As we all prepare for the marathon of eating that is Thanksgiving Dinner, here’s a look back at 10 big storylines from this past weekend
1. Daniells’ five-goal night caps a statement weekend for Princeton
Princeton couldn’t have asked for a better way to open its big ECAC home set. On Friday against St. Lawrence, junior forward Kai Daniells tied the school record with five goals in a 7–4 win, turning a back-and-forth game at Hobey Baker Rink into his own highlight reel. He scored early, he scored late, he scored on the rush and around the netfront — every time the Saints pushed, it felt like Daniells had an answer. It’s the kind of individual performance you almost never see now, and it instantly changes how every coach in the league is going to game-plan for the Tigers.
Then Princeton backed it up. On Saturday, they finished the sweep with a 4–3 win over Clarkson, grinding out a one-goal game to move to 5–2–0 on the season. That second result matters almost as much as the first: it says this isn’t just about one crazy night on the scoresheet, it’s about a team that’s starting to stack results. With a true go-to scorer emerging and some momentum behind them, Princeton suddenly looks a lot more like a factor in the ECAC race than an early-season curiosity.
2. Big Ten heavyweight bout: No. 7 Wisconsin takes out No. 1 Michigan State
All eyes in the Big Ten were on East Lansing, where No. 7 Wisconsin walked into a packed Munn Ice Arena and handed No. 1 Michigan State a 5–4 loss in Friday’s opener and followed it up with a 2-1 overtime win on Saturday for the sweep. The Spartans came in riding a long winning streak and sitting on top of the national rankings; Wisconsin’s response was to punch first, build a leads, and force the home team to chase for most of the weekend. It was fast, nasty, and exactly the kind of series you expect when two top-10 rosters collide.
The bigger takeaway is what it says about Wisconsin’s ceiling. This doesn’t feel like a cute “early heater” anymore – it feels like a fully formed contender that can skate with anyone and win in a hostile building. Michigan State is still very much in control of its own story, but the gap between first and second in that league got a lot smaller over the course of one weekend. For the rest of the year, every discussion about seeding in that conference is going to come back to what the Badgers just did at Munn.
3. Michigan’s offense looks terrifying at 5.19 goals per game
If you’re looking for a team that has already found its scoring gear, you don’t have to search very long. Michigan is sitting at 13–3–0, the most wins in the country, and doing it while scoring at a torrid 5.19 goals per game. That’s video-game territory in today’s college hockey, and it isn’t just one line inflating the numbers — the Wolverines are rolling out wave after wave of guys who can finish.
This weekend was another reminder of what that looks like when it’s humming. Michigan handled a good Ohio State team with relative ease, never really letting the Buckeyes dictate pace or get comfortable. When the Wolverines are on, they stretch the ice, win races to loose pucks, and turn neutral-zone mistakes into odd-man rushes. Pair that with enough structure on the back end to stay out of track meets they don’t control, and you’re staring at a group that looks very much like a No. 1 team in the making (is this foreshadowing?).
4. No. 9 Quinnipiac grinds out a North Country sweep at home
The classic North Country weekend is supposed to be a headache even when you get Clarkson and St. Lawrence at your own rink. No. 9 Quinnipiac made it look pretty orderly. The Bobcats handled Clarkson with a familiar script – puck possession, territorial control, and a power play that tilted things their way – and then backed it up by taking care of St. Lawrence to complete the sweep.
Given some of the early-season wobble, this felt like Quinnipiac re-establishing its identity. The Bobcats didn’t need track-meet scores; they just squeezed the life out of games, leaned on structure, and let their goaltending clean up whatever slipped through. As league play ramps up, that’s the version of Quinnipiac that nobody wants to see on the other bench.
5. No. 8 Western Michigan’s sweep of Omaha is exactly what the champs needed
A couple of weeks removed from being on the wrong end of a spotlight series, No. 8 Western Michigan badly needed a weekend that said, “Relax – we’re still the defending national champions.” They just delivered it by taking both games from Nebraska Omaha, a team that’s been lurking right on the edge of the rankings and the computer numbers.
What stood out was how businesslike the Broncos were. The offense finally looked like last spring’s version – waves of pressure, second and third chances around the net – and the back end tightened up after some leaky nights earlier in the month. Beating Omaha twice doesn’t fix every blemish, but it stabilizes the record, nudges Western back toward the upper tier of the NPI, and gives them something solid to build on heading into the heart of the NCHC grind.
