Ok, let’s officially declare the world of D-III hockey wide open in the east as we continue to see upsets and still just a few teams able to connect on the 2-0 weekend results. The big stories saw Oswego winning at Geneseo for the first time since 2018 and the Knights suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since, well it’s been a long time. Elsewhere, there were several crazy games including Babson rallying from a 3-0 deficit for a 3-3 OT tie against Skidmore, Salve Regina scoring five power play goals and a shortie to earn a split with the University of New England and Manhattanville sweeping a weekend series with Stevenson. Abundant surprises entering the Thanksgiving holiday week for sure. Here are the highlights from this weekend’s action in the east:
CCC
After dropping a 5-2 decision to UNE on Friday that featured a hat trick from Daniel Winslow, Salve Regina earned a split of the weekend series on Saturday in their Mental Awareness game against the Nor’easters where the Seahawks raised over $6500 for charity and sent the fans home happy with a 6-4 win. Mitch Walinski scored a pair of power play goals while Logan Calder did his teammate one better with a hat trick on the man-advantage. Johnny Mulera scored shorthanded to give the Seahawks six special teams goals accounting for all the scoring in the win that earned the weekend split.
After dropping a 5-2 decision to Curry on Friday that saw five different Colonels score, Western New England stunned Curry with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory on the road on Saturday. Eelis Laaksonen and Billy Roche scored early in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit to the Golden Bears but the visitors had a lot when it mattered. Billy Hefferle scored on the power play to tie the game and John D’Aniello scored with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation for what proved to be the game winner. Goaltender Colten Lancaster stopped 36 of 38 shots and earned his first win in the 3-2 decision for WNE.
Independents
Rivier played another two-game series against a team from New York with Morrisville coming to town. Goals from Cameron Clark, Jame Farmer-Valente and Jonas Leas were enough for a 3-1 Mustang win over the Raiders on Friday. On Saturday, Rivier rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the third period for a 4-3 win that earned a weekend split. Just 27 seconds into the third period, Nicolas Paolucci scored to tie the game at 3-3 before Jack Tos scored the game winner on the power play with just over five minutes remaining in the third period.
On Friday, Albertus Magnus tied their single game scoring mark with seven goals in a 7-1 win over King’s. Forward Tim Manning recorded a hat trick for the Falcons while teammate Sam Anderson chipped in with a pair of goals to support the runaway road win. On Sunday, the Falcons faced Hamilton and a pair of Goals from Alex Gagnon combined with 37 saves from Logan Bateman led the Falcons to a 3-0 win over the Continentals.
MASCAC
On Thursday night, one goal and two assists from Brendan Ronan led Worcester State to a 5-1 home-ice win over Framingham State. On Saturday, the Lancers did not get the jump on Plymouth State who raced out to a 5-0 lead that included Carson Lanceleve’s goal in the final second of the first period, Anton Jellvik’s goal at 23 seconds of the second period and a pair from Ethan Stuckless to close out the middle stanza on the way to a 7-3 win.
After surrendering a shorthanded goal by Fitchburg’s Rece Bergeman in the final half-minute of regulation and settling for a 3-3 overtime tie, Massachusetts-Dartmouth re-focused quickly and picked up a 5-2 win over Salem State. Jake Mynard led the way with a goal and two assists for the Corsairs who flipped a 1-0 first period deficit to a 3-1 lead in the second before closing out the scoring in the third on goals from Matthew Zdanowicz and Kevin Johnston.
NE-10
After a thrilling 1-1 tie at St. Michael’s on Friday, St. Anselm found themselves trailing the Purple Knights by a goal after two periods of play, 2-1. In the third period, Matt Hayes scored an unassisted goal just 19 seconds after the puck drop and then scored the game winner on the power play to give the Hawks a 3-2 win. Nick Howard made 30 saves to earn the win that moves St. Anselm to 5-2-1 on the season.
Southern New Hampshire and Franklin Pierce split a pair of games over the weekend. The Penmen broke open a 4-4 tie on Friday with a three-goal third period that included a pair of goals from Connor Ball and one from Andrew Ray in the 7-4 win. On Saturday, the Ravens needed overtime to take a 5-4 win and earn the weekend split. Conor Foley scored his second of the game in the third period to tie the score at 4-4 before Chris Stevenson scored just 46 seconds into the overtime session for the win that moved FPU to 5-3-0 overall and 3-3-0 in NE-10 play.
NEHC
Hobart remained unbeaten while extending a shutout streak with a pair of wins over Johnson & Wales and Massachusetts-Boston by 5-0 and 3-0 scores. On Friday, five different players scored for the Statesmen while Mavrick Goyer made 14 saves in the shutout win against the Wildcats. On Saturday, Hobart moved to 8-0 on the season when they downed the Beacons 3-0 behind two goals from Luke Aquaro and a goal and an assist from Jonah Alexander. Goaltender Damon Beaver made 26 saves in the shutout win that extended the opposition’s scoreless streak to three games.
Elmira returned to NEHC play and also picked up a pair of wins over UMB and JWU. After downing the Beacons 4-1 on Friday, the Soaring Eagles eked out a 4-3 win over the Wildcats on Saturday. Goals from Chance Gorman and Janis Vizbelis in the second period for a 4-2 lead was just enough to overcome an early third period goal by Brendan Doyle for JWU. Elmira’s defense and goaltender Kyle Curtin limited anymore Wildcat chances to take the weekend sweep and move to 4-3-0 on the season.
