January 31, 2011

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK #17 PAUL THOMPSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Senior Forward; Derry, N.H.) Thompson registered three goals and two assists in a weekend sweep of Providence. He notched the game-winning goal Saturday night and registered a 10 shots on net over the weekend. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #9 MIKE COLLINS, MERRIMACK (Freshman Forward; Delta, B.C.) Collins picked up his first career hat trick in a 7-1 victory over Vermont. He added an assist Friday night, while firing nine shots over the weekend for the Warriors. PURE HOCKEY CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER/WEEK #31 KIERAN MILLAN, BOSTON UNIVERSITY (Junior Goaltender; Edmonton, Alta.) Posted a .949 save percentage and a 1.92 GAA to help the Terriers earn three points in a weekend series at Maine. He stopped the last 41 shots he faced in Saturday's 1-1 draw after a 34-save performance in Friday's 4-3 victory at Alfond Arena. PURE HOCKEY CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER/WEEK #37 CHRIS RAWLINGS, NORTHEASTERN (Sophomore Goaltender; North Delta, B.C.) Rawlings stopped 65 of 67 shots (.970 save%) in the weekend series vs. UMass, stopping all 26 Minutemen shots on Friday, while turning away 39 shots in a 2-2 draw at the Mullins Center on Saturday. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS The Terriers took three points in their road series at Maine over the weekend at Alfond Arena. BU killed off 13 of 14 penalties (93%) in the two-game series vs. the Black Bears.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Paul Thompson on New Hampshire 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. Kieran Millan Jr. G BU 3. Cam Atkinson Jr. F BC 4. Wade MacLeod Sr. F NU 5. John Muse Sr. G BC   Chris Connolly Jr. F BU   Stephane Da Costa So. F MC   Chris Rawlings So. G NU

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Spencer Abbott, Maine (Jr., F, Hamilton, Ont.) Finished the week with two goals and 11 shots vs. Boston U. on the weekend.

Derek Army, PC (Fr., F, North Kingstown, R.I.) Scored a goal for the Friars on Friday at against No. 8 UNH at Schneider Arena.

Bill Arnold, BC (Fr., F, Needham, Mass.) Factored in two goals scored 27 seconds apart in a 5-1 win at UMass-Lowell for his third two-point performance.

Cam Atkinson, BC (Jr., F, Greenwich, Conn.) Scored twice, including a shorthanded third-period tally, to lead BC in a 5-1 win over UMass-Lowell.

Chris Barton, MC (Sr., F, Calgary, Alta.) Tallied three goals and four points over the weekend vs. Vermont in the two-game set.

Joe Cannata, MC (Jr., G, Wakefield, Mass.) Stopped 41 of 43 shots (.953 save%) over the weekend, while picking up a pair of victories vs. Vermont.

Alex Chiasson, BU (So., St. Augustin, Que.) Tallied a goal, an assist and a +2 rating in BU's 4-3 win over Maine on Friday

Joe Cucci, MC (Sr., F, Melrose Park, Ill.) Notched five assists in two victories over Vermont, including a career-high four in a 7-1 victory Saturday night.

Phil DeSimone, UNH, (Sr., F, East Amherst, N.Y.) DeSimone had four assists on the weekend including three in Friday's 5-2 win over Providence.

Matt DiGirolamo, UNH, (Jr., G, Ambler, Pa.) Posted a pair of wins over Providence turning away 72-of-75 shots (.960 save%).

Matt Ferreira, UML (Jr., F, Brampton, Ont.) Scored three goals in a weekend split with Bentley and Boston College, including a pair of power play tallies.

Brian Gibbons, BC (Sr., Braintree, Mass.) Tallied the primary assist on each of Cam Atkinson's two goals in a 5-1 win at UMass-Lowell.

Tanner House, Maine (Sr., F, Cochrane, Alta.) Scored a goal in Maine's game vs. BU Friday and then picked up an assist on Maine's lone goal Saturday.

Wade MacLeod, NU (Sr., F, Coquitlam, B.C.) Scored both goals in the 2-2 at UMass and added an assist on Friday night in a 3-0 shut out of UMass.

Tyler McNeely, NU (Sr., F, Burnaby, B.C) Potted his third empty-netter of the season against UMass Friday night and added an assist on Saturday.

John Muse, BC (Sr., D, East Falmouth, Mass.) Recorded 29 saves (.967 save%) capturing his 15th win of the season, a 5-1 victory at UMass-Lowell.

Jamie Oleksiak, NU (Fr., D, Toronto, Ont.) Recorded his first-career multi-point game with a pair of assists in Friday's 3-0 win over UMass

Will O'Neill, Maine (Jr., D, Salem, Mass.) Picked up an assist on Friday night before tallying Maine's lone goal on Saturday.

