ECH Weekend Review: November 24-26
written By Alex Berger - November 29th, 2023For the first time this season the top team in the country was not upset. Bemidji State made it close against North Dakota on Friday night, but the Fighting Hawks came back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Beavers in overtime 3-2. NoDak remained our top team in the Everything College Hockey rankings this week despite the near loss and utter domination by #2 Boston College. In fact, this week's whole top-five looked good. #3 Denver led by the NCAA points leader Massimo Rizzo, scored 14 goals in a series sweep. #4 Michigan State split on the road against Minnesota, and #5 Boston University beat Quinnipiac at home before a tough loss in this year's Red Hot Hockey against Cornell.
Before the first half of the season ends we'll be spoiled with at least one more fantastic series. Out west this weekend, #1 North Dakota travels to #3 Denver in a matchup that has huge implications in the NCHC standings, Pairwise, ECH Rankings, and more. It will be strength against strength this weekend, as the Pioneers have the best offense in the country (5.50 goals/game) while North Dakota is tied for the best defense in the country (1.9 goals against/game). Just for reference, both teams are also ranked top-20 in those offensive and defensive categories, respectively.
As we recap the Thanksgiving slate of games, you'll notice we begin to reference the Pairwise more and more as we get further into the season. Although we can't exclusively use it just yet for comparisons, there have been enough games played so far where they begin to correlate more with our rankings and the national polls. Realistically, we're still a couple of months away until we can start to use that metric to predict and look forward to the NCAA Tournament.
Photo: Jared Silber / MSGE
- #5 Boston University Beats #7 Quinnipiac At Home, Loses To #19 Cornell At MSG
The biggest game of the "weekend" happened at 4:00 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. Boston University, fresh off four-straight wins over UMass-Lowell and Maine, welcomed in the defending national champion Quinnipiac Bobcats in a matchup of the early-season #1 and #2 teams in the Pairwise. After an overtime loss against Boston College to open up the season, Quinnipiac didn't need to beat BU on the road, but it would certainly give their NCAA seeding a boost should they make the tournament for the fourth-straight season. Any win over another potential top team could be the boost between a one and a two seed in the regional rounds.
Despite two power play chances in the first five minutes of the game, Quinnipiac couldn't find an early road goal. In fact, the Bobcats went 0-for-5 with the man advantage. The game was tight throughout the first two periods with 41 combined shots and as many saves. QU finally got one past Boston University goaltender Mathieu Caron early in the third period, as Andon Cerbone fired a shot past the diving senior to take a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later, defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault banked a shot from the point in off of a Terriers defensemen to double the Bobcats' lead.
After going down by two goals, Boston University flipped the switch. Three minutes after Legault's goal the Terriers strung together eight passes in the offensive zone to get the puck onto the tape of defenseman Jeremey Wilmer. The sophomore skated down the slot and picked the top-right corner to score his first goal of the season, making it a 2-1 game. BU kept up the offensive pressure and eventually got the game-tying and game-winning goal from the same skater. No, the hero wasn't Macklin Celebrini or Lane Hutson, it was sophomore forward Ryan Greene. First, Greene found open space on a scramble in front of the net and buried a shot to tie the game. Then with just over two minutes left in the game he fired a shot through traffic on the power play to give the Terriers the eventual game-winning goal.
Following a big nonconference win at home, Boston University packed their bags and headed three hours southwest for the ninth edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. This year's matchup in New York City featured Boston University's high-end talent in Celebrini/Hutson vs. Cornell's Ian Shane, one of the best goaltenders in college hockey who's once again off to a hot start.
Shane shut down a first-period frenzy by Boston University, which saw them outshoot the Big Red 10-2 and gain a chance on the power play. However, the game remained scoreless until late in the second period when fourth-line freshman Doug Grimes collected a puck in the high slot and fired it past Shane for his first career goal. The Terriers took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission but lost the momentum early in the final frame, taking two penalties in the first three minutes of the third period. Cornell made them pay on the second chance, as another freshman Ryan Walsh scored with the man advantage to tie the game at 1-1. Just under five minutes later, the Big Red took the lead on one of the prettiest goals of the weekend. Nick DeSantis tracked down a breakout pass down the boards, dished his own pass as he was falling down Jonathan Castagna, who then made a spinning behind-the-back pass to Ondrej Psenicka before he one-timed it into the back of the net.
