Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
- Army West Point sets an Atlantic Hockey scoring record
Army West Point swept a home series against Mercyhurst with 9-1 and 13-1 wins, setting an Atlantic Hockey record for goals scored in a game.
https://www.twitter.com/ArmyWP_Hockey/status/1878238897399841196
In that 13-goal game, the Black Knights led 2-1 after the first before they began to roll, starting with Mac Gadowsky’s first goal of the night at 5:07.
From Gadowsky’s second goal at 9:17 through Brent Keefer’s marker at 18:42, Army scored six times. The last three goals in the period were scored within a span of two minutes and two seconds.
Of course, several Black Knights had multipoint games. Nils Forselius had a goal and five assists, the first player nationally to record a six-point game.
Keefer and Gadowsky each had two goals and Nick Hong recorded his second career hat trick. Hong’s first goal of the night was the game winner and with the three tallies, Hong has eight goals on the season – one more than he had in 35 games last year.
Army outshot Mercyhurst 45-19. Starting Lakers’ goalie Simon Bucheler was relieved in the third period by Carter McPhail. Jacob Biron came in for Army in the third period after JJ Cataldo stopped 13-of-14 through the first 40 minutes of the game.
The sweep was the second of the season for Army.
- Minnesota Duluth upsets No. 10 St. Cloud State
Max Plante had a goal each night and Klayton Knapp earned his first career back-to-back wins – including his first career shutout – as Minnesota Duluth swept No. 10 St. Cloud State, 2-0 and 5-2, in NCHC play.
The sweep was the first at home this year for the Bulldogs, and the two wins extend their home dominance over the Huskies to six games.
Watch Dominic James getting a stick on a shot by Tyson Gross midway through the second period of Friday’s game, with Knapp doing all he can to take up space low in the net.
https://www.twitter.com/UMDMensHockey/status/1877902135905444011
Knapp had 28 saves in the shutout and stopped 20 of 22 the following night.
- It’s super tight in the NCHC
Duluth’s sweep makes the NCHC even tighter than it was a week ago. Six points separate the three teams at the top of the standings – Arizona State, Western Michigan, North Dakota – from the two teams tied for seventh place in the eight-team league.
With No. 4 Western Michigan sitting out the weekend, No. 14 North Dakota and No. 16 Arizona State split a series in Mullett Arena. Four different Sun Devils scored in Arizona State’s 4-1 Friday night win, while Cameron Berg and Sacha Boisvert played the hero roles in North Dakota’s 4-3 overtime win Saturday.
Berg had the tying goal for the Fighting Hawks with 28 seconds left in regulation, and this is what Boisvert did at 2:19 in OT.
https://www.twitter.com/UNDmhockey/status/1878275542564151630
Omaha swept No. 13 Colorado College at home, 5-2 and 3-1. Brady Risk earned his second career hat trick in Friday’s contest and UNO goaltender Simon Latkoczy made 75 saves on the weekend as the Tigers outshot the Mavericks 78-59 in the series.
No. 6 Denver swept Miami on the weekend, 4-1 and 6-2, keeping pace with the Mavericks in conference play.
The three first-place NCHC teams each have 19 points, followed by Omaha and Denver with 17 each. St. Cloud State sits alone in sixth place with 14 points and Minnesota Duluth and Colorado College each has 13 points.
Miami is in last place with one conference point, and the RedHawks remain the only D-I team without a conference win this season.
- There isn’t much breathing room in Hockey East, either
Three sweeps and two splits in Hockey East created movement in the conference standings but not so much space.
Heading into the weekend, No. 7 Maine was in the top spot with 18 points and remains there after sweeping No. 8 UMass Lowell, 3-1 and 2-1.
Prior to the weekend, four teams – Boston University, Boston College, Lowell, Providence – were knotted with 17 points each. No. 15 BU’s sweep of Vermont (6-1, 7-4) puts the Terriers in second place, a point behind the Black Bears.
No. 2 Boston College falls to third place after splitting a home-and-home series with Merrimack, losing 5-2 Friday and winning 4-1 Saturday.
The biggest Hockey East winner of the weekend was Connecticut. With their 4-1 and 3-2 wins over No. 17 New Hampshire, the Huskies are now tied with the Eagles in third place, each team with 20 points.
UMass drops from second place to fourth, tied with Providence, who did not play. Merrimack overtook Vermont, Northeastern and Massachusetts split the weekend, and New Hampshire remains in last place.
