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‘I will always be a Maverick:’ Longtime Omaha coach, administrator Kemp retiring in May 2024 after 48 years in college athletics

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Mike Kemp spent 48 years in college athletics, most notably at Omaha (photo: Omaha Athletics).

Omaha Hockey Hall of Fame coach and longtime administrator Mike Kemp has announced his retirement from the department effective this May.

Kemp arrived at the University of Nebraska Omaha as its first head hockey coach on July 1, 1996. He was elevated to the position of associate athletic director in May 2009 after serving as the head hockey coach for 12 years. In March 2019, he was further elevated to the position of senior associate athletic director – events/facilities. In Nov. 2021, Kemp was named executive associate athletic director.

In his current role, he has sport oversight of the hockey program as well as all facilities and event management. His facility management responsibilities placed him in a position to oversee the design and construction of several landmark campus athletic facilities such as the Hamilton Academic Excellence Room (2011), the conversion of Caniglia Field into one of the premier soccer facilities in college athletics (2012) and the design and construction of Baxter Arena (2011-15).

As the head coach of a start-up program, Kemp built the Mavericks into a model of consistency throughout his tenure as the head coach. After two years of play as an independent, the Mavericks were admitted into the CCHA in 1999 where they quickly established themselves as a respected program. In 10 years of league play under Kemp’s guidance, UNO had an average sixth-place finish in the 12-team league and earned home playoff games in eight of those 10 years. Kemp also placed players on one of the CCHA all-league teams in eight of those 10 years. Both of those accomplishments were surpassed only by Michigan.

“This is a bittersweet moment as we lose an incredible leader at UNO and in the industry, yet we are also excited for Coach Kemp as he begins an exciting new chapter with his retirement”, said Adrian Dowell, vice chancellor-director of athletics, in a statement. “Although his accolades are numerous, his true legacy is evident by the number of lives he impacted as a coach, administrator, and leader in the college hockey landscape. I am so grateful to Mike for his leadership, friendship, and mentorship. Over the next few months, we will be working diligently to appropriately honor Coach Kemp for his incredible service to our institution, community, and industry.”

From its first year of league play, the Mavericks established themselves as a tough opponent. In that first season, the Mavs defeated 11 of 12 CCHA opponents while ending the season with a runner-up finish at the conference tournament.

For his work, Kemp was named a finalist for the CCHA coach of the year award and a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Trophy for the national coach of the year. Kemp also was named a finalist for both awards two more times, making him a finalist three times in his 12 years behind the bench at UNO. He was named the CCHA coach of the year in 2005 when UNO was the most improved team in college hockey, winning 11 more games than the previous season and finishing fourth in the CCHA, advancing to the CCHA Super Six championship tournament.

Many highlights marked the history of Maverick hockey under Kemp’s direction. The 2000-01 team posted 24 wins, the most in a single season in UNO hockey history and a record that still stands today. The 17-5-0 home record that the team achieved is also the best home record in program history. The team ended the season ranked 13th in the nation, one spot from a berth in the NCAA tournament.

In 2003, the program closed out its six-year run at the Omaha Civic Auditorium having sold out 131 consecutive games at 8,314 people per game. In 2005-06 – the Mavericks’ ninth season – the team made its initial appearance in the NCAA tournament which, at the time, was the fastest a team had qualified for the NCAA tournament from program inception.

“Congratulations to Coach Kemp on an outstanding career that has left a lasting impact on hockey in Omaha and nationwide,” UNO Chancellor Joanne Li said. “Mike’s leadership, dedication, and commitment have not only shaped champions but also positively influenced countless lives both on and off the ice. Here’s to a retirement well-deserved and to a legacy that will endure through the years.”

In Kemp’s tenure at the helm of the Maverick hockey program, the Mavericks became a national leader in college hockey attendance, a tradition that continues today. Kemp coached five All-Americans while at Omaha and had a total of 12 all-CCHA players in the 10 years he coached in the league.

Prior to UNO, Kemp spent 20 years as an assistant coach. He came to Omaha from Wisconsin where he served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator for 14 seasons (1981-82 and 1983-1996).

During his time in Madison, Kemp coached under U.S. college hockey coaching legends Badger Bob Johnson (1981-82) and Jeff Sauer (1983-1996). As the head recruiter, Kemp secured some of the most talented players in Wisconsin hockey history. Twelve went on to play in the Olympics, 16 earned first or second team All-American, and four were named WCHA players of the year. In his tenure, the Badgers won one regular-season championship, four WCHA playoff titles, appeared in nine NCAA tournaments, finishing runners-up twice, and winning one national championship in 1990.

Kemp spent one season (1982-83) as the assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Illinois-Chicago. He began his coaching career in 1976 at his alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus, where he served as the assistant coach from 1976 to 1981.

In his coaching career, Kemp was known for having teams that were active in community service. Annually, Kemp encouraged his teams to volunteer, raising money for groups as varied as Estabrook Cancer Center, Wounded Warriors, Make-A-Wish, Special Olympics, the Susan B. Komen Cancer research, the Boy and Girls Club, and many other charitable organizations.

“I am so excited to celebrate the great career and retirement of Coach Kemp. He has made such an impact on my life, first recruiting me as an 18-year-old and now as a colleague and friend,” current Omaha coach Mike Gabinet said. “He had the vision and determination to set the foundation for what this program is today. There would not be Omaha hockey or Baxter Arena without Mike Kemp. My family and I sincerely wish him the best in retirement with Julie, his daughters and all the grandkids.”

Kemp has modeled community involvement in his own life. During his coaching career, he served on the board of governors of the American Hockey Coaches Association, serving as a second vice-president from 2000 to 2003. He was a member of the board of directors of the Special Olympics of Nebraska from 2002 to 2014. He was a board member of the Nebraska Sports Council from 2015 to 2018. Kemp also served as a board member of the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame.

On top of those, Kemp served on the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee from 2017 to 2022 and was the chair of the six-member committee from 2020 to 2022. He also played a hand in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee from 2013 to 2018.

In 2009, in recognition of the contributions Kemp had made to the Omaha hockey community, he was inducted into the Omaha Hockey Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2020, in recognition of the management of the NCHC Pod and in steering the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Committee through its first COVID-19 NCAA championship, Kemp received the NCHC Commissioners award for leadership to hockey. To this day, he is the only such recipient in the history of the conference.

“Forty-eight years in college athletics… it’s been the trip of a lifetime. To be given the opportunity to start a program from scratch, and then to be able to have been a part of every major decision in that program from its inception until today, is such a rare experience. I have been truly blessed,” Kemp said. “Thank you to the University of Nebraska Omaha and the city of Omaha for giving our family so much support for the past 28 years. I am extremely grateful to Don Leahy, Connie Claussen, Del Weber and the original hockey committee for believing in me back in 1996 and giving me the chance to build this hockey program. The experiences I have had and the people I have met throughout my career have truly been a light in my life. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank my family, my mentors, my assistants, all the hockey players who have been a part of Maverick Hockey, my colleagues, and everyone who has supported me throughout my career. You all hold a special place in my life.

“I will always be a Maverick.”

Vermont removes interim tag from Wiedler’s head coach title, also announces four-year contract extension for Catamounts bench boss

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Steve Wiedler has signed a four-year contract extension and had the interim tag removed from his title (photo: Vermont Athletics).

Vermont has announced that the interim title will be dropped Steve Wiedler will remain as UVM’s head men’s hockey coach.

The university and Wiedler have agreed to a four-year contract.

“Steve has done a fantastic job leading our program since taking over this summer and I have full confidence in his ability to elevate UVM Men’s Hockey back to national prominence,” said Vermont director of athletics Jeff Schulman in a statement. “Steve has shown a unique ability to motivate and connect with our student-athletes, helping them develop their full potential on the ice while ensuring that they represent the program at the highest level in the classroom and in the community.”

“Steve’s personal integrity, his authenticity, and his passion and commitment to UVM Hockey, our student-athletes, and the community have stood out to me and to his Athletic Department colleagues. I couldn’t be more excited to have Steve remain at the helm of our program.”

“I’m extremely honored and humbled to officially become the Head Coach of our UVM Men’s Hockey program,” added Wiedler. “A special thank you to President Garimella, athletic director Jeff Schulman, and associate athletic director Joe Gervais for entrusting me and the coaching staff with the leadership of our storied hockey program. On a personal note, I would really like to thank Jeff and Joe for their guidance and mentorship during my time here in Catamount Country. To our alumni and passionate fan base, we will continue to honor your unwavering support with our effort every day.

“Excited doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about this opportunity, and we will continue to raise the standard for what it means to be a Catamount on the ice, in the classroom, and within our community.”

Wiedler took over the program on an interim basis on July 18, 2023, and has led the Catamounts this season to a 12-13-3 record including three wins over ranked opponents and a current PairWise ranking of 27th in the country.

The Catamounts are on pace for their best-offensive season since 2016-17, averaging 2.75 goals per game. Their team save percentage of .908 is tied for 18th best in the NCAA, and fifth best in Hockey East. Vermont enters play this weekend tied for seventh place in Hockey East.

Five current head coaches in the department – John Becker, Rob Dow, Kristi Huizenga, Alisa Kresge and Bill Reichelt – began their careers at UVM as assistant coaches before being elevated to their current role. In total those coaches have won 30 regular season and postseason conference championships at Vermont.

In each of Wiedler’s two full seasons as an assistant coach the Catamounts have increased their win total. Last season Vermont defeated Maine in the Hockey East opening round, earning its first postseason win since 2018. He has worked with 10 NHL draft picks in his time at UVM.

Wiedler won a bronze medal with the Norwegian World Junior team at the 2022 championships. Norway had the second-best penalty kill under his leadership in the tournament.

An assistant coach from 2015 to 2018 at AIC, Wiedler earned the title of associate head coach in his final year (2019-20). His responsibilities included being the recruiting coordinator, running the penalty kill, and developing the defense. As the recruiting coordinator at AIC, Wiedler helped build the 2018-19 and 2019-20 AIC teams that won back-to-back Atlantic Hockey regular-season championships.

He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Curry prior to his time at AIC.

Wiedler also had a two-year professional playing career with the SPHL’s Knoxville Ice Bears of the Southern Professional Hockey League and played collegiately at Southern Maine, graduating in 2011 as team captain with a degree in history.

BRACKETOLOGY: Never have these eyes seen more perfect brackets as no movement is necessary to actual brackets

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Alex Bump has compiled nine goals and 24 points this season for Western Michigan (photo: Ashley Huss).

We’re coming off a couple of interesting weeks in terms of looking at the PairWise Rankings and trying to develop the brackets that would best represent what the committee might do if the NCAA field were seeded today.

Two weeks ago we were dealing with likely having a conference matchup between Hockey East teams in the Springfield, Mass., regional. Last week, we still had the challenge of making sure host UMass played in Springfield without compromising too much integrity of the actual bracket.

This week, things couldn’t be simpler.

The reality is with UMass being swept last weekend by Boston College, the Minutemen have fallen below the tournament cut line and actually are the first team out of the current tournament. Good thing there are three weeks of regular-season play and postseason tournament games for the Springfield host to potentially make up lost ground.

But with UMass out, none of the four hosts (Brown, UMass, Omaha or Lindenwood) are in the NCAA field currently. So there isn’t a need to force one team into a certain region to allow a host to play in their home region.

