I’ve not been around the sport as long as some, but I believe I’ve been involved with it enough to say once again that we’re at the best point the sport [D-III Hockey] has ever been in terms of parity from what we’ve seen. Week-after-week, we continue to see upset-after-upset, something that wasn’t as common before when dealing with the top 5-10 ranked teams-specifically. Sure, we’d see plenty when it was outside of the top 10 but seeing the number of “upsets” in both men’s and women’s D-III hockey regardless of ranking, it sometimes becomes repetitive and difficult to say a game with a ranked vs unranked opponent was an “upset”, when it’s becoming the ever-common reality.
Moving past that, here’s your featured highlights from the East this past week!
Univ. Southern Maine pull off a program-changing victory
On Friday, Univ. Southern Maine had a first in program history, they defeated #12 Elmira 1-0, which included a few firsts…
USM all time vs Elmira was 0-5 entering the game, nor had they ever scored a goal against them, being previously shutout the past five matchups since 2021. Well, that all changed Friday.
There was a single goal in this game, USM’s Olivia Stewart delivered the winning goal very early in the opening period at 4:33 into the 1st. It’s quite remarkable the goal held up for the remainder of the game considering the opponent they faced in Elmira.
Southern Maine goaltender Haley McKim had her signature win to go along with her stellar season she’s had thus far, currently sitting with a 7-5-2 record, but holds a stat line of 1.41 GAA and .960 save-percentage. She made 38 saves in the shutout win over the Soaring Eagles. Some career achievements for her also included tying USM career shutouts (15) & single-season shutouts (6).
Penalties were even at four per team for eight minutes and shots were in favor of Elmira 38-14.
For Elmira, they continue to soul-search in terms of stringing some wins together, especially against high-caliber opponents. They’ve been switching up goaltenders as of late which is an odd move considering the normal starter Leonie Kuehberger is rolling with a GAA of 1.16 & save-% of .927 against the best of the Soaring Eagles schedule, but maybe Coach Greg Haney feels this will give the team a needed “jolt” to help them win games.
Here’s the Southern Maine Huskies Hall of Fame Broadcaster Jim Ward’s game-winning-call as a time expired, volume warning, CLICK HERE.
Wesleyan shock #3 Amherst
Another major shock like the one we just discussed in Gorham, ME, we move south to Amherst, MA where Wesleyan pulled off their 2nd win vs Amherst since 2003, a year in which they defeated Amherst twice. Overall, the Mammoths have owned the all-time series vs the cardinals, holding a record of 43-9-3.
In this game, Wesleyan got to business first, scoring at 9:12 of the 1st period, it was Shannon Burke who got the Cardinals up 1-0 which held up all the way until the 3rd period.
In the 3rd, things got a little busier, Anna Baxter got Amherst on the board a quick 5:05 into the period to tie it up at one apiece. This all changed when Wesleyan’s Isabelle Allieri won the game with under five minutes to go, scoring at 16:23.
Wesleyan goaltender Rei Halloran made 30 saves in the historic Cardinal win, while Amherst’s star goalie Natalie Stott made 14.
UMass-Boston shutout #9 Norwich
To add to the common theme of the weekend, the Beacons of UMass-Boston defeated #9 Norwich for the first time since 2016, the second victory for UMass since 2010 over Norwich who owns the overall series at 25-5-1.
In this game, the Beacons on the stat sheet got owned, but on the scoreboard, they rolled by. It was the “Cadets Fight Cancer” game, 1,193 in attendance, great to see for a women’s D-III hockey game.
Norwich won the shot battle 36-16, penalties were five for ten minutes on UMB, two for four minutes on Norwich.
The scoring began with a goal just before the midway mark in the opening period (8:26), it was Gianna Skrelja who got the Beacons up 1-0. The second UMB goal came in the final seconds of the 2nd period, scoring at 19:49 was Jenna Majewski, giving UMB the 2-0 lead.
Norwich would add a late powerplay goal (Neris Archambault) at 19:03.3 in the last minute of the game to cut the deficit in half, but it wasn’t enough and UMass-Boston gets a potential program-altering victory.
A notable achievement in this game that should be mentioned was Norwich’s star goaltender Leocadia Clark picking up her 1,000th career save during the 2nd period.
Legendary Middlebury Head Coach Bill Mandigo Wins #650
On another note, we saw the legendary Middlebury Head Coach Bill Mandigo win his 650th career game over the weekend when the Panthers got the weekend-sweep over Bowdoin. Mandigo is the winningest coach amongst all of NCAA Women’s hockey regardless of division.
Mandigo’s career record (via USCHO) is 650-168-54 (.776), he’s made 18 NCAA tournaments, won 16 league titles, & 18 regular-season league titles. He’s led a storied career that’s currently in its 36th year, nearing its eventual end, but will be remembered in the women’s hockey world forever, not just Division III.