While playing from behind Boston University peppered the net with chance after chance, but Ian Shane made all 18 saves he faced in the third period to lead Cornell to the upset win at Madison Square Garden. In total the junior made 35 saves in the win, and is now 5-1-1 on the season with a 1.66 GAA and .923 SV%, and has allowed two goals or less in six of his eight games so far this year. Red Hot Hockey 2023 proved that as long as Shane is playing at his best, Cornell can hang with any team in the country.
- #2 Boston College Posts Huge Road Win Over #18 Notre Dame
One of the biggest matchups of the week dropped the puck early Friday while some people were still at work. The matinee featured some of the best offensive talent in college hockey on Boston College against one of the country's best goaltenders in Ryan Bischel and Notre Dame.
Boston College's freshman line got going right away, as Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perrault, and Will Smith combined for two goals in the first period. Leonard opened the scoring just four minutes in, with a booming slapshot from the right circle that made it's way past the glove of Bischel. 12 minutes later the trio combined again with another great passing play, going Smith to Perrault to Leonard to the back of the net for the second-straight time.
The game got out of hand quickly in the second period. Boston College scored three more goals, including a 5-on-3 tally from Perrault for his third point of the game. The Eagles were passing circles around the Fighting Irish, which was evident on their sixth and final goal of the game. This time it was the sophomore line combining for a highlight-reel goal. Oskar Jellvik collected a no-look pass at the top of the slot, skated behind the net, and dished a no-look pass of his own to a wide open Andre Gasseau to make it 6-0. Notre Dame's Landon Slaggert ended the shutout with just 95 seconds left for his tenth goal of the season, but Boston College hung on for a statement 6-1 road win over #18 Notre Dame.
The Eagles' top-six has quickly proved their one of the best forward cores in the country. BC has four players in the top-37 total points scored this season -- Perrault, Smith, Gauthier, and Leonard -- and the top six have already combined for 97 total points in just 14 games (42 goals, 55 assists, 6.93 total points/game). That's 78% of the goals for BC so far this year on a team that's sixth-best in the NCAA in goals/game.
It should be noted that Boston College followed up their big road win against Notre Dame with another big road win just two days later against Harvard. Jacob Fowler once again let in just one goal, while the top-six combined for six points in a 4-1 win. Ryan Leonard scored twice for the second-straight game, and has now tallied a point in eight-straight. BC sits at both #1 in the Pairwise and in both national polls, and #2 in the Everything College Hockey rankings. They'll work to continue their momentum with three games left in the first half of the season, including a home matchup against #10 Providence.
- #8 Minnesota Splits With #3 Michigan State In Top-10 Showdown
Most of our ECH staff (except James) chose Minnesota over Michigan State in our picks heading into this year. Just two months into the season the teams have found themselves on opposite ends of the Big Ten standings. The Spartans came into the weekend 1st in the standings following a home sweep over Wisconsin, while Minnesota was 6th in the standings with just seven total points in six conference games.
The top-ten matchup certainly lived up to the hype with two overtime games. In game one, Michigan State freshman Trey Augustine once again took over with 44 saves on 47 shots, the highest of his 15-game career, and matched fifth-year star Justen Close in net for the Gophers (25 saves on 28 shots). The Spartans trailed by one goal three separate times throughout the game, and came back all three times. With the game tied 1-1 in the third period, Sparty matched goals from the Gophers just 1:22 and 2:19 after Minnesota took the lead. After nine combined saves in the 3-on-3 overtime, Augustine made three saves in the shutout to earn the win and extra point. The star freshman has now made the most saves out of anyone in college hockey (468, 31.2/game) despite a 3.17 GAA and .911 save percentage.
