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Women’s Division I College Hockey: Weekend Wrap February 26, 2024

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(1) Ohio State at (2) Wisconsin

The top two teams in the country did not disappoint as they split their weekend series, both coming from behind to overcome a slow start and take down their opponent. Read my full game recap of Ohio State’s 3-1 on Friday and my full recap of Wisconsin’s 4-2 win on Saturday. 

(8) Minnesota Duluth at (5) Minnesota

The two teams showed they could not be more even on Friday night as they each put 27 shots on goal and could not find a winner after 65 minutes of play. Minnesota had more shots on goal to start the game, but UMD took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to a snipe from Clara Van Wieren. The Gophers equalized near the midpoint of the game when Abbey Murphy snapped the UMD penalty kill streak at 19 straight with an extra-attacker goal. It was her nation-leading 30th goal of the season and 50th point. Minnesota also took the additional conference point by winning the shootout as Ella Huber was the only player to score in the six tries. On Saturday,  the Gophers took a 2-0 lead into the final frame thanks to a power play goal from Madison Kaiser and a quick shot from Payton Hemp. Manon McMahon cut the lead in half just more than a minute into the third and UMD ramped up the pressure as the period progressed, but Emma Kreisz scored the Gophers’ third power play goal of the weekend to extend the lead to 3-1. The Bulldogs closed the gap one more time with 1:15 to go thanks to a goal from Mary Kate O’Brien, but Murphy’s empty-netter secured the 4-2 win for Minnesota. 

(10) St. Cloud State at Bemidji State

Freshman Greta Henderson tallied a hat trick while Katie Kaufman and Emma Gentry each added a goal and an assist to lead the Huskies to a 5-1 win on Friday. Shelby Breiland was the goal-scorer for the Beavers. On Saturday, Sofianna Sundelin scored late in the first first, but Bemidji State opened the second with goals from Talya Hendrickson and Olivia Dronen to take a 2-1 lead. SCSU regained the lead with two goals in the waning minutes of the second from Taylor Larson and Gentry. In the third, Annick, Gentry and Kaufman each scored as St. Cloud State took a 6-2 win and the weekend sweep. Grace Bowlby also had three assists in the win.

(11) Connecticut vs. Boston University

Connecticut earned their first-ever Hockey East regular season title with a 4-0 win on Friday. Kyla Josifovic, Brianna Ware, Jada Habisch and Megan Woodworth each scored in the win. On Saturday, Camryn Wong’s power play goal was the only tally as the Huskies took a 1-0 win and weekend sweep.

Vermont vs. (12) Northeastern

Jessie McPherson made 29 saves while Lily Humphrey scored on the power play and Kaylee Lewis added an empty-netter to give Vermont a 2-0 victory on Friday. On Saturday, the teams were scoreless until midway through the third when Megan Carter scored on the power play to put Northeastern up 1-0. But Humphrey scored her second of the weekend, also on the player advantage, to tie the game and force overtime. The extra frame wasn’t enough to find a winner. In the shootout, Krista Parkkonen scored the only goal to give Vermont the win and extra point.

CHA Tournament

RIT vs. (15) Penn State

Mya Vaslet and Maggie MacEachern each scored in the second for Penn State to give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Lindsay Maloney scored in the final minute of regulation, but RIT ran out of time and the Nittany Lions took a 2-1 win. On Saturday, Tessa Janecke became the fastest skater in program history to 100 career points when she scored what would serve as the game winner to open the game. Julie Gough, Lyndie Lobdell and Maddie Christian also added goals to lead Penn State to the 4-0 win and sweep, which sends them to the CHA title game. 

Robert Morris vs. Mercyhurst

The Colonials came out firing on Friday, rocketing past Mercyhurst with a 5-0 win. Shailynn Snow, Jersey Phillips, Courtney Hall, Alaina Giampietro and Laura Eustace each scored for Robert Morris in the win. In the second game, Mercyhurst took a 2-0 lead in the first with goals from Thea Johansson and Sara Boucher, but RMU pushed back in the second, tying it on goals from Giampietro and Lindsey Smolen. Vanessa Upson put her team ahead for good midway through the third and she and Johansson each added empty netters to give their team a 5-2 win. The Lakers did not leave anything up for discussion in the deciding game, earning a 6-1 win thanks to two goals from Chantal Ste-Croix. Kylee Mahoney, Sofia Nuutinen, Johansson, Snow and Upson all scored in the victory. Mercyhurst will face Penn State for the CHA Championship. 

NEWHA Tournament

Franklin Pierce vs. Sacred Heart

In game one, Sacred Heart outshot the Ravens 39-25, but Jill Hertl made 38 saves while Anna Caumo, Claire Casey and Emilie Prive each scored to lift Franklin Pierce over the home team. Paige McNeil scored for Sacred Heart in the 3-1 loss. The Ravens won the series on Saturday thanks to Grace Schuck’s goal in the final minute of the first. Caumo added an insurance goal late to give Franklin Pierce the 2-0 win. 

Assumption vs. Stonehill

Bailey Feeney’s goal midway through the game on Friday had Stonehill up 1-0, but an active third period tested the Skyhawks. Lily Geist extended the lead to 2-0 42 seconds into the frame, but Assumption immediately pushed back. Sheridan Terrazzano scored 36 seconds later to cut the lead in half and then Teagan Vaughan added a power play tally three minutes later to tie the game 2-2. Alexis Petford won the game for Stonehill with a power play tally of her own to give her team the 3-2 victory. Maddison Achtyl and Petford scored in the first and that was enough to power Stonehill to the win and weekend sweep. Ava McGaffigan got a power play goal for Assumption in the second, but Feeney’s empty-netter ensured the 3-1 win. 

Post vs. Saint Anselm

The Hawks eked out a 2-1 win in the first game thanks to a goal in the final minute by Abigail Blair. Brooklyn Schneiderhan had Saint Anselm up 1-0, but Post responded with a power play goal by Macy Peterson in the second to tie it 1-1. In the second game, Tristan Currie and Tymmarie Grom scored for Post and Hannah Saunders made a staggering 62 saves to power Post to the 2-1 win. The Hawks found their scoring in the final game with a 6-1 win that sent them to the NEWHA semifinals where they’ll face Stonehill. Saint Anselm put 163 shots on net in the three game series. 

St. Michael’s vs LIU

Ryane Kearns had LIU up 1-0 early, but Mikaela Langbacka responded quickly for St. Michael’s to tie the game 1-1. Late in the second, Ashley Morrow and Jeannie Wallner scored 2 minutes, 23 seconds apart to push LIU ahead 3-2. Alizée LeBlanc cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the third, but St. Michael’s couldn’t find the equalizer and LIU took the win. On Saturday, Jeannie Wallner scored twice and Mary Rachel Lenaeus also lit the lamp to carry LIU to a 3-0 win that sent them to the NEWHA semifinals, where they’ll face Franklin Pierce.

ECAC Tournament

Union at (14) Yale

Anna Bargman and Naomi Boucher each scored twice and Elle Hartje broke the Yale record for career points with an assist on the first goal while also scoring herself later in the game as the Bulldogs took a 5-2 win to advance to the quarterfinals. Meredith Killian and Maddie Keaney scored for Union in the loss. Yale will travel to St. Lawrence to face the Saints in the conference quarterfinals.

Dartmouth at (13) Princeton

Sarah Fillier netted her third hat trick of the season to power Princeton past Dartmouth in a 5-1 win. Sarah Paul and Emma Kee each scored for the Tigers in the win, as well. Hamilton Doster scored for the Big Green. Princeton will face Clarkson in a best of three series next weekend. 

Harvard at (9) Quinnipiac

Alexa Hoskin had two goals and an assist, Kahlen Lamarche had a goal and two assists, Zoe Uens had three assists and Madison Chantler had two goals to lead the Bobcats to a decisive 9-0 win over Harvard. They will face Cornell in the ECAC quarterfinals. 

RPI at Brown

A hard-fought and close game was decided nearly ten minutes into overtime when Jess Ciarrocchi’s goal gave Brown the 1-0 win. The goal was reviewed and eventually called good, sending the Bears to the tournament quarterfinals where they’ll face Colgate. 

 

Monday 10: Quinnipiac takes Cleary Cup again, No. 1 Boston College keeps winning, Atlantic Hockey wraps regular season with playoffs on tap

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Quinnipiac celebrates its fourth straight Cleary Cup over the weekend (photo: Quinnipiac Athletics).

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.

1) I’m gonna fight ‘em off. A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back. – The White Stripes

It’s rare to make the biggest story of the college hockey weekend about a game that didn’t include teams fighting for postseason content on either a national or conference level. It’s even rarer to look at teams playing well after the majority of college hockey fans were fast asleep, and it’s rarer still that the programs from Arizona State and Alaska would produce the story as the result of an intense rivalry forged by frequently playing one another as Division I independents. Yet here we are, looking at the biggest stories of the week, and starting things off with the last 16 seconds of Friday night’s game between the Nanooks and Sun Devils.

What had been a scoreless game through two periods erupted for four goals in the third, but after Chase Dafoe and Anton Rubtsov twice gave Fairbanks a one-goal lead by sandwiching goals around Brandon Tabakin. Tabakin later took a two-minute cross-checking penalty with about two minutes remaining that was upgraded to a five-minute major five-minute major, and after Dafoe scored to give the Nanooks a two-goal lead, tensions that had been building over the course of the night exploded into full-on line brawls, the largest of which occurred after a face-off sent a puck into the corner to the right of Arizona State’s net.

The players themselves skirmished and broke into customary scrums that involved further facemasking before Arizona State’s Tucker Ness and Alaska’s Dawson Bruneski, who had previously been assessed penalties for roughing, left their respective penalty boxes to trade fists at center ice. Over two dozen additional calls were assessed, after which officials determined to end the game with 11.1 seconds remaining on the clock.

The final number resulted in 131 penalty minutes for the Nanooks with 116 minutes assessed to the Sun Devils, but while the 247 minutes were the most in a game in almost 20 years, the teams skated to an entertaining and intense overtime game on Saturday with Arizona State gaining a 4-3 win after eradicating a two-goal deficit. The lingering conversation, though, remained on the result of the disqualifications and misconducts from Friday night – and about any and all fallout expected to remain in place through the week.

2) I love that dirty water. Boston, you’re my home.

Boston College is, at this point, the team to beat in college hockey. The undisputed No. 1 team in the nation shouldn’t lose any first place-votes when the weekly top-20 poll is released later today, and the 22-5-1 record that’s approximately three games clear of Boston University and North Dakota adds space for the Eagles to even slip over the next couple of weeks before heading into the Hockey East postseason with an assumed No. 1 seed in the national tournament.

This past weekend did nothing to dispel any opinions of the Eagles, who swept Vermont with a blowout win on Friday and a harder-fought, 4-2 victory on Saturday that marked the team’s 10th straight victory. That last loss was against BU in the Beanpot semifinals but fell after two straight wins over the Terriers, and BC hasn’t lost a Hockey East game since dropping a 4-3 decision at Providence in mid-January. Moving even further back, the Eagles haven’t lost at home since a 5-3 loss to Northeastern on Dec. 1. Three games remain, two of which are on the road with a home-and-home against New Hampshire preceding a single-game season finale at Merrimack, making it all the more likely that BC will enter the playoffs with a chance to assure itself of the No. 1 overall seed.

3) I can see Cleary now, the rain has gone

College hockey handed out its first two sets of regular season hardware this weekend with the first coming during Quinnipiac’s lone weekend game against Brown. Having played Yale in a conference game during the CT Ice Tournament, the Bobcats traveled to Providence before scoring four first period goals against the Bears in a game that clinched the team’s No. 1 seed in the ECAC postseason after Cornell lost to Clarkson in overtime.

Riding home with the Cleary Cup is nothing new to Quinnipiac, which became the first team in ECAC history to win four straight outright regular-season championships with its eighth overall title in the last 12 seasons, but beating Brown built some space for the Bobcats’ hunt to a No. 2 seed in the national tournament. Minnesota – the No. 8 team in the tournament – stood idle while the seventh-seeded Bobcats avoided a loss to a team situated in the bottom 10 of the Pairwise, and losses by Maine, Colorado College, Western Michigan and others avoided pressure building from teams other than Providence.

4) Bob-ba oo-mau-mau

Quinnipiac was technically the second team to clinch a regular-season championship after RIT, the leading Atlantic Hockey team, earned its sixth conference championship and second consecutive crown when Bentley defeated Holy Cross on Thursday. The Tigers moved through their weekend by sweeping Canisius with a 9-2 win on Friday and a 3-2 win on Saturday, but the Falcons’ win allowed the team to hoist the Bobby Degregorio Trophy in front of its home crowd at the Gene Polisseni Center.

