From left, Makenna Webster, Vanessa Upson, Aerin Frankel, and Suzette Faucher.
Four women’s hockey players have earned Hockey Commissioners Association monthly honors for October.
Wisconsin sophomore forward Makenna Webster is player of the month, followed by Mercyhurst freshman forward Vanessa Upson as rookie of the month, and co-goaltenders of the month in Northeastern graduate student Aerin Frankel and Franklin Pierce sophomore Suzette Faucher.
Webster led the NCAA with 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) as the Badgers ran off 12 wins to start the season where the 2021 national champions left off. Scoring in 10 of 12 UW games, she had eight multi-point games. She also led the nation with a plus/minus rating of plus-23.
A flashy forward, Upson went for eight goals and 16 points in 13 games for the Lakers. Upson’s 1.23 points per game is tops among NCAA freshmen. She also led freshmen in goals. assists, and points. She leads her team in goals (8) and points (16). Her game-winning goal in overtime against RPI was featured on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
Frankel, the national goalie of the year in 2020-21, hasn’t lost a step. She led the Huskies to a 6-1 start with a GAA of 0.88 and a save percentage of .961. Included in those numbers are three shutouts.
Faucher had a small but impressive sampling of work. In her four games, she twice made 41 saves, once in a 4-0 shutout of Holy Cross and also in a 1-0 loss at Mercyhurst. In all, her stats were 0.76 GAA, 3-1-0 record and a save percentage of .976.
Rivier bench erupts after overtime winning goal scored against Westfield State (Photo by Rivier Athletics)
The Rivier Raiders have kicked off their first NCAA season successfully by winning three of their first five games. But it isn’t about wins in building the program says head coach Matt Keating, the goal is to build a culture of character players both on and off the ice with the results mirroring the effort in practice and preparation.
“We have to earn everything every day,” said Keating. “We have to earn our place on campus at a school that has given us great support and give back to that community as well as the larger one we live in. We also need to earn our results by working hard at the coaching staff level as well as the player level. It is all new for all of us – me as a first-year head coach and them as players in the first-year of this program. We are building something together and that requires trust on both sides. Trust is earned and I think we off to a good start with the team in building that mutual trust.”
Opening night saw the Raiders face-off with Southern New Hampshire who put constant pressure on Rivier in building a 4-1 lead midway into the second period. The Raiders didn’t quit and scored three goals late in the middle stanza to tie the game at 4-4 with Jon Tavella scoring twice. The only goal of the final period came off the stick of Milan Breczko giving Rivier their maiden win in stunning fashion by a 5-4 score.
“It was great to see us stay focused in the game,” noted Keating. “LJ [Newell] made 40 saves to give us a chance and I thought we got back to the game plan which got the offense going. As a player I have been in those situations so I can help our players with staying in the moment and focusing on the next shift. We, as coaches., want them to execute on the things we work so hard on in practice. I learned from Jamie Rice at Babson that things become automatic when you execute at a high level what you work on every day. For us to lose, you are going to have to beat us. That is where I need the players to trust in the work ethic that will make us a better team as we go forward day-by-day.”
Since the opening night win, Rivier has gone 2-2-0 with an overtime win against Westfield State and a bounce back 3-1 win over Franklin Pierce after being shutout by Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 4-0. The team is learning as they play and growing in skill and style of play to the delight of their coach.
“We have a big roster,” said Keating. “That makes it hard knowing a number of players are going to be in the stands on game night, but everyone has the ability to earn ice time. One example is Ashton Jones who wasn’t even on roster at the start of the season and didn’t play in the first two games, but he started doing things in practice that earned him a spot in the line-up and he has taken off since his first game where he scored a goal and an assist and blocked a bunch of shots when we needed them most. Like many of our other players I think Ashton still has a lot of upside, and it is our job as coaches to find it and give the opportunity for it to happen on the ice.
In a season of firsts, Rivier will embark on their first team overnight road trip this weekend when they travel to face fellow-independent Morrisville in a two-game series.
“I think it is a great opportunity for the team to bond with each other on the road,” stated Keating. “It’ll be a little different than when I was at Babson, and you played two different teams on the two nights, but I think our guys will enjoy the challenge of playing in a different atmosphere and playing good hockey against a quality opponent. These games will be the next benchmark for us with increasing our comfort with each other, tweaking little things and playing to our strengths which I see in our speed and skill. We are already scoring a ton of 5-on-5 goals which is usually the hard part so we can build on that in other aspects of our game like the power play. Right now ,it is a lot of fun for all of us and we want to keep that momentum building beyond the score and outcome of the games.”
The trip to Morrisville is the first of back-to-back road trips for the raiders who will follow the Morrisville trip with a date in Castleton’s Spartan Invitational where they face the host institution on Friday after Thanksgiving. A re-match with Franklin Pierce or game with another first-year program in Arcadia University depending on Friday’s outcome.
Minnesota Duluth senior Tanner Laderoute has been a part of two national championships with the Bulldogs (photo: Terry Cartie Norton).
Minnesota Duluth is the No. 4 team in the county and has reached the last four Frozen Fours, winning two of them.
Seldom do the Bulldogs see scoring as a huge chore.
Neither do other teams of that caliber, so what sets them apart from the rest are players who can do a bit of everything.
UMD senior Tanner Laderoute prides himself on playing such a role.
The Edmonton, Alberta, native bagged two goals in as many games two weeks ago in a road split against Western Michigan. Nov. 5-6 marked the second and third multi-goal games of his career, and his first since the third game of his freshman season.
Laderoute now has five goals and six points through 10 games this season, keeping him well on pace to surpass his 10-point total as a junior, when he scored three goals. His career-high season point total (16 in 31 games during the 2019-20 season) is also very much within reach.
He was held scoreless last weekend at home against Colorado College, as UMD won 5-0 on Friday and skated to a scoreless tie before the Bulldogs took the shootout.
He didn’t factor into the scoring against CC, but he did things away from the net that help separate good teams from great ones. His four blocked shots, including three on Friday, added up as UMD bumped its record on the season to 7-2-1.
“I’m able to play up and down the lineup, or wherever Coach (Scott) Sandelin needs to put me,” Laderoute said. “He calls me a little bit of a Swiss Army knife, so whatever he needs me to do, I’m willing and wanting to do that.”
Lateroute was more heavily relied upon as a scorer during his time in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He had a team-best 32 goals and 37 assists in his final season with Okotoks, helping the Oilers to the AJHL playoff finals, but his job changed after he moved stateside.
“When you’re around extremely good players, you change your game to do some things a little differently to get yourself into the lineup,” he said.
“When I got here, we had guys that already had that (offensive) burden on their shoulders, so I took a role of not getting scored on, gaining momentum, blocking shots and making hits. That has translated into how I play now, but I’m mixing in offense, too.”
It’s that ability for a forward to not stress over stats that makes Laderoute a difference-maker.
“This is so intangible, but it’s just about feeling good about how I’m playing,” he said. “I think it comes down to that more, and if I can finish a weekend feeling like I’ve played well, I’d rather have that.”
“I’m happy with my game. I feel pretty good about that, and it’s translated into a couple of goals, so that’s a cherry on top.”
Penn State junior Kevin Wall leads the Nittany Lions in scoring with seven goals and 11 points in 11 games (photo: Craig Houtz).
A 6-4 victory over North Dakota in Nashville put a bow on the early portion of the Penn State’s nonconference schedule and gave the Nittany Lions a 6-1-0 record.
The start of the Big Ten schedule hasn’t been as kind to the team from Hockey Valley.
A trip to Minneapolis gives Penn State another chance to capture its first conference victory of the season after dropping the first four to Ohio State and Michigan.
In true Penn State fashion, the Nittany Lions outshot the Buckeyes and Wolverines in all four games for a combined total of 136-113. However, they’ve been outscored to a tune of 20-6 and have only one power-play goal on a dozen opportunities.
The Ohio State series was the first two-game set away from Pegula Ice Arena for the team this season. The victory over North Dakota technically goes down as a neutral-site win, but with the way that fan base travels UND never plays in a true neutral-site game. The games at Minnesota, and the following Tuesday-Wednesday series at St. Thomas, are opportunities to get things cooking away from the friendly confines this season.
