NCAA Highlights for Thanskgiving 2022

 

It was quite a Thanksgiving weekend in NCAA Division I men's hockey ...

- Cornell blanked UConn, 6-0, at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday night in its semi-annual Frozen Apple game in Manhattan. Dalton Bancroft scored three goals and Ian Shane stopped all 27 shots he faced for the victorious Big Red.

- No. 9 Harvard (7-1-1 overall) became the last NCAA Division I men's team to suffer a loss this season, a 4-1 setback at No. 5 Michigan on Saturday. The two schools played to a 4-4 tie the night before in Ann Arbor.

- LIU earned its first-ever victory against a ranked opponent with a 3-2 triumph over visiting No. 12 Ohio State on Friday. Former Michigan State forward Adam Goodsir tallied the game-winning goal in the third period, although OSU rebounded for a 4-1 win the next night to salvage a split.

- Speaking of Michigan State, the No. 16 Spartans swept former CCHA foe Miami by 5-3 and 4-0 counts in Oxford, Ohio. Dylan St. Cyr stopped 69 shots on the weekend for MSU, including 39 saves in the shutout victory.

- No. 2 Minnesota and Arizona State split a series at the latter's brand-new Mullet Arena in Tempe. Minnesota won the opener, 3-2, as Logan Cooley set up one goal and then scored the game-winner for the Golden Gophers. The host Sun Devils responded the following evening with a 6-5 victory in overtime as former Boston University forward Robert Mastrosimone connected in the extra session.

- Two teams of Tigers split a non-conference series in Rochester, N.Y. RIT defeated visiting Princeton, 5-3, on Friday as Carter Wilkie scored twice and assisted on another goal for the hosts. Princeton came back the next night to record a 5-0 shutout win behind 23 saves from Ethan Pearson.

- Last but not least, defending NCAA champion Denver (10-4-0 overall) retained the top spot in the DCU/USCHO Division I Men's Poll this week, after a series split with Omaha. The visiting Mavericks won, 3-0, the first night on Jake Kucharski's 22 saves before host DU came back with a 6-3 triumph on Saturday.

MSU's Jagger Joshua Issues Statement

Jagger Joshua (above) is the younger brother of Dakota Joshua, who helped Ohio State to the 2018 NCAA Frozen Four and is now with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. 

The player from Ohio State who received the game misconduct penalty was Kamil Sadlocha. He has not missed any games since the incident took place. OSU and the Big Ten did not issue any supplemental discipline afterwards.

MSU will play at OSU on Jan. 6-7 in a Big Ten series.

It's hard to believe in this day and age, less than two months from the year 2023, that incidents like this still persist. There's no place for this type of action in hockey, NCAA or otherwise.

ADDENDUM: Sadlocha is currently not playing or practicing with the Buckeyes.

Denver Regains Top Spot in DCU/USCHO.com National Poll

 

The DCU/USCHO.com Division I Men's Hockey Poll from Nov. 14, 2022 (place, number of first-place votes, team record):

1 Denver     (44) 9-3-0

2 Minnesota    (5) 8-4-0

3 Michigan 9-3-0

4 St. Cloud 9-3-0

5 Quinnipiac 7-1-2

6 Penn State    (1) 10-2-0

7 Connecticut 9-1-3

8 Minnesota State         7-3-0

9 Providence 6-2-3

10 Harvard         6-0-0

11 Boston University 6-3-0

12 Ohio State 7-4-1

13 UMass Lowell         7-3-0

14 Western Michigan 8-5-0

15 Merrimack 8-3-0

16 Massachusetts         5-5-1

17 Michigan State         8-3-1

18 Northeastern         6-3-3

19 North Dakota         4-5-2

20 Notre Dame 5-5-2

Defending NCAA champion Denver returns to the top spot it occupied earlier this year, while Michigan State has cracked the top 20 for the first time in several years.

Peter McNab 1952-2022

Longtime NHL player and color commentator Peter McNab (Denver) passed away on Sunday at the age of 70 after battling cancer.

Born in Vancouver, McNab was selected 85th overall in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft, and went on to a 14-year NHL career with Buffalo, Boston, Vancouver and New Jersey in which he scored 363 regular-season goals before retiring in 1987.

A ten-time 20-goal scorer and a six-time 30-goal scorer who also recorded two 40-goal seasons, including nine straight campaigns from 1974 to 1983, McNab tallied 363 goals and 450 assists for 813 points in 954 career NHL regular-season contests. He also added 40-42—82 points in 107 Stanley Cup playoff outings, and helped Boston to the Stanley Cup Final in both 1978 and 1979. 