Clinching the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Hockey postseason additionally means the Tigers won’t ever have to leave their home ice, and though last year ended with a three-game loss to Holy Cross during the semifinal round, RIT enters this season needing to win five games at home to clinch a championship against an expanded postseason format that includes all 11 teams.

5) Fly, Falcon, fly. Up up to the sky!

Expanding the postseason to an 11-team format means Atlantic Hockey wrapped up its regular season this week to move into a four-weekend postseason across the entire month of March. Almost every spot remained up for grabs through at least Friday, and even Saturday began with eight of the 11 seeds undecided when nearly everyone stepped on the ice.

Some of the drama was vacuumed out of the day when AIC dispatched Army to clinch a first-round bye, but the logjam involving Bentley, Niagara and Air Force failed to produce which teams were going to which location until the night ended with the Massachusetts-based Falcons clinching a come-from-behind shootout win over Sacred Heart. Having earlier trailed by two after the Pioneers scored two goals, a Robert Morris goal in Colorado kept the western Falcons in flux while the Purple Eagles scrounged for a shot at fifth place.

The end result sent AIC to Air Force after the Falcons rallied past the Colonials, and Bentley’s shootout win sent Robert Morris to the Boston area next week for the single-elimination game while Army, which placed 10th, heads to Niagara Falls. By also coming back, Sacred Heart was denied a shot at second place, which in the on-campus format means that Holy Cross is the next-highest team if RIT falls in the quarterfinals.

6) They DO play hockey out west, ya know

And they’re pretty good at it.

The Pairwise Rankings will show that Colorado College is on the verge of missing the national tournament after gaining a single tie from its two-game series at Omaha, but it’s hard to avoid the conversation about the Tigers’ chances when St. Cloud, a team arguably behind them in the national poll, remains ahead in the Pairwise. Sandwiched between the two is Western Michigan, which split with the Huskies and established a logjam around the drop from a No. 3 seed to the Broncos’ current holding in the No. 4 spot.

All conversation surrounding the No. 4 seeds will inevitably involve UMass because of the Minutemen’s host site status, but seeing two NCHC teams and an elevated performance out of Michigan, the No. 14 team in the Pairwise, means there’s plenty of stiff competition for spots in both Sioux Falls and St. Louis. The games between St. Cloud and Western, in particular, showcased some of the best in the West after the Broncos rallied from two separate two-goal deficits to tie the game in the third period before winning in overtime on Friday, to which the Huskies responded on Saturday with a 3-0 shutout.

7) The cream of the crop

The pressure of watching those teams battle for seeding isn’t lost on anyone with a pulse on college hockey because, frankly, there are some really good hockey teams scrapping for even a slot in the national tournament. North Dakota was No. 4 in last week’s voted-on poll, but the Fighting Hawks overcame Minnesota Duluth for two wins at home to remain third in the Pairwise Rankings.

Denver, meanwhile, blew past Miami on Saturday after misfiring a 3-3 tie on Friday. The Pioneers still gained five-of-six points by winning the shootout, but the two-goal rally by the Redhawks left the 2022 national champions in sixth place after Michigan State’s split with Ohio State. The razor-thin margin between the teams further included Wisconsin, to which less than two one-thousands of an RPI point separated third from sixth. Of the four teams, two are likely going to travel as No. 2 seeds, and with UMass sitting as a possible fourth-seeded wildcard, it likely means one or more of those teams could be moving east to play in Massachusetts.

8) Lost opportunities

None of those teams want to lose points in key late-season matchups, which is why Ohio State’s 6-2, Friday night win at Munn Arena rang so deeply through the Big Ten ranks. The Buckeyes that were once winless in conference play picked up their third straight win by winning their first conference game on the road, and after ending a seven-game losing streak by sweeping Wisconsin last weekend, Bucky won its first road game since a 4-2 victory over Bowling Green on January 6.

More importantly, the streak – though broken by Michigan State’s win on Saturday – had the unintended effect of seeing the Big Ten race tighten at both ends of its standings. Removing three possible points from Michigan State brought Wisconsin within a regulation win of moving ahead of the Spartans with the season finale this weekend, while the last two games of Ohio State’s season represent a way to pull ahead of Penn State with the Nittany Lions coming to Columbus this weekend.

The battle for third place remains wide open between Minnesota, Michigan, and, to a lesser extent, Notre Dame, so the possibility for a chaotic finish is creaking at an open door as the season draws to its final games.

9) Rut roh

Michigan State’s slip-up could ultimately cost the Spartans a shot at the Big Ten’s bye spot or a No. 1 seed in the national tournament, but another misstep, this time by Cornell in the ECAC, significantly damaged the Big Red’s chances at playing in the NCAA Tournament altogether.

The conference standings will show that the Big Red gained three points and all but assured themselves of the No. 2 seed in the ECAC postseason, but losing to Clarkson in overtime moved Cornell down the Pairwise after it sat in the precarious No. 13 spot when the weekend began. A tie against St. Lawrence further damaged those odds as the tradewinds swirled, and while they gained the extra point with the shootout win, the Big Red are now in 16th spot, which ultimately means they might have to win their way into the NCAA Tournament by claiming the Whitelaw Cup.

10) Who’s in? Who’s out?

Jimmy Connelly will have an updated Bracketology this week, but the regular season’s final stretch makes it worthwhile to check in on the different conferences and where their respective teams sit in the race for clinching NCAA Tournament berths. This is a conversation that’s really picked up steam, so we’ll more or less look at some key players who are floating around some key areas.

Cornell’s drop came as Colorado College fell into a statistical tie with the Big Red, but moving both to No. 15 and splitting it between No. 15 or No. 16 moves both away from the national tournament with the Atlantic Hockey and CCHA champions each coming from outside the top rankings. The highest ranked AHA team is RIT at No. 22, while the CCHA-leading Minnesota State Mavericks are in the No. 30 spot.

The Mavericks still don’t lead the CCHA standings, but first place Bemidji State is No. 35.

Aside from those teams, Hockey East’s continued stranglehold gives the conference two of the top-four seeds with BC at No. 1 and BU at No. 2. Further back, Maine’s recent slip and a loss to Northeastern on Saturday means the Black Bears, a one-time No. 1 seed, is on the cusp of falling into the No. 3 block as the ninth-place Pairwise team. Providence and UMass were once afterthoughts to the powerhouse in Northern New England, but each are now breathing down the Black Bears’ neck in the conference standings with the Friars additionally sitting in 10th.

Sitting outside the Pairwise Rankings, New Hampshire has a golden opportunity to jump into the top-14 if it produces a good result against Boston College this weekend, and Omaha’s recent three-game unbeaten streak gives the Mavericks an opportunity with a series against North Dakota looming in two weeks – provided they don’t slip against Miami this weekend.

D-II/III East Men’s Hockey Weekend Wrap-up – February 26, 2024

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Endicott’s Jimmy McIssac celebrates his OT winning goal over UNE to advance the Gulls to the CCC title game on Saturday (Photo by Endicott Athletics)

The penultimate week of play leading into the conference championships certainly delivered tremendous hockey highlighted by No. 1 seeds in the CCC and SUNYAC losing in semifinal action and overtime games deciding several other critical matchups. Two more No. 2 seeds also saw their championship hopes come to an end in Bowdoin and St. Michael’s and the stage is now set for Championship Weekend next week with conference hardware up for grabs and national tournament invitations on the line. Here is the wrap-up of all the exciting play across the seven conferences in D-II/III in the East:

CCC

Following the elimination of Nichols and Wentworth earlier in the week, the top four seeds were matched up in the semifinals with Salve Regina playing top-seed Curry and defending champion Endicott hosting the University of New England.

The Seahawks and Colonels played a high-paced game from the opening puck drop as the teams combined for five first period goals including three tallies in a 41-second span in the first six minutes of play. Save Regina extended their first period advantage to 4-2 with Karston Kruska scoring the only goal of the period. Looking for a comeback, Curry pressed but the Seahawks extended their lead on goals by Walter Baumann, Parker Mabbett and Seth Benson to stun the Colonels, 7-2 and advance to the championship game. Cayden Bailey stopped 35 of 37 shots for Salve Regina in the win while Damon Zimmer and Benson each scored a goal and added an assist.

The Endicott vs. UNE game was a much closer contest that necessitated overtime to determine a winner. Neither team could score in the first two periods of play before Jayden Price gave UNE a 1-0 lead with a power play goal. Kevin Craig answered with a power play goal for Endicott to tie the game at 1-1 before Anthony Cinato gave the visitors the lead with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation time. With the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker Jimmy McIssac tied the score with just 26 seconds remaining in the third period and the game moved to overtime. Almost ten minutes into the overtime session, it was McIssac who delivered the game-winner to advance Endicott to the championship game. Billy Girard IV stopped 39 shots for UNE while Atticus Kelly picked up the win for the Gulls stopping 37 of 39 shots.

Endicott will look to defend their title against Salve Regina on Saturday at Raymond Bourque Arena in Beverly, MA.

MASCAC

The quarterfinal round saw Worcester State and Framingham State eliminated on Thursday night setting up a semifinal round that saw No. 1 Plymouth State hosting Westfield State and Fitchburg State playing Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday with the latter game needing overtime to determine a winner.

Plymouth State did not want to repeat their slow start against the Owls that led to their only loss in conference play over the past two seasons. They started fast and built a first period 3-0 lead on goals by Patrick O’Connell, Payton Schaly and Anton Jellvik. Gianluca Marini closed the gap for the Owls with the only goal of the second period, but PSU eased to a 5-1 win with two of their three power play goals. Schaly finished the game with one goal and two assists while Connor Tait chipped in with three assists to lead the Panthers to a title defense on Saturday.

The battle between No. 2 Fitchburg State and No. 3 Massachusetts-Dartmouth was a defensive battle with great goaltending  by Daniel Davidson (UMD) and Frederick Soderberg (FSU) keeping quality scoring chances off the scoreboard. Hunter Dunn gave the Falcons a 1-0 first period lead that stood until Brandon Clark evened the score midway through the third period. With neither team able to score in regulation time, the game moved to overtime where Michael Macchioni sent the Falcons to the title game with his game-winning goal assisted by Toivo Kramer and Michael Imala. Soderberg finished the game with 36 saves to earn the win.

PSU will host Fitchburg State for the MASCAC title on Saturday at Hanaway Rink in Plymouth, NH.

NE-10

Following Wednesday’s elimination of Post and Franklin Pierce, No. 3 Southern New Hampshire traveled to face No. 2 St. Michael’s on Saturday while the past two NE-10 champions faced each other as Assumption hosted St. Anselm.

In the highest scoring game of the weekend, the top seed Greyhounds fell behind the Hawks 1-0 in the first period and saw the deficit increase to 4-0 as St. A’s scored three times in the opening five minutes of play in the second period. A pair of power play goals from Jonathan Surrette and Camron Roberts cut the lead to 4-2 after 40 minutes of play setting up a crazy third period. Jake Lavoie made the score 4-3 with a goal in the opening minute of the final period but the Hawks responded with max Burum’s second of the contest for a 5-3 lead and less than nine minutes remaining. Penalties would haunt the Hawks as Ryan Decker and Jake DiNapoli scored power play goals just 41 seconds apart to tie the score at 5-5. With just over two minutes remaining, Sean Corliss gave the Greyhounds their first lead of the game and Leo Piandes iced the 7-5 win with an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game. Surrette finished the game with a goal and two assists while Ronny Paragallo assisted on four goals as Assumptions scored four times with the man advantage. Callum Welch, who came in for Thomas McLarnon, earned the win in goal stopping 19 of 20 shots.

Southern New Hampshire skated to a 3-0 lead with goals from Anthony Marchant, Matt Amante and Kurt Watson through two periods of play against the Purple Knights. Quinn McCarthy scored on the power play for St. Mike’s but that is all the offense the Penmen would allow as they added two empty-net goals to secure a 5-1 win. Watson finished the game with two goals while goaltender Collin Berke made 30 saves to send SNHU to the title game on Saturday.

Assumption will host SNHU in the NE-10 title game at Worcester Ice Center on Saturday.

NEHC

The NEHC semifinals featured surprising No. 7 seed Southern Maine facing No. 1 Hobart while Skidmore hosted Elmira on Saturday.

The Statesmen got the early jump on the Huskies as Chris Duclair opened the scoring in the first minute of play giving the home team a 1-0 lead. Shane Shell extended the lead in the second period and Austin Mourar made it 3-0 early in the third period. Cole Ouelette scored late to break Damon Beaver’s shutout bid and Tanner Hartman padded the final score with an empty net goal and a 4-1 final score. Beaver finished the game with 21 saves and the Statesmen extended their home win streak to 15 games.

Skidmore hosted Elmira in the other NEHC contest and Jaden York and Tate Brandon made sure the Thoroughbreds would be playing in the title game with a 4-1 win over the Soaring Eagles on Saturday. York scored a pair of goals while Brandon made 23 saves. Defenseman Danny Magnuson added three assists as the Thoroughbreds secured their second championship game appearance in the past three seasons.

