildcats are playing their best hockey of the season, it seems like they are finally ready to make a push for a playoff spot. For a long time, it’s looked like they weren’t going to be able to make up any ground on the teams in front of them, but all of a sudden, it looks like there’s an opportunity. Ferris State is just seven points in front of them.
“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole at the start of the year with a lot of the games that we dropped, but we’re finally finding ourselves as a team,” Duguay said. “But we obviously want to make a playoff push. We’re going to keep pushing, keep getting those points back and stringing those wins together.”
Alex DiPaolo recorded a hat trick in a four-point performance, helping Colgate to a 6-4 victory at Princeton last Saturday night (photo: Craig Houtz).
The 2023 NCAA tournament returned ECAC Hockey to one of its highest watermarks in college hockey’s storied history.
Alongside the Big Ten, the conference claimed four of the tournament’s 16 spots and represented a full quarter of the teams entered into the competition for the national championship. Two teams – Quinnipiac and Cornell – advanced out of the first round before the Bobcats advanced to the Frozen Four and national championship games with wins over Ohio State and Michigan.
A third win over the Big Ten cemented their first-ever national championship with a 3-2 overtime victory, but the final four field that included Boston University was a 2-1 loss away from pairing the Big Ten against the Big Red and a second team from the ECAC’s 12-team conference.
Two years later, things are drastically different for the only league untouched by the realignment periods over the last decade. One month remains in college hockey’s regular season, but likelihood and probabilities are increasing that ECAC will become a one-bid league for the first time since 2004. One team sits inside the bubble as of this weekend, but the numbers forcing Quinnipiac closer to the No. 16 slot makes it tougher to predict which league team would earn its way to the national tournament.
With that in mind, this week seemed like a good time to reset the league’s current situation while looking ahead to the last remaining major matchups involving teams in and around the bubble:
The current situation
-No. 14 Quinnipiac is the highest-ranked ECAC team in the Pairwise Rankings. While not an official indicator of the national tournament, the Bobcats are No. 15 in the USCHO.com poll.
-Cornell and Dartmouth are next-best in a tied spot at No. 20, while Clarkson and Colgate share the No. 26 spot in the Pairwise Rankings. No other ECAC team is inside the top 40.
The schedule
For purposes related to mathematics, all rankings moving forward are a team’s current seating in the Pairwise Rankings.
-Quinnipiac plays No. 9 Connecticut in this weekend’s CT Ice Tournament before facing either No. 30 Sacred Heart or No. 53 Yale in Saturday’s consolation/championship round. The Pioneers are the tournament’s host team, so playing UConn and Yale count as neutral site matchups.
-Dartmouth is at Colgate and Cornell, which means the Raiders and Big Red draw No. 42 Harvard on the other end of their weekend matchups with the Big Green.
-Clarkson has a home-and-home with travel partner St. Lawrence, which is tied with Canisius and Northern Michigan for the fourth-lowest spot in the Pairwise Rankings.
Immediate Implications
-Per PlayoffStatus.com, Quinnipiac currently holds a 51% chance of making the national tournament. The Bobcats are the top-ranked team in the league but have the most to gain this weekend because the matchup against ninth-ranked Connecticut is one of the last opportunities to gain a foothold against a better-ranked team. That said, a loss to UConn won’t necessarily damage their Pairwise hopes because the two teams behind Quinnipiac – Minnesota State and New Hampshire – are playing weekend series against No. 56 Ferris State and No. 32 Vermont. They likely won’t gain spots by winning, though No. 17 Wisconsin beating No. 10 Michigan wouldn’t hellp, either.
-A bigger issue for Quinnipiac is based on whichever team advances to play the Bobcats on Saturday. If Quinnipiac beats Connecticut, that’s obviously a good thing, but a game against No. 30 Sacred Heart carries significantly less risk than a game against Yale, a fellow ECAC team that lost 4-1 in a league game at Ingalls Rink earlier this year. They’ll play again in late February as part of the league schedule, but a win/loss situation against UConn/Sacred Heart likely leaves the Bobcats in the exact same situation as the weekend began. A win/win is obviously most preferable, and a loss/loss, it goes without saying, isn’t helpful at all. A loss to Yale at any point is the equivalent of UMass Lowell’s loss to Stonehill, which the Bobcats simply can’t absorb.
-While that’s happening, Dartmouth and Cornell very obviously face a pair of critical games towards their own Pairwise comparisons, with Friday’s rivalry game against Harvard looming largest. A loss to the Crimson, who played Boston College aggressively before splitting with RPI and Union, would drop the Big Red well out of the race before the Dartmouth game on Saturday. The Big Green, meanwhile, would also likely drop to the mid-20s with a loss to Colgate on Friday.
-The strangest scenario occurs if Harvard sweeps the weekend and Dartmouth beats Cornell after losing to Colgate. Under that scenario, the Big Red emerge as a bubble contender around the No. 20 spot while Dartmouth and Colgate fall to around the No. 25 spot ahead of other, undocumented results.
Future implications
I could sit here all night and write about the different implications of a future schedule, but it’s simply too difficult to predict at the current moment. Quinnipiac very clearly has the best chance of earning an at-large bid but plays six of its last nine games against teams ranked 40th or lower in the Pairwise Rankings. Dartmouth plays four games against Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Colgate and Colgate, which means the Big Green have plenty of games left to tread water while other teams around the No. 14 spot lose ground. Cornell plays Clarkson twice and Dartmouth once but was a preseason prediction for the national tournament.
-Clarkson still has that road game against Quinnipiac, along with a second home matchup against the Bobcats, before the postseason gets underway.
-All four teams are part of a tournament push for the top four spots and a possible first round bye, but Union and Harvard adding themselves into the mix complicates the idea around possibly gaining a first round bye or potentially playing more games with more games against higher-ranked opponents – a mathematical oddity that nobody wants to face except for maybe me, who enjoys chaos and can’t explain that properly.
-Like those oddities, it’s important to remember that Cornell and Colgate held the No. 15 and No. 16 spots in 2004 until Harvard won the league tournament. Both the Big Red and the Raiders were bounced from the tournament by league championships by Niagara and Holy Cross, but it ranked as the inverse of last year when St. Lawrence advanced to the league championship despite falling to No. 43 in the Pairwise Rankings. Had the Saints won, another three-bid league for ECAC would have matched Hockey East and eliminated UMass from the bubble.
Alex Bump has provided timely scoring up front this season for Western Michigan (photo: Ashley Huss).
Welcome to Week 2 of Bracketology.
Each week from now until Selection Sunday, March 23, I will outline the current 16 teams in the Men’s NCAA Division I tournament and attempt to seed a bracket based on the current field.
This past weekend was a little volatile for the PairWise Rankings. The top two teams, Michigan State and Boston College, swapped spot with the Eagles jumping to the top. At the bottom, New Hampshire dropped two games to Boston University and fell out of the field of 16, while Arizona State, with a sweep of St. Cloud State, moved into the field.
Here are the 16 teams for the tournament if the season ended today:
1. Boston College
2. Michigan State*
3. Minnesota
4. Denver
5. Western Michigan*
6. Maine
7. Providence
8. Boston University*
9. Connecticut
10. Ohio State
11. Michigan
12. Arizona State
13. UMass Lowell
14. Quinnipiac*
15. Minnesota State*
16. Sacred Heart*
* – Indicates team that currently has the top conference winning percentage in their respective conference. While each conference is awarded an autobid for its tournament champion, for the purposes of this exercise we will use the first-place team (based on winning %) to receive the autobid.
With the field of 16 in place, we can now seed the four regions using basic bracket integrity (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, etc.).
1. Boston College
8. Boston University
9. Connecticut
16. Sacred Heart
2. Michigan State
7. Providence
10. Ohio State
15. Minnesota State
3. Minnesota
6. Maine
11. Michigan
14. Quinnipiac
4. Denver
5. Western Michigan
12. Arizona State
13. UMass Lowell
As a reminder and also for those who aren’t regular readers of Bracketology, there is one thing that the committee seems to avoid at all costs and that is first-round matchups between teams from the same conference. In the above bracket, we have two: 8 Boston University vs. 9 Connecticut and 5 Western Michigan against 12 Arizona State.
The good news is that these are both 2-seed vs. 3-seed matchups, thus swapping teams out of each matchup erases the conflict. In these situations, I typically like to move the lower seeds, in this case Connecticut and Arizona State as opposed to moving the higher seeds (BU and Western Michigan).
