If you thought the opening weekend had its abundance of drama well let me introduce you to more chaos seen in week two’s docket of games around the country.
Everyone knows you can’t win a championship in November but you can certainly lay the ground work to lose one if you have trouble producing wins. In the first two weeks we have seen some teams jump out of the gate to fast starts (Hobart, Adrian, Aurora and Babson) and perfect 4-0-0 records while several other pre-season favorites have struggled (Plymouth State, St Anselm, and Utica) to produce just a single win among them. Conference play will now start in earnest so no time like the present to find your best hockey and build from there.
Here’s this week’s exciting wrap-up of the action around the country:
National championship re-matches
In a two-game series that Utica and Hobart fans had marked on the calendar, the defending champions took both contests in dramatic and contrasting styles.
On Thursday night, the Statesmen overcame three goals by Utica’s Eric Vitale and tied the game at 5-5 late in the third period shorthanded off the stick of Chris Duclair. Less than a minute into overtime, Salve Regina transfer Arvega Hovsepyan scored his second of the game to give the visitors a dramatic 6-5 win to the dismay of the Pioneer faithful.
Back on home ice on Saturday Hobart played their usual style and held the Pioneers to just 16 shots and one power play goal from Drake Morse while Bauer Morrissey and Khalil Fontana scored on the man-advantage to give Hobart a 2-1 win and a sweep of Utica that drops them to 0-4 to open the season.
First win for Terriers
The Hiram Terriers broke into the win column this weekend as they split a two-game series with MCLA and took the second game by a 4-0 score with a pair of goals from Tyler Arthurs and 38 saves by goaltender Ian Amaranto.
“They should have named the sport goalie”
The quote attributed to the great Wayne Gretzky is surely being echoed by the Geneseo players and coaching staff following the virtuoso performance by Oswego’s Gavin McCarthy on Friday night. The Laker senior stopped an amazing 54 shots from the Knights and his team needed every one of them in a 1-0 win at Geneseo.
Several hot teams remain unbeaten
After their opening weekend sweep of Utica, Adrian continued their winning ways with a pair of conference wins over Marian by 5-1 and 8-1 scores. Balanced scoring was the theme of the weekend with eight different players scoring in Saturday’s win and only Jacob Suede scoring multiple goals in Friday’s contest.
Aurora remained among the unbeatens with 7-2 and 7-1 wins over Lake Forest this past weekend. Hassan Akl scored three times for the Spartans in the two games that set up a great series against Adrian this upcoming weekend.
The University of New England moved to 3-0-0 on the season with a convincing road win over pre-season CNE favorite, Curry by a score of 5-1 on Friday. Chip Hamlett and Dominic Murphy each had a goal and an assist to drive the offense while goaltender Harrison Chesney made 23 saves in the upset win. On Saturday, the Nor’easters routed Western New England, 11-0 with Drew Olivieri, Elias Juraj and Ryan Hadland each recording two goals and an assist in the runaway win.
Babson is off to a strong start in the Little East with a 4-0-0 record overall. The Beavers opened conference play with wins over Keene State and Western Connecticut. On Friday, Babson surrendered the first goal to the Owls but then scored four unanswered goals in a 4-1 win. Saturday the offense had its way with the newcomers from Western Connecticut as Babson skated away with a 7-0 win as seven different players tallied for the visitors in the road win.
Wilkes moved to 3-0-1 with a pair of shutout wins over King’s this weekend. The Colonels won by 6-0 and 4-0 scores over the Monarchs with the power play producing half of the goal output for the weekend.
St Michael’s faced off against rival St Anselm in a two-game series that saw the visiting Purple Knights extend the Hawks’ winless streak to four games with a weekend sweep to open NE-10 play. The visitors won on Friday, 4-1 with Ty Bloom picking up a goal and an assist. On Saturday, three points from Brayden Naumann and a four-goal second period paced a 6-2 win.
USCHO Game Pucks
Gavin McCarthy – Oswego State – recorded a 54-save shutout for the Lakers who took a 1-0 win over Geneseo on the road. McCarthy 21 saves in the opening period and held off a furious Knights assault in the third period stopping 20 shots to preserve the win.
Brendan Finn – Trine – scored three goals in the Thunder’s NCHA opening win over Concordia (WI) on Friday night. Finn’s empty-net goal gave him the hat trick and sealed the 5-3 win.
Ian Amaranto – Hiram – the Terrier goaltender stopped all 38 shots he faced as Hiram won its first NCAA program game with a 4-0 shutout over Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday.
Thankfully, there will be no more “did not play” aspects to polls as NESCAC begins play this week meaning things can only get more exciting with all the leagues now in competitive action. Think this will be another great schedule to see who can stay on the unbeaten bandwagon as well as who gets rid of the goose-egg in the win column to start some positive momentum.