Boston – The Northeastern Huskies picked up their sixth straight win Saturday night, ending the hot streak of Mass. –Lowell, a team that was on a five game winning streak of their own. The 3-2 loss for the River Hawks brought them to 7-4-0 in Hockey East, 10-5-0 overall, where the Huskies have just hit .500 for the first time this season with a 7-7-2 overall record and 4-7-3 in the conference.

What I saw

Mass. –Lowell is every bit the team their standings and buzz suggest they are. Their forwards are quick to the puck and aggressive, and the talent is clearly there. The number of shots this team takes is outstanding, and it’s certainly one of the reasons they’re the nation’s tenth best offensive power right now. The River Hawks are a young team right now, but early success only means good things for them moving forward as tonight’s goals came from freshman Scott Wilson and sophomore Derek Arnold.

The goaltending in this matchup, on both sides of the ice, was fantastic. Northeastern’s Chris Rawlings is finally proving himself to be a consistent, confident force on this team. He made 38 saves tonight and his stats during the Husky six game win streak are 1.28 GAA and a .951 save percentage. The River Hawks’ Doug Carr showed why he’s the sixth best goaltender in the country, even with this loss. His GAA on the season is 1.82 with a .934 save percentage. Both Carr and Rawlings were impressive tonight when it came to knowing when to hang back and when to come out of the crease.

Northeastern still isn’t taking enough chances and shots. While they are on a hot streak, they still have work to do. The Huskies are still being outshot by their opponents and shots tonight were 40-32 in favor of the River Hawks. Some nights, like tonight, they can get away with it, but if they’re looking for long-term success capitalizing on opportunities is something the team needs to improve upon as a whole.

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LOWELL, Mass. — Massachusetts-Lowell picked up its fifth straight win and eighth in its last nine games, beating Boston College 3-2 on Friday night. The River Hawks (10-4-0, 7-3-0 HE) opened the scoring 4:57 into the game on a great individual effort by David Vallorani. The senior winger took a pass from Chad Ruhwedel and split two BC defenders before roofing a shot over Brian Billett’s (24 saves) glove. Derek Arnold upped the lead to two with a power-play goal seven minutes later. The Eagles (12-6-0, 9-4-0 HE) cut the lead in half early in the second with a power-play goal from Barry Almeida, but Lowell regained the two-goal lead midway through the third when Joseph Pendenza beat Billett on a breakaway.

What I saw

-Doug Carr continued his outstanding season in the Lowell net. The sophomore netminder stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced and is now 9-1-0 on the season with a league-leading .934 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average. He has yet to allow more than three goals in a game this year, and has given up just seven total in his last five games. Obviously a lot of credit goes to the strong defense in front of him, but he’s been great no matter how much credit you give the rest of the team. He moves well, stays square to shots and doesn’t give up big rebounds. As he put it after the game, Carr is at his best when everything looks easy.

– Lowell’s Terrence Wallin was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct 3:48 into the game for contact to the head after landing a hard hit on Bill Arnold. Not only did the River Hawks kill the penalty, but Derek Arnold drew a hooking call on Paul Carey less than a minute into the power play, and Vallorani wound up scoring during the ensuing 4-on-4. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hi folks, I wanted to hop on and give my power rankings for the week… There is some sort of illness traveling around the Myers household this weekend however (Ebola, it seems like), so this won’t be long.

I will blog again at some point this weekend and I am very excited to take in my first live Michigan Tech game this season (something I thought I’d never say).

Here we go:

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 1)

They kept winning. They stay here.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 2)

Read above.

3 — Colorado College (Last week: 4)

They won and didn’t lose, so they moved up.

4 — Denver (Last week: 5)

They lost, but they still moved up. You’ll see why below.

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Durham, N.H.- On a night that New Hampshire started a local product, Casey Desmith, and scored first BU spoiled the night by being opportunistic and beating New Hampshire 2-1. Kieran Millan, who has been inconsistent on the season, stole the show making impressive save after impressive save.

Wade Megan tied the game early in the second for the Terriers and three minutes later Corey Trivino scored the eventual game winner off a funky carom off the board as the two goals proved to be enough to defeat New Hampshire.

What I saw

-Boston University stifled UNH’s offense and kept them to low percentage shots, especially in the second period. In that second period, BU buried its two opportunities as Wade Megan took advantage of a two on one powerplay rush to bury it behind UNH goaltender, Casey Desmith. Nearly three minutes later Sahir Gill took a strange bounce off the back boards and passed to a wide open Corey Trivino who put it into the net giving the Terriers a 2-1 advantage, in which case they would never look back.

-Freshman Casey Desmith played a poised and controlled game, in his first collegiate start. He put his team in a position to win and stopped everything he had a chance too. The defense in front of him did the things that they haven’t in front of Matt Di Girolamo and it showed in the performance by the young local product, Desmith. Read the rest of this entry »

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After a weekend filled with sweeps and upsets, Hockey East will embark on a relatively light weekend in terms of games. This weekend sends all but Merrimack and Vermont on the holiday break, where many teams have upwards of 20 days off to reflect on the half that was. This is also a great time to reflect on where your team is and where the league is. With only five games on the docket Thursday-Saturday, positioning and going off on a positive note will be the goal of all Hockey East teams.

