Coming off another weekend of women’s hockey out east we saw an upset occur ending a huge streak in the UCHC. Also, we see another relatively newly established team eying their first ever conference title in the CCC. Meanwhile, Cortland has been busy winning games after some wrote them off.
Manhattanville pulls off a Valiant upset
Prior to Friday’s game between the Valiants of Manhattanville (9-8-1) and the Golden Flyers of Nazareth (13-4-0) inside the “Playland Ice Casino” (I just enjoy saying the name Ice Casino if I’m being completely honest), there was a win streak of 36-straight UCHC games held by Nazareth on the line.
In this game, the scoring was scarce, the first goal not coming until late in the 1st period at the 19:43.1 mark on the powerplay by Nazareth’s Makenna Wiljanen. The 2nd period would be scoreless, and it wasn’t until early in the 3rd period when Manhattanville scored the equalizer on the powerplay (Grace Felicio, 2:28 of the 3rd). The winner would then be scored by Manhattanville’s Senior Forward Morgan Miller 3:23 into overtime. Goaltender Franny Gerardi made 39 saves for the Valiants only allowing one goal on 40 shots faced.
Manhattanville has another huge matchup as they visit #15 Connecticut College (10-7-1) tomorrow (Friday, February 3rd) who can be dangerous, depending on which team shows up that night as they’ve had their share of highs and lows this season. With that being said however, the USCHO voters & Pairwise seem to hold them in a higher regard than their record may suggest, so we’ll see what happens on Friday.
In terms of the UCHC, this Nazareth loss opens the door now for Utica who’s had an exceptional year, sitting at 13-0-1 in conference play (16-1-2 overall). The Pioneers, who are looking to win their first ever UCHC title in program history have 41 points, one point above Nazareth (40). These two teams will meet in their season finale in a two-game series in Nazareth on 2/17-18.
For Manhattanville, this was an important game as they’re looking to get the highest UCHC position possible, currently with 30 points in 3rd place, tied with Alvernia and 5 points above Chatham, but Alvernia has only played 14 games to Manhattanville & Chatham’s 16, so they can easily move back into the 3rd spot with a win. Should be interesting the rest of the way, especially the season ending series between the defending UCHC champion Nazareth and Utica.
Suffolk eying the CCC title
Suffolk’s an overlooked team that isn’t getting the credit they should. A program established in 2018 that was in the NEHC for two seasons and moved to the CCC where they’re in their 3rd year (incl. covid year of eight games). Currently the Rams sit in 1st place (13-5-1 overall, 11-1-1 in-conference) 5.5 points clear of 2nd place Endicott, both with an equal number of games played in-conference (13). This would be the first ever conference title for Suffolk, led by 5th year Head Coach Taylor Wasylk who has the Rams rolling along nicely considering how relatively new the team is.
Most recently, Suffolk got a weekend sweep of wins vs the up-and-coming Western New England, winning 5-0 & 2-1. The weekend leaders for points were Suffolk’s Jenna Caballero (2 goals, 1 assist), Sam Molind (1 goal, 1 assist), Miranda Gaudet (1 goal, 1 assist), and Jesse Kennedy (2 assists). Goaltender Lily O’Neil recorded 27 saves in the 5-0 shutout victory, while goaltender Hannah Gordon recorded 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 victory.
Next up for Suffolk is a road game tomorrow (Friday February 3rd) vs University of New England at 7pm ET and then they host Nichols on Saturday at 4:50pm ET (I’m always curious how some of these start-times are decided).
Welcome back Cortland?
It’s been an odd season for Cortland as they made a run last season and due to their slow start this season of 4-3-0, they were written off by many and have been making a comeback. Winning 11 of their last 12 games, including an 1-0 shutout win over (current ranking) #4 Plattsburgh, their only loss in that stretch coming to #5 Hamilton who’s been on fire as of late vs top competition.
Currently in 2nd place in the NEWHL holding a record of 15-4-0 overall and 10-2-0 in-conference behind #1 Plattsburgh who’s 12-1-0 in-conference. Plattsburgh has tallied a 10-game win streak since their 1-0 loss to Cortland (first time Plattsburgh had been shutout since November 24, 2018 vs Adrian, the Bulldogs won 1-0). The NEWHL tournament should be interesting as last year the Red Dragons & Cardinals met in the final with Plattsburgh winning 4-3 in OT, scoring a quick 59 seconds into the extra period.
Cortland hits the road this weekend for a nice wintery five-hour drive to the North Country where they face #4 Plattsburgh on Friday/Saturday at 7pm/3pm ET.