Making that swap we have the following four regional brackets:
1. Boston College
8. Boston University
12. Arizona State
16. Sacred Heart
2. Michigan State
7. Providence
10. Ohio State
15. Minnesota State
3. Minnesota
6. Maine
11. Michigan
14. Quinnipiac
4. Denver
5. Western Michigan
9. Connecticut
13. UMass Lowell
It may not seem fair that Western Michigan is now playing the ninth seed in the tournament as opposed to the 12th seed. But this is the only viable swap we can make while maintaining each team’s seeding band within the region (i.e. No. 2 seeds remaining No. 2 seeds and can’t move up to a No. 1 seed or down to a No. 3 seed).
So with this bracket in place, Let’s assign regions to each four-team group. When considering this, we must place host schools in the region they are hosting. Right now, none of the four hosts are in the field (New Hampshire, Bowling Green, North Dakota and Penn State). So that’s not an issue this week.
Boston College is the top seed and should play closest to home in Manchester, N.H. Michigan State is the second seed and the closest region is Toledo, Ohio, less than two hours from Lansing. Minnesota is the third overall seed and would head to Fargo, N.D., which leaves Denver to play in Allentown, Pa.
That gives us the following:
Manchester Region
1. Boston College
2. Boston University
3. Arizona State
4. Sacred Heart
Toledo Region
1. Michigan State
2. Providence
3. Ohio State
4. Minnesota State
Fargo Region
1. Minnesota
2. Maine
3. Michigan
4. Quinnipiac
Allentown Region
1. Denver
2. Western Michigan
3. Connecticut
4. UMass Lowell
Let’s look at how attendance should be in each region. Manchester is fine with BC, BU and Sacred Heart (and Arizona State has a sprawling alumni base nationally). Toledo should be okay with both Michigan State and Ohio State. Fargo is a concern, though Minnesota is one of the closest teams to Fargo not named North Dakota. Hopefully Michigan’s faithful will travel a little too.
The concerning region is Allentown, but in reality as long as Penn State doesn’t make the field, drawing in Allentown will be a struggle. UConn is about four hours away by car and Lowell is about five. You can’t expect Denver or Western Michigan fans to travel far, so that would likely be friends and family bolstering the crowd.
All that said, this is about as good as we can do for this week.
Here is the final bracket:
Manchester Region
1. Boston College
2. Boston University
3. Arizona State
4. Sacred Heart
Toledo Region
1. Michigan State
2. Providence
3. Ohio State
4. Minnesota State
Fargo Region
1. Minnesota
2. Maine
3. Michigan
4. Quinnipiac
Allentown Region
1. Denver
2. Western Michigan
3. Connecticut
4. UMass Lowell
Last in: UMass Lowell, Arizona State
First out: New Hampshire, Massachusetts**
** – Wisconsin, Northeastern both ranked higher in PairWise but not tournament eligible right now as current record is below .500
Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com look ahead to Tuesday’s Beanpot championship game between Boston University and Northeastern, who won semifinals last week but then dropped games over the weekend.
A look back to last week’s results includes overtime wins by Brown and a pair of losses by Clarkson in ECAC Hockey and an Ohio State sweep at Minnesota Duluth.
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].
Stonehill players celebrate the Skyhawks’ OT win over UMass Lowell last Saturday night, the team’s first-ever win against a ranked opponent since moving to Division I (photo: John Grainda).
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 understandably so. After holding the top spot since Dec. 16, Michigan State drops to No. 2 and Boston College ascends to No. 1 for the first time this season.
The Eagles held the top poll spot from Jan. 29, 2024 to Mar. 25, 2024, a run of nine weeks at No. 1. In their last six weeks in that spot, the Eagles were a unanimous No. 1 pick.
Last weekend, Boston College asserted its dominance with a home-and-home sweep against No. 7 Providence while Michigan State split a home-and-home series with No. 10 Michigan.
There’s so little movement in the top 10 that it looks to me as though voters are unified in the opinion that Hockey East, the Big Ten and the NCHC are solid from top to bottom.
That also explains to me why No. 16 North Dakota and No. 19 Colorado College are still polling. There’s a better argument for voting for the Fighting Hawks than the Tigers – and no offense intended to either program. North Dakota, swept at home by No. 3 Western Michigan, is above .500 in conference play. Colorado College split with Minnesota Duluth, is 1-5-0 since the start of 2025, is below .500 in NCHC games and is 33rd in the PairWise Rankings.
I look at Sacred Heart – 30th in the PWR and playing in a league where it’s nearly impossible to improve that position – leading the Atlantic Hockey standings by seven points and 4-1-1 in their last six games, including a win and tie against Cornell two weeks ago.
Then I look at Arizona State moving from No. 13 to No. 11 after sweeping at St. Cloud and I’m wondering what the Sun Devils have to do to be trusted. They’re 10-2-0 since mid-November with eight of those wins coming in conference play and a sweep of Denver to their credit. They’ve moved into the 12th spot in the PWR and are a point ahead of Western at the top of the NCHC standings.
What stories do this poll and this last weekend of hockey tell you, Dan?
Dan: Normally, I’d take this opportunity to rail against the college hockey elitism surrounding Hockey East and the traditional powers, but the truth is that those teams are simply playing better hockey. Even for a long-term contrarian like me, it’s impossible to ignore the strength of those teams and what they’ve accomplished.
The last week proved as much, at least. I started the week by giving Providence its No. 1 vote in the national poll. I mentioned this several times, but my theory behind my vote was similar to when I voted Connecticut into the top spot a few years ago. I didn’t necessarily think PC was the best team in the country or the best team for the long haul, but the losses surrounding my poll and where I initially held the Friars forced me to move them one spot over each team until I was simply left with them in the No. 1 spot. Michigan State’s tie against Penn State aside, I didn’t have a second team to push PC down a spot.
This week, BC did everything except take that team’s lunch money. I don’t think PC played badly per se, but the results favored the Eagles so heavily that it’s impossible to ignore how they’d be anything other than No. 1. Considering the rest of Hockey East’s placement in the Pairwise, it all lined out in kind.
The one story that I really noticed, though, was the willingness to drop UMass Lowell from No. 9 to No. 12 after the River Hawks lost to Stonehill. It’s obvious that enough people noticed the loss on more than just paperwork, and it’s all the credit in the world to how the Skyhawks scored late in the third and won in overtime. The loss was shocking enough that Lowell dropped in the poll alongside the Pairwise.
I called Stonehill a lynchpin for realignment a number of years ago because I saw a path forward for the team to invest in college hockey. Getting the right coach in David Berard moved the Skyhawks to 8-19 this year, which is more than a modest improvement over last year’s record. For what you might’ve seen from other erstwhile independents, I love that college hockey is still a home for results like that to happen.
Paula: Yes. I also love that college hockey still has room for “little” programs – newcomers and/or schools not widely known in DI sports – to make some occasional or even significant noise.
You bring up Stonehill and I concur with everything you say about the Skyhawks while reserving the right to lament the fate of independent teams. As a member of the Big 12 and an R1 school – R1 being academic talk for institutions that engage in a lot of research – Arizona State had an advantage over other independents from the start, and the program there did everything right to catch the attention of a conference. Frankly, the NCHC is richer in many ways for taking in the Sun Devils.
Back to Stonehill. I don’t think that Lowell’s loss to Stonehill was shocking. A loss like that, though, does give voters a way to differentiate between teams they perceive to be close in parity – just like it did at the top of the standings when BC took care of business this week and Michigan State did not.
I think, too, that at this point in the season, many poll voters look at the PWR as a guide – and perhaps too much. I see the poll as a snapshot of current hockey and the PairWise as a sort of long-term indicator.
It is interesting to see the current breakdown of teams by league in the top 16 in the PWR right now. Hockey East is dominant with seven followed by the Big Ten’s four, NCHC’s three and one each for the CCHA and ECAC. And while the talent I see displayed in HEA games from top to bottom is impressive, a look at numbers throughout DI shows talent to be distributed across conferences. There are so many collegiate players that should be household names, guys from unlikely places that I can see transitioning into high-level professional hockey.
Do people outside of the Big Ten and NCHC know Ryan Kirwan, a transfer from Penn State to Arizona State, and his 14 goals this season including the three he scored against St. Cloud this past weekend? How about Bowling Green sophomore Brody Waters and his 14 goals, three from last weekend against Ferris State? I look at Augustana’s Joshua Kotai and his nation-leading .945 save percentage and his third-best 1.68 GAA and I guarantee that no one wants to face the Vikings should they get into the tourney by way of a playoff conference championship, which is a possibility.
