Concordia-Wisconsin Falcons tied and defeated St. Norbert this past weekend, continuing their record-pace season. (Photo via Concordia-Wisconsin University Athletics)

Concordia-Wisconsin continues to win, defeating St. Norbert for the first time since 2021

We’ve talked about Concordia-Wisconsin (14-1-1) a fair amount this season due to their near-perfect record, but the question always remained: what happens when they face the big two? The big two in this scenario are the defending NCHA champions #10 St. Norbert & the longtime league-dominant #7 Adrian College Bulldogs. Well, the Falcons passed their first test as they tied St. Norbert 3-3 (CUW won shootout) in De Pere & shutout the Green Knights 4-0 the following day in Mequon.

Currently, Concordia remains unranked despite receiving votes in the weekly polls. The Falcons sit 11th in the NPI rankings (as of 1/19/2026) as their strength-of-schedule rating is extremely low (68th / 91st). Prior to St. Norbert, the Falcons hadn’t faced an opponent with a winning record other than Lake Forest (8-8-0) & Saint Mary’s (6-6-2). The Falcons swept Lake Forest and split with Saint Mary’s on opening weekend, their only loss of the season. Giving credit where it’s due, Saint Mary’s isn’t a bad loss despite the overall record, the Cardinals this season defeated #11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (14-5-0) earlier this season and just had a pair of ties with #8 Gustavus this past weekend.

The highlights of the weekend were Falcon freshman forward Abby Hansberger netting a hat-trick in Friday’s tie, followed by goaltender Gretchen Paaverud making a 22-save shutout on Saturday. In Saturday’s game, Makayla Spejcher scored the first two goals for the Falcons en-route to their 4-0 victory.

Looking ahead, there’s a very good chance we see at worst, CUW finishes with a regular season record of 21-3-1, this assumes two losses against Adrian who they get to play at home in Mequon. Personally, I see them likely splitting with Adrian despite only winning two of their last nine against the Bulldogs. The historical record between these two heavily favors Adrian who holds a 37-5-3 all-time record, but this is arguably the best Falcon team we’ve ever seen all things considered… In the NPI world, I don’t see Concordia receiving an at-large bid in any circumstance despite being ranked 11th. This is because even if CUW swept Adrian but lost in the Slaats Cup semi and/or finals, the SOS hit they would take due to any loss would be significantly more than teams from stronger leagues such as the MIAC or NESCAC.

Concordia-Wisconsin has certainly surprised everyone this season, coming off their program-best season of 20-7-1, they’ve shown no signs of stopping and are currently looking at outdoing last season’s success barring any complete collapse late in the season.

Amherst remains unbeaten following their big weekend with Middlebury

We got to finally see the two giants of the NESCAC face off this past weekend as #3 Amherst (10-0-3) & #4 Middlebury (9-2-3) played a pair of games at Orr Rink in Amherst, MA. If you would like to read our series preview by our very own Tommy Berry, you can click here.

As mentioned in our preview, these two teams have won the last eight of nine NESCAC titles, alternating championships each season since 2018. There have been many solid teams in the past decade in the NESCAC, but these two have clearly separated themselves as the leaders in this league.

#3 Amherst ties & defeats #4 Middlebury this past weekend. (Photo by Kris Dufour)

This past weekend, Amherst scored the tying goal very late (17:15 – Bea Flynn) in the 3rd period on the powerplay. The game would remain tied 1-1 through overtime to count the game as a tie, but Middlebury took the conference shootout 1-0, giving them the extra conference point.

In game two on Sunday, the Mammoths got on the board after a scoreless 1st period, star defenseman Gretchen Dann opened up the scoring a quick 2:34 into the 2nd period which held through the rest of the period. In the 3rd period, the scoring became more frequent, starting with Amherst’s Carlisle Brush scoring five minutes into the period, doubling the lead. Middlebury would cut the lead in half after Caroline Thomas scored with just under two minutes left in the game, but it wouldn’t amount to anything more as Maeve Reynolds scored at 19:03 of the period to seal it for the Mammoths.

Star goaltender Natalie Stott made 26 saves in the 1-1 tie & 27 saves in the 3-1 victory. Her season totals are now 0.57 GAA & .974 save-percentage through 12 games played.

Williams extends their unbeaten streak to 12 following Trinity series

When discussing goaltending this season and the past few seasons in the NESCAC, the normal mention has been Amherst’s Natalie Stott, well, this season for Williams College, their goaltender Erin Pye has been playing incredible as well. Pye has posted a 0.98 GAA & .971 save-percentage in her 10 games played this season.

This past weekend, Williams started their backup Eva Bentley who had only started two games prior to this weekend (Keene State & Morrisville). The Ephs got out of Hartford, CT with a 5-0 shutout victory and a 3-3 tie (Williams’ shootout win) with Trinity who had a big sweep on the road over formerly ranked Bowdoin last weekend.

Williams College Women’s Hockey (Photo via Williams College Athletics)

This season the Ephs have been very impressive, only falling to #3 Amherst on opening weekend, then tying three times, Amherst, Wesleyan, & Trinity most recently. Currently, the Ephs sit at #9 in the NPI rankings following this past weekend against the Bantams. Coming up, they’ll visit #15 Colby (10-2-0) for their biggest matchup in over a month, looking to continue their unbeaten streak. The matchup following Colby that everyone’s for sure waiting for comes February 13-14 in their home/home series with #4 Middlebury in a game that will likely look very similar to Amherst/Middlebury due to the heavily defensive style and strong goaltending.

Keep an eye on the Ephs, maybe we’ll see a new winner in the NESCAC as Williams is the only team since 2016 besides Amherst & Middlebury to win a NESCAC title (2019).

Buffalo State hands Nazareth their first blemish of the season

To everyone’s surprise, Nazareth was dealt their first blemish of the season in a game that wasn’t a loss, but it feels like one all things considered. The Buffalo State Bengals (9-5-1) tied #5 Nazareth (14-0-1) by the score of 2-2. Buffalo State goaltender Alexa Todd made an incredible 42 saves and Nazareth goaltender made Mia Gonsalves made 23 saves.

Nazareth University Golden Flyers (Photo by Wyatt Kelley)

This game was back-and-forth despite the massive shot differential, but in the 3rd period we saw some action late in the game to make things interesting. Ave Meteyer scored a powerplay goal for Nazareth to take the 2-1 lead with just over 10 minutes left. The Bengals would tie it back up late as Buffalo State’s Vanessa Willick’s scored a shorthanded goal with less than two minutes left in the game (18:22), giving the Bengals their season highlight, tying the #5 Golden Flyers who hold a young all-time record over the Bengals of 2-0-1 despite being located relatively close to one another.

Nazareth hosts Chatham next in a pair of games they’ll likely win quite handily unless the Cougars pull off a shocker.

Also, one last thing, an incredible name of a player on the Bengals, may I introduce you to Sage Running Rabbit.