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. (more…)

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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With just two weekends left in the season, the race for the MacNaughton Cup is still wide open. St. Cloud State is two points clear of the field, but Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota and Minnesota State are all within four points of the Huskies. Denver and Wisconsin are long shots at six points back, but they have a battle of their own going on for the final home ice spot. In this week’s power rankings, I take a look at each team’s postseason situation, both in the WCHA and in the Pairwise.

1. Minnesota (21-6-5, 13-6-5 WCHA) — Last week: 1
Minnesota took three of four points from UMD and moved into second place in the league. Erik Haula scored twice in Friday’s 5-3 win, while Adam Wilcox made 35 saves in Saturday’s 2-2 tie. The Gophers are now just two points out of first with a home series vs. Denver and a road series at Bemidji left on the schedule. They’re still second in the Pairwise, and they should lock up a one-seed with just a few more wins.

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Chestnut Hill, Mass – It was a game that had all the meaning in the world, as Boston College entered the night in a three-way tie atop the Hockey East standings and UMass-Lowell entered the night two points back in fifth place. The first period would go the way of Lowell as the River Hawks would score a power-play goal at ten minutes, 41 seconds of the period off a slap-shot by Scott Wilson just above the left faceoff circle. BC would respond two minutes later as Travis Jeke took a weak shot towards the net that found Bill Arnold all alone in front and Arnold beat Hellebuyck over the shoulder. But 26 seconds later, Josh Holmstrom would give the River Hawks the lead back on a shot BC goaltender Parker Milner probably should have had. Lowell would take that 2-1 lead into the first intermission, which hold through the second intermission.

Bill Arnold would add his second of the night at 8:40 of the third period to tie the game at two going into the late stages of the game. Christian Folin would score a crucial goal with 4:47 remaining in the game to give the River Hawks a late lead that they wouldn’t relenquish, as the UMass-Lowell jumped into a four-way tie for first place in Hockey East with BC, UNH and Providence College. (more…)

It is hard to believe that we have reached the final week of the regular season in the ECAC, as it seems very recent that Quinnipiac opened up the regular season schedule against Maine on the road picking up a win at the famed Alfond Arena. This guy would have not have foreseen the successes watching that game from the press box that night, but the rest is history and the Bobcats had the Cleary Cup clinched entering last weekend. Quinnipiac enters the weekend with just one loss in conference play, as they face Harvard and Dartmouth on the road.

Coming into the weekend seven teams will fight for three first round byes, as the top four teams get a bye. Currently Rensselaer, St. Lawrence and Yale control their own destinies as they enter this weekend with those positions joining Quinnipiac who has long clinched. Dartmouth, Union, Clarkson and Brown also have numerical shots at byes, but will need help from those above them. Home-ice advantage goes to positions five through eight in the standings, which numerically 11 out of 12 ECAC teams could end up hosting. See the current standings and I will go into the possibilities for each team.

If the NCAA tournament began today four ECAC teams would be included, but the scary part of it for the ECAC is the fact that Yale and Rensselaer are tied for 16th in the Pairwise Rankings that determine the NCAA Tournament field. This is the last entry without any surprise teams earning a berth from outside the top 16 and usually there is at least one from outside the top 16 that makes it. Realistically that means that one team, Quinnipiac, is a number one seed, while Dartmouth (13th), Yale (15) and Rensselaer (16) are all on the bubble. (more…)

We’re down to two weekends left in the regular season (plus two Tuesday night makeup games this week), meaning it’s do-or-die time. There are a handful of teams fighting not just for home ice, but also for the regular-season title. Three teams are in pretty good shape in the Pairwise, while three others have some work to do if they hope to get an at-large bid. Then at the bottom of the league, four teams continue to battle for the final two playoff spots. In this week’s power rankings, I take a look at each team’s postseason situation.

1. Boston College (18-8-3, 13-7-2 HE) — Last week: 1
Quinn Smith scored 2:23 into overtime to give BC a huge 2-1 win at Merrimack on Sunday. The Eagles are now in a three-way tie for first, but they have a game in hand on both UNH and Providence. That game in hand comes Tuesday against Lowell, and a weekend series against Providence follows that. Sunday’s win also jumped the Eagles ahead of UNH for the final one-seed in the Pairwise. Parker Milner stopped 43 of 44 shots and now has a .940 save percentage since the start of February.

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LOWELL, Mass. — Massachusetts-Lowell beat Boston University 3-1 on Saturday to complete its first season sweep of the Terriers since the 2000-01 season. With the win, the River Hawks pulled within two points of first place and moved up to 11th in the Pairwise. BU dropped to 23rd in the Pairwise and now sits two points out of a home ice spot.