Martin Ouellette, Maine (Fr, G., St.-Hippolyte, Quebec) Made 19 saves (.950 save%) in a 1-1 draw with Boston University.

Mike Sislo, UNH, (Sr., F, Superior, Wis.) Collected a goal and three assists on the weekend series vs. PC with seven shots on goal.

Nick Sorkin, UNH, (Fr., F, Rockville, Md.) Netted the game-winning goal in UNH's 5-2 win over Providence on Friday night.

David Vallorani, UML (Jr., F, Hamilton, Ont.) Potted a power play goal and three assists, having a hand in four of UML's eight goals against Bentley.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

Chris Barton (Calgary , ALTA.) Registered his 100th career point on Saturday vs. Vermont, becoming the first Warrior since 2002 to accomplish the feat

Chase Langeraap, UMass (Cayuga, Ont.) Has 6 goals and 3 assists in the last nine games

Paul Dainton, UMass (Iqaluit, Nunvut) Now has 2,869 career saves needing just 181 to tie the UMass program record (3,050, Brian Regan)

Maury Edwards, UML (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) Scored his 75th career point with an assist against BC

Matt Ferreira, UML (Brampton, Ont.) Riding a six-game point streak with (4g,3a)

Maine's penalty killing Have killed off have killed 26 of 27 chances in the last 5 games

Derek McCoy, UML (Newburyport, Mass.) Tallied his first collegiate point (assist) in the win vs. Bentley

Merrimack's power play Netted three goals Saturday for the third time in five games

Merrimack in January Won seven games in the month, which is a new school record since joining Hockey East

Joe Pereira, BU (West Haven, Conn.) Scored his first career shorthanded goal on Saturday at Maine

Michael Pereira, UMass (West Haven, Conn.) He ranks 2nd among HEA rookies in points (20) and leads rookies in goals (10). Nationally, he ranks 10th in rookie scoring

Providence PENALTY KILL Is 54-for-58 (93 %) on the penalty kill in the last 11 games

Mike Sislo, UNH (SUPERIOR, WIS.) Became the 68th player in UNH history to join the century club with 100 career points on Friday night at Schneider Arena

Paul Thompson, UNH (DERRY, N.H.) Has 14 points (9g, 5a) in the last seven games for the 'Cats

MASSACHUSETTS Penalty Kill Has gone 31-for-32 over the last eight games dating back to the Northeastern loss on Jan. 7th

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: BC improved to 10-1-0 in its last 11 games…The team's win at UMass-Lowell marked the 90th victory for BC's senior class…With two assists, senior Brian Gibbons now has 144 career points and has surpassed Marty McInnis (1988-91) for 28th on BC's list…The Eagles swept the three-game league series against the River Hawks for the first time since the 2007-08 season. BC has now concluded five regular-season league series – BU (3-0-0), Maine (2-1-0), UMass-Lowell (3-0-0), Merrimack (1-2-0) and Vermont (2-1-0)…Cam Atkinson recorded his fifth multiple-goal effort of the season and has 19 goals in 24 games; he ranks fourth nationally in goals per game. Atkinson's third-period goal was scored while skating shorthanded, marking his second shorthanded goal of the season and the team's eighth…Sophomore Chris Kreider's scoring streak was snapped at eight games…Bill Arnold registered his third two-point performance of the season…BC killed all eight UMass-Lowell power plays and has killed at least six opponent plays in 12 games this winter. BC is averaging 16.7 penalty minutes per game.

Boston University: The Terriers earned a win and a tie in their weekend series at Maine and are now 15-3-4 against the Black Bears - including a 6-1-2 mark at Alfond Arena - since the beginning of the 2005-06 season…Junior Kieran Millan become BU's all-time leader in goaltending wins versus Maine when he picked up his seventh career victory over the Black Bears on Friday to break a tie with John Curry '07…Millan has 54 career wins is one away from tying Tom Noble '98 for fifth all-time at BU…Nine of BU's 12 victories this season have been come-from-behind wins…Junior Chris Connolly has 11 points (6g, 5a) in 13 career games against Maine…The Terriers are now 6-1-14 in their last 21 overtime games and have not lost in overtime in conference play since Feb. 21, 2003…Sophomore Ross Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) had his first career multi-assist game with helpers on the Terriers' final two goals in Friday's comeback win…BU is in the middle of a seven-game stretch in which it only plays once at home.

