Junior Alex DiCarlo is one Oswego’s leading scorers looking to capture a SUNYAC title this season (Photo by Oswego Athletics)
SUNYAC has seen Geneseo win the last four conference championships contested and there is most definitely a bullseye on the Knights with several teams looking to unseat the defending champions.
“We have a really good group with good chemistry,” said Oswego head coach, Ed Gosek. “This group is really fun to coach, and it really shows in their off-season regimen that we got stronger and quicker. This is an experienced group and very focused on being “long-term greedy.” No shortcuts! Working hard every day to be better and help us reach our end of year goals – not just making the championship game, winning it.”
The Favorites
The Knights lost the national championship game to Adrian but return a strong group of players including goaltender Matt Petzian, defenseman Nicholas Elia and forwards Peter Morgan, Justin Cmunt, and Tyson Gilmour. Geneseo doesn’t beat themselves so the challenge for the rest of the conference is to find a way to beat them.
Ed Gosek’s Oswego team has a different look this year – not with a lot of new talent but more with off-ice conditioning in the weight room that finds a stronger and quicker group of Lakers. The defense is a solid group in front of returning netminder Eric Green. The strength of the Oswego group is upfront where nine of the top ten scorers return.
The Dark Horses
Plattsburgh is always a contender, and this year coach Steve Moffatt sees the return of a productive lineup including Bennett Stockdale, Trey Thomas and Carson Gallagher. Sophomore Jacob Hearne looks to build off a solid freshman season in goal for the Cardinals.
Cortland may have the best goalie in the conference, if not the country, in Luca Durante who gives the Red Dragons a chance to win every game. Nick Grupp and Giancarlo Romano lead an experienced group of defenders while there is balance and depth among the forward group. If Cortland can score goals, Durante will give them a chance to win.
Players to watch
Brockport: Andrew Harley – forward; Nolan Egbert – goaltender
Buffalo State: Nikita Kozyrev – forward; Joel Frazee – forward
Cortland: Luca Durante – goaltender; Nick Grupp – defenseman
Oswego: Alex DiCarlo – forward; Connor Sleeth – forward
Plattsburgh: Bennett Stockdale – forward; Jacob Modry – defense
Potsdam: Josh Bifolchi – forward; Drew Rose – defense
USCHO predicted finish
Geneseo
Oswego
Plattsburgh
Cortland
Brockport
Buffalo State
Fredonia
Potsdam
Morrisville
Oswego may have one of the most difficult strength of schedules as they start the season with Hobart and Elmira this weekend before commencing SUNYAC play in November.
Union’s Josh Kosack addresses the crowd in Boston after being named the 2022 Hockey Humanitarian Award winner (photo: Jim Rosvold).
The Hockey Humanitarian Award is presented annually to college hockey’s “finest citizen” and seeks to recognize college hockey players, male or female, who contribute to local and/or global communities in a true humanitarian spirit.
Each year, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation receives many submissions from sports information directors and hockey coaches across men’s and women’s Divisions I–III varsity programs. The committee then reviews the achievements of this group of nominees.
Since 1996, the committee has welcomed a wide range of candidates, including team captains, role players and campus leaders – all of whom have led volunteer efforts that help children, the handicapped, the homeless and the disadvantaged. These student-athletes reaffirm each year that there are, throughout this and other college sports, young people who deserve notice for reasons that ultimately are far more important than mere personal athletic statistics or won-lost records.
The Humanitarian Award will again be presented at the men’s Frozen Four in conjunction with the Hobey Baker Memorial and Mike Richter awards in Tampa, Fla., on April 7, 2023.
A list of nominees will be announced in January followed by a list of finalists. All finalists will be interviewed in person or via Zoom.
Senior Sam Best and the Massachusetts-Boston Beacons look to challenge near the top of the ultra-competitive NEHC conference (Photo by Massachusetts-Boston Athletics)
In what many consider the most competitive conference on the D-III hockey landscape, the NEHC has emerged beyond just the top teams in recent years setting up great competition for the conference championship. This year will be no different as expectations for the level of play are higher across all the institutions leading to a very competitive race.
“I think the league gets deeper and better every year,” said Massachusetts-Boston head coach Peter Belisle. “I think for a long time the league was a 3-headed monster and now it’s like a 7-headed monster or even more. I hope that we can get our new freshmen up to speed quickly and take advantage of the great goaltender we have in Sam Best. It would be great if we could stay in the top four again this season, but it is going to be a challenge with the caliber of teams we will see every weekend.”
The Favorites
Hobart is always in the mix under the tutelage of coach Mark Taylor. While this year’s edition of the Statesmen includes three brand new goaltenders, the supporting cast is deep and experienced which should help the guys in the crease to sort out the rotation and help the team win hockey games. Forwards Luke Aquaro, Wil Crane and defenseman Austin Mourar provide both productivity and leadership.
Elmira lost some key players including goaltender Chris Janzen but returns a solid group that includes forwards Chance Gorman and Janis Vizbelis amongst the top nine returning up front from last year’s NCAA roster. Freshmen Brody Haynes and Kyle Curtin will compete with senior Jeffrey Zero in goal as the Soaring Eagles look to win the conference title for the first time.
The Dark Horses
Norwich will be in the mix and backstopped by goaltender Drennen Atherton, they may not need a lot of scoring to win hockey games. Seniors Callum Jones, Noah Williams, Braedyn Aubin and John Banovetz will be key to the leadership while taking the next step will be expected for forward Clark Kerner following his outstanding freshman season.
Skidmore reached the conference championship game last season and coach Rob Hutchison has a dynamic roster looking to get back there again. Goaltender Tate Brandon is amongst the best in the conference and the roster is a deep and balanced one for the Thoroughbreds.
Babson is never in a re-build mode but more a re-load scenario especially after the departures of goaltender Brad Arvanitis to graduation and forwards Ryan Black and Mike Egan to D-1 at UNH and Niagara respectively this season. Coach Jamie Rice always has depth and players that fit into the Babson system. Over a dozen freshmen join the Beaver roster but look for veterans Max Torrez, Chris Rooney, Andrew Holland and Nolan Hildebrand to help this team mature quickly.
Players to watch
Babson: Thomas Kramer – forward; Chris Rooney – forward
Non-conference action dominates the opening weekend but league play kicks-off in November with critical early season points on the line for all the teams in the NEHC.
Michigan poured on the offense in a weekend sweep on the road at Lake Superior State (photo: Michigan Photography).
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Dan: Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome inside the battle room here for a Massachusetts-based edition of this week’s TMQ. Pleasure to be riding alongside Jimmy this week to break down what was an insane weekend of college hockey.
As expected, the marquee matchups offered little to no disappointments. Minnesota and North Dakota split two playoff-type atmospheres reminiscent of the old days when these were conference games. St. Cloud beat Minnesota State and refuted the “St. Cloud hasn’t beaten anyone” theory from before the weekend. Quinnipiac split at Maine. Michigan did Michigan things, and Denver did Denver things.
The rankings that were released this week reflected those wild and crazy times. Minnesota remained No. 1, but the next 10 teams changed spots, with St. Cloud jumping into the fray with an undefeated 6-0-0 record and 14 first-place votes. I’m one of the folks who jumped on the St. Cloud bandwagon, buuuuuut (drawn out for dramatic effect) there are tons of factors other than simple numbers involved here, I feel.
Jimmy, first thoughts when you saw the rankings?
Jim: Well, I think the top of the poll feels a little off to me. You have a two-loss Minnesota team ranked No. 1 while North Dakota, a team that was seconds away from a two-game sweep of the Gophers this weekend, is all the way down in sixth. To me that seems like a disconnect.
I have a difficult time having a two-loss team at the top when you have others teams without a loss playing some excellent hockey. UMass just manhandled Union twice this weekend and comfortably swept Denver a week ago. St. Cloud State is a perfect 6-0-0 and just swept Minnesota State and Wisconsin (two wins that look better after the Badgers sweep of Minnesota Duluth). I can even make a case for Michigan at this point to be No. 1.
But that’s why there are 50 voters and I’m just one voice.
Speaking of Minnesota Duluth, I’m not surprised to see them free fall down to 19th. Honestly, you could probably make a case to not even rank the Bulldogs are being swept by Wisconsin and Minnesota State over the last two weekends, being outscored 16-3 in those games. I know it’s early but is it time to sound the alarm on a team that many thought should challenge Denver and North Dakota for the top spot in the NCHC?
Dan: Nope, and there are a few good reasons for it.
Make no mistake, UMD had a bad weekend against an opponent we all believed it would handle with ease, but I don’t think the performances are as indicatively bad as our brains want to tell us. Wisconsin played well against both Ohio State and St. Cloud, and even though there weren’t wins, three out of four games against teams that have a case for a top ranking is exactly the kind of winless record primed for a breakthrough. I think the wins are more of a compliment to a Wisconsin team that we all doubted more than a knock against Duluth.