Minnesota and Michigan State saved the best for last. After a great weekend of games across the country, they met for a Sunday matinee at Mariucci which saw 11 total goals and another overtime ending. Bryce Brodzinski opened the scoring with a powerful wrist shot from the point that bounced through Augustine's pads for a 1-0 lead. But once again Michigan State responded, this time thanks to junior Red Savage. The Miami transfer buried a puck after he found his way to the front of the net and was on the receiving end of a great forecheck play by Joey Larson.
After tying the game late in first period, the Spartans got a huge shorthanded goal early in the second. Junior forward David Gucciardi jumped on a turnover, outskated Luke Mittelsadt on a breakaway, and put a great move on Gophers' goaltender Justen Close to give Michigan State the 2-1 lead. The game opened up even more in the second period with three more goals, including two from Minnesota in under 2:30 to keep the game tied heading into the second intermission. Then, a Connor Kurth breakaway and Rhett Pitlick power play goal gave the Gophers a 5-3 lead with under 10 minutes to go in the game. But once again Michigan State came back, scoring two goals in the final five minutes to tie the game.
Freshman forward Jimmy Clark would be the hero for Minnesota in the 3-on-3 overtime. The Gophers capitalized after Nash Nienhuis broke his stick in the defensive zone, and Clark made his way behind the defense to score on Augustine in close for the thrilling 6-5 win. Brodziski tallied an assist on the game-winner, his second of the night and fourth total. The graduate senior now has eight goals and eight assists in just 14 games this season, already over half of what he tallied last year for Minnesota.
- Alaska-Anchorage Upsets #4 Wisconsin
After starting off as the hottest team in college hockey, Wisconsin cooled off two weeks ago against Michigan State. For the first time this season the Badgers lost two-straight games, going 0-for-8 on the power play during the series sweep and dropping to second in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin looked to get back on track with a nonconference matchup against Alaska-Anchorage at home this past weekend. With the Seawolves coming in at 5-8-1 and just one win in their last six games, it looked like the Badgers could get back on track to the #1 team in the country. However, Alaska-Anchorage did not follow the script and staged one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Wisconsin was completely dominant; outshooting the Seawolves 41-21, outdrawing them 34-8, and drawing six power play opportunities. But sophomore goaltender Jared Whale stopped all 41 shots faced and helped kill all six penalties, including over 2:30 of extra-attacker play in the third period. Alaska-Anchorage needed just one goal the entire game. They got it at the end of the second period from freshman Gunnar VanDamme, who fired a shot from the high slot to score his first career goal. Despite 17 total shots on goal in the final frame, Wisconsin could not find the equalizer. The 1-0 final score was a shocking result, and proves that any given team can win on any given night. All credit to Whale and the rest of the Seawolves, as they've now beaten three teams in the top-30 of the Pairwise (UMass-Lowell, Penn State, and Wisconsin).
Head coach Mike Hastings had the Badgers ready to go on Saturday, as they raced out to a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the game. That included a power play goal from Ben Drexheimer, the team's first with the man advantage in 15 tries. In the second period William Whitelaw fired a shot from a ridiculous angle on a 2-on-1 rush above the should of Seawolves' goaltender Joey Lameroux. Whitelaw's second goal of the night made it 3-0 and sparked a three-goal second period. Despite seven power play chances, Alaska-Anchorage couldn't get a shot past freshman William Gramme, who posted a shutout in his first career game to lead Wisconsin to a 5-0 win.
- #17 Michigan Blanks, Ties #13 St. Cloud State In Road Series
In a rare meeting at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, St. Cloud State hosted Michigan for their third and fourth matchups ever. The wide sheet at St. Cloud played into both teams strengths, and it was a shame the Wolverines were missing one of the most talented players in Rutger McGroarty for this series. Most fans (including myself) were expecting a high-action offensive series, but surprisingly the two teams combined for just eight goals on the weekend.