Hockey East, the Big Ten and the NCHC are tough from top to bottom, but there is talent everywhere. Who are your unsung heroes or under-the-radar players so far this season, Dan?
Dan: I’m actually going to take it off the board and say that the most underappreciated folks in college hockey are actually the assistant coaches.
Head coaches love them, and every head coach in every interview from my ECAC coverage pointedly discusses their power play or penalty kill specialist whenever they talk about utilizing their depth charts. Some of those assistants are now head coaches – Ben Syer went from Cornell to Princeton this year and Bill Riga is in his fourth year at Holy Cross after spending a dozen years with Quinnipiac, for example – but I think the best teams in college hockey all have very good assistants who take their team to another level. Speaking strictly for the east, Greg Brown’s Boston College team has a truly great assistant coach in Mike Ayers, and he’s been with the program since its days under Jerry York. Mike Cavanaugh is another name that comes to mind, and he’s the architect of Connecticut’s ability to build a powerhouse in Hockey East, as well.
Every single one of those teams understands how to utilize players who aren’t top scorers. They’re the second and third pairing defensemen who kill the right shift and soften the right matchup, and I’m sure Michigan and Minnesota and Michigan State all have those players on their team. I don’t want to keep coming back to BC, but I admittedly see more of the Eagles as someone who works with the team and watches Massachusetts hockey. So players like Brady Berard and Oskar Jellvik and Aidan Hreschuk are more readily available at the front of my brain.
They won’t gain Hobey Baker consideration, at least, but I’d love to find an award that’s some type of “puttin’ on the foil” honors for the college game.
I know that’s super succinct, but I’m curious what names come to mind for you as someone. Who were some of the truly great assistant coaches or underrated players that we’ve long forgotten or not given the right attention over the years?
Paula: Trips down memory lane like this usually detour into places that aren’t quite so attaboy – anecdotes about coaches who really stood out for all the wrong reasons.
In nearly three decades of covering men’s D-I hockey, I’ve encountered a lot of guys who have gone on to do some pretty amazing things. Having Adam Nightingale return to Michigan State as a head coach the year that Brandon Naurato was named head coach at Michigan was a surreal – and kind of lovely – moment. Living in southeast Michigan, I’d heard every good thing about each of those gents before they came back to their alma maters. Each is widely respected for work in player development as well as coaching, and it’s no surprise to anyone around these parts that Nightingale is rebuilding a strong program in East Lansing and that Naurato did some heavy lifting in Michigan.
With the addition of Will Horcoff to Michigan’s roster at midseason, it’s impossible not to think of his dad, Shawn, who played at Michigan State (1996-2000). After playing in the NHL for 15 seasons, Shawn Horcoff was named the director of player development for the Detroit Red Wings and is now the assistant general manager for the Wings and the GM for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Not bad for a kid from a small town in British Columbia.
When I think assistant coaches, I think of someone like Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko, who is exactly the same great guy he was when he was an assistant at Miami back in the 1990s, or Denver assistant Tavis MacMillan, who played for years for Alaska, coached there for 10, and is now a part of the coaching staff for the machine that is Denver hockey.
Motzko certainly gets recognition. I don’t think people outside of college hockey circles know MacMillan and I think that Shawn Horcoff’s profile will be a little more sparkly because his son is going to be fantastic – and I think the elder Horcoff is okay with that.
A lot of the assistants and players I remember for being unsung at their time eventually got the recognition they deserved, and most of them are from the days of the old CCHA. I still see current Ohio State assistant coach J.B. Bittner sliding across the ice after scoring the overtime game winner against Miami in the semifinal game of the 2004 CCHA championship tourney.
In the current CCHA, though, it’s impossible not to recognize what former St. Cloud and Minnesota assistant Garrett Raboin has been building at Augustana since 2022. After going 12-18-4 last year, the Vikings are 13-7-2 this season, and Raboin just helped Team USA win a gold medal in the 2025 IIHF World Juniors.
I know I may not have gone where you asked, Dan, but at least I managed to avoid telling a Frank Anzalone story or veer into talking about some of the gooniest guys I’ve covered.
Dan: I was on the verge of including a Joe Marsh story and veering over to those St. Lawrence teams of yore, so I’ll take it. One of the only people who spanned my brother Michael’s undergrad days at Brown and the start of my own broadcasting and media journey.
As the saying goes, nobody was in college hockey until they got a Joe Marsh story.
Boston College won both games over the weekend against Providence (photo: Meg Kelly).
With 36 first-place votes, Boston College takes over as the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll, moving up one spot in the rankings.
Michigan State falls one spot to No. 2, earning 13 first-place votes, while Western Michigan is up one to No. 3, Minnesota is down one to No. 4, getting the last first-place vote, and Denver is up two to sit fifth this week.
Maine is down one to No. 6, Providence drops one to No. 7, Boston University is up three spots to No. 8, Ohio State falls one to No. 9, and Michigan stays No. 10.
UMass Lowell drops out of the top 10, going from No. 9 to No. 12 in this week’s poll.
No new teams enter the poll this week.
In addition to the top 20 teams, 14 other teams received votes this week.
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.
Hockey East announced Monday that Maine graduate forward Ross Mitton has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 16:59 of the third period on Jan. 18 against UConn.
On the play, Mitton was assessed a major penalty for indirect contact to the head and a game misconduct.
Mitton is ineligible to play Jan. 31 against Northeastern and is able to return to the Black Bears lineup on Feb. 2 against UMass.
Michigan State players celebrate a goal in the Spartans’ 4-1 win over Michigan last Saturday night (photo: Michigan State Athletics).
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Michigan and Michigan State split home-and-home series
Fans went home happy as the top-ranked Spartans and No. 10 Wolverines each won in front of their home crowds.
In Friday’s 3-2 overtime win, Michigan was able to erase two Michigan State leads, eventually forcing extra time and winning the game on Garrett Schifsky’s eighth goal of the season exactly one minute into overtime.
Michigan State earned the split with a 4-1 win on Saturday at Munn Arena. Charlie Stramel had two goals and an assist, and Isaac Howard, who leads the nation in scoring, picked up three assists.
Saturday’s game was the 350th meeting between the two schools with Michigan holding a 182-144-24 advantage all-time.
2. Boston College sweeps Providence
We may have a new No. 1 team on Monday. While Michigan State lost on Saturday, Boston College completed a 3-0, 4-1 sweep over sixth-ranked Providence.
On Friday, Eagles goaltender Jacob Fowler stopped all 24 shots he faced for his fifth shutout of the season, tied with Bentley’s Connor Hasley for the most so far.
Boston College never trailed on Saturday. Ryan Leonard scored in both games, and his tally on Friday was his sixth game-winning goal of the season.
3. Western Michigan sweeps North Dakota
The Broncos took five of six points in Grand Forks, defeating the Fighting Hawks 3-2 in overtime on Friday, followed by a convincing 5-1 victory on Saturday.
Alex Bump scored twice on Friday for Western Michigan, including the game-winner just 14 seconds into OT.
Saturday’s game featured two more goals from Bump, who now leads the team with 11. Goalies Cameron Rowe (29 saves) and Hampton Slukynsky (24 saves) picked up wins.
The third-ranked Gophers cruised past the Irish in Friday’s 5-1 win, but Notre Dame picked up a pair of points on Saturday after a 3-2 overtime victory.
The Irish scored first on Friday, but then it was all Gophers behind Jimmy Snuggerud’s pair of goals, his team-leading 13th and 14th of the season.
Snuggerud would score again on Saturday, but the hero of the game was Notre Dame’s Blake Biondi, who got the game-winner 3:46 into overtime.
Black Knights coach Brian Riley, in his final season behind the Army bench, picked up his 250th career win in Friday’s 3-2 win over arch-rival Air Force.
The Black Knights, who scored 22 goals last weekend against Mercyhurst, picked up where they left off, scoring the game’s first three goals, and then held off a comeback attempt by the Falcons.
Saturday’s game saw Air Force leading 3-1 after two periods, but the Black Knights scored the final three goals, including Jack Ivey’s overtime tally.
It was the first Army sweep over Air Force at Tate Rink since 2008.
6. Michigan Tech and Minnesota State split
The No. 12 Mavericks won the opener, 5-2 behind 16 saves from Alex Tracy and five different goal scorers.