- And it’s just plain exciting in the Big Ten
Following up a spectacular weekend of hockey for the Frozen Confines in Wrigley Field, the Big Ten put on a big show with six teams in action – and results that show that no team in this league can be overlooked.
No. 11 Ohio State and No. 3 Minnesota split a pair of lopsided games in Columbus, with the Buckeyes winning 5-1 Friday and Minnesota following that up with a 6-1 Saturday win.
Mason Nevers, in his first action after sitting out seven games with an injury, had the Saturday game winner for the Gophers in the first period.
https://www.twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1878228462894252443
Ten points separate first-place Michigan State (28) from fifth-place Michigan (18). The Gophers are one point behind the Spartans, the Buckeyes are four behind Minnesota, and Wisconsin – the only unranked team among the top five B1G programs – are two ahead of Michigan.
- Welcome to the Isaac Howard Show
Michigan State’s Isaac Howard had 13 goals heading into the Spartans’ series against Penn State last weekend. Now the junior forward has 18 after scoring four in Friday’s 6-4 over the Nittany Lions and adding another in Saturday’s 2-2 tie.
Here’s the goal that earned Howard his first career hat trick Friday night.
https://www.twitter.com/MSU_Hockey/status/1877899535596278199
Howard became the top scorer in the nation with his four goals and an assist Friday and that did not change following Saturday’s game.
Howard had six goals in 36 games with Minnesota Duluth as a rookie before transferring to Michigan State last season. In 36 games with the Spartans last year, he netted eight.
- But then this happened Saturday
After their 6-4 loss in a physical back-and-forth game – and one in which they were uncharacteristically outshot 45-33 – the Nittany Lions tied the No. 1 team in the nation on Ben Schoen’s power-play goal at 18:16 in the third Saturday.
https://www.twitter.com/PennStateMHKY/status/1878249690560360958
The goal was Schoen’s third of the season and his second on the power play.
The Nittany Lions, last place in the Big Ten, earned their first Big Ten win of the season Jan. 5 when they shut out Notre Dame. In January, Penn State is 1-2-1 in B1G play.
- Army West Point wasn’t alone in lighting the lamp
While the Black Knights were the only team to hit double digits in a single game on the weekend, winning teams scored six or more goals in 14 different games on the weekend.
Among the losing teams in those contests, one hit the back of the net six times. Ferris State lost to St. Thomas 9-6 Friday before the Tommies secured the sweep with their 4-3 win Saturday.
Additionally, 10 teams capped their winning scores at five goals.
- Take, for example, No. 9 Michigan and Notre Dame
Speaking of scoring, Notre Dame and Michigan put up 19 goals in their split in South Bend. On the strength of a three-goal second period Friday, Michigan took the first game 5-3.
Notre Dame returned the favor in Saturday’s 7-4 win, scoring three second-period goals within a 32-second span.
Danny Nelson’s goal at 6:09 in the second period of Notre Dame’s win gave the Irish a 5-1 lead and stood as the game-winning marker as the Wolverines went on to find the net twice later in the second period and once in the third.
https://www.twitter.com/NDHockey/status/1878236129561817097
In Notre Dame’s win, Justin Janicke registered his first career hat trick, first career multi-goal game and a career-best five points.
- And in seven games, there was no scoring for the losing teams
Seven different goalies earned shutout wins on the weekend. There was Klayton Knapp in the first of Minnesota Duluth’s two wins over St. Cloud Friday night.
Also Friday, Connor Hasley set a Bentley Hockey single-season record with his fifth career shutout in some Falcon-on-Falcon crime when Bentley beat Air Force 1-0.
https://www.twitter.com/BentleyHockey/status/1877922882195464223
In his second shutout of the season, Lindenwood’s Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 23 saves in the Lions’ 3-0 road win over Stonehill.
Massachusetts and Northeastern exchanged shutout wins in their weekend series. In his first game back from the IIHF World Juniors, Michael Hrabal made 41 saves for his second shutout of the season in UMass’s 5-0 win Friday. Cameron Whitehead had 35 saves for the Huskies Saturday in their 3-0 win.
Matej Marinov posted 25 saves in his third shutout win of the season Saturday when No. 20 Quinnipiac beat Princeton 3-0.
In just his third start of the season, Michigan Tech’s Ryan Manzella stopped all 21 shots he faced in the Huskies’ 1-0 win over Lake Superior State Saturday. The shutout was the first of his career.
