The second weekend of the year has come and gone, and with it went some major upsets, including losses for teams ranked first, fourth, seventh, and eleventh in the country. No. 1 Boston College returned to action and looked strong in their first game before falling on Saturday to No. 9 Providence, and other teams suffered major losses, including two home upsets for top-11 teams.
Without further ado, let's get into the review. Every ranked team played this weekend, so be prepared to be reading for a while.
No. 1 Boston College
The Golden Eagles had a home-and-away against No. 9 Providence for their first games of the year, and on Friday, they looked like they hadn't taken any time off, destroying the Friars at home 7-1, but on Saturday, Boston College allowed Providence to make a comeback after being down by a goal at two different points in the third period and ended up losing on the road 4-3.
On Friday, Boston College started strong, scoring 35 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead after the first period; in the second period, the Golden Eagles scored five goals in a 7:26 span to take a 6-0 lead after two, and in the third period, Providence scored early before Boston College added a goal of their own with five minutes left to reach the 7-1 final score. Saturday's game started out similarly, with Boston College scoring once in the first period and scoring in the final minute of the second period, just 20 seconds after Providence had netted their first shot of the game, to take a 2-1 lead after two periods; Providence scored 90 seconds into the third period to tie the game before Boston College scored five minutes later to retake the lead at 3-2, but Providence would respond with two goals of their own, including the game-winner with 4:30 left, to take the win 4-3.
Scoring for the Golden Eagles were Will Smith (3, Chiclets Bump), Oskar Jellvik (2), Jamie Armstrong, Ryan Leonard, Cutter Gauthier, Will Vote, and Gabe Perreault.
No. 2 Boston University
The Terriers only had one game this weekend, as they played against Northeastern on Tuesday evening, 4-3 in overtime (that game was reviewed as part of last weekend's weekly recap); Boston played No. 16 New Hampshire at home and won a defensive battle 3-0.
The game had no scores through two periods, which was somewhat remarkable given that the Terriers had been able to stop a two-minute 5-on-3 advantage for UNH near the end of the first period after Lane Hutson was given a two-minute penalty for tripping, Quinn Hutson was given a five-minute major penalty and ejected from the game for spearing; the first goal of the game came 11 minutes into the third period courtesy of Sam Stevens, and Macklin Celebrini would add two more before the game ended, the second being an empty-netter, to reach the final score. Mathieu Caron played amazingly in goal for the Terriers, stopping all of New Hampshire's 36 shots, 18 of which came in the first period, which featured the 5-on-3.
No. 3 Wisconsin
The Badgers hosted the lowly Lindenwood Lions, who entered the weekend at 3-13-2 on the season, destroying them Friday 5-0 before surviving an upset bid on Saturday and walking away with a 3-3 tie.
In Friday's game, Wisconsin pulled away early and won 5-0 thanks to a hat trick from Quinn Finley, but on Saturday, Lindenwood came out hot, scoring a goal in each of the first two periods to take a 2-1 lead after two periods; the Badgers scored two goals in the third period to take a 3-2 lead with six minutes left before the Lions scored a minute after Wisconsin's final score to tie the game at 3-3, which would end up being the final score after overtime, despite Wisconsin outshooting Lindenwood 54-24 in the game.
The Badgers received goals from Finley (3), Cruz Lucius (2), Owen Lindmark (2), and Carson Bantle.
No. 4 North Dakota
The Fighting Hawks hosted an Omaha team that received 34 votes in the USCHO Poll this week on Friday and Saturday and left the weekend with a 1-1 record, losing in overtime to the Mavericks on Friday 5-4 before winning 3-1 on Saturday.
On Friday, North Dakota scored 10 seconds into the game en route to a 3-1 lead after the first period, but Omaha responded and scored three goals in the second period to tie the game at 4-4 going into the third period; neither team scored in the third period, but Jack Randl scored 34 seconds into overtime for the Mavericks to seal the 5-4 win. On Saturday, North Dakota again scored the first goal, but it didn't come until 6:46 into the second period, and the second period would end with the Fighting Hawks ahead 1-0; Omaha scored early in the third to tie the game before North Dakota hit the game-winner three minutes into the period, and Cameron Berg added an empty-netter with just under 30 seconds left to reach the final score.
Scoring for North Dakota were Jackson Blake, Owen McLaughlin, Riese Gaber, Ben Strinden, Griffin Ness, Dylan James, and Berg.
No. 5 Quinnipiac
The Bobcats played in a home-and-away against Princeton on Friday and Saturday and walked away from the weekend with two wins. They won at home 9-2 on Friday night before winning on the road 3-1 on Saturday.