On Saturday, Michigan Tech picked up two points with a 1-0 overtime win.
After a scoreless 60 minutes, Isaac Gordon got the game-winner with a power-play goal 1:45 into OT. Rookie goaltender Ryan Manzella stopped all 31 shots he faced for his fourth win without a loss this season. It was the second Saturday in a row he posted a 1-0 shutout win.
This was just the second loss for Minnesota State since Nov. 1.
7. Arizona State moves into first place with a sweep of St. Cloud State
The Sun Devils’ first season in the NCHA is going well. Thirteenth-ranked Arizona State finds itself in sole possession of first place after a 6-3, 5-3 road sweep of Saint Cloud State.
The No. 15 Huskies led 3-1 on Friday before ASU scored five consecutive goals to seal the win.
On Saturday, a major penalty proved costly for the Huskies as Arizona State scored three goals on the ensuing power play.
Lukas Sillinger had a goal and an assist in each game, and is now three helpers away from the school record for career assists. He has scored multiple points in five straight games.
8. Sacred Heart solidifies first place in Atlantic Hockey
The Pioneers, which have never won an Atlantic Hockey regular season title, picked up six points in a convincing 5-2, 6-3 home sweep over American International.
Sophomore goaltender Cullen DeYoung was in net for both games for Sacred Heart, making a combined 49 saves, while nine different scorers lit the lamp for SHU with Felix Trudeau and Tyler Ghirardosi scoring twice.
With Bentley’s two losses this past weekend, Sacred Heart now leads Atlantic Hockey by seven points over the Falcons, who have two games in hand.
9. Stonehill upsets UMass Lowell
Junior defenseman Evan Orr scored the game-winner in overtime to lead the Skyhawks to a 3-2 win over ninth-ranked UMass Lowell.
It was the first victory for Stonehill over a ranked opponent in program history. The Skyhawks (8-19-0) are now 3-3 against Hockey East Schools this season.
Lowell held a 3-2 lead in the final minute before Teddy Lagerbeck tied the game with 38 seconds to go.
10. Nothing settled between Cornell, Quinnipiac
In the final of two meetings between ECAC contenders, Quinnipiac and Cornell skated to a 2-2 tie, followed by a Big Red shootout win.
The Bobcats held a 2-1 lead over two periods but Nick DeSantis’ goal midway through the third knotted things up, leading to a scoreless overtime and eventual shootout win for the visiting Big Red.
Quinnipac, which defeated Cornell at Lynah Rink back on Nov. 22, took four of six points in the season series.
Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger review games of the weekend and news of the week.
They look at Boston College’s impressive three-win week leading up to challenging games ahead, Western Michigan’s excellent form, and BU’s return to form are examined in depth. The analysis extends to the disappointing weekend for Providence and the need for a quick recovery. They also touch on Minnesota State’s prospects, Arizona State’s climb, and the Cinderella story of Stonehill’s upset win. The episode concludes with a buy-or-sell segment on potential NCAA rule changes, including a fifth-year eligibility discussion and whether a Major Junior player could win next year’s Hobey Baker Award.
Times are approximate:
00:15 Introduction
01:12 Boston College’s impressive week
03:11 Providence’s tough weekend
05:19 Western Michigan’s winning streak
11:31 Arizona State’s surprising success
18:01 UConn’s rise in Hockey East
20:51 Stonehill’s upset victory
24:35 Historic Weekend for Army hockey
26:38 Celebrating the Army/Air Force rivalry
28:35 Buy or Sell: NCAA tournament predictions
32:19 Debating conference strengths
35:31 Perennial powers in the NCAA tournament
38:37 CHL Players and the Hobey Baker Award
41:29 Fifth Year eligibility?
47:24 Conclusion and wrap-up
Austin Mourar and Hobart established a new NCAA unbeaten streak over the weekend as they moved to 15-0-0 with wins over Buffalo State and Fredonia (Photo by Adam Farid – Hobart and William Smith Colleges)
It was quite the weekend in the east as a new NCAA win streak record was established by Hobart, teams like Norwich, Trinity and Anna Maria displayed their game as they try to move towards the top of their conference standings and, of course, there were the requisite number of overtime and come-from-behind thrillers across the region. The end of January is upon us and teams look like they know that now is the time to ramp up the performance on the ice. Here is the wrap-up for a lot of exciting action in the east:
CNE
The league leading Curry Colonels played only once over the weekend and recorded a resounding 6-0 shutout win over Nichols to maintain their position at the top of the standings. Six different players scored goals in support of goaltender Shane Soderwall who stopped all 31 Bison attempts on goal for the shutout win.
Following a one-goal road loss in a non-conference game against Wesleyan on Tuesday, Endicott rebounded with a strong offensive showing in a 7-3 road win over Wentworth on Friday night. Primo Self led the attack with a goal and two assists while Jackson Sterrett, AJ Martinelli, Jack Costanzo, and Dominic Garozzo all chipped I with a goal and an assist each for the Gulls.
UNE kept pace with the league leaders by capturing a 4-2 win over Suffolk on Friday night at home. The Nor’easters and Rams were tied at 1-1 entering the third period before the home team broke out with three unanswered goals, including two on the power play, to ease to the win. Ryan Kuzmich paced the offense with one goal and two assists as the Nor’easters scored three times with the man advantage.
Johnson & Wales picked up an important conference win as the Wildcats erupted for five goals in the second period on Friday to capture a 5-2 road win over Western New England. Cam Martin, Sam Band and Bret Beale each scored a goal and added an assist in the win while goaltender Jake Inzirillo made 39 saves for J&W.
With just five weeks remaining in the regular season the CNE standings find Curry, Endicott, and UNE separated by just three points while teams four through six (Suffolk, J&W and Wentworth) are just two points apart heading down the stretch.
Independent
Keene State lost their first three contests coming out of the break to fierce competition in Plattsburgh, Amherst, and Curry before getting back on the winning side of hockey with a 3-0 decision over Nichols. On Saturday, the Owls extended the win streak to two with a hard-fought 2-1 win over WNEU. Peter Unger scored what proved to be the game-winner on the power play in the final minute of the second period and netminder Ben Skelton stopped 33 of 34 shots including twelve in the final period to preserve the one-goal win.
MAC
Stevenson and King’s played a two-game series where goals were very hard to come by for both teams. On Friday, Blake Benson gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead midway through the third period, but Teodor Benno Vaage scored to tie the score at 2-2 with just 75 seconds remaining in regulation. No goals for either team in overtime led to a shootout where the Mustangs prevailed. If goals were few and far between on Friday night, then Saturday saw the drought deepen as neither team could find the back of the net until Graeme McCrory netted the game’s only marker with just 23 seconds remaining in regulation for a 1-0 win over the Monarchs. Goaltender Ford Deloss made 20 saves to earn the shutout win for Stevenson.
League leading Wilkes traveled to face Neuman in a two-game series and each team came away with important points and a win apiece. Friday night saw the Colonels jump out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of goals in each of the first two periods before the Knights fought back late in the second period and early third period. Three goals for the home team closed the gap but netminder Jack Perna held off the Knights making 29 saves in the win. On Saturday, Miles Harrington scored twice to help the Colonels rally for a 2-2 at the end of two periods of play but PJ Demitrio’s late goal and Tyler Inlow’s empty-net goal helped seal a 4-2 win for the Knights and split of the weekend series.
Arcadia returned to MAC play hosting a two-game series with Alvernia and swept the Golden Wolves for some key conference points. First period goals from Michael Hertzberg and Donnie Feldman would be all that goaltender Ryan Burgess would need in a 2-0 win. Burgess made 31 saves including 15 in the third period to pick up the shutout. On Saturday, neither team scored in the opening period before the Knights tallied three times in the second period with Connor Dennis, Drew Iannucci, and Feldman building a comfortable lead. Jude Cole sealed the 4-1 win and weekend sweep with an ENG in the third period.
Wilkes remains comfortably on top of the MAC standings with an eight-point lead over second place Stevenson. The Mustangs, Arcadia and Neumann are just three points apart while Lebanon Valley and Alvernia are tied just three points behind the Black Knights entering the final five weeks of league play.
