DURHAM, N.H. – The game started at a frantic pace. Umass scored the game’s first goal at 1:28 of the first period. UNH responded with two goals of their own in the next 2:13 and Umass tied it up 11 minutes later. UNH used a demoralizing goal with six seconds remaining in the first to take the lead for good. From that point on UNH ran away from the Minutemen scoring three goals in 5:20 of the second period and won the game 7-3 on the backs of seven different goal scorers.

What I saw

-Umass used two different freshmen goalies in the game, in starter Steve Mastalerz and Kevin Boyle. Neither of which had much success solving UNH’s offensive prowess on the night, but they in most cases were not the blame. The Umass defense had a poor showing on the night with Wildcats being left open almost at will in front of the net for most of UNH’s seven goals. The young defense will surely improve as the season goes on.

-UNH responded well to an early goal by Umass at 1:28 of the first period by scoring two of their own in the next two minutes of the first period. The game was not perfect for New Hampshire, as the defense did show signs of weakness on the three Minutemen goals. Scoring seven goals is always a positive for a team that struggled early with scoring. The goals are seemingly coming in bunches right now for New Hampshire, whom are using a very balanced attack. Tonight seven different players scored goals for the Wildcats. Albeit not a perfect game, UNH proved their resilience to come back from an early setback to dominate large stretches of a game. (more…)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Merrimack’s perfect start and 11-game home winning streak came to an end Friday night, as Northeastern forced a 1-1 tie at Lawler Arena. Merrimack’s Rhett Bly opened the scoring at 14:20 of the second period when he took a Jesse Todd pass, snuck behind the Husky defense and beat Chris Rawlings (34 saves) five-hole. After killing off six penalties in the first two periods, including a five-minute major, Northeastern (1-4-2, 1-4-2 HE) tied the game 57 seconds into the third when Justin Daniels knocked home a rebound for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Joe Cannata made 30 saves for the Warriors (6-0-1, 4-0-1 HE).

What I saw

-Northeastern lacked discipline and was playing with fire by taking so many penalties. Two of the Huskies’ penalties came in the offensive zone — a hook by Vinny Saponari as he was trying to force a turnover, and a trip by Joseph Manno after he gave the puck away. Additionally, Manno’s trip came just 20 seconds after the freshman had served an elbowing penalty. Another freshman, Adam Reid, received a five-minute major and game misconduct in the second for hitting to the head. Then in the third, Cody Ferriero negated a hitting after the whistle penalty on Kyle Bigos by retaliating with a slash.

-The Huskies looked like a totally different team from when they were here two weeks ago. In that meeting (a 4-1 loss), Merrimack dominated time of possession and wore the Huskies down, ultimately scoring three goals in the third to seal the victory. This game was much more of a back-and-forth affair — at least, it was when the Huskies weren’t in the sin bin. Instead of wearing down as the game went on, this time it was the Huskies who controlled play in the third. They outshot Merrimack 15-10 in the frame (and then 2-0 in overtime), and had more chances to capture two points than the Warriors did. (more…)

Durham, N.H. — On a night where winter was out in full force, it was New Hampshire that was also at full force sending shots toward Clay Witt. The sophomore started the game in lieu of normal starter, Chris Rawlings. It was his first start of the season, and, at times, it was a strong performance for the sophomore — 33 saves — but the Huskies gave up 38 shots on the night and allowed five goals, in a lackluster road effort but an impressive effort by UNH. With the win UNH head coach Dick Umile notched his 300^th  Hockey East win becoming the second coach in Hockey East history to accomplish the feat. He is also 14 wins shy of 400 overall wins.

What I saw

• UNH received a phenomenal performance from the fourth line. The fourth line of UNH combined for three of the five goals and also sent 10 shots at Clay Witt. If UNH has one thing they have depth at the forward position and this was proven tonight as the fourth line came up huge for the Wildcats with Mike Borisenok leading the charge with two goals.

• Northeastern was a much different team than the club that UNH played at Matthews Arena in Boston just two weeks ago.  The lack of forechecking, puck possession and power play prowess is something that seemingly changes when the team leaves Matthews. Giving up 38 shots, a good portion of which were quality shots, and only throwing 17 shots at Matt Di Girolamo has to be alarming to first year head coach Jim Madigan. The one positive for Northeastern was that its discipline in the game was commendable, given the circumstances that were brought about throughout the game.

