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FRIDAY ROUNDUP: Northeastern upsets No. 1 Boston College, No. 2 North Dakota rallies past No. 3 Denver in thriller, Vermont sinks No. 10 UMass in OT, Notre Dame drops No. 13 Michigan

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Cam Lund’s hat trick pushed Northeastern past top-ranked Boston College Friday night (photo: Jim Pierce).

Cam Lund finished a 2-on-1 from the left circle with 6:08 left in regulation to break to 3-3 deadlock and Northeastern secured a 5-3 road victory over No. 1 Boston College on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 7,884 at Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Northeastern opened the scoring 9:22 into the first period when Braden Doyle beat Jacob Fowler blocker side from the high slot through a partial screen.

Lund doubled the Huskies’ lead two minutes later, converting a wraparound past a sprawling Fowler at the left post.

NU added a third from Matthew Staudacher, who fired a shot high short side from the left wing at 16:16 of the opening frame.

Boston College stormed back to tie the game with three goals in the second period. Mike Posma put the Eagles on the board with a shorthanded goal, finishing a centering pass at the edge of the crease from Andre Gasseau at 11:28.

Gabe Perreault pushed a rebound to Ryan Leonard at the right doorstep for a power-play goal at 15:20, and Eamon Powell went high short side with the man advantage from outside the right dot in the period’s final minute to knot the score.

On Lund’s game winner, he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Jack Williams inside the left post. Lund added an empty-netter in the closing minutes to complete his hat trick.

Northeastern goalie Cameron Whitehead made 24 saves in the victory, while Fowler stopped 26 shots in the loss.

SCOREBOARD | USCHO.COM D-I MEN’S POLL

No. 2 North Dakota 7, No. 3 Denver 5

Denver led 4-1 at the end of the first period before the Fighting Hawks stormed back and took a 7-5 win at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo.

Cameron Berg scored twice for North Dakota and Jackson Blake and Owen McLaughlin posted a goal and two assists each.

Dylan James had a goal and a helper, and Jake Livanavage Jake Schmaltz each tallied a pair of assists.

Riese Gaber and Louis Jamernik V also scored for UND.

Tristan Broz netted a pair for the Pioneers, Shai Buium a goal and two assists, and Jack Devine had a goal and an assist. Carter King also scored and Massimo Rizzo tacked on two assists.

In goal, Ludvig Persson made 27 saves for the Fighting Hawks, while Freddie Halyk stopped 20 for DU.

No. 4 Boston University 4, Merrimack 1

Shane Lachance scored two goals and Lane Hutson recorded three assists to help lead Boston University to a 4-1 victory over Merrimack on Friday night at Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass.

In a rematch of the 2023 Hockey East title tilt, BU won its fifth straight league game on Friday, never trailing a Merrimack squad that was whistled for three five-minute majors and two game misconducts. The Terriers made the most of their opportunities, going 3 for 6 on the power play.

Doug Grimes and Macklin Celebrini joined Lachance in lighting the lamp while Ryan Greene dished out two assists.

Mathieu Caron was sharp throughout the contest and finished with 22 saves for the win.

For Merrimack, Ethan Bono scored and Hugo Ollas made 34 saves.

With 25 seconds to play in the second, BU successfully challenged a play for a five-minute major against Merrimack. While the officials were reviewing the play, someone pulled the fire alarm, forcing both teams to leave the ice and fans to exit the building. Fresh ice was made, a figure skating performance commenced, and then the teams returned to play the final 1:49 of the frame, as that’s when the penalty occurred. After a two-minute break, the third period then began.

No. 5 Quinnipiac 5, Rensselaer 1

Collin Graf reached the 100-point plateau on Friday night as part of a four-point night (goal, three assists) as Quinnipiac defeated RPI by a 5-1 count at the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

Sam Lipkin dished out two helpers after starting the scoring 3:04 into the contest.

Jayden Lee, Davis Pennington and Jacob Quillan added multi-point nights, as Lee provided a pair of helpers, while Pennington and Quillan added a goal and assist.

Cristophe Tellier also scored for the Bobcats, while Matej Marinov stopped 17 shots for the win between the pipes.

Tyler Hotson scored the lone goal for the Engineers, and Carson Cherepak turned aside 30 shots in goal.

No. 6 Wisconsin 3, Ohio State 0

Christian Fitzgerald had a goal and an assist and Kyle McClellan pitched a 29-save shutout as the Badgers blanked the Buckeyes 3-0 before 9,859 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Zack Schulz and Cruz Lucius also scored in the win.

Ohio State goaltender Logan Terness made 26 saves.

No. 7 Minnesota 4, No. 18 Penn State 1

It was a night of milestones for Minnesota during a 4-1 victory on the road against the Nittany Lions Friday night from Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.

Rhett Pitlick had a career-best three points, while Bryce Brodzinski recorded the 100th point of his career with the eventual game-winning goal. Sam Rinzel joined the fun by scoring his first collegiate goal.

The game was also the 500th for Minnesota head athletic trainer Jeff Winslow.

The home side dominated the opening minutes of play and Dane Dowiak struck for a 1-0 lead 5:30 into the contest by redirecting a centering pass before the Gophers even put a shot on target.

Minnesota quickly turned the momentum and put away a pair of goals 92 seconds apart late in the frame for a 2-1 edge. Rinzel got the scoring started at the 16:35 mark, taking a Pitlick feed and ripping home a shot from the slot, pulling Minnesota even 1-1. With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Brodzinski one-timed a pass from Jaxon Nelson past PSU netminder Liam Souliere.

The Gophers tacked on another tally during the middle of the second stanza when Connor Kurth scored. Minnesota stayed on the attack and finished off its first power-play chance three minutes later when Pitlick batted home a puck from mid-air and the visitors carried a 4-1 lead through two periods.

Justen Close turned away 33 shots in goal for the Gophers, while Souliere made 17 stops for Penn State.

Brodzinski became the 88th player in program history to reach 100 career points and the first since Blake McLaughlin hit the milestone in 2022.

Notre Dame 6, No. 13 Michigan 1

Notre Dame picked up a dominant 6-1 victory over Michigan Friday night as five different players scored for the Irish to give Jeff Jackson his 400th career win behind the Irish bench at the sold-out Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Ind.

Landon Slaggert scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season to give the Irish the 1-0 lead early in the first period but the Wolverines would knot up the game 1-1 at 10:01 of the first on a goal from TJ Hughes.

It was all Irish the rest of the night though as Justin Janicke scored the eventual game winner less than two minutes after the Michigan equalizer to carry the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Coming back after the break, Patrick Moynihan wasted no time extending the Irish lead off a feed from Paul Fischer just 53 seconds into the middle frame.

The Irish scored once more in the second period as Slaggert netted his second of the night at 17:59 to take the 4-1 lead into the locker room through 40 minutes played.

Similar to the first two periods of the night, the Irish scored twice more in the final frame on goals by Tyler Carpenter and Danny Nelson for the 6-1 final.

Ryan Bischel finished the night with 27 saves in net.

Michigan goalies Jake Barczewski and Noah West combined on a 32-save outing.

Vermont 2, No. 10 UMass 1 (OT)

Ryan Miotto scored 2:33 into overtime to lift Vermont over UMass 2-1 Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt.

The Catamounts’ win was their first over a team ranked in the top 10 since 2019.

With 2:20 left in the middle frame, it appeared that UMass’ Ryan Ufko had given the Minutemen the lead with a wrist shot through traffic. However, the Catamounts successfully challenged for a five-minute major for cross checking on Scott Morrow, wiping the goal off the board.

The Catamounts would strike on the ensuing power play. Miotto and Massimo Lombardi teamed up to win a puck battle along the boards and Miotto fed a cross-ice pass to Nick Ahern that he one-timed home for his first career goal past a diving Michael Hrabal.

The Minutemen equalized 8:23 into the third period. From a sharp angle, Jack Musa found the back of the net.

Gabe Carriere made 32 saves in the UVM net.

For the Minutemen, Michael Hrabal stopped 27 in defeat.

Women’s Division I College Hockey Exclusive: University of Delaware adding women’s hockey, joining CHA for ’25-26 season

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The University of Delaware is adding NCAA women’s hockey starting in the 2025-26 season. The Blue Hens will become the 45th DI women’s hockey program and will join College Hockey America (CHA). It will be the first NCAA hockey program in the state of Delaware.

The university has offered women’s ice hockey as a club sport since 2003 and will continue to have a club team in 2024-25 and beyond. The club team has earned a top-10 national ranking in each of the last 10 seasons.

The move is related to the athletic department’s announcement this week that it had been accepted for full membership in Conference USA. The transition from FCS to FBS football offered an opportunity to add additional scholarships for female athletes at Delaware.

“We knew coming in that when we were going to make this decision on the football side, we were absolutely going to be looking to add a female sport and with the work that we’ve done together women’s hockey just made a ton of sense for us,” said Delaware Athletic Director Chrissi Rawak.

Thanks in large part to a feasibility study that was conducted on campus, it became clear to Rawak that adding women’s hockey was a smart decision for the university.

Delaware already has two ice arenas on campus, which means the institution bypassed many of the hurdles and difficulties that can come from adding ice hockey to their NCAA portfolio. The Blue Hens will play their home games at Fred Rust Arena.

“We’ve always highlighted them as a school that could add NCAA hockey because of the existence of the facilities and also the proximity to other programs so they can easily find other schools to play,” said Mike Snee, College Hockey Inc. Executive Director.

Delaware’s location brings women’s college hockey to a somewhat untapped area of the east coast. The closest program is Princeton, 90 miles away. The University of Delaware is just 40 miles from Philadelphia, 60 miles from Baltimore and 90 miles from Washington DC. The yearly DI in DC showcase to bring women’s college hockey to that area shows the need and opportunity. Delaware is only too happy to help fill it.

The feasibility study that led to this decision is funded by the Industry Growth Fund, a joint initiative of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and is part of an effort in conjunction College Hockey, Inc., to expand college hockey in NHL markets. Snee estimated that more than a dozen studies have been carried out over the past 10 years. This announcement with Delaware is the product of a feasibility study doing exactly what it was intended to do, he said, which is provide information and opportunity for a school to explore the possibility of adding hockey and gather information without having to make a decision immediately. The institution doesn’t have to know all the questions to ask or logistics to consider and can just find out what would be required for them to add hockey and be successful.

