March 19, 2012

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK #13 JOHNNY GAUDREAU, BOSTON COLLEGE (Freshman Forward; Carneys Point, N.J.) Gaudreau led all BC players with three goals and one assist in two games and earned Hockey East Playoff MVP honors. Gaudreau became the fifth freshman to garner MVP honors and the fourth Eagles' freshman to accomplish the feat. He finished the weekend with 11 shots on goal and +2 plus/minus rating. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #13 JOHNNY GAUDREAU, BOSTON COLLEGE (Freshman Forward; Carneys Point, N.J.) Gaudreau led all BC players with three goals and one assist in two games; earned Hockey East Playoff MVP honors. HEA CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #35 PARKER MILNER, BOSTON COLLEGE (Junior Goaltender; Pittsburgh, Pa.) Milner stopped 68-of-71 shots (.958 save%) faced in leading the Eagles to their third straight league tournament title with victories over Providence on Friday and Maine in the Hockey East Championship Game on Saturday. Earned All-Hockey East Tournament accolades. HEA CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #27 WILL O'NEILL, MAINE (Senior Defenseman; Salem, Mass.) O'Neill had two goals and an assist with six shots on goal in Maine's 5-3 win over Boston University on Friday night at TD Garden and was named to the Hockey East All-Tournament Team for his efforts. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES The Eagles became the first team in the league to win three Hockey East Tournament Championships in a row. BC downed Providence, 4-2, on Friday night in the semifinals at the TD Garden and won their third consecutive league tournament championship on Saturday vs. Maine, 4-1.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College ARMY ROTC THREE STARS AWARD At the conclusion of each Hockey East game, the " Army ROTC Three Stars of The Game" are selected. Congratulation to BU's Kieran Millan for winning this year's award. Millan finished the season as the No. 1 star of the game three times and was named a Star of the Game on 12 occasions. Here were the 2011-2012 season leaders: Rk. Name Cl. Pos. School 1. Kieran Millan Sr. G BU 2 Joe Cannata Sr. G MC   Chris Kreider Jr. F BC   Wade Megan Jr. F BU 5. Joey Diamond Jr. F ME 6. Doug Carr So. G UML   Scott Wilson Fr. F UML

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Derek Army, PC (So., F, North Kingstown, R.I.) Posted one goal and one assist in the semifinals against BC on Friday.

Paul Carey, BC (Sr., F, Weymouth, Mass.) Tallied three points (1g,3a) in two Hockey East wins.

Alex Chiasson, BU (Jr., F, St. Augustin, Que.) Opened the scoring against Maine with his 15th goal of the season to set a new career high. Was named to the Hockey East All-tournament Team for his efforts.

Adam Clendening, BU (So., D, Wheatfield, N.Y.) Earned a pair of assists on Friday in the Hockey East semifinals against Maine.

Joey Diamond (Jr., F, Long Beach, N.Y.) had two on Friday night against Boston University… Assisted on Maine's lone goal on Saturday night against Boston College.

Brian Dumoulin, BC (Jr., D, Biddeford, Maine) Led all BC players with a +3 rating in two league tournament wins; earned All-Hockey East Tournament honors.

Barrett Kaib, PC (Fr., D, Pittsburgh, Pa.) Scored one goal against BC in the semifinals on Friday.

Matt Nieto, BU (So., F, Long Beach, Calif.) Recorded his first two-goal game as a Terrier in the Hockey East semifinals against Maine.

Evan Rodrigues, BU (Fr., F, Etobicoke, Ont.) Assisted on a pair of goals in the Terriers' loss to Maine in the Hockey East semifinals.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

Norm Bazin, UMASS-LOWELL Became the third coach in UMass Lowell history to earn Coach of the Year honors and the first since Bruce Crowder in 1996

ALEX BEAUDRY, PC (CUMBERLAND, ONT.) Set the PC record for career games played by a goalie (117)

BOSTON COLLEGE SPECIAL TEAMS Converted once on the power-play in each win over the weekend has scored a man-advantage tally in 15-of-the-last 17 games. The Eagles are 15-for-50 in the power play during the team's 15-game win streak (30.0 percent). The team's penalty kill went 7-for-7 over the weekend and is 51-for-57 on the PK (89.5 percent) in the last 15 games (all wins)

Joey Diamond, MAINE (Long Beach, N.Y.) Played in his 100th career game on Friday night vs. BU

Johnny Gaudreau, BC (CARNEYS POINT, N.J.) Has a team-high 22 points (11g,11a) in the last 15 games

BARRETT KAIB (PITTSBURGH, PA.) Scored his first collegiate goal in the semifinals against BC on Friday

UMass Lowell RIVER HAWKS Earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1996

Matt Nieto, BU (Long Beach, Calif.) Enters NCAA tournament on seven-game point streak with nine points (4g, 5a) during stretch

Scott Wilson, UML (OAKVILLE, ONT.) Is the fourth River Hawk to win the Rookie of the Year award and the first since Peter Vetri in 2005

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: The Eagles are making this 31st NCAA Tournament appearance, including their 13th under coach Jerry York. Snooks Kelley and Len Ceglarski each led BC to nine NCAA Tournament berths…Boston College became the first team to win three consecutive Hockey East championships. The Eagles also established a new Hockey East record for consecutive wins in tournament play with 12, breaking their old mark of 11 set from 1998 to 2000…This is the Eagles' 11th Hockey East title overall, their 5th title in the last six years. Paul Carey tallied three points (1g,2a) in two Hockey East wins. last six years and their 6th in the last eight years. They are now 11-5 all-time in the championship game, 6-1 in their last seven appearances dating back to 2005 … BC improved to 50-11-1 in Hockey East Tournament competition under Jerry York…Junior forward Steven Whitney scored his 13th goal this season, equaling his two-year combined goal-scoring output entering this season. Freshman Johnny Gaudreau is the fifth freshman to win the Tournament MVP Award. Four of the five have come from BC (Brian Leetch-1987, Scott Lagrand-1990, Chuck Kobasew-2001)