That said, what happens moving forward is the real key for that program. This is a sneaky tough weekend against Cornell this week, and next weekend at Colorado College is against a team that’s historically been a beatable program. If there are too many slips over those two weekends, then I think we can start writing the Bulldogs into the next tier of NCHC teams. There is no way, in my mind, they can head into the November stretch against Omaha and Western Michigan with too many losses in hand, especially since they haven’t touched the Denver-St. Cloud-North Dakota portion of the schedule.
In short, I don’t have warm fuzzies, but I’m not panicking.
Turning our attention back here to our homefront, I was surprised that UMass Lowell barely moved the needle in the rankings after beating Northeastern on the road. That felt more of an indictment of the Huskies than an endorsement of the River Hawks, but truthfully, it was a fantastic hockey game.
I know you had a front-row seat to that one, but I remain surprised that more people aren’t taking stock of how competitive these games are becoming on the eastern front. Hockey East in particular is getting deeper and deeper as the season moves forward, and I count at least six teams off the top of my head – UMass, Northeastern, PC, BU, Lowell, even BC – as programs that I think have the tools and talent to rattle the cage this year.
Jim: You know, having been around Hockey East as long as I have, I think coaches in that league are okay with being a little disrespected by polls. There is a mentality that it is easier to simply not have a bull’s eye on your back.
That said, within Hockey East, I expect there to be an absolutely battle royale. Eight of the 11 teams in the league are either ranked or are receiving votes in the latest USCHO poll. Plenty of storylines and reason that multiple teams can win the league title and, in reality, you can expect a team that many might consider as a potential champion as a team that won’t even finish top four and get home ice.
And I know that many leagues believe that there is plenty of parity in their leagues. The Big Ten leads all leagues for intra-conference winning percentage with a likely-unsustainable .725 winning percentage. Much of that came from a perfect 7-0 record last Friday night.
But Hockey East is right on the B1G’s tail, at .667 (while the NCHC is third at .602). All three of those win percentages are solid and will result in a plethora of NCAA at-large bids.
But back to your original point. Yes, I think Hockey East is getting a little overlooked.
Your new beat, ECAC Hockey, will be playing with all 12 members beginning this weekend as the Ivies finally get underway. We could wax on about how annoying the delayed start to the Ivy schedule is, but I’d rather think about which teams from that side of the ECAC are the most competitive. Harvard and Cornell usually seem like the answer. Any additions you would make?
Dan: If we’re looking at national contenders, I think the list stops there until ECAC can build its way back to a third bid to the national tournament.
I’ve mentioned this a couple of times, but Harvard’s tournament championship avoided a disaster scenario for the league where it only had one bid for the first time in forever. Though it should be noted that, in some ways, Harvard’s win knocked Clarkson off the bubble, though some funky math did that when the Golden Knights finished 16th in the Pairwise Rankings.
Let’s double back to the rest of the Ivy League, which is in its second year of the post-pandemic rebuild. If we’re looking strictly at the other four teams other than Harvard and Cornell, none of them jump off the map as contenders. Brown has to find some scoring after losing the majority of its offensive production, and Yale and Princeton both need some things to go right before we count them among the middle tier of the conference. Dartmouth is an intriguing option, but the Big Green would have to catch some teams that are further ahead as the season started.
ECAC has openings because the league is so top heavy, but Clarkson’s bad start coupled with RPI’s better-than-expected start has things jumbled when it comes to jumping into the mixer. I can’t see Clarkson staying down, and I predicted RPI would finish in the lower four. That means something else has to happen with those Ivy schools that, as the year begins, is pretty difficult to predict.
I will say this – one of those schools is going to ruin someone’s season, and it’s probably going to happen early. Harvard has Dartmouth and Princeton this weekend, and a loss now could come back to haunt someone in the hunt for the postseason. Other than that, it’s going to be the same old teams.
It’s honestly a little frustrating to me, though I know the onus is on the on-ice production of other programs, but it feels like even the start of this year is steamrolling towards the same teams factoring into the national tournament race. As of right now, it’s the Michigan-Quinnipiac-UMass-Minnesota State-name your school that’s usually in the tournament, and with the exception of Minnesota-Duluth, we’re maybe seeing the reemergence of a BU or the emergence of a UConn.
I’m trying to think of the last time we saw an honest-to-goodness breakout. With the exception of UMass’ title in 2021, which came on the heels of its loss to Minnesota-Duluth in 2019, we haven’t seen a new national champion since Providence’s title win in 2015. We had that glorious three-year stretch when we crowned new national champions in Yale, Union, and PC. Minnesota Duluth was right there in 2011, and even RIT’s Frozen Four appearance in 2010 signaled the start of something new.
We’re seeing mini-flares every now and then (AIC’s win over St. Cloud rings in my ears), but what’s going to take, in your mind, to get some new names into the mixer? I feel like the days of Cinderella just aren’t there anymore, though I know that’s an incorrect statement even as I make it.
Jim: While I understand that it might be difficult to find your next Cinderella, especially if you consider a first-time national champ to be what defines that category, it might be difficult to find.
We’ve seen some teams knocking on the door. UMass Lowell has been one of the most consistent teams in Hockey East for a decade, though still has just a single national tournament. Western Michigan is another school that is on the upswing of late. Arizona State is another club I look at as always being in the national picture.
Oh, and let’s not forget another “new” program in Penn State. The Nittany Lions may not have played world beaters at this point, but they are 6-0-0 and getting national consideration.
I don’t want to say that any of these teams are ready to knock off the world and win a national title, but any of them could pull of what Providence, Union and Yale did. Why not, right?
The NCHC has issued a two-game suspension to Minnesota Duluth freshman forward Isaac Howard, in accordance with the conference’s supplemental discipline policy.
The suspension stems from an illegal hit during the Bulldogs game against Wisconsin on Oct. 22 at Amsoil Arena.
During last Saturday night’s game, Howard was assessed a major penalty for cross checking and given a game misconduct penalty at 7:23 of the second period, following a video review.
Howard will be required to serve the two-game suspension during UMD’s series against Cornell this weekend, Oct. 28-29. Howard is eligible to return for Minnesota Duluth’s series opener at Colorado College on Friday, Nov. 4.
St. Anselm’s Andrew Andary was the NE-10 Player of the Year last season and looks to lead the Hawks to a conference championship this season (photo: Saint Anselm Athletics).
Since the 2016-17 season, four different teams have hoisted the championship banner in the NE-10 including Assumption two times, St. Anselm, Southern New Hampshire and Stonehill. With the departure of Stonehill to play in the D-1 ranks, the NE-10 now fields just six teams who will play each other four times each during the regular season on the way to the playoffs and conference championship. Last year’s champions from Assumption are certainly in the mix and the coach from last season’s regular season winner, Southern New Hampshire’s coach Sean Walsh believes the race this season is wide open.
“We have George Thurston and his 21 goals back along with Adam Mercer in goal but lost defenseman Joe Fiorino to graduation,” stated Walsh. “Our area of focus is the blueline, but every team has strengths and weaknesses to figure out entering the season. New coach Tim Richter will bring a lot of energy to Post who made it to the title game last year and everyone else has some great players to build around. It is going to be an interesting race.”
The Favorites
St. Anselm returns last year’s Player of the Year in Andrew Andary along with All-NE-10 defenseman, Jack Murphy, and experience in goal with Nick Howard. The supporting cast is deep for the Hawks who will be seeking their first conference title since the 2017-18 season.
Southern New Hampshire brings back George Thurston who scored over twenty goals last season and was among the leaders in the country on the power play. Adam Mercer will backstop the Penmen and help stabilize the defensive end as a young group develops in game action.
The Dark Horses
The Assumption Greyhounds are the defending champions and return graduate student Michael Zampanti to the ice to bolster the offense with Colin Philippon as four of the top five scorers from last season have graduated. The Greyhounds will also look to someone other than David Altman in the blue paint and give the team a chance to win every game.
Post, who made it to last season’s championship game, will be looking to one of their rostered goaltenders to step up to replace the graduated Brandon Brown as new coach Tim Richter takes over a team with a lot of positive momentum from last season.
