January 24, 2011

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK #19 PATRICK CEY, UMASS-LOWELL (Senior Forward; Saskatoon, Sask.) Cey potted two goals for the River Hawks, including the game-winner vs. Merrimack, and an assist while recording a +1 rating on Friday night at Lawler Arena. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #7 ANTHONY BITETTO, NORTHEASTERN (Freshman Defenseman; Island Park, N.Y.) Bitetto posted his fourth-career multi-point game with a goal and an assist in the 3-3 tie against No. 11 Maine on Saturday at Matthews Arena. It was the first time Bitetto posted a goal and an assist in a game this year. PURE HOCKEY DEFENSIVE PLAYER/WEEK #31 PAUL DAINTON, MASSACHUSETTS (Senior Goaltender; Iqaluit, Nunavut) Dainton stopped 52 of 54 shots (.963 save%) in a split weekend at Vermont. Allowed two goals in a loss on Friday, but bounced back with a shutout win on Saturday. He made 26 saves each night and helped the penalty kill go 6-for-7 as well. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES The Eagles moved into first place in the Hockey East standings with a four-point weekend with victories against archrival Boston University and UMass-Lowell. BC went 5-for-9 (55.5%) on the power play over the weekend.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Patrick Cey of UMass Lowell ARMY ROTC THREE STARS AWARD At the conclusion of each Hockey East game, the " Army ROTC Three Stars of The Game" are selected. Here are the 2010-2011 season leaders to date: Rk. Name Cl. Pos. School 1. Paul Thompson Sr. F UNH 2. Cam Atkinson Jr. F BC 3. Kieran Millan Jr. G BU 4. Wade MacLeod Sr. F NU 4. Chris Connolly Jr. F BU   Stephane Da Costa So. F MC   John Muse Sr. G BC

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Spencer Abbott, Maine (Jr., F, Hamilton, Ont.) had assists on two of Maine's three goals in a 3-3 tie with Northeastern on Saturday night.

Paul Carey, BC (Jr., F, Weymouth, Mass) Tallied three points (1g,2a) in wins over No. 15 BU and UML; assisted on two BC goals in a 3-2 win at BU.

Adam Clendening, BU (Fr., Wheatfield, N.Y.) Earned three assists over BU's three games and was a +3 for the week.

Charlie Coyle, BU (Fr., F, East Weymouth, Mass.) Recorded four points (2g, 2a) over the Terriers' three contests, also was a +2 for the week.

Stephane Da Costa, MC (So., F, Paris, France) Picked up four points in two games, including two goals and an assist against Lowell.

Matt DiGirolamo, UNH, (Jr., G, Ambler, Pa.) He posted a 2.44 GAA and a .898 save percentage, stopping 44 of 49 shots vs. PC and BU.

Jack Downing, UVM (Sr., F, New Canaan, Conn.) Notched his second game-winning goal in three games, in a 2-1 win over UMass Friday.

Brian Dumoulin, BC (So., D, Biddeford, Maine) Factored in four of eight BC goals in wins over BU and UML; matched a career-high three assists vs. UML.

Brendan Ellis, MC (Fr., D, Kelowna, BC) Notched three assists in two games over the weekend for the Warrirors.

Ryan Flanigan, MC (Jr., F, Rochester, NY) Tallied a goal, an assist and a +3 rating in the 3-2 win over #15 BU and added a helper against Lowell.

Matt Germain, PC (Sr., Rockland, Mass.) Had two goals and one assist at UNH on Friday.

Danny Hobbs, UMass (Jr., F, Shawville, Que.) Posted a goal and two assists at Vermont giving him 6 goals and 9 assists in the last 11 games.

Tanner House, Maine (Sr., F, Cochrane, Alta.) Scored two goals in Maine's 3-3 draw with Northeastern on Saturday night.

Brett Kostolansky, UNH, (So., D, Denver, Colo.) Registered assists in each of UNH's games over the weekend.

Wade MacLeod, NU (Sr., F, Coquitlam, B.C.) Registered his 30th multi-point career game with the game-tying goal and an assist against Maine.

Mike McLaughlin, NU (Jr., F, Seaforth, Ont.) For the third time in his career, McLaughlin scored a goal in consecutive games

Kieran Millan, BU (Jr., G, Edmonton, Alta.) Recorded 100 saves on the week, highlighted by a 38-save performance in a 2-1 road win over No. 7 UNH.

Gustav Nyquist, Maine(Jr., F, Malmo, Sweden) Had assists on two of Maine's three goals in a 3-3 tie with Northeastern on Saturday night.

