Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Upsets everywhere
It was a rough week for teams in the USCHO Poll. Nine of the top 15 suffered losses, including No. 1 St. Cloud (7-2 to No. 14 Union), No. 2 Massachusetts (2-1 to UMass-Lowell), and No. 5 Quinnipiac (5-4 to Colgate).
Also dropping games were Notre Dame (ranked sixth), Penn State (ninth), Northeastern (11th), Bowling Green (12), North Dakota (13), and Union (14th). All but St. Cloud lost to unranked teams.
2. The Griffs were indeed Golden
The biggest upset occurred in Buffalo, where Canisius swept host North Dakota 3-1, and 2-1. The heroes for the Golden Griffins were goaltenders Blake Weyrick and Matt Ladd, who combined to stop 80 of 82 shots by the Fighting Hawks, who held Canisius to just 30 in the two games.
Saturday was just the second collegiate start for Ladd, who joined the team just before Christmas.
“It’s a huge moment for Canisius and for our hockey program,” said Canisius coach Trevor Large after the game on Saturday. “It happens to be our time to make some noise on the national stage and I could not be prouder or happier of the effort our team displayed tonight.”
North Dakota, which entered the series 26-0 all-time against Atlantic Hockey competition, fell from 16th to 22nd in the Pairwise Rankings.
“(Moving up) is going to be really hard,” UND captain Colton Poolman told the Grand Forks Herald. “These were our last two nonconference games. We knew how critical they were. And we lost. At the end of the day, whatever excuses, we don’t do that here at North Dakota. That’s not part of our program.”
3. Ice, Ice, Vegas
Western Michigan captured the Ice Vegas Invitational on Saturday, defeating Air Force 4-1. Broncos goaltender Trevor Gorsuch stopped all but two of 48 combined shots and was named tournament MVP.
Connecticut defeated St. Lawrence 6-3 in the consolation game.
4. Two wins at Three Rivers
Brown defeated host Robert Morris as well as No. 14 Union to capture the Three Rivers Classic Tournament in Pittsburgh.
There were a total of 36 goals scored in the four games, including 20 in the semifinals, which included Union’s 7-2 win over No. 1 St. Cloud. The Huskies rebounded to defeat Robert Morris in the consolation game.
Brown senior Alex Brink, who had a pair of goals and a pair of assists, was named tournament MVP
5. Every second counts
It looked like Niagara and Rochester Institute of Technology were going to overtime for the second night in a row on Saturday, but puck luck intervened to give the Tigers a 2-1 win in the final seconds.
With less than two ticks on the clock remaining, RIT’s Adam Brubacher’s no-look centering pass glanced off a Niagara defender and over the shoulder of Purple Eagles net minder Brian Wilson.
“We’ve talked about finishing out games better and did that tonight,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “This win gives us confidence as we head into the grind of our schedule and go out on the road the next few weekends.”
RIT now leads the season series 2-0-1. The teams will tangle again on Feb. 27.
6. Sun Devils sweep
Arizona State continues to impress, sweeping visiting Boston College, 5-2 and 2-0. It was the seventh series sweep so far this season for the 15th-ranked Sun Devils (16-7-1).
Boston College outshot Arizona State in both games, but Sun Devils goaltender Joey Daccord made 67 saves on the weekend. Daccord is fourth nationally in save percentage (.933)
7. Tight games, tight races
Every conference game this past weekend in Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East and ECAC Hockey was decided by a goal or less, a total of 12 contests.
All three conferences are locked in tight races going into the second half of the season. Air Force has a one-point lead in Atlantic Hockey, while the other two conferences feature ties for the first place: Quinnipiac and Yale in ECAC Hockey and Boston College and Massachusetts Hockey East. The first through fourth place teams in all three leagues are separated by three points or less.
8. White out
Michigan defeated Notre Dame 4-2 outdoors on Saturday, in front of 23,422 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Wolverines scored three times in a five-minute span in the first period to essentially put the game away.
The Wolverines decided to go with an all-white look, which had to make it challenging to see the action for fans in the cheap seats.
9. Settling for silver
The United States fell to Finland 3-2 in the gold medal game of the World Juniors Tournament on Saturday, with Finland’s Kaapo Kakko’s goal with 1:26 left standing up as the game winner.
St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling was named the tournament MVP, racking up five goals and three assists for the United States.
It’s the fourth consecutive medal for Team USA, which won gold in 2017 and bronze in 2016 and 2018.
10. Streaks snapped
The three longest unbeaten streaks came to an end, with St. Cloud (10 straight games without a loss), Northeastern (eight) and Bowling Green (seven) all suffering defeats.
Western Michigan (7-0-1) and Providence (5-0-3) now hold the longest active unbeaten streak at eight games.
Lake Superior State has the longest current outright winning streak (6-0).
