MONDAY 10: Bowling Green takes Icebreaker

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Bowling Green’s Brody Waters, left, battles Sacred Heart’s Aiden VanRooyan during Icebreaker Tournament action on Friday night in Fairfield, Conn. Bowling Green won 3-2. (Photo: Bowling Green Athletics)

Each week, USCHO.com picks the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature

1. Bowling Green wins Icebreaker

The Falcons defeated both co-hosts (Sacred Heart and Connecticut) to win the Icebreaker title. On Friday at Sacred Heart, Brody Waters’ power-play goal with 1:45 left lifted Bowling Green to a 3-2 win.

Saturday’s championship game saw Falcons goalie Jacob Steinman post a career-high 39 saves, and Noah Morneau scored a pair of goals to lead Bowling Green to a 5-2 win over No. 16 Connecticut.

This was the 30th edition of the Icebreaker. Sacred Heart defeated No. 17 Penn State, 6-3 in the consolation game.

2. Penn State pulls a Michigan

Penn State went winless in the Icebreaker, but a highlight of its 6-3 loss to host Sacred Heart was a lacrosse-style “Michigan” goal from Justin Larose.

The Nittany Lions will look for their first win of the new season this Friday on home ice vs. No. 6 Quinnipiac.

3. Augustana impresses

The Vikings entered the weekend just outside of the USCHO top 20, but expect them to be ranked this week after an overtime win and a tie against No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth.

Friday’s win, capped off by Brett Meerman’s goal 20 seconds into overtime, was the highest-ranked win to date.

On Saturday, Duluth held a 35-22 shot advantage over the Vikings, but settled for a 1-1 tie thanks in part to a 34-save performance by Augustana goalie Mathis Langevin, a career high.

4. Buzzer beater at Mullins

On Friday, No. 18 Massachusetts’s Francesco Dell’Elce scored an extra attacker goal with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to earn a 2-2 tie with RIT (the Tigers went on to win the exhibition shootout after a scoreless overtime).

Impressive, but not a record for the latest goal in a regulation game. There have been at least two games where a team scored with 0.1 seconds left. St. Cloud State’s Kevin Gravel scored with 0.1 seconds left on March 14, 2014, against Miami to force overtime. In the 2009 NCAA tournament, New Hampshire’s Thomas Fortney scored with 0.1 seconds to go to tie North Dakota 5-5 in the opening night of the Manchester Regional. UNH went on to win 6-5 when Peter LeBlanc one-timed a pass from Jerry Pollastrone to end it 45 seconds into sudden-death overtime.

5. Hastings homecoming

Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings made his first return to Minnesota State, a school he coached for 11 seasons and led to a spot in the 2022 NCAA Championship game.

The trip to Mankato was a successful one for the Badgers. Hastings’s team swept the host Mavericks by scores of 4-0 and 4-1.

Badger goalies Alexis Cournoyer and Daniel Hauser combined to stop 30 of 31 chances by the Mavericks on the weekend. Friday’s shutout was the first in a Badger uniform for Cournoyer, who transferred from Cornell this offseason after being named the ECAC Goalie of the Year.

At 4-0, Wisconsin is off to its best start since opening the 2005-2005 season with five straight wins.

6. North Dakota sweeps Bemidji in a pair of close games

The 54th and 55th meetings between the schools saw the Fighting Hawks triumph in a pair of one-goal games.

On Friday in Bemidji, North Dakota sophomore forward Cole Reschny scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with just under five minutes left to lift the Fighting Hawks to a 3-2 win over the Beavers. It was the eighth straight season-opening win for the Fighting Hawks.

Saturday saw the action move up U.S. Route 2 to Grand Forks. While the venue changed, the story was almost the same. This time it was North Dakota’s Jack Kernan with the game-winner with just under four minutes to play in NoDak’s 4-3 win.

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7. Quinnipiac, Maine split at Alfond

The No. 6 Bobcats were the better team on Friday, thanks to rookie goalie Christian Kirsch’s 33 saves in a 2-1 win.

Saturday’s game saw the lead change multiple times before Maine scored the final three goals in a 5-3 victory to earn the split.

Maine now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 13-11-2.

8. St. Cloud and Michigan Tech split at Herb Brooks

The No. 12 Huskies went to 3-0 with a 3-2 overtime win on Friday, but SCSU earned its first win of the season on Saturday by a 5-2 score.

Teydon Trembecky’s OT winner was first waved off, but the call was reversed after video replay clearly showed the puck crossed the line.

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On Saturday, St. Cloud defenseman Joe Belisle’s goal midway through the third broke a 3-3 tie.

The win was the Huskies’ first of the season and first for new head coach Nick Oliver.

9. Stonehill sweeps

Fresh off its first-ever mention in the USCHO men’s D-I poll, the Skyhawks made an early season statement with a home sweep of Colgate.

JJ Grainda’s goal three minutes into overtime gave Stonehill the 2-1 win on Friday, and Dave Berard’s team completed the sweep with a 4-2 win on Saturday.

Grianda had a goal and an assist on Saturday. Stonehill goalies Linards Lipskis (Friday) and Mason Vaccari (Saturday) combined to stop 43 of 46 Red Raider shots.

Colgate looks to rebound as it hosts New Hampshire next weekend. Stonewall will travel to Northern Michigan.

10. Army meets the challenge

Army West Point and the Royal Military College of Canada met on Sunday for the 87th time, by far the longest running series in international college hockey. The series dates back to 1923.

The Black Knights defeated the Paladins for the 16th consecutive win at Tate Rink by a 6-1 score. Jack Ivey, Vincent Salice, Barron Woodring and Noah Mertz each had a goal and an assist, while JJ Cataldo and Gus Holt combined for 16 saves on 17 shots.

Army keeps the Challenge Trophy and leads the all-time series 50-30-7.