On this website, everybody should know their names. We’re always glad they came.
coaching milestones in the same weekend? This calls for a whole section just about them!
Written By James Blennau
Even a young guy like myself can make “Cheers” references, see? This weekend in college hockey was as fun as ever, with two legendary coaches reaching incredible career milestones, incredible intraconference matchups, and our number one team finding itself the only ones in the poll undefeated through eight games.
Let’s get into this week’s news, because we have some good, some bad, and some pretty ugly to talk about from across the country in this great sport.
Left: Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold speaks to media on October 3. | The Quinnipiac Chronicle/Lily Zahka
Right: Minnesota Duluth Head Coach Scott Sandelin speaks to media after Saturday’s win over Miami. | Northern News Now
Legends earn milestone wins
Cut the pop culture references, this is an important one. Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold earned his 700th career win on Saturday night in a 4-3 win at Colgate. That same night, Minnesota Duluth Head Coach Scott Sandelin earned his 500th career win over Miami at home in a 2-1 contest.
Pecknold’s win comes in his 33rd season behind the bench in Hamden, having been with the program since its Division I inception. He earned the program’s first national championship in 2023, the 2016 Spencer Penrose Award (national coach of the year) three Frozen Four appearances, 12 NCAA tournament appearances, 10 Cleary Cups (ECAC Hockey regular season title), 13 NHL alumni and about seven different bananas in the student section. Pecknold now sits eighth all-time in Division I wins.
To put that in perspective, Pecknold reached 600 wins in January 2023. I was a freshman at Quinnipiac and it was the first game of the CT Ice tournament against Sacred Heart. I’m old, but hey, so are you!
In true Pecknold fashion, he told College Hockey News after the game, “I'm just trying to get to 701....we have to do deal with issues we had tonight. We have to keep getting better.” He and the now 7-2-0 Bobcats face one of their toughest tests yet, meeting No. 11 Dartmouth at home on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Sandelin’s win comes in his 27th season in Duluth. He has earned two national championships, six Frozen Four appearances, four conference tournament titles, the 2004 Spencer Penrose award, and nearly a whopping 40 NHL alumni. That includes players like Matt Niskanen who played for him, then spent 15 seasons in the NHL, retired all within Sandelin’s tenure.
“I don’t know, it’s cool, but I tell you guys this all the time—I still think Jerry York’s got 1,100 wins,” Sandelin said to Norther News Now. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that’s a lot of wins.’ He was at it for almost twice as long, too.”
Ever-comparing himself to the all-time leader, Sandelin looks for win No. 501 this weekend as the No. 7 Bulldogs travel to play in-state rivals St. Cloud State this weekend.
Penn State forward Shea Busch in action on Friday night against Notre Dame. | Penn State Athletics
Are we penn state?
Questions are arising more quickly than answers in State College as Penn State dropped to 2-7-1 this season, losing in overtime and regulation at home against Notre Dame this past weekend. The Nittany Lions sit winless in the Big Ten, 2-4 at home and 0-3-1 on the road. Losing major pieces in the offseason to the transfer portal and the NHL can hurt, but few expected this kind of drop-off.
Losing players like Gavin McKenna, JJ Wiebusch, Charlie Cerrato and Kevin Reidler can cause a team to struggle, but Guy Gadowsky’s squad still boasts the likes of Jackson Smith, Mac Gadowsky and Luke Misa. I won’t ask many questions, because I’m sure local media outlets, fans and boosters alike are all flabbergasted by the team’s dismal performance thus far.
The Nittany Lions find themselves the only team in the conference winless through at least four games, as surging Ohio State and Notre Dame teams sit at .500 so far. Additionally, their scoring offense, once a strong suit, now sits at 33rd in the nation, tied with Michigan Tech at a mere 2.70 goals per game.
The team will need answers quickly as it faces a gargantuan task facing No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor this weekend. However, if there is any way to turn a season around, it would be there and then.
Tyler Dysart in game action at Boston College on Friday night. | Geoff Bolte/Foley-Photography.com
Vermont is back
Alright, maybe they’re not “back” back, but they sure look it. Michael Hagens’ three-point performance against his former team propelled the Catamounts to No. 20 in this week’s USCHO poll. Steve Wiedler’s (Long Island natives stand up!) fourth season behind the bench in Burlington is shaping up to be an exciting one.
