Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Minnesota blanks Michigan twice
The sentence “Michigan was shut out on back-to-back nights” isn’t very common in the English language. In fact, the last time that happened in a series was way, WAY back in January of 1943, when the Gophers’ Mack Thayer made 80 saves to shut out the Wolverines.
This past weekend, two goalies helped share the load for the Gophers, who are now 8-0 in the Big Ten and have won six straight since losing to Bemidji State on Nov. 16. On Friday, Nathan Airey earned his first collegiate shutout with 32 saves in a 6-0 win. And on Saturday, Liam Souliere got in on the action, with 22 saves in a 2-0 win.
2. WMU takes four points from Denver in epic series split
Western Michigan came within 64 seconds of an outright sweep of defending national champion Denver.
Instead, the Pioneers’ Samu Salminen scored late in Saturday night’s game to tie it up and Carter King netted the overtime game-winner to help Denver escape with two points in the series. However, it was WMU who earned the majority of the points and stayed atop the NCHC standings.
The Broncos beat the Pioneers 3-2 on Friday night, getting goals from Tim Washe, Matteo Costantini and Zack Sharp to earn the win. The Broncos, now 10-3-1, now go into Christmas break with a four-point lead on second-place Arizona State in the NCHC standings and will return to action Dec. 29 in the Great Lakes Invitational.
3. Providence sweeps CC as Leaman bests Mayotte
Coming into the weekend, the big storyline for the Providence-Colorado College matchup revolved around the programs’ head coaches. Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte was an assistant coach at Providence under Nate Leaman from 2014-2019.
After this weekend’s results, it seems that, at least for now, the mentor has bested the mentee. Providence beat Colorado College 4-3 and 5-1, as the Friars extended their winning streak to five. Nine different players scored for Providence on the weekend, while Taige Harding had four assists for the Friars in Saturday’s game.
Providence, who is 4-1-0 against NCHC teams this year, is off for the holidays and returns for the Ledyard Bank Classic Dec. 28. Colorado College returns to action next week against rivals Denver.
4. Dartmouth drops a pair for first time this season
A pair of 3-2 decisions went the wrong way for Dartmouth this weekend.
The Big Green, who started the season on a five-game win streak, dropped a pair of road games to St. Lawrence and Clarkson this past weekend, dropping to 6-3-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in ECAC play. On Friday, Dartmouth outshot St. Lawrence 31-19 but the Saints’ Mason Kucenski was the difference-maker in the game with 29 saves. On Saturday, Clarkson’s Ayrton Martino scored the game winner late in the third period to give the Golden Knights the victory.
The Big Green have one more game before the holiday break, and it should be a big one – a contest against in-state rival New Hampshire on Friday.
5. Colgate earns hard-fought split with Cornell
Elsewhere in the ECAC, there’s a little surprise: Colgate is sitting atop the league standings.
The Raiders, 8-8-2 overall and 5-2-1 in conference play, earned four of six points this weekend from Cornell to stay on top of second-place Quinnipiac.
On Friday night in Ithaca, the Raiders went up 2-0 with goals in the first two periods but let the Big Red back into it. Ryan Walsh’s power-play goal midway through the third period tied it at 2-2; Charlie Major won it for Cornell in overtime. On Saturday in Hamilton, the Raiders made sure not to let that happen, winning 6-3. The Raiders took a 3-1 lead late in the second period before two goals from Ondrej Psenicka, one seconds before the second period ended and the second just 1:42 into the third, tied it up at 3-3. However, the Big Red took a major penalty a minute later, and the Raiders took full advantage. Michael Neumeier and Reid Irwin scored on the man advantage 39 seconds apart to give Colgate a 5-3 lead, then Max Nagel put it away late in the period with an empty-netter.
Colgate is now off until Jan. 10, when they will host Long Island in nonconference action.
6. North Dakota fends off Miami to sweep in Oxford
North Dakota had to dig deep this weekend against Miami. In both games, Miami gave North Dakota fits, but ultimately the Fighting Hawks fended off the RedHawks both nights and escaped Oxford with a sweep.
