November 8, 2010

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK #30 MATT DIGIROLAMO, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Junior Goaltender; Ambler, Pa.) Stopped 55-of-57 shots (.965 save%) over the weekend leading UNH to a pair of 2-1 wins over BC and UML. Stopped 31 shots on Friday against the Eagles at Conte Forum and made 24 saves on Saturday at UMass-Lowell's Tsongas Center. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #3 CHARLIE COYLE, BOSTON U. (Freshman Forward; East Weymouth, Mass.) Coyle tallied the game-tying goal with 1:21 left in regulation on Saturday in the Terriers' 2-2 draw with Maine at Agganis Arena. He finished the game with four shots on goal and a +1 rating for the Terriers. PURE HOCKEY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #35 ALEX BEAUDRY, PROVIDENCE (Junior Goaltender; Cumberland, Ont.) Stopped 60 of 63 shots (.952 save%) in two games over the weekend, including a 29-save shutout performance over Merrimack on Friday and a 31-save effort on Saturday in the 3-3 tie with Vermont. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK NEW HAMPSHIRE WILDCATS The Wildcats earned two 2-1 road victories on the weekend at No. 4 BC on Friday and Saturday at UMass-Lowell. UNH outshot UMass-Lowell, 43-25 for the game on Saturday, including a 15-4 advantage in the second period. UNH's second line of John Henrion, Dalton Speelman and Austin Block accounted for all four goals, en route to the 'Cats four-point weekend.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Matt DiGirolamo of New Hampshire

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Patch Alber, BC (So., D, Clifton Park, N.Y.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) and a team-high +3 rating in the team's 1-1-0 week.

Derek Army, PC (Fr., F, North Kingstown, R.I.) Scored one goal in PC's 3-3 overtime tie against Vermont on Saturday.

Cam Atkinson, BC (Jr., F, Greenwich, Conn.) Scored twice in the team's 5-2 win over UML and assisted on BC's only goal vs. to UNH.

Connor Brickley, UVM (Fr., F, Everett, Mass.) Posted a goal and had an assist in Saturday's 3-3 tie at Providence.

Joe Cannata, MC (Jr., G, Wakefield, Mass.) Stopped 26 of 27 shots (.963 save%) at Providence Friday night.

Doug Carr, UML (Fr., G, Hanover, Mass.) Stopped 70-of-73 shots (.959 sv%) in a 3-1 win over Vermont and a 2-1 loss to #10 UNH.

Anthony DeCenzo, UVM (Fr., F, Hibbing, Minn.) Scored a power-play goal and had an assist in Saturday's 3-3 tie at Providence.

Chris Connolly, BU (Jr., F, Duluth, Minn.) Had a hand in both BU tallies in its 2-2 draw with Maine, scoring a goal for the third straight game.

Jeff Dimmen, Maine (Sr., D, Colorado Springs, Colo.) Scored and goal and added an assist in Maine's 2-2 draw with #3 BU Saturday.

Matt Ferreira, UML (Jr., F, Brampton, Ont.) Had three points (2g,1a) in three games for the River Hawks.

Connor Hardowa, UNH (So., D, Edmonton, Alta.) Assisted on both goals in UNH's 2-1 win over BC and was a +3 for the weekend.

John Henrion, UNH (So., F, Holden, Mass.) Tallied three points (2g,1a) and was a +4 on the weekend in two victories for the 'Cats.

Chris Kreider, BC (So., F, Boxford, Mass.) Scored his first two goals of the season in BC's 5-2 win over UMass-Lowell.

Wade MacLeod, NU (Sr., F, Coquitlam, B.C.) Scored his 15th-career power play goal against Niagara on Friday night.

Kieran Millan, BU (Jr., G, Edmonton, Alta.) Turned aside 34 shots in Saturday's 2-2 tie against Maine to keep the Terriers undefeated.

Gustav Nyquist, Maine (Jr., F, Malmo, Sweden) Scored his third goal of the season in 2-2 tie with Boston University.

Dalton Speelman, UNH (So., F, San Jose, Calif.) Registered two goals and one assist on the 2-0 weekend for New Hampshire.

Chris Rooney, PC (So., F, Canton, Mass.) Scored twice in an overtime tie versus Vermont on Saturday.

