From an individual standpoint, Hockey East’s top performances in the season first month-plus has offered a strong mix of the expected starts and new faces emerging from a season. Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau is toward the top of the league leaders with nine points on four goals and five assists, and he’s joined by teammates Bill Arnold and Pat Mullane. However, Boston University’s Cason Hohmann, Merrimack defenseman Jordan Heywood and New Hampshire defenseman Connor Hardowa have put together successful starts as well. For Heywood and Hardowa, it isn’t just about offense, as both play key minutes for their successful teams.

This week, though, none of those players made the cut.

Three Up

Mike Collins, Junior, Forward, Merrimack

Currently leading Hockey East in scoring, Mike Collins is a major reason the Warriors have won three of four after a tough trip to Last Frontier. Since returning from a weekend sweep at the hands of Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage, Merrimack is 3-0-1, including a sweep of Northeastern last weekend. In those four games, Collins scored three goals and assisted on seven others to pick up 10 points. Many wondered where the offense would come from this year for the Warriors, and Collins was a player expected to shoulder his share of the load. Four games do not make a season, but 10 points in four games is never a bad sign. (more…)

Niagara is on a roll. The Purple Eagles haven’t lost in five straight games and posted back-to-back shutout of UConn. Carsen Chubak recorded both shutouts and now has three on the year. He’s allowed just one goal in the last four games and appears to have grabbed the No. 1 role in net for the Purple Eagles.

Mercyhurst was the only other Atlantic Hockey team to sweep this weekend. Allowed just one goal in two games against Sacred Heart. Daniel Bahntge scored twice on the weekend while Ryan Misiak scored once and added two assists. This sweep builds momentum for the Lakers as they have an important early season matchup with RIT next weekend. (more…)

Five weeks of the 2012-13 season have passed. Boston College put together another four-point weekend and currently has a five-point lead over Merrimack and New Hampshire. While the Eagles have at least games in hand on every conference foe, BC is most certainly the heavy favorite for the league’s regular season title at this point. Early as it is, the Eagles’ class is evident. There’s less fire power in the Heights, but the issues in goal that set BC back a bit last season are gone.

Through six games, Parker Milner has a .932 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average. Somehow, these numbers are step back from the ridiculous run he put together in his final 19 starts last season. In front of Milner, the Eagles’ blue line has rounded in to shape well. There is no Brian Dumoulin or Tommy Cross, but BC coach Jerry York seems pleased with his defensemen. Uncertainties exist for BC. Still, its minor problems are nothing from those plaguing some of Hockey East’s other teams.

After the break: It’s time for Maine fans to face reality; UMass may have found its No. 1; and BU has some serious potential. (more…)

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Michael Matheson and Patrick Brown game-tying and game-winning goals in a 7-minute, 10-second span to lead Boston College past Massachusetts, 3-2, Sunday at Conte Forum. The Minutemen took a 2-1 lead at 1:42 of the third period on a Troy Power goal, but they wasted a late lead for the second time this season against the Eagles.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead just 1:23 into the game on a Bill Arnold power-play goal, and Steven Guzzo answered midway through the period with an extra-man marker of his own. UMass goaltender Kevin had another strong outing, stopping 28 shots, including 14 in the first period. BC’s Parker Milner made 29 saves. However, the biggest saves of the game should be credited to BC defenseman Isaac MacLeod. With UMass leading, 2-1, Milner fell just outside his crease, but MacLeod dropped to his knees on the goal line, stopping shots from Michael Pereira and Branden Gracel to keep the deficit at one.

What I Saw

• BC’s freshman defenseman don’t look like freshmen. Even with the goal from Matheson, this wasn’t the best game for BC’s young group of blue liners. Matheson, Teddy Doherty and Colin Sullivan are all capable of becoming premier defensemen in college hockey, and it almost seems inevitable that they will. Neither of them were perfect on Sunday. They struggled at times with UMass’ speedy forwards. Guzzo caught Matheson flat-footed on UMass’ first goal. Guzzo won a faceoff back to Joel Hanley and headed straight for the net. Milner saved Hanley’s shot, but Guzzo was all alone to slide the rebound home. Occasional mistakes happen with all players and even first-round draft picks will see those problems more often as freshmen. Regardless, Matheson recovered from the early mistake to play a strong game, including the game-tying goal at 9:13 of the third period. Again, none of the trio were spectacular on Sunday, but they all look extremely comfortable on the ice.  (more…)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Merrimack beat Northeastern 4-2 Saturday night to sweep the weekend series and win the season series. Jordan Heywood scored what proved to be the game-winner with 3:28 remaining in the game. He took a pass from Mike Collins, walked in from the left half-wall and beat Chris Rawlings (29 saves) with a snap shot. Justin Hussar tacked on an empty-netter at the buzzer.

Vinny Saponari opened the scoring for Northeastern (2-4-1, 2-4-1 HE) 12:05 into the game when he took a pass from Mike McMurtry and beat Rasmus Tirronen (24 saves) for his first goal of the season. McMurtry added to the lead with a power-play tally six minutes later when he tipped in a Kevin Roy one-timer.

The Warriors (4-3-1, 3-1-1 HE) came storming back in the second, though. Shawn Bates cut the lead in half 2:51 into the middle frame when he collected his own blocked shot and beat Rawlings on the second opportunity. Collins tied the game with 27 seconds left in the period when a Vinny Scotti shot left him with a rebound right in front. (more…)

Cambridge, Mass.- Yale needed a bounce-back performance after their game at Dartmouth last night and received exactly that as they outworked Harvard for 60 minutes and defeated them 5-1. The teams played an even first period on goals by Jesse Root and Kyle Crisculo, but Yale would dominate the second and early parts of the third period, outscoring the Crimson 4-0 in those periods to seal the victory.