Hobart will host Skidmore at The Cooler in Geneva, NY on Saturday, March 2. The matchup between the two teams is the third year in a row the teams have faced each other in the playoffs.

NESCAC

The quarterfinal round took place on Saturday with No. 1 Trinity winning a close contest and the defending champions from Bowdoin being upset by Middlebury. Tufts and Hamilton also advanced as home-ice seeds to next weekend’s Final Four to decide the NESCAC champion.

Trinity hosted Colby and the respective goaltenders (Devon Bobak and Andy Beran) made sure that this contest was going to be low scoring. James Barbour gave the Bantams a first period lead and Colby’s Jayden Grier tied the score at 1-1 setting up a winner-take-all third period. Just past the ten-minute mark, Theodore “Teddy” Griffin netted the decisive goal in a 2-1 win over the stubborn Mules. Bobak finished with 26 saves in the win while Beran stopped 27 of 29 shots for Colby.

The No. 2 seed and defending champions from Bowdoin played No. 7 Middlebury and were stunned by the Panthers, 5-1 on home ice. Andrew Seaman and Michael Fairfax gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead before Issac Abbott scored a power play goal with just six seconds remaining in the period to halve the deficit. The Panthers extended the lead with Wyatt Pastor’s power play goal in the second period and closed out the upset win with a pair of third period goals. Jake Horoho made 32 saves including 18 in the third period to secure the win for Middlebury.

Tufts enjoyed a home-ice quarterfinal matchup with travel partner Connecticut College and skated away with a come from behind 5-3 win over the Camels. The visitors took a 2-0 advantage to the locker room after one period of play, but the second period was all Tufts as the Jumbos scored four times, including two from Tyler Sedlak for a 4-2 lead after two periods of play. Conn College closed the gap with Michael DiMacolo’s goal, but Sedlak added one more for a hat trick in the 5-3 Jumbo win. Peyton Durand earned the win stopping 32 of 35 shots.

The No. 4 v. No. 5 game also featured a battle of travel partners as Hamilton hosted Amherst in a matinee affair on Saturday. The game was No. 1000 for Amherst head coach Jack Arena, but the Continentals were not hospitable to the Mammoths as they skated to 3-0 and 4-1 leads before Amherst staged a late rally in the third period. Goals from Josh Burke and Ryan Tucker closed the score to 4-3 with over a minute remaining in regulation but goaltender Jack Grant (33 saves) kept the visitors at bay and secured the one-goal win for the Continentals. Jackson Krock scored two goals and Grisha Gotovets chipped in with a goal and an assist for Hamilton’s offense.

SUNYAC

Following the quarterfinals that eliminated Brockport and Potsdam, the SUNYAC semifinals featured the top four teams with Geneseo and Oswego looking for a third consecutive win against a conference opponent to advance to the championship game. It is always difficult to beat any team three straight times and Cortland and Plattsburgh proved that with upset wins over the higher seeded opponents on Saturday.

Geneseo hosted Cortland having defeated them twice in the regular season by the same   3-2 score. The Knights opened the scoring with Sean Melso’s goal in the second period, but the Red Dragons responded with a pair of goals from Stephen Krykostas and Colby Seitz to take a 2-1 lead into the third period. After Geneseo’s Teddy Purcell tied the score early in the final period, Anthony Bernardo answered for Cortland with what proved to be the winning goal in a 3-2 final. Goaltender Jack Riedell stopped 35 shots to help the Red Dragons advance to the championship game.

Long-time rivals Plattsburgh and Oswego played for the other championship berth, and it took overtime to decide the contest in favor of the defending champion Cardinals. The Lakers got on the board first as Tyler Flack scored on the power play for a 1-0 advantage after one period of play. The second period saw the Cardinals respond as Jack Ring and Ryan Hogg scored to give the visitors a 2-1 lead after the second period. As expected, the third period was spirited in the action on the ice with the Lakers pressing for the tying goal which Shane Bull delivered with an assist from Flack late in the period to tie the score at 2-2 and send the game to overtime. Just over three minutes into the extra session, Hogg delivered his second goal of the game that earned PSU a 3-2 win and right to host the championship game on Saturday against Cortland.

Geneseo is likely to earn an at-large berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament based on the Pairwise, but Plattsburgh or Cortland will take the auto bid for SUNYAC based on Saturday’s outcome.

UCHC

Quarterfinal action earlier in the week eliminated Nazareth, Chatham, King’s and Manhattanville meaning the UCHC tournament also featured the top four seeds in semifinal action with Utica hosting Alvernia and Stevenson playing against Wilkes.

The Pioneers, who shutout Nazareth in the quarterfinals, continued their strong defense with another Ethan Roberts shutout in a 4-0 win over the Golden Wolves. Three power play goals from Chris Carroll, Matt Wood and Aiden Hughes helped pace the offense for Utica. Roberts finished the game with 30 saves to record back-to-back shutouts for Utica.

In the battle between the No. 2 Stevenson and No. 3 Wilkes, a seesaw affair saw both teams take and surrender leads through the first 40 minutes of play. The Colonels scored first with Patrick Roglinski giving the visitors a 1-0 advantage. Evan Beers and Kyle Lightfoot rallied the Mustangs to a 2-1 lead before Jimmy O’Kane tied the score at 2-2 with a power play goal. John Musella gave the Mustangs another one-goal lead, but Roglinski answered back before the end of the second period to set-up a dramatic finish with a 3-3 game in the third period. Goaltenders Jack Perna for Wilkes and Ty Outen for Stevenson were perfect in the third period sending the game to a winner-take-all overtime session. In the extra session, Lightfoot scored an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the extra session to give Stevenson a 4-3 OT win.

Utica will host Stevenson for the UCHC championship at “The Aud” on Saturday, March 2.

Three Biscuits

Jimmy McIssac – Endicott – score the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation and the overtime winner to lead Endicott to a 3-2 win over UNE in CCC semifinal action.

Max Macchioni – Fitchburg State – scored the game-winning goal for the Falcons in a  2-1 win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the MASCAC semifinal action on Saturday.

Tyler Sedlak – Tufts – scored a hat trick to pace the offense for Tufts in a 5-3 win over Connecticut College on Saturday.

Bonus Biscuits

Max Burum – St. Anselm – led a dynamic Hawks offense with two goals and two assists in an 8-2 rout of Franklin Pierce in NE-10 quarterfinal action on Tuesday and added two more goals in a 7-5 loss to Assumption on Saturday.

Kyle Lightfoot – Stevenson – scored a pair of goals, including the overtime winning goal against Wilkes in UCHC semifinal action on Saturday.

Bennett Stockdale and Ryan Hogg – Plattsburgh  – Stockdale scored his second goal of the game in overtime to help the Cardinals advance in the SUNYAC playoffs with a 3-2 win over Potsdam on Wednesday night while Hogg delivered his second goal of the game, the overtime winner, against Oswego on Saturday.

Championship weekend is upon us and with the drama already having taken place in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, there could yet be some results that have bigger impacts for bids to the national tournament just over a week away. Lots on the line when conference hardware is up for grabs.

 

Hockey East suspends Vermont’s Ahern one game after high sticking penalty Feb. 24 vs. Boston College

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Hockey East announced today that Vermont freshman forward Nick Ahern has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 6:06 of the second period on Feb. 24 at Boston College.

On the play, Ahern was assessed a minor penalty for high sticking.

Ahearn is ineligible to play March 1 against Maine and is able to return to the Catamounts’ lineup on March 2 against the Black Bears.

Recapping NCAA D-III West hockey conference tournament action

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The Bethel Royals are headed to the MIAC title game. (Photo provided by Bethel Athletics)

Nothing came easy for Bethel Saturday night. Not that it was expected to. Up against a tough and talented St. Scholastica squad, the second-seeded Royals knew if they were going to punch a ticket to the MIAC tourney final, they’d have to earn it.

And they did. It just took a couple of overtime periods to finish the job.

In the end, the final glory moment of the night belonged to Jack Brown, who found the puck amid a little chaos in front of the net and punched it home 11 seconds into the second OT period.

That goal gave Bethel a 2-1 win and the opportunity to now host a conference title game for the first time since 2007.

The Royals (18-5-3) led 1-0 after one period thanks to a goal by Justin Kelley a little over 11 minutes in.

The Saints (15-10-1) answered in the third, scoring off a power play goal from Kieran Chung at the 13:50 mark of the third.

Neither team scored the rest of the way or in the first OT session. But the Royals, thanks to 40 saves from Austin Ryman and a clutch goal by Brown, survived this playoff thriller and tied the record for wins in a season.

Oles headed to MIAC final

Never bet against St. Olaf come MIAC tournament time. 

Seeded fifth in the tournament, the Oles stunned top-seed Augsburg on the road with a 4-0 win Saturday and are headed back to the championship game for the second time in three seasons.

Thomas Lalonde made 32 saves, helping to fuel the shutout win over an Auggies team that had not been blanked on the scoreboard on their own ice since December of 2017.

St. Olaf was also a heavy underdog the last time it made it to the conference final and ended up beating Augsburg for the crown. And its success is a testament to the way it handles life away from home. Saturday’s victory was the sixth on the road in the postseason in the last three years.

Four different players scored for the Oles (13-11-3), with Sean Walsh, Gunnar Johnson, Ben Luscko and Eric Brown all finding the back of the net against Augsburg (15-9-2).

Lalonde took care of the rest recording his second consecutive shutout win of the year and the fifth of his career, giving him the most in program history. 

St. Olaf has won its last three games and will be playing in the MIAC tourney for the fourth time in program history. The Oles have scored three or more goals in each of their last three wins.

Bulldogs are playing for the title again

Reigning NCHA tourney champion Adrian will get its chance to keep the trophy after beating Aurora 4-0 Saturday in a semifinal showdown.

Ranked third in the USCHO.com poll, the top-seeded Bulldogs dominated the action, getting a couple of goals from Zachary Heintz and another two from Ryan Pitoscia.

They also got another solid outing from Dershahn Stewart, who made 19 saves and helped Adrian keep hope alive of hoisting another Harris Cup. Bradley Somers contributed in a big way as well, dishing out two assists.

Adrian (22-5-1) set the tone early against the Spartans (15-12-1), scoring twice in the first period and ended up outshooting its opponent 42-19.

It’s the fifth consecutive win for the Bulldogs, who also improved to 14-1 at home. They’ve outscored the opposition 24-3 in the tournament and haven’t scored less than four goals in a game since Feb. 3 when they lost 6-2 to rival St. Norbert.

Green Knights punch ticket to final

Just call Liam Fraser clutch. And call St. Norbert a winner.

Fraser delivered an overtime goal against Trine in a battle of nationally ranked teams Saturday, helping the second-seeded Green Knights prevail 4-3 and advance to the NCHA tournament title game.

Fraser scored at the 2:57 mark of OT, getting the puck from Dayton Deics on a 2-on-1 opportunity before cashing in for 10th-ranked St. Norbert (21-6).

No. 11 Trine (20-8) trailed 1-0 after T.J. Koufis scored at the 8:54 mark of the opening period. 

The Thunder answered 33 seconds into period No. 2, with Sam Antenucci scoring to tie the game. Trine then surged in front 2-1 when Thad Marcola scored five minutes later.

St. Norbert eventually tied the game on a goal by Braden Lindstrom and they led 3-2 less than a minute into the third on a goal by Logan Dombrowsky.

But that lead didn’t last. Bobby Price scored off a rebound at the 8:59 mark, tying the game one final time at 3-3.

Winners of six in a row, St. Norbert is now seeking its first NCHA tourney title since 2019.

Perfect 10 for the Pointers

It’s late February and we all know where UW-Stevens Point is headed. Yep. The WIAC championship game for the 10th consecutive season.

The top-seeded Pointers punched their ticket this time with a 4-2 win over UW-River Falls Saturday to close out a series sweep of the Falcons.

The game was tied twice. First at 1-1 and then 2-2. Then, with under eight minutes to play in regulation, Cody Moline tipped in the eventual game winner. David Hill added an empty net goal in the final 26 seconds.

The seventh-ranked Pointers (20-5-2) scored three of their four goals in the third period. Alex Proctor did his part in goal, stopping 21 shots. Dysen Skinner racked up 30 saves.

Conor Witherspoon and Fletcher Anderson also scored scored goals for UW-Stevens Point, which is hosting the Commissioner’s Cup final for the eighth consecutive year. The Pointers are 12-1-2 at home.

The Falcons (16-10-3) got goals from Matt Clark and Burke Simpson. 

Friday’s series opener was close as well as the two teams tied at 4-4. Proctor stopped 34 shots. Dean Buchholz and Skinner combined for 35 saves for UW-River Falls. 