A big part of that was due to a shutout from Jake Barczewski on Friday night, who made 30 saves and kept the Huskies off the board despite three power play chances and a number of posts. Michigan also had trouble solving St. Cloud goaltender Dominic Basse, but finally got help from a pair of deflections in the third period. After a shot from the right point bounced off a Huskies' outstretched hand and after a partial shot from Dylan Duke in the slot, the puck made it's way to the stick of T.J. Hughes who fired a shot into a wide-open net. The Wolverines would double their lead just minutes later, capitalizing on a turnover right out in front to ice the game at 2-0. Freshman Garrett Schifsky scored the late goal, his eighth goal and 16th total point through 16 games so far in his career.
For awhile it looked as though Michigan would run away with the road sweep, as they took a 3-0 lead midway through the second period (thanks in part to goals from brothers Tyler and Dylan Duke). The Wolverines second goal was straight unlucky for St. Cloud. A clearing attempt by a Huskie defender hit his own teammate and flew 20 feet into the air, landing just behind Basse and into his own net.
Despite the bad puck luck, St. Cloud would get on the scoreboard for the first time late in the second period of game two. While on the penalty kill the Huskies own pair of brothers, Verner and Veeti Miettienen, combined for a goal of their own. Verner entered the zone and created space for Veeti behind him with a drop pass. Veeti than fired a shot just under the bar that left the goal as quick as it entered it, his tenth tally of the season, for a huge goal to cut the lead to 3-1. The Huskies continued the momentum just 65 seconds into the third period, as Kyler Kupka scored a baseball-style goal on the power play. Michigan would hold the one-goal lead until late in the game, when Kupka would be the hero for St. Cloud State. With time winding down and a mad scramble in front of the net, the graduate senior scored his second goal of the night and fifth of the season with just nine seconds to go to tie the game at 3-3. No one would score in overtime, but St. Cloud would "win" the shootout and post their first non-loss against Michigan in school history.
- NCHC Standings
1. St. Cloud State (18 Points): "Split with" Michigan at home with 2-0 loss, 3-3 OT tie
2. North Dakota (12 Points): Swept Bemidji State with 3-2 OT, 5-0 wins
3. Western Michigan (10 Points): Swept St. Lawrence at home with 5-1, 4-0 wins
4. Denver (9 Points): Swept Yale at home with 5-0, 9-0 wins
5. Colorado College (6 Points): No games scheduled
6. Omaha (5 Points): Swept Augustana with 2-1 win at home, 5-2 win on the road
T-7. Miami (0 Points): Split with Mercyhurst with 4-3 OT loss at home, 2-0 win on the road
T-7. Minnesota-Duluth (0 Points): No games scheduled
- Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State (19 Points): "Split with" Minnesota on the road with 4-3 SO win, 5-4 OT loss
T-2. Wisconsin (12 Points): Split with Alaska-Anchorage at home with 1-0 loss, 5-0 win
T-2. Notre Dame (12 Points): Lost to Boston College at home 6-1
4. Minnesota (10 Points): "Split with" Michigan State at home with 4-3 SO loss, 5-4 OT win
5. Michigan (9 Points): "Split with" St. Cloud State on the road with 2-0 win, 3-3 OT tie
6. Penn State (8 Points): Swept Lindenwood at home with 9-3, 7-1 wins
7. Ohio State (2 Points): Swept Princeton at home with 6-3, 4-3 wins
- CCHA Standings
1. St. Thomas (15 Points): Split with Lake Superior at home with 4-2 win, 3-1 loss
2. Bemidji State (13 Points): Swept by North Dakota on the road with 3-2 OT, 5-0 losses
