Friday’s Finals and Semifinals Card: UConn’s Win Streak, a UAlbany-Vermont Final, and the Big Ten’s Last Four
If Thursday is semifinal day, Friday is the day the trophies start getting handed out. Here’s what’s on across American college hockey on Friday 6 November.
Start in Albany, where the America East final is a rematch with real recent history. Third-seeded UAlbany host fifth-seeded Vermont at 2 p.m. ET, streaming on ESPN+. UAlbany got here by beating Maine 2-1 in a shootout on Tuesday, scoring late to force overtime before winning it. Vermont got here the hard way too, wiping out a two-goal deficit to beat top-seeded UMass Lowell 3-2. That win put Vermont into a third straight America East final. UAlbany, 11-6, are at home and will fancy it. Vermont have been here before and won’t be fazed by the trip.
In Philadelphia, the Big East semifinals are at Howarth Field, hosted by Temple, and the headline act is obvious. Top-seeded UConn, 14-1 and 6-0 in the league, carry an 11-game win streak and a No. 3 national ranking into their 1 p.m. ET semifinal against fourth-seeded Villanova, 10-7. UConn closed the regular season with a 3-1 Senior Day win over Fairfield. Villanova clinched their berth despite a 2-1 loss to Liberty in their finale, and they know the size of this task. The second semifinal, Liberty against Old Dominion at 4 p.m. ET, decides the other finalist for Sunday’s noon championship game. Both games stream on ESPN+. Worth remembering: Liberty beat UConn 2-1 in overtime in last year’s Big East final, so the Huskies have a score to settle if that rematch comes around.
In Columbus, the Big Ten semifinals follow Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Indiana’s 2-1 upset of Rutgers earned the Hoosiers a 1 p.m. ET semifinal against top seed Northwestern on BTN, and the second semifinal, later on Friday, pairs the Maryland-Ohio State winner with the Penn State-Iowa winner. Northwestern and Maryland shared the regular-season title at 7-1, so the bracket is loaded either way.
And the rest of Friday is just as busy. The CAA final is at 3 p.m. ET at Drexel’s Buckley Field, with the finalists decided by Wednesday night’s semifinals in Philadelphia. The SUNYAC semifinals are on Friday too, and Rochester, fresh from their 3-0 Liberty League quarterfinal win over William Smith, travel to top-seeded Rensselaer for their semifinal. Conference champions earn automatic NCAA berths, and the full NCAA field is announced on Sunday night, so every game on Friday either ends a season or extends it.