Players to watch
Assumption: Michael Zampanti – forward; Colin Philippon – forward
Franklin Pierce: Cody Rumsey – forward; Conor Foley – forward
Post: Tim Richter – coach; Niko Grollman – forward
Southern New Hampshire: Adam Mercer – goaltender; George Thurston – forward
St. Anselm: Jack Murphy – defense; Andrew Andary – forward
St. Michael’s: Jeremy Routh – forward; Case Kantgias – defense
USCHO Predicted finish
St. Anselm
2. Southern New Hampshire
3. Assumption
4. Post
5. Franklin Pierce
6. St. Michael’s
The season starts out quickly with Southern New Hampshire and St. Anselm opening conference play on Friday night. In a quirk of this year’s schedule, the two teams open the regular season, close out the first half in December with a pair of games and open the second half in January to complete their four-game series.
Minnesota’s Matthew Knies celebrates his overtime winner that beat North Dakota last Friday night (photo: Minnesota Athletics).
With 21 first-place votes this week, Minnesota is again the top-ranked team in the DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.
St. Cloud State received 14 first-place votes and moved up from No. 8 to No. 2 in this week’s poll.
Denver took home seven first-place votes and jumped one spot to No. 3, while Michigan bagged six first-place votes to move up one notch to No. 4.
Massachusetts rounds out the top five at No. 5, getting two first-place votes this week.
North Dakota is up one to No. 6, Quinnipiac falls four to sit seventh, Minnesota State tumbles down six to No. 8, Boston University holds steady at No. 9, and Connecticut jumps up four spots to No. 10 in this week’s rankings.
Ohio State moves up five to No. 11, Notre Dame is up one to No. 12, Providence falls two to No. 13, Harvard is up one spot to sit 14th, and Northeastern drops three spots to No. 15.
Penn State moves up two to No. 16, Western Michigan remains No. 17, UMass Lowell is up one to No. 18, Minnesota Duluth falls all the way from No. 10 to No. 19, and Cornell retains its position at No. 20.
In addition to the top 20 teams, 14 other teams received votes this week.
The DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 50 voters, including coaches and media professionals from across the country. Media outlets may republish this poll as long as USCHO.com is credited.
DCU (DCU.org), a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by and operated for its members, is the sponsor of this poll. DCU serves more than 900,000 members and their families in all 50 states.
Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger look at the games of the past weekend and the news of the week in D-I college hockey.
This podcast is sponsored by DCU – Digital Federal Credit Union – at dcu.org
Topics include:
• Epic weekend series in Minnesota between the Gophers and North Dakota
• St. Cloud State improves to 6-0-0 with a two-game sweep of Minnesota State
• Denver sweeps Providence in regulation and OT
• Wisconsin sweeps Minnesota Duluth as Bulldogs lose four straight
• Big upset in Orono as Maine shocks Quinnipiac on Saturday night, 4-0
• Ivies will get underway this weekend
• Having video is great, but what about a package for all of college hockey?
• COVID is still quietly lingering in the background
Ohio State proved why they are the top-ranked team in the country this weekend with two wins over UMD. On Friday, Jenna Buglioni opened the scoring with a power play goal just 1:29 into the second period. Clara Van Wieren tied the game late in the third on an odd-player rush and shot that skittered under Amanda Thiele. Jenn Gardiner sent the Buckeyes to the 2nd intermission with the lead on a quick shot off a faceoff that Emma Soderberg did not have the time to react to. In the third, Maggie Flaherty turned a turnover into a goal to tie the game. In overtime, it looked like a shootout was imminent before Buglioni got a breakaway and she did not miss as she went in alone on Soderberg and gave OSU the 3-2 OT win. On Saturday, Minnesota Duluth got on the board first with Mannon McMahon getting credit on a Buckeye own-goal. Gabby Rosenthal tied the game late in the first on a tip-in from a pass by Sophie Jaques. Gabbie Hughes put the Bulldogs up 2-1 early in the second and that score held into the back end of the final frame before Gardiner’s shot from the slot tied the game at two. Less than five minutes later, Riley Brengman went top-shelf to score the game-winner.
(2) Minnesota at St. Cloud State
The Gophers scored four times in the opening frame of Friday’s game and were able to hold that lead for a 4-2 win. Abbey Murphy scored 1:05 into the game. Abigail Boreen scored a power play goal before five minutes had passed. Grace Zumwinkle scored her 90th career goal to extend the lead in the tenth minute and Taylor Heise lit the lamp in the 14th minute to give Minnesota the 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission. St. Cloud State scored twice in the waning minutes of the second to narrow the gap on goals from Klára Hymlárová and Olivia Cvar. In the second game, St. Cloud State took a lead less than a minute into the game when Emma Gentry knocked in a rebound of the turnover engineered by Courtney Hall. Madison Kaiser scored off a behind-the-back pass from Savannah Norcross to tie the game at 1. SCSU went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and were looking to hold on to the tie late into the game before Zumwinkle buried a rebound with four minutes left to give Minnesota a 2-1 win.
(3) Northeastern at Maine
The Huskies lept out to a 2-0 lead early on Friday with goals from Megan Carter and Chloe Aurard. Morgan Trimper cut the lead in half for Maine, but Alina Müller got it back just before the end of the second to make it 3-1. Two goals from Katy Knoll and one by Lily Shannon put the game away in the third to give Northeastern the 6-1 win. Maureen Murphy had three assists in the win. On Saturday, Grace Heiting scored for Maine midway through the first period and that would prove to be the lone goal of the game as the Black Bears upset Northeastern. It was Maine’s first win over the Huskies in three years.
Bemidji State (5) Wisconsin
On Thursday, eight different Badgers found the back of the net as Wisconsin won 9-0. Kristen Simms had a goal and two assists and Laila Edwards added three assists in the win. On Friday, the scoring was once again spread out, as seven different Badgers scored in the 7-1 win. Caroline Harvey led Wisconsin with a goal and two assists. Gabbie Smith scored for Bemidji with 1:03 to go in the game to ruin the shutout.
(14) Vermont at (6) Colgate
Corinne McCool put the Catamounts on the board first with a goal midway through the first period. Kas Betinol responded just :33 later and from there, it was all Colgate. Allyson Simpson scored in the waning seconds of the first to make it 2-1. Danielle Serdachny made it 3-1 early in the third and Neena Brick added another in the final frame to give the Raiders the 4-1 win. Saturday’s win was coach Greg Fargo’s 200th at Colgate and ensured the team is off to their best start in program history. Dara Greig bookended the first period with goals to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead after 20. In the first two minutes and the closing seconds, she put away rebounds to give Colgate the lead. In the second, Serdachny had a breakaway down the ice in transition and cut in to the goalie to make it 3-0. Natálie Mlynková tried to carry Vermont back into the game with a power play goal in the second and a goal late in the third, but the Catamounts ran out of time and Colgate took a 3-2 win and weekend sweep.
Mercyhurst at (10) Cornell
Gillis Frechette scored a snipe from her knee in the slot to open the scoring in Cornell’s first game of the season. Georgia Schiff’s no-look pass made for the perfect set-up to Kaitlin Jockims’ second-period goal to make it 2-0 Big Red. Frechette got a stick on a deep Rory Guilday shot to re-direct it in the net for her second goal of the day to give Cornell the 3-0 win. Alyssa Regalado’s hat trick helped the Big Red take a 7-2 win on Saturday. Mercyhurst scored first as Sydeny Pedersen capitalized on the power play. But Cornell would go on to reel off seven straight goals to put the game out of reach. Regalado’s first was also on the power play and the teams went to the locker rooms tied at 1. In the second, the Big Red did not let more than a few minutes pass without lighting the lamp as Caroline Chan, Frechette, Izzy Daniel and Regalado all scored to put the game out of reach at 5-1. Regalado and Daniel both scored in the first half of the third to make it 7-1. Kylee Mahoney scored late for Mercyhurst to make it 7-2 but Cornell swept the weekend.
Syracuse vs. (11) Clarkson St. Lawrence vs. (11) Clarkson at Adirondack Icebreaker
It was the third-straight time Clarkson faced Syracuse in the course of eight days and the third win for the Golden Knights as they took a 3-0 victory in Lake Placid. Darcie Lappan had two goals and an assist and Anne Cherkowski had a goal and two assists to lead Clarkson to the win. In the tournament title game against St. Lawrence, it was once again Lappan and Cherkowski leading the way. Lappan led the team with a goal and two assists while Cherkowski added two goals to carry the team to a 3-1 win.
Franklin Pierce at (12) Penn State
Six different Nittany Lions scored in Penn State’s 6-0 win over Franklin Pierce on Sunday. Alyssa Machado, Olivia Wallin, Maeve Connolly, Tessa Janecke, Eleri MacKay and Mallory Uiehlein each found the back of the net. The teams will play again Monday afternoon.
