Finland won its fifth gold medal ever at the IIHF World Championship, defeating host Switzerland on Sunday by a 1-0 count in overtime. Norway took bronze with a 3-2 OT win over Canada.
Canada's Macklin Celebrini (Boston University) finished second among all scorers with 14 points on six goals and eight assists in 10 games. Devin Cooley (Denver) of the United States was fourth among all goaltenders with a 1.76 goals-against average over seven outings.
The United States, defending champion at the IIHF World Championship, advanced to this year's quarterfinal round with a 4-1 win over Austria today in Switzerland. U.S. goal scorers included Connor Clifton (Quinnipiac), Ryan Ufko (UMass) and Paul Cotter (Western Michigan), while Devin Cooley (Denver) finished with 25 saves in net for the Americans.
Team USA, which finished fourth in Group B, will now take on second-ranked Canada on Thursday in an elimination contest. The Canadians advanced with a 3-2 victory over Czechia today, thanks to two goals by Macklin Celebrini (Boston University).
ADDENDUM: Canada ousted the U.S. with a 4-0 victory, and will play Finland in the semifinals.
Tage Thompson (UConn) scored just over two minutes into 3-on-3 overtime to lift the United States to a 1-0 victory over Switzerland today in the 2025 IIHF World Championship gold medal game in Stockholm, Sweden. It is the first men's World's gold for the U.S. since 1933, while the Swiss finished second for the fourth time overall.
Logan Cooley (Minnesota) and Brady Skjei (Minnesota) assisted on Thompson's goal, while Jeremy Swayman (Maine) stopped 25 shots in net for Team USA. Sweden took third this year by defeating Denmark in the bronze medal game, while Canada, Czechia, Finland and Austria rounded out the top eight. Next year's tournament will be held in Switzerland.
A number of former NCAA players changed places last week before the NHL trading deadline last Friday. Some of the more notable transactions (since Feb. 28):
Cole Brady, G (UMass) * Calgary to Dallas
Devin Cooley, G (Denver) * Buffalo to San Jose
Brandon Duhaime, F (Providence) Minnesota to Colorado
Jake Guentzel, F (Omaha) Pittsburgh to Carolina
Noah Hanifin, D (Boston College) Calgary to Vegas
Erik Johnson, D (Minnesota) Buffalo to Philadelphia
Ben Meyers, F (Minnesota) Colorado to Anaheim
Kyle Okposo, F (Minnesota) Buffalo to Florida
Chad Ruhwedel, D (UMass Lowell) Pittsburgh to NY Rangers
Chris Tanev, D (RIT) Calgary to Dallas
Sean Walker, D (Bowling Green) Philadelphia to Colorado
Cade Webber, D (Boston Univ.)* Carolina to Toronto
Jason Zucker, F (Denver) Arizona to Nashville
* Has not played in NHL yet
It appears that Logan Cooley (Minnesota) will not be returning to the Golden Gophers after all.
Two months after saying he would be back for his sophomore season for Minnesota, the Pittsburgh native has signed an entry-level three-year NHL contract with the Arizona Coyotes, who drafted him third overall in 2022. He thus forgoes his remaining NCAA eligibility.
Cooley, 19, notched 22 goals and 38 assists for 60 points in 39 games as a center in 2002-23 in his only college campaign, while leading the Golden Gophers to a No. 1 national ranking and then the NCAA championship game in Tampa, where they fell to Quinnipiac in overtime in April. He had previously helped the Gophers to a Big Ten regular-season conference title, and than an NCAA regional crown in Fargo, N.D.
Cooley led all NCAA Division I players in assists last season as a freshman, and earned First Team All-America accolades at forward. He was also a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist, and collected a bronze medal with Team USA at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada.
Prior to joining Minnesota, Cooley had played the previous two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. In 98 career appearances with the NTDP, he tallied 47-74—121 points.
Minnesota will play for its first national championship in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey in nine years, while Quinnipiac will be looking to win its first ever.
Top-ranked Minnesota blitzed Boston University, 6-2, in the first NCAA Frozen Four semifinal on Thursday before 19,119 on-lookers at Amalie Arena in Tampa, scoring four consecutive goals in the third period to break a two-all tie. Luke Mittelstadt tallied two goals in the first four minutes of the final frame, before Logan Cooley added two empty-net scores in the waning moments to power the Golden Gophers to their first national title contest since 2014.
