Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
Time to call it a regular season.
With Hockey East and the NCHC wrapping things up, it’s about to be all playoffs, all the time.
Here’s what went down in the college hockey world this past weekend…
1. Upsets abound in B1G opening round
The B1G tournament semifinals will feature a pair of party crashers.
Seventh-seeded Notre Dame stunned second-seed (and No. 2 in the USCHO D-I men’s poll) Minnesota with a 4-1 win at Mariucci Arena on Sunday to take the best-of-three series 2-1.
The Irish opened the series with a 3-2 win while the Gophers took Game 2 by a 4-2 score.
No. 5 Penn State was the other team to win on enemy ice, sweeping Michigan with a 6-5 overtime win followed by a 5-2 romp the next night.
Ohio State was the only B1G school to take care of business at home, beating Wisconsin in three.
The single-elimination semifinals will take place on Saturday, with Notre Dame at top seed Michigan State and Penn State at Ohio State. The championship game is March 22.
2. Holy Cross avoids disaster in AHA quarters
Holy Cross, the top seed in Atlantic Hockey America and the only team in the conference ranked in the USCHO D-I men’s poll at No. 20, avoided an early exit from the postseason when it rallied for two wins and a 2-1 series win over American International.
AIC shocked the Crusaders in Game 1, winning 3-2. Holy Cross won by the same score the next night, and Michael Abgrall won Game 3 in overtime with a goal just 51 seconds into the extra frame. The win set up a semifinal matchup with Army West Point, a best-of-three series that starts Friday.
The loss drew the curtain on AIC as a Division I program. The Yellow Jackets will reclassify to Division II next season.
Three of four quarterfinal series in AHA went the distance. Army beat Niagara 2-1, winning Game 3 in overtime; and Sacred Heart took its series vs. Air Force in three games. Bentley was the only team to sweep, taking its series vs. Canisius in two games.
Bentley will face Sacred Heart in the other semifinal series next weekend.
3. BC wins Hockey East regular-season crown
No. 1 Boston College could afford to take it easy in its season finale against Merrimack on Saturday, which it won 6-0 at home.
The Eagles clinched the Hockey East regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament the night before, when they were idle. That’s because Massachusetts beat Maine 5-1 in Amherst, Mass., knocking the Black Bears out of the race for the regular-season title.
4. NCHC playoffs set
It’s all systems go for the NCHC tournament, as the league wrapped up the regular season on Saturday.
All first-round series will be best-of-three with all three games at the home of the highest seed. No. 8 St. Cloud will visit No. 1 Western Michigan, No. 5 North Dakota will make the trip to No. 4 Omaha, No. 2 Arizona State will host No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 6 Colorado College will make the short trip up I-25 for a series vs. rival Denver.
The Colorado College-Denver series will be a rematch of this past weekend’s home-and-home series, which the Pioneers swept by scores of 4-1 and 4-3.
The last time that Denver and Colorado College faced off in four or more consecutive games at the end of the regular season and at the start of the postseason was in 2004. The Pioneers lost that WCHA quarterfinal series but weren’t sad for long — they went on to win the NCAA championship.
5. Irish coach Jeff Jackson gets win No. 600
In 26 seasons, Jeff Jackson won two NCAA championships at Lake Superior State, thrice finished runner-up and numerous conference titles. On Friday, he earned career win No. 600 when his Notre Dame squad beat Minnesota in the B1G quarterfinals on Friday.
“Very dear to my heart is my time at Notre Dame,” the 69-year-old Jackson told the South Bend Tribune. “For me, it’s about the moments and it’s about people. Those are the things I will look at as my legacy.”
The win was Jackson’s 418th for the Irish. He announced before the season started that it would be his last.
6. ECAC Hockey tournament gets underway
The drama that took hold in B1G eluded ECAC Hockey’s first round, as all four home teams won their single-elimination tourney openers.
Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell and Harvard all held serve on home ice, setting up next weekend’s best-of-three quarterfinals. Brown will visit top-seed Quinnipiac, Dartmouth will visit Union, Cornell will be at Colgate and Harvard visits Clarkson. It’s back to single elimination for the semifinals at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., which will take place March 21-22.
7. Schafer lives to coach another day
Cornell’s win in the ECAC opening round extended the coaching career of Mike Schafer, who announced his retirement this season.
“Cornell is a special place,” Schafer told the Cornell student paper last month. “It’s a place of excellence — not just in the university, but in the community and (for me) raising family here.”
Schafer graduated from Cornell in 1986 with a degree in business management after leading the team to its first conference tournament championship in six years. He entered this season with a 542–289–111 overall record with the Big Red.
8. CCHA opening round features three sweeps
They’re down to the final four in the CCHA after a weekend of best-of-three quarterfinals.
No. 7 seed Bemidji State took three games to upset No. 2 Augustana for the first round’s only upset and was the only series to go the distance. Top-seeded Minnesota State swept No. 8 Lake Superior, No. 3 St. Thomas did the same to No. 6 Ferris State and No. 4 Bowling Green took care of No. 5 Michigan Tech in two games (the first a 2-1 overtime thriller).
After reseeding, the one-and-done semifinal round will take place Saturday, featuring Bemidji at Minnesota State and Bowling Green at St. Thomas. The championship game will be March 21 at the home of the higher seed.
9. Hutson brothers shine for BU in regular-season finale
Boston University’s brother tandem of Cole Hutson and Quinn Hutson ended the regular season in style with three points apiece to help lead the Terriers to a 6-1 win at Vermont on Saturday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Quinn scored twice and had the primary assist on Cole’s 12th goal of the season, with Cole adding two assists to complete his 3-point evening.
Quinn Hutson now leads the Terriers with 46 points on 20 goals and 26 assists, while Cole Hutson leads the team with 27 assists and is second with 39 points.
10. North Dakota to make rare appearance as road playoff team
North Dakota finished fifth in the NCHC standings with 42 points, good for the fifth seed in the upcoming tournament.
It will mark only the fourth time since 2000 the Fighting Hawks did not finish in the top half of the league. The Hawks will head to Omaha for the NCHC quarterfinals beginning next Friday. North Dakota and Omaha split their season-ending weekend series in Grand Forks, N.D.
