D-III Men’s Week in Review: New Year’s Tournament Brief Recap!

 

Second half play has started back up and that means new year’s tournament are upon us, giving us some matchups we don’t see very often whether it be geographical or conference scheduling reasons, so we’ll review how things shook out in each event. Apologies for the briefer than normal article, but some more ‘marquee’ matchups were given preference in this one.

Bowdoin wins the Inaugural Lobster Pot

*Hosted by University of Southern Maine

Opening Games:
Colby (5-2-1) vs #6 Univ. New England (8-2-0) – UNE 5-1
#14 Bowdoin (6-2-1) @ Univ. Southern Maine (5-4-1) – Bowdoin 5-0

Consolation:
Colby @ Southern Maine – Colby 4-3

Championship:
Univ. New England vs Bowdoin – Bowdoin 6-2

The state of Maine has incredible seafood (and hockey), but this weekend we had the first ever “Lobster Pot” tournament featuring the four Division III Men’s Hockey programs located in Maine. The event sold out every game and was a great success from the looks and sounds of it all. If you would like to read our brief tournament preview by Tommy Berry, it can be found here.

The most eye-opening statistic of the event was Bowdoin winning by a cumulative scoreline 11-2 including a 6-2 win over #6 University of New England… Quite the weekend for the Polar Bears.

In the championship, it was a 2-2 tie after 2 periods of play, Bowdoin getting on the board first in the opening period, then UNE scoring a pair to Bowdoin’s one in the 2nd period to deadlock things at 2 apiece. Well, the Polar Bears decided to go on a mini barrage in the final frame, scoring a pair of goals in under four minutes to start things off, followed by another goal with just under five minutes left to essentially end the game into the empty net, leading 5-2 late. The Polar Bears added another quick empty netter, making it a 6-2 final and driving a mere 45 minutes home with the first ever Lobster Pot Trophy.

Despite being outshot by UNE 33-18 in the final, Bowdoin got it done in dominating fashion.

Babson takes home the Oswego State Hockey Classic

*Hosted by Oswego State University

Opening Games:
Elmira (3-7-0) vs #13 Babson (6-2-1) – Babson 8-4
Williams (3-5-0) @ #7 Oswego (6-2-0) – Tie 5-5 (Williams Shootout Win)

Consolation:
Elmira @ Oswego – Oswego 6-2

Championship:
Williams vs Babson – Babson 4-2

The Oswego State Hockey Classic has brought some great matchups over the years and has a loaded roster for next season’s event, stay tuned… but for now, we had Babson take home the trophy this year in the event, blowing out Elmira and holding on against Williams in the final. Side note, this event featured an incredible number of cumulative years coached at one respective school. Coach Gosek has been HC of Oswego for 21 years, Coach Rice has been HC of Babson for 21 years, Coach Kangas has been HC of Williams for 36 years, and Coach Saul has been HC of Elmira for 17 years…

In the opening round, the main excitement arose from the late game in Williams vs Oswego. Oswego took an early 3-0 lead in the 1st period not even 10 minutes into the game, which would hold through the rest of the opening period. However, Williams got on the board in the opening minute of the 2nd period, scoring on the powerplay. The Ephs would then cut the deficit to one a quick 20 seconds later, making it 3-2. The Ephs wouldn’t stop there, scoring the next three goals to lead 5-3 with just under five minutes left in the game after trailing 3-0 early on. Penalty problems would hit Williams late and Oswego took advantage. The Lakers scored two powerplay goals within forty seconds of each other, tying the game at 5-5 and sending it to overtime. Both teams looked like they had the game won in this one.

In the shootout, Williams would prevail, setting them up in the championship game vs fellow Massachusetts school Babson.

In the title game, we didn’t see much scoring until the third period. The Beavers led 1-0 after the 1st, scoring just under eight minutes into the game. Williams would then jump quick in the 3rd like they did against Oswego, scoring 54 seconds into the period to tie it 1-1. Babson would get right back to work, scoring two goals in the next three minutes (coming exactly one minute apart) to take the 3-1 lead. We would see two more goals, Williams scoring on the powerplay to cut the deficit to one, but Babson sealed it with just under seven minutes left, scoring to make it 4-2 and leaving the arctic weather of Oswego, NY with a trophy.

Also, shout out to Babson College’s finest Jake Thibeault for making the trip to Oswego, if you would like to hear about Jake’s incredible story, please listen to our podcast episode and read this article from Babson.