The team is now 5-3-1 overall, 4-1-1 in the Hockey East and 4-1-0 at home. The program’s bid for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014 is starting to come together as the team currently sits alone atop the Hockey East.
Hagens currently leads the team with three goals and five assists through nine games as the team relies on a balanced attack thus far to pick apart opponents. Sophomore goaltender Jacob Oster is settling into his role well on top of that with a 1.96 goals allowed average and a .930 save percentage through eight of the team’s nine games.
The team now looks to extend its undefeated streak to five games this weekend as Maine heads to town this weekend.
Wisconsin goaltender Daniel Hauser in action last season against Lake Superior State. | Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Badgers’ goaltending backing impressive streak
Alexis Cournoyer and Daniel Hauser look like two of the best netminders in the nation in this young season. The two have combined for a 0.75 goals against average, good for first in the nation tied with Dartmouth, in double the games the Big Green have played. Without them, the Bagders would not nearly dominate as much as they have with a 7-0-1 record.
Let’s start off with Hauser, who hasn’t lost or tied a game this year. His 4-0 record and .973 save percentage both lead the nation, as he looks to finish what he started after losing the National Championship game to Denver. He only allowed two goals to the top team in the land, by far the fewest they’d scored all tournament.
The sophomore’s wins include two shutouts, one each against Notre Dame and Minnesota, as well as another win over the Irish and one over Minnesota State. While his net may have come unchallenged most seasons, this one seems to be an outlier.
Cornell transfer Alexis Cournoyer comes off an incredible Mike Richter-semifinalist freshman season with a 2.05 GAA, .915 save percentage and 18 wins in Ithaca to shoot for the moon in Madison. He currently sits at 3-0-1, third in the nation in GAA at .980 and sixth in save percentage at .947. Usually, those numbers aren’t too similar, but not for these two.
Mike Hastings has his pick of the bunch in his fourth season with the Badgers, and so long as those two are in net, expect to see W’s in their record at the top of the poll.
Brothers Danny, Sammy and Henry Nelson on the golf course together. | Instagram/@_sammynelson
Band of (irish) brothers
Inside Notre Dame’s 4-6 start to year two of the Brock Sheahan era you’ll find the most powerful kind of chemistry there is on the ice: brotherhood. Danny, Henry and Sammy Nelson of Maple Grove, Minnesota will all don the navy and gold this season and play together for potentially the last time ever.
Danny, the oldest, is a 2023 Islanders’ second-round draftee in his senior season at Notre Dame. The lefty center’s five goals and five assists through 10 games both lead the team so far, as he leads both of his brothers on top of that. Henry, the middle child, has a goal and three assists so far this year, adding eight blocked shots. The only defenseman in the family, he also boasts a +1 rating despite the team’s losing record. Sammy, the youngest, is off to a slower start than his brothers, but looks to accomplish more than both of them. Three points this season don’t speak to his ability, as he averaged nearly a point-per-game in his time with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Sammy also finds himself as a near-consensus top-20 player in this year’s draft.
On and off the ice, the Nelsons find playing with each other the experience of a lifetime.
“The moment I realized it could be a possibility… it was super special,” Henry said on ThePlaybook. “It’s been awesome having him [Sammy] around campus.”
The Fighting Irish next face one of their toughest challenges yet, meeting No. 3 Michigan State at home this weekend. Besides pulling off the upset for the home crowd, only one thing is left for the three. Coach, get them on the same power-play unit!
Like last week and every week before so far, this season is shaping up to be exciting. Only one undefeated team remains outside the Ivy League, teams are scoring at impeccable rates, and we’re only getting started in conference play seeing some new faces near the top of their leagues. We’ll see how long Wisconsin can go without a loss, and keep up with whoever can catch them both in the Big Ten and nationally.
Be sure to check out everything we have going on here at The Dan K Show, come back next week, and keep watching college hockey, because you never know when you’ll see three brothers on the same team again.
