Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Michigan takes five from Penn State
Gavin McKenna’s first series following the assault charge filed against him, following an alleged altercation on Jan. 31, might have overshadowed an otherwise solid performance by Michigan, who took two points in Friday night’s 4-4 tie vs. Penn State (winning a shootout) before a dominant 6-3 win on Saturday.
The Wolverines — who managed just two points last weekend in their 1-vs.-2 matchup with rival Michigan State — had taken a 4-3 lead midway through the third on Friday on T.J. Hughes’ second goal. Penn State’s Jackson Smith tied it up with less than five minutes to go, but the Wolverines took the shootout win. On Saturday, Nick Moldenhauer had a 2-goal, 3-point performance while Jack Ivankovic stopped 30 of 33 shots to help Michigan return to the top of the Big 10 standings over MSU.
McKenna managed an assist in his return to the ice, while Reese Laubach had three goals and an assist for Penn State, currently third in the Big Ten and fifth in the NPI.
2. Tech takes narrow lead in CCHA
The CCHA standings are still a logjam. St. Thomas entered the weekend in first place but idle, giving everyone else a crack at taking the lead entering the final stretch of the regular season.
The problem? Nobody seemed to want to make a statement. All four teams chasing the Tommies and had a legitimate shot to overtake them — Michigan Tech, Augustana, Bowling Green and Minnesota State — split their series over the weekend. Although Michigan Tech overtook St. Thomas by a point (48-47), the Huskies took only 3 from Lake Superior State, leaving three huge points on the table. They’ll be kicking themselves, especially after Friday’s game — a 2-2 tie in which they allowed the Lakers to rally from a 2-0 deficit and score with 30 seconds left to force overtime. The Lakers ended up winning the shootout.
The Huskies managed to salvage something on Saturday, winning 5-4 in overtime after also rallying from a 2-goal deficit in the third. Jack Anderson scored three goals on the weekend for Tech, including both on Friday and the game-tying tally Saturday.
3. Brown sends off Whittet in style
Brendan Whittet couldn’t have asked for a better end to his coaching tenure at Brown.
Whittet, who played for Brown and has been behind the bench since 2009, recently announced that he would step away from the program to take family medical leave. When he returns he will transition to a role in the athletic department. This weekend’s games against Harvard and Dartmouth were his last, and the Bears managed to give him two great memories. On Friday, Ryan Shostak and Charlie Gollob scored but it was Tyler Shea’s 46-save performance that helped Brown tie the Crimson 2-2 and win the shootout for the extra league point. On Saturday, Shea once again came up big, with 29 saves as the Bears beat the Big Green 4-3 on a last-minute goal by Ben Poitras.
Whittet finished at Brown with an overall record of 150-294-61.
4. Surging Bobcats take lead in ECAC
Quinnipiac has lost only once since the calendar turned to 2026, a non-conference game against UConn for the Connecticut Ice tournament title. You’d have to go back further — Dec. 6 — to find the last time QU lost an ECAC game (4-0 to Union in its final game of the year). The streak continued this weekend as the Bobcats finished off a sweep of Princeton, winning both games 4-1 to bring their conference unbeaten steak to 12 games.
Freshman Ethan Wyttenbach had a goal and an assist in each game to add to his NCAA-best 51 points, while Antonin Verreault also scored a pair. The sweep, combined with the fact that both Cornell and Dartmouth stumbled and managed just two points each on the weekend, gave the Bobcats some breathing room at the top of ECAC Hockey. Quinnipiac has 44 points through 18 games while both Cornell and Dartmouth have 38. The Bobcats do have head-to-head matchups with both the Big Red and the Big Green over the final two weekends of the regular season, but they’ve put themselves in great position for a sixth consecutive ECAC title.
5. North Dakota, Denver jockeying for lead in NCHC
Denver was one of the few top 20 teams to earn a regulation sweep this weekend and earn six points, which helped it narrow the gap with NCHC leaders North Dakota. The Pioneers beat Omaha both nights, 5-2 and 3-1. James Reeder scored twice on Friday and again on Saturday while Samu Salminen added four assists to help the Pioneers close to just one point (47-46) vs. North Dakota.
The Fighting Hawks, meanwhile, managed only five points in their hard-fought series against Miami. North Dakota beat Miami 1-0 in regulation before winning 4-3 in overtime. Tyler Young scored the lone goal in the second period Friday and Jan Špunar stopped 12 shots to earn the shutout. On Saturday, the Red Hawks scored three in the second to take a 3-1 lead, but UND rallied in the third with scores from Mac Swanson and Jake Livanavage to tie it. Abram Wiebe won the game in overtime.
The Pioneers will be idle next weekend before their regular-season finale against Arizona State. North Dakota hosts St. Cloud State next weekend before ending the regular season against Western Michigan.
