Tyce Thompson was an offensive catalyst for Providence during the 2019-20 season, collecting 19 goals and 44 points in 34 games for the Friars (photo: Rich Gagnon).
Providence junior forward Tyce Thompson has signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the New Jersey Devils, forgoing his senior season with the Friars.
The contract begins this season (2020-21) and he’ll report to New Jersey to begin his quarantine.
Thompson, a fourth-round pick of the Devils (96th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, led the Friars in scoring during the 2020-21 season with 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists in 25 games played.
A two-time Second Team Hockey East All-Star, Hobey Baker Award nominee and Walter Brown Award semifinalist, Thompson finishes his career at Providence with 94 points (38 goals, 56 assists) in 101 games, along with a plus-18 rating, 13 power-play goals and seven game-winning goals during his collegiate career.
Thompson also finished third in the 2019-20 NCAA scoring race with 44 points on 19 goals and 25 assists.
ESPN’s John Buccigross will have the play-by-play in the Bridgeport regional and in the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh alongside Barry Melrose and Colby Cohen (photo: Kelly Backus / ESPN Images).
ESPN’s John Buccigross joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to preview this weekend’s NCAA D-I men’s ice hockey regionals.
Buccigross will have the play-by-play in the Bridgeport regional and in the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh alongside Barry Melrose and Colby Cohen.
An architectural rendering of Sacred Heart University’s hockey rink at West Campus (renderings courtesy of JLG Architects and SLAM Collaborative).
This past weekend fulfilled the promise placed when college hockey started its 2020-21 season at Thanksgiving.
Teams threw laundry on the ice and hoisted trophies in celebrations two years in the making. They fulfilled dreams by reaching the end points hatched when the sport pushed its season off the starting grid to navigate a bumpy road through a global pandemic.
These final days helped emphasize every league, which to Atlantic Hockey meant a well-publicized collision with its trademark parity. Western underdogs advanced to face eastern megaliths in the first cross-geographic meeting between the two pods, and the newest powers rose through a league defined by programs once left behind in the more recent college hockey’s arms race.
The pomp of the games at the MassMutual Center were not, however, the biggest celebration in the conference last week.
Two hours south of the championship weekend hosted by American International, Sacred Heart University was putting its first shovels into the ground for its biggest achievement as a Division I hockey program. It planted a flag, permanently, in the college hockey landscape and broke ground on the new hockey palace at the Martire Family Arena.
“The dream is to compete on a regular basis at a national level,” said Jim Barquinero, senior VP of enrollment, student affairs and athletics for the university. “You can make the tournament and in hockey, gain that first-round game. We want to get in on that thing. We won the Connecticut Ice last year and beat UConn, which is a Hockey East school. Then we beat Quinnipiac, which is an excellent, excellent program. I think we all looked at each other and saw we were in the thick of planning for the arena. It was quiet, but we were doing that, and we looked and saw that we could do it playing in a relatively empty arena. Imagine what we’ll be able to do (in a new building).”
The emotional moment resonated with anyone who recalled Sacred Heart’s earliest days. Investing substantially in hockey immediately moved the Pioneers into college hockey’s upper echelon and established a new tradition among blue bloods in a region defined by a neighboring state. The money, the celebration and the ceremony all were part of a massive thunderclap, but the new masthead meant more to a greater metropolitan area now at the forefront of the sport’s trailblazing future.
A school, a state, a story
It doesn’t take very long to find Sacred Heart University.
Located just off the Merritt Parkway, it essentially straddles the line dividing the town of Fairfield and the city of Bridgeport in western Connecticut. Both the main campus and its West Campus counterpart border the highway, which runs horizontally across the state. It’s a quaint location located just in between the trip from Hartford to New York City.
The state’s hockey culture was once defined by the halcyon Hartford Whalers and their signature Brass Bonanza, but a registered membership with USA Hockey bubbles under the surface. The Whalers are long gone to Carolina, but the number of hockey players in the area still rival the NHL markets of the states of New Jersey and Ohio as well as the individualized eastern and western divisions of Pennsylvania, and it ranks second to only Massachusetts among New England states.
Six Connecticut hockey players are now in the NHL, five of which played college hockey. Each of that handful has more than 600 games played at the highest level, with one – Jonathan Quick – earning two Stanley Cup rings and a Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP.
Yet everyone seemingly left the state at some point.
Quick, a Milford resident, backstopped UMass to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance before winning those championships with the Kings. Cam Atkinson grew up in Greenwich but won a national championship for Boston College in 2010. Hartford native Nick Bonino did the same in 2009 with Boston University with Kevin Shattenkirk, who likewise played in Greenwich at the Brunswick School.
Their success represents Connecticut’s success, but they paper over the more harsh reality from an older time when there was only one “big time” college hockey program. That was Yale, which can date its legacy back to hockey’s earliest era as the only Division I program prior to the late 20th century. The other college teams all competed in the cross-divisions of Division II and III, and none really enjoyed a true home.
“You had a lot of Division III schools,” current Sacred Heart coach CJ Marottolo said. “You had Connecticut College and Trinity from back in the day, and they’re still playing hockey. Then you had other schools like Sacred Heart, UConn, and Quinnipiac, which emerged when the MAAC came into being.”
Sacred Heart University hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the ice rink at West Campus on March 15, 2021. The facility will be called the Martire Family Arena, named for donors and friends of the University, Frank Martire (class of 1969) and his wife Marisa were present for the event (photo: Tracy Deer-Mirek).
The MAAC was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the charter league for college hockey programs that wanted to play Division I but lacked the resources, facilities and tradition of Hockey East and ECAC. It built a league around its traditional footprint in New York State and Connecticut with Canisius, Fairfield and Iona forming a league with other orphaned programs like American International, Holy Cross and Sacred Heart.
It helped the Pioneers get into Division I in one sport as it looked to realign its entire athletics department. The small, Division II school attempted to join the Northeast-8 Conference but was rebuffed for a potential move. It led the university to pencil in a potential move to Division I, which became reality when it reclassified in the late-1990s to the ironically-named Northeast Conference. The NEC didn’t sponsor hockey, so the MAAC was a logical landing spot for SHU. It chartered the conference with those other institutions and remained a piece as Mercyhurst and Bentley joined shortly thereafter.
“When I got here in September of 1989, the then-athletic director and still-legendary basketball coach Dave Bike had just won the national championship in 1986,” said Barquinero. “We had gotten to the minimum of eight that were really functioning for sports, and I added 27 sports in the 1990s. I had a brother that played (football) at Amherst, and I knew a lot of people in both the NESCAC and in the Ivy League. The best academic schools, particularly in the northeast, also had the most teams athletically. So that’s how I looked at it.”
“Connecticut has always been a state with great players,” Marottolo added. “The USA Hockey summer camps in New England were always very well represented in those 14-year old and 15-year old age groups and the 16-year old and 17-year old age groups. They were always very good players here, and that goes back to the beginning of my Yale days. I’m very, very happy to see the Connecticut kids thrive, and now there are more places in Connecticut for them to choose from.”
Because the MAAC schools lacked the overall package of Hockey East and ECAC, the schools committed to building bigger profiles represented potential fillers when college hockey began realigning. When Vermont left ECAC for Hockey East in the mid-2000s, Sacred Heart applied for the now-vacant spot in the more traditional league, but it did so against Quinnipiac. The Hamden-based school was on the verge of opening the now-named People’s United Center and unquestionably possessed a stronger package, and it subsequently moved into ECAC as Princeton’s new travel partner.
It kept the Pioneers in the MAAC as it underwent its own overhaul. Fairfield and Iona dropped hockey in 2003 prior to Quinnipiac’s departure, and Canisius’ status as the lone MAAC-sports member forced a reorganization into Atlantic Hockey. Sacred Heart soldiered forward with the state’s flagship school at UConn, but it was left as the only Connecticut-based entry when the Huskies left for Hockey East after the 2011-2012 season.
Part of the issue was the Pioneers’ facility. They had played at the Milford Ice Pavilion since their first season in 1993, but it was a municipal ice rink on par with AIC’s Olympia Ice Center and Bentley’s John A. Ryan Arena. All were functional and served an adequate purpose for hockey games, but they offered a major barrier to attendance, marquee home games and recruiting. When Quinnipiac left, it had the aforementioned building, and UConn outsourced its games to the XL Center in Hartford while renovating its on-campus Mark E. Freitas Ice Forum. The Pioneers, like the rest of their eastern AHA brethren, couldn’t compete at that level.
“In the early 90s, I was adding a bunch of sports when I got the job here (at Sacred Heart),” Barquinero said. “Football was one of them, as was a bunch of others, but hockey was right at the top of the list. I knew college hockey in New England having gone to St. Anselm’s, and I followed the sport (in the region). So I kind of felt like I knew what I was getting into, even though the facility issue was real.”
Out of the shadow
Through everything, Sacred Heart never really had a problem winning games on the ice. A win over Cornell in 2000 defeated a team bound for its conference championship game that year, and three years later, the Pioneers split with Miami University. The 2004 team advanced to a conference championship, and both the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons produced 20-win years. In 2008 and 2009, Sacred Heart beat Connecticut in the postseason.
