From Tuesday night right through Saturday afternoon, this week’s D-III men’s hockey action saw unbeatens toppled, multiple ranked teams fall and overtime thrillers sprinkled in for more dramatic effect for the scoreboard watchers everywhere. As one winning coach texted, “Same kids, same team, same coach – different outcomes and everything appears different.” Enjoy the new view Coach Rice as your Babson Beavers knocked Elmira from the undefeated ranks and Saturday’s win took down No. 1 Hobart. Here’s more on the exciting week that was in the East:
CCC
Endicott and the University of New England played an early season home-and-home series that featured two of the expected contenders in the CCC. On Friday night, the teams were tied at 1-1 after two periods of play. Andrew Kurapov gave the Gulls a lead with a power play goal only to see the Jayden Price answer for the Nor’easters in the final two minutes of regulation. Kurapov added the overtime winner just 43 seconds into the extra session to give the visitors a 3-2 win. Saturday night saw Kurapov and Price again score third period goals that tied the game at 3-3 through regulation time. Overtime couldn’t decide a winner, but Anthony Sciucco scored for UNE in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Nor’easters the extra point.
Salve Regina remained unbeaten with a weekend sweep of Wentworth that moved them to 6-0-0 on the season. Leading by a 1-0 score after two periods of play on Friday night, the Seahawks scored four third period goals to pace a 5-2 win over the Leopards. Matthew Fawcett finished the game with one goal and two assists for Salve Regina. Saturday night the Seahawks scored once in each period to pace a 3-1 win with Logan Calder picking up a goal and an assist.
Curry took a pair of wins over Suffolk to move to 3-1-1 on the season. Eelis Laaksonen scored a pair of goals in Friday’s 5-2 win over the Rams. Shane Soderwall stopped 14 of 16 shots to earn his first win in goal. On Saturday, Killian Rowlee was the offensive star for the Colonels netting a hat trick in a 4-0 victory. Roland Polasek earned the shutout making 17 saves.
Independents
Anna Maria started the week off on Tuesday night playing giant killer when they knocked off unbeaten Plymouth State 4-1 paced by 51 saves from freshman Matthew Hennessey. The Panthers scored first on a power play goal by Anton Jellvik but that was the only goal Hennessey would surrender as he held the Panthers at bay making 22 saves in the opening period. The second period tilted the AmCats way with goals from Max Wennerberg forging a 1-1 tie before Matthew Gilbert gave the home team a 2-1 lead in the final minute of the period. Matthew Byrne added a pair of goals in the third period to seal the upset win for AMC which evened their record at 2-2-0 on the season.
The AmCats carried the momentum from Tuesday’s big win into a weekend series that saw AMC skate away with 5-2 and 2-1 wins over the Flying Dutchmen. On Friday, five different players scored with Matthew Gilbert and Guillaume Coulombe chipping in with one goal and one assist each. On Saturday, Braeden McKinnon opened and closed the scoring with a pair of power play tallies in a one-goal win for the AmCats that extended their win streak to three games.
MASCAC
After dropping a Tuesday game at Anna Maria, Plymouth State ran into a hot goaltender in Westfield State’s Kevin Chandler who made 50 saves in a 2-2 overtime tie on Thursday night. On Saturday, the Panthers returned to the win column with a 5-2 decision over Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Connor Tait paced the offense with a goal and two assists while Payton Schaly added two goals.
Fitchburg State picked up a pair of conference wins over Salem State and Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The Falcons took advantage of two goals from Kristopher Zapata on Thursday night to hold off the Vikings, 4-3. On Saturday, goaltender Frederick Soderberg made 44 saves as the Falcons rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three unanswered goals in a 4-2 win over the Corsairs.
Worcester State picked up their first MASCAC win of the season on Thursday with a 5-1 decision over Framingham State. Wyatt Friedlander stopped 46 of 47 while Shane Prifrel scored one goal and added an assist for the Lancers.
NE-10
Assumption played a two-game series at St. Anselm this weekend and the Greyhounds skated away with two overtime wins over the Hawks. On Friday, the Hawks took a one-goal lead with under eight minutes remaining in the third period only to see Leo Piandes tie the score in the final 90 seconds of regulation. In the extra session, John Woernle netted the game-winning goal with an assist from Jake Lavoie who also figured in the tying goal. On Saturday, the visitors again rallied to tie the score in the third period and won it in extra time with Piandes tallying the game-winner with an assist from Woernle. The weekend sweep moves Assumption to 5-1-0 on the season.
Franklin Pierce handed St. Michael’s their first loss of the season with a 6-2 win on Friday night. The game featured six special team’s goals including three power play goals and one shorthanded marker for the Ravens. On Saturday, the Purple Knights earned a split of the weekend series with Case Kantgias scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist in a 6-3 win over the Ravens.
