And then there was just one left in the east! Hobart remains the sole unbeaten in D-III after a thrilling overtime win over Trinity on Saturday. Elsewhere Tufts knocked Colby from the unbeaten ranks. Upcoming changes in league affiliations were announced and some illness situations on teams knocked games off the schedule in the cases of Stevenson traveling west to meet Trine and Adrian and Salve Regina was unable to play Endicott and Johnson & Wales. Here’s hoping the combined COVID, Flu and RSV season doesn’t impact the second half. Here is this week’s wrap-up to close out the first half of the season:
CCC
Endicott twice trailed Wesleyan in a non-conference game on Wednesday night and two times goals by Connor Beatty rallied the Gulls to tie the score and send the game to overtime. In the extra session it was Jackson Sterrett that scored the winning goal for the Gulls who moved to 10-1-0 on the season. The Gulls final conference game against Salve Regina on Friday was deemed a forfeit (conference record only) due to illness issues for the Seahawks.
On Friday, Curry took down Nichols by a score of 6-3. The Colonels rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered goals in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. In the third period, Luke Harvie tied the score at 3-3 before Curry again ripped off thee straight to pick up the CCC win. Mark Zhukov led the way with a goal and an assist, and five other Colonels tallied in the win.
The University of New England finished the first half with a three-game win streak after an 8-0 win over Wentworth on Saturday. 13 different players recorded points in the runaway win and Jayden Price scored two goals to pace the Nor’easters who moved to 7-2-0 in CCC play.
Independents
After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1 to Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Tuesday night, Anna Maria would score four unanswered goals including a hat trick from Carter Anderson to complete a 5-3 come-from-behind win over the Corsairs. On Saturday, the AmCats ran into a fired up Southern Maine team who scored a season-high seven goals in a 7-2 romp over Anna Maria. Curtis Judd scored a pair of goals for the Huskies while netminder Kyle Penton made 22 saves in the win.
After surrendering Patrick Murphy’s first period goal that gave Post a 1-0 lead, Albertus Magnus rallied with four goals by four different players to earn a 4-1 win on Tuesday night. The Falcons outshot the Eagles by a 50-15 margin with goaltender Benjamin Cunneen from Post making 46 saves in the loss. The Falcons received double good news entering the weekend as the NEHC announced Albertus Magnus joining in both men’s and women’s ice hockey for the 2024-25 season. The excitement certainly carried over to their matchup with NEHC member Castleton on Friday. Tim Manning and Ryan Colwell scored first period goals and that is all Logan Bateman would need in a 2-0 win over the Spartans. Bateman made 27 saves to earn the shutout that moved Albertus Magnus to 9-3-0 on the season.
Canton played an exciting two-game series with Potsdam, earning a split in the series. On Friday, the Bears had to overcome a hat trick from Canton’s Brendan Morrow and rally for a 6-5 overtime win. Nick Alfieri tied the game at 5-5 with just two minutes remaining in regulation and Ryan Mahlmeister scored the overtime winning goal for a thrilling 6-5 home win. On Saturday, Canton played host and rallied from a 2-1 deficit with four unanswered goals in the third period to earn a weekend split with a 5-2 win. Filip Jakobsson and Zac Sirota each chipped in with a goal and an assist for the Kangaroos.
MASCAC
On Wednesday night, two goals from Joseph Kile gave Salve Regina a 2-1 lead in the first period against Plymouth State. That would be all the scoring the Seahawks would see for the night as the Panthers reeled off the next seven goals including four on the power play. Carson Lanceleve scored two goals and added two assists while Myles Abbate added a goal and three assists in the 8-2 romp. Brendahn Brawley made 37 saves to earn the win in goal. On Saturday, the Panthers closed out the first half with a 6-3 non-conference win over New England College. Rider McCallum and Connor Tait got the Panthers off and running with goals in the first two minutes of play and each would add another goal each as Plymouth State never let NEC get back in the game. The win extended their current streak to five games and improved their record to 9-3-1 overall.