Boston University: The Terriers will be making their 32nd NCAA appearance - a total that trails only Michigan (35) and BU's first-round opponent, Minnesota (33)...Head coach Jack Parker will be bringing the Terriers to the NCAAs for the 24th time, extending his record for NCAA appearances by a hockey coach...The Terriers and Gophers will be meeting for the first time since the teams closed Walter Brown Arena and opened Agganis Arena on Jan. 2 & 3, 2005...The Xcel Center will be the 12th different rink that BU and Minnesota have faced off at...Seniors Chris Connolly (Duluth, Minn.) and Kieran Millan (Edmonton, Alta.) are the only current BU players who have played in an NCAA game...Millan broke the Hockey East tournament records for saves in a single game (68) and saves in an entire tournament (189)...This is the furthest west the Terriers have ever been placed for an NCAA Regional...BU boasts four of the top 20 players in the nation in assists per game...Junior Alex Chiasson has 29 assists this season which is the most by a BU right winger since Tony Amonte recorded 37 during the 1990-91 season...BU is 18-2-1 this season when sophomore Sahir Gill (Terrace, B.C.) scores a point...Over the last eight seasons, BU defensemen have been represented on the Hockey East All-Star Teams a combined 11 times (8 First Team, 3 Second Team) with at least one named in all eight years.

Maine: Maine split a pair of games on the weekend, defeating Boston University 5-3 in the Hockey East semifinals, before falling to Boston College 4-1 in the title game…Senior Will O'Neill and Joey Diamond each were named to the Hockey East All-Tournament Team…Both were also Hockey East All-Tournament selections in 2010… Maine is 6-0-0 all-time against Boston University in the Hockey East semifinals. O'Neill, who came into the weekend with just one goal on the season, scored two goals on Friday night against Boston University…Maine scored a season-high four power play goals on Friday when they went 4-for-6 with the manadvantage… It was the first time that the Black Bears have scored four power play goals in a game since tallying four against Merrimack on Feb. 26, 2011… Spencer Abbott was named the 2012 Athletic Republic Hockey East Player of the Year… He becomes the fifth Black Bears to win the award, and the first since Chris Imes in 1995…Also on Thursday Abbott was named one of 10 finalists for the 2012 Hobey Baker Award…It is the third straight season with a finalist as Gustav Nyquist was in the Hobey Baker Top-10 in each of the past two seasons…Dan Sullivan (York, Pa.) has played in 35 games this season. That ranks fourth on Maine's single season games played list…Maine was selected to play in the Worcester Regional…The Black Bears will face defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth…Also in the regional field are #1 Boston College and Air Force.

UMass-Lowell: Despite staying idle this weekend, UMass Lowell earned its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1996. The River Hawks landed a three-seed in the East Regional at Bridgeport, CN, where they will face secondseeded Miami on Friday at 6:30 PM. UMass Lowell also received several honors on Thursday at the annual Hockey East Championship banquet. The River Hawks' Norm Bazin was named the Bob Kullen Coach of the Year and Scott Wilson was tabbed as the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Year. Bazin became the third coach in program history to win the award, joining Billy Riley (1987) and Bruce Crowder (1994, 1996). Wilson is just the fourth UMass Lowell player to be named the Rookie of the Year, joining Greg Bullock (1994), Greg Koehler (1997) and Peter Vetri (2005). Bazin will lead UMass Lowell into its fourth Division I NCAA Tournament in program history. As a player, Bazin was a key member of the River Hawks' 1994 NCAA Tournament team that defeated Michigan State in the first round, 4-3, before falling to Minnesota in double overtime, 2-1. UMass Lowell has made trips to the Division I NCAA Tournament in 1988, 1994 and 1996, posting a 2-3-1 record in six games. In their last two appearances, the River Hawks have been matched up against fellow 2012 East Region participant Michigan State in the first round and have defeated the two-time NCAA Champions on both occasions.

Providence College: Providence completed its season with a 4-2 loss against Boston College on Friday, March 16 in the semifinals of the Hockey East Tournament…For the Friars, who were the first No. 7 seed to win a Hockey East Quarterfinal series, it marked their first semifinal appearance since 2001…The matchup also marked only the second between the two teams in the semifinals… Providence finished the season with 14 victories, the most since the 2007-08 team also had 14 wins…The Friars played 18 games against ranked opponents this season, including three versus No. 1 ranked squads…PC finished with seven wins against ranked teams, including five against top-10 teams…Alex Beaudry finished his career at Providence with a school record 3,158 career saves and 117 games played…PC's freshman class accounted 34 of the team's 94 goals this season (36.2 %)…Freshman Ross Mauermann became the first PC rookie to lead the team in points since Matt Bergland did it during the 2008-09 season. Mauerman also became the first Friar named to the Hockey East All- Rookie Team since 2007.

HOCKEY EAST IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: BC becomes the 14th team to win both the regular-season and league tournament championship and of those teams, nine have made the Frozen Four with seven advancing to the title game and four having won the NCAA Championship. With the four entries into the tournament, Hockey East has now placed 88 teams into the NCAA Tournament in the 28-year history of the league. League teams own an impressive 113- 94-1 record in the NCAA's all-time. It also marks the ninth time the league has sent four or more teams to the NCAA Tournament. Over the last fourteen seasons, Hockey East has boasted 21 of the 52 Frozen Four qualifiers, the most of any conference. Hockey East has had a team in the NCAA Championship Game in five of the last six years.