It is mid-January and the good teams really start finding their game and getting results. Such was the case for Hobart, Norwich, Utica, Endicott and Plymouth State among others who realized weekend sweeps despite some close games. There were more than ten overtime games this past week and while not all were decided in the extra time, the tight nature of so many games points to some additional high drama coming at us over the remaining month of the regular season. Here are some of the major highlights from the weekend in the East:
CCC
Endicott faced the University of New England in a home-and-home series and took two key wins in CCC play to remain unbeaten in the conference at 11-0-0. On Friday night, the Gulls took a win on the road by taking advantage of four special teams goals in a 6-3 win. Ryan Willett, Garrett Devine, and Cassidy Bowes all scored on the power play while Connor Amsley added a shorthanded tally to pace the offense while Atticus Kelly stopped 20 of 23 shots. On Saturday, the Gulls completed the sweep with a 3-0 win on home ice. The game was scoreless for the first two periods as Billy Girard and Ryan Wilson were terrific in goal for the Nor’easters and Gulls respectively. In the final period, Matt Giroux broke the ice early for a 1-0 Gull lead and Zach Mazur and Amsley added late insurance for the final score. Wilson earned the shutout making 32 saves.
Curry looked to keep the Gulls in sight in the standings and took a weekend sweep over Nichols where they outscored the Bison by a 20-4 margin. In Friday’s 11-3 win, forward Mark Zhukov recorded a seven-point night picking up a pair of goals and adding five assists in the comfortable win for the Colonels. Zhukov and the Curry offense continued to put up numbers on Saturday as the forward added one goal and four assists to his weekend total and Curry scored six power play goals in the third period to complete a 9-1 rout.
Salve Regina also completed a weekend sweep with two one-goal wins over Western New England to stay among the top teams in the conference standings. On Friday, the Seahawks rallied from a 1-0 deficit late in the third period with goals from Walter Baumann and Logan Calder to take a 2-1 road win over the Golden Bears. On Saturday, the game couldn’t be decided in regulation time as the game went back and forth in a 3-3 tie through sixty minutes of play. Seth Benson wasted no time in giving Salve Regina the home win just 21 seconds into overtime.
Independents
After a 4-2 win over Potsdam on Wednesday night, Canton played a weekend series with Fredonia earning a split of the two games. On Friday night, the Kangaroos yielded an early goal to Ryan Bailey before reeling off five unanswered goals from five different players for a 5-1 win. Scott Cremen scored a goal and added two assists to pace the offense for Canton. On Saturday, the Blue Devils flipped the script coming back from a 2-1 deficit with four third period goals in a 5-2 win.
After losing to Wesleyan 5-2 on Tuesday night, Anna Maria traveled to face Rivier on Saturday in a battle of Independents. The AmCats moved to a 4-0 lead on goals from Patrick Peltola, Michael Padgeon, Aryan Batra and Cam Tobey and held off the Raiders in a 4-1 win. Goaltender Aidan Richardson was terrific, making 33 saves on 34 shots to earn the win.
MASCAC
Plymouth State eked out a 2-1 win at Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Thursday behind 39 saves from goaltender Brendahn Brawley. Jake Maynard scored on the power play to give the Corsairs an early lead but goals from Connor Tait and Payton Schaly to close out the first period was all the scoring the game would see. Daniel Davidson stopped 49 shots for the Corsairs but the offense could not solve Brawley again after Maynard’s first period tally. The win moved the Panthers to 9-0-0 in MASCAC play.
Worcester State extended their shutout streak to three games with two conference wins over Westfield State and Framingham State to move to 7-2-0 in conference play. On Thursday, Brian Clougherty scored a pair of goals and Jakub Kulik stopped all 24 shots he faced in a 4-0 win. On Saturday, second period goals from Brendan Ronan, Martin Dlugolinski and Brigham Neuhold were enough for goaltender Wyatt Friedlander who made 22 saves in the 3-0 shutout win.