Blugolds bounce back and advance

UW-Stout stole game one from second-seeded UW-Eau Claire in their WIAC semifinal series Friday as the Blue Devils scored twice in the second period and never looked back in a 2-1 win.

Saturday was a different story for the Blugolds (17-8-2), who won the second game by a 5-2 score and then took the decisive mini game 2-1 over the Blue Devils (13-14-2).

Rankings roundup: How the top 20 NCAA hockey teams fared, Feb. 23-24

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Michigan’s Kienan Draper and Notre Dame’s Hunter Strand collide during a play this past weekend at Yost Ice Arena (photo: Michigan Photography).

Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of Feb. 20 fared in games over the weekend of Feb. 23-24.

No. 1 Boston College (25-5-1)
02/23/2024 – Vermont 1 at No. 1 Boston College 7
02/24/2024 – Vermont 2 at No. 1 Boston College 4

No. 2 Boston University (22-8-2)
02/23/2024 – No. 2 Boston University 6 at Connecticut 1
02/24/2024 – Connecticut 0 at No. 2 Boston University 6

No. 3 Denver (21-8-3)
02/23/2024 – Miami 3 at No. 3 Denver 3 (OT)
02/24/2024 – Miami 1 at No. 3 Denver 8

No. 4 Michigan State (21-8-3)
02/23/2024 – Ohio State 6 at No. 4 Michigan State 2
02/24/2024 – Ohio State 2 at No. 4 Michigan State 5

No. 4 North Dakota (22-8-2)
02/23/2024 – Minnesota Duluth 0 at No. 4 North Dakota 6
02/24/2024 – Minnesota Duluth 2 at No. 4 North Dakota 4

No. 6 Wisconsin (24-8-2)
02/23/2024 – No. 6 Wisconsin 6 at Penn State 0
02/24/2024 – No. 6 Wisconsin 3 at Penn State 2 (OT)

No. 7 Quinnipiac (23-7-2)
02/23/2024 – No. 7 Quinnipiac 5 at Brown 2

No. 8 Minnesota (19-8-5)
Did not play.

No. 9 Maine (19-9-2)
02/23/2024 – RV Northeastern 1 at No. 9 Maine 5
02/24/2024 – RV Northeastern 4 at No. 9 Maine 0

No. 10 Colorado College (18-10-2)
02/23/2024 – No. 10 Colorado College 0 at No. 19 Omaha 3
02/24/2024 – No. 10 Colorado College 1 at No. 19 Omaha 1 (OT)

No. 11 Cornell (16-5-6)
02/23/2024 – No. 11 Cornell 3 at RV Clarkson 4 (OT)
02/24/2024 – No. 11 Cornell 2 at St. Lawrence 2 (OT)

No. 12 Providence (17-10-3)
02/24/2024 – No. 12 Providence 2 at UMass Lowell 1

No. 13 Western Michigan (18-11-1)
02/23/2024 – No. 13 Western Michigan 4 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3 (OT)
02/24/2024 – No. 13 Western Michigan 0 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3

No. 14 Massachusetts (17-10-3)
02/23/2024 – No. 16 New Hampshire 2 at No. 14 Massachusetts 3
02/24/2024 – No. 14 Massachusetts 2 at No. 16 New Hampshire 3 (OT)

No. 15 St. Cloud State (15-10-5)
02/23/2024 – No. 13 Western Michigan 4 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3 (OT)
02/24/2024 – No. 13 Western Michigan 0 at No. 15 St. Cloud State 3

No. 16 New Hampshire (17-12-1)
02/23/2024 – No. 16 New Hampshire 2 at No. 14 Massachusetts 3
02/24/2024 – No. 14 Massachusetts 2 at No. 16 New Hampshire 3 (OT)

No. 17 Michigan (17-12-3)
02/23/2024 – RV Notre Dame 0 at No. 17 Michigan 4
02/24/2024 – RV Notre Dame 1 at No. 17 Michigan 2

No. 18 Arizona State (21-7-6)
02/23/2024 – No. 18 Arizona State 1 at Alaska 3
02/24/2024 – No. 18 Arizona State 4 at Alaska 3 (OT)

No. 19 Omaha (16-10-4)
02/23/2024 – No. 10 Colorado College 0 at No. 19 Omaha 3
02/24/2024 – No. 10 Colorado College 1 at No. 19 Omaha 1 (OT)

No. 20 RIT (22-10-2)
02/23/2024 – Canisius 2 at No. 20 RIT 9
02/24/2024 – No. 20 RIT 3 at Canisius 2

RV = Received votes

Women’s Division I College Hockey: No. 2 Wisconsin scores four unanswered to defeat No. 1 Ohio State

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MADISON — After a disappointing outcome to their team’s senior night on Friday, the Wisconsin Badgers scored four-unanswered goals on Saturday to complete a comeback and defeat No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 to close out the regular season.

Senior Casey O’Brien and Sophomore Laila Edwards each scored twice, including one apiece 68 seconds apart midway through the third period that broke the game open and had the sold out home crowd roaring.

In a tough gritty game where both teams were fighting for every inch of ice, the game-tying and go-ahead goals were highlight reel material.

O’Brien’s second goal of the game came on a between-the-legs pass from Lacey Eden at her own blue line that found Britta Curl in stride as she started the breakout. She and O’Brien raced down the ice with one defender to beat and one hot on O’Brien’s heels, but she stayed ahead and Curl’s pass through the slot found her crashing the net, where her shot slid under Amanda Thiele’s pads to tie the game 2-2.

Just more than a minute later, Laney Potter picked up the puck in her own zone and immediately fed Edwards along the boards at the top of the offensive zone. The Buckeyes had gone for a change and Edwards, Kirsten Simms and Maddie Wheeler were three on one towards the net. Wheeler occupied Stephanie Markowski, giving Simms and Edwards room for a give and go that Edwards buried from her knee at the back post to put UW up 3-2.

Edwards’ second of the night on a strong forecheck from O’Brien while Ohio State’s net was empty. She forced Cayla Barnes into a rushed pass, which she picked off and fed to a trailing Edwards, who buried it to secure the 4-2 win.

While the goals were pretty, O’Brien noted that both of them, as well as her goal early in the second, came from tough defensive play recovering the puck and starting the breakout from players that won’t register official assists, but who were crucial to the play coming together. Both Katie Kotlowski, a fourth line forward, and Laney Potter, a rookie second-line defender, came up big for the Badgers in these moments.

“I think the best part of each of the goals is where they started. There’s a few players who might not be on the score sheet tonight, but they made the first play. The goals wouldn’t happen without them. You have to give credit to the foundation of those plays like Yes, it’s nice to be able to be the ones to put them in, but it really all starts back in the D zone with those players who aren’t getting recognized,” said O’Brien. 

Much like Friday’s game, the momentum on Saturday swung near the midpoint. The teams came out battling in the first, trading shots and setting a quick pace. But after the initial push, Ohio State began to take control, winning puck battles, holding the zone and keeping Wisconsin from establishing much of anything on offense. The Badgers did not record a shot on goal in the final 13:10 of the opening frame and had just one shot attempt over that same stretch.

“We had a great start. We challenged them to come out flying. We didn’t do that yesterday so I was proud of our first 20 minutes. It was unfortunate how we started the second period. I think we got a little comfortable which you can never really do with this team in this environment,” said Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall. 

The Buckeyes seemed to have a read on Wisconsin and their defense did a great job stepping into traffic and interrupting Wisconsin’s pass attempts. Then they quickly turned the puck the other direction and used their quick transition to put 17 shots on UW goalie Ava McNaughton.

On offense, the first period belonged to Kenzie Hauswirth, who put Ohio State up by two heading into the first intermission. Midway through the period, she stood screening McNaughton when Hadley Hartmetz let go of a shot from the blue line. Hauswirth tipped the puck before it got to the net and it was loose in the crease. Hauswirth turned and put in her own rebound to make it a 1-0 game.

Hauswirth doubled the lead 16 seconds before the buzzer with a beautiful wrister from the high slot. She had the puck in the corner and started to cut in, but restarted with a cycle around the faceoff circle before she stepped up into the slot to release the puck.

Wisconsin picked things up in the second and the game became more of a back and forth affair as the teams tried to find an opening. The Badgers shook up their lines, trying different pairings that might give them an edge against the Buckeyes.

“[Ohio State] capitalized on a couple opportunities and it’s my job to figure out what we could do next. And so I started mixing some things up with lineups and just getting kids into play instead of worrying about whatever they’re worrying about,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson. 

Edwards said they team is comfortable and moving players around did not affect chemistry, but said that sometimes the changes help them mentally reset and approach the game differently, which can help them shake off a bad stretch like the end of the first period.

With the regular season standings already set, Saturday’s game didn’t hold a ton of meaning, but both teams feel like it was an important experience that will help them as they head into the playoffs.

For Wisconsin, it was a confidence boost where they responded to Friday’s loss and pulled themselves back from a 2-0 deficit against the No. 1 team in the country who had just two losses all season.

“We kind of needed this win so we knew with ourselves that we can beat them. They’re a great team and really well coached. I think just for us, for our own peace of mind – we knew we could beat them, but we just proved it. I think when we meet them again down the road, we’re gonna be ready for it. We know how we need to play to beat them. We know the right way to play, and I think it’s just going to be about executing it down the road,” said O’Brien. 

For Ohio State, it was a gut check moment at the end of a long and successful regular season that will only make them stronger as they push towards the NCAA Tournament.

“This is something that hopefully motivates us, to know that we are beatable and to make sure that we play 60 minutes of hockey,” said Muzerall. 

“We only lost two games in our conference and that’s very difficult to do. It was a fantastic year. This was not the way we wanted to end it, but we’ve got other goals that we want to focus on.”

Ohio State will host Bemidji State a best of three series for the opening round of the WCHA playoffs next weekend, with games scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (if necessary). All those game times are Eastern.

Wisconsin will welcome in St. Thomas with games scheduled on Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.ml (if necessary). All those game times are Central.

The teams imagine they’ll see each other again at least once and likely more than that as they push for another National Championship. And they’re both looking forward to the opportunity. In the meantime, Wisconsin will take a few minutes to relish Saturday’s win.

“Just a fun way to finish the regular season off,” said Johnson. “Those are nights you dream of.”

SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Bemidji State completes sweep to seize control of the CCHA with one weekend left; No. 16 New Hampshire rallies for OT win over No. 14 UMass in key PairWise battle; No. 4 Michigan State bounces back vs. OSU; Air Force clinches last home-ice spot in AHA quarters

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Bemidji State took five of six CCHA points from St. Thomas on the weekend, winning 3-1 on Saturday night to take a stranglehold on first place into the final weekend of league play (File photo: Bemidji State Athletics/Brent Cizek)

The Bemidji State Beavers are one weekend away from clinching their first-ever CCHA championship and first regular-season title since capturing the WCHA championship in 2017 after a 3-1 win over St. Thomas to complete a weekend sweep.

The Beavers took five of six points in the CCHA standings after winning 6-5 in overtime on Friday night. This sets up a meeting with second-place Minnesota State in the final weekend to the regular season. Two of six points next weekend would earn Bemidji State the outright league title.

Kyle Looft gave the Beavers a lead it would never relinquish at 13:12 of the first period. Eric Pohlkamp and Vince Corcoran each scored in the third to extend the lead before Liam Malmquist pulled the Tommies within two late.

Mattias Sholl finished the game with 24 saves to earn the victory for the Beavers.

Minnesota State, which won on Saturday, 4-3, over Lake Superior to split the weekend series, remains in striking distance but must take five points next weekend against Bemidji State to share the title and would need a sweep of regulation wins and six points to win the title outright.

No. 16 New Hampshire 3, No. 14 Massachusetts 2 (F/OT)

Liam Devlin scored at 1:13 of overtime as New Hampshire rallied from 2-1 down late and earned the victory over UMass, 3-2, in a battle that could mean plenty to the PairWise Rankings just four weeks short of Selection Sunday.

Getting to overtime on the road for UMass likely will pay dividends. Despite the loss, UMass slipped just one spot to 13th. They began the weekend ranked 15th and below the PairWise cut line but jumped to 12th after Friday’s home win over UNH.

UMass looked like it might be headed for a second-straight regulation win after Cole O’Hara struck not once, but twice, his second coming with 12:35 left in regulation to break a 1-1 deadlock.

UNH captain Alex Gagne scored his first goal of the season, though, with just 2:09 remaining redirecting a shot-pass home. UMass unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference on the play. That forced the overtime session and provided Devlin with the chance to play hero.

UMass is now tied with Providence, which won 2-1 on Saturday at UMass Lowell, for the fourth and final home ice spot in the Hockey East quarterfinals with two weekends remaining. New Hampshire sits in sixth place, two points behind UMass and Providence.

No. 4 North Dakota 4, Minnesota Duluth 2

The Fighting Hawks completed a much-needed get right weekend with a 4-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth to complete a two-game sweep of the Bulldogs.