New Hampshire at (13) Providence
Kayla Kutes scored her first career goal and transfer Noemi Neubauerova scored her first as a Friar to help Providence to the 4-1 win on Friday. Rookie Reichen Kirchmair and grad student Hunter Barnett also scored in the win. Kira Juodikis’s power play goal was UNH’s only tally in the game. In the second game, the teams skated to a scoreless first before Kyla Bent’s power play goal on the rebound put the Wildcats up 1-0 early in the second. Kirchmair had an extra-attacker goal of her own on a snipe with fewer than 18 seconds left in the frame to tie it at 1. Continuing the theme, Sara Hjalmarsson won the game with 2.5 seconds left in regulation as Neubauerova fought for and won the puck along the boards behind UNH’s net. She dished it to the front of the net and Hjalmarsson had it in the back of the net before you could blink to earn Providence the win and sweep.
Dartmouth at (15) Harvard
Kristin Della Rovere, Ellie Bayard and Anne Bloomer all scored for Harvard to lead them to their first win of the season as they defeated Dartmouth 3-0.
St. Cloud State won a pair of one-goal games over Minnesota State on home ice this past weekend (photo: St. Cloud State Athletics).
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. North Dakota-Minnesota series goes both ways in OT
Fans at 3M Arena at Mariucci for either of the North Dakota-Minnesota games this weekend got more than they bargained for, both figuratively and literally.
Figuratively because each game was an intense back-and-forth affair that featured a rally by the home team to force overtime. Literally because the fans were treated to free hockey each night.
On the first night, Matthew Knies was the overtime hero just 21 seconds into the extra frame as the top-ranked Gophers rallied late for a 3-2 win. The next night, No. 7 North Dakota got the OT winner from Mark Senden at the 2:21 mark. The two-game series attracted an announced crowd of 20,611, plenty of whom were wearing North Dakota garb.
“You could feel it go both ways,” North Dakota coach Brad Berry said of the atmosphere. “When they got a little momentum, their fans were yelling and screaming, and then obviously the chants that you hear constantly, not only at the Ralph, but you hear here, and we got some momentum too. It was great to hear, and I know our guys fed off that.”
2. St. Cloud sweeps Minnesota State on homecoming
St. Cloud, ranked No. 8 in the DCU/USCHO.com D-I poll, made it a memorable homecoming weekend with a sweep of No. 2 Minnesota State. The win put the Huskies at 6-0-0, their best start to a season since 2017. Minnesota State was swept for just the first time since 2018.
Grant Cruikshank scored twice for St. Cloud in the second game of the series, including his sixth of the season, which stood as the game winner with less than five minutes to go.
3. Denver takes two vs. Friars
Defending NCAA champion Denver, ranked No. 4 in the latest DCU/USCHO.com D-I poll, is now above .500 with a weekend sweep vs. No. 11 Providence. The Pioneers were swept the previous weekend at No. 6 UMass, and a win the week before against Maine puts them at 3-2-0 vs. schools from the six-state region.
On the night the 2022 national champions were celebrated, Denver’s Jack Devine scored the game winner at 1:16 of overtime before a crowd of 6.324.
“To go down and fight back and respond in the second (period) and to give up the late one and respond in the overtime with the big goal was awesome,” Denver coach David Carle said. “I think we sent a lot of happy people out of the building.”
4. Maine stuns No. 3 Quinnipiac, Bobcats get revenge next night
Quinnipiac escaped Maine with a weekend split, earning a 6-2 win on Sunday, one day after the Black Bears stunned the third-ranked Bobcats 4-0 at Alfond Arena.
Victor Ostman, who hails from Danderyd, Sweden, earned his first career shutout with 33 turnaways in the series opener.
5. Michigan takes two from Lake Superior State
A pair of freshmen helped lift No. 5 Michigan to a sweep in the U.P. over the weekend, as the Wolverines took wins of 5-2 and 5-1 at Lake Superior State. Adam Fantilli and T.J. Hughes led the way in Game 2, with Fantilli scoring a goal with three assists and Hughes lighting the lamp on back-to-back occasions.
Michigan improved to 5-1 on the season and will face intra-state rival Western Michigan (No. 17) next weekend before diving headfirst into Big Ten play the following weekend at No. 18 Penn State.
6. Six scorers pace UMass over Union
A well-balanced scoring attack led No. 6 UMass-Amherst to a pair of wins over Union. Six different players scored in a six goal scorers and 14 Minutemen notched at least one point in a 7-0 rout on Saturday. The win came on the heels of a 7-1 win the night before. Cole Brady had 31 saves for the shutout on Saturday.
“I think we can count on scoring throughout the lineup this year and that’s a nice relief for a coach,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “Depth in goaltending and depth in scoring hopefully (will) be consistent for us.”
7. Huskies, Terriers split in Boston
Boston University and Connecticut split a pair of contests between ranked Hockey East teams at Agganis Arena, with 14th-ranked Huskies taking Friday’s opener in overtime and the No. 9 Terriers earning a 5-2 win the following night, giving UConn its first loss of the season.
“Another good response from our team,” first-year BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “We didn’t play our best (Friday) night and we expected to have a good response from our group. Our leaders led the way tonight.”
8. Wisconsin wins pair of road upsets for first wins of season
Unranked and previously winless Wisconsin snapped out of its early season slumber in a big way, sweeping No. 10 Minnesota-Duluth with wins of 5-2 and 3-0.
Despite the mismatch on paper, the weekend in Duluth might have been just the thing the Badgers needed, as they extended their unbeaten streak against the Bulldogs to eight games (7-0-1).
Despite the loss, Duluth led the Badgers with shots on goal 35-28.
9. UMass Lowell upends Northeastern
In another matchup of Hockey East ranked teams, No. 19 UMass-Lowell went to No. 12 Northeastern and earned a 3-2 win at Matthews Arena.
“It wasn’t a work of art tonight, but there were some positives — scored a shorty, ended up 100 percent on the PK and a couple of guys scored their first of the year,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “There’s still a lot to be worked on. We’re a work in progress right now.”
Northeastern, which has yet to play a road game, finally will don the black jerseys with a pair of games at Maine starting Friday.
10. Two shutouts in Broncos-Irish series
No. 17 Western Michigan and No. 13 Notre Dame split a pair of shutouts over the weekend, with each team winning on their home ice. The Irish skated to a 2-0 win on Friday in South Bend, Ind., while Western won 4-0 the next night in Kalamazoo.
A pair of defensemen led the way for the Broncos — Cedric Fiedler and Zak Galambos both scored a pair. Cameron Rowe stopped all 22 shots to earn his first shutout as a Bronco.
Connor McMenamin opened the scoring and closed the scoring with his overtime winner as No. 18 Penn State defeated St. Thomas 3-2 in non-conference action on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena (photo: Steve Manuel).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of Oct. 17 fared in games over the weekend of Oct. 20-23.
No. 1 Minnesota (4-2-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 7 North Dakota 2 at No. 1 Minnesota 3 (OT)
10/22/2022 – No. 7 North Dakota 5 at No. 1 Minnesota 4 (OT)
No. 2 Minnesota State (3-3-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 2 Minnesota State 2 at No. 8 St. Cloud State 3
10/22/2022 – No. 2 Minnesota State 3 at No. 8 St. Cloud State 4
No. 3 Quinnipiac (2-1-2)
10/22/2022 – No. 3 Quinnipiac 0 at Maine 4
10/23/2022 – No. 3 Quinnipiac 6 at Maine 2
No. 5 Michigan (5-1-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 5 Michigan 5 at Lake Superior State 2
10/22/2022 – No. 5 Michigan 5 at Lake Superior State 1
No. 6 Massachusetts (4-0-1)
10/21/2022 – Union 1 at No. 6 Massachusetts 7
10/22/2022 – Union 0 at No. 6 Massachusetts 7
No. 7 North Dakota (3-2-1)
10/21/2022 – No. 7 North Dakota 2 at No. 1 Minnesota 3 (OT)
10/22/2022 – No. 7 North Dakota 5 at No. 1 Minnesota 4 (OT)
No. 8 St. Cloud State (6-0-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 2 Minnesota State 2 at No. 8 St. Cloud State 3
10/22/2022 – No. 2 Minnesota State 3 at No. 8 St. Cloud State 4
No. 9 Boston University (3-2-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 14 Connecticut 4 at No. 9 Boston University 3 (OT)
10/22/2022 – No. 14 Connecticut 2 at No. 9 Boston University 5
No. 12 Northeastern (3-2-1)
10/18/2022 – RV Boston College 3 at No. 12 Northeastern 3 (OT)
10/22/2022 – No. 19 UMass Lowell 3 at No. 12 Northeastern 2
No. 13 Notre Dame (3-2-1)
10/21/2022 – No. 17 Western Michigan 0 at No. 13 Notre Dame 2
10/22/2022 – No. 13 Notre Dame 0 at No. 17 Western Michigan 4
No. 14 Connecticut (6-1-1)
10/21/2022 – No. 14 Connecticut 4 at No. 9 Boston University 3 (OT)
10/22/2022 – No. 14 Connecticut 2 at No. 9 Boston University 5
No. 15 Harvard (0-0-0)
10/20/2022 – Brown 2 at No. 15 Harvard 5 (exhibition)
10/22/2022 – Guelph* 0 at No. 15 Harvard 9 (exhibition)
No. 16 Ohio State (6-1-1)
10/20/2022 – Bentley 2 at No. 16 Ohio State 9
10/21/2022 – Bentley 1 at No. 16 Ohio State 3
No. 17 Western Michigan (5-2-0)
10/21/2022 – No. 17 Western Michigan 0 at No. 13 Notre Dame 2
10/22/2022 – No. 13 Notre Dame 0 at No. 17 Western Michigan 4
No. 18 Penn State (6-0-0)
10/20/2022 – St. Thomas 2 at No. 18 Penn State 6
10/21/2022 – St. Thomas 2 at No. 18 Penn State 3 (OT)
Mark Senden celebrates his OT winner for the Fighting Hawks (photo: Jim Rosvold).
