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1. Caleb Herbert, Forward, Minnesota Duluth

Following a three-point opening night against Ohio State, Herbert had only recorded one assist in his last 11 games, and, before last weekend’s series against Michigan Tech, he had zero goals. Luckily for Herbert and the Bulldogs, he ended his goalless streak against the Huskies, scoring a goal each night and adding two helpers on the weekend to give himself a four-point showing in a three-point weekend for Minnesota Duluth.

2. Landon Peterson, Goalie, Wisconsin

While Peterson’s 1-2-1 record won’t drop any jaws, his other numbers – especially the ones he’s racked up on the road – should. In 283 total minutes, Peterson boasts a .933 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against, but, away from Kohl Center, he’s compiled a .945 save percentage in 184 minutes, including a 1-0-1 record against Minnesota and Denver. In those two games, he’s seen a combined 79 shots and only yielded three goals.

3. Drake Caggiula, Forward, North Dakota

North Dakota has had another up and down start to the season, something that has become kind of normal in Grand Forks. But UND will obviously be looking to make its post-Christmas charge again this year, and, in order to do just that, guys like Caggiula will have to step up and make an impact on a nightly basis. Caggiula, just a freshman, made his impact known in UND’s series against Colorado College, notching three goals on the weekend, including Saturday’s game-winner in overtime.

Down

1. Nick Shore, Forward, Denver

Shore flew out of the gates and quickly compiled 16 points in Denver’s first 10 games, a big reason why the Pioneers made a charge up the rankings and asserted themselves early on. Since then, however, he’s cooled of a bit. In his past four games, Shore has slipped into a bit of mini-slump, only collecting two points (a goal against Yale and an assist against Wisconsin).

2. Kevin Genoe, Goalie, Michigan Tech

In the first 263:05 he played this season, Genoe had given up 11 goals, was 3-1-0 and had a shutout. In the 73:33 he played against Minnesota Duluth last weekend, Genoe let seven pucks past him, including three on just eight shots before getting yanked on Friday night.

3. Ben Kinne, Forward, Bemidji State

After failing to record a point in Bemidji State’s first game, Kinne had been on a bit of a hot streak – he’d popped in a pair of goals and had five helpers over a six-game stretch. But Kinne has now failed to find the score sheet in three straight, and thats a big part of the reason that the Beavers are 0-3-0 in those contests.

Another week in Atlantic Hockey is done and some things have stayed the same while other have changed. Niagara, surprise surprise, swept Sacred Heart and are now clear of second place Holy Cross by four points. The Purple Eagles are clearly the team to beat and I have a feeling it’s going to be a while until someone beats them. They ride the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 11 games, going 9-0-2 during that time. The Purple Eagles are one of just two teams in the country not to lose a conference game yet this year. The other being Quinnipiac of the ECAC. This week saw the Purple Eagle rise to No. 18 in the USCHO rankings. (more…)

Boston University coach Jack Parker said it best on Saturday night. Following a 5-2 loss to Boston College, Parker said that his longtime rival Jerry York doesn’t receive the credit he deserves. It’s strange to suggest a coach rightfully considered the best in college hockey history is under-appreciated, but the task he inherited when taking over the program in 1994 was one few could’ve pulled off. Not only did York turn BC’s program around after years of malaise, he transformed them into college hockey’s premier program just as recruiting and the game itself became more competitive.

York tied Ron Mason atop the all-time wins list with the victory over BU on Saturday. His 924 wins are pretty nice complement to his five national championships — four with BC and one with Bowling Green in 1984. But taking BC’s program to its current level seemed almost impossible when he took the job 19 seasons ago. Friday night, York and his team head to Providence for a meeting with the Friars, and his first chance to become the unquestioned wins leader. (more…)

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College defeated Boston University, 5-2, Saturday night at Conte Forum. The win avenged Friday night’s 4-2 Terrier win and clinched the season series for the Eagles. The victory was the 924th in the career of BC coach Jerry York. He is now tied with Ron Mason, as the winningest coach in Division I history.

The Eagles scored four power play goals on Saturday, including three in the second period. BC center Bill Arnold scored a pair of goals, and BU freshman Matt O’Connor made 33 saves in the loss.

What I Saw

• The second period decided the game on Saturday night. The Terriers took a series of bad penalties that put the Eagles on power play after power play. Bill Arnold scored two power-play goals in the period, and freshmen defenseman Michael Matheson added another. Arnold’s first came 1 minute, 59 seconds into the period, with Yasin Cisse serving a minor for interference. The Terriers took five penalties in the period, and Cisse’s minor came at the end of the first. Sending a team as dynamic as BC to the man advantage six times in 20 minutes makes it difficult to win games. Entering the second, the score was tied, but the Terriers undid themselves with the undisciplined play. On Friday night, the Terriers killed five of six BC power plays; the lone tally coming with 24 seconds left in a decided game. Even with the successful kill, five penalties to nullify in a single period is difficult on any team. (more…)

BOSTON – After taking a 1-0 victory on the road against Massachusetts, the Huskies fell at home in a 6-3 routing at the hands of the Minutemen.