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BOSTON — In a season where Boston University has struggled to develop consistency, the Terriers overcame deficits in two games over the weekend and earned three Hockey East points against Massachusetts. The Terriers tied UMass, 2-2, at the Mullins Center in Amherst on Friday, and earned a 5-4 overtime win at Agganis Arena Saturday night. For UMass, the disappointment was palpable after the game. UMass had leads of two goals and three goals on Friday and Saturday night, respectively, but only have one point to show for its effort.

What I Saw

• After discouraging performances against Holy Cross last weekend and UMass on Friday, BU managed 60 minutes of good hockey to earn its second Hockey East win. Parker certainly sent a message to his team by starting senior goalie Grant Rollheiser and making junior forward Alex Chiasson a healthy scratch. The coach said after Friday’s game that he would award playing time to those he thought had clearly earned it. Chiasson looked disinterested in play at times against Holy Cross, despite offering a two-goal performance.

• Similar to Friday night’s game at the Mullins Center in Amherst, BU found itself in a multiple-goal deficit. Only this time the Terriers game back to win, rather than settling for a 2-2 draw. However, the circumstances were certainly different. UMass played much better Friday and truly earned its two-goal advantage. On Saturday, UMass benefited from scrappy play and several fortunate bounces. In addition, BU was playing much better hockey on Saturday when it went down 3-0 in the first. After the game, Parker said that he was not concerned with his team’s play, and communicated that message to his team during the first intermission.

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Durham, N.H.-Despite being outshot 38-23, the UNH wildcats picked up their first win of the year against a tough nonconference opponent, Union College. It’s amazing to be saying that after 5 games UNH was without a win on the young season but in the end they picked up their first win behind an impressive performance by their goaltender, Matt Di Girolamo. He had 37 saves in the game and some of which of the spectacular variety. The first win was hard fought and came as a relief to UNH head coach Dick Umile.

What I saw

-Unh played a much better defensive game than they have for most of the season. Even though the Wildcats gave up 38 shots, the defensive breakdowns that have been costing them goals all season long were fewer and far between. The committed defensive game by UNH gave them a chance to win it. They were blocking shots, playing tight defensively, and keeping the Dutchmen to the outside portions of the ice.

-The goal by Mat Brodie early in the third period could have given UNH every reason to throw in the towel but this moment brought them together defensively for the remainder of the game. UNH kept at it into the overtime period, in which they eventually won.

-Union played a tight defensive system and frustrated UNH skaters in the neutral zone all night. Allowing just 23 shots, the Dutchmen played well defensively only to have their goaltender beaten twice on ‘dirty area’ goals; one by Henrion, who used great stick work and a second a perfect pass from behind the net by Connor Hardowa to a waiting Kevin Goumas on the doorstep for the overtime game-winner 31 seconds in. (more…)

Providence, R.I. — Providence trailed Minnesota-Duluth 1-0 after two periods and 2-1 late in the third Saturday night, but battled back to force a 2-2 tie with the defending national champs. Redshirt freshman Damian Cross scored the Friars’ first goal (his first collegiate goal) and senior Matt Bergland forced overtime when he scored with 2:21 left in regulation. Senior netminder Alex Beaudry stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced one night after giving up five goals in a 5-2 loss to the Bulldogs.

What I saw

-The Friars played much better in the third period than they did on Friday. They trailed by a goal entering the third in both games, but on Friday, they allowed a Minnesota-Duluth goal just 57 seconds in and it was all downhill from there. The Bulldogs scored again later in the period and wound up outshooting Providence 13-5 in the frame. The Friars turned the tables on Saturday, though. They found the back of the net twice, outshot UMD 12-7 and won the majority of the 1-on-1 battles. Showing that resiliency against a talented team like Minnesota-Duluth is obviously a promising sign for the young Friars.