On Friday night, Miami led 4-2 after two periods but UND scored three times in the third period to win 5-4. Ten different UND players recorded at least a point, including Sacha Boisvert–who scored the game-winner with 23 seconds left and also recorded an assist in the first period. In Saturday’s game, UND went up 2-0 early but Miami answered in the second period to tie it up going into the third period. Once again, the Fighting Hawks broke out in the final 20 minutes. Jackson Kunz, who netted a goal on Friday, scored the eventual game winner just three minutes into the third, then Jayden Perron gave UND some insurance five minutes later.
The Fighting Hawks, now 9-7-1 overall, host St. Cloud State this weekend to close out the first half of the season.
7. Sacred Heart, Bentley keep pace atop AHA standings
Sacred Heart completed a five-point weekend, and combined with Bentley’s four-point series, helped the Pioneers maintain a two-point lead in the Atlantic Hockey America standings this weekend.
The Pioneers, who are now 8-5-2 in AHA play, beat Canisius 4-2 on Friday behind a pair of goals by Reid Pabich. On Saturday the Griffins rallied from a 3-1 deficit to the the game but the Pioneers ultimately won the shootout 3-2. Bentley, meanwhile, also won 4-2 on Friday night, besting Mercyhurst behind two goals by Ethan Leyh. However, Saturday night’s game finished 2-2 and the Lakers took the extra point in the shootout.
The Pioneers have 29 points as the teams break for the holidays, with Bently sitting at 27. Niagara is in third with 27.
8. Minnesota State takes five points from BGSU, extends unbeaten streak to nine
When Minnesota State opened its CCHA schedule on Nov. 1 against longtime rivals Bemidji State, it did so in inauspicious fashion: a 1-0 shutout loss on the road.
Since then, however, it’s been all gas, no breaks for the Mavericks. They haven’t lost in regulation since.
On Saturday night, the Mavericks completed a five-point sweep of Bowling Green and extended their unbeaten streak to nine. MSU beat BGSU 4-1 on Friday thanks to a 20-save effort from Alex Tracy then dispatched the Falcons 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night when Rhett Pitlick scored twice, including the game winner in overtime.
This weekend’s results extended MSU’s unbeaten streak to nine games; they haven’t lost since that game in Bemidji in November and have been taken to a shootout twice (a win against St. Thomas and a loss to Northern Michigan).
9. UMass tops BU
UMass started its home-and-home series with Boston University on the perfect note.
The Minutemen blanked the Terriers 4-0 on Saturday night in Boston. Sophomore goaltender Michael Hrabal stopped all 32 shots he faced for UMass. Daniel Jenčko, Lucas Olvestad and Kenny Connors all scored on the power play for the Minutemen, while Ryan Lautenbach also scored. Lucas Mercuri also had four helpers for UMass, which improves to 8-6-2 overall.
BU, which is now 8-6-1 overall, hadn’t lost to the Minutemen at home since Feb. 1, 2019. The teams will head to Amherst for the series finale on Wednesday.
10. LIU splits with Vermont
Long Island has been one of the feel-good stories of the college hockey season so far.
The Sharks kept some of that going this weekend, splitting with Vermont and climbing up to No. 21 in the PairWise Rankings in the process.
On Friday, what was a night game going into the third period got interesting early, with Onni Leppänen broke a 1-1 tie just more than a minute into the final frame. Andrius Kulbis-Marino added the Sharks third goal on an empty-netter late in the period, but Max Strand helped the Catamounts get one back with a minute to go in the game. Tyriq Outen, who made 30 saves, helped the Sharks keep their lead with the extra attacker. On Saturday, however, Vermont won a wild 7-4 game. The teams combined for five goals in the first period and Austin Brimmer scored twice for LIU, but Thimas Sinclair likewise scored twice for Vermont to help the Catamounts hold on for the win.
The Sharks, now 8-6-1, take on fellow independent Stonehill next weekend to close out the first half of their season.