Lowell’s Scott Wilson opened the scoring for the second night in a row, once again firing a slap shot into the top corner from about 40 feet out. Chad Ruhwedel made it 2-0 midway through the second when he finished off a 4-on-1 power-play rush. BU’s Evan Rodrigues cut the lead in half with a shorthanded goal 8:25 into the third, but then Joseph Pendenza provided an insurance marker with 7:55 to go.

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Amherst, Mass. – With the eighth and final Hockey East playoff spot on the line, Massachusetts used a three-goal third period to top Maine 5-2.

Joel Hanley led the Minutemen with three assists, two of which came in the third period on goals by Zack LaRue and Conor Sheary. Kevin Czepiel finished it with an empty-netter with 44 seconds remaining in the game.

Down 2-0 after the first period, the Black Bears scored twice in less than two minutes to even things up. First Jake Rutt put home a power play goal on a wrist shot 5 minutes, 36 seconds into the second period. Then Bill Norman put home the equalizer at 7:16.

Steve Mastalerz got the win in goal for UMass, making 23 saves. Martin Ouellette started for Maine coming off a big night on Friday, but wasn’t the same player between the pipes, making 22 saves in a losing effort.

What I Saw

• This was not the same Martin Ouellette that was in goal for Maine the night before. The junior netminder single-handedly beat the Minutemen with his 30-save shutout performance that included a pair of stops on breakaway chances and one of the saves of the year on Friday. However, Ouellette found himself in trouble early when Adam Phillips buried home a rebound off a Rocco Carzo shot 5 minutes, 51 seconds into the first period. Branden Gracel added to that less than two minutes later when he scored on a scorching snapper from the left wing that beat Ouellette glove-side high. After settling down and making some more key saves to keep the game tied after the second period, Ouellette struggled again in the third. First one a goal by Zack LaRue after failing to cover Gracel’s initial shot, Then another on a one-timer from Hanley to Sheary. Ouellette was clearly not playing with the same confidence out there that he had on Friday, much of that can be credited to the fact that the Minutemen got to him early.  (more…)

MINNEAPOLIS- The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs began the third period in great shape Friday night at Mariucci Arena. They were ahead in the shot department and scored 3 goals in the second period – including Austin Farley’s second of the game with 44 seconds left in the period – to tie the game at 3.

But as has been the norm lately for UMD, it wasn’t enough over the final 20 minutes.

Gopher sophomore Kyle Rau scored the game-winning goal with 6:35 remaining as Minnesota (21-6-4, 13-6-4 WCHA) defeated the Bulldogs 5-3 in the first of a two-game series. The loss left Minnesota-Duluth (10-7-4, 8-13-4 WCHA) winless in their last 8 games and looking to once again right the ship.

Nate Condon began the scoring for Minnesota 4:05 into the game when his shot trickled past Bulldogs goalie Matt McNeely and crossed the line on a second effort. That was followed by a shorthanded goal by Erik Haula 7:50 into the second before Justin Crandall evened things out 27 seconds later on the same power play. The two teams once again traded quick goals 5 minutes later as Farley tied the game at 2 and Sam Warning responded to give the Gophers back the lead before the UMD freshman’s second of the game near the end of the period.

Giving up a goal in the last minute of a period can be a rallying cry for the team who scores but Minnesota never allowed that. Instead, they out-shot Minnesota-Duluth 16-4 over the final 20 minutes and made McNeely, who made 29 saves, work. Their persistence was eventually rewarded with Rau’s 14th goal of the season and first in 8 games. Haula then added his second goal of the game on an empty-netter with 5.4 seconds remaining to seal the deal.

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BOSTON — Connor Hellebuyck earned his third shutout and improved to 9-0-0 in his last nine starts, as he stopped all 25 shots he faced in Massachusetts-Lowell’s 3-0 win over Boston University on Friday. Lowell and BU are now tied for fifth in Hockey East with 24 points apiece, putting them three points out of first. As of 10:45 p.m., the River Hawks were 13th in the Pairwise, while the Terriers had dropped to 18th.

Scott Wilson gave Lowell a 1-0 lead 5:35 into the second when he pulled up in the right circle and fired a slap shot into the top corner. Joseph Pendenza upped the lead to 2-0 two minutes later when he took a shot that pinballed off two BU defenders and past Matt O’Connor (24 saves). Riley Wetmore closed out the scoring with a power-play goal late in the third. With the loss, the Terriers dropped to 0-4-1 in their last five home games, marking their first five-game home winless streak since they started playing on campus in 1971.

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