Ryan Piros loses his glove, but keeps the puck out of the net versus his former team – Utica. (Photo by Michael Forst Jr. – Forst Photography)

Piros shines in his return to his former team Utica, Adrian sweeps the weekend

The last six years we’ve been treated to a pair of games each season between these two D-III giants in Adrian College & Utica University. Adrian leads the all-time series 9-5-1, winning the last six of nine games versus the Pioneers.

Utica entered this season ranked #2 behind Hobart, while Adrian came in at #10 coming off a ‘down’ year for their high standards. You can read out series preview here By Tommy Berry.

The intriguing part of this series besides the fact these two powerhouses always give us a fun opening weekend regardless of the final score, but this time was different…

Last season, Ryan Piros began his D-III career at Dubuque, during the winter break, he transferred to Utica, in which he helped lead them to a national runner-up appearance. Now, he transfers to Adrian during the offseason, making it his third school in three semesters. Regardless of the various reasons as to why he’s been on the move as much as he has, it was an intriguing storyline as he made his first start for the Bulldogs against his former team, Utica.

Piros made 32 saves on 33 shots in game one, then made 24 saves on 27 shots in game two.

The Bulldogs looked in control during both games, never really seeming as if the game wasn’t going to end in their favor. Utica’s lack of success I would imagine may have to do with so many new faces, regardless if they’re D-I transfers or not, you need time to gel as a group and with Adrian to open your season and Hobart the following weekend, you better figure it out fast.

Penalties were relatively light which for these two can be surprising as it’s always a physical game and chippy at times, in the two games, Adrian combined for 7 for 14 minutes, while Utica committed 3 for 6 minutes.

Adrian visits Marian for a pair of NCHA games to start their conference play this weekend, while as mentioned, Utica hosts Hobart on Thursday and visits them on Saturday at The Cooler, the hardest start to anyone’s schedule this season so far.

Southern Maine Freshman – Ben Aucoin makes history, scores six vs Saint Anselm

Watch history be made here:

University of Southern Maine Freshman Ben Aucoin sets the program record, scoring six goals versus Saint Anselm (Video via USM Athletics on YouTube).

Coming into this game, Southern Maine was coming off a 4-0 shutout loss to Salve Regina, they came back big unfortunately in a game that won’t count as a “win” in the NPI due to Saint Anselm’s NE-10 D-II status, but nevertheless, give it up to Ben Aucoin on scoring the infamous ‘double hat-trick’. Give it a watch above!

Upset City

Dubuque defeats #9 Wisconsin-Stevens Point 3-2 in OT

The struggles for the Pointers in the Key City Classic continue, they moved to 0-3 in the tournament dating back to last season with the overtime loss to the host Dubuque who won a single game last season, coming versus Adrian. Not a bad pair of wins for Dubuque if you’re only going to win two games in your last 26, Wisconsin-Stevens Point & Adrian College…

The Pointers would get one back the next day, defeating Augsburg 3-2 to get their first win in Iowa in two seasons. We will see if the event fares better for them next season in the win-loss column.

Canton defeats #8 Trine 2-1

Head Coach Alex Boak’s ninth season at the helm of the Roos is off to the best start they could’ve asked for as they welcomed the Trine Thunder to town for opening weekend. The Roos defeated Trine 2-1, scoring two 3rd period goals including the tying goal coming within the first minute of the period.

The shots in this game were very low, with Trine outshooting Canton 20-17. What wasn’t low were the penalty minutes, Canton won in this category, but Trine wasn’t far behind, the Roos committed 6 for 12 minutes, while Trine committed 5 for 10 minutes.

Canton would face Misericordia two days later, winning 5-1, the Roos start the season 2-0-0 and visit Nazareth & Elmira this weekend before SUNYAC play begins the following week.

St. Olaf defeats #5 St. Norbert 5-4 in OT

St. Olaf defeats #5 St. Norbert on the road (Video by St. Norbert College Athletics)

St. Norbert defeated the Ole’s of St. Olaf in game one of two 3-0, but on night two in De Pere, the Ole’s took the Green Knights to overtime where they buried the winner. This win for St. Olaf is the first win over St. Norbert since the 1992 season, a long time coming…

This game featured four goals in the opening period, each team scoring twice. In the middle frame, St. Norbert scored two and led the Ole’s entering the final period. St. Olaf would score with just over five minutes remaining, then would bury the winner a rapid 33 seconds into overtime, it was Connor McNaughton with the winner.

St. Olaf outshot the Green Knights 29-26 and the game was relatively low on penalties, SNC committing 2 for 4 minutes and the Ole’s 2 for 4 minutes.

Inaugural Wins!

St. John Fisher defeats Buffalo State, winning 2-1 

I was very high on St. John Fisher on both sides of the puck, men’s & women’s. However, I was skeptical if the men’s squad would pull off a win like this early on against a Buffalo State squad who typically has put together some solid seasons year-after-year, despite a lack of success in the postseason.

Well, the Cardinals got it done, despite being outshot 33-20 and committing one more penalty than the Bengals (5 for 10 minutes), they got the job done, scoring in the opening period on the powerplay and followed that up with an early 3rd period goal. That would be just enough to hold off the Bengals as they scored a powerplay goal just before the midway point in the final period, but were unable to suffice another.

Roger Williams defeats UMass-Dartmouth 4-3

Roger Williams was a bit of a wildcard, Head Coach Chris Hall comes from the Jamie Rice coaching tree at Babson, get his first win at the helm of the Hawks. UMass-Dartmouth, who made the move with Plymouth State to the Little East Conference, leaving the MASCAC, gets off to a rough start with this loss.

UMD went up 1-0 early on the powerplay, but the Hawks tied it up just past the midway mark of the opening period, but gave up a goal in the last 30 seconds, UMD leads 2-1 after the 1st.

RWU’s Daxton St. Hilaire would be the star of the show, scoring a hat trick which included a shorthanded goal in the 2nd period. The game was tied 2-2 entering the final period of play, with the winner being scored by St. Hilaire at the 17:24 mark of the 3rd period.