Snee hopes that this announcement is not isolated, but starts conversations about college hockey at more universities and inspires those institutions to reach out to College Hockey Inc. so that the sport can continue to grow.

Rawak said the working with the NHL and College Hockey Inc. was incredibly helpful as Delaware worked to identify the women’s sport that made the most sense for the university to add in which they could be able to compete.

“For the NHL and NHLPA to be willing to invest in this the way they are and the way they continue to it’s so significant to the success in college hockey,” said Snee.

There are a number of ways in which Delaware could have been Title IX compliant after the addition of scholarships that comes with moving the football team to FBS, but Rawak was focused on adding not just another women’s team, but ensuring it was a women’s team that could be successful. Opportunities are important, but she wanted opportunities to win. That stood out to Snee from his first interaction with Rawak.

“From day one, this was never about existing. This was about competing and winning,” he said.

Not needing to build a new facility was the first part, but the feasibility study also showed that Delaware’s recruiting footprint, facilities, location, academic offerings and reputation showed that an NCAA women’s hockey program had an opportunity to grow quickly and be successful.

“We know we’re not going to like the world on fire immediately, but I don’t think it’s going to take long for us to be competitive. I am really incredibly excited about that,” said Rawak.

The athletic department and greater university as a whole generally recruit from Boston down to Virginia. Additionally, there are already student-athletes from 29 different countries playing sports for Delaware. The feasibility study showed the impact international players continue to have on women’s hockey and the fact that the institution is already versed in how to support and enroll those students was just one more piece of the puzzle that made Rawak and the Blue Hens feel like adding women’s hockey was a natural fit for the school.

She believes in trusting the process and the further the conversations went along about women’s hockey, the clearer it was that all the boxes were checked, timing had aligned and this was a no-brainer, she said.

“There’s always a risk. This feels like a really good calculated risk for us to be taking,” Rawak said. “I’m really excited for the sport. I’m excited for this university. I’m excited for this region.”

While women’s hockey came to be the obvious choice for Delaware, Rawak said a bonus factor in making this decision was the support of the Philadelphia Flyers. Delaware and the Flyers will form a partnership, with details being shared on Thursday, February 8 at Wells Fargo Center. The NHL club’s commitment to women’s hockey and women in sports stood out to Rawak.

“Our opportunity for partnership with the Philadelphia Flyers, that’s just an a significant added bonus for us and something that is incredibly exciting,” she said. 

CHA Commissioner Michelle Morgan stressed that while there was some serendipity and relative ease to how things aligned with Delaware adding NCAA women’s hockey and joining the CHA, she hopes fans understand the scale of what has been accomplished.

“What [Rawak] and her team have done to get to this point is really seismic,” Morgan said.

From the CHA perspective, adding the Blue Hens made a lot of sense for a number of reasons, but maybe most importantly because adding a seventh team helps protect the league’s status with the NCAA to receive an automatic qualifier bid to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season.

College athletics are unpredictable and Morgan said adding Delaware helps protect everyone in the conference.

“We are the smallest conference in DI women’s hockey. I think as a leader of a conference, as a commissioner, you always need to have that in the back of your mind. You have to still protect that bid and ensure that the automatic qualifier is not in jeopardy based on size and scope of your membership,” she said.

Morgan, who has been in her position for less than a year, said that when she first spoke with the group from Delaware over the summer, it was clear they had done their homework about the landscape in women’s hockey. Rawak and her team told Morgan and the CHA that the conference’s brand, the hockey, the strength of the programs and the league’s history aligned with what the Blue Hens wanted to accomplish and Morgan agreed.

Adding Delaware made so much sense that the CHA board unanimously agreed to the move.

“This will hopefully afford more opportunities for girls to play college hockey. It’s a great win. It’s a win for everybody,” said Morgan.

The university plans to begin their search for a head coach after the new year.

There will be a press conference to formally announce the program on Monday, December 4 at 10:00 AM ET at Fred Rust Arena on the University of Delaware campus in Newark, Delaware. University President Dennis Assanis, Rawak and Morgan will all be available and the event is open to the public.

USCHO Edge: With fantastic games on tap, you really need to find the right team in your college hockey wagers

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Cy LeClerc celebrates a recent goal for New Hampshire (photo: Stu Horne).

If you keep reading this column every week, we’ll probably seem like a broken record.

As the season progresses, the sports books are doing a better job each and every weekend setting lines.

If you believe that you can simply pick up an app on your cell phone and begin laying wagers without doing your homework, be prepared to lose money. If you win with that approach, know how lucky you are. If you lose, well, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

At this point in the season, you need to begin to look for trends. Look at each team’s average goals scored and average goals allowed. Neither stat is necessarily tied together but you can’t grade each independently.

For example, you can’t look at Denver’s season numbers if you take into account last weekend where the Pioneers outscored Yale, 14-0, over two games. That weekend has to be looked at as an aberration. Otherwise, you’ll be skewed, particularly when it comes to make wagers on over/under lines on total goals.

Let’s look at the numbers. Include the Yale series and the Denver offense averages 5.5 goals per game. Exclude it, and the average drops slightly to 5.25 GPG. On the other side, include those two shutouts and Denver averages 2.64 goals against per game. Exclude them and that number raises to 3.08 GA per game.

What we’re saying is that the overall statistics from each team should be measured given the opponent.

This weekend, Denver faces North Dakota, a potent offense in its own right. Both teams have played 14 games, and the Fighting Hawks have scored 26 fewer goals. NoDak has also allowed 10 fewer goals over that span.

The Fighting Hawks, though, haven’t had a stat-padding weekend like Denver did a weekend ago.

We’ll let you take those stats as they are and make your own decisions. But you have to carefully examine not just the basic stats for each team but also take a close look at the schedule each team has played.

Games to watch this week:

New Hampshire (+170) at Maine (-220)

This college hockey rivalry really needs both teams to be among the best to create the deserved buzz that these two teams represent. Right now, both teams are playing well. That said, even at home, Maine at -220 is almost too strong of a favorite. New Hampshire has played some tough opponents tight, winning games against Boston University, Quinnipiac and RIT (and a tie vs. Providence). We can’t say that UNH will walk into. a hostile Alfond Arena and just earn an automatic win. But the price at +170 will be among the best you get on this team for the remainder of the season.

Minnesota (-150) at Penn State (+120)

No one has to go too far back in the memory for when Minnesota was the nation’s number one team. It certainly hasn’t been smooth sailing since that point in time, but the Gophers have been strong through a difficult schedule. After being swept by a good, upstart Wisconsin team, Minnesota swept Minnesota Duluth, had a win and tie against Michigan, split against Notre Dame (the 4-2 loss likely the only bad loss of the season) and earned a tie and overtime win against Michigan State, arguably the best team in the B1G. You can’t underestimate Penn State at home, but Minnesota is a short price against the Nittany Lions on Friday, a perfect time to grab the Gophers at near-even money.

Game to avoid this week: North Dakota (-105) at Denver (-115)

Best bet this week: Minnesota (-150) at Penn State

Also consider: New Hampshire/Maine over 5.5 goals (-105)

All lines provided by DraftKings Sportsbook

D-III West Men’s Hockey Weekend Picks

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Drew Welsch and the Trine Thunder face Marian this weekend. (Photo provided by Trine Athletics)

We’ve made it to December and big conference matchups are on tap, with two nationally ranked WIAC teams both looking to remain in a good place in the standings.

The always tight MIAC features games that could change things up quite a bit on where teams are in the standings by the end of the weekend. Over in the NCHA, one of the more interesting matchups is an in-state rivalry between St. Norbert and MSOE.

Here’s a look at some of the games and predictions.

MIAC

Bethel (6-2-2, 2-1-1) vs. Saint John’s (3-5-1, 1-3)

The Royals are one of the top teams in the conference but just three points ahead of the Johnnies in the standings.

Bethel has dropped two of three but always has a chance to win with leading scorer Tyler Kostelcky, who has come through with a MIAC-best six goals. The goalie depth is also big for this team. Travis Allen (1.82) and Austin Ryman (1.92) both own goals against averages under two goals per outing. 

But the Johnnies have a pretty good goalie of their own in Bailey Huber (2.18). And the Johnnies do have added confidence, having beaten nationally ranked Oswego last week. I’m expecting a fight to the finish each night, and a split as well.
Saint John’s, 4-2; Bethel 4-3

Augsburg (4-2-1, 2-0-0) ) vs. St. Olaf (4-4-1, 2-1-1)

The Auggies ended November as one of the hotter teams, winning three in a row, and have a huge opportunity to make a statement in the conference at the start of a new month.

The Oles are currently a point ahead of the Auggies in the standings and begin a huge month where they face both Augsburg and Bethel in back-to-back weekends. 

Both teams are capable of putting goals on the board. But both teams have shown they can be solid on defense as well. And that’s where this one could be decided.

Lukas Haugen boasts a 1.31 goals against average. Samuel Vyletelka owns a .255 goals against average. I see a split in this series.
Augsburg, 3-2; St. Olaf, 4-3

Concordia (5-1-1, 1-1) vs. Hamline (3-6, 1-3)

The Cobbers are in last place in the MIAC standings but have the second-best overall record on the season. A couple of wins in this series could change things around for them.

Isaac Henkemyer-Howe ranks in the top 10 in goals scored in the conference with four while Liam Haslam and Caden Triggs have been two of the top playmakers with five assists apiece.

Brandon McNamara and Carson Simon have tallied three goals apiece for the Pipers.

Concordia already beat Hamline once on Nov. 21 by a 3-1 score and should be able to get the job done again this weekend. And unlike the last meeting, this series counts in the MIAC.
Concordia, 4-2 and 3-1

WIAC

Friday

UW-Superior (5-5, 3-1) at No. 8 UW-Eau Claire (6-2-1, 2-1)

The Yellowjackets kick off one of their biggest weekends of the season when they play the first of two nationally ranked opponents. Three straight wins have put UW-Superior in a good spot. 

