2025-2026 Little East

[MilkUniversity]

Been a minute, but Thanksgiving's over and a big week of tournaments is now behind us.

Before Thanksgiving, a few notable results for the 'top 3' teams. Babson had a rough start to the week, with USM pulling off a shootout upset on the road. The next day, Tufts followed up with a 5-1 win, giving Babson their first outright loss of the season. Norwich picked up a narrow win at UMD, before losing at UMB in OT. Plymouth won their first ever rivalry matchup vs Keene, and picked up another win against visitors West Conn. Right before the holiday, the Panthers were quickly brought back to reality with a 6-1 loss to a struggling Trinity team.

Also of note, West Conn picked up their first ever win against fellow first year program Roger Williams. Not a big matchup by any means but the Wolves can finally add a game to the win column, getting the result at home.


And for the tournaments:

Castleton started strong with a 5-0 shutout of Lebanon Valley also on home ice. In the final, newcomers SJF played opposite day, beating Castleton 5-0 to win their first piece of hardware as a program.

UMB started the weekend with an OT loss to hosts Utica, putting up a strong fight against the nationally ranked side. In the consolation, UMB picked up a 3rd place finish with a 2-1 win vs Morrisville.

Norwich began with a convincing win vs Stevenson on home ice to begin the LayerEight, heading to a rivalry matchup regardless of the outcome. In the final, Norwich went to OT vs in-state rivals Middlebury, winning in the shootout to reclaim the tourney title.

 

[MilkUniversity]

Post Turkey Friday. Have to say that USM seems to be legit. Gave Babson all they wanted and wouldn’t go way earning a nice point and respect. Babson looks like they are the cream of the crop. West Conn, for a first year program, has some good size and grit. They do lack some high end talent, and have almost no discipline, but play hard and do not give up. Plymouth State might be the least disciplined, selfish, zero hearted team in maybe D3. An 0-4 Trinity team ate their lunch with no resistance or heart. Still amazed at players doing whatever they want and taking two or three minute shifts. Goaltending is average, and they play like a ship at sea without a rudder. NEC is another dissappointment. It looks like they just want the season over, which is a joke because it’s not even at the half way point. UMass Boston, Babson USM and Norwich are the class of the league right now.

Biggest disappointment for the LEC so far is NEC. Went from being a surprise contender in one of the toughest conferences to middling in the LEC on a good day. Following up a home loss to UMD by getting two close wins against Keene and West Conn is a rough way to close out the first half. Not sure what isn't clicking but don't think they'll find any momentum against Trinity or Fitchburg before the break.

Still agree that Plymouth has a number of issues that need to be sorted out. Facing Trinity was never going to go well even if they haven't had a good start. NESCAC vs former MASCAC, Plymouth playing their 3rd game in 5 days, road trip right before Thanksgiving, etc... it's definitely not a good result but isn't a dealbreaker. From the games I've seen, they've started to mesh more, but players keep hesitating on the ice and giving up turnovers on bad passing and dumped pucks. For goaltending, Shantz isn't going to get us through the playoffs, and Strobel isn't a solution in net. Both are already splitting time in net which will help the fatigue, but Plymouth needs a serious recruit in goal to make a difference.