Thus, here are the 16 teams for the field as of this week. The two conferences not currently represented in the field – Atlantic Hockey and the CCHA – will have their places held by the current team with the top winning percentage in the standings.

1. Boston College
2. Boston University
3. North Dakota
4. Michigan State
5. Denver
6. Wisconsin
7. Maine
8. Quinnipiac
9. Minnesota
10. Western Michigan
11. Colorado College
12. Providence
13. St. Cloud State
14. Cornell
15. RIT
16. Bemidji State

So let’s place these 16 teams into brackets before we assign regions.

1. Boston College
8. Quinnipiac
9. Minnesota
16. Bemidji State

2. Boston University
7. Maine
10. Western Michigan
15. RIT

3. North Dakota
6. Wisconsin
11. Colorado College
14. Cornell

4. Michigan State
5. Denver
12. Providence
13. St. Cloud State

We look at these four brackets and realize there are zero interconference matchups in the first round, so for now, there is nothing to change. Let’s assign regions.

Providence, R.I.
1. Boston College
8. Quinnipiac
9. Minnesota
16. Bemidji State

Springfield, Mass.
2. Boston University
7. Maine
10. Western Michigan
15. RIT

Sioux Falls, S.D.
3. North Dakota
6. Wisconsin
11. Colorado College
14. Cornell

Maryland Heights, Mo.
4. Michigan State
5. Denver
12. Providence
13. St. Cloud

When we look at each region, I think attendance will be strong. Maybe you could try to force Providence (not the host) to the Providence regional, but with Boston College and Quinnipiac already there, we don’t see that much of an attendance bump to place a non-host closer to campus. Were Providence to excel to a higher seed, maybe it would be appropriate.

So, believe it or not, there are no further changes to be made. The simplest bracket ever to be assembled.

Until next week, of course.

 

Women’s Division I College Hockey: 2024 Conference Tournament Central

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All conference brackets are set.

CHA Tournament Schedule
All games streamed on FloHockey.tv. All times Eastern.

Semifinals
Best-of-three. Third game only if necessary. 

Feb. 23-25

No. 4 RIT at No. 1 Penn State – Friday 2 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m.
Penn State advances with 2-1, 4-0 wins.

No. 3 Robert Morris at No. 2 Mercyhurst – Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Mercyhurst advances with 5-2, 6-1 wins

Championship Game

March 2

Mercyhurst at Penn State – 2 p.m. 

 

ECAC Tournament Schedule

All games streamed on ESPN+ in the US and on StrechInternet internationally. All times Eastern.

Opening Round 

Single-elimination.
Feb. 24

No. 12 Harvard at No. 5 Quinnipiac – 3 p.m.
Quinnipiac advances with a 9-0 win.

No. 11 Union at No. 6 Yale – 3 p.m.
Yale advances with a 5-2 win.

No. 10 Dartmouth at No. 7 Princeton – 3 p.m.
Princeton advances with a 5-1 win. 

No. 9 Rensselaer at No. 8 Brown – 3 p.m.
Brown advances with a 1-0 OT win.

Quarterfinals

Best-of-three. Third game only if necessary.
March 1-3

No. 8 Brown at No. 1 Colgate – Friday 3 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.

No. 7 Princeton at No. 2 Clarkson – Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

No. 6 Yale at No. 3 St. Lawrence – Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

No. 5 Quinnipiac at No. 4 Cornell – Friday 3 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

Semifinals
Single elimination.
March 8

Hosted by highest remaining seed after Quarterfinals.

Semifinal 1 

Lowest Remaining Seed at Highest Remaining Seed –  Saturday Time TBD

Semifinal 2

Second Lowest Remaining Seed at Second Highest Remaining Seed – Saturday Time TBD

Championship Game 

March 9

Semifinal 1 winner vs Semifinal 2 winner – Time TBD

Hockey East

All times Eastern.

Opening Round
Higher seed hosts

February 28

No. 10 Holy Cross at No. 7 Boston University – 6 p.m.

No.9 Merrimack at No. 8 Maine – 6 p.m.

Quarterfinals
Higher seed hosts

March 1-2

No. 5 Providence at No. 4 Boston College – Friday 6 p.m.

Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Connecticut – Saturday at 1 p.m.

No. 3 Vermont at No. New Hampshire – Saturday 6 p.m.

Next lowest remaining seed at No. 2 Northeastern – Saturday 7:30 p.m.

Semifinals

March 6

Championship

March 9

12 p.m. on ESPNU

 

NEWHA Conference Tournament

LIU games streamed on ESPN+. Saint Anselm games streamed on ne10now.tv. All times Eastern. 

Quarterfinals
Best-of-three. Third game only if necessary.  

Feb. 23-25

No. 8 St. Michael’s at No. 1 LIU – Friday 7:30 p.m., Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 7:15 p.m.
LIU advances with 3-2, 3-0 wins.

No. 7 Post at No. 2 Saint Anselm – Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

No. 6 Assumption at No. 3 Stonehill – Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 1:30 p.m.
Stonehill advances with 3-2, 3-1 wins.

No. 5 Franklin Pierce at No. 4 Sacred Heart – Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.
Franklin Pierce advances with 3-1, 2-0 wins.

Semifinals
Higher seeds host

March 2

Semifinal 1
Franklin Pierce at LIU – Saturday 7 p.m.

Semifinal 2
Saint Anselm at Stonehill- Time TBD

Championship Game
Highest Seed Hosts

March 9

Lowest Remaining Seed at Highest Remaining Seed – Time TBD

 

WCHA

WCHA games streamed on BTN+. Ohio State game times Eastern, all other game times Central.

Quarterfinals
Best-of-three. Third game only if necessary.

March 1-3

No. 8 Bemidji State at No. 1 Ohio State – Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m. Eastern

No. 7 St. Thomas at No. 2 Wisconsin – Friday 5 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m. 

No. 6 Minnesota State at No. 3 Minnesota – Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

No. 5 St. Cloud State at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth – Friday 4 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.

Semifinals
Hosted by the University of Minnesota at Ridder Arena. All times Central.

March 8
Games at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed
Second highest remaining seed vs. Second lowest remaining seed

Championship
Hosted by the University of Minnesota at Ridder Arena. All times Central.

March 9

2 p.m.

This Week in NCHC Hockey: After sweeping then-No. 2 North Dakota, Colorado College starting to ‘believe more and more and more’

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Zaccharya Wisdom scored four goals and added an assist to lead Colorado College to a 7-1 victory over North Dakota last Friday night at Ed Robson Arena (photo: Casey B. Gibson).

Colorado College this week jumped up five spots to No. 10 in the latest USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll, the highest spot the Tigers have held in 12 years.

Two blowout home wins last weekend against then-No. 2 North Dakota helped explain the Tigers’ big rise. More to the point, CC swept its four-game season series with the Fighting Hawks, doing so for the first time in the history of a rivalry that dates back to 1948.

The Tigers ran rampant in their 7-1 win Friday, scoring six unanswered goals and going 4 for 5 on power plays. Saturday’s 6-2 CC win, though, may have been more instructive with regards to what has made the Tigers so unexpectedly good this season. They had been picked by media members to finish sixth in the NCHC but are only four points back from first-place UND with six games left.

North Dakota led twice in Saturday’s first period through goals from Abram Wiebe and then Cameron Berg, who scored on a power play with nine seconds left before intermission. CC was dinged for four penalties in that period alone, one early in the second period and then none the rest of the way, and as CC coach Kris Mayotte said in his postgame comments, the Tigers simply got back to their game. Much of that involved goaltender Kaidan Mbereko, who made a combined 34 saves in the first two periods before finishing with 43.

“I give (North Dakota) a ton of credit,” said Mayotte, a former college goalie himself at Union. “They made the push that you would expect them to make, but Mbereko was special tonight. He made, we’re probably talking five, eight, 10 saves that you shake your head at.

“It wasn’t just like he was under siege; it was big-time chances, cross-crease stuff. He was special. He was the player of the game, no question about it, him on top of our (penalty) kill. A lot on what we had to endure early was PK time, and you put Tommy (Middleton) in the box, you put (Noah) Laba in the box, those are our PK guys, so we had a lot of guys step up in that scenario, but there’s no doubt that Berkie got us that thing tonight. He was absolutely incredible. He just made unbelievable save after unbelievable save, and allowed us to kind of get going.”

The game was still close, tied at 2-2, before CC scored four goals in the third period. Logan Will bagged the eventual game-winner at 4:19, Gleb Veremyev then scored two goals a minute apart and Laba fired into an empty net with 6:33 left. The Tigers outshot UND 15-9 in that period, while largely keeping the dangerous Fighting Hawks’ offense at arm’s length.

“The poise and how we attacked the third period, that was the biggest thing,” Mayotte said. “Adversity is going to happen, especially when you’re playing top teams in the country, and (UND) certainly are. They can come at you in waves, and you’re going to have a ton of adversity in playoff-atmosphere-type games against really good teams, and we bent but didn’t break.

“That’s probably the thing that if you think about our culture, what we’re trying to build and how we’re trying to do it, that’s what stands out to me, is just our ability to do the hard things, do it together and not let the adversity put us on our heels.”

CC has also scored 18 goals in the Tigers’ last three games. That and Mbereko’s Mike Richter Award-worthy form should have CC in good shape for its remaining regular-season games, four of them coming against ranked opposition in No. 19 Omaha this weekend and against No. 3 Denver, one week before the NCHC playoffs begin.

“When you get that, when you score goals, when you win games, it just allows you to believe more and more and more,” Mayotte said.

Purple Knights looking to practice well, then win NE-10 title

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Senior Zach Taylor leads St. Michael’s in seeking a return to the NE-10 championship game starting with a semifinal game at home on Saturday (Photo by Jim Laskarzewski ’86)

The season to date has seen several ups and downs for St. Michael’s in the NE-10, but with this weekend’s sweep of games with Post, the Purple Knights earned a quarterfinal round bye which means hosting a semifinal round game and a chance to play for the league championship for the second time in two years. While the opponent for Saturday is still to be determined from Tuesday’s quarterfinal action [now know they will face SNHU, a 4-1 winner over Post], the Purple Knights are preparing for a late season run that starts with great practices this week.

“It is really not a cliché,” said head coach Damian DiGiulian. “We are just worried about today’s practice. We cannot control who we play on Saturday, but we can be as prepared to execute on the ice against any opponent with some continued good practice and focus up to Saturday’s game. It does not matter if it is SNHU or Franklin Pierce or St A’s, at this point anyone can step up and play a great game and beat you. We are only focused on what we can impact and that is our preparation for Saturday.”

Over the course of the season, St. Michael’s has experienced more than a few highs and lows that included a 7-1-0 start to the season; an eight-game losing streak; the loss of their top line center, Zach Taylor, for six weeks and even the breakdown of not one but two buses on a single road trip to close out the regular season against Post. Despite the trials and tribulations, the team finished their final seven games with a 6-1-0 record that helped them earn second place and a first round bye in the conference tournament.

“Every season has its challenges and we saw ours earlier in the year,” noted DiGiulian. “I am very proud of the very competitive non-league schedule we play and while the results were not always there for us the challenge to make our team better was clearly part of the dynamic. We had guys step up in Zach Taylor’s absence and are a better team now with their play and his return. Netminder Cole Manahan got an opportunity in goal and took advantage of it. He has been playing great for us down the stretch and gives us a chance to win. David [Ciancio], Case [Kantgias] and TJ [Beaver] have given us a very dynamic defensive group that contributes heavily on both ends of the ice with strong offensive numbers and helping a great penalty kill.”