The goaltender matchup should be fun to watch here. Jack Boschert is the reigning league player of the week while Max Gutjahr has been solid all season for the Blugolds. An upset wouldn’t surprise me, but I’ll go with the Blugolds at home.
UW-Eau Claire, 3-2

UW-River Falls (4-3, 1-2)  at No. 9 UW-Stevens Point (6-2, 3-0)

Few teams are hotter right now than the Pointers, who have rattled off five consecutive wins, scoring four or more goals each time. If that offense continues to click, they are going to be tough to stop in this series. Noah Finstrom leads UW-Stevens Point with six goals on the year and Dawson Sciarrino has been quite the playmaker (10 assists).

The Falcons have won two of three and have an opportunity to make a statement against one of the nation’s best teams. Scoring goals is going to be key. They have managed only 13. On the flip side, they have allowed just 13 goals. The Pointers have scored 34 and given up 27.
UW-Stevens Point, 5-2

Saturday

No. 9 UW-Stevens Point (6-2, 3-0) at UW-Superior (5-5, 3-1)

A big road test for the Pointers against a team that has gained a lot of momentum over the last week or so.

This could very well be a high-scoring matchup, with Finstrom and UW-Superior’s Justin Dauphinais on the ice. Dauphinas has tallied five goals on the year, tied for the second-most in the conference.
UW-Stevens Point, 4-2

UW-Stout (3-4-1, 1-2) )at No. 8 UW-Eau Claire (6-2-1, 2-1)

The Blue Devils came into the weekend on a two-game losing streak. The Blugolds have been one of the better teams nationally all season. UW-Stout has to be able to shore up things defensively against a team with a lot of potential on offense. Speaking of offense, Boyd Stahlbaum is tied for first in goals scored (6) in the WIAC.
UW-Eau Claire, 5-2

NCHA

Marian (3-6, 2-4) at No. 15 Trine (8-2, 5-1)

Trine comes in nationally ranked and feeling good about how things have gone after one month of hockey. The Thunder have won three of their last four and defense has been one of its keys to success, shutting out two opponents. Kyle Kozma has helped lead the way, winning six games and boasting a 1.42 goals against average. 

The Sabres haven’t had the easiest season so far but still have a chance to get things rolling in their direction. They take aim at snapping a two-game losing streak. Scoring early and setting the tone is going to be their key to success.
Trine, 5-2 and 4-1

St. Norbert (7-4, 5-1) vs. MSOE (6-3-1, 2-3-1)

The Green Knights begin the weekend on the road against a Raider team that has something to prove and is riding high on a four-game winning streak.

Adam Stacho leads the way for the Green Knights, scoring eight goals on the year, a total that happens to be the most in the conference. Logan Dombrowsky and T.J. Koufis have five goals apiece. MSOE has some offensive weapons of its own, with Seth Bernard, Preston Park and Carson Jones all scoring five goals apiece. I have to believe a split is the call here.
MSOE, 4-3; St. Norbert, 5-4

Concordia (3-4, 2-2) at Adrian (6-2-1, 5-1)

The Falcons face a huge test on the road against one of the best teams in the country. The interesting thing about this Adrian team is no player ranks in the top 10 in goals scored for a team that has put up 29 goals in all. Jaden Shields has had a hand in a lot of those goals, assisting on nine on them, and he’ll be a key to success this weekend.

For Concordia, it comes down to making big plays on defense early. A slow start against the Bulldogs would be tough to overcome, especially on the road against a national title contender.
Adrian, 5-2 and 4-1

Rivalries, revenge, close lines highlight this week’s five games: USCHO Edge college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 6

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USCHO Edge hosts Jim Connelly, Dan Rubin, and Ed Trefzger look at money lines and over/under as well as providing further analysis of five weekend college hockey matchups.

This week’s games:

  • New Hampshire (+170) @ Maine (-220); over/under 5.5
  • Boston University (-166) @ Merrimack (+130); o/u 6
  • Michigan (-130) @ Notre Dame (+100); o/u 6
  • Minnesota (-150) @ Penn State (+120); o/u 6.5
  • North Dakota (-105) @ Denver (-125); o/u 7

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

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

Continue

This Week in NCHC Hockey: North Dakota transfer Berg finding niche with team, filling needed role with Fighting Hawks

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Cameron Berg looks to make a play in a recent game for North Dakota (photo: Russell Hons).

North Dakota coach Brad Berry knows the importance of doing due diligence on recruits from the NCAA transfer portal, but junior forward Cameron Berg’s commitment may have been secured easier than most.

A West Fargo native with family elsewhere in North Dakota, including a grandmother living three hours west in the Bottineau area, Berg spent the last two seasons at Omaha and is fresh off a 10-goal, 24-point sophomore campaign with the Mavericks.

So when Berg entered the portal, Berry moved quickly.

“We did some video work and background work, calling previous and youth coaches and stuff to get the character side checked out,” Berry said of Berg, a New York Islanders draft pick who now leads UND in faceoffs won, winning draws at a 63 percent clip.

“We obviously had a recollection of playing against him, but I think it was a situation where last year, we weren’t as deep as we are this year, and he fit a role that we needed as a guy who’s a strong-bodied centerman, a guy that can finish plays and score, a guy that’s very good on the power play and someone who’s just a strong body up the middle of the rink.

“We desperately needed that, and I think he saw that as far being an opportunity,” Berry continued. “The other part is the development side. He sees what we have in and around our facility with coaches and infrastructure, and he saw it as a way of not only winning a championship here, but also to invest in himself to hopefully one day play in the NHL.”

So far, so good for Berg in his time with the second-ranked Fighting Hawks. He has 12 points through 14 games, with three of those points coming last weekend in a home sweep of Bemidji State. Berg scored twice Friday in a 3-2 UND overtime victory, in which the Fighting Hawks were made to crawl out of an early 2-0 hole.

UND only trailed by a goal at the first intermission after Berg fired a shot from high at the right circle in off the iron at 18:05. He then tied the game 5:18 into the third period, on a one-timer that he connected on between the blue line and that same faceoff circle.

“He scored two really nice goals that were out from a distance, but he has such a quick, hard release with accuracy that he picked a couple of corners and caught the goaltender off guard a little bit,” Berry said.

“(Berg) has that in his game, and there are some guys who are playmakers but not quite finishers, and I think he’s both. He makes plays, and he can also finish.”

Berg finished a good weekend for him by assisting on UND’s second goal in a 5-0 win Saturday. He had the second assist on a goal by Jackson Blake, who netted Friday’s overtime winner.

Early in his time back in the Red River Valley, Berg has performed exactly as advertised.

“Everything we saw on video and saw playing against him (indicated that Berg is) a guy who competes extremely hard, and it fits into our culture that way,” Berry said. “We have skilled players, but they’re skilled players who are high competitors and compete hard every day in practice, which leads to games, and he does that, as well.

“From the onset here, the first couple of months, he’s loving it here and he’s getting ingrained and embedded into our team, and the feeling is mutual, both ways.”

D-III East Men’s Hockey Game Picks – November 30, 2023

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Jaden York has been scoring big goals for the Thoroughbreds to help keep them unbeaten through the start of the 2023-24 season (Photo by Bill Jones)

It is hard to believe but December begins this weekend and that means there are now limited opportunities for teams to get their mojo going before the impending semester break. Finishing the first half strong is on every coach’s to-do list and that should mean even more great hockey this weekend. Last week I finished my super-sized Thanksgiving week of picks going 14-6-0 (.700). That brings the season total to 48-23-5 (.664) which is still well below my goal of 70% but trending in the right direction. Lots of interesting conference action on the docket this week that can hopefully keep my recent trajectory moving up with this week’s picks for the East:

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Westfield State v. Fitchburg State  

This Owls have seen some recent success and goaltender Kevin Chandler has been a big contributor in goal. The Falcons have found a bit more of their game recently and I suspect this battle shows some prolific special teams results in a win for the home team – FSU, 5-4

Worcester State v. Salem State

The Lancers are coming off a drubbing from Plymouth State and will want to get back to some winning hockey against a Viking squad that can be tough to play against. Third period decides this one with the visitors skating off with a win – Worcester State, 3-2

Friday, December 1, 2023

(14) Salve Regina v. (10) Endicott

The Seahawks will be looking to show the defending champions in the CCC just why they are a serious contender this season. It won’t take much for the Gulls to get motivated against a quality opponent visiting their arena. This game probably needs an overtime session to decide a very close contest with Andrew Kurapov being the difference – Endicott, 4-3

Massachusetts-Boston v. (2) Hobart

The Beacons have had some ups and downs already this season but Hobart will want to make sure that they don’t allow the visitors to hang close for very long. Important NEHC points are on the line and the Statesmen cruise to a win – Hobart, 4-1

Assumption v. St. Michael’s

The two favorites in the NE-10 tangle in what could be a championship preview. The Purple Knights have been off to a very strong start and don’t want to let the Greyhounds build confidence in their rink. Power play is decisive for the home team – St. Michael’s, 5-4

Hamilton v. Trinity

The Continentals are off to a 4-0-0 start and play their first full weekend of conference play starting with the Bantams. Lots of talent on both sides but it is the visitors who score late to steal a big road win – Hamilton, 4-3

Cortland v. (1) Plattsburgh

The Cardinals have proven they can win one-goal games and playoff-style hockey like last weekend’s victory over Norwich in the LayerEight title game. This game will be a one-goal affair as well but with a bit more goal-scoring for the fans – Plattsburgh, 4-3

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Canton v. Albertus Magnus

The Falcons have won three in a row to get on the plus side of .500 and don’t want to go backwards so close to the semester break. It helps to play at home and that is the difference in this one with a late goal for the win – Albertus Magnus, 4-3

Bowdoin v. Colby

Throw out the records in this rivalry and also the home-ice factor as familiarity and bragging rights on campus and amongst the alums feed intensity inside the glass. The Polar Bears are off to a good start and Alex Kozic wins the goaltending battle over Andy Beran in a very entertaining affair – Bowdoin, 3-2

Stevenson v. Nazareth

The Mustangs lost a close game with Adrian but take some very positive momentum back to UCHC play this weekend. Nazareth will be a tough out and an empty-net goal helps the margin in a big road win – Stevenson, 4-2

(13) Skidmore v. Babson

Technically, the Thoroughbreds are still unbeaten despite a shootout loss to Brockport in their Thanksgiving tournament. Babson is coming off a 1-1-1 week against NESCAC and finds it challenging to score against Tate Brandon and company – Skidmore, 1-0

Nichols v. (12) University of New England

The Nor’easters have found their footing after a slow start but should not look past the dangerous Bison who can certainly create a CCC upset. Better depth and balance for the home team creates enough to take the big conference win – UNE, 4-3

Conference wins and points are always important so staying focused and playing your team’s brand of hockey is critical in any matchup. There are no guarantees for just showing up – effort for the full sixty or more is a requirement  – “Drop the Puck!”