6. Augustana, Bowling Green, Minnesota State can’t take advantage
As mentioned above, the other CCHA contenders also failed to take advantage of St. Thomas’s idle weekend. Augustana and Bowling Green, which came into the weekend third and fourth in the conference, respectively (42 and 40 points), split their series in Sioux Falls. The Falcons won 1-0 on Friday, as Tyler Hotson’s first-period goal held up thanks to Cole Moore’s 28-save shutout. Augustana’s Josh Kotai also made 48 saves in the game to keep his team in it until the final buzzer. Augustana won Saturday’s game 4-2, with Nace Langus notching three assists and Kotai making 32 saves.
The other CCHA team with a chance at the title, Minnesota State, which had 37 points entering the weekend so they were a longshot, also managed a split. The Mavericks beat rival Bemidji State 1-0 on Friday with Jack Smith’s third-period goal, but the Beavers got revenge Saturday with their own 1-0 win when Oliver Peer scored 30 seconds into overtime.
With two weeks to go in the regular season, the standings have tightened. St. Thomas will host Augustana next weekend for a huge series. The Vikings are just two points back of the Tommies (45 to 47) but the Tommies have two games in hand, so anything other than a Vikings sweep will eliminate them from MacNaughton Cup consideration, as they are idle on the last weekend of the season. Bowling Green will also host Minnesota State next weekend in a series that will have huge implications for both the standings and the NPI.
7. Ferris beats Northern in “relegation” battle
On the other side of the CCHA standings, Ferris State and Northern Michigan came into the weekend in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Because only the top eight teams in the conference make the Mason Cup playoffs, it turned this weekend’s series into a crucial one, with six points on the line.
The Bulldogs — who came into the weekend with a 2-point lead on the Wildcats (13 to 11) — ended up taking five points in the series. On Friday, Ferris rallied from a 2-goal deficit in the third period to force a 4-4 tie. Tyler Schleppe, who had scored the game’s opening goal, got one back with five minutes left in the third before Josh Zary netted the tying goal with the extra attacker. The Bulldogs won the shootout for the extra point.
On Saturday it was all Bulldogs. Ferris outshot the Wildcats 41-25, with both Schleppe and Carter Rapalje scoring two goals and adding an assist in a 6-0 victory. The weekend results mean that Ferris State has an upper hand on that final CCHA playoff slot, with 18 points through 24 games. NMU has only 12 points but has two games in hand, so still isn’t quite out of it yet. NMU still has series remaining against Lake Superior State and Minnesota State, while Ferris is off this weekend before facing off with LSSU in the final weekend.
8. Connecticut gains on Providence
Second-place Connecticut edged a little closer to first place Providence with a 5-point weekend against Maine in Hockey East.
The Huskies edged the Black Bears 2-0 on Friday thanks to Tyler Muszelik’s 32-save shutout and goals from Joey Muldowney and Ethan Gardula. On Saturday, Maine’s offense peppered Muszelik even more, as the Black Bears outshot the Huskies 53-23. Muszelik made 50 saves and the Huskies and Black Bears skated to a 3-3 tie. Maine outshot UConn 5-1 in overtime but couldn’t get a goal. UConn won the ensuing shootout 2-0 and earned the extra point.
Meanwhile, Providence managed only a split with Northeastern, losing 4-2 Friday before rallying for the split Saturday in a 4-1 victory. UConn, which came into the weekend No. 15 in the NPI, moved up to No. 12 with the weekend results, which also cut the Friars’ lead in Hockey East to just six points. UConn also has a game in hand on Providence.
9. Bentley inches closer to AHA title
Despite losing to Sacred Heart 4-0 on Friday, a 5-1 win over the Pioneers on Saturday put Bentley on the brink of an Atlantic Hockey America regular-season title.
The Falcons didn’t muster much offense on Friday but exploded Saturday, outshooting Sacred Heart 32-18 and getting goals from five different players (Chase Davis, Garrett Horsager, Kellan Hjartarson, Stephen Castagna and Owen Goodbrand). Nicholas Bevilacqua made 17 saves.
Bentley now finds itself eight points up on second-place RIT (50-42) with three games to play for both teams. The Falcons travel to Rochester on Friday and a win would clinch their second consecutive AHA regular-season championship. RIT would need to beat Bentley this weekend and sweep their next series at Holy Cross to have a chance at overtaking the Falcons for the title. They’d also need help from Air Force, Bentley’s final regular-season opponent.
10. BC stumbles against Merrimack, but earns split
Boston College remains in a precarious position on the bubble after managing just a split against Hockey East rival Merrimack. The Warriors beat the Eagles 4-2 on Friday in North Andover but the Eagles won by the same score Saturday in Chestnut Hill.
On Friday, BC scored the first two goals in the first period but Merrimack scored four unanswered and earned the win. The Warriors’ Caelan Fitzpatrick led the way with a goal and two assists. On Saturday, the teams traded blows in the first and second periods and were tied going into the third. The Eagles got a pair of last-minute goals to avoid overtime and pull out the win. Oscar Hemming scored with 36 seconds remaining to break the tie and Brady Bedard added an empty netter.
The Eagles are now No. 14 in the NPI and have little room for error in their final six games, which includes a challenging series next weekend against UConn and the following weekend against Boston University.