Another weekend of thrilling hockey is in the books and the upsets continued along with a pair of 0-0 OT ties and nine overtime games in total where bonus hockey defined several wins for teams. Tuesday has become “Lose-day” for ranked teams as Albertus Magnus stole an overtime win over previously unbeaten Salve Regina by a score of 2-1. And that just set up what turned out to be another fantastic weekend of hockey with NESCAC joining in the action. Here is this week’s wrap-up of some terrific action in the East:
CCC
Endicott extended their unbeaten streak to five games with a weekend sweep of Wentworth. On Friday night, six different players scored goals in a convincing 6-2 win for the Gulls. Ryan Wilson stopped 24 of 26 shots to earn the win. Saturday night, Michael Casey, Connor Beatty, and Cass Bowes paced Endicott to a 3-0 lead on the way to a comfortable 4-1 win over the Leopards.
The University of New England also swept their weekend series with Suffolk with both games being battled right to the end. The Nor’easters scored one goal in each period and leaned on 36 saves from Billy Girard IV for a 3-1 decision over the Rams on Friday. Returning home for the Saturday matchup, UNE surrendered a first period goal to Suffolk’s Josh Milso that looked like it would stand up as the only goal of the contest. Juraj Elias had other ideas and tied the game with less than two seconds remaining in regulation before Ryan Kuzmich scored the game-winning goal just 12 seconds into overtime for a 2-1 win. Kannon Flageolle kept the Rams in the game making 56 saves in the losing effort for Suffolk.
Curry and Nichols split their two-game series with each team winning on the road. Friday night saw Tyler Bost stop 33 of 34 shots and Dylan McMahon and Sebastian Miedema score for the Bison in a 2-1 win for the visitors. Curry returned the favor on Saturday, rallying with two goals in the final five minutes of the third period to eke out a 3-2 win. Austan Bellefeuille tied the game with a power play goal and then set up Tauran Haddon-Harris for the game-winner just over two minutes later.
Following Tuesday’s OT loss to Albertus Magnus, Salve Regina returned to CCC play against Western New England in a Friday-Sunday two game series. On Friday, Cayden Bailey stopped all 14 shots from the Golden Bears in a 3-0 shutout win. Matthew Brunton, Ian Tookenay and Johnny Mulera scored for the Seahawks. Sunday saw the Seahawks travel for the re-match and skate away with a 3-1 win over WNE. Mulera, Matthew Fawcett and Garrett Szeremley each chipped in with a goal and an assist for the Seahawks.
Independents
Albertus Magnus hosted 6-0-0 Salve Regina on Tuesday night and the Falcons eked out a 2-1 overtime thriller over the No. 10 ranked Seahawks. Cameron Weitzman got the Falcons on the board late in the opening period and Logan Bateman made it look like that was the only goal the hosts would need to pull off the upset. Salve Regina wasn’t going to go away quietly, and Damon Zimmer tied the score at 1-1 in the final minute of regulation time. Overtime was necessary and Charles Lavoie made sure the home fans left happy with his goal at the three-minute mark of the extra session to help Albertus Magnus move back to .500 at 3-3-0 on the season.
Rivier played in-state foe Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday night and the Raiders exploded for five goals in the third period to capture a 6-2 win over the Penmen. Alfred Rotiroti scored two goals and added an assist in the five-goal outburst to pace Rivier to their second win of the season.
MASCAC
After an overtime tie with Fitchburg State on Thursday, Plymouth State remained unbeaten in conference play with an overtime win over Framingham State on Saturday night. Leading 2-1 entering the third period, the Panthers surrendered the tying goal just 16 seconds after the opening face-off. Josh Kagan returned the one-goal lead with under a minute and half remaining, but Framingham’s Matthew Nuzzolilo tied the game with the extra attacker on and just three seconds remaining on the clock. In overtime, the Panthers found victory off the stick of Anton Jellvik who scored with just over thirty seconds remaining in the extra session.
