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SATURDAY COLLEGE HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Notre Dame bests No. 3 Minnesota in OT; No. 2 Boston College sweeps No. 6 Providence; No. 1 Michigan State splits with No. 10 Michigan; No. 4 Western Michigan sweeps No. 14 North Dakota; No. 17 Connecticut ties No. 5 Maine

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Blake Biondi give Notre Dame the win in overtime against Minnesota (Photo: Jim Rosvold).

Blake Biondi’s first game-winning goal of the season lifted Notre Dame over Minnesota in overtime, earning the Fighting Irish a tough road split with the No. 3 Golden Gophers.

From the left slot, Biondi took a cross-crease feed from Cole Knuble and one-timed it past Liam Souliere at 3:46 in OT to win the game.

After Ian Murphy opened the scoring for the Irish at 7:43 in the first, the Gophers played catch-up for the remainder of the game. The score was tied 1-1 after one when Jimmy Snuggerud answered for Minnesota at 12:33, but the second period ended with a 3-2 Irish lead.

Landon Slaggert scored early in the second to put Notre Dame ahead by one again, with Luke Mittelstadt evening things up three minutes later. Knuble scored late in the second. Matthew Wood’s goal early in the third tied it again for the Gophers.

Each team went 0-for-2 on the power play. Owen Say made 30 saves in his sixth win of the season. Souliere had 27 stops in the game.

SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | POLL | PAIRWISE

No. 2 Boston College 4, No. 6 Providence 1

Gabe Perreault, James Hagens and Teddy Stiga combined for two goals and Jake Sondreal earned his third game winner of the season as the Eagles beat Providence on the road 4-1, sweeping the home-and-home series.

Jacob Fowler had 30 saves in the win, including this nimble move to preserve a one-goal lead with about a minute left in the second.

Perreault put the Eagles up 1-0 after one with assists by Hagens and Stiga. It was 2-1 after two on Sondreal’s goal at 2:06 and Will Elger’s goal on the Friars’ power play at 13:51.

The Eagles added two more in the third, Ryan Leonard’s power-play goal at 8:02 and Stiga’s goal from Perreault and Hagens at 14:03. Stiga also had the second assist on Leonard’s tally.

Philip Svedebäck finished the night with 20 saves for the Friars as Providence outshot Boston College 31-24.

No. 1 Michigan State 4, No. 10 Michigan 1

Charlie Stramel had two goals and an assist and Isaac Howard had three helpers as Michigan State beat Michigan 4-1 in Munn Ice Arena, earning a split in the home-and-home series.

With the Spartans leading 1-0 on Matt Basgall’s early power-play goal, Stramel’s first goal of the night at 18:03 in the first held up as the game winner.

Michigan State added two more in the second, Shane Vansaghi’s power-play goal at 5:43 and Stramel’s second of the night at 8:12, shorthanded. T.J. Hughes had Michigan’s only score on the power play at 18:50 in the third.

It was a spicy game, with the teams combining for 72 penalty minutes, 48 of which belonged to Michigan. The only goal of the night that didn’t involve special teams play was Stramel’s game winner.

Trey Augustine stopped 34-of-35. Logan Stein made 28 saves in the Michigan net. The Wolverines outshot the Spartans 35-32.

With the win and Minnesota’s loss, the Spartans reclaim the top spot in the Big Ten standings, one point ahead of the Golden Gophers.

No. 4 Western Michigan 5, No. 14 North Dakota 1

After scoring twice in Western Michigan’s Friday overtime win — including the game winner — Alex Bump led Western with two goals and an assist as the Broncos completed a road sweep of North Dakota, beating the Fighting Hawks 5-1.

The Broncos jumped out to a 2-0 lead after after the first period on Ty Henricks’ early goal and this game-winning snipe by Owen Michaels two minutes before the period ended.

Liam Valente gave Western a 3-0 lead at 6:31 in the second. Cameron Berg brought the Fighting Hawks to within two again at 14:24, but Bump’s first of the night with 16 seconds left in the second gave the Broncos a three-goal lead once more. Bump added his second goal on the power play in the third period.

Hampton Slukynsky had the win with 24 saves on 25 shots. T.J. Semptimphelter stopped 37 as the Broncos outshot the Fighting Hawks 42-25.

No. 17 Connecticut 2, No. 5 Maine 2

Down 2-1 and with netminder Callum Tung pulled for the extra skater, Connecticut’s Jake Percival scored from Kai Janviriya with 37 seconds remaining in regulation to tie Maine 2-2 in Alfond Arena and send the game into overtime.

It was 1-1 after the first on goals late in the period from Connecticut’s Ryan Tattle and Maine’s Oskar Komarov. After a scoreless second period, Taylor Makar gave the Black Bears the lead at 6:12 in the third.

Through 65 minutes, Maine outshot Connecticut 32-24. Tung had 30 saves for the Huskies and Albin Boija made 22 stops for the Black Bears.

Maine earned the extra shootout point. With the tie and Friday’s 4-2 win, Connecticut took four of a possible six points from Maine on the road.

No. 11 Boston University 2, No. 19 New Hampshire 1 (OT)

New Hampshire threw all it had at Boston University, outshooting the Terriers 35-21, but BU captain Ryan Greene ended the game a minute into overtime on a beauty of an end-to-end play, breaking in with Jack Harvey and giving the Terriers a home-and-home sweep of the Wildcats.

Nick Ring’s goal at 8:27 of the first period gave New Hampshire the early lead. At 7:45 in the second, Cole Eiserman tied the game on the power play. Harvey had the second assist on that goal, making him the only player of the night with a multipoint game.

Mathieu Caron made 34 saves on 35 shots for the win. Jared Whale stopped 19-of-21 for New Hampshire.

Cornell 2, No. 16 Quinnipiac 2 (OT) 

Nick DeSantis and Tim Rego each had two points for Cornell as the Big Red came from behind to tie Quinnipiac in M&T Bank Arena, 2-2. DeSantis had the game-tying goal from Rego midway through the third period.

Cornell pushed hard in OT, outshooting the Bobcats 6-0 in the extra stanza. With less than a minute remaining, Dylan Silverstein saved the game for Quinnipiac on a scrambled play in front of the Bobcats’ net.

George Fegaras gave Cornell the lead from Rego early in the first period, but Tyler Borgula and Chris Pelosi scored in the second for Quinnipiac.

Ian Shane finished the night with 16 saves for Cornell and Silverstein had 17. The Big Red took the extra point in the shootout.

Brown 4, No. 20 Clarkson 2

Max Scott’s first career hat trick — including two scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation – propelled Brown to a 4-2 win over visiting Clarkson, giving the Bears their first season sweep of the Golden Knights in program history.

Scott’s first goal of the night at 8:12 in the second period gave Brown its second lead in the game.

Clarkson’s two goals in the game came on the power play, the first by Ellis Rickwood early in the second to tie the game 1-1 and the second by Ayrton Martino at 17:52 in the second, making it a 2-2 game after two.

Scott’s game-winning marker came at 18:35 in the third, followed by an empty-net goal at 19:33.

Lawton Zacher stopped 25-of-27 in the win. In net for the Golden Knights, Ethan Langenegger made 37 saves on 41 shots.

Michigan Tech 1, No. 12 Minnesota State 0 (OT)

After 61 minutes and 45 seconds of scoreless hockey, Michigan Tech’s Isaac Gordon scored on the power play to give the Huskies a 1-0 win over Minnesota State and a split on the weekend at home.

The Mavericks outshot the Huskies 31-25 and went 0-for-4 on the power play.

Ryan Manzella had 31 saves in his second shutout of the season. For Minnesota State, Alex Tracy stopped 24-of-25.

No. 13 Arizona State 5, No. 15 St. Cloud State 3

With the game tied 1-1 after two periods, Arizona State scored three times during a single five-minute power play early in the third on their way to a 5-3 win over St. Cloud State.

This is Ryan Kirwin’s game-winning goal, the third of that man advantage.

All told, the Sun Devils went 4-for-8 on the power play, starting with Lukas Sillinger’s goal at 7:38 in the first to give Arizona State the early 1-0 lead. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the third on Tyson Gross’s second-period goal for St. Cloud.

It was Gross in the box for five minutes for hitting from behind when the Sun Devils took the 4-1 lead. First Noah Beck scored at 2:33, followed by Ty Jackson at 3:18 with Kirwin scoring at 5:35.

St. Cloud answered with goals from Gavyn Thoreson and Daimon Gardner to make it 4-3 late in the third, but Artem Shlaine hit the empty net at 19:14 for the final score. Shlaine led all scorers with his goal plus three assists.

Gibson Homer made 31 saves in the win, and Gavin Enright stopped 20-of-25 for St. Cloud State.

The win gives the Sun Devils a road sweep of the Huskies and sweetens their record to 10-1-0 in their last 11 games. Eight of those 10 wins are in conference play, and the Sun Devils sit at the top of the NCHC standings, a point ahead of Western Michigan.

Ferris State 4, Bowling Green 3

Trailing 2-0 at the end of the first in Ewigleben Arena, the Bulldogs scored four straight goals as Ferris State bested Bowling Green 4-3, halting the Falcons’ unbeaten streak at eight games.

Quinn Emerson and Brody Waters gave the Falcons the 2-0 lead after one, but the Bulldogs tied it up 2-2 after two with goals by Kade Turner and Gavin Best. Turner and Best bookended the period, with Turner scoring his first collegiate goal at 3:21 and Best, who had the second assist on Turner’s goal, scoring with nine seconds left in the period.

Nick Nardecchia’s goal at 3:18 in the third gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the weekend series.

Tyler Schleppe’s goal at 5:06 was the game winner after Waters added a power-play goal for Bowling Green at 12:19. Waters leads the CCHA in power-play goals with nine.

Noah West made 38 saves for the Bulldogs. In net for the Falcons, Cole Moore stopped 34 as Bowling Green outshot Ferris State 41-38.

Bowling Green’s streak (7-0-1) dated back to a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota State Dec. 7. The win was the first for Ferris State since Dec. 7, ending a five-game losing streak.

Sacred Heart 6, American International 3

The Pioneers extend their unbeaten streak to four games and pad their lead at the top of the Atlantic Hockey standings with their 6-3 home win over American International.

Tyler Ghirardosi had two goals and two assists in the game. Matthew Guerra also had a four-point effort with a goal and three assists. Ghirardosi’s game-winning goal came on the power play at 13:08 in the second.

The third period began with the game tied 2-2 before Sacred Heart scored three unanswered, beginning with Cole Galata’s at 6:50. Following Ghirardosi’s game winner, Hunter Sansbury gave the Pioneers a 5-2 lead on the power play at 13:48.

With less than four minutes remaining in regulation, Danny Weight cut the Pioneers’ lead to two goals again, but Guerra hit the empty net from Ghirardosi at 18:28 to cap the scoring.

Cullen DeYoung had 27 saves for the Pioneers. For the Yellow Jackets, Peyton Grainer left the game after the 2:43 mark, stopping all four shots he faced. Chase Clark played the rest of the game for AIC, allowing five goals on 18 shots.

FRIDAY COLLEGE HOCKEY ROUNDUP: No. 10 Michigan nips No. 1 Michigan State in OT; Muldowney scores all four as No. 17 UConn downs No. 5 Maine; No. 2 Boston College blanks No. 6 Providence; No. 3 Minnesota defeats Notre Dame; No. 4 Western Michigan clips No. 14 North Dakota in OT

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Michigan’s Garrett Schifsky nets the overtime winner Friday night against Michigan State (photo: Michigan Photography).

Garrett Schifsky scored one minute into overtime to give No. 10 Michigan a 3-2 win over No. 1 Michigan State Friday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

TJ Hughes forced overtime for the Wolverines with his goal at 14:25 of the third period.

Will Horcoff also scored for Michigan and goaltender Logan Stein made 35 saves.

It’s also two consecutive contests in which UM took No. 1 MSU to overtime, following the “Cold War” going into the books as a 3-3 draw on Oct. 6, 2001.

Karsen Dorwart and Joey Larson scored for MSU and Trey Augustine stopped 29 shots between the pipes.

The rivalry continues Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich.

SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | POLL | PAIRWISE

No. 2 Boston College 3, No. 6 Providence 0

Jacob Fowler pitched a 24-save shutout as Boston College downed Providence 3-0 at Schneider Arena in Providence, R.I.

