Princeton, Arizona State Record Upsets

A pair of major non-conference upsets took place on Saturday night in NCAA Division I men’s college hockey. Princeton scored three unanswered goals in the third period to edge fourth-ranked Penn State, 5-4, in Philadelphia, while Arizona State gained a series split with a 4-2 victory at No. 17 Quinnipiac in Connecticut.

David Hallisey scored two goals for Princeton, including the tying goal early in the third period at the Wells Fargo Center less than two minutes after Liam Grande had pulled the Tigers to within a goal of the Nittany Lions. Ben Foster then connected for the game-winner with 1:26 remaining in regulation. Colton Phinney made 43 saves as Princeton recorded a win over former coach Guy Gadowsky, who guided the Tigers from 2004 to 2011 before leaving for Penn State. Andrew Sturtz scored twice for the Nittany Lions, who lost their second straight game following a four-game unbeaten streak.

Anthony Croston scored two goals for Arizona State, which bounced back from a 5-2 loss Friday to the Bobcats by jumping out to a 3-0 lead on Saturday at High Point Solutions Arena. Joey Daccord made 53 saves for the visiting Sun Devils, who were outshot by a 55-19 margin in the second contest, including 28-1 over the final 20 minutes. Tim and Connor Clifton scored for Quinnipiac, which will likely now have to win the ECAC Tournament to qualify for the NCAAs for the fifth consecutive year. The Bobcats were national runners-up last spring to North Dakota.

Princeton is now 6-4-0 this season against ranked opponents, while ASU recorded its first win of the campaign over a team in the Top 20.

Merrimack Sweeps No.1 BU

Boston University may have been the No. 1 team in the nation this past week, but that will come to an end when the polls are released Monday.

Merrimack College completed a two-step sweep of the top-ranked Terriers with a 4-1 victory at BU's Agganis Arena on Friday night. Michael Babcock scored two goals in the third period, one shorthanded, to break open a 2-1 game, while Collin Delia made 37 saves.

The Warriors had originally posted a 3-1 victory over BU at Merrimack's Lawler Arena on Tuesday, as Logan Coomes tallied the game-winning goal on a second-period power play, while Delia made 30 stops. Merrimack scored four of its seven goals in the series with a man advantage.

BU is now 16-7-2 overall and 9-4-2 in Hockey East, where it resides in second place behind Green Line rival Boston College. Merrimack improved to 10-13-3 overall, and stands ninth in Hockey East with a 4-7-3 mark.

BC's Wood Tallies Two for New Jersey

Miles Wood (Boston College) posted the first two-goal game of his burgeoning NHL career on Saturday night, as the visiting New Jersey Devils defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1.

Wood tallied the Devils’ third and fourth goals in the victory, his sixth and seventh goals of the 2016-17 campaign. His first score came late in the second period on a rush from center ice, before he finished off the night with a power-play goal in front in the final frame. Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame) notched the game-winning goal for New Jersey, while Keith Kinkaid (Union) made 35 saves.

Wood, the son of former Yale University standout and longtime NHL player Randy Wood, played one year at BC, tallying 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points in 37 games last season in helping the Eagles to the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa. Drafted 100th overall by New Jersey in 2013, he has 7-3—10 points in 29 NHL appearances this season, all with the Devils, along with 3-3—6 points in 14 games with their minor-league affiliate in Albany (AHL).

A product of the Noble and Greenough (MA) School, Wood made his professional debut in the Devils’ 2015-16 NHL regular season finale against Toronto.

Weight Wins First Game as NHL Head Coach

Doug Weight (Lake Superior State) has his first win as an interim NHL head coach.

Weight, who was elevated to the top coaching position with the New York Islanders on Tuesday after predecessor Jack Capuano (Maine) was let go by the club, picked up his first victory in charge of an NHL bench on Thursday night in Brooklyn as the Islanders defeated the Dallas Stars, 3-0.

Born in Detroit, Weight, 46, played two seasons at LSSU, tallying 50 goals and 94 assists for 134 points in 88 career games with the Lakers. He also earned All-CCHA and All-America accolades, and later endowed a hockey scholarship at the university. 

Drafted in the second round (34th overall) of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, following his freshman campaign at LSSU, he turned pro the following year with the Rangers, appearing in one 1991 Stanley Cup Playoff game after competing his sophomore season with the Lakers. 

By the time he was done 20 years later, in 2010-11, Weight had collected 278-755—1,033 points in 1,238 NHL regular-season outings with the Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and the Islanders, according to hockeydb.com. A four-time NHL All-Star, he also recorded 23-49—72 points in 97 Stanley Cup Playoff contests, and won the Cup with Carolina in 2006.

Weight also won the inaugural World Cup with the U.S. in 1996, and six years later helped the Americans to the silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. He also appeared in the 1998 and 2006 Olympic Games, and was inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

A former Islander team captain, Weight was in his third season as the franchise's Senior Advisor to the General Manager, and sixth as an assistant coach when he succeeded Capuano, who had served as Islander head coach since November 2010 and won 227 of 483 NHL games in his tenure.

Milestones Abound as Cornell Tops Princeton

Jeff Malott scored three goals on three shots, Mitch Gillam made 31 saves, and coach Mike Schafer won his 400th career game as No. 19 Cornell upended Princeton, 5-1, in ECAC play on Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink.

