What a crazy weekend with final regular season action presenting upsets like Wesleyan’s sweep of Trinity that earned them the NESCAC title and Curry ending Endicott’s CCC unbeaten streak in the final conference game on the schedule. Plymouth State completed a perfect regular season run at 18-0-0 and Oswego emerged at the top of the SUNYAC pack with a pair of wins to close out their schedule. Two familiar names in St. Anselm and St. Michael’s earned the top two spots in the NE-10 and, oh yeah, Utica cruised to yet another UCHC regular season title. All that action and the NEHC playoffs also commenced with quarterfinal action. Here is the wrap-up for an amazing weekend of college hockey:
CCC
While Endicott had already clinched the regular season title, the marque game of the weekend would determine whether they could finish the CCC schedule unbeaten in conference play as well as whether Curry could secure the second place position and the quarterfinal bye that comes with a top two finish. The two nationally ranked teams took care of business on Friday with the Colonels securing a 5-1 win over Suffolk while Endicott ran away with a 9-3 win over Nichols. On Saturday, Curry hosted the Gulls in a game that had the look and feel of a conference championship.
The Colonels started fast with a three-goal first period on tallies from Jacob Crespo, Matt Connor and Billy Roche to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. Goaltender Reid Cooper, who would finish with 33 saves on 35 shots, surrendered only Noah Strawn’s third period goal as the Colonels held on for a 3-2 win that was Endicott’s only loss in CCC play. Endicott held a 35-25 shot advantage for the game but finished 0-4 on the power play.
The CCC tournament sets up with No. 3 University of New England hosting No. 6 Wentworth and No. 4 Salve Regina facing No. 5 Western New England in mid-week quarterfinal action. The winners advance to the weekend and matchups with the top two seeds, Endicott, and Curry.
MASCAC
After goaltender Brendahn Brawley set the single season school record with his fourth shutout of the season in a 5-0 win over Framingham State on Thursday night, the Plymouth State Panthers needed a win over Salem State on Saturday to complete the regular season undefeated in MASCAC play. Myles Abbate scored a hat trick to help the Panthers to a 7-3 win to close out the regular season at 18-0-0 and positioned them as the top seed in the MASCAC playoffs beginning this week.
The second-place team which also receives a quarterfinal bye was determined with Saturday’s Worcester State v. Fitchburg State game. Each team won on Thursday night. The Lancers knocked off Salem State by a 5-2 margin with five different Worcester State players providing the offense while the Falcons dominated Westfield State, 9-3 with Anthony Ceolin scoring four goals. On Saturday, the Falcons needed a regulation win to take the second spot in the standings and rallied to a 3-3 tie in the third period on Rece Bergman’s goal with five minutes remaining in regulation. Seeking the outright win, the Falcons played with six skaters seeking the winning goal but surrendered empty-net tallies to Brendan Ronan and Kevin Drevitch in the final minute for a 5-3 Lancers’ victory.
This week’s quarterfinals setup with No. 3 Fitchburg State hosting No. 6 Salem State and No. 4 Westfield State hosting No. 5 Massachusetts-Dartmouth in a re-match of the season finale won by the Owls, 4-3. Plymouth State and Worcester State have byes and await the quarterfinal winners in semifinal action next weekend.
NE-10
Three teams had a realistic chance of securing the regular season title in the remaining games this past weekend but it was St. Anselm that emerged with the title on the strength of a sweep of Franklin Pierce on the road to secure the top spot. On Friday, the Hawks took a 5-3 win and followed that up with a 4-1 win on Saturday. Matt Hayes scored a goal and added an assist in Saturday’s season finale where the Hawks erased an early 1-0 deficit with four unanswered goals.
The all-important second place position came down to the outcomes of games for Assumption and St. Michael’s who were playing Southern New Hampshire and Post respectively. With a Greyhound loss on Friday and the Purple Knights win against Post, it all came down to the final games on Saturday.
Post raced out to a 2-0 lead against St. Michael’s before the Purple Knights rallied with four goals to take a 4-2 win. Brennan McFarland assisted on every St. Michael’s goal which helped secure the No. 2 seed for the NE-10 tournament for the Purple Knights. Assumption continued their difficult February results with a 3-2 overtime loss to SNHU, leaving them just 1-5-1 in the month of February and losers of five straight entering this week’s NE-10 quarterfinal round.
The conference tournament sets up with No. 3 Assumption looking to rebound in the playoffs against No. 6 Post while No. 4 Southern New Hampshire hosts No. 5 Franklin Pierce. St. Anselm and St. Michael’s receive byes to the semifinals and await the winners of the quarterfinal games this week.