Westfield State won a thrilling overtime game against Rivier on Tuesday night on a goal by Cooper Board that gave the Owls a 5-4 win. Board finished the game with two goals and assist for the Owls who moved to 5-4-1 on the season with the victory. On Saturday, the Owls closed out the first half with a MASCAC contest against Worcester State and the Lancers shut down their opponent 5-2. Brian Clougherty led the way with a goal and two assists while goaltender Jakub Kublik stopped 31 of 33 shots to help the Lancers move to 4-2-0 in conference play.
NE-10
The final NE-10 contest before the semester break featured Assumption traveling to Post. The home team took advantage of two power play goals from Niko Grollman and Hugh Mcguigan to lead 3-1 after the first period. That is when the Greyhounds special teams kicked into high gear with four unanswered goals including three with the man-advantage to give Assumption a big 5-3 win. Ronny Paragallo recorded a three-point game including a pair of goals, one shorthanded and one on the power play.
NEHC
Hobart finished the first half with a perfect 11-0-0 but it took some bonus hockey against Trinity on Saturday to get the final win before the semester break. Jonah Alexander was the hero for the Statesmen as he netted the overtime winner to down the Bantams, 2-1. The contest had a playoff feel to it as neither team could score in the opening period. Wil Crane got Hobart on the board in the second period only to see Eamon Doheny answer for Trinity early in the third period. Goaltending from Trinity’s Devon Bobak (36 saves) and Hobart’s Damon Beaver (24 saves) was outstanding leaving Alexander the opportunity to send the Hobart faithful home happy with the win.
New England College continued their winning ways on Thursday night with a non-conference win over Salem State. Goals by Alex LaPlante, Chris Lee and Jhuwon Davis in the opening six minutes of the first period paced the Pilgrims to a 4-1 win. Alex LaPlante added his second goal of the game to close out the scoring and goaltender Spencer Kozlowski stopped 35 of 36 shots to help extend the team’s win streak to five games prior to Saturday’s loss against Plymouth State.
Johnson & Wales provided the other excitement in league affiliation news this week as the Wildcats will be leaving the NEHC and joining the CCC, likely in the 2024-25 season. The move impacts all collegiate programs. On Friday, the Wildcats picked up their first win of the season with a 5-1 victory over Rivier. After surrendering the first goal late in the second period, Hayden Haldene scored on the power play for J&W to level the game at 1-1. Sam Band would score two of the four Wildcat goals in the third period in the non-conference victory. Goaltender Jacob Perrin stopped 18 of 19 shots to earn the win.
NESCAC
Amherst continued their winning ways as they closed out the first half with wins over Williams and Middlebury. On Friday, the Mammoths trailed rival Williams by 2-1 and 3-2 scores after each of the first two periods. In the third period, Matt Toporowski tied the score at 3-3 and Connor Guest netted the game winner in the final two minutes of regulation. Saturday’s match-up with Middlebury provided much less drama as the Mammoth cruised to a 6-0 win. Tyler Bourque scored two goals and Connor Leslie made 19 saves to earn the shutout win. The weekend sweep sends Amherst into the break with a 5-0-0 record in conference play and 6-1-1 overall.
Tufts continued their strong play to close out the semester by tying Bowdoin and knocking Colby from the ranks of the unbeaten this weekend. On Friday, a third period rally by the Polar Bears ended with a 2-2 overtime tie. On Saturday, the Jumbos were tied with Colby at 1-1 entering the third period. Goals from Joel Brandinger and John Mulvihill were all goaltender Gustave Bylin would need in the 3-1 win. Bylin finished with 29 saves to move Tufts to 2-3-1 in NESCAC play.
Hamilton also completed a weekend sweep of Middlebury and Williams over the weekend. After downing the Panthers on Friday, 3-1, the Continentals knocked off Williams by a score of 4-2. Alex Danis led the offense with two power play goals to help Hamilton move to 3-2-0 in conference play.