T-3. Michigan Tech (12 Points): Swept Minnesota State on the road with 3-2 OT, 3-2 wins
T-3. Northern Michigan (12 Points): Split with Bowling Green on the road with 6-2 loss, 2-0 win
5. Lake Superior (11 Points): Split with St. Thomas on the road with 4-2 loss, 3-1 win
6. Minnesota State (9 Points): Swept by Michigan Tech at home with 3-2 OT, 3-2 losses
7. Bowling Green (7 Points): Split with Northern Michigan at home with 6-2 win, 2-0 loss
8. Ferris State (5 Points): No games scheduled
- Hockey East Standings
1. Boston University (17 Points): Beat Quinnipiac 3-2 at home, lost to Cornell 2-1 at Madison Square Garden
2. Providence (15 Points): Split with Arizona State on the road with 4-3 OT loss, 2-1 win
T-3. Boston College (13 Points): Beat Notre Dame on the road 6-1, beat Harvard on the road 4-1
T-3. New Hampshire (13 Points): Split with RIT on the road with 5-4 loss, 4-3 OT win
5. Massachusetts (11 Points): Beat Harvard on the road 6-5
6. Maine (10 Points): No games scheduled
T-7. Connecticut (9 Points): Beat Dartmouth at home 6-1
T-7.Merrimack (9 Points): Beat Army at home 7-3, beat Bentley at home 4-3
9. Vermont (8 Points): No games scheduled
10. UMass-Lowell (7 Points): Lost to Bentley 4-1 at home, lost to Army at home 4-2
11. Northeastern (2 Points): "Swept" Rensselaer on the road with 3-3 OT tie, 9-2 win
- ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac (16 Points): Lost to Boston University on the road 3-2
T-2. Brown (9 Points): Lost to Holy Cross on the road 6-3
T-2. Colgate (9 Points): Split with Niagara at home with 5-2 loss, 2-1 win
T-2. Cornell (9 Points): Beat Boston University 2-1 at Madison Square Garden
T-2. Dartmouth (9 Points): Lost to Connecticut on the road 6-1
T-6. Clarkson (8 Points): No games scheduled
T-6. Princeton (8 Points): Swept by Ohio State on the road with 6-3, 4-3 losses
8. Harvard (7 Points): Lost to Massachusetts at home 6-5, lost to Boston College at home 4-1
T-9. Rensselaer (6 Points): "Swept by" Northeastern at home with 3-3 OT tie, 9-2 loss
T-9. Union (6 Points): Swept Stonehill at home with 5-2, 4-0 wins
T-9. Yale (6 Points): Swept by Denver on the road with 5-0, 9-0 losses
12. St. Lawrence (3 Points): Swept by Western Michigan on the road with 5-1, 4-0 losses
- Atlantic Hockey Standings
1. Sacred Heart (22 Points): Swept Robert Morris on the road with 4-2, 3-1 wins
2. RIT (17 Points): Split with New Hampshire at home with 5-4 win, 4-3 OT loss
3. AIC (15 Points): Beat Long Island on the road 5-2, 5-1 win on Monday over Army at home
4. Canisius (14 Points): "Split with" Air Force at home with 3-1 win, 3-2 SO loss
T-5. Niagara (13 Points): Split with Colgate on the road with 5-2 win, 2-1 loss
T-5. Holy Cross (13 Points): Beat Brown at home 6-3
T-7. Air Force (12 Points): "Split with" Canisius on the road with 3-1 loss, 3-2 SO win
T-7. Bentley (12 Points): Beat UMass-Lowell on the road 4-1, lost to Merrimack on the road 4-3
9. Mercyhurst (10 Points): Split with Miami with 4-3 OT win on the road, 2-0 loss at home
10. Army (7 Points): Lost to Merrimack on the road 7-3, beat UMass-Lowell on the road 4-2, 5-1 loss at AIC on Monday
11. Robert Morris (6 Points): Swept by Sacred Heart at home with 4-2, 3-1 wins
- Independent Roundup
Alaska: No games scheduled
Alaska-Anchorage: Split with Wisconsin on the road with 1-0 win, 5-0 loss
Arizona State: Split with Providence at home with 4-3 OT win, 2-1 loss
Augustana: Swept by Omaha with 2-1 loss on the road, 5-2 loss at home
Lindenwood: Swept by Penn State on the road with 9-3, 7-1 losses
Long Island: Lost to AIC at home 5-2, beat Simon Fraser at home 3-1 (Exhibition)
Stonehill: Swept by Union on the road with 5-2, 4-0 losses