Chris Rawlings, NU (So. G, North Delta, B.C.) Combined for 68 saves (34 in each game), including his second-consecutive shutout against Harvard.

Conor Sheary, UMass (Fr., F, Melrose, Mass.) Posted a goal, an assist and a plus-2 rating in a split weekend at Vermont.

Sebastian Stalberg, UVM (So., F, Gothenburg, Sweden) Recorded a pair of assists in Vermont's 2-1 victory over UMass Friday.

T.J. Syner, UMass (Jr., F, Springfield, Mass.) Scored two goals, added an assist and was plus-3 in a weekend split at Vermont.

Riley Wetmore, UML (So., F, Swanton, Vt.) Tallied four assists in the River Hawks split with Merrimack and Boston College.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

BOSTON COLLEGE'S POWER PLAY Finished a combined 5-for-9 in two weekend wins, including a 3-for-3 effort against UMass-Lowell, to improve its conversion rate to 23.2 percent and jump 12 spots in the national rankings (to No. 6)

Paul Carey, BC (WEYMOUTH, MASS.) Has 10 goals and 21 points in 23 games, establishing a career-high for goals and matching his 41-game point total from last winter

Chris Connolly, BU (Duluth, Minn.) Played in his 100th career game in the Terriers' 2-1 road win vs. UNH on Saturday

Greg Cronin, NORTHEASTERN Earned his 100th-career win against Harvard. He has won 80 games at Northeastern and 20 at Maine

Stephane Da Costa, MC (Paris, France) Extended his point streak to a career-high 12 games

Brendan Ellis, MC (Kelowna, BC) Has points in five of his last six games

Brian Dumoulin, BC (BIDDEFORD, MAINE) Has 14 points (2g,12a) in his last eight games

Brian Flynn, MAINE (Lynnfield, Mass.) Currently has goals in three straight games for the Black Bears

Danny Hobbs, UMass (Shawville, Quebec) Has 6 goals and 9 assists in the last 11 games. Has 3 multi-point games in the last four and 6 for the season

Chris Ickert, UML (Abbotsford, B.C.) Scored his first collegiate goal vs. BC on Saturday

Merrimack's Power Play Netted three goals Friday for the second time in three games

Garrett Noonan, BU (Norfolk, Mass.) Scored his first collegiate goal in Friday's home game vs. BC

Providence Penalty Kill Has killed 46 of the last 48 penalties

Chris Rooney, PC (CANTON, MASS.) Has one assist in five of the last six games

UMass' Penalty Kill Has gone 21-for-22 over the last six games dating back to the Northeastern loss on Jan. 7th

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: BC improved to 9-1-0 in its last 10 games…With a 3-2 win at BU, BC improved to 7-2-1 in 10 games inside Agganis Arena. The Eagles swept a three-game league series against BU for the first time since the 2003-04 season…Sophomore Patch Alber returned to the lineup over the weekend after missing the previous five games because of injury while Barry Almeida missed his first game since Feb. 14, 2009, snapping a string of 72 straight games played…With one assist in each win, Chris Kreider extended his scoring streak to eight games (4-6-10) while sophomore center Pat Mullane has one assist in six of the last seven games…Tommy Cross evened the score at 2-2 with a second-period power-play goal against the River Hawks, marking his third goal in 12 games this winter…Dumoulin matched a career high with three assists against UMass-Lowell. He previously tallied three assists in a 7-1 win over Miami in the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four in Detroit, Mich…Cam Atkinson and Jimmy Hayes played in their 100th and 101st collegiate games while Barry Almeida returned to Saturday's lineup and played in his 99th contest.

Boston University: The Terriers closed out a busy three-game week with a 2-1 road win over No. 7 New Hampshire, ending the Wildcats' 27-game home unbeaten streak in league play…BU has had a league-high 20 different players score a goal this season following freshman Garrett Noonan's first collegiate tally on Friday against Boston College…BU has three of the top five freshman scorers in the league, led by Charlie Coyle, who is tops among Hockey East rookies in points (20) and assists (13). Sahir Gill (Terrace, B.C.) ranks third with 16 points (4g, 12a) and Adam Clendening is tied for fourth with 14 (2g, 12a)…The Terriers now have eight come-from-behind wins this season following their 2-1 triumph at UNH after allowing the first goal…BU's power play is starting to recover from its season-long slump, have recorded one goal on the man advantage in four of the last five contests…Junior Kieran Millan moved into a tie for sixth place in program history with Cleon Daskalakis '84 for career goaltender wins at 63…The Terriers had successfully killed off 21 straight opponent power plays until BC scored on its first two opportunities Friday…BU will play a two-game series at Maine this weekend. The Terriers are 5-1-1 in their last seven contests at Alfond Arena.

