Playing in his first game since being diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier in the season, Zach Stejskal made 20 saves in relief on Saturday evening to help Minnesota Duluth to a 3-2 victory over Denver (photo: Shannon Valerio/DU Athletics).
Seventh-ranked Minnesota Duluth’s 3-2 win Saturday at Denver marked the first time that the No. 3 Pioneers had lost at home this season, but that wasn’t what the Bulldogs were thinking about when the final horn sounded.
Sophomore goaltender Zach Stejskal had made 20 saves in relief during his first game since Oct. 15. When it was announced in November that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, Stejskal made a point of saying that he planned to play again this season. Picking up the victory in two periods of work Saturday, and helping UMD earn a big road split in the process, showed that he meant every word.
Stejskal had rejoined the team for on-ice activities last month, but it wasn’t until pregame Saturday at Magness Arena that he learned he might finally get back between the pipes that night.
Fellow Bulldogs goalie Ryan Fanti was scheduled to start but was suffering from a stomach bug that several other UMD players had also been experiencing. Fanti told Stejskal before the game that he wasn’t feeling well, and it was Stejskal that led the team out as the first intermission ended.
Denver led 2-1 when Shai Buium scored at 4:27 of the third period, but Kobe Roth leveled the game with a power-play goal three minutes later, and Darian Gotz netted the eventual game-winner with 4:44 left. Stejskal’s second win from four appearances this season saw him earn honorary NCHC goaltender of the week honors.
UMD coach Scott Sandelin felt the award was richly deserved.
“You don’t plan for (that kind of medical situation), and he was off to a good start,” Sandelin said of Stejskal’s first two games this season. “We were rotating those guys, and all of a sudden, he’s going through what he’s going through, and the game becomes very secondary.
“His health and wellbeing are the No. 1 thing, and the beauty of being on a team is you have a lot of support. You’ve got your family, you’ve got your friends and you’ve got your teammates, and I think our guys really did a great job of supporting him.”
UMD players raised over $11,000 late last year as part of a Movember fundraiser, and the team kept Stejskal engaged from the moment they learned of his diagnosis.
“It was obviously emotional telling them, and I kind of broke down, but everybody on my team gave me a hug and kind of supported me through that moment right there,” Stejskal said. “I knew right from the start that they had my back.
“I got diagnosed on a Tuesday, and it was the Wednesday practice and I kind of brought everyone off the ice and kept the team in the locker room and broke the news. That’s just kind of how it happened, very organically, and some tears were shed there for sure, but honestly, I was feeling better after I told everybody, just because of the support I got in the locker room.”
Seven more games dot UMD’s remaining regular-season schedule, and Stejskal could have a big say on how the Bulldogs fare down the stretch. One thing is for sure, though: He’s glad to be in a position where he can support his teammates on the ice like they have for him off it.
“It’s amazing how Zach has handled it,” Sandelin said. “He’s been awesome, and even after the diagnosis, and how he wanted to handle it, we gave him time until he was comfortable to share it with (media members), and you’ve got to respect that for those players.
“When the time was right, he did, and he has handled it great. We’re all excited to get him back and in the net, and I know he’s probably the most happy to be back in there because that’s where he’s comfortable.”
Canada’s Emily Clark and the United States’ Megan Keller battle for position in the gold medal game Wednesday night (photo: USA Hockey).
The U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team earned the silver medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games after a 3-2 loss to Canada in the gold medal game today at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing.
“It’s disappointing,” said Team USA coach Joel Johnson (St. Thomas) in a statement. “We weren’t able to score in the first period and that catches up to you, especially when we got down by three. It’s difficult to take when I thought, overall, we played pretty well and generated some good offense. We’ve had good goaltending and good defense all tournament, but never was able to be better than Canada, so I give them credit. They were better this tournament and we’re disappointed.”
Hilary Knight (Wisconsin) scored a short-handed goal with 3:21 to play in the second period and Amanda Kessel (Minnesota) brought the U.S. to within a goal with an extra-attacker tally with 12.5 seconds left in the third period.
The U.S. outshot Canada 40-21 with goalie Alex Cavallini (Wisconsin) making 18 saves in the loss.
After her appearance in today’s game, Knight now owns the record for the most Olympic games played in U.S. women’s hockey history with 22 Olympic appearances.
For Canada, Marie-Philip Poulin (Boston University) scored twice with an assist while Sarah Nurse (Wisconsin) had a goal and an assist to back 38 saves in goal from Ann-Renée Desbiens (Wisconsin).
“I am so proud of the work everyone has put in,” Canada coach Troy Ryan said. “A lot of times people just see the finished product, they see the gold medal and everyone getting to celebrate. What they might not see is the ups and downs that happen in a season. Seeing [our athletes] celebrate gave me a chance to reflect on everything that has been thrown at them and what has happened this year. It has been impressive to watch, and all along I had the sense that good things were happening. All I wanted was for us to finish the way we wanted to and for our girls to get what they deserved.
“When it was all over, there was a bit of a sense of relief, but so much pride.”
Minnesota’s Rhett Pitlick has been tabbed the Big Ten Second Star of the Week after helping the Gophers to a Big Ten series sweep at Ohio State last weekend (photo: Brad Rempel).
Since opening in 2013, Pegula Ice Arena has been regarded as one of the better home-ice environments in college hockey.
Lately, though, Minnesota probably hasn’t been a massive fan of the building.
The second-place Gophers, two points behind Michigan, look to keep their momentum rolling this weekend at Penn State and nab a road victory from the Nittany Lions for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
The Gophers did get off to a strong start in their Big Ten career with a 6-2 record at PSU, but four straight losses to end the 2017-18 campaign derailed that success and Minnesota went 0-2-1 in the next two seasons.
“I haven’t played (there) since freshman year, with last year getting canceled and all, but it was definitely one that I remembered,” Gophers junior forward Bryce Brodzinski said of playing at Pegula. “It’s a really fun place to play. I always like playing in front of away fans because they’re always in your ear and kind of getting you going. They have a really good crowd all the time and we’re really excited to play there.”
Last year’s series between the two was among the eight games that Penn State had canceled during February because of COVID concerns and the two teams were scheduled to meet at Pegula before the 2019-20 season was suspended, so this is the first opportunity for Minnesota to turn the tides back in a positive direction in almost two years.
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said there wasn’t much extra emphasis put on where they were playing this weekend.
“We don’t talk about the place as much as we talk about the team, because we play a lot of places like that,” he said. “We talk about Penn State and what we have to do and the discipline we have to have in the game.”
One thing going for Minnesota is the fact that it’s on a roll right now, coming off sweeps of Ohio State and Michigan State. Those four victories have come despite missing three top platers to the Olympics, too.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Motzko said at his media availability of how well the team has been playing while knocking on the wooden podium. “Our guys are just playing good hockey. People are picking up the slack, our freshmen are scoring, our defensemen are jumping into the offense and we’re getting goaltending.”
Even if they are coming in with a recent record of 5-1, the Gophers will face a different style of play this weekend than what they’ve recently seen from Notre Dame, Michigan State or Ohio State.
“There’s no patience to (Penn State), this is a different animal,” Motzko said. “You have to be dialed in. We have to be very dialed into our structure and making sure it’s there, because they’re dangerous.
“We’ve got to find a way to keep going this weekend.”
Brodzinski agreed with his coach, adding that it was important to not accidentally create offense for the Nittany Lions.
“They’re kind of waiting to capitalize on turnovers, so getting pucks on net and not missing the net and kind of creating a breakout for them and just holding onto the puck and not throwing it deep for them,” he said. “We’re trying to stop them from having as many odd-man rushes as they want.”
With both Minnesota and Michigan rolling right now, and the fact that both will have their Olympians back for next weekend’s regular-season finale, the Big Ten looks set up for another close finish.
The Wolverines host Ohio State this weekend and travel to Notre Dame next week. Minnesota closes the regular season by hosting Wisconsin.
The New England Hockey Conference has officially renamed their postseason championship cups the Mariano Cup in honor of longtime Norwich director of athletics Tony Mariano.
