It was a tough weekend for the reigning national champs. Both Marian and Concordia Wisconsin pulled off upsets against the sixth-ranked team in the country.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Wisconsin-Superior both looked good on the road, with the third-ranked Blugolds winning the Primelink Great Northern Shootout behind two dominant performances.
Lake Forest earned a weekend sweep to keep its strong start rolling along. Weather forced two series to be wiped off the slate. St. Thomas and St. Scholastica saw their series canceled. Northland and Finlandlia had their series postponed.
Here are some of the storylines from another weekend of hockey.
Blugolds dominate Great Northern Shootout
Wisconsin-Eau Claire turned in an impressive performance in the Great Northern Shootout, capping the tourney with a 4-3 win over Middlebury Saturday.
The Blugolds became just the second invitational team to win the title in the 22-year history of the tourney.
The Blugolds erased a 1-0 deficit by scoring the next four goals. Nick Techel, Jarrad Vroman, Derek Hammer and Cole Paskus all scored to put Wis.-Eau Claire in front 4-1.
Zach Dyment stepped up big in goal, stopping 25 shots and helping Wis.-Eau Claire survive a late rally by Middlebury.
Jon Richards and Scott Munro both earned all-tournament team honors. Dyment was named the MVP. Techel was tabbed as the top rookie in the tournament.
Wis.-Eau Claire opened the tourney with a 6-1 win over host Plattsburgh on Friday. Richards scored twice in the win and Dyment stopped 29 shots.
Yellowjackets continue to roll
Wisconsin-Superior completed a sweep of Chatham Saturday with a 3-1 win, stretching their win streak to three games. The Yellowjackets won the opener 5-1 on Friday.
In Saturday’s win, Bruno Birzitis scored a goal and an assist. Levi Cudmore and Andrew Durham both tallied goals.
Oscar Svensson came through with 29 saves and now has four wins on the season.
On Friday, Troy York scored twice and Jordan Martin tallied a pair of assists.
Falcons stun the champs
Concordia made program history Saturday with a 5-4 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the reigning champs in NCAA Division III.
The win is all the more impressive considering it happened on the road. It’s also the first victory in program history for Concordia against the Pointers.
Concordia head coach Jasen Wise called it an “unreal effort” for all of the boys and noted that goaltending and special teams were key.
The Falcons wasted little time setting the tone, scoring three times in the first period. Concordia eventually led 4-0 but the Pointers tied the game before Cole Pickup scored at the 13:42 mark of the third period to lift Concordia to the win.
Nick Guiney scored twice, both times off the power play. Brandon Picard and Dante Hahn also punched in goalsl for the Falcons, who improved to 5-4-1.Concordia went 3-for-3 on the power play while holding the Pointers to an 0-for-5 showing on the power play.
Bo Didur made 41 saves to help the Falcons win their first game over a ranked opponent since December of 2018. The Falcons are unbeaten in their last three games.
Sabres continue dominance of ranked teams
Marian won its third consecutive game over a ranked opponent Friday, taking down Wis,-Stevens Point 5-4 in non-conference play.
Salvatore Scalise scored his first goal of the year and it proved to be the game winner, giving Marian a 5-4 lead at the 12:48 mark of the third period.
Dylan Hutton dominated early, scoring twice in the first two periods of play to help the Sabres erase a 1-0 deficit. Ty Ennis also punched in a goal. The goals by Huttton were his first two of the season. Ennis now has three goals on the season.
Hunter Vorva made 22 saves and the Pointers went 0-for-3 on the power play. Marian was outshot 25-22.
Marian is rolling in the right direction heading into December, having won its last four games. The Sabres swept a series against St. Norbert last weekend. They have scored four goals three times during the win streak.
Bulldogs notch big win over Spartans
Adriran rose to the occasion Saturday in a 4-2 win over Aurora, which came into the game as the top team in the NCHA.
Rex Moe paved the way for Adrian, scoring twice. Trevor Coykendall also scored a goal and Cameron Gray made 26 saves.
Adrian won 4-2 on Sunday as well to overtake Aurora as the top team in the league.
Bryce Van Horn came through with the first multi-goal game of his career to help the Bulldogs complete the sweep.
Gray made 30 saves and has four wins on the year.
With the effort, Adrian keeps its unbeaten streak against Aurora intact. The Bulldogs are 10-0 all-time against the Spartans, with six of those wins coming on the road.
The eighth-ranked Bulldogs are now 6-1-1 overall and 5-1 in the league. Aurora fell to 7-3-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the league.
Lake Forest sweeps St. Olaf
The Foresters dominated the Oles in a weekend series, winning 3-1 and 7-1.
Aaron O’Neill led the way with a four-point night. He scored two goals and two assists in the win and has five goals on the year.
The Foresters improved to 7-2-1 overall with the two wins. They held a 35-18 advantage in shots. Boyd DiClemente made 17 saves.
Cullen Kane, David Cohen, Drew Shields and Joey Sardina also scored goals for the Foresters, who have won four of their last five games. The seven goals by Lake Forest are the most it has scored in a game this season.
