I’ve wanted to compile some stats on shots, blocks and faceoffs for a while now, because they aren’t stats you typically hear a lot about in college hockey. I finally had some time to look into it today and do a little bit of research. Because I didn’t feel like spending my whole night on this, I limited myself to Hockey East, the league I cover most.

Unfortunately, not every team keeps track of blocks and faceoffs on their team sites. In fact, only three of the 10 Hockey East teams have individual faceoff stats on their team page. I’m sure other teams have those stats somewhere, just not online. I wound up not even bothering with faceoffs because of the lack of available info, but here’s some stuff you’ll hopefully find interesting in regards to shots and blocks. (more…)

With the Beanpot over, everyone is now focused on the last three weekends of the regular season. Only four teams are on the move in this week’s power rankings, and there is still very little separating the one through five spots. There is, however, a little bit more separation between the seven and eight spots.

1. Massachusetts-Lowell (19-8-0, 14-7-0 HE) — Last week: 1

The River Hawks extended their winning streak to five with a 3-0 win over Merrimack on Friday, but then had it snapped with a 2-1 loss to Maine on Saturday. The two points on the weekend were enough to move them into sole possession of first place in Hockey East. The line of Scott Wilson, Riley Wetmore and Derek Arnold has combined for nine goals and 17 assists in six games since being put together.

2. Boston College (19-10-1, 13-7-1 HE) — Last week: 4

The Eagles beat Vermont 6-1 on Friday and then won the Beanpot championship when Bill Arnold scored with 6.4 seconds left in overtime to give them a 3-2 win over BU. Chris Kreider notched three goals and two assists in the two games this week, while Pat Mullane and Beanpot MVP Johnny Gaudreau contributed four points apiece. Parker Milner is 5-0-0 with a .928 save percentage since reclaiming the starting job. (more…)

BOSTON — With 6:16 left in the third, Harvard’s Luke Greiner scored what proved to be the Beanpot consolation game-winner when he entered the offensive zone and beat Northeastern goalie Clay Witt (36 saves) five-hole for a shorthanded goal. Luke Eibler cut the lead to one just 23 seconds later, but the Crimson held on for the 3-2 win. With the loss, Northeastern has now finished fourth in 30 of the 60 Beanpots all-time.

What I saw

-The Crimson outplayed Northeastern in the first. The consolation game is always a tough game to get up for, especially when neither team is really in serious contention for an at-large NCAA bid, and the Huskies clearly struggled to find their skating legs. Harvard controlled play for much of the first period and took a 1-0 lead 11:44 in when Alex Killorn took in a pass at the right doorstep and waited out Witt before tucking the puck inside the right post. The Crimson outshot Northeastern 12-6 in the first and also hit two posts.

-The second period was more evenly-played and featured a lot more back-and-forth action. Robbie Vrolyk tied the game 4:07 into the period when his wrister from the high slot bounced off Steve Michalek’s (24 saves) arm and trickled over the line. The Crimson reclaimed the lead with a late goal when Alex Fallstrom stormed over the blue line fired a snap shot inside the left post. (more…)

Strong weekends from Providence and New Hampshire have cemented the field for the 2012 Hockey East Tournament to an extent. The Wildcats’ three-point weekend has them in seventh place in Hockey East, one point back of Providence in sixth. More importantly, UNH has opened up a four-point lead over Northeastern and Massachusetts, currently deadlocked in eighth place.

For the Friars, a four-point weekend has essentially guaranteed them a playoff spot. However, fifth-place is likely unreachable with Maine and Merrimack five points clear of the Friars. Despite the certainty of the seven of the eight playoff teams, the races for seeding will be as contested as they’ve been in recent years, with just two points separating Merrimack and Maine from first-place UMass Lowell.

This weekend’s matchup between Boston University and UMass Lowell will be among the most important series of the season and have serious implications in conference and on the national scene. Currently, BU is No. 2 in the PairWise, with UML in a three-way tie for fourth.

