NFL
By Jason Gulden
Welcome back, NCHC fans. What an amazing first 3 weekends of action we have had so far. We had a big top #13 matchup against two former WCHA foes. A matchup between two former WCHA foes. A State of Hockey matchup between two schools in Minnesota. A matchup between a second-year NCHC team and this year’s NCHC nemesis. Let’s look at those games as well as the rest of the NCHC weekend action from the games on October 17th and 18th.
Before we get to those games listed above, let’s look at the other games that took place in the NCHC over the weekend. We had a matchup between Vermont and St. Cloud St. On Friday night at the Herb Brooks Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Vermont would hand the Huskies and their fans a 2-1 defeat in Overtime with the game-winning goal scored at the 1:24 mark of the extra period. On Saturday night, the Huskies get their revenge on Vermont and win by the score of 4-0
Denver and Lindenwood would battle in St. Charles, Missouri. Lindenwood would break Denver on Friday by scoring 2 goals in the 3rd period to win 4-3. Denver would put that heartbreak behind them the following night and would leave St. Charles and head back home to Denver with a 4-0 victory.
After having a split with Ferris State last weekend and dropping to #2 in the rankings, Western Michigan would have to hop on a plane and travel to Lowell, Massachusetts, to take on UMass Lowell. Western Michigan would bring the brooms with them on the trip as they would score 2 first-period goals on Friday on their way to a 2-1 victory. On Saturday, they dominated UMass Lowell by the score 6-0 to improve to 3-1-0 on the season.
In the big game of the weekend featuring an NCHC team, #13 University of Minnesota Golden Gophers would travel to #8 North Dakota Fighting Hawks in their 296th and 297th matchup in history. Depending on who you were rooting for Friday night and Saturday night, your feelings were good or bad. Friday night, North Dakota would beat Minnesota 5-2 with 3 goals in the final 20 minutes. Saturday night, North Dakota fans were not your night, North Dakota would fall 5-1 as North Dakota would give up 4 goals in the final 20 minutes.
Colorado College Tigers would travel up to Marquette, Michigan, to play Northern Michigan. Coming into the game, Colorado College had been manhandled by Northern Michigan, as they had a 5-22-1 when facing Northern Michigan. The Colorado College players probably heard about that all week long, and they responded by “We didn’t play in those games, so who cares?” cause the Colorado College continued their hot streak this season and brought their brooms with them. Friday night started rough as they had a deficit of 1-0 halfway through the 3rd period. That’s when the sticks got going, and they tied the game at the 10:35 mark and then went on to win it in Overtime for a 2-1 victory. Saturday night, they got going early, not only with the start time at 4:07 MST puck drop, but the scoring as they scored 2 goals before the halfway mark of the 1st period. They would cruise to a 5-2 victory and their second weekend sweep of the season.
What is going on with NCHC teams when they play Augustana this season? Coming into this weekend with Arizona State, Augustana was 1-1-1 (the tie was an exhibition game). Well, Augustana would deliver a weekend sweep at home against #15 Arizona State. Arizona State and Augustana would be tied heading into the 3rd period on Friday, then Augustana would score 2 goals to win 4-2. Saturday night, Augustana scored 1 more goal than Friday night and won 5-2. I think the NCHC teams are sick of facing the Vikings this season. Thankfully, an NCHC team doesn’t face them again until mid-December and the first weekend of 2026, when they have 4 straight games against an NCHC team. They host Omaha in mid-December and then host Colorado College in the first series of the 2026 portion of the hockey season. Let’s hope our NCHC teams fare better in those games.
Well, NCHC hockey fans, that’s a wrap for our look back at the weekend games for the weekend of October 17-18. Will be back later in the week to look at the USCHO rankings, the NCHC players of the weekend that we just discussed, and our look ahead to the final weekend of a full schedule of non-conference games. League play is right around the corner.