Maine: Maine skated to a 3-3 draw at Northeastern Saturday…The tie snapped a three-game winning streak against the Huskies… It was Maine's fifth tie of the season and the ninth time that the Black Bears have gone to overtime this season…The school record for overtime games in a season is 11 set in 2001-02…Gustav Nyquist extended his point streak to nine games with a pair of assists at Northeastern on Saturday night…He has two goals and 11 assists for 12 points during that stretch…The Black Bears have scored at least one power play goal in seven straight games after a pair of power play tallies on Saturday night at Northeastern…Maine has three goalies with three or more wins each on the season…It is the first time since the 1984-85 season that the Black Bears have had three different goalies with at least three wins apiece…Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Gustav Nyquist each played in their 99th career games last Saturday night at Northeastern…They will becomes the fifth and sixth current Black Bears to reach the 100 games played plateau…The Black Bears return home to Alfond Arena next weekend, where they are 8-1-1 on the season, to host BU for a pair of games.

Massachusetts: UMass remains in 7th place in the Hockey East standings after a split weekend at Vermont (L, 1-2; W, 6-0)…Will face 6th place Northeastern in a home-and-home weekend coming up with the Huskies just 3 points ahead…UMass has now won 3 of its last 4 games and is 6-6-1 after starting the year 0-6-2…UMass has received a special teams boost as the penalty kill has been 21-of-22 over the last six games dating back to the Northeastern game (1/7)…The PK units have not allowed an extra man goal in five of the last seven games…The power play unit also has posted extra man goals in six of the last seven games going 8-of-32 (25.0) in that span – 10 points higher than the overall average…UMass' shutout win at Vermont was its first-ever at Gutterson Fieldhouse and first against Vermont since Feb. 17, 2006…The 6-goal margin of victory was also the largest ever against Vermont…The shutout was just the 2nd of Paul Dainton's career and the first shutout for a UMass goalie since Dan Meyers posted a 6-0 win at RPI in 2008…Offense continues to dictate UMass' wins as the Minutemen average 4.8 goals per game in wins and 1.9 goals in losses.

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks submitted a pair of well played games, toppling #13/14 Merrimack, 6-4, and coming up just short against #3 Boston College, 5-3…UMass Lowell snapped its program record 13-game losing streak with the win over the Warriors, improving its record to 3-19-2 overall and 3-15-0 in conference play…Friday marked the first time the River Hawks tallied six goals in a game since Jan. 9, 2010 at Northeastern…David Vallorani scored two goals, the 24th and 25th of his career, in his 100th career game at Merrimack…Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) also scored against the Warriors, moving him into first place among UML's Division I defensemen with 28 career goals…The win was the River Hawks' first against a ranked opponent this season…Against Boston College, UMass Lowell led in both the first and second period, but were unable to keep the Eagle offense at bay...Freshman goaltender Marc Boulanger (Olds, Alta.) made a career-high 41 saves while allowing four goals.

Merrimack: Maintaining its best start in its Division I school history at 13-5-4, Merrimack made it six straight with a 3-2 victory over #15 BU before being upset by UMass Lowell 6-4 at Lawler Arena…The victory over BU gave the Warriors the season-series over the Terriers for the first time since the 2000-01 season and gives Merrimack season-series victories over BU and BC for the first time in school history…Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) extended his point streak to a career-high 12 games and ranks tied for second in Hockey East with 30 points. Da Costa has 22 points and a +10 rating during that span…Merrimack's six-game winning streak was its longest since joining Hockey East…Karl Stollery (Camrose, Alta.) is tied for first among HEA defensemen with 18 points…With an assist against Lowell, Chris Barton (Calgary, Alta.) has 98 career points and is two points shy of becoming the first Warrior to net 100 points since Anthony Aquino in 2002…Merrimack ranks in the top-three among Hockey East schools in all major team categories (2nd in offense, T-2nd in defense, 3rd in power play, 2nd in penalty kill)…Merrimack will host Vermont for a pair of games this weekend, with Saturday's game televised on NESN, marking the first NESN game in North Andover since 2005.