The league’s athletic directors voted unanimously to honor Mariano in the naming of the trophies.
Mariano has been the director of athletics at Norwich for 30 years and has served the university in various roles within the athletic department for over four decades. Mariano announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2021-22 academic year. He has also served as a member of the NEHC Executive Committee for over 10 years and helped lead the organization through its rebrand and incorporation process.
“I am truly humbled and honored to have the NEHC championship cups for men and women to be named the Mariano Cup,” said Mariano in a statement. “The NEHC and ice hockey have been a very special part of my life and the athletic directors of our member institutions have been an outstanding group to work and be associated with. Our commissioner Katie Boldvich has done an amazing job of administering our conference and has helped develop the NEHC into the best hockey conference in the country. With her continued leadership and the support of the conference athletic directors, I know that the NEHC will continue to be the best division III conference in the country.
“I want to thank our commissioner and all the athletic directors of the NEHC for giving me this honor. It is something I will cherish forever.”
The Mariano Cup will be awarded to the winning program from both the NEHC men’s and women’s postseason tournaments.
“I’d say this trophy has been the Mariano Cup for several years now, we are only making it official,” said Boldvich. “Tony has left an undeniable mark on the sport of ice hockey, especially at the Division III level and within our NEHC footprint. I am proud his legacy and love of the sport will be commemorated annually with these trophies.”
The quest for the Mariano Cup begins Wednesday, February 16 with first-round action. Quarterfinals will follow on Saturday, February 19 and semifinals on Saturday, February 26. The NEHC men’s and women’s championship games will be held at campus sites on Saturday, March 5.
Norwich aims to defend both the men’s and women’s title after winning their 2019-20 campaigns. The Norwich men have taken home the conference championship 14 times overall and three times in the last four contested seasons. The Norwich women have claimed the conference title 10 times and are defending a run of four straight conference championships.
College president Laura Casamento sent a message to students and staff about the change Wednesday with the official announcement being made on campus Thursday morning.
Casamento says this is an indication of “how far we have come as an institution, as well as a recognition of our enormous potential for growth and achievement in the years ahead.”
The Pioneers have both men’s and women’s NCAA Division III teams that play in the UCHC.
Gino Gasparini goes over strategy with North Dakota players Dusty Carroll, Dave Tippett and Dean Dachyshyn (photo: North Dakota Athletics).
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation announced Wednesday that its 2022 “Legend of College Hockey” recipient is Gino Gasparini from North Dakota.
Gasparini, who coached at his alma mater from 1978 to 1994, led North Dakota to three national championships in the 1980s (1980, 1982, 1987) along with a runner-up finish in 1979 and a third-place finish in 1984. In WCHA play, Gasparini’s Fighting Sioux squads captured four regular-season titles and four postseason crowns during the decade.
The Fort Frances, Ont., native compiled a 16-season record of 392-248-24 (.608) with North Dakota, including a 277-197-21 (.581) mark in the WCHA. His 392 career wins are the most in North Dakota’s storied history and stand as the sixth-most in WCHA history.
Gasparini was named the WCHA Coach of the Year three times (1979, 1982, 1987) and received the American Hockey Coaches Association’s Spencer Penrose Award in 1987. In 1999, the AHCA honored him with the John MacInnes Award. He was inducted into the UND Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
As a player, Gasparini was a four-year letterman with the Fighting Sioux from 1964 to 1968, serving as the team captain as a senior. Gasparini returned to his alma mater in 1969 as an assistant coach under Rube Bjorkman from 1969 to 1978, before taking the reins as the program’s head coach for the 1978-79 season.
His pupils included Hobey Baker winner Tony Hrkac (1987) when he set a still standing NCAA record for most points in a season with 116. Gasparini coached 17 All-Americans – among them James Patrick, Jon Casey, Scott Sandelin, Ed Belfour and Greg Johnson. Thirty-five of his former players went on to play in the NHL. Future NCAA and NHL head coaches who played under Gasparini include North Dakota’s Brad Berry, Minnesota Duluth’s Scott Sandelin, Edmonton’s Dave Tippett and former North Dakota and current Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol.
From October 1985 to June 1990, Gasparini served North Dakota as its director of athletics. Following his head coaching days, he served as the commissioner of the United States Hockey League from 1994 to 2003 and the USHL president from 2003 to 2009.
Gasparini will be honored along with this year’s Hobey Baker Award winner at the annual Hobey Baker Award Banquet and golf outing this summer in St. Paul, Minn. Banquet and golf information will be available soon at hobeybaker.com.
Key Hobey Baker announcement dates for 2022 include:
• Top Ten list of candidates: March 16
• Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists: March 31
• Hobey Baker Award announcement: April 8
Kaelan Taylor has been a key cog on the Clarkson back end this season (photo: Gary Mikel).
In the midst of its 100th season, Clarkson is saving its best hockey for the end of the year.
The Golden Knights enter this weekend against Cornell and Colgate in the midst of a 10-game unbeaten streak, including a 3-1 win over No. 2 Quinnipiac on Saturday. That win over the Bobcats put Clarkson one point behind the first-place Bobcats, although Quinnipiac does have a game in hand over the Golden Knights.
“We’ve had a healthy roster for the most part, knock on wood,” Clarkson coach Casey Jones said. “We’ve been pretty resilient in games when we’ve gotten down [on the scoreboard].”
It’s helped that Clarkson has a number of veterans in their lineup who don’t get rattled, regardless of the situation. The Golden Knights have four graduate players, including captains Jack Jacome and Zach Tsekos. Jacome has played his entire five-year career at Clarkson, while Tsekos is in his third year with the Golden Knights after spending two years at Sacred Heart.
“When you’ve got veteran players that our really good players, that adds a lot of stability,” Jones said. “When you go one a streak, you have to be pretty consistent with your approach. They’ve been around the block to know that you’ve got to stay on top of your game. That’s where the experience comes through in terms of preparation and banking games and moving on and focusing on the task at hand.”
While the veterans have played a big role for Clarkson this season, several underclassmen have been important contributors as well. Sophomore forward Alex Campbell is second on the team with 13 goals, while freshman Ayrton Martino has 19 points.
Sophomore defenseman Kaelan Taylor, Noah Beck, Jordan Power, and Tommy Pasanen have all seen important minutes for the Golden Knights and have helped create offense from the backend and are part of a penalty kill that ranks first in Division I.
In goal, sophomore Ethan Haider began the season as the starter after a strong freshman season, but gave way to classmate Jacob Mucitelli for a stretch. Mucitelli, who is 6-0-1 with a 1.25 GAA and a .946 save percentage this season, has seen the majority of playing time over the last month. But Haider made 28 saves in Saturday’s win over Quinnipiac, giving the Golden Knights depth at yet another position.
That depth should be useful when Clarkson heads to Colgate and Cornell this weekend for its last road trip of the regular season.
“It’s a road trip that has given us trouble in the past,” Tsekos said following Saturday’s win over the Bobcats. “Those are two really tough teams to play against, especially when they’re on their home ice. We’ve got a lot of depth compared to a lot of teams, so we kind of just utilize that and kind of take it to those teams.”
Clarkson’s recent surge has come against the background of the program celebrating its 100th season. The Golden Knights have worn throwback jerseys for several games throughout the seasons, and while the COVID-19 pandemic has put a restriction on some of the in-person gatherings, Clarkson was able to honor alumni from the 1960s and 1970s on Nov. 12-13.
Jones said that getting to see the alumni and hear the accomplishments in purpose left a mark with the current Golden Knights players. While he can talk about it as a coach, it means a lot more when the players get to see it in person.
“That to me has gone a long with our guys, just to see the history and tradition and the people that have come before our guys,” said Jones. “That’s probably done as much good for us as anything.”
The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation announced Wednesday the five finalists for the 2022 Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented annually to college hockey’s “finest citizen” for leadership in community service.