The sweep helps erase the memory of two difficult road losses at the hands of Colorado College a weekend ago.

North Dakota remains in first place in the NCHC standings, three points ahead of St. Cloud and seven ahead of Denver with two weekends to play. Both St. Cloud and Denver were victorious on Saturday.

North Dakota never trailed on Saturday, jumping to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jayden Perron in the first and Jackson Kunz in the second. But Minnesota Duluth had plenty of fight, tying the game in the middle frame on goals by Aiden Dubinsky and Jack Smith.

Dylan James, though, played the role of hero at Englestad Arena, scoring twice in the third, the game-winner coming at 4:14 of the frame.

Ludvig Persson finished with 26 saves to earn the victory on a night North Dakota was outshot, 28-21.

No. 4 Michigan State 5, Ohio State 2

Host Michigan State scored three times in the second period to seize control and earn a much needed Big Ten victory and a split with a very pesky Ohio State team, 5-2.

The Buckeyes, which prior to last weekend had just a single Big Ten win, swept the Wisconsin a week ago and then upset Michigan State on Friday night. But the Spartans responded on Saturday, scoring three times on the power play – including twice on a five-minute major past the midway point of the second period – to earn the victory.

Karsen Dorwart paced the offense for Michigan State with a goal and two assists. While goaltender Trey Augustine made 28 saves to earn his 19th win over the season.

Air Force 2, Robert Morris 1

The host Falcons rallied from a 1-0 deficit, tying the game in the second frame before Mason McCormick scored the game-winner with 11:52 left in regulation to earn a 2-1 victory over Robert Morris and sew up the fourth and final home ice spot in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals.

The Falcons, along with champion RIT, as well as Holy Cross and Sacred Heart will all have byes next weekend when the Atlantic Hockey playoffs begin before hosting the following weekend. AIC will travel to Air Force for the best-of-three quarterfinals, while RIT, Holy Cross and Sacred Heart will all host opponents to be determined based on the result of next weekend’s single-elimination first round games.

Tanner Klimpkie got Robert Morris on the board at 4:05 of the first, a lead that held until Brian Adams knotted the score at 7:35 of the second.

McCormick’s game-winner spoiled a fantastic 44-save effort for Colonials goaltender Francis Boisvert. Guy Blessing made 19 saves to earn the win for Air Force.

 

 

Saint Anselm’s Tulchinsky captures NEWHA player of year honors to lead conference awards for 2023-24 college hockey season

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Natalie Tulchinsky has been Saint Anselm’s go-to player this season (photo: Saint Anselm Athletics).

The NEWHA women’s conference has announced its major end-of-season awards and all-NEWHA teams.

Nominated and voted on by the league’s coaches, players from the eight NEWHA schools were honored for their accomplishments on the ice during the 2023-24 campaign.

Saint Anselm’s Natalie Tulchinsky was named NEWHA player of the Year, while LIU’s Bri Eid was voted defensive player of the year. Tulchinsky joins former Hawks Kelly Golini and Katy Meehan in securing the league’s top honor. Eid makes it back-to-back Sharks to take home the league’s top blueliner award, following Paula Bergström’s win in 2023.

LIU’s Tindra Holm becomes the first back-to-back winner of the goaltender of the year award after helping lead the Sharks to a school-record 26 wins.

Isabella Chaput of Sacred Heart took home the league’s top newcomer award, joining former Pioneer Anna Klein who won the award in 2019.

LIU’s Kelly Nash, now in her second season on the bench for the Sharks, was recognized by her colleagues as the league’s coach of the year. Nash led the Sharks to a 26-8-0 overall mark and a 26-2 record in league play, earning the regular-season championship and the top spot in the upcoming NEWHA tournament.

Tulchinsky claimed the league’s player of the year honors and was a NEWHA first team selection after leading the alliance in points (39), points per game (1.18), assists (22), points in conference play (35) and assists in conference play (20). The third student-athlete from Saint Anselm to be honored with the player of the year accolade, Tulchinsky needs just one more point to become the first student-athlete in team history with multiple 40-point campaigns to her credit. In 116 games between Boston College and Saint Anselm, she has scored 40 goals with 48 assists for 88 points.

Eid and Holm helped anchor a LIU defense that helped lead the team to a program-record 26 victories. The Sharks posted six shutouts on the season and have twice posted 12-game win streaks including an active streak heading into the postseason. Eid led all blueliners in assists (17) and points (19) and finished the regular season with a plus-15 on-ice rating, best amongst league defenders. Holm becomes the first back-to-back goaltender of the year in association history, logging more minutes in net (1750:55) than anyone in the league. Holm is also a semifinalist for the Hockey Commissioners Association Women’s Goaltender of the Year.

Chaput appeared in 36 games for the Pioneers and led the league’s newcomers’ class with 19 points (12 goals, seven assists). She posted a plus-10 on ice rating in league play registered four game-winning goals (tied for 4th) and notched four multi-point performances including a hat trick on Oct. 27 against Saint Anselm.

First Team
Alexis Petford – Stonehill – So. – F
Natalie Tulchinsky – Saint Anselm – Sr. – F
Jeannie Wallner – LIU – Jr. – F
Bri Eid – LIU – Jr. – D
Maggie Korneta – Franklin Pierce – So – D
Tindra Holm – LIU – Jr. – G

Second Team
Audrey Jackson – Saint Anselm – Jr. – F
Mikayla Kelley – Franklin Pierce – Jr. – F
Mikayla Lantto – LIU – Sr. – F
Brinna Martin – Saint Anselm – Sr. – D
Savannah Popick – Saint Anselm – Sr. – D
Jillian Petruno – Sacred Heart – So. – G

All-Rookie Team
Grace Babington – LIU – Fr. – F
Jenna Chaplain – Assumption – Fr. – F
Isabella Chaput – Sacred Heart – Fr. – F
Pusle Dyring-Andersen – Stonehill – Fr. – D
Alexa Hanrahan – Assumption – Fr. – F
Lauren Maras – Franklin Pierce – Fr. – F
Courtney Stagman – Saint Anselm – Fr. – G

All-Sportswomanship Team
Delaney Bonifacio – Franklin Pierce – Sr. – D
Grace Glasrud – Post – Sr. – G
Mary Leys – Saint Michael’s – Sr. – F
Kayla McGaffigan – Assumption – Fr. – F
Samantha Ostrowski – Sacred Heart – Sr. – F
Savannah Popick – Saint Anselm – Sr. – D
Sarah Rourke – LIU – Sr. – F
Hannah Squires – Stonehill – So. – D

Hockey East suspends UConn’s Bradley one game for major slashing penalty Feb. 23 vs. Boston University

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Chase Bradley has 11 goals and 11 assists in 28 games this season for UConn (photo: Clarus Multimedia Group).

Hockey East announced today that UConn junior forward Chase Bradley has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 17:33 of the third period on Feb. 23 against Boston University.

On the play, Bradley was assessed a five-minute major for slashing and a game misconduct.

Bradley is ineligible to play Feb. 24 at Boston University and is able to return to the Huskies’ lineup on March 1 at Northeastern.

Women’s Division I College Hockey: No. 1 Ohio State rallies to beat No. 2 Wisconsin 3-1

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MADISON — It was a tale of two halves on Friday night as the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes rallied to down Wisconsin 3-1.

The Badgers came out flying, dominating possession and outshooting OSU 19-2 it was the Buckeyes’ lowest shot total in a period this season and the most shots on goal in a frame that Ohio State had faced in any other period this season. Raygan Kirk made all 19 saves and the Buckeyes added 10 blocks in front of her to keep Wisconsin off the board.

“It could have changed the complete outcome of the game if she’s not making those saves in the beginning and the third period. She’s our backbone and that’s what we need from a goaltender as we push towards the playoffs,” Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall said of Kirk.

The home team failed to score on the power play that carried into the beginning of the second, but lit the lamp shortly afterwards as Anna Wilgren found Laila Edwards for a long distance pass, catching Ohio State while they changed lines. Edwards, Cassie Hall and Maddie Wheeler raced in against one defender and Edwards found Wheeler, who handled the puck around Kirk and backhanded it in to give Wisconsin the 1-0 lead.

“We thought they were going to come out flying and we just needed to get our feet under us. I think it showed a lot of our athletic maturity of not giving up and pushing. When we started to play more of our game and be more aggressive, we started to control the game,” said Muzzerall.

Ohio State found their footing as the second progressed, holding the zone longer and finding more chances on net. By the midpoint of the game, they were back in control. The Badgers had just one shot on net for the rest of the period and barely managed five more in the third. OSU outshot Wisconsin 32-10 over the 2nd two periods.

“It’s a game of momentum sometimes. One team can have momentum early on and then it can switch,” said Badger coach Mark Johnson.

“The big thing for me is at this time of year you’ve got to be able to play 60 minutes. You can’t play part of a game real well. When you’re playing against the quality opponents we’re going to be facing the rest of the year, it’s a situation where it’s 60 minutes,” said Johnson.

The Buckeyes tied the game with just more than four minutes in the period when Lauren Bernard jumped in front of Kirsten Simms to intercept Anna Wilgren’s pass. She fed Kiara Zanon, who backhanded it past Wisconsin goalie Jane Gervais.

Ohio State took the lead less than two minutes later when a clearance pass ended up on the stick of former Badger Makenna Webster. She walked the puck in and did not miss, putting OSU up 2-0.

Overall, Wisconsin has not had much success against OSU lately, losing 9 of the last 11 games. One win came in overtime on the final Friday of the regular season last year. The other came in the 2023 National Championship game.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 8 pm central. The game will be televised live on Big Ten Network.

FRIDAY ROUNDUP: No. 19 Omaha shuts out No. 10 Colorado College, Ohio State takes down No. 4 Michigan State, Clarkson downs No. 11 Cornell in OT, Miami ties No. 3 Denver, Quinnipiac wins fourth straight Cleary Cup

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Omaha players celebrate one of three goals Friday night in a 3-0 shutout over Colorado College on home ice (photo: Mark Kuhlmann).

Omaha scored once in the first period and two in the third period as the 19th-ranked Mavericks skated to a 3-0 shutout over No. 10 Colorado College Friday night at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb.

Simon Latkoczy pitched the 24-save shutout for the Mavericks.

Jack Randl had a goal and an assist, while Ty Mueller and Nolan Sullivan also found the back of the net.

Kaidan Mbereko finished with 17 saves for the Tigers.

SCOREBOARD | POLL | PAIRWISE

Ohio State 6, No. 4 Michigan State 2

Sam Deckhut scored twice to lead Ohio State past Michigan State 6-2 Friday night at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich.

Logan Terness made 34 saves for the win in the Buckeyes cage.

Cam Thiesing, Scooter Brickey, Michael Gildon and Davis Burnside also scored and Theo Wallberg and Stephen Halliday chipped in two assists apiece.

For the Spartans, Gavin O’Connell scored both goals and Trey Augustine stopped 27 shots in goal.

Clarkson 4, No. 11 Cornell 3 (OT)

Mathieu Gosselin scored the game-tying goal at 19:34 of the third period and then won it for Clarkson 4:02 into overtime to give the Golden Knights a 4-3 win over Cornell Friday night at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, N.Y.

Ayrton Martino had a goal and an assist for Clarkson, Ryan Taylor also scored, and Ryan Richardson posted two assists.

Dalton Bancroft netted two goals for Cornell, while Kyle Penney also scored and Gabriel Seger tacked on two assists.

Austin Roden made 19 saves in goal for Clarkson, while Ian Shane turned aside 21 for the Big Red.

No. 1 Boston College 7, Vermont 1

Boston College picked up a 7-1 win over Vermont at Kelley Rink on Friday night in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Cutter Gauthier scored two goals and Jacob Bengtsson and Gabe Perreault each had a goal and an assist for the Eagles.

Aidan Hreschuk, Lukas Gustafsson and Andre Gasseau also scored for BC.

Mario Gasparini potted the lone Vermont goal.

Jacob Fowler made 18 saves for the Eagles and was pulled with a six-goal lead 9:25 into the third period. Jan Korec stopped all three shots he faced in relief. For the Catamounts, Gabe Carriere made 27 saves and Axel Mangbo made eight in the final 10:35.

No. 2 Boston University 6, UConn 1

Macklin Celebrini recorded two goals and two assists to help lead Boston University to a 6-1 win over UConn on Friday night at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Conn.

Five different Terriers scored a goal on Friday, with Jack Harvey, Quinn Hutson, Jack Hughes and Jeremy Wilmer also lighting the lamp. Harvey, Hughes and Hutson all added an assist to finish with two points apiece while Lane Hutson collected two assists.

Mathieu Caron made 26 saves between the pipes.

With tonight’s victory, BU coach Jay Pandolfo is the fastest active head coach to win 50 games at his current school.

For the Huskies, Samu Salminen scored and goalie Arsenii Sergeev finished with 25 stops.