Ryan Leonard, James Hagens and Oskar Jellvik tallied the goals for the Eagles.

For the Friars, Philip Svedebäck made 38 saves in goal.

No. 3 Minnesota 5, Notre Dame 2

Jimmy Snuggerud scored two goals to lead Minnesota past Notre Dame 5-2 at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn.

Cal Thomas, John Mittelstadt and Mason Nevers added goals for the Gophers and Nathan Airey finished with 13 saves between the pipes.

Paul Fischer and Jimmy Jurcev scored for Notre Dame and goalies Nicholas Kempf and Owen Say combined on a 41-save outing.

No. 4 Western Michigan 3, No. 14 North Dakota 2 (OT)

Alex Bump scored the game-tying goal at 2:46 of the third period and then won it 14 seconds into overtime on a Western Michigan power play as the Broncos downed North Dakota 3-2 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

Liam Valente added the other WMU goal and Cameron Rowe made 29 saves in net.

For the Fighting Hawks, Dylan James and Carter Wilkie scored and netminder Hobie Hedquist turned aside 31 shots.

No. 17 UConn 4, No. 5 Maine 2

Joey Muldowney scored all four goals as UConn defeated Maine 4-2 at Alfond Arena in Orono, Me.

Huskies goalie Tyler Muszelik made 26 saves.

Maine’s Charlie Russell and Nolan Renwick scored and Albin Boija finished with 21 saves in goal.

No. 11 Boston University 6, No. 19 New Hampshire 3

Ryan Greene netted two goals and Cole Hutson and Quinn Hutson each scored as Boston University doubled up New Hampshire 6-3 at Agganis Arena in Boston.

Devin Kaplan and Jack Hughes also scored for the Terriers, who got a 39-save performance from goaltender Mathieu Caron.

Connor Sweeney, Nick Ring and Robert Cronin posted goals for UNH and Jared Whale kicked out 26 shots in goal.

No. 12 Minnesota State 5, Michigan Tech 2

Five different players scored as Minnesota State beat Michigan Tech 5-2 at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato, Minn.

Luke Ashton, Rhett Pitlick, Adam Eisele, Jakob Stender and Kaden Bohlsen found the back of the net for the Mavericks and goalie Alex Tracy made 16 saves.

For MTU, Stiven Sardarian and Nick Williams scored and Derek Mullahy and Ryan Manzella combined to make 29 stops in net.

No. 13 Arizona State 6, No. 15 St. Cloud State 3

Down 3-1 early in the second period, Arizona State rallied for five unanswered goals and defeated St. Cloud State 6-3 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

Ryan Kirwan scored twice for the Sun Devils, while Cullen Potter, Lukas Sillinger, Benji Eckerle and Kyle Smolen added one each to back Gibson Homer’s 30 saves in goal.

Adam Ingram, Gavyn Thoreson and Mason Salquist scored for SCSU and goalie Gavin Enright finished with 22 saves.

No. 16 Quinnipiac 6, Colgate 3

Andon Cerbone registered the hat trick as Quinnipiac doubled up Colgate 6-3 from the M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn.

Travis Treloar, Jack Ricketts and Aaron Schwartz added goals for the Bobcats and Matej Marinov and Dylan Silverstein teamed up to make 19 saves between the pipes.

Robby Newton, Max Nagel and Reid Irwin recorded goals for the Raiders and netminder Andrew Takacs made 31 saves.

No. 18 Colorado College 6, Minnesota Duluth 1 (in progress)

At the end of the second period from Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., Colorado College holds a commanding 6-1 lead over Minnesota Duluth.

Noah Laba has two goals for the Tigers, with Fisher Scott, Max Burkholder, Stanley Cooley and Gleb Veremyev scoring one each.

Ty Hanson has the lone UMD goal.

Colorado College goalie Kaidan Mbereko has made 18 saves and Bulldogs netminders Klayton Knapp and Zach Sandy have combined to stop 18.

No. 20 Clarkson 7, Yale 4

Ayrton Martino scored three goals and Talon Sigurdson two of his own as Clarkson defeated Yale 7-4 at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn.

Tate Taylor and Erik Bargholtz also scored for the Golden Knights and goalie Ethan Langenegger stopped 29 shots.

For the Bulldogs, Ronan O’Donnell scored two goals and Julian Frias and Elan Bar-Lev-Wise potted one each.

Yale goaltender Jack Stark made 18 saves.

NCAA D-III Men’s Hockey Weekend Picks

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The Aurora Spartans take on Marian this weekend. (Photo by Steve Woltmann, Aurora Athletics)

It’s the middle of January and the action on the ice isn’t slowing down. We’ve got a handful of MIAC-WIAC crossover games and a full slate of NCHA games, with all three ranked conference opponents in action. Here’s a look at this week’s picks.

Concordia (5-9-1, 1-4-1) at St. Scholastica (8-6-1, 3-3)

Both teams come in looking to gain ground in the MIAC standings. 

The Saints will lean on Hunter Hanson, who is tied for the league lead in goals scored (10). The Saints have come through with 51 goals as a team.

Dane Coutre has played well in goal for the Cobbers, sporting a 2.62 goals against average, and he’ll have to be on top of his game against the Saints,who have three players ranked among the top goal scorers in the league.

Concordia aims to end a two-game losing streak. The Saints are hoping to do the same.
St. Scholastica, 4-2; Concordia, 5-3

Augsburg (5-10, 1-5) vs. Bethel (7-5-1, 3-1)

Tyler Braccini ranks in the top five in goals scored in the MIAC, tallying nine on the season, while goalie Austin Ryman has been impressive in goal, racking up 270 saves. It’s also worth noting the Royals have won their last four games.

The Auggies are at the bottom of the conference and have lost their last two games. Things will need to change offensively for Augsburg, which has scored a goal or less in six of its last eight games.
Bethel, 3-1 and 4-2

Saint John’s (6-7) at UW-Stevens Point (10-4-1)

A big opportunity awaits the Johnnies as they hit the road to take on the nationally ranked Pointers on Saturday. Jon Howe will have to be at his best against a team that is averaging four goals per game.

Dawson Sciarrino leads the way with 12 goals. The Pointers have won four in a row. The Johnnies had lost seven in a row against the Pointers before winning 3-1 in January of 2023. Stevens Point comes in with a 7-0-1 record at home this season.
Stevens Point, 5-2

UW-River Falls (9-6) at St. Olaf (6-6-1)

Jonathan Panisa leads the Oles into action against the Falcons, who are playing their next six games on the road. River Falls has one of the top goalies in the game in Brennan Boynton, who has a 91.5 save percentage, the best in the WIAC.

The Oles are hoping to end a two-game losing streak. The good news is they have played well at home, going 4-1 this season.
River Falls, 4-3

UW-River Falls (9-6) at Saint Mary’s (7-5-1)

The Falcons cap the weekend on Saturday with a game against the Cardinals. Dylan Smith will be looked upon to play a key role as he leads River Falls with 15 points. He’s scored eight goals on the season.

The Cardinals have dropped two in a row and are 0-2 against WIAC opponents this season. Colin Tushie, Nathan Solis and Gabe Potyk have been key players for Saint Mary’s, scoring seven goals apiece.
Saint Mary’s, 5-4

Lawrence (3-9-2, 2-5-1) vs. Trine (12-2-1, 6-1-1)

The first place Thunder, who are ranked seventh nationally in the USCHO.com poll, look to keep their place atop the standings when they take on the Vikings.

Trine has great depth at the goalie position, with Cristian Wong-Ramos and Kyle Kozma both having the ability to rise to the occasion. Both sport goals against averages under two.

The Vikings come in having lost three in a row and are facing their third ranked opponent of the season.
Trine, 4-1 and 5-2

Adrian (12-3, 6-2) vs. Lake Forest (6-8-1, 2-5-1)

Sixth-ranked Adrian is as hot as ever, winning nine in a row, and it won’t be easy for the Foresters to slow that momentum. Ian Amsbaugh is among the top threats for the Bulldogs, scoring eight goals, and Dershahn Stewart has been solid between the pipes with a 2.49 goals against average.

The Foresters begin a stretch of back to back weekends against ranked opponents. Justin Ross, Trevor Faucher and Colin Bella have tallied seven goals apiece for Lake Forest.
Adrian, 5-2 and 6-3

Marian (6-9, 3-5) vs.Aurora (12-3, 6-2)

The No. 5 Spartans have won two in a row and look to keep pace in a highly competitive battle for the conference title. Aurora has cranked out 73 goals, the most of any team in the NCHA, and Landry Schmuck has helped fuel that attack, coming through with 11 goals.

Daunte Fortner has helped lead the way for the Sabres, tallying seven goals. Marian has lost three of its last four.
Aurora, 5-1 and 4-1

Concordia (9-6, 4-4) vs. St. Norbert (12-3, 7-1)

The fourth-ranked Green Knights feature two of the top five scoring threats in the NCHA in Liam Fraser and Logan Dombrowsky. They’ll look to get St. Norbert back on track after three straight losses. Fraser has tallied 14 goals while Dombrowsky has come through with nine goals.

Derek Humphreys leads the way for the Falcons, recording 11 goals. Two of the better goalies will be on the ice as well in Hunter Garvey for St. Norbert and Gabe Rosek for Concordia, which has won six in a row.
St. Norbert, 5-3; Concordia, 4-3

Different league, same results for balanced Geneseo group

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Geneseo’s Dakota Zarudny is a big part of Geneseo’s balanced attack as the Knights prepare for the stretch run in the UCHC race (Photo by Geneseo Athletics)

After suffering their first loss of the season last weekend to a familiar antagonist in Elmira, the Geneseo Knights rebounded in a big way with a decisive win over Fredonia and now face their final twelve games of the season in their new UCHC affiliation looking for a conference title and more.

“Candidly, I was a bit surprised by our start,” stated head coach Chris Schultz. “We don’t load up a single line and have a pretty balanced top three groups in the lineup. Our goaltending has been really good with both Adam [Harris] and Jacob [Torgner] right around the .940 save percentage level. That kind of consistency will keep you in a lot of hockey games and definitely helps out on the penalty kill. Knowing if they can consistently keep at that level of play means I am still not sure how good we are or can be.”

Following their closing of the first half with a win and overtime tie with Utica, the Knights were off for a month before returning to game action last weekend for the first time in 2025. A Friday night loss at Elmira got the rust off before the offense broke out in a big way against Fredonia with eight different players scoring goals in a 9-2 rout of the Blue Devils.

“The break was like thirty-two days,” said Schultz. “Then we cam back to literally play our “kryptonite” in Elmira who we do not have a very successful history against. Next year they come into our league so maybe having the incentive of points to the winner may be a different motivator for our team but putting that one aside I liked how we rebounded the next night and got back to our game.”

The Knights do not have a 10-gaol scorer and only one player (Cooper Fensterstock) has double-digit assists on the roster. The balance goes up and down the lineup and largely with even-strength goals as the usually deadly power play is clicking only at 16% so far this season.

“We have become a very gritty team,” noted Schultz. “In the past we would send some flyers for the perfect play or individual zone entry where now the group is much more a “chip and chase” approach. We made this change a couple of seasons ago and have had good success with the players buying into the style. If we can get the power play going our fifth-ranked offense should only get better and we will need that to close out the regular season and heading to the playoffs in March.”

One of the players looking to breakout on the man-advantage unit is defenseman Dakota Zarudny. The junior has eight points on the season with a +10 rating and has the high reward skills his coach is looking to take advantage of in the attack.

“Dak grew up playing forward,” said Schultz. “I am not sure when he made the shift back to the blueline, but I have always recruited and liked the smaller, skilled defensive players especially that play that high risk-high/reward style of play. He is a great influence on the team and in the room because he is always yapping and having fun. I can call him out in front of the group, and he just laughs and gets energized by it all.

The Knights will be looking for their first UCHC title this season but have a difficult path forward including four games with Nazareth and two each with Chatham, Brockport, Manhattanville and Utica to close out the second half of the season. Nazareth bookends the remaining schedule starting with a home-and-home series this weekend that Coach Schultz wants to see his team ready to go.