For BU (29-11 overall), which took a 1-0 lead on a first-period goal by Sam Stevens and then tied the game in the second period on Jay O'Brien's tally, the loss ended both the Terriers' 2022-23 campaign and their nine-game winning string that included both the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles, plus the NCAA Manchester (N.H.) Regional championship. Drew Commesso made 28 saves for BU, which was outshot, 34-31, on the evening. Minnesota (29-9-1) got 29 stops from Justen Close, and finished 3-for-7 on the power play, while also hitting almost a half-dozen posts and a crossbar on offense.
In the nightcap, No. 2 Quinnipiac broke open a tie game after 40 minutes with three unanswered third-period goals to oust No. 3 Michigan, 5-2. Sam Lipkin's goal from behind the Michigan net less than 90 seconds into the final period stood up as the game-winner, with Zach Metsa and Ethan de Jong (empty net) later notching insurance goals to send the Bobcats to their third NCAA title game overall, and first since 2016.
Jacob Quillan scored twice in the first period for Quinnipiac, the second his 20th goal of the season, to stake the Bobcats to a pair of leads. Michigan's Seamus Casey and Adam Fantilli (30th goal) responded for the Wolverines each time to make it 2-2 after two periods, before Quinnipiac pulled away in the third. Yaniv Perets stopped 29 shots for Quinnipiac (33-4-3), which beat Michigan (26-12-3) for the first time ever in six meetings, including last year's NCAA Allentown (Pa.) Regional final that was won by the Wolverines. Erik Portillo had 25 saves for Michigan, although two pucks went in off him on shots from behind his net. Michigan outshot Quinnipiac, 31-30, while both teams finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
Minnesota will now meet Quinnipiac on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2), in a matchup of the top two ranked schools, to decide this year's national championship. Minnesota is seeking is sixth national title overall, first since 2003, and first-ever for the Big Ten Conference. Quinnipiac is looking for the first-ever NCAA crown in school history, and first for ECAC Hockey since 2014.
The three finalists for the 2023 Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the top player in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey have been announced. All three candidates in the Hobey Hat Trick are forwards from the Big Ten Conference, and all three will play in the NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa next week in search of a national championship.
Logan Cooley (Minnesota), a freshman from Pittsburgh, ranks second in the NCAA with 57 points, on 20 goals and 37 assists through 37 games, and leads the nation with a plus-37 plus-minus rating. Selected third overall by Arizona in the 2022 NHL Draft, Cooley, 18, helped Minnesota to its second straight Big Ten regular-season title this year, and posted a goal and four assists in the Fargo (N.D.) Regional won by the Golden Gophers last weekend.
Adam Fantilli (Michigan), a freshman from Nobleton, Ont., leads the nation in scoring with 64 points, and is second with 29 goals in 35 games. He helped Michigan to its second straight Big Ten tournament title earlier this month, and had two goals and an assist in two games as the Wolverines won the Allentown (Pa.) Regional last weekend. Fantilli, 18, is eligible for this summer's NHL Draft.
Matthew Knies (Minnesota), a sophomore from Phoenix, has notched 21-20--41 points through 38 contests this season. Drafted 57th overall by Toronto in 2021, Knies, 20, has put up 36-38—74 points in 71 total outings so far with the Golden Gophers.
The Hobey Baker Award will be presented to this year's winner on April 7, between the NCAA semifinals and the national title game. Michigan faces Quinnipiac in the first game on April 6 at 5 p.m. ET at Amalie Arena, followed by Minnesota versus Boston University. The two semifinal winners will meet on April 8 for the NCAA championship.
Two spots in the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Frozen Four have been filled.
Boston University edged Cornell, 2-1, today in the Manchester (N.H.) Regional final at SNHU Arena. Ethan Phillips' goal in the third period, his second score of the regional after a two-goal regular season, stood up as the game-winner as the Terriers advanced to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2015. Wilmer Skoog also scored for BU (29-10-0 overall), which has now won nine straight games. Ian Shane made 19 saves for Cornell in defeat, as the Big Red finished the season at 21-11-2.