MASCAC
Plymouth State extended their win streak and remained unbeaten in league play with wins over Worcester State and MCLA. On Thursday, the Panthers scored four times in the second period including two from Cameron Patton to ease to a 5-2 road win over the Lancers. Donte’ Diponio also scored a pair of goals while Will Redick chipped in with three assists for the Panthers. Returning home on Saturday, David Matousek, Brendan Doyle, and Colin Tracy provided all the offense senior goaltender Jameson Bourque would need in a 3-1 win over the Trailblazers. Bourque picked up the win in his first career start for PSU making 16 saves.
Anna Maria picked up two important league wins including a very exciting a dramatic 7-6 win over Fitchburg State on Thursday before ending Salem State’s six-game win streak on Saturday. Against the Falcons, the AmCats built a 6-3 lead by the end of the second period led by a pair of goals each from Matthew Gilbert and Matthew Byrne. In the third period, the Falcons fought back with three goals to tie the score at 6-6 with less than three minutes remaining. Gilbert saved the day completing his hat trick in the final minute of regulation for the dramatic 7-6 road win. On Saturday, two goals from Guillaume Coulombe and one from Derek Raposo helped the AmCats to a 3-0 lead on the way to a 5-1 win over the Vikings. Cole Johnston outdueled Will Nepveu in goal stopping 31 of 32 attempts by the home team.
After dropping a 5-3 decision against MCLA on Thursday where Eaton Moore scored one goal and added two assists for the Trailblazers in the upset win, the Corsairs rebounded with a 5-2 win over Rivier on Saturday. Three third period goals in just a six-minute span broke open a 2-2 game as Alex Walker, Brennen Pecararo, and Tyler Stewart put the Corsairs comfortably in front to seal the win.
While PSU remains atop the MASCAC standings by a wide margin, the gap between second place Anna Maria and sixth-place, Westfield State is just six points with a lot of key matchups yet to play over the next five weeks.
NE-10
St. Anselm returned to NE-10 play following an 8-2 loss against Cortland on Tuesday and the Hawks found their scoring touch totaling seventeen goals in a pair of wins over Franklin Pierce. On Friday, Hunter Brackett scored two goals and added one assist in a 7-3 win over the Ravens. Brackett was far from done as he added a hat trick on Saturday in the Hawks’ 10-2 rout over FPU. Mark Blaney added three assists while Max Burum and Conor Kelly each scored a goal and added two assists to help St. Anselm extend their lead in the standings.
Southern New Hampshire also lost a mid-week non-conference game to Cortland but rebounded with a weekend sweep of Assumption to help their position in the NE-10 standings. On Friday, Bryan McLachlan’s second period power play goal and Tyler Murray’s ENG in the third period was enough for goaltender Collin Berke who made 32 saves in a 2-0 shutout win over the Greyhounds. There was a lot more drama on Saturday as Jonathan Surrette scored his second goal of the game for Assumption with just seven seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime with a 2-2 tie. The visitors’ excitement was short lived as Ryan Kayser scored just 44 seconds into the extra session to give the Penmen a 3-2 win and weekend sweep.
Following a 4-3 win over FPU on Tuesday, Post and St. Michael’s split a weekend series in Vermont. On Friday, the Eagles surrendered Jack MacDonald’s shorthanded goal in the first period before scoring three goals in a row and holding a 3-1 lead after two periods of play. The Purple Knights scored once more as the Eagles held on for a 3-2 win with goaltender Benjamin Cunneen making 28 saves for the visitors. On Saturday, the Purple Knights rebounded with a 3-0 win as Evan Plunkett stopped 30 shots to earn the shutout.
While St. Anselm holds a five-point advantage over second place, Southern New Hampshire, Assumption and St. Michael’s, are only separated by one point with Post just four more points behind fourth place.
NEHC
Hobart established a new NCAA record win streak as the Statesmen downed Buffalo State and Fredonia over the weekend to move to 15-0-0 on the season. Ironically, the win streak started against Buffalo State back in November of 2023 and was broken in Friday’s game against the Bengals where the visitors started fast with two first period goals and cruised to a 3-0 win. Damon Beaver earned the shutout in goal, his third of the season for Hobart. On Saturday, Hobart downed Fredonia 5-0 with Bauer Morrissey and Austin Mourar each scoring a goal and adding an assist in support of Mavrick Goyer in goal who made 18 saves to help Hobart earn back-to-back shutout wins.
Norwich has picked up their game moving up to second place behind Hobart in the NEHC by extending their win streak to four games with a second sweep in a row downing VSU-Castleton, 8-3 and 3-2. On Friday, the Cadets took advantage of four unanswered goals to break a 2-2 tie with the Spartans. Cooper Bertrand scored two goals to pace the Cadet attack. On Saturday, the game was much more low scoring as goals from Johnny Johnson, Matt Harvey and Nick Cordeiro were just enough to hold off the Spartans in a 3-2 win.
Albertus Magnus took on a red-hot Babson squad in a weekend series that saw the teams playing each other for the first time. On Friday, Robert Barrasso’s late third period power play goal broke a 2-2 tie and Kyle Dann iced the contest with an unassisted ENG in a 4-2 win for the Falcons that ended the Beavers five-game win streak. On Saturday, the Falcons completed the sweep with a thrilling 5-4 overtime win. Barrasso scored the game-tying goal with less than forty seconds remaining in regulation time before Zane Kindrachuk netted his second goal of the game just two minutes into the extra session for the 5-4 win extending their win streak to a season high five games.
Southern Maine took a pair of 3-2 overtime wins over Salve Regina to earn their first conference wins of the season. On Friday night, the Huskies took advantage of a power play in overtime as Matt Sullivan netted the game-winner just over a minute after puck drop for a sudden victory. On Saturday, the script was similar with the regulation score tied at 2-2 and again it was Sullivan, this time in the final minute of overtime, providing the game winner for the Huskies.
While Hobart has a comfortable seven-point lead in the standings, Norwich (in second place) and Albertus Magnus (in sixth place) are separated by just six points with some interesting matchups on tap including the Cadets facing Hobart this weekend.
NESCAC
Hamilton continued their torrid play on the road as the Continentals downed Tufts and Connecticut College to remain five points clear of Trinity in the NESCAC standings. On Friday, six different goal scorers helped Hamilton to race to an early lead in a 6-1 rout of the Jumbos. Jackson Krock finished with a goal and two assists for the Continentals in the win. Against the Camels on Saturday, the scoring was less prolific as Liam Varmecky, Jacob Ierfino and Nick Kent provided all the goals in a 3-1 victory. Aksel Reid stopped 24 shots to pick up the win.
Trinity continued their torrid play with a pair of home-ice wins over Bowdoin and Colby to extend their win streak to four games. On Friday, three third period goals helped break open a tight 2-1 advantage for the Bantams with Spencer Korona scoring one goal and adding an assist in the win over the Polar Bears. In a key matchup with Colby, Richard Boysen scored a pair of unassisted goals in the third period to help the Bantams to a 5-3 win over the Mules. Chase McInnis also added a goal and an assist for the Bantams who moved into second place, five points behind the Continentals.
Middlebury split a pair of non-conference games with long-time rivals. On Tuesday, five-points from Jackson Morehouse helped the Panthers to a 7-0 rout of in-state rival St. Michael’s. On Friday, the scoring was limited to a single goal as Dmitiri Tzaferis tied the game late in the third period at 1-1 before Aaron Catron won the game for the Cardinals in overtime.
Williams took a pair of non-conference wins with decisions over MCLA and Plattsburgh. After downing the Trailblazers, 3-1 in the battle of Western Massachusetts on Wednesday, the Ephs raced to a 4-2 first period lead before seeing the Cardinals rally to reduce the deficit to a single goal on three different occasions before falling short in a 5-4 Williams win. Cal Sandquist earned the win in goal making 26 saves.
While Hamilton and Trinity have some separation at the top of the NESCAC standings, third place Colby is only five points ahead on ninth-place, Tufts.
SUNYAC
Oswego returned to SUNYAC action with a mid-week game against Canton and skated away with a 10-2 win over the Kangaroos. Travis Baker scored a hat trick for the Lakers while Matt McQuade added a pair of goals in the runaway win. On Saturday, a non-conference charity game with Cortland saw the offense continue to click as Oswego broke open a 4-3 contest with four goals in the third period for an 8-3 win over the Red Dragons. Ryan Burke led the attack scoring two goals and adding four assists in the win.
In a more unique game, Potsdam and Canton skated to a 0-0 overtime tie on Saturday. Canton’s Nate Hopkins (29 saves) and Potsdam’s John Werber (32 saves) were outstanding in goal for their respective teams as neither team could score at even-strength or on their two power play chances each.
