Thursday, February 20, 2025

Men’s Notes: Fink, Muldowney Lead Nation’s Scorers in 2025

Sophomore Forwards on Blistering Pace Since Holiday Break

A pair of sophomore forwards have spent the first month-and-a-half of 2025 scoring more goals than anyone else in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

Penn State’s Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) and UConn’s Joey Muldowney (Lake View, N.Y.) have each sniped a nation’s-best 14 times since the holiday break as their respective teams jockey not only for positioning for their conference playoffs, but for berths in the NCAA Tournament.

Fink has produced at exactly a goal per game since the start of the new calendar year, collecting points in 12 of 14 games during that time. Now with a career-high 22 goals and 44 points on the year, the Nashville Predators draft pick has helped lead a resurgent PSU squad (#16 in the PairWise Rankings) to a 9-2-3 record since Jan. 1. Fink has also taken over the NCAA scoring lead in the process.

Muldowney has bested even Fink’s torrid pace, producing his 14 goals in 12 contests, a rate of 1.17 goals per game that tops the country in that time. The San Jose Sharks draft pick has found the back of the net in each of his last four outings, racking up seven tallies. Muldowney and the Huskies sit rather comfortably inside the PairWise bubble at No. 9.

NCAA Goal-Scoring Leaders Since Jan. 1
Rk.	Player, School	G (GP)
1.	Joey Muldowney, UConn	14 (12)
	Aiden Fink, Penn State	14 (14)
3.	Ryan Leonard, Boston College	13 (13)
4.	Ayrton Martino, Clarkson	12 (12)
	Ryan Kirwan, Arizona State	12 (14)

Coincidentally, both players will line up this weekend against the teams leading their respective conferences. Fink and the Nittany Lions take to the road to face Big Ten leader Michigan State on Friday and Saturday, while Muldowney and the Huskies host Hockey East co-leader Maine on Friday.

The Penn State-Michigan State series can be seen on the Big Ten Network. Friday’s clash between UConn and Maine will be broadcast on NESN.

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Must Read:

Boston Globe: Sweep of Mercyhurst has Holy Cross in driver’s seat for AHA regular-season title

College Hockey News: A special weekend for Riley, Black Knights

College Hockey News: With great backstory and standout season, Tracy has Minnesota State back on top

College Hockey News: Yegorov’s whirlwind only just beginning

College Hockey News: Carvel’s 250th win is part of long process of becoming a top coach in the country

College Hockey News: McLinskey keeps tearing it up for streaking Holy Cross

Daily Collegian: From underdogs to contenders: how men’s hockey culture shifted season trajectory

Denver Post: DU, forged on championships and fueled by “team over everything” chases another title

ESPN: Is Connor Hellebuyck the best U.S. goalie of all time?

FloHockey: Army head coach Brian Riley prepares for final regular-season home game

Grand Forks Herald: How T.J. Semptimphelter helped UND steal a game Saturday

MLive: Michigan hockey transfer goalie hungry for first taste of NCAA Tournament

Schenectady Daily Gazette: Union 1991-92 men’s hockey team pioneered the way for future DI success

USCHO: Wiedler has ‘very resilient’ Catamounts believing, ‘pushing the program forward’

USCHO: ASU on mission to make NCAA Tournament as Sun Devils want to be top-10 perennial program

USCHO: Augustana making major impact in conference as ‘our guys have held their own’ in 2024-25

Must Hear:

Bulldog Insider: Klayton Knapp’s patience pays off at UMD

CHN Insiders: Spotlighting Army as the CHN Team of the Week

College Hockey Today: The Race is On

Inside Atlantic Hockey: Featuring AIC head coach Eric Lang

Parting Schotts: Hauge reviews Quinnipiac-Princeton weekend, previews Harvard-Dartmouth games

The CCHA Show: Clinching season

The Reporter’s Corner: Featuring Bemidji State graduate forward Eric Martin

UND Hockey Podcast: A win in Denver

USCHO Weekend Review: Bumps for BC, Western’s winning ways, a look at conference races

Q Rating:

Northeastern G Quentin Sigurdson (Fr., Sartell, Minn.) had a first NCAA start to remember Friday.

Having made just three relief appearances all season, Sigurdson drew the starting nod against No. 13 UMass Lowell and responded with a 34-save shutout in the Huskies’ 2-0 win.

If that wasn’t enough, Sigurdson also collected an assist on the first of two Joe Connor (Fr., Nottingham, N.H.) goals, which stood as the game winner.

Sigurdson started again the following night and stopped 23 of 25 shots in a 3-1 loss. He was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Week earlier this week for his .966 save percentage in the series.

Department of Defense:

When Ohio State D Aiden Hansen-Bukata (Gr., Delta, British Columbia) set up Davis Burnside’s (Jr., La Grange, Ill.) empty-netter Saturday to seal OSU’s 4-2 win and series sweep of Wisconsin, it also marked a significant milestone for the veteran rearguard.

