The calendar may have changed to December but the never ending feast of surprise scores continued this weekend with ranked teams like Oswego, Babson, Plattsburgh and Trinity all finding themselves on the losing end of the scoreboard at least one time this weekend. On celebratory note Amherst coach Jack Arena picked up his 500th career win when the Mammoths knocked off Trinity on Saturday. There was a lot of great action elsewhere including several overtime games. Here are the highlights from this weekend:
CCC
Endicott swept a pair of games from Wentworth by scores of 4-2 and 4-0 to remain unbeaten in CCC play. On Friday, two power play goals from Zach Mazur led the offense in the win. On Saturday, the goaltending for both teams was outstanding as Connor Beatty scored on the power play with just seven seconds remaining in the second period to break the ice for the Gulls. Goals in the third by Jackson Sterrett, Andrew Kurapov and Jack Ring sealed the win with Atticus Kelly earning the 33-save shutout.
On Saturday, Curry took advantage of five special teams’ goals on the way to a 7-1 rout of Salve Regina. Timmy Kent scored a shorthanded and a power play goal for the Colonels who moved to 5-2-0 in conference play.
In a pair of games that saw a lot of scoring, Western New England swept Nichols to extend their current win streak to four games. On Friday, Shane Miller was the offensive star as the defenseman scored a goal and added four assists in the 6-4 win over the Bison. On Saturday, the Golden Bears used two goals in the third period from John D’Aniello to rally from a 3-2 deficit and Miller added an empty net goal to secure a 5-3 win. Matt Dougherty had a four-point game for WNE with a goal and three assists.
Independents
After losing an overtime game in the final five seconds to Massachusetts-Boston, 3-2 on Friday, Anna Maria took on Johnson & Wales on Saturday in another close contest. The battle of the Cats saw a seesaw affair ending in a 3-3 overtime tie. Despite outshooting J&W by a 44-30 margin, the AmCats needed a power play goal from Cam Tobey and a shorthanded tally from Brandon Della Paoler in the third period to earn the tie.
After a scoreless first period, Rivier took a 1-0 lead over Framingham State on a goal by Josh Sanchez in the second period. Dylan Marty responded for the Rams in the third period sending the game to overtime where Avery Arnold scored in the final minute of the extra session to give the Raiders a big home win.
MASCAC
On Thursday night, a fast start from Plymouth State gave them a 3-0 lead after one period of play against Framingham State. The Rams answered back with three goals of their own in the second period leaving the game to be decided over the final 20 minutes of action. Connor Tait’s rebound goal midway through the period gave the Panthers the lead and Ethan Stuckless added some insurance with a goal in the final three minutes for a 5-3 win. Stuckless was back at it on Saturday with a goal and an assist in a 6-2 win over Salem State to remain unbeaten in MASCAC play at 6-0-0.
Brendan Ronan helped Worcester State jump out to an early 2-0 lead over Salem State with assists on both first period markers. The Lancers would build a 3-0 lead only to see the Vikings rally back to within a goal in the third period. Ronan sealed the win with an empty-net goal and a three-point night in a 4-2 Lancer win. Goaltender Jakub Kubik stopped 40 of 42 shots in the win for Worcester State.
Westfield State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Fitchburg State on Thursday night, but the Falcons rallied quickly to level the game at 2-2 by the end of the first period. Toivo Kramer and Michael Macchioni scored to give the Falcons a 4-2 lead after two periods and Hunter Fortin iced the game with a late goal for the 5-2 win. Fortin finished his night with a goal and two assists as the Falcons moved to 2-1-2 in MASCAC play. A three-goal second period helped jumpstart the Falcons to a 5-1 win over Worcester State on Saturday. Hunter Fortin picked up a goal and an assist in the win.
NE-10
The battle of Manchester resumed with Southern New Hampshire visiting St. Anselm for two games over the weekend. There must be something about Friday nights with the Hawks as they have yet to win a Friday game on home-ice this season. The Penmen took advantage of an early goal by Connor Ball and a pair of third period goals from Matt Amante and James Nash for a 3-0 road win. Adam Mercer made 23 saves to earn the shutout win. On Saturday the Hawks flipped the script in their own 3-0 win to split the weekend series. Goals from Tommy Schwartz, Max Burum and Mark Blaney were more than enough for Nick Howard who stopped all 37 shots he faced for the shutout.
