Upsets abounded again this weekend as Hobart lost a pair of games, Norwich lost to Castleton, Franklin Pierce downed St. Anselm and Stevenson took down Utica. And that’s a look at just a few of the games across the East this past weekend where many teams closed out the first half of their schedules – some on a very high note and others, well, not so much.
Here is this week’s recap of the outstanding action in the East:
CCC
Curry went into the weekend looking for a couple of statement performances against league contenders University of New England and Salve Regina on back-to-back nights. On Friday night, the game with the Nor’easters literally was won by period. UNE took the opening 20 minutes scoring twice for a 2-0 lead only to see Curry answer back with three power play goals in the second period for a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. In the third period, UNE’s Ryans, Bloom and Burr, scored to give the home team a very hard-fought 4-3 win to move to 6-1-0 in CCC play.
Saturday’s matchup between the Colonels and Seahawks was also a playoff type game with a lot of back-and-forth scoring between the two teams. Erik Udahl’s shorthanded goal gave the visiting Seahawks a 2-1 lead after the first period but again the Colonels fought back in the second period with three goals to take a 4-3 lead into the final stanza. With just 61 ticks left on the clock and the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, Cayden Kraus scored the game-tying goal that could not be solved in overtime for a 4-4 finish. Salve Regina moves to 8-1-1 in CCC play while Curry dropped to 5-2-1 after the 0-1-1 weekend.
Independents
Anna Maria went 1-0-1 on the week starting with a 3-3 tie against Plymouth State on the road on Thursday. On Saturday, the AmCats picked up a 6-3 win over Post with Jack Sitzman and Sam Cyr-Ledoux combining for eight points and Sitzman recording a hat trick for the visitors. After spotting the Eagles a 2-0 lead early in the second period, Anna Maria scored six unanswered goals, including four on the power play to open a big lead on the way to the win.
Despite being outshot 43-27, Canton emerged with a big 4-3 win at Plattsburgh on Friday night. Max Routledge scored twice, and Austin Washkurak made 40 saves in the win for the Kangaroos. Canton didn’t let down on Saturday against fellow independent Albertus Magnus as Noah Robinson scored a hat trick and Matthew Headland scored two more goals in a 9-0 rout for Canton who was again outshot by a 42-38 margin.
MASCAC
After Plymouth State’s non-conference tie with Anna Maria on Thursday, the Panthers took on the recently resurgent Salem State Vikings and skated away with a 7-1 win. After exchanging goals in the first six minutes of play, the Panthers scored six in a row including three points from Mike McPherson and two goals from Grant Dewitt. The win moved PSU to 5-1-0 in MASCAC play.
Westfield State picked up a 2-0 win on Thursday over Framingham State and then battled Massachusetts-Dartmouth to a 3-3 tie on Saturday. The game with the Corsairs was a thriller with Jake Ratcliffe and Justin Alves scoring just 27 seconds apart late in the third period to take a 3-2 lead. The Corsairs were not done and with just four seconds remaining and the goalie pulled for an extra forward, Josh Vertentes scored with an assist from Steven Leonard to tie the game. The Owls moved to 3-1-2 in MSCAC play while UMD stands at 2-3-1.
NE-10
Franklin Pierce has been on fire and picked up an important 5-3 win over St. Anselm on Saturday night. Tied at 3-3 entering the third period, Alex Lester completed his hat trick to give the Ravens a 4-3 lead less than a minute into the period and Matthew Toombs added an insurance goal for the 5-3 win.
St. Michael’s dropped the defending NE-10 champs from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 5-2 win on Friday night. Tim Decker made 27 saves for the Purple Knights and five different players scored goals in the win that saw the Penmen jump out to a 1-0 first period lead. On Saturday, St. Michael’s took on a Castleton team fresh off their upset at Norwich and the Purple Knights raced to a 7-0 win with two goals each coming from Matthew Schreiner and Paul McAuliffe. Alec Lindberg made 40 saves in the shutout win.
NEHC
Castleton did something it had not done since 2010 in beating Norwich at Kreitzberg Arena on Friday night. Calvin Moise and Nick Gravina gave the Spartans a 2-0 lead after two periods, but Felix Brassard cut the lead in half under four minutes into the third period. Brandon Collett made 24 of his 54 saves in the final period to hold off Norwich and earn a big upset win for Castleton.
Hobart was looking for a pair of road wins against New England College and Southern Maine to bolster their position in the conference only to drop both games and pick up zero points. On Friday, Trevor Momot scored the game-winning goals midway through the third period and Anthony Pupplo made 37 saves in a 4-3 win over the Statesmen. Saturday night it was the Huskies of Southern Maine’s turn to play the upset card as Adam Withers scored both the game-tying and game-winning goals for USM in a 3-2 overtime win over Hobart.