Even with the tough stretch of games and playing the two teams most considered to be conference favorites back-to-back, Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said after Michigan completed the sweep on Friday that the morale of the team was still high.
“From our coaching standpoint, one thing that was very important to us was that the guys stayed very positive on the bench when there’s a couple of instances where we certainly maybe could have let it go and they didn’t so I was very proud about that,” he said. “I think the mood was that we have to work our way out of this funk.”
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko didn’t have much to say about Penn State’s recent results at his media availability this week other than he’s still expecting to face a tough offensive test.
“They shoot from everywhere,” Motzko said. “They like to play with speed, they like to play up-and-down, they like to transition. If you relate it to football, they’re Don Coryell, they’re throwing that thing all over the rink.
“You have to pay attention to it, and you have to be ready for it, because it’s different from what we see from a lot of teams.”
Notre Dame, Michigan set for a marquee matchup
As pointed out in last week’s Big Ten column, Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson likes his team to be referred to as a puck-possession team instead of a defensive outfit.
If there’s one team in the conference, or country for that matter, that you’d be well-served to keep the puck away from, it’s Michigan.
A gander at the Wolverines’ statistics chart shows that all the usual suspects that were predicted to put up impressive point numbers before the season started are already doing so. Kent Johnson leads the team with 20 points, Owen Power has 18, and Matty Beniers has 15, which include a team-leading nine goals.
Beniers has been centering Michigan’s top line with Johnson and Brendan Brisson as his wingers and it seems like that unit has found another gear.
“We’ve started to find a lot of chemistry this last four or five games together,” Beniers said on Monday. “Moving the puck quick and playing off each other. It’s going to take some time, but I think we’re moving in the right direction and playing really well right now.
“It’s a lot of fun, that’s all I can say.”
Michigan’s Kent Johnson collected nine goals and 27 points in 26 games during the 2020-21 season and already has 20 points in 12 games this season (photo: Jonathan Knight).
It’s not just the top guns scoring, either.
Michigan has had 16 players score at least one goal this season and even goaltender Erik Portillo has picked up an assist.
In outscoring Wisconsin 8-1 over the two games last weekend, Notre Dame continues to quietly prove that its offense is on the rise, too. Specifically, junior Max Ellis has had a great start to the season for the Irish. His seven goals and 13 points pace the team.
In net, Cornell transfer Matthew Galajda seems to have settled into the starting role. He stopped 46 of the 47 shots faced last weekend and picked up his first shutout for Notre Dame on Saturday.
Garrett Hallford scored three goals for Trine in a 4-1 win over Concordia Saturday. Photo Credit: Trine Athletics
Garrett Hallford delivered the second hat trick of his career Saturday as he helped lift Trine to a 4-1 win over Concordia and a series sweep of the Falcons. Trine won the opener 4-2 the previous night.
Shane Brancato got the job done on defense as he made 19 saves. It’s his fourth win of the year.
The Thunder jumped in front 2-0 and never looked back against the Falcons as they skated to their third consecutive win.
In their five wins this season, they have scored four or more goals, including punching in five goals twice.
Bulldogs on a roll
Adrian picked up two wins over Marian over the weekend, finishing off the sweep with a 5-3 win Saturday after winning 6-2 on Friday.
The Bulldogs have now won their last three games.
A four-goal second period proved to be the difference for Adrian, which got two goals from Matus Spodniak.
Ryan Pitoscia had a big game as well, dishing out three assists. Rex Moe tallied a goal and an assist.
Cameron Gray stepped up in goal, making five saves late in the action to help Adrian seal the deal. He stopped 17 shots in all.
Adrian has yet to play a home game in the regular season. The Bulldogs have won three of four away from home.
Cobbers come through with sweep
Concordia completed its first weekend of MIAC play in impressive fashion, pulling off a two-game sweep of Saint Mary’s.
The Cobbers closed out the series Saturday with a 6-3 win after winning the opener 8-3.
Concordia scored the first five goals of the game in the finale and Jackson Nelson is unbeaten through four games after stopping 29 shots.
Six different players scored in the win, with Tanner Breidenbach scoring his second goal of the series in the win and Hanson O’Leary punched in the first goal of his career.
Auggies tough to score on
Augsburg did not allow a goal in its two weekend games, including in a 1-0 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday. They blanked Wisconsin-Stout 3-0 on Friday.
Jack Robbel recorded a shutout over the Blugolds in a battle of nationally ranked opponents, stopping 23 shots. It was his first shutout of the season and the second of his career. Fritz Belisle scored the lone goal as Augsburg continued its unbeaten start to the season. The Auggies are 4-0.
Oles earn split
St. Olaf came away with a split in its weekend MIAC series with St. Scholastica. The Oles scored twice in each of the first two periods to secure a 5-1 win in the finale Saturday.
Ashton Altmann tallied a goal and two assists while Troy Bowditch also scored and recorded one assist.
It was a bounce-back win for the Oles, who saw the Saints score the final four goals of Friday’s game to pick up a 5-2 win.
Thomas Lalonde stepped up in goal for St. Olaf as he made 34 saves. He picked up the second win of his career.
Wennberg paces Lumberjacks
Victor Wennberg came through with 29 saves and helped lift Northland to a 1-0 win over Hamline Saturday.
The win was the first of the year for the Northland goaltender, who helped the Lumberjacks improve to 2-2-1 on the season.
Daniel Chartrand scored the lone goal of the game as Northland ended a three-game winless streak.
Falcons bounce back
Wisconsin-River Falls notched a 3-1 win over Gustavus Saturday to recover from a loss to Hamline one night earlier.
The Falcons took 37 shots in all and got a goal and an assist from Vilho Saariluoma as well as two assists from Gibb Coady. The goal by Saariluoma was his second of the year.
Dylan Skinner continued his strong effort in goal. He earned his third win of the season after recording 20 saves against the Gusties.
Hilbert College has announced the addition of three new sports, including women’s hockey, which will begin play in the fall of 2022.
“As outlined in our strategic plan, Hilbert has always intended to grow our athletic offerings,” Hilbert president Michael Brophy said in a statement. “Given the current momentum around revitalizing our Hilbert campus and our tremendous community partners, we are energized to accelerate our planned athletics growth by one year.”
Football and men’s and women’s track and field are also being added to the school, which is located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., just south of Buffalo.
“On behalf of the Hilbert College Board of Trustees, we are thrilled to be announcing these new athletic programs,” said trustees chair Laurie Boreanaz Carra. “Providing our students with these additional opportunities for growth in both mind and body aligns well with the college’s strategic plan and mission and will increase access to a Franciscan education for deserving students in our region who are interested in these sports.”
All three programs will become the second NCAA Division III programs of their kind in Erie County, with Buffalo State College the other. The women’s hockey program be one of 14 NCAA Division III teams in New York State.
The women’s hockey program will practice and compete at the ice rink located at the Town of Hamburg Ice Arena on Lakeview Road.
The Hawks are still finalizing plans to join athletic conferences for these respective sports.
Candidates interested in applying for the women’s hockey head coach position can apply here.
The council voted to support legislation that allows all Division III schools with Division I programs to provide financial aid, i.e. athletic scholarships, supporting the proposal that would provide consistent framework to the two percent of Division III schools sponsoring a Division I sport.
Currently 10 schools in the division sponsor a sport in Division I, with five of them able to offer athletics aid dating back to a waiver granted in 2004.
RIT and Union would be affected by this in men’s and women’s hockey.
“As we are gearing up for what will be a historic convention for the NCAA, we had great dialogue surrounding how we are best supporting our student-athletes,” said Fayneese Miller, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Hamline, in a statement. “The D-III membership includes a variety of types of institutions and athletic experiences. It is therefore expected that sometimes difficult, but always thoughtful conversation will arise with any proposal submitted for consideration. And with any proposal that we believe will positively impact our student-athletes, we found good reason to support the three proposals from our membership at the Division III business session.”
Troy Hammond, president at North Central (Ill.), was selected as the next chair of the council while Jim Schmidt, chancellor at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, was voted in as the next vice chair. Their terms will begin after the Division III business session at the convention in January.