Yale was led by the line of Kenny Agostino, Jesse Root  and Andrew Miller. This line accounted for four of the five goals for the Bulldogs on the night and led the offense which posted 49 shots in the game. Yale improves to 2-1-1 (1-1-0) on the season and Harvard falls to 2-1-0 (1-1-0).

What I saw

Yale was a completely different team on the night than they were last night and it showed in all aspects of play. Their goaltending was solid, their defense didn’t give up golden opportunities throughout the game and their offense was seemingly clicking on all cylinders. The performance was indicative of their hungry for a win nature, after last night’s dreadful loss. They were the hungrier and more desperate team.

Harvard just looked flat at times and could not gain a break throughout the game. Harvard had opportunities throughout the latter     stages of the game but were unable to find the scoring touch and beat Yale goaltender, Jeff Malcolm. This lack of scoring touch is something that was evident throughout the tilt. (more…)

Minneapolis, MN – For the first time this season, Minnesota came back to win a game in which they trailed. Redshirt junior captain Zach Budish scored the game winner with 14:20 left in regulation as the Gophers defeated in-state rival Minnesota State 3-2 Friday night in the first game of a home-and-home series.

The Mavericks took an early 1-0 lead when sophomore defenseman Zach Palmquist tapped home a pass from JP Lafontaine past Minnesota goalie Adam Wilcox 4:50 into the game. However, Gopher sophomore Travis Boyd tied the game six minutes later on the power play when his shot found a way past screened Minnesota State goalie Phil Cook.

Cook, who made 29 saves, shrugged off the goal and spent the next shutting down an offense that spent entire shifts in the Mavericks zone. Minnesota had chances to take a lead throughout the second period but it was Minnesota State freshman Teddy Blueger who came through for his team on a third effort midway through the second period. It proved to be the Mavericks’ high point, unfortunately, as goals by Minnesota sophomore defenseman Nate Schmidt and Budish gave the Gophers the lead for the good.

With the win, Minnesota improves to 5-1-0 (3-1-0 WCHA) while Minnesota State drops to 2-3-2 (0-3-0 WCHA). (more…)

Before we get to this weekend’s picks, a look back at how the staff did with last weekend’s picks:

Avash Kalra: 10-0-0 (more on this in a moment) — for the season, 19-6-5

Taylor Lewis: 3-7-0 — for the season, 12-3-5

Sam Obermyer: 9-1-0 — for the season, 18-7-5

Caleb Saunders: 5-5-0 — for the season, 11-14-5

Regarding my 10 for 10 record in picks last weekend — probably a complete fluke that defies statistical probabilities. Unlikely to ever happen again, but we’ll keep trying.

Now, yes, we’re posting this weekend’s CCHA picks a day after the first night of games, but we can assure you that this post was written in full prior to the weekend and was not posted due to a technical difficulty. Here are this weekend’s picks, which again were submitted before last night’s games: (more…)

AMHERST, Mass. – Darren Rowe scored on a power play right out of a timeout three minutes, eight seconds into overtime to lift Massachusetts to a 2-1 win over New Hampshire Friday at the Mullins Center. Kevin Goumas was sent off for a minor at the 2:09 mark in overtime for obstruction-interference to give UMass the man-advantage that led to the game-winning goal. Greg Burke scored the lone goal for UNH with 34 seconds remaining in the first period and Conor Sheary tied it 12:21 into the second for his first tally of the year.

Casey DeSmith made a solid 34 saves for UNH, including 13 in a third period which the Minutemen controlled a good portion of. Kevin Boyle made 25 saves on 26 shots faced for UMass, earning him his second win of the season.

The win gives UMass coach John Micheletto his first Hockey East win as head coach while the Wildcats suffer their first loss of the season.

What I Saw

The game-winning goal for UMass was exactly the way Micheletto drew it up out of the timeout. Sheary won the faceoff in the UNH zone and kicked it out to Conor Allen at the point, who fed in close Shane Walsh and found Rowe back door for the easy shot on a wide open net in front of DeSmith. It was a perfectly executed play out of the timeout that the Wildcats overplayed, making it easy for Rowe to slip behind and create a scoring opportunity. (more…)

BOSTON – The Merrimack defensemen scored five goals to lead Merrimack University past Northeastern in a 5-2 victory. The return of Kyle Bigos sparked a physical game in which the defense made all the difference in terms of scoring. Captain Jordan Heywood got it started at 8:44 in the first period to give the Warriors en early 1-0 lead, but assistant captain Ludwig Karlsson answered for the Huskies at the end of the first to even things out.

Heywood notched his second of the night at 19:21 in the first, and the 2-1 score remained until the third period when Bigos got past goaltender Bryan Mountain less than two minutes into play, kicking off a flurry of offense from the Warriors’ defensemen. Brendan Ellis and Dan Kolomatis would also get on the board with goals in the third, Kolomatis’ coming off an empty net opportunity from Merrimack’s own zone.

Northeastern saw a spot of hope when freshman Kevin Roy netted one by flipping the puck up and over the head of goaltender Sam Marotta to give the Huskies their second goal of the night, but it wasn’t enough to get past Merrimack in a frustration and penalty-filled match.

The two teams will meet again Saturday at Merrimack for part two of the home-and-home weekend.

What I Saw

• Kyle Bigos is back in a big way after suffering a lower-body injury in the season opener. His physical play gave Merrimack the boost they needed after a start that included a loss to Northeastern and a pair losses at the hands of Alaska-Fairbanks. His goal came at the tail end of a 5-on-3 advantage resulting from boarding from Joe Manno and hitting from behind and a game misconduct for Braden Pimm, but that’s not to discredit Bigos’ contribution. Bigos might bring with him the risk of penalty minutes, but the commanding play he brought tonight only means good things for Merrimack. (more…)