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Despite difficult early-season distractions, Bowling Green players, staff focused on moving forward as a team

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Bowling Green goalies Cole Moore (34) and Pete Eigner (31) and Brett Pfoh (13) celebrate the Falcons’ win over Northern Michigan on Nov. 24 (photo: Michael Leopardo/BGSU Athletics).

After all the turmoil that has surrounded the Bowling Green hockey program this season, it was hard to know where to begin when interviewing head coach Ty Eigner earlier this week.

Luckily, it was easy: Eigner opened up right away.

“First and foremost, the situation we had with our team in our program early in the year, it’s something that you don’t want to be associated with,” he said, referring to an alleged hazing incident that resulted in Eigner and multiple players being suspended while both the Bowling Green Police Department and the BGSU administration investigated. “We’re all grateful that the process worked out the way it worked out, and we’ve got all our players back and we’re able to get back and start moving forward.”

The whole story is complicated, but to be somewhat brief, it goes something like this, according to the police report: Former BGSU player Austen Swankler accused some teammates of hazing during an optional, off-campus “rookie day.” The players interviewed by authorities denied that the allegations happened as Swankler described, and in turn accused Swankler of refusing to accept accountability after he was caught stealing from the team, which was causing a rift in the locker room.

On Nov. 14, the BGPD released its investigation report and found that no hazing charges were warranted. In the end, there were no legal consequences for anybody, but Swankler has since transferred to Michigan Tech. The Bowling Green players who were suspended have been reinstated, along with Eigner, who returned to the bench in late October after missing the team’s first four games.

Without going into too many details, Eigner said there are lessons to be learned for everybody.

“Our goal in terms of that is to be better and do a better job in those kinds of situations and learn from it. And we will,” he said. “As far as our team goes, we believe our group has a chance to be a good team when it’s all said and done and hopefully we’ll continue to move forward and improve as the year goes on and be that kind of team when it’s all said and done.”

The Falcons, currently 4-10, understandably started the season poorly. After beating Robert Morris in their season opener, they lost six straight games, including sweeps at the hands of Augustana and WMU. They were doing so without a full complement of players–in one game against WMU, a combination of suspensions and injuries meant they had to dress an injured player

“There was a stretch where we were playing games with literally every single available player,” Eigner said. “And then we had the Western Michigan series. We had six guys that were unavailable, and we were dressing a player who physically couldn’t play due to an upper body injury, but we just dressed in case we had to serve a penalty and he could skate across the ice to the penalty box. That’s not ideal, but the guys handled it great.”

Eigner credits assistant coaches Curtis Carr, Stavros Paskaris and Dylan Schoen with making sure the team didn’t get their heads too far below water during the difficult early season.

“There’s nothing in the coaching manual or any coaching history that you have to deal with,” he said. “But it’s on us, and we own it. And our guys have handled it great. Once we got all our players back, our mindset was there’s nothing we can do about what has happened on the ice prior, and we can’t go backwards. We can’t press reset. We can’t rewind. But we can learn from it.”

Eigner said it’s been helpful for the team to look at it this way: Forget about the first 10 games of the season and focus on the rest.

“So that would mean we have 24 games left in the regular season. We took those 24 games where we just said listen, fellas, we’re going to break these 24 games up into three, eight-game segments and we’re going to take them just like that,” he said.

That seems to have paid off. In BG’s past four games, they are 2-2 against Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan and have taken seven of the available 12 points.

One benefit of having so many players missing is that it has forced some younger players to step in and gain experience, which can only help BG in the long run. Take, for instance, freshmen Brody Waters, Gustav Stjernberg and Cole Moore. All three have been getting a ton of minutes.

Waters, a forward, has 11 points and scored three goals in the team’s past four games. Stjernberg, a defenseman, has seen major power play minutes and leads all BG blueliners with four goals and three assists. Moore has seen a lot of time in net after starter Christian Stoeever has been battling injury, he has a 3.14 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.

“Because of the situation we were in earlier a lot of guys, whether they were freshmen or maybe older guys who have been around a little bit that hadn’t played a bunch, have been put in a situation where they where they played, and that’s pretty good for them,” Eigner said. “Hopefully down the road all this experience that some of these guys are gaining pays off. You look at Cole Moore in the net. Cole’s played well for us as a freshman and we weren’t exactly sure how many games you would play, because we had Christian Stover coming back.

“So that’s just an example of an opportunity presenting itself, and you take advantage of the opportunity, and you do the best you can with it.

“We’ve had a lot of guys who have done that and so ideally, everybody gains that experience and gets some confidence and gets more comfortable. And now when we get our 27 healthy bodies, there’s competition for playing time and then the practices get better and and you see then that translates into a better on ice product.”

The Falcons still have some significant injuries and won’t be 100% healthy until likely after Christmas. Returning all-rookie defenseman Dalton Norris is dealing with a knee injury and should be back in December, while Stoever’s wrist injury might also keep him sidelined for another few weeks still.

The Falcons have three more CCHA series to close out the first half of the season. This weekend, they travel to Michigan Tech, then return home to Ohio to host Ferris State before ending 2023 at Bemidji State.

“This has been one of the positive things about this group. They genuinely enjoy coming to the rink and spending time around each other, which as a coach really energizes you and makes you want to come to the rink and do your job to the best of your ability,” Eigner said. “And so I think we’ve got two road series, at Tech and then at Bemidji in a couple of weeks, and then we’re home next weekend. So our guys are focused, just like in school, and we’re getting toward the end of the semester.

“The focus is to finish this first semester in the classroom and on the ice. We’re going to spring through the finish line, and we don’t want to, we don’t want to limp through it.”

D-III Women’s West Week 5: Looking at the weekend ahead!

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UW-River Falls vs Northland 11/11/23. (Photo via Carly Lynch)

This past weekend out west it was very quiet in the D-III Women’s hockey space. Only a few games due to the Thanksgiving break, so in that case, we’ll look ahead to what’s to come now that the break has concluded and we have a few more weekends before the semester break occurs. So, here’s your west outlook for this upcoming week/weekend!

Games to keep an eye on

#8 Adrian at #3 UW-River Falls – 11/30/23 (today) – 7pm CST

 These two teams meet for the first time (records via school websites) since 12/1/2019. UW-River Falls leads the all-time series with a record of 10-5-1, so it’s not too common that these teams face each other, but it’s good to see them back playing as it’s a fun matchup on paper and in terms of them both being top-ranked teams.

River Falls enters with an undefeated record of 8-0-0, whilst Adrian holds a record of 7-1-0, their only loss coming at the hands of #9 Utica in the Utica University Kickoff Tournament in overtime 2-1.

UWRF is loaded on offense, they’ve got four skaters with 14+ points through eight games played. Arguably the best in D3, Maddie McCollins (8G & 11A), Megan Goodreau (7G & 11A), MaKenna Aure (6G & 9A), & Alex Hantge (7G & 7A), not to mention their senior goaltender Jordan O’Connor (.956 save %) who’s been holding it down in net.

For Adrian, they’ve had a more balanced approach in points, less points as a team relative to UWRF. Their leaders have been Une Bjelland (5G & 5A), Maya Roy (2G & 7A), & Jocelin Hudanish (4G & 3A), their goaltending has been evenly split, so it’ll be interesting to see who gets the start in this one as River Falls is the best team they’ve faced thus far and the best team they face all season until the potential NCAA tournament. It’ll be between the sophomore Annie Gilbert & the grad. senior Michaela O’Brien, a transfer from Endicott College.

Adrian defeats Marian 5-1 on 11/4/23. (Photo via Mike Dickie – Adrian Athletics)

Both top defenses, UWRF being the top offense in women’s D3, it’ll be interesting to see how they fare. One stat I believe should be looked out for is penalty minutes. Adrian hasn’t exactly played clean games; they’re averaging just over 11 minutes per game (39-for-89). Meanwhile, UWRF only averages 6 minutes per game (24-48). To go along with Adrian’s heavy penalty minutes, River Falls enters with the 8th ranked powerplay, rolling at 32%, so Adrian’s best shot in this one is to stay out of the penalty box or UWRF may run away with this one.

This one’s worth a watch, tune in tonight at 7pm CST!

MIAC

#1 Gustavus vs Saint Mary’s – 12/1/23 / 12/2/23 – 7pm CST & 2pm CST

These games in my opinion are the most intriguing of the weekend. This series I could easily see being split between these two, Saint Mary’s is a team many are sleeping on and not realizing their potential.

Gustavus defeats Bethel 4-0 on 11/17/23. (Photo via Jordan Modjeski – Gustavus Athletics)

Gustavus enters at 5-0-0 with their best win being vs Augsburg, they’ve only allowed one goal this season, which came vs Augsburg. Saint Mary’s enters at 7-2-0, their best wins have been #7 UW-Eau Claire, two wins vs Augsburg, & one of their losses was slim vs #4 UW-River Falls.

Gustavus currently has the 2nd-ranked offense (4.6 GPG), 2nd ranked defense (0.20 GAPG) & 4th ranked powerplay (33%). Keep in mind they haven’t played the strongest schedule and their sample size isn’t as big as most, but still, impressive numbers.

