BC Bulletin

Final Pre-Winter Break College Hockey Game was Naturally an Upset: Puck Drop

Your daily briefing on what's going on in college hockey, everything from the assists on the ice to the Zamboni.
Christopher Walsh|
Omaha freshman Jérémy Loranger is all smiles after netting the first two goals of his college hockey career on Dec. 20, 2025.
Omaha freshman Jérémy Loranger is all smiles after netting the first two goals of his college hockey career on Dec. 20, 2025. | Omaha Athletics

Freshman Jérémy Loranger picked a good time to score his first two goals at the collegiate level, leading Omaha to a 4-1 win over Augustana on Saturday night in the final regular-season college hockey game before Christmas, the unoffical midseason point of the 2025-26 schedule.

The Mavericks were opportunistic, especially in building a 2-0 lead during the first period. Brett Hyland and Marcus Nguyen both found the back of the net despite Augustana holding a 16-9 edge in shots. Overall, the Vikings had a 37-26 advantage in the statistical category.

Loranger scored his first goal in the second period, and early in the third period for a 4-0 lead. Leonid Bulgakov finally got one past freshman goaltender Dawson Cowan to prevent the shutout.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak as Omaha (7-11-0) earned the road split. The Vikings closed out the first half of their season with a record of 10-6-3. 

SEEL ALSO: Latest College Hockey Rankings

Puck Drop: Sunday, December 21, 2025

• Former Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler made 31 saves to get his first career shutout in just his fourth game, as Montreal defeated visiting Pittsburgh 4-0. “It’s cool, it’s another puck to give to my dad and let him put in the trophy case,” Fowler said per NHL.com. “I was just grateful for the effort in front of me. They made my job pretty easy tonight to see pucks and be under control, and I think we’ve been good the last few games and I just need to make a couple more saves like tonight.” We could include a couple of highlights, but would rathe show you this:

• With Pittsburgh not scoring, Sidney Crosby remained one point behind Mario Lemieux for the Penguins’ all-time scoring record. Crosby has 1,722 points (644 goals, 1,078 assists) in 1,386 games.

• The ECHL's Rapid City Rush announced that they had signed St. Cloud State junior defenseman Kaleb Tiessen to a pro contract effective immediately.

• Former Michigan center Frank Nazar was stuck in the face by a shot by Senators defenseman Jordan Spence and is expected to be out for approximately a month. The Blackhawks lost 6-4. Meanwhile, former Wolverines defenseman Zach Werenski needed held getting off the ice after taking a hard shot as Columbus lost to Anaheim.

• More recruiting news: College Puck NXT reported that Augustana landed a commitment from forward Keegan Davis, who is playing with the Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL), and Arizona State landed bit forward Colton Lien (Okanagan HA, Colorado). CenterIceView reported that USHL forward Joe McGraw of the Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL) is heading to St. Cloud State

• Did you notice that neither the Minnesota Wild nor the Vancouver Canucks have had a loss since the Quinn Hughes (Michigan) trade?

• Former Massachusetts forward John Leonard scored his fist NHL goal with the Detroit Red Wings.

Saturday's Score

MEN
Non-Confernce
Omaha 4, Augustana 1

Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.

End of 2025 College Hockey Schedule

Saturday, December 27
MEN
Non-Conference
Arizona State at No. 8 Dartmouth, 5 p.m. ET          

Sunday, December 28
ECAC
Brown at Princeton, 2 p.m. ET   

Non-Conference
Arizona State at Dartmouth, 3 p.m. ET  
Army at Long Island, 5 p.m. ET

Great Lakes Invitational (at Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Miami vs. Michigan Tech, 3:37 p.m. ET
Ferris State vs. No. 3 Michigan State, 7 p.m. ET         

Holiday Face-Off (at Milwaukee, Wis.)
Lake Superior vs. No. 2 Wisconsin, 7 p.m. CT
No. 12 Boston College vs. No. 7 Western Michigan, 7:30 CT