Babson literally held serve at home with a pair of 6-0 wins over Johnson & Wales and Suffolk over the weekend. Mike Egan led the scoring with a hat trick on Friday against the Wildcats and the opening goal on Saturday against the Rams. Goaltenders Aidan Murphy and Brad Arvanitis each picked up a shutout win.
NESCAC
Middlebury has had a great first half and capped off their NESCAC play in 2019 with a pair of wins over Amherst and Hamilton on the road. Goals from Tyler Capello, Zach Shapiro and Paddy Bogart in the second period gave the Panthers a 3-1 lead that Brian Ketchabaw made stand up in a 3-2 win over the Mammoths on Friday night. At Hamilton, Ketchabaw made 24 saves and earned the shutout in a 3-0 win over the Continentals to move Middlebury to 5-1-0 in conference play.
The Tufts Jumbos were the other NESCAC team to pick up a four-point weekend as they downed Colby and Bowdoin over the weekend. Justin Brandt scored at the 15-minute mark of the third period to break a scoreless tie and Jordan Haney added an empty-net goal to help goaltender Drew Hotte earn his first win and shutout on the season. Against Bowdoin the offense was a bit more prolific as the Jumbos got another goal at the 1- minute mark of the final period to break open a 4-4 deadlock and earn the 5-4 win over the Polar Bears. Angus Scott scored twice for Tufts and Brendan Skarda added three assists in the win that moved Tufts to 2-4-0 in NESCAC play.
SUNYAC
Oswego was looking to regain some of their swagger in SUNYAC play and did so in decisive fashion starting with Friday’s 5-0 road win against Buffalo State. Travis Broughman scored two goals and David Richer earned the shutout in goal making 24 saves for the Lakers. On Saturday, things were a little tougher for the Lakers at Fredonia. After falling behind 2-1 in the first period, Oswego used goals from Jody Sullivan, Joey Scorpio and Anthony Passero in the second period to take a 4-2 into the third period. The home team wouldn’t go away and battled to tie the game at 4-4 with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Oswego’s Tyson Kirkby turned out to be the hero scoring the game winner with just 41 seconds remaining on the clock for a 5-4 win that moved Oswego to 6-1-0 in SUNYAC play.
In a battle of travel partners, Geneseo downed Brockport on Friday night, 4-2. Jake Colosanti tied the game early in the third period for the visiting Golden Eagles before Conlan Keenan scored the game winning goal on a penalty shot just before the midway point of the period. Chris Perna added the insurance goal with an ENG in the final 23 seconds to move the Knights to 5-1-1 in conference play while Brockport drops to 5-4-0.
UCHC
Stevenson hosted a pair of teams looking to show why they deserve to be among the leaders in the UCHC. On Friday night the Mustangs earned a statement win over Utica in a game that you didn’t feel was over until the final horn stopped. Building a 4-2 lead, Stevenson saw Utica answer with a power play goal from Daniel Fritz before Nick Gray’s second goal of the night into an empty net gave the home crowd some breathing room at 5-3. Kasper Kjellkvist again answered for the Pioneers with just eleven seconds remaining on the clock and Stevenson picked up the win for goaltender Ryan Kenny who moved to 5-0-0 on the season. Saturday night the Mustangs earned the weekend sweep with a win over Nazareth, 2-0. Kenny made 23 saves to earn the shutout and Nick Gray picked up his tenth goal of the season to provide the only goal Kenny needed for the win.
Stevenson is still looking up at Wilkes who earned a 7-5 win over Manhattanville and a 2-1 win over Neumann to keep the Colonels unbeaten in UCHC play. Nick Godfrey scored two goals in the win over the Valiants and Danny Reidel and Nick Fea gave the home team just enough goals in the first period to carry Brandon Gordon in goal to the win over the Black Knights.
Three Biscuits
Brandon Collett – Castleton – recorded 54 saves including 24 in the third period to lead the Spartans to a 2-1 upset at Norwich.
Jack Sitzman – Anna Maria – scored a hat trick and added an assist for four points in the AmCats 6-3 win at Post. Linemate Sam Cyr-Ledoux also had four-points on a goal and three assists.
Alex Lester – Franklin Pierce – recorded a hat trick to lead the Ravens to big NE-10 win against St. Anselm on Saturday.
There are very few games left on the calendar across D-III this next weekend so no game picks coming to close out the week. Many teams are wishing the break didn’t come just yet while others look to enjoy the holidays and get back to work for the all important second half of the season.
