Well, how about that for an opening week of the season!
We saw inaugural wins, tournament titles won, career milestones achieved and of course, upsets and ranked teams stumbling out of the gate in pursuit of a Hobart team that showed it is ready for all-comers this season.
Here’s the wrap-up of some of the action around the country:
Season opening tournament winners
In the Key City Classic hosted by Dubuque, the opening night saw the host team stun Wisconsin – Stevens Point in overtime to earn their place in the title game against an Aurora team that dispatched Augsburg. The Spartans won the tournament last year and doubled the fun this year with Jacob Brockman leading the way with two goals in a 5-2 win.
The Woo Cup in Worcester, Massachusetts saw the four local schools face-off in pursuit of an early season trophy. Anna Maria edged out Nichols on Friday while Worcester State downed Assumption to setup the title game combatants. The AmCats were looking for back-to-back titles but the Lancers had other ideas as Bryce Grandbois and Christian Howanitz each scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 win and first ever Woo Cup trophy for Worcester State
The Buffalo State Bengal Classic saw the hosts lost in the opening round to newcomers St. John Fisher while Chatham had a much easier time defeating another first-year program, Hiram in a 10-1 rout. The Cougars took the championship in a hard-fought 3-2 win over SJF with Tyler Samodral netting a pair of goals including the game-winner.
First wins for new teams
In addition to St John Fisher opening the season with a win as a new NCAA program, Roger Williams also found the win column in the first official game.
The Hawks downed Massachusetts-Dartmouth 4-3 on Friday night with Daxton St Hilaire recording a hat trick to give coach Chris Hall and Roger Williams their first NCAA program victory.
Ranked teams stumble out of the gate
The opening weekend saw No. 1 Hobart take care of business with a pair of wins in a home-and-home series against long-time rival, Elmira by 3-1 and 6-0 scores. Below the Statesmen other ranked teams were not as successful.
Adrian traveled to play No. 2 Utica and last year’s starting goaltender for the Pioneers, Ryan Piros, helped his new team sweep the home team by scores of 3-1 and 5-3.
St Norbert split their home-opening series with St Olaf as the Oles rallied from 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 deficits to force overtime where Connor McNaughton scored just 33 seconds into the extra session to give St Olaf a split against the No. 5 Green Knights.
No. 4 Curry routed Norwich to open their season while No. 7 Trine split their opening weekend games with a 2-1 loss against Canton before a win over Misericordia, 5-1. Wisconsin-Stevens Point recovered from their opening night loss to Dubuque with a close 3-2 win over Augsburg.
Milestones
Plattsburgh opened their year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the hockey program with two home wins over VTSU – Castleton and Plymouth State. The Cardinals took advantage of two goals from Gabriel Filion on Friday night in a 6-1 win over the Spartans before shutting down Plymouth State on Saturday in a 4-0 win. Aaron Catron scored a goal and added two assists while Brady Spry stopped 34 shots in the shutout win.
New England College opened their season with a 6-2 win over in-state opponent Rivier. The Pilgrims took advantage of three power play goals and one shorthanded tally in the lopsided win which gave head coach Tom Carroll his 300th career victory.
USCHO Game Pucks
Ben Aucoin – Southern Maine – scored a school record six goals in the Huskies’ 7-1 win over St Anselm on Saturday night. All the goals were scored at even-strength as Aucoin broke open a 2-1 game scoring the last five goals of the contest.
Connor McNaughton – St Olaf – scored the overtime winning goal as the Oles rallied from multiple deficits against St Norbert to take a 5-4 win on Saturday night earning a weekend split against the Green Knights.
Wilder Jacober – Dubuque – sent the home fans out of the rink ecstatic following his overtime winning goal just 40 seconds into the extra session against Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the thrilling 3-2 win. UWSP had tied the game in the final 40 seconds of regulation with the extra attacker on to set up the overtime.
From just one weekend’s worth of games, it certainly looks like we are in for an exciting season where anything can and probably will happen on the way to conference championship pursuits and eventually the national tournament. This is going to be great!!