Franklin Pierce swept a weekend series from Post to move to 5-3-0 in NE-10 play. On Friday, the Ravens took advantage of a strong performance in goal by Kyle Martin who made 28 saves to earn his first shutout of the season. Jason Ladzinski, Chis Stevenson, and Dom Norris provided all the scoring in a balanced win for FPU. On Saturday, Conor Foley and Matt Horan each recorded a goal and two assists in a comfortable 6-2 win for the Ravens.
NEHC
Hobart moved to a perfect 10-0-0 on the season and 6-0-0 in NEHC play with wins over Castleton and Skidmore. On Friday, Brandon Picard gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the first period before goals from Ignat Belov in the second period and third period finally gave the statesmen the lead. Matthew Iasenza and Luke Aquaro added some insurance in the 4-1 win. On Saturday, a ranked Skidmore team came in hungry after their loss at Elmira on Friday night. Neither team could score in the first period as Skidmore’s Blaine Moore and Hobart’s Damon Beaver were outstanding in goal. The Statesmen erupted for three goals in the second period including two from Jonah Alexander on the way to a 4-0 shutout win.
New England College extended their current win streak to four games with road wins over Southern Maine and Babson by identical 4-3 scores. On Friday, the Pilgrims raced out to a 3-0 first period lead only to see the Huskies come back to tie the score on a goal by Curtis Judd midway through the third period. With less than three minutes to play in regulation, Bernie McGovern scored the game winner for NEC. Spencer Kozlowski was great in net stopping 38 of 41 shots in the win. On Saturday, the Pilgrims faced a tough Babson squad that had just tied Norwich 1-1 on Friday night. Babson came out with the jump in the first period scoring three times including power play goals from Colby Bailey and Wyatt George but NEC kept it close with goals from Jhuwon Davis and Alex LaPlante to end the period a goal down at 3-2. In the second period Manny Cabral and David Novotny provided all the goals Andrew Kormos would need in goal as he made the 4-3 lead standup making 62 saves in the win.
NESCAC
Four teams entered the weekend unbeaten in NESCAC play but only Colby and Amherst remained that way after games were finished on Saturday.
Wesleyan visited Amherst on Friday and although the game had good pace the first period ended scoreless. In the second period, the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead on goals by Colin Cobb and Emmet Powell setting up an exciting third period. The Mammoths finally got on the board on a goal by Ben Kuzma with just over three minutes remaining on the clock. Quinton Fox tied the score at 2-2 with a minute and a half remaining and the game would go to overtime. Matt Toporowski scored the winning goal with just over a minute remaining in the extra session to give the Mammoths a thrilling 3-2 win. On Saturday, a struggling Trinity squad that lost to Hamilton on Friday came to Orr Rink and Amherst secured a big 3-2 win over the Bantams. After yielding an early goal to Riley Prattson, the Mammoths would score the next three off the sticks of Kuzma, Fox and Josh Burke to take a 3-1 lead very early in the third period. Prattson would score his second goal to cut the lead to one goal, but Alex Wisco would surrender nothing else making 27 saves for the win. The win was coach Jack Arena’s 500th career win, making him just the 10th D-III coach to reach that milestone.
Colby hosted Bowdoin with both teams entering the big rivalry game at 4-0-0 on the season. The game lived up to its billing as the visitors took a 2-1 lead on goals from Gabe Shipper and Jack Studley to start the third period. The Mules rallied with three unanswered goals from James Tepper, Henry Molson and Drew Burke to skate away with he 4-2 win and a 5-0-0 start on the season. Molson finished the night with three points and goaltender Andy Beran stopped 28 shots in the win.
Tufts dropped their Friday game with Williams by a 4-1 score but rebounded nicely on Saturday to pick up their first NESCAC win on the season with a 5-0 shutout over Middlebury. Jack Hughes scored a pair of goals while Cole Dubicki and Sam Miller each recorded three points to pace the offense. Goaltender Gustave Bylin made 19 saves to earn his second shutout of the season.
SUNYAC
After dropping the championship game to Skidmore at the Thoroughbreds Thanksgiving tournament, Oswego had the opportunity to get back on their game at home against Morrisville and in advance of Saturday’s big non-conference game at Utica (details in UCHC section below). The Mustangs weren’t going to make it easy for the Lakers and goals from Jacob Black and Chris Mott just seconds apart in the first period gave the visitors an early 2-0 lead. Trent Grimshaw would cut the deficit to one goal but Cameron Clark’s unassisted shorthanded tally in the third period sealed the 3-1 win and handed Oswego their first loss in SUNYAC play.