ADKINS & WALKER
Jacob Adkins and Andrew Walker, junior forwards, UMass Boston
The duo that dubbed itself the “Men in Blades” is a repeat finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award after continuing in their efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The “Men in Blades” began their fundraising efforts in the summer of 2020 when they rollerbladed 875 miles from Boston to Mason, Mich., to raise money for the ACS. The duo’s grueling 10-day journey during a heat wave raised awareness of the need for continued donations for cancer research and brought in over $31,000 for the ACS. While they decided they didn’t want to rollerblade 875 miles again, that hasn’t stopped the “Men in Blades” from continuing to find new ways to raise money and awareness for the ACS.
Last summer, they organized a “Back-to-School Blade-A-Thon” for late August. The goal was to host a more inclusive 10K event where members of the UMass Boston and hockey community could all participate, while also continuing to raise money for cancer research. Despite the event being cancelled at the last moment due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, the duo raised over $4,000 for the ACS.
They teamed up to plan and organize the first-ever UMass Boston men’s hockey “Hockey Fights Cancer” game in December. As part of the contest, the Beacons held a Toy Drive for kids with cancer and carried out a raffle and sold items for ACS. They also designed custom pink jerseys for the game.
In total, the “Men in Blades” raised over $5,000 for the ACS in 2021.
HUGHES
Gabbie Hughes, senior forward, Minnesota Duluth
Hughes, who has spent most of the season leading the NCAA in points per game and as one of its top scorers, is heavily involved in Sophie’s Squad, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the mental health of athletes from the youth level to college by raising awareness of mental health issues and removing the stigma associated with getting help.
She was one of the founders of the organization and is committed as a board/committee member who attends regular meetings, runs all the social media accounts, and works to promote the organization. Hughes, who recently helped coordinate the Sophie’s Squad and Hockey Hits Back game for the Bulldogs on Jan. 15 that raised $8,000 to provide resources to mental health organizations around Minnesota, is involved in the organization in many ways. Hughes does everything from help pack bags for game participants to lending her presence at games behind the tables, driving all over Minnesota to support the organization.
All in on the importance of mental health, the assistant captain also joined the leadership board of the Green Bandana Project this fall. The Green Bandana Project is a student athlete-led mental health awareness campaign at UMD that was started by the athletic department’s SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) in the fall of 2019.
Jordan Keeley, senior goaltender, Saint Mary’s
Keeley, a four-year member of the women’s hockey team, has been extremely active in the community.
Her most recent volunteering activities included being the leader of the Saint Mary’s campus Green Bandana Project, which included organizing the Run2ForSMU Green Bandana fundraising event and hosting the We Are Not Really Broken Summit to develop next steps in Green Bandana curriculum about mental health meeting leadership. Keeley also ran and walked 250 miles in 100 days in the summer of 2021 to help raise funds for the Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance (raised $1,100 for this year’s recipient).
She served as volunteer coach for the Winona Youth Hockey Association summer program and for Winona’s “Try Hockey for Free” event. Keeley logged over 70 hours serving as a dog walker at the Winona Humane Society and was a member of the fundraising and foster board for Alma Tails of Hope.
She also fostered bottle-baby kittens for Tails of Hope when COVID sent students home to quarantine in 2020. Keeley also volunteered at the hospital information desk at Winona Health.
KOSACK
Josh Kosack, senior forward, Union
Kosack raised $45,000 for C.O.C.O.A. House in the second annual Kozi’s Kids fundraiser, bringing his two-year total to over $50,000. Money from the fundraiser went towards buying Christmas presents for local children, the development of a Kozi’s Kids Lounge in C.O.C.O.A. House’s second location, and funding other projects for the non-profit.
In December, Kosack helped purchase $10,000 worth of toys for Capital Region children and assisted in giving out the gifts over two days during the holidays. An event, which started as a way to get local youth to attend Union hockey games, Kosack’s involvement with C.O.C.O.A. House now includes spending one afternoon a week at the facility, helping with homework and playing games.
Kosack took his teammates to C.O.C.O.A. House in September to set up the house for the 2021-22 school year and hopes to pass his leadership role onto younger members of the team to continue his work.
PRICE
Hannah Price, junior defenseman, Rensselaer
Price has been a leader on and off the ice for the Engineers since stepping on campus in 2019. A member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), she has helped expand the group’s efforts to improve the RPI community and surrounding area, including a co-sponsored blood drive with the American Red Cross, and making National Girls & Women in Sports Day a resounding success, teaching basic hockey skills to area youth, who may not otherwise have the opportunity.
She also participates in a reading and mentoring program with Troy School 14. During her time in Troy, she has worked with the Food Recovery Network, collecting leftover food from dining facilities and delivering it to homeless shelters. Working closely with Troy Street Soldiers II, she hands out water, food, and basic necessities to the less fortunate in the city.
In her hometown of Pittsburgh, she spearheaded the city’s participation in Natural Resource Defense Council’s Food Matters program. Through her efforts, the city was able to increase the size, diversity, and participation of Food Matters Working Group.
She was key in the campaign for Food Matters Month (December 2021) including social media outreach and a panel discussion with local leaders in the field.
The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation selection committee narrowed the list of 11 nominees, which were announced in late January. Adkins and Walker, along with Kosack are repeat finalists from a season ago.
Delaney Wolf from Saint Mary’s was honored as the 2021 recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
The 27th recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award will be honored in a ceremony on Friday, April 8 as part of the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four weekend in Boston, Mass.
Additionally, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation will make a donation to the charity that is most important to each of the five finalists. These donations are made possible with the generous support of the award’s partners and donors.
Jachym Kondelik has been an offensive catalyst this season for UConn (photo: Stephen Slade).
It’s safe to say Connecticut men’s hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh likes to use sports metaphors.
He dropped a few of them during a recent press availability.
On his team’s 2-0 loss to Quinnipiac on Jan. 30, its only setback in an otherwise unblemished eight-game stretch, Cavanaugh evoked golf.
“We hit every green in regulation,” he said. “We made par putts — we just didn’t make any birdie putts. They made one. And that’s how the game went down. And sometimes that happens. But it wasn’t because we were double bogeying all game. We played a really strong, hard game and they just made one more play than we did.”
The comparison was apt. The Huskies (16-11-0, 12-6-0 Hockey East), now ranked No. 20 in the latest DCU/USCHO.com poll, outshot the then-second ranked Bobcats, held them scoreless for more than 52 minutes and were within one goal before Quinnipiac sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute.
On his team’s reliance on net-front goals, as opposed to consistently scoring in a smooth or elegant fashion, football was Cavanaugh’s the game of choice.
“You have to have a running game,” he said. “If you’re going to completely rely on your passing attack, sometimes things are going to go wrong.”
Expanding on that point, he even mentioned a popular, albeit old-fashioned, game for kids.
“Very rarely do you see tic-tac-toe one-timers from the top of the circles and (for) a team to live and die off that,” Cavanaugh said. “You have to be able to generate chances from your offensive zone and second and third opportunities — multiple-shot shifts. If you’re not doing that, you’re not going to have sustained scoring.”
References to other sports aside, the Huskies are excelling at hockey. In its last eight games, UConn has won seven, all in regulation except a 3-2 overtime win at New Hampshire on Jan. 22. The Huskies have outscored opponents 31-15 in that stretch, and now stand third in Hockey East, tied with Boston University and just two points behind UMass-Amherst and UMass-Lowell.
Cavanaugh credits an experience group — the Huskies feature seven seniors and three graduate students.
“They’ve provided a lot of stability for our team, and experience,” he said. “They’ve played a lot of hockey. (They) understand what it takes to win. I really have to credit them.”
A big part of UConn’s success, and one of the most experienced players on the team, is goalie Darion Hanson. The 6-foot-3 graduate student transfer from Union has started all but one game this season for the Huskies, and all eight games in the team’s recent stretch, where he’s averaged just under 25 saves a game.
“He’s become so acclimated to our program, I think he understands the strengths of our team,” Cavanaugh said. “When you have a goaltender that you really believe in, it makes playing the game a lot easier. You’re not afraid to make mistakes because you feel like you have a goalie that can bail you out at times.”