“Any team coach by George Roll is going to be ready to play and very disciplined and true to their systems,” said Schultz. “They have been playing very well of late including wins over Hamilton and Cortland before a tough loss to Oswego. We need to keep our gritty style going and make some improvements in getting more pucks to the net and not looking for the perfect play particularly on the power play. It is going to be a tough road to the finish line playing some really strong teams and I hope we find out how very good we are before we have to play in March.”

The Knights travel to face Nazareth on Friday night before taking the ice at “The Ira” on Saturday in the back end of the two-game series against the Golden Flyers.

 

 

Michigan State at Michigan, Providence at BC among our six games analyzed for Jan. 17, 2025: USCHO Edge college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 12

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USCHO Edge hosts Jim Connelly, Dan Rubin, and Ed Trefzger look at money lines and over/under for six college games on January 17, 2025:

  • Providence +160 @ Boston College -210; over/under 5.5
  • UConn +200 @ Maine -270; o/u 5.5
  • Michigan State -110 @ Michigan -120; o/u 6.5
  • Western Michigan -115 @ North Dakota -115; o/u 6.5
  • Arizona State +110 @ St. Cloud -140; o/u 5.5
  • Notre Dame +240 @ Minnesota -330; o/u 5.5 (our “pizza money” game)

Subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, in your favorite podcast app, or on Spreaker.

Check out all of USCHO’s podcasts, including USCHO Weekend Review and USCHO Spotlight, plus our entire podcast archive.

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This Week in Atlantic Hockey America: Confidence boost after weekend of goal scoring has Army West Point primed for Air Force series this weekend

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Ben Ivey posted two goals in Army West Point’s 9-1 win over Mercyhurst last Friday night (photo: Army West Point Athletics).

Scoring goals has been a challenge for Army West Point this season.

Before last weekend, the Black Knights (7-15-0) were averaging 1.65 goals a game, and hadn’t scored more than two in a contest since a 5-3 loss to Holy Cross on Nov. 22.

Brian Riley’s team came into last weekend’s series with Mercyhurst having scored seven goals in their previous eight games, losing all of them.

That all changed last weekend.

On Friday, The Black Knights defeated the Lakers 9-1 and then put up a baker’s dozen in Saturday’s 13-1 win.

Saturday’s game set an Atlantic Hockey America record for goals in a game and tied the record goals in a period (seven in the second period on Saturday). Every Army forward had at least a point in each game, led by Nik Hong and Nils Forselius with seven points each in the series.

“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever been a part of,” said Riley. “Everything went in for us, all the goals that didn’t in our previous games. It was kind of a perfect storm. Nobody is that many goals better than the other team. Pucks just went in for us that hadn’t gone in for nine games. Mercyhurst had just played the (Minnesota) Gophers the week before and they were competitive games.”

Riley said that an impromptu team meeting held after an 8-2 loss to American International on Jan. 7 helped galvanize his team.

“For us, the weekend started after AIC beat us 8-2 on Tuesday,” said Riley. “I talked to the team and it turned into a team meeting. I asked the players to speak up. Everybody got to talk.

“We were so consumed with winning and scoring, that we forgot about the habits and details, which is the process.”

The offensive outburst came at the perfect time with the Black Knights welcoming rival Air Force to Tate Rink this weekend.

“We needed a confidence boost,” said Riley. “I think that this past weekend gave some guys that were struggling some confidence. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

Army-Air Force is a special rivalry unlike any other in college hockey, made extra special this year, Riley’s final one at Army West Point. He’s retiring after 21 seasons.

“I’ve been thinking about how much I’m going to miss being a part of the rivalry,” said Riley. “There are lots of great rivalries in college hockey, but this one is special because the of the players on both teams what they are willing to do for their country.

“After the game, we line up shoulder to shoulder for the alma maters. It’s unique.”

The end of the season is coming fast for Riley. His final regular season series is against AIC, coached by Riley’s former assistant, Eric Lang. Riley’s son Brendan is an assistant coach at AIC, which ends its participation in Division I and Atlantic Hockey at the end of the season.

“How ironic is that?” said Riley. “We wanted ‘Langer,’ we wanted Brendan to be here for our final regular-season game. And now it’s the (second) last regular-season game in their history (the Yellow Jackets recently rescheduled their postponed game with Holy Cross as their last game of the regular season).

Riley says he’s starting to look back as the time nears.

“It’s winding down,” he said. “It’s coming fast for some strange reason. This season is flying by.

“Looking back, the best part isn’t the wins, it’s the relationships that were special. I’ve been very lucky, but it’s time.”

NCAA D-II/III East Men’s Ice Hockey Game Picks – January 16, 2025

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Buffalo State’s Joe Glamos hopes to keep the Bengals’ Cellys going as they face the nation’s No. 1 team this weekend when Hobart comes to visit on Friday night (Photo by Performance Sport Photography – Jennifer Meure)

Other than some mid-week games and the odd non-conference matchup to be found sporadically for the balance of the schedule, the action now turns to conference play and all-important wins and points. It is mid-January so if your team is going to make a run it would be best to bring maximum effort and execution to the ice for the sprint to the finish of the regular season.

My weekly picks finished last week at 8-5-0 (.615) on my “Baker’s Dozen” picks where, unfortunately,  absolutely none of my upset picks came through – so unlike the first half of the season. Overall, my season numbers are now 70-37-6 (.646) which is basically hovering in about the same area as the past month or so. If I am going to reach my goal of a 70% success rate, now is the time for me to ramp up the accuracy and pick some winners. Here is this week’s prognostications for the east:

Thursday, January 16, 2024

 Anna Maria v. Fitchburg State

The AmCats are certainly amongst the contending teams in the MASCAC this season but currently sit in a log jam of teams including Fitchburg State just three points apart and looking up at Plymouth State. The Falcons know the importance of playoff seeding and these points could be the difference next month. It is an overtime thriller for the home team – FSU, 5-4

Salem State v. Westfield State

The Vikings have been getting better every time out since their tournament win at the Boston Landing Invitational and a solid road win over the Owls will only build on the confidence for coach McInnis’ squad. Late flurry of goals including an empty-netter create some cushion for the visitors – SSU, 4-1

 Friday, January 17, 2024

Wilkes v. Neumann

The MAC schedule finds these two teams licking their wounds after a tough week of losses looking to rebound and gain some important conference points. This one looks and feels like a playoff game because, well, both teams are going to play like it is one! No one wants to extend a losing streak and advantage goes to the home team only because it probably matters  – Neumann, 3-2

(10) Endicott v. Wentworth

UPSET ALERT – The Gulls best not be looking past a very persistent Leopards squad who are coming off a big overtime win over Wilkes last weekend. Home ice fuels the fire for Wentworth who will come close but fall just a bit short in another upset bid in the CNE – Endicott, 3-2

Babson v. Albertus Magnus

The Beavers have been on a nice run over the past several games and look to extend their win streak against an explosive Falcon team fresh off  a sweep of Southern Maine. Nate Mueller has been steady in goal and scoring is also balanced for the visitors who eke out another “W” on the road – Babson, 5-4

(9) Hamilton v. Tufts

The Continentals are perched atop the NESCAC standings with a handful of teams looking to take advantage of any stumble. The Jumbos are looking to get their game headed in the right direction and while special teams help keep this close, there is too much firepower for the visitors who use an ENG for added margin – Hamilton, 5-3

(1) Hobart v. Buffalo State

UPSET ALERT NUMBER TWO – When you are undefeated and the defending national champion you are going to get everyone’s best game when you face any opponent. Buffalo State has quietly taken the top spot in the SUNYAC standings and are very dynamic offensively. The Statesmen will need to play shutdown defense with some great goaltending. Thin k I have seen that formula before and it works in a close one here on the road – Hobart, 3-2

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Nazareth v. (3) Geneseo

The Golden Flyers will work hard for sixty minutes under coach George Roll and the Knights certainly like to feast on non-conference foes at home. Can’t get complacent with this opponent who keeps things close in a very entertaining contest at “The Ira” –       Geneseo, 5-4

Franklin Pierce v. St. Anselm

The Ravens have struggled all season and have yet to pick up a win in NE-10 play so far. The Hawks will be wary and look to start fast to put the visitors on their back foot and playing catchup with the co-leaders in the league. Balanced scoring leads to a comfortable win – St. Anselm, 6-2

Williams v. Plattsburgh

The Cardinals play this back-end of a NESCAC double header looking to build some confidence before returning to SUNYAC play. Ephs have been up and down all season and this one finds them down as the visitors play it fast and physical for a nice home win – Plattsburgh, 3-1

(14) Cortland v. Oswego

These two teams expect to contend for the SUNYAC title and will be looking for a big win here for momentum in this non-conference affair. Game is at a neutral site in Skaneateles, New York with the Griffin’s Guardians charity being showcased. Hope the locals get out to watch a great hockey game that produces an overtime goal to win it – Cortland, 4-3

Elmira v. Massachusetts-Boston

The Soaring Eagles have started out strong in 2025 and will look to extend their strong results in NEHC play against the Beacons. Visitors have a veteran squad and find a way to down the expected challenge from the home team – Elmira, 4-1

Now we are getting to the games that really begin to matter on the schedule. No time like the present to get the results and points needed to contend  – “Drop the Puck!”

This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan-Michigan State rivalry gets next chapter going this weekend as series ‘going to bring out the best in everyone’

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The longstanding Michigan-Michigan State rivalry reignites this weekend in East Lansing and Ann Arbor (photo: Michigan State Athletics).

It’s a good week to be a sports fan in Michigan.

As the top seed in the NFC, the Detroit Lions host the Washington Commanders in NFL playoff action Saturday night.

After a coaching change, the Red Wings won their first seven games of 2025, putting them right there in the hunt for an NHL wild card playoff spot.

Even the Detroit Pistons are contributing to the Mitten glowup. As of this writing, the Pistons won seven of their first eight games in January.

For most Michiganders, this is a week of statewide pride, a love unified behind teams that represent the state in singular style.

But this week is also Rivalry Week, when the No. 10 Wolverines take the ice against the No. 1 Spartans, and no amount of geographic commonality can overcome the animosity created by a mere 65 miles of highway in southeast Michigan.

“Just growing up in the state of Michigan,” said Spartans coach Adam Nightingale, “you’re either green or blue.”

Nightingale knows.

The Cheboygan, Mich., native played his last two years of college hockey at Michigan State (2003-05), where he’s now in his third season as head coach.

“I think for our guys, especially the guys that are from the area or the guys that were here last year, [they] understand that it’s a special thing,” said Nightingale in his weekly press conference.

His counterpart, Brandon Naurato, knows all about it, too. Naurato hails from Livonia, Mich., and is a four-year (2005-09) Wolverine alum. He’s in his third year as head coach behind the Michigan bench.

“I say this with all due respect,” said Naurato on his weekly radio show. “We have respect for that team. It doesn’t mean that we have to like them.”

The rivalry between the Spartans and Wolverines is hot in every sport, but for hockey, it’s particularly sharp. Perhaps that’s because the history between the teams on ice is so long.

Both programs agree that the first game in this rivalry was a 5-1 Michigan win played Jan. 11, 1922, but there is a difference of opinion about the overall number of games in this all-time series. The Spartans count 348 with Michigan holding the all-time edge of 181-143-24. The Wolverines say it’s 343 games and that their record is 177-142-24.

In the years before Nightingale’s tenure in East Lansing and through his first season with Michigan State, the matches didn’t bring much joy to Spartans fans. From the start of the 2019 season through the first meeting between the teams last year, Michigan was 15-4-0 against Michigan State in their previous 19 contests. During that span, the Spartans saw three losing streaks that lasted from four to six consecutive games played.

The game that broke the last streak was Michigan State’s 7-5 win in Yost Ice Arena Jan. 20, 2024, just one day after the Wolverines crushed the Spartans 7-1 on Michigan State’s home ice.

The Spartans went on to beat the Wolverines in their next three meetings, including a 3-2 win Feb. 10 in front of more than 18,000 fans at Little Caesars Arena, home of the Red Wings, and their 5-4 overtime win to clinch the Big Ten playoff championship title in Munn Ice Arena five weeks later.

Michigan had the last word in last year’s series, however, when the Wolverines beat the Spartans 5-2 in the NCAA Midwest final, ending Michigan State’s season and sending the Wolverines to the Frozen Four. It was the first time in program history that the teams had met in the NCAA tournament.

“We don’t like that they beat us four times to our two last season,” said Naurato. “We don’t like that we lost the Big Ten championship in overtime in Munn. They don’t like that we ended their season.”