The results were part of a construction project headed by head coach Shaun Hannah. He became the head coach in 1996 and moved Sacred Heart’s team up to the Division I level, and his teams gradually factored into the more consistent MAAC and Atlantic Hockey discussions. He won 191 games and finished no lower than fifth annually with two notable exceptions – his first and last seasons.
Hannah built a winner, but his resignation for personal reasons one month before the start of the 2009-2010 season drew headlines prior to the start of the season. It left a void at the top of the program, one that was filled two weeks before the season by Yale assistant coach CJ Marottolo.
Marottolo had been in New Haven under Tim Taylor and Keith Allain since 1996, and his father, Carl, was a New Haven legend who founded the Yale Youth Hockey program. His family was a deep part of the state’s hockey culture, even though he, like so many others, left the state to play college hockey at Northeastern. Somewhat notably, he actually was part of the last team to win the Beanpot prior to the Huskies’ victory in 2018.
His first year was nothing short of a hair-on-fire magic. Sacred Heart stumbled to a 3-9-2 start but rattled off 10 unbeaten games after defeating Dartmouth just before Christmas. It finished the year with 18 wins in the regular season and advanced to Atlantic Hockey’s championship game before falling just short of its first-ever trip to the national tournament.
“We were starting to get to know each other,” Marottolo. “We were getting to know them as players and as people. There was a game against Army where we played well but didn’t win. We came back in that game but shot ourselves in the foot, but my staff and I watched the third period at the rink in the locker room. Nobody talked, and we just watched it. From that point on, we knew we could be pretty good if we played with discipline. After that, we went on that run, and it rolled off into the playoffs.”
That season blew the cover off the potential for a successful Division I program. The Pioneers watched RIT celebrate a conference championship and witnessed history when the Tigers advanced to the Frozen Four a week later. For a team that went 12-2-2 at home during the season, it was a call to arms for the unbridled potential of what could happen with the right infrastructure.
CJ Marottolo completed his 12th season behind the Sacred Heart bench in 2020-21.
Marottolo understood that better than anyone, and after a transition period over the next few years, he built Sacred Heart back into an Atlantic Hockey powerhouse. It followed a similar formula to the program’s first years in Division I: a win over preseason No. 1 UMass-Lowell shocked the start of the 2013-2014 season, and Sacred Heart beat Connecticut in the UConn Hockey Classic over the holidays that year. The next year, the Pioneers beat the Huskies on the road with a 7-4 win.
Sacred Heart pushed into eighth place in 2015 and played back-to-back postseason wars against Bentley in 2016 and 2017. It battle-hardened the team before a fourth place finish in 2019, and the 2020 team finished second before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the postseason.
“I think everybody wants to leave the program in a better place than when they got there,” Marottolo said. “That was our mindset, and that’s what drove our group every day. There are ups and downs, and high points and fighting through adversity, and that’s their charge. They want to look back and say that their four years are in a better spot.”
The success coincided with unprecedented growth within Atlantic Hockey. AIC won the conference championship with a wire-to-wire performance in 2019, and the Pioneers’ second place finish was behind only the Yellow Jackets. Bentley, which battled SHU in those consecutive playoffs, opened a new building in 2018 as the investment from all three schools paid off in a big way.
That made it somewhat unsurprising when each year’s incoming class seemingly rewrote the program record books. A single season goal record initially set by Garrett Larson in 2003-2004 was matched by Pierre-Luc O’Brien two years later and Alexandre Parent two years after that. Two years after Parent, though, Nick Johnson shattered the record with 27 goals, and both Matt Gingera and Justin Danforth joined the 20-goal club over the next five years.
The players all took on reputations of their own. Alexis Jutras-Binet set a program win for wins and goals against average in 1999-2000 but was followed by Eddy Ferhi, Jason Smith, Stefan Drew and Brett Magnus. Mike Lee transferred in from Vermont and played with Austin McIlmurray and Jason Cotton, all of whom followed Evan Jasper, Mitch Nylen and Zach Luczyk, who played with Drew George, Chad Filteau, Eric Delong and Ben Ketchum.
“(This building) would never have happened without them,” Marottolo said. “They have been the passionate people behind the scenes pushing every single year. They come back and know we needed a rink or deserved a rink. The school never thought we didn’t, but it takes time. There’s a handful of passionate alumni that weren’t going to stop until it happened. Without their drive and vision and their neverending belief, it wouldn’t have happened. This rink is for all. It’s not just for the guys playing on opening night. It’s for everyone who wore the jersey and stood on the bench before I did. It’s the culmination of everything they did.”
A dream and a vision
Those on-ice and off-ice components intertwined throughout the program’s history, and the players from Sacred Heart’s older days built a foundation for the later student-athletes. The existing culture opened doors for the incoming players, and the way the record books broke over two decades is a breathing testament to the upward parabola.
Initial scholarships helped turn Sacred Heart into a Division I program, and surviving the Fairfield and Iona attrition helped reorganize the Pioneers into Atlantic Hockey. Both Quinnipiac and UConn left for greener pastures, but being patient enabled the Pioneers to install rudimentary improvements to build a sustainable program.
It steadily cultivated a program that outgrew the Milford Ice Pavilion and spurred a full-time move to Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena in 2016. The AHL arena offered better hockey training and recovery for the team, but it laid the groundwork to recruit more marquee home games against Union, Yale, UConn, Northeastern and Providence.
In 2020, it served as the home for the inaugural Connecticut Ice tournament, which was something of a state-wide response to Boston’s beanpot. Televised via SNY out of New York City, it produced a trophy-winning moment for the Pioneers after dominant wins over Yale and Quinnipiac.
The on-campus arena will change that game entirely when it opens in 2023. The $70 million facility received a $5 million gift from Frank Martire, a 1969 graduate of the university and both the chairman of SHU’s board of trustees and an equity investor from the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. His family will adorn the arena, which will span over 122,000-square feet.
It will join the Bentley Arena as the newest on-campus facilities in Atlantic Hockey over a five-year span and will include an NHL-sized rink with hockey-specific strength and conditioning. An advanced hydrotherapy suite and rapid-shot puck room will pair with meeting and lounge spaces, and the fan experience areas are slated for luxury suites, club rooms, direct access parking in addition to a pro shop, center-hung scoreboard and graphics ribbons.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are already scheduled to face marquee opponents in their inaugural games. For the men, a home game against Jerry York and Boston College will launch the era, while the women are set to host Harvard in their first game in an experience light years from the municipal building located 15 miles off-campus.
“Our arena on campus is going to have all the bells and whistles one could ever think about,” Barquinero said. “So I think that vision at the moment is our excitement and our enthusiasm for a consistent championship level program. We watched with great admiration for Coach (Eric) Lang at AIC, and I knew Gary (Wright) when he was at AIC, and I watched our league. With Air Force and Army and everybody having so many good schools, we’ve all collectively proven that we can be a (strong) league. Our facility is going to generate a charm and a spirit of great pride on campus.”
The arena is one of the last pieces of a hockey manifest destiny for both Atlantic Hockey, New England and the state of Connecticut. When Yale beat Quinnipiac in the 2013 Frozen Four, Sacred Heart was transitioning through a two-win season. A decade later, the players who gave everything but didn’t always enjoy the fruits of results will have a hockey palace arguably better than their in-state compatriots.
“New York and Long Island are producing great hockey players as well,” Marottolo said. “And us building this facility, the hope is that more kids are going to be picking up the phone for the calls that we make and at least will listen to our story. That’s what we’re excited about.”
“We have a geographic location that’s special for every one of the schools in Hockey East, ECAC and Atlantic Hockey,” Barquinero added. “Some of their most successful graduates are living here in Fairfield County. Some of the finest high schools in America are right here. Admissions officers want to recruit here, and advancement offices and alumni offices want to do things here. We’re here.
“If we can bring something to the table to promote Connecticut hockey in lower Fairfield County, we can broaden the landscape of hockey in the state with some substance and significance.”
St. Lawrence won the ECAC Hockey tournament, but a positive COVID-19 test from coach Brent Brekke saw the Saints vacate their automatic bid to the NCAA tournament (photo: C A Hill Photo).
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.
Paula: Last week, Jimmy, I thought that when we’d finally heard from the selection committee, I’d have more answers than questions.
Yesterday, although I’m understanding a little more about how the committee selected the field, I still have questions about where teams are playing.
Let me clarify: I’m not questioning the committee. I just don’t quite understand how they arrived at certain decisions. Like everyone else in college hockey, I’ve devoured the Bracketology column that you and our old friend Jayson Moy published weekly, and I thought a lot of what each of you said about where teams would go made a lot of sense to me.
To say that what the brackets that each of you posted varied from what the selection committee decided would be an understatement.
There’s so much to discuss about the tournament field and about the last weekend’s playoff games.
