The Huskies of UConn are to participate in the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival this weekend
Hockey East Men's Weekend Preview
News and notes from the upcoming weekend of Hockey East action

Maine at #4 Boston College

- After a weekend off from competition, a rested group of Black Bears travel down to Boston to face off twice with the #4 Eagles of Boston College. In the 2018-19 season, Maine defeated Boston College each of the three times they met, with the third game extending into overtime.

- Last Wednesday night the Black Bears went up two goals at UConn, but ended up falling, 3-2, when the final buzzer rang. The two early goals came from forwards Jakub Sirota (Prerov, Czech Republic) and Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.).

- #4 Boston College took home four big conference points this past weekend with a 3-2 win over then-#13 UMass Lowell and a 4-3 win in the latest installment of the battle of Comm Ave. with Boston University. Boston College now sits in second place in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings with 18 points, tied with Providence despite having played three fewer games than the Friars. They are one point out of first place with two games in hand on Massachusetts.

- Logan Hutsko (Tampa, Fla.) was named Hockey East Player of the Week after posting three goals on the weekend. Other noteworthy weekends came from Julius Mattila (Tampere, Finland) with one goal and three assists, and David Cotton (Parker, Texas) with three assists in Friday night's showdown alone.


#7 Massachusetts vs. New Hampshire (home-and-home)

- A home-and-home series between UMass and UNH will begin Friday night at the Mullins Center. These squads have met once already this season on Nov. 10, where the Wildcats took the win, 3-1.

- The Minutemen spent last weekend in Burlington, Vermont where they swept a two-game series with the Catamounts. A 4-0 shutout for goaltender Matt Murray (St. Albert, Alta. ) and a career first hat-trick from Mitchell Chaffee (Rockford, Mich.) paced UMass in Friday's contest.

- Saturday ended in a 3-1 victory with Filip Lindberg (Espoo, Finland) between the pipes, recording 34 saves on the night.

- The Wildcats split a weekend with the #10 Friars of Providence. They started with a 4-3 win on Friday night. UNH is now 8-2-0 at home and 4-2-0 against nationally ranked teams.

- Friday night sophomore Angus Crookshank (North Vancouver, B.C.) led the way with two goals for the 'Cats, one of them being the game winner at 16:15 of the third period.


#12 UMass Lowell vs. Boston University (home-and-home)

- A two-game battle between Boston University and #12 UMass Lowell kicks off Friday at Agganis Arena before moving over to the Tsongas Center on Saturday. The squads most recently met in a 3-3 draw on Oct. 25.

- Most recently, the River Hawks took down Merrimack on Saturday night, 6-4, after falling to Boston College, 3-2, the night prior. Freshman Andre Lee (Karlstad, Sweden) recorded a goal and an assist in Saturday's win, while defenseman Seth Barton (Kelowna, B.C.) tallied three assists and Tyler Wall

- Boston University comes fresh off of the Battle of Comm Ave., where they were defeated by the BC Eagles, 4-3, in Saturday's road contest. Captain Patrick Curry (Schaumburg, Ill.) netted two of the three Terrier goals.

- Friday night, BU ran another tight race at Merrimack, able to top the Warriors, 3-2, after falling into a 2-0 deficit. Goals game from three different Terriers to get the win, including Domenick Fensore (Thornwood, N.Y.), Jake Wise (Reading, Mass.), and Jack DeBoer (Madison, N.J.). Ashton Abel (Fort McMurray, Alta.) also made his first collegiate start and blocked 27 of the 29 shots he faced.


Vermont at Merrimack

- Vermont hits the road this weekend, traveling down to Merrimack for a two-game series starting on Friday night. Last season, the Catamounts defeated the Warriors twice at Gutterson Arena, including a game-two, sudden-death victory on Jan. 26, 4-3.

- The Warriors faced off with two different league opponents last weekend. They first hosted Boston University and were defeated, 3-2. Saturday night they traveled to Lowell and gave the #13 River Hawks a run, ultimately falling, 6-4.

- Merrimack rookie blueliner, Zac Uens (Belleville, Ont.) had three assists on the weekend, trying for the most points of any league freshman last week.

- Vermont hosted UMass this past weekend, falling twice to the seventh-ranked Minutemen.

- Senior Matt Alvaro (Toronto, Ont.) scored the lone goal for the green and gold in the two-game series. Stefanos Lekkas (Elburn, Ill.) recorded backto- back 30-plus-save outings, making 31 stops on Friday night and 36 saves on Saturday.


UConn vs. #17 Quinnipiac, vs. Sacred Heart or Yale

- The Huskies of UConn are to participate in the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival this weekend, first lining up with #17 Quinnipiac on Saturday. The last time they faced the Bobcats was October 2018, where they were defeated, 4-2. Pending the results of the semi-finals, the Huskies will face off on Sunday with either Sacred Heart or Yale.

- UConn earned four key conference points in their last two contests to snap a five-game winless streak. The first, last Wednesday, was a 3-2 victory over Maine at home. Saturday night UConn proceeded to take down #12 Northeastern in an overtime period ended by senior Benjamin Freeman (Falmouth, Maine) with less than three minutes remaining in the extra frame.

- Two Huskies were honored Monday with weekly awards. Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Vladislav Firstov (Yaroslavl, Russia) netted three crucial goals in two wins, two of which came in the 3-2 victory over Northeastern. Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week went to sophomore netminder Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic ) who backboned UConn with 72 saves.