Denver swept Western Michigan on home ice at Magness Arena last weekend (photo: Shannon Valerio).
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.
Jim: Well, Ed, this crazy early season has produced its first team to reascend to No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll. Michigan completed an impressive road sweep at Penn State while St. Cloud State took an overtime loss to Omaha at home, dropping the Huskies to the second spot.
Michigan is playing well again after dropping two games of four, losing against Western Michigan of the NCHC and Wisconsin. If you go back to those two games, Michigan was 1 for 9 on the power play. Against Penn State, Michigan was 3 for 7 with the man advantage and 6 for 19 over the last two weekends.
It does seem like special teams are a massive key to the Michigan attack. It doesn’t mean the Wolverines don’t have the talent to score at even strength, but if you take a penalty against Michigan, it seems like a scary proposition, no?
Ed: The talent Mel Pearson and his staff have assembled is indeed remarkable in this era of college hockey. But when you can roll out two power-play units each with multiple first-round draft picks, you’ve got a one-two punch with a man advantage that’s hard to defend against.
It’s worth noting that Pearson has used some different power-play combinations, splitting up a scary early-season power-play unit that was comprised of Matty Beniers, Thomas Bordeleau, Brendon Brisson, Kent Johnson, and Owen Power. Seems smart to spread the wealth a bit.
St. Cloud will now travel to Western Michigan and North Dakota, with a break in between at Thanksgiving. Brett Larson told us on our USCHO Game of the Week podcast that the goal for his Huskies was to win at least four games out of six, including last weekend. The Huskies would need to pick up eight points in these next two series to meet the target. What will St. Cloud need to do well to achieve that?
Jim: Wow, that’s a tall task. But if you’re going to be among the top teams – and I expect St. Cloud State to minimally be a top-five team all season – you have to find a way to win these games.
The one common denominator between Western Michigan and North Dakota is that both teams play pretty heavy games. You have to be prepared for physical play and understanding that there will be a lot of pressure on the puck handler the entire game. Honestly, though, St. Cloud matches up well with both, in my opinion. So maybe we just have to wait for these games to be played.
Let’s look at another team that I absolutely love how they’re played out of the gate. I think Rand Pecknold was prepared to ride Notre Dame transfer Dylan St. Cyr in net, but an early injury forced him to incorporate Yaniv Perets in net, who has been solid. The Bobcats have just a single loss to this point and this past weekend overcame a 3-0 deficit to Arizona State to win 5-3 on Friday.
I know it is very difficult to identify national contenders this early in the season, but Quinnipiac’s lack of quit last Friday checks a major box in my book. They have a belief in their own product, and that goes a long way.
Ed: I really like how Quinnipiac is playing. They’re dominating in almost every measurement, outscoring opponents by an average of 3.0 to 1.4 and outshooting them 37.4 to 17.7. And the Bobcats have won 58.5 percent of faceoffs. The one flaw so far might be the power play, which has scored at a measly .132, although the penalty kill has only allowed three goals in 32 tries.
It will be interesting to see how Pecknold handles that goalie tandem going forward. My question is whether he will continue to have them share ice time, or eventually land on one main starter?
Quinnipiac will see some competition for the top spot within ECAC Hockey and it looks like a prime candidate for that may be Cornell. It’s early in the season for the No. 10 Big Red, but their only loss was a close one to Harvard, and they’re fresh off an 11-3 thumping of Rensselaer.
It looks like no team is separating itself from the pack yet in Hockey East, though UMass has just one loss in the conference, and its cross-state rival UMass Lowell is a perfect 4-0-0 in league play. Who is impressing you so far in Hockey East?
Jim: That’s a tough question to tackle as I want to see certain teams in Hockey East play certain opponents.
Right now, the way UMass, UMass Lowell, Providence and Northeastern are all playing impresses me. But I also feel like some dark horses are waiting in the wings to pick off contenders. Merrimack has performed far above expectations thus far and UConn, absent last weekend, has opened plenty of eyes.
One thing you may have noticed is that I didn’t mention Boston University or Boston College on that list. I think both teams have a TON of potential, but I’m waiting for both to prove it. I loved BU’s pushback last weekend when their backs were against the wall against UMass. BU only got a single point in an OT game on Friday losing a shootout, then trailed 3-2 on Saturday despite leading 2-0 at one point.
Their comeback to force OT and then win in the extra 3-on-3 session could catapult this team. Those types of games always grab my attention. I’ll be watching closely as BU battles Northeastern this weekend.
I don’t know that the Saturday win will be a signature victory to get this team moving forward. But are there other teams in your eyes that need a signature win to get their season going in the right direction?
Ed: I guess it all depends on how one defines a “signature win.”
I’d define it as a victory against a team that you’re not favored to beat that serves to propel your team forward or turn around a season. Sometimes that might even require, to coin a phrase, a “signature sweep.”
At 0-4-0 in the Big Ten, Penn State could use at least a split this weekend at No. 7 Minnesota, a team that itself has been up and down a bit.
Arizona State is 6-6 on the season and likely needs to go something like 14-8 or better the rest of the way to be in NCAA tournament contention. A weekend sweep of No. 20 Bemidji State at Oceanside is a tall task, but certainly would make a statement.
And although No. 13 Western Michigan is 6-4 overall, the sweep at the hands of No. 11 Denver last weekend has put the Broncos at 1-3 in NCHC play. At least a split at home against No. 2 St. Cloud keeps WMU in the hunt in the league, but dropping to 1-5 would really start to separate them from the top.
At least a win – if not a sweep or a majority of points – against St. Cloud could prove in retrospect to be the signature weekend that propels the Broncos to postseason success.
Erik Portillo made 68 of 71 saves in Michigan’s weekend sweep over Penn State (photo: Jonathan Knight).
With 42 first-place votes this week, Michigan is back at No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, up one spot from a week ago.
St. Cloud State is down one to No. 2, garnering four first-place votes, along with No. 3 Minnesota State, which holds firm in the third spot picking up four first-place votes as well.
Minnesota Duluth and Quinnipiac stay No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, while No. 6 North Dakota and No. 7 Minnesota trade places from last week’s rankings.
Fitchburg State’s Rece Bergeman scored a hat trick in the Falcon’s 8-0 MASCAC opening win over Salem State (Photo by FSU Athletics)
Four-point-weekend. It’s a goal for every team in conference play but all so difficult to reach for most. Two wins on a weekend where the competition is always tough. There were a few teams that met the challenge this week and several more that found three points of four. Teams don’t want to get caught with one or none as points are hard to make up as the season progresses. Here are some of the highlights from the past weekend.
CCC
After a 2-2 overtime tie on Friday between Endicott and the University of New England, the scene shifted to Maine for the Saturday re-match. The Gulls used goals from Noah Strawn, Andrew Kurapov and an empty-net goal from Cam Speck to steal a road win and two points from the Nor’easters by a 3-1 final. Conor O’Brien outdueled Billy Girard IV stopping 26 of 27 shots in the win.
Western New England swept their weekend series with Wentworth in dramatic fashion starting with Saturday’s 4-3 overtime thriller. Kyle Knight scored twice for the Golden Bears who surrendered an early 2-0 advantage. Knight’s second goal tied the game at 3-3 in the third period before Sam Mitchell won it in overtime. On Sunday, Mitchell again scored a big goal for WNE, but it was Jordie Morgan’s goal early in the third period that gave the 4-3 win to the home Bears.
Independents
Rivier earned their third win in their young inaugural season with a 3-1 decision over Franklin Pierce last Tuesday night. The Raiders took a 2-1 lead on goals by Milan Breczko and Shane Murphy and sealed the victory with a late empty net goal by Ryan Nolte. Luke Newell picked up the win in goal making 17 saves.
MASCAC
Fitchburg State picked up a pair of conference wins that started with an 8-0 decision over Salem State on Thursday night. Brian McGrath earned the shutout making 38 saves while Rece Bergeman was the offensive star scoring a hat trick for the Falcons. On Saturday, the Falcons needed a rally to down Framingham State. Dylan Marty gave the Rams a 1-0 lead in the second period before Hunter Fortin got the Falcons on the board to even the score. Wyatt Wilmshurst gave FSU the lead and Fortin scored his second to ice the 3-1 win.
