Thursday, February 6, 2025

Men’s Notes: Races for Banners, Tourney Spots Anyone’s Guess

Home Stretch Arrives in Men’s College Hockey

Saturday, March 8, is the final day of the regular season for NCAA Division I men’s hockey, the day when Hockey East and the NCHC close out their league schedules, the last of the six conferences to do so.

That means only four weeks remain until college hockey fully switches to tournament mode. A glance at the conference standings offers the promise of thrilling league races likely going down to the wire.

Currently, the largest gap between first- and second-place teams is in Atlantic Hockey, where Sacred Heart holds a mere five-point edge on Holy Cross. In the NCHC, there’s a tie atop the standings. ECAC Hockey (one point), the Big 10 (two) and Hockey East (three) are also airtight. In the CCHA, which will be decided by winning percentage rather than points, a nascent Augustana program is trying to hold off perennial league power Minnesota State.

Of course, there are also national implications as teams jockey for the 16 spots in the NCAA Tournament. This weekend alone, there are more than a dozen games where both teams rank among the top 25 in the PairWise Rankings:

Friday
#1 Boston College at #15 New Hampshire
#2 Michigan State vs. #14 Michigan
#4 Maine at #7 Providence
#6 UConn vs. #16 UMass
#8 Denver at #13 Arizona State
#17 Wisconsin vs. #20 Penn State
#18 Minnesota State vs. #19 Augustana

Saturday
#2 Michigan State vs. #14 Michigan (Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit)
#4 Maine at #7 Providence
#6 UConn vs. #10 UMass Lowell
#8 Denver at #13 Arizona State
#17 Wisconsin vs. #20 Penn State
#18 Minnesota State vs. #19 Augustana

Monday
#1 Boston College vs. #9 Boston University (Beanpot)

College hockey fans: check out as many games as you can; watch those scoreboards around the country; keep that PairWise page refreshed. The stretch run is upon us and the month of February is sure to deliver a season’s-worth of drama.

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Must Read:

Boston Globe: Eamon Powell is making the most of his extra year at Boston College

College Hockey News: Team of the Week: Maine

College Hockey News: Muszelik making most of second chances

College Hockey News: Berard, Stonehill building piece by piece

EP Rinkside: UConn on the brink of history with surprising rise

FloHockey: Flames pick Trevor Hoskin having stellar freshman season for Niagara

Grand Forks Herald: Hobie Hedquist posting solid numbers in the new year

New England Hockey Journal: 4 takeaways from 2025 men’s Beanpot semifinals

Sioux Falls Live: If you haven’t already, it’s time to jump on the Augustana hockey bandwagon

The Pipeline Show: Previewing the Beanpot with USCHO’s Jimmy Connelly

USCHO: Bowling Green taking upward trend, Falcons getting points as team simply ‘worrying about us’

USCHO: Taking a look at NCAA tournament contenders as conference continues to be unpredictable

USCHO: Boston College, Boston University to clash next Monday in Beanpot final for 23rd time

USCHO: Union ‘strictly focused on our Friday night opponent’

Must Hear:

CCHA Reporter’s Corner: Featuring Michigan Tech sophomore Isaac Gordon

CHN Insiders: Featuring Maine head coach Ben Barr

College Hockey Today: Skol Vikings

Inside Atlantic Hockey: Featuring Niagara head coach Jason Lammers

Parting Schotts: Hauge reviews Yale-Brown weekend, previews Colgate-Cornell games

The CCHA Show: Featuring Augustana head coach Garrett Raboin

UND Hockey Podcast: Five points in St. Cloud

USCHO Spotlight: Featuring Augustana head coach Garrett Raboin

USCHO Weekend Review: Some surprise teams as conference races heat up

The Big Gadowsky:

Army West Point defenseman Mac Gadowsky (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) picked up an assist in Tuesday’s loss at Bentley, extending his point streak to nine games.

That ties the longest point streak by a defenseman in NCAA Division I men’s hockey this season, matching the nine-gamers produced by Dartmouth’s CJ Foley (So., Hanover, Mass.) and Denver’s Eric Pohlkamp (So., Brainerd, Minn.) earlier this year.

Gadowsky’s 11 goals in 27 games this season top the nation’s defensemen, while his 27 points trail only the 29 posted by Denver’s Zeev Buium (So., San Diego, Calif.).

Alaska Goal Rush:

Speaking of streaks, Alaska F Matt Hubbarde (Sr., Pickering, Ontario) has scored at least one goal in each of his last six games, tying Boston College’s Ryan Leonard (So., Amherst, Mass.) for the longest active goal streak in the country.

Hubbarde, who has matched the 12 goals he totaled over his first three NCAA seasons, has lit the lamp nine times during his current hot streak. He leads the Nanooks with a career-high 20 points in 23 contests this season.