Saint Mary’s currently has the 13th ranked offense (3.67 GPG), 23rd ranked defense (1,44 GAPG), & 43rd ranked powerplay (12.5%). SMU will need to capitalize on the powerplay if they want a good shot in this game, Gustavus has star goaltender Katie McCoy between the pipes so they’ll need to strike at every opportunity they get if they want to come out on top.

Saint Mary’s vs Augsburg 11/17/23 (Photo by Chris Ebert – SMU Athletics)

Even if Saint Mary’s doesn’t come out on top in either game, if they keep it close, it’ll show how close they are to taking that next step as a program. This shows how far they’ve come in just a year, as last year we’d be thinking Gustavus would win by at least 5+, but now, I think it comes down to the last period.

Other MIAC Games (All dates/times via USCHO):

Friday:

St. Olaf @ Augsburg – 7pm CST

St. Scholastica @ St. Catherine – 7pm CST

Hamline @ Concordia (Minn.) – 7pm CST

Saint Benedict @ Bethel – 7pm CST

Saturday:

Augsburg @ St. Olaf – 3pm CST

Hamline @ Concordia (Minn.) – 2pm CST

Bethel @ Saint Benedict – 5pm CST

St. Catherine @ St. Scholastica – 6pm CST

NCHA

Besides the huge game between Adrian & UW-River Falls, there’s a few games occurring:

Friday:

#8 Adrian @ Concordia (Wis.) – 7pm CST

Trine @ Marian 7pm CST

Dubuque @ Aurora 7pm CST

Lake Forest @ Lawrence – 8pm CST

University of Dubuque vs Marian on 11/11/23 (Photo by University of Dubuque Athletics)

Saturday:

#8 Adrian @ Concordia (Wis.) – 3pm CST

Trine @ Marian – 4pm CST

Dubuque @ Aurora – 3pm CST

Lawrence @ Lake Forest – 5pm CST

It’ll be intriguing to see how the Univ. of Dubuque fares vs Aurora. Aurora coming off two losses to Adrian and a late comeback win vs Concordia (Wis.), will be looking to get back on track, while Dubuque is looking to get the biggest wins in the early program history.

WIAC

UW-Stevens Point Women’s Hockey (Photo by Vincent Villareal)

The lone WIAC conference game of the weekend is UW-Stevens Point @ Northland (12/2/23 – 2pm CST). The Pointers are coming off their biggest program win as of late; it was on the road vs #15 St. Norbert. Northland, a program with a 1st year head coach, is trying to get a win or two under their belts and get some momentum which is true for both teams.

The rest of the WIAC returns to action midweek/next weekend, stay tuned.

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Defending national champion Quinnipiac ‘doing well’ so far in ’23-24, but Bobcats still ‘a work in progress’

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Collin Graf has posted 16 points in nine games this season for Quinnipiac (photo: Rob Rasmussen/P8Photos.com).

It was almost unfair how the start of the college hockey season saddled this year’s Quinnipiac team with the expectations and overarching shadow cast from last season.

In a way, it was ironic because it built requisite pomp around a situation that this iteration never experienced.

For the first time in program history, the Bobcats raised a national championship banner to the M&T Bank Arena rafters right before a team with a dozen new players took the ice for the first time this season. On the other side of the rink stood Boston College, the preseason No. 5 team in the nation that had no problem breaking cleanly from missing the national tournament last season, and with a night built around a memory, Quinnipiac lost in overtime after a first-year player tied the game in the third period.

For many in college hockey, the loss kicked off a so-called national championship hangover, but an overtime game against AIC and losses against New Hampshire and Maine were all part of a process that never truly tested head coach Rand Pecknold’s patience. He and his coaching staff started the season understanding how this team looked different from last year, and after smoking past Cornell and Colgate, not even a third-period comeback by Boston University looks to derail the team that hasn’t lost a regular season ECAC game since consecutive losses last January.

“We’re doing well,” Pecknold said of the team’s overall turnaround. “We basically lost half of our team [from last year], but I love the transfers that we brought in, and our freshman class is really good, so we’re excited about that. But it’s still a work in progress, and we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of an all-in buy-in of our culture, that this is how we play, and this is what we need to do to win.”

Winning games has never been the problem at Quinnipiac, but this year’s team stumbled out of the gate after the BC loss. It twice trailed AIC before rallying for an overtime winner on the road, and the 5-4 loss to UNH included a seven-goal first period that produced a one-goal lead for the Bobcats before the Wildcats tied and won the game with an overtime goal. The next weekend against Maine, a second period goal by Christophe Fillion sent the first game to overtime before Brandon Chabrier’s three-on-three goal with just over one minute remaining in the extra session.

Getting nipped in those games felt decidedly un-Quinnipiac-like for a team that infamously won its national title in the first 15 seconds of overtime against Minnesota, but the results forged the roster together prior to the three-straight weekends of ECAC play in November. A 2-2 tie against Dartmouth ended with the Big Green earning a second point in the shootout, but the Harvard game the next night found the mojo in a 6-0 victory that enabled the team to rear its head over the following sweeps of the Brown-Yale and Cornell-Colgate weekends.

“We’re really resilient,” Pecknold said. “I liked our confidence in both games [over the Cornell-Colgate weekend], especially in that Cornell game. We let them back in, but when it was 5-4, there was just no panic at all, and I liked that a lot. But we need to continue to work and get better at defending and become a better defensive team, and probably possess the puck better. I think that’s the thing we’ve done really well over the last few years [because] when you have the puck, you don’t have to defend, and we just haven’t had the puck enough.”

Quinnipiac’s success on the back end makes it easy to forget how good the Bobcats played over the years, but they still maintain the seventh-best scoring defense in the nation despite being winless in the four games where they haven’t scored three goals. The penalty kill is third-best in the nation at .920 – one of four teams killing at a 90 percent rate or higher and one of three that’s higher than both .905, .910, and .915 – and goaltender Vinny Duplessis is 14th in the nation with a 2.15 goals-against average.

That 15-goal outburst against Cornell and Colgate also came after 10 goals scored against Brown and Yale and the aforementioned six-spot against the Crimson. Combined with the performances from earlier in the year, Quinnipiac left even the 3-2 loss last week to fifth-ranked Boston University averaging just under 4.5 goals per game, a number that’s second only to Denver’s 5.5 goals per game, with an absurd 9-1 record when scoring three or more goals against opponents.

It’s incredibly unfair to measure any current team against an older team’s great numbers, but this year’s Quinnipiac roster is starting to grow into the hard truth of its changeover. Mason Marcellus, the goal scorer on opening night, had a three-game, four-goal streak snapped against BU but registered an assist to keep a revelating first season going with 14 points, and he’s tied for the team lead in goals with Jacob Quillan, a third-year player who was fourth on last year’s teams with 38 points.

Both Collin Graf, a returning First Team All-American, and Travis Treloar, a transfer from Ohio State, missed time with an injury – Treloar is still out of the lineup – but both registered five goals for the explosive offense. Even in their absence, six different players have at least that number, including the aforementioned team leaders.

“The interesting thing for me is that you’re going to have issues with new players [playing together] because you have to acclimate them [to each other],” Pecknold said. “It’s a wake-up call for freshmen when they get to college hockey because the way we play isn’t junior hockey, and the transfers are coming from all different things that they’ve done at their last place. So you have to create new habits.

“The interesting thing to me is our returners,” he said, “because I don’t know if it’s a hangover from a national championship or what, but our returners have struggled with their buy-in a little bit. They’re great kids and have great work ethic, and I think we’ll get there. We’re getting closer. That was a huge struggle in the month of October, and I get it because when you make a Frozen Four, you think it’s going to be easy, but it’s not.”

Playing as the “defending national champion” is wonderful pressure for any program, and facing opponents’ best on a nightly basis is something this year’s Quinnipiac team is embracing. Pecknold, his coaches, the players – they all know their uniform and the tradition holds something every team is playing to win, and despite all of the changes, the Bobcats are right back where they’d expect: No. 2 in the Pairwise rankings, undefeated in ECAC play, No. 5 in the latest national poll.

“Every game is a grind,” Pecknold said. “This has been three, four, five years, maybe more or longer running, but I can’t tell you how many times goalies have their best game against us. They play really well because they’re all fired up, so I think we have to get better with that and embrace the grind. It will come, and we’re on the path, and even this BU loss was probably, in the long run, something that will get better.”

North Dakota’s Berry talks Fighting Hawks, transfers, NCHC: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast Season 6 Episode 7

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North Dakota head coach Brad Berry joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk about this year’s Fighting Hawks, building a culture with a lot of rookies and transfers, the current state of the game, the NCHC, and more.

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

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

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This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With calendar soon flipping to December, conference play proving that ‘little things make a difference’

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Logan Terness made 15 saves in Ohio State’s 4-3 win over Princeton last Saturday (photo: Ohio State Athletics).

What a good weekend it was for Big Ten hockey – and what an interesting season this is already proving to be.

B1G teams went 6-2-1 in nonconference play last week, bringing the league’s overall nonconference record to 36-14-4 on the season for the best win percentage (.704) among all conferences in nonleague play.

Especially welcome were the sweeps by Ohio State and Penn State, and the number of goals each team pocketed. In two games against Princeton, the Buckeyes scored 10 goals to the Tigers’ six and Ohio State halted a four-game losing streak.

“It was a good weekend getting back to our winning ways,” said OSU coach Steve Rohlik. “It’s always hard to win at this level.”

Cam Thiesing and Scooter Brickey each had five points in the series, and Brickey is very quietly having his best collegiate season. A fifth-year player in his second season with the Buckeyes, Brickey’s five goals in 11 games are two more than he scored in 40 with Ohio State last season and two more than he had in 59 games in his three seasons at Western Michigan prior to that.

For the Nittany Lions, the wins were even more lopsided. Penn State beat Lindenwood 9-3 and 7-1, extending the Nittany Lions’ win streak to three games.

The sixteen total goals are two fewer for a single series than PSU’s all-time high of 18. Rookie Aidan Fink had a goal and two assists in each of the games against Lindenwood. Fink leads all Nittany Lions in scoring (9-12—21) and is riding a five-game goal streak into Penn State’s series against Minnesota this weekend.