The SUNYAC may have the most competitive race to watch as the separation between first place Buffalo State and seventh-place Potsdam is just six points.
UCHC
Geneseo played a home-and-home series with Nazareth and Friday night’s contest was a thriller. The Knights built an early 3-1 lead only to see the Golden Flyers rally to tie the score at 3-3 on a pair of goals from Logan Tobias in the second period. Neither team could score in the third period but Dakota Zarudny with an assist from Peter Morgan found the back of the net in the opening minute of overtime for a 4-3 Knights win. Back on home ice on Saturday, Geneseo found their scoring touch as Zach Purcell led the charge with two goals and an assist in a 7-2 win and weekend sweep.
Utica faced long-time rival Manhattanville in a weekend series and on Friday, the Pioneers raced to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 3-2 win over the Valiants with Anthony Cafarelli, Johnny Mulera and Eric Vitale providing the goals. On Saturday, newcomer Ryan Piros made Mulera’s second period power play goal stand up as the game-winner in a 1-0 shutout win for Utica. Piros stopped all 31 shots he faced in earning his first shutout with the Pioneers.
Geneseo and Utica remain just one point apart in the standings while just one point separates third place Chatham from fifth place Manhattanville.
Three Biscuits
Jackson Morehouse – Middlebury – scored a natural hat trick and added a pair of assists for a five-point game in the Panthers’ 7-0 win over St. Michael’s on Tuesday.
Matthew Gilbert – Anna Maria – scored his third goal of the contest in the final minute of regulation to give the AmCats a 7-6 win over Fitchburg State on Thursday in a game where the Falcons rallied from a four-goal deficit to tie the score at 6-6 in the third period.
Matt Sullivan – Southern Maine – scored overtime winning goals for the Huskies in back-to-back 3-2 overtime wins over Salve Regina this past weekend.
The final weekend in January is upon us and with just five weeks remaining on the schedule, the games just mean more coming down the stretch. Last week showed how both a good and bad weekend can move you in the standings so the races should be fun to watch over the next few weeks.
Lake Forest stunned Adrian over the weekend in an NCHA series. (Photo Credit: Daniel Zbarzh/Lake Forest Athletics)
Lake Forest came to play in Friday’s NCHA series opener against No. 6 Adrian, stunning the Bulldogs 5-2 on Friday night for its first win over a ranked team this season.
Dylan Kruss played a key role in the win, stopping 38 shots against the Bulldogs, who came into the night on an nine-game winning streak. He made 17 of his saves in the final period. It’s the first time since Nov. 16 that a team has held Adrian to two goals or less.
Trevor Faucher scored his eighth goal of the year in the win while Chase Freiermuth recorded a goal and two assists Hardy Wagner and Logan Kittleson each tallied a goal and assist..
The win was the second of the year at home for the Foresters.
Adrian battled back on Saturday and came away with a 6-3 win as the Bulldogs improved to 13-4 overall and 7-3 in the NCHA. The Bulldogs were coming off their first loss in two months and outscored Lake Forest 5-1 in the first two periods.
Ian Amsbaugh finished with three assists and Dershahn Stewart made 27 saves. Lake Forest dropped to 7-9-1 overall and 3-6-1 in league play.
Falcons knock off Green Knights
For the first time since the 2019-20 season, the Concordia Falcons defeated a ranked opponent, knocking off No. 4 St. Norbert.
The Falcons won the game 2-1, reaching a double-digit win total for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Concordia improved to 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the NCHA.
Noah Roitman scored the game winner at the 8:42 mark of the third period. Ben Pizzimenti tied the game at 1-1 four minutes earlier.
The win over the Green Knight was the seventh in a row for the Falcons, who notched their fourth one-goal win of the win streak.
St. Norbert bounced back in a big way Saturday, scoring all three of its goals in the final period for a 3-0 win.
Vaughn Maker made his first career start for St. Norbert and tallied 22 saves, with 16 of those coming in the final two periods.
Blake Ulve scored twice while Dayton Deics came through with a pair of assists.
Spartans sweep Sabres
Fifth-ranked Aurora finished off a sweep of Marian with a 4-3 win. Landr Schmuck came through with a goal in the final two minutes of play to lift the Spartans to their fourth consecutive win. Aurora is now 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the NCHA.
Schmuck scored a total of two times in the win and JaCob Mucitelli made 22 saves
In Friday’s game Hassan Akl came through with a goal and assist while Mucitelli made 24 saves. Aurora did not give up a goal in the final two periods.
Thunder roll
Seventh-ranked Trine won both of its games against Lawrence, winning 4-2 and 4-1 over the Vikings. Trine is 14-2-1 overall and 8-1-1 in conference play. Trine also remains perfect at home with a 7-0 mark.
Noah Marino racked up two goals in Saturday’s finale while Kyle Kozma recorded 20 saves.
Logan Ferstenau and Jack Cooper each tallied a goal and assist.
It’s a tie
MSOE and Dubuque battled to a 2-2 tie in the opening game of their NCHA series Saturday.
Zach Burfoot dished out two assists for the Spartans, who got a goal from Nikita Borodayenko at the 8:20 mark of the third to forge a 2-2 tie.
The Raiders won the finale 4-3 on Saturday, scoring twice in the third to secure the win and killing off the Spartans’ bid for their first win of the year.
Burfoot scored twice for Dubuque, giving the Spartans an early 2-0 lead. Burfoot also had an assist in the game.
Carson Jones and Ethan Mann both scored in the third to put the Raiders up 4-2.
MSOE improved to 8-7-2 overall and 3-6-1 in the NCHA. Dubuque is 0-14-3 overall and 0-8-2 in the league.
Cobbers with a big sweep
Concordia has won two in a row, sweeping St. Scholastica in a MIAC series. The Cobbers opened with a 4-0 win and won the finale 3-2 in overtime.
Tal Halliday scored the game winner in Saturday’s game, finding the back of the net with 33 seconds to play in OT as the Cobbers notched a big win and moved within a point of a tie for fifth.
The Cobbers never trailed and improved to 7-9-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the MIAC.
In Friday’s game, the second period was dominated by the Cobbers, who scored all four of their goals in the frame to snap a two-game losing streak.
Dane Couture stopped 29 shots to earn his first shutout win in conference play and the second of his career overall.
Caden Triggs, Tucker Skime and Blake Johnson all tallied a goal and an assist.
Good weekend for the Royals
Bethel won a shootout for an extra point in the MIAC standings in Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Augsburg after edging the Auggies 4-3 in overtime on Friday.
Bethel was up 3-1 going into the final period on Saturday but gave up two goals as Augsburg forced the extra session.
Bethel got the shootout win, however, and comes out of the weekend tied for second in the league standings.The Royals are 8-5-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the league.
Spence Kring was the hero in Friday’s win, scoring in OT. It was one of two goals for Kring in the win. Tyler Braccini finished with two assists. Austin Ryman came through with 32 saves.
Oles play well in MIAC-WIAC crossover series
St. Olaf went unbeaten in two games against WIAC opponents.
The Oles rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime against UW-Stout on Saturday, though the Blue Devils did win the shootout.
Tyler Cooper came through with a goal and assist to lead St. Olaf, which improved to 7-6-2 and it’s last four games have all been decided by a goal or less. The Oles are 5-0-2 in their last seven non-conference games.
Connor Kalthoff played in his 100th collegiate game in the win over Stout. He tallied an assist while Matthew Milan finished with 19 saves.
Kalthoff came through with a goal in Friday’s 3-2 win over UW-River Falls. Matthew Pointer and Jonathan Young also scored in the win.
Pointers still unbeaten in 2025
No. 12 UW-Stevens Point wrapped up non-league play with two wins, beating Hamline 8-3 on Friday and edging Saint John’s 6-5.
Matthew Falls helped lead the way in the win over the Johnnies, scoring twice for the first multi-goal game of his career.
Alex Proctor racked up 38 saves for the Pointers, who have won six in a row and and sport a 12-4-1 record.
Goals weren’t in short supply in Friday’s win over the Pipers as Stevens Point jumped in front 4-0 after one period and rolled to a win.
Peyton Hart finished with two goals and Chris Englebert tallied three assists. The Pointers have not lost since Dec. 14 and have scored four or more goals in each game of their games during the win streak.
Hat Trick Time
Eli Reimer had a big game against St. John’s, recording his first hat trick as UW-Eau Claire topped the Johnnies 6-4 on Friday. Reimer has four goals on the year.