Regardless of the emotional nature of the rivalry – and it is emotional, as evidenced by the 168 penalty minutes in that 7-1 Michigan win in Munn last year – both coaches agree that there is a lot of respect between the teams. Players on each team who grew up in Michigan know each other pretty well, and Nightingale and Naurato moved in overlapping professional circles for years before becoming head coaches at their respective programs.

Each coach knows that there’s more on the line than Big Ten points when the Spartans and Wolverines meet, and Naurato also appreciates the renewed competitiveness in the series.

“We don’t want to play a last-place Michigan State team and they don’t want to play a last-place Michigan team,” said Naurato. “You want these games to mean something, and they do. Big Ten standings for sure, [but to] alumni, current players, future players, recruiting, this stuff matters.

“Every recruit we talk to, they’re talking to State and vice-versa. Well, it’s a better pitch when you’re the one winning that season series.”

“I think it’s great for the state,” added Nightingale. “We want young hockey players to aspire to play college hockey. You’ve got us and Michigan, Western Michigan’s doing an unbelievable job there. You’ve got three schools right in our state that are great examples. If you’ve got a dream of playing college hockey, you’ve got three great options.”

Nightingale said that this series is “one of the many special things about playing at Michigan State” and that the Spartans are looking forward to the first game.

Michigan State heads into the weekend after picking up four road points against Penn State. The Spartans beat the Nittany Lions 6-4 and tied 2-2, with Penn State picking up the extra point in the shootout. The Spartans are unbeaten in their last nine games (7-0-2), and their last loss – against Wisconsin Dec. 6 – was only their second loss of the season.

“At Penn State, I really thought the first night, we did a good job of showing some resolve,” said Nightingale. “We were down, came back and we had tied it, and it was good get the win there on the road.”

Penalties were an issue the second night, said Nightingale, when the Spartans took eight minors and a power-play goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation tied the game for the Nittany Lions. Nightingale said he liked the way the Spartans played “for about 52 minutes” in the tie.

“I thought the last eight minutes of the game, we got away from what we need to do to win hockey games,” said Nightingale.

With 28 points, the Spartans sit atop the Big Ten standings, one point ahead of Minnesota, five ahead of Ohio State and 10 up from fifth-place Michigan.

The Wolverines split on the road last against Notre Dame, and Michigan is 3-5-0 in its last eight games, all in conference play, but the Wolverines are still sitting at No. 12 in the PairWise Rankings.

“We’ve put ourselves in the position to be a tournament team,” said Naurato. “Our best hockey needs to be the rest of the season.”

Beginning with their series against the Spartans, said Naurato, the Wolverines will “see what we’re made of.” Michigan State is the top team in the country in both the USCHO Poll and the PairWise Rankings, while Minnesota is the fourth team currently in the PWR with Ohio State at No. 9.

Michigan has four regular-season games remaining against the Spartans, and two each against Minnesota and Ohio State.

“That’s real,” said Naurato. “Those are the teams you have to beat. They should know us better than anybody because they’re in our league, so it’s that much harder.

“There are no surprises. You have to earn it.”

“I think they’ve got a really good team,” added Nightingale. “I think we do, too.

“I think they’ve got a ton of talent. They’re very good on the power play. They definitely can score goals. I think it’s a very similar-type matchup, and I think regardless of where teams are at when they play, it’s going to bring out the best in everyone, and that’s what you want for your team.

“We want to see their best and they want to see our best and I think that’ll be the case Friday.”

The opening game in this series begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Yost Ice Arena. Saturday’s game at Munn Ice Arena begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be carried by the Big Ten Network.

This Week in Hockey East: UConn’s Schandor happy in Huskies uniform as team hopes to make January statement

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Hudson Schandor wears the ‘C’ for UConn this season (photo: Clarus Multimedia Group).

Connecticut gave Hudson Schandor an opportunity, but he’s given plenty back.

Schandor, Connecticut’s 5-foot-9, 175-pound graduate student forward from North Vancouver, B.C., recently surpassed 100 career points with a goal and two assists in a 4-1 win at New Hampshire last Friday, becoming the second-highest scorer in program history since it joined Hockey East in 2014.

“The biggest thing for me is, I’m proud to get this done as a Husky,” Schandor said. “I’m so grateful, really, for everyone here, for all that they’ve given to me and the opportunity they’ve given me. It’s hard not to get emotional when I talk about it. It’s a special place.”

Lightly recruited out of high school, Schandor has thrived in his time at UConn. His 104 career points as of this writing puts him one behind the school’s all-time leader in the Hockey East era, Jáchym Kondelík, who played forward for the Huskies from 2018-22 and now plays professionally overseas.

“These guys gave me an opportunity when I didn’t have a ton,” Schandor said. “I wasn’t in the best head space when they first reached out. (I) don’t know how high their expectations were of me, but the way they kind of brought me in and put their arms around me, everyone on the staff, it’s special. It’s truly a family here, and to be a part of it and to be able to be a leader here on this team now, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Schandor is currently third in Hockey East in scoring in conference play with five goals and eight assists. His goal against UNH, which came at 18:19 of the first period and put UConn up 1-0, was the Huskies’ nation-leading sixth shorthanded goal of the season.

“I don’t think we’ve had a penalty kill this aggressive, ever, in (my) time here,” Schandor said. “To be able to score as many shorthanded goals as we have this year is just a testament to the intelligence within our staff and within the guys on the kill. It’s like a special-operations unit we have going right now.”

Schandor earned high praise from Huskies coach Mike Cavanaugh, who noted Schandor started as a fourth-line player with a partial scholarship, working his way into a full scholarship.

“He’s the epitome of what I want in a UConn hockey player — on the ice, off the ice, he does all the little things,” Cavanaugh said. “Three-time captain — that should say enough about him as a player. (I) wish I had 30 of him. You’d be very successful if you had a lot of kids like Hudson Schandor.”

The Huskies currently sit in third place in the Hockey East standings and could be alone in first by the end of the weekend. UConn will visit league-leading Maine Friday and Saturday night (7 p.m. both nights on ESPN+).

Whatever happens to UConn the rest of the season, Schandor said he’s happy to be on the ride. While contemplating his hockey future after his senior season in 2023-24, Schandor said he weighed all options, but decided on one more year as a Husky.

“Something I’ve also learned here is the true power of loyalty,” he said. “Being a Canadian kid and coming to these American universities, you (find) out pretty quickly how much loyalty means to these guys. (It’s) a family. It truly is. And to be a part of the UConn family, for one more year, my last year, was something that outweighed everything.”

Watch list of 35 goalies announced for 2025 Mike Richter Award as NCAA D-I men’s top goaltender

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Northeastern’s Devon Levi is presented the 2022 Mike Richter Award by the award’s namesake during Frozen Four festivities (photo: Jim Rosvold).

The Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) has announced a watch list of 35 goalies who will compete for the Mike Richter Award, given annually since 2014 to the top goalie in men’s NCAA Division I hockey.

The 35 goalies come from the United States (16), Canada (12), Sweden (3), Slovakia (2) and one each from Czechia and Hungary.

Of the U.S. goalies, Michigan leads the way with four, followed by three from Florida and two each from Illinois and New York. There are five freshmen, 12 sophomores, 11 juniors, five seniors and two graduate students among those recognized.

A committee of voters — made up of a cross section of coaches, administrators, scouts and media — will pare this list down to approximately a dozen semifinalists within the next three weeks and then ultimately choose a winner from three finalists who will be announced in April during the NCAA Frozen Four. A similar award to recognize the top female goalie in the NCAA is also presented by the HCA.

NOTE: Goalies qualified by meeting minimum GAA (<2.30) and save percentage (>.920) standards. Other names may be added for consideration before the first formal vote.

2024-25 Richter Award Watch List

Atlantic Hockey
J.J. Cataldo, Army West Point (FR – Stuart, FL)
Pierce Charleson, Niagara (GR – Aurora, ON)
Thomas Gale, Holy Cross (SR – Kirkland, PQ)
Ajeet Gundarah, Sacred Heart (FR – Richmond, BC)
Connor Hasley, Bentley (JR – North Tonawanda, NY)

Big Ten
Nathan Airey, Minnesota (SO – Cochrane, AB)
Trey Augustine, Michigan State (SO – South Lyon, MI)
Kristoffer Eberly, Ohio State (SO – Pinckney, MI)
Owen Say, Notre Dame (JR – London, ON)
Tommy Scarfone, Wisconsin (JR – Montreal, PQ)
Liam Souliere, Minnesota (GR – Montreal, PQ)

CCHA
Josh Kotai, Augustana (SO – Abbotsford, BC)
Christian Stoever, Bowlling Green (SR – Northfield, MI)
Alex Tracy, Minnesota State (JR – Chicago, IL)

ECAC Hockey
Ben Charette, Harvard (FR – Aurora, ON)
Ethan Langenegger, Clarkson (SR – Kamloops, BC)
Matej Marinov, Quinnipiac (SO – Nitra, Slovakia)
Dylan Silverstein, Quinnipiac (FR – Calabasas, CA)
Arthur Smith, Princeton (SO – Farmington, CT)
Lawton Zacher, Brown (SO – Buffalo, NY)

Hockey East
Albin Boija, Maine (SO -Sundsvall, Sweden)
Jacob Fowler, Boston College (SO – Melbourne, FL)
Beni Halasz, UMass Lowell (JR – Budapest, Hungary)
Michael Hrabal, UMass (SO – Prague, Czechia)
Philip Svedeback, Providence (JR – Vaxjo, Sweden)
Jared Whale, New Hampshire (JR – Calgary, AB)

NCHC
Matt Davis, Denver (SR – Calgary, AB)
Gibson Homer, Arizona State (JR – Grand Rapids, MI)
Klayton Knapp, Minnesota Duluth (FR – Waterville, OH)
Simon Latkoczy, Omaha (JR – Trencin, Slovakia)
Kaidan Mbereko, Colorado College (JR – Aspen, CO)
Isak Posch, St. Cloud State (SO – Umea, Sweden)
Cameron Rowe, WMU (GR – Wilmette, IL)
Hampton Slukynsky, WMU (FR – Warroad, MN)

Independents
Ty Outen, LIU (JR – Tampa, FL)

Past Richter Award Recipients: 2014 – Connor Hellebuyck, UMass Lowell; 2015 – Zane McIntyre, North Dakota; 2016 – Thatcher Demko, Boston College; 2017 – Tanner Jaillet, Denver; 2018 – Cale Morris, Notre Dame; 2019 – Cayden Primeau, Northeastern; 2020 – Jeremy Swayman, Maine; 2021 – Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota; 2022 – Devon Levi, Northeastern; 2023 – Devon Levi, Northeastern; 2024 – Kyle McLellan, Wisconsin.

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Sweep of then-No. 13 Colorado College has Omaha showing ‘a great example of sticking with it’

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Brady Risk tallied three goals and an assist as Omaha took both games last weekend on home ice over Colorado College (photo: Jaelle Johnson/Omaha Athletics).

If you’re an Omaha fan, there was a lot to like about the Mavericks’ home sweep last weekend over 13th-ranked Colorado College.

It was especially rewarding for some of UNO’s veteran players.

That includes graduate student forwards Brady Risk and Harrison Israels, a pair of Alaska transfers who, on a line with Myles Hilman, combined for 10 points in the series. Risk bagged three goals, Israels had a goal and two assists, and Hilman bagged a goal and three helpers.

Risk scored three times in UNO’s 5-2 win Friday, breaking an early scoreless deadlock with 7.7 seconds left in the first period before he made it 3-1 early in the second. His last goal of the night, 8:01 into the third period, clinched his second career hat trick and made him the sixth Maverick to record one inside Baxter Arena since it opened in 2015.

Israels set up two of Risk’s goals Friday, before the former scored Saturday’s eventual game-winner early in the third period. Putting away a centering feed from Hilman off a rebound, Israels had a wide-open net to fill. That put UNO up 2-1, before Hilman added an empty-netter to cap off a 3-1 victory.

Risk now has points in eight of his last 13 games, after not factoring into the scoring in his first seven games of the season. Israels’s recent form is similar. He didn’t record any points in his first six games this campaign but has points in four of his last five.

