Hockey East Weekend Preview
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Boston College will represent Hockey East in the annual Ice Breaker Tournament

No. 3 Boston University vs. USANTDP (ex)/Colgate - Thu. 10/6 at BU; Sat. 10/8 at Colgate

- USA Hockey's National Team Development Program visits Boston University Thursday after skating at Notre Dame last week. The NTDP features three Boston University commits in forwards Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo.), the son of former NHLer, and BU Terrier, Keith Tkachuk, and Logan Cockerill (Brighton, Mich.) and defenseman David Farrance (Victor, N.Y.).

- This will be BU's second exhibition matchup of the season after the Terriers earned an impressive 10-2 victory over Prince Edward Island last week. Nine of the 10 goals by David Quinn's squad were scored by freshmen, including five from Warrior Hockey East Player of the Week Patrick Harper (New Canaan, Conn.) and three from Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill.)

- After the preseason contest, the Terriers travel to Colgate for their 32nd meeting with the Raiders. The Terriers hold a commanding series lead, 20-11.


No. 5 Boston College vs. Air Force (Ice Breaker) - Fri. 10/7 at Magness Arena, Denver, Colo.

- This is Boston College's fifth appearance in the Ice Breaker Tournament. The Eagles have won three tournament titles (1998, 2003, 2007).

- Friday's meeting marks the seventh time Boston College and Air Force will skate against each other. Currently, the Eagles lead the series 6-0-0. The last matchup came in the 2012 NCAA Northeast Regional; BC won that game, 2-0.

- The Eagles begin the season with the youngest roster in NCAA hockey, with an average age of 20 years, 49 days and carrying 13 freshmen.

- Air Force are coming off a successful 2015-16 season in which they finished tied for second in the Atlantic Hockey Conference, with an overall record of 20-12-5.


No. 7 UMass Lowell vs. Minnesota Duluth - Fri. 10/7, Sat. 10/8 at UML

- This will be the 14th time that the River Hawks and the Bulldogs meet, with the Bulldogs boasting a record of 10-2-1 in those 13 previous matchups.

- The River Hawks are coming off a smooth 7-0 exhibition victory over Prince Edward Island this past Sunday.

- Minnesota is already 2-0 on the season, sweeping Michigan Tech, 6-0 and 4-3, in their opening weekend series.


No. 8 Notre Dame vs. Arizona State - Fri. 10/7, Sat. 10/8 at ND

- Arizona State travels to Notre Dame for the first matchup between the Fighting Irish and the Sun Devils, marking the start of the first full season ASU will be an NCAA Division I hockey team.

- Notre Dame is coming off a 5-1 exhibition win against the U.S. National Team Development Program's U-18 Team, a game in which 11 different Irish players registered a point.

- The Sun Devils have never won a game against a ranked opponent.


No. 10 Providence College vs. Miami - Fri. 10/7, Sat. 10/8 at PC

- This will be the ninth all-time meeting between the Friars and the RedHawks. Nate Leaman's Friars maintain a narrow series lead, carrying a record of 3-2-3.

- In eight previous contests, the Friars are averaging 4.6 goals per game against the RedHawks.

- This week Providence named senior defenseman Josh Monk (Langley, B.C.) captain for the 2016-17 season. Senior defenseman Kyle Mackenzie (Aston, Pa.), junior forward Brian Pinho (North Andover, Mass.) and junior defenseman Jake Walman (Toronto, Ont.) will serve as the alternate captains.


No. 14 Northeastern University vs. No. 2 Quinnipiac - Fri. 10/7, Sat 10/8 at QU

- Defending Hockey East champion Northeastern travels to Connecticut to square off with the Bobcats for the fifth time in the programs' history. Quinnipiac leads the all-time series 2-1-1. The last meeting of the two teams came on January 2, 2016, which ended in a 3-3 tie during Northeastern's historic run to the NCAA Tournament.

- The Huskies are coming off a 3-0 exhibition victory against CIS opponent Acadia.

- Quinnipiac looks to follow up another successful season in which they went 32-4-7 and earned a trip to the 2016 NCAA Championship game, ultimately falling to the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the title contest in Tampa, Fla.


University of Vermont vs. Clarkson - Fri. 10/7 at CU, Sat 10/8 at UVM

- Friday's meeting will be the 83rd time that the Catamounts and the Golden Nights will square off with each other on the ice.

- Vermont has won the past four games, but Clarkson maintains a 52-28-2 overall series lead.


UConn vs. Alabama Huntsville- Fri. 10/7, Sat 10/8 at UConn

- This will be the 13th meeting between the Huskies and the Chargers, with UAH holding a 9-3 -0 series lead.

- The last time the UConn and UAH met was October 15, 2015 when the Chargers beat the Huskies, 5-2.


University of New Hampshire vs. Bentley - Sat. 10/8 at UNH

- The New Hampshire Wildcats welcome the Bentley Falcons to the Whittemore Center for a non-conference contest to begin the 2016-17 season. The last time the two teams met, UNH took a 5-4 victory on November 28, 2015.

- This season marks the 90th year of play for the UNH men's hockey team.

- Bentley aims to build off a 2015-16 campaign in which they went 14-20-6 overall, and 9-13-6 against their fellow Atlantic Hockey competition.


Maine vs. RPI - Fri, 10/7, Sat. 10/8 at ME

- The Black Bears and Engineers will clash for the 10th time this weekend, as RPI holds a narrow series lead of 5-4-0.

- The last matchup between these two teams occurred on January 6, 2008, when Maine downed RPI, 4-2.

- The Engineers enter this season after a 2015-16 campaign where they skated to an 18-15-7 overall record. UMass vs. Colorado College - Fri. 10/7, Sat 10/8 at UMass

- Friday marks the ninth time that the Minutemen and the Tigers will meet, while the overall series is tied 4-4.

- UMass is coming off a thrilling exhibition victory over Dalhousie, in which they overcame a 4-0 second-period deficit to win, 7-5.

- Greg Carvel begins his first regular season campaign as head coach for UMass after coming over from St. Lawrence.


Merrimack College vs. Sacred Heart - Sun. 10/9 at MC

- This will be just the second time that the Warriors and the Pioneers get together, the last time being a 4-2 Merrimack victory on October 10, 2003.

- The Warriors riding off of a 5-3 exhibition victory against the University of New Brunswick that saw a four-goal first period hold up over a wild final two periods of play.

- Sacred Heart carried a 2015-16 record of 13-20-4 overall.