First, though, the very scenario that you and I feared has come to pass. My heart breaks for St. Lawrence hockey and I imagine that head coach Brent Brekke is devastated that it’s his positive COVID-19 test that halted the Saints’ season. After winning the ECAC championship at the end of season made even stranger by having played in a four-team conference, bowing out of the NCAA tournament is kick in the gut.
Anyone who blames Brekke can kick rocks, too. No one invites this. Everyone in college hockey is beyond cautious. We may never know the number of Saints players and staff infected, but there’s a good chance he’s not the only one. All we can do is wish him and all others affected the best.
From the selection to the Saints to the upsets — there’s so much. Anything you still processing from the weekend? What, if anything, surprises you about the committee’s choices?
Jim: I don’t know if the word “surprised” is right when surmising my reaction, as I knew that predicting anything would be near impossible.
Two things, though, stand out.
Despite the flexibility to be subjective, the committee still tried to use objective criteria when selecting the bubble teams. They measured how each team performed against the other teams in their conference who had already qualified for the field. Because of that, there was a lot of imbalance on percentage of teams that were selected from each conference.
Whereas Big Ten gets four of its seven teams into the field, or 57 percent, Hockey East only gets three of its 11 teams in, or 27%. I feel like those conferences were pretty even so that feels like a disparity to me, one that could’ve easily been balanced by selecting Providence, Connecticut or UMass Lowell instead of Notre Dame.
As for how the field was bracketed, I actually liked what the committee did. They worked to maintain bracket integrity – that is 1 v. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, etc. – and, to do so, moved teams around the country, that coming at a pretty significant expense to the NCAA on a year when revenues from tickets will be negligible. The fact that only two of the four regionals will allow fans – Fargo and Albany, and Fargo has sold all of their tickets – they still found a way to get Boston College and Boston University to Albany to help ticket sales.
Those two points stand out to me. And understanding the reasoning, I’m more than happy to say that the committee did their job to the best of their ability. Every team on the bubble that didn’t make the tournament can look at their schedule and easily point out one game that they lost that cost them their bid, while every team that stayed on the right side of the bubble can likely point to a game they needed to win to get in and did so.
As for St. Lawrence, it’s tremendously sad to see them having to forgo the tournament. We posturized this could happen and, no doubt given what we saw in men’s basketball with Virginia Commonwealth, we may see it happen again. We can cross our fingers all we want, but you have to figure that the massive population of the athletes, coaches and staffs of the 16 teams are not yet vaccinated and could turn a positive test at any minute.
Paula: It’s that last part that worries me, that anything could happen this week or – heaven forbid – after four teams have played their way into the Frozen Four.
All we can do about that is hope and engage in whatever luck-influencing rituals we embrace. As we are talking about the hockey community, I’m sure there are many superstitions, prayers, and talismans being employed right now.
When all was settled, I was impressed with the results of the election committee’s work, especially regarding the sites and where teams were sent. I appreciate your take on that, too, as it helps me wrap my head around a few things. For years, there have been calls for the committee to do geographically what it did this year.
It may shock you to know that I agree with you about the Big Ten vs. Hockey East in terms of number of teams in the tournament because of the imbalance in the number of teams in each league.
I know that Jeff Jackson pitched a hard argument about how the Fighting Irish had to play Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota four times each this season – his argument for strength of schedule – and as much as I like seeing teams the league I cover in the tournament and as much as I genuinely like the Notre Dame coaching staff in addition to respecting them, I do think that the competition at the top of Hockey East was tough and maybe a fourth team deserved to be included.
Then there’s the ECAC. If it weren’t for that positive test, half of this year’s current ECAC field would be in the tournament.
Half the NCHC field is in and no one is batting an eye about that. It does seem as though the collective college hockey community acknowledges the strength of that conference.
Jim: I will tell you that St. Lawrence having to withdraw actually settled what many saw as controversial.
Quinnipiac getting into the tournament despite a pretty weak schedule where their two tough out-of-conference games – two games against Bowling Green – were losses, had many people on Sunday morning clamoring to keep the Bobcats out of the tournament. Obviously, when St. Lawrence had to stay home and Quinnipiac got the autobid, the reality of that entire situation was lost. I had Quinnipiac in my field but also saw the argument to keep them out.
So that leads me down another path. The NCHC and B1G has four team, Hockey East and WCHA three, and AHA and ECAC each one. Does one of these conferences have a bigger advantage to you than the other?
To me, I’m not sure. I feel like the NCHC pounds its chest constantly – and with the last four national champions rightfully so – but Boston College and UMass are two elite teams in Hockey East and each in separate regions.
Do you see any trends heading towards a Frozen Four? Will one conference dominate once again or will there be more balance? Can one of the WCHA teams advance?
Paula: Again, I agree with you that BC and UMass are elite teams and it is conceivable that they meet in a national title game.
I don’t know that any conference has a specific advantage this season, nor am I sure that I could make a case for such, given the lack of interconference play this season. I mean, I’ve watched a lot of hockey from as many conferences as I’ve been able to see and have witnessed some great, great play. The teams that have looked consistently the best to me this season have been Boston College, Minnesota and North Dakota.
It would take a lot for any team other than North Dakota to emerge from Fargo. Not only are the Fighting Hawks outrageously stacked this year, but there will be fans in the stands and North Dakota has a distinct home advantage. Of course, just having atmosphere in the building may work well for all teams.
The field is crazy there, too. You have the two conference champions, the defending national champions, and a fourth team with so much young talent that its performance could be anything from flat to spectacular.
We are fond of saying that in a one-and-done scenario, anything can happen – and it can. But maybe this is also the year that the teams that rose to the top of their conferences did so because they are the strongest in the field, able to navigate the weird, unpredictable season because of how good they are. Because of that, I’m thinking there may be a more balanced Frozen Four field.
As for the WCHA, that seems like a long road to me. Lake Superior State is a sentimental favorite of mine, but I would be surprised to see the Lakers advance.
Any predictions from you? Do you think it’s a year when two conferences, say the NCHC and Hockey East, will dominate?
Jim: I don’t know. I look at elite talent on a number of rosters: Boston College, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota. But notice the one team I leave out is two-time defending national champion Minnesota Duluth.
The Bulldogs always have good players but never have the most talent. They always have some, but other teams have more. What teams like UMD always have, though, is heart. My prediction is the team with a good bit of talent but a ton of heart and drive win this tournament.
Riese Gaber celebrates his third-period goal last Tuesday as North Dakota came from behind to down St. Cloud State in the Frozen Faceoff championship (photo: Russell Hons).
In the last USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll until after the NCAA tournament, North Dakota moves up one spot to sit No. 1, garnering 36 first-place votes this week.
Former No. 1 team Boston College drops one place and picked up three first-place votes.
Minnesota is up one to No. 3 and collected the other first-place vote in this week’s rankings.
USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll – March 22, 2021
Wisconsin moves up one notch to No. 4, Minnesota State drops a pair to sit fifth, Massachusetts stays at No. 6, St. Cloud State is up one to No. 7, Michigan falls one to No. 8, Minnesota Duluth holds firm at No. 9, and Boston University is tenth this week, up one from last week’s poll.
Just one new team that was unranked in the March 15 poll enters the rankings this week as UMass Lowell is ranked 19th.
In addition to the top 20 teams, 10 other teams received votes this week.
The USCHO.com Poll consists of 40 voters, including coaches and beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.
Junior defenseman Nate Clurman is serving as Notre Dame’s captain for the 2020-21 season (photo: Notre Dame Athletics).
With Selection Sunday now in the rear-view mirror and the tourney a few days away from beginning, Jayson Moy and Jim Connelly analyze the bracket.
Jayson: Let’s start off and say that even without the PairWise this year, I still managed to correctly pick all 16 teams in the tournament with one caveat – that Notre Dame took the last spot instead of St. Lawrence, who unfortunately had to withdraw.
But, if you look at my bubble analysis, Notre Dame was the last team out when I set the bracket. Therefore, I will pat myself on the back and take the win.
Let’s look a little at some of the differences. They mainly occurred in the seeding.
Massachusetts and Michigan were given No. 2 seeds and Minnesota Duluth and Quinnipiac were given No. 3 seeds.
I should have seen the Massachusetts seeding coming with its win of the Hockey East title and Quinnipiac not winning the ECAC title. It seems that Massachusetts was given the overall fifth seed, higher than I thought. Quinnipiac was not as high as I had thought they would be, as others have pointed out.
For Michigan, I was a little surprised about how it was given a two seed over Minnesota Duluth, but in the end it doesn’t matter as they are playing each other in Fargo, meaning that they were the 8 and 9 seed overall.
The other change in seeding was Lake Superior moving to the third band – again, I underestimated winning the WCHA title with it, and Omaha placed in the fourth band – which I should have seen coming.
For the bracket itself, while the protection of the number seed is always a priority, I did not think it would be so much the case in this strange year. But, I was proven wrong and AIC was sent to Fargo to play North Dakota. I did think it would be the other way around with Notre Dame possibly going to play in Fargo and AIC facing Boston College, but it was not the case.