NE-10
Southern New Hampshire took a pair of 3-1 decisions over Post over the weekend. On Friday night, power-play goals from George Thurston and James Nash provided the Penmen a 2-0 lead and Jackson Aldrich scored in the third period for the final marker before Post’s John Krapian ended JT Kossakowski’s shutout bid for the 3-1 final. On Saturday, Matt Amante and Chase Lapworth exchanged goals in the second period before Ryan Clear gave the Penmen the lead in the second period. Amante scored his second of the game to seal the win in the third period.
NEHC
While Norwich, Babson and Hobart have been garnering a lot of early season attention, the Massachusetts-Boston Beacons reminded everyone they are around this weekend with wins over Southern Maine and Babson for a big four-point weekend. On Friday, two goals each from Chris Peters and Joe Petruzella helped the Beacons to a 9-3 romp. Sam Best made 23 saves in the win for UMB. On Saturday, the Beacons behind Best’s 39 saves, knocked off the nationally-ranked Beavers 4-3 in a thrilling contest. The Beacons built a 4-1 lead on goals from Ethan Nitkin, Jake Adkins and a pair from Alex Duncan. Babson would not go away as Cam Schmitt and Chris Rooney scored less than a minute apart just over midway through the third period but could not solve Best again. The win moved the unbeaten Beacons to the top of the NEHC standings.
SUNYAC
While Geneseo, who went 2-0-0 on the weekend, has garnered a lot of attention, undefeated Brockport again took a weekend sweep to move to 5-0-0 on the season. On Friday, Mitchell Parsons, Jacob King and Connor Galloway provided the offense while goaltender Nolan Egbert stopped all 25 shots, he faced to earn the 3-0 shutout win. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles were led by Andrew Harley’s two goal and one assist game in a decisive 7-3 win over Plattsburgh. A four-goal second period broke open the game for the Golden Eagles who notched their fifth consecutive win to open the season and tie a school record dating back to 1980.
UCHC
While Utica continued their offensive barrage of teams with a 10-1 win over Chatham on Friday night, the Pioneers needed to play a full sixty minutes to down Stevenson on Saturday. After Luke Benitez gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead, Regen Cavanaugh, Eric Holland and Brandon Osmundson gave the visitors a 3-1 lead. Frank Vitucci cut the deficit to one goal late in the second period before Holland and John Moncovich sealed the win for Utica.
Neumann downed Arcadia and Lebanon Valley for a weekend sweep in UCHC play. A four goal second period and four points from Barry Kneedler gave the Knights a 7-3 win on Friday night. On Saturday, Joe DiGiulio’s goal late in the third period proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 win against the Flying Dutchmen.
Three Biscuits
Rece Bergeman – Fitchburg State – scored a hat trick in the Falcons’ 8-0 victory over Salem State on Thursday.
Nolan Egbert – Brockport – recorded 25 saves in a 3-0 shutout win over Potsdam on Friday and stopped 25 shots to earn a big win over Plattsburgh on Saturday.
Barry Kneedler – Neumann – scored two goals and added two assists in a 7-3 win over Arcadia on Friday.
Consistent play and points are important to every team and while just a few are taking full advantage, the competition level continues to ramp up every week making each and every contest exciting.
Cornell celebrates one of its 11 goals against Rensselaer last Saturday at Lynah Rink (photo: Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics).
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Second-ranked Michigan stays hot, sweeps No. 19 Penn State on road
After splitting two series to end October, Michigan has now swept two to start November.
The Wolverines downed Penn State 5-1 on Thursday and completed the sweep by winning 6-2 on Saturday.
Matty Beniers had two power play goals in Thursday’s contest and Luke Morgan, Johnny Beecher and Garrett Van Wyhe also chipped in. Luke Hughes scored twice on Friday, where the Wolverines also got goals from Beniers, Brendan Brisson Thomas Bordeleau and Owen Power.
Erik Portillo was solid in both contests, stopping 33 shots on Thursday and 35 on Friday. The Wolverines welcome Notre Dame to Ann Arbor next weekend.
2. No. 3 Minnesota State throttles Bowling Green on Friday, finishes sweep Saturday
Minnesota State must have not enjoyed getting upset at Ferris State last weekend, as it took out its aggression on Bowling Green at home this weekend. The Mavericks downed the Falcons 9-2 on Friday and won 5-3 on Saturday.
Junior forward Cade Borchardt had a hat trick in Friday’s game and Ryan Sandelin scored twice. The Mavericks also got goals from Sam Morton, Jake Livingstone, Nathan Smith and David Silye.
It looked to be more of the same on Saturday when Julian Napravnik, Ondrej Pavel and Lucas Sowder gave MSU a 3-0 lead after one period, but Taylor Schneider and Nathan Burke scored for the Falcons in the second to cut the lead to one goal. The team traded goals in the third period before Morton put the game out of reach with about five minutes left in the third.
Minnesota State and St. Thomas will play a home-and-home series this Thursday and Saturday. Bowling Green will host Lake Superior State.
3. No. 11 Omaha battles back for OT victory over No. 1 St. Cloud State
After St. Cloud State won 5-1 on Friday, Omaha found itself trailing 1-0 after one period on Saturday thanks to a goal by Jack Peart. Nolan Krenzen leveled the score around the midpoint of the game and the Mavericks took their first lead of the weekend when Ty Mueller scored at the 8:39 mark of the third period. The Huskies leveled the score with a shorthanded goal by Kevin Fitzgerald with 5:19 left in regulation and that would be all the scoring until Taylor Ward gave the Mavericks the overtime winner at the 2:46 mark.
The loss doesn’t count as a full loss for PairWise purposes but, with both teams behind them sweeping, it’ll be interesting to see if the Huskies lose their top spot in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll this week.
4. No 13 Cornell finds its groove, hangs 11 on RPI
Offense was not in short supply for Cornell this weekend, with a 4-1 on victory over Union on Friday and a 11-3 drubbing of RPI on Saturday. The latter contest was the first time Cornell had scored 11 goals since 1979.
The two teams did trade goals in the first period, with Ben Bernard scoring for Cornell and Rory Herrman leveling things up for RPI, but that was as close as it’d get for the Engineers. Ben Tupker, Max Andreev, Ondrej Psenicka, Andreev and Zach Tupker scored the next five goals of the game for Cornell. Andreev completed his hat trick in the second period and added a fourth in the third period, Tim Rego, Matt Steinburg also scored for Cornell.
5. Boston University has positive weekend vs. No. 8 Massachusetts
It had been a struggle, to say the least, over the past couple weekends for Boston University. The Terriers has lost five of their last six but avoided a loss against UMass this weekend. The two teams tied on Friday and BU pulled out a 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday.
Friday’s game featured three goals in the first, Reed Lebster and Garrett Wait scored for UMass and Case McCarthy for BU. Dylan Peterson leveled the contest at the 12:13 mark of the second period and that did it for the scoring.
The Terriers took a 2-0 lead on Saturday, but gave up an even-strength, power-play and shorthanded goal to find themselves down by one in the third period. Ty Gallagher tied the game at the 6:30 mark of the third period and McCarthy netted the overtime winner at the 3:29 mark.
Boston University plays a home-and-home series with Northeastern next weekend.
6. No. 4 Minnesota Duluth cruises on Friday, can’t find any offense on Saturday
Maybe this is proof that one game doesn’t always necessarily carry over to the next. Minnesota Duluth had no problem with Colorado College on Friday, winning 5-0, but neither team could find the back of the net in Saturday’s contest.
Koby Bender, Noah Cates, Casey Gilling, Owen Gallatin and Blake Biondi scored for the Bulldogs on Friday. Saturday, it was all about the goaltenders. Matt Vernon made 30 saves for the Tigers and Ryan Fanti had 26 for UMD.
The Bulldogs travel to North Dakota next weekend and CC will take a weekend off.
