Another great weekend of hockey that continued to produce some big upsets where four ranked teams (Geneseo, Norwich, Trinity, and Salve Regina) in the east lost, playoff caliber hockey in several conferences where the races continue to tighten and a host of overtime games that produced a few sudden victory moments. Here is this week’s wrap-up of the rink action in the East:
CCC
The big series over the weekend was the Salve Regina v. University of New England home-and-home series that produced playoff caliber hockey on both nights. On Friday night, the Nor’easter fans had to wait quite awhile for the annual Teddy Bear toss as Seahawks goaltender Cayden Bailey kept the home team at bay until Dominic Murphy broke the ice in the second period for a 1-0 UNE lead. UNE kept up the pressure but a power play goal from Garrett Szeremley midway through the third period leveled the score at 1-1 and that was all the scoring that would happen through the remainder of regulation and overtime. Salve Regina took the shootout win with Bailey standing tall in goal recording 45 saves on 46 shots. On Saturday, the host Seahawks took one-goal leads three times only to see the Nor’easters battle back each time to tie the score at 3-3 to end regulation. In overtime, Kevin O’Keefe scored his second goal of the game and the game-winner to give UNE a big road win, 4-3. Th Nor’easters again held a marked advantage in shots, 55-25 with Bailey keeping Salve Regina in the game with 51 saves.
Endicott moved into a tie for first place in points with a weekend sweep of Nichols. After cruising to a 5-1 win on Friday against the Bison led by one goal and two assists from Michael Casey, the Gulls had a battle on Saturday. Endicott got on the board with just three seconds remaining in the first period off the stick of Kevin Craig for a 1-0 lead. Nichols answered in the second period and took the lead early in the third on a power play goal by Kaiden Scott. In the final two minutes of regulation time, Primo Self tied the game at 2-2 and Jackson Sterrett won the game in overtime for the visiting Gulls, 3-2.
Curry closed to within four points of first place with a weekend sweep over Western New England. Goals from Tao Ishizuka, JP Moreira, and Manny Cabral in the opening eight minutes of the first period were all the offense goaltender Shane Soderwall would need in the Colonel net as Curry skated away with a 3-2 win on Friday. On Saturday, Curry kicked the offense into high gear with Eelis Laaksonen scoring a pair of goals and George Vonakis adding three assists in a 6-0 shutout win over the Golden Bears. Soderwall made 22 saves to earn the shutout and help extend the Colonels win streak to five games.
Independents
Canton produced a three-win week with a pair of victories in a home-and-home series with Wilkes and a big win over Potsdam to close out the weekend. On Wednesday, the visiting Kangaroos used Evan Pringle’s third period goal to take a 3-2 lead and held off the Colonels over the final eight minutes to take a big road win. Back at home on Friday, the Roos found themselves deadlocked at 2-2 in the final minute of regulation when Scott Cremen scored for a 3-2 lead and Nic Herringer iced the game with his tally with seven seconds remaining on the clock in a 4-2 win and sweep of Wilkes. Trey Miller made 48 saves, including 23 in the third period to earn the win in goal. On Saturday, Canton kept the momentum going with a comfortable 5-0 win over Potsdam. Pringle picked up a goal and two assists while Nic Herringer added two goals and Cremen chipped in with two assists for the Kangaroos.
Anna Maria hosted Rivier on Friday night and the game was tied at 1-1 entering the third period. Three AmCat goals, including two from Guillaume Coulombe, provided the margin of victory in a 4-1 win over the Raiders. On Saturday, non-conference foe Amherst stole the playbook from Anna Maria by taking advantage of three third period goals to break open a 3-2 game and skate off with a 6-2 win over the AmCats. Ben Ritter scored two goals for the Mammoths while Zachary Murray scored a goal and added two assists.