As for the other thing, I think there could have been some more movement to keep teams closer. For example, Quinnipiac could have been in Bridgeport playing Massachusetts, if St Cloud moved to Loveland and Lake Superior to Albany (which would have been interesting, as it is 3-1 in that building including the 1992 National Championship).
Otherwise, you can’t really complain about the field this year.
Jim: Maybe you can’t complain, but people will and are.
First, I’ll look at my bracket and point out my one major error: trusting that the committee would consider teams that were under .500 in winning percentage. It’s pretty obvious that they didn’t do that and it was confirmed to me last night.
Thus, me having Connecticut taking the final seed not only was incorrect, it never was a consideration. And Denver fans can also rest easy as they weren’t considered.
But once you got to that point, the approach we were taking was correct (and why your 16-team field was spot on). Committee chair Mike Kemp confirmed on the special live edition of the USCHO Weekend Review podcast, that bubble teams were compared to one another by looking at each team’s record against the other teams from their conference that were already in the tournament field.
Let’s look at that breakdown when looking at each conference’s bubble team:
Bemidji State: 4-5-2 (.455) vs. Minnesota State and Lake Superior
Omaha: 3-6-1 (.350) vs. North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud
Notre Dame: 4-7-1 (.375) vs. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan
Providence: 1-5-2 (.250) vs. Boston College, UMass and Boston University
Bowling Green 0-4-0 (.000) vs. Minnesota State and Lake Superior (also 2-0-0 vs. Quinnipiac, a team that is in the field from ECAC)
Originally, the committee was trying to fill two spots and took Bemidji State and Omaha. When St. Lawrence dropped out, Notre Dame was next in line (though you could question why Notre Dame wasn’t originally the 16th team instead of Omaha).
Mike Kemp did confirm that should any further team have to withdraw due to COVID protocols prior to 7 p.m. tonight (Monday), the replacement team will be Providence. After 7p.m. on Monday the field is set and further withdrawals would result in games being declared “no contest” and the remaining team advancing.
The other component, once the field was selected, was maintaining bracket integrity rather than attempting to limit travel due to COVID. The split was even greater between east and west (five eastern teams, 11 west), so the NCAA was already placing a few teams on airplanes.
With that in mind, the priority became setting up the tournament to maintain the 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, etc. in the first round. Though only the first four seeds are actually defined, you can make sense of some of the others and see that this looks like near perfection in maintaining the integrity of the bracket.
Let’s take the Bridgeport Region. Wisconsin is the top seed, fourth overall. It’s pretty obvious that the committee had Wisconsin just ahead of Massachusetts, or the fifth seed. UMass is the number two seed in Bridgeport.
You would then want the 12th and 13th seeds. Lake Superior is the three seed and probably the weakest of the four teams in that band (Michigan, Boston University and Quinnipiac) and, as we outlined above, Bemidji State is the highest of the four seeds once you place the Atlantic Hockey champion AIC at 16 (something that historically has occurred – AIC is also playing the number one overall seed).
So to me, it is obvious that the NCAA was fine flying teams wherever they had to in order to make the bracket as close to perfect as possible.
Of note, one thing we would talk about in a typical year is protecting the gate. Only two of the four regionals will have fans – Fargo and Albany. Fargo, well with North Dakota and only 1,500 available tickets (25% capacity), sold out a while ago. Albany, a larger arena with a 15% capacity, allows for 2,135, still got some protection with Boston College and Boston University a three-hour drive away and Notre Dame, a school with plenty of national alumni.
In the end, I will tip my cap to you, Jayson. Though you began bracketology this year with some crazy theories, in the end you got it right.
And now that we’ve broken down the numbers and the process, it seems the NCAA committee did as well.
Michael Kesselring posted a career-high five goals in 20 games this season for Northeastern (photo: Rich Gagnon).
Northeastern sophomore defenseman Michael Kesselring has signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, giving up his last two years of NCAA eligibility.
Kesselring, a native of New Hampton, N.H., is a two-year letter-winner for the Huskies and was part of the 2020 Beanpot Championship team. The contract will begin in the 2021-22 season.
“Michael made tremendous strides this season and we thank him for the contributions he made to our program,” said Huskies coach Jim Madigan in a statement. “We wish him all the best in pursuing his professional goals.”
The Oilers selected Kesselring in the sixth round (164th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
During the 2020-21 season, Kesslering had a career-high five goals with three assists for eight points in 20 games, ending his Northeastern career with seven goals and six assists and 49 blocked shots in 54 games.
Kesselring will play the rest of the 2020-21 season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
Bobby Trivigno recorded 30 points this season for UMass while also serving as an alternate captain for the Minutemen (photo: Rich Gagnon).
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Monday that Massachusetts junior forward Bobby Trivigno is the winner of the 69th Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England.
Trivigno led the Minutemen to their first-ever Hockey East playoff championship this season with 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points.
Of the 16 forwards and defensemen among the 19 semifinalists for this year’s Walter Brown Award, Trivigno had the highest plus-minus rating, with a plus-17. He also scored three game winning-goals for the Minutemen, who finished with a record of 16-5-4 and edged UMass Lowell 1-0 in the Hockey East title game.
“I think Bobby singlehandedly elevated our team to a championship level,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel in a statement. “He’s far and away our best forward and he’s a tremendous leader. Our team just followed his lead all year. He’s completely deserving of this award.”
Trivigno, a native of Setauket, N.Y., prevailed in closely-contested balloting with four other semifinalists: Boston College sophomore forward Matt Boldy, Boston College sophomore goalie Spencer Knight, Quinnipiac senior forward Odeen Tufto and American International senior defenseman Brennan Kapcheck.
“The committee members did not have an easy task this year,” said committee chairman Tim Costello. “Unlike some seasons where a shoo-in candidate emerges to dominate the voting, 2020-21 had about 50 percent fewer games played per team. Also, the pandemic limited opportunities for all of the candidates to display their skills against teams from outside their league and beyond their immediate geographic region.
“Nevertheless, there was an impressive slate of semifinalists and finalists, and a close final vote that went to a most worthy recipient, the first ever from UMass in a year when his team took home its first Hockey East championship.”
The nation’s oldest nationally-recognized college hockey honor, the Walter Brown Award was established in 1953 by the members of the 1933 Massachusetts Rangers, the first American team ever to win the World Championship Tournament. Brown coached the Rangers to the title in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where the team defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in the championship game.
The last time the NCAA had a men’s hockey national championship tournament, Minnesota Duluth repeated back in 2019 (photo: Jim Rosvold).
The NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee announced Sunday night the 16 teams that will be participating in the 2021 NCAA tournament.
North Dakota is the No. 1 overall seed. The other No. 1 seeds, in order, include Boston College, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The dates, sites, times and pairings of this year’s championship are as follows:
Fargo Regional, March 26-27 Scheels Arena, Fargo, N.D.
Friday, March 26, 4 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNU/WatchESPN
No. 2 Minnesota Duluth (14-10-2) vs. No. 3 Michigan (15-10-1)
Friday, March 26, 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN3/WatchESPN
No. 1 North Dakota (21-5-1) vs. No. 4 American Int’l (15-3-0)
Saturday, March 27, 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNU/WatchESPN
Fargo Regional Championship
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Bridgeport Regional, March 26-27 Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Conn.
Friday, March 26, 1 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN
No. 1 Wisconsin (20-9-1) vs. No. 4 Bemidji State (15-9-3)
Friday, March 26, 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNU/WatchESPN
No. 2 Massachusetts (16-5-4) vs. No. 3 Lake Superior State (19-6-3)
Saturday, March 27, 4 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNU/WatchESPN
Bridgeport Regional Championship
Loveland Regional, March 27-28 Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colo.
Saturday, March 27, 4 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN3/WatchESPN
No. 2 Minnesota State (20-4-1) vs. No. 3 Quinnipiac (17-7-4)
Saturday, March 27, 9 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNU/WatchESPN
No. 1 Minnesota (23-6-0) vs. No. 4 Omaha (14-10-1)
Sunday, March 28, 8 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN
Loveland Regional Championship
Albany Regional, March 27-28 Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y.
Saturday, March 27, 1 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNews/WatchESPN
No. 1 Boston College (17-5-1) vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (14-13-2)
Saturday, March 27, 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, ESPNews/WatchESPN
No. 2 St. Cloud State (17-10-0) vs. No. 3 Boston U. (10-4-1)
Saturday, March 28, 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN
Albany Regional Championship
Men’s Frozen Four, April 8, April 10
PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Thursday, April 8, 5 and 9 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN (order of games TBD)
Fargo Regional Champion vs. Bridgeport Regional Champion
Albany Regional Champion vs. Loveland Regional Champion
Saturday, April 10, 7 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN or ESPN2/WatchESPN
National Championship
The following conferences and teams received automatic qualification:
Atlantic Hockey – American International
Big Ten – Minnesota
ECAC Hockey – St. Lawrence*
*St. Lawrence was replaced as ECAC Hockey’s automatic qualifier by Quinnipiac after St. Lawrence had to withdraw from the championship due to NCAA health and safety protocols.
