HOCKEY EAST HEADLINES

UMass Lowell earned its first win of the 2020-21 season on Monday with a 2-1 road win at UConn. Rookie netminder Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) made 31 saves to become the first UMass Lowell goalie to win his collegiate debut since 2011. Welsch, named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week, set UMass Lowell’s new Division I record for saves in a winning debut.

Northeastern took five out of a possible six points in league play on a two-game road swing to Vermont. Rookies shined in the series, as Northeastern’s Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.) netted his first two career goals and also scored the shootout-winning strike to deliver the Huskies an extra point on Sunday. Fontaine’s classmate, Ty Jackson, (Oakville, Ont.) scored two goals. For the Catamounts, Ray Vitolins (Ogre, Latvia) registered his first career assist Saturday and scored his first career goal on Sunday.

Massachusetts earned its fifth win in league play on Wednesday with 6-2 win over UConn. Redshirt senior Carson Gicewicz (Orchard Park, N.Y.) scored twice, including one power-play goal, and added an assist for a three-point game. Gicewicz now has five points (4g, 1a) over his past two games and nine points (5g, 4a) in his last six games.

UConn’s Jonny Evans (North Delta, B.C.) extended his point streak to a career-best four games (2g, 3a) with a goal and an assist in two games. Hockey East talent is on display at the World Junior Championship. Team USA’s top three point-getters are all Hockey East products, including BU’s Trevor Zegras, BC’s Matt Boldy (Millis, Mass.) and PC’s Brett Berard (East Greenwich, R.I.) Boldy leads the tournament with three goals. Canada’s Alex Newhook (St. John’s, N.L.) has two goals and three points, while UConn’s Russian duo of Yan Kuznetsov (Murmansk, Russia) and Vladislav Firstov (Yaroslavl, Russia) claimed victory over Team USA in the opening game of the tournament.

HOCKEY EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Carson Gicewicz - Massachusetts

Carson Gicewicz, UMass (RS Sr., F; Orchard Park, N.Y.) Scored twice, including one power-play goal, and added an assist for a three-point game in UMass’ 6-2 win over UConn on Wednesday. Gicewicz has five points (4g, 1a) over his past two games and nine points (5g, 4a) in his last six games.

PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Gunnarwolfe Fontaine - Northeastern

Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.) netted his first two career goals, both coming on the power-play, and one assist in a 1-0-1 weekend at Vermont. In Sunday’s 2-2 draw, Fontaine also added the shootout-winning strike to deliver the Huskies an extra point in Hockey East play.

HOCKEY EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Henry Welsch - UMass Lowell

Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) made 31 saves in a 2-1 win at UConn on Dec. 21. He is the first UMass Lowell goalie to win his collegiate debut since 2011 and the performance goes down as UMass Lowell’s new Division I record for saves in a winning debut. In that Monday contest, he also stopped two breakaways late in the night with the game tied at 1-1.

HOCKEY EAST TOP PERFORMERS

Jonny Evans, UConn (Jr., F; North Delta, B.C.) Extended his point streak to a career-best four games (2g, 3a) with a goal and an assist in games against UMass Lowell and UMass last week. Evans assisted on UConn’s only goal in the loss to the River Hawks and then scored his second on the season at UMass. He leads the team in scoring this season with two goals and four assists.

Hudson Schandor, UConn (Fr., F; North Vancouver, B.C.) Had two points on the week, assisting on UConn’s lone goal in a 2-1 loss to UMass Lowell and then scoring his first collegiate goal in a setback at UMass.

Carl Berglund, UML (So., F; Hammaro, Sweden) Scored his first goal of the season in a 2-1 win at UConn on Dec. 21. He now leads the River Hawks with three points (1g, 2a) on the season.

Ty Jackson, NU (Fr., F; Oakville, Ont.) In an unbeaten weekend at Vermont, scored two goals to bring his total to four strikes in the first six games of his NCAA career.

Connor Murphy, NU (So., G; Hudson Falls, N.Y.) Stopped 43 shots over two games to backbone the Huskies to five of six points at Vermont.

Ray Vitolins, UVM (Fr., F; Ogre, Latvia) Registered his first career assist Saturday against No. 11 Northeastern and scored his first career goal on Sunday in the third period to secure a point in league play for the Catamounts.