After losing in overtime Friday night to top-ranked Minnesota, No. 7 North Dakota turned the tables on the Gophers Saturday night.
Just a night removed from what many called an instant classic, the sequel proved to be even better for the crowd at 3M Arena at Mariucci as Mark Senden struck 2:21 into overtime to help No. 7 North Dakota upset Minnesota.
The goal was Senden’s second of the night, capping off a night that saw both teams rally from a two-goal deficit. The captain now has four goals in seven career games against Minnesota, with all four coming in the last two wins for North Dakota.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the middle frame, Jackson Blake started a scoring barrage for the visitors with his fourth of the season to pull the Fighting Hawks within a goal. Less than a minute later, Riese Gaber scored the second power-play goal of the night for the green and white to quickly pull the Hawks level at 2-2.
The scoring continued when Senden potted his first of the night 18 seconds after the Gaber goal when he drove to the net and bunted a shot out of the air and past Owen Bartoszkiewicz to quickly put North Dakota in front 3-2.
UND made it four goals in under four minutes with its third power-play goal of the period, with Jackson Kunz deflecting a Cooper Moore shot off his body and in, chasing Bartoszkiewicz from the game and increasing the lead to 4-2.
Minnesota pulled to within 4-3 late in the second before tying the game at 4-4 less than seven minutes into the final frame, but Drew DeRidder kept the game level with nine of his 37 saves in the period to send the game to overtime for the second straight night.
In the extra session, Gaber blew past the defender and threw the puck towards the crease where Senden was able to out-work all three Gophers and tally the overtime winner.
Bartoszkiewicz and Justen Close combined to make 15 saves for Minnesota.
No. 8 St. Cloud State 4, No. 2 Minnesota State 3
Grant Cruikshank scored two goals and Micah Miller added a goal and an assist as the Huskies swept the Mavericks at the Herb Brooks Hockey Center Saturday night.
Chase Brand also scored, Kyler Kupka notched two assists, and Dominic Basse made 34 saves for the win in goal.
— St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (@SCSUHuskies_MH) October 23, 2022
For Minnesota State, Josh Groll and David Silye each had a goal and an assist, Sam Morton scored, and Alex Tracy took the loss in goal with a 17-save outing.
Maine 4, No. 3 Quinnipiac 0
The Black Bears scored all four goals in the third period to knock off the third-ranked Bobcats at Alfond Arena.
Carter Mazur and Massimo Rizzo added goals for DU, while Rizzo had an assist for a two-point game and Sean Behrens chipped in two helpers to back Magnus Chrona’s 29 saves in goal.
For Providence, Taige Harding and Jaroslav Chmelar scored, Riley Duran and Liam Valente each had two assists, and Philip Svedebäck turned aside 22 shots between the pipes.
No. 5 Michigan 5, Lake Superior State 1
Adam Fantilli (goal, three assists) and T.J. Hughes (two goals) led the Wolverines to a 5-1 victory over Lake Superior State on Saturday night at Taffy Abel Arena.
With the win in a penalty-filled game, Michigan extended the program’s win streak over the Lakers to seven games.
Erik Portillo was stellar once again between the pipes, turning aside 23 of the 24 shots the Lakers put on goal en route to earning his 40th career victory as a Wolverine in just his 53rd start.
Mackie Samoskevich and Dylan Duke each went for a goal and an assist in the win.
Timo Bakos scored the lone LSSU goal and Seth Eisele kicked out 33 shots in getting the loss in goal.
Miami 2, Canisius 0
Ludvig Persson recorded the fourth shutout of his career as Miami blanked Canisius 2-0 to finish off a road sweep Saturday afternoon.
Persson made 25 saves, several of the highlight-reel variety down the stretch, to keep the Golden Griffins at bay.
Brothers Ryan Savage and Red Savage each collected a goal for the RedHawks, who improved to 8-0-0 all-time against Canisius.
Goaltender Jacob Barczewski gave the host Golden Griffins a chance, turning aside 26 of the 27 shots he faced.
The RedHawks’ last non-conference road sweep was Jan. 2-3, 2015 at Rensselaer.
Sacred Heart 5, Niagara 1
The Pioneers erased a 1-0 deficit with five straight goals to grab a 5-1 win and split the weekend series at Dwyer Arena.
Sacred Heart got goals from five different players – Blake Humphrey, Aidan Connolly, Ryan Steele, Kevin Lombardi and Neil Shea – and 24 saves from goalie Luke Lush.
The Purple Eagles, who took the lead almost five minutes into the game on a Carter Randklev goal, had a 25-23 edge in shots but could not hold the early lead.
In goal, Jake Sibell stopped 18 shots for Niagara.
The NCHC announced Saturday that it has issued a one-game suspension to Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, in accordance with the conference’s supplemental discipline policy.
The suspension stems from a stick infraction during the Bulldogs’ game against Wisconsin Oct. 21 at Amsoil Arena.
During Friday night’s game, Kaiser was assessed a major penalty for high sticking and given a game misconduct penalty at 3:48 of the third period, following a video review.
Kaiser will be required to serve the one-game suspension during UMD’s series finale Oct. 22 against Wisconsin. He is eligible to return for Minnesota Duluth’s series opener against Cornell on Oct. 28.
Minnesota celebrates Matthew Knies game-winning goal in overtime on home ice over North Dakota (photo: Jim Rosvold).
Matthew Knies was the overtime hero as No. 1-ranked Minnesota rallied late for a 3-2 overtime victory against No. 7 North Dakota Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Playing in front of an over-capacity crowd of 10,418, the Gophers tied the game with the goalie pulled when Mason Nevers jumped off the bench and found the back of the net from the high slot as the clock hit 1:24 remaining in regulation to force overtime.
“Nevers was our best player tonight,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “Just working his tail off and we reward him putting him out there and he scores right away. I couldn’t be happier. There is an upperclassman stepping up.”
Friday night’s announced attendance of 10,418 ranks seventh all-time at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Jackson LaCombe also scored for the Gophers and Justen Close finished with 16 saves.
For North Dakota, Drew DeRidder made 35 saves while Jake Schmaltz finished with two points, scoring the game’s opening goal before adding an assist on Riese Gaber’s power-play goal late in the second period for his eighth multi-point game of his career.
No. 8 St. Cloud State 3, No. 2 Minnesota State 2
Second-ranked Minnesota State took a one-goal lead midway the second period but could not hold on as No. 8 St. Cloud State claimed a 3-2 victory over the visiting Mavericks Friday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
St. Cloud State led 1-0 after the first period of play when Zack Okabe’s shot found the back of the net at 13:30.
Minnesota State took a 2-1 lead during the second period on goals from Sam Morton and Tony Malinowski.
— St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (@SCSUHuskies_MH) October 22, 2022
The Huskies knotted things up on a goal from Grant Cruikshank right before the end of the period and the two teams entered the locker room tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes of action.
Kyler Kupka tallied a power play goal 35 seconds into the third to take 3-2 lead and the Huskies held on the rest of the way.
Jaxon Castor made 30 saves for St. Cloud State and Keenan Rancier stopped 25 shots in the game for the Mavericks.
No. 4 Denver 4, No. 11 Providence 1
No. 4 Denver defeated the No. 11 Providence 4-1 on Friday night to open the weekend series at Magness Arena.
DU used three power-play goals to give Providence its first loss of the season, as Rieger Lorenz scored his first collegiate marker midway through the first period and Carter King and Massimo Rizzo also found the back of the net with the man advantage in the middle frame. Casey Dornbach also scored for the Pioneers.