“That’s a great example of sticking with it,” UNO coach Mike Gabinet said. “Earlier on in the year, they were struggling a little bit there, and they’re just great individual people, high-character, work, work, work, work and work some more, and sure enough, getting rewarded with really contributing to the team’s success right now, which is great to see.”

Another big reason for the Mavericks’ success last weekend was junior goalie Simon Latkoczy. The Slovakian had 75 saves over the two games against CC, earning him NCHC goaltender of the week honors. No other starting netminder in the conference was busier last weekend.

“I thought he played really well this weekend,” Gabinet said. “I thought he was really poised and really calm in net, and didn’t have a lot of rebounds. I thought he played tremendously.”

He and his UNO (10-10-0) teammates have now won four of their last five games and will look to jump back above the .500 mark this weekend at Miami.

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Finding ways to adjust, focused St. Thomas riding four-game win streak since 2025 arrived

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Liam Malmquist has been a go-to player this season for UST (photo: Nick Wosika).

After a trying end to 2024, the new year has been kind to St. Thomas.

The Tommies–who were picked by many observers to be one of the main contenders for the CCHA’s MacNaughton Cup this season–never seemed to find their footing in the first half of this season. They went 4-10-4 overall and just 3-6-3 in conference play over the first three months of the season, finding themselves in eighth place in the CCHA standings.

That’s not the start any team hopes for, but the new calendar year is a new opportunity to hit the reset button. It seems like that’s exactly what the Tommies have done. Since a 2-1 loss against St. Cloud State on Dec. 29, St. Thomas has reeled off four consecutive wins–two against non conference Lindenwood, followed by a pair against Ferris State. For head coach Rico Blasi, it’s gratifying to finally see some positive results after the early-seasons struggles.

“Anytime you come up with a couple of sweeps, that’s really important for the feeling in the locker room, the feeling on the ice and in practice. It’s a little bit different. Guys are feeling confident, and we should feel confident. We’re playing really well. Not that we weren’t playing well in the first half, we just weren’t getting results,” Blasi said Monday. “So it kind of weighs on you probably a little bit more than it should. So we’re in a good spot right now.”

The Tommies are now 8-10-4 overall and 5-6-3 in CCHA play, and all of a sudden they have found themselves back in position to make a run for home ice in the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs. The recent home sweep of Ferris State helped the Tommies leapfrog over the Bulldogs into seventh place in the CCHA standings. With a 0.429 points percentage, they’re in striking distance of Bemidji State (.500), Lake Superior State (.524) and Bowling Green (0.619). The Tommies play all three of those teams head-to-head in the coming month.

“We’ve got to continue to stay focused. Like I said on Saturday night after the game, the question was asked, are your guys confident? I said, why wouldn’t you be confident? You’re playing Division I hockey at the highest level. We’re at a great institution. Everybody’s healthy. There’s no reason for our guys not to be confident,” Blasi said. “Just go play every day and have fun and love each other up. The game goes by so fast, especially at this time of the year, when you start thinking about down the road, it’s only seven or eight weeks you’re done. So you’ve got to stay in the moment, you’ve got to enjoy it, and hopefully we play our best hockey at the right time.”

That time seems to be now–especially for the Tommies offense. The biggest key to beating Ferris State last weekend was finding a way to score goals. Boatloads of them. St. Thomas won 9-6 on Friday, setting the program’s record for most goals in a game. On Saturday, some clutch third-period goals by Lucas Whalin and Cooper Gay helped the Tommies rally for a 4-3 victory.

“I think you’ve got to go into every game focusing on the type of game that it is. And sometimes it’s high scoring, sometimes it’s a defensive battle, and so you have to adapt to what the situation provides itself. Sometimes you gotta score some goals, and Friday night was one of those nights, where no lead was safe, and you have to go up and down, and our guys did a nice job of executing and finishing off their chances,” Blasi said. “Saturday night, just a little bit more goal scoring than we would like in terms of our defense, but our guys did a nice job of coming through when they needed to.”

The Tommies also got some clutch goals against Lindenwood–3-2 and 4-3 wins, respectively–and now find themselves as one of the CCHA’s top-scoring offense (2.86 goals per game, just behind Minnesota State’s 2.90). Blasi noted that the Tommies have the CCHA’s top three players in shot attempts (Wahlin, Gay and Liam Malmquist). Those three are also in the top 10 in the league in scoring–Malmquist leads the way with 10 goals and 28 points, Wahlin is third with 10 goals and 22 points and Gay (who leads the league with 11 goals) is ninth in the conference in scoring with 19 points.

“Offensively, I think we’ve had our scoring chances over the course of the season. I think we have three or four of the top players in terms of shot attempts, but we weren’t really hitting the net as much as we wanted to in the first half, but guys seem to be finding it now, so hopefully we can continue that,” Blasi said.

The Tommies’ next two series are against the teams who are directly ahead of them in the standings. This week they travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to take on Lake Superior State before hosting Bemidji State in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, the following week.

Blasi said he wasn’t thinking too far ahead, however.

“Our message is the same: Make sure we’re getting better each and every day,” Blasi said. “Our process needs to be good. And when our process is not on a daily basis, it’s my job to make sure we come back to what we need to do. You know, everybody’s in the same boat. Everybody wants to play well going down the stretch, and we want to be in meaningful games at the end. The only way to do that is to take it a day at a time.”

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Quinnipiac finding way as Bobcats ‘still just working and trying to build to get better for March’

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Quinnipiac’s Matej Marinov was sharp in net last Saturday against Princeton (photo: Farrah Chernov),

It sure didn’t take long for college hockey to start celebrating over the fallen giant.

For years, the Quinnipiac-established juggernaut ruled ECAC. The Bobcats won Cleary Cup after Cleary Cup and while they didn’t claim a conference championship, trips to the Frozen Four and the first ECAC national championship since Union and Yale’s consecutive titles more than cemented their elite-level status.

As the first month ended, a 3-5 record salivated onlookers who wanted to ignore the 8-2 win over New Hampshire or the 3-0 win over Holy Cross, and not even a sweep over Brown and Yale or a 3-1 win over Cornell stopped the macabre fun of sharpening pitchforks or lighting torches over the grounded giant in Hamden, Conn.

Finally, finally, the mightiest sword in ECAC would stop swinging, and attention would rightly turn towards the megaliths in Hockey East, the Big Ten and the NCHC. A new parity would emerge for the 11 other teams stepping through the fallen idols, and headlines swerved towards other teams.

And then this weekend’s sweep over Princeton happened, and the Bobcats, the team that wouldn’t compete for a conference championship in 2025, opened a six-point lead for first place over Clarkson and Union despite using a couple more out-of-hand games than those other two teams.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

“We played well during the Princeton series,” said Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold. “We weren’t perfect, but we played really well. We had good goaltending on both nights, we were very opportunistic, and I thought we were resilient. I liked where our compete was, and we’re still just working and trying to build to get better for March, which is where we took a good step this weekend.”

A good step is an understatement for a team that enters mid-January with the duality of more-modest numbers capable of still ranking among the nation’s best programs. An offense with 3.20 goals per game is better than Providence, Boston College or the high-flying western teams from the Big Ten, and the 2.30 goals allowed, while a hair behind Clarkson for the overall body of work, is right next to the top-ranked Friars while edging the Golden Knights in ECAC-centric games.

Two of the Bobcat scorers – Holy Cross transfer Jack Ricketts and second-year graduate senior Travis Treloar, a former Ohio State product – are within striking range of Brandon Buhr’s goals lead, and Aaron Schwartz, an incumbent recruit in his first year of college hockey, is right behind both with eight goals on the season. Second-year forward Mason Marcellus, meanwhile, is one assist behind Colby MacArthur for the league lead, and both Jeremy Wilmer and Andon Cerbone – a transfer and a Quinnipiac recruit – are among the league’s best point distributors.

“Our biggest strength has been our character,” said Pecknold. “It’s our culture [because] it’s a really good group of guys. The buy-in isn’t all the way there, but we’re getting there. When we’ve played to our identity, we win a lot of our games, and we’ve made progress over the course of the year. We weren’t playing to our identity at all in October, and that’s where we struggled, so we’ve made progress towards our ultimate goal of being great night in and night out, but there’s still work to be done.”

Quinnipiac’s identity was initially thought to hang in limbo among the other ECAC programs because Pecknold struck the chord between homegrown recruits and incoming transfers, but mixing the portal with his own group caused a natural reset after the national championship team graduated and matriculated its players into more long-term careers.

The lone remaining members from that team are few and far between, and the trio of bejeweled Bobcats still on the roster didn’t number many games beyond Victor Czerneckianair’s 40 appearances.

Churning the season forward, though, seemed to bring that full-blown reputation back towards the surface of Quinnipiac’s game. Ricketts, for example, posted the second goal of the 4-2 win over the Tigers with a smartly-timed power play goal in the immediate aftermath of goals by first-year, in-house recruits in Elliott Groenewold and Aaron Schwartz. The next night, Ricketts again scored in the first period before Ryan Smith and Marcellus, two more in-house finds, added insurance goals in the second period.

“You’re always tweaking things and changing things because you have to adapt,” Pecknold noted, “and that’s about trying different kids at center or left wing, different power play units, stuff like that. But my opinion is that our identity is our core, and we’ve won a lot of games over the last 12-15 years by playing to that same identity. It’s nothing crazy or earth-shattering to the way we play, but it’s a battle sometimes. Our kids have to be selfless, and we try to get them to understand that being selfless and defending better gets them to play more offense.”

Nearly everyone circled the wagons on Quinnipiac’s drop-off when the Bobcats struggled out of the gate in October, but there’s now clarity towards the top of the league table as January swings into gear because the Bobcats are once again in the national tournament hunt.

Once left for the middle of the Pairwise Rankings, the No. 15 team is hanging on the bubble with an opportunity to gain spots in the near interim. Its 24 points are eight clear of the first round drop into the single-elimination first round games, and the gap widens even further as programs cycle back into sixth or seventh place despite holding games-in-hand over the first place side.

Nearly everyone has to travel to the M&T Bank Arena to play a team with an absurd 31-3-1 record over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, and the 7-4 record this year dropped only a loss to Northeastern beyond the bad weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard.

Colgate and Cornell arrive this weekend for a massive series, and beyond that, Clarkson’s arrival in early February likely seats a table for the Cleary Cup’s home stretch in the aftermath of the CT Ice Tournament’s first round game against UConn – a sneaky big game with Pairwise implications.

“I’m big about controllables,” Pecknold said, “and you don’t control [home ice]. When games happen, let’s handle what’s in front of us, which is a game against Colgate on Friday. I don’t overthink homestands or being on the road because I want to focus on what’s next for that week and where we are right now. That means Colgate on Friday and a quick turnaround against Cornell. We had a great practice [on Monday], and we’re getting better every day, and that’s what we’re going to work on.”

Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association announces watch list of 33 goaltenders for 2025 National Women’s Goalie of the Year award

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Michelle Pasiechnyk was a Women’s Goalie of the Year semifinalist for the third straight season, winning in 2024 (photo: Gary Mikel).

The Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association has announced a watch list of 33 goaltenders for the title of 2025 National Women’s Goalie of the Year.

The award was created in 2021 to recognize the top female goalie in NCAA Division I hockey. Northeastern’s Aerin Frankel, who graduated in 2022, was the recipient in the first two years the award was presented, followed by fellow Husky Gwyneth Philips in 2023 and Clarkson’s Michelle Pasiechnyk last year.

The goalies to watch come from all five NCAA Division I conferences with 17 from the United States, nine from Canada and seven from Europe (two from Finland and Sweden and one each from Austria, Denmark and Slovenia.)

This initial watch list of outstanding goalies is comprised of those with a goals-against average of 2.10 or lower or a save percentage of .920 or higher. A committee of voters — made up of a cross section of coaches, administrators, and media — will pare this list down within the next two weeks and then ultimately choose the winner who will be announced in March during the NCAA Frozen Four.

NOTE: The process allows for goalies not on this first list to be considered before the first vote.

2024-25 Women’s Goalie of the Year Award Watch List

AHA
Katie DeSa, Penn State (JR – Pawcatuck, CT); Allie Kelley, Syracuse (GR – East Berne, NY); Maggie Hatch, Robert Morris (SO – Cleveland Heights, OH); Magdalena Luggin, Mercyhurst (FR – Vienna, Austria); Jorden Mattison, Mercyhurst (GR – Welland, ON).

