Monday, March 18, 2024

Princeton Parts Ways with Fogarty

Ron Fogarty's tenure as head coach of the Princeton University men's hockey team has come to a close. It was announced today by athletic director John Mack that Fogarty will not return behind the bench at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink next season. 

Fogarty fashioned a 90-169-27 overall record as head coach of the Tigers since the 2014-15 campaign (the 2020-21 Ivy League season was canceled by COVID-19). In 2018, he led the Tigers to the Whitelaw Cup as ECAC Hockey postseason champions, and also Princeton's first NCAA tournament berth since 2009. This season, Princeton went 10-16-4 overall, and finished ninth in ECAC Hockey with an 8-11-3 mark. The Tigers fell at Harvard, 1-0, in the first round of the 2024 ECAC championship on March 8. 

Prior to his time at Princeton, Fogarty built the NCAA Division III program at Adrian College in Michigan from scratch, beginning in 2007-08. The Bulldogs went 167-23-10 in seven seasons under Fogarty and earned four NCAA Division III tournament berths, including a national runner-up finish in 2011. He also led Adrian to six Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championships, and five MCHA playoff titles.

A native of Sarnia, Ont., Fogarty, 52, played four seasons (1991-1995) as a forward at Colgate University, where he scored 51 goals and added 90 assists for 141 points for the Raiders, while making the All-ECAC Rookie team as a freshman. After playing professionally for several years, he went on to become an assistant coach at Clarkson University and Bowling Green before taking the reins at Adrian.

Fogarty's combined NCAA head coaching record with the Tigers and Bulldogs stands at 257-192-37. Princeton is now expected to conduct a national search for his successor.

Friday, March 15, 2024

2024 NCAA Women's D-I Championship Underway

The 2024 NCAA Division I women's hockey championship is underway. The field of 11 teams has been reduced to eight schools following three games on Thursday, including a pair of shutouts.

Sixth-seeded Cornell routed No. 11 Stonehill, 7-1, in Hamilton, N.Y., as Izzy Daniel scored one goal for the Big Red and set up three others. No. 7 St. Lawrence blanked No. 10 Penn State, 1-0, in Madison, Wis., as Kristina Bahl scored the only goal of the game in overtime, and Emma-Sofie Nordström stopped all 36 shots she faced for the Saints. Lastly, No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth outlasted No. 9 UConn, 1-0, in Columbus, Ohio, as Mannon McMahon connected in OT and Ève Gascon turned away 33 shots for the Bulldogs.

The tournament continues on Saturday as Cornell takes on No. 3 Colgate, St. Lawrence faces No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 4 Clarkson faces off with No. 5 Minnesota, and UMD squares off with top-seeded Ohio State. The four winners will advance to the 2024 NCAA Frozen Four in Durham, N.H. on March 22, with the national title game slated for March 24. Wisconsin is the defending national champion, having bested 2023 NCAA champion OSU last year in Duluth.

ADDENDUM: The 2024 Frozen Four is set. Ohio State will take on Clarkson in the early game on March 22 at 4 p.m. ET, while Wisconsin will face Colgate at 7:30 p.m. ET. Both contests will be televised live on ESPN+. The national final will be held two days later, at 4 p.m. ET, and will be shown live on ESPNU. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Moves Made in NCAA Hockey Coaching Ranks

It's been a whirlwind few weeks regarding head coaches in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey.

Adam Nightingale, a former Spartan skater himself, has had his contract extended after Michigan State won the Big Ten regular-season title, the first such title in program history. According to msuspartans.com, Nightingale's five-year rollover contract includes a non-performance related compensation of $700,000 in the first year, with a a base salary of $600K and supplemental compensation of $100K. Beginning in year two, his supplemental compensation will increase by $25K from the previous year. MSU (22-9-3 overall, 16-6-2 B1G) will entertain Ohio State on Saturday in a Big Ten tournament semifinal contest.

Steve Wiedler has been promoted to head coach at Vermont, after serving as interim coach this season. A former Southern Maine defenseman, he has received a four-year contract (financial terms were not disclosed). A former UVM assistant, he succeeded Todd Woodcroft, who was let go last summer following a university investigation regarding inappropriate conduct. The Catamounts (13-18-3, 7-14-3 HE) play at UConn tonight in a Hockey East tournament first-round elimination game.

Lindenwood has let Rick Zombo go after two seasons as an NCAA Division I independent.  A former national champion at North Dakota, and a 13-year NHL defenseman, Zombo had mentored Lindenwood's ACHA club program since 2010-11, before the Lions entered the NCAA ranks in 2022-23. He also coached the St. Louis franchises in both the NAHL and USHL before joining Lindenwood. 

Bowling Green has parted ways with alumnus Ty Eigner after five seasons. He led the Falcons to an 84-83-11 mark in that span, with their last winning campaign coming in 2020-21. BGSU finished 13-12-1 overall (11-12-1 CCHA) this year, and was eliminated by Michigan Tech in the first round of the CCHA tournament.