No. 7 Quinnipiac 5, Brown 2

Quinnipiac topped Brown 5-2 Friday night from the Meehan Auditorium in Providence, R.I., and in doing so, made ECAC Hockey history as the first team to win four straight Cleary Cup regular-season championships.

Charles-Alexis Legault notched a goal and an assist for the Bobcats, while Mason Marcellus and Jacob Quillan each rang up two assists.

Travis Treloar, Andon Cerbone, Zach Tupker and Anthony Cipollone added goals for the Bobcats.

Vinny Duplessis made 23 saves in goal for QU.

Tyler Kopff collected a goal and an assist for the Bears, Ryan St. Louis added a goal, and Lawton Zacher and Tyler Shea combined on a 31-save effort in the Brown net. Zacher started and was pulled after Quinnipiac scored four in the first period.

Miami 3, No. 3 Denver 3 (Denver wins shootout)

Miami’s Raimonds Vitolins scored at 12:14 of the third period to bring the RedHawks to within 3-2 and then Matthew Barbolini scored his second goal of the game at 17:03 to tie the game at 3-all.

After nothing was solved in overtime, the Pioneers won the shootout for the extra point in the NCHC standings.

Vitolins had an assist for a two-point game and Justin Waldron compiled two assists for Miami.

Jared Wright popped two goals for the Pioneers, while Sam Harris scored the other.

In goal, Bruno Bruveris made 33 saves for the RedHawks and Matt Davis stopped 23 for DU.

No. 4 North Dakota 6, Minnesota Duluth 0

Jackson Blake went off for a goal and four assists and Ludvig Persson stopped all 17 shots he faced as North Dakota blanked Minnesota Duluth 6-0 Friday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

Cameron Berg kicked in two goals and an assist, Riese Gaber added a goal and an assist, and Jayden Perron and Owen McLaughlin also scored in the win. Jake Livanavage chipped in two assists.

Bulldogs goaltender Zach Stejskal finished with 23 saves.

No. 6 Wisconsin 6, Penn State 0

Cruz Lucius tallied two goals and an assist, Mathieu De St. Phalle scored two goals of his own, and Kyle McClellan made 27 saves for his NCAA-leading seventh shutout as Wisconsin blanked Penn State 6-0 Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.

William Whitelaw and Carson Bantle also scored for the Badgers. David Silye garnered three assists and Ben Dexheimer two helpers to boot.

Liam Souliere made 24 saves for the Nittany Lions before Noah Grannan played the final 4:07 and stopped the only shot he faced.

D-II/III East Men’s Hockey Game Picks – February 23, 2024

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Overtime hero Bennett Stockdale and the Plattsburgh Cardinals head to Oswego in the SUNYAC semifinals as PSU looks to repeat as conference champions (Photo by Gabe Dickens)

It’s now totally a “Win-or-Go-Home” scenario as teams contend for conference championships either in quarterfinal action like NESCAC, or in most cases the semifinal round where you can almost see a championship trophy but best not look too far ahead. There is no margin for error from here on out. For me and my picks that means being much, much better than last week’s losing effort where I finished a miserable 7-8-0 (.467). The abysmal effort dropped my overall numbers to 129-62-14 (.663) which is heading quickly towards an early exit for my predictions in the playoffs and upcoming national championship. However there is reason for hope. My picks for all the games during the week on the “artist formerly known as Twitter” (X) went 11-1-0 (.917) so let’s hope the real thing in print delivers at that championship caliber level. This week’s picks will be across all leagues and the playoff matchups scheduled for Saturday. Here are the prognostications for the playoff winners in the East:

Saturday, February 24, 2024

CCC

Salve Regina v. (9) Curry

The Colonels have been waiting for the outcome of the quarterfinal matchups and now know they face a Seahawks squad they swept to start the month of February. A lot more at stake this time around but Shane Soderwall continues his stellar play and Colonels get to host the title game –  Curry, 4-2

University of New England v. Endicott

The Gulls and Nor’easters are a win, a loss and a tie each in three games of the regular season with UNE winning in overtime just over two weeks ago. Home ice advantage shifts to the Gulls and don’t be surprised if this game needs a lot of overtime to decide a winner. Kurapov & Co. get it done, barely –     Endicott, 4-3

MASCAC

Westfield State v. (13) Plymouth State

There is nothing better than the motivation of playing for a spot in the conference championship unless there is added incentive in taking out the only team to beat you in league play in two seasons. The Panthers have such incentive and do not dig a hole early in closing out a tough one-goal win at home –    Plymouth State, 3-2

Massachusetts-Dartmouth v. Fitchburg State

What’s the point of battling for the bye and home-ice advantage if you don’t take advantage of it? The Falcons and Corsairs split their season series with each team winning on home ice and the story line repeats in the playoffs giving Dean Fuller a chance to play for his first title since 2018 – FSU, 3-2

NE-10

St. Anselm v. Assumption

The battle between the Hawks and the Greyhounds showcases the past two winners of the conference championship with St. A’s raising the trophy in 2023 and Assumption in 2022. To be the champ you need to beat the champ and the Greyhounds get it done with Ronny Paragallo showing why he is the best player in the conference – Assumption, 4-3

Southern New Hampshire v. St. Michael’s

The Penmen finished strong against Post on Tuesday but face a more rested Purple Knights team anxious to play well in front of their fans for one last time this season. This battle goes more than 60 minutes where the hosts thrive in overtime and advance to the championship game next week – St. Michael’s, 3-2

NEHC

Southern Maine v. (1) Hobart

The Huskies stunned Norwich in the quarterfinals but don’t expect the Statesmen to be lax in their approach to this semifinal matchup. “The Cooler” has been quite the hostile environment for all visiting teams and USM suffers a similar fate in losing to the men in orange and white – Hobart, 5-1

(8) Elmira v. (12) Skidmore

This semifinal matchup features every aspect a fan could want in any playoff contest. Great goaltending, dynamic forwards, terrific special teams and a fast paced style of play that will all be present in abundance. This game goes to overtime and the home team advances with a sudden victory – Skidmore, 3-2

NESCAC

Colby v. (5) Trinity

The Bantams swept the season series with the Mules winning each game by a pair of goals, 4-2 on the road and 5-3 at home. Think the Mules will keep things tight in this quarterfinal matchup but there is too much depth for Trinity who takes another two-goal win –    Trinity, 3-1

Middlebury v. Bowdoin

There are some matchups that just make you wonder “what if.” The two games this year between the Panthers and Polar Bears have both gone to overtime and this contest makes it a clean sweep of bonus hockey between the two schools. Looking for an upset in NESCAC then this might be it with the Panthers clawing out a big OT win on the road –    Middlebury, 3-2

Connecticut College v. Tufts

The teams split the season series just a few weeks back with each team taking a victory as the visitor. Sean Dynan for the Camels and Peyton Durand for the Jumbos have been difference-makers in goal for the teams and Durand gets the better of Dynan in a game that needs an ENG to provide some comfort on the scoreboard – Tufts, 4-2

Amherst v. Hamilton

The dreaded No. 4 vs. No. 5 game that also happens to be a battle of travel partners that opened the season in Clinton, NY with the Continentals taking a comfortable win. Not sure this one is comfortable but it is a big win on home ice to move the hosts to the final four weekend – Hamilton, 4-3

SUNYAC

Cortland v. (4) Geneseo

The Red Dragons always play the Knights hard and both games this season saw Geneseo eke out one-goal wins in each arena. Lots of veteran leadership on both teams but the Knights have been doing all the detail work to earn wins in whatever style needed over the last month. Late goal decides this one for the home team – Geneseo, 3-2

(6) Plattsburgh v. Oswego

The Cardinals have the Lakers right where they want them. Coming off a thrilling OT win on Thursday night, PSU now faces a long-time rival they have not defeated this season. Always tough to take three from the same team and with the cushion of an empty-net goal, the visitors earn a shot at defending their SUNYAC title – Plattsburgh, 5-3

UCHC

Alvernia v. (2) Utica

The Pioneers just saw the Golden Wolves early in February and skated away with 4-1 and 5-2 wins where the action was much closer than the final score. The Pios can’t take these visitors lightly after their rout of Manhattanville on Thursday. Fast start eliminates doubt in a more comfortable win at home for the Pioneers – Utica, 5-2

Wilkes v. (14) Stevenson

These two teams were dominant in quarterfinal action on Thursday and recently split a two-game series with one game ending in overtime. Look for more of the same level of intensity in this key semifinal game where goaltending and Liam McCanney are the difference for the Mustangs – Stevenson, 3-2

It is sixty minutes or more to earn the right to play for a conference championship next weekend. Time to bring the very best to the ice in pursuit of league glory – “Drop the Puck!”

College Hockey America recognizes pair of 2023-24 all-league teams, all-rookie team

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Rachel Teslak has turned in a solid 2023-24 season on the Syracuse back end (photo: Todd Michalek).

College Hockey America has announced its 2023-24 all-CHA teams and CHA all-rookie team.

2023-24 All-CHA Teams

First Team
Tessa Janecke / F / So. / Penn State
Morgan Neitzke / F / Jr. / Lindenwood
Sara Boucher / F / Sr. / Mercyhurst
Sydney Pedersen / D / Jr. / Mercyhurst
Rachel Teslak / D / Gr. / Syracuse
Ena Nystrøm / G / Gr. / Mercyhurst

Second Team
Brianna Brooks / F / Sr. / Penn State
Alaina Giampietro / F / Fr. / Robert Morris
Vanessa Upson / F / Jr. / Mercyhurst
Maggie MacEachern / D / Gr. / Penn State
Sarah Davies / D / So. / Lindenwood
Sophia Bellina / G / So. / RIT

CHA All-Rookie Team
Alaina Giampietro / F / Fr. / Robert Morris
Sofia Nuutinen / F / Fr. / Mercyhurst
Addie Alvarez / F / Fr. / RIT
Sofia Ljung / D / Fr. / Mercyhurst
Emma Pickering / D / Fr. / RIT
Maggie Hatch / G / Fr. / Robert Morris

NCAA D-III West Hockey Weekend Picks

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The Pointers are looking to move on to another WIAC tourney final this weekend. (Photo provided by UW-Stevens Point Athletics)

By the end of the weekend we will know which teams out west in NCAA Division III hockey are playing for conference titles next weekend.

The MIAC, NCHA and WIAC are all hosting their semifinal rounds, and keep in mind, for all three tournaments, not only is a title on the line, but an automatic trip to the NCAA tournament is at stake as well.

Here’s a look at the matchups.

MIAC

Saturday

Augsburg (15-8-2) vs. St. Olaf (12-11-3)

The Oles weren’t bothered by being the No. 5 seed and playing on the road against Saint Mary’s Wednesday as they came away with an impressive 3-0 win.

Now, they take aim at upsetting the top-seeded Auggies, who have been one of the hottest teams in the game lately. St. Olaf is hoping for a repeat of 2022 when it stunned Augsburg to claim the conference crown. The two teams split in the regular season this year.

Augsburg has won four in a row and is unbeaten in its last seven. Samuel Vyletelka has had a lot to do with that as one of the top netminders, recording 17 game of 30 or more saves. 

St. Olaf has won two in a row and four of its last five. Oles need to make this a defensive battle. They are capable of doing it.
Augsburg, 4-3

No. 15 Bethel (17-5-3) vs. St.Scholastica (15-9-1)

The Royals are having a season to remember and are a top two team in the conference for the first time since 2007. They hope to keep the run going against the Saints, who were last year’s regular season champion and MIAC tournament runner-up.

Bethel swept the season series, and interestingly enough, it was in 2022 when the Royals and Saints last met in the tournament. Bethel prevailed in that one in overtime. Tyler Kostelecky has played a key role in the team’s success, and ranks fourth nationally in game-winning goals.

The Saints started off as the best team in the conference this season, winning 10 in a row, but it’s been up and down since. St. Scholastica has lost its last two, but with offensive threats like Arkhip and Filimon Ledenkov on its team, the Saints can never be counted out. Let’s go with the upset here.
St. Scholastica, 3-2

NCHA

Saturday

Aurora (15-11-1) at No. 3 Adrian (21-5-1)

Winners of four in a row, Adrian takes aim at continuing its quest for another NCHA tourney crown. The Bulldogs have been tough at home, losing just once in 14 games, but they played two close games with Aurora in the regular season, winning 3-2 and losing 4-3. Those games were on the road.

Adrian has the co-players of the year in the league on their team in Zachary Heintz and Jaden Shields. When those two are on, the Bulldogs are tough to stop. This is an Adrian team that also has a ton of experience playing in postseason games, so the moment isn’t going to be too big.