Schedule gives Northeastern advantage over UMass

Both Northeastern and UMass have six games remaining in Hockey East, with Northeastern having a seventh to play in Monday’s Beanpot Consolation Game against Harvard. However, five of the Huskies’ six remaining conference games will come at Matthews Arena, traveling only to BU to open a regular season-ending, home-and-home pair with the Terriers. (more…)

AMHERST, Mass. — Despite a valiant effort, Massachusetts ran out of time in trying to overcome stretches of woeful team defense, falling to Providence, 5-4, at the Mullins Center Saturday night. For the Friars, the win gave them a sweep of the weekend after they knocked off Maine at Schneider Arena Friday night.

A four-point weekend helped PC overcome a three-game losing streak that ended January and began February, moving ahead of New Hampshire into sixth place in Hockey East. Five different PC players scored in the win, including Tim Schaller who has goals in three of four games since returning from six games sidelined with mononucleosis. Senior goaltender Alex Beaudry made 15 third period saves, with UMass pressing heavily after cutting the Friar lead to at 14 minutes, 51 seconds of the third period.

Sitting in sixth in the Hockey East standings, PC leads UNH by a point, with one game in hand on the Wildcats. UNH tied at Merrimack on Saturday night. UMass, meanwhile, remains deadlocked with Northeastern in eighth place in Hockey East. The Huskies own the tiebreaker over the Minutemen with seven conference wins to UMass’ six at the moment. The clubs enter the final three weeks of the regular season in a dead heat for the last playoff spot.

What I Saw

• Three of the four goals UMass scored were highlight reel goals. Mike Pereira’s marker to bring UMass within one, his third of the game, was the type of scrappy goal teams need to win games. Overall, however, the Minutemen failed to create chances on second and third opportunities with a lack of grit around the net. There were more than enough opportunities to bang rebounds past Beaudry late in the game, but PC won battles to loose pucks at the goalmouth throughout the game. At the other end, the Friars won the same battles in front of the UMass goal. The Friars can score the pretty ones, but they’ll take the ugly goals just as well. After all, those goals are among the many reasons they left Amherst with two points. (more…)

BOSTON — Massachusetts picked up its first road of the season and thrust back into the Hockey East playoff picture with a 3-2 over Boston University Friday night at Agganis Arena.

Freshman goaltender Kevin Boyle made 33 saves in the win, which halted an untimely four-game losing streak for UMass. While Mike Pereira’s empty-net goal ended up being the game-winner for UMass, Joel Hanley’s strike at 12 minutes, 27 seconds of the third period gave UMass the 2-1 lead that resulted in Pereira’s empty-netter. Alex Chiasson scored with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to cut the margin of victory.

The win lifted UMass into an eighth-place tie with Northeastern with a game in hand. The Huskies fell to New Hampshire Friday night. BU drops to second place, tied with Boston College, which defeated Vermont, 6-1, at 27 points. Both BU and BC trail UMass Lowell by a point, after the River Hawks beat Merrimack, 3-0.

What I Saw

• BU struggled against a UMass forecheck that seemed slightly more aggressive than it normally plays. The Minutemen gave BU the usual 1-2-2 look, but the UMass forwards activated more frequently to pressure the Terrier breakout. Whether it was T.J. Syner or Mike Pereira, the Terriers always had a UMass player on their trail or forcing a bad pass. The remaining UMass players stayed true with their assignments well, maintaing shape to turn the Terriers’ questionable passes into turnovers and potential scoring chances. The option to pressure players always exists for the UMass forwards, but they rarely pursue as much as they did on Friday. Opting to play it more conservative is the easiest way to avoid rushes against more highly skilled teams, but changing it up gave UMass the advantage on Friday. (more…)

LOWELL, Mass. — Less than a year removed from the worst season in program history, UMass-Lowell is now first in both the Hockey East standings and the PairWise thanks to a 3-0 win over Merrimack on Friday. Derek Arnold scored two goals in the victory, Riley Wetmore tallied a goal and two assists, and Doug Carr stopped all 31 shots he faced.

