Thursday, January 16, 2025

Men’s Notes: Hats Off to Recent Scoring Exploits

College Hockey Sees Sudden Surge in Hat Tricks

We know hats are important during these cold winter months, but this is ridiculous.

There were a whopping eight hat tricks scored last weekend – the most in a single weekend all season.

Prior to last weekend’s eruption, the most hat tricks scored in a single weekend in 2024-25 was four (Oct. 17-20). However, there have already been 11 three-goal games since the calendar flipped to 2025. That’s a rate in stark contrast to the first 11 weeks of the season, when there were 18 three-goal efforts – and usually two or fewer most of those weeks.

Statistical oddity or sign of things to come?

Let’s return to the eight players who notched ‘hatties’ last weekend. For all but two of those eight – Omaha’s Brady Risk (Gr., Medicine Hat, Alberta) and Army’s Nik Hong (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) – it marked the first three-goal performance of their respective NCAA careers.

The others included: Michigan State junior Isaac Howard (four goals), Union junior Brandon Buhr, Northern Michigan freshman Ryan Duguay, Boston University freshman Cole Eiserman, Notre Dame senior Justin Janicke, and St. Thomas senior Liam Malmquist.

Only two of the eight – NCAA scoring leader Howard, and Malmquist, who is tied for sixth – currently rank inside the top 30 in the national scoring race. Three of them are outside the top 100.

Perhaps it was merely a post-holiday blip. That it occurred during the week most teams returned to conference play – where opponents presumably know each other inside and out – makes it even more compelling.

Regardless, consider taking your hat with you to the rink. Just in case.

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Ferris Farewell:

Longtime Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels (Michigan State ’82) announced Tuesday that he will retire following the 2024-25 season. The longest-tenured coach in FSU history, regardless of sport, Daniels in his 33th season behind the FSU bench and recorded his 500th career win in November.

After a stint as an assistant coach, Daniels took over the reins of the program in 1992-93 and has since guided the Bulldogs to all four of their NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2011-12, Daniels was named Spencer Penrose Coach of the Year after taking FSU to the NCAA Frozen Four title game.

Daniels has the second-longest tenure among active NCAA Division I men’s hockey coaches, trailing only Mercyhurst’s Rick Gotkin (Brockport State ’82), who is in his 37th season leading the Lakers.

Rank and File:

NHL Central Scouting unveiled its midterm rankings earlier this week and five NCAA freshmen ranked among the top 32 North American skaters.

Boston College forward James Hagens was the highest ranked of the five, slotting in at number two. Other NCAA players on the list included Wisconsin D Logan Hensler (10), Boston University D Sascha Boumedienne (18), Arizona State F Cullen Potter (22), and Michigan F Will Horcoff (28).

Last summer, Boston University F Macklin Celebrini (San Jose) and Michigan State D Artyom Levshunov (Chicago) went 1-2 overall in the NHL Draft.

Hockey Humanitarian Nominees:

Fourteen nominees were announced Tuesday for the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to college hockey’s finest citizen.

The men’s nominees included Maine D David Breazeale (Sr. Jenison, Mich.), New Hampshire D Alex Gagne (Sr., Bedford, N.H.), Cornell D Hank Kempf (Sr., Wilmette, Ill.), St. Cloud State D Josh Luedtke (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.), Stonehill D Cameron Mannion (Jr., Dorchester, Mass.), Michigan D Jacob Truscott (Gr., Port Huron, Mich.), and Bowdoin F Luke Wheeler (Sr., Golden, Colo.).

Finalists for the award will be announced in February and the recipient will be named at the NCAA Frozen Four.

Sometimes You’re the Hammer, Sometimes You’re the Nils:

Army freshman F Nils Forselius (Guilford, Conn.) had the nation’s first six-point game this season in Saturday’s win over Mercyhurst. It was the first six-point performance by an Army skater since 1993.

Forselius, who had a goal and five assists in the game, had tallied six points in his first 18 collegiate contests combined.

Welcome, Matt:

Denver senior G Matt Davis (Calgary, Alberta) secured his 50th career NCAA victory in Saturday’s 6-2 win over Miami. Davis, who is 16-5-0 this season, became the fifth active netminder in NCAA Division I men’s hockey to reach the 50-win milestone:

Active NCAA Career Wins Leaders
Rk.	Player, School	W
1.	Cameron Rowe, Western Michigan	64
2.	Tommy Scarfone, Wisconsin	63
3.	Ian Shane, Cornell	55
4.	Mathieu Caron, Boston University	52
5.	Matt Davis, Denver	50
6.	Liam Souliere, Minnesota	47
7.	Jacob Fowler, Boston College	45
	T.J. Semptimphelter, North Dakota	45
	Mattias Sholl, Bemidji State	45
10.	Ethan Langenegger, Clarkson	44

The 2024 NCAA Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player, Davis has logged a 1.95 goals against average and .923 save percentage in his 21 appearances this season.

Fit to Print:

“Tonight was the coolest atmosphere I’ve ever played in. The guys have been talking about how crazy it is to play here so it was fun to be able to experience it.”

— Michigan Tech G Ryan Manzella (Fr., Eagan, Minn.), who earned a 1-0 shutout win over Lake Superior State in his first home start Saturday at MacInnis Student Ice Arena. It was the first NCAA shutout for Manzella, who joined the Huskies from the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede prior to the semester (source: MichiganTechHuskies.com).

NHL Note of the Week:

A pair of former four-year NCAA players made their respective debuts on Tuesday night. Defenseman Michael Callahan (Providence, 2018-22) debuted for the Boston Bruins, while forward Marc Gatcomb (UConn, 2018-22) suited up for the New York Islanders, bringing the number of former college hockey players debuting in the NHL this season to 20.

Of those 20 players, 14 of them played at least three years of college hockey:

Played 1 year = 2
Played 2 years = 4
Played 3 years = 9
Played 4 years = 4
Played 5 years = 1

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Quinnipiac F Jack Ricketts (Gr., Oakville, Ontario) enters the weekend with 99 career points … Ohio State freshman F Jake Rozzi (Kirkland, Quebec) has three goals this season and all three have been game winners. Rozzi scored the decisive goal in the Buckeyes’ 5-1 win over No. 3 Minnesota on Friday … Danny Nelson’s (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) plus-6 rating in Notre Dame’s 7-4 win over Michigan on Friday was the best single-game plus/minus in the NCAA this season … Northern Michigan blocked 34 shots in Friday’s win over Minnesota State, tied for the best single-game total in the country this season. That same MSU squad also blocked 34 shots against North Dakota on Oct. 19 … Sacred Heart head coach CJ Marottolo (Northeastern ’89) landed his 200th career win with Saturday’s victory over No. 18 Cornell.

Longest Active NCAA Point Streaks:

9 games, F Isaac Howard (Michigan State)
- 12-6—12, began Dec. 7 at Wisconsin
8 games, F Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Ohio State)
- 7-5—12, began Dec. 5 vs. Penn State
8 games, F Logan Will (Providence)

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

7 games, F Isaac Howard (Michigan State)
- 11-4—15, began Dec. 14 at Minnesota
4 games, F Quinn Hutson (Boston University)
- 6-4—10, began Dec. 11 at UMass
4 games, F Max Plante (Minnesota Duluth)
- 4-2—6, began Dec. 6 at Arizona State

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!