There was plenty of excitement across the board this weekend. The traditional Thanksgiving tournaments provided many storylines, while nonconference games offered a ton of goals scored. There are seven teams that remain unbeaten through the weekend play. It will be interesting to see how those teams will face adversity as the season blazes on.
Primelink Great Northern Shootout
Highly touted as the premier tournament of the weekend, all four teams were ranked coming into this year’s event, hosted by Norwich. The Cadets won the tournament for the second year in a row, beating St. Thomas, 3-2, on Friday.
Senior forward Colin Mulvey gave the home crowd something to cheer about Saturday, scoring the game-tying goal against Middlebury with under five minutes to play. Not to be stopped there, Mulvey earned his MVP accolades when he scored the game-winner with only 6.7 seconds left in regulation time, giving Norwich the 5-4 edge over Middlebury and lifting them to a 7-0-0 record.
Plattsburgh fell to Middlebury, 3-2, on Friday before beating St. Thomas, 2-0. St. Thomas was unable to break the “Curse of the West,” as they dropped both games, bringing Western region teams to an 0-10 record in the tournament.
NCHA/MCHA Thanksgiving Classic
The current members of the MCHA did not fare well against their future league members in this holiday tournament. On Friday night, St. Norbert dropped Marian, 3-1, while St. Scholastica rolled over Lawrence, 9-2. St. Scholastic’s win was highlighted by a pair of goals from both Brandon Nowakowski and Brenden Kotyk.
Saturday night saw similar victorious results for the NCHA teams, as St. Scholastica won, 2-1, against Marian and St. Norbert beat Lawrence, 6-3.
St. Norbert and St. Scholastica will both be joining the MCHA next season, and looks to me as though they won’t take long acclimating against their conference foes.
Manchester PAL Stovepipe Tournament
Massachusetts-Boston topped the University of New England, 5-3, for the 2012 Manchester PAL Stovepipe Tournament championship. Mike DeGrazia put forth a 2-1-3 scoring line, aiding in the victory for the Beacons.
Mass.-Boston topped Johnson and Wales, 7-4 to advance, while UNE beat Southern New Hampshire University, 3-1, Friday night to advance to the championship tilt. Host of the tournament, SNHU, edged Johnson and Wales, 2-1, in the consolation game.
Nonconference Action
Milwaukee School of Engineering earned a home sweep against Bethel over the weekend with 4-1 and 3-2 scores, snapping a three-game losing streak for the Engineers.
Adrian College scored four unanswered goals to stay undefeated (7-0-0), beating St. Mary’s, 7-3. After a two-goal output in the win, freshman forward Shaq Merasty is tied for the top goal scorer in the nation, along with senior forward Luke Moodie from Oswego, both scoring nine lamp lighters thus far this season.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire pounded Concordia (Wis.), 12-4 on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday, for the weekend sweep. In Friday’s tilt, Concordia (Wis.) ended up outshooting Wis.-Eau Claire, 42-38, in the defeat. The Blugolds are now 8-0-1 for the first time in school history.