Potsdam also fancied playing the role of the spoiler and did so on Saturday night with a 5-2 win over Plattsburgh. After Bennett Stockdale gave the visiting Cardinals an early 1-0 lead, Nolan Towne and Michael MacArthur gave the Bears a 2-1 lead to close out the first period. Jack Bloem scored his first of two to extend the lead before Jack Ring answered for the Cardinals. In the third period Jack Loran and Bloem sealed the deal for Connor Green who made 41 saves in the upset win.
Geneseo captured a pair of SUNYAC wins to extend their unbeaten streak to five games. On Friday night, Tyler Vanuden and Nikita Kozyrev gave Buffalo State a 2-1 lead at the end of twenty minutes of action. The Knights would rally on the strength of their power play as Peter Morgan scored on the man advantage in the second period before Domenic Garozzo tallied his man-up marker midway through the third period for the 3-2 win. On Saturday, another Morgan goal and two more on the power play from Alex Dameski and Nicolas Elia spearheaded a 4-0 win at Fredonia. Matt Petizian stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn the shutout win.
UCHC
Utica played their annual Teddy Bear toss game in front of a packed house on Saturday in what everyone expected to be a great matchup against Oswego. While Mic Curran’s first period goal triggered the teddy bear onslaught on the ice, it was a three-goal second period that gave the host Pioneers a decisive and complete 4-0 win over the Lakers. Dante Zapata, Khristian Acosta, and John Moncovich scored in the middle frame that put the game out of reach for Oswego who couldn’t solve goaltender Bryan Landesberger. Landesberger made 23 saves in the shutout win and the Pioneers extended their unbeaten streak to nine games.
Wilkes and Chatham played a weekend series and Friday night’s game had a playoff vibe to it. Both Michael Paterson-Jones for Wilkes and Ricardo Gonzalez for Chatham were terrific in their respective goals as neither team could score in regulation time. The Cougars carried a power play over into the overtime period and Andrew Warhoftig wasted no time in scoring just 59 seconds in to give Chatham the 1-0 win. On Saturday, Wilkes’ Ben Stefanini scored a hat trick to lead the Colonels to a 4-2 win and a split of the two-game series.
Stevenson hosted a red hot Nazareth squad and came out on fire themselves scoring three goals in the first period on Friday night. Connor MacDonnell, Jake Roberts and Evan Beers gave the Mustangs a 3-0 lead and they raced to a 7-3 win with MacDonnell scoring two goals and adding an assist. On Saturday, it took both teams a long time to find the back of the net and it was Nazareth that scored three unanswered goals to put the Mustangs in a hole. Joshua Dressler scored a pair of goals and Henry McKinney scored a goal and added two assists in the 4-1 win for the Golden Flyers that moved them to 6-2-0 in UCHC play.
Three Biscuits
Shane Miller – Western New England – the Golden Bears’ defenseman provided a five-point night with a goal and four assists on a 6-4 win over Nichols on Friday night.
Andrew Warhoftig – Chatham – scored just 59 seconds into overtime to give the Cougars a dramatic 1-0 win over Wilkes on Friday night.
Andrew Kormos – New England College – after surrendering three goals to Babson in the first period, Kormos held the Beavers scoreless over the next 40 minutes making 62 saves in total in the Pilgrims come-from-behind 4-3 win on Saturday.
Bonus Biscuits
Matt Toprowski – Amherst – netted the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over Trinity that moved the Mammoths to 3-0-0 in NESCAC play and earned head coach Jack Arena his 500th win.
Ben Stefanini – Wilkes – recorded a hat trick in Wilkes 4-2 win over Chatham on Saturday helping the Colonels earn a weekend split with the Cougars.
Connor Green – Potsdam – the Bears’ netminder made 41 saves in a 5-2 upset win over Plattsburgh on Saturday night.
The rankings will be a mess again this week but isn’t that what we want to be seeing as we close out the first half over the next week. Congratulations to Coach Arena and Amherst on the 500th career win – a lofty milestone only achieved by ten other D-III coaches. Coach Arena has always been a class act and very generous with his time and knowledge for this writer over many years. It is always great to see good things happen for the great people in the game.