Tim Schaller, PC (So., F, Merrimack, N.H.) Recorded the game-winning goal against Merrimack and assisted on two goals in a tie with UVM.

Dan Sullivan, Maine (Fr., G, York. Pa.) Made a career-high 28 saves in 2-2 tie with No. 3 Boston University.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

BOSTON UNIVERSITY PENALTY KILL Has successfully killed off 36 of its opponents' last 37 power-play chances, including 22 straight

Connor Brickley, UVM (Everett, Mass.) Recorded his first career goal in a 3-3 tie at Providence on Saturday Chris Connolly , BU (Duluth, Minn.) Has scored a goal in three straight games and added two assists during the stretch

Anthony DeCenzo, UVM (Hibbing, Minn.) Recorded his first career goal in a 3-3 tie at Providence on Saturday

MATT DIGIROLAMO, UNH (AMBLER, PA.) Owns a 2.27 GAA and a .930 save percentage during current UNH's 4-0-2 unbeaten streak

Gustav Nyquist, Maine (Malmo, Sweden) Has tallied at least one point in all eight games this season

Joel Hanley, UMass (Keswick, Ont.) Has an active three-game point streak

UMass-Lowell's Penalty Kill has held opponents to one power play goal in the last 22 chances over six games games

NEW HAMPSHIRE WILDCATS Own a 4-0-2 record over the last six games with road wins at #3 Miami, #14 Cornell, #4 Boston College and UMass.-Lowell

Michael Pereira, UMass (West Haven, Conn.) Has a four-game point streak active with three goals and an assist after scoring against Army

Chris Rooney, PC (Canton, Mass.) Scored his first two career goals on Saturday against Vermont

Shayne Thompson, UML (Stiltsville , Ont.) Tallied his first career point on an assist against Vermont

UNH's line of John Henrion (Holden, Mass.), Dalton Speelman (San Jose, Calif.) and Austin Block (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Accounted for all four goals over the weekend for the Wildcats

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: BC played penalty-free hockey against New Hampshire (11/5) for the first time since a 2-1 overtime win against Massachusetts on Feb. 21 of last season. The team's 2-1 loss to New Hampshire snapped a five-game unbeaten streak against the Wildcats during which the Eagles went 3-0-2…Junior forward Paul Carey tallied two assists against UMass-Lowell (11/2) for his first multiple-point effort of the season...Freshman defenseman Isaac MacLeod registered his first collegiate assist on Chris Kreider's first of two goals in a 5-2 win over UMass-Lowell...Jimmy Hayes' goal against the River Hawks marked his second career shorthanded score; he last scored while skating shorthanded in a 5-3 win at New Hampshire in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Hockey East Tournament...Senior John Muse made 15 stops against UMass-Lowell to earn his 66th career victory, tying Matti Kaltiainen (2001-05) and Cory Schneider (2004-07) for second place on the BC's list…BC graduate Ben Smith '10 made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 29 and BC graduate Steven Gionta '06 made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 5, marking the 15th and 16th former Eagles to have seen NHL action this season.

Boston University: The Terriers are one of two undefeated teams in the nation with a record of 6-0-2 and are off to their best start in 33 years, as the 1977-78 national championship team won its first 21 contests…BU has had 20 different players record at least one point this season…The Terriers are 10-1-1 in their last 12 home games…Following its tie with Maine on Saturday, BU is 7-0-2 in its last nine regular-season meetings with the Black Bears at Agganis Arena…Thirty-two of BU's last 49 contests have either been decided by one goal or resulted in a tie and the Terriers are 19-8-5 in those games…BU has come back to win all three games in which it has allowed the first goal this season…Since February of 2008, the Terriers are 20-5-3 in games in which they are tied after two periods…BU will take on Merrimack in weekend home-and-home series beginning at Agganis Arena on Friday (Nov. 12)…The Terriers and Warriors rank first and second, respectively, in the country in penalty kill…Fifteen former Terriers have played in the NHL this season following the debuts of Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk with the Colorado Avalanche this past week.

