CC Completes Sweep of Princeton in OT

It was Tigers besting Tigers last weekend in central New Jersey, as Colorado College completed an NCAA non-conference sweep of Princeton with a 2-1 overtime victory at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday night.

After a 7-2 victory by the visiting Tigers on Friday afternoon, scoring was much tougher to come by in the rematch. North Dakota transfer Chris Wilkie finished off a 2-on-1 rush with a successful one-timer 2:12 into the third period to break a scoreless tie, which stood up when a potential tying Princeton goal was waved off with about seven minutes remaining in regulation.

Christian O'Neill then scored in front on a power play with 31 seconds left for the host Tigers to tie things up, with goaltender Jeremie Forget having been pulled for an extra attacker. Following an icing against Princeton less than 20 seconds into the overtime, Wilkie wristed home the only shot of the extra session off the face-off for the win.

Northeastern transfer Ryan Ruck stopped 40 shots for CC on Saturday, while Forget had 25 saves for Princeton, which will now host American International College on Tuesday night. CC will a play a home-and-home series with in-state and NCHC rival Denver this weekend.

Devils Let Hynes Go as Head Coach

The New Jersey Devils released John Hynes (Boston University) on Tuesday as their head coach, after almost five seasons at the helm.

Hynes had served as head coach of the Devils since the 2015-16 campaign. They made the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his tenure, in 2018 where they fell to Tampa Bay in the first round in five games. He finished with a record of 150-159-5 in 354 regular-season outings with New Jersey.

Prior to the Devils, Hynes served five seasons as head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, fashioning a 231-126-27 mark in 384 regular-season contests to go along with five Calder Cup Playoff appearances.

A native of Warwick, R.I., Hynes was a member of BU's 1995 NCAA title team, and played 43 games at forward for the Terriers from 1994 to 1997. He went on to coach with USA Hockey, Massachusetts-Lowell, and Wisconsin before entering the professional coaching ranks in 2009.

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.