Maine: Maine skated to a 1-1 draw with Boston University on Saturday night…It is the sixth tie of the season for the Black Bears and their 10th overtime game…The school record for ties in a season is seven and the school record for overtime games in 11, leaving Maine just shy of school record in each…Junior forward Spencer Abbott scored two goals in 21 seconds on Friday night against BU…It is the second time this season that he has had two quick goals, as he scored two goals in a school-record 10 seconds at Michigan State on Oct. 15…Tanner House scored a goal shortly after the two by Abbott and Maine finished with three goals in 1:12 on Friday night… Maine goalie Shawn Sirman (Blezard Valley, Ont.) picked up an assist on Friday night… He is Maine's first goalie to notch a point this season…Junior Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) each played in their 100th career games on Friday night, while Spencer Abbott played in his 100th career game on Saturday night. Flynn played in his 100th consecutive game on Saturday night, the longest consecutive games played streak on the Maine team…Maine now has seven different Black Bears to have eclipsed the 100 games played plateau.

Massachusetts: UMass remains in 7th place in the Hockey East standings after loss (0-3) and a tie (2-2) to Northeastern…Will face No. 2 Boston College and No. 4 Merrimack this weekend on the road – the first meetings of the year with both teams…UMass unbeaten in 4 of its last 6 games and is 6-7-2 after starting the year 0-6-2…UMass has received a special teams boost as the penalty kill has been 31-of-32 over the last eight games dating back to the Northeastern game (1/7)…The PK units have not allowed an extra man goal in 7 of the last 9 games and was 10-for-10 in last weekend's games against Northeastern…The power play unit was 8-of-32 (25.0) in the 7 games previous to last weekend, but was 0-for-11 in the two games against…Offense continues to dictate UMass' wins as the Minutemen average 4.8 goals per game in wins and 1.7 goals in losses…UMass posted a season-high 41 shots in the tie against Northeastern including a season-high 20 first period shots…Northeastern's shutout win over UMass was just the 2nd time this year UMass has been shutout (at UNH, 11/12)…UMass ended the 2nd period of Saturday's tie with Northeastern ahead 2-1 improving to 6-2-2 this year when carrying a lead into the third period.

UMass-Lowell: Picking up a midweek win against Bentley before falling to #2 Boston College pushed UMass Lowell's record to 4-20-2 overall and 3-16-0 in Hockey East play…In the 8-5 win versus the Falcons, the River Hawks scored four power play goals and a short handed tally…The win marked the most goals scored by UMass Lowell in a game since Nov. 14, 2008…Defending HE Player of the Week Patrick Cey (Saskatoon, Sask.) recorded the first multi-goal game of his career, with two tallies and an assist… The Tsongas Center was sold out, with a Standing Room Only crowd of 6,488 on Saturday for the 5-1 loss to Boston College…Junior Matt Ferreira (Brampton, Ont.) scored the lone River Hawk tally, his third goal of the weekend…Ferreira is riding a career-high six-game point streak (4g, 3a)…Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) recorded his 75th career point with an assist on Ferreira's goal…Edwards is now the second leading scorer among UMass Lowell Division I defenseman, trailing only Mike Nicholishen (1994-98) with 99 points.

Merrimack: Merrimack captured the season-series from Vermont, earning a weekend sweep over the Catamounts for the first time in school history…In front of the fifth sellout crowd at Lawler Arena this year and the first NESN broadcast in North Andover since 2005, Mike Collins (Boston, MA) registered his first career hat trick while Joe Cucci (Melrose Park, IL) added a career-high four assists in a 7-1 victory Saturday night…Senior captain Chris Barton scored three goals over the weekend and picked up his 100th career point, becoming the first Merrimack player since Anthony Aquino in 2002 to accomplish the feat. Barton is the 10th player in Merrimack's Hockey East history to record 100 points…Merrimack finished January with a 7-1 record, winning seven games in a month for the first time since joining Hockey East…The Warriors have scored seven goals four times this year, most since the 1991-92 season…Collins' hat trick was the third for a Warrior this season…Merrimack ranks in the top-three among Hockey East schools in all major team categories (3rd in offense, 1st in defense, T-2nd in power play, 2nd in penalty kill)…The Warriors are 8-2-1 at home this year and 20-5-2 since the beginning of last year.