Maine: Maine skated to a 2-2 tie with #3 Boston University on Saturday night at Agganis Arena…With the tie, Maine extends its unbeaten streak to four games…Maine senior defenseman Jeff Dimmen had a hand in both goals against the Terriers…Gustav Nyquist scored Maine's first goal on Saturday. He has six goals in 11 career games against the Terriers. Nyquist has a point in all eight of Maine's game this season…Maine has outshot all eight of its opponents this season…Maine limited Boston University to just four shots in the first period on Saturday night…Four of Maine's eight games this season have gone to overtime. Three of them have resulted in ties…Freshman forward Kelen Corkum (Newburyport, Mass.) made his Maine debut on Saturday at BU. He becomes the first second generation Black Bear…His father, Bob, now an associate head coach with the Black Bears, played at Maine from 1985-1989…Maine has only allowed four first period goals this season, while scoring 12…Maine returns to Alfond Arena this weekend when it hosts Northeastern for a pair of games.

Massachusetts: The 5-2 loss to Army was the first 3+ goal loss for UMass – five of the previous six games were decided by one goal…Despite being nearly even with opponents in shots/game (31.9- to-32.4), UMass is being outscored by just over one goal per game (2.7-to-3.9)…The Minutemen also has two fewer power play shot attempts than opponents (49-to-51), but have four fewer power play goals (5-to-9)…The first period continues to be tough for UMass as they are being outscored 11-to-3…Of UMass' 27 points this year, defensemen have figured into 19 (10g,9a)

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks completed a three game week with a win over Vermont and losses to #4 Boston College and #10 New Hampshire…UMass Lowell played five games in the nine days, which included four games versus top-10 opponents…The 3-1 win over the Catamounts snapped a four-game losing skid…Freshman Joseph Pendenza (Wilmington, Mass.) scored his fourth goal in eight career games, the short-handed game-winner against Vermont…The River Hawks recorded back-to-back games with less than 20 shots on goal against Boston College (17) and Vermont (16)… It was the first time UML had back-to-back games with less than 20 shots on goal since Feb. 5-6, 2008 … UMass Lowell is undefeated this season when scoring three or more goals (2-0-1)…Head coach Blaise MacDonald is just three shy of 150 career wins as a River Hawk…Freshman goaltender Doug Carr was electric in net this weekend, stopping 70-of-73 shots (.959 sv%). Since his difficult debut at Maine, Carr has recorded a .939 sv% and 2.04 GAA with a 2-2-1 record…UML has next weekend off to recuperate, before hosting Merrimack in the Tsongas Center on Nov. 19.

Merrimack: Merrimack dropped a 2-0 decision to Providence College Friday night at Schneider Arena…It was the Warriors' first loss in five games against the Friars and their second in the last 10 meetings…It was also the first time this season Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) did not register a point…On Monday, Merrimack was ranked 18th in the INCH National Poll and was the top "also receiving votes" team in the USCHO National Poll. They have never been ranked in the USCHO Poll…On Tuesday, in the first midweek afternoon game in program history, Merrimack defeated the Under-20 Sweden National team 4-1 behind two goals from freshman Mike Collins (Boston, Mass.) and 25 saves from freshman Sam Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) who made his first start in goal. Over 800 students from local elementary schools were in attendance as Merrimack promoted its community involvement, teaming with admissions to get 1,305 fans for a midweek afternoon game…Merrimack owns a 17-5-2 record at home in their last 24 games with a 2-0 mark so far this season.

New Hampshire: UNH extended its unbeaten streak to six games at 4-0-2, the nation's third-longest active streak behind BU (8) and Union (7)…For the third-straight season, UNH has defeated the defending national champion…Junior netminder Matt DiGirolamo was lights out stopping 55 of 57 shots leading the 'Cats to a pair of 2-1 wins over the weekend. He posted a 1.00 GAA with a .965 save percentage… DiGirolamo is the league leader in GAA (1.30), save percentage (.958) and win percentage (.833) in Hockey East contests…UNH scored just two goals in each of its two wins over the weekend marking the first time since Oct. 17 & 19, 2007 New Hampshire scored two goals or less in back-to-back wins. UNH posted a 1-0 win over RPI and 2-1 win over Boston Univ. that weekend…The Wildcats' second line scored all four goals over the weekend. Dalton Speelman and John Henrion each scored a goal a game in wins over UML and BC…UNH will play five of the next six games at the Whittemore Center and six of the next nine before holiday break at home…UNH completed a stretch with six of its first seven games on the roading including five against nationally ranked foes by posting a 4-1-2 record losing just the first game of the season at Miami.

