NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — A three-goal second period propelled Merrimack College to a 6-0 victory over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday night in front of 2,489 fans at Lawler Arena. Junior Sam Marotta made 30 saves in his second career shutout.

Merrimack blew the game open in the second period as John Heffernan picked up his third goal of the season off of a rebound after a shot from Shawn Bates. Just over four minutes later, Vinny Scotti made the score 4-0 in favor of the home team with the assists going to his line mates John Gustafsson and Connor Toomey. Collins picked up a power-play tally with 1:20 left in the second period as he beat Matt Morris under his blocker.

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Durham NH – UNH responded well after a 5 -2 loss on Friday night to the same Boston College team that they played on this night. The teams would play an even first period that saw BC leave with a 10-9 advantage in shots, but nothing to show for it and the teams tied at zero. The second period was much different however as BC freshman defender, Michael Matheson, would take two ill-advised penalties; first a hitting from behind two minute minor and then a contact to the head on a blindside hit as he exited the penalty box on his first penalty. UNH would then get a five on three power-play for two minutes midway through the five minute major. They sent shot after shot at Parker Milner but the BC goaltender stood tall and UNH wasted opportunities to take a 1-0 lead. 53 seconds after the penalties had expired, the Wildcats would get their revenge as Dan Correale faked a defender on a two on one and found Matt Willows all alone in front, where Willows gave New Hampshire the 1-0 lead with just 47 seconds left in the second period.

The third period was evenly played as Brooks Dyroff would tie the score at seven minutes, 57 seconds. UNH would get a late power-play on  a Kevin Hayes tripping call and would capitalize. Justin Agosta took a one-timer from the point and John Henrion found the puck in front of the Eagle net and put it past Parker Milner to give UNH the late 2-1 lead with 4:48 remaining.

The Wildcats would hang on for the 2-1 win over Boston College sending home the sellout crowd of 6501 at the Whittemore Center home happy. The win improves New Hampshire to 14-4-2 and 9-3-1 in Hockey East, as Boston College fell to 13-4-2, 10-3-1. The win pulls UNH within two points of BC in the Hockey East standings with a game in hand and also pulls UNH into a tie with this same BC team and Quinnipiac for first in the Pairwise rankings. Read the rest of this entry »

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Despite being outshot 42-22, and 21-6 to start the first frame, Denver defeated Nebraska-Omaha Friday evening at the Magness Arena, 7-4. Pioneer’s Matt Tabrum and Zac Larraza each recorded two goals on the night; the latter of which was credited with getting the game-winner. Maverick Ryan Walters put home his NCAA leading 14th goal, while also notching his 34th and 35th points. Nebraska-Omaha goaltender John Faulkner stopped just 15-of-21 shots.

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MINNEAPOLIS- After defeating Boston College and Notre Dame, two top-5 teams, in a span of 9 days by a combined 12-2 score, Friday’s WCHA game against Alaska-Anchorage (3-12-4, 1-11-3 WCHA) was an easier match-up on paper for the top-ranked Gophers.

But of course that forgets one little detail: hockey is not played on paper.

After Seawolves sophomore Scott Allen gave his team a 3-2 lead with 5:47 remaining in regulation, Minnesota (15-3-3, 7-3-3 WCHA) scored power play goals by Nick Bjugstad, his second of the game, and Ben Marshall, with 50.8 seconds left, to defeat Alaska-Anchorage 4-3. Both goals occurred during a questionable five minute major to Tyler Currier for checking Gopher captain Zach Budish from behind with 4:08 remaining in regulation.

It was the second time Minnesota had to come back. Earlier, Quinn Sproule scored on Adam Wilcox, who made 17 saves, 5:17 into Friday’s game and UAA was the first team to hold a lead on the Gophers since November 30th. The Seawolves controlled play for much of the first 10 minutes, however, a power play goal by Kyle Rau and even-strength shot by Bjugstad gave the Gophers a 2-1 lead after two periods. That set the stage for Alaska-Anchorage forwards Daniel Naslund and Allen to score 4 minuets apart in the third period before Minnesota’s drastic comeback. Read the rest of this entry »

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — There was no blown lead this time. Two nights after seeing a 5-2 third-period lead turn into a 6-5 overtime loss to Harvard, Boston University picked up a 4-1 win over Merrimack. Wade Megan led the way with a goal and an assist, and he was the one who opened the scoring 12:20 into the first on a shorthanded goal. The Terrier captain picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, beat two Merrimack (7-9-4, 5-5-1 Hockey East) defenders, and fired a wrist shot over Rasmus Tirronen’s glove.

Sahir Gill made it 2-0 BU 3:51 into the second when he found some space at the top of the crease and redirected a nice slap pass from Alexx Privitera. The Terriers (12-7-0, 9-4-0 HE) upped the lead to 3-0 later in the period. Megan led a rush down the left wing before sending a saucer pass to the front that Cason Hohmann poked past Tirronen. Matt Nieto added to the lead midway through the third when he buried a pass from Evan Rodrigues. The Warriors finally got on the board with 6:22 left in the game when Kyle Bigos fired a slap shot through traffic.