7. No. 18 Ohio State rallies to down No. 6 Minnesota, Gophers salvage split Saturday
For about 24 minutes of Friday’s contest, all was looking well for the Gophers. They were leading 3-0 thanks to goals by Jack Perbix and Ben Meyers in the first period, but Ohio State started to turn the game around early in the second. Jake Wise and Patrick Guzzo scored in the middle period to cut the Gophers’ lead to one and Gustaf Westlund tied the game early in the third before Joe Dunlap potted the game-winner with 10 minutes left in the game.
The Gophers nabbed the lead again on Saturday with a late first-period goal from Jonny Sorenson. This time they held on as Matthew Knies doubled the lead with a power-play goal in the third and Jack LaFontaine stopped all 13 Ohio State shots.
8. Canisius picks up first sweep of season
Of the three conference series in Atlantic Hockey this weekend two ended in splits, but Canisius was able to pick up its first sweep of the season.
The Golden Griffins downed RIT 5-2 on Friday at home and followed that up with a 4-1 victory on Saturday.
Friday’s game was al teams display as six of the seven goals scored were via the power play. The one that wasn’t was a late shorthanded goal by Keaton Mastrodonato to give Canisius its fifth goal. Jackson Decker, Lee Lapid and Max Kouznetsov also scored for the Golden Griffins.
Canisius kept the special teams vibe alive on Saturday when Ryan Miotto scored a shorthanded goal to go up 1-0 and Austin Alger doubled the lead with a power play goal. RIT’s Elijah Gonsalves scored a very late power-play goal to ruin the shutout for Jacob Barczewski, who had 28 saves.
9. Bemidji State sweeps at Lake Superior State
Bemidji State had a rough go to start the season, going 1-3 against Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota, but the Beavers are now 5-1 since then after sweeping Lake Superior State this weekend. BSU won 5-4 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday.
Alex Ierullo, Owen Sillinger, Lukas Sillinger and Tyler Kirkup scored goals for the Beavers on Friday night. The Lakers were able to erase a two-goal lead in the second period and were able to cut it close in the end but eventually ran out of time.
The Lakers took a 1-0 lead on Saturday thanks to goal from Cole Craft but BSU got the next three in the contest. Miroslav Mucha cut the BSU lead to one in the third period, but Owen Sillinger scored an empty netter to secure the sweep.
10. No. 15 Notre Dame too much for Wisconsin at home
Roman Ahcan scored a power-play goal at the 2:35 mark of Friday’s game, but that lead and any good feelings for the Badgers about the weekend would only last until early in the second period when Landon Slaggert evened the score at the 2:47 mark. From then on, it was all Notre Dame. The Irish took Friday’s contest 5-1 and picked up a 3-0 victory on Saturday.
Jesse Lansdell, Trevor Janicke and Max Ellis scored for Notre Dame on Friday night. Grant Silianoff, Nick Leivermann and Hunter Strand lit the lamp on Saturday while Matthew Galajda made 22 saves for the shutout.
On Friday, seven different Gophers scored goals, including Emily Zumwinkle, who scored her first career goal. Goalie Makayla Pahl earned her first career point on a goal from Taylor Heise. The Gophers outshot the Tigers 59-12 and earned a 10-0 win. In the second game, Emma Connor scored her first as a Gopher and six other Minnesota players lit the lamp to get a 7-1 win and weekend sweep. Hana Solinger was the goal scorer for RIT.
(4) Northeastern at Vermont
In the first game, Brooke Hobson, Maureen Murphy and Megan Carter all scored to lead Northeastern to a 3-0 win. Kristina Shanahan put Vermont on the board first on Saturday, but the Huskies came back with three unanswered goals to earn a 3-1 win and weekend sweep. Murphy scored her nation-leading 19th goal with less than 30 second left in the first and Andrea Renner and Katie Cipra each scored in the third to secure the win.
(5) Colgate at RPI
The Raiders out-shot RPI 49-16, but this game needed overtime to find a winner. The two teams swapped goals through the first to periods. RPI’s Audrey McCutcheon opened the scoring early in the first and Katie Chan responded for Colgate midway through the frame. The Engineers took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission thanks to a goal from Ellie Kaiser. But the Raiders tied it up in the second with a goal from Darcie Lappan. Eleri MacKay’s game with less than two minutes to go looked like it might be the decider, but Julia Blitz’s power play goal with 51 seconds left in regulation tied it at three and forced overtime. Colgate eked out the win with a goal from Tanner Gates in the extra frame as Colgate won 4-3.
(5) Colgate at Union
Dara Grieg had two goals and two assists, Darcie Lappan added two goals and Danielle Serdachny had a goal and two assists to lead Colgate to a dominant 7-1 win. Grace Heiting scored the goal for Union in the loss.
(7) Boston College vs. Providence
Mirielle Kingsley made a career-high 42 saves and Hunter Barnett scored twice to lead Providence to a 2-1 win on Friday. Gaby Roy scored in the second to put Boston College on the board in the second period, but Barnett tied it up before the second intermission and tallied the game-winner with less than five minutes left in the game. On Saturday, freshman Abby Newhook scored her third game-winning goal of the year 1:24 into overtime to give the Eagles a 2-1 overtime win. Newhook also scored BC’s first goal, midway through the second. Providence responded on the power play with a tally from Lindsay Bochna. But Newhook ended it to get the split for Boston College.
(8) Quinnipiac vs. Princeton
These teams played a close-fought game for more than 40 minutes before Princeton’s Annie Kuehl lit the game in the six minute of the third period to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead. But Quinnipiac lit the lamp three times in less than seven minutes in the middle of the final frame to pull away and get the win. Goals from Nina Steigauf, Sophie Urban and Jess Schryver powered Quinnipiac to the 3-1 win. It was Princeton’s first loss of the season. But the Tigers would return the favor, handing the Bobcats their first defeat of the year with a 1-0 win. Maggie Connors scored the game-winner and secured the victory late in the game, clearing the puck off the goal line to keep Quinnipiac off the board.
(9) Clarkson at Lindenwood
In the first game, Clarkson out-shot Lindenwood 52 to 24 en route to a 5-3 win. Lindenwood killed off all five of Clarkson’s power plays. Olivia Hanson scored her first goal at a Golden Knight to and Baylee Kirwan followed up less than two minutes later to give Clarkson a 2-0 lead to start the game. Teagan Heaslip cut the lead to one and it looked like that’s how the teams would head to the locker rooms, but Brooke McQuigge snuck one in with less than eight seconds left in the first to make it 3-1 Clarkson. McQuigge scored again after the intermission to extend the lead to 4-1 and Caitrin Lonergan’s second-period goal would make it 5-1 at the second period break. Jada Burke and Sierra Burt scored for Lindenwood in the third, but the Lions couldn’t complete the comeback and Clarkson took game one 5-3. On Saturday, the Golden Knight’s once again took an early lead. Gabrielle David scored twice in the first and McQuigge lit the lamp in the first minute of the second to make it 3-0 Clarkson. Burke narrowed the lead to 3-1 before the second intermission. In the third, Valerie Caldwell and Gigi Pora each scored to make it a 4-3 game, but once again the comeback fell short and Kristina Schuler’s empty-net goal secured a 5-3 win and sweep for the Golden Knights.
(10) Harvard at Yale
The Bulldogs scored the first three goals of the game and came away with a 3-1 victory. Charlotte Welch put Yale on the board and then Emma Seitz’s power play goal doubled the lead in the first. In the second period, Kaitlyn Rippon lit the lamp to make it 3-0. Anne Bloomer Scored on the power play to get Harvard on the board, but Yale came away with the 3-1 win.
(10) Harvard at Brown
The Crimson earned a 5-3 on Saturday and with it, coach Katey Stone, who is in her 27th year as the head coach at Harvard, became the fourth women’s head coach and the first female head coach to reach 500 career wins. The first period was back and forth, but Harvard broke through in the second as Maryna Macdonald put them up 1-0. Brown’s Mel Anderson tied it up a few minutes later, but Emma Buckles responded quickly, giving the Crimson a 2-1 lead heading in to the third. Anne Bloomer scored her second of the weekend to extend the lead to 3-1 early in the final frame. Brown cut the lead once more, making it a 3-2 game on a goal from Megan Forrest. Kristin Della Rovere and Dominique Petrie each scored in the third to give Harvard the historic 5-3 win.