With assistant coach Brent Truchon supporting the goaltenders, second-year coach and primary assistant, Lilly Holmes gets credit for the defensive play and penalty kill which she manages in-game and off the ice through practice and film work. A former D-I player for the University of Vermont, Holmes is believed to one of only two primary assistants (Kim Weiss – Trinity) at the D-II/III level and she brings a great deal of experience and energy to her work with the team.

Brent has been here awhile and is great in relating to all our goaltenders not only at the game and position level but the life level as well,” stated DiGiulian. “Lilly has been outstanding in her first year being full-time with the team. Last year she was a part-time coach as she was still playing at UVM, but this year she does it all for us with managing the defense, our penalty kill, recruiting and film work. The guys all relate well to her as a former player and the level of detail she brings to the ice from her experience at UVM. She has been a terrific asset and has energized our staff as well.”

A look at the leading scorers for St. Michael’s shows the presence of two key defensive players who figure prominently in the offensive zone and power play. Juniors David Ciancio (8G – 11A – 19 Pts; -4) and Case Kantgias (13G – 10A – 23 Pts; -3) have combined this season for 21 goals and 21 assists and five game-winning goals between them as key contributors to the Purple Knights playing winning hockey.

“David is one of our captains and plays in all situations for us while Case has a pure skating ability that sets him apart and enables him to join the offense easily,” said DiGiulian. “Add in TJ Beaver who has stepped up his offensive game and Gabriel [Gagnon] and we have a solid defensive group that plays a 200-foot game without losing their defensive edge.”

Last season, the Purple Knights lost the championship game to St. Anselm in the NE-10 final. The ability to host the semifinal on Saturday gives this year’s seniors another chance to go out with a win and hopefully one more that would earn them the NE-10 title.

“It would be special for this group of seniors who all started their careers her at St. Mike’s in the lost pandemic year,” said DiGiulian. “There are no guarantees in any season,  but we earned the bye and a chance to play in front of our fans on Saturday. If we can win that game, the only game we care about right now, then I think it would be great for this group to get another chance to capture a title. But first things first, we need to have a good practice.”

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Back from injury for stretch run, Bemidji State captain Looft pushing teammates ‘to realize what’s at stake’

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Kyle Looft dons the ‘C’ this season for Bemidji State (photo: Brent Cizek).

Kyle Looft’s New Years Eve was spent mostly in pain.

Bemidji State’s defenseman was attempting to block a shot in the Beavers’ game against St. Cloud State when the puck smashed his wrist, resulting in a broken bone. The Beavers lost that game 6-1, but most importantly they lost Looft. The senior captain required surgery that kept him out of commission for nearly six weeks.

Looft returned to the ice two weekends ago against Northern Michigan and picked up right where he left off: Blocking shots. Looft blocked three shots against the Wildcats and then blocked another this past weekend against Ferris State.

“I wasn’t sure really what to expect coming back,” he said. “Obviously, it’s in the back of your head when you’re sitting in the stands; you have time to think about it. But once I got out into games, I didn’t even really think about it at all.”

Looft is in the midst of a career year for the Beavers, and it’s not just about blocking shots–although he certainly is good at that too. The fifth-year senior never had more than eight points in each of his previous four seasons in Bemidji, but after returning for his extra COVID year, he’s blossomed both offensively and defensively, with five goals, 15 assists and, yes 37 blocked shots.

Anything he can do to help the team, that’s what Looft wants to do on the ice.

“We call it ‘Beaver Hockey,’” Looft said. “Sacrificing for the team. For us, Beaver Hockey is winning hockey, and blocking shots as part of that, all the other sacrifices that we have such as hitting and all the other little details of the game that are hard to do and that not every hockey player wants to do. That’s just part of our game if you want to play here, and once you do, it’s engraved in your system. We definitely take pride in all that.”

The Beavers are taking pride in those little things and hitting their stride doing so. Ever since they were swept by St. Cloud over New Years’ weekend–a pair of 6-1 losses–BSU has managed to get at least two points from each series. And although that doesn’t seem like much, just taking one look at the CCHA standings this season will tell you that two points is the difference between leading the league outright and a four-way tie for second. (The Beavers managed to salvage two points from their series against Michigan Tech on Jan. 20 when they held off a furious Huskies rally and won a shootout.)

“I think our team was finding our stride in the whole month of January when I was out,” Looft said. “Just watching the games, watching the team, watching practice every day, being in the room, we felt we had good vibes in the room because of the way we were playing. I think that what we were working towards has finally started to click a little bit and now we’re playing good hockey, more consistent hockey, which is helping us win more games in a row.”

Since Looft has returned to the lineup, the Beavers have continued winning. The Beavers (13-15-2, 11-7-2 CCHA) took five out of six possible points from both NMU and Ferris and now find themselves sitting atop the CCHA standings by two points. BSU has 37 points, while three different teams (St. Thomas, Minnesota State and Bowling Green) each have 35 points.

It just so happens that the Beavers get to play both St. Thomas and Minnesota State head-to-head in the last two weekends of the regular season. All this is to say that the Beavers currently control their own destiny in the race for the MacNaughton Cup.

“In the summer, right after the season, you’re thinking about how are you gonna put yourself in that position? Whether you’re training, whether you’re at practice in the fall, and then working your games throughout the year like, you’re trying to set yourself up for the situation, and now we have that situation,” Looft said. “So it’s definitely on your mind, but we’re also just thinking: ‘What are we going to do today, on Tuesday to get better and prepare for our game on Friday?’ So you’ve got to take it one day at a time but at the same time, you’ve got to realize what’s at stake.”

Looft has yet to win a league title at BSU; the closest he came was his freshman season in the 2019-20 season when the Beavers were within one game of Minnesota State for the WCHA title but lost on the final day of the regular season. Looft was also a part of the infamous 2022 CCHA tournament championship game in Mankato that featured a disallowed goal in overtime.

“I think in my four years prior to this, I’ve played in three games that had a championship on the line, and, we’ve come up short all three of those times,” Looft said. “That’s definitely on my mind. I want to leave here a champion, and I feel like we’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in that position. We just have to execute on Friday. That’s our focus right now. It’s all about Friday.”

The Beavers head to the Twin Cities on Friday for their series against St. Thomas. The Tommies were leading the CCHA as of just two weeks ago–which just goes to show how volatile the league standings have been this year. With the MacNaughton Cup on the line–it could potentially be in the building at the Tommies’ rink in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Saturday depending on how other games around the league play out–Looft is expecting a battle.

“They’re a really good team. They’re fast, they have good forwards, and they’re very well coached,” Looft said. “Obviously [Tommies head coach Rico Blasi] has done a really good job there, and I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s done over the last few years to get this program to where it’s at right now. They’ve come from not having a Division I program to being one of the top teams in this conference.

“We know they’re a very fast, skilled team, but they also play the right way. And obviously they have really good goaltending, too, so it’s gonna be a tough challenge for us for sure. But I’m super excited about it, it should be a really good series.”

Adrian hockey standout Rehding answers when opportunity knocks

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Mathew Rehding is the leading scorer for Adrian this season. (Photo provided by Adrian Athletics)

Mathew Rehding never had a chance to make an official visit to Adrian because of the pandemic.

But the senior forward knew what he was getting into as the Bulldogs boast one of NCAA Division III hockey’s elite programs.

“A former teammate of mine, Chase Spencer, told me about the program, and he said this was the place to be,” Rehding said. “I’m glad I came here. I have great teammates and the coaches are wonderful. They push us to be our best every day and excel at what we do.”

Rehding is certainly excelling at what he does, leading the Bulldogs in scoring (43 points). He’s come through with 16 goals and 27 assists, both team highs, and he’s helped Adrian skate into contention for another NCHA tourney title and trip to the NCAA tournament.

“Personally, I can’t complain being the top scorer. But it’s obviously a team effort. I’m happy with where we are at as a team and we want to keep moving forward.”

Rehding hit the 100-career point milestone last weekend in the opening series of the conference tournament against Concordia, another highlight of what has been his best season yet for the third-ranked team in the USCHO.com poll.

After scoring nine goals and dishing out 17 assists in his first two seasons combined, he has racked up 27 goals and 48 assists over the last two years.

“It’s just opportunity,” Rehding said. “Last year Matus Spodniak and Alessio Luciani got all the attention and I was in the shadows. This year, I’m front and center. I’m getting more opportunities to help the team.”

Of course, he wouldn’t be the player he is today without having a chance to be around the two former Adrian stars he mentioned earlier.

“They are both great on and off the ice and seeing their habits and how they work, it was special. It’s why they are at the next level,” Rehding said. “They helped me a lot with my game.”

Rehding said his success is tied to knowing where his teammates are on the ice and vice versa. It’s helped the Bulldogs (21-5-1)  thrive with one of the top offenses in hockey, averaging close to five goals per game (4.8). Adrian is allowing only 1.9 goals per outing.

“It’s about accountability through each line and relying on each other to make plays. We work well as a team,” Rehding said.

A native of Ontario, Rehding started playing hockey at a young age.

“I’ve been in hockey since I was 3 years old and started playing for a team when I was five. I’ve loved it ever since,” Rehding said. “I played other sports like lacrosse and soccer, but hockey stuck out. I was definitely the best at hockey. I stuck with it and here we are.”

He points out the relationships he’s forged in the sport has been one of the most enjoyable aspects.

“In hockey, you are so invested day in and day out,” Rehding said. “I’ve been able to develop a bond with my teammates and coaches. It’s special coming to the rink every day with them. It’s so fun to be around.”

Rehding is part of an Adrian team that features four other players with 30 or more points. Jaden Shields (9 goals, 26 assists), Zachary Heintz (15 goals, 19 assists), Bradley Somers (12 goals, 21 assists) and Jacob Suede (11 goals, 19 assists) have all been among the key contributors.

The Bulldogs are hoping to punch a ticket to the NCAA tournament and make another run at the national title.

Teamwork is the key to making it happen.

“It’s going to take everyone playing their best every minute of the game,” Rehding said. “We can’t take our foot off the gas peal. If we are on our game, our A game that is, we are tough to beat.”

Rehding would love to play beyond college and is hoping this season will help pave the way for the chance to do so.

“I’ve still got more games here, but I’m hoping I get the chance (to play pro) after the season I am having,” Rehding said. “I’m not the biggest or the strongest, but I hope other aspects of my game will make up for that.”

Women’s Division I College Hockey: The PodKaz Episode 14 – The postseason begins (for some), USA Hockey’s Katie Million joins the show

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Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) and Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) are joined by USA Hockey Director of Women’s National Team Programs to talk about selecting national teams, the future of Olympic centralization, the PWHL’s impact on international women’s hockey and more. Plus, we look back at the final weekend of the regular season in ECAC Hockey, the CHA and the NEWHA and take a glance at what’s to come in the first weekend of the postseason in those leagues and the last regular-season games for Hockey East and the WCHA.

 

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This Week in ECAC Hockey: Gearing up to defend its national championship, Quinnipiac ‘big on focusing on the controllables’

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Mason Marcellus scored twice and added an assist last Saturday as Quinnipiac defeated RPI 7-2 on home ice (photo: Rob Rasmussen/P8Photos.com).

The majority of ECAC Hockey teams have spent the second half of the season trying to catch Quinnipiac.

