Two regular-season conference titles were secured over the weekend as UW-Stevens Point and Adrian both sealed the deal on a championship.
UW-Stevens Point won its 16th crown on Friday with a 2-1 road win over UW-Superior behind a pair of goals from Fletcher Anderson and will be the top seed in the upcoming WIAC tournament.
For Adrian, the reigning national champion and third-ranked team in the USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll, it cliched its 14th title in 16 years with a 6-1 win on the road over rival St. Norbert Friday. The Bulldogs scored the first six goals of the game on their way to capturing the NCHA’s Peter’s Cup.
The MIAC title is now the last one to be decided as far as regular season play is concerned. And its setting up to be a thrilling finish as Augsburg will face league frontrunner St. Scholastica for the crown next weekend.
Here’s a closer look at those games and more in our weekly weekend recap.
Pointers sweep Yellowjackets
UW-Superior had an opportunity to win the title heading into this series. But the Pointers would not be denied.
Anderson put his team ahead 1-0 at the 7:29 mark of the opening period but the Yellowjackets tied the score at 1-1 near the midway of the third on a goal by Jordan Guiney.
A minute later, Anderson scored again and the Pointers went on to take the win.
Ryan Wagner made 21 saves, including 11 in the second period. Dylan Meiulun stopped 27 shots for UW-Superior, which ends the regular season at 14-9-2 overall and 9-5-1 in the conference.
The Pointers have won their last three games and are 16-5-4 overall and 12-2-1 in the WIAC. They won all three games against the Yellowjackets this season, including Saturday’s 4-0 victory to close out the series.
Matthias Smith recorded his first career shutout in goal while Andrew Poulias tallied two goals. Smith finished with 15 saves. Myles Hektor made 40 saves for UW-Superior.
Bulldogs on top again
Adrian was on top of its game in Friday’s win over 14th-ranked St. Norbert, clinching the NCHA regular-season title for the ninth consecutive season.
Sam Ruffin helped lead the way as he scored a pair of goals and also dished out two assists. Ty Enns pushed a couple of pucks into the net as well for the Bulldogs as they dominated the Green Knights. Zachary Heintz came through with three assists and Ryan Pitoscia tallied two assists.
Adrian scored five goals over the final two periods on their way to their sixth consecutive win, including their third in a row over a nationally ranked opponent. Nic Tallarico recorded 28 saves in goal.
The lone goal for St. Norbert was scored with under five minutes to play in the game as Adam Stacho netted one to help the Green Knights avoid the shutout.
St. Norbert flipped the script on Saturday in a 6-1 victory.
Bradley Somers gave Adrian an early 1-0 lead but the Green Knights dominated the rest of the way, holding the Bulldogs to their lowest goal total of the season.
St. Norbert scored three times in the second period and three more in the third as it closed out the regular season on a high note and earned the third seed in the NCHA tournament.
Carter Hottmann, Curtis Hammond Ben Schmidling, Michael McChesney, Brock Baker and Stacho all scored for St. Norbert.
The Bulldogs end the regular season with a 19-4-2 overall record and a 13-4-1 mark in the conference. The Green Knights are now 15-8-2 overall and 12-5-1 in the NCHA.
Saints suffer first MIAC loss
St. Scholastica’s unbeaten run in the MIAC came to an end Friday with a 7-4 loss. The Saints had won six consecutive games prior to the loss to the Cardinals, who remain in the hunt for a conference tourney playoff berth.
Brady Lindauer picked a good time to have his first collegiate hat trick. He paved the way for an offense that scored seven goals for the second consecutive game. Lindauer scored the final three games in the win, including the go-ahead goal that put Saint Mary’s ahead 5-4 heading into the final period. AJ Rushowski made 21 saves for the Cardinals.
St. Scholastica remains atop the MIAC standings with a 15-6-2 overall record and 12-1-1 mark in the conference after closing out the weekend with a 4-1 win over the Cardinals.
Carsen Richels scored a goal for the fifth consecutive game and Filimon Ledenkov tallied a goal and an assist. Jack Bostedt made 31 saves.
The Cardinals go into the final weekend sitting in fifth place in the conference standings. They are 11-11-1 overall and 7-7 in the MIAC.
Auggies surging at right time
Augsburg has positioned itself to potentially win the regular-season MIAC crown after sweeping Hamline this past weekend. The Auggies won 7-0 and 4-2 over the Pipers to move into second place in the standings.
They have won their last five games and go into their final series of the year against St. Scholastica with a chance to win the crown. They’ll finish no worse than second.
Three third-period goals allowed the Auggies to close out the series against the Pipers with a win.