A 6-foot-3, 205-pound forward, McNab played three NCAA seasons at DU (1971-1973), registering 78-92—170 points in 105 appearances. In his third and final season with the Pioneers, he collected a career-best 32-40—72 points in 38 outings and led DU to a third-place finish at the NCAA championship in Boston. He turned pro the following season and recorded 34-39—73 points with Cincinnati (AHL) in his lone minor-league campaign, while also making his NHL debut with Buffalo. He later represented the United States at the 1986 World Championships in the then-Soviet Union.

McNab, the son of the late NHL player/executive Max McNab and the brother of former NHL scout/executive David McNab (Wisconsin), went on to become a color commentator for New Jersey for eight years following his retirement as an active player. He then joined the Colorado Avalanche and was a party to their 1996, 2001 and 2022 Stanley Cup championships.

Rest in peace, Peter.

Colgate Edges Princeton in OT

Liam and Brendan Gorman almost made it Princeton's night. Almost.

The two brothers from Arlington, Mass. staked the Tigers to a 3-2 lead with their individual goals at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday night, but in the end it was the visiting Colgate Raiders escaping with a 4-3 NCAA victory in overtime. 

Ross Mitton took a drop pass just inside the Princeton blueline, skated between the faceoff circles, and wristed a shot through Tigers netminder Aidan Porter just 57 seconds into the 3-on-3 extra session to give Colgate its first and only lead of the evening. Porter finished the game with 22 stops.

Liam Gorman opened the scoring when he stole the puck along the right wing boards just over five-and-a-half minutes into the contest, and skated in alone to beat Colgate netminder Carter Gylander (33 saves). Colgate's Nic Belpedio responded nine minutes later with a power-play tally to close out the opening stanza.

Jack Cronin connected on the power play for Princeton for the only goal of the middle session, before Colgate knotted matters once again on Colton Young's power-play goal two-and-a-half minutes into the third period. It was a five-minute man advantage for the Raiders, after the Tigers' Nick Seitz received a major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting from behind only 20 seconds into the final frame.

Brendan Gorman whipped home a shot from the right circle just under six minutes into the third period to again put Princeton (0-3-0 overall, 0-3-0 ECAC Hockey) up by a goal. Simon Labelle replied just under seven minutes later for Colgate (3-6-1, 1-1-0) off a goalmouth scramble to make it 3-3 and ultimately push the contest into sudden death.

Princeton outshot Colgate, 36-26, on the night and finished 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Raiders went 2-for-7 while a man up. The two schools will meet again in January at Colgate to close out their season series.

North Dakota's Pinto Named NHL Rookie of the Month

Shane Pinto (North Dakota) has been tabbed as the NHL Rookie of the Month for October 2022.

Pinto, 21, tallied six goals and an assist for seven points in a span of eight games last month. He led all NHL rookies in goals scored in October, and also led all NHL skaters in scoring percentage (42.9). The Franklin Square, N.Y. native has now recorded 7-8—15 points in 26 career NHL regular-season appearances, after playing just five games in all last year due to shoulder injuries. He was drafted 32nd overall by Ottawa in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, after playing for Tri-City (USHL) in 2018-19.

The 6-foot-2 center starred for UND in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 NCAA campaigns, before turning pro just after the end of his second and final collegiate season. In 61 career outings with the Fighting Hawks, Pinto notched 31-29—60 points to go with 50 PIM. He also helped UND to two NCHC regular-season titles and one NCHC postseason crown, along with two NCAA tournament berths (the first was negated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020).

UConn's Thompson on Scoring Streak for Sabres

Tage Thompson (UConn) is on a roll. The 25-year-old forward for the Buffalo Sabres has recorded six goals and five assists for 11 points in his last three games, all wins at home. The Sabres now stand third in the NHL's Eastern Conference with a 7-3-0 record.

Thompson first tallied a goal and three assists in a 4-3 overtime victory over Chicago on Oct. 29. He then celebrated Halloween by scoring three goals and setting up three others in an 8-3 rout of Detroit, and followed up with a goal and two assists tonight in a 6-3 triumph over Pittsburgh.

Thompson has collected 7-7⁠—14 points in his first 10 outings this season. Drafted 26th overall by St. Louis in 2016 after playing for the U.S. National Under-18 Team, he has recorded 63-54⁠—117 points in 233 career NHL regular-season outings to date. 

Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Thompson skated two seasons (2016, 2017) at UConn before turning pro. In 70 career NCAA appearances with the Huskies, he notched 33-31⁠—64 points.