Kevin Roy struck on the first power play chance for the Huskies, beating UMass goaltender Kevin Boyle just 10 seconds into the two-minute advantage. The rest of the first period was all UMass when it came to scoring, with Rocco Carzo and K.J. Tiefenwerth each notching a goal to extinguish the Northeastern lead and make it a 2-1 Minutemen advantage heading into the second period.

Roy would strike again when he took a cross-ice pass from Mike McMurtry for his seventh goal of the season and the equalizer. The 2-2 score was short-lived as the Minutemen’s first scorer Carzo beat Chris Rawlings on a pass from Steven Guzzo to make it 3-2 and give UMass back the upper hand.

Two third period UMass goals changed the tempo of the game and proved to be too much for Northeastern to recover from. First, Drew Ellement was boarded in the corner, but it resulted in no call and in the process Adam Phillips was able to steal the puck and beat Rawlings with a high shot to the top of the net. Joel Hanley put UMass on the scoreboard again within 90 seconds later to make it 5-2.

Vrolyk had a solo effort to cut the Northeastern deficit to 5-3, coming from the corner to sneak the puck under Boyle. But a late empty netter from Michael Pereira was all UMass needed to seal it and take one win from the home-and-home weekend against the Huskies.

With the win, UMass moves to 4-6-2 overall and 3-6-1 in Hockey East. Northeastern falls to 5-7-1 overall and 3-6-1 in conference play.

What I Saw

• UMass controlled play throughout the first period, despite Northeastern getting the early jump from Roy’s power play goal. The Minutemen outplayed the Huskies in almost every aspect of play early on, with some heavy handed defense keeping a high energy Northeastern top two lines under control. But Northeastern broke out of their usually sluggish second period play with some dominating play in front of Boyle. About halfway through the second, they had a period of about 90 seconds of sustained pressure in the Minutemen’s zone. Their play was composed and intelligent, and a few minutes later it paid off with some perfect positioning from Roy to take a cross-ice feed from McMurtry. There might have been a big game going on in Boston over in Chestnut Hill, but these two teams certainly match up well for a fast paced, physical game. These are both teams that have potential if they could rack up some conference points. (more…)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Josh Myers’ third-period goal proved to be the difference as Merrimack College snapped a five-game winless skid with a 2-1 win on the road at Providence College.

The Warriors picked up their first victory since beating Vermont on Oct. 26. It was the Warriors’ longest winless skid in three years.

Brian Christie also scored for the Warriors, who got 34 saves from first-year goaltender Rasmus Tirronen. Tim Schaller scored for the Friars and Jon Gillies stopped 22 shots.

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BOSTON — Jerry York was looking to tie the all-time wins record on his archrival’s ice, but Boston University had different ideas. Led by a 35-save effort from Matt O’Connor, the Terriers beat Boston College 4-2 at Agganis Arena on Friday night. An exciting first period didn’t produce any goals, but the Terriers finally broke the ice 9:04 into the second. Matt Nieto hit the post on a rebound chance, but Garrett Noonan was able to bat the puck out of mid-air and past Parker Milner (30 saves).

BU (8-4-0, 6-3-0 Hockey East) added to its lead seven minutes later when Evan Rodrigues took a pass from Danny O’Regan and fired a laser past Milner’s glove. The Eagles (10-2-0, 8-2-0 HE) answered just 38 seconds later when Johnny Gaudreau kicked a pass to Pat Mullane, who proceeded to beat O’Connor stick-side. Matt Grzelcyk scored what proved to be the game-winner 1:46 into the third when he led a rush down the left wing and beat Milner on a wraparound.

What I saw
-Some great goaltending. The only reason the game was scoreless after 29 minutes was because O’Connor and Milner both made a handful of great saves on quality chances. The Terriers had a couple turnovers in their own zone that could’ve given BC an early lead, but O’Connor was there to bail out his defense and keep it scoreless. Milner’s biggest challenge came against Sahir Gill on a breakaway, but the senior netminder was able to shut the five-hole in time. O’Connor also made several big saves in the third as the Eagles tried to claw their way back.

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AMHERST, Mass. – Adam Reid scored the lone goal of the night for Northeastern, but it was just enough to hang on as Chris Rawlings made 31 saves to lift the Huskies to a 1-0 win over Massachusetts Friday night at the Mullins Center.

Rawlings pitched his second shutout of the season, while his counterpart Kevin Boyle was solid as well, making 16 saves on 17 shots faced.

What I Saw

• While UMass had a majority of the chances throughout the first two periods and seemed to dominate play, it was the Huskies that found the back of the net in the most unusual of circumstances. The goal by Reid came shorthanded 17 minutes, 13 seconds into the second period in a moment of indecisiveness by NU coach Jim Madigan. The Huskies had only three men on the ice in the defensive zone for the first few seconds of the shift as Madigan and his staff were deciding to put Reid out on the ice. As NU was was left with those three players on the ice, Reid hopped over the boards and found himself wide open in the neutral zone. Dustin Darou obtained possession of the puck and skipped it to the sophomore forward right away, who proceeded to skate into the Minutemen zone untouched and slipped the puck past Boyle after faking right and going left to beat the sophomore goaltender’s outstretched pad. It was Reid’s first goal of the season and third point total.  (more…)