ECAC Hockey
Annelies Bergmann, Cornell (SO – Detroit, MI); Kaley Doyle, Quinnipiac (GR – Livonia, MI); Pia Dukaric, Yale; (SR — Ljubljana, Slovenia); Julia Minotti, Clarkson (Junior – Laval, PQ); Hannah Murphy, Colgate (GR — Bradford, ON); Emma-Sofie Nordström St. Lawrence (JR – Herning, Denmark); Ainsley Tuffy, Harvard (FR – Duxbury, MA)

Hockey East
Sedona Blair, New Hampshire (SO – Eden Prairie, MN); Grace Campbell, Boston College (JR – Kensington, MD); Tia Chan, UConn (SR – Hamilton, ON); Abby Hornung, Holy Cross (JR – Ashland, MA); Lisa Jönsson, Northeastern (FR – Stockholm, Sweden); Callie Shanahan, Boston University (SR – Commerce, MI); Paige Taborski, Northeastern (SR – Roscoe, IL; Hope Wallinski, Providence (SR – Lincoln, RI); Megan Warrener, UConn (SR – Stoney Creek, ON).

NEWHA
Jill Hertl, Franklin Pierce (JR – Highland Park, IL); Lauren Larson, Sacred Heart (SO – Dayton, MN); Hannah Saunders, Post (JR – Ottawa, ON); Abbie Thompson, LIU (GR – Forest Lake, MN); Jadyn Weiser, Assumption (SO – Albertville, MN).

WCHA
Sanni Ahola, St. Cloud State (GR – Helsinki, Finland); Hannah Clark, Minnesota (FR – Oshawa, ON); Ève Gascon, Minnesota Duluth (SO – Mascouche, PQ); Tindra Holm, Minnesota Duluth (SR – Skellefteå, Sweden); Emilia Kyrkkö, St. Cloud State (FR – Nokia, Finland); Hailey MacLeod, Ohio State (JR – Abbotsford, BC); Ava McNaughton, Wisconsin (SO – Seven Fields, PA).

BRACKETOLOGY: As calendar hits January, time for not-so-early predictions for 2025 NCAA men’s hockey tournament

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Denver players cut down one of the nets after winning the 2024 NCAA national championship (photo: Jim Rosvold).

The calendar has turned to 2025, which means we are in a good place to begin taking a deep dive into the PairWise Rankings in a weekly segment called “Bracketology.”

For those who aren’t familiar, each week I will attempt to predict the field for this year’s NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament and look at trends as to which teams may or may not make the tournament field.

Let’s begin this week by going over some of the basic selection criteria and the guidelines we need to follow when seeding the field.

First the field is selected based on two types of participants: automatic qualifiers (AQs) and at-large. AQs are the six conference tournament champions from AHA, B1G, the CCHA and ECAC, Hockey East and the NCHC. The remaining 10 teams are the 10 highest-ranked teams in the PairWise Rankings.

Currently, that gives us the following 16 teams:

1. Michigan State*
2. Boston College
3. Maine*
4. Minnesota
5. Providence
6. Denver
7. Western Michigan*
8. Boston University
9. Ohio State
10. UMass Lowell
11. Connecticut
12. Michigan
13. New Hampshire
14. Quinnipiac* (ECAC Champion)
15. Minnesota State* (CCHA Champion)
16. Bentley* (AHA Champion)

Now that we have our field of 16, we need to seed the tournament into four regions (host school in parenthesis): Manchester, N.H. (New Hampshire), Allentown, Pa. (Penn State), Toledo, Oh. (Bowling Green), and Fargo, N.D. (North Dakota). There is one overarching rule that supersedes all others: Host teams must be placed in their region.

Right now, only one host is qualified: New Hampshire, the host in Manchester.

Next, we seed the tournament based on bracket integrity, that is 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3, vs. 14, etc. That gives us the following bracket:

1. Michigan State
8. Boston University
9. Ohio State
16. Bentley

2. Boston College
7. Western Michigan
10. UMass Lowell
15. Minnesota State

3. Maine
6. Denver
11. Connecticut
14. Quinnipiac

4. Minnesota
5. Providence
12. Michigan
13. New Hampshire

Next, we should place each four-team bracket attempting to keep the highest number-one seeds nearest their campus. That said, New Hampshire and its bracket will be placed in the Manchester Region.

After that, Michigan State should be placed in the Toledo Region, Boston College in the Allentown Region and Maine in the Fargo Region. That gives us the following:

Toledo Region
1. Michigan State
8. Boston University
9. Ohio State
16. Bentley

Allentown Region
2. Boston College
7. Western Michigan
10. UMass Lowell
15. Minnesota State

Fargo Region
3. Maine
6. Denver
11. Connecticut
14. Quinnipiac

Manchester Region
4. Minnesota
5. Providence
12. Michigan
13. New Hampshire

Next, we have to avoid setting up interconference matchups in the opening round. That is to avoid having two teams face one another in the first round who may have played days earlier. Right now, we have no interconference matchups. Pretty ideal.

What isn’t ideal is having a number of regions where attendance will be a concern. Manchester should be solid with the host school and Toledo having Michigan State less than two hours from Lansing and Ohio State even closer is a good draw. But Fargo, with three eastern teams, could struggle for attendance as would Allentown. The closest of those four teams is Boston College and that is five hours away by car.

So is there something we can do? In terms of moving top seeds, that’s not possible. Shifting either Maine or Boston College to Manchester would create a first-round matchup between Hockey East teams, as New Hampshire must be the #4 seed in the Manchester Region.

But could we make another switch by moving teams within their seeding band (teams 5-8 form the #2 seed band, 9-12 form the #3 seed band and teams 13-16 form the #4 seed band).

It would be possible, though, to switch seeds in the #4 band to get teams closer to their campus without sacrificing bracket integrity. Moving Quinnipiac from Fargo to Allentown and Minnesota State from Allentown to Fargo would bring both much closer to campus (Quinnipiac is 3hr, 15min from Allentown; Minnesota State is 4hr, 25 min from Fargo).

Could we make more changes? Possibly, but for now, I’m okay with making this simple one and calling this our bracket for this week.

Here is the final bracket for this week:

Toledo Region
1. Michigan State
8. Boston University
9. Ohio State
16. Bentley

Allentown Region
2. Boston College
7. Western Michigan
10. UMass Lowell
14. Quinnipiac

Fargo Region
3. Maine
6. Denver
11. Connecticut
15. Minnesota State

Manchester Region
4. Minnesota
5. Providence
12. Michigan
13. New Hampshire

Last teams in (at-large): New Hampshire, Michigan
First teams out (at-large): Arizona State, St. Cloud State

Following conclusion of 2024-25 college hockey season, Ferris State coach Daniels retiring after 36 seasons with Bulldogs

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Ferris State coach Bob Daniels has been behind the Bulldogs bench for 36 years (photo: Ferris State Athletics).

One of college hockey’s legendary chapters will come to a close later this year as Ferris State men’s hockey coach Bob Daniels has officially announced his retirement.

Daniels, who ranks as one of NCAA Division I’s winningest active head coaches, will close a 33-year head coaching career and 36 years overall with the Bulldogs following the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign. His final day will be May 31.

The Bulldogs plan to honor Daniels at a home game to be determined later this season.

“Coach Daniels is an iconic figure in the hockey world and has been a huge ambassador for the sport and Ferris State University,” said FSU athletics director Steve Brockelbank in a statement. “He has invested so much over the last 36 years to both Bulldog hockey and the Big Rapids community. We are grateful for all he has done and the countless lives he has impacted along the way. Today, we celebrate all his accomplishments and thank him for his extraordinary efforts.”

Daniels won his 500th game at the Bulldog helm earlier this season and has led the Bulldogs to all four NCAA tournament appearances in school history, including a historic trip to the 2012 Frozen Four and a berth in the national championship game. The Bulldogs also reached the final eight of the national tournament and were within a game of the Frozen Four in 2003, 2014 and 2016.

This year marks the Bulldogs’ 50th season of college hockey and 47th campaign at the NCAA Division I level. Daniels has been involved in the program for 36 of those years, first serving as a Bulldog assistant coach from 1989 to 1992 prior to being appointed as the school’s fifth head coach in program history.

“When I came to Ferris State University in 1989, I never imagined being here 36 years later,” said Daniels. “I feel extremely blessed to have worked at such an outstanding institution with such wonderful people. It’s been an honor and privilege to serve as coach.

“I would particularly like to thank the great coaches, players, support staff and administrators whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with. This includes our current coaching staff of Mark Kaufman, Drew Famulak and Dave Cencer and administrators president Pink, AD Steve Brockelbank and sport administrator Tim Blashill. I would also like to highlight the efforts of so many boosters, including the Blueline Club and Solid Ice who have given so much time and effort enhancing the program and student athlete experience.

“For the immediate future, I would like the focus of attention placed where it belongs, with our current team,” Daniels added. “I’m very proud of their hard work and determination in pursuit of bringing a championship to Ferris, and they deserve our staff’s undivided attention in the remainder of the season.”

Along with serving as Ferris State’s head coach, Daniels and his family have been highly active in the local community and involved in numerous charitable endeavors over the course of his career while supporting local youth hockey and skating activities.

Daniels’ coaching staff ranks among the most tenured in all of college hockey as associate head coach Drew Famulak has been by his side for the past 32 years. Fellow assistant Mark Kaufman is currently in his 21st season at FSU over two different stints while assistant coach Dave Cencer has been with the program for the past 19 years.

Having the longest personal tenure of any FSU head coach in school history, regardless of sport, Daniels has coached 10 All-Americans during his coaching career at Ferris, including 2002-03 Hobey Baker Hat Trick Award national finalist and four-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Kunitz. Hundreds of his former players have gone on to enjoy success on the professional and international levels in various leagues around the globe, including the NHL, and he’s mentored countless others who have gone on to achieve coaching success, such as notable NHL names Jeff Blashill, Derek Lalonde, Seth Appert and John Gruden, among others.

Through his competitive desire and tireless work ethic, Daniels has established great respect on both the conference and national levels. He was appointed FSU’s head coach on the eve of the 1992-93 season and led the Bulldogs to 21 victories and a CCHA tournament semifinal berth. At the time, the accomplishment signified only the fourth time a Ferris team had won 20 games in a season and the second time in which a first-year coach won more than 16 games at FSU.

Under Daniels’ guidance, Ferris State turned in one of its best performances ever in the program’s NCAA Division I history for the 2002-03 campaign with a school-best 31-10-1 overall record. The Bulldogs also claimed their first-ever CCHA regular-season championship title with a first-place 22-5-1 league mark and advanced to the NCAA tournament’s West Regional title game in their initial NCAA tourney appearance. FSU also earned the distinction of being the nation’s first team to reach the 30-win plateau in 2002-03 and also competed in the CCHA Super Six championship tourney for the first time since 1993.

For his efforts, Daniels was also honored as the 2002-03 coach of the year by the March of Dimes West Michigan Sports Awards along with being a unanimous choice as the CCHA’s coach of the year. One of the crowning highlights in Daniels’ coaching career occurred April 17, 2003, when he was selected the recipient of the 2003 Spencer Penrose Award as the AHCA’s Division I national coach of the year.

In 2011-12, Daniels claimed CCHA and national coach of the year accolades for the second time in his career after leading the Bulldogs to the program’s second-ever league regular-season championship and a historic first-ever trip to the Frozen Four where FSU reached the national championship game. The Bulldogs closed the memorable campaign with a 26-12-5 mark and were ranked No. 1 in the nation. Ferris State placed fifth or higher four times in the final five seasons of the original CCHA, including the 2011-12 title run.

Daniels also guided the Bulldogs to the WCHA regular-season championship in FSU’s debut season in 2013-14 along with an NCAA Elite Eight appearance while earning WCHA coach of the year accolades and runner-up honors for national coach of the year. In 2015-16, Daniels led FSU to the school’s first postseason tournament championship ever as the Bulldogs claimed the WCHA Final Five championship during a memorable postseason run. FSU advanced to the national tournament for the third time in five years while reaching the NCAA Elite Eight.