Hockey East – Massachusetts
NCHC – North Dakota
WCHA – Lake Superior State
Minnesota State senior Reggie Lutz scored his 10th goal of the season in Minnesota State’s WCHA semifinal game against Northern Michigan last Friday (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of March 15 fared in games over the week of March 15-20.
No. 1 Boston College (17-5-1)
03/17/2021 – RV UMass Lowell 6 at No. 1 Boston College 5 (OT, Hockey East semifinal)
No. 2 North Dakota (21-5-1)
03/15/2021 – RV Denver 1 at No. 2 North Dakota 2 (OT, NCHC semifinal)
03/16/2021 – No. 8 St. Cloud State 3 at No. 2 North Dakota 5 (NCHC championship)
No. 3 Minnesota State (20-4-1)
03/19/2021 – RV Northern Michigan 5 at No. 3 Minnesota State 1 (WCHA semifinal)
No. 4 Minnesota (23-6-0)
03/15/2021 – No. 7 Michigan 2 vs No. 4 Minnesota 3 (OT, Big Ten semifinal)
03/16/2021 – No. 4 Minnesota 6 vs No. 5 Wisconsin 4 (Big Ten championship)
No. 5 Wisconsin (20-9-1)
03/15/2021 – No. 5 Wisconsin 4 vs RV Penn State 3 (OT, Big Ten semifinal)
03/16/2021 – No. 4 Minnesota 6 vs No. 5 Wisconsin 4 (Big Ten championship)
No. 6 Massachusetts (16-5-4)
03/17/2021 – No. 14 Providence 2 at No. 6 Massachusetts 5 (Hockey East semifinal)
03/20/2021 – RV UMass Lowell 0 at No. 6 Massachusetts 1 (Hockey East championship)
No. 7 Michigan (15-10-1)
03/15/2021 – No. 7 Michigan 2 vs No. 4 Minnesota 3 (OT, Big Ten semifinal)
No. 8 St. Cloud State (17-10-0)
03/15/2021 – No. 9 Minnesota Duluth 2 vs No. 8 St. Cloud State 3 (NCHC semifinal)
03/16/2021 – No. 8 St. Cloud State 3 at No. 2 North Dakota 5 (NCHC championship)
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth (14-10-2)
03/15/2021 – No. 9 Minnesota Duluth 2 vs No. 8 St. Cloud State 3 (NCHC semifinal)
No. 10 Quinnipiac (17-7-4)
03/20/2021 St. Lawrence 3 at No. 10 Quinnipiac 2 (OT, ECAC championship)
No. 13 Bemidji State (15-9-3)
03/19/2021 – No. 13 Bemidji State 1 vs No. 17 Lake Superior State 4 (WCHA semifinal)
No. 14 Providence (11-9-5)
03/17/2021 – No. 14 Providence 2 at No. 6 Massachusetts 5 (Hockey East semifinal)
No. 15 AIC (15-3-0)
03/19/2021 – Niagara 1 at No. 15 AIC 2 (Atlantic Hockey semifinal)
03/20/2021 – RV Canisius 2 at No. 15 AIC 5 (Atlantic Hockey championship)
No. 16 Bowling Green (20-10-1)
Did not play.
No. 17 Lake Superior State (19-6-3)
03/19/2021 – No. 13 Bemidji State 1 vs No. 17 Lake Superior State 4 (WCHA semifinal)
03/20/2021 No. 17 Lake Superior State 6 vs RV Northern Michigan 3 (WCHA championship)
No. 18 Clarkson (11-7-4)
Did not play.
No. 19 Army West Point (15-6-1)
03/19/2021 – No. 19 Army West Point 3 vs RV Canisius 4 (OT, Atlantic Hockey semifinal)
JR Barone and Plymouth State evened their season record at 4-4-0 with a sweep of Anna Maria (Photo by Sportspix)
The UCHC standings are heating up as the regular season winds down and Connecticut College pulled off the upset of the weekend with a 2-1 win over previously unbeaten Norwich. Here is a recap of all of the week’s action:
Non-Conference
Anna Maria v. Plymouth State
On Thursday, the visiting AmCats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Lukas Radina’s goal but the Panthers scored five unanswered to cruise to a 6-3 win. Anton Nasstrom scored a pair for PSU and Jake Gerbner added a goal and two assists in the win.
In the return match at Anna Maria, Myles Abbate scored a goal in each period to lead the Panthers to a 5-3 win and sweep of the two-game series. The game was tied at 3-3 after two periods of play before Peter Laviolette and Abbate scored the only goals of the third period for the win.
Curry v. Endicott
In what has always been an intense rivalry in CCC play, the Gulls swept the two-game series with the Colonels by scores of 3-1 and 7-2. On Friday, Connor Amsley scored in the first period for Endicott and Austin Whelan provided the equalizer in the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Noah Strawn broke the deadlock late in the third period and Jake Simons added the empty-net insurance goal in the win.
On Saturday, the Gulls left little doubt with a fast start and a 3-0 first period lead on goals from Mitch Shaheen, Connor Clemmons and Connor Beatty. They extended the lead to 5-0 before Curry answered in the third period where Beatty added his second of the game in the 7-2 win.
Becker v. Nichols
On Friday, Filip Virgili figured in the first four goals for the Bison who took a 5-3 win over the Hawks. Virgili finished the night with the game winning goal along with three assists.
On Saturday, the Bison completed the two-game sweep with a 5-2 win. The game was tied at 2-2 after two periods. Goals from Peter Miko, Austan Bellefeuille and Curtis Carlson in the third period provided the difference for Nichols who moved to 2-2-1 on the season.
Southern Maine v. Colby
Colby picked up their first win of the season in a 5-1 victory over Southern Maine. Quinn Doyle scored two of Colby’s four straight goals that broke open a 1-1 game in the second period. Alex Borhas added a shorthanded, empty-net goal and an assist on Jacob Thousand’s first period goal to help spark the offense.
Norwich v. Connecticut College
The Camels were ready to avenge a 6-2 exhibition contest loss against the Cadets and do something no team had done since December 6, 2019: hand Norwich a loss. Appropriately on senior day it was senior Matt Creamer that got the Camels on the scoreboard with a power play goal and a 1-0 first period lead. Freshman Seth Stadheim made it 2-0 in the third period before Scott Swanson cut the deficit in half with an extra-attacker goal and just over one minute left in regulation. The Cadets had chances to tie the game but some key blocks by Camel’s players and some big saves from Cam Fernandez sealed the win for Conn College who knocked Norwich from the ranks of the unbeaten.
UCHC
Stevenson v. Lebanon Valley
On Wednesday, the Mustangs and Flying Dutchmen battled to a 2-2 regulation tie before Evan Beers gave Stevenson a shootout win in the fourth round. Alex Borowiec gave LVC a 1-0 lead after two periods, but Stevenson came back with goals from Blake Colman and Austin Master for a 2-1 lead. Skyler Pugh knotted the game at 2-2 and overtime couldn’t decide a winner. Ryan Kenney stopped all four shootout attempts he faced to make Beers’ goal stand up as the game-winner.
On Sunday, the Mustangs completed the two-game sweep of the Flying Dutchmen with a convincing 7-2 win. Forward Ryan Patrick led Stevenson with four assists as seven different players scored, and the Mustang power play was very effective connecting five times on eight chances.
Elmira v. Wilkes
On Friday, Elmira fought back three times from one-goal deficits to send the game into overtime tied at 3-3. In the extra session a bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice gave the visitors a power play which Nicolas Domitrovic turned into an overtime winner and a 4-3 win for Elmira.
On Saturday, Wilkes behind a hat trick from Tyler Dill earned a split of the home-and-home series with a 4-2 win. Nick Fea who also had a three-point night, scored the game winner with just over five minutes remaining in the third period.
Chatham v. Lebanon Valley
On Friday, Chatham’s Kenneth Gill and Carson Greiner scored in the first period to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead. The lead was extended to 3-1 on Niko Moulakelis’ third period goal and Ricardo Gonzalez made 25 saves to earn the win.
Chatham v. Stevenson
On Saturday, the Cougars and Mustangs were knotted at 1-1 through two periods of play before ethe fireworks erupted in the final period. Stevenson scored five unanswered goals in the first 12 minutes of the period to take a 6-1 lead on their way to a 6-3 win. Mac Lowry scored twice in the final period as part of the offensive barrage that chased goaltender Ricardo Gonzalez.
Utica v. Nazareth
The Pioneers showed off their offensive firepower in 6-0 and 7-2 wins over Nazareth over the weekend. On Friday, Dante Zapata and Conor Landrigan both scored twice and added an assist to support goaltender Sean Dickson who earned the shutout win.
On Saturday, Landrigan recorded a five-point night with two goals and three assists while Brandon Osmundson chipped in with two goals and an assist in the 7-2 rout. The sweep moved Utica to 5-1-0 in UCHC play.
Three Biscuits
Conor Landrigan – Utica – enjoyed an eight-point weekend in a pair of wins over Nazareth. Landrigan recorded four goals and four assists in 6-0 and 7-2 wins for the Pioneers.