-Alex Beaudry showed just how good of a goalie he can be on any given night. He almost single-handedly kept the game scoreless in the first, as the Bulldogs controlled play for the vast majority of the period and registered seven shots on goal from below the faceoff dots. He made several more key saves in the second and third, and he couldn’t have done a whole lot on either UMD goal. As has been the case throughout Beaudry’s college career, though, the question remains of whether or not he can be that kind of goalie every night. He wasn’t that kind of goalie on Friday night. (more…)

Boston – Northeastern’s Joseph Manno scored two of the team’s three goals in Friday’s night’s 4-3 overtime loss to Boston College Saturday night, the first of his college career. When BC scored within the first two minutes, Northeastern answered quickly with an equalizer. By the end of the second period, the Huskies held a 3-1 advantage over the Eagles, but BC’s second goal would prove to change the game, giving them the boost they needed to get back in it.

That momentum got the Eagles to overtime, where a goal from Bill Arnold gave them the win with just a minute to play in the extra session. The win brings BC to 3-0-0 in Hockey East play and 5-1-0 overall, while Northeastern fell to 1-3-1 in league and overall play.

What I saw

Penalties — a lot of them. BC tallied 10 and Northeastern seven, but it felt like someone was constantly headed to the box. Between boarding, hooking and roughing, the refs stayed busy.

Northeastern’s Chris Rawlings was strong. While the score was close, shot numbers would suggest otherwise with BC outshooting the Huskies 43 to 22. In Northeastern’s last win, 3-0 against New Hampshire, much of the credit for the shutout had to go to the defensive pairings in front of Rawlings, but Saturday night the goaltender was confident in each of his saves, not much hesitation or fidgeting. Just clean saves on a lot of really good shots from BC.

What I thought

This was a Boston rivalry at it’s finest. The history between the two teams mixed with the talent level made for great hockey. It was really interesting to see the interaction between BC’s Johnny Gaudreau, a former Northeastern commit, and his “could have been” teammates and former USHL teammate Vinny Saponari. He definitely took some heat on the ice between chirping and a few scuffles.

Bill Arnold is going to be key for BC moving forward. It’s only October and it feels like the sophomore is already having a huge season. He leads the Eagles offense with five goals, and he clinched Saturday’s win with that overtime goal with just 60 seconds to play. Arnold and the BC offense put an awful lot of pressure on Northeastern’s defense in the first period.

Good looks from Northeastern’s freshman Joseph Manno. First home game against BC team isn’t a bad time to score your first two collegiate goals. The line of Manno, freshman Ludwig Karlsson and sophomore Braden Pimm is young, but it certainly didn’t look green against a strong BC team. All three find themselves among Northeastern’s top six leading scorers, Pimm with two goals and three assists, Karlsson with one goal and three assists, and Manno now with his two goals.

What they said

“We found a way to win a hockey game that was slipping away from us, especially when we took those two penalties in the third period, so the ability to sustain that energy level even though we’re down and time was winding down really impressed myself as a coach watching our club … We felt very fortunate that Billy’s [Arnold] stick was up there, he caught that puck of the shaft of his stick, must have been a baseball player growing up.”

— BC head coach Jerry York on his team’s play and Bill Arnold

“I just remember the line before I had a really good shift, and we got smart changes and were able to keep the puck down in their zone. I think it was Kevin Hayes who threw the puck out to Patch Albert. We talk a lot about going to the net and getting bodies to the net, so I went to the net, and Patch put the puck down there and when you do that good things happen and I was able to get a stick on it.”

– Bill Arnold on his game-winning goal

“When you lose a two goal lead in your own building, that’s not a good thing whether it’s a No. 1 team in the country or a No. 10 team in the country. But those are things we’ll continue to work at.”

– Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan

What they didn’t say

Still no word from Jim Madigan as to when Cody Ferriero and Rob Dongara will be back on the ice for Northeastern. It looks like he’s going to be a strict disciplinarian, because Ferriero and Dongara surely would have been useful on the ice against a top team like BC, but for a team whose season start was plagued with disciplinary issues, it seems best.

What else you should know

Matthews Arena was over capacity Saturday night with 4,746 in attendance. It was the biggest crowd Matthews has seen this season.

BC lost junior defenseman Patrick Wey. A skate blade went through the tongue of his skate and severed a tendon in his foot. He can be expected to be out for six to eight weeks and was headed to the hospital to hopefully get the tendon sewn back together post game.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College received two goals from Bill Arnold in a largely uncontested 4-2 win over Massachusetts on Friday night. After a fairly even first period ended with the Eagles up, 2-0, BC took over the second period, outshooting UMass, 14-2, and draining any confidence, momentum and energy the Minutemen may have felt after the first period.