Aurora has played well down the stretch, winning three in a row, and are led by Tyler Pang and Chase Broda. Pang has tallied 14 assists as a top defensive player while Broda has made quite the impression in his first year, scoring 12 goals and dishing out 15 assists.
Adrian, 5-3

No. 11 Trine (20-7) at No. 10 St. Norbert (20-6)

Can’t beat having a USCHO.com Top 15 matchup in a semifinal round of a conference tournament. 

Both teams need a win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. St. Norbert has won its last five and split with Trine in the regular season. The Green Knights have two of the top scoring threats in the game in Liam Fraser and Adam Stacho. They also have the newly minted rookie of the year in the NCHA in Logan Dombrowsky. 

Trine is having another successful year and would love to play for an NCHA title next week. The Thunder have three all-conference selections for the first time ever in Sam Antenucci, Sean Henry and Michael DiPietra. Antenucci is the leading scorer on the team with 32 points. Home ice could be the difference. St. Norbert is 11-1 at home. This should be a fun one to watch.
St. Norbert, 6-4

WIAC

Friday and Saturday

UW-River Falls (16-9-2) at No. 7 UW-Stevens Point (19-5-1)

The Pointers have won their last five games and won all three games against the Falcons in the regular season. Two of the top offensive threats in the conference will be on the ice for this one as Dylan Smith leads the Falcons with 12 goals while Noah Finstrom has tallied 11 goals on the season. 

UW-River Falls has to be able to make this a defensive battle, especially with the Pointers scoring 87 goals on the year. It gave up four goals in each of the three meetings in the regular season against UW-Stevens Point. Keep it under four and perhaps there is a chance.
UW-Stevens Point, 4-2 and 3-2

UW-Stout (12-13-2) at UW-Eau Claire (16-7-2)

The Blue Devils have scored the most goals in the conference this year, sitting just shy of the century mark (98) in that category. They have the top two goal scorers in the conference as well in Boyd Stahlbaum and Peyton Hart. 

The Blue Devils have shown they can play with anyone, winning games against both the Pointers and Blugolds this season. Against UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout went 1-2.

UW-Eau Claire is 8-2-2 on its home ice and has one of the top goaltenders in the league in Max Guthjahr, who has a goals against average of 1.65. When he’s on top of his game, the Blugolds are tough to beat.
UW-Eau Claire, 3-1 and 4-2

D-III Women’s Week 17 Review & Outlook: Time for Playoffs! Plus a PairWise analysis!

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Manhattanville Women’s Hockey makes their sixth-straight UCHC semifinals. (Photo by Matthew Berkman)

Sorry for the delay on this, but we’ll be taking a look at how we got here and what’s to come. It’s playoff time for Women’s D-III hockey and the east playoffs are underway!

CCC

Endicott really took control of things this season, finding themselves back atop the CCC after Suffolk won it for the first time ever last year. The Gulls own the #1 seed while the young program in Western New England holds #2.

2024 CCC Women’s D-III hockey playoff bracket. (Graphic via Scott Huston – Contributor: @DIIIHockeyNews)

As of today, we now know both semifinal matchups, we’ve got:

Curry at Endicott & Univ. New England at Western New England

Curry earned their spot in the semis after shutting out Salve Regina 3-0 in the quarterfinal round.

Pairwise Picture:

For the CCC, this year is like most, the lone NCAA bid will be given to the conference winner. This year Endicott (18-4-3) sits a respectable 13th in pairwise, but that won’t be enough to earn an at-large, especially considering they’d be losing if they did not receive the auto-bid.

Look for Endicott to take the auto-bid, however Western New England is the team I said in the preseason and in a weekend of game picks that would give the Gulls issues. WNE needs to get by Univ. New England and then look for the Golden Bears to give Endicott all they can handle. Don’t forget WNE was leading #3 Amherst entering the 3rd period in a game where the Mammoths won.

NEHC

The NEHC has been an interesting ride this season, more than last year. Last year, we saw Elmira go a perfect 17-0-0 (game vs Plymouth State canceled and not rescheduled), but fell to Norwich in the conference finals, sending Elmira home and the Cadets into the NCAA tournament.

The semifinal matchups are quite intriguing: Univ. Southern Maine at Norwich & William Smith at Elmira.

2024 NEHC Women’s D-III hockey playoff bracket. (Graphic via Scott Huston – Contributor: @DIIIHockeyNews)

The Huskies goaltender Haley McKim won her third-straight NEHC goaltender of the year award this season as she put on many stellar performances. The conference also features star-talent in net, Leocadia Clark of Norwich & Leonie Kuehberger of Elmira.

This Elmira team hasn’t seemed like the usual Elmira despite the solid record of 18-7-1, they’ve taken a few uncommon losses this season, but will look for a rematch with Norwich in the finals to avenge last year’s loss when they were considered the favorite to win the title.

Look for Southern Maine to give the Cadets a run, this season the Huskies got their first-ever program win vs Elmira, so let’s see if we see it again and find the Huskies in the final’s vs Elmira/William Smith. William Smith defeated Norwich early in the year, splitting the series, so we will see if Norwich can handle them and move on to the finals. This is a Norwich team led by their 5th-year goaltender Clark, a relatively young team that’s relied on veteran leadership throughout the season.

Pairwise Picture:

Based on the current pairwise numbers, the league winner will receive the lone bid to the NCAA tournament, occasionally we see Elmira & Norwich both have a shot at the dance, but this year, like last, will feature the lone auto-bid from the NEHC.

Norwich has an impressive resume, more than others in the pairwise running, but find themselves ranked lower due to the conference overall SOS (strength-of-schedule). The Cadets defeated and tied Plattsburgh during the season, look for them to take the conference and head to the NCAA tournament unless Elmira can stop them. I don’t see the Cadets losing unless it’s to their rival Elmira.

NESCAC 

The NESCAC features Amherst having another stellar year, they’ve got the #1 seed in the NESCAC conference tournament, 12-2-2 and 20-2-2 overall. Goaltender Natalie Stott has had another amazing season, only having one rough game really, otherwise she’s been near-perfect.

2024 NESCAC Women’s D-III hockey playoff bracket. (Graphic via Scott Huston – Contributor: @DIIIHockeyNews)

The tournament features some intriguing matchups, the main ones include Wesleyan at Colby & Trinity at Hamilton. The reason I picked these out is because Wesleyan has been upset city in the NESCAC this season. The Cardinals have dropped a lot of games, but also won many games including defeating and tying Amherst. Look for them to make a run and face Middlebury in the semifinals assuming they can get by Williams.

Amherst has been the only team in this conference to show they’re for real, pairwise says different, but the Mammoths are the current team-to-beat and it’s not close. If this conference is everything it’s made out to be, Amherst should be #1 in the country over undefeated River Falls who sits at 25-0-0 in the WIAC. (This isn’t my opinion but based on the highly viewed “SOS” within the conference, this claim isn’t too far off from reality).

Pairwise Picture:

In terms of pairwise, the NESCAC will see likely three teams in the dance, these teams are:

#3 Amherst 20-2-2

#6 Middlebury 13-6-4

#7 Hamilton 13-5-6

Yes, you read that right, a team [Hamilton] who sits in 5th in their own conference, a conference record of 6-5-5, currently is a frontrunner for an auto-bid in the NCAA tournament. Now, many will accuse me of hating on and/or dissing the conference/teams, but from a rational standpoint, this is even ridiculous for SEC football standards, the NESCAC has created their own standard. Alabama doesn’t get into the CFP with a conference record of 5-3…

So yes, look for a minimum of two teams to get into the dance unless Amherst loses, then we may see three to four teams in… I’d argue Colby or Trinity should be in over Hamilton currently, Middlebury has at least performed well in-conference (10-3-3), but you’ll have to play teams who aren’t in your conference in the tournament, they hold a record of 3-3-1 in those contests, multiple vs unranked opponents.

Don’t take this as a diss at the conference/teams, but at the system itself. The league is smart to take advantage of this and they know what they’re doing, they take advantage of it and show no signs of stopping. Enjoy it while you can… It won’t be like this forever…

SUNYAC

The SUNYAC has shown some great parity this season, lots of improvement across-the-board. We’ve seen Oswego come along quite well, getting wins over both Plattsburgh & Cortland. We’ve seen Cortland defeat Plattsburgh and Oswego, and Morrisville come alive under a new coaching staff and get the #4-seed in the playoffs. The Mustangs are the most-improved team in the conference in my opinion.

The matchups we’ll see are Morrisville at Plattsburgh & Oswego at Cortland.

2024 SUNYAC Women’s D-III hockey playoff bracket. (Graphic via Scott Huston – Contributor: @DIIIHockeyNews)

This conference is interesting in terms of NCAA bids because Plattsburgh will earn an at-large regardless of what happens, even with a loss to Morrisville which isn’t likely, they should remain high enough regardless to earn an at-large.

Oswego and Cortland are wildcards, if Oswego wins, Cortland’s season is likely over, but if the Red Dragons get a date with the Cardinals in the finals, this should greatly improve their at-large chances assuming they fall to Plattsburgh in the final due to the Plattsburgh game being added to their RPI (ratings-percentage-index).

Look for Oswego to steal a game vs Cortland and give Plattsburgh a run in the finals, but I see the Cardinals taking care of business in the end and winning the conference for about the 9728293rd time. Kevin Houle continues to create one of the best legacies we’ll ever see in D-III Women’s hockey.

Pairwise Picture:

As mentioned, Plattsburgh should be a lock for the tournament whether it’s via auto or at-large bid. Cortland needs to beat Oswego at the minimum to have a chance at holding a high-enough pairwise spot; they also need Hamilton and/or Middlebury to lose early in the NESCAC tournament.

If the Mustangs pull this off, it’d be arguably the biggest pair of upsets in the conference’s history. The Lakers of Oswego have a chance to make noise in at least their first game with Cortland, they defeated the Red Dragons & the Cardinals in the regular season, something they haven’t done in a long time. Head Coach Mark Digby, the former Assistant for the Men’s team at Oswego, is the best thing to ever happen to Oswego.

UCHC 

The UCHC in the preseason was viewed as having a new force, that force was meant to be Utica. The Pioneers are one of the oldest teams in D3, while Nazareth, the dominant force that’s owned the UCHC for years now, is one of the youngest. This was supposed to be Utica’s year, but the Golden Flyers have retained their dominance for now, winning another regular-season title and sweeping Utica in the regular season.

The matchups we had to start are:

Kings at Nazareth (Nazareth 5-0)

Chatham at Utica (Utica 5-0)

Alvernia at Manhattanville (Manhattanville 4-0)

Wilkes at Arcadia (Wilkes 1-0)

2024 UCHC Women’s D-III hockey playoff bracket. (Graphic via Scott Huston – Contributor: @DIIIHockeyNews)

Now, we have Wilkes at Nazareth & Manhattanville at Utica in the semifinals.

I fully expect Nazareth to advance, but Wilkes will give them a game, the Colonels have had a great season, one of the program’s best, but I expect an upset on the other side…

Utica’s looked good in conference play no doubt, but they better not overlook the Valiants en route to the final’s vs Nazareth. Give me Head Coach Jen MacAskill’s Valiants to advance to the finals and face Nazareth for the UCHC auto-bid in the NCAA tournament.

Whether we see Utica or Manhattanville vs Nazareth in the final, I can’t see anyone taking down Nazareth at the moment, they just seem to win conference games and there’s no reason to doubt them.

Pairwise Picture:

One team will come out of this conference, Nazareth sits at #11 & Utica at #14, both too low for an at-large bid, just outside the range.

Utica is in must-win mode now, the team is old and built to make the NCAA tournament, sitting with an overall record of 21-3-2, the Pioneers just need to get over the Nazareth-hump which they haven’t been able to do the past couple of years, but the games between those two have been some of the best in Women’s D-III hockey.

Personally, I’d like to see a new face in the dance, give me the Valiants with a pair of upset-wins to earn them an auto-bid.

A late-season look at futures, a key matchup in each region: USCHO Edge college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 16

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USCHO Edge hosts Jim Connelly, Dan Rubin and Ed Trefzger look at where things stand in team futures – odds for teams to win the national championship – plus two key college hockey games this weekend.

Games this week:

  • Western Michigan +105 @ St. Cloud State -135; over/under 6
  • Northeastern +140 @ Maine -180; over/under 6

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men’s Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour

Subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, in your favorite podcast app, or on Spreaker.

Check out all of USCHO’s podcasts, including USCHO Weekend Review and USCHO Spotlight, plus our entire podcast archive.

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This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With Michigan State, Wisconsin vying for regular-season title, rest of teams still have much to play for

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Ohio State players were all smiles after sweeping Wisconsin last weekend (photo: Ohio State Athletics).

There are two weeks left before the Big Ten playoffs and there are only two teams contending for the regular-season title: Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Last weekend, the Spartans were idle.

Last weekend, the Badgers did themselves no favors.

Second-place Wisconsin entered the weekend four points behind Michigan State with two games in hand. They exited the weekend even with the Spartans in remaining games and no richer in points, as Wisconsin dropped two on the road to last-place Ohio State.

