Ten games take place in Hockey East next weekend. Boston College heads to Burlington, Vt., for a pair. Massachusetts-Lowell and Providence, Boston University and Northeastern and Massachusetts and Merrimack play home-and-homes. Maine travels south for two with New Hampshire.

These 10 games will, finally, clarify the field for the 2012 Hockey East tournament. In a way, this installment is the end of an era for the conference. Notre Dame’s arrival next season will lead to new playoff format that includes automatic qualification for every team. Connecticut comes the year after, which will bring yet another format change. The current plan, which includes the elimination of the ninth- and 10th-place teams, is my preference. After all, the regular season loses some of its value if everyone qualifies just by showing up, but the new formats won’t be any less exciting. We’ll just have to wait an additional week to see teams’ seasons end.

At the moment, Northeastern is the only Hockey East team eliminated. Massachusetts could see its season end on Friday if it fails to earn a point, and Maine wins its first game with New Hampshire. Fortunately for the Minutemen, UNH still has a lot to play for this weekend, and the Wildcats are always looking for a win when the hated Black Bears are in town.

Even Northeastern will see this weekend as a point of pride. A year ago, the Huskies were in the same position, eliminated heading into the final night of the season. However, their overtime win over BU cost the Terriers at least a share of the Hockey East regular season title.

Regardless of a fan’s allegiance, the drama of the weekend will lead to yet another unforgettable end to Hockey East’s final regular season as a 10-team, New England-only league.

(After the jump: A fitting end to a disappointing year for Northeastern, BC’s vulnerability and UML readying to win a championship.)

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – For the first time ever, Massachusetts-Lowell is alone in first heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The River Hawks took over the top spot and clinched home ice by beating Merrimack 3-1 on Sunday. They also moved up to fourth in the Pairwise. The Warriors remain in sixth place, three points out of a home ice spot.

Josh Holmstrom scored twice in the first period to give Lowell (21-9-2, 15-8-2 HE) an early 2-0 lead. The first goal came 6:58 in when he set up in front of the net and redirected a Joe Houk shot from the left halfwall. A little more than four minutes later, he scored on the power play when Scott Wilson found him alone in front. Lowell upped the lead to 3-0 seven minutes into the second when Joseph Pendenza fed a charging Greg Amlong for the freshman defenseman’s first career goal. Shawn Bates cut the lead to 3-1 early in the third, but that was as close as Merrimack (14-14-6, 12-10-3 HE) would get.

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MINNEAPOLIS- It took Minnesota nearly 90 minutes to score a goal this weekend, but once the red light went on its work for the weekend was just beginning.

Redshirt junior Zach Budish scored twice while Erik Haula added 3 assists as the Gophers defeated Denver 5-1 behind a four goal third period. The win gave Minnesota a split in their final WCHA regular season home series before joining the Big Ten in 2013-2014.

The Pioneers took an early 1-0 lead on Scott Mayfield’s 3rd goal of the year and were poised for a second when Ty Loney tipped in a shot past Adam Wilcox 5 minutes into the second. Loney’s goal, however, was ruled to have been played with a high stick and overturned. That led to Budish tying the game at one 9:03 into the second before third period goals by Nick Bjugstad, Justin Holl, Sam Warning  and Budish (on an empty netter) sealed the game for Minnesota. Read the rest of this entry »

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BOSTON – Vermont beat Boston University 5-2 on Saturday to gain some separation in the race for a playoff spot. The Catamounts are now two points ahead of eighth-place Maine and three points ahead of ninth-place Massachusetts. The Terriers, meanwhile, missed out on a chance to keep pace with the top pack. They are now three points out of first and two points out of home ice.

The Catamounts opened the scoring 3:24 into the game when Matt White capitalized on a shorthanded breakaway. Brett Bruneteau added to the lead three minutes later when he beat Sean Maguire (37 saves) from a seemingly impossible angle. Matt Nieto cut the lead in half late in the second on a power-play goal — his sixth goal in the last three games. Michael Paliotta made it 3-1 early in the second, and the score stayed that way until Garrett Noonan scored a shorthanded goal 7:29 into the third to pull BU within one.

Kyle Reynolds gave Vermont some insurance with 1:38 to go, then Chris McCarthy scored an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Brody Hoffman made 26 saves in the win. With the loss, the Terriers dropped one spot, to 17th, in the Pairwise.

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Durham, NH - UNH and UMass skated to a tentative 0-0 tie after one period, but UNH would take advantage in the second period with two goals. John Henrion opened the scoring at one minute, 10 seconds of the second period as Casey Thrush and him came in on a two on 1. Thrush sent a pass to a wide open Henrion and the score would be 1-0 UNH. Henrion later scored on the power-play coming around the net on a wicked wrister that beat Masterlerz glove side, high to send UNH into the second intermission leading the Minutemen 2-0.

Matt Willows would open the scoring in the third period, as Dan Correale sent him in behind the UMass defense and Willows beat Masterlerz through the five-hole and it was 3-0 UNH. UNH would add an empty-net goal on the John Henrion hat-trick marker and the Wildcats picked up the 4-0 win.

