Thursday, January 29, 2026

Men’s Notes: Tommie Knockers

St. Thomas on Doorstep of Division I Firsts

Although it’s the dead of winter in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, there’s no hotter team in all of college hockey than the one that resides in Saint Paul.

St. Thomas is on a scorching 10-game winning streak – the nation’s longest-active streak – heading into this weekend’s CCHA showdown with Michigan Tech. The first-place Tommies, who are 7-0 in January, have a five-point edge on the second-place Huskies.

MTU will have to find a way to slow the high-flying St. Thomas offense, which ranks third in the NCAA at 3.9 goals per game. During their current 10-game winning streak, the Tommies are averaging an NCAA-leading 4.7 tallies per night.

Veteran F Lucas Wahlin (Sr., St. Thomas, Minn.) has reached the scoresheet in all 10 of those games, tying him with UConn’s Joey Muldowney (Jr., Lake View, N.Y.) for the longest active point streak in the country. He also leads the CCHA with 18 goals this season.

Wahlin is hardly doing it alone; his linemate, Harvard graduate transfer Alex Gaffney (Gr., West Orange, N.J.), leads the team with 30 points in 26 games. Additionally, dynamic freshmen Nathan Pilling and Lucas Van Vliet, who anchor the team’s second line, are enjoying eight-game and seven-game point streaks, respectively.

That prolific forward quartet has meshed with an experienced defensive corps and a veteran goaltending tandem to lift the Tommies to No. 11 in the current NPI ratings.

A strong weekend against Michigan Tech would inch St. Thomas closer to a pair of Division I program firsts: a CCHA championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Scoring Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Pohl Position:

Denver junior D Eric Pohlkamp (Brainerd, Minn.) scored twice in the Pioneers’ 6-0 win over St. Cloud State on Saturday, his team-leading 15th and 16th tallies of the season.

That set a new NCHC record for single-season goals by a defenseman, besting the previous standard of 15 shared by former Pioneers Mike Benning (2021-22) and Joey LaLeggia (2014-15).

Pohlkamp is bidding to become the first college hockey defenseman to score 20 goals in a season since former Colorado College captain Tom Preissing racked up 23 in 2002-03.

Hedden Toward a Hundred:

Air Force senior D Chris Hedden (Kalamazoo, Mich.) is closing in on becoming college hockey’s only active defenseman with 100 career NCAA points, needing just three more to reach that milestone:

Career NCAA Points Leaders (Defensemen)
97 – Chris Hedden, Air Force
86 – Eric Pohlkamp, Denver
80 – Boston Buckberger, Denver
79 – Jake Livanavage, North Dakota
76 – Vinny Borgesi, Northeastern

Hedden, a five-time AHA Defenseman of the Week this season, has 23 points and a team-leading 11 goals in 24 games on the year.

Leave it to Beaver:

Penn State and Michigan State will conclude this weekend’s Big Ten series with an outdoor clash Saturday at PSU’s Beaver Stadium. Earlier this week, the Nittany Lions unveiled their special jerseys for the event, which will honor the school’s football program.

Aside from the unique environment, Saturday’s clash also carries plenty of on-ice appeal. The Spartans (#2) and Nittany Lions (#4) are both inside the top five of NPI ratings and chasing No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, both teams are hot on the heels of Michigan atop the Big Ten standings. The Wolverines and Nittany Lions are tied atop the league with 31 points, while the Spartans are just one point behind.

Deep Friars:

Providence has gone 6-0-0 since losing starting G Philip Svedebäck (Sr., Stockholm, Sweden) to injury, riding freshman G Jack Parsons (Ithaca, N.Y.) to consecutive Hockey East sweeps of Maine, Boston College and Boston University.

It’s the first time in program history the Friars have swept both BC and BU in the same season, and the sweep of BU was the first for Providence since Oct. 30-31, 1998.

Knock, Knock. Hughes There?

Michigan F T.J. Hughes (Sr., Hamilton, Ontario) enters this weekend’s series at Ohio State with 58 career goals and 98 career assists, which leads all active NCAA Division I men’s players in both categories.

With two more in each category, Hughes can become college hockey’s first member of the 60-100 club since Brady Ferguson at Robert Morris in 2018:

NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey ‘60-100 Club’
Name, School (Years)	Goals	Assists
Brady Ferguson, Robert Morris (2014-18)	66	101
Mike Vecchione, Union (2013-17)	71	105
Greg Carey, St. Lawrence (2010-14)	84	101
Jack Connolly, Minn. Duluth (2008-12)	66	131
Carter Camper, Miami (2007-11)	69	114
Justin Fontaine, Minn. Duluth (2007-11)	62	102
Andy Miele, Miami (2007-11)	60	100
Garrett Roe, St. Cloud State (2007-11)	65	113
Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud State (2006-10)	79	104

A Nate to Remember:

LIU junior D Nate Benoit (Bow, N.H.) scored one of the most unlikely hat tricks in recent college hockey memory on Tuesday.

After going without a goal in his first 66 NCAA games, Benoit found the net three times on the power play in the Sharks’ 4-3 win at Alaska Anchorage. His third goal midway through the second period held up as the eventual game-winner.

Benoit and the Sharks will head to Fairbanks for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday, closing out a stretch of five games in eight days in the state of Alaska.