MASCAC
Massachusetts-Dartmouth continued their winning hockey with a 7-4 win over Salem State on Thursday extending their win streak to six games. A four goal third period that included a pair of goals from Alex Walker erased a 4-3 deficit on the way to the win over the Vikings. Plymouth State also continued their winning ways on Thursday with a 7-2 win over Framingham State. Three goals in the second period and four in the third period helped the first place Panthers ease past the Rams and setup Saturday’s matchup with second place UMD on Saturday. On Saturday, both teams were generating chances with PSU outshooting the Corsairs by a 43-38 margin. Six different Panthers scored goals and Kalle Andersson stopped all 38 shots he faced in a 6-0 shutout win to keep PSU unbeaten in MASCAC play.
Fitchburg State ended a three-game losing streak with a pair of conference wins over Worcester State and Westfield State. On Thursday, Alexandre Bauvais and Hunter Dunn scored two goals each to pace a 6-1 win over the Lancers. On Saturday, the Falcons kept the offense going with Bauvais picking up a three-point game with a goal and two assists while Michael Imala added two goals and an assist in a 6-2 road win over the Owls.
NE-10
Assumption hosted St. Anselm for two games and came away with a split with the Hawks. On Friday night, Hunter Brackett’s hat trick that featured an even-strength goal, a shorthanded goal and a power play goal helped the hawks take a 5-2 win over the first place Greyhounds. On Saturday, Leo Piandes and Ronny Paragallo each scored one goal and added an assist to help Assumption earn a split of the weekend series with a 4-1 win. Clement Labillois stopped 33 of 34 shots in goal to earn the win.
Franklin Pierce swept a weekend series with St. Michael’s with 2-0 and 4-2 wins. On Friday, Cody Rumsey provided all the scoring and goaltender Jeremy Connor stopped all 45 shots he faced in the Raven goal for the 2-0 shutout win. On Saturday, the Ravens came back from a 2-1 deficit with three third period goals to earn a 4-2 win. Matt Horan opened and closed the scoring for the Ravens while Rumsey assisted on a pair of goals in the final period. Connor was again solid in net stopping 37 of 39 Purple Knight attempts.
Southern New Hampshire also picked up a weekend sweep of games in their series with Post. On Friday, a late second period goal by Brendan Lynch on the power play was the only goal of the contest as Zach Richards and Collin Berke were both outstanding in net for their respective teams. Berke finished with 39 saves to earn the 1-0 shutout win for the Penmen while Richards stopped 30 of 31 in a losing effort for the Eagles. On Saturday, Matt Amante scored two goals and assisted on three others as the Penmen skated away with a comfortable 6-1 win to earn the sweep over Post.
NEHC
Hobart took care of two games on home ice with wins over Babson and Southern Maine to stay atop the conference standings. On Friday night, Damon Beaver earned the shutout win making 25 saves which established a new career shutout record at Hobart for the sophomore netminder. Hobart’s tenth shutout of the season also established a new single season mark as the Statesmen downed the Beavers 5-0 with help from a pair of goals by Tristan Fasig. On Saturday, Hobart faced a determined Southern Maine squad fresh off a 4-4 overtime tie with Elmira and routed the Huskies 9-1. Ignat Belov scored a pair of goals while Jonah Alexander had a four-point game with a goal and three assists.
Skidmore extended their win streak to five games with a sweep of their home-and-home series with travel partner VSU-Castleton. On Friday night, the Thoroughbreds used goals from Danny Magnuson, Ryan Waltman, Jaden York, and Cooper Rice to skate off with a 4-1 road win. On Saturday, special teams’ goals were in abundance with five included in the 5-3 Skidmore win. Jack Strauss scored a pair of goals, including one shorthanded while Magnuson and Rice added power play goals in the third period. Andrew Stefura scored twice on the man advantage for the Spartans in the loss.
Norwich had a week of shutouts in three games that netted them only one win. On Tuesday against in-state rival Middlebury, goaltender Jake Horoho stopped 21 Cadet shots to earn a 3-0 shutout win over the Cadets. On Friday, Norwich netminder Bryce Walcarius stopped all 17 shots by Johnson & Wales as the Cadets returned to conference play with a 4-0 shutout win over the Wildcats. On Saturday, Beacon Sam Best stopped all 33 shots by Norwich and Jakob Teply scored late in the third period to help Massachusetts-Boston upset the Cadets, 1-0 in NEHC action.
