Delaware Women Celebrate First Win in Program History: Puck Drop

Chalotte Payne made 49 saves, including 20 during the third period as the the Delaware Blue Hens notched their first Division I victory with a 2-1 win against Holy Cross on Sunday.

The freshman had to make six saves during the final two minutes after Holy Cross pulled its goalie. Katelynn Charlton scored her third goal of the weekend on the power play and Meera Smith netted her first collegiate goal.

It was the first career victory for head coach Allison Coomey, who had previously been an assisstant coach at Penn State. Next weekend, the Blue Hens (1-3) host the No.6 Nittany Lions for two games in an early-season Atlantic Hockey America conference matchup.

UMass Completes Sweep

A day after cranking out 70 shots against Northern Michigan, No. 15 Massachusetts completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory at the Mullins Center. This time the Minutemen jumped out to an early lead while improving to 2-0 for the first time since 2018-19. This time, UMass finished with 46 shots, while Michael Hrabal totaled 31 saves. "Our room feels good, guys building some confidence," Coach Greg Carvel said in a release. "It's good to see some young guys score some goals. I'm glad to have some games, because it really helps us as a staff to figure out where we need to work to get better, and there's a lot of room for improvement, but really good first step."

This save from @HrabalMichael in the first period tho 😮‍💨@utahmammoth @hockey_east #NewMass X #Flagship 🚩 pic.twitter.com/xnt3CbNjEo
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) October 5, 2025

Puck Drop: Monday, October 6, 2025

Sunday's Scores

MEN
Non-Conference
Lake Superior State 3, Stonehill 2
No. 15 UMass 4, Northern Michigan 1
Canisius 4, St. Lawrence 2

Exhibitions
Colgate 5, Union 3
No. 9 Providence 2, No. 13 Quinnipiac 1
Robert Morris 6, Waterloo 2
Sacred Heart 5, Simon Fraser 1
RPI at No. 2 Boston University, (n)

WOMEN
Delaware 2, Holy Cross 1

Today's Games

No Games Scheduled

Did You Notice?

• It hasn't even been a week since college hockey replaced the PairWise rankings with the NCAA Power Index (NPI) and it's already being suggested as model for College Football Playoff seedings. Yahoo's Dan Wolken wrote: "Though the formula has evolved over the years and is still evolving — more on that in a moment — the gist of it was to take the three factors the committee was supposed to consider and measure every team in the country by comparing them with every other team. All the selection committee does after the conference tournaments is plug in the six automatic bid winners and then take the 10 highest-rated teams from the formula to plug into the bracket. Sometimes there are necessary small seeding tweaks to deal with geography issues, but the committee has zero discretion when it comes to team selection. No mess, no controversy, no complaints.”

• NHL teams are making their final roster moves for the start of the 2025-26 season, but the Carolina Hurricanes claimed former Western Michigan goaltender Brandon Bussi off waivers from the Florida Panthers. As for former college players getting waived to be sent down to the minors:

• Former Notre Dame forward Alex Steeves by the Boston Bruins
• Clarkson center Joshua Dunne by the Buffalo Sabres
• St. Cloud State defenseman Jack Ahcan by the Colorado Avalanche
• Minnesota defenseman Justin Holl by the Detroit Red Wings
• U.S. National Development Team left wing Max Jones by the Edmonton Oilers
• Yale right wing John Hayden by the Seattle Kraken
• Northeastern defenseman Matt Benning, Denver defenseman Dakota Mermis, and Harvard defenseman Henry Thrun by the Toronto Maple Leafs
• Western Michigan right wing Ethen Frank and Dartmouth goaltender Clay Stevenson by the Washington Capitals
• Minnesota State right wing Walker Duehr by the Winnipeg Jets.

SEE BREAKAWAY ON SI FOR MORE ON HAYDEN

• Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer on the Big Ten's private equity gamble: “Industry and conference sources tell Sports Illustrated the Big Ten’s talks have centered around three of the biggest private equity firms in the country – Apollo Global Management, Sixth Street Partners and Ares Management – and that a decision on moving forward with a potential deal could happen before the end of October. Many of the finer details are still being finalized, and there remains a lack of full unanimity among all schools in the Big Ten over whether to ultimately proceed with the new venture.”