Roaring Twenties:

Minnesota junior F Jimmy Snuggerud (Chaska, Minn.) notched his 20th goal of the season in Friday’s 5-2 win over Wisconsin, hitting that plateau for the third time in as many years.

According to Minnesota men’s hockey communications director Scott Slarks, Snuggerud became just the third Golden Gopher to score 20-plus times in each of his first three years, joining program greats John Mayasich and Dick Dougherty, both of whom did it in 1953-54.

Snuggerud finished Friday’s win with two goals and two assists, vaulting him into the NCAA scoring lead with 41 points in 30 contests.

Rocky Mountain Highs:

Last weekend’s NCHC series between Denver and visiting Omaha was one for the record books.

On Friday night, the two teams battled to a 3-3 overtime tie before UNO claimed the extra league point in a 16-round shootout, the longest in NCHC history. UNO D Nolan Krenzen (Gr., Twig, Minn.), who does not have an official goal this season, ended the marathon with a shootout tally.

The following night, the Mavericks jumped out to a 2-0 lead before DU responded with 11 straight goals in an eventual 11-2 victory. That output tied the NCHC record for most goals by a team in a league game. It also marked Denver’s best single-game total since an 11-1 win over Air Force on Dec. 27, 1995.

Fit to Print:

“For our young program and for our players and coaches to get that kind of validation is important, and you immediately felt the energy and momentum it created. People were reaching out and congratulating us and that means a lot. We want the college hockey world to know we’re serious. That we’re investing in this and trying to build it for the long haul.”

— Augustana athletics director Josh Morton after the Vikings, in only their second year of NCAA Division I hockey, recently appeared in the national polls for the first time (source: Sioux Falls Live).

NHL Note of the Week:

New York Rangers D Adam Fox (Harvard, 2016-19) recently crossed the 40-point threshold for the sixth consecutive season, putting him in heady company according to the Rangers’ official website.

The only other rearguards in franchise history with as many consecutive 40-point campaigns were fellow NCAA alumni James Patrick (North Dakota, 1981-83), who had seven in a row from 1985-86 to 1991-92, and Brian Leetch (Boston College, 1986-87), who produced six straight from 1993-94 to 1998-99.

Fox, the Norris Trophy winner in 2020-21, is currently tied for third among NHL defenseman in assists (39) and is tied for seventh in points (42).

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Boston College and Boston University will meet in Monday’s Beanpot final at Boston’s TD Garden. BC defeated Northeastern this past Monday to extend its nation’s-best winning streak to eight games, while BU dispatched of Harvard earlier in the day … Holy Cross senior F Liam McLinskey (Pearl River, N.Y.) reached the 100-point plateau for his NCAA career in Sunday’s win over Canisius … Denver’s win over Omaha on Saturday was the 112th for the team’s senior class, tying the program record set in 2005 … Fifth-year DU F Connor Caponi (Milwaukee, Wis.) appeared in his 167th career game that night, leaving him one away from tying Ryan Barrow’s school record … Junior G Andrew Takacs (Bowie, Md.) registered his first career shutout in Colgate’s 2-0 win at Clarkson last Friday … Saturday’s attendance of 10,894 that witnessed Minnesota’s 4-1 win over Wisconsin was the largest crowd in the history of 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Gophers also set a series attendance record (21,641) for 3M Arena at Mariucci … Omaha went 7-1-1 in January, tying the program record for most wins in a single month.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

8 games, Boston College (began Jan. 11 at Merrimack)
6 games, Holy Cross (began Jan. 17 at Bentley)
4 games, Princeton (began Jan. 25 vs. Bentley)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

11 games, F T.J. Hughes (Michigan)
- 7-12—19, began Dec. 14 vs. Wisconsin
9 games, D Mac Gadowsky (Army)
- 7-10—17, began Jan. 3 vs. Merrimack
9 games, F Teddy Stiga (Boston College)
- 6-6—12, began Jan. 10 vs. Merrimack
8 games, F Alex Bump (Western Michigan)
- 7-6—16, began Jan. 3 vs. Alaska Anchorage
8 games, F Jake Gagnon (RPI)
- 5-3—8, began Jan. 4 at Brown
8 games, D Samuel Sjolund (Western Michigan)
- 1-11—12, began Jan. 3 vs. Alaska Anchorage

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

6 games, F Matt Hubbarde (Alaska)
- 5-3—8, began Jan. 4 at Minnesota Duluth
6 games, F Ryan Leonard (Boston College)
- 10-3—13, began Jan. 17 vs. Providence
4 games F Kenny Connors (UMass)
- 5-1—6, began Jan. 24 vs. Alaska

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

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