“For us, I just thought that our details weren’t where they needed to be, being offensively a bit more aggressive at trying to possess a puck, attack when we had options,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings. “I thought Ohio State got us out of rhythm. I thought they were good at being physical and keeping us to the outside and our want to get to the inside wasn’t what it needed to be.”

The Badgers now need to win their four remaining games to finish in first place. That would include a road sweep against Penn State this weekend and two wins at home against Michigan State the following weekend.

The Spartans need to win three of their remaining four to earn that first-round bye, starting at home this weekend against an Ohio State team that will be confident following the series against Wisconsin.

Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said that his counterpart at Ohio State, Steve Rohlik, “does a really good job” and that the Buckeyes are “a well-coached team and organized, and they have some offensive players that are very dangerous.”

Nightingale said that their defensemen are difficult to play against and that their goalies are playing well.

“I think the margin of error in our conference is so small,” said Nightingale. “They obviously had a really big weekend, so we’re expecting a really quality weekend.”

For the Buckeyes, Friday’s 3-2 overtime win against Wisconsin snapped a seven-game losing streak that began with a 5-2 loss to Notre Dame Jan. 13. In that span, Ohio State had allowed 4.5 goals per game on average while scoring 2.28. The Buckeyes held the Badgers to three goals on the weekend.

The sweep was the first for Ohio State in B1G play this season and the Buckeyes’ third conference win so far.

“It’s huge,” said alternate captain Cam Thiesing, who had the first goal in Saturday’s 3-1 win. “We’ve been itching for something like this all year long, and we came together as a team. I can’t even describe it, the stuff that we went through this week, and it shows on the ice. We came together, we had faith even last night, same as tonight.”

In Friday’s game, the Buckeyes came from behind twice, including a response to a late third-period goal that put the Badgers ahead by one. At 16:26, Ben Dexheimer’s unassisted goal made it a 2-1 game, but Stephen Halliday evened it for Ohio State with 1:39 remaining in regulation. At 4:38 in OT, David Burnside’s goal won the game.

Saturday, the Buckeyes led 2-0 after one on Thiesing’s goal and Burnside’s second of the weekend. “You know, it’s different when you’re playing with the lead,” said Rohlik, “and to get the lead for us tonight was huge and we did enough to control them.”

Logan Terness earned Friday’s win with 28 saves on 30 shots and Kristoffer Eberly stopped 27-of-29 for the Buckeyes Saturday. “Both goalies have been playing well,” said Rohlik.

The Buckeyes gained a little ground on sixth-place Penn State after the Nittany Lions split at home against Michigan, but Ohio State is still eight points back with four games left. Following their series against Michigan State this weekend, the Buckeyes finish at home against the Nittany Lions.

Both Ohio State and Penn State will travel for the first round of the Big Ten playoffs. The Buckeyes can finish no higher than sixth place and overtaking Penn State is a longshot. The Nittany Lions can finish as high as fifth, but to do so they’d have to overcome an eight-point deficit behind Michigan.

Because of their position, Rohlik said that these last regular-season games are intense, calling the series against Wisconsin “playoff time” for the Buckeyes.

“We knew we had one of the top teams in the country coming in this weekend,” said Rohlik, “and another good opportunity for us to continue to get better.”

When the Spartans and Buckeyes met in Columbus the first weekend of November, Michigan State picked up two wins and a literal dozen goals to Ohio State’s four. The 6-0 Nov. 3 win was Trey Augustine’s first collegiate career shutout.

Nightingale said that the results of that series in no way predict what may transpire in Munn Arena this weekend. “I thought the scores were not reflective of the games,” said Nightingale. “I thought they were a lot closer than the scores, and they’re obviously playing very good hockey right now, so we’re looking forward to having them.”

Heading into Penn State, Hastings said that the Badgers have “enough on our plate” and will be focusing on themselves as much as possible following the losses in Columbus.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but that’s what we all signed up for when we started this season,” said Hastings. “Just because you hit a little ripple in the water, you’ve got to understand that’s part of this process. We can learn from that, and we’ve got to embrace that and move on.

“Nobody’s feeling sorry for the Badgers because they didn’t get it done on Friday or Saturday and Ohio State earned it. Now we’ve got to be okay going and earning our week and the opportunity to compete on Friday.”

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Looking at which teams are contenders, which teams are pretenders with conference playoffs upcoming

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Niagara players celebrate a goal earlier this season (photo: Niagara University).

Another season, another playoff format for Atlantic Hockey.

Gone is last year’s model which saw only the top eight teams qualify. Now that we’re back to 11 teams, everyone makes it, but the road for seeds six through 11 gets a little trickier.

The format is as follows:

First Round, March 2
Single elimination
No. 11 seed at No. 6 seed
No. 10 seed at No. 7 seed
No. 9 seed at No. 8 seed

Quarterfinals, March 8-10
Best-of-three series
Lowest surviving seed at No. 1 seed
Next lowest surviving at No. 2 seed
Highest surviving seed at No. 3 seed
No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed

Semifinals, March 15-17
Best-of-three series
Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed
Second-lowest remaining seed at second-highest remaining seed

Championship Game
March 23
Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed

Making the first round single elimination game removing any room for error for the bottom six teams.

The final stretch

With one weekend to go in the regular season, there is much to be decided. Holy Cross and Sacred Heart have only one game remaining, everyone else has a pair of games to close out the season.

What we know:
– RIT can finish no lower than second, and can clinch at least a tie for its second consecutive DeGregorio Cup and top seed with a single point this weekend against Canisius, or if Holy Cross fails to secure a regulation win against Bentley. The Tigers have a first-round bye and will host a quarterfinal series.
– Sacred Heart and Holy Cross have clinched a first-round bye and will host a quarterfinal series.
– Air Force, American International, Bentley, Niagara, and Canisius are all still in the running for a first-round bye, but Canisius would need a lot of help. All have clinched at least home ice in the first round.
– Mercyhurst, Army West Point, and Robert Morris will be on the road in the first round.

After this weekend’s games, expect tiebreakers to come into play to determine tournament seedings. They are:

1. Head-to-head winning percentage (note: this is different from points won as overtime wins count as wins and shootouts count as ties regardless of the outcome).
2. Conference wins (note: includes overtime wins).
3. Head-to-head goal differential.
4. Goals allowed in head-to-head competition.
5. Head-to-head winning percentage in games against teams starting with the No. 1 seed down to the No. 10 seed.
6. Goal differential in games against teams starting with the No. 1 seed down to the No. 10 seed.

Here’s my take on possible outcomes this weekend. Any errors in calculations are mine.

ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Currently: First
Games remaining: Home vs. Canisius, at Canisius
Possible seed: First-Second
Outlook: The Tigers have reached the 20-win plateau for the second consecutive year. But at 25th in the PairWise, RIT needs to win the league to make the NCAA tournament.

HOLY CROSS
Currently: Second
Games remaining: Home vs. Bentley
Possible seed: First-Third
Outlook: Holy Cross is the hottest team in the league right now and one of the hottest in the country, currently on a seven-game winning streak. The Crusaders are the only team that can catch RIT.

SACRED HEART
Currently: Third
Games remaining: at Bentley
Possible seed: Second-Fourth
Outlook: A sweep at the hands of Holy Cross last weekend ended the Pioneers’ quest for their first regular season title, but SHU has clinched a first-round bye and home ice in the quarterfinals.

AIR FORCE
Currently: Tied for fourth
Games remaining: Home vs. Robert Morris (2)
Possible seed: Third-Eighth
Outlook: After finishing in tenth last season and missing the postseason, the Falcons are in the thick of things and have the inside track to a bye.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL
Currently: Tied for fourth
Games remaining: At Army (2)
Possible seed: Fourth-Eighth
Outlook: The Yellow Jackets have been devastated by the injury bug in the past few weeks, and have dropped in the standings as a result of a 1-3-2 slide in their last six.

NIAGARA
Currently: Tied for fourth
Games remaining: At Mercyhurst, home vs. Mercyhurst
Possible seed: Fourth-Eighth
Outlook: The Purple Eagles have shown they can beat the top teams in the conference and will be a tough draw in the playoffs, especially if they can lock up a bye.

BENTLEY
Currently: Seventh
Games remaining: At Holy Cross, home vs. Sacred Heart
Possible seed: Fourth-Eighth
Outlook: The Falcons started last weekend in fourth. But they were idle and saw Air Force, AIC, and Niagara leap past them. A bye is still possible, but Bentley will need some help.

CANISIUS
Currently: Eighth
Games remaining: At RIT, home vs. RIT
Possible seed: Fourth-Eighth
Outlook: The defending champs have a very (very) slim chance at a bye but are set to host a first-round game.

MERCYHURST
Currently: Ninth
Games remaining: At Niagara, home vs. Niagara
Possible seed: Ninth-11th
Outlook: The Lakers have shown that they can knock off teams at the top of the standings, and will need more of that as they are locked into a road game in the first round.

ARMY WEST POINT
Currently: 10th
Games remaining: Home vs. AIC (2)
Possible seed: Ninth-11th
Outlook: The Black Knights have split their last three series, but will need to win a single game to advance to the quarterfinals. How they do against AIC will determine their first-round opponent.

ROBERT MORRIS
Currently: 11th
Games remaining: At Air Force (2)
Possible seed: Ninth-11th
Outlook: We expected growing pains from this rebuilt program, but the cliche is true for this league that anyone can beat anyone. There’s no easy outs and an upset in the first round wouldn’t be a big surprise.

This Week in Hockey East: No mediocrity in middle of conference standings with end to regular season fast approaching

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Michael Hrabal has posted 12 wins in his freshman season for UMass (photo: UMass Athletics).

A pair of teams — and everybody knows which two we’re talking about, Boston College, Boston University, cough, cough — are locked in a dead heat for the top seed in the upcoming Hockey East tournament.

But that doesn’t mean the league’s remaining clubs won’t provide plenty of excitement of their own with three weeks to go in the regular season. Seven schools, separated by just nine points, will jockey for playoff position with first-round byes and home-ice advantage at stake. Who will prevail is anyone’s guess.

Going into this weekend, Maine, Providence, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Northeastern and Vermont are all very much alive for a coveted first-round bye, which go to the top five seeds. The next three will get to play a preliminary round game on their home ice. At least one of the aforementioned teams will be on the road to open the tournament on March 13.

This weekend’s most crucial series, at least as far as playoff positioning is concerned, features UMass (16-9-3, 9-7-2 Hockey East) vs. UNH (16-11-1, 9-8-1), who are tied for fifth place with 28 points apiece. The clubs will play a home-and-home series starting Friday night in Amherst, Mass.

The Wildcats, 16th in the latest USCHO.com D-I men’s poll, ride into the weekend on the coattails of a sweep of archrival Maine by scores of 6-2 and 5-2 and will be looking to keep that momentum. The No. 14 Minutemen, on the other hand, are reeling following a sweep at the hands of No. 1 Boston College — 5-1 and 6-4 were the final scores — and hope to snap their skid.

More importantly, the weekend could go a long way in deciding which squad is in the driver’s seat for an all-important first-round bye.

“In our league, there’s no easy nights, there’s no easy weeks,” UNH coach Mike Souza said. “Some nights, you might be at your best or near your best and not get the result you want. Anything short of that? We’re certainly not talented enough to win if we’re not playing that way. There’s only, probably, one or two teams in our league that are.”

Last weekend against Maine, UNH junior forward Liam Devlin scored four goals, including a hat trick in Friday’s game and now has 11 on the season. UNH freshman Ryan Conmy had four points (goal, three assists), including the game-winning goal on Friday. UNH is 11-3-1 at home this season.

UMass coach Greg Carvel said he believes Hockey East’s middle is evenly matched.

“There’s not a game in the second half of the year that I didn’t think we could have or should have won,” Carvel said. “It’s will vs. skill. If we’re talking (Boston University) and BC, we’re talking more about trying to neutralize skill. If we’re talking Maine and UNH, it’s more about matching compete levels.”

Another matchup with major tournament seeding implications features Maine (19-7-2, 11-6-1) at Northeastern (14-13-2, 7-12-0) for a two-game set at Matthews arena. The Black Bears, who were previously ranked sixth in the USCHO poll but fell to No. 9 after the sweep at UNH, are currently third in the Hockey East standings with 32 points. Northeastern, which followed a win over BU in the Beanpot championship game on Feb. 12 with a split of a home-and-home series vs. UMass Lowell, are locked in a three-way tie for seventh with UConn and Vermont — each team has 23 points in the standings.

Northeastern freshman goalie Cameron Whitehead is coming off a week where he led the nation with 103 saves on 110 shots in three games. He followed his championship performance in the Beanpot — where he earned top goalie honors — with a career high 42-save shutout on Saturday night in a 4-0 win at home against Lowell.

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