St. Scholastica has made program history in college hockey. The team to beat all year long in the conference, the Saints won their first regular-season MIAC crown with a shootout win over Augsburg Friday night.
It’s the program’s first conference title since 1975 and the title means St. Scholastica is the first team from the school to clinch the top seed in the MIAC tournament. The Saints became members of the league last season.
Carsen Richels played a pivotal role in the win, recording the first hat trick of his career. He also scored in the shootout after the two teams played to a 5-5 tie.
Arkhip Ledenkov came through with four points in the win, three off assists, and goaltender Jack Bostedt notched the win for the Saints with 22 saves.
The Saints closed out the series with a 4-1 win Saturday, finishing the regular season with an 8-1-1 mark over their last 10 games.
Four different players scored and Jack Branby, a senior, earned his first career win at the college level on senior night. He made 23 saves and has a bright future ahead as he plans to go to medical school.
St. Scholastica (16-6-3, 13-1-2) now shifts its attention to the conference tourney where it will play St. Olaf or Concordia in the semifinal round on Sunday. The Auggies (14-9-2, 10-5-1) will play Saint John’s in the semifinals.
Oles dominate defensively
St. Olaf closed out the regular season with a couple of shutout wins against Gustavus, winning the finale 3-0 on Saturday after picking up a 2-0 win Friday.
The Oles (13-10-2, 7-8-1) secured a spot in the conference tourney with the win. Thomas Lalonde stopped 25 shots in goal. Spencer Light, Ben Luscko and Noah Heisler all scored for the Oles, who came through with back-to-back shutout wins for the first time since 2010. Lalonde made 11 of his saves in the third period.
Cobbers cruise past Cardinals
Concordia kept momentum on its side as it rolled past Saint Mary’s in a key MIAC series. After rolling to a 7-1 win Friday, the Cobbers came back to finish the weekend with a 4-1 win, their seventh in their last 10 games.
Concordia (12-11-2, 9-6-1) is headed to the MIAC tournament as the fourth seed and got a solid effort from Matt Fitzgerald, who stopped 68 of the 70 shots he faced in the two games against Saint Mary’s, including 30 on Saturday.
Fitzgerald has started the last 10 games for the Cobbers, who are playing their best hockey at the right time of the year.
WIAC
Lumberjacks put up a fight
Northland didn’t make it easy on UW-Superior in the opening series of the WIAC tournament. The Lumberjacks won the opener 3-1 before falling 3-0 in Game 2. A mini game was used to decide who would advance and the Yellowjackets prevailed 1-0.
In Friday’s game, Northland (2-23-2 scored twice in the third period to seal the deal on their first win over the Yellowjackets since the 2018-19 season. It was also their first conference tournament win.
Jack Craycroft Brendan Charlton and Brock Weimer all scored for Northland.
But UW-Superior (15-10-2) bounced back the next day to move on in the series, scoring a pair of goals in the third period of Game 2 to take the win. C.J. Walker tallied a goal and assist.
Bradley Stonnell scored the lone goal of the mini game to help the Yellowjackets advance.
Blue Devils are moving on
UW-Stout didn’t go into the opening round of the WIAC tournament with a lot of momentum. In fact, the Blue Devils had dropped their last four games.
But things changed for them on Friday and Saturday as they skated to a pair of wins and advanced in the WIAC tournament.
UW-Stout won 4-1 on Friday and wrapped up the series with a 4-2 win.
In Saturday’s finale, Peyton Hart was the story of the night as he came through with a hat trick, the third of the season for Hart. He now has 18 goals on the season for the Blue Devils (17-9-1).
Tyler Masternak stopped 31 shots in the win. Dysen Skinner made 29 saves for UW-River Falls (11-15-1). Logan Severson scored both goals for the Falcons in the final game of the season for the Falcons, who came into the series riding a four-game winning streak.
As for the Blue Devils, they have more than doubled their win total from a year ago when they won just eight games.
Bulldog Power Hour
Adrian just didn’t win its final game of a quarterfinal series against Concordia Saturday. The Bulldogs dominated it.