I hate to sound like a broken record in the past two weeks, but more kudos has to go out to Northeastern. Not one college hockey fan in the country, including myself, would have ever predicted that the Huskies would go out to South Bend and take two against Notre Dame, but they did. In the past three games Northeastern has defeated Notre Dame twice and Michigan, all on the road. Northeastern will return to Hockey East conference action after a successful two weeks against CCHA foes. Read the rest of this entry »

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1. Air Force – The Falcons continue to roll. A sweep of AIC this weekend gives the Falcons four straight wins. They outscored AIC 15-6 on the weekend. Kyle De Laurell continues to have a career year. He has already set a career high with 11 goals. His 21 points lead Atlantic Hockey. He is on a six game point streak in which he has accumulated 12 points, including six goals. The Falcons don’t play again until Dec. 30 and 31.

2. Mercyhurst – After a winless weekend, the Lakers got back to winning with a win and tie against Army. Chirs Bodo continues to impress in his freshman year. He had three points on the weekend, including two goals. He now has recorded at least one point in seven of the Lakers last 10 games. The Lakers travel to upstate New York to take on Canisius and Niagara. Read the rest of this entry »

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Boston College coach Jerry York’s decision to surround center Bill Arnold with wingers Chris Kreider and Johnny Gaudreau has already resulted in minor bursts from the trio. It’s been two games, and each player’s minor scoring droughts have morphed in point streaks. Should York keep the gifted group together for this weekend’s test in Lowell, this list could include the names of its most usual suspects when we officially close the first half.

For now, some interesting names enter the final weekend of the first half on some equally interesting streaks. On the other end, three players vital to their respective teams’ success are coming off forgettable weeks — or even months — that have contributed to extended losing streaks.

Three up

Spencer Abbott, Senior, Forward, Maine

The Black Bears ended a three-game losing streak on Nov. 18 with a 2-2 tie in Amherst, Mass., against Massachusetts. Since, the club has pieced together a three-game winning streak punctuated by an easy 5-2 win over Vermont in Burlington on Saturday night.

In the middle of their sweep of the Catamounts was senior winger Spencer Abbott who began the weekend with five-point night on Friday. His three goals and two assists spurred a 6-4 win. In the second game, Abbott suffered a minor set back, picking up a mere four points — two goals and two assists — in Maine’s victory that clinched the season series with UVM. Read the rest of this entry »

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After minimal movement in last week’s power rankings, this week’s look like a stock market with all the rising and falling. Last week’s top three teams all lost at least once over the weekend, while four of the next five teams all earned sweeps.

1. Boston College (11-5-0, 8-3-0 HE) — Last week: 2

Merrimack’s two losses opened the door for BC to claim the top spot after splitting a pair of quirky games with BU. The Eagles lost 5-3 on Friday despite outshooting BU 45-15, then won 6-1 on Saturday despite being outshot 41-31. Freshman goalie Brian Billett picked up his second straight win Saturday, while Chris Kreider and Bill Arnold each had two goals and an assist on the weekend. BC leads the league with 3.69 goals per game.

2. Merrimack (9-2-1, 6-2-1 HE) — Last week: 1

The Warriors suffered their first loss of the season Friday with a 2-1 overtime defeat at Providence. The next night was worse, though, as they got smoked 6-1 at home by the Friars. Although Merrimack still leads the conference in team defense, it has plummeted to eighth in offense after scoring more than three goals just once in its last six games. Outside of Ryan Flanigan, Jesse Todd and Mike Collins, no Warrior forward has more than five points. Read the rest of this entry »

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The series between Boston College and Boston University received most of the attention this weekend as the Commonwealth Avenue schools split a pair played at both ends of the road. But it was a pair of sweeps — one completed in Durham, N.H., the other in North Andover, Mass. — that really cemented a pair of clubs as contenders in the 2011-12 Hockey East season.

UMass Lowell is a contender for more than just fourth place

The River Hawks defeated New Hampshire twice this weekend, and the wins clinched the season series for Norm Bazin’s club. It was a loss to UNH last month that many used to claim Lowell was little more than a mid-level club incapable of building on the three-game winning streak it had put together at that point. Since, UML has won four consecutive games with the pair over UNH coming most recently.

This weekend didn’t cement Lowell as a good team. We knew that before its game with UNH on Friday. What we — or maybe just I — gleaned from the results it post on Friday and Saturday is that Lowell can win this league. Sophomore Doug Carr continued his brilliance with 45- and 33-save efforts this weekend, and the Lowell offense continued to display its depth with six different players scoring. Currently, eight different Lowell players have at least 10 points on the season. Read the rest of this entry »

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BOSTON — A night after after a troubling 5-3 loss to Boston University on Friday, six different Boston College players scored, as the Eagles earned their first win of the season over the Terriers at Agganis Arena with a 6-1 victory.

While BU’s win on Friday clinched the season series in Hockey East play, BC coach Jerry York viewed the weekend as a net positive. Aside from strong contributions from the players BC relies on, depth players and freshman goaltender Brian Billet pieced together strong weekends for the Eagles, who remain in first place in Hockey East.

What I saw

• The Boston College power play still can’t find it’s stride. The crisp, effortless puck movement York demands from his players is there, as is the creativity that gives opponents fits. But the finish is still lacking on the man advantage. On Friday, the Eagles finished two-for-11 on the power play and posted an 0-for-5 on Saturday night. York is happy with the overall direction of his power play units, and it’s likely that a few bounces will fix whatever ails them. Still, it’s rare to see a BC team so poor in this area of the game. There are a few elements missing from years past — BC has no real power forwards and lacks a point man capable of running the advantage as Joe Whitney did in his four seasons at the Heights. As the season progresses, any of the wildly talented players on the BC could fill these rolls, but no one has done yet. Read the rest of this entry »

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