After tying Southern Maine on Friday, Elmira rebounded with a solid 4-1 win over Babson on Saturday. The Beavers took a 1-0 first period lead on a goal by Matt Cormier but the Soaring Eagles would score four unanswered goals from Jared Smith, Ryan Reifler, Jordan Gonzalez and Amedeo Mastrangeli to cruise to a 4-1 win. Kyle Curtin stopped 30 of 31 shots in the win.
NESCAC
Trinity was ready for a very hot Tufts team on Friday night as the Bantams saw Devon Tongue score late in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and Casey Rhodes added an insurance goal into the empty-net for a 3-1 win over the Jumbos. On Saturday, the game was again tight against Connecticut College as Tongue’s first period goal was over-matched by Camel tallies from Seth Stadheim and Jack Luca in the second period. Sean Dynan made the 2-1 score stand for a Camel upset win making 16 of his 25 saves for the game in the final period to knock the Bantams from the ranks of the unbeaten in NESCAC play.
Hamilton enjoyed a very successful weekend with a conference win over travel partner Amherst before upsetting No. 2 Geneseo on Saturday night. Against the Mammoth, Alex Danis scored a hat trick in the first two periods for the Continentals who raced to a 7-3 lead after 40 minutes of play. The Mammoth would not go quietly as three third period goals, including Ben Kuzma’s second of the game closed the score to 7-6 but that was as close as Amherst would get in an exciting, goal-filled game. On Saturday, the Continentals kept their momentum against Geneseo with Danis contributing a goal to Hamilton’s 3-2 lead after the first period over the Knights. A power play goal early in the second period from Luke Panchisin tied the game at 3-3 but Max Wutzke scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the game for a 4-3 lead and win. Jack Grant stopped 41 of 44 shots to earn the victory including 30 saves in the final two periods.
Middlebury continued their solid play in front of their hot netminder Jake Horoho earning a win over Colby and an overtime tie with Bowdoin. On Friday night, the opportunistic Panthers scored four goals on eleven shots in the first two periods and Horoho made 28 saves in a 4-1 win over the Camels. On Saturday, the Panthers took a 2-1 lead into the third period against the Polar Bears but Andy Stoneman scored in the final minute of regulation time to tie the score at 2-2. The game ended in an overtime tie with Alex Kozic making 26 saves for Bowdoin while Horoho stopped 17 of 19 shots for Middlebury.
SUNYAC
While Geneseo took care of business with an 8-2 win over Brockport on Friday night to re-open SUNYAC play, Oswego picked up a pair of wins to move into a tie with the Knights atop the conference standings. On Friday, Cal Schell made 26 saves to earn the shutout and five different Lakers scored goals in a 5-0 win over Fredonia. On Saturday, AJ Ryan scored a pair of goals in a 5-1 win over Buffalo State. Shane Bull chipped in with a goal and an assist while Schell stopped 30 of 31 shots in the win.
Plattsburgh returned to SUNYAC action with a home game against Morrisville and after ceding Robert Haak’s opening goal for the Mustangs, the Cardinal offense took off with five first period goals. Adam Tretowicz’s first of the night tied the score at 1-1 before Joshua Belgrave and Tretowicz gave the Cardinals a two-goal lead with tallies just 30 seconds apart. Later in the period Tio D’Addario and Luk Jirousek scored goals just eleven seconds apart for a 5-1 lead and the Cardinals cruised to an 8-2 win.