As recently as last week, as the last of the regular-season weekends crested on the horizon of college hockey’s last month, six-point weekends sent teams flying towards the top of a league hoping to catch its three-time defending Cleary Cup champions. Each path was clear, but they all depended on a potential slip-up by a team that wasn’t quite the invincible monarch of years past.

It wasn’t a guarantee, but the seedling still planted and hatched enough for a bit of exploration and interest.

As it turned out, none of it really mattered.

A six-point weekend against RPI and Union clinched at least a first round bye for a program that hasn’t played a first round game since 2018, and if all goes according to plan in Friday’s one-game weekend series at Brown, the Cleary Cup will once again reside in Hamden, Connecticut with a team that’s made a habit of playing at the national level.

“I’m big on focusing on the controllables,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “And we need to win every game that we play in. It’s not about winning this many before we clinch. I probably [thought] about it when I was younger, but I think now it’s just focused on the controllables – how we can win, how we can early and position ourselves for the NCAA tournament.

“A third piece of that is how we can get as high up in the Pairwise as possible because you can get last change and maybe a better regional, but if we focus on the controllables and where we are as a team, we’ll still have a little ways to go [but] we’ll get better on those things [that need improvement].”

Sweeping the Capital District teams didn’t end those conversations, but the Bobcats stamped their ticket to the quarterfinals by stomping through their opponents on home ice. They used three different goal scorers to establish a 3-0 lead in the first period of Friday night’s game against Union before jump-starting the offense to a six-goal outburst that marked the most explosive game since a 9-2 win over Princeton in mid-January. Thirteen different skaters recorded at least one point, and two goals in the third period zapped any drama created from the Garnet Chargers’ two-goal second period that cut into the lead twice despite a response from Christophe Fillion.

It only looked like a serious threat, and on Saturday night, the 12th consecutive win at M&T Bank Arena included both a hat trick from Collin Graf and a highlight-reel goal from Travis Treloar. Both had registered points against Union with Treloar scoring one of the team’s first period goals, but the headline-stealing performance buried the Engineers’ short-lived 1-0 lead.

“We played well on both nights,” Pecknold explained. “Guys were locked in. The rink was sold out, and there were just a lot of positives. I thought we’d played well against Clarkson in that win after the St. Lawrence game, which we didn’t play well. They’d taken advantage of our struggling a little bit and created those struggles, but I thought we’ve been really good since that loss.

“A lot of things came together for the Union-RPI weekend,” he added. “We were running, we were playing well, and the crowd was rocking. And from there, we got a lot of bounces that were going our way.”

The bounces included Graf’s second career hat trick and a Hobey-like statement from a player often operating in the shadows of the bigger, more well-known players in Hockey East. A First Team All-America selection last year, he earned Hobey Baker top-10 honors for a season in which he tied the program’s Division I record with 59 points. He won ECAC’s scoring championship and finished third in total points, and it was his goal with under three minutes remaining in the national championship game that forced the overtime face-off that won the program’s first-ever crown.

The NCAA leader in assists, his return to the program after spending his first year as a breakout influence automatically gave Quinnipiac one of the most dynamic skaters in the nation, and his 1.62 points per game pace has him second nationally behind Boston College’s Gabe Perrault. His scoring clip is equal or better to Ben Steeves and Ryan Leonard, and his hat trick against the Engineers marked the ninth time he had at least three points in a single game.

“He was probably a 60-foot player [when he transferred to Quinnipiac,” Pecknold said. “He was really good from 60 feet, and I got on him hard and worked him hard with the staff to tell him that he had to round out his game. He had to become a tutor for players. He’s not the first guy we’ve said that to, but he was so committed and bought into it that he became a great 200-foot player. He defends and competes, and he’s ready to go on face-offs. His first goal against RPI came from his defending, and he made a great defensive play to send himself on a partial one-on-one. All of that happened because he defended and competed.

“When you compete defensively, you get to play more offense.”

Being able to count on players like Graf, Treloar, Jacob Quillan, Sam Lipkin and others allowed Quinnipiac to mold the newer half of its roster into a cohesive unit over the course of the season. There were hiccups – more so this year than some might remember due to the team’s overall dominance in the last few years – but the result on the back end is practically the same: if the Bobcats win on Friday night, the Cleary Cup race is over.

None of that means Quinnipiac is bound for Lake Placid, and requisite debates still exist about the team’s ability to win its first conference championship since 2016 because, well, there’s been a different team winning a league postseason title on an annual basis since the Bobcats beat Harvard with a 4-1 winner in the third year after ECAC moved back to Herb Brooks Arena. But the idea of Quinnipiac playing with momentum in the postseason is a big lift for a league battling for a second or third national tournament berth between Cornell (No. 14 in the Pairwise) and any team that isn’t the Bobcats or Big Red.

“We’ve had some peaks and valleys,” Pecknold said. “We got really good in late November and December but then had the break, and then we struggled a little bit out of break. We struggled a little bit to get back to realizing how hard it was to win at this level, but if there was one thing that stands out, it’s just how high character this group is. That’s what we’ve had in the past. You bring in 12 new guys, you just don’t know how they’re going to acclimate to our culture, our identity, and how we want to play. You have freshmen, you have kids from North Dakota Ohio State and different places transferring, they’ve all played under different systems. So that’s the biggest thing.

“This is a great group of really high-character guys, and that’s a part of why we’ve won as much as we have this year.”

D-III Women’s West Week 17 Review: It’s Conference Playoffs Time!

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Women’s Ice Hockey: Hamline University Pipers vs. Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties (Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com)

Where has the season gone? For most coaches, the season probably seemed to take forever at times depending on their respective team’s performance, but for fans, the season seems to have flown by once again. We’ve entered the conference playoffs and are set for another great late February/March string of games!

MIAC

The defending national champions Gustavus wrapped up the MIAC for the 19th time with a near-perfect conference record of 17-1-0 and overall record of 20-4-0. Three of the Gustie losses came at the hands of #1 UW-River Falls who went a perfect 25-0-0 this year, the lone MIAC loss came against the Auggies of Augsburg who finished their season quite strong considering how the first half went.

Most recently, Gustavus shutout St. Olaf twice this past weekend, winning 5-0 & 3-0. Goaltender Katie McCoy has picked up a few more records this season, most recently, she set the record for most career wins in NCAA D3 (W) with 78 (now has 80).

The Gusties obviously enter the conference playoffs as the favorite, but Augsburg, Saint Mary’s, & Hamline are looking close behind. The team that’s shown they’ll give Gustavus the biggest challenge is Augsburg, considering they were the only team to knock them off in conference play, but the other two had close games with the Gusties.

The playoffs feature some intriguing matchups, some may not realize how tough the MIAC playoffs are to qualify for compared to other conferences where nearly all but two or three teams make it, only the top-five qualify in the MIAC.

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

We’ve got:

First Round:

Bethel @ Hamline on Wednesday 2/21 in the quarterfinals which is an intriguing game as these two just finished up playing each other in the final weekend, the Pipers took those two games 3-1 & 4-1. The Royals have had an impressive year for the program, let’s see if they can knock off Hamline who’s also had a stellar season. The winner of this game faces #1 Gustavus in the quarterfinals. Gustavus swept both teams during the regular season.

Quarterfinal:

The predetermined quarterfinal matchup is a wildcard. Augsburg and Saint Mary’s, both having impressive seasons, Saint Mary’s the most surprising out of the MIAC, Head Coach Chad Davis, who’s in his first year with the program, has the Cardinals rolling along. During the regular season, SMU swept the Auggies, winning 3-2 & 2-1. However, after that particular weekend, Augsburg finished the season 16-2-0, their two losses coming to Gustavus & UW-Eau Claire. This game is a toss-up, both will be poised to take away the Gusties’ crown, assuming they make it to the final.

NCHA

Adrian has owned the NCHA regular-season for years now, they’ve now won their 10th-straight regular-season title. Head Coach Shawn Skelly has done it in all six years of his Adrian coaching tenure, racking up a career record of 137-21-7, winning 20+ games in all six seasons now (record via USCHO).

The Bulldogs have won the last eight of nine conference playoffs as well, putting themselves in the NCAA tournament via auto-bid near-annually, the lone year was in 2022 when Aurora shocked everyone and headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time in the early program’s history.

This year, Adrian went undefeated in the conference, a perfect 16-0-0, their losses were to Utica in the Utica University Kickoff Tournament 2-1 in OT, and UW-River Falls 7-5.

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

The NCHA conference tournament began this past weekend, playing two quarterfinal matchups, one of those matchups requiring the fun “mini game” tiebreaker, which sent Lake Forest to Adrian.

#1 Adrian swept #8 Lawrence, 4-1 & 4-0, they’ll remain home to face the visiting #4 Foresters of Lake Forest who, as mentioned, won the mini game 2-0 vs Concordia (Wis.) after splitting the two games 3-1 & 4-2.

#2 St. Norbert swept #7 Trine, winning a very slim 3-2 & 3-2 OT, they’ll play host in the semifinals to #3 Aurora. Aurora defeated Marian, winning 5-1 & tying 1-1.

Semifinals:

Although Lake Forest gave Adrian their fits last season, including nearly knocking off the Bulldogs in the conference playoffs, these are two very different teams, and I think Adrian takes this one and remains home to face the winner of Norbert & Aurora. Adrian swept LFC, winning 5-0 & 2-1 during the regular season, but hey, anything can happen.

St. Norbert vs Aurora is intriguing, Norbert almost knocking off Adrian in game one of their series this season, falling 2-1 due to a last-minute Maya Roy powerplay goal, then a collapse in game two losing 7-1. In the regular season, Norbert defeated Aurora 5-0 & tied 2-2… I like Norbert’s chances as they’ve been the far-more consistent team, but the Spartans may be thinking differently…

WIAC

The WIAC was a frequent highlight in D-III Women’s hockey this season, nearly being discussed every week due to UW-River Falls and their continued success. The Falcons finished the regular season a perfect 25-0-0, they’ve won at least 24+ games in the past three seasons, which is fortunate for them, because without the auto-bid, that’s essentially the only way they can make the dance. They can’t lose/tie nearly half their games and be frontrunners for the NCAA tournament via at-large, that only happens out east…

With UW-River Falls being a lock for the NCAA tournament, the Blugolds of Eau Claire finished a solid 19-6-0. Like Gustavus, three of those losses came to UW-River Falls: 2-5, 3-4 OT, & 1-4. Since they cannot receive an auto-bid, they’ll have to hope that River Falls advances to the finals (99.9% chance), and they [Eau Claire] get the chance to play them again and potentially beat them. That’s the only route they’ve got, no guarantees and it’s likely around a 40/60% chance they get in versus don’t get in with all the upsets occurring out east and the few at-large positions.

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

Quarterfinal:

The #5 Jills of Northland visit #4 UW-Stevens Point for the lone QF matchup, winner visiting #1 River Falls. The Pointers swept Northland, winning all three regular-season matchups. Look for Stevens Point to advance here.

Semifinal:

The determined semifinal game is #3 UW-Superior vs #2 UW-Eau Claire, the Blugolds swept the season series, but the Jackets were the only team to be leading River Falls at any point this season until UWEC did it in their 2nd game vs the Falcons. Superior will give the Blugolds a good run, but ultimately, I see it yet again, another Falcons vs Blugolds WIAC finals rematch.

TMQ: Looking back on last weekend as top college hockey teams falter, discussing current state of volatile PairWise bubble

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Liam Devlin celebrates a goal during the White Out the Whitt last weekend that saw UNH sweep Maine (photo: New Hampshire Athletics).

Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

Jim: Well, Ed, we begin this week’s TMQ talking about a lot of carnage among the top teams in the USCHO.com poll.

The top 10 teams from last Monday’s poll went a collective 8-9-2 this past week with North Dakota, Wisconsin and Maine all suffering two-game sweeps (Wisconsin did earn a single point for losing in overtime).

Maybe it’s just the time of year. Every team is on the hunt for playoff positioning and the intensity of every matchup is ramped up. But some of these losses for top teams were pretty significant.

North Dakota was blown out of Robson Arena at Colorado College, 6-2 and 7-1, giving CC the season sweep in all four games against the Fighting Hawks. Maine lost to its rival, New Hampshire, by identical 5-2 scores and coach Ben Barr admitted after Saturday’s loss his team got its butts kicked.

The team that probably enjoyed the weekend the most was Michigan State, which didn’t play and simply got to watch all of the teams around it in the USCHO poll struggle.

Did this weekend strike you as strange as it did me?

Ed: It really did seem strange to me too, Jim.

You’re not surprised to see results like this in the first week or two of the season, especially when poll positions are largely educated guesses based on last season’s results and what players have returned.

The two wins by Colorado College are probably the most significant of the weekend. The Tigers are now just four points behind North Dakota and three in back of St. Cloud State in the NCHC standings with six games left in the regular season.

The wins also vaulted CC in the PairWise, moving them all the way up to No. 11, solidly inside the bubble.

Michigan State not only got to watch all of this from afar, but the Spartans also moved into fourth in the PairWise. That would be a regional top seed for them if the season ends that way. That was helped out by Ohio State getting five of six points at home from Wisconsin, dropping the Badgers to sixth in the PairWise.

The Spartans have a four-point lead over Wisconsin with four games left for each. The final weekend sends Michigan State to the Kohl Center in what might just decide the Big Ten regular season.

That New Hampshire sweep over Maine caught my eye, and as I look at a few numbers, I wonder if I’ve been overestimating an undoubtedly good Black Bears team. They’re just 5-5-0 in their last 10, all in conference. While they’re 10-1-2 at Alfond Arena, they’re just 7-7-0 on the road (plus a neutral-site victory).

Should Maine fans be concerned about this last stretch?

Jim: I don’t know if it’s red flag time for the Black Bears but this weekend, combined with a loss to Providence in OT that disappointed Ben Barr a week earlier and another defeat at Northeastern that was spurred on by a major penalty in the third, seems to have this team that was trucking along wobbling a bit.

Part of this could just be inexperience. No player on this team has been to an NCAA tournament or to the TD Garden for the Hockey East tournament. They have a solid foundation but now need to prove they can play in big-game situations.

The good news is this Maine team is guided by a head coach in Ben Barr who is a proven winner as an assistant.

Although not in the top 10, a team that met a bit of carnage on the weekend that can be included is UMass. The Minutemen got swept by a red-hot Boston College team. And while you wouldn’t think two losses to the nation’s top team would be too harmful, the razor-thin margins for teams near the PairWise bubble dropped UMass to 15 and below the current cut line.

While UMass falling out of the top 14 is eye opening for me, I’m equally shocked to see just how volatile the PairWise bubble is this late in the season.

Ed: And not only is the PairWise volatile along the edge of the bubble, it’s also surprising how almost nothing is a complete lock.

Typically by late February, we’d see three or four teams definitely in. As of today’s column, only unanimous USCHO No. 1 and PairWise No. 1 Boston College is in the NCAA tournament no matter what. A few other teams are almost certain, but still not clinched.

But back to the bubble. There’s a big drop off in RPI after New Hampshire, so while it’s a mathematical possibility for teams below UNH, it’s going to take a great run.

The teams right along the cut line of 14 are another story. It looks like teams like Colorado College, Providence, St. Cloud, Cornell, Michigan, UMass, New Hampshire and perhaps Omaha will all find themselves battling for the last three spots in the tournament come conference playoff time.

Just a week ago we were talking about Cornell as an at-large and two teams from the ECAC in the tournament, maybe three. The Big Red’s tie with Yale this past weekend may loom large if Cornell misses the NCAAs.

Jim: I think you’ve just identified the biggest problem for teams that aren’t playing in NCHC, B1G or Hockey East. It is difficult for those teams to make up any ground with wins in their conference and it is too easy to lose ground for something like a tie against an inferior opponent.

On another topic, it shocked me this weekend to see just how close the CCHA standings have become. Bemidji State is now on top but leading a trio of St. Thomas, Minnesota State and Bowling Green – yes, Bowling Green – by just two points with two weekends left.

The Falcons are the hottest team in the CCHA and are almost in the best position to win the league regular-season title after a very slow start to this season.

This would be a great turnaround story for Ty Eigner who was suspended by the school to begin the season and now might bring home some hardware before all is said and done.

Ed: That would be fitting for Eigner and BGSU after things were cleared after what seemed to be a disaster for the program.

There are also tight races in both Atlantic Hockey and ECAC Hockey, but not only at the top.

Atlantic Hockey comes down to a two-horse race for first place and the top seed. RIT needs just one point out of home-and-home with Canisius for a tie for first and a top seed in the league. A surging Holy Cross can keep its chances alive in its final game of the season Thursday against Bentley. A win moves the Crusaders into first place pending results from the weekend for the Tigers.

But the rest of that conference is in play for a first-round bye or home ice in the first round. Six teams still can get one of three remaining first-round byes heading into the last weekend of the regular season.

With all 12 teams eligible for the ECAC playoffs, the two coveted positions are in the top four for a bye and in the next four for home ice in the first round. Only Quinnipiac has locked up the first-round bye (though Cornell is close) and everyone else is still mathematically eligible with three or four games left.

Buckle up. It’s going to be quite a ride no matter which conference you follow.

Boston College earns all 50 first-place votes, sits a unanimous No. 1 team in Feb. 19 USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll

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Cutter Gauthier netted a pair of goals for BC last Friday night on the road at UMass (photo: Brody Hannon).

Boston College is again the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, getting all 50 first-place votes in this week’s rankings.

Boston University is up one to No. 2, Denver moves up two to sit third, Michigan State jumps two to fourth, and North Dakota falls two, now tied for No. 4 with Michigan State.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll – Feb. 19, 2024

Wisconsin drops two to No. 6, Quinnipiac is up two to No. 7, Minnesota stays eighth, Maine falls two to No. 9, and Colorado College vaults up five to sit 10th this week.

Providence falls out of the top 10, going from 10th to 12th in this week’s poll.

No new teams enter the poll this week.

In addition to the top 20 teams, seven others received votes this week from the voters.

The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 50 voters, including coaches and media professionals from across the country. Media outlets may republish this poll as long as USCHO.com is credited.

Rough weekend for top 10 teams makes conference races, PairWise interesting: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 6 Episode 19

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Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger review the games of the weekend and news of the week in this February 19, 2024 edition.

In this episode:

  • The most disastrous weekend of the season for the USCHO Top 10
  • What teams were most impacted by the weekend’s results
  • North Dakota, Wisconsin, Maine didn’t suffer much in the PairWise despite getting swept
  • Which teams are, or close to, locks for the NCAA tournament
  • The tight CCHA race, with a nod to Atlantic Hockey and the NCHC
  • Congratulations to Norm Bazin for his 300th win

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 college hockey podcast on Apple podcasts, in your favorite podcast app, or on Spreaker.

Find our podcast archive at USCHO.com/podcasts

NCAA D-III West Hockey Weekend Wrap-up

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Augsburg won the regular season MIAC title on Saturday. (Kevin Healy, Augsburg Athletics)

Augsburg is playing its best hockey at the right time of the year, adding up to a regular-season MIAC championship and ninth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament.

The Auggies clinched their latest title with a 3-2 win over St. Scholastica, Kyler Yeo scored the game winner with 4:24 left in the final period. Samuel Vyletelka did his part in goal, stopping 35 shots, the 17th time this season he has racked up 30 or more saves.

Augsburg is unbeaten in its last seven games and sits at 15-8-2 overall and 12-3-1 in the conference.

The Auggies won Friday’s opener 6-0 behind Vyletelka’s 11th career shutout and Peyton Hanson’s first multi-goal game.

Oles are postseason bound

Facing a win and its in situation, St. Olaf got the job done, topping Gustavus 5-1 Saturday to secure a MIAC tournament berth.

The Oles had lost 4-0 to the Gusties one night earlier but bounceback in a big way while improving to 11-11-3 overall and 7-7-2 in the MIAC and earning a third consecutive trip to the conference tournament.

Joey Kennelly, Matthew Pointer and Connor Kalthoff all scored a goal and dished out an assist in the victory. Tony Leahy dished out two assists as the Oles ended Gustavus’ four-game winning streak.

St. Olaf held a 40-25 advantage in shots and Thomas Lalonde stopped 24 shots for his seventh win of the year. The Oles will be the fifth seed for the MIAC tourney.

Cardinals clinch tourney berth

Saint Mary’s secured its MIAC tournament berth with a 4-3 win over Concordia Friday and then earned a home game for the tourney with a 3-2 win Saturday.

Gabe Potyk scored the game winner for the Cardinals with nine seconds left in regulation.

A.J. Ruskowski stopped 45 shots for the second consecutive night and has tallied 30 or more saves in all 12 of his starts. Saint Mary’s is 10-13-2 overall and 8-7-1 in the conference and will be the fourth seed for the tournament, hosting St. Olaf on Wednesday in the opening round.

Royals finish regular season with sweep

Bethel wrapped up its regular season on a high note, finishing off a sweep of Hamline with a 6-4 victory.

The win was the 17th of the year for the Royals, who now have the most wins in a season since the 2006-07 campaign and are on the cusp of tying the program record for wins in a season, sitting just one win shy of that mark. Their 11 conference wins are the most since the 2007-08 season.

Tyler Braccini scored twice and Tyler Kostelecky tallied the winning goal with 11:59 left to put Bethel up 5-4.

Marco Duronio made his collegiate debut in the game and stopped 37 shots as the Pipers will now host a MIAC tournament game for the first time since 2007. Bethel is 17-5-3 overall and 11-3-2 in the conference and will be the second seed for the tourney.

WIAC Tournament

UW-Stout and UW-River Falls are both moving on in the conference tournament, with both teams earning sweeps in their weekend series.

The Blue Devils rolled past Northland 7-0 and 4-1 while the Falcons prevailed in two closely contested games against UW-Superior, winning 3-2 and 1-0.

UW-Stout now gets UW-Eau Claire in the semifinal round while UW-River Falls will take on UW-Stevens Point.

Four different players scored goals for the Blue Devils in the series finale, with three of those goals coming in the third period as they surged ahead 4-0 before Northland got a goal in the final minute. Among the goals scored was the first career goal by Tyler Sanborn.

Tyler Masternak made 17 saves in the win as the Blue Devils improved to 12-13.

Aidan Torres scored the lone goal for the Falcons in their finale against the Yellowjackets Saturday. That tally was enough as Dysen Skinner was solid in goal, stopping 29 shots for his third shutout of the year.

Dean Buchholz got the start for the Falcons in Friday’s win and stopped 24 shots. Four different players scored goals for UW-River Falls, which is 16-9-2.

NCHA Tournament

Every team held serve in the opening round of the NCHA tournament.
Adrian rolled past Concordia 10-2 and 10-1, Aurora swept MSOE 2-1 and 5-1, Trine topped Lawrence 5-0 and 6-2 and St. Norbert defeated Marian 6-1 and 5-0.