In Friday's game, Quinnipiac took a quick 6-1 lead after the first nine minutes, and they wouldn't score again until the third period, where they scored three goals; Princeton scored one in the second period for their second goal of the game, and Quinnipiac goalie Matej Marinov played great, saving 20 of 22 shots. On Saturday, Quinnipiac again scored the first three goals of the game. Still, the first goal didn't come until 16 minutes into the second period, and Quinnipiac would score two goals early in the third period to take a 3-0 lead before Princeton scored with about a minute to go.
Scoring on the weekend for the Bobcats were Collin Graf (3), Christophe Fillion (2), Jacob Quillan, Cooper Moore, Victor Czerneckianair, Anthony Cipollone, Mason Marcellus, Sam Lipkin, and Charles-Alexis Legault.
No. 6 Denver
Denver hosted No. 14 St. Cloud for two games on Friday and Saturday, going 1-0-1
On Friday, St. Cloud scored the first goal of the game en route to a 1-0 lead after one period, but after that, the game went all Denver, as the Pioneers scored five goals in the second period to seal the 5-1 victory. On Saturday, Denver scored halfway through the first period to take a 1-0 lead before St. Cloud scored two goals within the final minute of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission; Denver would tie the game early in the second period before St. Cloud scored two straight to take a 4-2 lead, but the Pioneers would tie the game with two goals in the final three minutes to tie the game 4-4 going into the third period, where, like the previous day, neither team would score.
Denver received goals from Massimo Rizzo (2), Miko Matikka (2), Jared Wright, Rieger Lorenz, Jack Devine, Aidan Thompson, and Carter King.
No. 7 Maine
The Black Bears played two games against UConn on the road this weekend, and they won in a comeback 5-3 on Friday before losing in a 2-0 shutout on Saturday.
In Friday's game, UConn scored two goals early to take a 2-0 lead after one period, and after neither team scored in the second period, Maine scored early in the third to make it a 2-1, but UConn scored shortly after to make it 3-1 with 13:31 to play; the Black Bears would score four goals in the final 11 minutes, including the game-winner with just under four minutes with and the clincher from Brandon Holt, his second of the period, with just under two minutes to go. On Saturday, neither team scored in the first or second periods, but UConn would break the game open 22 seconds into the third period, and they would add another goal four minutes later for the 2-0 win in a game where Maine outshot the Huskies 27-19, including 11-5 in the third period, where UConn scored their two goals.
Scoring for Maine in the first game were Holt (2), Harrison Scott, Bradly Nadeau, and Josh Nadeau.
No. 8 Michigan St.
The Spartans went to State College to face No. 20 Penn State on Friday and Saturday and showed why they are a top-10 team in the country, first beating the Nittany Lions 5-0 on Friday and then coming back on Saturday and winning 7-3.
On Friday, Michigan St. scored two goals in the first period to take a 2-0 lead, and they scored two more in the second to take a 4-0 lead after two periods before Joey Larson knocked home his second goal of the game to reach the 5-0 final score. On Saturday, Penn State scored the first goal of the game before the Spartans scored three in a row to end the first period, including a beautiful goal from Karsen Dorwart that opened up the scoring; Michigan St. would pick up where they left off in the second period, scoring three goals to Penn State's one in the period to take a 6-2 lead after two, before both teams scored one goal in the third to reach the 7-3 final score.
Scoring for the Spartans on the weekend were Larson (3), Reed Lebster (2), Gavin O'Connell (2), Tanner Kelly, Dorwart, Red Savage, Artyom Levshunov, and Nash Nienhuis.
No. 9 Providence
The ninth-ranked Friars played No. 1 Boston College in a home-and-away this weekend, and in the first game, they let the Golden Eagles look like the top-ranked team in the country as they lost 7-1, but on Saturday, they came back from two separate deficits in the third period to win 4-3.
In Friday's game, the Friars let Boston College jump out to a 6-0 lead after two periods before they netted a goal to go down 6-1, but Boston College scored again to reach the 7-1 final. In Saturday's game, Boston College took a 1-0 lead after one period, and both teams scored in the second to make it 2-1 entering the third; the Friars scored early in the third to tie it, but the Golden Eagles scored shortly after to make it 3-2. After the Boston College goal, Providence tied it up again at 3-3 with just under 10 minutes left, and they netted the game-winner with 4:30 left off the stick of Chase Yoder, his second of the game.
Scoring for Providence were Yoder (2), Graham Gamache, Jamie Engelbert, and Bennett Schimek.
No. 10 Western Michigan
The Broncos traveled to face conference bottomfeeder Miami (OH), coming home with an even split in the win column.