“We showed a lot of maturity, especially in the third period,” said DU coach David Carle. “I thought the special teams were excellent in the second. Obviously, three power-play goals were a huge factor in the win. We spent a lot of time in their zone on the power plays because of our puck support and winning battles to extend in zone time. I thought the kill was good. On the opposite side, we made them break a lot of puck zones. Our special teams were huge.
“We didn’t win the special teams battle last weekend and then you talk about the maturity in the third period, it was a total team effort to be able to close it out.”
Shai Buium led the Pioneers with three assists while Mike Benning (two assists) and Dornbach (one goal, one assist) also posted multi-point performances. Goaltender Magnus Chrona made 25 saves in the victory.
Parker Ford tallied Providence’s only marker on the power play with 2:51 remaining the second period, cutting the deficit to 3-1 at the time.
No. 5 Michigan 5, Lake Superior State 2
Freshman phenom and top NHL draft prospect Adam Fantilli recorded a three-goal game to lead No. 5-ranked Michigan to a 5-2 victory over Lake Superior State on Friday evening at Taffy Abel Arena.
Credit Adam Fantilli with that second goal, his second of the game, from Jacob Truscott and Mackie Samoskevich
Erik Portillo had 26 saves in goal while Jacob Truscott recorded a four-point night, scoring once and adding three assists. Kienan Draper also scored for the Wolverines.
Jordan Venegoni and Brandon Puricelli scored for the Lakers, Jacob Bengtsson assisted on both, and Ethan Langenegger registered 35 saves in suffering the loss.
No. 6 Massachusetts 7, Union 1
No. 6 UMass had six different goal scorers and 13 different players record at least one point in the squad’s 7-1 victory over Union on Friday night at the Mullins Center.
“I got a lot of questions this week about if I was worried about a letdown after last weekend and I wasn’t going into tonight,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “I thought the kids practiced really hard all week and I’m impressed with this group. They’ve been very consistent. Tonight was a really solid 60 minutes other than a little bit of puck mismanagement, I didn’t think we gave up a lot. The special teams are outstanding. It’s great that we were able to get Henry Graham in there, but that was a really good follow up game after the highs of last weekend.
Minutemen goalie Luke Pavicich made 17 saves over the first 51:59 and Graham turned aside all five shots he faced over 8:01 between the pipes, his first collegiate action.
Kenny Connors scored twice with an assist and Ryan Lautenbach added a goal and a pair of helpers in the win. Ryan Ufko chipped in two assists and Cole O’Hara notched a goal and an assist. Single goals came from Linden Alger, Taylor Makar and Jerry Harding.
Bram Scheerer netted the lone Union goal and Connor Murphy stopped 32 shots in taking the loss between the pipes.
No. 14 Connecticut 4, No. 9 Boston University 3 (OT)
The 14th-ranked Huskies took down No. 9 Boston University Friday night on the road at Agganis Arena, 4-3 in overtime on an Andrew Lucas goal at the 56-second mark.
Lucas also had an assist for a two-point performance.
Nick Capone, Tristan Fraser and Ryan Tverberg also scored, Justin Pearson contributed two assists, and Logan Terness finished with 24 saves in getting the win in net.
For the Terriers, Jamie Armstrong went for a goal and an assist, Jeremy Wilmer and Case McCarthy added goals, and goalie Vinny Duplessis kicked out 26 shots.
Wisconsin 5, No. 10 Minnesota Duluth 2
Wisconsin overcame an early deficit to defeat No. 10 Minnesota Duluth 5-2 on Friday at Amsoil Arena.
NHL draft prospect Charlie Stramel scored his first NCAA goal for the Badgers, to go along with a goal and two assists from Jack Gorniak, a goal and a helper from Cruz Lucius, and single goals from Ty Smilanic and Owen Lindmark.
In goal, Jared Moe made 38 stops for the Badgers and Zach Stejskal turned aside 31 for the Bulldogs.
Luke Loheit and Blake Biondi scored the goals for UMD.
Bemidji State 5, Michigan Tech 2
Bemidji State defeated Michigan Tech 5-2 in the CCHA opener Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
The Huskies led 2-0 before the Beavers responded with five straight.
“I thought we were pretty good in the first 5:00. Blake kept us in the game, but they brought it to a level that we may not be capable of getting to,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said. “The goal getting called off was a big turning point, but the reality of it is, throughout the game, we were hanging on.”
Logan Ganie opened the scoring just 2:08 after puck drop for the Huskies and Michigan Tech scored again early in the second period when Ryland Mosley scored.
Lleyton Roed and Eric Martin scored two goals each for the Beavers and Mitchell Martan added a solo in the win.
Blake Pietila made 37 saves for the Huskies and Mattias Sholl stopped 17 for the Beavers.
RIT 4, Air Force 2
RIT’s Carter Wilkie tallied a goal and an assist while goaltender Tommy Scarfone stopped a season-high 36 shots in a 4-2 victory at Cadet Ice Arena Friday night to split the series.
Simon Isabelle scored a goal in his third consecutive game. Cody Laskosky assisted on Isabelle’s goal to extend his season-opening point-scoring streak to six games.
Gianfranco Cassaro registered two assists and leads the team with seven points on two goals and five assists over the Tigers’ last five games. Tanner Andrew and Tyler Mahan added goals for the Tigers.
Riese Gaber has posted three goals and an assist through four games this season for North Dakota (photo: Mark Kuhlmann).
Last Friday’s games, which featured five matchups of nationally-ranked opponents, proved pretty difficult to handicap.
Of the eight USCHO staff, only four were above .500 and just one didn’t take a loss (nice job Jack Hittinger). For the first time in the two seasons of writing this column, we also had non-conference games that featured ties. Most sportsbooks will grade a non-conference tie as a push (conference play uses a shootout that counts towards standings, thus sportsbooks will use the shootout to determine the winner of the bet).
Once again this week, all 10 teams featured tonight are nationally ranked. You’ll notice on this week’s lines that favorites aren’t very heavily favored by the books. In fact, two of the five games are pick ’em and one has an even money (+100) underdog.
The reason for this? After three weeks it’s likely that the oddsmakers are getting smarter. When you’re talking the top 20, the difference between 1 and 20 is usually razor-thin (Quinnipiac’s tie and win last weekend at North Dakota is a good example as DraftKings had the Fighting Hawks a -180 favorite going into last Friday.
For bettors who like to hit the heavy underdogs hard, this hurts you as you can’t make as much. If you tend to like favorites, you won’t have to spend as much to win a single-unit bet.
Advice: don’t let this change your betting strategy. If you’re up 4-5 units through two weeks, keep on keeping on. Only alter a betting strategy when you can identify problems, like underestimating certain teams.
Here are this week’s breakdowns:
All odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook:
No. 14 Connecticut (-115) at No. 9 Boston University (-115); o/u 5.5
UConn continues to be an early-season darling of the oddsmakers, and for the second straight Friday the Huskies are a pick ’em, this time against Boston University on the road.
BU has been the more unpredictable team through the first few weeks, none more than last weekend. After Friday’s game went off the rails at Michigan, a 9-2 loss, BU responded with a gut-check, 3-2 victory against the Wolverines on Sunday.
The question you need to ponder is which BU team shows up. You can expect a consistent effort from UConn. But if you get the best of BU, is consistent enough for the Huskies?
Jim
Ed
John
Dan
Chris
Jack
Matt
Paula
Nat'l
Nat'l
HEA
ECAC
AHA
CCHA
NCHC
B1G
No. 7 North Dakota (+120) at No. 1 Minnesota (-150); o/u 6
Minnesota and North Dakota is one of the best rivalries in college hockey. While these are non-conference games as opposed to the old WCHA days, that doesn’t change the intensity.
The Gophers ascended to the top position in the USCHO poll this week despite not playing a week ago. North Dakota dropped from 3rd to 7th after the disappointing weekend against Quinnipiac.
So which team should be more motivated? A lot of this might come down to which team starts strong. If Minnesota comes out guns blazing, the atmosphere at 3M Arena might be enough to propel the Gophers. If North Dakota takes the Gophers faithful out of the game early, it could be advantage Fighting Hawks.
The one bet I like here is the over. I’d prefer for it to be 5.5 as the over/under which would produce a winner at 6, but alas 6 is a the number which slightly favors as push.
Jim
Ed
John
Dan
Chris
Jack
Matt
Paula
Nat'l
Nat'l
HEA
ECAC
AHA
CCHA
NCHC
B1G
No. 17 Western Michigan (-130) at No. 13 Notre Dame (+100); o/u 6
Notre Dame is an underdog… which pays even money. It seems counter-intuitive.
But that is the world of sports betting we’re dealing with these days. Sportsbooks want their edge and that’s the best way to guarantee a few bucks for the books if they take equal action.
