Looking back at the weekend in D-III West Hockey

Tim Coughlin earned a milestone win over the weekend at St. Norbert. Photo by Paul Ferron/St. Norbert Athletics.

Tim Coghlin further cemented his place in college hockey history Friday night when his St. Norbert team took care of business against Finlandia with a 9-1 win.

Coghlin won the 600th game of his career, becoming only the fourth to reach that mark at the NCAA Division III level and the 14th to get to 600 at any level of of NCAA hockey. He is in his 28th season at St. Norbert and has lost just 160 games in that time. 

His career has featured 19 trips to the NCAA tourney with the Green Knights and five of those trips have ended with national championships, the last in 2018. His nine title game appearances are tied for the most in D-III history.

Michael McChesney turned in a big game to help his coach reach his latest milestone, scoring twice and dishing out an assist. Brock Baker produced the same stat line as the Green Knights rolled to a big road win.

A total of seven players had multi-point nights for St. Norbert while Colby Entz played in his first game of the season and got the job done in goal, stopping 15 shots. 

St. Norbert is 5-3 overall and 4-0 in the NCHA. It has won four consecutive games, scoring four or more goals in each of those wins.

Mosquera shines for Vikings

Alex Mosquera was on top of his game for Lawrence in a 2-1 win over MSOE Saturday night.

The senior netminder stopped 53 shots in the victory, including 25 in the final period of play as the Vikings secured their first NCHA win of the season. Lawrence improved to 3-4 overall.

Bradon Halvorsen and Oliver DeCroock both scored goals in the wins.

Mosequera’s effort helped the Vikings bounce back from a 3-2 loss to the Raiders the night before. Lawrence had dropped three consecutive games.

Mosquera has played in six games this season, starting five of them, and has allowed 18 goals while racking up 198 saves.

Still unbeaten

Aurora’s special season continues as the Spartans beat Lake Forest for the third time this season Saturday with a 5-2 win and kept their record perfect through eight games.

Adam Keyes, Jack Jaunich and Brayden Sampson all scored a goal and dished out an assist as Aurora pushed its NCHA mark to 4-0. Gio Procopio dished out two assists and Josh Boyko helped the Spartans’ cause with 23 saves.

Aurora has won five of its games on the road and has scored four or more goals in four consecutive games. The Spartans opened their series on Friday against Lake Forest with a 4-0 win.

Auggies thrive on power play

Nationally ranked Augsburg kept its unbeaten record intact with an impressive performance against St. Scholastica Saturday to cap off a sweep of the Saints.

The Auggies scored all four of their goals off the power play in 4-0 win as they improved to 6-0 overall while picking up their first two MIAC wins of the season.

Gavin Holland paved the way with two goals and Austin Martinsen dished out three assists. Holland now leads the MIAC in goals and is ranked second in the league in points. 

Samuel Vyletelka earned his second shutout of the year and the second of his career in the win. The first-year player stopped 22 shots. Augsburg held a 36-22 advantage in shots. 

The Auggies have outscored the opposition 20-4 this season and boasts one of the best scoring defenses in the country.

Royals continue to find success

Bethel opened its series against Gustavus Friday with a 5-2 win on a night when five different players scored goals for the Royals.

Ben Doherty helped lead the way as he scored a goal and dished out an assist. Luke Posner tallied two assists in the win.

One of the goals was scored by netminder Ridge Gerards. He connected on an empty netter with just over a minute to play in the action. He also stopped 39 shots in the victory.

The Royals and Gusties played to a 2-2 tie in the series finale Saturday. Bethel is 6-1-1 on the season. Friday’s game marked the the third time this season the Royals have scored five or more goals in a game.

Oles deliver in overtime

Matthew Pointer came through with a big goal in overtime to lift St. Olaf to a 2-1 win over Concordia in a MIAC battle Friday. The two teams ended the series Saturday with a 2-2 tie.

Pointer scored his goal off an assist from Evan Shoemaker.

Cooper Lukenda came through with 16 saves. He entered the game at the start of the second period and helped St. Olaf end a four-game losing streak to the Cobbers in the series between the two teams.

Big win for the Yellow Jackets

Wisconsin-Superior showed no signs of nerves in a battle against nationally ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point Saturday night, coming away with a 3-2 win over the Pointers.

It was the first meeting between the two teams since the WIAC title game last season, which was also won by Superior.

Superior scored three consecutive goals to grab the momentum and neverlooked back while Myles Hektor made 27 saves, including 12 in the final period.

Zach Bannister, David Kaplan and Levi Cudmore all scored for the Yellow Jackets, who improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the WIAC. The win helped them bounce back from a 5-1 loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire one night earlier.

Blugolds roll in opener

Wisconsin-Eau Claire came to play in its WIAC opener Friday, skating to a 5-1 win over the UW-Superior, the reigning champ the conference.

Troy MacTavish, Simon Sagissor, Ty Readman, Quinn Green and Connor Szmul all scored goals for the Blugolds while Ryan Ouellette notched 21 saves in goal to pick up his third win of the season. It’s the fourth time this season that UW-Eau Claire has allowed just one goal or less in a game.

Stout ends drought

For the first time since 2017, Wisconsin-Stout picked up a win over UW-Eau Claire, securing a 4-2 win Saturday. 

The Blue Devils scored twice in the third to secure the win. It’s their second consecutive win and and they improved to 2-6 overall. Both of their wins have come on the road.

Raphael Gosselin scored a goal and dished out an assist to help pace the Blue Devils. Tyler Masternak racked up 24 saves for his second win of the season.