Men’s NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal Recap: The Frozen Four Is Set!

Hobart keeps the streak intact; ’26 Senior class ends with a perfect record of 68-0-0 at The Cooler

Hobart 2-1 St. Norbert

Hobart College remained perfect Saturday night, making it 29-0-0 on the season and 115-5-2 (.951) since the start of the 2022-23 season, defeating St. Norbert College 2-1 in a matchup between two legendary coaches.

If you would like to read our preview of this game by Tommy Berry, please click here.

I was in The Cooler for this one, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see a game between Mark Taylor’s Statesmen & Tim Coghlin’s Green Knights. A combined 1,167 wins & eight national championships between these two coaches as Mark Taylor entered with a career record of 463-177-56 (.705), while Tim Coghlin entered with a record 704-192-63 (.767). Taylor has won three national titles, all coming in the last three seasons: ’23, ’24, ’25, while Coghlin’s five came in ’08, ’11, ’12, ’14, & ’18.

In this one, St. Norbert played very effective defense against the Statesmen, not allowing for the many opportunities the Statesmen are used to early on in the game. The Green Knights ability for crisp passing and maintaining possession helped them which is usually where teams fail against Hobart with their heavy pressure.

The opening period ended with a Hobart goal-line chance that somehow stayed out as Hunter Garvey sprawled out, making it 0-0 after the 1st period.

The scoring began after some early Hobart pressure, a wrist shot from Tanner Daniels found the upper right corner of net, making it 1-0 Statesmen a quick two minutes in.

Shortly later, as the Hobart pressure continued, they found the back of the net (Conor Lally) after some confusion in front of the net, slipping a wrist shot that looked partially deflected off of a player, finding its way past Garvey, doubling the lead and it was 2-0 Hobart just before the midway point of the 2nd period.

We wouldn’t see another goal until late in the 3rd period as St. Norbert looked to be getting some momentum. The Green Knights scored off a rebound with just over four minutes left in the game, it was Braydon Beahm, getting on the board.

St. Norbert didn’t pull the goalie until late, but before that, they got their wish as Hobart was called for interference, giving the Green Knights a 5v4 advantage with 1:01 left in the game, which would become 6v4 as they pulled Garvey with the offensive zone faceoff. The final moments were an absolute cluster as Damon Beaver did what he always does, making a few incredible saves along with a deflection just soaring over the net as Beaver was down.

Hobart hung on and survives the final flurry in the final minutes and their route to the four-peat continues.

The Statesmen face Wisconsin-Stout from the WIAC in the semifinals this Friday at 7pm EST, the second of three potential west games of their playoff run.

It took a pair of overtimes, but the Spartans are headed to their first-ever Frozen Four

Aurora 3-2 (2OT) Endicott

The Aurora University Spartans took that next step this year after falling to Geneseo last season in the Quarterfinals at home. This season, Aurora has been led by their elite offense and greatly improved defense as they made it to the Harris Cup final and now are in their first-ever Frozen Four after defeating Endicott in double overtime.

Both of these squads are helped by a young core group of players as Endicott has three freshman and a sophomore leading the way on the point sheet, along with their freshman goaltender. For Aurora, they’ve got Jaden Davis and a few sophomores near the top of the list.

In this one, we saw scoring early and often, with a pair of goals being scored (one by each team) in the first five minutes. Aurora’s Jakson Kirk got on the board first, a rapid 3:33 into the game, which would be matched by Endicott’s Jack Costanzo just under two minutes later.

The Gulls took the lead once the second period came along, Michael Casey scored on the powerplay after a roughing penalty against Aurora just over four minutes in. The rest of the period would remain scoreless and we headed to the 3rd period with the home Gulls up 2-1.

In the 3rd, Aurora’s star freshman Jaden Davis scored the tying goal just over eight minutes into the period, which would be the last goal we see for quite a while all things considered…

In the second overtime, Endicott had an early chance, but Aurora’s Andrew Schultz buried the winner and sent the Spartans to their first-ever Frozen Four in program history.