Daniels attained a milestone in his distinguished coaching career by recording his 300th career win following a 4-1 decision at Bowling Green midway through the 2010-11 season. He won his 400th game as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 2015-16 and recorded his 500th career victory earlier this year with a 3-2 win over Lake Superior State Nov. 16 in the first-ever college hockey game played at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, becoming just the 17th NCAA Division I coach to ever achieve 500 wins, including the fifth active head coach to reach the milestone. His 33 seasons as a head coach currently ranks second overall among active NCAA Division I hockey coaches in years of service.

Daniels has built a national reputation for his intense knowledge of the game and outstanding leadership. In the summer of 1994, he served as head coach at the United States Olympic Festival in St. Louis, coaching Team West to a bronze medal finish. He has also assisted with the U.S. National Junior Team in competition against teams from Canada, Sweden and Russia.

A Michigan State graduate, Daniels began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Miami in 1986-87 and broke into the CCHA as an assistant at Illinois-Chicago from 1987 to 1989 prior to joining the FSU program.

In addition to his coaching duties, Daniels served a four-year term on the American Hockey Coaches Association’s (AHCA) board of governors and was a representative of the NCAA Tournament West Regional Selection Advisory Committee. Most recently, he served on the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey National Committee.

Bob and his late wife, Leslie, are parents of three children – Jenna, Pete and Sara. His oldest daughter (Jenna) competed as a member of the Bulldog women’s cross country/track and field teams while son Pete was a member of the Big Rapids High School hockey and golf teams. He was remarried in the fall of 2023 to Laura Daniels and the couple currently resides in Cadillac.

The Bulldogs will conduct a national search for a new head coach led by DHR Global Search.

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In honor of Daniels and his family, the city of Big Rapids plans to name the new playground at Hemlock Park in his family’s honor. Over 25 years ago, the late Leslie Daniels co-led the building of Playscape, a wooden play structure located downtown. The structure had been a community hub and point of pride enjoyed by thousands of children and annually maintained by Bulldog hockey players and fellow student-athletes. A new inclusive state of the art playground was recently erected in the same location and funds are currently being raised to rename the playground as the “Daniels Family Playground”.

To contribute to the project, visit this link.

Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation announces 14 nominees for 2025 award for ‘college hockey’s finest citizen’

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A new version of the Humanitarian Award debuted in 2015.

The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation announced 14 nominees for the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award on Tuesday afternoon.

The award, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary season, is presented annually to college hockey’s finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

The following are this year’s nominees:

David Breazeale, Sr., D, Maine
Keri Clougherty, Sr., D, Boston College
Kendra Fortin, Sr., D, Bemidji State
Alex Gagne, Sr., D, New Hampshire
Hank Kempf, * Sr., D, Cornell
Josh Luedtke, Sr., D, St. Cloud State
Cameron Mannion, Sr., D, Stonehill
Raice Szott, * Gr., D, Merrimack
Sarah Thompson, * Gr., F, St. Lawrence
Jacob Truscott, Sr., D, Michigan
Clara Van Wieren, Gr., F, Minnesota Duluth
Makenna Webster, Sr., F, Ohio State
Audrey Wethington, Gr., F, Minnesota
Luke Wheeler, Sr., F, Bowdoin

* 2024 HHA Finalist

Finalists for the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award will be announced in February. The 2025 recipient will be announced on Friday, April 11 during the NCAA men’s Frozen Four weekend in St. Louis.

Penn State’s Dylan Lugris was honored as the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient last year in Saint Paul, Minn. Boston University’s J.P. McKersie was the inaugural recipient of the award in 1995.

“In the end, it’s not how many times you touch the puck, but how often you touch a life.”

For more information visit www.hockeyhumanitarian.org.

TMQ: Comparing Hockey East, NCHC chances for 2025 NCAA tournament representation, more discussion on CHL players coming to NCAA teams

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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.

Jim: Well, Ed, we’re coming off a week where it was difficult to be a top-20 team.

Sure, there were success stories like No. 7 Maine’s road sweep of No. 8 UMass Lowell, and No. 20 Quinnipiac’s three-win week, but there were a lot of bumps and bruises along the way for many of the nation’s best.

The one that stood out to me was No. 2 Boston College’s loss to Merrimack on Friday. The Eagles were playing their first game in 32 days but had the reinforcements of six returning gold medalists returning from World Juniors. And after taking a 2-0 lead in the first period, it seemed like BC was ready to cruise.

Not so fast, though, said Merrimack scoring three times in four minutes in the second and closing the game with the final five goals in a 5-2 win.

This game might be one the Eagles can point back to as a wake-up call when all is said and done. They now realize that there are no nights off and even a couple of mediocre minutes can cost games.

It also underscores the strength of Hockey East, top to bottom. The conference currently has seven teams ranked in the top 13 of the PairWise, five in the top 10. Those numbers feel crazy to me.

Ed: I agree, Jim. But this is certainly a good time to be doing social media and PR for Hockey East! Imagine getting in seven teams to the NCAA tournament in a league that had 10 gold medalists in Ottawa.

The seven teams in Hockey East and the four inside the bubble for the Big Ten make a ton of sense when you look at the biggest contributing factor to where a conference ends up overall in the PairWise and that’s the league’s overall non-conference record. As we write this, the Big Ten is at .742 out of conference and Hockey East is .716. Those numbers won’t change too much with just nine non-conference games remaining in Hockey East (including four for the Beanpot) and the Big Ten with six.

Meanwhile, the NCHC has just two teams inside the bubble – Denver and Western Michigan – and a nonconference winning percentage of .586, including losing records against the Big Ten and Hockey East. And the NCHC’s nonconference schedule is done. Arizona State is right on the cusp at No. 14 as of today.

I’m not too worried about BC’s loss, and you’re right about it being a wake-up call.

As I look at the top teams in the three leagues I mentioned, I can picture a great Frozen Four in St. Louis. Just imagine four teams out of a selection of the current top eight: Michigan State, BC, Maine, Minnesota, Providence, Denver, Western Michigan, and Boston University.

It’s not looking so great for the other three conferences, though. Each is in a position to get just the automatic qualifier in the tournament, and the league that is a surprise to me – given what we expected at the start of the season – is ECAC Hockey.

Jim: I agree about the ECAC. This conference, which in the last 12 years with national championships by Yale, Union and Quinnipiac, took such a major step forward but not seems to be regressing.

We have mentioned in the past that the COVID season and having eight of the 12 league members sit out the season obviously hurt. But more so, I feel like the portal has really crushed the ECAC.

Maybe I feel this way because I call mostly eastern games. But it seems every night in Hockey East, I see a team with at least one – usually multiple – former ECAC players on their rosters.

In a way, you can make similar statements about Atlantic Hockey and the CCHA. Players from those leagues litter rosters throughout Hockey East and the Big Ten. So I guess it shouldn’t surprise us to see the marked separation of NCAA possibilities based on the haves and have nots.

That makes me wonder, though, if adding talent from Major Juniors help this situation. A deeper player pool should be a good thing for competitive balance but even I can admit that might just be a dream? What do you think?

Ed: That’s a great question, and one I’ve actually been doing a bit of thinking about.

We’re already seeing a shift in recruiting for the next couple of seasons. Looking at players announced on various recruiting sites and social media, in the last month about half of the players have come from the OHL, QMJHL or the WHL and most of those would not have been eligible for NCAA hockey until November’s decision.

However, I think this is only the first shoe to drop. We’re seeing a lot of 20-year-olds at the end of their Major Junior eligibility finding the college route in the U.S. as a way to keep playing at a high level that they haven’t had before. In the short term, this seems to be having the most impact on players from the USHL, BCHL, NAHL, and Hockey Canada’s Tier II/Junior A leagues.

This could be good for competitive balance as teams have a bigger and better player pool to choose from. But it could also just mean better players in all leagues but in proportion to how the talent is distributed now.

What happens next is what promises to be more seismic.

Major Juniors will not have any issue with its “overagers” moving on and playing in the NCAA. But wait until a big-name 16- or 17-year-old signs with a top college team. The battle between going the college route or Major Junior, which once was pretty straightforward, and which had at first glance appeared to be settled with allowing Major Junior eligibility, will now become more heated.

Couple all that with D-I losing a team and 30 or so roster spots with the demotion of American International, and a possible roster limit of 26 players, and there could be a bigger player pool chasing as many as 100 fewer opportunities.

Care to peek into your crystal ball on this?

Jim: You said, “But it could also just mean better players in all leagues but in proportion to how the talent is distributed now,” when talking about competitive balance and that’s exactly what I would expect to happen.

The best players – no matter where they come from – still want to go to the best programs. And in recent years we have seen more traditional programs as the prime destination for the top players. That likely won’t change. If anything, some high-end players could be older as they age out of the CHL.

All that said, as a fan of the game, I do look forward to what we anticipate is a large pool of the game’s best players playing college hockey.

In related news, the case of House v. NCAA and its proposed settlement will move to its next phase on Feb. 1 after the public comment period ends. It will be in this phase that we should learn whether the proposed roster limits in college sports (proposed as 26 for Division I hockey), will likely be decided. This will be something that defines college hockey and other sports for a long time to come.

Ed: I’m still trying to understand all the nuances of the settlement. We also have seen reports as we were filing this that a former attorney for the National Basketball Players Association may file an objection to the settlement.

However House v. NCAA turns out going forward, expect to see more regulation of NIL, “salary” caps for universities, most of the money going to football and basketball, and limitations to roster sizes that reportedly even the plaintiffs in the case oppose.

The settlement represents a significant shift toward a more professional model in college sports, but it doesn’t address all labor issues. Athletes remain non-employees without the right to unionize. I’ve seen arguments that the settlement will further widen the gap between Power Five and non-Power Five schools.

There are just so many moving parts, and as an athletic director told me recently, much of what’s reported as rumor doesn’t line up with what they are being told by the NCAA. We’ll just have to keep our eyes on things and report them as they develop.

Jim, if you had told me five years ago that we’d have NIL, Major Junior eligibility, annual transfers with no delays, and all of the other things rumored and reported, I’m not sure I’d have believed you.

Yet, here we are.

Michigan State still top-ranked team in USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll with 48 first-place votes in Jan. 13 rankings

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Isaac Howard scored five goals last weekend for Michigan State (photo: Michigan State Athletics).

With 48 first-place votes, Michigan State is again the No. 1 team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll.

Boston College, Minnesota and Western Michigan remain No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, and Maine jumps up two spots to sit fifth this week.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll – Jan. 13, 2025

Providence falls one spot to No. 6 while getting a first-place vote, Denver is down one to seventh, also getting a first-place vote, Ohio State is up three to No. 8, UMass Lowell falls one to No. 9, and Michigan is down one to sit 10th in this week’s rankings.

St. Cloud State falls out of the top 10, going to No. 15 this week.

Unranked last week, UConn enters the poll this week at No. 17.

In addition to the top 20 teams, 12 others 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.

NCAA D-II/III East Men’s Ice Hockey Weekend Wrap-up – January 13, 2025

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UNE downed Plattsburgh in the first ever meeting between the two schools to give the Nor’easters some mid-season hardware winning the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic Tournament (Photo by UNE Athletics)

And then there was one…

Coming up on the mid-point of January and the D-II/III landscape now only finds one remaining unbeaten team and it is the defending national champions from Hobart following two highly contested wins over Skidmore this weekend in NEHC action. The other unbeaten entering the weekend, Geneseo, saw their unblemished record get smudged just a little as they suffered a 6-2 loss at Elmira before rebounding with a lopsided win over Fredonia. The University of New England captured some in-season hardware by winning the Plattsburgh tournament and there was plenty of other great action across the region to recap. Here is the wrap-up for the action in the east:

CNE

The University of New England traveled west to play in the Comfort Inn Winter Classic hosted by Plattsburgh and opened with a matchup between nationally ranked teams when the Nor’easters played Wilkes on Saturday. After an evenly played first period which ended with the teams tied at 1-1, the Nor’easters kicked the offense into high gear as Ryan Kuzmich scored two goals and the Nor’easters erupted for four in total in first twelve minutes of the second period to pace a 7-2 rout over the Colonels. Nathan Chickering added two goals in the third period to close out the scoring for UNE. On Sunday, UNE faced Plattsburgh for the very first time in the team’s history and the visitors were intent on making the long road trip worthwhile with a big win. Following a scoreless first period, Juraj Elias and Drew Olivieri bookended the second period with goals for a 2-0 lead after two periods of play. In the third period the Cardinals battled back only to see Olivieri extend the advantage back to two goals. Kevin Weaver-Vitale again closed the deficit to a single goal as the Cardinals applied pressure on UNE netminder Stefan Carney, but Chickering called game with a shorthanded, empty-net goal for the final margin of 4-2 and the championship trophy to UNE.

