Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. McKay sets men’s NCAA shutout record
It took Dryden McKay three games this season to tie Ryan Miller’s NCAA men’s record of 26 shutouts. It took just five more for McKay to claim the record for his own.
Locker Room Exclusive: McKay sets new NCAA record for career shutouts pic.twitter.com/IobZQaosoe
— Minnesota State Hockey (@MinnStMHockey) October 31, 2021
McKay, the senior Minnesota State goaltender, stopped all 15 shots he faced in the Mavericks’ 7-0 home win over Northern Michigan Saturday night. McKay has twice been nominated for the Mike Richter Award, was a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist last season and was the WCHA Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year for 2020-21.
2. Broncos the new comeback kids
Trailing Colgate 5-0 at the 11:52 mark of the second period in, Western Michigan scored six unanswered goals to beat the Raiders 6-5. Jason Polin opened the scoring for the Broncos at 17:52 in the second and Ronnie Attard finished Western’s scoring run – and his first career hat trick – with 1:13 left in regulation.
Polin and Attard each scored in the second to cut Colgate’s lead to three, and Polin scored one early in the third to make it a 5-3 game. The Broncos scored their final three goals within a six-minute span late in the third to win the game. Between Polin’s goal early third-period goal and Attard’s second goal of the game, Paul Washe scored as well.
Washe scored both goals in Western Michigan’s come-from-behind 2-1 overtime win Saturday to complete the road sweep.
3. Welcome back, Ivies
It’s been nearly 18 months since the six Ivy League schools that are members of the ECAC played a game that counted.
Brown opened with a 2-0 win over Yale, the only game of the season so far for each team.
“It was a great start,” said Brown coach Brendan Whittet. “We haven’t played as a team in well over 600 days.”
Cornell swept Alaska with two overtime wins to open D-I play after an exhibition game vs. Princeton earlier this month. The Big Red hadn’t won in overtime in nearly five years before putting together these back-to-back victories.
Dartmouth played its second and third games of the season, a 9-3 loss to Harvard and 4-1 loss to Connecticut.
Harvard scored 16 goals in its first play in two seasons, that 9-3 win over Princeton and a 7-3 win over Bentley.
4. A chippy end to a welcome return
What do you do when you play a conference foe for the first time in quite literally two years?
Well, if you’re Yale and Brown, you fight.
A lot.
The Bulldogs and the Brown Bears compiled 81 penalty minutes in Brown’s 2-0 home win Saturday, the opening game of the season for both teams. There were plenty of penalties throughout the entire contest, but at 19:46 in the third, Yale’s William Dineen and Brown’s Michael Maloney and Nathan Plessis each were assessed two minutes for roughing.
Then at 19:51, here was even more animosity. In that brawl, Yale’s Kyle Johnson was given five for fighting and a misconduct, Brown’s Jackson Munro was given five for crosschecking and a misconduct, and Brown’s Tristan Crozier was given a 10-minute misconduct.
5. Three top-10 teams sweep the weekend
No. 3 Minnesota State, No. 7 Minnesota and No. 10 Omaha swept their weekend series, outscoring their opponents 29-6, collectively.
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said that the home sweep of Notre Dame was a “huge weekend” for the Golden Gophers and said that the play of goaltender Jack LaFontaine was great.
Said Motzko, “Let’s hope that it’s another step forward for us in the right direction.”
Senior Taylor Ward recorded his second career hat trick in Omaha’s 7-1 win over Long Island University Saturday.
“I thought that was maybe one of our most complete games this season, said Mavericks coach Mike Gabinet. “We really played to our identity.”
6. Penn State wins Hall of Fame Game
In a game in which they never trailed and yet were never comfortably ahead, the Nittany Lions managed to stave off No. 6 North Dakota to win the Hall of Fame Game in Nashville by a 6-4 score.
Clayton Phillips and Connor MacEachern paced Penn State with two goals each. MacEachern’s second goal at 15:52 in the third held up as the game-winner. Erik Autio made 28 saves for his fourth win of the season.
The Nittany Lions improve to 6-1-0 in advance of their Big Ten opener against Ohio State next weekend.
7. No, the Wolverines are not invincible
After shutting out Wisconsin 3-0 Thursday, Michigan dropped the home rematch 4-2 Friday and the Wolverines are now 6-2-0 overall.
With a ton of talent and many first-round NHL draft picks, the Wolverines came out hot at the start of the season before running into Western Michigan Oct. 22 and Wisconsin last weekend.
“Any time you lose, it’s never a fun feeling,” said Michigan captain Jimmy Lambert. “It takes a little piece out of you.
“Everyone has such high expectations for us, and we have high expectations for ourselves. We just have to be better. Everyone’s giving us their best effort when they come into our building. We have to expect that and we have to give them our best as well.”
8. Boston University continues to seek consistency
After being picked second in the Hockey East preseason coaches’ poll, Boston University is struggling to find some consistency. The Terriers fell to 3-5-0 after being swept by UMass Lowell.
Following an opening exhibition win against Holy Cross, Boston University has yet to put together back-to-back wins in games for the record.
Not counting that exhibition game, the Terriers have scored more than two goals in a game twice so far this season, a 4-1 win over Sacred Heart and an 8-6 win over Merrimack. In their other six games, the Terriers have netted eight goals total.
9. Ferris State guts out road win over Canisius
At 10:02 in the second period of Ferris State’s 4-2 win over Canisius Saturday night, play was halted briefly so that an emergency medical service unit could arrive on site at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, N.Y.
The first medical unit left the building with Bulldog senior Jake Transit earlier in the period. Transit was apparently knocked unconscious after a hit by Golden Griffin Cory Thomas at 4:07 in the second. Thomas was assessed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct for the hit. There is no update on Transit’s condition.
It took a few minutes after the hit to clarify that the game could not resume until another EMS unit was present.
With the game tied 2-2, at 6:50 in the third period Liam MacDougall scored to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Dallas Tulik added the empty-net goal for Ferris State at 18:52.
10. Big Ten, NCHC have strong start
After a month of play, the Big Ten (.662) and NCHC (.645) have the strongest records in interleague play. Among the other four conferences, only the ECAC (.541) has posted a winning record against nonleague foes.
Since its inception, the NCHC has had a consistently strong performance against teams from other conferences, while B1G Hockey has been less consistent. Surprisingly, Hockey East (.477) has struggled out of the gate against everyone except for Atlantic Hockey.
Something interesting of note: the Big Ten and the NCHC are even (6-6-0) against each other.