New Hampshire: UNH scored five goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season…Mike Sislo tallied a goal and two assists on Friday to become the 68th member of the century club at UNH. Sislo becomes the first ever Wildcat from Wisconsin to earn 100 points and the first since Bobby Butler did so last season, also at Schneider Arena…Paul Thompson continues to be on a tear with 14 points in the last seven games including five points this weekend (3g, 2a). He has 13 multi-point efforts in 24 games this season…The 'Cats scored eight second-period goals during the weekend with four each night. Overall, New Hampshire has scored 38 goals in the middle frame accounting for nearly 45 percent…UNH's newly assembled third line of Dalton Speelman, Austin Block and John Henrion each scored in Saturday night's 5-1 win over Providence…On Friday, UNH's top line of Thompson, Sislo and Phil DeSimone combined for nine points (3g,6a) in a 5-2 win, for DeSimone his three assists matched a career high…UNH is 12-0-2 in its last 14 games against PC with its last loss coming in a 7-1 defeat on Feb. 24, 2007. In addition, New Hampshire is 15-0-1 in its last 16 games at home against the Friars with the last loss at home coming on March 12, 2004 in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Northeastern: Northeastern closed out its regular-season series with Massachusetts, taking three points off the Minutemen with a 3-0 shutout on Friday at Matthews Arena followed by a 2-2 stalemate at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. Northeastern is 5-1-2 since the turn of the calendar year, marking the third-best overall winning percentage in Hockey East (.750). With Friday's shutout, Chris Rawlings is now tied with Scott Gudmanson (Wisconsin) and Aaron Dell (North Dakota) for having the second most shutouts (4) in the country to this point. John Faulkner (Nebraska-Omaha) has five. Rawlings' blanking is the first time in Northeastern history a goaltender has shutout three-of-four opponents. In his last five outings, he has stopped 147-of-152 shots. He is now tied for second all-time in career shutouts in Northeastern history with seven (Keni Gibson). Senior winger Wade MacLeod continues to re-write history in Northeastern's all-time scoring annals. The Coquitlam, B.C. native has tallied 52 goals and 65 assists for a total of 117 points in 135 career games. MacLeod is currently tied for 27th with legendary forward Randy Bucyk (1980-84; 60-57-117) and Les Chaisson (1970-73; 46-71-117). Wade MacLeod has scored two goals in one game eight times in his career. MacLeod now has 31 multi-point career games under his belt. The last time the Huskies strung together an unbeaten streak of five games was last season when NU went on a five-game victory stretch from Feb. 5 – 19, 2010.

Providence College: Providence was defeated in two games in a homeand- home series against New Hampshire over the weekend…Senior Kyle MacKinnon has scored a career-high 13 goals this season, while classmate Ian O'Connor has a career-best 18 points…In addition, Matt Germain has matched a career-best with 14 points…Junior Chris Rooney has one assist in six of the last eight games…The Friars allowed two power-play goals at UNH on Saturday, the most they have allowed on the penalty kill since Nov. 20…Providence is 54-for-58 (93 %) on the penalty kill in the last 11 games…The Friars completed a stretch of six games in January in which they played three teams who were ranked in the top-14 nationally.

Vermont: The Catamounts lost a pair of games to No. 14 Merrimack at Lawler Arena this weekend getting swept for the first time since the Hockey East Quarterfinals in March of 2009…Friday night Jack Downing tallied a late third period goal, with help from Sebastian Stalberg winning a faceoff and dumping the puck back to the assistant captain for the Catamount score…Rob Madore stopped 31 shots and was not scored on in the final two periods, but the Catamounts could not come up with a second score to even the game and left Lawler Arena Friday 2-1 loss…Saturday night, in a game televised on NESN, Josh Burrows picked up his third goal of the season, cutting the Warrior lead to 3-1, but it was all Merrimack for the final two periods. Michael Collins picked up his first career hat trick and 10 different Warriors tallied points to claim a 7-1 win as well as a regular season series victory (2-0-1).

COMMISSIONER's CORNER by Joe Bertagna

Where weekend splits are the norm in Hockey East, it was pretty impressive that Boston University, Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Northeastern managed to pick up either three or four points this weekend. The staff went with BU as the "Team of the Week" due to the accomplishment of leaving Orono with three points, which is no mean feat. Any of these programs could have garnered the honor.

Last week, Michigan State head coach Rick Comley announced he would retire at the end of the season. In my role as Executive Director of the American Hockey Coaches Association, I have dealt with Rick for most of his 38 years as a head coach and have always found him to be a gentleman. His 778 wins puts him fourth overall, behind Ron Mason (who he followed at MSU), Jerry York and Jack Parker. Comley is one of the three coaches to win NCAA titles at two schools. (The others are Ned Harkness at RPI and Cornell and Jerry York at Bowling Green and BC.) Ironically, the losing coach in Comley's championship games were Jack Parker in 1991 (when Comley was at Northern Michigan) and Jerry York in 2007.

Congratulations to the extended Hockey East family whose efforts over the last two "Skating Strides" weekends resulted in close to $25,000 generated for breast cancer awareness and research. This brings the five-year totals to just under $140,000. Special thanks to Hockey East Associate Commissioner Kathy Wynters, who spearheads this initiative, and to the University of Connecticut, whose efforts raised more than $9,000 on the Storrs campus alone.