UConn will have a big chance to assert itself atop the league standings in its next four games, starting this weekend with a home-and-home series vs. UMass-Amherst (16-9-2, 11-5-2). The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Friday in Hartford and 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Amherst. Saturday’s game will be live on NESN-plus.
Jachym Kondelik (11 goals, 15 assists, 26 points) and Ryan Tverberg (12-12-24) lead an otherwise balanced scoring attack for UConn, which features nine other players with 10 points or more.
For good measure, Cavanaugh threw in some pro-hockey comparisons when discussing his team’s scoring tendencies.
“The Bruins need (Brad) Marchand and (Patrice) Bergeron scoring goals,” he said. “The Capitals need (Alexander) Ovechkin scoring goals for them, and (Nicklas) Bäckström making plays. I think that’s true to any team. There’s a reason top guys are top guys.
“Right now, we’re getting contributions from every line,” he continued. “Which makes us a difficult matchup at times.”
Lake Superior State defenseman Jake Willets led the Laker blueliners this past weekend with four points in a weekend sweep against his former team, Ferris State (photo: Lake Superior State Athletics).
It’s safe to say this season hasn’t gone the way Damon Whitten might have hoped.
After finishing a surprise second place in the WCHA last season, winning the conference tournament and making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996, the Lake Superior State head coach was hoping this would be the season the Lakers could take the next step. Perhaps they could challenge Minnesota State and win the first league title in the new CCHA.
Instead, the season has been a little more difficult. The Lakers are 14-15-1 and instead of battling Minnesota State for a league title, they are currently trying to overcome Bowling Green for the fourth and final home-ice slot in the upcoming playoffs.
Whitten said during a phone interview Tuesday that although he thought his team had the ability to compete for a league title, he also knew it was going to be a challenge with some new faces joining the program this year. It took this new-look edition of the Lakers a little while to gel but he thinks the team is coming together at the right time.
“Last year was such a great year, with second place and having home ice (and making the NCAA tournament),” Whitten said. “We wanted to be back, and we wanted to knock off Manakto and try and compete for first place.
“The disappointment is we’re not where we want to be, but we also knew we were losing a lot and there would be some new pieces being plugged in and we had to see how guys would do, so we were willing to be a little patient there. Now, it’s good to see guys have stuck with it and that patience is starting to pay off.”
The Lakers had a good start to the season, going 6-3-1 against solid nonconference opposition, but two long winless stretches (a five-game losing streak that lasted most of November and a four-game skid at the start of January) left the Lakers playing catchup in the CCHA standings. Part of that was due to not having quite enough healthy bodies – Whitten said last week was the first time in three months the Lakers have had even close to a full team available for games and practices.
“We’ve got as close to a full team as we’ve had for the first time in two, maybe three months,” he said. “It’s been hard to find consistency but I don’t fault the players, I think they’ve done a good job through what’s been a challenging season. It’s good to get some good results, guys are playing well and our competition levels are way back up because we have more healthy bodies.”
Recent results have been encouraging – the Lakers snapped their January losing skid with a split against Northern Michigan, which included a 6-1 win on Jan. 28. Last weekend, they managed to sweep Ferris State at home with 5-3 and 4-0 victories.
“We’re getting contributions from throughout our lineup,” Whitten said of LSSU’s recent success, noting that with only four seniors, it’s been nice to see the freshmen get on the scoreboard. “Saturday night our freshmen in particular had their best games of the year. They’ve been playing a lot in critical situations and played well, so that was great to see.”
But leading the way for the Lakers on the weekend were the team’s stars. Junior forward Louis Boudon had two goals and three assists in the series, while defenseman Jake Willets had a hat trick against his former team on Saturday night and Miroslav Mucha had a five-point weekend with five assists.
“Boudon is still playing at a very high level, I think Miroslav Mucha is playing his best hockey for us that he’s played in his career,” Whitten said. “And Willets, I was surprised to find out that Saturday night was the first time a Laker defenseman had a hat trick in our school’s history, so that was a pretty great night for him and a great night for our program.”
Boudon, the team’s leading scorer, has 13 goals and 20 assists on the year while Mucha, who has at least a point in each of LSSU’s last four games, has eight goals and 20 assists.
The two wins against the Bulldogs were also extremely important for the Lakers in the standings: the sweep allowed the Lakers to leapfrog idle Northern Michigan into fifth place and give them some much-needed breathing room in the standings. They are four points ahead of NMU and seven points ahead of FSU with four games to play in the regular season. Now, instead of battling for Ferris for sixth and seventh they find themselves in the thick of a race for home ice with Bowling Green.
The Lakers travel to St. Paul this weekend to take on last-place St. Thomas; if they can sweep the Tommies on the road, they can return to Sault Ste. Marie for a final series against the Falcons.
“We’ve given ourselves a good chance now,” Whitten said. “Friday’s the biggest game of the year. We have to keep handling our own business and if we do that, we can control our own destiny at the end of the season.”
Team USA and Slovakia played to a 2-2 tie through regulation (photo: USA Hockey).
The United States is out of the men’s hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Strauss Mann (Michigan) stopped 34 shots in goal, and Nick Abruzzese (Harvard) and Sam Hentges (St. Cloud State) each scored for Team USA, but Slovakia got the lone goal of the shootout to gain a 3-2 victory Wednesday in quarterfinal play.
The U.S. finished 3-0-1-0 in the tournament and fifth overall.
“I could not be prouder of this group and the way they came together and represented our country,” said U.S. coach David Quinn in a statement. “Losing the game is a tough pill to swallow, but when you get to the quarterfinals of the Olympics, there are a lot of good teams, and certainly credit Slovakia. This was a terrific group of players and they’ll always be Olympians.”
The U.S. was outshot 36-35 and was 0 for 5 in the shootout against Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar.
Walker Harris collected 13 goals and 33 points to lead the Wesleyan offense in 2019-20 and was named the 2020 winner of the Joe Concannon Award (photo: Wesleyan Athletics).
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Tuesday that 30 players are semifinalists for the 21st Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born men’s NCAA Division II/Division III hockey player in New England.
The award was established in 2001 shortly after the passing of the longtime writer for The Boston Globe, who had a great passion for the game of college hockey while always advocating strongly for amateur athletics.
“After more than a year away from competition, it has been fantastic to see all of the conferences back in action and at such a high level of play from the drop of the first puck,” said Gridiron Club Hockey Awards Committee chairman Tim Costello in a statement. “It is amazing what the players, coaches and institutions have been able to do to get the games played and this year’s nominees reflect the great commitment that all players across the region have to perfecting their craft and playing the game with passion and enthusiasm. The number of semifinalists matches our highest number from 2020, and many more were worthy of consideration for this year’s award.
“It will be a challenge to pick a winner from this terrific field.”
There was no award given out in 2021 due to the pandemic.
Just five of the 2022 nominees were semifinalists when the award was last presented in 2020 – Babson forward Mike Egan, SNHU defenseman Joe Fiorino, Fitchburg State goaltender Brian McGrath, Endicott goaltender Conor O’Brien and St. Michael’s defenseman Sel Narby.
Assumption: Robert Holyoke, senior forward, Middleboro, Mass.
Babson: Ryan Black, senior forward, Pomfret, Conn.; John Corrigan, senior defenseman, Stoneham, Mass.; Mike Egan, senior forward, Billerica, Mass.
Colby: Andy Beran, sophomore goaltender, St. Paul, Minn.; Justin Grillo, senior forward, Rockville Center, N.Y.
Curry: Timmy Kent, junior forward, Parkland, Fla.
Endicott: Conor O’Brien, senior goaltender, Pinellas Park, Fla.
Tufts: Tom Tresca, senior defenseman, Newton, Mass.
Wesleyan: Matt Zandi, senior defenseman, Mount Kisco, N.Y.
University of New England: Jake Fuss, junior forward, Fairfield, Conn.
The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and winner of the award in March, following league playoffs and before the start of the Frozen Four in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Dartmouth goalie Clay Stevenson earned his first career shutout last Saturday night in a 1-0 win over Yale (photo: Doug Austin).
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: Well, we’re back on the heels of a weekend that wound up being way more entertaining from top to bottom than I ever anticipated.