Filip Virgili – Nichols – scored the game winning goal and added three assists in the 5-3 Bison win over Becker on Friday.
Myles Abbate – Plymouth State – scored a hat trick for the Panthers that helped them earn a 5-3 win over Anna Maria on Saturday.
Bonus Biscuits
Tyler Dill – Wilkes – recorded a hat trick in the Colonels 4-2 win over Elmira that earned a split of the weekend series.
Cam Fernandez – Conn College – the freshman netminder stopped 27 of 28 shots for the Camels in a 2-1 win over previously unbeaten Norwich. The Camel win snapped the Cadet unbeaten streak that spanned 468 days back to December of 2019.
Most of the non-conference teams are now making way for the spring sports on campus but a few teams are trying to get in a couple more games while the UCHC is battling for regular season honors and playoff ranking in search of a conference title.
Due to a positive COVID-19 test result within the St. Lawrence men’s hockey Tier 1 personnel on Sunday afternoon, and in accordance with New York State and NCAA quarantine guidelines, the team will not be able to accept the ECAC Hockey automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
St. Lawrence claimed the conference title with a 3-2 overtime win over Quinnipiac on Saturday, March 20.
“I’m extremely sorry that this group has lost the opportunity to compete in the NCAA tournament,” said Saints coach Brent Brekke in a statement. “It was my own test that came back positive today. The roller coaster of emotions in the last 24 hours for everyone is unimaginable. Last night we are holding the trophy above our heads and today we are shaking our heads in disbelief that the season is over. This hurts. But the one thing that can’t be taken away from this team — they are champions.”
St. Lawrence finishes the season 6-8-3. The 2021 ECAC Hockey title was the seventh in program history, and the first since 2001.
Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger analyze and review the announcement of the NCAA men’s Division I ice hockey field. Mike Kemp, chair of the men’s D-I ice hockey committee, joined them for a conversation. Kemp revealed which teams were the last ones in and what criteria the committee used to assess those teams and described what he characterized as a “stressful” process.
Marian swept the Milwaukee School of Engineering to win its first Harris Cup since 2002. (Photo courtesy of Marian athletics)
Nearly two decades have gone by since Marian last won an NCHA championship.
The wait ended on Saturday.
The Sabres are winners of the Harris Cup for the first time since 2002 after turning away the Milwaukee School of Engineering 4-1 to complete a championship series sweep. Marian won the opener Friday by a 3-1 score.
Marian scored twice in the second period and never looked back as it ended a challenging year on a six-game winning streak. They finish out 12-7. MSOE ends the year 10-7-2.
Ty Enns scored twice and goalie Colby Muise came away with tournament MVP honors after making 30 saves in the final.
Marian hadn’t played in the championship round since 2011 but it wasn’t going to let that drought continue, outscoring the opposition 21-9 in the postseason.
Enns scored the first two goals of the night for the Sabres before the Raiders responded to slice the advantage to 2-1 in the third Eliot Friedow.
Blaine Caton pushed the Sabres in front 3-1 before Gianni Vitali added an empty netter to give the Sabres their third NCHA crown in program history.
Marian held a 44-31 advantage in shots, including a 14-6 edge in the final period. It forced MSOE to go 0-for-4 on the power play.
Enns, Vitali, Parker Colley and Nathan Walker all earned NCHA All-Tournament team honors while Muise was named the MVP. He made 42 saves in Friday’s win.
The Sabres dropped four consecutive games at one point in February but bounced back, winning nine of their final 11 games during a season played amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
ERIE, Pa. – Daryl Watts banked a shot off a Northeastern defender from behind the net in overtime to give the Wisconsin Badgers back-to-back national championships and the sixth title in program history.
Watts, who was responsible for the game-winner in three of Wisconsin’s four overtime wins this year, rose to the occasion yet again and made her own dreams come true. The senior transferred to Wisconsin after her sophomore season at Boston College, saying she’d lost her passion for the game and was looking for a place where she thought she could win a national championship.
Badger captain, senior Brette Pettet said the goal Watts scored was indicative of just how much fun she’s having on the ice. Few players would try something so would even think of attempting a goal like that, much less with the title on the line in sudden-death overtime.
“I think that’s one thing you can appreciate about Daryl. She’s just going to go out there and have fun. I think that’s one of the reasons she’s so good. She’s not afraid to make mistakes. I think when you’re playing like that mixed with the pure talent she has, it’s a good recipe,” said Pettet. “I can’t even explain it. Daryl has the ability to score when no one else does. I’m not sure what it is she’s got, but she’s got it.”
It was a heartbreaking way to end a spectacular game that pitted the top two seeds in the country that were clearly evenly matched. The game was scoreless for more than fifty minutes before each team litl the lamp within the course of a minute.
Then less than four minute into overtime, Watts found herself with the puck and time behind the net. The Huskies did a good job cutting off passing lanes and protecting the net front, but they didn’t put pressure on Watts and that gave her time to check out her options and choose a daring play that didn’t work quite as she planned – she thought the puck would carom off Northeastern goalie Aerin Frankel. She found out in post-game interviews that instead, it deflected off the back of defender Megan Carter. Either way, the puck ended up in the back of the net to win the game.
For Northeastern, the unbelievable goal ended one of the best seasons in program history in a way that didn’t feel fitting for the moment.
“I wish it was a better goal that ended that game. But that’s the way it goes,” said Northeastern coach Dave Flint. “I feel like (our players) deserved better than that. But that’s sports.”
The teams spent the first period feeling each other out and trading possession without either team able to mount much of anything dangerous. At the end of the frame, shots were tied at nine apiece. But from there, the Badgers started to take over. They held the puck, were strong on the fore- and backcheck and generally kept Northeastern from getting set up in the zone or build out from their net.
Flint said after the game that he wanted his team to get more “grade A” chances on Wisconsin goalie Kennedy Blair, but the Badgers kept them from finding space to do so.
“Wisconsin did a really good job of keeping us out (from in front of the net) and not letting us jump on rebounds. They made it difficult for us all night,” he said.
On the other end, Wisconsin forced Huskies goalie Aerin Frankel to make a season-high 35 saves.
The Badgers scored first when freshman Makenna Webster scored her second of the Frozen Four of a pass from Casey O’Brien, her third assist of the weekend. As close a match as it had been, it seemed like that one goal might be enough to win the game, but Northeastern left no doubt that they weren’t done by responding 39 seconds later. Alina Mueller dug the puck out along the back boards and dropped a pass to Aurard, who was charging in to help. She placed a gorgeous shot from the faceoff circle to beat Blair and tie the game back up.
Both teams had a number of chances, particularly late. Freshman Casey O’Brien served a bench minor for too many players on the ice midway through the second. She had a breakaway as she came out of the box when the penalty was killed and just couldn’t find the little bit of daylight past the outstretched leg of Frankel. Wisconsin hit the post a number of times throughout the game, but freshman Lacey Eden did it twice in the waning minutes of regulation.In overtime, it looked like Chloe Aurard was going to be her team’s savior once again, but Nicole LaMantia raced back to get between Aurard and Blair in net to prevent a pass or a goal.
The overtime period was comfortable territory for Wisocnsin, who needed extra time to win their conference title in the final game of the regular season and to win the conference tournament crown a week later.
“We faced adversity at all levels. We just had a lot of confidence in one another,” said Watts.
The loss ended a 22 game unbeaten streak for the Huskies in addition to their hopes for the first ever national championship for the university. But Flint said losing the last game of the season will not be the legacy of this team.
“They set a new standard for Northeastern women’s hockey and it won’t be the last time we’re here,” said Flint. “(Going to the Frozen Four) is the new expectation for our program. This was just another hurdle.”
With the win, Wisconsin tied Minnesota for most titles in DI women’s hockey history. Mark Johnson also became the only coach to ever win six championships. With the cancellation of the 2019-2020 NCAA tournament due to the coronavirus, the Badgers, who won the 2019 National Championship, are now back-to-back winners – it’s just been nearly two years between titles.
The goal was Watts’ 240the career point, which places her 14th on the list of most career points in the NCAA.
Webster was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Caitlin Schneider, who Johnson said had confounded opponents with her speed this week, was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Shane Pinto and North Dakota are a lock for the NCAA tournament, but do Bobby Brink and Denver make it as well? (photo: Mark Kuhlmann).
We’ve seen all six conference tournaments completed and here are both Jayson’s and Jim’s fields, as well as how they place them into regionals.
It’s amazing how controversial this year has been but how close Jayson and Jim are with their final fields. How they move teams around, though, is very much different.
Jayson: Here are the locks for the tournament thus far in my eyes – 14 teams.
AIC
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan
Quinnipiac
St. Lawrence
Boston College
Massachusetts
North Dakota
St. Cloud State
Minnesota Duluth
Minnesota State
Bemidji State
Lake Superior State
Now let’s look at the true bubble teams. I count eight of them looking for two spots.
