Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. No. 1 BU keeps rolling
Boston University did nothing to convince voters it shouldn’t retain the No. 1 spot in the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll with a resounding sweep at Vermont over the weekend. Five different Terriers scored in a 5-2 win on Saturday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse, which followed a 5-1 win one night earlier.
“We’ve talked about Hockey East being tough to sweep in,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “I thought Vermont played hard. We went out there trying to get six points, and we did.”
The Terriers have now won seven straight games and haven’t trailed over the last five-plus hours (319 minutes and five seconds to be exact) of game play dating back to the beginning of December.
BU has not lost at Vermont since 2016.
2. BC rebounds with sweep vs. Merrimack
Falling behind by two goals in the first period at Merrimack on Friday night, it would have been natural to suspect the No. 2 team in the USCHO.com poll, Boston College, was looking ahead to next week’s huge showdown with No. 1 BU. But the Eagles put that notion to rest starting with the second period, as BC rallied from a 2-0 hole for a 6-4 win on the Warriors’ home ice. Two days later at the Silvio O. Conte Forum, BC earned an emphatic 6-2 win to improve to 16-4-1 overall.
“If they were, Merrimack sure took that out of us in the first period Friday night,” said BC coach Greg Brown, responding to a reporter’s inquiry on whether or not the Eagles were looking past the Warriors. “I don’t think they were doing that. We know in Hockey East, every weekend is a battle. I think it was more to Merrimack’s credit than us thinking about anyone else.”
BC scored six goals or more in back-to-back games for the first time since February 2020.
3. Cornell upends NCAA champs
No. 3 Quinnipiac may be the defending national champion, but they still have a hard time cracking the code of beating ECAC rival Cornell. The 14-th ranked Big Red were a 3-2 overtime winner in the 51st all-time meeting between the two schools.
Big Red sophomore Dalton Bancroft scored two goals, including the game-winner 3:11 into overtime to lift Cornell on Saturday night. Cornell’s lineup featured nine freshmen.
“It was just a good college hockey game,” Cornell coach Mike Shafer said. “Nine freshmen in the lineup tonight? Crazy, for a coach, when you look around and see that many young guys out there against such a good hockey team. It just makes you wonder sometimes, like, man, we could be in trouble here, and then, oh my god, they’re pretty good.”
The Big Red have dominated on home ice against Quinnipiac, winning each of the last four games and seven of the last eight (7-0-1). Cornell is also unbeaten in 11 of its previous 15 against the Bobcats.
It was the second defeat of the weekend for the Bobcats, having lost 2-1 at Colgate the night prior.
4. No. 5 Denver sweeps No. 19 Omaha
Fifth-ranked Denver stretched its unbeaten streak to seven games with a pair of wins at No. 19 Omaha in a key NCHC series. Denver put up wins of 6-3 and 6-2.
“Guys did a great job, special teams was better, 5-on-5 was good,” said Denver coach David Carle on Saturday night. “Loved our start to the game. I thought we were really skating, and we executed on our chances again in the second period.”
Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium had four points on one goal and three assists on Saturday, while junior forward Massimo Rizzo added three assists. The Pioneers scored four goals in the second period of each game.
5. Alaska Anchorage stuns Providence
A 4,444-mile journey (give or take a few) didn’t faze Alaska Anchorage, as the Seawolves earned a split vs. No. 9 Providence over the weekend, which included a 4-0 shutout win on Saturday night.
Jared Whale made 26 saves to earn the shutout, the second of his career and the first time that the Friars have been shut out this season.
“I really liked our approach tonight,” said Seawolves coach Matt Shasby. “Everyone came with the energy it takes to win against an opponent of this quality. Happy with the overall performance.”
Nine different players recorded points for Alaska, an NCAA independent.
6. Michigan, Michigan State split B1G series
There was a streaking epidemic in B1G over the weekend and it didn’t involve anyone making a spectacle of themselves. On Friday night, No. 15 Michigan scored the game’s first six goals and defeated No. 7 Michigan State 7-1 Friday night at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing.
Rutger McGroarty had a goal and three assists and Dylan Duke added a pair of goals for the Wolverines.
On Saturday, Sparty did the streaking, with six straight goals to rebound from a 3-goal deficit to beat Michigan 7-5 at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.
Nicolas Müller scored twice with two assists for Michigan State, while Joey Larson, Gavin O’Connell and Artyom Levshunov each had a goal and an assist.
7. CCHA contenders split
Bowling Green, currently battling for third place in the CCHA, earned a split with league-leading Minnesota State over the weekend, winning 4-3 on Friday night before stumbling to a 4-1 loss the next night. Both games were at the Falcons’ home rink.
“We felt like we had a really good opportunity to get six points (and) I say really good opportunity meaning that if we played hard (Saturday), it was something that could happen,” Bowling Green coach Ty Eigner said. “Unfortunately, we did not play as hard as we did (Friday) night and Minnesota State did. We knew they would come back and play well, and we know the kind of team they have and program they have.”
8. Air Force sweeps Army as Serratore gets 500th ‘W’
Air Force earned a series sweep of Army with a wild 7-6 victory Saturday night at West Point, N.Y.
The win marked the first time Air Force has taken four regular-season games from Army in the 46-year history of the series. The win was also the 500th career win for coach Frank Serratore, who became the 16th coach in the history of NCAA D-I hockey and just the fourth active coach to reach the milestone.
Clayton Cosentino had two goals and an assist for the Falcons, while Chris Hedden added four assists, Holt Oliphant two goals, and Luke Rowe three assists.
9. Maine dominates UMass Lowell
Maine, No. 8 in the USCHO poll and No. 5 in the PairWise, rewarded fans who sold out Alfond Arena two nights in a row with a pair wins vs. UMass Lowell. The Black Bears were winners by scores of 5-3 and 7-2.
Harrison Scott recorded a hat trick in the second game, each of which saw Maine battle back from an early 1-0 deficit. Scott blew open a 2-2 game in the second period Saturday night with a pair of goals 23 seconds apart. Brandon Holt pushed Maine’s lead out to 5-2 by the end of the middle frame. Scott completed his hat trick with a power-play goal midway through the third.
10. UNH, UConn win on each other’s home ice
No. 17 New Hampshire handed Connecticut a 5-0 thumping on Friday night at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Conn., only for the Huskies to return the favor — albeit in a tighter contest — with a 2-1 win at the Whittemore Center Sunday in Durham, N.H.
The teams made up for Friday’s lack of suspense on Sunday. UNH’s Kristaps Skrastins cut UConn’s lead to 2-1 with just over six minutes to play in the third period. With the Wildcats’ goalie pulled in favor of an extra skater, UConn fended off a furious UNH attack for more than two minutes, twice hitting the post in search of an empty-net insurance goal. Huskies goalie Arsenii Sergeev had 43 saves in the nail-biter.