UNH moves into a one point lead in the Hockey East Standings ahead of BC, Providence, and UMass-Lowell, while UMass falls into ninth place out of the playoffs with the loss. UNH’s lead could be short-lived as Lowell will take on Merrimack in a 4 pm matinee at the Lawler Arena tomorrow. With games still pending UNH moves up to fourth place in the ever important Pairwise Rankings, which would give them a number one seed if the NCAA tournament were to begin today. Read the rest of this entry »

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Providence scored four goals in fewer than four minutes to start the third period, rolling to a 5-1 win over Boston College at Conte Forum on Saturday. Noel Acciari’s first-period strike gave PC a 1-0 lead that held up until the third period, when the Friars erupted.

Nick Saracino started the scoring in the third at 1 minute, 42 seconds of the period. Tom Parisi and Chris Rooney quickly added two more before Acciari capped the scoring for the Friars.

Providence goaltender Jon Gillies made 20 saves before Quinn Smith ended his shutout with 1:20 left in regulation.

The win lifts PC back into first place, tied with BC and Massachusetts-Lowell. In terms of the Pairwise, BC falls all the way to No. 9 with the loss after starting the day at No. 4, with the rest of Saturday’s games still to be played.

What I Saw

• Whether the cause was the commercials or frequent stops, there was very little flow on Saturday afternoon. This played into the Friars’ hands to an extent. BC doesn’t need rhythm or lengthy possessions to create offense, but it doesn’t hurt when they get it. Keeping BC from establishing much below the circles, though, can take away a part of their game. The Friars also kept the Eagles shifty forwards from generating much off the rush. It wasn’t a perfect game for PC, but it’s about as well as a club can expect a road game to go.

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MINNEAPOLIS- For a game featuring two of the top six offenses in college hockey, Friday night’s game – the last Friday WCHA home game for Minnesota – was set up to be an offensive bonanza on paper.

On paper. On the ice it turned out to be anything but one.

Shawn Ostrow scored his 11th goal of the season 18 seconds into the third period and Ty Loney added an empty netter as Denver defeated the Gophers 2-0 at Mariucci Arena. Juho Olkinuora made 33 saves and became the first goaltender to shut out the Gophers since Alaska-Anchorage’s Chris Kamal did so March 12, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

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Durham, NH- In a game that neither team wanted to make mistake in, UMass took an early 1-0 lead on UNH at 12 minutes, and 19 seconds as Michael Pereira found a puck and beat Casey Desmith glove-side, high. That lead would hold through the first intermission until UNH got on the board as Eric Knodel sent a shot from the point in on net that Matt Willows tipped past UMass goaltender, Steve Masterlerz. The game went into the third period tied 1-1 and it stayed that way until UMass’ Eddie Olczyck got open on the weak side and beat Desmith to give UMass a late 2-1 lead over UNH.

But the fun had  just begun. Just when it seemed UMass was going to skate away with a victory, UNH’s John Henrion, on a similar play to the UMass go-ahead goal found the back of the net with 3.7 seconds left to go in regulation to tie the game at 2 and send it into overtime.The game would stay that way throughout the overtime period, as both goalies made spectacular saves to salvage the point, as UNH and UMass skated to a 2-2 tie. The tie drops UNH into third place in the standings from a four-way tie for first , while UMass drops into a tie with Maine for the eighth and final playoff spot. The tie also drops UNH in the Pairwise rankings, from fourth to fifth. Read the rest of this entry »

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BOSTON — Boston University defeated Vermont, 3-1, Friday night at Agganis Arena. Junior winger Matt Nieto scored all three Terrier goals to earn his first-career hat trick. Freshman goaltender Sean Maguire stopped a career-high 49 shots in the win.

The win gives BU a two-game winning streak, as it looks to reassert itself in the Hockey East playoff race. BU is now tied for fourth with Providence — one point shy of third-place New Hampshire and one point up on sixth-place Merrimack.

Vermont remains in seventh place. However, the Catamounts lead has fallen to one point. Massachusetts and Maine are currently tied for eighth place.

What I Saw

• More fantastic performances from freshman goaltenders. UVM goaltender Brody Hoffman had little opportunity on any of the three goals Nieto scored on Friday. Ditto for the goal Maguire allowed to Vermont’s Chris McCarthy. The roles for Hoffman and Maguire have been different this season. Maguire has split time with fellow freshman Matt O’Connor, and Hoffman has played nearly every minute of the season for UVM. On Friday, they both made a series of brilliant saves along with the simple ones goaltenders need to stop to give their team a chance to win. Hoffman’s 29 saves don’t exactly compare to Maguire’s 49, but both deserved a win on the night.

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LOWELL, Mass. – Massachusetts-Lowell remained in a tie for first place in Hockey East after beating Merrimack 4-0 on Friday night. The River Hawks are now tied with Boston College at 30 points, while the Warriors slipped to sixth, three points back. Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves to pick up his fourth shutout of the season and improve to 12-0-0 in his last 12 starts.

The game was scoreless through two periods, but the River Hawks (20-9-2, 14-8-2 HE) finally broke through 5:50 into the third. Jake Suter pinched in from the point before feeding Adam Chapie in the slot for the redirect. Derek Arnold made it 2-0 a little less than three minutes later when he tipped a Ryan McGrath shot past Sam Marotta (21 saves). Arnold and Colin Wright finished off the scoring with a pair of empty-netters.

With the win, Lowell climbed to seventh in the Pairwise. Despite the loss, Merrimack (14-13-6, 12-9-3 HE) actually moved up one spot to 28th, although its RPI and TUC record obviously took a hit.

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