I don’t know about you, Ed, but I found myself getting sucked in almost every direction. As a noted seamhead, I kept a side eye on the baseball negotiations. As a basketball fan, the weekend gave me some fantastic finishes and solid games at both the college and professional level.
And I mean, it was Super Bowl weekend, so congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams for winning on home field, even though I long for that region to host a Frozen Four at some point (Hey, USC and UCLA, your city has won championships in every major sport over the last 20 years. I think college hockey would look fine on you!).
Quick shoutout to my wife for the stuffed mac and cheese balls that headlined the food table after our daughter went to sleep.
That’s not why everyone’s here, of course, so let’s turn our attention to one of the events that really matters to our readership: that aforementioned college hockey. It was a huge weekend in our world at both the domestic and international level, which is where I want to begin.
I am officially in love with Team USA hockey and find myself letting go in the spirit and pageantry of arguably the Winter Olympics’ most glamorous sport. After being jaded four years ago by the lack of pros, I was excited this year for the college hockey flavor, and after round robin play concluded this weekend, I am ALL IN with how the United States went undefeated. I know we’ve all kept our eyes on it. What’s sticking out the most about the way the college kids are playing?
Ed: I’m with you on the all-sports weekend (though my hoops fandom faded about the time the three-point line became more than an ABA anomaly).
To answer your question, I think the poise and maturity of the collegians are what really jumps out at me. They look completely at home on this stage, no doubt helped by the veterans on the roster and the World Juniors experience among them. They also seem to have come together as a team – something that head coach David Quinn noted – and that should be no surprise since there are clusters of current and former teammates and seven who overlapped at the U.S. NTDP.
Over the weekend, a CNN tweet compared this year’s success to the 1980 gold-medal team. That’s pretty ridiculous on its face, but maybe worth noting why it’s absurd. Certainly, there’s no team in the Beijing Games that’s as talented as that Soviet squad was, a juggernaut that had defeated a bunch of NHL franchises in an exhibition tour. But we also have to compare 2022’s Team USA to 1980, and I think the biggest difference is in the future of the current 15 college players. Five players from 1980 went on to have long NHL careers of more than 500 games, but star goalie Jim Craig played in just 30 NHL contests and hero Mike Eruzione never attempted to play in the NHL. For the 2022 squad, expectations are much higher in a National Hockey League that’s one-third former NCAA players.
What has also impressed me during these Olympics is how the college teams back home have fared minus some key players. Minnesota and Michigan haven’t missed a beat, and in the Beanpot semis, BU’s Vinny Duplessis and especially Northeastern freshman JT Semtimphelter were outstanding for their teams.
Speaking of Minnesota, they’ve lost three players to the Olympics and a goalie to the NHL, but Justen Close is 8-3 as a starter in net and the Golden Gophers are just a point behind Michigan in the Big Ten standings, tied with Ohio State with two games in hand. Minnesota has Wisconsin and Penn State left on the schedule, while Michigan has Ohio State (the last two games for the Buckeyes) and Notre Dame.
Dan: You know, before I touch on anything, I noted in a text message to a friend of mine that I thought it was only a matter of time before someone made a 1980 reference. I just thought it would last until the medal round knockout stage when the Americans would face the Russians at some point.
Given the world’s geopolitical climate, the mighty Russian KHL all-star team against the underdog American college kids, four years after the Russians won gold and the Americans bombed out – and eight years after they left Sochi without a medal? Yeah, let’s just say that was about as close a gimme putt as any media outlet could have. I’m not criticizing them, I just know it’s about as easy a comparison as possible right now. I don’t like THAT amount of pressure, but I’m more ecstatic to see how college hockey is measuring up on the world stage. You summed it up perfectly, though I understand not everyone on Team USA is a modern college kid.
Anyways, that’s not what you asked. I was more trying to delay the inevitable about having to shove crow directly onto my dinner plate. That’s right, Minnesota. I come to you asking for forgiveness.
I pretty much left the Gophers for dead when Jack LaFontaine left Minnesota to join the Carolina Hurricanes organization, and I doubled down on that take when the Olympic rosters were formally announced. I all but said the Gophers would struggle to make the tournament and that the Big Ten was out of the question. They subsequently responded by beating Michigan before splitting with Notre Dame and sweeping Michigan State and Ohio State. Justen Close is playing great hockey and looked downright silly against Ohio State when he made 61 saves in the two wins, and the defense is emerging as having a good, fundamental system in front of him.
For the most part, the entire team is playing clean hockey and not taking any dumb penalties, though it’s worth noting that it was whistled for eight penalties and 38 minutes when the second game of that Ohio State series got chippy in the third. Two players were politely asked to leave the ice sheet, and the major penalties for face masking and clipping are things that I think happen when players lose their head in a highly-emotional, super-charged atmosphere.
Throughout all of that noise, Minnesota won, 5-1, and jumped into shouting distance of first place in the Big Ten and a No. 1 overall seed.
The curse lives. You’re all welcome. Minnesota. National champions in Boston. Now that I said that, clearly the Gophers bomb out the rest of the season.
But what Minnesota has accomplished underscores your point about the Big Ten, and that’s that the league is the best Division I men’s hockey conference in the nation. We all know I’m not a PairWise fanatic, but if we’re using that as a basis, consider this: all six of the teams in the Big Ten are ranked anywhere in the top half of college hockey, and the bottom of the league – Michigan State – outranks two NCHC teams, slightly edging Colorado College and overshadowing Miami University. It’s a credit to what those teams have built and put together, and top to bottom, I think it’s stronger than the preeminent powerhouse league in the nation right now.
What Minnesota was able to do shows that a team from the middle pack can jump up, even with all that it lost, because of the strength of the overall roster, the coaching, and the administrative infrastructure. Some kudos are due to that entire league.
I’m going to take this conversation in an offshoot direction right now, though. If you look at the NCHC and the Big Ten, one thing they have in common is a relatively low number of teams. They aren’t saddled, for lack of a better term, by the teams fighting and struggling at the bottom of the league. I think we made this point a couple of weeks ago regarding Quinnipiac and the ECAC, that the ECAC is hurting this year because of the issues facing the teams that sat out last year (specifically the Ivies at Dartmouth, Brown and Yale, all of which are in the bottom five of those same Pairwise). The numbers don’t lie, but they also take away some deep context:
Are the Big Ten and NCHC better off for having less teams than the leagues that have more teams? Less teams offers more margin for error against one another, I feel, and it offers a perspective that cuts the losses absorbed by the same conferences that have teams still rebuilding or fighting for harder, tougher wins to come by.
Ed: You’re absolutely right about ECAC Hockey this season.
Taking a year off definitely impacted the Ivies, Union, and Rensselaer, and with five teams from the conference in the bottom 12 of the PairWise, the teams at the top have been pulled down because of that. We’ve written about Quinnipiac in this space, and how the Bobcats would be a top-four team in a normal season, and you need to include Clarkson in that discussion, too. The Golden Knights downed QU 3-1 on Saturday and are 12-0-4 since their last conference loss on Nov. 9 to RPI. Clarkson is on the PairWise bubble at No. 15 but would likely be somewhere like 8-10 in a normal year.
The PairWise Rankings don’t take into account how lopsided a victory is. Those four-, five-, or six-goal wins by Clarkson might have been a lot closer without those teams recovering from a COVID-cancelled – or rather school-cancelled – season. But it’s the record of the opponents and opponents’ opponents of the team you beat that counts, not how badly you defeat the teams you’re supposed to.
That brings me to a subject that comes up every so often because it never gets solved, especially in the east. Aren’t we still way overdue for a restructuring of conferences? I think so. I’m going to toss out some ideas and let you react or add your own, Dan. This is all spitballing here, though a lot of people I talk to around college hockey agree that when it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange.
Let’s start with ECAC Hockey. The Ivy League teams clearly have hurt the rest of the conference in 2021-22. With a different schedule of 29 games, and the possibility of lagging in the areas of transfers and graduate players, is this the time for the Ivy League to split off, play a 20-game conference schedule, and grab an autobid? That would allow the remaining six teams in ECAC Hockey perhaps to become eight with some like-minded institutions, say Holy Cross or Rochester Institute of Technology.