The Big Red has also won eight of its last nine outings. Colton Phinney made 21 saves for Princeton, which lost its fourth straight game, and is now the school’s all-time leader with 2,968 career stops/

The full story can be found here.

BC's Santini Scores First NHL Goal

New Jersey Devils defenseman Steve Santini (Boston College) scored his first NHL goal on Thursday night at Edmonton, deflecting a shot by Taylor Hall past Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville) with 51 seconds remaining in the second period at Rogers Place. The goal gave the Devils a 2-1 lead in an eventual 3-2 overtime loss to the Oilers. Blake Coleman (Miami) also made his NHL debut on Thursday for the Devils.

A native of Mahopac, N.Y., Santini made his NHL debut with the Devils in their 2015-16 regular season finale against Toronto in April, days after BC had been eliminated from the NCAA Frozen Four by Quinnipiac. He had played 15 games with Albany (AHL) this season before being called up to New Jersey, where he recorded two assists in his first five games for his first NHL points. He was originally drafted by New Jersey in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

The 6-foot-2 Santini, who skated two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program prior to enrolling at BC, ultimately played in 98 career NCAA games with the Eagles, scoring five goals and adding 30 assists for 35 points while amassing 122 penalty minutes, according to USCHO.com. He also helped BC to three NCAA Tournament berths, two Frozen Four appearances, and two Hockey East regular-season titles.

U.S. Wins 2017 World Junior Gold

For the first time in four years and second since 2010, the U.S. National Junior Hockey Team is golden.

The Americans rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal to defeat host Canada, 5-4, in a shootout in the gold-medal game of the 2017 IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championship.

Troy Terry (Denver) was again the hero in the extra session for the Americans. Following a scoreless 20-minute overtime period, Terry tallied the only goal of the shootout to lift Team USA to its first WJC gold medal since 2013 in Russia. He had three shootout goals the day before in 4-3 semifinal win over Russia. Tyler Parsons made 46 saves for the U.S. on Wednesday, while also stopping all five Canadian shootout attempts.

Trailing 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes, Team USA knotted things up on goals by Boston University teammates Charlie McAvoy and Kiefer Bellows (power-play goal). After Canada connected twice early in the third period to again pull ahead, 4-2, Bellows scored his second goal of the game to bring the U.S. back within one.

Colin White (Boston College) then tied the game with just under 13 minutes remaining in regulation. White finished with a team-high seven goals in seven games for the Americans (7-0-0), and along with McAvoy also played on last year's American WJC squad that won bronze in Finland. Canada outshot the U.S., 50-36, on the night, including 17-7 in overtime

The U.S. has now won four gold medals (2004, 2010, 2013, 2017) in WJC competition, with three of those wins in the championship game coming against Canada.

Russia defeated Sweden earlier on Wednesday, 2-1 in overtime, to claim this year's bronze medal. Next year's WJC competition will be held in Buffalo for the first time since 2011, when the U.S. won bronze.

U.S. to Play for Gold After Edging Russia

Troy Terry (Denver) scored three times in the shootout to lift the U.S. National Junior Team to a 4-3 victory over Russia in a 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship semifinal game at the Bell Centre in Montreal. It was the first time ever that the U.S. had defeated Russia in the medal round in WJC play.

Colin White (Boston College) scored twice in regulation for Team USA, giving him six goals in six games this tournament, with his second goal lifting the U.S. to a 3-2 lead late in the second period. Russia forced overtime with a third-period tally, after holding leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over the first 40 minutes. Luke Kunin (Wisconsin) scored a second period power-play goal for the U.S., which also got two assists on the day from Clayton Keller (Boston University).

Tyler Parsons made 33 saves for the Americans (6-0-0), which outshot Russia, 40-36, over regulation and a scoreless 10-minute overtime period that initiated the shootout. The U.S. then outscored Russia, 4-3, over the extra session, with former Boston College forward Jeremy Bracco getting the other American shootout goal to keep the U.S. effort alive at the time. Terry scored on all three of his shootout attempts, including two in a row, as international rules dictate that shooters can repeat after the first five shootout attempts have been conducted if there is no winner to that point.

Parsons was named the American MVP for the game, while Keller, White and Jordan Greenway (Boston University) were tabbed as Team USA's top players of the tournament. The Americans will now play the winner of Sweden-Canada on Thursday in Montreal for the gold medal (8 p.m. ET, NHL Network). The U.S., which will medal for the fifth time in eight WJC tournaments, last finished first in WJC competition in 2013 in Ufa, Russia.

Greenway Powers U.S. to Win Over Switzerland

A third-period power-play goal by Jordan Greenway (Boston University) broke a tie and allowed the U.S. National Junior Team to survive.

Greenway's goal, which was assisted by BU teammates Charlie McAvoy and Clayon Keller, lifted the Americans to a 3-2 win over upstart Switzerland in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Toronto. The U.S. improved to 5-0-0 overall in the tournament, and will now face Russia on Wednesday in a semifinal contest.

Greenway scored just 18 seconds after the Swiss had forged a 2-2 tie to complete a comeback from an early two-goal deficit. He also assisted on a first-period goal by Luke Kunin (Wisconsin), which followed one by former Boston College forward Jeremy Bracco.

Tyler Parsons made 19 saves for Team USA, which was outshot, 21-19, by the Swiss.