Rounding out the nonconference play was Wisconsin’s split with visiting Alaska Anchorage and Michigan’s win and tie on the road against St. Cloud, plus Notre Dame’s single loss at home to Boston College.

Most of this is positive. Some big wins, the best nonconference record in D-I hockey, some players having nice seasons.

Little of this does anything to help the Big Ten’s collective NCAA playoff chances a little over four months from now.

Only two B1G teams are among the top 10 teams in the PairWise Rankings. Michigan State is No. 9, Wisconsin is No. 10, Minnesota is No. 12. Then Penn State (15), Michigan (16) and Notre Dame (18) are bubble teams with the Irish out at the moment.

Yes, it’s the end of November. Yes, this matters.

Between now and the midseason holiday break, there is nothing but conference play for Big Ten teams. Nonconference games in the second half feature no team currently ranked higher in the PWR than Ohio State, the lowest-ranked B1G team at No. 24.

Given all of that, there is little room for PWR movement for Big Ten teams between now and March. That likely means low seeds for B1G teams in the NCAA tournament and could result in as few as just two B1G teams playing their way into the NCAA tourney, depending on how teams near them in the PWR fare throughout the season.

Thank goodness, then, that there’s Big Ten hockey to be enjoyed for its own sake.

The single Big Ten series between Michigan State and Minnesota Thanksgiving weekend revealed a bit about each team and proved highly entertaining. The Spartans tied the Golden Gophers 3-3 Friday and gained the extra point in the shootout. Minnesota took the Sunday game in overtime 6-5.

The five points that the Gophers earned moved them from sixth to fourth place in the conference standings, although Minnesota remains nine points behind the first-place Spartans.

In the OT win, the Gophers were two ahead of the Spartans with 10 minutes remaining in the third. Nash Nienhuis – another B1G player having a career season with six goals in 16 games, one shy of his total goals scored in 96 previous games in three season – pulled the Spartans to within one at 15:14 in the third and Joey Larson’s eighth goal of the season tied the game for Michigan State in the final minute of regulation.

It was freshman Jimmy Clark’s fourth overall goal and his first game-winner at 3:58 that lifted the Gophers past the Spartans. It was a game in which the Gophers themselves at one point had to come from behind and in which they were uncharacteristically outshot by their opponent. Shots were 46-41 in Michigan State’s favor at the end.

“That’s kind of a microcosm of our season,” said Gophers coach Bob Motzko after the win. “It was the good, the bad and the ugly at times.”

It was also a game in which the Spartans took seven penalties and allowed three power-play goals. “Five-on-five, I really liked us,” said Adam Nightingale. “Obviously, special teams didn’t go our way tonight and we need to work on it.”

The loss snapped Michigan State’s seven-game (5-0-2) unbeaten streak, with every point in that stretch earned against B1G opponents. The Spartans don’t return to play until Dec. 8, which means that everyone in the league will be looking to gain ground on Michigan State this weekend.

Wisconsin and Notre Dame are tied for second with 12 points each and each has two games in hand on Michigan State. Three points separate unranked Notre Dame from No. 13 Michigan as the Irish travel to Yost to take on the Wolverines. No. 6 Wisconsin hosts unranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes have no wins yet in six B1G contests.

“The difference between winning and losing as you see in college hockey is minute,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings. “Little things make a difference.”

Hastings called said the Buckeyes have “an aggressive-style mentality” and that Rohlik “does a really good job of getting them to try and force you into mistakes.”

After starting hot and spending a week at No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, the Badgers floundered a bit and ended a three-game losing streak with their 5-0 over Anchorage Saturday.

“For us, we’re still focusing a little bit on what we’re trying to get done,” said Hastings. “One, for us to be a little bit more aggressive at possessing some pucks and holding on to them and trying to spend a little bit more end-zone time with the puck.”

Hastings knows that the last-place Buckeyes will be “hungry” in the series.

“From top to bottom, there isn’t a soft weekend when you play in league play,” said Hastings.

No. 7 Minnesota travels to No. 19 Penn State to fill in the Big Ten schedule this weekend. In fourth place, the Golden Gophers are two points ahead of the Nittany Lions.

Golden Wolves hunting continued success in UCHC play

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Graduate student and captain Logan vande Meerakker leads Alvernia on and off the ice as the Golden Wolves pursue the top of the UCHC standings (Photo by Haleigh Lackner)

While no one should be surprised that Utica again sits atop the current UCHC standings after eight games, the second-place team, just one point in arrears is a new challenger in Alvernia University. The Golden Wolves in just their second season are off to a great start going 5-1-0 in UCHC play and 6-1-1 overall heading into a weekend off over the Thanksgiving holiday. Alvernia already has captured a pair of weekend sweeps over conference foes Neumann and Nazareth while gaining a split of two-games with perennial contender, Stevenson. While the calendar hasn’t quite turned to December yet, there is optimism with the coaching staff for continuing their strong play when they return to the ice in a two- game series against Manhattanville next weekend.

“We are really looking at this as our “Year 1,” said head coach Andrew Burke. “Last year was “Year Zero” with 35 people coming together for the first time and learning how we do things as a program. Everything from the players and systems, coaches and road trips, working with the strength and conditioning coach; it all was a year of learning and adjustment for everyone. This year, the commitment in the off-season by our leaders like Logan (vande Meerakker) and Isaac (Chapman) have built the culture and accountability from within the room. Logan had a great summer and his physical fitness set the tone for every player as we worked through pre-season lifts and runs and eventually on to the ice. It isn’t a surprise he is leading us statistically early in the season but to se the other guys step up and accept the challenge to be better and compete – that has been great for the culture. They collectively have earned what they have done on the ice so far because they put in the work.”

In just the first eight games this season, vande Meerakker has five goals, eight assists and is a plus 13 while Chapman, a transfer from Norwich, has six goals and four assists and sits at a plus 12. Other players including defensemen Matthew Davies (5-4-9 +6) and Jordan Gagnon (0-4-4 +8) have also been key adopters and leaders in coach Burke’s culture at Alvernia and coming out of the Thanksgiving break, the Golden Wolves have an opportunity to reach some lofty win-loss goals before the end of the semester.

“While the team would say we are focused on practice today,” noted Burke. “Our Friday night against Manhattanville is the only thing we are focused on in preparation this week. We didn’t play at all this week and had some optional skates over the Thanksgiving break so the guys should be rested and ready to go. That said, Manhattanville played on Tuesday last week and had the weekend off so we should be in the same condition going into the weekend and I know our guys are really focused on continuing to improve and playing a complete game against a quality opponent. When you look at our 6-1-1 record, we know we are going to get any opponent’s A-game. That will definitely be the case this weekend against M-ville.”

Another area of strength for the Golden Wolves has been their trio of goaltenders. Senior Ian Graiff, a transfer from Western New England has set the course for a pair of talented freshmen in Jackson Fellner and Jacob Stern. All three are immensely supportive of each other and push each other to be successful while posting some robust numbers for Alvernia early this season. Graiff was solid in his only game played so far this season while Fellner (3-0-0 1.67 GAA; .956 SP) and Stern (3-1-0 2.75 GAA; .911 SP) have developed quickly as key contributors to Alvernia’s early success.

“We have a great situation with out goaltending trio this year,” stated Burke. “We didn’t have this last year and how they support each other even more when they aren’t playing in the game is great to see and sends a great message to the team on the work ethic and discipline they all share. We know that in any game or any five-minute increment there will be gaps or mistakes and those saves that we have been getting from all three netminders so far are a big part of why we are 6-1-1 so far. We can be a better team and will continue to focus on being better playing a 200-foot game so that our goaltenders don’t have to make several of those game-saving stops.”

The final two weekends find Alvernia playing host to Manhattanville and a resurgent Wilkes team before the semester break. A 10-win first half is possible for the Golden Wolves but their coach doesn’t want them to get to far in front of themselves.

“A 10-1-1 start is pretty rarified air for any D-III team at the break,” stated Burke. “We have four challenging games right in front of us and luckily, they are all on home ice. We can only worry about Friday and Manhattanville as we start this week back on the ice. We will stay focused on practice today and be ready for Friday when it gets here.”

Women’s Division I College Hockey: The PodKaz talks about a dominating week for the WCHA and more on officiating

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Episode 4: A dominating week for the WCHA and more on officiating

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski look back on results from Thanksgiving weekend, where Ohio State, Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth got impressive performances. Plus, hear part two of Nicole’s conversation with Krissy Langley, the NCAA national coordinator of women’s ice hockey officiating. And the episode finishes with a look ahead to the first games of December.

Make sure you like and subscribe to The PodKaz on your favorite streaming network to get access to new episodes as soon as they post.

Find The PodKaz on:

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: As ‘structure has gotten better,’ Sacred Heart winners of seven of last nine after 0-3-0 start to campaign

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Hunter Sansbury has been a stalwart on the back end this season for Sacred Heart (photo: Josh Gee).

“I’m fine. My wife tells me that I’m hard-headed,” reads a text from Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo.

The Pioneers’ coach caught a puck to the forehead last Friday in a 4-2 win at Robert Morris. I was watching the game and later texted him to see how he was doing.

Marottolo was in good spirits as he relayed the incident when I spoke to him on Tuesday.

“Guys were battling for the puck near our bench,” he said. “I was standing where the players sit, and the puck came flying out. It was fast, and I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

Six stitches by the Robert Morris trainer after the game did the trick, and SHU came back with a 3-1 victory on Saturday to sweep the weekend and get six big points in the Atlantic Hockey standings.

After an 0-3-0 start, Marottolo’s team is 7-2-0 over the next nine games, with both losses by a single goal.

“The structure has gotten better,” said Marottolo. “We lost the first three, then we’re looking at getting swept by RIT (after a 4-2 loss on Oct. 20). That was a hard place to be. But we won (5-2) the second night, and that was a big turning point for us.”

Since then, the Pioneers have captured 19 of a maximum 21 league points and are alone in first place in Atlantic Hockey, leading second-place Rochester Institute of Technology by five points.