Maybe a reshuffling of teams in New England, with a new league featuring teams competitive with each other from Atlantic Hockey and Hockey East? (I can already hear the groans and gripes. Just throwing out ideas here.)
Or an all-New York league from a state with 11 D-I teams and maybe a 12th on the way? Or the seven teams playing D-II with no NCAA championship in the Northeast-10, while we’re at it.
Then there are the independents and new programs around the country: Alaska, Alaska Anchorage, Arizona State, Augustana, LIU, Alabama Huntsville (if they come back), and Robert Morris.
Yes. Robert Morris. (When is Atlantic Hockey going to get off the stick and readmit the Colonials, now that they’ve made a commitment to hockey and seen the instigator of its temporary demise slip quietly out the door?)
Dan: We annually throw pizza against the wall in hopes of finding something conversationally that sticks, but it feels like there’s a great opportunity to create forward momentum with some amicable changes in college hockey.
First, to your point about Robert Morris, it’s unfathomable that we haven’t seen or heard anything about RMU’s positioning publicly. There is no reason why the Colonials shouldn’t be allowed back into Atlantic Hockey, and anything other than welcoming the Colonials back into the fold is a honestly a stain against college hockey. I said it earlier in the season, I’ve said it again, and I’ll continue to say it until the announcement is made. The only decision is to readmit RMU, and that’s that.
Second point – the independents and new programs. Alabama-Huntsville refused to reinstate its program unless it found a secure conference home. When I actually looked at the concept of donations and the college hockey “bake sale,” UAH was very open and honest about the needs and communication within its own program and fan base. That institution had been an independent and didn’t want to relive that history.
The conversation about UAH very quickly shifts our attention to the next point about the Alaska schools. It’s going to be very hard for college hockey to find permanent homes for those schools without more westward expansion, and the western leagues don’t make much sense. The CCHA very clearly won’t want the Alaska schools after geography was a big reason for the WCHA’s breakup, and the NCHC, for the reasons we outlined above, likely won’t take Alaska or Alaska Anchorage, a school that struggled to win games, when strength is found in smaller numbers of stronger programs. As for Augustana, I have no idea what to expect there, but I’m super intrigued by the entire region, Sioux Falls, hockey culture and what happens out there.
That leads us to the last two schools and the ones most likely to make an impact in what happens: Arizona State and LIU. Arizona State has to be attractive for a number of leagues because of its quick ascension to the NCAA tournament and a building that is good enough to host an NHL franchise, not the other way around (in case you missed it, the Arizona Coyotes are going to play at Arizona State’s arena for a few years while they settle their own arena woes in the desert). But ASU is too big and is an “all sports” power conference team, so it remains to be seen what happens there.
That leads me to LIU, the team nobody’s really talking about as the major player in realignment. What happens to the Sharks will likely dictate what happens in some other leagues, at which point the dominoes start falling. If we’re talking conversationally for no reason whatsoever, the easy solution is to add RMU and LIU to Atlantic Hockey, and we all go off on our merry ways. But I think LIU could provide the impetus for the D-II schools to play up in a league resembling the first days of the MAAC, and if that happens, what happens to Atlantic Hockey, which has two NE-10 schools in AIC and Bentley, both of which are significantly stronger in hockey than a league that appears as a startup league in line with the old MAAC. And if Atlantic Hockey starts to show fault lines, do the New York schools then break away, at which point the Ivy League breaks away? And if that happens, is there fallout among the other Ivies to start a new league with comparable teams? Hey, maybe Penn gets into the game!
The conversation is fascinating and, if nothing else, fun to have every now and then. I know this, all I want is for Bentley and Brown to somehow wind up in the same league so I can compete with and against my brother, who broadcasts at Brown and who I partner with throughout the year, twice per year. That would be fun for me.
Bentley and Brown is kind of a strange dream matchup to everyone other than me, even though I’ve gotten it both at Meehan Auditorium and at the new arena at Bentley (and I got another one this year when Boston College came to town), but that’s what makes college hockey great. So, last point of the week, give me your dream matchup somewhere along the line. I know RIT’s been to a Frozen Four but give me the one matchup you wish you could relive. Really interested to see what people think about at a personal level when it comes to this since it’s always unique to them and their emotional center.
Ed: I don’t think anything can top broadcasting the two wins RIT had in the Albany regional in 2010 as games for me to relive. (I do have a personal top 10, but I doubt most of our readers, other than Tigers fans, would care.)
I’ve enjoyed going to so many legendary barns that the list would be pretty long. My favorite of all the “away” venues I’ve been to has to be Compton Family Ice Arena at Notre Dame. It’s a jewel and a nearly perfect college hockey arena. Among more venerable rinks, Yost, Matthews, and Hobey Baker are right up there for their character and charm.
A dream matchup? I’ve wanted to visit Ralph Engelstad Arena for years. If RIT could arrange a pair of games at North Dakota, I’d be elated.
Boston University celebrates its 39th Beanpot championship Monday night (photo: Kyle Prudhomme).
I am an interested observer who lives in Beanpot land and to be honest, the Beanpot seems like such a meaningless tournament to much of the country every year.
And as someone who has lived in Massachusetts his whole life, why should anyone care about a Beanpot? I will tell you why:
The Beanpot is somewhat provincial. If you’re not from either Boston University, Boston College, Harvard or Northeastern, you don’t have role in the manifestation of the related events.
Well, unless you’re in the surrounding majority of teams in the PairWise.
Let’s face it. Monday’s championship game between Boston University and Northeastern was as much about the majority of fans that love the schools as it was about the minority of interested observers.
“Yes,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe when asked if he realized what Monday’s loss meant toward his team’s NCAA tournament position. “It wasn’t good.”
The reality is that Monday hurt Northeastern in many ways. It wasn’t simply not capturing the school’s fourth straight Beanpot that was lost. Northeastern now sits on the wrong side of the PairWise bubble, in 17th position, at least two spots from an NCAA at-large bid.
A few days earlier, the Huskies basked in the glow of a win over UMass Lowell that rose them to 14th in the PairWise, comfortably above the bubble of the NCAA electors. Those are the nice moments of the PairWise bubble.
That also shows the volatility of a rankings system like the PairWise.
The other side of the Beanpot felt much better for Boston University on Monday. The Terriers rose to 14th – inside the NCAA tournament bubble. Something not a lot of people saw coming. Raise your hand if you saw any hope for the Terries on December 1 when at that point BU was 43rd in the PairWise and had just lost the club’s flagship game, a contest against Cornell.
Hands down. You’re all liars.
But as we reached Monday and now Tuesday morning, you have to take coach Albie O’Connell at his word. His team has delivered.
“I think there’s more buy-in from the group,” said O’Connell. “Guys are playing for each other more. They’re more concerned with scoring goals that the highlight reel goals. They’re showing up every day in practice.”
This may not be a race to the finish line for any of the Beanpot teams, but for Monday, at least, Boston University had a race to celebrate at the local pub.
Dryden McKay earned his 24th win of the season for Minnesota State, also the 100th of his NCAA career, earlier this season (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
Minnesota State did not play this past weekend, but the Mavericks still picked up 40 first-place votes to remain atop the DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.
Michigan is up two to No. 2 with eight first-place votes, Denver remains No. 3 with the last two first-place votes, Quinnipiac drops two spots to No. 4, and Minnesota rises two spots to No. 5.
Western Michigan is down one to No. 6, Minnesota Duluth is also down one, to No. 7, while St. Cloud State jumps two to No. 8, North Dakota is up three to sit ninth, and UMass falls one to go to No. 10 in this week’s rankings.
Just one new team that was unranked a week ago enters the rankings this week, UConn at No. 20.
Aside from the top 20, seven other teams received votes this week.
The DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men’s Ice Hockey 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.
The Big Ten announced Monday that Minnesota senior defenseman Ben Brinkman has been suspended for one game as a result of an incident that occurred in a game against Ohio State on February 12, 2022.