Arnold’s first goal, which came 55 seconds into the third, was initially waved off, as the referee indicated he had knocked in a rebound with his arm. The call was overturned after video review, and Arnold said after the game that the puck did go in off his shoulder, but that he hadn’t moved his arm at all to redirect it.

Arnold’s second goal came on a power play with 2:57 to go when he blasted a one-timer through Joe Cannata’s (39 saves) five-hole from the top of the left circle. Wetmore sealed the victory with 1:34 left when he slid a backhander into an empty net from the neutral zone.

What I saw

-Merrimack had a power-play goal waved off with 4:24 left in the second. Dan Kolomatis threw a shot on net from the right point and Josh Myers tipped it past Carr, but video review showed that Myers’ stick was above the crossbar. It would’ve been a huge goal not just because it would’ve broken a scoreless tie, but also because it would’ve given the Warriors some much-needed momentum after Lowell dominated play for most of the second. (more…)

Durham, NH. – Northeastern scored a quick goal, 30 seconds into the game, off the stick of Robbie Vrolyk but failed to capitalize on the momentum falling to New Hampshire, 3-2. After failing down by one early UNH scored four minutes later on a goal off by, Stevie Moses. The goal was his 20^th of the season from a tight angle right through the pads of Husky goaltender, Chris Rawlings. UNH scored again later in the first on an Austin Block goal that caromed off of Northeastern goaltender, Chris Rawlings foot and into the net.

After an evenly played second period where UNH would receive another goal off the stick of Austin Block, a tip from a point shot by Damon Kipp, UNH would take a 3-1 lead into the third period. In the third period, UNH used a stifling neutral zone trap, where Northeastern was able to get off only five shots in the period. With Rawlings pulled, Northeastern would score a late goal with the net empty off the stick of Mike McLaughlin but it was not enough as UNH got the all important two points.

UNH with the win stayed in a tie for sixth place with providence, who defeated Maine on home ice 4-3 to keep pace with the Wildcats. With the win UNH moves three points ahead of Northeastern who dropped into a tie for eighth and ninth place with Massachusetts, who came up with a huge 3-2 victory against Boston University at Agannis Arena. (more…)

The standings have stayed remarkably close at the top and bottom of the Hockey East standings, with three points separating the top five. Boston University begins the coming weekend in first place followed closely by Umass-Lowell one point behind. Merrimack and Boston College are two points behind tied for third and Maine is three points behind in fifth place. Three points also separate sixth to ninth place as New Hampshire, Providence, Northeastern and Massachusetts will head into the home stretch fighting for positioning and their playoff lives.

With the standings so close, every conference game will be huge in the coming weeks. The three Boston schools and Vermont will play only one game in conference this weekend, while everyone else will play two. After this weekend Maine and New Hampshire will be the only two teams that will have games in hand on anyone else. Two game weekend series will become the norm in the final three weeks, but for this weekend we have eight conference games. Here’s to previewing this weekend’s tilts. (more…)

This weekend further separated the top half from the bottom half, as every matchup between a top-five team and bottom-five team went to the favorite. Within those two groups, though, there was once again plenty of movement. The top five should give us one of the best races for the regular-season title in league history.

1. Massachusetts-Lowell (18-7-0, 13-6-0 HE) — Last week: 1

The River Hawks stay in the top spot after taking care of business against Vermont, as they beat the Catamounts 3-1 on Friday and 6-4 on Saturday. Lowell has now won four in a row and 13 of its last 16. Scott Wilson had two goals and three assists on the weekend and leads all Hockey East rookies with 13 goals and 26 points. The River Haws now enter their toughest stretch of the season, as their next six games read Merrimack, Maine, BU, BU, Merrimack, Merrimack.

2. Boston University (17-8-1, 13-6-1 HE) — Last week: 4

BU picked up a big 4-1 win at Merrimack on Friday before beating Harvard 3-1 in the first round of the Beanpot. Chris Connolly led the way with two goals and an assist Friday, while Wade Megan tallied a pair of goals Monday. It might not seem fair to move the Terriers ahead of a Maine team that swept them just two weekends ago, but their win on Friday put a little bit of distance between them and the Black Bears in the standings. (more…)