The assist was the 100th career point for the graduate transfer from RIT, making him the first active NCAA Division I defenseman to reach that plateau:

Most Career Points by NCAA Defensemen (Active)
Rk.	Player, School	Points
1.	Aiden Hansen-Bukata, Ohio State	100
2.	Eamon Powell, Boston College	95
3.	Nick Anderson, UMass Lowell	89
4.	Mike Koster, Minnesota	84
5.	Zeev Buium, Denver	83

In 28 games this season, Hansen-Bukata has produced one goal and 21 assists with a plus-12 rating.

Fit to Print:

“I challenged him before the game. I said, ‘Keep them to two or less, and we’ll score three.’ And that’s how it played out.”

— UMass head coach Greg Carvel (St. Lawrence ‘93) on G Michael Hrabal’s (So., Praha, Czechia) 37-save performance in a 3-2 victory at top-ranked Boston College on Friday (source: USCHO).

NHL Note of the Week:

When the NHL resumes play Saturday following its break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, college hockey alumni will top the league’s leaderboards for goaltending, rookie scoring and defenseman scoring:

Winnipeg G and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell, 2012-14) is the NHL leader in wins (34), goals against average (2.06), save percentage (.925), shutouts (six) and minutes played (2586:33).
Montreal D Lane Hutson (Boston University, 2022-24) and San Jose F Macklin Celebrini (Boston University, 2023-24) rank 1-2 in the NHL rookie scoring race with 41 and 40 points, respectively. Both were collegiate teammates last season with the Terriers.
Colorado D Cale Makar (UMass, 2017-19) tops all NHL defensemen in scoring with 63 points, followed by Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes (Michigan, 2017-19) and Columbus’ Zach Werenski (Michigan, 2014-16), who each have 59.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Sacred Heart senior D Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) is three blocks away from becoming the first active NCAA Division I men’s hockey player to block 300 career shots … Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky (Colorado College ’89) needs two more wins to reach 300 for his career … Michigan junior T.J. Hughes (Hamilton, Ontario) extended his point streak to 15 games – the longest in the NCAA this season – with a point each night last weekend against Minnesota. It’s the longest streak by a Wolverine since Kyle Connor (27 games), JT Compher (18) and Tyler Motte (16) in 2015-16 … Quinnipiac is clicking at 45.8 percent on the power play over its last six games. The Bobcats went 5-for-6 with the man advantage in Friday’s 7-2 win at Union and followed up by going 2-for-6 the next night in a 6-2 win at RPI … In his fourth start of the season, Lake Superior State senior G Easton Hesse (Beaumont, Alberta) made a career-high 50 saves in Saturday’s 5-3 win at Ferris State … Penn State set a Pegula Arena series attendance record last week when 13,195 fans witnessed the Nittany Lions’ two-game sweep of Notre Dame … Boston University junior F Quinn Hutson (Chicago, Ill.) scored his 100th career point with a third-period goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Providence. The tally was also the 50th goal of his NCAA career … North Dakota senior F Cameron Berg (West Fargo, N.D.) also reached the 100-point milestone Saturday when he scored the game-winning goal in a 3-1 win at Denver … BU’s Mikhail Yegorov (Fr., St. Petersburg, Russia) and Clarkson’s Marcus Brännman (Jr., Bromma, Sweden) each pitched their first NCAA shutouts last Saturday. Yegorov stopped all 30 shots in a 3-0 win over Providence, while Brännman had 17 saves in a 6-0 victory against Harvard.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

10 games, Holy Cross (began Jan. 17 at Bentley)
4 games, Clarkson (began Feb. 7 at Princeton)
4 games, LIU (began Feb. 6 vs. Lindenwood)
4 games, Ohio State (began Feb. 7 at Notre Dame)
4 games, Penn State (began Feb. 7 at Wisconsin)
4 games, Western Michigan (began Feb. 7 vs. St. Cloud State)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

15 games, F T.J. Hughes (Michigan)
- 9-14—23, began Dec. 14 vs. Wisconsin
10 games, F Ryan Leonard (Boston College)
- 12-7—19, began Jan. 17 vs. Providence
8 games, F Ryan Johnson (Alaska Anchorage)
- 2-8—10, began Jan. 11 at Niagara
8 games, F Jack Musa (UMass)
- 6-8—14, began Jan. 18 vs. Merrimack
8 games, F Cole O’Hara (UMass)
- 8-7—15, began Jan. 18 vs. Merrimack
8 games, F Ondrej Psenicka (Cornell)
- 3-5—8, began Jan. 17 at Princeton

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

4 games, Joey Muldowney (UConn)
- 7-2—9, began Feb. 1 vs. Providence
4 games, F Chris Pelosi (Quinnipiac)
- 4-3—7, began Feb. 7 vs. St. Lawrence
3 games, 6 players tied

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

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