The No. 3 Bulldogs are the top seed in the tournament and finished off the series Saturday on a night when Mathew Rehding scored his 100th career point for the Bulldogs. Zachary Heintz finished with a goal and four assists and Rehding tallied two assists. Adrian improved to 21-5-1 and has won four consecutive games.

The 10th-ranked Green Knights have won 10 of their last 11 and are 20-6 on the year after knocking the Sabres out of the tourney. In Saturday’s finale, Liam Fraser dished out three assists while Adam Stacho scored a pair of goals. Logan Dombrowsky added a goal and assist and Brock Baker finished with two assists.

No. 11 Trine took care of business in its series, finishing things off Saturday with a 6-2 win. Sam Antenucci paved the way with a pair of goals, both of them coming in the final five minutes.  Josh Wright came through with a couple of assists.

The Thunder got back on track in the series after closing the regular season on a two-game losing streak. They now get St. Norbert in the semifinal round. The two teams split their regular season series. Trine is 20-7 on the year.

Aurora survived an overtime battle in Friday’s opener against the Raiders, with Jake Code scoring the game winner, and then dominated the finale thanks to two goals apiece from Jakson Kirk and Derrick Budz. The Spartans advance to play Adrian. They are 15-11-1 on the season.

Women’s Division I College Hockey: Weekend Wrap February 19, 2024

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St. Thomas at (1) Ohio State 

This was a close game at the end of the first period, Jennifer Gardiner scored early for Ohio State and St. Thomas’ Maria Cooper evened things up to make it 1-1. Then the Buckeyes broke out with seven goals in the second frame. Makenna Webster, Jordan Baxter, Hannah Bilka, Gardner, Cayla Barnes, Joy Dunne and Sloane Matthews each lit the lamp to make it an 8-1 game. Bilka scored twice more in the final frame, including short-handed, while Dunne and Baxter each earned their second of the night to make it a 12-1 win for Ohio State. That is a program record for goals in a game by the Buckeyes. On Saturday, Ella Berger scored 17 seconds into the game to put St. Thomas up 1-0. It took another 12 minutes for Ohio State to tie it up, but Barnes goal made it 1-1 at the first intermission. In the second, Lauren Bernard scored short-handed and Kenzie Hauswirth found the back of the net to make it 3-1. Bilka’s power play goal in the fourth gave OSU the 4-1 win and weekend sweep. The Buckeyes secured the WCHA regular season crown with the wins. 

(5) Minnesota at (2) Wisconsin

Read my full recap on game one, that Wisconsin won 4-3 in overtime. After a back and forth game on Friday night, the Badgers took a bit more control on Saturday. They blocked a season-high 22 shots and held Minnesota to just 17 shots on net, including four in the third period. Kirsten Simms scored two carbon copy goals four minutes apart to put the home team up 2-0. In the third, on the power play, Lacey Eden, who had a spectacular weekend winning pucks and fighting along the boards, made it 3-0 on a quick shot in front of the net. Simms got the secondary assist, making her the first player in the country to reach 60 points this season. Maddi Wheeler’s goal just 21 seconds later iced the 4-0 win. 

Dartmouth at (3) Clarkson

The Golden Knights out-shot the Big Green 56-10 en route to a 9-0 drubbing on Friday. Clarkson scored on the very first shift as Clarkson’s offense scored 31 seconds into the game as Dominique Petrie earned her 100th career point to make it 1-0. Andie Proulx and Jaden Bodgen each scored twice while Nicole Gosling and Brooke McQuigge each had a goal and two assists in the win. 

Harvard at (3) Clarkson

Clarkson clinched the No. 2 seed in the ECAC tournament with a 3-0 win over Harvard, finishing just .5 points behind Colgate for the championship. Anne Cherkowski, Bridget Stevenson and Dominique Petrie each scored in the win. The Golden Knights will have an off week, earning a bye and home ice in the ECAC Tournament. 

(4) Colgate at (14) Yale

The Bulldogs earned their biggest win of the season and Colgate dropped their fourth straight on Friday. Avery Pickering scored first, putting Colgate up 1-0 midway through the first, but from there it was all Yale. Ella Bargman tied it up a few minutes later on a two-on-one rush with Elle Hartje. The bardown shot tied the game 1-1. In the second, Jordan Ray scored first on a deke and then with a tap-in on a pass from Bargman to make it 3-1 Yale. They kept Colgate off the board in the third and took the win. 

(4) Colgate at Brown

The Raiders secured their third ECAC regular season Championship with a 6-0 win over Brown. Elyssa Biederman scored twice and had an assist while Kaitlyn O’Donohoe and Kristýna Kaltounková each had a goal and an assist to lead Colgate to the win. 

(6) Cornell at Brown

The Big Red came out firing in the first, outshooting Brown 18-5, but the teams went to the first intermission in a scoreless tie. The Bears had five power plays in the second, but could only capitalize on one as Anna Gallagher’s power play goal put Brown up 1-0 heading into the third. With just more than five minutes left in regulation, Piper Grober’s shot from distance made it through traffic to tie the game and eventually force overtime. In the extra frame, Cornell got a 4-on-3 advantage and scored on the power play as Izzy Daniel won the game for the Big Red. Cornell outshot Brown 52-21, but Bears goalie Kaley Doyle set a career high with 50 saves and gave her team a chance. 

(6) Cornell at (14) Yale

Cornell’s Saturday victory secured the 16th Ivy League Championship in program history. In the first, Yale outshot Cornell 20-7. But the Big Red pushed back, winning the shot battle in the second, 15-5. McKenna VanGelder scored on the power play just 43 seconds into that frame by poking the puck in to give Cornell the 1-0 lead. Midway through the frame, a breakout led by Izzy Daniel led to a goal by Karel Prefontaine to make it a 2-0 game. Elle Hartje pulled one back for Yale to tie the program record for career points, but they couldn’t complete a comeback and Cornell took the 2-1 win. They finished fourth in the ECAC and will have a first round bye in the conference tournament. 

Harvard at (7) St. Lawrence

The Crimson jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Jenna MacDonald and Maria Pape. But St. Lawrence came roaring back in the second, scoring three goals to take a 3-2 lead. Katina Duscio scored on a one-timer from the faceoff dot, then Kristina Dahl scored on the power play and finally Melissa Jefferies’ wrister from the slot to give SLU the lead. In the third, Anna Segedi’s backhander secured the 4-2 win. 

Dartmouth at (7) St. Lawrence

Julia Gosling scored twice and had an assist while Abby Hustler added a goal and an assist to lead St. Lawrence to a 5-0 win to end the regular season. Aly MacLeod and Sarah Marchand also scored in the win. The Saints finished third in the conference and will have a first-round bye in the ECAC Tournament. 

(10) St. Cloud State at (8) Minnesota Duluth

UMD goalie Hailey MacLeod made 39 saves and earned her fifth shutout of the season and Clara Van Wieren scored the game’s only goal to ensure the Bulldog win and clinch home ice in the WCHA on Friday. The goal came early in the third period as Van Wieren scored from the slot on a pass from Olivia Wallin. The second game was even more tightly contested. Ève Gascon tied a program record for shutouts in a rookie season and Mannon McMahon became the Bulldog program’s consecutive games played leader, skating in her 166th straight game. St. Cloud’s Jojo Chobak made 30 saves, while Gascon stopped 39, including a penalty shot with a minute left in overtime. In the shootout, Emma Gentry, Sofianna Sunderlin and Laura Zimmerman all scored for the Huskies in the shootout to give St. Cloud the extra conference point. 

(11) Connecticut at Merrimack

The Huskies scored three times on the power play to power past Merrimack on Friday. Christina Walker’s extra attacker goal in the first had Connecticut up 1-0 after one. Kathryn Stockdale’s power play goal extended the lead to 2-0 early in the second. Mary Edmonds cut the lead in half, getting Merrimack on the board and making it 2-1 heading into the final frame. Ainsley Svetek’s power play goal midway through the third gave Connecticut a cushion and a minute later Megan Woodworth extended the lead to 4-1. Brooke Campbell’s goal with under four to play secured the 5-1 victory. 

(11) Connecticut at Vermont

Brooke George scored her first career goal midway through the first to give Vermont a 1-0 lead. Kaylee Lewis put a rebound away a few minutes later to extend the lead to 2-0. Krista Parkkonen extended the lead to 3-0 in the third and the Catamounts took the win in their final regular season home game. 

(15) Boston College vs. (13) Northeastern 

Northeastern made things interesting in the race for the Hockey East regular season title, closing the gap to Connecticut in first to five points with two games left in the regular season. On Friday, the teams played an even first period. Katy Knoll opened the scoring on the power play late in the second. But BC’s Sammy Smigliani replied with an extra attacker goal of her own with just 6.7 seconds left in the period. Julia Pellerin gave the Terriers a 2-1 lead with under four to play after a spectacular save by Grace Campbell turned into a chance the other way. The Huskies pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and equalized the game with a goal from Megan Carter. In overtime, BU held the puck early, but at the first chance, Peyton Anderson ended the game for Northeastern, giving them a 3-2 win. On Saturday, five different Huskies scored to lead Northeastern to a 5-1 win that put them four points clear of Boston College for second place. Skylar Irving, Tory Mariano, Allie Lalonde, Carter and Knoll each lit the lamp in the win. Katie Pyne was the goal scorer for the Eagles in the loss. 

Monday 10: Colorado College takes both from North Dakota, Holy Cross coming alive in Atlantic Hockey, Quinnipiac close to ECAC Hockey regular-season crown

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Kaidan Mbereko and the Colorado College defense stymied the North Dakota offense all weekend (photo: Casey B. Gibson).

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

1. Colorado College sweeps North Dakota in convincing fashion

Earlier this season, the Tigers snapped a 15-game losing streak to the Fighting Hawks with a pair of 3-2 overtime victories in Grand Forks.

The rematch in Colorado Springs wasn’t that close.

CC dominated UND 7-1, 6-2 for its first four-game season sweep of its conference rival in program history. The schools have met 273 times.

On Friday, freshman Zaccharya Wisdom scored four goals to lead the Tigers, the first time a CC player reached that mark in a game in five years.

North Dakota outshot Colorado College 45-32 on Saturday, but CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko made a career-high 43 saves.

The sweep moved the Tigers, who are having their best season in 16 years, up to 11th in the PairWise Rankings.

2. Ohio State sweeps Wisconsin

The Buckeyes came into their home series with Wisconsin with just one Big Ten win but tripled that with a (3-2 OT, 3-1) sweep of the fourth-ranked Badgers.

On Friday, Ohio State never led until Davis Burnside’s game-winner with 22 seconds left in overtime.

In Saturday’s contest, the Buckeyes never trailed. Burnside and Cam Thiesing scored 48 seconds apart near the end of the first period, and after UW’s David Silye cut the lead in half with a power play goal eight minutes into the second, Joe Dunlap finished out the scoring for OSU a few minutes later.

Wisconsin failed to gain ground on idle Michigan State, which remains in first place, four points ahead of the Badgers.

3. Holy Cross within striking distance in Atlantic Hockey

The Crusaders entered the weekend in third place, behind first-place Rochester Institute of Technology and weekend foe Sacred Heart.