Goaltending was the standout part of this game, keeping the puck out of the net during many flurries by two great offensive units. Endicott’s star freshman goaltender Peter Sterling made 47 saves in the loss, while Aurora’s Matt O’Donnell made a career-high 56 saves in the victory.

Aurora will face Hamilton College in the semifinals at 3pm EST on Friday. The Spartans will fly into Syracuse Airport, while Hamilton will take a long 20 minute bus ride over to the Adirondack Bank Center.

Hamilton finds life after their tough ending stretch, the Continentals are 20 minutes from the Frozen Four

Hamilton 2-1 (OT) Norwich

Hamilton College didn’t end the season on a high note to say the least, losing three of four games including their NESCAC semifinal game against the eventual shocking conference champion Williams. The Continentals then got back on track and handily defeated Neumann 6-2 in the first round. Norwich on the other hand, had a year of revitalization as the Cadets made it back to the NCAA tournament and defeated Salve Regina in the opening round to make the quarterfinals under first year coach Dominick Dawes.

The game was scoreless through the first period, but Max Bulawka put the Continentals up 1-0 as Hamilton seems to be getting things back on course, looking like the team we saw earlier in the season.

The Cadets would eventually tie it up just before the midway mark of the 3rd period, Boyd Stahlbaum scored, the second-leading scorer on Norwich, tying things up with 10 minutes left in the game.

Goaltending, like all the other games, was a pivotal factor in this one as Aksel Reid made 21 saves in the victory, while Sami Molu made an incredible 41 for Norwich despite the loss.

The eventual game winner came in overtime (despite the live stats incorrectly showing Norwich as the winner with Hamilton players on the stat sheet, thus, showing Norwich as the winner, but had Hamilton players listed). The winning goal was fired in by senior Jackson Krock, sending the Continentals to their first-ever Frozen Four and it’s not a home game, but it may feel like it as mentioned earlier, it’s only a mere 20 minute drive to Utica. Hypothetically, they wouldn’t even need to utilize hotels (although they will), due to the short proximity to the host site.

Hamilton faces Aurora in the semifinals as mentioned as 3pm EST on Friday.

The Blue Devils continue to shock casuals, Wisconsin-Stout ends the Pioneers’ home-ice Frozen Four dreams

Wisconsin-Stout 5-1 Utica 

Wisconsin-Stout is on a dream run for the program, making their first Frozen Four and winning their first ever WIAC title since 2009. All season long I’ve been high on the Blue Devils, praising their highly skilled team and great resumé they had throughout the season.

Utica this season had a gauntlet of a schedule and should be credited for it, but in ranked games the Pioneers went an underwhelming 2-7-0 prior to the NCAA tournament, now 2-8-0 after their game with UW-Stout. In all other games, Utica went an impressive 18-0-1…

UW-Stout had one player who this game likely meant a little more to (if that’s even possible considering the circumstances), Nick Pigeon, as mentioned, the player who entered the portal and transferred to Utica for about a week, then returned to Stout, had quite the ‘homecoming’ in Utica, picking up a goal and assist in the win.

In this one, Utica got off to a good start as they scored on the powerplay about 14 minutes in, Alex German putting the Pioneers up 1-0. A mere minute or so later, UW-Stout tied it up as their leading scorer Hayden Stocks scored his first of the night (assisted by Nick Pigeon), tying it up as we headed to the 2nd.

As mentioned, Stocks would bury his second of the night, this time on the powerplay, making it 2-1 Blue Devils. The homecoming moment would arrive next, with a Nick Pigeon goal 16:33 into the 2nd, making it 3-1 Stout at the end of the 2nd.

Entering the 3rd period, star freshman Sebastian Monaco remained strong in net in his 46-save night, keeping the Pioneers to only one goal on the night, but UW-Stout would seal the deal with an empty net goal with just under four minutes left, followed by a 5v5 goal 17 seconds later to make it 5-1 and send Wisconsin-Stout to the Frozen Four in the same building they just played in.

Wisconsin-Stout faces the current king of Division III Men’s hockey in Hobart at 7pm EST in the semifinals this Friday. I think the Blue Devils will surprise a lot of folks in this matchup where a lot of casuals may write them off…