Amherst wins the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic

*Hosted by SUNY Plattsburgh

Opening Games:
Suffolk (5-3-1) vs Amherst (3-4-1) – Amherst 3-2 OT
Wesleyan (2-5-0) @ Plattsburgh (6-4-0) – Plattsburgh 3-1

Consolation:
Suffolk vs Wesleyan – Wesleyan 3-2 OT

Championship:
Amherst @ Plattsburgh – Amherst 3-2

Plattsburgh always hosts great tournaments, bringing in a wide array of teams on the men’s & women’s sides, but this season we got two NESCAC teams and a CNE squad in the North Country. The last place finisher Suffolk faced heartbreak twice, falling in overtime and facing a controversial goal call in game one against Amherst where the puck appeared to not have crossed the line.

The winner of the event Amherst, under first year (at Amherst) Head Coach Eddie Effinger, won both games 3-2 including one in overtime. Funny enough, every goal in the final came on the powerplay as the game was ridden with penalties. Plattsburgh led the way with eight minors and Amherst had five of their own. Josh Burke led the way for the Mammoths, scoring two goals and adding an assist on the game winner. Vincent Lamberti made 16 saves in the win, while Brady Spry made 28 in the loss.

Northfield Bank Tournament

*Hosted by Norwich University

Opening Games:
Misericordia (1-7-1) vs Cortland (6-4-1) – Cortland 3-1
Nazareth (7-4-1) @ Norwich (5-3-1) – Nazareth 3-2 OT

Consolation:
Misericordia @ Norwich – Norwich 3-2

Championship:
Nazareth vs Cortland – Nazareth 4-3 OT

This year’s Northfield Bank Tournament hosted by Norwich University featured a few overtime games and led to a Nazareth victory under their first-year Head Coach James McDonald, who’s led the Golden Flyers on their hot start of 9-4-1. For Nazareth, they won 18 games in 2022-23 but failed to win 8+ games four out of the last five seasons and won no more than 12 games ever in program history outside of that 2022-23 season. Currently, the Golden Flyers are on pace to match their best season ever as a program and this event put an emphasis on that, defeating the two other teams with above .500 records, including the host Norwich.

In the final, Nazareth goaltender Paul Dalessio came up big, making 33 saves on 36 shots. The Red Dragons outshot Nazareth 36-22, but goaltending came through and Nazareth got out unscathed in overtime. To add to the mayhem, the game was tied going into the final minute of the 3rd period, until Nathan Garnier gave Cortland the lead with a mere 57 seconds left. Then, seconds after we dropped the puck to begin overtime, Logan Tobias fired the game winner home all in a matter of 10 seconds, unassisted.

Codfish Bowl

*Hosted by UMass-Boston

Opening Games:
MCLA (3-5-2) @ UMass-Boston (5-4-0) – UMass-Boston 4-2
Worcester State (4-4-3) vs Western New England (2-7-0) – Worcester State 6-1

Consolation:
MCLA vs Western New England – WNE 3-2 OT

Championship:
Worcester State @ UMass-Boston – UMass-Boston 5-1

The Codfish bowl is the oldest tournament in Division III, still going strong since 1965. This year marked the 61st year of the event’s storied history, capped off by a UMass-Boston victory over Worcester State in the all-Massachusetts event this year, their seventh as a program and third since 2021. Last year, we got to see the first ever team from the west region win the event as Wisconsin-Superior defeated UMass-Boston in the final 5-2.

Boston Landing Invitational

*Hosted at Warrior Ice Arena (Boston, MA)

Opening Games:
Potsdam (5-5-0) vs Nichols (5-5-0) – Nichols 3-1
Southern New Hampshire (4-6-1) vs Connecticut College (4-3-1) – Conn. College 6-4

Consolation:
Potsdam vs Southern New Hampshire – SNHU 6-2

Championship:
Nichols vs Connecticut College – Nichols 5-1

The 8th annual Boston Landing Invitational was highlighted by the tournament MVP, freshman goaltender Ryan Henry who made 45 saves in the championship game against Connecticut College. The Bison won the event quite handily overall, winning by a cumulative score of 8-2 in the pair of games. This event was held at Warrior Ice Arena, the Boston Bruins practice facility.

Tampa College Hockey Invitational

*Hosted at AdventHealth Center Ice (Tampa, FL)

Due to various dropouts, this event became a three-team round robin event. Geneseo was awarded the “winner” via a point system they used. Here are the three games that were played:

Thursday: Tufts (4-4-1) vs Salve Regina (12-1-0) – Salve Regina 5-2

Friday: Salve Regina vs Geneseo (8-3-1) – Geneseo 4-3

Saturday: Tufts vs Geneseo – Tufts 4-3 OT