Marottolo’s team, which has five freshmen and eight transfers, has come together quickly.

“We’ve had a lot of new faces, transfers and freshmen,” he said. “It can take some time to teach the system and how we want to play.”

While the octet of transfers brings the experience of over 450 career games to SHU, sometimes it takes a while for new players to adjust. Marottolo says this group learns fast.

“We’re at the point now where there’s some familiarity and understanding of how we want to play, zone-to-zone,” he said. “That’s allowed us to play faster, more in blocks of five.”

Marottolo gives returning fifth-year players Braeden Tuck and Kevin Lombardi credit for pulling the team together quickly.

“We have some great leadership,” he said. “They’re a big part of what we’re trying to build. We’re very happy that (Tuck and Lombardi) decided to come back.

“Guys have found their roles. Each line has an identity in how they want to play, and that’s helped.”

Six of the Pioneers’ top eight scorers are seniors or grad students, led by Rensselaer transfer T.J. Walsh (seven goals, eight assists).

Rookie forward Jake Bongo has a pair of goals so far, including the game-winner on Saturday, a breakaway tally midway through the third period.

“We’re getting support up and down the lineup with guys scoring timely goals,” said Marottolo.

The Pioneers are also getting support in net from sophomore Chase Clark, who has played every minute so far, recording a 7-5 record with a 2.35 GAA and a .939 save percentage.

Clark transferred in from national champions Quinnipiac, where he saw limited action behind All-American Yaniv Perets.

“He’s been great for us,” said Marottolo. “It’s an adjustment to play every night, both Friday and Saturday. But he’s grown into that role.”

The Pioneers travel to American International this weekend. The Yellow Jackets are currently in sixth place but have the second-best winning percentage in the conference, behind Sacred Heart.

“They’ve been the standard in this league for a while,” said Marottolo. “Their goaltending has been very good. They manage the puck well.

“It will be a great test. It’s our last (conference) games before the break so we’ll be sitting on this for a while.”

This Week in Hockey East: Tough schedule, plentiful time on road has only benefited Providence in first half of ’23-24 season

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Providence’s Graham Gamache scored his first-career goal Nov. 18 against UMass (photo: Providence Athletics).

To anyone who might look at Providence’s schedule and see three straight losses as a cause for concern, coach Nate Leaman would like to point out an important fact.

“We only trailed six minutes of those three games,” Leaman said after the Friars earned a split of a weekend series at Arizona State with a thrilling 2-1 win on Sunday at Mullett Arena. “We’ve been playing some good hockey, (final scores) just haven’t been going our way.”

With a 9-4-2 record that includes four wins vs. teams currently ranked in the USCHO.com men’s Division I poll — at Michigan (B1G, 4-2 in the season opener Oct. 7), home vs. Denver (NCHC, 4-3 on Oct. 20), home vs. New Hampshire (2-0 on Nov. 4) and the aforementioned win vs. the Sun Devils — no one can besmirch the Friars’ performance so far this season. As Leaman noted, the Friars led or were tied for the vast majority of three straight losses (a weekend home-and-home sweep vs. Massachusetts and Friday night’s game at Arizona State), all three decided by a single goal.

Scoring has been a community effort for the Friars this season, with four players tied for the team lead in goals with five apiece. Junior forward Riley Duran notched his fifth of the season to put Providence on top 2-1 late in the second period at Arizona State on Sunday, a lead the Friars held on to thanks in large part to a 19-save effort from goalie Philip Svedebäck.

Also with five goals this season for Providence are sophomore forward Jaroslav Chmelar, senior forward Chase Yoder and freshman forward Hudson Malinoski, with Chmelar standing out as the team’s top overall scorer with nine assists (14 total points). Svedebäck has started every game in the Friars’ net, sporting a 1.94 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

“We’re a depth team,” Leaman said. “That’s just what we are. I don’t mean that to slight our guys. We got a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. But I think we’re deep like that, and we’re big and we’re heavy like that. When we get to our game, we can be a real heavy team.”

Playing one of the toughest schedules in the country has only helped Providence. The Friars peaked at No. 5 in the USCHO poll before the three-game losing streak, and have since settled in at No. 9.

“We got better because we made this trip (to Arizona State),” Leaman said. “We got better because we went to Michigan. We’re not playing fluff teams, and I like that about us. We’re going out and we’re testing ourselves. And I think we got a lot better this weekend.”

Only a bye this weekend will give Providence a respite from its daunting schedule — the Friars face a major test when they travel to current No. 1 Boston College on Dec. 9. The BC clash is one of only two games Providence will play in December, a visit to cross-town rival Brown (ECAC Hockey) on Dec. 30 will close out 2023 for the Friars.

The Friars won’t return to their home rink of Schneider Arena until Jan. 13, the second game of a home-and-home weekend series vs. BC.

Leaman said the time away from Schneider can only be beneficial for his players.

“I think it’s going to bring our team together,” Leaman said after the Friars’ 3-2 home loss to UMass on Nov. 16. “I like the team. They’ve shown good toughness.”

Atlantic Hockey issues one-game suspension to RIT’s Catalano for major head contact penalty Nov. 25 vs. New Hampshire

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CATALANO

Atlantic Hockey announced Tuesday a one-game suspension for RIT forward Christian Catalano, effective for the Tigers’ next NCAA Division I game.

The suspension is a result of Catalano’s major penalty and game misconduct for direct contact to the head, which occurred at the 4:20 mark of the first period in RIT’s home game on Nov. 25 against New Hampshire.

Upon review, the infraction was deemed to warrant a suspension.

RIT’s next scheduled Division I game is Dec. 1 at home against Robert Morris. Catalano is eligible to return for the Tigers’ home game on Dec. 2 against Robert Morris.

D-III Women’s East Week 5 Recap: Panther/Cardinal Classic, Codfish Bowl, East/West crossover in Adrian!

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#4 Plattsburgh defeats #5 Middlebury 3-1 to win the Panther/Cardinal Classic, hosted this year by Middlebury. (Photo via Will Costello)

We had a great weekend of Women’s D-III hockey out East, including arguably the best tournament each year, the Panther/Cardinal Classic! To go along with that, one team headed out West for a non-conference matchup, and we also had the annual Codfish Bowl! Lots to cover from this past weekend on the eastern front and we’re almost to the semester break, hard to believe, but we’re almost there, time flies!

Panther/Cardinal Classic *Hosted by Middlebury* 

It’s always a fun tournament every year it’s played, whether it’s in Plattsburgh, NY or Middlebury, VT, we’re always in for a fun time. This year featured #4 Plattsburgh, #5 Middlebury, #9 UW-Eau Claire, & #15 Endicott. The opening round matchups were Middlebury vs Endicott & Plattsburgh vs UW-Eau Claire.

#5 Middlebury vs #15 Endicott 11/25/23 3pm EST

As most games with a NESCAC team go, we had a low scoring, defensive affair. Middlebury took this 1-0 to advance, with the lone goal coming late in the 1st period from Britt Nawrocki at the 16:02 mark. This would hold up as the game-winner. Sending Middlebury to the title game.

Overall, there wasn’t much to say about this game, penalties were one per team, the Panthers led in shots 23-16, Sophia Will got the shutout victory for Middlebury.

#4 Plattsburgh vs #9 UW-Eau Claire 11/25/23 6pm EST

The score of this game doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story here, it’s a lopsided win, Plattsburgh running over Eau Claire 6-1, but the Blugolds surprisingly outshot the Cardinals 24-20. Penalties were four minors for UWEC & three minors for Plattsburgh, no powerplay goals.

Things started off quite quickly for Plattsburgh, scoring a pair of goals in the first two minutes, 44 seconds apart, by the same player funny enough. Zsofia Pazmandi buried two quick ones at 1:14 & 1:58 to put her Cardinals up an early 2-0 lead. Lilli Bills added the third Cardinal goal in the 2nd period at 3:27 to put them up 3-0. The Blugolds lone goal came at 7:31 of the 2nd period by Maddie Hulter at 7:31. Aizah Thompson would score a pair for Plattsburgh, one in the 2nd period (9:31) and the other in the 3rd (18:06), Riley Calhoun tossed a cherry on the win with a goal at 19:14.2 to give Plattsburgh a dominant 6-1 victory.

UW-Eau Claire vs Endicott 11/26/23 2pm EST *Consolation Game*

Gulls’ vs Blugolds, don’t see that too often, sounds cool though. In this one, Eau Claire wouldn’t fly back west winless, they defeated Endicott 3-2 to finish the weekend (1-1). This was a close game, the Blugolds winning the shot battle 24-16 and this was a clean game on the stat sheet, with zero penalties being committed by either team.

UWEC got on the board first, midway through the opening period, Sophie Rausch, the point leader in D-III Women’s hockey (14G & 6A = 20 pts) through her ten games played, scored at 10:29, which would be answered by the Gulls’ Mackenzie Graham at 17:33. Another pair of goals were scored in the middle frame, Sydney Johnson a quick 55 seconds into the period (00:55) for Eau Claire, and then Payton Hansen tied it back up at 7:30 for the Gulls.

The winner was scored by Quinn Hartmetz at the 11:05 mark, just over halfway through the final period. Eau Claire’s Josie Mathison, who didn’t play in game one vs Plattsburgh, was credited with the 14-save victory.

Plattsburgh vs Middlebury 11/26/23 6pm EST *Championship Game*

Two familiar faces meet again, UW-River Falls spoiled the reunion last season, beating both teams in their own tournament, but the Panthers & Cardinals returned to the championship game.

Middlebury scores vs Plattsburgh in the Panther/Cardinal Classic championship game. (Photo via Steve James)

It must be a while since Plattsburgh was outshot two games in a row, but Middlebury dominated on the stat sheet, winning the shot total 38-17. Unlike the consolation game, this game was loaded with penalties, Plattsburgh committing 6 for 12 minutes & Middlebury 3 for 6.

Cardinals’ goaltender Lilla Nease was the story in this one, stopping 37 of 38 shots to get the victory over the #5 Panthers.