Quinnipiac players celebrate a goal as part of five unanswered in the Bobcats’ 5-3 win Friday at home over Arizona State (photo: Rob Rasmussen).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of November 8 fared in games over the weekend of Nov. 12-13.
No. 1 St. Cloud State (9-4-0)
11/12/2021 – No. 11 Omaha 1 at No. 1 St. Cloud State 5
11/13/2021 – No. 11 Omaha 3 at No. 1 St. Cloud State 2 (OT)
No. 2 Michigan (10-2-0)
11/11/2021 – No. 2 Michigan 5 at No. 19 Penn State 1
11/12/2021 – No. 2 Michigan 6 at No. 19 Penn State 2
No. 3 Minnesota State (9-3-0)
11/12/2021 – RV Bowling Green 2 at No. 3 Minnesota State 9
11/13/2021 – RV Bowling Green 3 at No. 3 Minnesota State 5
No. 4 Minnesota Duluth (7-2-1)
11/12/2021 – Colorado College 0 at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth 5
11/13/2021 – Colorado College 0 at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth 0 (OT)
No. 5 Quinnipiac (9-1-2)
11/12/2021 – RV Arizona State 3 at No. 5 Quinnipiac 5
11/13/2021 – RV Arizona State 2 at No. 5 Quinnipiac 5
No. 6 Minnesota (7-5-0)
11/12/2021 – No. 18 Ohio State 4 at No. 6 Minnesota 3
11/13/2021 – No. 18 Ohio State 0 at No. 6 Minnesota 2
No. 7 North Dakota (8-3-0)
11/12/2021 – No. 7 North Dakota 4 at Miami 1
11/13/2021 – No. 7 North Dakota 5 at Miami 4
No. 8 Massachusetts (6-3-1)
11/12/2021 – No. 8 Massachusetts 2 at RV Boston University 2 (OT)
11/13/2021 – RV Boston University 4 at No. 8 Massachusetts 3 (OT)
No. 9 Western Michigan (6-4-0)
11/12/2021 – No. 9 Western Michigan 3 at No. 14 Denver 5
11/13/2021 – No. 9 Western Michigan 2 at No. 14 Denver 5
No. 10 Harvard (4-2-1)
11/08/2021 – No. 10 Harvard 1 at No. 17 Northeastern 2 (OT)
11/12/2021 – No. 10 Harvard 2 at RV Clarkson 6
11/13/2021 – No. 10 Harvard 1 at St. Lawrence 1 (OT)
No. 11 Omaha (9-3-0)
11/12/2021 – No. 11 Omaha 1 at No. 1 St. Cloud State 5
11/13/2021 – No. 11 Omaha 3 at No. 1 St. Cloud State 2 (OT)
UMass Lowell’s Andre Lee scored twice as No. 20 UMass Lowell defeated No. 16 Boston College. The River Hawks picked up wins over BC and No. 17 Northeastern on the weekend (Photo: Rich Gagnon)
Tyler Ward scored at 2:46 of overtime as No. 11 Omaha earned a series split with top-ranked St. Cloud State, 3-2.
The Huskies still take four-of-six points on the weekend having earned a regulation win over the Mavericks on Friday.
Omaha took a lead late into the third period and seemed in position to ice the game when St. Cloud State’s Joe Molenaar was whistled for a major penalty and game misconduct for contact to the head. But rather than extending the lead, Omaha surrendered a shorthanded goal to Kevin Fitzgerald with 5:19 remaining.
That, however, just set up Ward’s heroics set up by a beautiful feed from Brannon McManus.
Andre Lee scored twice and Owen Savory stopped 24 shots to improve to 5-0-1 as No. 20 UMass Lowell handled No. 16 Boston College with a 4-2 victory.
The victory completes a two-win weekend for UMass Lowell, which knocked off No. 17 Northeastern on Friday in overtime.
Defenseman Ben Meehan, the overtime hero on Friday, scored his second goal of the weekend and Carl Berglund put the game away with a nifty redirect of a shot-pass with 9:17 remaining.
A+ passing + a well-placed Carl Berglund = an absolute BEAUTY of a goal! 😍
Lowell jumped to a 2-0 lead, but goals by Trevor Kuntar and Marc McLaughlin just 95 apart in the latter part of the second period sent the game to the third tied at 2.
The River Hawks, who lost on opening night at Arizona State, are unbeaten in their last eight games (6-0-2), the longest such streak in the country. The 6-1-2 record matches the best to start a season for Lowell in its Division I history.
No. 14 Denver 5, No. 9 Western Michigan 2
Denver completed the two-game sweep of Western Michigan, slowing down a Broncos team that had won seven of eight to begin the year but now have lost three straight.
Western Michigan opened the scoring on a Max Sasson goal midway through the first and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
But that’s all goaltender Magnus Chrona would allow, stopping 16 shots over the final two periods and 25 all told. Bobby Brink, Carter Savoie (twice) and Cameron Wright all scored second period goals to wrestle the game back in the Pioneers favor.
Michigan goaltender Erik Portillo stopped 35 shots and the Michigan offense continued its strong production as the Wolverines finished off a sweep of Penn State, 6-2 (File photo: Craig Houtz/Penn State Athletics)
The juggernaut that is the Michigan offense is showing no sign of slowing down.
The second-ranked Wolverines followed Thursday’s 5-1 win over No. 19 Penn State was an equally dominating 6-2 victory on Friday, completing the weekend sweep to remain atop the Big Ten standings.
Luke Hughes scored twice and added an assist and three other Michigan players recorded at least three points in the victory. Goaltender Erik Portillo stopped 35 Penn State shots to earn his 10th win of the season.
Veeti Miertinen scored twice in the first period and St. Cloud State never looked back, cruising to a 5-1 win over Omaha.
It is a solid start for the Huskies to a difficult six-game stretch where they face Omaha, Western Michigan and North Dakota in consecutive two-game series.
The Huskies outshot Omaha, 43-19, and held a 5-0 lead before Cameron Berg’s power play goal with 6:29 remaining spoiled the shutout for David Hrenak.
No. 18 Ohio State 4, No. 6 Minnesota 3
Ohio State trailed, 3-0, after the opening period on Friday only to score the game’s final four goals in a dramatic, 4-3, upset of Minnesota at 3M Arena on Friday.
The Gophers grabbed the early lead on goals by Jack Perbix and two by Ben Meyers, his third and fourth this season.
Ohio State pulled within a goal in the second when Jake Wise scored at 4:26 and Patrick Guzzo potted his third of the year at 8:54.
In the third, the Buckeyes completed the turnaround when Gustaf Westlund and Joe Dunlap each tallied for the 4-3 final.
Maine 6, Merrimack 5 (OT)
Maine’s first-year head coach Ben Barr earned his first coaching victory as his Black Bears team rallied from deficits of 3-1 and 5-4 and David Breazeale’s first goal of the season was the overtime winner as Maine earned a 6-5 victory over Merrimack.
Trailing, 5-4, late in the game, Jake Sirota scored an extra-attacker goal with 1:27 remaining to force the overtime. It was Sirota’s second goal of the night.
Breazeale added two assists for a three-point game, while Merrimack’s Max Newton scored twice in a losing effort.
When the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee approved expanding the women’s hockey tournament field from eight to 11 teams on Wednesday, they showed they are more interested in manufacturing the appearance of equality than in actually achieving it and ruined any illusions I may have had that fundamental, structural changes would take place in response to the Kapler, Hecker and Fink Equity Report (KHF).
Positive changes may be forthcoming, but with this as the NCAA’s opening gambit, it’s difficult to feel encouraged.
The working group of coaches and administrators that were petitioning for expansion of the women’s tournament field a second time in as many months asked for the field to increase to 12 teams and instead were given this nonsense.
Per the committee, they approved the expansion to 11 teams because that is 27% percent of the 41 teams that compete for the Championship each year. That matches the percentage of men’s teams that compete in the DI men’s tournament. The men have a 16-team bracket for their 60 teams.