Jarod Blackowiak scored twice while Daniel Chladek added a goal and an assist. Samuel Vyletelka racked up 18 saves and won his 10th game of the year for the Auggies, who are MIAC-tourney bound for the 21st time in program history.
Augsburg (14-8-1, 10-4) dominated Hamline (11-11-1, 4-10) in Friday’s series opener, scoring a season-best seven goals in a shutout win.
Fourteen Auggies figured into the scoring and it marked the 10th time this season that Augsburg has scored four or more goals. Fritz Belisle helped pave the way as he scored twice, the fifth time he’s recorded a multi-goal game.
Nick Woodward and Erik Palmqvist both tallied a goal and an assist while Austin Dollimer dished out four assists, tying for the most in his career in a game. He leads the team with 15 on the season. Jack Robbel started in goal and made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season.
Johnnies clinch tourney berth
After playing St. Olaf to a 2-2 tie on Friday, Saint John’s came through with a 3-2 win over the Oles Saturday, punching a ticket to the MIAC tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
Jackson Sabo tallied a goal and an assist for the Johnnies (13-9-3, 9-5-2), who held off a rally attempt by the Oles (11-10-2, 5-8-1), who are currently on the outside looking in as far as the MIAC tournament is concerned.
The Oles got within one on a goal by Spencer Light early in the third and had a chance to tie with under a minute to go but had the opportunity taken away for having a player in the crease that led to Bailey Huber having his feet taken out from underneath him. Humber made 17 saves for his 11th win of the year.
Blugolds sweep Blue Devils
Quinn Green’s heroics in the series finale against UW-Stout sealed the deal on a second-place finish in the WIAC for UW-Eau Claire.
Green scored the game-winner just under a minute and a half into the overtime period, lifting the Blugolds toa 4-3 win.
UW-Eau Claire trailed 2-1 after two periods of play but tied the game less than two minutes into the third period on a goal by Ty Readman.
UW-Stout went back in front 3-1 on a goal by Peyton Hart, but Readman scored again with less than six minutes to play in regulation to tie the game and force OT.
Max Gutjahr stopped 20 shots for his 15th win of the year. The Blugolds improved to 16-8-1 overall and 9-5-1 in the WIAC.
UW-Eau Claire snapped a two-game losing streak on Friday with a 4-0 win. Green, Readman, Leo Bacallao and Willy Stauber all scored goals.
The Blue Devils are 15-9-1 and 6-8-1 in the WIAC and have dropped four consecutive games. Still, they end the regular season nearly doubling their win total from a year ago when they won only eight games.
Spartans survive wild finale against Raiders
A five-goal third period proved to be the difference for Aurora in a 7-6 come-from-behind win over MSOE on Saturday.
The No. 10 Spartans trailed 5-2 heading into the final period before heating up and closing out the regular season with a second-place finish in the NCHA.
Adam Keyes scored a pair of goals for the Spartans (17-6-2, 13-3-2) and also dished out two assists while Jack Jaunich tallied a goal and pair of assists.
Gio Procopio and Derrick Budz also scored goals while Procopio came through with a pair of assists. Budz had one assist.
A goal by Juliano Santalucia tied the game for the Spartans and Matt Weber delivered the game-winning goal.
Kolby Thornton made 36 saves in the win and Tanner Marshall tallied 10 for the Spartans, who won Friday’s opener by a 4-1 score.
Gramm McCormack tallied a goal and an assist for MSOE (14-11, 9-9) while Kevin Paganini and Christian Sabin came through with two assists apiece. Stuart Harley dished out two assists as well.
Thunder are on a roll
Trine heads into the NCHA tournament riding the high of a five-game winning streak. The Thunder (17-7-1, 12-6) swept Lawrence 3-0 and 3-1 to keep momentum rolling in their direction. They have given up just four goals during their win streak.
In the finale on Saturday, Trine scored twice in the opening period and never looked back. Kyle Kozma racked up 20 saves, including 11 in the final period. Bobby Price, Garrett Hallford and Thad Marcola all scored for Trine in the win.
Falcons are in
On the final day of the regular season, Concordia secured an NCHA tournament berth with a shootout win over Finlandia.
The Falcons, who are winless in their last three games, are 4-18-2 overall and 3-14-1 in the conference heading into the tourney.
Noah Roitman led the way with a goal and two assists. He also scored a goal in the shootout. In fact, it was the only goal scored by either team in shootout action. Gabe Rosek made 31 saves in goal.
Concordia will be the eighth seed in the tournament and face reigning national champion Adrian this weekend in the tournament.