Army
Notre Dame
Boston University
Providence
Connecticut
Denver
Omaha
Bowling Green
Last week I thought that Army, Providence, Connecticut and Bowling Green would be at the bottom of the bubble. That doesn’t change.
That leaves four teams for two spots.
I want to apply some numbers to what I am looking at here. Let’s take a look at some of the records of these teams against locks or bubble teams that are above them in seedings or standings.
Notre Dame (0-3-1 vs Wisconsin, 2-2 vs Minnesota, 2-2 vs Michigan)
Omaha (2-4-0 vs North Dakota, 1-1 vs SCSU, 0-1-1 vs UMD)
Denver (2-5 vs NoDak, 0-2 vs SCSU, 0-2 vs UMD)
BU (1-1 vs BC, 2-0 vs UMass)
My ranking of the four bubble teams at this moment.
Boston University
Omaha
Notre Dame
Denver
The only change I have made is Denver. After looking at it, the overall record doesn’t support Denver being so high. Therefore, I have put them last on this bubble.
Taking the top two on the list, my 16 teams are:
AIC
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan
Quinnipiac
St. Lawrence
Boston College
Massachusetts
Boston University
North Dakota
St. Cloud State
Minnesota Duluth
Omaha
Minnesota State
Bemidji State
Lake Superior State
Let’s rank the teams.
My top four teams are:
North Dakota
Boston College
Minnesota
Wisconsin
My second band includes:
Minnesota State
St Cloud State
Quinnipiac
Minnesota Duluth
My third band includes:
Michigan
Massachusetts
Omaha
Boston University
My fourth band includes:
Lake Superior
Bemidji State
AIC
St. Lawrence
Let’s bracket.
Fargo – North Dakota
Bridgeport – Boston College
Albany – Wisconsin
Loveland – Minnesota
Second Band:
Fargo – Minnesota State
Bridgeport – Quinnipiac
Albany – St. Cloud
Loveland – Minnesota Duluth
Third Band:
Fargo – Omaha
Bridgeport – Boston University
Albany – Massachusetts
Loveland – Michigan
Fourth Band
Fargo – Bemidji State
Bridgeport – AIC
Albany – St. Lawrence
Loveland – Lake Superior
My brackets:
Fargo
Bemidji State vs North Dakota
Omaha vs. Minnesota State
Albany
St. Lawrence vs. Wisconsin
Massachusetts vs. St. Cloud
Bridgeport
AIC vs. Boston College
Boston University vs. Quinnipiac
Loveland
Lake Superior vs. Minnesota
Michigan vs. Minnesota Duluth
And that would be my bracket.
Jim: I see a lot of similarity to your bracket. I am going to seed mine, though:
1. North Dakota
2. Minnesota
3. Boston College
4. Massachusetts (major difference from Jayson)
5. Wisconsin
6. Minnesota State
7. St. Cloud State
8. Minnesota Duluth
9. Quinnipiac
10. Michigan
11. Bemidji State
12. Boston University
13. AIC
14. Lake Superior
15. Connecticut
16. St. Lawrence
My only difference between your field and mine is Connecticut vs. Omaha. And for me, it is hair splitting. I think the committee will have a difficult time. Which conference deserves the extra team – Hockey East or NCHC.
So I need to make a comparison:
At 10-11-2, UConn doesn’t look impressive. But they also played UMass three times at 0-2-1, Boston College four times going 1-1-2, Boston University once getting a tie and Providence four times, going 2-2-0. Decent against the best of the best.
Omaha, at 14-10-1 was excellent as well. They were 2-4-0 vs. North Dakota, 0-1-1 vs. Minnesota Duluth, 2-3-0 vs. Denver and 1-1-0 vs. St. Cloud State. UConn played 12-of-23 games (52.1%) vs. the top teams in their conference and Omaha played 15-of-25 (60%). But UConn’ winning percentage was .417 while Omaha’s was .366.
So, my last spot goes to UConn, the only difference in our field.
Now, our rankings are a little off.
But here is my field. I am having a difficult time placing Connecticut outsaid their home state, but to make the top seed, North Dakota, play a lower seed is fine, and I avoid UConn facing Boston College in Bridgeport.
Here we go:
Fargo Regional:
Connecticut vs. North Dakota
Bemidji State vs. Minnesota Duluth
Loveland Regional:
Lake Superior vs. Minnesota
St. Cloud State vs. Michigan
Albany Regional:
AIC vs. Massachusetts
Boston University vs. Minnesota State
Bridgeport Regional:
St. Lawrence vs. Boston College
Quinnipiac vs. Wisconsin
That’s what we both have right now. We will see what is realistic at 7 p.m. EST Sunday when the selections are announced on ESPNU.
Lake Superior State defeated Northern Michigan 6-3 Saturday night to win its first WCHA tournament championship (photo: Jim Rosvold).
For Lake Superior State, a team that had never won a WCHA playoff title in its history, just getting a chance to play for one meant a lot to the Lakers.
Just 80 seconds in, LSSU jumped on Northern Michigan, getting a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night en route to a 6-3 victory at the Verizon Center Saturday night in Mankato, Minn.
Ashton Calder led the way for the Lakers with three goals, including two in the final frame.
While his first, which came at 13:30 of the second, ended up as the game-winner, it was the second one, which came shorthanded 11:04 into the third period, that meant the most to the second-seeded Lakers, as it put the game out of reach before the Wildcats could get a third goal of their own.
For Calder, being a part of helping get the Lakers back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996 was a goal he set for himself when returned home to go to college.
“When I chose to come back home, I was excited,” he said. “I knew there was a lot of work to be done. I’m just happy that I got it with this group of guys. I mean, it’s big for our town. We’ve been, back in the day, Lake State was a big national championship contender. It’s been awhile, so I’m happy to be a part of trying to bring it back.”
Being a local kid that has been a leader all season for the Lakers (19-6-3 overall), Calder’s leadership on the scoresheet means a lot to coach Damon Whitten’s squad.
“It’s big,” Whitten said. “I reflect to Michigan Tech a little bit. Tanner Kero was so important to that Michigan Tech program, not only for on the ice, and how good of a player he was, but the impact he had in our community. Chase Gamlin’s a senior, another Soo native, and Ashton Calder, a little bit more well-known because he’s leading our team, and a great player.
“We need those Ashton Calders up in Sault Ste. Marie, and throughout the U.P., and in northern Michigan, for our program. He’s going to inspire the next generation.”
While Calder’s hat trick was a big part of the win, Whitten was also extremely proud of the line of Dustin Manz, Brandon Puricelli, and Jack Jeffers. The trio, which features two sophomores in Manz and Puricelli and a junior in Jeffers, accounted for the game’s first two goals and five points combined on the night.
A line that had struggled to score all year, Whitten felt that it was a huge relief to see the group stick together and finish strong.
“It’s a line that, two or three weeks ago, they were really frustrated,” said Whitten. “I’d imagine if we would have grabbed those guys, they probably would have asked and maybe split up and find some new linemates. They just, they weren’t connecting. They didn’t have chemistry. We really dug in with those guys, extra video, pulling up old games, talking to them about how important they are for the team.
“I’m glad they stuck out stuck with it together and, instead of pulling apart, they pulled together. They had a huge impact.”
They were rewarded just 80 seconds into the contest when Manz knocked a rebound past Wildcats goaltender Rico DiMatteo. Puricelli potted the second goal for the line and the team at 12:02 of the first off a feed from Manz while stationed on the back door.
The game remained 2-0 past the halfway point of the contest before Lakers defenseman Jacob Nordqvist jumped into the action from the Lakers’ bench. He buried a one-timer off a pass from Miroslav Mucha at 10:50.
Trailing 4-0, but on the power play, the sixth-seeded Wildcats got one back at 19:14 of the second period. Off the faceoff to start the advantage, winger Andre Ghantous went hard to the net. Winger A.J. Vanderbeck fired a shot that Ghantous tipped home.
While getting the goal so quickly on the power play was exactly what the Wildcats (11-17-1 overall) needed, head coach Grant Potulny felt that the intermission that came shortly after slowed their momentum as his team tried to mount a comeback.
“Tonight was just one of those games where even in, like the first or second shift of the game, a puck up to our (defense), it was just a hair too (far) in front of them, or the saucer pass didn’t bounce,” Potulny said. “(You) get a couple things going, and you score at the end of the period, and then it’s a period break.”
Vanderbeck scored a goal 3:05 into the third with a quick shot off a faceoff, cutting the lead to 4-2. Potulny liked the effort of Vanderbeck and his linemates, Brandon Schulz and Alex Frye, who had the only assist on Vanderbeck’s goal.
“I thought they did get better as the game went,” said Potulny. “Alex has been a nice addition to our team. I thought Brandon Schultz had a great second half of the year, and they kind of fit pretty well together.”
After Calder extended the Lakers’ lead back to three at 5-2, the Wildcats responded 4:48 later when winger David Keefer spun on a puck in the slot and buried a shot over the shoulder of Lakers goaltender Mareks Mitens.