The 27% just happens to be the team access point the men are at right now because brackets work best in multiples of four. Their tournament has 16 teams because that makes sense. The math means that’s 27% of men’s teams. It’s a random number with no real meaning here and it’s irrational and illogical to choose to adhere to something so arbitrary.
Rather than expand the championship because it merits expansion, or because the current set-up is fundamentally inequitable, the committee has opted to default to the barest version of numerical parity — without engaging with what actually makes sense for the sport, or for a logical tournament bracket.
It’s a pedantic and petty devotion to the percentage of teams eligible, a number that will constantly be in flux as schools add or cut programs. We all know they won’t add a 17th team or drop to 15 teams in the men’s tournament in the future to ensure they stay at 27%, which just highlights how absurd, hollow and senseless this decision is.
Beyond that, it’s particularly galling for the Competition Oversight Committee to decide to act like that’s the only piece of data that matters and be beholden to the team access point percentage when one of the findings in theKHF report is that the men are allowed to have three additional players on their championship rosters. By focusing on team access points over student athlete access points, they’re saying it’s perfectly reasonable for the men’s side to have a higher percentage of student athletes with the ability to play in the championship.
The Committee did not address whether or not women’s teams can have the same size roster in the NCAA tournament. They also didn’t address the massive spending disparities the report laid out in any way. Those numbers, it seems, are not ones they feel they need to be tied to.
Whether or not they meant it to (and I’m not feeling particularly inclined to give grace or the benefit of the doubt in this moment), this comes off as the Committee offeringmalicious compliance. It feels petty and like an attempt at a power move. They tabled this discussion two months ago and were forced to reconsider. This result feels like a tantrum tantamount to “You wanted expansion? Well good luck figuring out 11 teams.”
The NCAA release about the decision expressly says the Competition Oversight Committee will not be responsible for figuring out the logistics of an 11-team tournament. That’s being handed right back to the Women’s Ice Hockey Committee, whose job is usually to select the field based on the rules set up by the NCAA Championship Manual (and by extension, this Competition Oversight Committee).
The Women’s Ice Hockey Committee (and therefore the tournament itself) are not being set up to be successful. The ruling did not come with any information about increasing personnel or funding and that’s disconcerting.
Are there long term repercussions if the decision is to move forward for 2022 and then the tournament doesn’t go smoothly? If the argument is for one “fix” at a time, will failure here be used against the sport when requests for future changes to correct the inequities are made?
The NCAA wants to treat this like it’s a pure numbers game (while using the wrong numbers) and not make any actual fundamental changes that show they understand where they went wrong or have any commitment to actually correcting the inequities. This is a patronizing pantomime of adhering to the bare minimum of numerical equality with no work – or even a promise to work – towards any real, substantive change.
There are many people who are happy with this win – that expansion is approved – and view it as progress. I’m not sure I’m one of them.
There is too long a history of those in this sport (and women’s sports overall) being told to be happy with what they’re given. The KHF report says the working group was denied expansion to 10 teams while being told they should have asked for 12 teams. But when they asked for 12 teams, the Competition Oversight Committee gave them 11.
I wish the goalposts being moved was surprising, but it’s not. It’s all too familiar. None of this is a game, but it sure feels unwinnable
Expansion and a pass off to the Women’s Ice Hockey Committee to try and make an 11 team tournament happen, with no comments on money or support or any other changes is fundamentally ignoring the problem. They “fixed” (poorly) one of the many egregious failures they’ve allowed to go on for way too long and in doing so, only put more pressure on to stretch the meager budget and resources the women’s hockey tournament is allotted even further.
Additionally, the KHF report highlighted what poor timing it is to host the women’s hockey tournament in mid-March. This expansion requires additional games to be played in an already crowded time, which will be difficult for host sites to pull off in the best circumstances, much less four months from now.
I think we have to presume the top four seeds that would have hosted quarterfinal games under the old bracket structure will now be hosting an additional round of games. Based on past experience, those teams have no expectation of either personnel or monetary support to make that happen. They’ll be charged with squeezing a game into their campus schedule to host teams unlikely to draw local crowds. It’s a no-win situation for those programs.
All that was accomplished here is that more student athletes will be able to have a fundamentally unfair, subpar and inequitable championship experience. Through that lens, I have a hard time taking this as a win.
The KHF report laid out exactly how and why the women’s tournament is a poor experience for the student athlete (much less the fan) and adding three more teams without the NCAA addressing any of the other issues only exacerbates the issues as reported. How very on-brand for their fix to actually make everything else worse.
Connor McMenamin and Penn State host Michigan this weekend (photo: Craig Houtz).
Home ice meant a lot for the five games we handicapped last weekend as all five home teams claimed victory.
There weren’t many upsets with only UMass (+115) and Western Michigan (+135) only slight underdogs earning the victories, which translated to a $1966.67 cash out on a $100 bet (yours truly wishes I bet said parlay, as I was the only one of the 10 USCHO staff perfect in predictions).
This week, there are plenty of matchups between teams ranked in the top 20 of the USCHO.com poll, though many of them involve the bottom half.
That said, we are seeing more upsets that we did earlier in the season and a lot of that has to do with teams heading into their league slates. Among last week’s USCHO.com Top 20 teams, there were a total of 15 losses. Only six of the top 20 swept their series, and No. 1 St. Cloud State only claimed five points in the NCHC standings, needing overtime to beat Colorado College on Friday.
Despite all of the matchups featuring two ranked teams, there are some significant favorites. No. 2 Michigan (-255) tops that list, while No. 1 St. Cloud State (-250) and No. 6 Minnesota (-210) are all heavy money line favorites.
As usual, a disclaimer:
Understand, this is for entertainment purposes only. USCHO.com is not a licensed gambling platform and no money may be wagered through this site or any subsidiary of USCHO.
Enjoy and, if you bet, may you be successful.
* Games marked with asterisks indicates odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook
No. 2 Michigan (-255) at No. 19 Penn State (+205)*
The Friday game between these two will be the back end of the doubleheader, so these odds published on Thursday evening could change. That said, Michigan isn’t surprisingly a heavy favorite given Penn State’s sweep a weekend ago at the hands of Ohio State.
The pair played just two games against one another a season ago, splitting, though Penn State won a wide-open 9-5 game in the series finale. Over the last nine, These two teams are an even, 4-4-1, with the majority of series two-game splits.
Jim
Dan
Ed
Paula
John
Nate
Chris
Jack
Matt
Drew
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No. 18 Ohio State (+170) at No. 6 Minnesota (-210)*
This game feels like one where Minnesota might be slightly higher a favorite than necessary. Ohio State is entering off a sweep while Minnesota dropped an OT decision last Friday to Wisconsin, though still took four-of-six Big Ten conference points from the Badgers.
It might be the fact that Minnesota has won the last six against the Buckeyes and holds and all-time series margin of 35-8-5, a lopsided margin that almost seems crazy unless one remembers the days when Ohio State struggled in the 80s and 90s.
Looking for a player to watch? How about Minnesota’s Sammy Walker who has registered 13 career points (3 goals, 10 assists) in 12 career games against the Buckeyes.
Jim
Dan
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Paula
John
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Chris
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Drew
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No. 17 Northeastern (+115) at No. 20 UMass Lowell (-140)*
Despite Northeastern entering on a five-game win streak, UMass Lowell is the favorite at DraftKings and among the USCHO writers. Home ice plays a factor, where the River Hawks are 2-0-2 this season.
But Northeastern has been very strong of late, including in a 2-1 overtime win on Tuesday against Harvard.
A season ago, these two teams split their two-game series with each winning on the road. In fact, home ice hasn’t been overly friendly to the River Hawks in this series, going 1-6-2 against the Huskies in the last nine at the Tsongas Center.
Jim
Dan
Ed
Paula
John
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No. 11 Omaha (+200) at No. 1 St. Cloud State (-250)*
The nation’s top team avoided the curse of the USCHO.com poll, with St. Cloud State sweeping opponent Colorado College in the Huskies first weekend as number one. Things were hardly easy, though, need overtime against the Tigers in the series opener.