On Friday, the Broncos took an early 1-0 lead that would hold through the first two periods, and the Broncos would score again halfway through the third period before Miami scored to make it a 2-1 game; after that, Western Michigan scored two goals, including an empty-netter by Zak Galambos, his second of the game, to reach the 4-1 final score. On Saturday, the Broncos scored early, but Miami would score the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead before Western Michigan scored one to make it a 3-2 deficit going into the third period, where Miami scored early to take a 4-2 lead before the Broncos tried to make a comeback and scored with 10 minutes left; neither team would score again.
Western Michigan players with goals on the weekend were Galambos (2), Matteo Costantini (2), Sam Colangelo, Dylan Wendt, and Samuel Sjolund.
No. 11 Arizona St.
The Sun Devils hosted No. 18 Cornell for two games in the desert this weekend and wound up being this week's big loser, losing both games by scores of 3-2 in overtime and 4-1.
On Friday, Arizona St. allowed Cornell to take a 2-0 lead after two periods before scoring two quick goals to tie the game early in the third period; Cornell would score the game-winner 3:25 into overtime. On Saturday, Cornell again took a 2-0 lead, but this time it was after one period, and the Big Red made it 3-0 entering the third; Arizona St. scored halfway through the third to make it 3-1, but Cornell continued their dominance and scored an empty-netter with three minutes left.
Scoring for the Sun Devils on the weekend were Ethan Szmagaj, Jackson Niedermayer, and Matthew Kopperud.
No. 12 Minnesota
The Golden Gophers hosted Atlantic Hockey bottomfeeder Robert Morris in two games on Friday and Saturday and won both games fairly easily by scores of 4-2 and 4-1, respectively.
In Friday's game, Robert Morris scored the first goal four minutes in, but Minnesota would score two goals in the next 90 seconds and take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission; Minnesota scored once in the second and third periods, and the Colonials scored on a power play with two minutes left to reach the 4-2 final score. On Saturday, Minnesota scored halfway through the first period and led 1-0 after one, and they would add two more scores in the second that were countered by a single Colonial score; Minnesota added on a goal halfway through the third period to reach the 4-1 final.
Minnesota received goals on the weekend from Jaxon Nelson, Brody Lamb, Oliver Moore, Bryce Brodzinski, Mason Nevers, Mike Koster, Aaron Huglen, and Jimmy Snuggerud.
No. 13 UMass
The Minutemen had a home-and-away this weekend against Merrimack and won Friday's home game 4-3 before losing at Merrimack 4-1 on Saturday.
On Friday, UMass started by scoring a goal with five minutes left in the first period to take a 1-0 lead after one, and both teams would score two goals in the second period to give the Minutemen a 3-2 lead after two periods; UMass would score the game-winner two minutes into the third period to make the score 4-2, and the Warriors would score a goal halfway through the period to make the deficit one, but that would be as far as the comeback would get. On Saturday, Merrimack came out strong, scoring two goals in the first six minutes to take a 2-0 lead, and they would add a third goal later in the period after a UMass score to make it 3-1 after one period; the only other goal in the game would come early in the third period for Merrimack as they took a fairly easy win 4-1.
Scoring for UMass on the weekend were Jack Musa, Ryan Lautenbach, Dans Locmelis, Ryan Ufko, and Owen Murray.
No. 14 St. Cloud
The Huskies played two games on the road against No. 6 Denver, and they lost 5-1 on Friday before tying the Pioneers 4-4 in Saturday's contest.
In Friday's game, St. Cloud scored first, taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but the Huskies allowed Denver to score five goals in the second period to take a 5-1 lead that would wind up being the final score. On Saturday, St. Cloud again started strong, this time taking a 2-1 lead after the first period off of two goals in the final 40 seconds of the period; in the second period, Denver would score three goals to St. Cloud's two to tie the game at 4-4, but neither team would score again for the rest of the game.
The Huskies received scores from Ethan Aucoin (2), Josh Luedtke, Zach Okabe, and Verner Miettinen.
No. 15 Michigan
The Wolverines hosted the lowly Stonehill Skyhawks, who entered the weekend with a 0-18-0 record and are easily the worst team in D1 hockey. On Friday, Michigan won 12-4, and on Saturday, they won 7-1 in their final tune-up before entering Big Ten play for the rest of the season. In what was Michigan's final two non-conference outings of the regular season, they outscored Stonehill 19-5 en route to a two-game sweep.