The action was taken by the conference after a review of a slew-footing incident that occurred near the 19:33 mark of the third period and resulted in Brinkman receiving a major penalty and a game misconduct.
Brinkman is ineligible to play in Minnesota’s next game against Penn State on Feb. 18, 2022.
Team USA will play for a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing (photo: USA Hockey).
The U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team defeated Finland 4-1 Monday at the Wukesong Sports Center to advance to the gold medal game of the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Team USA will play Canada for the championship on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 12:10 p.m. local time (11:10 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday) with the game broadcast on NBC.
“I thought we played a great game today,” said Team USA coach Joel Johnson (St. Thomas) in a statement. “We talked about a few things we wanted to focus on and actually faceoffs were one of them and I thought Finland was dominant in the faceoff circle. So we’ll try to clean some of those things up, but each game is some adjustments. I thought our power play was good. We got a big goal in that regard, and I just thought our defensive play was outstanding and that starts in net.”
Cayla Barnes (Boston College), Hilary Knight (Wisconsin), Hayley Scamurra (Northeastern) and Abby Roque (Wisconsin) scored for the Americans and goaltender Alex Cavallini (Wisconsin) made 25 saves as the U.S. outshot Finland 42-26.
With her appearance in today’s game, Knight has now tied with Jenny Potter and Angela Ruggiero for the most games played in U.S. Olympic women’s hockey history with 21 appearances.
With a goal and an assist this game, Knight is now second on the U.S. all-time Olympic women’s points list with 26, surpassing Natalie Darwitz. Knight currently trails Jenny Potter who has 32 career Olympic points.
The Adrian Bulldogs won the NCHA regular-season championship over the weekend. Photo courtesy of Adrian Athletics.
The Adrian Bulldogs are owners of the Peters Cup once again after sweeping St. Norbert in a battle of nationally ranked teams.
Adrian, the No. 1 team in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll,capped a perfect run through the NCHA with an 6-2 win over the fifth-ranked Green Knights Saturday.
Cameron Gray made 27 saves for his 16th win of the year and helped extend the Bulldogs’ win streak to 22 games.
Matus Spodniak scored a pair of goals and dished out an assist while Sam Ruffin also had a multi-point game as he tallied a goal and an assist Matt Eller dished out two assists.
The Bulldogs (24-1) and Green Knights (20-5) were tied at 1-1 after one before Adrian took control with a five-goal second period.
Carter Hottmann and Petyon Frantti both scored for St. Norbert, which saw its 19-game streak come to an end one night earlier in an 8-4 loss to Adrian.
The Bulldogs scored six goals in the third period to put that game away and clinch their third consecutive Peters Cup.
Spodniak scored and dished out an assist while Eller and Alessio Lucianni both tallied three assists apiece, Dante Spagnuolo scored two goals.
Ben Schmidling came through with a goal and an assist for the Green Knights, who end the the regular season as the runner-up in the conference.
Adrian ends the regular season with an 18-0 mark in conference play St. Norbert finishes 16-2.
Thunder sweep Vikings
Trine capped a sweep of Lawrence Saturday with a 7-2 win on a night where seven different players scored goals for the Thunder.
The sweep gives Trine its best finish in program history in the regular season.The Thunder is 17-7-1 overall and 11-6-1 in the conference.
Elias Sandholm made 22 saves to secure the win in goal and help Trine win its third consecutive game.
Six players finished with multi-point games, including Bobby Price, who scored a goal and dished out two assists. Brendan Pappas tallied two assists as did Jackson Clark.
In Friday’s 6-2 win, Thad Marcola scored a pair of goals to help Trine clinch home ice for the opening round of the conference tournament.
The Thunder actually trailed the Vikings 2-0 in that game before scoring the next six goals on their way to the big win.
Spartans finish off regular season on high note
Aurora heads into the NCHA tournament on a three-game winning streak after blanking MSOE 4-0 Saturday in its regular-season finale.
Ranked 14th in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll, the Spartans improved to 17-7-1 overall and 12-6 in the conference.
Simon Boyko scored twice and Derrick Budz dished out two assists. Josh Boyko racked up 37 saves as Aurora secured the third seed in the tourney and will open tournament play against MSOE this weekend.
The Spartans opened the weekend with a 6-3 win over the Raiders, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and never looking back.
Brayden Sampson scored twice, his final goal coming with 16 minutes left in the third period to give Aurora a 5-3 advantage.
Sampson also tallied two assists as did Adam Keyes. Riley Doyon came through with two goals in the win.
Blugolds continue to roll
UW-Eau Claire stayed hot over the weekend, sweeping UW-River Falls and captapulting itself into a tie for the second-best record in WIAC play.
Unbeaten in its last eight games and winners of two in a row, the Blugolds ended the regular season with a 3-0 win over the Falcons.
UW-Eau Claire is now 13-11- overall and 9-6 in conference play. UW-River Falls has an identical record but finished with one more point than the Blugolds in the standings.
Ryan Oulette made 14 saves and won his 12th game of the year. Jordan Randall, Andrew McGlynn and Ryan Green all scored goals for the Blugolds, who finished off the win with two third-period goals.
UW-Eau Claire, which hasn’t lost a game since Jan. 21, opened the weekend with a 2-1 overtime win over the Falcons.
Ty Readman delivere the game winner, his fifth of the year, scoring at the 2:31 mark of OT to lift the Blugolds to the win. Readman has tallied at least one point in each of his last seven games.
Noah Ganske had tied the game in the final minute of the third period to force OT before Readman came through with his clutch goal in OT.
Yellowjackets split with Blue Devils
UW-Superior salvaged a split against UW-Stout with a 5-2 win over the Blue Devils on Saturday.
The Yellowjackets ended a five-game losing streak with the win and wrap up the regular season with a 13-10-2 overall mark and 6-6-1 mark in WIAC play.
Jordan Martin, Dylan Johnso and Chad Lopez all scored a goal and dished out an assist in the win as UW-Superior got itself back on track.
Landon Pavlisin tallied 30 saves to earn the win.
On Friday, the Blue Devils ended their five-game losing streak by taking out the Yellowjackets
It marked the second time this season that they had beaten UW-Superior.
UW-Stout took control by scoring four goals in the second period. Logan Nelson led the way with two goals and an assist.
Brandon Connett came through with a goal and two assists and Dylan Rallis recorded a goal and an assist as UW-Stout won its eighth game of the season.
Auggies clinch title
Augsburg stretched its win streak to 12 games Saturday and also secured the regular-season MIAC championship with a 7-3 win over Saint Mary’s.
The title is the 11th in program history and the third since the 2015-16 season.
Augsburg, ranked fourth in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll going into the weekend, dominated offensively against the Cardinals, scoring five goals for the eighth time. Fritz Belisle helped lead the way as he punched in two goals.
Mason Palmer and Keenan Lund each tallied two assists. Kyler Yeo and Austin Koss both scored a goal and dished out an assist.
Augsburg, which is now 21-2 overall and 13-1 in the MIAC, scored twice in the third to secure the comeback win over the Cardinals, who had taken a 4-3 lead after two periods of play.
Nick Woodward and Austin Martinsen both scored goals in a span of one minute and 45 seconds to lift the Auggies to the win.
Nathan Solis, Warner Young, Gabe Potyk and Callahan Nauss all scored for the Cardinals, who were outshot 32-24. Jack Robbel made 20 saves for his 13th win.
Johnnies top Oles
Saint John’s came through with a sweep of St. Olaf over the weekend, winning the finale 3-1 on Saturday. The Johnnies won the opener 4-2 on Friday night.
Michael Magnuson made 25 saves for his fourth win of the year on a night when the Johnnies outshot the Oles 39-26.
Braden Altena tied the game at 1-1 after Sean Walsh had given the Oles a 1-0 lead while Jackson Sabo scored the game winner with just over four minutes to play in the second period.
Lewis Crosby’s empty-net goal finished off the scoring for the Johnnies, who improved to 15-6-2 overall and 8-3-1 in the MIAC.
