Congrats to Adrian and Wisconsin – Stout who officially claimed regular season titles this past weekend. Hobart has clinched in the SUNYAC and just about every other race is up for grabs with just Hamilton and Norwich, and Utica in the driver’s seat for claiming NESCAC, Little East, and UCHC regular season crowns.
Here is this week’s wrap-up that still leaves a lot of open doors for teams next weekend:
NCHA playoff matchups set
With four teams in the national rankings, the NCHA playoff picture was set after the final weekend of the regular season with Adrian taking the regular season crown after finishing the year on an 8-1-1 run. The top seed Bulldogs will host Lake Forest in the two-game quarterfinal format after splitting the regular season schedule with a split against Trine.
Elsewhere, No. 2 seed St Norbert will play Concordia (WI) in the quarterfinals after head coach Tim Coghlin celebrated his 700th victory with the Green Knights, tops among D-III coaches ever.
No. 3 Trine will host Marian while No. 4 Aurora faces MSOE in the quarterfinal round. If the series is deadlocked after the two games, there will be a mini-game to decide the series and who advances to the semifinals.
Blue Devils earn regular season title with weekend sweep over UWEC
With the regular season title on the line, Wisconsin-Stout extended their win streak to six games and moved to 11-1-0 at home with a pair of one-goal wins over Wisconsin – Eau Claire to take the regular season title and top seed in the WIAC tournament.
On Friday, Nicolas Pigeon scored what proved to be the game-winning goal midway through the second period and goaltender Sebatian Monaco stopped 35 shots in a 2-1 win for the Blue Devils.
Saturday’s contest saw UWEC take an early lead on Dayne Hoyord’s first of two goals but the home team scored three unanswered in the second period and that proved to be enough in a 3-2 win. Monaco stopped 37 shots to earn the victory and was exceptionally sharp in the third period stopping all 15 shots he faced from the Blugolds.
Sunday surprise in MAC
Neumann had the opportunity to wrap-up the top spot in the MAC conference but stumbled on Sunday afternoon in a 1-0 loss to Misericordia, that leaves the Knights needing a point in their final game to secure the regular season title.
Misericordia scored a power play goal early in the opening period off the stick of Jonathan Lush and netminder Mason Jones stopped all 38 shots he faced to make the single tally stand up for the one-goal victory.
No. 1 Hobart tested in final road game of season
Following a 9-0 rout of Morrisville on Friday where the Statesmen scored five special teams’ goals and outshot the Mustangs by an 85-15 margin, things were a little tighter against Cortland on Saturday to close out the road schedule.
After jumping out to a comfortable 4-0 lead in the opening forty minutes with goals from Chris Duclair, Khalil Fontana, Conor Lally and Adam Ondris, the Statesmen saw a furious rally by the Red Dragons in the final twenty minutes that ended just a goal short in a 4-3 loss to the nation’s No. 1 team.
Garrett Krieger and Morley Phillips scored in the opening five minutes of the third period to give Cortland some momentum. Sam Christiano’s power play goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation time pulled the home team to within one goal but that was as close as Damon Beaver and Hobart would allow as the Statesmen extended their road win streak to 14 games.
Two home games remain for Hobart against Buffalo State and Fredonia with Friday’s game presenting an opportunity to break Cornell’s home win streak record of 63 in a row.
AmCats take head-to-head matchup with Falcons for top spot in MASCAC
It seems sometimes the schedule-gods know what they are doing with key matchups in the final weeks of the regular season to peak everyone’s attention. Case in point, the MASCAC battle on Saturday between the conference’s top two teams looking to secure the regular season title and a key tie-breaker if needed.
Liam Wells scored on the power play to give the AmCats a 1-0 lead after the first period. In the second period the home team scored four times including two more with the man advantage from Wells and Braeden McKinnon for a 5-0 lead after forty minutes of play. Fitchburg answered back in the third with three straight goals to cut the deficit to 5-3 but late goals from max Pelletier and Owen Barrow sealed a 7-3 win that kept AMC unbeaten at home and extended their win streak to eight games.
Anna Maria can capture the regular season title and top seed with wins in their final two games against Worcester state on the road and at home against Framingham State on Saturday.
Geneseo appears to have Utica’s number
There are just some opponents that are not good matchups for teams. For Geneseo, Elmira has been that thorn in the side and for Utica, well let’s say the Knights have been a problem since their arrival in the UCHC. Utica had the chance to extend their conference unbeaten streak and claim the regular season title, but Geneseo had other ideas as they took a pair of wins, one in overtime over the Pioneers to keep things interesting in the UCHC.
Friday night in a game hosted by the Pioneers, both teams came out ready to go and exchanged a pair of goals each in an exciting first period of action. In the second period the Knights opened up a two-goal advantage with Filip Wiberg and Robert Gatewood giving the visitors a 4-2 advantage after two periods of play. Drake Morse cut the deficit to one goal in the third period before Carter Diceman sealed the Geneseo win with an empty-net goal in the final 20 seconds of regulation in a 5-3 road win. Jacob Torgner stopped 32 of 35 shots for the Knights as Utica outshot Geneseo by a 35-16 margin.
Back home on Saturday, the Knights saved some drama for the home fans with another thrilling game against the Pioneers. Tied at 2-2 after two periods the teams exchanged third period goals to send the game to overtime where Danny Bagnole netted the overtime winner in a 4-3 win for the Knights. Torgner was again outstanding in goal making 34 saves and assisting on the overtime-winning goal.
USCHO Game Pucks
Mason Jones – Misericordia – recorded 38 saves including 17 in the first period alone to make one power play goal stand up in a 1-0 upset win over Neumann on Sunday afternoon.
Keenan Ingram – Wisconsin – River Falls – scored a back-to-back hat tricks, in 8-1 and 7-1 wins over Beloit this weekend. In Friday’s game, Ingram also added three assists for a six-point game as he totaled nine points in the two-game series.
Jimmy Fallon – Babson – the junior forward scored his third hat trick of the season in Saturday’s 7-3 win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The weekend sweep keeps the Beavers with a shot for the top spot in the final weekend of LEC regular season play.
Playoffs are locked in in a couple of conferences but the final weekend upcoming is going to be must-see action as there is so much up for grabs across leagues closing out their regular season action.