Fitchburg State kept pace with a pair of MASCAC wins by just one goal over Framingham State on Thursday and Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday. Against Framingham State, Joshua Miller, and Gene Bouthiette each recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over the Rams in head coach Dean Fuller’s 1000th game behind the bench. On Saturday, the Falcons eked out another one-goal decision in extra time as the Corsairs rallied from a two-goal deficit before Miller scored the game-winning goal just 26 seconds into overtime. The win moved the Falcons to 6-2-2 in MASCAC play.
NE-10
St. Michael’s moved to 5-4-1 in conference play and produced their first two-game win streak of the season in a sweep of Post. On Friday night, three power play goals from Brennan McFarland, Case Kantgias and Zach Taylor helped pace the offense in a 6-3 win. On Saturday, Jeremy Routh and Taylor gave the Purple Knights an early lead and goaltender Marshall Murphy stopped 34 of 35 shots on the way to a 4-1 win.
Southern New Hampshire hosted Assumption in a pair of games this weekend and the visitors came away with a big sweep. On Friday, the Greyhounds rallied in dramatic fashion with a five-goal third period for a 6-3 win over the Penmen. Ronny Paragallo, Shane Sullivan, William Smith and Alexan Mavrogiannis all scored in the first three minutes of play in the final period to rally Assumption to the road win. On Saturday, the game was much tighter as Camron Roberts finally broke the ice in the second period for the Greyhounds. That one goal was all that goaltender Drew Benedict would need in a 1-0 shutout win. Benedict stopped 34 shots including 17 in the third period alone.
St. Anselm downed Franklin Pierce on Friday by an 8-2 score. Andrew Andary and Will Christensen scored a pair of goals each and defenseman John Myers added three assists in win that moved the Hawks to 7-3-1 in NE-10 play.
NEHC
Hobart traveled to Southern Maine and Babson this weekend and picked up a pair of critical NEHC wins. On Friday night, goals from Tanner Daniels, Brenden Howell and Matthew Iasenza along with 21 saves from Damon Beaver were enough to down the Huskies, 3-0. On Saturday in a battle of ranked teams, the Statesmen downed the Beavers 4-1. Two goals from Ignat Belov and tallies from Iasenza and Austin Mourar paced the offense and Mavrick Goyer made 22 saves in the win that moved Hobart to 9-1-0 in conference play.
Norwich needed a little more drama in earning their weekend sweep as Friday night’s game against Massachusetts-Boston was scoreless for sixty minutes before Joe Nagle ended the game just 56 seconds into the extra session for a 1-0 win. Goaltender Sam Best stopped 32 shots for the Beacons while Drennen Atherton made 24 saves to earn the shutout win. On Saturday, the Cadets created a little more breathing room early in a 7-1 win over Johnson & Wales. Seven different players scored for Norwich and Johnny Johnson scored one goal and added three assists to move Norwich to 9-1-1 in NEHC play.
NESCAC
League-leading Amherst picked up a pair of one-goal wins over Tufts and Connecticut College to keep their hold on the top spot in the highly competitive NESCAC standings. On Friday night, the Mammoths raced to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ryan Corcoran but the Jumbos responded with goals from Sam Miller and Mason Kohn for a 2-1 lead entering the third period. Power play goals in the third period Zachary Murray and Corcoran just 36 seconds apart led to the 3-2 road win. On Saturday, the Mammoths again trailed by a goal entering the third period before Ryan Tucker and Michael Pitts scored on the power play. Pitts added his second goal of the game to pad the lead and Amherst held on for a 4-3 win to move to 7-1-0 in NESCAC play.
Trinity continued their hot play in the second half and extended their NESCAC win streak to four games with a weekend sweep of Colby and Bowdoin. On Friday, the Bantams took an early two goal lead only to see the Mules rally to tie the game at 2-2 early in the third period. With less than five minutes remaining in regulation Gerrard Marretta scored the game winner in a 3-2 win. On Saturday, the game mirrored Friday’s as a two-goal lead evaporated when Bowdoin’s Jimmy Duffy tied the game early in the third period. Teddy Griffen scored on the power play to give Trinity a 3-2 lead and a pair of shorthanded goals in the final minute from Paul Selleck and Andrew Troy iced the 5-2 win.