Westfield State took a pair of wins during the week starting with a 6-4 decision over Framingham State. Three power play goals and one shorthanded tally by Julian Bosclair, his second goal of the game helped the Owls take a seesaw battle with the Rams. Goaltender Kevin Chandler stopped 44 of 48 shots to earn the win. On Saturday, the Owls trailed Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 1-0 headed into the third period. Christopher Miraldo scored both Westfield goals late in the third period to earn a hard fought 2-1 win over the Trailblazers.
NE-10
St. Michael’s moved to 7-1-0 on the season with a pair of one-goal wins over rival St. Anselm. On Friday night, Zach Taylor scored late in the final period to tie the score at 3-3 and then won the game for the Purple Knights in overtime. On Saturday, it was Taylor again who tied the score at 2-2 before Ben Baxter scored the game-winning goal early in the third period. Marshall Murphy made 23 saves in the win that moved St. Michael’s to 5-1-0 in NE-10 play.
Assumption kept pace with the Purple Knights by sweeping their weekend series with Post. The Greyhounds had 2-0 and 3-2 leads only to see the Eagles tie the score each time. It took Jonathan Surrette’s overtime goal to give the Greyhounds a 4-3 win. On Saturday, the score was tied at 1-1 entering the third period Shane Sullivan, Leo Piandes and Surrette erupted for three unanswered goals to pace a 4-1 win.
NEHC
Skidmore has quietly moved to a 6-0-1 start after not surrendering a goal this weekend in an overtime tie with Norwich and a 2-0 win over New England College. Goaltender Tate Brandon made 50 saves in the two contests to backstop the Thoroughbreds among the remaining unbeatens in the east.
Babson continued their winning ways with a 5-4 overtime win over Johnson & Wales on Friday and a 6-1 decision over Massachusetts-Boston on Saturday. Friday night saw the Wildcats score four consecutive power play goals to erase a 1-0 deficit only to see the Beavers answer with three consecutive goals to level the score at 4-4 at the end of regulation. Ryan Murphy scored the game-winning goal just over two minutes into the extra session to earn the 5-4 win. On Saturday, the Beavers surrendered the opening goal to the Beacons but then reeled off the next six goals including a natural hat trick from Thomas Kramer to post a 6-1 win, their fourth in a row.
Hobart played host to a pair of SUNYAC teams and skated away with 4-0 and 3-1 wins over Buffalo State and Fredonia. On Friday, Damon Beaver stopped all 15 shots he faced and was supported by goals from Matthieu Wulf, Jonah Alexander, Artem Buzoverya, and Chris Duclair in the shutout win over the Bengals. Saturday saw the Baxter Kimball give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead before Duclair and Tanner Hartman erased the deficit in the second period. Kevin Lassman’s empty-net goal iced the 3-1 win for the Statesmen.
NESCAC
Trinity opened their season on the road and took a pair of wins over Tufts and Connecticut College. On Friday, two power play goals in the first period and two goals from Christian Hayes in the third period helped the Bantams cruise to a 5-1 win over the Jumbos. Against the Camels, the Bantams took advantage of a goal in each period and 16 saves from goaltender Devon Bobak in the 3-1 win.
Williams rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Bowdoin on Friday to win an overtime thriller off the stick of Jonah Gold. On Saturday, the Ephs dropped a 4-2 decision to Colby. Gold scored again for Williams who could not get more than two pucks past goaltender Andy Beran on thirty shots. On Friday, the Mules opened their season with a 0-0 overtime tie against Middlebury. Bowdoin felt the dagger of Friday’s overtime loss to Williams but rallied for an overtime win of their own on Saturday with Luke Wheeler scoring the decisive goal in a 4-3 win over the Panthers.
Wesleyan also won both road games to open the season in dramatic fashion. On Friday the Cardinals used goals from DJ Dixon and Owen Sweet along with 18 saves from Erik Voloshin in a 2-1 win over Conn College. Saturday offered a bit more excitement as Wesleyan took an early 2-0 lead with Tufts erased with four unanswered goals and a 4-2 lead after two periods of play. Patrick Morrissey and Jack Marottolo scored for the Cardinals to tie the game before Morrissey scored the deciding goal in overtime for a 5-4 win.