Top-ranked Minnesota ousted in-state rival St. Cloud State, 4-1, tonight in the Fargo (N.D.) Regional final at Scheels Arena. Logan Cooley, Jackson LaCombe and Jaxon Nelson each posted a goal and assist for the victorious Golden Gophers (28-9-1), who are headed back to the national semifinals for the second straight season. SCSU goaltender Jaxon Castor made 26 stops for the Huskies (25-13-3).
The last two places in the Frozen Four will be filled in after Sunday's contests. Ohio State faces Quinnipiac in the Bridgeport (Conn.) Regional final at 2 p.m. ET, while host Penn State will battle Big Ten rival Michigan in the Allentown (Pa.) regional final at 6:30 p.m. ET Both contests will be televised live on ESPN2.
The United States skated out to an early two-goal lead against host Canada tonight, but couldn't maintain the advantage in a 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship semifinal tonight at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada responded with a half-dozen unanswered goals over the last 49-plus minutes to rout Team USA, 6-2, and will now face Czechia tomorrow night for the gold medal.
Logan Cooley (Minnesota) and Kenny Connors (UMass) staked the Americans to a 2-0 lead just past the halfway point of the opening period, but Canada came back with one goal in the first stanza, three scores in the second, and two more in the third to win going away. Adam Fantilli (Michigan) notched a goal and an assist for the Canadians, who were outshot, 45-37. Michigan State commit Trey Augustine stopped 31 shots in net for the Americans, who had two goals disallowed due to interference with Canada's goaltender.
The U.S., which won gold at the 2021 WJC in Edmonton, will now face Sweden for the bronze medal on Thursday afternoon. Canada is seeking its second straight WJC gold medal, and 20th overall, after winning last season's re-scheduled competition in Edmonton in August.
ADDENDUM: The U.S. earned bronze with an 8-7 win over Sweden, while Canada claimed gold by edging Czechia, 3-2. Both games were decided in overtime.
The United States will not repeat as IIHF World Junior champions.
Following four wins in four preliminary group-play games, Team USA fell to the Czech Republic (Czechia), 4-2, in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday night in Edmonton, and was eliminated from medal contention.
Logan Cooley (Minnesota) and Carter Mazur (Denver) scored for the Americans, but three Czech goals in-between which spanned the first and second period proved to be the difference. The U.S. also had to kill off two five-minute power plays in the third period, while trailing by two goals at the time.
Czechia finally iced the contest on an empty-net tally with 32 seconds remaining in regulation, after U.S. goaltender Kaidan Mbereko (Colorado College) had been pulled for an extra attacker. Mbereko finished with 20 saves on the night.
Team USA, which had outscored its opposition by a 22-4 margin through its first four games, was seeking to win consecutive WJC gold medals for the first time ever, having claimed gold in 2021 in Edmonton. The Czechs will now play host Canada, a 6-1 winner over Switzerland last night, in the semifinals.
The European-dominated first round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal on Thursday night didn't feature very many NCAA-bound players.
The ones who were selected were a half-dozen forwards who all came from the U.S. National Team Development program in Michigan, long a feeder to both the NCAA and the NHL. All six of those skaters are committed to NCAA Division I schools for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
Logan Cooley was taken third overall by the Arizona Coyotes, after tallying 27 goals and 48 assists for 75 points for the USNTDP during the 2021-22 season. He's headed to the University of Minnesota as a freshman this fall.
Cutter Gauthier (34-31—65 pts.) went fifth overall to the Philadelphia Flyers and is committed to Boston College, while Frank Nazar (28-42—70 pts.) was taken 13th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks and will skate for the University of Michigan.
Also committed to Michigan starting next season is Rutger McGroarty (35-34—69 pts.), who was selected one slot after Nazar, and went to the Winnipeg Jets. Jimmy Snuggerud (24-39—63 pts.) was tabbed 23rd overall by the St. Louis Blues and is off to Minnesota, while Minnesota-Duluth commit Isaac Howard (33-49—82 pts.) was chosen 31st overall by the three-time Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Also selected on Friday at 25th overall by Chicago was defenseman Sam Rinzel, who played last season with Waterloo (USHL) and Chaska (Minn.) High School. He is committed to Minnesota, but not until the 2023-24 season, according to eliteprospects.com.
Rounds Two through Seven of this year's draft will be televised today, beginning at 11 a.m. ET (NHL Network).
ADDENDUM: The full slate of all 225 selections from this year's entry draft can be found here.