And that might be an understatement. Adrian scored 10 times off the power play, setting an NCAA record. Adrian won the game 13-2.
The previous power-play goal record in a game was eight, which was set three times, the last in 2017. It also happened in 1996 and 2010.
The Bulldogs scored eight goals in the final period and Nic Tallarico made 15 saves for Adrian (21-4-2).
Ty Enns scored twice and also dished out two assists. Alessio Luciani tallied a goal and three assists. Jaden Shields had himself a night as well, dishing out five assists. Mathew Rehding added a goal and three assists.
Third-ranked Adrian won the opener over the Falcons (4-22-1) by an 11-1 score. The win was the 200th for head coach Adam Krug. He’s now 201-44-13 in his career at Adrian.
Green Knights sweep Sabres
Down 2-0 in the second game of a quarterfinal series against Marian on Saturday, the Green Knights scored eight unanswered goals to secure an 8-2 win and advance to the semifinals of the NCHA tournament.
St. Norbert (17-8-2) has now won 46 games in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament. The Green Knights are ranked 12th in the nation in the USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Adam Stacho played a key role as he scored three goals and also dished out an assist. Brock Baker added two goals and an assist.
Liam Fraser scored a goal and tallied two assists while Michael McChesney came through with three assists as well as a goal. Colby Entz made 20 saves. St. Norbert, which won the opener 5-2, has won its last three games.
Spartans hold off Foresters
Aurora went the distance in its NCHA tourney series against Lake Forest, prevailing 4-0 in the mini game to punch a ticket to the semifinal round for the first time,
Playing the Foresters in Rockford, Illinois, the Spartans bounced back from a 3-2 loss earlier in the day to secure the win.
Aurora (18-7-2) got goals from Simon Boyko, Nate Keeley, Juliano Satalucia and Carson Riddle in the mini game win.
The Foresters (11-12-4) got a pair of goals from Connor Scahill to take an early 2-0 lead. Colin Bella then made the score 3-0 five minutes into the third period before the Spartans attempted a rally. Aurora, tied with St. Norbert for the No. 12 spot in the nation, had won the series opener 4-1. Keeley scored twice in that game.
Trine survives and advances
The Thunder needed overtime in a mini game to secure a 1-0 win over MSOE and advance to the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
Trine lost the series opener Friday by a 2-1 score but bounced back to even things up Saturday with a 5-3 victory. It was their seventh win in their last eight games.
Thad Marcola scored twice for the Thunder in the victory. Trine is now 18-8-1 overall and learned Monday that it was nationally ranked for the first time in program history. Trine checks in at No. 15 in the USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll. MSOE finishes the year at 15-12. Christian Sabin scored the game winner in Friday’s win for the Raiders.
Postseason Notes
MIAC Tournament
While the Saints go into the tourney as the top seed, Augsburgs ends up as the No. 2 seed in the postseason. The Auggies will host third-seeded Saint John’s on Saturday in the other semifinal.
St. Olaf is the reigning champ and the fifth seed going into the tournament, a familiar position for the Oles, who were also the lowest seed a year ago going into the tourney and started their magical run with a win over Concordia.
St. Olaf was originally set to play at Concordia Thursday but will now play Friday instead due to a winter storm threat. The winner then plays St. Scholastica on Sunday.
The semifinal winners will square off March 4 for the title at the site of the highest remaining seed.
NCHA Tournament
The top four seeds held serve in the battle for the Harris Cup, with Adrian, Aurora, St. Norbert and Trine all advancing. Adrian and Trine will play in one semifinal game and Aurora and St. Norbert will play in the other semifinal matchup.
The winners play for the championship on March 4. An automatic berth to the NCAA tournament will be on the line. Adrian is the reigning national champion.
WIAC Tournament
UW-Superior advances to play at UW-Eau Claire in the semifinal round on Friday and Saturday. UW-Stout gets top-seeded UW-Stevens Point in the semifinals. The winners move on to play for the title on March 4.
And unlike in past years, the winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