Thanks to its sixth and seven straight wins (5-1 on Friday, 2-1 on Saturday) and third consecutive conference sweep, Holy Cross now sits alone in second and is the only team that can catch RIT. The Crusaders trail the Tigers by two points heading into the final weekend of the regular season in Atlantic Hockey. RIT has a game in hand.

On Friday, Holy Cross opened a 5-0 lead paced by a pair of goals from Liam McLinskey. Saturday was a different story, with the Crusaders erasing a 1-0 SHU lead. McLinskey got the game-winner with 12:14 left in the third.

Jason Grande stopped 60 of 62 shots in the series for Holy Cross.

4. Bowling Green stays hot

The Falcons extended their unbeaten streak to six games after a win and a tie against St. Thomas. Bowling Green took five of six points in the series thanks to a shootout win after a 3-3 tie on Friday, and Saturday’s 3-1 victory.

Brett Pfoh scored a goal in both contests, extending his scoring streak to four games.

Bowling Green continues to climb up the CCHA standings, now in a three-way tie for second, two points behind leader Bemidji State.

5. Cornell moves ahead, falls back in PairWise

The Big Red took five of six points this weekend against Brown (3-0 win) and Yale (shootout win after a 1-1 tie), allowing a total of just 22 shots in the two games.

Ian Shane stopped all but one of those as Cornell extended its unbeaten streak to 14 games, dating back to Dec. 29.

But the home tie with Yale dinged Cornell in the PWR, dropping it to 14th, squarely on the bubble.

6. New Hampshire sweeps Maine

Is it an upset if you do it again the next night? No. 19 New Hampshire took down seventh-ranked Maine 6-2 on Friday, and then did it again on Saturday, this time by a 5-2 score.

UNH’s Liam Devlin had a hat trick in Friday’s win and was one of five goal-scorers on Saturday.

Six league points for the weekend moved the Wildcats into a tie for fifth in the Hockey East standings. New Hampshire sits at 17th in the Pairwise.

7. Top-ranked Eagles soar past Minutemen

Boston College entered this weekend’s series with No. 11 Massachusetts as the No. 1 team in the USCHO Division I Men’s Poll as well as in the PairWise.

Things will likely stay that way thanks to a 5-1 win on a Friday and a 6-4 victory on Sunday against the Minutemen.

BC’s Ryan Leonard had a hat-trick on Saturday and a pair of goals on Friday, extending his point streak to 13 games and goal streak to four games. He has seven goals in those four contests.

8. No. 8 Minnesota salvages pair of points against Notre Dame

After a 6-1 loss to the Fighting Irish on Friday, the Golden Gophers managed a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday.

Jimmy Snuggerud’s OT winner was his 19th goal of the season and snapped an eight-game stretch where he failed to score. It was also his fifth game-winning goal this season for Minnesota.

Friday’s win by the Fighting Irish marked the 1,000th game coached by Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson, who also coached at Lake Superior State. After the weekend split, Jackson’s career record is 589-314-98.

9. Quinnipiac edges closer to ECAC regular-season title

The defending national champions clinched a bye to the quarterfinals on Friday with a 6-2 victory over Union. 13 different players recorded a point for Quinnipiac.

On Saturday, Rensselaer scored the opening goal, but the Bobcats got the next five to cruise to a 7-2 win, capped off by a highlight-reel goal by Travis Treloar.

Quinnipiac can clinch the Cleary Cup on Friday with a regulation win at Brown.

10. In case you missed it…

Northeastern split its series with UMass Lowell this past weekend, but the bigger win for the Huskies happened back on Monday when they captured their second Beanpot title in a row, and fifth in the last six seasons.

Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored in overtime as the Huskies defeated Boston University, 4-3. Fontaine, who also scored the overtime game-winner against Boston College in the first round, was named MVP.

D-II/III East Men’s Hockey Weekend Wrap-up – February 19, 2024

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Southern Maine knocked off No. 12 ranked Norwich in the quarterfinals of the NEHC tournament with Mason Palmer stopping 37 of 38 Cadet shots (Photo by James Liebowitz)

There was a lot to play for this past week as final regular season games were pivotal in determining playoff qualifiers, home-ice seeding, first round byes, and for the NEHC, which teams advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. As has been the case for the entire season, there were several surprises with an early upset tournament win, teams desperate for points putting it all on the line and tiebreakers being decisive in playoff eligibility and seeding. This all with the hope of teams extending their season another week and playing for something that has been on everyone’s to do list since last fall – win a conference championship. Here is the exciting summary for a great weekend of action in the East:

CCC

Friday night was the final game of the regular season for every team in the CCC and several contests were important in determining the matchups for this week’s quarterfinal playoff games.

UNE hosted Salve Regina needing a regulation win over the Seahawks to take advantage of the tiebreaker advantage they had over SRU and claim third place in the standings. Both teams had numerous scoring opportunities in the first period, but goaltenders Billy Girard IV for UNE and Cayden Bailey for Salve Regina kept every shot out of the net. Neither team was able to break the ice until the final minute of the second period when Dominic Murphy gave UNE a 1-0 lead. Chip Hamlett doubled the advantage early in the third period and Girard slammed the door on the conference’s best offense earning the shutout win, 2-0.

With Curry securing the top seed and closing out their regular season with a 3-1 win over Suffolk, second place Endicott played a hungry Nichols squad looking to move up in the playoff seeding. The Gulls jumped out fast with three first period goals and cruised to a 6-1 win. Jackson Sterrett scored twice, and the Gull power play connected three times to down the Bison.

Wentworth needed a win to leap-frog Nichols in the standings and did so with a 3-2 win over Western New England. The Leopards started fast and took a 2-0 lead after the first period only to see the Golden Bears rally back to tie the score on goals from Lukas Radina and Justin Sullivan. A power play goal from Josh Faussett proved to be the game winner for WIT as Jack McGovern kept WNE off the board making several key saves in the final period.

Wednesday’s quarterfinal round finds No. 1 Curry and No. 2 Endicott receiving byes while No. 6 Nichols will travel to Biddeford, ME to play No. 3 UNE and No. 5 Wentworth will face No. 4 Salve Regina.

Independents

Rivier closed out their season with a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Franklin Pierce on Wednesday night. Damon Kiyawasew scored the lone goal for the Raiders while Luke Newell stopped 34 of 36 shots in the Rivier’s final game as an Independent team. The Raiders set a school record with ten wins on the season and prepare to play in the MASCAC in the 2024-25 season.

MASCAC

The final games of the regular season mattered for virtually everyone in the conference hunting for a playoff spot, better seeding or the other bye not taken by top seed Plymouth State.

Fitchburg State was battling Massachusetts-Dartmouth for second place and got some help when the Corsairs dropped a 6-2 decision to PSU on Thursday night. The Falcons eked out a 5-4 win, erasing a two-goal deficit in the final ten minutes of regulation play to secure a much-needed win over the Owls. On Saturday, a 2-0 win over Framingham State helped the Falcons stay even with UMD and take advantage of a tiebreaker to earn second place and a quarterfinal bye. Frederick Soderberg was stellar in goal stopping all thirty-five shots he faced in the shutout win.

Massachusetts-Dartmouth rallied back from Thursday’s loss to Plymouth State with a thrilling 5-4 win over the Owls led by Tyler Stewart’s hat trick to close out the regular season on Saturday. The Corsairs took advantage of three power play goals in the one-goal win.

After taking a big 5-2 win over Salem State on Thursday, Worcester State needed a win on Saturday over a resurgent MCLA team to take the final playoff position. The Lancers scored twice in each period while goaltender Jakub Kubik stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 6-1 win that earned the Lancers the sixth and final playoff position.

Thursday’s quarterfinal action finds No. 6 Worcester State facing No. 3 Massachusetts-Dartmouth while No. 5 Framingham State will play at No. 4 Westfield State. The winners advance to Saturday’s semifinal round where No. 1 Plymouth State and No. 2 Fitchburg State will play host.

NE-10

Assumption had clinched the top seed long ago in the NE-10 but their opponent on the final weekend was in a three-team battle for second place. Southern New Hampshire had much to play for and it showed on Friday night as the Penmen skated off with a 2-1 win over the Greyhounds. First period goal from Ryan Pomposelli and Kurt Watson were enough for netminder Collin Berke who stopped 32 of 33 shots in the win. Looking for a statement sweep on Saturday; the Penmen saw the Greyhounds jump to a 2-0 lead before Matt Amante cut the deficit in half. Jonathan Surrette scored early in the third period for a 3-1 Assumption win that split the weekend series.

Franklin Pierce was in the hunt for a second-place finish but suffered a 4-1 loss to St. Anselm on Friday night. On Saturday, the Ravens picked up their tenth win in league play with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Hawks. Trailing 3-2 after an early third period goal by Leonard Brochu III, the Ravens tied the game in the final two minutes of regulation off the stick of Cody Rumsey. In overtime, John Sterling needed just 25 seconds to net the game-winner.

St. Michael’s final two-game series was against Post with the Purple Knights in a position to garner the second spot with a weekend sweep of the Eagles in the changed Saturday/Sunday series (Friday game postponed). On Saturday, TJ Beaver, Case Kantgias and Brennan McFarland all scored in the first period and St. Michael’s held on for a 3-2 road win over Post. In Sunday’s season finale, the Purple Knights took advantage of two first period goals and Brennan McFarland’s tally just 26 seconds into the second period for a 3-0 lead. David Ciancio extended the advantage to 4-0 with a power play goal and St. Michael’s cruised to a comfortable 6-1 win that secured a second place and first round bye.

With the final game played on Sunday, the conference tournament shapes up like this. On Tuesday, No. 3 SNHU will host No. 6 Post and No. 4 Franklin Pierce will play their third game in the last five days against No. 5 St. Anselm. The winners will advance to the semifinal round where No. 1 Assumption and No. 2 St. Michael’s eagerly await playoff hockey.

NEHC

The NEHC began their conference tournament on Saturday with four quarterfinal games that provided a big upset and an overtime thriller.

Top seed Hobart had no difficulty with VSU-Castleton as the Statesmen broke open a scoreless game with a five-goal second period and cruised to an 8-1 win over the Spartans. Luke Aquaro scored a pair of goals and added three assists to lead the offensive charge for Hobart.

The No. 2 seed Norwich Cadets hosted a Southern Maine squad they had just defeated on the road to close out the regular season last Saturday and the result could not have been more different. The Huskies fell behind 1-0 in the first period on Nick Cordeiro’s goal for the Cadets. The score remained 1-0 until midway through the third period when Kadin Ilott tied the score for USM. Curtis Judd gave the visitors the lead with just over three minutes remaining and Jakub Suran iced the upset win with an empty-net goal for the 3-1 final score. Mason Palmer was outstanding in goal making thirty-seven saves.

No. 3 Skidmore scored the first four goals of their game with Massachusetts-Boston, including two from Danny Magnuson and skated away with a 5-1 win over the Beacons. Kevin Urquhart’s shorthanded goal and Cooper Rice’s power play tally in the second period helped break open a 1-0 contest and lead the Thoroughbreds to the quarterfinal win. Goaltender Tate Brandon made thirty saves.

The final quarterfinal matchup between No. 4 Elmira and No. 5 Babson (home ice decided on a tiebreaker) ended the night with a dramatic overtime win for the home team. Nicholas Domitrovic twice gave the Soaring Eagles one-goal advantages only to see the Beavers respond with tallies from Nolan Woudenberg and Wyatt George for a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation. In the extra session, defenseman Amadeo Mastrangeli’s shot from the point after an offensive zone face-off eluded goaltender Mason Rosado for the 3-2 win.