SUNYAC
Morrisville and Plattsburgh provided one of the games of the weekend on Saturday night with a thrilling win for the Cardinals, 4-3. The win snapped a two-game losing streak that included a tough 2-1 loss at Norwich on Tuesday night. Against the Mustangs, Plattsburgh ran out to a quick 3-0 lead only to see Trevor Neumann score two goals and Jestin Somer add another to tie the game at 3-3 entering the final ten minutes of regulation. Bennett Stockdale sent the Cardinal fans home happy with his game-winning goal in the final minute to move the Cardinals to 8-3-2 overall and 4-2-1 in SUNYAC play. Goaltender Ryan Creenan was outstanding for Morrisville making 62 saves and keeping the Mustangs in the game.
Oswego was also in need of a bounce back after suffering three straight losses. The Lakers did exactly that with a weekend sweep of Buffalo State and Fredonia to close out the first half of the season. On Friday, third period goals from Ryan Dickinson and Shane Bull broke open a close 3-2 contest for a 5-2 Oswego win. On Saturday night, goaltender Eric Green made 18 saves to earn a 3-0 shutout over Fredonia. Forward Alex DiCarlo finished the two games with two goals and two assists to pace the offense.
Geneseo closed out the first half with a 4-1 win over Brockport on Friday night. Goals from Peter Morgan, Matthew Doran, and Mitch Machlitt helped the Knights to a 3-0 lead on the way to the comfortable road win. The victory takes Geneseo to 5-2-1 in SUNYAC play.
Cortland moved to 5-3-0 in SUNYAC play with a split of games with Fredonia and Buffalo State. On Friday, the Red Dragons rallied to tie the game with the Blue Devils at 2-2 on a late third period goal from Jona Hildreth. Hildreth then set up Anthony Bernardo with the game winner in overtime for the 3-2 win. On Saturday, two goals from Nick Stuckless helped the Bengals to rally for a 4-2 win over Cortland.
UCHC
Chatham closed out their first half in UCHC play with a weekend series against Lebanon Valley and helped themselves in the standings with a sweep of the Flying Dutchmen. On Friday night, the Cougars broke open a 2-2 contest with third period goals from Nick Cyprian, Heath Drye and Evan Mitchell for a 5-2 home win. Drye scored twice for Chatham and goaltender Ricardo Gonzalez made 25 saves in the win. On Saturday night, the score was again tied at 2-2 after two periods of play. Chatham’s Michael Hurst would finally break the tie late in the third period to give the home team a 3-2 win.
Wilkes was looking for some positive momentum to close out an up-and-down first half as they hosted Alvernia in a two-game series. On Saturday, the Colonels scored a season high five goals from five different players to over come the Golden Wolves, 5-3. Phil Erickson finished with a goal and an assist for the Colonels. On Sunday, the battle was pretty even as the home team took the lead three times only to see Alvernia respond to tie the score at 3-3 at the end of two periods. No one could score in te third period and Wilkes wasted no time in deciding the game off the stick of Matt Carlson just 50 seconds into overtime. Ben Stefanini finished the game with a goal and two assists as Wilkes took the 4-3 victory to move to 4-5-0 in UCHC play.
Three Biscuits
Carter Anderson – Anna Maria – scored a hat trick to lead the AmCats to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Tuesday night.
Ned Blanchard – Trinity – scored the overtime winner to complete a Trinity rally from a 3-1 deficit to best Babson 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Cooper Board – Westfield State – scored twice, including the overtime winner and added an assist in the Owls’ 5-4 win over Rivier on Tuesday.
Bonus Biscuits
Jackson Sterrett – Endicott – scored the overtime winner in the Gulls 3-2 win on the road against Wesleyan.
Anthony Bernardo – Cortland – scored the overtime winning goal in the Red Dragons come-from-behind victory over Fredonia on Friday night.
Jonah Alexander – Hobart – scored the overtime goal that propelled the Statesmen to a 2-1 win over Trinity to close out a perfect 11-0-0 first half.
Matt Carlson – Wilkes – scored the overtime winner over Alvernia on Sunday to give Wilkes a 4-3 win and weekend sweep.
The excitement has continued right to the end before the semester break and not only on the ice. League affiliation announcements and the specter of illness-related postponements also spiced up the final weekend. While the affiliation news is exciting, we can all use less of the postponement and/or forfeiture announcements come what should be a pretty dynamic second half of the season in 2023.
