Hockey East Weekend Preview
photo
Northeastern hosts Michigan State on Saturday night

No. 20 Merrimack vs. Canisius - Sun. 12/20 at Merrimack

- No. 20 Merrimack tied its only game of last week, 3-3, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut against UConn.

- After falling behind to the Huskies, 2-0, Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) was able to bring the Warriors within one on an even-strength goal in the third period. Larsson's goal was his first on the year.

- Justin Hussar (Lancaster, N.Y.) scored the go-ahead goal for the Warriors in the third period to put them up, 3-2, before the Huskies eventually tied the game with less than two minutes left off the stick of freshman Joseph Masonius (Spring Lake, N.J.).

- Merrimack will finish the first half of the year with a home game against Atlantic Hockey foe Canisius Sunday afternoon at 4:05pm.


UMass vs. U.S. National Junior Team - Fri. 12/18 at UMass

- UMass dropped its only game of the weekend, 4-3, to Union at the Mullins Center Dec. 11.

- Shane Walsh (West Roxbury, Mass.) tied the game at three goals apiece eight minutes into the third period. Walsh's goal was his 12th on the year and now ranks third in Hockey East for goals scored.

- Ray Pigozzi (Evanston, Ill.) netted two goals for the Minutemen in the setback. He now has 16 points on seven goals and nine assists on the season.

- UMass will host the U.S. National Junior team for an exhibition game Friday night as Team USA prepares for the IIHF World Junior Championship.

- Team USA could have as many as five Hockey East skaters wearing red, white, and blue Friday night, as Boston College's Casey Fitzgerald (North Reading, Mass.), Colin White (Hanover, Mass.), Boston University's Brandon Fortunato (North Hills, N.Y.), Charlie McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y.) and Notre Dame's Anders Bjork (Mequon, Wis.) are all in camp with USA Hockey.


Northeastern vs. Michigan State - Sat. 12/19 at Northeastern

- Northeastern enjoyed a bye week last weekend; the Huskies' last game was a 4-3 loss to Boston College Dec. 6.

- In that game, Mike McMurty (Greely, Ont.) dished out two assists for the Huskies while Eric Williams (Newmarket, Ont.) found the back of the net twice to push his point streak to three games (2g, 2a).

- Zach Aston-Reese (Staten Island, N.Y.) also netted a goal in the Dec. 6 contest and leads the team with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists.

- Aston-Reese has tallied points in four straight games, collecting three goals and three assists in that span.


Vermont vs. Union - Sun. 12/20 at Union

- Vermont split a weekend series with St. Lawrence last weekend. The Catamounts won Friday night, 4-0, before falling to St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena, 4-1, on Saturday.

- The Catamounts were backed by strong goaltending Friday night. Freshman netminder Packy Munson (Hugo, Minn.) recorded a 23-save shutout in his collegiate debut Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse and was named Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week for his efforts. He turned aside 51 saves on the weekend.

- Kevin Irwin (Akron, Ohio) (1g, 2a) and Jarrid Privitera (Old Tappan, N.J.) (1g, 1a) each recorded multi-point games in Friday night's victory for the Catamounts.