#12 Northeastern vs. New Hampshire, vs. Colgate/Princeton (Friendship Four, Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- The Huskies of Northeastern and Wildcats of New Hampshire have flown across the pond to face off in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the Friendship Four tournament this weekend, the fifth iteration of the international tournament.
- All four of Friday's contests can be seen across New England on NESN, nationally on ESPN+, and on TSN in Canada. Saturday's third-place and championship games will be on NESNplus, nationally on ESPN+, and on TSN in Canada.
- This past weekend, the Huskies swept Maine in a two game series at Matthews Arena. Friday's 5-2 victory included a hat trick from forward, Tyler Madden (Deerfield Beach, Fla.), earning him the rights to Hockey East Player of the Week status. This was the first hat trick of his collegiate career.
- The Wildcats went 1-0-1 as they hosted the University of Michigan for a non-league match-up. Although they fell 4-1 in Friday's contest, Saturday night was a different story for the Wildcats. They took Michigan to an overtime period where Angus Crookshank (North Vancouver, British Columbia) put one away just 36 seconds into the 5 minute period. It was Crookshank's second goal of the game.
#14 Boston College at #9 Harvard
- A competitive battle between two top-15 ranked squads is in order this Friday at Harvard, as the #14 Eagles of Boston College take on the Crimson after toppling ECAC rival Yale, 6-2, on Tuesday night. BC had six different goal scorers in the mid-week match up.
- The 2019 Beanpot was the last time that these two saw each other, as the Eagles took a 2-1 win at the TD Garden in the consolation contest.
UConn vs. Miami
- Last weekend, UConn earned one league point in a two-game series with #13 Providence, going 0-1-1.
- Friday night's 3-3 draw was powered by sophomore Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, British Columbia), who scored two goals in the game.
- Husky netminder Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic), posted 73 saves on the weekend
#15 UMass Lowell vs. RPI, vs. #7 Penn State
- The River Hawks split a two-game series with RPI on Nov. 23 and 25, a rare home-and-home for the two schools who are separated by 150 miles.
- It has been since Nov. 2014 since Lowell clashed with Penn State, a split series, 1-1-0.
Merrimack vs. #7 Penn State, vs. RPI
- Last weekend, Merrimack had a home-and-home series with UMass and was able to gain a conference point with a 2-2 tie on Friday night. Rookie defender Liam Dennison (Manotick, Ont.) scored the game-tying goal with 2:06 left in the third period to force the overtime stalemate. Saturday night came down to the wire, as the Minutemen slipped past the Warriors, 3-2, with just 42 seconds left in the game after Merrimack led, 2-0, for much of the game.
- This weekend will be the first time Merrimack welcomes Penn State to Lawler Rink.
- Longtime Warrior play-by-play voice John Leahy is set to broadcast his 500th game behind the mic for Merrimack Saturday night in North Andover. He has been the voice of the Warriors since the 2005-06 season.
#10 Massachusetts vs. Quinnipiac (home and home)
- A home and home series between the #10 UMass and Bobcats of Quinnipiac begins Friday night in Hamden, Connecticut. The two programs were also competitors in the 2016 iteration of the Friendship Four Tournament.
- The Minutemen most recently lined up with the Bobcats last December for two games, where the series was split.
- UMass was put to the test last weekend as the Minutemen faced off with Merrimack. With a run into overtime, they salvaged a 3-3 tie on Friday night, and were able to rally to a 3-2 win on Saturday night after falling into a two-goal hole. The lead was taken with just 42 seconds remaining in the game on a goal from Cal Kiefiuk (Macomb, Mich.). This late game-winner earned the freshman forward Rookie of the Week honors.
Maine at St. Lawrence
- Last October, Maine swept SLU in a two game series that took place at the Alfond Arena. They outscored the Saints, 7-2, on the weekend.
- Junior goaltender Jeremy Swayman (Anchorage, Alaska) totaled 60 saves in a 0-2-0 weekend at Northeastern on the series, 38 coming from Saturday's contest alone.
Vermont at Arizona State
- A cross country trip is in store for the Catamounts of Vermont as they fly to Arizona State this weekend, as the two programs will meet for the first time ever.
- Vermont earned its first Hockey East point of the season last Saturday off a 3-3 tie at Boston University. It was junior Alex Esposito (West Haven, Conn.) that nabbed the game-tying tally with 4:04 remaining in regulation, sending it to sudden-death play.
- Senior goaltender Stefanos Lekkas (Elburn, Ill.) made 32 saves in the stalemate.
#13 Providence vs Brown
- The Friars will face off against their ECAC Hockey and cross-town rival Saturday night, as the Friars host Brown at the Schneider Arena in 34th annual Mayor's Cup.
- Providence defeated Brown twice last season, once in the Mayor's Cup, and once in the Ledyard Bank Classic that was hosted by Dartmouth College.
- In their home-and-home series with UConn last weekend, the Friars claimed three points off a 1-0-1 mark. The trio of league points lifted Providence into first place in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings. They now have 12 points and a 5-3-2 Hockey East record.
- Starting the series off with a Friday night draw, 3-3, they Friars offense revved up a notch to defeat the Huskies, 5-2, on Saturday. Freshman Craig Needham (Medford, Mass.) contributed a goal and an assist in the win.
Boston University vs. #2 Cornell (Madison Square Garden)
- Boston University heads to the Big Apple to take on #2 Cornell at Madison Square Garden this Saturday night. The Terriers will look to redeem themselves from a 4-3 loss in the last iteration of Red Hot Hockey in November 2017. In that contest, the Terriers handed Cornell a 3-0 lead halfway through the game before a wild third period saw three goals in the span of 3:11.
- BU is coming off a three-point weekend over Vermont at Agganis Arena last weekend. Graduate goaltender Sam Tucker (Wilton, Conn.) recorded a shutout on Friday night for a 3-0 win, and battled to a 3-3 overtime draw on Saturday night. He made 60 saves on the weekend, including 34 in the shutout.
- The Terriers most recently fell to Sacred Heart, 4-0, on Tuesday. Blueliner David Farrance (Victor, N.Y.) saw his point streak end at seven games in that contest. He currently leads all defenseman nationally with 10 goals overall and eight power-play tallies. No NCAA defenseman has more shots on net than Farrance's 51. All 10 of the junior's goals have come in the 10 Hockey East games he has played this season, putting him tied for fifth most goals in a single season in league history among defensemen and just the third blueliner to hit double digit goals since 2002-03.
