Former NCAA Netminder Romeo Passes Away

Former NCAA netminder Sean Romeo (Ohio State) has passed away at the age of 31.

The Cary, N.C. native split his college career between Maine and OSU, fashioning an overall record of 37-30-8 with a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts. His best campaign came in 2017-18 in his first year at OSU, when he went 22-10-5 with a 2.06 GAA in 37 games and backstopped the Buckeyes to their first NCAA Frozen Four in 20 years.

He played 30 games over two years in the ECHL afterwards, with seven different clubs, winning 10 games and posting two shutouts before retiring. A product of Youngstown (USHL), he appeared in 100 games over four seasons with the Phantoms, notching 43 victories and six shutouts, after prepping withe Carolina Jr. Hurricanes. 

Devils Acquire Hellebuyck from Jets

It happened last week, and largely seemed to come out of nowhere. Some might still not believe it's real.

U.S. Olympic goaltending hero Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) is now a New Jersey Devil, after being traded last week from the Winnipeg Jets after a dozen largely-successful seasons in Manitoba, including AHL time.

Which Hellebuyck will New Jersey be getting, the one who dominates the NHL regular season, or the one who plateaus in the postseason? More on that topic here. 

Hellebuyck, a 2012 Jets' draft choice from Commerce, Mich., played at UML from 2012 to 2014. He backstopped the River Hawks to both the 2013 Hockey East championship and the 2013 NCAA Frozen Four as a freshman, and went 38-12-2 (1.60, .946) in 53 career appearances.

Maryville Tops Princeton in Exhibition

NCAA Division I men's hockey newcomer Maryville recorded an exhibition victory at Princeton on Saturday at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink in the first-ever meeting between the visiting Saints and the host Tigers.

After Seamus Latta staked Princeton to a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal eight minutes into the first period, independent Maryville responded with goals just over two minutes apart from Adam Cavallin (power play) and Anthony Hall to close out the scoring. Hall also assisted on Cavallin's game-tying goal. Princeton outshot, Maryville, 36-15, overall as Bruno Bruveris, a Rensselaer transfer, made 35 saves in all for the Saints, while Conor Callaghan led all three Princeton goalies on the night with nine saves. 

As an exhibition, team and individual statistics will not count in either school's official totals, and the game result will also not be included in their overall records. The two teams also played a three-on-three overtime session, where neither scored, and then contested a shootout, where Princeton tallied two goals to Maryville's one. 

Powers Out, Hakstol in at Arizona State

The Greg Powers era has ended at Arizona State University. Former North Dakota and NHL head coach Dave Hakstol is now in charge of Sun Devils hockey.

ASU welcomed Hakstol to the bench with a pair of NCAA non-conference wins at UMass Lowell this weekend, 5-4 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday, both at Tsongas Center. Samuel Urban stopped 75 of 81 shots in goal for ASU in picking up both victories against the host River Hawks.

Following a bye, the Sun Devils (4-2-0 overall) will open NCHC play at St. Cloud State over Halloween weekend.

Princeton Women Win in OT to Sweep UConn

Chloe Brinson's power-play goal just over three minutes into overtime proved to be her first career goal for seventh-ranked Princeton University. It also enabled the Tigers to complete their comeback from a late three-goal deficit to edge visiting No. 8 UConn, 6-5, on Saturday at Hobey Baker Rink, and complete a two-step sweep in NCAA women's hockey non-conference play.

Down 4-2 at the start of the third period, Princeton then fell behind by three goals midway through the final frame on a power-play tally by UConn's Maya Serdachny, her second goal of the game, before the Tigers began their comeback. Hannah Fetterolf made it 5-3 with less than seven minutes left, before Riley Sorokan and Caroline Averill tallied extra-attacker goals less than two minutes apart, the second with just 51 seconds remaining in regulation. Brinson then connected in the extra session 63 seconds after the Tigers went on the power play, after Huskies captain Livvy Dewar had been sent off for holding, to end it, seven months after UConn had eliminated Princeton in the first round of the 2026 NCAA tournament. The Huskies had swept the Tigers a year ago up in Storrs, Conn., to open last season.

Lia Nevo finished with 25 saves in goal for Princeton (2-0-0 overall), which was outshot, 30-20, on the afternoon. Taylor Belchetz stopped 14 shots for UConn (2-4-0), which squandered 2-0 and 5-2 leads after falling, 2-1, in the series opener on Friday. The Tigers travel to Rensselaer and Union next weekend in ECAC Hockey conference play, while the Huskies will host Mercyhurst for a pair of non-conference contests.  

Alaska Fairbanks Edges Boston College

Alaska Fairbanks traveled to Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Friday night and came away with a 3-2 men's hockey victory over No. 11 Boston College in non-conference NCAA action.

Latvia native Davis Borozinskis scored both the tying and winning goals for the visiting Nanooks, who got 28 saves in goal from Tyler Shea. BC went 2-for-5 on the power play, but the Eagles couldn't get the equalizer late in dropping their home/season opener to UAF (1-2-0).

Full recap can be found here.

 

Maryville Wins First NCAA Hockey Game

Maryville University earned its first-ever victory over an NCAA Division I opponent on Friday, when the Saints topped host St. Lawrence, 3-2.

Maryville is in its first season as an NCAA Division I independent, after previously competing in the ACHA. More can be found here.