6. In Hockey East, everybody splits – and that’s the point
If this weekend proved anything in Hockey East, it’s how hard it has become to walk out of a two-game set with all six points when you’re facing the same opponent. Maine and Boston College split. Boston University and Northeastern split. UConn and New Hampshire split. Providence and UMass split. Every time a team landed a punch on Friday (or Thursday in UMass’ case), they seemed to take one back on Saturday.
The pattern is becoming hard to ignore. The league’s middle and upper tiers are so tightly packed that small swings — one power-play goal, one turnover at a blue line, one hot goalie — are often the difference between a one-, two-, four- or six-point weekend and moving ahead and treading water. Look at Boston College. The Eagles came the first team all season to lose all six points in a weekend when they fell to Northeastern twice. But then BC earned back-to-back sweeps of Vermont and UMass and the Eagles moved from the bottom to second, meaning this weekend’s split with Maine didn’t hurt.
7. No. 19 Cornell quietly stacks wins against the Capital District
It wasn’t flashy, but No. 19 Cornell will take this kind of weekend every time. The Big Red opened with a tight, controlled win over No. 20 Union at Lynah – the sort of low-event game that has been their identity for years – and then followed it up by handling Rensselaer to complete the Capital District set.
The scores won’t jump off the page, but the structure will. Cornell limited odd-man rushes, leaned on a goaltending group that’s been excellent out of the gate, and found just enough offense from its veteran forwards to keep both games tilted its way. As the NPI starts to matter, weekends like this – taking care of business against quality but not elite opponents – are exactly how you climb from the teens toward that protected seed line.
8. Holy Cross finishes a three-win week and moves to 9-5-1
You want a classic under-the-radar story? Holy Cross has quietly put together one heck of a first half. The Crusaders came into the Alaska Anchorage series already trending the right way, then took both games at home, capping the weekend with a 1–0 win on Sunday that looked like a playoff game from start to finish.
At 9-5-1, Holy Cross is no longer just a nice “early surprise” – they’re firmly in the mix both in their league race and in the national picture. The Crusaders defend hard, block a ton of shots, and have just enough scoring by committee to make it all work. You’re starting to see their name not only in the “others receiving votes” category in the poll but also in the upper half of the NPI, which is exactly where a team like this needs to live if it wants to dream bigger than a league autobid.
9. Harvard’s 5-1-0 start demands attention
After losing so much offense and goaltending from last year’s group, it was fair to wonder how long it would take Harvard to look like, well, Harvard again. The answer might be: not long at all. The Crimson rolled at Vermont this weekend to move to 5-1-0, and it didn’t look like a fluke. They dictated pace, moved pucks crisply through the neutral zone, and got the kind of timely saves that win you road games in November and March.
What’s most interesting is how they’re doing it. This isn’t just one top line carrying the mail; Harvard is getting contributions up and down the lineup, and the blue line looks deeper and more mobile than it has in a while. The NPI already has the Crimson sitting in a very healthy spot, and if they keep banking road wins like this, they’ll force their way into the national rankings conversation sooner rather than later.
10. A first real look at the NPI as Thanksgiving approaches
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, the NPI board is finally developed enough to be more than just a curiosity. Dartmouth sits at the top, a reflection of that perfect record and a smaller sample size. Wisconsin, Cornell and Michigan are all living in the top handful of slots as well, underscoring how much value the formula places on beating good teams, not just piling up wins.
There are also some fascinating second-tier stories already brewing. Western Michigan and Quinnipiac currently in at-large positions despite some early stumbles, Harvard has played its way into the top 10 of the metric well before it has a number next to its name in the human polls (that could change today). And then there are the names on the wrong side of the bubble. Maine is 28th. Boston University is 35th. Minnesota and Arizona State are 42 and 43, respectively.
Other than the position of the Ivies, nothing else near the top seems too far off. Except Michigan State. This one weekend losing two games against Wisconsin really hurt in the NPI, dropping from 8th to 13th, already hurt by a home regulation loss to NPI #44 New Hampshire. In other words, this early NPI look has the consensus No. 1 team (albeit last Monday) on the NPI bubble? Buckle in. This will be a fun ride!