#30 Marko Belak – Gustavus Adolphus Men’s Hockey (Photo by Lauren Vedeen – Gustavus Sports Information)
Gustavus makes it nine in a row, defeating #13 UW-Stout on the road
The defending MIAC champion Gustavus Golden Gusties, led by their 2nd year Head Coach Tyler Walsh got off to a slow start this season, starting 0-4-0, then getting to 2-5-1 at the end of November following their trip to Coach Walsh’s home, Maine. I don’t want to make this about myself, but after I left Gustavus, witnessing two losses to St. Olaf and refusing to watch another game after I watched them struggle in Maine online. I believed I was a potential negative curse to this team after they were so good to me… Since then, the Gusties have put together a string of nine straight wins to find themselves at 11-5-1 after their not-so-ideal start to the season. Most recently, the Gusties got their signature win of the season, defeating #13 Wisconsin-Stout (12-4-1) 4-1 in Menomonie, WI. Coincidence? I think not…
Last season, Gustavus got off to a similar start, beginning the season 0-3-0 before winning six in a row and getting things straightened out en-route to their 16-10-2 season which ended in De Pere, WI against St. Norbert in round one of the NCAA tournament. Currently, Gustavus is well-positioned in the MIAC standings, sitting in 1st place, but have played two more games than Saint John’s (8-4-3) & Bethel (8-6-1), so assuming those two win their next two games, Gustavus would be in 3rd place ahead of St. Olaf & Concordia-Moorhead.
In their most recent game against Wisconsin-Stout, the Gusties flat out dominated throughout. Gustavus outshot the Blue Devils 42-27 and committed only three penalties to UW-Stout’s five. Goaltender Marko Belak made 26 saves in the victory, while Sebastian Monaco made 38 in the loss.
Speaking of Saint John’s & Bethel, the Gusties have four massive games coming up as they have home/home series with Bethel next weekend (1/30-31) and then Saint John’s the following weekend (2/6-7). These four games will have huge playoff implications as we’ve begun to reach the home stretch of the regular season.
Baksay scores four, Manhattanville upsets #11 Geneseo in overtime
Manhattanville didn’t exactly begin the season the way they would’ve wanted to. The Valiants finished the first half of play 0-9-0 and lost junior forward Nicholas Rogers to #9 Utica University (10-5-0) in the winter break transfer portal. Rogers had 18 goals & 6 assists last season in Rye, NY.
The second semester has been slightly better, but the Valiants have gone 2-3-1 since the beginning of January to improve to 2-12-1 and won their signature game of the season. Manhattanville defeated #11 SUNY Geneseo 4-3 in overtime on the road on Friday night, followed by a 7-0 loss at the hands of the Ice Knights. In the win, Manhattanville’s Lucas Baksay scored all four goals for his team, leading them to victory and giving light to a season that’s hard more dark moments than bright.
#15 Lucas Baksay – Manhattanville Men’s Hockey (Photo by Matthew Berkman)
Prior to this game, Baksay only had one point this season, an assist in the win over New England College. Now, he’s tied for third on the team with five points on the season.
Circling back to the win over Geneseo, the game was quite penalty filled, Geneseo committing eight minors and Manhattanville committing six minors and one major for direct-contact-to-the-head in the 2nd period. William Billequey made 42 saves on 45 shots in the win, while Ian Vandenberg made a mere 11 saves on 14 shots in the loss.
Next up for Manhattanville is a pair of games with Brockport, while Geneseo has a home/home series with Elmira who’s been struggling this season, sitting at an uncharacteristic 3-12-0.
Johnson & Wales shocks #8 Curry, winning 5-3 in Providence
Johnson & Wales shocked the Colonels once this past weekend and arguably should’ve done it twice in a row. The Wildcats led Curry 2-0 after scoring with less than a second left in the 1st period, then scoring quick in the 2nd about four minutes in. Curry would answer back and cut the deficit to one and trail 2-1 heading into the 3rd period. In the third, Victor Daigneault scored on the powerplay at 8:15 to tie the game up 2-2. This would be followed up shortly after as Curry fired in a shorthanded goal at 10:22, it was Ben Biester, giving Curry the 3-2 lead which would hold and get the Colonels the home victory.
Johnson & Wales defeats #7 Curry College 5-3. (Photo via Johnson & Wales University Athletics)
Curry survived Friday night, but on Saturday in Providence, the Wildcats would shock all of Division III considering how these two programs have performed in the past few years. Once again, JWU got on the board first and very quickly, scoring 1:12 into the game was Joe Freeman. A mere two minutes later, Curry tied it up 1-1 and we would be tied headed into the 2nd period. The middle frame was when JWU established themselves in this game, the Wildcats scored a pair of goals (Chris Alexander – 7:16 & Jack Gerne – 15:47) to give themselves a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.
In the final period, Curry would cut the deficit to one with just under eight minutes left in the game, making it 3-2 JWU. Following this, with just under four minutes left, JWU scored to make it 4-2 and then capped it off with an empty netter just over a minute later, making it 5-2 and all things considered, ending the game. Curry tapped one in in the final minute of the game, but it wasn’t enough and Johnson & Wales gets their signature win of the season to move to 6-7-1 on the season.
In net, JWU’s Jake Inzirillo made an incredible 49 saves in the victory, while Curry goaltender Cam Smith made 13 saves in the loss.
Concordia-Wisconsin upsets #4 St. Norbert 1-0 for the second year in a row
St. Norbert has dominated the all-time series between these two teams, as they have against most opponents, leading (after this weekend) 21-4-1 all time. Two of those losses have come quite recently, last season and now again this past weekend.
Concordia-Wisconsin splits the weekend with #4 St. Norbert College. (Photo via Concordia-Wisconsin University Athletics)
Last season, the Falcons defeated the Green Knights 2-1 in De Pere and now, they just shut them out 1-0 in Mequon this past Friday. On Saturday in the loss, credit to the Falcons as they almost sent the game to overtime where anything can happen in 3v3, but St. Norbert’s Jack Christen scored the winner with a mere 1:24 left in the 3rd period making it 2-1.
In Friday’s win, the highlight performance was between the pipes for Concordia-Wisconsin, goaltender Blake Hazelton made 43 saves in the 1-0 shutout victory for his Falcons. Scoring the lone goal for CUW was Connor Van Wheelie, his goal coming a rapid 30 seconds into the contest, remarkably being the only goal scored by anyone all night.
St. Norbert (11-5-1) this season has had a few uncharacteristic losses and it may be catching up with them in the world of NPI rankings, the Green Knights now have losses to Concordia-Wisconsin (8-8-0) & St. Olaf (7-3-5), along with their others. The Green Knights sit 12th currently (as of 1/20/2026), but with five losses and a tie thus far, they’re beginning to put themselves on the bubble if they end up not winning the Harris Cup Playoffs and getting the coveted auto-bid like they did last season and many others.
For Concordia-Wisconsin, this is a win that keeps them securely in the conference playoffs as they’re now 10 points clear of Dubuque in ninth place (top eight qualify).