NCAA Milestone Watch:

100 Career Points
99 – F Dylan Hryckowian, Northeastern
99 – F Owen McLaughlin, Boston University
97 – F Davis Burnside, Ohio State
97 – D Chris Hedden, Air Force
96 – F Jay Ahearn, UMass Lowell
96 – F Mason Marcellus, Quinnipiac

100 Career Assists
98 – T.J. Hughes, Michigan

50 Career Goals
47 – Brandon Buhr, Union
47 – Joey Muldowney, UConn
46 – F Sam Harris, Denver
46 – F Dylan James, North Dakota

60 Career Wins
59 – Trey Augustine, Michigan State

50 Career Wins
49 – Simon Latkoczy, Omaha

10 Career Shutouts
9 – Trey Augustine, Michigan State
8 – Kyle Chauvette, New Hampshire

SID Stuff:

UMass junior G Michael Hrabal (Praha, Czechia) enters the weekend with a shutout streak of 161 minutes, 25 seconds. According to UMass Director of Communications Jillian Jakuba, it’s the school’s longest such streak since Filip Lindberg closed out the 2021 national championship season with a scoreless run of 162:46.

Hrabal’s streak began late in the first period of a Jan. 17 win over Merrimack and continued with back-to-back shutouts last weekend at Vermont. Going back further than that, Hrabal has allowed just four goals in his last six appearances.

The Minutemen host Northeastern on Friday before traveling to UMass Lowell on Sunday.

Notebook Quotebook:

“If I could tie a water bottle to his helmet, I don’t think he’d come off the ice.”

— Sacred Heart head Coach C.J. Marottolo (Northeastern ‘89) on senior F Felix Trudeau (Terrebonne, Quebec), who is tied for the NCAA lead with 20 goals (source: Elite Prospects).

NHL Note of the Week:

Entering Thursday night’s games, four of the top five scoring defensemen in the NHL are former college hockey players.

Columbus’ Zach Werenski (Michigan, 2014-16) leads the way with 57 points, while Colorado’s Cale Makar (UMass, 2017-19) is tied with Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard for second with 56. They’re followed by Montreal’s Lane Hutson (Boston University, 2022-24) and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes (Michigan, 2017-19), who have 53 and 49 points, respectively.

Four of the last five Norris Trophy recipients have been NCAA alumni.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Since returning from a six-game injury absence Dec. 12, North Dakota senior F Ellis Rickwood (Brantford, Ontario) has an NCAA-leading 16 points in 10 contests. He had six points in last weekend’s road sweep of Arizona State … The next win for Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky (Colorado College ’89) will be his 250th at the helm of the Nittany Lions … Union F Brandon Buhr (Sr., Burnaby, British Columbia) scored in overtime Saturday to clinch the Mayor’s Cup for the Garnet Chargers, a goal that was the top play on ESPN’s SportsCenter that night … Boston College’s Will Vote (Jr., Arlington, Mass.) registered a natural hat trick in Saturday’s 3-0 win over New Hampshire, the first by an Eagle since Logan Hutsko did it at the 2018 Beanpot … UConn won last weekend’s CT Ice Championship with a 4-2 win over Quinnipiac … Omaha senior G Simon Latkoczy (Trencin, Slovakia) made his 100th NCAA appearance in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Colorado College. His next win will be the 50th of his collegiate career … Former Harvard standout F Ted Drury (1989-91, 1992-93) has been named to the Beanpot Hall of Fame.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

10 games, St. Thomas (began Dec. 6 vs. Lake Superior State)
9 games, Western Michigan (began Dec. 6 vs. Minnesota Duluth)
7 games, Penn State (began Jan. 4 vs. RIT)
6 games, Providence (began Jan. 9 vs. Maine)
5 games, Canisius (began Jan. 3 at Lindenwood) & UMass (began Jan. 10 at Boston University)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

10 games, F Joey Muldowney (UConn)
- 7-7—14, began Nov. 22 vs. New Hampshire
10 games, F Lucas Wahlin (St. Thomas)
- 11-5—16, began Dec. 6 vs. Lake Superior State
8 games, F Nathan Pilling (St. Thomas)
- 6-5—11, began Dec. 13 at Northern Michigan
8 games, F Zaccharya Wisdom (Western Michigan)
- 5-4—9, began Dec. 28 vs. Boston College
7 games, D Michael Bevilacqua (Lindenwood)
- 2-6—8, began Dec. 14 at Maine
7 games, F Jake Black (Bentley)
- 6-7—13, began Jan. 3 at Holy Cross
7 games, F Matt DiMarsico (Penn State)
- 6-6—12, began Jan. 4 vs. RIT
7 games, F Isaac Gordon (Michigan Tech)
- 3-5—8, began Jan. 3 vs. Alaska Anchorage
7 games, F T.J. Hughes (Michigan)
- 2-8—10, began Nov. 29 at Harvard
7 games, F Max Koskipirtti (Michigan Tech)
- 3-9—12, began Jan. 3 vs. Alaska Anchorage
7 games, F Lucas VanVliet (St. Thomas)
- 3-10—13, began Jan. 2 vs. Ferris State

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

5 games, F Michael Mesic (Bentley)
- 6-3—9, began Jan. 9 at Air Force
3 games, 12 players tied

Conference Websites

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!