Lastly, David Borges is retiring from Stonehill College after 10 seasons at the helm. A UMass Lowell graduate, he compiled a 102-141-24 record overall with the Skyhawks, including the past two seasons as a Division I independent. He also led Stonehill to two Northeast-10 regular-season titles and one league tournament championship in his tenure.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

NCAA Players Moved at 2024 NHL Deadline

A number of former NCAA players changed places last week before the NHL trading deadline last Friday. Some of the more notable transactions (since Feb. 28):

Cole Brady, G (UMass) *            Calgary to Dallas

Devin Cooley, G (Denver) *         Buffalo to San Jose

Brandon Duhaime, F (Providence)    Minnesota to Colorado

Jake Guentzel, F (Omaha)           Pittsburgh to Carolina

Noah Hanifin, D (Boston College)   Calgary to Vegas

Erik Johnson, D (Minnesota)        Buffalo to Philadelphia

Ben Meyers, F (Minnesota)          Colorado to Anaheim

Casey Mittelstadt, F (Minnesota)   Buffalo to Colorado

Kyle Okposo, F (Minnesota)         Buffalo to Florida

Andrew Peeke, D (Notre Dame)       Columbus to Boston

Jack Roslovic, F (Miami)           Columbus to NY Rangers

Chad Ruhwedel, D (UMass Lowell)    Pittsburgh to NY Rangers

Chris Tanev, D (RIT)               Calgary to Dallas

Sean Walker, D (Bowling Green)     Philadelphia to Colorado

Cade Webber, D (Boston Univ.)*     Carolina to Toronto

Jason Zucker, F (Denver)           Arizona to Nashville

* Has not played in NHL yet

Friday, March 8, 2024

Princeton Falls in First Round Playoff

Princeton's 2023-24 men's hockey season came to a close tonight with a 1-0 loss at Harvard in the first round of the ECAC Hockey championship. Ian Moore's first-period goal stood up as the game-winner for the Crimson (7-17-6 overall), who got 38 saves in net from Aku Koskenvuo. 

Arthur Smith made 16 saves for the Tigers (10-16-4), who outshot Harvard, 38-17, but were shut out for the first time this season. It was the final career collegiate game for Princeton's senior class, including Mike Kennedy, Nick Carabin, Mackenzie Merriman, team captain Ian Murphy, Nick Seitz, Adam Robbins, and Joe Berg.

Harvard advances to next week's ECAC Hockey quarterfinals, as does St. Lawrence, which defeated visiting Yale by a 4-2 count behind 37 saves from goaltender Ben Kraws. The winner of the ECAC Hockey championship will receive the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

SLU Claims Last Home ECAC Playoff Spot

The final home playoff spot in this season's ECAC Hockey championship's first round went to St. Lawrence University. 

Despite falling to Quinnipiac in the regular-season finale last Saturday, the Saints locked up eighth place in the league standings with a 4-4 tie at Princeton the night before. The extra point earned from winning the subsequent shootout solidified SLU's place in the conference standings, and also earned it the final home playoff spot in the first round this upcoming weekend. 

Ben Kraws stopped a season-high 46 shots through regulation and overtime at Princeton, then turned aside all five shots he faced in the shootout. Felikss Gavars scored twice for the Saints (10-18-6 overall, 8-10-4 ECAC Hockey), including a second-period penalty shot goal, while Jan Lasak tallied the only goal in the shootout, scoring in the fifth round. 

David Jacobs scored twice for Princeton (10-15-4, 8-11-3), and also set up the game-tying goal late in the third period by Kai Daniels. Ethan Pearson finished with 18 saves for the Tigers in relief of starter Arthur Smith (10 saves). Princeton also outshot SLU, 50-32. 

The Saints will now host Yale in a single-elimination contest on Friday, while the Tigers will visit Harvard that same night. The ultimate winner of the ECAC Hockey championship wins the Whitelaw Cup, and also garners the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Monday, March 4, 2024

BC Clinches 2024 Hockey East Title

Boston College is once more the Hockey East regular-season champion. The top-ranked Eagles outlasted New Hampshire, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon to clinch their first conference title since 2021, and 18th overall since Hockey East began play in 1984-85. Eamon Powell scored the only goal of the game midway through the third period at BC's Conte Forum, while Jacob Fowler stopped 27 shots in posting his second shutout this season for the Eagles (27-5-1 overall).

BC, which finishes its regular season on March 9 at Merrimack, is seven points ahead of second-place Boston University, which has two games remaining. The Eagles, who will receive a first-round bye in the Hockey East postseason tournament, also remain the top team in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the NCAA tournament selection process.

Also clinching regular-season Division I men's hockey conference crowns this weekend were Bemidji State (CCHA), Michigan State (Big Ten) and North Dakota (NCHC). Quinnipiac claimed the ECAC Hockey title the previous weekend, while RIT earned the Atlantic Hockey championship.