This game had zero goals through two periods… then it all started. Finally, after 47 minutes, Plattsburgh’s Julia Masotta scored at 12:44 to put her team up 1-0, while her teammate Emily Kasprzak doubled the lead at the 15:38 mark. Kate Flynn scored the lone Panther goal late at 18:02, to which Plattsburgh’s Zsofia Pazmandi continued her great weekend, scoring in the last second of the game shorthanded to give the Cardinals the 3-1 championship victory.

Codfish Bowl (16th Annual for Women’s Hockey)

This year’s Codfish Bowl featured the normal UMass-Boston, along with #2 Amherst, Suffolk, & Bowdoin. Opening round games were Amherst vs UMass-Boston & Suffolk vs Bowdoin.

#2 Amherst defeats UMass-Boston 1-0 in the opening round of the Codfish Bowl *Hosted by UMass-Boston*. (Photo via UMass-Boston Athletics)

The longest-running tournament on the men’s side, this year in their 58th year, now in its 16th on the women’s side, continues to be a fun tradition, whilst also carrying a great name.

The opening round games resulted with #2 Amherst defeated the host UMass-Boston a slim 1-0, Natalie Stott picking up yet another shutout victory, as per usual. While Bowdoin defeated Suffolk 2-1 to help the pair of NESCAC’s go 2-0 vs the NEHC in these games. Despite the loss, Suffolk’s Lily O’Neil made 30 saves in the loss.

#2 Amherst vs Bowdoin 11/26/23 4pm EST *Championship Game*

We had a battle between the ice ages, the Mammoths, now extinct, but still playing hockey, against the currently endangered Polar Bears.

Amherst came in undefeated, seeing across the ice a familiar NESCAC foe in Bowdoin. This was obviously a non-conference game between the two conference members being it’s a neutral tournament.

Shots in this one was 30-20 in favor of the Mammoths, while penalties were one-sided, Bowdoin committing 5 for 10 minutes, Amherst committing none.

The scoring began at the 6:56 mark of the 1st, Marie-Eve Marleau scored her first of two goals, while later in the period (16:38), her teammate Mary Thompson scored on the powerplay, putting Amherst up 2-0 after one.

Alyssa Xu added another to her season total, scoring very late in the 2nd at 19:28.4, giving Amherst the 3-0 lead headed into the 3rd period. It was then Marie-Eve Marleau once again, scoring her second of the game, this one coming on the powerplay, giving Amherst the 4-0 shutout victory over Bowdoin.

Natalie Stott picked up another shutout victory, making 20 saves in the effort.

East/West crossover action in Adrian, MI

Oswego State continued their opening stretch of away games by making the eight-hour drive to Adrian, MI for Thanksgiving weekend. The Lakers played well overall, falling to the #8 Bulldogs 2-1 & 1-0.

#8 Adrian sweeps Oswego State on the weekend, defeating them 2-1 & 1-0. (Photo by Mike Dickie – Adrian College Athletics)

In game one, most of the scoring came early on, Adrian’s Paige Pomerleau scoring 1:47 into the 1st, while Jocelin Hundanish added a shorthanded goal at 6:58 to give Adrian a quick 2-0 lead over Oswego.

Oswego got their lone goal at the midway point of the middle period, Ashlyn McGrath at 9:58 of the 2nd.

Adrian led in shots 29-18 and penalties were common, Adrian committing 7 for 14 minutes, Oswego 6 for 12 minutes.

In game two, the lone goal was scored by Adrian’s Tia Liscelle early in the 2nd period at 1:32, holding up to be the game-winner and giving her Bulldogs the weekend sweep over the Lakers.

Oswego outshot Adrian 32-31 in this game, both goaltenders with stellar performances, Michaela O’Brien with the 32-save shutout victory, Lexi Levy with the 30-save defeat. Adrian continued their success vs Oswego, this was their fourth straight win, holding an overall record of 7-2, with the pair of losses coming back in 2010 & more recently in 2021.

TMQ: NCHC not generating its normal buzz, red flags up for CCHA, ECAC Hockey, thumbs up for B1G, Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey jockeying for position

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Denver pitched two shutouts over the weekend against Yale (photo: Martin Gonzalez).

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: Happy belated Thanksgiving, Ed. There were plenty of leftovers to go around in college hockey this weekend as one of the bigger nonconference weekends of the year took place.

Taking a look over the results, the conference that probably feels most full is the NCHC. The eight-team league posted a 9-2-1 non-conference record over the weekend including a 4-0-1 mark on Saturday night. The NCHC now has the second-best out-of-conference winning percentage at .685, just decimal points behind the B1G at .704.

It’s a tiny bit early to get into the PairWise, but if the season ended today, the NCHC would once again get half of its teams into the NCHC field as Denver is currently fourth, North Dakota sits sixth, and Western Michigan (12th) and St. Cloud State (13th) hover around the bubble.

Despite North Dakota sitting atop the USCHO poll last week, I still feel like there hasn’t been enough buzz around the NCHC to this point in the season. Do we need to really begin pumping this league’s tires?

Ed: Jim, I think somehow the NCHC has been flying a bit under the radar. And I’m not sure why.

North Dakota’s slip from No. 1 to second place in the USCHO men’s D-I poll this week really surprised me as I don’t think you penalize a team for winning in overtime that much. But it seems like a lot of people had BC at No. 2 on their ballots while many might have had the Fighting Hawks at No. 3 or No. 4.

I think all eyes in the college hockey world should turn to what is the premier matchup of next weekend as North Dakota visits No. 3 Denver for a pair of NCHC games. Both teams are in the top 10 in scoring, with Denver’s nation-leading 5.5 goals per game helped a bunch by 5-0 and 9-0 stompings of Yale. Meanwhile, North Dakota has the second-best goals against in the nation at 1.93.

However, nobody’s overlooking NoDak or DU. I’m interested in seeing what Western Michigan and St. Cloud do over the next couple of weeks. The Huskies got off to a slow start but strung together six league wins in a row, while the Broncos have put together four straight, including a pair over St. Lawrence last weekend. Omaha has quietly put together a solid record and is just outside the poll. Maybe the one big disappointment in the conference is Minnesota Duluth, winless in NCHC play and just 3-7-3 overall.

In any case, I’ll wager that we’ll pay more attention once the national broadcasts of NCHC games start in January.

You mentioned the Big Ten at the top of the national nonconference standings. Five teams from that league are inside the PairWise bubble right now. How likely is it that conference play will cannibalize that?

Jim: I think the B1G is the most interesting league when we look at today’s PairWise.

The league has the highest out-of-conference winning percentage. Everything about the league is strong, but you don’t have any team at or near the top and probably most concerning is having both Michigan and Penn State right on the bubble.

It seems very early to be concerned about anything related to the NCAA field, but in reality there aren’t a ton of major weekends of nonconference play that will significantly move the PairWise needle.

Speaking of concerns, how concerned do you think the ECAC and CCHA be at this point? The ECAC only has Quinnipiac in the top 16. The CCHA has no one with St. Thomas ranked 30, ineligible this year for the NCAA tournament, and Minnesota State at 37.

Things will change as the season goes along, but are the red flags raising on the ECAC and CCHA?

Ed: Red flags are definitely up for both conferences.

I think that the ECAC has the better prospects of the two, but not great. I expect Cornell to have a winning percentage high enough to overcome the league’s poor nonconference schedule, especially with a strength-of-schedule bump coming up with a holiday tournament and a pair of games with Arizona State. Harvard could be in that mix, too, assuming a strong record in conference and a possible lift from the Beanpot and Arizona State’s Desert Hockey Classic.

The CCHA will be hard pressed to get more than one team in. I don’t see a scenario there unless one team runs away with the league and gets upset in the finals.

Atlantic Hockey is in its best position for an at-large in several years, at least at this point. American International at No. 17 is closest, but the Yellow Jackets have played seven of their eight nonconference games and have little room to improve there. Rochester Institute of Technology is at No. 21 and moved up from the mid-30s with the pair of games against New Hampshire last weekend. The Tigers still have Maine, Dartmouth or Lake Superior State, Clarkson, and St. Lawrence on their docket, so I might even give Atlantic Hockey a better chance than the CCHA.

Around this time a year ago, Hockey East was in a similar position as it is now with six teams within the bubble. But only Boston University and Merrimack made the NCAA tournament. How is it looking this season, especially with the early success of Maine and UNH?

Jim: You bring up painful memories for those around Hockey East from a year ago. Yes, around this time last year Hockey East had six teams in PairWise position, but the league was horrific in non-conference play during the Thanksgiving week and again through the two weeks following the late-December exam break.

The conference has already improved a bit on that. Hockey East was 9-5-1 over the weekend and, if you add in Boston University’s win over Quinnipiac on Wednesday, finished 10-5-1 over the holiday weekend. That’s better than decent.

Now the question is how strong the league can perform over the remaining major nonconference weekends. New Year’s is always a big one and you have matchups in that span like UMass traveling to the Adirondack Winter Invitational, Northeastern heading to Wisconsin for the FISERV Holiday Faceoff and Maine at the Ledyard Bank Tournament.

You also have the possibility that the Hockey East standings could become an accordion like a year ago, where conference place decimates some of the top teams.

Right now, it’s certainly all roses for Hockey East, though.

Ed: “But I thought it was too early to look at the PairWise,” several readers who made it this far are saying.

Jim noted why it might be in his bitter remembrance of last season for Hockey East. Still, every game counts, whether it’s in October or late March. Enough games have been played on the non-conference schedule to show us some trends.

Before we wrap, we haven’t mentioned independents. A month ago, this column and its rotating columnists – as well as our USCHO Weekend Review podcasts – were talking about one or two unaffiliated teams getting into the NCAAs.

Arizona State still has the best chance, but as in past years, it needs to win the games it should and needs to do well against top teams on the schedule to make it. That would be an excellent conclusion to the Sun Devils’ indie era.

Looking at nonconference matchups, their fallout, PairWise implications for conferences: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 6 Episode 8

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Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger discuss the results of the weekend and the news of the week in college hockey on the November 27, 2023 edition of USCHO Weekend Review.

They look at 11 great top-20 matchups from the weekend. What is the non-conference record fallout, and where do conferences stand in the PairWise?

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

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