Princeton Edges Army West Point, 4-3, in OT

Adam Robbins' goal with 27 seconds remaining in three-on-three overtime was the game-winner, as Princeton edged visiting Army West Point, 4-3, in a non-conference contest on Monday night at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. 

Army's Joey Baez had tied the game with just five seconds remaining in regulation, with goaltender Gavin Abric (25 saves) pulled for an extra attacker, before Robbins won it. Princeton's Ethan Pearson finished with 27 stops, including a spectacular diving glove save on a 2-on-1 rush to keep the host Tigers ahead at the time by a goal.

Princeton's Kevin Anderson opened the scoring early in the first period with his first career NCAA goal, before Brent Keefer tied it less than five minutes later. Jack Cronin connected on a power play late just four seconds before the first intermission to put the Tigers back on top, before Rick Lyle tied it again early in the second stanza for the Black Knights (7-18-1 overall). Kai Daniels then scored on a partial breakaway less than four minutes later to make it 3-2 for Princeton (7-11-2), and the score remained unchanged until Baez tied it on a one-timer from the left circle with time winding down.

Princeton defenseman Noah de la Durantaye finished with two assists, as did Army blueliner Mac Gadowsky, son of former Princeton and current Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky. The Black Knights outshot the Tigers, 30-29, but finished 1-for-7 on the power play. Princeton, which snapped a six-game losing streak with the victory, went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.

No. 2 BC Tops No. 1 BU, 4-1

In the first meeting between the current first and second-ranked teams in NCAA Division I men's hockey, it was the latter who came out on top.

Ryan Leonard tallied a goal and an assist, and Jacob Fowler made 26 saves as No. 2 Boston College upended No. 1 Boston University last night at BC's sold-out Conte Forum. The two Green Line rivals will rematch tonight at BU's Agganis Arena. Also in Hockey East last night, No. 10 Providence routed host UMass Lowell, 7-2, thanks to two goals and two assists from Bennett Schimek, in the first game of their two-game series.

In other top 10 results from Friday, No. 14 Michigan routed No. 3 Wisconsin, 5-1, as Frank Nazar III scored two goals and set up another for the Wolverines. Also in the Big Ten, No. 8 Michigan State got a shorthanded goal from Karson Dorwart with just under five minutes remaining in regulation to tie the game, before Daniel Russell scored with four seconds left to lift No. 8 Michigan State over No. 9 Minnesota, 3-2.

No. 5 North Dakota defeated No. 4 Denver, 5-2, in their NCHC match-up as the host Fighting Hawks got goals from five different skaters. The two will play again tonight at UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena Marson. Out east, Mason Marcellus' first-period goal stood up as the game-winner as No. 7 Quinnipiac blanked crosstown rival Yale, 1-0, in Hartford in the first round of the Connecticut Ice tournament. Quinnipiac will play UConn tonight for the title, while Yale will face Sacred Heart in the consolation.

ADDENDUM: BC, UND and Providence all completed sweeps, with BC moving to first in the national polls and UND taking over the second spot. Minnesota and Wisconsin gained splits in their respective series, while Quinnipiac won Connecticut Ice for the third straight season.

DU Pair Gets NHL Hat Tricks on Same Day

It was quite a day for two former University of Denver skaters on Saturday in NHL action.

Logan O'Connor tallied his first career hat trick, scoring the first and final goals of the contest, as the visiting Colorado Avalanche defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4. The Missouri City, Texas native now has 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 45 games this season, and 33-46—79 points in 215 career NHL regular-season outings to date, all with the Avalanche. A member of Colorado's 2022 Stanley Cup championship team, O'Connor, 27, played for Denver from 2015 to 2018, notching 16-27—43 points over three seasons while winning an NCAA title with the Pioneers in 2017.

Danton Heinen, a former DU teammate of O'Connor's, notched his own three-goal effort on Saturday, including a power-play goal to end the game, as the Boston Bruins routed the visiting Montreal Canadiens, 9-4. The Langley, B.C. native has 8-9—17 points in 37 games with the Bruins so far this season, in his second stint with the club, and has accumulated 78-115—193 points in 450 career NHL regular-season appearances to date with Boston, Anaheim and Pittsburgh. Heinen, 28, collected 36-57—93 points in two years with DU (2014-16), and helped the Pioneers to the NCAA Frozen Four in his second and final collegiate campaign.

NCAA Men's Division I Friday Wrap-up 01/19/24

• Lane Hutson set up four of top-ranked Boston University's five goals in a 5-1 victory at Vermont.

• Cutter Gauthier scored once in each period, including a game-clinching empty-net goal late, as second-ranked Boston College rallied for a 6-4 win at Merrimack.

• Reid Irwin's third-period tally stood up as the game-winner as Colgate upset third-ranked Quinnipiac, 2-1.

• Jack Devine tallied two goals and three assists to lift No. 5 Denver to a 6-3 win at No. 19 Omaha.

• Jackson Blake scored two goals and assisted on another as No. 6 North Dakota defeated No. 13 St. Cloud State, 5-3.

• Rutger McGroarty scored one goal and set up three others as No. 15 Michigan raced out to a six-goal lead enroute to a penalty-laden 7-1 rout of No. 7 Michigan State.

• Rhett Pitlick tallied the hat trick and set up a fourth goal as No. 10 Minnesota upended Ohio State, 5-2.

• Owen Bohn scored with 31 seconds remaining in regulation to lift first-year program Augustana to a 5-4 win at No. 16 Arizona State.