The price for Notre Dame isn’t exactly appealing given how inconsistent the Irish have been this season. But I’m also not sure what we know about Western Michigan having faved Alaska Anchorage, Ferris State and Bowling Green to date.
Even the over/under in this game feels dangerous. The Broncos seem to always dance right around that 5-6 goal total. Notre Dame’s defense has been suspect all season, which would tend to favor the over. But this is Notre Dame’s first test since a 5-2 loss to Denver to start the season.
Providence is the heaviest underdog this week (and conversely, Denver is the heaviest favorite), but this one doesn’t surprise me.
Denver has to be hungry after being swept on the road last weekend by Massachusetts. And while Providence is coming off an impressive 2-1 victory over Northeastern, long travel combined with a Pioneers team that should be seeking blood early makes the Friars a difficult pick here.
That said, there is a formula for a Friars win: Frustrate the Pioneers early. Last weekend, Denver scored just two goals, both coming with an extra attacker late in Friday’s game. If Denver isn’t able to score early, you could see them begin to grip their sticks a little tight and make create the opportunity for Providence to pull off the upset.
Jim
Ed
John
Dan
Chris
Jack
Matt
Paula
Nat'l
Nat'l
HEA
ECAC
AHA
CCHA
NCHC
B1G
No. 2 Minnesota State (-115) at No. 8 St. Cloud State (-115); o/u 5.5
Minnesota State might be the most battle-tested team in the country thus far, and St. Cloud State as the next opponent won’t change that much.
And while the host Huskies are one of the few remaining teams that are unbeaten and untied, their four wins have come across St. Thomas and Wisconsin, not exactly world beaters.
That’s why I like the experience of a Mavericks team that has faced current number one, Minnesota, as well as Minnesota Duluth, going 3-1-0 in that stretch.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a low-scoring series, thus the 5.5 over/under is well set. This could easily be a 2-1 or 3-1 game as neither of these clubs surrender too many goals.
USCHO Edge hosts Jim Connelly, Dan Rubin, and Ed Trefzger analyze five games among top 20 D-I college hockey teams, looking at money lines and over/under as well as giving an in-depth look at the matchups. We also discuss how much of a home ice advantage there is and whether distractions at home help the visiting team.
Connor Hasley has shown steady play between the pipes so far this season for Bentley (photo: Bentley Athletics).
Bentley, like many Atlantic Hockey schools, expects to feel some growing pains early in the season.
It will take time to gel with 13 new players on the roster.
The Falcons took a big step last Saturday, defeating Maine 5-1 at Bentley Arena in front of a packed house. The impact of new players was on display with rookie goaltender Connor Hasley winning his first collegiate start with 33 saves, and goals by three new players: senior Josh Latta (a transfer from UMass Lowell) as well as freshmen Stephen Castagna and Nicholas Niemo.
Sophomore Harrison Scott scored two goals, getting the Falcons on the board in the first period, and adding an insurance goal in the second.
After opening the season with losses on the road at Boston University and Union, home ice provided a welcome pickup.
“It was great to see this new group get the win,” said Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist. “Getting back to our home environment and getting the energy and support of our fans.”
Hasley, in his first start, played well.
“He did a really nice job of playing simple and squared to the puck,” said Soderquist. “He had a lot of pucks hit him through traffic because his positioning was good. He stayed very poised throughout the game.”
Bentley is in the midst of a stretch of seven non-conference games to open the season. Soderquist says he expects to evaluate his team over that stretch, including goaltending.
“It’s been planned over the course of the first seven games to see multiple goalies,” he said. “We recruited Connor knowing that he can be a starter in Division I. He showed that.”
Bentley is among several Atlantic Hockey teams to play the majority of their non-conference games early in the season. While that gives coaches an opportunity to tinker with lineups without league points on the line, they must strike a balance between the important PairWise implications of out-of-conference games.
“I do like to have at least four (non-conference games) to start the year,” said Soderquist. “We knew when scheduling this season that we’d have a big turnover, with nine freshmen and four transfers. We had the chance to slip in some additional non-conference games early.”
As far as the importance of non-conference games to the league overall, Soderquist said, “My job is to give Bentley the best advantage. We are always trying to win, but these games also give us a chance to see what we have. With new guys, it’s a two-way street. New players are adjusting to us, and coaches have to adjust to new guys to see how they play, who they play best with, and find their roles.”
Next up for the Falcons is a Thursday-Friday series at Ohio State. Football tends to drive the athletic schedule at schools like OSU, and there’s a home game for the football Buckeyes on Saturday.
“I don’t mind the Thursday-Friday,” said Soderquist. “Ohio State is a veteran team with skilled forwards who are pretty tenacious. It’s a great opportunity for us to show who we are.”
Around the league
– You hear it all the time for Atlantic Hockey coaches: “Anyone can beat anyone in this league”. An example was this past Tuesday when visiting Holy Cross defeated American International, 7-3. The Crusaders were picked to finish tenth in the pre-season coaches’ poll; the four-time regular season champion Yellow Jackets were picked to finish first.
– Attendance is up across college hockey this season, and we saw some good crowds in AHA barns this past weekend. Rochester Institute of Technology played its annual Brick City Homecoming game at downtown Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena, defeating Union on Saturday, 8-5, in front of 8,766 fans. Mercyhurst drew 1,100 (85 percent capacity) at the Mercyhurst Ice Center for a 4-1 loss to Penn State. And Bentley’s win over Maine was in front of 1,600 fans at Bentley Arena.
– The league went 4-6 in non-conference play last weekend, not spectacular but better than the previous two weekends. Canisius’ 3-2 win over Rensselaer on Tuesday also helps. Non-conference games this weekend include Bentley at Ohio State, Miami at Canisius, Mercyhurst at Clarkson, Lindenwood at AIC, Holy Cross at Vermont, and Army West Point at New Hampshire.
Cade Borchardt had a goal and two assists in Minnesota State’s 6-0 win over Minnesota Duluth last Friday (photo: Wisch/LPH).20
Minnesota State did the CCHA double a year ago, winning both the regular season and tournament title.
The Mavericks were also 20 minutes away from their first NCAA Division I title.
While all three of those are certainly in MSU’s sights this season, there’s another, more unofficial title the Mavericks can win this season: Minnesota state champion.
Granted, this is not in any way an official title. But consider this: For the first time since the breakup of the old WCHA in 2013, the Mavericks are playing all five of their instate rivals in two-game regular-season series.
MSU went 1-1 against Minnesota in a home-and-home series on opening weekend, swept Minnesota Duluth last week in Mankato and now plays their third-straight series against a Minnesota team this weekend in a road series against St. Cloud State. And if a pesky Oct. 28-29 series with Bowling Green wasn’t in the way, it would be four straight games against instate teams – the Mavs take on St. Thomas in the first of two CCHA series in the first weekend in November.
In other words, you might as well just bring the North Star College Cup out of whatever closet the UMD Bulldogs shoved it in when they won the final edition of the tournament in 2017.
“It’s a little unique. Last year we go out to UMass, we’ve got some different opportunities in the nonconference, so for us to be able to string together these three series with University of Minnesota, Duluth and then now St. Cloud, I know I haven’t seen that previously, or I can’t recall it, and I don’t see it happening down the road, so it’s a unique opportunity,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said.
The Minnesota schools have played one another on a rotating basis since realignment, but due to the nature of nonconference scheduling it doesn’t always line up this way for the teams to play every season. The Huskies, for instance, played St. Thomas to start the year and take on Bemidji State in a home-and-home next weekend.
“It’s a great opportunity, not just for our players but for our fans,” Hastings said. “Obviously we share a lot with our sister school in St. Cloud. For myself, there’s guys at every program I have a lot of respect for that I consider my peer group, also being my friends. Having an opportunity to compete against them, some of our guys here from the state of Minnesota, playing against teams that have a lot of guys from our state. So we’re just embracing it.
“It’s been a good journey here for the first two weekends, and it’s a great challenge for us. We’re not having to travel coast to coast, we’re not having to get on a plane, we’re getting on a bus within a couple hours. I think [many people] in the state of hockey wouldn’t mind seeing there being a little bit more of this and having it be a little more of a norm rather than an outlier when it comes to us being able to play within our borders.”
The Mavs and Huskies split their series in Mankato last season, and the year before that they met in the 2021 Frozen Four semifinal in Pittsburgh, with St. Cloud winning 5-4.
The major difference between the two teams in their previous meetings? Dryden McKay. The 2022 Hobey Baker Award winner graduated this spring, and so far Hastings has played two different goalies back-to-back in their two weekend series so far. Sophomore Keenan Rancier played both games against the Minnesota Gophers, giving up five goals with a save percentage of .902. Freshman Alex Tracy was in the net for the series against UMD; he gave up just one goal and made 31 saves on the weekend, picking up CCHA rookie of the week honors in the process. Also on the roster is freshman Andrew Miller.