Seven different players came through with an assist in the win while Matt Gutjahr made 29 saves as the Blugolds snapped a three-game losing streak. Eau Claire improved to 6-10-1 with the win.
Pipers end weekend with a win
Hamline capped its weekend with a 3-1 win over UW-Eau Claire. The Pipers improved to 6-11 and have won three of their last four.
Thomas Carls, Nikolai Dulak and AJ Carls all scored for the Pipers, who bounced back after losing 8-3 to UW-Stevens Point on Friday.
Falcons rally
Dylan Smith came through in crunch time, scoring less than two minutes into overtime as UW-River Falls beat Saint Mary’s 4-3 on Saturday.
Alex Atwill’s goal forced the extra session as the Falcons improved to 10-7. Smith’s game-winning marked his ninth goal of the season, the most on the team.
Smith and Burke Simpson each tallied two assists and Brennan Boynton made 24 saves.
Knight Time
Ryan Knight was on top of his game for UW-Stout in its 2-0 win over Gustavus Friday, recording his first career shutout along the way.
Knight stopped 21 shots and the Blue Devils stretched their win streak to three games.
Tristan Therrien and Kullan Daikawa provided all the offense the Blue Devils would need in the victory.
Casey O’Brien’s power play goal not quite seven minutes in had UW up 1-0. Lauren Stenslie replied with an extra attacker goal of her own to tie the game 1-1, but the lead lasted just 23 seconds as O’Brien lit the lamp again off a feed from Kirsten Simms. Cassie Hall and Ava Murphy each scored in the opening five minutes of the second period, making it a 4-1 game for Wisconsin. Hall added a second with a nice feint on the breakaway to make it 5-1 and Laila Edwards’ shot from a near angle closed out the scoring to make it a 6-1 win. O’Brien’s first goal was her 50th point of the season, making her the first player this season to reach that threshold. In the second game, Laila Edwards opened things with a natural hat trick and went on to score four goals on four shots to lead the Badgers to an 11-1 win. Sarah Wozniewicz scored twice in the second, while O’Brien and KK Harvey each lit the lamp once. In the third, Hall scored her third and fourth of the weekend, Claire Enright found the twine and Edwards closed out the scoring. Maddy Clough ruined the shutout, scoring for St. Thomas in the loss.
(2) Ohio State at (4) Minnesota Duluth
Defense was on display in Duluth over the weekend as Ohio State peppered 107 shots on net. Ève Gascon made 102 saves over the course of the weekend for a Minnesota Duluth team that was down to just 13 players on Saturday due to illness. On Friday, Jocelyn Amos scored in the opening minutes on the power play to put Ohio State up 1-0. Riley Brengman’s one-timer extended the lead to 2-0 by the midpoint of the first. Caitlin Kraemer replied with a power play goal for UMD less than two minutes later to make it 2-1 and that score would hold for 48 minutes until Kiara Zanon added an empty-netter to secure the win. The Buckeyes were relentless, putting 34 shots on goal in the second and 61 overall in the game. On Saturday, Joy Dunne scored in the opening minutes, carrying it in from her own blue line to make it a 1-0 game. Olivia Wallin’s power play goal midway through the first tied the game 1-1. In the second, Makenna Webster caught the Bulldogs on the change and scored what would prove to be the game winner late in the second to give OSU the 2-1 win and weekend sweep – just the fourth in program history in Duluth for the Buckeyes.
Minnesota State vs. (3) Minnesota (home and home)
Friday’s game started close. Josefin Bouveng scored 61 seconds into the game to put the Gophers up 1-0. The Mavericks replied at the midpoint of the first with a goal from Bella Shipley, but Emma Kreisz scored in the final minute of the frame to take a 2-1 lead. Minnesota struck early again, this time 20 seconds into the second as Abbey Murphy made it 3-1. Midway through the second, Kianna Roeske cut into the lead for Mankato to make it 3-2, but that’s as close as it would get. Ella Huber and Chloe Primerano each scored to make it 5-2 before the next intermission. Gracie Graham’s back-to-back goals in the third made it 7-2. Alexis Paddington scored on the power play to add one more for Minnesota State, but Peyton Hemp replied with a short-hander to secure the 8-3 Gopher win. On Saturday, Bouveng once again scored in the opening minutes, this time on the power play. It was the first of her three goals on the day – her second career hat trick. Allie Franco also scored later in the first to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes. Murphy and Bouveng’s second-period goals extended the Gopher lead to 4-0 before Paddington found twine on the power play to get Mankato on the board. JuliAnnaGazdik’s goal midway through the third made it 4-2, but the Mavericks couldn’t get it any closer and Bouveng’s empty-netter capped off the day and gave Minnesota a 5-2 win and weekend sweep.
(10) Quinnipiac at (5) Colgate
Hannah Murphy stopped a career-high 48 shots for Colgate and Madeline Palumbo and Kaia Malachino combined for two goals – one each – in 11 seconds late in the third to secure the 4-2 win for Colgate on Friday. After a back and forth opening period, Tessa Holk put Quinnipiac on the board first just 95 seconds into the second. But the lead lasted less than a minute thanks to some nifty skating and puck handling by Kalty Kaltounková to tie it for Colgate. Bryn Pier pushed the Bobcats ahead later in the frame, but Alexis Petford’s one-timer tied the game 2-2 before the second intermission. In the final frame, Murphy made 19 saves to keep the game tied and eventually first Malachino, then Palumbo scored on a feed from the other to put the game out of reach for Quinnipiac and give Colgate the win.
(13) Princeton at (5) Colgate
The game was scoreless after one, but the Raiders found their groove early in the second. Alexis Petford deflected the puck in at 3:03, then Kalty Kaltounková went between her legs 19 seconds later and Elyssa Biederman added a goal of her own a few minutes later. Kaltounková finished off a four point day with a goal in the third to give Colgate the 4-0 win.
(13) Princeton at (6) Cornell
Lindzi Avar scored twice while Claudia Yu, Katie Chan, Lily Delianedis and Gabbie Rud each lit the lamp once to lead Cornell to a 6-1 win on Friday. Lucia DiGirolamo scored for Princeton in the loss.
(10) Quinnipiac at (6) Cornell
Karel Prefontaine fed Lily Delianedis just 24 seconds into the game to give the Big Red a 1-0 lead. Quinnipiac responded with a goal from Jenna Donohue a few minutes later to tie the game 1-1. Grace Dwyer’s goal from the blue line had Cornell up 2-1 at the intermission. The second period was back and forth, but neither team found the back of the net. In the third, Cornell got an insurance goal from Katie Chan before Avi Adam added an empty-netter to secure the 4-1 win.
Yale at (7) Clarkson
After a cautious, scoreless first frame, Yale took the lead when Gracie Gilkyson wristed in a gorgeous pass from Mariya Rauf to make it 1-0 with under three to play in the second. Anna Bargman doubled the lead just more than a minute later, putting back a rebound to make it 2-0. Haley Winn’s power play goal with 70 seconds left in regulation got Clarkson on the board but they couldn’t complete the comeback and Yale took the 2-1 win.
Brown at (7) Clarkson
After a scoreless first, Olivia Fantino took a Margot Norehead pass right in front of the net and tapped it in to give Brown the 1-0 lead. Haley Winn tied the game for Clarkson a few minutes later. Anne Cherkowski’s power play goal early in the third gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the game. Unfortunately for them, it lasted less than a minute as Norehead scored a top shelf beauty in transition to make it 2-2 and eventually force overtime. In the extra frame, Cameron Sikich threw a backhander on net and in the chaos and traffic, India McDadi tipped it and it found the back of the net to give Brown the 3-2 win.
Brown at (8) St. Lawrence
After feeling each other out to start the game, the Saints took a 1-0 lead in the final two minutes on a breakaway goal from Abby Hustler. Kennedy Wilson doubled the lead early in the second putting a feed from behind the net by Hillary Sterling through the five hole to make it 2-0. Monique Lyons put Brown on the board midway through the second with a power play goal on a snipe from the far faceoff dot. SLU responded with an extra attacker goal of their own as Sarah Marchand ripped a one timer down low to make it 3-1 Saints. But the third period belonged to the Bears. Lyons scored her second of the game going down on one knee to rip a shot in the slot to make it 3-2. St. Lawrence pulled their goalie with about three left and it paid off about a minute later when Cameron Sikich’s shot from the blue line deflected through traffic and into the net to tie the game and force overtime. In the extra frame, Lyons capped off her hat trick when her attempt to center the puck went off a defender and into the net to give Brown the 4-3 win.
