Nicole's NCAA Notebook: November 18, 2024

• Clarkson took four of six points from St. Lawrence this weekend with a shootout and regulation win and one of the reasons they did was because of their adaptability. It was clear from puck drop on Thursday that these two teams are incredibly close and well-matched this season and Clarkson, looking for an advantage and to not get taken advantage of did a lot of mixing up of their lines, particularly on defense. The Golden Knights can be an offensive threat from the blue line, but are also just generally a pretty shut down defense. Whether he thought something wasn't working or was just looking to shake things up in a pretty tight set of games, Matt Derosiers was freely switching up his defensive pairings. Coaches making some line switches isn't too notable, but this felt like a near constant mix of who was playing together. Kudos to the players for being able to handle it. It wasn't the only reason Clarkson was successful, but it definitely helped them take the lion's share of points from the series against their nearby rival.
  
• Goals - and offense overall - were at a premium in the series between Providence and Vermont. On Friday the teams combined for just 45 shots and two goals. Saturday was slight better on shots, but there was no scoring. It was an interesting contrast to some of the other games of the weekend where it felt like shots were happening every couple of seconds. Both teams were a little too passive on both sides of the puck, with defense allowing the offense to hold the puck without purpose and the offense not playing with intent. The Catamounts are only averaging 1.46 goals per game, but Providence scores nearly three goals a game and this was pretty out of character.
  
• So many pucks hit the ceiling during the Wisconsin/Ohio State series in Columbus. It should go without saying at this point that the Buckeyes deserve a better home and this felt like another reason to bolster that belief. In a game that could be brilliantly fast at times, the stoppages because the puck can so easily pop up and hit the roof changed the pace of the game at times. The rink simply should not be able to affect play that easily.
  
• I admittedly had it on mute on my second tv, but I watched some of the Bemidji State/St. Thomas series and goodness did the Beaver breakout look great. One of the goals is linked below, but go to their Twitter feed and watch them all - they pretty much all start with great play on defense and then a quick transition. It was great hockey all on its own, but made even more so by the fact that this is not something we're used to seeing from BSU. It's encouraging and shows another step in their growth. Any team that's going to improve themselves in the standings has to be able to combine effective offense and defense and Bemidji has been mostly reliant on their smothering defense. I know doing this against St. Thomas isn't the same as against the top of the conference, but it's a big step in the right direction. They looked dynamic and dangerous and I can't wait to see how they grow.
  
• In the end #1 Wisconsin and #2 Ohio State split their weekend series and basically I think that means we're exactly where we were before the weekend started in terms of differentiating between the two. It was definitely funny that several of OSU's goals were scored by players who transferred to the Buckeyes from the Badgers. Ultimately I think the Badgers probably got more out of the weekend as they both came from behind to get their win and then failed to dig out of a hole in the loss. No one thought Wisconsin would go undefeated, so the loss isn't surprising or a big deal. They simply have not faced as much adversity this season and when they did, they were able to pull out the win. The loss in that way makes sure they don't get too complacent, particularly about giving up those early goals. Ohio State was short-handed due to injury, but held their own and that has to be a confidence boost.
  
• There were a bunch of really great goals this week and I'm no good at self-editing and I figure why wouldn't you want to watch all of them?

Goals you need to see:

Northeastern's Taze Thompson batting one out of the air

This one-timer from Mankato's Julianna Gazdik

The passing on this goal from Wisconsin

The angle Sydney Morrow scores from here

This bar-down beauty from BU's Julia Shaunessy

Kate Johnson's pass and Tayla Hendrickson's goal for Bemidji State

This steal and goal from Merrimack's Maria Lindberg

This slapper from the knee by Syracuse's Charli Kettyle