NEHC
As the regular season had already concluded last weekend, the NEHC entered conference tournament mode on Saturday with four very entertaining games.
Top-seeded Hobart threw everything but the kitchen sink at Castleton goaltender Brandon Collett but found themselves trailing the Spartans by a 3-2 score after two periods of play. Collett had stopped 41 of 43 shots in the first 40 minutes of play to support goals by Zach Papapetros, Jackson Kobelka and Stone Stelzl that had the visitors thinking upset. In the third period, the Statesmen found their game and the back of the net as they scored five times, including two from Tanner Daniels to cruise to a 7-3 win. Hobart held a 67-17 shot advantage as Collett finished with 61 saves. Damon Beaver finished with four saves and picked up the win in relief of Mavrick Goyer.
Norwich hosted travel partner New England College in quarterfinal action and very early on the Pilgrims did something they were unable to do in the regular season by scoring a goal against the Cadets for 1-0 lead on the road. Graham Hassan scored first in the contest but the Cadets answered back on goals from Keegan Mantaro and Braedyn Aubin to close out the first period with a 2-1 lead. That would be all the scoring either goaltender would allow as Andrew Kormos and Drennen Atherton kept the game to a one-goal differential that saw Norwich prevail by the 2-1 score.
Babson faced Massachusetts-Boston in the quarterfinal round and took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from James Perullo and Brendan Kennedy. Kolye Bankauskas cut the deficit in half for the Beacons with the only goal of the second period setting up an exciting final twenty minutes. The Beavers extended their lead with goals from Max Torrez, Thomas Kramer and Danny Cavanaugh to earn a 5-1 win. Nolan Hildebrand earned the win stopping 21 of 22 shots for Babson.
The last quarterfinal game saw Skidmore facing Elmira and it is not surprising that the No. 4 v. No. 5 games always provides the most drama. The visitors secured an early 2-0 lead with goals from Will Dow-Kenny, in the first 30 seconds, and Thomas Finck before Elmira answered in the second period to tie the game at 2-2 with a first minute goal from Chance Gorman and a last-minute goal from Christian Abrams. The home team took the lead with just under four minutes remaining in regulation on a goal from Nicholas Domitrovic but that is when the drama really began. Skidmore pulled their goalie and used their timeout with just six seconds remaining on the clock. Everett Wardle won the offensive zone face-off back to the point where Devon Mussio passed it across to partner Matthew Monk for a one-time bomb that eluded Kyle Curtin and tied the game at 3-3 with just three seconds on the clock. Moving to overtime, the Thoroughbreds maintained their momentum with sustained pressure before Patrick Kaeden scored the game-winner to advance Skidmore to the semifinals with a 4-3 win.
This week’s semifinal games see No. 1 Hobart hosting No. 5 Skidmore while No. 2 Norwich faces No. 3 Babson. Both games will be played on Saturday, February 25.
NESCAC
Three teams all potentially could have won the regular season title entering the final weekend of conference play. Trinity, Amherst and Wesleyan were all mathematically in the equation with the Cardinals needing a difficult sweep of the Bantams to secure the top spot to earn the needed six points and secure the needed tie-breaker. Guess what, the Cardinals did exactly that in ending the Bantams 13-game unbeaten streak with 3-0 and 2-1 wins to take the regular season title.
On Friday night, Wiggle Kerbrat, Jake Lachance and Emmet Powell each had two assists in a 3-0 win backstopped by Erik Voloshin’s 34 saves. On Saturday, needing to complete the sweep to take first place, the Cardinals found themselves trailing at home 1-0 after the first period of play. Owen Sweet set up DJ Dixon to tie the game in the second period and in the final four minutes of the third period the combination struck again with Dixon setting up Sweet for the game-winner. Voloshin was outstanding again with 30 saves.
Amherst needed a sweep of Williams and Middlebury to leapfrog Trinity and take the second place spot but secured an overtime tie on Friday with the Ephs before cruising to a 5-0 win over Middlebury on Saturday leaving the Mammoths just one-half point in arrears of the Bantams.
Hamilton secured the final home-ice position with a 2-2 tie against Middlebury followed by a 1-0 win over Williams who finished in the eighth and final playoff position.
The quarterfinal round sets up with No. 1 Wesleyan hosting No. 8 Williams; No. 2 Trinity hosting No. 7 Bowdoin; No. 3 Amherst hosting No. 6 Tufts and No. 4 Hamilton playing No. 5 Colby.