Exhibition
Concordia at No. 10 Quinnipiac, 2:00 ET          
Bentley at UMass Lowell, 3:30 ET         

Monday, December 29
Hockey East
Merrimack at Vermont, 6 p.m ET           

Holiday Face-Off (at Milwaukee, Wis.)
Third-Place Game, 4 p.m. CT
Championship, 7:30 p.m. CT

Great Lakes Invitational (at Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Third-Place Game, 4 p.m. ET
Championship, 7:30 p.m. ET

Non-Conference
RIT at Clarkson. 6 p.m. ET        

Exhibition
US Under-18 at Bowling Green. 7 p.m. ET         

Tuesday, December 30, 2025
AHA
Robert Morris at Sacred Heart, 4 p.m. ET          

Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Non-Conference
Long Island at No. 11 UConn, 2 p.m. ET
Exhibition
Guelph at Niagara, 2 p.m. ET

WOMEN
Tuesday, December 30
Non-Conference
Brown vs. Maine. 5 p.m. ET (Portland, Maine)
No. 10 Cornell at No. 4 Penn State, 6 p.m. ET

This Date in Hockey History:

December 21, 1885: Hall of Fame hockey innovator Frank Patrick was born in Ottawa, Ontario.   

December 21, 1918:  Hobey Baker died in a plane crash in Toul, France. His orders to return home from World War I were found in his jacket pocket.

December 21, 1971: Bobby Orr notched an assist as the Boston Bruins defeated Detroit 8-1, giving him 541 career points to set the NFL record for a defenseman. He needed just 423 games to break Doug Harvey’s record (540 points, which took him 1,113 games).

December 21, 1982: At age 17, American Pat LaFontaine scored a goal for the Verdun Juniors to tie Guy Lafleur’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) record of at least one point in 40 straight games. He went on to edge Mario Lemieux for the scoring title with 104 goals and 234 points during his only season in the QMJHL.

December 21, 1988: Former North Dakota and Miracle on Ice right wing Dave Chirtsian became the second U.S.-born player to score 250 goals as Washington won at Chicago 4-3.

Dec. 21, 1988: Former Clarkson right wing Dave Taylor reached 900 career points with a goal and an assist during the Kings’ 8-6 victory over the North Stars.

December 21, 1991: Americans Phil Housley and Ed Olczyk both had four assists, with the latter adding two goals, as Winnipeg beat visiting Calgary 7-2 for the Jets’ eighth-straight home win.

December 21, 1992: Northeastern defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was born in Toronto.  

December 21, 1993: Minnesota Duluth center Alex Iafallo was born in Eden, N.Y.

December 21, 1995: U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck notched his 250th NHL career victory as the Florida Panthers defeated the visiting Winnipeg Jets 6-1.

December 21, 1997: Boston University defenseman Charlie McAvoy was born in Long Beach, N.Y.

December 21, 2006: Former Minnesota State forward David Backes scored his first NHL goal and future Western Michigan coach Andy Murray notched his first NHL win with St. Louis as the Blue defeated the visiting Kings 5-2.   

December 21, 2009: Martin Brodeur made 35 saves to notch his 104th career shutout to set an NHL record, as New Jersey won at Pittsburgh 4-0. HE eventually finished with 125.

December 21, 2013: Former Minnesota Duluth goaltender Alex Stalock made 44 saves in regulation and overtime as San Jose defeated visiting Dallas 3-2 on a shootout goal by Joe Thornton.

December 21, 2014: Former Alabama Huntsville goaltender Cam Talbot became the second goalie in New York Rangers history to start a season with three straight shutout wins with a 1-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Former Wisconsin defenseman Ryan McDonagh had the lone goal.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“I think some day you may have flown too high,
So that immortals saw you and were glad,
Watching the beauty of your spirits flame,
Until they loved and called you, and you came.”
Inscription on Hobey Baker’s grave

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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and is also the publisher of the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt sites . He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004 and is the author of 27 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

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