The Johnnies opened the series wtih a 4-2 win. They scored twice in the third period to pull away for the win.
Matt DeRosa scored in the third to give the Johnnies a 3-2 lead and Dan Wieber punched in an empty-net goal with 1:02 left in the game. Mac Berglove made 19 saves and now has 11 wins on the year.
Royals and Cobbers split
Concordia snapped a two-game losing streak Sunday by knocking off Bethel 5-1.
Isaac Henkemeyer helped lead the way as he scored twice and also assisted on two goals. Concordia held a 40-32 advantage in shots and Jackson Nelson notched his 10th win of the year behind a 31-save performance.
Five different players scored for Bethel in its 5-3 win over Concordia on Friday night.
The Royals built up a 4-1 lead in the second period before the Cobbers tried to battle back.
Jake Harter, Jarrett Cammarata, Adam Bricker, Sam Wilhite and Jory McWilliams all scored for Bethel. Wilhite’s goal proved to be the game winner, the first of Wilhite’s career. Travis Allen made 11 of his 33 saves in the third period to help the Royals nail down the win.
Concordia is now 12-9-2 overall and 9-4-1 in the conference. Bethel is 13-9-1 overall and 6-7-1 in the MIAC.
The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on goals from Emma Gentry and Nicole Ness and were holding that lead into the final minutes of the second, but the Gophers slowly but surely clawed back as the game went on. Abigail Boreen made it 2-1 with about five minutes until the horn and then Catie Skaja scored in the final 10 seconds of the period to make it a 2-2 game going into the second intermission. Boreen completed a hat trick by the midpoint of the third, scoring twice to make it 4-2 Minnesota. Taylor Heise scored to make it 5-2. Olivia Cvar scored on the power play with about a minute to go, but St. Cloud State ran out of time and the Gophers took a 5-3 win. In the second game, Catie Skaja put Minnesota up 1-0 in the opening minutes. Cvar responded on the PP not long after and the teams headed to the locker room tied at 1. Savannah Norcross had the only goal of the second to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead. In the third, Olivia Knowles scored early on and the Skaja and Ella Huber each scored a short-handed goal to make it a 5-1 win and weekend sweep for Minnesota.
(2) Ohio State at Bemidji State
Words do not do the ending of Friday’s game justice – if you haven’t watched the video, do yourself a favor and go check it out. The SportsCenter commentary isn’t exactly correct – Ohio State pulled their goalie with :28 left as they had the puck in the BSU defensive end. The Buckeyes are fighting for first place in the WCHA and were looking to pick up the full three points of a regulation win.
The tenor of the game turned on a dime. With seconds left, several Buckeyes raised their arms, thinking OSU had scored. The puck was free in the crease and Jenna Buglioni just missed being able to knock the puck in. Kerrigan Dowhy made one of her career-high 51 saves to keep the puck out and it deflected out towards the far boards. Paige Beebe corralled it and sent it down the ice as she fell towards the boards. It found the back of the net with just .3 seconds left on the clock and Bemidji State upset the Buckeyes 3-2. Gabby Rosenthal and Clair DeGeorge scored for OSU earlier in the game. Graysen Myers and Kayla Santl were the Beavers’ goal scorers. Ohio State responded in a big way on Saturday. Eight different Buckeyes lit the lamp to lead the team to an 8-1 win. DeGeorge led the Buckeyes with a goal and three assists.
Minnesota State at (3) Wisconsin
Mankato scored :31 into the game as Brittyn Fleming beat Kenned Blair to put MSU up 1-0. It was the third straight Friday Wisconsin gave up a goal in the opening minute of the game. Unlike recent games, the Badgers replied quickly. Nicole LaMantia tied it up two minutes later and Daryl Watts put Wisconsin up 2-1 before the midpoint of the period. Kelsey King tied the game for the Mavericks and the teams headed to the locker room with the score knotted at 2. Casey O’Brien scored what would prove to be the game winner in the second and Watts added her second of the game to extend the lead to 4-2 before the second intermission. O’Brien scored her second of the game in the final frame to give Wisconsin a 5-2 win. Saturday was Wisconsin’s senior day and the last-year players made their mark. Daryl Watts had two goals and three assists, Grace Bowlby had three assists and Delaney Drake had two goals to pace the Badgers to a 7-2 win. Watts had a nine point weekend and moved into sole possession of second place on the NCAA career scoring list. She needs just 10 points to tie Megan Agosta’s all-time mark of 303. She’s also tied for fifth in all-time goals with 133 and tied for fourth all time in career assists with 160.
St. Thomas at (4) Minnesota Duluth
All the scoring in the first game of this series happened within four minutes in the second period. Gabby Krause dug the puck out of the back boards and took it in herself to put UMD up 1-0. Just 39 seconds later, Naomi Rogge kept the defense at bay with a series of great stickhandling before seeing Anneke Linser open in front of the net. Linser redirected the pass into the back of the net to make it 2-0. Brieja Parent scored on the power play for St. Thomas less than three minutes later, but that was it. The Tommies managed just six shots on the game and Minnesota Duluth took a 2-1 win. Six different Bulldogs scored on Saturday to give them an 8-1 win and weekend sweep. Naomi Rogge led UMD with two goals and two assists. Clara Van Wieren added two goals and an assist. Allie Monrean was the goal-scorer for St. Thomas.
Maine at (5) Northeastern
Maureen Murphy tallied a hat trick for the second straight game to lead the Huskies to a 8-1 win. Chloe Aurard added two goals and two assists and Skylar Fontaine had four assists in the win. Northeastern claimed the Hockey East regular season title on Saturday with a 2-0 win. Skylar Fontaine and Maddie Mills each scored on the player advantage to earn the victory and sweep.
Princeton at (6) Harvard
The Crimson closed out the Ivy League portion of their schedule with a 2-0 win over Princeton. Harvard are the 2022 Ivy League Champions. Becca Gilmore and Brooke Jovanovich scored for the Crimson in the win.
(9) Quinnipiac at (6) Harvard
The Bobcats earned their fourth win over a ranked team on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Harvard. The game started in the Crimson’s favor, with Becca Gilmore putting them up 1-0 just five minutes into the game. Maddy Samoskevich tied the game up on the power play in the second. Olivia Mobley scored the game-winner less than a minute into the third and the Bobcats held off the Crimson for the rest of the period to get the win.
(9) Clarkson at (7) Yale
The Bulldogs helped shore up their spot atop the ECAC with a win over Clarkson on Friday. Greta Skarzynski scored in the opening seconds of the middle period to put Yale up 1-0. Nicole Gosling tied in on the PP for Clarkson, but Charlotte Welch got an extra attacker goal of her own to put Yale up 2-1. Tess Dettling’s late game goal ensure the 3-1 win for the Bulldogs.
St. Lawrence at (7) Yale
The Bulldogs keep rewriting their record books. Saturday’s 3-1 win over St. Lawrence advanced their program’s record for season and conference wins and clinched the team’s second-ever home playoff series. The last time was in 2005. Claire Dalton, Rebecca Vanstone and Greta Skarzynski scored for the Elis. Shailynn Snow was the lone goal-scorer for the Saints.
Union at (8) Colgate
The Raiders used a five-goal second period to power themselves to an 8-0 win over Union on Friday. Delani MacKay, Kalty Kaltounkova and Dara Grieg each scored twice for Colgate in the win. Danielle Serdachny added a goal and two assists.
RPI at (8) Colgate
Sydney Bard, Katie Chan and Danielle Serdachny all scored to lead Colgate to a 3-0 win.
(9) Quinnipiac at Dartmouth
Lexie Adzija, Sadie Peart and Maya Labad each scored twice and Alexa Hoskin had four assists as the Bobcats downed the Big Green 7-2. Lauren Messier and Tiffany Hill were the goal scorers for Dartmouth in the loss.
(9) Clarkson at Brown
Seven different skaters scored as Clarkson defeated Brown 8-1. Haley Winn led the Golden Knights with two goals and an assist. Laurence Frenette and Florence Lessard each added a goal and an assist.