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College defeated New Hampshire, 5-2, at Conte Forum on Friday night. The game marked Johnny Gaudreau’s first back with the Eagles since leading the United States to a gold medal in Ufa, Russia, at the World Junior Championships. Gaudreau scored a goal and assisted on a pair of Pat Mullane tallies to lead BC to victory.

Senior goaltender Parker Milner made 31 saves in the win, including 12 in the third period with UNH desperately trying to erase a four-goal deficit. The Wildcats scored the game’s first goal, when Jay Camper redirected a Matt Willows centering pass by Milner. BC scored the games next five goals to earn the win.

What I Saw

• At this point, it’s no surprise that Gaudreau is among the best players in the nation — probably the world as far as amateur players go. Comparing BC’s play on Friday with its performance last Friday against Yale illustrates the importance of Gaudreau to this BC team. A season ago, the Eagles rolled three lines that could score against anyone in the country. The lineup isn’t quite as deep as it was then, and Gaudreau’s ability to create scoring chances from almost nothing is what separate BC from other teams. On Friday, his return to the lineup was felt instantly. The Eagles weren’t at their best early on, but they managed chances every time Gaudreau was on the ice. The rest of the Eagle forwards caught up as the period progressed, and the line of Kevin Hayes, Bill Arnold and Destry Straight was especially effective. Needless to say, any team will suffer when its best player is removed from the lineup. Gaudreau is such a unique player, though, his role simply can’t be replaced.  Read the rest of this entry »

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BOSTON — In a battle between a pair of struggling Hockey East squads, Northeastern and Maine skated to a 1-1 tie at Matthews Arena Friday night. The contest remained close for the first two periods, despite seemingly adequate power play opportunities for each team.

Senior Chris Rawlings offered a strong performance in net for the Huskies, making 42 saves. His counterpart, Martin Ouellette, was also impressive stopping 31 opportunities. But the Black Bears decidedly generated more of the chances.

What I Saw

In overtime, both teams traded scores chances but neither could break the stalemate. Maine played its strongest period in the third but failed to generate the one opportunity that could solve Rawlings. The Black Bears likely were more deserving of the two points, but ties in Hockey East on the road are almost always a commendable achievement — especially for the last place team.

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Before the second half of WCHA conference play begins, I feel like it would be a good opportunity to step back and reflect upon the first half of the season. There have been some ups and downs along the way. Players who have expected to dominate have struggled while a few teams have exceeded every expectation from the preseason. Most importantly, the play continues to live up to the high standards of the WCHA. It’s a treat to watch all 12 teams every weekend and with 6 teams within 4 points of first place, the final second half of the conference as we know it cannot get any better.

So without further adieu, here are my WCHA first-half awards. Winners receive nothing except for the praise of seeing their name on the internet. Those excluded will have others make arguments for them because this is the internet. Read the rest of this entry »

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I haven’t done one of these since the first half, and for that I am completely sorry. Real world catches up on all of us I suppose and last week I was catching up on Dartmouth Ledyard Bank Tournament coverage by keeping all of you in the know with features and what not in the days after.

This week marks the return of this preview and I couldn’t have picked a better week to restart, as there is an absolutely huge matchup between the top two teams in Hockey East. New Hampshire and Boston College will meet this weekend in a crucial conference matchup, which will have huge implications on the national picture as well. Another crucial matchup will be UMass and Providence facing off in a home and home series that could have a big impact on the final home-ice spot come Hockey East tournament time. There are many other crucial matchups as well as the teams now get into the meat of the Hockey East schedule, without further ado let’s get to previewing the matchups. Read the rest of this entry »

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The holidays are over, and that means we’re back to conference play. Although I didn’t have time to write up last week’s blog entry, I did tweet out my rankings. So the “Last week” does actually refer to last week and not pre-break.

1. Minnesota (14-3-3, 6-3-3 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers beat Notre Dame 4-1 on Tuesday to extend their unbeaten streak to six games. Prior to that, they outscored Air Force and Boston College 12-1 en route to winning the Mariucci Classic. Nick Bjugstad had two goals and four assists in the tournament, while Sam Warning, Nate Condon and Zach Budish each had two points in Tuesday’s victory over the Irish.

2. North Dakota (12-5-3, 7-2-3 WCHA) — Last week: 2
UND extended its unbeaten streak to seven games by sweeping Holy Cross over the weekend, winning 5-2 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday. They outshot the Crusaders 78-34 in the series. Corban Knight registered two goals and four assists on the weekend and is now tied for third in the country with 29 points on the season. He has a 15-game point streak, and has multiple points in each of the last five.

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