Endicott downed Conn College on Tuesday as Atticus Kelly stopped 27 of 28 shots and John Goldowski and Andrew Kurapov scored in the first period for a 2-1 road win over the Camels.

Curry also played a non-conference game against Keene State and skated away with a 9-1 drubbing of the Owls. Blake Rothstein and Eelis Laaksonen each scored a pair of goals while Gage Dill chipped in with three assists for the Colonels. Goaltender Cam Smith stopped 14 shots to earn his first victory of the season for Curry.

After a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to Post on Wednesday, WNEU traveled to Morrisville and found their scoring touch in a 6-0 win for the Golden Bears. Justin Sullivan led the way scoring a hat trick while Nolan Dawson added a goal and an assist for the visitors. Goaltender Logan Palmer made 34 saves to earn the shutout victory.

After dropping their opening round game at Plattsburgh to the host school in the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic Tournament, Wentworth handed Wilkes their third loss of the week with a 3-2 overtime win in the consolation game. George Kolovos had given the Leopards a 2-1 lead in the third period only to see the Colonels tie the game in the final two minutes of regulation. Kolovos proved to be the hero in overtime netting the game-winner just over three minutes into the extra session.

MAC

Stevenson and Neumann played an important two-game series to open the second half in MAC play and the Mustangs swept the series and all-important points in the standings. The Mustangs completed a very successful tour in Europe during December and carried their strong play into conference play with 6-1 and 4-2 wins over the Knights. On Friday, the Mustangs scored three goals in the first period and three in the third to seal a comfortable win. Blake Benson scored two goals and added an assist to pace the Stevenson attack. On Saturday, Caden Smith and Gage Parillo got the Mustangs off to a fast start with goals in the opening seven minutes of play. Liam McCanney added a shorthanded goal in the third period and a much-needed ENG to close out the 4-2 win and weekend sweep.

Lebanon Valley took a pair of games over King’s to move over .500 in MAC play. On Friday, the Flying Dutchmen scored three unanswered goals over the final forty minutes of play to break a 2-2 tie and skate off with a 5-2 win. Ethan Hoover led the offense with two goals and an assist while Harris Blackwood  chipped in with one goal and an assist in the win. Saturday saw LVC jump out to a 4-0 lead on the way to a 5-3 win over the Monarchs. Blackwood scored two more goals and added an assist while Darion Benchich scored two goals added two assists for a four-point game to lead the Flying Dutchmen.

Alvernia was another MAC team that completed a weekend sweep as they leveled their conference record at 5-5-0 with a pair of wins over Misericordia. On Friday, the teams battled back and forth to a 3-3 tie after Misericordia’s Ethan Hollingsworth scored early in the third period for the visitors. The Golden Wolves then scored five of the next six goals to earn an 8-4 victory. Edvin Robertsson paced the offense with two goals as seven different players scored for Alvernia in the win. On Saturday, the game was much closer as Easton Inglis and Riley Egan scored in the second period to break a 1-1 tie for a final score of 3-1. Goaltender Will Augustine stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the win.

MASCAC

Plymouth State returned to conference play with a pair of wins over Rivier and rival, Fitchburg State to remain unbeaten in league action. On Thursday, Ethan Stuckless and Brendan Doyle each scored two goals in a 6-1 win over the Raiders. Saturday saw the Falcons take an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Niklas Millhorn before the Panthers answered with goals from Will Pray and Dante Moretti for a 2-1 lead after two periods of play. Millhorn tied the game late in the third period setting up the dramatic ending in overtime as Will Pray scored his second goal of the game in the extra session to give PSU a 3-2 OT win.

Massachusetts-Dartmouth picked up two wins over the weekend extending their win streak to three games. On Thursday, the Corsairs built a 3-0 lead before downing Worcester State, 4-1. Tyler Stewart scored once and added an assist for UMD. On Saturday, Stewart’s power-play goal in the third period proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 win over Anna Maria. Goaltender Graham Burke was outstanding in goal stopping 39 of 41 shots to earn the important MASCAC win over the AmCats.

Westfield State also extended their win streak to three games following wins over Framingham State and Rivier. The Owls built a 5-1 lead over the Rams on Thursday with Christopher Miraldo pacing the offense with two goals and an assist in the opening two periods of play. The Rams scored three unanswered in the third period, including two by Brent Scott, but could not find the equalizer in a 5-4 win for the Owls. On Saturday, four different players scored for Westfield State and goaltender Aiden Winslow stopped 36 of 37 shots in 4-1 win over the Raiders.

NE-10

St. Anselm returned to NE-10 play with a three-game week that featured two wins and an OT tie (Hawks won the shootout). On Tuesday, three third period goals from Hunter Brackett, Patrick DeMarinis, and Max Burum sealed a 4-1 road win over St. Michael’s. On Friday, the Hawks skated to a 3-3 OT tie with Southern New Hampshire and won the shootout (2-1) over the Penmen setting up Saturday’s re-match. A four-goal second period blew open the game as the Hawks cruised to a 7-2 win with seven different players scoring goals for St. Anselm.

Assumption and St. Michael’s split their weekend series with the Greyhounds taking the game on Friday and the Purple Knights earning the split on Saturday. After St. Mike’s took a 1-0 lead, Assumption scored the next four goals including two by John Woernle to post the 4-1 win. Saturday saw limited scoring as Ty Bloom and Jack Macdonald provided all the scoring goaltender Evan Plunkett would need as the netminder stopped all 40 Greyhound shots in 2-0 win for the Purple Knights earning them a split.

NEHC

Hobart remained unbeaten as the Statesmen took a pair of 5-3 wins on the road against Skidmore. On Friday, the Thoroughbreds jumped to a 3-1 lead on a goal from Evan Brown and two power play goals from Zach Lindewirth only to see Hobart score the next four markers of the game. Austin Mourar, Tanner Daniels, Nick Dimatos and Luke Aquaro erased the deficit in the comeback victory. On Saturday, Lindewirth tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period but the Statesmen again produced three unanswered goals to skate away with a second win by a 5-3 margin.

Elmira captured three wins to open their second half of the season including a resounding 6-2 win over previously unbeaten Geneseo on Friday. After Tuesday’s 4-2 win at Potsdam in their return to action, the Soaring Eagles were definitely ready to play against the Knights. Chance Gorman gave Elmira a 2-0 lead and after Sean Melso halved the deficit, the Soaring Eagles scored three in a row in the third period for a comfortable 6-2 win. Brody Haynes stopped 28 of 30 shots to earn the win. On Saturday, Elmira completed the non-conference trifecta with a 4-3 OT thriller over Brockport. Power play goals from Gorman and Ryan Reifler gave Elmira a 3-2 lead in the third period  but Jordan Rosenbaum tied the score for the Golden Eagles making an overtime necessary to determine a winner. Carter Wisely netted the game-winner in the opening two minutes to give Elmira the OT win and three-win week.

Babson extended their win streak to five games with a weekend sweep of VSU-Castleton on home ice. A three-goal third period broke a 1-1 deadlock on Friday as the Beavers eased to a 4-1 win over the Spartans. On Saturday both teams found their scoring touch as Babson raced to a 7-3 lead after two periods and held on for a 7-5 win. Seven different players found the back of the net for Babson who scored all their goals at even-strength.

Norwich rebounded from their championship game loss in the NSB tournament to Hamilton with a weekend sweep of Massachusetts-Boston in their return to NEHC play. Ben van Waterschoot’s ENG in the final minute proved to be the game-winning goal  as Koyle Bankauskas scored his second of the contest for the Beacons with just a second remaining in a 3-2 Cadet win. Saturday’s game was eerily similar as the Cadets held a 2-1 lead late in the third period and got some breathing room with Jason Galotti’s ENG in the final minute for a 3-1 win and weekend sweep. Sami Molu picked up both wins in goal stopping 44 of 47 shots in the two games.

Following a 10-1 rout of Southern Maine on Friday led by hat tricks from Maksim Tseglnik and Sam Anderson, Albertus Magnus looked for a weekend sweep on Saturday with a win against the Huskies. The Falcons took a 1-0 lead after the first twenty minutes, but USM responded with a pair of goals in the second period for a 2-1 lead. Three goals in the opening seven minutes of the third period gave the Falcons a 4-2 lead and they held on for a 4-3 win to extend their win streak to three games.

 NESCAC

Hamilton remained unbeaten in 2025 with road wins over Bowdoin and Colby over the weekend. On Friday, the Continentals raced to a 3-0 lead and skated off with a 4-1 win backstopped by Charlie Archer’s sixteen saves and goals from four different players. In a critical game against Colby on Saturday, Hamilton scored a goal in each period before Max Abene broke Archer’s shutout bid with a goal in the final minute of regulation as the Continentals took a 3-1 win over the Mules.

Trinity broke into the win column in 2025 picking up a pair of NESCAC road wins over Middlebury and Williams. The Bantams trailed the Panthers by a goal twice on Friday night before rallying with three unanswered goals in the third period to skate off with a 4-2 win. James Barbour scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to pace the Trinity offense. Against the Ephs, the Bantams scored three early goals and cruised to a 6-2 win. Barbour added another goal and two assists while Spencer Korona added three assists for the Bantams.

SUNYAC

Buffalo State extended their second half win streak with a non-conference sweep of Chatham. The Bengals won a seesaw affair on Friday with Jason Kwestel scoring one goal and adding an assist in a 4-3 win over the Cougars. On Saturday, the game looked to be comfortably in Buffalo State’s favor as they entered the third period with a 4-1 lead only to see Dylan Young and Nick Cyprian score early in the third period to reduce the lead to a single goal. Joonas Linnavuori added some margin with an ENG late in the third period for a 5-3 final score. Goaltender Drew Doran picked up the win making nineteen saves.

Cortland won two games of three against UCHC opponents. On Monday, the Red Dragons downed Wilkes 3-2 with Sam Christiano, Justin Legault, and Andrew Clouden providing the goals in a hard-fought road win. Returning home on Friday, Cortland entered the third period with a 4-2 lead only to see Nazareth score three unanswered goals and hold on for a 5-4 win. Dylan Wiemer was strong in goal for the Golden Flyers , particularly in the third period where he made 12 saves and helped kill multiple power plays in the final five minutes of action. On Saturday, Cortland rebounded with a 6-2 win over Manhattanville spurred by a four-goal second period. Johnny Facchini’s goal and two assists along with Evan Beaudry’s three helpers paced the Red Dragon attack.

UCHC

Utica hosted a red-hot Oswego squad on Friday night to open the second half of the season and the “new look” Pioneers skated away with a 5-3 win led by two goals from Eric Vitale and 24 saves from incoming transfer (University of Dubuque) Ryan Piros in goal. Brian Scoville, Bax Anthony and Jakob Breault all chipped in with two assists for the Pioneers.

Geneseo rebounded quickly following their first loss of the season as the Knights routed Fredonia on Saturday by a 9-2 score. Eight different players scored goals for Geneseo with Cooper Fensterstock leading the offense with three assists.

Prior to their overtime loss to Elmira, Brockport rallied from a 3-1 deficit (this scenario is really playing out too much across all the games this season) to tie the score with two goals in the final four minutes before winning the game in overtime with Kaleb Miller netting the game-winner for the Golden Eagles.

Three Biscuits

Justin Sullivan – Western New England – scored a hat trick to pace the offense for the Golden Bears in a 6-0 win over Morrisville on Saturday.

Sam Anderson & Maksim Tseglnik – Albertus Magnus – both players scored hat tricks for the Falcons in a 10-1 rout of Southern Maine on Friday night.

Evan Plunkett – St. Michael’s – stopped all 40 shots by Assumption in the Purple Knights’ 2-0 win on Saturday to earn a weekend split with the Greyhounds.

While the upset meter (excluding Geneseo loss to Elmira) was relatively quiet this weekend, the action is certainly ramping up where no lead is apparently safe, and teams can expect to find bonus hockey to be a necessary part of finding wins in the second half of the campaign. There is a lot to be excited about now that everyone has returned to the ice, and we are halfway through January. Buckle up!

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