This past weekend on the eastern front of hockey, we saw Bowdoin pull off a big upset during the annual Codfish Bowl tournament hosted this year by UMass-Boston. We saw Oswego continue their recent momentum, while also revisiting the Cardinal/Panther Classic from the east perspective.
Bowdoin takes down #5
This year’s Codfish Bowl hosted by UMass-Boston featuring: Bowdoin, #10 Colby, #5 Nazareth, and of course the host UMass-Boston. Colby shutout the hosts 3-0 to advance, whilst Bowdoin defeated #5 Nazareth 2-1 in overtime to shock the Golden Flyers of Nazareth. The game was interesting as Emma Merrill put Bowdoin up early, scoring at the 7:01 mark of the 1st period. No goals would occur until early in the 3rd when at the 5:03 mark Nikolle Van Stralen of Nazareth tied it at 1 on the powerplay. Then finally, at the 1:43 mark of overtime, Sara Ito-Bagshaw of Bowdoin scored to pull off the huge upset of Nazareth and give the Polar Bears a signature win for the program. Someone that should also be given a mention is goaltender McKinley Hoff of Nazareth who made 40 saves in the game only allowing two goals in the loss. Danielle Marquez made 27 saves in the victory for Bowdoin.
In terms of rankings this was a major upset, however Nazareth, coming off a 27-2 season, falling to Elmira 2-1 in last year’s NCAA tournament (their only other loss on the season was also to Elmira losing 2-1) had a large graduating class with this being the fifth year of existence for the program, so holding the rank of #5 and being expected to equal a season of 27-2, was quite unlikely to happen. Nazareth should currently remain the favorite in the UCHC conference, teams such as #14 Utica and Manhattanville look close behind them as well.
Oswego finds their way into the rankings
#15 Oswego State (7-3) started the year 0-3 after getting swept by (now #5) Adrian at home, then falling to Potsdam on the road. However, they’ve now won seven games in a row, their last three of four victories coming against (at that time) ranked opponents: #12 Cortland (twice) and #13 Hamilton. In their most recent game against Hamilton, goaltender Lexi Levy got the victory making 23 saves.
Oswego has cleaned up the penalties which became a major issue in their early games, most specifically vs Potsdam and Canton where they totaled 15 penalties during the two game span. In their four most recent games, they’ve only committed 10. Coach Mark Digby talked about what his team’s been doing during this winning streak and most specifically this recent hot streak against ranked opponents: “Our consistency from shift to shift and start of shift to end of shift has certainly improved. I think we’ve been able to find a steady compete level, even if we aren’t necessarily playing our A game at the moment, we’ve remained consistent with our energy and it’s been able to keep us in tight games until we find a way to create some offense.”
Oswego’s next games are against Buffalo State on the road and #4 Plattsburgh State at home, Coach Digby spoke on the upcoming game vs Plattsburgh: “Biggest key to this game is playing well vs Buffalo on Friday. Nobody wants to back into a big game, so playing to our standards on Friday is our main focus at this point. Once we get to Saturday, we’ll have to focus on staying disciplined in our game. You’re not going to outscore mistakes against Plattsburgh, so limiting opportunities for them will be important.”
East perspective of the Cardinal/Panther Classic
UW-River Falls took home the trophy this past weekend in the CPC, defeating the host Plattsburgh 3-2 and then defeating #1 Middlebury 3-2 in overtime, ending their 31 game win streak going back to the start of last season where they went a perfect 27-0. The UWRF tournament recap can be read here, but in this week’s east recap, we’ll talk about how the three fared. In game one involving Middlebury and Elmira, Middlebury won 3-1, Britt Nawrocki led the way with two goals and her teammate Ashley McDonald tallied two assists. Goaltender Sophia Merageas made 23 saves in the win.
The third-place game featuring Elmira vs Plattsburgh, ended up being a lopsided victory for the Cardinals, winning 7-0. Penalties were a problem for both teams, Plattsburgh committing 6-12 and Elmira 5-10. However, it was a story of two powerplay units, Elmira went 0-6 on the PP, while Plattsburgh went 4-5. Plattsburgh had seven unique scorers in the game, while Mattie Norton led the way with 1 goal and 2 assists. Her teammate Mae Olshansky also contributed 3 points in the game with 3 assists.
Both Elmira and Plattsburgh eye the upcoming Norwich East-West Hockey Classic on Dec. 10-11 as the two face off again in round one and then will face either #6 Norwich or #5 Adrian depending how the first round games finish up.
Other Notable Games
#10 Colby won the Codfish Bowl, defeating UMass-Boston 3-0 and Bowdoin 4-1.
#11 Amherst defeated Manhattanville 1-0.
#14 Utica defeated Morrisville 3-2.
Williams defeated Cortland 6-1.
Potsdam swept King’s College, winning 9-0 & 3-0.
Wesleyan won a pair, defeating Manhattanville 2-0 & Castleton 2-1.
Trinity defeated Univ. New England 2-0 & Salem State 7-0.
Salve Regina defeated Anna Maria 2-0.
Morrisville shutout Lebanon Valley 4-0.
Another week is in the books as we await the second major eastern tournament Dec. 10-11 in Norwich, VT. We also await the winter break period of little to no hockey taking place in the middle-end of December, but then we pick right back up in January with the second half approaching and the first half’s end quickly approaching.