In a game that saw all the scoring in the opening 20 minutes of play, Cortland and Fredonia skated to a 2-2 overtime tie on Saturday night. Logan Dyck stopped 40 of 42 shots to preserve the tie for the Blue Devils who rallied from an early 2-0 deficit. The Red Dragons made up their postponed date with Buffalo State on Sunday afternoon in a seesaw affair where both teams battled back from deficits throughout the contest. Tyler Penree scored to give the Bengals a 1-0 lead just 20 seconds into the game and the teams exchanged goals into the final minute where Cameron Knowlton gave Cortland a 3-2 lead after one period of play. Cortland’s Sutton Donegan extended the lead to 4-2 in the second period but Buffalo state responded with a pair of goals in first three minutes of the third period to knot the game at 4-4. Devlin O’Kane once again gave the Red Dragons a one-goal lead at 5-4 and Cortland held on for the win with goaltender Jack Riedell making 23 saves in the win.
UCHC
Stevenson extended their win streak to four games with a weekend sweep of Chatham. Friday night saw Stevenson take a 1-0 lead into the third period and stretch that advantage early in the final period on a goal by Eric Olson. The Cougars scored twice to tie the game at 2-2 before Malcom Palmer netted the game-winning goal on the power play midway through the period for a 3-2 win. On Saturday, the Mustangs held a decisive advantage in shots, 49-31 for the game but the game was scoreless through more than two and a half periods of action due to exceptional goaltending from Chatham’s Louis Finnegan and Stevenson’s Ty Outen. Rhett Evjen’s late goal and Frank Vitucci’s empty-netter provided all the scoring in a 2-0 Stevenson win.
With Friday’s game against Alvernia re-scheduled to Tuesday, January 23, Arcadia played a thrilling one-goal game at home against the Golden Wolves on Saturday. Alvernia took three one-goal leads only to see the Knights rally back before taking a 4-3 lead that the visitors answered back in the third period. With the score tied at 4-4, Donnie Feldman scored his third goal of the game for the first ever hat trick in program history to give the Knights a 5-4 lead and win over Alvernia. Mike Kocsis also contributed heavily with two goals and two assists in the Arcadia win.
Weather was a factor across the region as Utica saw its Friday night contest with Lebanon Valley moved to Sunday. On Saturday, the Pioneers took a 3-1 lead early in the third period only to see Cade Helmer cut the deficit to one goal for the Flying Dutchmen. Power play goals from Khristian Acosta and Matt Wood, his second goal of the game helped to seal the 5-2 win for the Pioneers. With the early start on Sunday, Andrew Della Rovere wasted not time in getting the Pioneers off and running just 17 seconds after the opening face-off for a 1-0 lead. The lead quickly turned to 3-0 after one period and 4-0 with Brian Scoville’s goal just over a minute and a half into the second period. Nicolas Haviar put the icing on the cake scoring a natural hat trick to close out a 7-1 win and weekend sweep of LVC.
Three Biscuits
James Tepper – Colby – scored a hat trick and added an assist in a 9-1 win over Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
Damon Beaver – Hobart – stopped all 25 shots he faced in the Statesmen goal picking up a 5-0 shutout win over Babson on Friday. The shutout set a new season team record for Hobart (10) and was beaver’s 12th in is career also setting a new mark at Hobart.
Alex Dameski – Geneseo – scored a hat trick to lead the Geneseo Knights in an 8-2 win over Brockport on Friday night.
Bonus Biscuits
Alex Danis – Hamilton – scored a hat trick in the opening forty minutes of play in the Continentals 7-6 win over Amherst.
Sam Best – Massachusetts-Boston – stopped all 33 shots he faced in a 1-0 upset win over Norwich on Saturday. The shutout was Best’s seventh as a Beacon breaking the school record.
Donnie Feldman – Arcadia – scored a hat trick to lead Arcadia to a 5-4 win over Alvernia. Feldman’s hat trick was the first in program’s history.
There is literally zero margin for error in any matchup in conference or out as teams are gearing up for the stretch run. Upsets and overtime thrillers are abundant and are seemingly the norm as we move the schedule into late January. Lots of big conference games amongst key contenders on tap in the next few weeks so stay tuned – it is going to be a great ride to the finish!