On Saturday, the semifinals find No. 7 Southern Maine traveling to No. 1 Hobart while No. 3 Skidmore hosts No. 4 Elmira.

NESCAC

Trinity had already secured the top seed entering the final weekend of regular season action and seemed to be in tune-up mode against travel partner Wesleyan capturing a pair of shutout wins over the Cardinals, 1-0 and 2-0. Despite outshooting the Cardinals 41-17 on Friday, Joseph Harney’s third period goal was all goaltender Devon Bobak needed in the one-goal shutout win. On Saturday, the shot differential was even bigger as the Bantams sent sixty-one shots at Cardinal goaltender Marc Smith but managed only two goals from John Campomenosi and Devan Tongue in a 2-0 win. Bobak earned another shutout making sixteen saves for the Bantams.

The rest of the action in the conference was all about playoff position and qualification with teams looking for home-ice positioning and further down the standings, a battle to extend the season into conference tournament play.

Bowdoin secured the No. 2 seed with a split of games against Tufts and Connecticut College. After Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Jumbos that secured the No. 3 seed for Tufts, the Polar Bears bounced back with a 4-1 win over the Camels. Jesse Lycan scored two goals in the win for Bowdoin.

Hamilton secured the final home-ice berth with a weekend sweep of Middlebury and Williams. On Friday, the Continentals raced to a 3-0 lead over the Panthers and held on for a 4-3 win with Alex Danis picking up a goal and an assist. Saturday provided another one-goal game as the Continentals eked out a 3-2 win over the Ephs. Danis provided what proved to be the game-winner early in the second period and helped extend Hamilton’s current win streak to three games.

The Williams loss on Saturday kept Colby in the eighth and final playoff berth as the Mules picked up some big points with a 1-0 overtime win over Conn College on Friday and a 4-4 overtime tie with Tufts on Saturday. Griffen Grise scored the only goal of the game on Friday in the overtime session while Saturday saw the Mules rally from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to earn the overtime tie.

Saturday’s quarterfinal games will see No. 8 Colby travel to No. 1 Trinity and No. 7 Middlebury will play No. 2 Bowdoin. The two other games are matchups between travel partners as No. 6 Conn College will face No. 3 Tufts and No. 5 Amherst will play No. 4 Hamilton.

SUNYAC

Entering the final weekend of the season, five of the six playoff teams were qualified with final position to be determined beyond No. 1 Geneseo and No. 4 Cortland. Three teams were in a battle for the No. 6 seed as Buffalo State, Fredonia and Potsdam all needed points from their final two games of the regular season.

Potsdam kept up its end with a pair of victories over the Bengals and Blue Devils while travel partner Plattsburgh helped the Bears out with a weekend sweep of their own. On Friday, Jack Loran scored a pair of goals, including an empty-net goal to ice a 4-2 win over Fredonia. On Saturday, Jakub Hall gave the Bears an early 2-0 lead and Loran netted the game-winner in a 4-3 victory over Buffalo State giving Potsdam the final playoff position based on tiebreakers between three teams tied on points.

Cortland had previously locked in as the No. 4 seed but sent a pre-conference tournament message to Oswego with a 2-1 overtime win on Friday to close out the regular season. John Kuhl scored the game-winner for the Red Dragons while senior goaltender Jack Riedell made forty saves in the win.

Brockport clinched the No. 5 seed with a monster third period against Morrisville where the Golden Eagles erased a 2-1 deficit with five goals on the way to a 6-3 win over the Mustangs. Andrew Harley and Chase Maxwell each recorded a goal and an assist in the win.

On Wednesday, the quarterfinal round takes place with No. 3 Plattsburgh hosting No. 6 Potsdam while No. 4 Cortland will play host to No. 5 Brockport. The winners advance to play No. 1 Geneseo and No. 2 Oswego in the SUNYAC semifinal round.

UCHC

While Utica, Stevenson and Wilkes had all clinched the top three spots in the UCHC standings, the final weekend saw five teams playing for the final three spots in the conference tournament. With Alvernia and Manhattanville locking in the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, the battle was on for the remaining seeds as only Arcadia was eliminated from contention.

Chatham and Nazareth played a weekend series with both teams needing points and a split provided both teams with enough to get into the playoffs. On Friday, the Golden Flyers scored once in each period while goaltender Matt Sayles stopped all seventeen shots, he faced in a 3-0 shutout win. On Saturday, the Cougars bounced back with a 5-2 win to earn the split and lock in the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.

After dropping a 6-0 decision at Manhattanville on Friday night where goaltender Sebastien Woods picked up the shutout win, King is needed some points on the weekend to secure their spot in the post-season. On Saturday, the Monarchs rallied from a 4-2 deficit including scoring the tying goal in the final minute of regulation to send the game to overtime, 4-4. In the extra session Brendan Krawczyk added another final minute goal for the game-winner in a 5-4 victory over the Valiants moving King’s into the No. 7 playoff seed.

Neumann had picked up a big 7-1 win over Wilkes on Friday night led by Tyler Inlow’s hat trick but needed points on Saturday to jump over a Nazareth squad that held the tiebreaker over the Knights. On Saturday, the goals that came in abundance the night before dried up as goaltender Luc Fox stopped all twenty Neumann shots in a 2-0 shutout win that eliminated the Knights from the playoffs.

The final standings set up Wednesday’s quarterfinal round like this: No. 1 Utica hosts No. 8 Nazareth; No. 2 Stevenson hosts No. 7 King’s; No. 3 Wilkes plays No. 6 Chatham and No. 4 Alvernia plays No. 5 Manhattanville. The winners will be re-seeded for Saturday’s semifinal round.

Three Biscuits

John Kuhl – Cortland – netted the overtime winning goal in a 2-1 win over Oswego to close out the SUNYAC regular season on Friday night.

Billy Girard IV – University of New England – stopped all thirty-six shots he faced in the Nor’easters 2-0 win over Salve Regina to close out the CCC regular season and move UNE into third place in the standings.

Gabriel Pigeon – Lebanon Valley – stopped fifty-one shots to backstop the Flying Dutchmen to a 4-0 win over Alvernia keeping their playoff hopes alive on Friday night.

Bonus Biscuits

Griffin Grise – Colby – broke a scoreless tie with his overtime goal in the Mules 1-0 victory over Connecticut College on Friday night.

Mason Palmer – Southern Maine – stopped 37 of 38 shots as the Huskies stunned No. 2 seed Norwich in the quarterfinal round of the NEHC tournament on Saturday.

Tyler Inlow – Neumann  – recorded a hat trick in the Black Knights 7-1 romp over Wilkes on Friday evening.

Straight to quarterfinal action without a lot of rest is on tap for teams that didn’t earn a bye or have all eight teams playing mid-week to sort out who advances. Will only be picking for the weekend games but check out @D3Pucks on X for early round picks and monitoring of what should be great action across the week, league and region.

 

 

Maine’s Villeneuve-Houle suspended one game by Hockey East for major head contact penalty Feb. 17 against New Hampshire

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Donavan Villeneuve-Houle is playing his senior season for Maine in 2023-24 (photo: Anthony DelMonaco).

Hockey East announced Monday that Maine senior forward Donavan Villeneuve-Houle has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 4:42 of the second period on Feb. 17 at New Hampshire.

On the play, Villeneuve-Houle was assessed a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head and a game misconduct.

Villeneuve-Houle is ineligible to play Feb. 23 against Northeastern and is able to return to the Black Bears’ lineup on Feb. 24 against the Huskies.

Rankings roundup: How the top 20 NCAA hockey teams fared, Feb. 16-18

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Tommy Scarfone has given RIT a boost most nights between the pipes, including last weekend against Air Force (photo: RIT Athletics).

Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll of Feb. 12 fared in games over the weekend of Feb. 16-18.

No. 1 Boston College (23-5-1)
02/12/2024 – No. 1 Boston College 5 vs Harvard 0 (Beanpot third place)
02/16/2024 – No. 1 Boston College 5 at No. 11 Massachusetts 1
02/18/2024 – No. 11 Massachusetts 4 at No. 1 Boston College 6

No. 2 North Dakota (20-8-2)
02/16/2024 – No. 2 North Dakota 1 at No. 15 Colorado College 7
02/17/2024 – No. 2 North Dakota 2 at No. 15 Colorado College 6

No. 3 Boston University (20-8-2)
02/12/2024 – RV Northeastern 4 vs No. 3 Boston University 3 (OT, Beanpot championship)
02/16/2024 – No. 3 Boston University 2 at No. 10 Providence 2 (OT)
02/17/2024 – No. 10 Providence 2 at No. 3 Boston University 5

No. 4 Wisconsin (22-8-2)
02/16/2024 – No. 4 Wisconsin 2 at Ohio State 3 (OT)
02/17/2024 – No. 4 Wisconsin 1 at Ohio State 3

No. 5 Denver (20-8-2)
02/16/2024 – No. 5 Denver 5 at Minnesota Duluth 4 (OT)
02/17/2024 – No. 5 Denver 5 at Minnesota Duluth 2

No. 6 Michigan State (20-7-3)
Did not play.

No. 7 Maine (18-8-2)
02/16/2024 – No. 7 Maine 2 at No. 19 New Hampshire 6
02/17/2024 – No. 7 Maine 2 at No. 19 New Hampshire 5

No. 8 Minnesota (19-8-5)
02/16/2024 – No. 8 Minnesota 1 at RV Notre Dame 6
02/17/2024 – No. 8 Minnesota 3 at RV Notre Dame 2 (OT)

No. 9 Quinnipiac (22-7-2)
02/16/2024 – Union 2 at No. 9 Quinnipiac 6
02/17/2024 – Rensselaer 2 at No. 9 Quinnipiac 7

No. 10 Providence (16-10-3)
02/16/2024 – No. 3 Boston University 2 at No. 10 Providence 2 (OT)
02/17/2024 – No. 10 Providence 2 at No. 3 Boston University 5

No. 11 Massachusetts (16-9-3)
02/16/2024 – No. 1 Boston College 5 at No. 11 Massachusetts 1
02/18/2024 – No. 11 Massachusetts 4 at No. 1 Boston College 6

No. 12 Cornell (16-4-5)
02/16/2024 – Brown 0 at No. 12 Cornell 3
02/17/2024 – Yale 1 at No. 12 Cornell 1 (OT)

No. 13 Western Michigan (17-10-1)
Did not play.

No. 14 Michigan (15-12-3)
02/16/2024 – No. 14 Michigan 5 at RV Penn State 3
02/17/2024 – No. 14 Michigan 2 at RV Penn State 4

No. 15 Colorado College (18-9-1)
02/16/2024 – No. 2 North Dakota 1 at No. 15 Colorado College 7
02/17/2024 – No. 2 North Dakota 2 at No. 15 Colorado College 6

No. 16 St. Cloud State (14-9-5)
Did not play.

No. 17 Arizona State (20-6-6)
Did not play.

No. 18 Omaha (15-10-3)
Did not play.

No. 19 New Hampshire (16-11-1)
02/16/2024 – No. 7 Maine 2 at No. 19 New Hampshire 6
02/17/2024 – No. 7 Maine 2 at No. 19 New Hampshire 5

No. 20 RIT (20-10-2)
02/16/2024 – Air Force 3 at No. 20 RIT 7
02/17/2024 – Air Force 3 at No. 20 RIT 2

RV = Receiving votes

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