Durham, NH- UNH raced out to a 2-0 first period lead on Vermont, on a shorthanded tally by Grayson Downing at five minutes, 27 seconds and a power-play goal by Eric Knodel at 12:07. Austin Block had his second consecutive two goal game for UNH as he scored a goal in each of the last two periods. UNH overmatched the Catamounts to take home the win 4-0, in a game that didn’t even feel that close.

Casey Desmith earned his second shutout in a row. Desmith made 27 saves on the night, while his counter-part Brody Hoffman made 25 saves on 29 shots. Hoffman had the more difficult night and kept UVM in the game for much of the first two periods. UNH improves to 6-1-1 on the season and 4-1-1 in Hockey East, while Vermont falls to 1-3-2 and 1-3-2. (more…)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Matt O’Connor improved to 5-0-0 and Wade Megan tallied a goal and two assists as Boston University beat Merrimack 3-1 on Friday. After a scoreless first, BU (5-2-0, 4-1-0 Hockey East) took a 1-0 lead 1:22 into the second. Cason Hohmann made a beautiful pass from the left corner to set up Ahti Oksanen for a rocket of a one-timer from the top of the right circle. Megan added to the lead seven minutes later when he raced down the left wing and beat Sam Marotta (22 saves) five-hole for his fifth goal of the season.

Merrimack (4-4-1, 3-2-1 HE) cut the lead in half 14 seconds into the third when John Heffernan beat O’Connor (34 saves) short-side. The Warriors kept the pressure on, but couldn’t get another past O’Connor. Evan Rodrigues sealed the victory with 7:14 remaining when he deposited a rebound past a down-and-out Marotta. (more…)

Cambridge, Mass. — Union got off to a quick start against Harvard taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game, on goals by Charlie Vasaturo and a power-play tally by Greg Coburn. The Dutchmen never looked back as they would go on to defeat the Crimson going away 6-2. Union improves to 6-1-1 on the season and 3-0-0 in ECAC, while Harvard falls to 2-2-0, 1-2-0.

For Union all eyes will turn on the status of their star goalie, Troy Grosenick, who went down early in the second period.  This marks the second weekend in a row that a star has gone down for Union, as defenseman Mat Bodie went down last week and will miss at least a month. The response by Union was fantastic and they went on to outscore Harvard 4-1 after the injury. Harvard was unable to put any sustained pressure on Colin Stevens until late in the third period. (more…)

Early in the season, there have been a few teams that have stood out and some that are just struggling. Boston College is again at the top of the standings, but has played the most games as well. Maine has been the biggest surprise on the season and their struggles have continued.

The marquee matchup of the weekend is another non-conference tilt, as Boston College hosts Notre Dame on Friday night. But not to be out-done there is also this small matchup in Boston on Sunday, which pits Boston University and Boston College. Both of those matchups will be fantastic ones but they aren’t the only ones that have interesting story-lines. Enjoy the hockey folks (more…)

This week’s rankings feature a new No. 1 and a bunch of movement among the bottom seven teams. Let’s get right to it.

1. Denver (5-1-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Pioneers suffered their first loss Friday, falling 3-0 to St. Cloud, but they bounced back with a 6-1 win Saturday. Normally a split wouldn’t be enough to move into first, but Minnesota’s split was worse than Denver’s, and those two were neck-and-neck before the weekend. Chris Knowlton had a hat trick Saturday, while Nick Shore continued his strong start with two points. Denver is first in the WCHA in both offense and defense.

2. Minnesota (5-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers fall out of the top spot after splitting with Minnesota State. They won 3-2 on Friday before losing 5-3 on Saturday. Saturday marked Adam Wilcox’s first loss and first game in which he’s allowed more than two goals. Erik Haula had four points on the weekend, while Nate Schmidt had three. The Gophers went 4-for-11 on the power play and are now second in the league at 22.6 percent on the season. (more…)

There’s not much movement at the top this week, but there’s plenty of jostling for spots five through nine, with the team at the top of that group making a push to crack the top four.

1. Boston College (6-1-0, 6-1-0 HE) — Last week: 1
The Eagles extended their winning streak to six by beating Maine 4-2 on Friday and UMass 3-2 on Sunday. Bill Arnold, Michael Matheson and Patrick Wey all had three-point weekends, while Patrick Brown scored with under four minutes to go to give BC the win Sunday. The Eagles went 4-for-8 on the power play and are now operating at 40.0 percent on the season, good for tops in the nation.

2. New Hampshire (5-1-1, 3-1-1 HE) — Last week: 2
The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season when they fell to UMass 2-1 in overtime Friday, but they rebounded with a 4-0 win at Maine on Sunday. Casey DeSmith stopped all 42 shots he faced Sunday to earn his second shutout in three games, and he now leads Hockey East with a .947 save percentage. Greg Burke and Austin Block each scored a pair of goals on the weekend. (more…)

It is tough to judge so early in the season who is a pretender and who is a contender but we are starting to see some trends as to who might be at the top come season’s end. Dartmouth was one of two teams to secure a four point weekend on the weekend and thus they are rewarded with the biggest jump in the rankings. Union was the other team that left the weekend with a crucial four points in conference play. Last weekend was the first with conference games and it will be interesting to see if the trends stay the same or change, as the season continues because it is still early, we must remember this.

1. Cornell (3-0-1, 1-0-1)- Last Week 1

Cornell had a successful weekend against Colgate, winning on the road Friday and tying at Lynah on Saturday. They will retain the top spot for the third week in a row.

2. Union (5-1-1, 2-0-0)- Last Week 3

It took a few weeks of play, but Union was up to the level many thought they would be at early in the season. On the weekend they outscored the RPI 11-5 and just flat out looked like the better team. Union has a huge tilt against Harvard on Friday night on the road. (more…)

The end of Daylight Savings time this past weekend brought with it a few surprises as college hockey reaches its second month of the season. Zahn Raubenheimer scored twice in back-to-back games to help lead Nebraska-Omaha to a series sweep over Michigan Tech while the other Mavericks, Minnesota State, gave Mike Hastings his first WCHA win Saturday. Colorado College, meanwhile, went into Madison and swept the reeling Badgers.

However, last weekend’s two biggest series appropriately ended up in splits.  After Ryan Faragher shut out a potent Denver offense, the Pioneers came roaring back Saturday to put up a six-spot on St. Cloud State. Up in Grand Forks, North Dakota hosted Boston University in (what unfortunately seems to be a rare meaningful) non-conference play and UND came within a period of keeping the Terriers winless in eight tries at the Ralph. Both were predictable where one team showed off each night but is there anything wrong with that?

After the break:  North Dakota and St. Cloud State’s comeback players, Wisconsin’s injury curse and Minnesota’s goodwill from the preseason is gone (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…)