New Hampshire: UNH completed its largest comeback of the 2010-11 season in a 4-3 overtime win over PC…The 'Cats had trailed by as much as 3-0 before coming back…In the comeback, UNH had goals from all four lines…Paul Thompson helped UNH complete the comeback with the gamewinner in overtime. Thompson's fourth game-winning goal moved him into a first-place tie in Hockey East and ranks third nationally... His 17 goals and 17 assists pace a league-best 34 points. Thompson's eight power play goals are the most by a Wildcat player since Brett Hemingway's 11 power play tallies in 2005-06…BU captured a 2-1 win over UNH on Saturday. The loss snapped a 27-game unbeaten streak in Hockey East games at Whittemore Center. The last loss was also to the Terriers on Jan. 24, 2009…UNH enters into a home-and-home series with Providence this weekend…UNH is 10-0-2 in its last 12 games against PC with its last loss coming in a 7-1 defeat on Feb. 24, 2007. In addition, UNH is 14-0-1 in its last 15 games at home vs. the Friars with the last loss at home coming on March 12, 2004 in the Hockey East quarterfinals…All three members of UNH's top line have a chance to capture 100 points during their senior season. Mike Sislo is now just three points away, while Thompson and Phil DeSimone are six and nine points away, respectively.

Northeastern: Northeastern emerged victoriously vs. non-conference foe Harvard, 3-0, and split with Maine, 3-3, on Saturday at Matthews Arena. Against Harvard, Northeastern earned its second-consecutive shutout, the first time since 2003, to give head coach Greg Cronin his 100th career victory (80th at NU). Chris Rawlings became the first goalie since Keni Gibson to record consecutive shutouts. Gibson blanked Vermont, 1-0, on Dec. 6 and Princeton, 4-0, on Dec. 13, 2003. Wednesday's shutout marks the third time Northeastern has shut out Harvard in the series history. It was the first time since Feb. 10, 1997 (2-0) in the Beanpot Tournament. It was also the Huskies first win over the Crimson at Matthews Arena since Dec. 18, 1997 (6-4). Against Maine, Rawlings shutout streak came to a halt at 167:12 before Brian Flynn lit the lamp at 16:15 of the second period to upset the scoreless bid. Wade MacLeod accounted for the game-tying goal at 17:24 of the third period vs. Maine. He is now 31st all-time in the NU scoring annals with 114 career points after his two-point game vs. Maine on Jan. 22.

Providence College: The Friars jumped out to a 3-0 lead at No.7 UNH on Friday, but the Wildcats rallied for a 4-3 overtime win on Friday…On Sunday, PC posted a 5-4 win over the U.S. National Under-18 Team as five different Friars scored, including junior Matt Bergland's game winner…The Friars have played in eight overtime games this season, the most by a Friar team since the 2007-08 squad matched a school record with 10...Senior Matt Germain scored twice at No. 7 UNH marking the second time he has accomplished the feat...In addition, his six goals are a career-high...Providence scored two power-play goals on Friday, marking the most goals on the man advantage since Oct. 30 when they tallied twice against UMass... Kyle MacKinnon has matched his career-high in goals (12) which he set during the 2009-10 season...PC has seven players who have 10 points or more...In the last nine games, the Friars have killed off 46 of 48 penalties, including 28 of the last 29 penalties...PC has 15 goal scorers, including 12 with two goals or more...The Friar senior class has accounted for 35 (64%) of the team's 55 goals and 72 (51%) of the team's 142 points.

Vermont: The Catamounts earned the second weekend split in row, with a 2-1 victory over Massachusetts Friday night followed by a 6-0 loss Saturday night. Dan Lawson and Sebastian Stålberg each tallied a pair of assists in Friday's win, while Jack Downing and Josh Burrows each recorded goals for the Cats. For Burrows it was his second straight home game with a goal and for Downing it was his second game-winning goal in three outings. After Friday's match Rob Madore had a 1.57 goals against average and a record of 4-1-1 all time vs. UMass. The junior netminder saw a stretch of 356 minutes played with only two 5-on-5 goals allowed. UMass jumped out to a 5-0 lead at 14:06 of the second period and Alex Vazzano relieved Madore. Vazzano finished the game with seven saves and one goal against. T.J. Syner led the Umass attack with two goals and an assist, while Paul Dainton picked up his second career shutout and first of the year.

COMMISSIONER'S CORNER

I would like to give a little "shout out" to the extended Hockey East family for its support of "Skating Strides," the breast cancer awareness initiative of our Women's Hockey East Association. Now in its fifth year, "Skating Strides" has raised more than $114,000 through its first four years and brought out the best from so many constituencies.

In addition to the great work of our women's head coaches and players and their athletic department staffers, we have seen increasing involvement from men's coaches and players along with contributions from men's and women's on-ice officials and fans of all ages. Hockey East Associate Commissioner Kathy Wynters deserves much of the credit for coordinating the myriad activities and promotions that fall under the "Skating Strides" banner. This year's activities wrap up at the following four women's games this coming weekend: UConn at Boston University on Friday evening; Boston University at UConn on Saturday afternoon; and Maine at UNH and Northeastern at BC, both on Sunday afternoon.