Hastings isn’t sure yet if any of the three had done enough to earn the title of “Unquestioned starting goaltender;” instead, it seems like the Mavericks are taking it game-by-game.
“We’re going to hopefully let those three guys sort it out through their play,” Hastings said. “If I rewound the last two weeks, I didn’t know I was going to go back-to-back with Rancier, I didn’t know I was going to go back-to-back with Tracy. Those guys, with their play, influenced my decision. So I think I’m going to stay with that right now until somebody really steps forward and takes the ball.”
As MSU’s final nonconference series until January at Artizona State, this will be the last chance the Mavericks have to really earn some quality Pairwise wins until then. The Huskies are 4-0 after sweeps of St. Thomas and Wisconsin.
“If you’re going to go win a hockey game in that building, you’re going to have to go earn it, and that’s the challenge that faces us this week,” Hastings said.
Matt Miller, Cameron Berg and Jack Randl will be relied upon this season to be leaders at Omaha (photo: Omaha Athletics).
Not only is sixth-year Omaha coach Mike Gabinet one of the most experienced people on the Mavericks’ bench, but his history with the program also goes back longer than most.
He spent four seasons (2000-04) at UNO, played 30 games as a freshman in only the Mavericks’ fourth year of existence and then captained them as a senior. As an alumnus from nearly the beginning, even Gabinet sounded taken aback that it wasn’t until Saturday’s 4-4 tie at Lake Superior State that UNO, for the first time in the program’s 25-year history, erased a four-goal deficit.
“It’s a testimony to the character and work ethic of our group, and in particular our leadership group,” Gabinet said Wednesday, looking back on a series where UNO won and tied against one of its olden-days CCHA rivals.
“The energy on our bench and the mindset of our players was pretty extraordinary, especially with such adversity so quickly and early in the game. To be able to battle back and ultimately tie the game, and I thought we had multiple chances to actually win it, as well, it speaks to the commitment and character of the group we have.”
One of UNO’s alternate captains, senior forward Jack Randl, scored Saturday’s tying goal and helped create the Mavericks’ third goal of the night.
Lake State’s 4-0 lead after 20 minutes came thanks to two power-play goals and another one shorthanded, but Kirby Proctor and Tyler Rollwagen halved the deficit with goals six minutes apart early in the second. Randl and Matt Miller, another Mavericks alternate, provided assists on Berg’s snapshot that found its way into the LSSU net.
Randl then tipped home an initial shot from Berg with 6:55 left in regulation. The Mavericks couldn’t find a winning goal, but they minimized LSSU’s chances. The Lakers had outshot UNO 12-7 in the first period, but only managed five more shots on target over the rest of the game.
A tie that felt like a win for the visitors came one night after UNO beat the Lakers 3-1 in Friday’s season opener. Randl and Tyler Weiss scored in the third period, breaking a tie that LSSU forced after canceling out Ty Mueller’s opening goal in the second.
Gabinet saw the Mavericks’ unbeaten weekend in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., as a good response following UNO’s two 4-3 home losses to Niagara on Oct. 7-8. UNO had hammered preseason No. 3 Minnesota State 7-2 in the teams’ exhibition game Oct. 1, so many were surprised to see the red Mavericks get swept by a Niagara team picked to finish ninth in Atlantic Hockey.
“I thought we did some good things against Niagara and weren’t rewarded for it, but if you look at it analytically, we probably should’ve came away with better results than we did,” Gabinet said. “With a young team, it’s important that you remind them they’re doing a lot of right things, and there’s no systems for turnovers or things like that, so we have to clean up a couple crucial mistakes, but we’re doing a lot of right things and we have to make sure the players still believe in themselves and understand that sometimes the games go that way.
“The most important thing is, ‘What are you doing on a day-to-day basis?’ That was our message out of Niagara, just to stick with it. We have to focus on our rate of learning, and how fast we can learn and develop.”
Gabinet’s Mavericks play at home this weekend to another old CCHA foe, Alaska.
Quinnipiac players celebrate a goal at North Dakota last weekend (photo: Russell Hons).
There’s a certain level of required dissatisfaction that exists with national championship contenders in college hockey.
They exist on a plane that other teams aspire to reach, but their ability to annually compete is built around an idea that winning, while expected, is never taken for granted. It sounds basic enough to fulfill a cliche, but the notion is designed to help even the most experienced winner disarm an ego while simultaneously reteaching the requirements of how to start a season at the ground level.
That entire, basic belief is how Rand Pecknold and Quinnipiac have been able to rediscover their groove on an annual basis, and this past weekend, the Bobcats took a giant step forward when they claimed a dominant 6-2 win during a non-conference weekend series at North Dakota.
“For October games, I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in anything that’s had that kind of emotion on both nights from both teams,” Pecknold said. “It was a big-time atmosphere, and I wouldn’t even say it felt like a regional; it felt like the Frozen Four. There was a great build-up by both teams and by both coaching staffs to get their teams ready.”
The win on Saturday answered a number of early season questions that surrounded Quinnipiac and, to a degree, the ECAC Hockey conference at large by stoking the fires around an opponent that was ranked third in the nation. The Fighting Hawks had only played two games against Holy Cross, but the weekend came on the heels of a surprising 2-2 tie against LIU.
The Bobcats additionally had squandered two, three-goal leads in Friday’s game against North Dakota. There was a 3-0 lead in the first period and a 4-1 lead in the second period, but four unanswered goals by four different goal scorers over less than 15 minutes of game clock turned the score on its head before the halfway point of the third period. Needing to rally, senior CJ McGee’s third career goal tied a 5-5 result that eventually saw North Dakota win a shootout for posterity.
“The Friday game was emotionally a roller coaster,” Pecknold said. “They dominated, and we really struggled. We had some players that, for whatever reason, weren’t playing well, and we weren’t managing the puck well. North Dakota just kept coming, and it was crazy. But then Saturday was a huge win for us.”
It didn’t start dominant after North Dakota built a 2-1 lead in the first period, but the way Quinnipiac engaged and imposed its will over the next two periods likely raised some eyebrows among future headlining opponents. The offense scored three goals in four minutes, including two in 19 seconds, to build a 4-2 lead, and Desi Burgart added some flair when his first goal of the season capped an exchange that undressed the North Dakota defense with passing wizardry.
“My disappointment on Friday was our puck management,” Pecknold said. “We’d have a one-on-four and try to toe-drag a kid. That would lead to a turnover, and then we’d spend 25 seconds in the defensive zone. That’s not how we play. We want to defend by having the puck, and we defend by playing offense. That’s our big thing, and that’s my big sell to our players, and we didn’t do a good job of that. North Dakota, on Friday night, was [playing] dump-and-chase the entire game.
“It works, but the reason they had the puck so much was because we just weren’t managing it in the neutral zone.”
The win once again merged Quinnipiac into the national conversation and staked a claim to the No. 1 national ranking after the Bobcats moved into the No. 3 slot in the weekly poll with a road trip to Maine on the horizon. Having now beaten Boston College and North Dakota as a visiting team, the highest-ranked undefeated team vaulted over Denver, which lost to UMass while occupying the top slot, and earned three first place votes behind Minnesota and Minnesota State while simultaneously establishing a foothold for an ECAC Hockey league still fighting its way out of last year’s doldrums.
“Anytime you have two top-10 teams playing, it elevates the [profile],” Pecknold said. “What I’ve noticed over the last little while is that pretty much everybody we play and everywhere we go, home or away, we’ve been a top-10 program, but players get excited to play a top-10 game. When you have both teams that are top-10, it just escalates the emotions and passion. Every play matters [and] we want that passion every game. I think that’s a strength of ours that we typically have in most games. Certainly, last year, we had it a lot. We’d go play a team that we were supposed to beat, and we were excited to play them and respected them. We had to grind out of a lot of wins last year.”
“We talk a lot as a team about attacking adversity. That’s what’s created when you go on the road. Sometimes it’s even going to play a weaker opponent on the road, where the rinks are not great or there aren’t fans. That’s adversity when you don’t have an atmosphere to get you fired up. Anytime you go on the road, you need that adversity early in the season because you’re going to face a lot of it come playoff time. Even among the players, you need to learn how to deal with it, and even your veteran players have to re-learn it because they’ve dealt with it before. It’s just a maturation process, so anything you can get in a situation at BC or North Dakota, it’s an outstanding learning experience.”
No. 3 Quinnipiac plays at Maine this weekend with a 7 p.m. start on Saturday and a 4 p.m. start on Sunday. Following this weekend, ECAC Hockey play opens with a home series against Colgate and Cornell on Nov. 4-5.