On Friday, Michigan scored 17 seconds into the game as part of a four-goal first period that saw the Wolverines lead 4-1 after one; Michigan would score six goals in the second period, two of which were by Gavin Brindley (who had four in the game), and they were actually outscored by Stonehill 3-2 in the third period, but they still held on to take the easy win 12-4. On Saturday, Michigan allowed Stonehill to score the first goal of the game in the fourth minute, but they tied it up later in the first and scored three goals in both of the final two periods to reach the 7-1 final.
Scoring on the weekend for Michigan were Brindley (5), Frank Nazar III (2), Dylan Duke (2), Garrett Schifsky (2), T.J. Hughes (2), Mark Estapa (2), Tanner Rowe, Kienan Draper, Nick Moldenhauer, and Chase Pletzke.
No. 16 New Hampshire
The Wildcats only played one game this weekend, on Saturday against No. 2 Boston University, and they were beaten by the Terriers 3-0.
The game was scoreless through the first 51 minutes of play, as the Wildcats played spectacular defense. However, the second-ranked Terriers were able to break through at the 51:25 mark for the first goal of the game, and they scored again 39 seconds later to make the score 2-0 with just under eight minutes to play. The Wildcats couldn't get anything going offensively, and the Terriers scored on an empty-netter with just under two minutes to play to seal the win.
No. 17 Colorado College
The Tigers traveled up north this weekend to face Minnesota Duluth, and they walked away with a loss on Friday and a win on Saturday, both by 3-2 scores in overtime.
In Friday's game, the Tigers allowed the Bulldogs to take a 2-0 lead two minutes into the third period (they had scored early in the second period for the first goal of the game), but Colorado College came roaring back, scoring their first goal of the game four minutes later and then tying the game shortly after pulling their goalie with just under two minutes left to send it to overtime; in overtime, Minnesota Duluth would win 1:06 into the period on the first shot from either team. On Saturday, Colorado College again started slow, allowing Minnesota Duluth to take a 1-0 lead after the first period on a shorthanded goal with 11 seconds left, but the Tigers would score two goals in the second period, one two minutes in that was quickly answered by the Bulldogs and one with a single second left in the period, to tie it 2-2 after the second period; neither team would score in the third, and Noah Laba would win the game for the Tigers on an unassisted goal just over 90 seconds into overtime.
Stanley Cooley (2), Tyler Coffey, Nicklas Andrews, and Laba scored for the Tigers on the weekend.
No. 18 Cornell
Cornell visited No. 11 Arizona St. for two games in the desert on Friday and Saturday and walked away with two dominant wins over the Sun Devils by scores of 3-2 in overtime and 4-1, respectively.
On Friday, the Big Red came out swinging, taking a 2-0 lead after two periods, before allowing Arizona St. to score two goals in the third period to send it to overtime; Ben Robertson would win it for Cornell three minutes into overtime. On Saturday, Cornell again came out of the gates hot, scoring their third goal of the game just 14 seconds into the second period; from there on, they managed the game well, allowing Arizona St. to score in the third period before answering with a goal of their own to reach the 4-1 final score.
The Big Red received scores from Nick Desantis (2), Robertson (2), Ondrej Psenicka, Hank Kempf, and Ryan Walsh.
No. 19 RIT
The Tigers were originally scheduled to play two games in Buffalo on Thursday and Saturday against Niagara and Canisius, but the game against Canisius was postponed until Tuesday due to the winter storm in Western New York. RIT lost both games against their Atlantic Hockey foes, with Niagara winning 3-1 and Canisius winning 3-2 in overtime.
In Thursday's game, the Tigers fell behind 2-0 in the second period, and Niagara scored another goal halfway through the third period to make it 3-0; the only score from RIT came with an extra attacker with just over a minute left in the game. In Tuesday's game, RIT would score the first goal of the game near the midpoint of the second period, but Canisius would answer a few minutes later; the same thing happened in the third period, with RIT taking a 2-1 lead, and Canisius answering a few minutes later, and Canisius would win the game with a goal in overtime to give RIT an 0-2 record on the weekend.
Scoring over the weekend for RIT were Matthew Wilde, Christian Catalano, and Tanner Andrew.
No. 20 Penn St.
The Nittany Lions hosted No. 8 Michigan St. for two games on Friday and Saturday, and they were destroyed in both games by scores of 5-0 and 7-3.
On Friday, Penn St. couldn't get anything going offensively, missing all 31 shots they took while allowing Michigan St. to score five goals in the game. On Saturday, Penn St. scored the first goal of the game four minutes in, but after that, the game went to the Spartans; they would score three goals in the first period, and they would score three goals in the second period, too. Penn St. would add a goal in each of the last two periods, and Michigan St. would add a goal in the third period to reach the 7-3 final.
Scoring for Penn St. in Saturday's game were Aiden Fink, Jacques Bouquot, and Christian Berger.
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