ECAC Hockey Roundup: October 4-5, 2024

As the regular season begins in earnest, ECAC Hockey has been peeking their head outside of their own teams to get some non-conference play under their belt again, and we have some good matchups with the WCHA and Hockey East to go over.

Saints Hold Buckeyes Against the Ropes

Comparing the regular-season matchups from last year to this one, it's obvious No. 8 St. Lawrence has improved against defending champions, No. 4 Ohio State. While last year's Buckeyes thumped the Saints by scores of 11-0 and 5-1 over the weekend of Nov. 24-25, 2023, this year's series yielded quite a different set of results.

Instead, it took overtime to determine the final score this past Friday, Oct. 4, as Ohio State actually battled back from two separate deficits to force extra time, and then earned the win on the stick of Jenna Buglioni just seven seconds into overtime for a 3-2 final.

The game-winner was the second of Buglioni's goals for the Buckeyes that evening, as she had tied the game at 1 late in the first period as well. St. Lawrence withstood an onslaught of shots, with Emma-Sofia Nordstrom facing 40 as opposed to just 14 total for Amanda Thiele. For the Saints, captain and last year's top scorer Abby Hustler earned her first goal of her senior campaign off a deflection (having tallied three assists prior to Friday night).

Saturday's game featured a Buckeyes team that had things just a bit more in hand, with Ohio State jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the first period. Seven different Buckeyes got onto the scoresheet within just that opening frame, including sophomore Joy Dunne, fifth year Kiara Zanon, and Minny transfer Emily Zumwinkle (yes, Grace's little sister). Give the Saints full credit, however, as they made the most of their shots in the second frame and really got the Buckeyes scrambling, scoring twice to make it 3-3 going into the final period.

It was Buglioni again, though, who broke the tie, and an empty-netter from Jocelyn Amos sent the Saints home with a 5-3 loss, but secure in the fact that their team could, at least at this juncture, hang with the top team in the nation.

Raiders Get First Ranked Win of the Season

Another ECAC/WCHA matchup went down between No. 7 Colgate and No. 3/4 Minnesota Duluth, with the Raiders eking out a win of their own against a previously unbeaten Bulldogs squad (and the first on home ice of Stefan Decosse's head coaching career).

In fact, during Friday's matchup, the Raiders actually led 2-1 after 40 minutes. After a quiet first, a major hiccup by Colgate in the second period on the blueline led to a shorthanded goal by UMD's Mary Kate O'Brien. The Raiders then buckled down and got a special teams tally of their own, a PPG by Elyssa Biederman, followed by an even-strength tally by Kristyna Kaltounkova (her first of the year).

This is, however, a top-10 matchup, and a strong Bulldogs squad had yet more in the tank. Tova Henderson and Clara van Wieren stepped up and put UMD over the top, and then Ève Gascon and the penalty kill withstood some serious pressure by one of the top teams in the nation on the power play, taking the first game of the series home 3-2.

Saturday marked the Raiders' revenge. Van Wieren carried over her excellent play from the evening before, opening the scoring 9:13 into the first period, but not long after, sophomore forward Kaia Malachino gave the Raiders the equalizer on the power-play, pouncing on a big rebound for the goal.

Malachino struck again for the lone second-period goal, this one again on the skater-advantage, before Sara Stewart put the game at 3-1 less than two minutes into the third. The team that made two consecutive comeback wins couldn't mount a third, as a power-play tally by Olivia Wallin was all the Bulldogs could muster up. Hannah Murphy and the skaters in front of her mounted an incredible defense, particularly within the last seven minutes of play as UMD desperately looked for the tying goal.

This win marks Colgate's first against a ranked opponent for this season, as well as the first for the Raiders against the Bulldogs (1-1-5 record lifetime against UMD as of this writing).

Clarkson Rolls for Two Against Vermont

The non-conference matches continued with the No.5-ranked Golden Knights hosting the Catamounts, and unlike the previous two, this series was all Clarkson.

Friday saw a 2-2 tie heading into the second turn into a 6-2 final, as Sena Catterall, Rhea Hicks, and Keira Hurry led the charge in the middle frame, while Jenna Goodwin and Raedyn Spademan demonstrated more of the Knights' wild offensive depth in the final 20 minutes.

Saturday's game started a bit differently, and it looked like Vermont could potentially make it a split series with a quick goal in the first. But that idea was quickly disspelled when Clarkson overtook them in shots, 11-2 in the first and 15-3 in the second. It got to the point where a 2-1 Knights lead heading into the final period was a testament to the work of transfer Jane Gervais (yes, formerly of Wisconsin). Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to keep Clarkson from rolling to a 5-1 victory, as Goodwin added three more points to her weekend tally.

Quinnipiac, Union, RPI All Split

Quinnipiac 2, Northeastern 4

The No. 10 Bobcats threw 33 shots on net to No. 13 Northeastern's 20 on Friday night, but Paige Taborski was near-unbeatable in the 4-2 loss. Skylar Irving and Eloise Caron combined for seven of the Huskies' points, with Irving factoring into each of their goals.

Quinnipiac 3, Northeastern 0

A tighter-played game in terms of puck possession on Saturday, though, proved to be just the thing the Bobcats needed, with two second-period goals and an empty-netter in the third by Maddy Samoskevich getting them their own first ranked win on the season, 3-0. The Huskies' offensive well dried up, as Kaley Doyle made 28 saves for the victory and her third shutout of the season (I know, I did a double take as well).

Sacred Heart 2, RPI 1 (OT)

Two periods of scoreless play led to a special teams showdown between Rensselaer and Sacred Heart in the third period Friday, with the Pioneers drawing first blood early and Taylor Larsen's one-timer forcing OT late in the frame, both on the skater-advantage. Sacred Heart's Savannah Popick finished things off for the Pios at 2:52 of overtime for a 2-1 final.

Sacred Heart 0, RPI 4

The Engineers took over completely on Saturday, completely dominating the shot count 38-11 and getting two goals apiece from Morgann Skoda and Georgia Bailey. Another Wisconsin transfer, defender Sophie Helgeson, made her Engineers debut for her grad season and tallied a pair of assists in the win.

RIT 0, Union 4

Maddie Suitor scored a pair of goals and Sophie Matsoukas turned aside 27 shots as the Garnet Chargers handed RIT their first loss of the season in a strong 4-0 effort, earning two of the ECAC's Three Stars of the Night for their performances. Klara Kenttala and Greta Kropp also scored in the win.

RIT 4, Union 3 (OT)

Saturday's affair was a bit more lively, with the Tigers and Garnet Chargers trading goals throughout regulation. It was a rocky second period for Union, with the Tigers scoring three and pushing a 2-1 Chargers lead into a 3-2 deficit, but they were able to even it up in the third off of a long shot through a screen by Stephanie Bourque.

Addie Alvarez got the eventual game-winner just 30 seconds into overtime to help the Tigers improve to 3-1 so far on the year in a surprising start.

Looking Ahead...

We actually have two midweek games! St. Lawrence hosts Syracuse in another interstate battle, while Quinnipiac holds its home opener against Providence. Both games drop the puck at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

For weekend action, it's a full on ECAC/AHA showdown. Colgate will take a turn with RIT, St. Lawrence hosts Mercyhurst, Union meets up with Penn State, and Syracuse will spar with RPI in a home-and-home split. It's still a good couple of weeks until the Ivy League teams join us, so until then, we'll be seeing some good non-conference action for a while (just as we have the past couple of weeks!).

Check out the full composite schedule and how to watch here.