Yale at (8) St. Lawrence
Yale outshot the Saints 27-19, but Abby Hustler’s power play goal 6:35 into the second proved to be all St. Lawrence needed to take the win on Saturday. Hustler tipped the puck over the line on a shot from Kristina Bahl. Emma-Sofie Nordström earned the 27-save shutout, her sixth clean sheet of the season.
(9) Penn State at Syracuse
Friday’s game was a scoreless tie well into the extra frame thanks in large part to Syracuse goalie Allie Kelley making 41 saves, which helped her set a new record and become the NCAA all-time career saves leader. Penn State took the game in overtime as Katelyn Roberts ripped a shot from the bottom of the right circle to give the Nittany Lions the win. Saturday’s game featured a Penn State record as Tessa Janecke’s goal was her 138th career point, which set a new program record. Janecke is a junior. Grace Outwater scored twice and Nicole Hall added a goal to lead Penn State to a 4-0 win and weekend sweep.
Bemidji State at (11) St. Cloud State
On Friday, Alice Sauriol had three assists and Siiri Yrjölä scored her first career goal to lead SCSU to a 3-0 win. The Huskies scored twice on the power play to take the win. Emma Gentry and Sofianna Sundelin joined Yrjölä in lighting the lamp. On Saturday, Bemidji State jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Izy Fairchild put the Beavers on the board in the first and Isa Goettl doubled the lead early in the second. But St. Cloud seemed to find themselves in the second, outshooting BSU 14-3 as they pushed back. Yrjölä scored her second in as many games with a wrister on the power play to cut the lead to 2-1. With less than two minutes to go and on the power play again, St. Cloud tied it up as Grace Wolfe dashed up the right side and fed Laura Zimmerman, who deftly deflected the puck into the net. The game seemed destined for overtime, but Sundelin called game, scoring after some deft stickwork with 69 seconds left on a breakaway thanks to a stretch pass from Sauriol to give St. Cloud the 3-2 win and weekend sweep.
Vermont at (12) Boston College
Olivia Maffeo tipped in a Jade Arnone pass on the power play in the first to give BC a 1-0 lead that held until the opening minutes of the third when Alanna Devlin stepped up to pick off a puck and let loose with a bar down shot to make it 2-0. Julia Pellerin added an empty-netter to secure the 3-0 win for the Eagles.
(14) Boston University at New Hampshire
UNH goalie Sedona Blair was stellar in the third, withstanding a long extra-attacker stint when BU pulled their goalie to complete a 26-save shutout on Saturday. A loose puck in front of the net gave the Wildcats several chances and it was Shea Verrier that found the back of the net midway through the first to give New Hampshire the 1-0 lead. Sara Boucher doubled the lead early in the third with a backhander that rattled around and into the net to give UNH the 2-0 lead and eventual win.
Maine at (15) Connecticut
Claire Murdoch scored in the final minute of the first to give UConn the 1-0 lead. Maine took over in the second as Mira Seregely tied the game early and Mikayla Boarder’s power play goal late in the frame gave the Black Bears the 2-1 lead. Jada Habisch scored a power play goal of her own midway through the third to tie the game and an extra period did not find a winner as this game ended a 2-2 tie. On Saturday, Tia Chan earned her third shutout of the season, making 33 saves. Riley Grimley, Megan Woodworth and Livvy Dewar each scored for the Huskies to give them the 3-0 win.
(15) Northeastern vs. Providence (home and home)
The Friars used a three-goal first period to power themselves to a 5-1 on Friday. Mégane Quirion put away a rebound about eight minutes into the game and just a minute later, Kiara Kraft’s backhander made it 2-0. Hannah Johnson cleaned up a rebound with about six left in the first to extend the lead to 3-0. Northeastern outshot Providence in the second, but could not light the lamp and the score head into the final frame. Reichen Kirchmair scored just after a power play ended a few minutes into the third to make it 4-0. Northeastern got on the board during a major penalty power play as Taze Thompson made it 4-1. The Huskies pulled their goalie for an extra attacker during that extended power play and Lily Martinson’s empty-netter secured the win for the Friars. On Saturday, Kraft scored late in the first to second Providence to the lower room up 1-0. Some great puck movement from Providence ended in an odd-player rush. Ashley Clark laid the puck off to Kraft, who did not miss. Allie Lalonde responded for Northeastern just 28 seconds into the second with a power play goal to tie the game 1-1. Martinson’s wrister put Providence ahead 2-1 with six to go in the second and then Kirchmair’s deflection with her back to the net made it a 3-1 lead. Jules Constantinople cut into the lead early in the third to make it 3-2, but Providence’s defense shut down any further chances and the Friars had their first regular season series sweep of Northeastern since 2017-18.
Arizona State is now in sole possession of first place in the NCHC after sweeping St. Cloud State over the weekend (photo: Sun Devil Athletics).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of Jan. 13 fared in games over the weekend of Jan. 17-18.
No. 1 Michigan State (19-3-2)
01/17/2025 – No. 1 Michigan State 2 at No. 10 Michigan 3 (OT)
01/18/2025 – No. 10 Michigan 1 at No. 1 Michigan State 4
No. 2 Boston College (16-4-1)
01/14/2025 – Harvard 1 at No. 2 Boston College 3
01/17/2025 – No. 6 Providence 0 at No. 2 Boston College 3
01/18/2025 – No. 2 Boston College 4 at No. 6 Providence 1
No. 4 Western Michigan (15-4-1)
01/17/2025 – No. 4 Western Michigan 3 at No. 14 North Dakota 2 (OT)
01/18/2025 – No. 4 Western Michigan 5 at No. 14 North Dakota 1
No. 5 Maine (15-5-3)
01/17/2025 – No. 17 Connecticut 4 at No. 5 Maine 2
01/18/2025 – No. 17 Connecticut 2 at No. 5 Maine 2 (OT)
No. 6 Providence (15-5-2)
01/17/2025 – No. 6 Providence 0 at No. 2 Boston College 3
01/18/2025 – No. 2 Boston College 4 at No. 6 Providence 1
No. 10 Michigan (14-9-1)
01/17/2025 – No. 1 Michigan State 2 at No. 10 Michigan 3 (OT)
01/18/2025 – No. 10 Michigan 1 at No. 1 Michigan State 4
No. 11 Boston University (13-7-1)
01/17/2025 – No. 11 Boston University 6 at No. 19 New Hampshire 3
01/18/2025 – No. 19 New Hampshire 1 at No. 11 Boston University 2 (OT)
No. 12 Minnesota State (16-6-2)
01/17/2025 – RV Michigan Tech 2 at No. 12 Minnesota State 5
01/18/2025 – RV Michigan Tech 1 at No. 12 Minnesota State 0 (OT)
No. 13 Arizona State (13-8-1)
01/17/2025 – No. 13 Arizona State 6 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3
01/18/2025 – No. 13 Arizona State 5 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3
No. 14 North Dakota (12-10-1)
01/17/2025 – No. 4 Western Michigan 3 at No. 14 North Dakota 2 (OT)
01/18/2025 – No. 4 Western Michigan 5 at No. 14 North Dakota 1
No. 15 St. Cloud State (11-11-0)
01/17/2025 – No. 13 Arizona State 6 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3
01/18/2025 – No. 13 Arizona State 5 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3
No. 17 Connecticut (12-8-2)
01/17/2025 – No. 17 Connecticut 4 at No. 5 Maine 2
01/18/2025 – No. 17 Connecticut 2 at No. 5 Maine 2 (OT)
No. 18 Colorado College (11-10-1)
01/17/2025 – Minnesota Duluth 2 at No. 18 Colorado College 7
01/18/2025 – Minnesota Duluth 4 at No. 18 Colorado College 1
No. 19 New Hampshire (10-8-3)
01/17/2025 – No. 11 Boston University 6 at No. 19 New Hampshire 3
01/18/2025 – No. 19 New Hampshire 1 at No. 11 Boston University 2 (OT)
No. 20 Clarkson (13-7-2)
01/17/2025 – No. 20 Clarkson 7 at Yale 4
01/18/2025 – No. 20 Clarkson 2 at Brown 4
Hockey East announced Monday that Maine graduate forward Ross Mitton has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 16:59 of the third period on Jan. 18 against UConn.
