Beloit defeats Wisconsin-River Falls 1-0. (Photo by Kayla 2025, via Beloit College Athletics)

With the Thanksgiving tournaments and other non-conference play approaching us this coming weekend, we got our last real taste of conference play for a week or so that didn’t disappoint! Whether you’re a fan of the east or west, you got treated (unless you were the team who was upset) to some exciting hockey filled with unexpected results. We’ll take a look at the main shockers here and then make note of the rest afterwards!

Beloit (2-3-1) shocks Wisconsin-River Falls (4-4-0) in their inaugural season

Beloit defeats Wisconsin-River Falls 1-0

The Beloit Buccaneers, the team who has essentially been given the nickname “Northland 2.0” due to the fact their Head Coach Shane Buckley came from Northland along with a significant number of players to startup the hockey program at Beloit after the closing of Northland. You can read all about it here.

River Falls for me was a dark horse as they returned approximately 91% of their last-season production offensively. This start to the season is not what I, nor River Falls imagined if I had to guess as they’ve began 4-4-0. The Falcons opened their season with a split against Lawrence who’s currently sitting at 1-7-0, then they went 3-1-0 in their early season MIAC slate, only falling to Saint John’s. This past weekend things got worse as we’ve alluded to, falling to Wisconsin-Stevens Point 4-1 and now Beloit 1-0, which is crucial because these past two games marked the start of WIAC play.

In this one, Beloit was outshot heavily, 47-22, but goaltender Andrew Yocum, a Northland transfer, pitched a shutout, making all 47 saves. The lone goal was scored late in the 2nd period by Joe Weber (15:02), assisted by Landon Adams & Jack Baird.

Beloit opens WIAC play 1-1, a promising start to the inaugural season.

The Buccaneers’ next two games are in December, starting with a home game vs Wisconsin-Eau Claire & a road trip to Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

For the Falcons, their next two games start with a visit to Wisconsin-Superior & then home vs Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Suffolk (4-2-1) goes unbeaten vs #13 Endicott (3-1-1)

Suffolk defeats Endicott 4-1 in game one & ties 2-2 (Endicott wins conference-shootout 1-0) in game two

The Suffolk Rams, a team I had predicted to be a dark horse in the Conference of New England (CNE) this season due to their high returning production numbers, has started the season quite well for themselves after they went unbeaten against one of the ‘big three’ of the league in Endicott. The Gulls enter this season as they have the past few seasons, loaded with Division I transfers and a Division III transfer from Utica, which on paper, seems ideal, but not always… The Gulls would go on to win the shootout in the tie-on Friday, but in terms of overall record, the Rams got out of the series unscathed.

Suffolk Men’s Hockey. (Photo via Suffolk University Athletics)

In game one on Thursday, Suffolk visited Endicott and proceeded to outshoot them 31-24, which is quite an unexpected result I think to most people, including Suffolk.

Early on in this one, Endicott got on the gas right away, scoring a quick minute twenty-two seconds in (John Goldowski), but that would be the lone Gull goal we’d see. The Rams tied it late in the first, it was Cole Scott with just under six minutes left, sending us 1-1 at the first intermission.

In the 2nd period, we would see a crazy turn of events, Suffolk took a 2-1 lead exactly eight minutes into the period (Ryan Webb) but would double the lead only twenty-two seconds later (Dimitri Voyatzis) to make it 3-1 Rams headed to the 3rd period. The Rams would cap the win off with a powerplay goal just before the midway point of the 3rd, scoring it was Marko Giourof. Goaltender Austin McNicholas made 23 saves on 24 shots in the win.

Morrisville (2-3-2) defeats Plattsburgh (3-3-0) for the second time in program history

Morrisville defeats Plattsburgh 2-1

The Morrisville Mustangs haven’t exactly had the greatest of seasons in their program’s history, but they’re off to an excellent start this year all things considered as they’ve won two games already. The Mustangs won three games last year, finishing 3-22-0 and have only won double-digit games once in program history which came back in the 2010-11 season where they finished 11-13-1. The only other time Morrisville has ever defeated Plattsburgh came all the way back in 2010. The Cardinals lead the all-time series quite commandingly at 34-2-1.

In this game, like in the Beloit & River Falls game, Morrisville was heavily outshot, Plattsburgh leading in this category 48-26. Goaltender Chad Lowe made an incredible 47 saves including a few huge saves late in the game to seal it for the Mustangs.

The scoring was similar to Endicott & Suffolk… Aaron Catron got things started for the Cardinals on the powerplay a quick three minutes-eight seconds into the game, which would hold all the way until the 07:18 mark of the 3rd period. In the 3rd, Tyler Zembryzycki tied it up, which would be followed up only 35 seconds later as his teammate Connor Santay scored the eventual GWG, putting Morrisville up 2-1.

Goaltending has been a strong suit for Plattsburgh this season for the most part considering the young talent they have, but if your team only scores once, there isn’t much your goaltender can do.

Morrisville spoiled Teddy Bear Toss Night for Plattsburgh, which funny enough, Morrisville did the same thing to Oswego back in the 2022-2023 season, beating them 3-1. The reason it’s funny is because besides the fact it was on both of these teams’ Teddy Bear Toss, Oswego’s all-time record vs Morrisville is currently 33-2-2, essentially the same as Plattsburgh… So, Morrisville’s combined record against these two teams sits at 4-67-3, with half their wins coming on TBT nights… Fun fact…

Other upsets in men’s D-III hockey

Wisconsin-Eau Claire defeats #12 Wisconsin-Superior 4-0
#13 Babson ties Southern Maine 3-3 (USM wins shootout)
Nazareth defeats #7 Geneseo 2-1
Brockport defeats Chatham 2-1