BGSU Sweeps Notre Dame

No. 16 Bowling Green swept No. 5 Notre Dame by a pair of 5-2 scores this weekend at Compton Ice Arena in Notre Dame, Ind. The former Central Collegiate Hockey Association rivals met for the first since the CCHA's final campaign, when Notre Dame swept a best-of-three first round playoff series at home in March 2013.

Brandon Kruse led the Falcons with a goal and an assist on Friday night, and added another goal Saturday, while Nick Leivermann set up two goals from the blueline in the rematch. Eric Dop stopped 52 of 56 shots overall for BGSU, while Ryan Bischel had 30 saves for the Irish on Saturday after making seven saves in relief in the night before.

BGSU improved to 9-5-0 overall this season with the two wins and is 6-2-0 in its last eight outings, while the Irish fell to 8-3-2 with their third straight loss.

Union Edges Princeton in OT

Union College got back into the win column Saturday night.

Gabriel Seger scored with 15.5 seconds left in overtime at Hobey Baker Rink to boost the Dutchmen to a 2-1 win at Princeton. Anthony Rinaldi powered down the right wing boards from his own end, skated past a falling defenseman in the Princeton zone, and got off a shot on net that was stopped by Tigers goaltender Ryan Ferland (30 saves). Seger was there to pop in the rebound and end Union's four-game losing skid.

Matthew Thom put Princeton (1-3-2, 0-3-1 ECAC Hockey) ahead 3:36 into the second period on a shot from the middle of the blueline that got through Union netminder Darion Hanson (29 saves). Dylan Anhorn responded 10 minutes later for the Dutchmen (3-11-0, 2-4-0), just five seconds into a Union power play, to tie the game.

Union outshot Princeton, 32-30, including 5-1 in the extra session. The two schools will meet again on Feb. 21, 2020 in Schenectady, N.Y. to close out the season series.

Alaska Schools Safe for 2020-21 Season

 

According to several sources, Alaska Anchorage and Alaska (Fairbanks) will both participate in the 2020-2021 NCAA campaign, including in ice hockey. The Seawolves and Nanooks participate in Division I for men's ice hockey, and in Division II for all other sports, including basketball, skiing and volleyball.

Both institutions will still be seeking a hockey conference home in two years, as the "new" WCHA is expected to break up and leave the Alaska schools behind, along with Alabama-Huntsville. UAA has been with the WCHA full-time since 1993, while UAF joined in 2013 following the dissolution of the CCHA. Both teams competed as Division I independents for several seasons prior to 1992-93.

Penn State, Michigan State Split Big Ten Series

John Lethemon made 48 saves on Friday night as Michigan State blanked host Penn State in Big Ten play at Pegula Ice Arena. Patrick Khodorenko scored the game-winning goal just over halfway through the game for the visiting Spartans, who also got an empty-net goal late in regulation from Logan Lambdin.

On Saturday, the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions gained the series split with a 6-4 victory, powered by two assists apiece from Liam Folkes and Aarne Talvitie, plus 25 saves from Peyton Jones. Khodorenko scored two goals and set up another for the Spartans, who got 25 stops from Lethemon.

Penn State (7-2-0 overall, 3-1-0) will hit the road for the first time this season when it visits Minnesota next weekend. MSU (3-5-0, 1-1-0) will play a home-and-home set with archrival Michigan.

Princeton Begins New Season with Win and Tie at SCSU

Princeton University opened its 2019-20 men's hockey campaign by continuing its recent success against St. Cloud State University.

The Tigers skated to a 5-3 win and a 5-5 tie with the host Huskies in Minnesota over the weekend of Nov. 1-2. The two schools had played to pair of ties in central New Jersey in Dec. 2017, when St. Cloud was ranked as the top Division I team in the country.

Junior goaltender Ryan Ferland backstopped the Tigers to a season-opening victory on Friday, making 31 saves, while sophomore forward Corey Andonovski scored Princeton's first goal of the season and added an assist. Senior forward Jackson Cressey also had a goal and an assist for the visitors.

On Saturday, Andonovski tallied his first career collegiate hat trick, including the game-tying goal in the third period, while freshman netminder Aidan Porter made 25 saves for the Tigers in his NCAA debut. Cressey scored one goal, and set up three others, to finish with six points in two outings. Sophomore forward Sam Hentges led 16th-ranked St. Cloud (1-2-3 overall) with two goals and three assists on the weekend, while junior goalie Dávid Hrenák finished with a total of 37 saves over the two contests for the Huskies.

Princeton (1-0-1) opens ECAC Hockey play at Harvard and Dartmouth on Nov. 8-9, while SCSU will play a non-conference series at Northern Michigan.