For Omaha, this is an opponent that produced a lot of trouble in the past. Over the last two seasons, the clubs split each series, two wins a piece. Prior to that St. Cloud State had won 10 games straight.
This begins a very difficult stretch for the No. 1 Huskies, as they’ll take on No. 11 Omaha, No. 9 Western Michigan and No. 7 North Dakota in two-game series over the next three weekends.
Jim
Dan
Ed
Paula
John
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Chris
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Matt
Drew
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No. 8 Western Michigan (-135) at No. 14 Denver (+110)*
In the closest of money line matchups this weekend, Western Michigan, coming off a split with Minnesota Duluth, travels to Denver.
The Pioneers are needing a pick me up, having not won since October 16. Last weekend’s sweep at the hands of North Dakota was the third straight series Denver was swept by the Fighting Hawks.
This pair has played some close games of late, including a 3-3 tie with a shootout win by Denver in their last meeting on December 19, 2020. In fact, over their last 11, these two teams are dead even at 5-5-1.
Jim
Dan
Ed
Paula
John
Nate
Chris
Jack
Matt
Drew
Nat'l
Nat'l
Nat'l
Nat'l
HEA
ECAC
AHA
CCHA
NCHC
B1G
Pick records to date (last week):
Jim Connelly – 18-7 (5-0)
Dan Rubin – 18-7 (4-1)
Chris Lerch – 16-9 (4-1)
Ed Trefzger – 15-10 (3-2)
Jack Hittinger – 15-10 (4-1)
Matthew Semisch – 15-10 (3-2)
Drew Claussen – 15-10 (2-3)
Paula Weston – 14-11 (3-2)
Nate Owen – 13-12 (2-3)
John Doyle – 12-13 (2-3)
Adrian heads into a weekend series against Marian. Photo Credit: Adrian Athletics
Sitting in airport waiting for a flight out of town seems like a good time to make picks for the weekend ahead in the west region of NCAA Division III hockey.
There are a couple of interesting in-conference matchups, including Adrian’s two-game set with Marian, and some big non-conference games. Among them is a battle between Saint John’s and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Without further delay, here are a few games to keep an eye on this weekend and the picks to go along with them.
Nov. 12
Saint John’s at Wisconsin-Stevens Point
The Johnnies have just one win and are playing on the road for the first time as they take on the Pointers. Lewis Crosby has been a spark for the offense, scoring three goals.
Nothing has come easy for the Pointers. They split their first four games and are hoping to take advantage of being on their home ice. Jordan Fader is playing well for the Pointers. He has a couple of goals and two assists as well. Stevens Point, 2-1
MSOE vs Lake Forest
The Raiders have scored nine goals in two games and have shown they can be a dangerous team on offense. And Nick Stofcheck has come through with 32 saves He’ll be tested against the Foresters, who have scored three or more goals twice in their first three games. Josh Norman leads the team with two goals. This one is a huge home-and-home for both teams. MSOE, 4-3; Lake Forest, 5-4
Nov 12-13
Adrian at Marian
Two of the top teams in the NCHA square off in an early-season showdown. The Bulldogs haven’t played a regular-season game since Halloween when they came away with a 4-3 win over Utica on the road.
Then again, the Sabres haven’t played since Oct. 30. Te thing to watch in this one is which team responds better to the extended layoff. Look for this series to be quite the battle both nights. Marian, 3-2; Adrian 4-3
St. Olaf vs. St. Scholastica
The Saints have leaned on great goaltending so far in getting out to a 3-1 start. They have won two consecutive games and look to keep their momentum in this home-and-home series. Jack Bostedt will give St. Scholastica a chance to win. He’s made 94 saves already.
The Oles are trying to build some momentum. They have a quality win over Wisconsin–Eau Claire but have allowed four or more goals twice. That will have to change to prevail. St. Scholastica, 5-2 and 4-3
Saint Mary’s at Concordia
It’s been a tough start to the year for the Cardinals, who have won just once in their first five outings. Playing on the road might not be the most ideal way to end a losing streak but Saint Mary’s can find a way if it can shore up things defensively. It has been outscored 19-9 this season.
The Cobbers haven’t had much better luck. They are winless in their last three and have scored 11 goals while allowing 11. Concordia, 4-3, Saint Mary’s, 2-1
Nov. 13
Augsburg at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
The Auggies come in riding the high of a two-game sweep against St. Norbert. They outscored the Green Knights 7-2 and look to continue to cash in on their ability to put goals on the board, especially behind Gavin Holland, who already has four goals on the year.
The Blugolds got their offense going in a 4-1 win over Saint Mary’s last week and they hope to keep that going against the Auggies. Playing at home should help. This will be UW-Eau Claire’s first game on home ice this season. Augsburg, 5-4
Gustavus at Wisconsin-River Falls
The Gusties are on a roll heading into this one. They have won their last two, including a shutout win over Wisconsin-Stout, and they’ll look to duplicate that defensive effort. The Gusties have used three different goaltenders while the offense has produced 11 goals.
The Falcons have been balanced offensively so far this season, with 11 different players getting on the scoresheet. That could be the difference.
Norwich defenseman Cale List and his teammates will look to keep Skidmore at bay on Friday (Photo by Chandler Mosher ’21 Norwich University)
There has been great hockey played all over New England and while the marquee games have delivered so to have all of the other contests in terms of excitement and action across the board. First week of picks was alright and last week so some improvement to 8-1-1 (.850) which makes the overall record 15-5-2 (.727) for a good start on the season. There are more challenges with ranked teams playing again this week in conference play so no celebrations this early into the season. Here are the picks for this weekend:
Friday, November 12, 2021
University of New England v. Endicott
Another home-and-home series early in the CCC season that could show a lot about the expected contenders. While the Gulls split last weekend with Salve Regina, the Nor’easters took down Nichols twice to earn full points. Hard to take full points without a win on Friday which Endicott accomplishes at home – Endicott, 4-3
Norwich v. Skidmore
This game always provides some intrigue for the Cadets as the Thoroughbreds play them tough at home all the time. This is usually a one-goal game, but the Cadets use the empty-net goal to provide some cushion – Norwich, 3-1
Assumption v. St. Michael’s
The Purple Knights will need to show the rest of the NE-10 contenders who the real top team is and no better place to do it than on home-ice against the Greyhounds. Special teams are a key factor in deciding this one – St. Michael’s, 4-3
Plattsburgh v. Geneseo
The Cardinals visit the unfriendly confines of what should be a full-house for the Knights. Geneseo will look for an early statement win at home in the SUNYAC and the raucous crowd helps them deliver two big points – Geneseo, 5-3
Canton v. Anna Maria
The AmCats have been very competitive against all opponents so far this season and this one really comes down to the final 20 minutes where the home team ekes it out with a late power play goal to earn the win – Anna Maria, 4-3
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Plymouth State v. Massachusetts-Dartmouth
It is always difficult to play the Corsairs in their barn, but PSU has the size and type of game that can succeed there. This one goes back and forth before the visitors score the winner late in the third period or overtime – PSU, 3-2
Utica v. Stevenson
Despite the UCHC playing a full conference schedule last year, these teams never met due to COVID travel restrictions, and the playoff scenario never happened. Both teams are off to a good start, but the Pioneers just have too much firepower for the Mustangs – Utica, 5-4
Suffolk v. Curry
The Rams and Cal Wilcox can slow down anybody and will try against the offensive stars that Curry rolls out on each line. A fast start for the colonels gets interesting in the final period where the Rams fall just short – Curry, 4-3
Albertus Magnus v. King’s
The Falcons would like nothing better than to earn a road win and King’s is a place where they can get it done. This one is low scoring with the visitors scoring late and adding an empty-net goal for the win – Albertus Magnus, 3-1
Babson v. Massachusetts-Boston
No longer league travel partners that are scheduled in December, the Beavers visit the Beacons where they have had great success as the road team. Arvanitis & Company know how to win the close ones for coach Jamie Rice and keep the Beavers unbeaten in the NEHC – Babson, 3-2
It has been great to see the level of competitiveness for all teams coming out the pandemic and things should only get better as the season continues on – “Drop the Puck!”