Hamilton opened their season against travel partner Amherst and skated off with a 3-0 win over the Mammoths. Charlie Archer made 33 saves to earn the shutout and was supported by goals from Ben Zimmerman, Max Wutzke and Ryan Sordillo. On Saturday, the Continentals went out-of-conference against Canton and needed Luke Tchor’s last minute goal to tie the score at 4-4 before William Neault scored the game winner just over a minute into overtime that gave Hamilton a second win on the weekend.
SUNYAC
Plattsburgh had a battle with Potsdam on Friday that saw the Cardinals escape with a 3-2 win. After Jack Loran tied the score at 2-2 for the Bears just over midway through the third period, PSU’s Paul Bryer scored a power play goal in the final two minutes of regulation to keep the Cardinals unbeaten on the season.
Geneseo had a statement weekend with wins over recent nemesis Cortland and long time rival, Oswego. On Friday the Knights started quickly with three first period goals from Mitch Machlitt, Alex Dameski and Alex Wilkins and held on for a 3-2 win. Goaltender Adam Harris made 37 saves in the win for the Knights. On Saturday, the Knights traveled to face an Oswego team coming off a 2-1 win over Brockport. Goals from Peter Morgan and Andrew Bruno helped the visitors to a 2-0 lead after two periods of play. The third period was where Adam Harris was at his best making 17 of his 40 saves for the game and earning the 2-1 victory despite Daniel Colabufo’s late goal for the Lakers.
UCHC
Utica has been sending clear messages to all opponents expecting to contend for the UCHC title this season – we are not interested in losing. Wilkes played host to the Pioneers and saw the visitors launch 50 shots on goal in Friday’s 5-0 loss. Vladislav Pshenichnikov scored twice and added an assist for the visitors in the comfortable win. Sunday afternoon was the second installment of the series and the Pioneers again started quickly with three goals in the first period on the way to a 5-1 win and weekend sweep of the Colonels. Dante Spagnuolo picked up his first goal as a Pioneer and added an assist in the win.
Alvernia moved to 5-1-0 in conference play with a road sweep over the weekend against Nazareth. On Friday, the Golden Wolves broke open a 1-1 game with three unanswered goals to earn a 4-1 win. Logan vande Meerakker scored two goals while goaltender Jackson Fellner made 31 saves in the win. On Saturday, Fellner was immense in goal stopping 47 of 48 shots as Alvernia eked out a 2-1 win with goals from Isaac Chapman and Robert Pizzey.
Stevenson moved to 3-2-1 in conference play with their first UCHC sweep of the season over Manhattanville. On Friday, all the goals came in the second period, but it was the home team who had two of them in a 2-1 win. Ty Outen made 29 saves in the win with Eric Olson scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal late in the middle stanza for the Mustangs. Saturday saw Frank Vitucci break a 1-1 tie in the third period and then setup Evan Beers’ empty-net goal for a 3-1 win over the Valiants.
Three Biscuits
Kurt Watson – Southern New Hampshire – scored two goals and added a pair of assists in leading the Pen men to a 6-2 win over Franklin Pierce on Friday night.
Charles Lavoie – Albertus Magnus – netted the overtime winning goal for the Falcons in a 2-1 win over previously unbeaten Salve Regina on Tuesday night.
Jonah Gold – Williams – scored the overtime winning goal to complete the Ephs comeback from two goals down in a 3-2 season opening win over Bowdoin.
Bonus Biscuits
Adam Harris – Geneseo – stopped 40 of 41 shots to help Geneseo hand Oswego their first loss in SUNYAC play with a 2-1 road win over the Lakers.
Zach Taylor – St. Michael’s – netted the game-tying goal in the third period and overtime winner for the Purple Knights in their 4-3 win on Friday night over St. Anselm.
Tate Brandon – Skidmore – stopped all 27 shots he faced in a 0-0 overtime tie with Norwich before following up with a 23-save shutout and 2-0 win over New England College on Saturday.
The battles through and extended beyond sixty minutes have demonstrated the discipline and will needed to gain successful outcomes in any contest and against any opponent so far this season. One can only imagine that kind of action is going to continue to provide conference drama as well as some dynamic outcomes for upcoming holiday tournaments this week.
