BC Bulletin

Night of Comebacks Ends With Separation Saturday in College Hockey: 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|
Connecticut men's hockey celebrates winning the CT Ice Championship for the second-straight year.
Connecticut men's hockey celebrates winning the CT Ice Championship for the second-straight year. | UConn Athletics

It was a weekend of clarification and separation in college hockey, as the the races in more than one conference narrowed, especially in the Big Ten and NCHC thanks to a night of comeback wins, plus a state champion was crowed in the Nutmeg State (otherwise known as the Constitution State).

We'll start with the former. Sophomore goaltender Kevin Reidler stopped 40 of 41 shots while the No. 8 Penn State scored three times in the third period to secure its first-ever sweep of of a top-5 opponent, No. 5 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, 3-1. Junior Reese Laubach scored the game-winner, sophomore JJ Wiebusch sparked the rally, and freshman Gavin McKenna got an empty-net goal.

In the bigger picture, Wisconsin getting swept by Penn State and No. 2 Michigan State getting the max points this weekend against Minnesota have made the Big Ten a three-team race. No. 1 Michigan and Penn State both have 31 points, and Michigan State has 30. The Badgers have just 22 and will need big-time help to catch one of those teams, never mind all three.

Meanwhile, in the NCHC, No. 4 North Dakota scored three third-period goals to defeat Arizona State, 5-3, to not just complete the sweep at Mullett Arena, but maintain an eight-point lead in the standings over No. 9 Denver.

The bigger story in the conference was reigning national champion Western Michigan battling back from multiple deficits to claim a 4-3 overtime victory, and sweep at No. 6 Minnesota Duluth. The win was No. 3 WMU's ninth straight. Liam Valente had two goals and Hampton Slukynsky made 30 saves.

Here's a quick look at the other conferences ... and that state title:

CCHA: By taking care of business against Lake Superior, No. 16 St. Thomas has a cushion atop the standings with 42, while four teams are bunched up between 31-37 points. The Tommies will play the next three teams in the standings over the next four weeks: No. 19 Michigan Tech, Bowling Green and No. 14 Augusta, with an off week between the latter two. The more those chasing teams, and No. 20 Minnesota State, beat up on each other the harder it'll be for the conference to get more than one team in the NCAA Tournament.

ECAC: Remember when No. 10 Dartmouth was undefeated? The Big Green lost both games over the weekend (2-1 in OT to No. 12 Cornell, and 5-2 to Colgate) and is 3-6-1 over the last 10 games. At minimum it's fallen to bubble-team status. Overall, the conference looking more like a four-team race with Quinnipiac out in front by a point, but Cornell is the hot team having won eight of the last nine and looking more and more like a tournament team.

Hockey East: At last, some clarity. No. 11 Providence sweeping No. 18 Boston University thrust the Friars into first place with 31 points, with No. 15 Boston College and No. 13 Connecticut tied for second with 28. We're going to give Massachusetts props for climbing out of the cellar and all the way into a tie with BU for fourth, but those top three teams are all making strong NCAA bids. Providence has won nine of its last 10, BC has won 12 of its last 16 (two of the losses were to PC), and UConn 8 of its last 10.

Finally, although it wasn't against Hockey East competition, Connecticut got a nice boost winning its second straight CT Ice Championship by scoring three goals in the third period to defeat No. 6 Quinnipiac in New Haven, 4-2. The decisive goal of the tournament, which also includes Yale and Sacred Heart, was scored by a local product, Jake Percival.

• MSU Hockey Holds On, Completes Big Sweep of Minnesota

• No. 15 Boston College Men's Hockey Earns Series Sweep Over UNH With Vote's Hat Trick

Puck Drop: Sunday, January 25, 2026

• Former Wisconsin standout Cole Caufield notched his second career hat trick, but Boston still came back to pull out a 4-3 victory against Montreal. At one point the Bruins scored two goals over a 12-second span. “It doesn’t feel great at all,” Caufield said after the frustrating loss per NHL.com. “This game happens quick and these moments are huge. These are the moments you look back on and you hope it doesn’t bite you in the [bottom] because you have the lead going into the third against a pretty good team that’s chasing us, that needs those points, and we’ve got to have the same urgency. It’s very frustrating.