Goaltender Parker Milner started for the Eagles and played strong, turning away all but two of UMass’ 20 shots. As we’ve seen fro the Eagles in recent years, Friday’s win was thorough team victory. All four lines contributed to the win, and the three defensive pairings BC coach Jerry York sent out handled their assignments with confidence and ease.

What I saw

• BC forwards have more confidence in their defensemen than any other group I’ve ever seen. Early in the game, UMass succeeded in establishing a forecheck, but the Eagle defensemen prevented them from turning any of their work behind net into quality looks from Grade-A. As the Minutemen tired, which took about 17 whole minutes, the BC forwards seemed to begin their transitions up ice early. At first, this just seemed like laziness. They weren’t getting back on defense and supporting their defensemen. It became clear, though, that the BC forwards know their defensive corps — led by the defensive defensmen in Hockey East Brian Dumoulin — can handle any pressure from anyone, especially a young, inexperience team like UMass.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The first period looked good for Massachusetts, but the second was terrible and the third got worse, as the Minutemen dropped a decision to Boston College, 4-2, at Conte Forum Friday night.

UMass skated with BC for much of the first period before a series of bad penalties and largely ineffective power plays allowed the Eagles to pad their lead. The loss dropped UMass’ record to 1-2-1 on the season, and the Minutemen are still without a win in three Hockey East games.

What I saw

• The Minutemen played an even first period with BC until they started taking bad penalties. As the massive sophomore class continues to grow, the Minutemen will improve their game immensely. Still, bad penalties taken by experienced players are unacceptable for a club so heavily weighted toward underclassmen. Senior captain T.J. Syner took three minors in the game and received a 10-minute misconduct late in the third period after complaining about a call on fellow senior captain Danny Hobbs, who had his own problems with penalties, spending four minutes the box.

• Jeff Teglia is the only reason the score wasn’t far more lopsided. In the second period, the Eagles outshot UMass, 14-2. The sophomore goaltender whose freshman season ended with dreadful numbers due to injury and wildly inexperienced team in front of him when he was healthy. Cahoon believes Teglia is the type of goaltender that can win championships in this league, pointing out the Clark Cup he won with the Omaha Lancers of the United State Hockey League. He finished the game with 31 saves, receiving little support from his teammates. Two of the Boston College goals came on the power play, and Bill Arnold’s second, which made it 3-1, came just as another penalty expired.

• UMass’ top five forwards are capable of keeping this team in games, but the team as a whole lacks true centers to direct the offense. Also, despite success last weekend, Cahoon opted to juggle his lines against BC to help create more balance throughout his lineup. Branden Gracel is developing and centered Syner and Hobbs on Friday. Last weekend, when sophomore Mike Pereira centered Syner and Hobbs, the trio combined for 15 points in UMass’ two games. Following the loss to BC, Cahoon said he chose to split the dynamic trio up in hopes of making his offense deeper. On Friday, Pereira shifted to the left wing beside center Eric Filiou and right wing Conor Sheary. The group failed to produce much offense for UMass. It will be interesting to see the combination Cahoon sends out next weekend when the Minutemen play a home-and-home with Boston University beginning Friday night in Amherst. (more…)

On a night where New Hampshire scored its first goal of the young season and played as well as its opponent, Boston College, it was the Eagles that earned the victory, behind a phenomenal performance from goaltender Parker Milner.

The scoreboard read 5-1 in BC’s favor, but the scoreboard was no indication of how the game actually played out.

What I saw

• For the final two periods of the game, UNH outplayed a seemingly tired Boston College club coming off a big three-game stretch and trip west. Parker Milner rebounded from an early goal to make 39 saves in the game, including 34 in the final two periods to lift BC to the win.
• Many of the UNH faithful were given a false sense of hope in the early going as Nick Sorkin scored a power-play goal early in the first period. The goal was the first of the season for UNH, only to see Milner take over the game from that point forward.
• UNH had a lot of shots and control time throughout the final 30 minutes of the game but many of the shots taken were long range, as the Eagles D kept the Wildcats out of Grade-A. (more…)