• Jakob Hellsten stopped all 20 shots he faced, and Morgan Winters recorded three assists in No. 17 New Hampshire's 5-0 triumph at UConn.

• Noah Laba scored the game-tying power play goal, and then set up Tommy Middleton's game-winner as No. 18 Colorado College edged Miami, 2-1.

ADDENDUM: In Saturday/Sunday action, BC, BU, Colorado College, Denver and Minnesota completed two-step sweeps, while Arizona State, Michigan State, UConn and WMU managed splits. 

Spartans Sweep Penn State

Michigan State hockey has continued its winning ways in the new calendar year. 

A week after besting the U.S. National Team Development Program in an exhibition contest, the eighth-ranked Spartans maintained their hold on first place in the Big Ten conference with 5-0 and 7-3 victories at Penn State this weekend.

Fresh off winning a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, MSU goaltender Trey Augustine made 31 saves in the opener at Penn State on Friday for the shutout, the second of his freshman campaign. Joey Larson led all Spartan scorers with two goals and an assist. In the rematch on Saturday, Augustine made 27 stops while seven different skaters scored goals for the Spartans, with Reed Lebster, Red Savage and Gavin O'Connell contributing a goal and an assist apiece.

MSU (15-4-3 overall, 9-1-2-1 Big Ten), which is one point ahead of second-place Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings and is also on six-game unbeaten string in NCAA action, will next play a home-and-home series with archrival Michigan on Jan. 19-20. 

Flyers Trade BC's Gauthier to Anaheim

It appears that Cutter Gauthier (Boston College) will not play for the Philadelphia Flyers after all.

The Flyers, who drafted Gauthier fifth overall in 2022, dealt his rights yesterday to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale. Multiple sources claimed that Gauthier ultimately did not wish to play for Philadelphia.

Gauthier, 19, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound left wing who was born in Sweden but grew up in Arizona, has not spoken publicly on the matter, although he reportedly would not meet with Flyers management. He is coming off of a Best Forward and All-Star team performance at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden, where he led the United States to a goal medal. He tallied two goals and a tournament-high 10 assists to tie for the event scoring lead with 12 points in seven games.

A product of the U.S. National Development Team program in Michigan, Gauthier is in his sophomore season at top-ranked BC where has tallied 29 goals and 31 assists for 60 points in 49 career NCAA contests to date, including 13-10—23 points in 17 outings so far this season. He is expected to turn pro at the conclusion of the Eagles' 2023-24 campaign, which resumes this weekend with a home-and-home series with Hockey East rival Providence.

Gauthier is the highest-drafted player ever at BC, along with former NHL skater and current Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who himself was tabbed fifth overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1989. Guerin won two Stanley Cups as a skater, one each with New Jersey and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he later earned two more Cup rings as assistant GM with Pittsburgh.

USA Wins 2024 World Juniors

Exactly 20 years after winning its first-ever gold medal in the competition, the United States is again king of the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Issac Howard (Michigan State) scored two goals, and Gabe Perreault (Boston College) notched a goal and two assists as the U.S. broke open a two-all game with four answered scores Friday in a 6-2 win over host Sweden in the gold medal game of this year's event. Trey Augustine (Michigan State) made 24 saves in net to help the Team USA win its sixth WJC gold medal ever, and first since 2021 when it defeated host Canada.

The Americans, who finished with a perfect 7-0-0 record in this year's tournament, advanced to the title game following a 3-2 victory over Finland in the semifinal round on Thursday. Cutter Gauthier (Boston College) tallied the decisive power-play goal late in regulation after Team USA fought back from a 2-0 first-period deficit, while Augustine made 21 stops. Gauthier tied for the tournament scoring lead with 12 points, on two goals and 10 assists, while Howard led all WJC goal scorers this year with seven goals in all.

Sweden made it to the final after downing Czechia, 5-2, in the semifinals. Czechia then won the bronze medal after defeating Finland, 8-5, earlier Friday. Next year's WJC is scheduled to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the first time since 2009.

USA Upends Latvia in WJC Quarterfinal

The United States has advanced to the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. Team USA made it to the WJC final four by routing Latvia, 7-2, on Tuesday in Sweden.

The U.S. tallied three goals in each of the first two periods to win going away. Gabe Perreault (Boston College) scored twice and asded an assist for the Americans, who also got three assists apiece from Cutter Gauthier (Boston College) and Seamus Casey (Michigan). Jacob Fowler (Boston College) finished with 25 saves in goal for the U.S., which went 1-for-5 on the power play. 

The U.S. will face Finland (1:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network) in one of the two semifinal contests on Thursday. The other will feature Sweden, which edged Switzerland on Tuesday, vs. Czechia, which upset defending WJC champion Canada in the final minute of regulation in their quarterfinal matchup.

Kraken Win 2024 Winter Classic

Joey Daccord (Arizona State) recorded the first shutout in NHL Winter Classic history on Monday when his Seattle Kraken blanked the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0, in an outdoor game at T-Mobile Park, home of MLB's Seattle Mariners.

Daccord finished with 35 saves to backstop the Kraken, who got a goal in each period on New Year's Day, including one in the second stanza from defenseman Will Borgen (St. Cloud State). Vegas forward Jack Eichel (Boston University) had five shots on goal for the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, but couldn't solve fellow Massachusetts native Daccord in front of 47,313 on-lookers.

It was the first Winter Classic appearance for either club, and the 39th outdoor game in NHL history.

Happy Hockey New Year