Skidmore scored twice in the opening two minutes of action raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period over Babson on Friday and that is where the game got interesting. Second period power play goals from Colby Bailey and Ian Driscoll cut the deficit to one goal after two periods of play and James Perullo’s shorthanded tally tied the game at 3-3 sending the action to overtime. No one could win the game in extra time as it ended at 3-3. Nolan Hildebrand stopped 42 of 45 shots for the Beavers. On Saturday, Babson finished the weekend with a 4-1 win over Castleton while Skidmore downed Southern Maine 6-2 led by a goal and an assist from Jaden York.
NESCAC
Trinity, Bowdoin, Colby and Wesleyan all opened conference play with weekend sweeps to kick-off the season.
The Bantams opened on Friday with a 10-3 win over Tufts led by two-goal games from Devan Tongue and Gerard Maretta. On Saturday, Trinity spotted Connecticut College a 2-0 first period lead before firing back with five unanswered goals from five different plyers in a 5-2 win over the Camels.
Colby needed overtime to take a 3-2 win over Middlebury on Friday afternoon. Tyler Crist scored the game winning goal just over two minutes in the extra session for the Mules. On Saturday, Colby rallied from a 2-1 deficit to score two goals in the second period and two more in the third for a 5-2 win over Williams.
Bowdoin matched their Maine travel partner with a pair of wins over the Ephs and the Panthers to give new head coach Ben Guite his first wins for the Polar Bears. On Friday, five different players scored goals for Bowdoin in a 5-3 win over Williams. On Saturday, Gabe Shipper’s hat trick led the Polar Bears to a 4-3 win over Middlebury. Shipper’s third period goal proved to be the game winner as Bowdoin starts the season 2-0.
Wesleyan also had a 2-0 weekend with wins over Tufts and Connecticut College. On Friday, two goals from Go Uemura, three assists from Colin Cobb and 23 saves from goaltender Eric Voloshin were enough for a 3-0 Cardinal win over the Camels. On Saturday, it was Uemura and Cobb who set up Wiggle Kerbrat to tie the game at 1-1 before Owen Sweet proved the hero with a goal in the final 25 seconds of regulation giving Wesleyan a 2-1 win over the Jumbos.
SUNYAC
It has been a long time since Oswego tasted victory at Geneseo – 2018 to be exact. Friday night’s thriller didn’t disappoint any fans of hockey but may be the statement win the Lakers have been looking for. The visitors took one and two goal leads only to see the Knights respond and tie the game at 3-3 after two periods of play. Oswego’s Trent Grimshaw scored his second goal of the game and only goal of the third period to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead that netminder Cal Schell made stand up for the win. Schell finished with 40 saves in the big road win. On Saturday, Oswego finished the weekend sweep with a 4-1 win over Brockport. Goals by Thomas Rocco, Alex DiCarlo, Connor Sleeth and Ben Addison were enough to take the win and move the Lakers to 6-1-0 on the season.
Cortland also pulled off a weekend sweep of their two games starting with Domenic Settimo’s four goals in a 6-1 win over Brockport on Friday night. On Saturday, the Red Dragons handed Geneseo it’s second consecutive loss with a 2-1 win. Second period goals from Jona Hildreth and Devlin O’Kane were enough for Luca Durante and his 30-save effort to give Cortland a big SUNYAC win.
Plattsburgh continued their solid play in a pair of wins over Fredonia and Buffalo State. On Friday, Eli Shiller stopped all 23 shots he faced as the Cardinals downed the Blue Devils 3-0 with Joshua Belgrave, Adam Tretowicz and Jake Lanvi providing the scoring. On Saturday against Buffalo State things were a little tighter as it took a pair of third period goal from forward Brendan Young to eke out a 4-3 win and move to 5-12 on the season.
UCHC
Utica hosted Wilkes for two games and ran away from the Colonels in dramatic fashion. On Friday, six different players scored goals while Connor Fedorek added four assists in a 6-2 romp. On Saturday, Remy Parker scored two goals and Mic Curran and Lucas Herrmann each added three assists in a 6-1 win that moved Utica to 6-0 in the UCHC.
Manhattanville pulled the conference stunner this weekend with a pair of wins over Stevenson. On Friday, goals from Hayden Taylor and Raymond Speerbrecker were enough for goaltender Sebastien Woods who made 24 saves to earn the 2-0 shutout win. Saturday’s game had much more drama as the Valiants needed overtime to take a 5-4 win and weekend sweep of the Mustangs. The seesaw affair saw Stevenson rally to a 4-4 tie in the third period on a shorthanded goal off the stick of Liam McCanney. AJ Bella provided the game winner for Manhattanville just over a minute into the extra session that moved the Valiants record to 4-2-0 on the season.
Three Biscuits
Daniel Winslow – University of New England – the Nor’easters forward scored a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Salve Regina on Friday night. Winslow also added to assists to figure in all the scoring with his five-point night.
Tim Manning – Albertus Magnus – scored a hat trick for the Falcons in their 7-1 road win over King’s on Friday night.
Damon Beaver and Mavrick Goyer – Hobart – stopped all 40 shots they faced in back-to-back shutouts for Hobart over Johnson & Wales and Massachusetts-Boston on the road.
Bonus Biscuits
Domenic Settimo – Cortland – scored four goals in the Red Dragons 6-1 win over Brockport on Friday night.
Tyler Crist – Colby – scored the game winning goal for the Mules in a 3-2 win over Middlebury on Friday afternoon.
We saw some statement type wins this weekend along with the debut of NESCAC play to spice things up in week four of the season. The Oswego win was big, and Hobart continues to show why they are ranked atop the national standings. Turkey weekend tournaments on tap so expect some more savory action over the holiday weekend.
