#5 Boston College vs. #7 Massachusetts, vs. Boston University
- A crucial weekend lies ahead as #5 Boston College and #7 UMass clash on Friday night at the Mullins Center for first place in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings. The Eagles will then shift their attention to the premier college hockey tournament, the Beanpot, against arch-rival Boston University.
- The Minutemen and the Eagles have already faced off twice this season, each taking a win after a two-game series Jan. 10-11. The road team won each contest.
- UMass spent last weekend duking it out with the UNH Wildcats, where they managed to earn one conference point off a 1-1 draw Saturday night, after falling, 1-0, on Friday. Senior Jack Suter (Omaha, Neb.) netted the only goal for his team to extend Saturday's game into overtime play.
- The Eagles hosted Maine last weekend, and after two overtime battles, dropped four conference points to the Black Bears. Rookie forward Matt Boldy (Millis, Mass.) recorded three assists in the two game series, a team high for the weekend and had a league-best 15 shots on net.
- On Monday night, Boston College will line up once again with the Terriers of Boston University for a rematch of the Battle of Comm Ave., this time on TD Garden ice in the Beanpot. The Eagles most recently took a 4-3 win in their last meet up on Jan. 18. The game will be shown live on NESN.
#13 Northeastern vs. #9 Providence, vs. #16 Harvard
- Northeastern kicks off a difficult stretch through the month of February, facing #9 Providence on Friday before taking on #16 Harvard in the 68th annual Beanpot Tournament on Monday night. The Huskies then travel to Maine, where the Black Bears are 7-0-2 this season, and have home-and-homes with #14 UMass Lowell and #5 Boston College to close the second month of 2020.
- The contest with the Friars will conclude the three-game regular-season series for the 2019-20 season. They currently stand at a 1-1-0 in the series, as the Friars won the first game, 3-2, and the Huskies came back for a 7-3 victory the next night on Nov. 15-16.
- It has been three years since Northeastern has last seen Harvard in Beanpot. The Huskies enter TD Garden as reigning Beanpot and Hockey East Tournament champions.
- Last year, in their second-consecutive Beanpot victory, the Huskies defeated Boston University in a 2-1 overtime decision to advance to the title game. There, Jim Madigan's squad grabbed a 4-2 victory over Boston College to hoist the legendary trophy.
New Hampshire vs. UConn (home and home)
- A home-and-home series for UNH and UConn begins Friday night at the Whittemore Center. Last season these two met twice, once ending in a 2-2 overtime draw and the Wildcats claiming the second game, 6-0.
- This past weekend, New Hampshire took three of four league points from the #7 Minutemen. Friday night, the Wildcats defeated UMass, 1-0, at the Mullins Center, and Saturday night they took them to a sudden death battle, which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
- Junior goaltender Mike Robinson (Bedford, N.H.) was named Hockey East Player of the Week for his outstanding play on the weekend, recording 57 saves on 58 total shots for New Hampshire.
- It was blue-liner Will MacKinnon (Plymouth, Mich.) who scored the lone goal and game-winner for the 'Cats in Friday night's triumph, earning them two crucial conference points on the road against the top team in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings.
- The Huskies of UConn participated in the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival last weekend where they lined up with in-state rivals #18 Quinnipiac and Yale, falling short to both teams in 3-2 setbacks.
- Despite not coming out on top, sophomore Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, B.C.) contributed two goals to the weekend, one in each game.
Vermont vs. Boston University, vs. RPI
- The Catamounts will host Boston University on Friday night to start their weekend, and then hit the road to RPI for a non-conference match up on Saturday. Vermont has both a 0-1-1 record against the Terriers this season after two-game weekend in Boston on Nov. 22-23.
- Last weekend, Vermont traveled south to North Andover where they fought neck and neck with the Warriors of Merrimack. Though falling to the Warriors in overtime on Saturday, 4-3, on Friday the 'Cats earned one conference point in a 5-5 draw.
- The Terriers gained three of four important conference points last weekend when they faced off with #14 UMass Lowell twice. A five-goal outburst in just 9:58 in the third period for BU and a 17-save shutout for Ashton Abel (Fort McMurray, Alta.) at Agganis Arena delivered the Terriers a 5-0 win. This was the first home start and shutout of Abel's career. Forward Patrick Harper (New Canaan, Conn.) posted two goals and an assist, all within five minutes.
- On Saturday, the Terriers and River Hawks took and a trip into overtime, leaving the two squads with a 2-2 tie.
Merrimack at Maine
- Merrimack travels to Orono for a weekend double-header with the Black Bears of Maine. Last season, Maine took three of the four possible points from the two-game series at Lawler Rink.
- Merrimack earned three of four league points against Vermont in a pair of come-from-behind games in North Andover last weekend. Freshman Mac Welsher (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) capped a come-from-behind win Saturday night when he netted the overtime winner to lift Merrimack to a 4-3 win. It was the rookie's second goal of the night after he kick-started a three-goal rally for the Warriors at 13:54 of the third period
- Maine made their trip to Boston College worth it, walking away with four conference points over the fifth-nationally ranked Eagles. Both contests at Conte Forum went into extended play, with Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.), netting the overtime game-winner on Friday, and Patrick Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) following the trend on Saturday.
- This week's Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week went to the backbone of the Black Bears, Jeremy Swayman (Anchorage, Alaska), for standing strong between the pipes with 73 saves on the weekend.