NEHC
After starting the season 0-3-1, Babson faced the daunting task of facing No. 10 Elmira on Friday night and No. 1 Hobart on Saturday. Apparently, some home-ice mojo fell into place as the Beavers upset both ranked teams to earn their first wins of the season. On Friday, the Beavers raced to a 3-0 lead only to see the Soaring Eagles respond with their own three-goal run that sent the game to the third period tied at 3-3. Ian Driscoll and Joseph Kramer netted the only goals of the period that gave the Beavers a big 5-3 upset win. On Saturday, Babson faced a Hobart team coming off a 10-0 win over Southern Maine. The Beavers took full advantage of goaltender Nate Mueller stopping 46 of 47 shots, including 18 in the third period, and Matt Cormier scoring a pair of goals as Babson toppled top-ranked Hobart by a 3-1 score.
After getting shutout at home on Friday by Hobart, Southern Maine regrouped and rallied for an overtime win over Elmira on Saturday. The Huskies trailed by a goal late in the third period when Matt Sullivan delivered a power play goal to tie the score with under two minutes remaining in regulation time. Neither team could score again in regulation, but give another power play opportunity, the Huskies took the thrilling win when Nolan McElhaney decided the contest just 39 seconds into the extra session with a 3-2 USM win. Cole Ouellette assisted on all three Huskie goals while Kyle Penton made 27 saves in goa to earn the win.
Norwich picked up a pair of wins to move to 3-2-0 on the season. On Friday, a three-goal second period helped the Cadets to a 4-3 decision over Massachusetts-Boston. On Saturday, Mikey MacKenzie scored a pair of goals and Bryce Walcarius made 21 saves to earn the shutout in a 6-0 win over Johnson & Wales.
SUNYAC
Plattsburgh had a “statement weekend” with SUNYAC wins over Geneseo and Brockport to move to 5-0-0 on the season. Friday night the Cardinals came out flying as Tio D’Addario scored just 59 seconds into the contest and Plattsburgh raced to a 4-0 lead in a 6-2 win over previously unbeaten Geneseo. On Saturday, things were a bit tighter against Brockport where the visitors held a 1-0 lead in the first period. Goals From Jake Lanyi in the second period and Spencer Bellina in the third period gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead and Joshua Belgrave iced the contest with an empty-net goal in the 3-1 win that kept PSU unbeaten on the season.
Oswego played a mid-week contest against Morrisville and skated away with an 8-2 win over the Mustangs. Forward Shane Bull had a six-point night scoring two goals and adding four assists in the lopsided Laker victory.
Fredonia and Buffalo State split their travel partner series over the weekend with each team taking a win as the visiting team. On Friday, the Bengals bested the Blue Devils by a 4-1 score. The visitors broke open a 1-1 tie with three unanswered goals to earn their first SUNYAC victory this season. On Saturday, Baxter Kimball’s two goals paced the Blue Devils in returning the favor of a win on the opposing team’s ice and earning their first win in SUNYAC play.
UCHC
Utica continued its winning ways in the UCHC with 6-2 and 7-3 wins over Chatham this weekend. Friday night saw the Pioneers score two goals in the first period and three in the second on the way to the 6-2 win over the Cougars. Brian Scoville picked up a pair of goals for the visitors in the win. On Saturday, Michael Herrera’s shorthanded goal started a four-goal onslaught that led the Pioneers to a comfortable 7-3 win. Herrera finished with two goals and an assist in the victory for Utica.
Wilkes moved to 4-1-0 on the season with a pair of wins over Manhattanville this weekend. The Colonels erased a 2-0 deficit with three goals in the second period including two in the final minute of play, just 29 seconds apart from Cam Lowe and Nick Swain that stood up for the win. On Saturday, Billy Berry was among eight goal scorers for the Colonels and the only player with more than one goal in a 9-1 rout of the Valiants. Goaltender Jack Perna made a combined 44 saves (21/23) to earn both road wins for Wilkes.
Three Biscuits
Chris Duclair – Hobart – scored a hat trick with two goals coming on the power play in the Statesmen 10-0 win over Southern Maine on Friday night.
Matthew Hennessey – Anna Maria – the freshman netminder stopped 51 of 52 shots in Tuesday’s 4-1 upset over previously unbeaten Plymouth State. Hennessey stopped 22 of 23 shots in the opening period and surrendering just one goal for the contest.
Nate Mueller – Babson – stopped 46 of 47 shots in the Beavers’ 3-1 upset win over No. 1-ranked Hobart on Saturday afternoon.
Bonus Biscuits
Andrew Kurapov – Endicott – scored the game-tying and overtime winning goals in Friday’s 3-2 road win over the University of New England on Friday night.
Shane Bull – Oswego – the Lakers forward netted a pair of goals and added four assists in Wednesday’s 8-2 romp over Morrisville.
Day-to-day and week-to-week there is already the randomness of results permeating the scoresheets across the different conferences. Teams can’t take any opponent for granted and the record isn’t often a good indication of the “fight in the dog.” Hope this continues for another few months as the drama on the ice this season has already been special, and we are only three weeks into the campaign.
