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