Northeastern: Northeastern concluded a three-game swing with the Atlantic Hockey conference on Friday night at Matthews Arena. Unfortunately for the Huskies, Niagara, Bentley and Holy Cross all pull out victories in Boston. It marked the first time in Northeastern history that the Huskies combated three teams from the Atlantic Hockey conference, consecutively. The Huskies were involved in a penalty-plagued affair against Niagara University on Friday night, as the two squads combined for 76 minutes, in all. Senior Wade MacLeod scored his third goal of the season (second in power play fashion) with rookies Brodie Reid and Anthony Bitetto helping out on the play. Reid has taken over as Northeastern's points and assists leader through the first eight games. The Delta, B.C. native has five points (1-4-5). The Huskies attempted a season-high 43 shots against the Purple Eagles, but had a difficult time beating Andrew Hare.

Providence College: Providence College's current four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) is its longest since January 2009…PC is now 3-0-1 at Schneider Arena this season…Junior Alex Beaudry recorded his first career shutout on Friday against Merrimack with 29 saves … It also was the first shutout for a PC goalie since Tyler Sims shutout Brown (8-0) on December 4, 2007...Sophomore Chris Rooney scored his first two collegiate goals as the Friars rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie Vermont, 3-3, in overtime on Saturday…The PC third line of Chris Rooney, junior Andy Balysky (Randolph, N.J.) and sophomore Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) accounted for three goals and four assists (seven points) in the two games, including one game-winning goal and a game-tying score…Tim Schaller, who had five points (2g,3a) in 33 games last season, already has eight points (2g,6a) in nine games this season…Eleven different Friars have scored at least one goal this season, including eight with two goals or more.

Vermont: Four of Vermont's last five games have gone to overtime… The Catamounts are 0-1-3 in overtime games this season…Senior Wahsontiio Stacey (Kahnawake, Que.) has a team leading five goals to rank eighth in the country in that category…His three power-play tallies also rank eighth in the nation…Vermont's penalty kill went 9-for-9 on the weekend…The Catamounts had the lead going to the third period at UMass-Lowell on Friday and at Providence on Saturday but came away with just one point…Freshmen Connor Brickley, Anthony DeCenzo and H.T. Lenz (Veinna, Va.) all played together on a line for the first time this season on Saturday…They combined for five points in the tie against the Friars…The Catamounts are unbeaten in their last eight games against Providence (5-0-3)…Vermont hosts BC for a two-game set this Friday (Nov. 12) and Saturday (Nov. 13) at Gutterson Fieldhouse…The Catamounts went 2-2 against the Eagles last season…Vermont was one of only two teams to beat BC twice last season.

COMMISSIONER'S CORNER

This Wednesday night will find many of us in the local hockey community attending the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame Dinner at Lombardo's restaurant in Randolph, MA. A few comments about some of the inductees:

Jack Garrity: Jack was a great player at Boston University whose induction is overdue. He was also a top referee at a time when many of the refs were not only former players but former GREAT players whose names we all knew. Three of Jack's sons played at Harvard.

Ned Bunyon: Speaking of referees, Ned was a longtime Hockey East official whose contributions were many, both on and off the ice. A former player at Boston College, his son Jeff is one of the league's top officials today.

Mike Gilligan: The classy former men's coach at Vermont still assists the women's program at UVM. He was a great player at Salem State, where he got his coaching start. He also coached at Yale.

Harvard's "Local Line": Excuse me if I give a plug to my old teammates here, though there is no direct connection to Hockey East. Well, BU did vote the line as their "Most Honored Opponent" in 1972, if that counts. I bring it up because we don't seem to talk about full lines like we used to. I remember the Blackhawks' Mohns-Mikita-Wharram line very well. The Rangers had the "Goal A Game" line of Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert. The Bruins had Cashman-Esposito-Hodge. Where are the great lines? My teammates — Dave Hynes, Bob McManama, and the late Bill Corkery — were part of a power play that clicked at a 33% rate for a while, a far cry from today's best PPs. Hynes was at one point and former NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow was at the other. McManama and Corkery were joined up front by the diminutive Randy Roth. Hynes, McManama and Roth all garnered first team All American honors. No more walks down memory lane for a while. I promise.