• Sophomore goaltender Lisa Jönsson posted a career-high 45 saves and freshman Ella Lloyd scored the game-winner as the No. 8 Northeastern women's hockey team scored a big 1-0 victory at No. 5 Connecticut. By completing a weekend sweep, NU improved to 15-1 in Hockey East and opened a 12-point lead on UConn in the standings (46 points to 34) with just four weeks remaining in the regular season.

• Minnesota's Abbey Murphy tied Nadine Muzerall for the all-time Gopher goals record (139) as No. 3 UM defeated St. Cloud State 5-1.

• Denver's Eric Pohlkamp, a junior notched two goals Saturday to become the first defenseman in NCHC history to score 16 goals in a season (the league began play in 2013-14). However, he's fourth in program history.

• Goal of the night? This was the game-winner in overtime of the Mayor's Cup against RPI.

SEE ALSO: Wild's Trade for Quinn Hughes Already a Smashing Success

Men’s College Hockey Saturday’s Scores

Connecticut Ice Tournament (at New Haven, Conn)
Third Place: Sacred Heart 3, Yale 2
Championship: No. 13 Connecticut 4, No. 6 Quinnipiac 2  

AHA
Canisius 5, Mercyhurst 0
Niagara 3, RIT 3 (RIT wins shootout)
Robert Morris 1, Holy Cross 0

Big Ten
Notre Dame 6, Ohio State 1
No. 2 Michigan State 3, Minnesota 2
No. 8 Penn State 3, No. 5 Wisconsin 1

CCHA
No. 16 St. Thomas 5, Lake Superior 0
Northern Michigan 3, No. 19 Michigan Tech 2
No. 20 Minnesota State 4, No. 14 Augustana 1
Bowling Green 5, Bemidji State 1

ECAC
Colgate 5, No. 10 Dartmouth 2
No. 12 Cornell 4, Harvard 1
St. Lawrence 5, Clarkson 2

Hockey East
No. 17 Maine 6, UMass Lowell 5 (OT)
Massachusetts 1, Vermont 0
No. 11 Providence 4, No. 18 Boston University 0
No. 15 Boston College 3, New Hampshire 0

NCHC
No. 4 North Dakota 5, Arizona 3
No. 9 Denver 6, St. Cloud State 0
No. 3 Western Michigan 4, No. 7 Minnesota Duluth 3
Colorado College 3, Omaha 1

Non-Conference
Long Island 4, Alaska Anchorage 0
Lindenwood 7, Alaska 4
Union 5, RPI 4 (OT, Mayor’s Cup)  
Stonehill 3, Brown 2 (OT)
Princeton 2, Bentley 2 (SO, Bentley won shootout)

Exhibition
Royal Military College of Canada vs. Army, cancelled

Women’s College Hockey Saturday’s Scores

AHA
Mercyhurst 5, Robert Morris 1
Lindenwood 4, Syracuse 0
No. 4 Penn State 7, Delaware 0

ECAC
St. Lawrence 2, Dartmouth 1 (OT)
No. 11 Clarkson 3, Harvard 1
Colgate 3, No. 7 Princeton 2 (OT)

No. 6 Quinnipiac 4, No. 12 Cornell 0
Union 4, RPI 3

Hockey East
New Hampshire 6, Boston College 2
No. 8 Northeastern 1, No. 5 Connecticut 0
No. 14 Holy Cross 3, Providence 0
Vermont 2, Boston University 1
Maine 4, Merrimack 2

NEWHA
Sacred Heart 3, Saint Anselm 1
Stonehill 2, Long Island 1
Post 4, Saint Michael’s 2
Franklin Pierce 3, Assumption 3 (OT)

WCHA
No. 1 Wisconsin, Bemidji State 3
No. 3 Minnesota 5, No. 15 St. Cloud State 1
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth 3, No. 13 Minnesota State 0
No. 2 Ohio State 5, St. Thomas 0

Non-Conference
RIT 4, Brown 0

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

Men’s College Hockey Sunday Schedule

No Games Scheduled

Women’s College Hockey Sunday Schedule

Bemidji State at No. 1 Wisconsin, 11 a.m. CT

Hockey Quote of the Day

"Then I went 10 years between Cups. As the years roll by, you get to wondering if it'll ever happen again. Going through it a second time, I realized how hard it actually was, and how much it meant."
Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell)

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We'll Leave You With This ...

These jaw-dropping goals were from Friday night:

Published
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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