• This is specific to college basketball, but there are obvious implications to hockey, especially after the the NCAA decision making Canadian Hockey League eligible. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander polled roughly 100 coaches as part of their Candid Coaches series for CBS Sports and found that 89 percent don’t trust their competitors to recruit within the rules now that what amounts to a salary cap exists in college athletics. Said one: “I do not trust that most high-level competitors will stay within the rules. There is too much at stake. Personally, I would rather it be that way. It allowed opposing coaches to know who they were recruiting against and make the decision to stay involved or not." Another coach who voted no remarked: “No, at least not 100 percent. Until we have a governing body that can enforce rules and levy out 'real' punishments, those who have always found a way or 'cheated' will continue to do so.” A coach who answered yes observes: “I think you have to [follow the rules now]. In my opinion, this isn't five to 10 years ago – when programs had to figure out how to hide a $10K-to-$50K payment. You are [now] talking about hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases millions. Maybe I am naive, I just don't see how people will hide that amount of money."

On This Date in Hockey History:

October 6, 1969: North Dakota center Jeff McLean was born in Port Moody, British Columbia.

October 6, 1981: Former Boston College right wing Joe Mullen notched his first assist as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2.

October 6, 1988: Former Alaska Fairbanks center Curtis Fraser was named co-captain of the Minnesota North Stars along with former UMD defenseman Curt Giles and Bob Rouse.

October 6, 1988: Wayne Gretzky made his debut with the Los Angeles Kings. He scored on his first shot and added three assists in an 8-2 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

October 6, 1992: Nebraska Omaha right wing John Archibald was born in Regina, Saskatchewan.

October 6, 1993: Former Wisconsin forward Scott Mellanby scored the first goal in Florida Panthers during a 4-4 tie at Chicago.

October 6, 1994: Nebraska Omaha center Jake Guentzel was born in Omaha, Neb.

October 6, 1999: Former St. Cloud State right wing Mark Parrish combined with Viktor Kozlov and Pavel Bure to set the Florida Panthers record for the fastest three goals in franchise history (1:17) during 4-2 come-from-behind win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

October 6, 2001: Former Michigan goaltender Steve Shields made 41 saves to get his first win for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Former St. Cloud State center Matt Cullen scored two goals in the 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh.

October 6, 2001: Former Lowell goaltender Dwayne Roloson notched a shutout in his debut with the Minnesota Wild, despite being outshot by the San Jose Sharks, 36-19.

October 6, 2001: Michigan State hosted Michigan for an outdoor game at Spartan Stadium and set a world record with 74,544 fans in attendance. Mike Cammalleri scored two goals for the Wolverines and Duncan Keith had one the Spartans in the 3-3 tie.

October 6, 2002: The Minnesota Wild played the Atlanta Thrashers in a preseason game at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

October 6, 2007: Former Minnesota defenseman Erik Johnson’s first NHL goal was the game-winner as the St. Louis Blues downed the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3. In the same game, former North Dakota center Brady Murray became the fourth NHL player to face his father as a coach, Andy.

October 6, 2014: Former Wisconsin defenseman Ryan McDonagh was named captain of the New York Rangers.

October 6, 2017: The Vegas Golden Knights won their first regular-season game with a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars. The expansion team went on to be the first to reach the Stanley Cup Finals during its inaugural season.

#TBT Spartan Stadium, Oct. 6, 2001 - college hockey's first outdoor game. pic.twitter.com/wiDOSrYTTm
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 5, 2015

Hockey Quote of the Day

If you're giving me tickets to the football game, baseball game or hockey game, I'm taking the tickets to the hockey game. For me, it's by far the most fun sport to go and watch live and be part of. I just don't know why it doesn't translate as well on TV.”
Tom Glavine

We'll Leave You With This ...

First win in program history ✅

First Hockey Victory Laundry ✅

Congrats @Delaware_IH! pic.twitter.com/Ov4wZeoquK
— Delaware Equipment (@DelawareEQ) October 5, 2025