SUNYAC
For the first time in many years the final positions amongst the top four teams were to be decided on the final weekend of conference play. Plattsburgh held serve with a mid-week 5-2 win over Morrisville in their final league contest that guaranteed the Cardinals a top-two seed but they needed help if they wanted to stay in the top spot by the end of the weekend.
Oswego controlled their own destiny needing wins over Buffalo State and Fredonia to take the regular season title. On Friday night, the Lakers broke open a 2-2 game with four unanswered goals to down the Bengals, 7-3. Shane Bull, Ryan Dickinson, and Rocco Andreacchi each recorded three points in the contest. Needing a win against Fredonia, the Lakers played maybe their most complete game of the season in a 9-0 shutout over the Blue Devils. Conor Smart scored a hat trick while Garrett Clegg and Tommy Cahill each picked up three points to pace the offense. Cal Schell finished the game with 20-saves to earn the shutout and the lakers the regular season title.
Geneseo needed a win against Brockport to secure the No. 3 seed in the SUNYAC playoffs and a four-goal second period helped secure a 6-2 win over the Golden Eagles. Tyson Gilmour scored a pair of goals and added an assist for the Knights who will try to defend their four consecutive titles starting with a Wednesday quarterfinal game.
The tournament begins with No. 3 Geneseo hosting No. 6 Fredonia and No. 4 Cortland facing No. 5 Buffalo State on Wednesday, February 22.
UCHC
Utica finished UCHC play with a 20-0-0 record after a weekend sweep of Arcadia by identical 7-1 scores. The Pioneers scored three power play goals and three shorthanded goals in the two game sweep of the Knights who will face the Pioneers again in the conference quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The battle for second place came down to a tie-breaker on the basis of Nazareth finishing their campaign with a weekend sweep of Chatham. On Friday night, Logan Tobias led the way with two goals while goaltender Richard Provencher stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 4-1 win. The Golden Flyers completed the two-game sweep on Saturday by a 7-1 score over the Cougars. Tobias scored a hat trick and Joseph Schaeffer added two goals to help Nazareth secure second place and home ice in the upcoming playoffs.
Manhattanville took advantage of a two-game sweep of King’s to obtain the final home-ice berth for the UCHC conference tournament. On Friday, the Valiants saw goals by six different players in a 6-2 win over the Monarchs. On Saturday, balanced scoring again was key for the visitors but Mitchell Watson chipped in with one goal and two assists to help Manhattanville to a 5-2 win.
On Wednesday, the quarterfinal round shapes up like this: No. 1 Utica hosting No. 8 Arcadia; No. 2 Nazareth hosting No. 7 Alvernia; No. 3 Stevenson hosting No. 6 Chatham and No. 4 Manhattanville facing No. 5 Wilkes.
Three Biscuits
Anthony Ceolin – Fitchburg State – scored four goals and added an assist for a five-point night in the Falcons’ 9-3 win over Westfield State on Thursday night. Ceolin was one of three players with five points in the game for FSU.
Jake Fuss – University of New England – scored one goal and added three assists in the Nor’easters’ 5-2 win over Salve Regina on Thursday night.
Carter Breitenfeldt – Colby – recorded a natural hat trick in the second period and added a fourth goal to close out a 5-1 Mule win over Connecticut College on Friday.
Bonus Biscuits
Jason Finan – Alvernia – scored a hat trick and added an assist on Sawyer Senio’s overtime goal in a 6-5 win over Lebanon Valley on Friday night.
Patrick Kaeden – Skidmore – scored the overtime winning goal for the Thoroughbreds in their 4-3 win over Elmira in the NEHC quarterfinals on Saturday.
Ryan Pomposelli – Southern New Hampshire – scored the overtime winning goal in a 3-2 win to help the Penmen to a weekend sweep over Assumption and securing a home-ice seed in the NE-10 quarterfinals.
Connor Smart – Oswego – scored a hat trick in the Lakers’ 9-0 romp over Fredonia securing the regular season title and quarterfinal bye for the SUNYAC playoffs.
It has been absolutely the most competitive and amazing season at the DII/III level this season with exciting conference races right to the final games on the schedule and already dramatic playoff hockey to get the fan base even more enthusiastic for the battles all the way to the national championship. While playoffs begin in earnest for all the conferences this week, the teams which did not qualify for the post-season along with the teams not advancing in tournament play see their seasons come to an end. It is a tough time and to all the seniors and graduate students who will not lace them up again in a college game, please accept our thanks for your magnificent commitment to the game and your school. May you enjoy great success in whatever professional endeavor or ongoing academic challenge you take on next.