Wesleyan kept pace with a win and a tie in Maine extending their current streak without a regulation loss this season. A three-goal second period spurred a 5-3 win over Bowdoin on Friday night and Saturday saw two goals in 27 seconds off the sticks of Jake Lachance and Liam Donelson tie the game in the third period for the Cardinals who finished with a 3-3 OT tie against Colby.
SUNYAC
Plattsburgh took a 3-2 win over Middlebury and a 2-0 win over Williams to finish off their non-conference schedule. On Friday, the Cardinals took a 3-0 lead and held off the energetic Panthers. Luk Jirousek, Carson Gallagher, and Matt Araujo scored the goals and Jacob Hearne made 26 saves to earn the win. On Saturday, Bennett Stockdale provided all the scoring and Eli Shiller made 26 saves to earn the 2-0 shutout win.
After a 4-1 win over Manhattanville on Tuesday, Cortland continued their non-conference winning ways with a 4-2 win over King’s. Trailing midway through the second period, Geordan Buffoline tied the game at 2-2. In the third period, Nick Grupp and Trevor Veneklase scored to give the Red Dragons their tenth win of the season.
Following Tuesday’s non-conference game against SUNYAC opponent Fredonia (a 4-2 win), Brockport traveled to play Franklin Pierce on Saturday. Josh Grund, two goals and two assists, Chase Maxwell, two goals, and Andrew Hartley with two goals and one assist led the offense in an 8-4 win.
UCHC
Mic Curran scored two goals and added an assist in front of Bryan Landesberger’s 15 saves in route to a 5-0 win for Utica over Neumann on Friday night. On Saturday the Pioneers completed the weekend sweep with a 6-2 win that featured five unanswered goals to break a 1-1 tie with the Black Knights. John Moncovich scored two goals for the Pioneers in the win that moved them to 11-0-0 in UCHC play.
Nazareth hosted Manhattanville for a two-game series and Friday’s game was a seesaw affair that ended in a 4-4 OT tie (Nazareth won the shootout). Three times the Valiants held one-goal leads only to see the Golden Flyers rally to tie the score. Logan Tobias provided the tying goal in the third period as the hosts outshot the Valiants by a 41-22 margin. On Saturday, the teams exchanged special teams’ goals in the first period before Nazareth scored four straight goals, including a hat trick by Ethan Louisos, on the way to a 5-1 win.
On Friday night, Chatham needed three power play goals to rally for a 3-3 OT tie with Alvernia. The Golden Wolves won the shootout setting up an important re-match on Saturday. The Cougars again found themselves in a hole trailing 3-0 in the third period and rallied on goals by Andrew Warhoftig, Evan Mitchell and Matthew Doyle to send the game to overtime. This time the Cougars would find the golden goal off the stick of Zack Conner with an assist from Warhoftig for the 4-3 win.
Wilkes continued their win streak with a pair of wins over Arcadia this weekend. After a 4-1 win on Friday, the Colonels took advantage of four goals from Cam Lowe and five special team goals in a 6-2 win for the weekend sweep.
Three Biscuits
Ethan Louisos – Nazareth – scored a hat trick to pace Nazareth to a 5-1 win over Manhattanville on Saturday.
Mark Zhukov – Curry – recorded a seven-point game on Friday and a five-point game on Saturday in the Colonels’ two wins over Curry this weekend. Zhukov finished the weekend series with three goals and nine assists.
Joe Nagle – Norwich – scored the game-winning goal just 56 seconds into overtime to give the Cadets a 1-0 win over Massachusetts-Boston on Friday night.
The schedule now shifts to all conference play for virtually everyone over the next several weeks to close out the regular season. Expect the battles for points to heat up and scoreboard watching to start in earnest.