Looking to make a dent in the Lakers’ two-goal lead with 3:08 left in the contest, Potulny pulled DiMatteo. The move backfired as Calder snatched up the puck inside his own blueline, skated it into the Wildcats’ zone and fired it into the back of the net at 17:24, sealing both his hat trick and the game.
With the win, the Lakers await their seeding in the NCAA tournament, which will be announced Sunday.
American International has repeated as Atlantic Hockey tournament champs (photo: Kelly Shea).
American International scored three third period goals to break a 2-2 tie and defeat Canisius 5-2 to win its second consecutive Atlantic Hockey championship.
The Yellow Jackets have now won three straight regular-season league championships and now two straight playoff titles (2019, 2021).
Chris Theodore’s power-play goal at 3:24 of the third period gave AIC its first lead of the game, and the Yellow Jackets tacked on a pair of empty net goals to seal the championship.
“It wasn’t our best game, not even close,” said AIC senior defenseman and captain Brennan Kapcheck, who had three assists. “But we kept grinding it out. That’s AIC hockey.”
“You’re trailing 1-0 last night inside of 10 minutes, and then tonight we’re down 1-0 and 2-1,” said Yellow Jackets coach Eric Lang. “I’m a probabilities guy. I know what those numbers look like. Our guys were just resilient.”
Canisius opened the scoring 8:40 into the contest. The Golden Griffins’ J.D. Pogue entered the AIC zone on a partial breakaway, but was knocked off the puck. Matt Long got possession back for Canisius, and fed Pogue in front of the AIC net. His attempt to stuff the puck past Yellow Jackets goaltender Stefano Durante failed, but Kevin Obssuth, Canisius’ 13th dressed forward, was there to lift the puck over Durante.
American International evened it up early in the second on a goal by Justin Cole, his ninth of the season. Cole redirected a shot from Chris Dodero past Canisius goaltender Jacob Barczewski to tie the game 1-1 at 1:21.
But less than two minutes later, Grant Meyer was able to lift a rebound over Durante to give the Golden Griffins back the lead.
It stayed that way until five minutes to play in the period, when AIC’s Elijah Barriga scored his second goal of the weekend. Barriga converted on a trailing pass from Theodore to knot the game at 2-2.
With 1:26 left in the second, during a scrum behind the Canisius net, Golden Griffins forward Mitchell Martan took a crosschecking major which proved costly. The penalty was assessed after a video review.
“Chris Dodero came back to the bench and said, ‘Hey coach, that kid crosschecked me in the head’, said Lang. “And we radioed it upstairs pretty quick. When we looked at it, it’s a no brainer.”
At 3:24 of the third period, with two seconds left in the major, Theodore put the Yellow Jackets ahead to stay. Tobias Fladeby’s shot was stopped by Barczewski, but Theodore was there to pounce on the rebound.
“Coach has been preaching, ‘Get to the net, get to the net’, said Theodore. “I finally got to the net and it was a good rebound.”
“It was a huge momentum shift,” said Kapcheck. “It gave us more life.”
“We kept it together with the game plan,” said Theodore. “We’re a third period team.”
Canisius pulled Barczewski with under three minutes to play, but the Yellow Jackets scored twice into the empty net. Barczewski had made several key saves in the third to keep the Golden Griffins in contention. He finished with 31 stops as AIC outshot Canisius 36-17.
“‘Barzo’ was great,” said Canisius coach Trevor Large. “Every time he’s been in net for us, he’s an absolute rock. He’s an elite goaltender in any conference.”
Canisius, picked to finish tied for last in Atlantic Hockey in the league’s preseason poll, was a period away from the NCAA tournament.
“It’s a tough loss to a great team,” said Large. “All my energy and thoughts right now go to our seniors. The result tonight was not what we wanted, but we’re in a great spot because of the guys we have in the locker room.”
Thanks to upsets in other conferences, AIC was not a lock for the NCAA tournament despite having the best winning percentage in Division I at .824 (14-3).
But the Yellow Jackets left no doubt, hoisting the Jack Riley Trophy again.
“There is nothing better in the NCAA tournament than playing yourself into it,” said Lang. “We were probably posturing and jockeying a little bit if things didn’t go our way tonight, but at the end of the day there’s nothing better than playing your way in.”
“I love this team,” said Theodore. “We’re going to make some noise in this tournament.”
Atlantic Hockey All-Tournament Team
F: Elijiah Barriga, AIC
F: Justin Cole, AIC
F: J.D. Pogue, Canisius
D: Logan Gestro, Canisius
D: Brennan Kapcheck, AIC
D: Stefano Durante Canisius
Colorado College coach Mike Haviland leads the Tigers behind the bench in an NCHC game from January 2017 against Minnesota Duluth (photo: Jim Rosvold).
Colorado College announced Saturday night that Mike Haviland has decided to move on from his position as head hockey coach.
The school and Haviland reached a mutual agreement on Friday, March 19.
“We are thankful for Mike’s service and commitment to the student-athletes, program and college over the last seven years,” Colorado College VP and director of athletics Lesley Irvine said in a statement. “We wish him well as he transitions to future opportunities.”
Haviland compiled a 67-153-22 record in seven seasons at Colorado College, including a 35-111-20 mark in NCHC play.
He led the 2017-18 team to a tie for fifth place in the NCHC, then guided the Tigers to 17 victories in 2018-19, the most in one season since the ’12-13 campaign (18). CC also won the Pikes Peak Trophy with a 6-1 victory over Air Force, claimed the Gold Pan with a 2-1-1 regular-season record against in-state rival Denver, and advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the first time as a member of the league during the ’18-19 campaign.
The Tigers ended the 2020-21 season with a 4-17-2 record.
A national search for the Tigers’ next head coach will commence immediately.
UMass will head to the NCAA tournament after a 1-0 win over UMass Lowell Saturday night in the Hockey East championship game (photo: Rich Gagnon).
The most unique of seasons and most unique of circumstances might as well have set the stage for the most unique of champions.
At their home Mullins Arena, UMass took its first-ever Hockey East championship, a 1-0 victory over upstart UMass Lowell. It was the fourth time ever a team took the title by a 1-0 score.
What better season for a game of firsts if not one that included the first to have no fans in attendance due to a pandemic?
“We’ve done things the right way, we haven’t taken any shortcuts,” said Minutemen coach Greg Carvel. “Every year we got a little further in the playoffs and this year we’re fortunate to have every game at home, which is a huge factor.”
It wasn’t as dramatic as the Minutemen’s only other title game appearance. In 2004, they fell to Maine in triple overtime.
With a team as theatrical as the River Hawks, it appeared fate might have more extra periods for the Minutemen to confront their fate.
Late in the third they appeared to tie the game, and believed they did, as the puck was covered up by bodies around the net, and replay was inconclusive; they played on, and UMass didn’t allow another goal.
For the senior class, they took their 83rd win after a 5-29-2 season in Amherst the year before they arrived. Four of the would-be seniors are now in the NHL, but for this group, headed by Carvel, the wait was well worth it.
UMass Lowell used a strong defensive effort against Boston University to beat them 2-1 before going full chaos mode in the semi final with Boston College, storming back twice — including from a 4-1 third-period deficit — to win in overtime.
The quiet dominance and high-flying hockey juxtaposition shows a versatile team, but neither of those versions of the River Hawks showed up in Amherst. Instead,
Fittingly, senior Jake Gaudet scored the lone goal 15:32 into the first frame, with assists from fellow seniors Carson Gicewicz and Oliver Chau. After that, no one scored again.
“It’s a cherry on top of the career of those seniors,” said Carvel. “When they chose to come to UMass, we had just lost 29 games… When they got on campus, nobody cared about UMass hockey, thee kids, especially the seniors still here, they committed to doing everything at the highest standard.”
That’s not usually the type of game the Minutemen excelled in all season; they got this far by putting up four goals on Northeastern and five on Providence.
They allowed just two goals in each of those games, and budding star junior goalie Filip Lindberg does have a history shutting teams down. In the lone Minutemen meeting with the River Hawks in the regular season back on January 29, he shut them out, one of four shutouts this season.
The Minutemen also notched five goals in that game. Needless to say, this one was a little different.
The River Hawks showed a flair for the dramatic against Boston College, one of three games where they scored at least six goals this season.
The UMass defense, though, smothered them on Saturday night in a way they hadn’t seen since the River Hawks were shut out on February 20 against Northeastern, one of just two times they were held scoreless all year.
Lowell, though, didn’t make it easy for the Minutemen to move the puck either. The River Hawks held them to six shots in the second frame, but just generated three of their own in that time frame.
The River Hawks didn’t go quietly in the third; they believed they tied it, but replay was inconclusive, and Lowell remained off the board.
The Minutemen held tight the rest of the way, not allowing any late game heroics the River Hawks showed against Boston College just a few nights ago.
It was a championship-worthy effort.
“Two years ago we had a team that was pretty stacked,” said Carvel. “I would guess, yeah, we got a chance to win it all. This year I didn’t know if we had it, but the kids we brought in to the program made us better. I told the kids all the time you get what you deserve, and they deserved to be Hockey East champions.”
