AROUND HOCKEY EAST: The Massachusetts Minutemen swept the Quinnipiac Bobcats over the weekend, outscoring their opponent 8-4 to complete the first series sweep of any opponent since 2015. Hockey East Player of the Week Ryan Wischow (Green Bay, Wis.) kicked out 79 saves in the two outings to pick up a pair of victories, improving to 4-1-0 on the year. UMass graduate student Niko Rufo (Stoneham, Mass.) netted a hat trick against Quinnipiac on Saturday, including the game winner. Rufo now has six goals and five assists on the year, more than his four goals and 10 points over four season with Providence ... Maine and Providence met in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the third annual Friendship Four Tournament. In the tournament's first round the Friars took a 3-0 shut out win over the Black Bears in a Hockey East league contest. Hayden Hawkey (Parker, Colo.) pitched a 24-save shutout for Providence in the outing while Ryan Tait (Santa Clarita, Calif.) scored twice. Providence dropped a 4-2 decision to Clarkson in the championship contest the next day, while Maine beat RPI, 4-2, in the third-place match up ... UConn earned a pair of wins last week, including one against Hockey East rival Vermont, 4-1, on Tuesday. Jesse Schwartz (Toronto, Ont.) scored twice on the week, including one game-winning goal for the Huskies. He opened the scoring in a 4-1 road win at Vermont before breaking a 1-1 tie against RIT Saturday. Adam Huska (Zvolen, Slovakia) turned in a season-best 39-save performance at Vermont ... Vermont snapped a four-game winless skid Saturday night at Dartmouth. Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Max Kaufman (Rochester, N.Y.) scored the decisive tally 20 seconds into overtime, notching first career game-winning goal. Kaufman now has four goals and three helpers on the year for the Catamounts ... Boston College extended its unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1) with a 4-4 draw against Harvard on Friday evening. A trio of Eagles had at least three points in the outing as the line of David Cotton (Parker, Texas/1g, 3a), Julius Matilla (Tampere, Finland/2g, 2a) and Jacob Tortora (Victor, N.Y./1g, 2a) accounted for the entirety of the Boston College offense ... Boston University clashed with Cornell at the sixth iteration of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. Dante Fabbro (New Westminster, B.C.) had a hand in all three Terrier goals, scoring once and setting up the two others, but Cornell emerged with a 4-3 win.
Ryan Wischow (Green Bay, Wis.) earned two wins in a home-and-home sweep of Quinnipiac, UMass's first series sweep since 2015. The sophomore netminder stopped 79 shots across two games to post 2.00/.952 numbers, including 47 saves in Saturday's 6-3 win against the Bobcats. He is now 4-1-0 on the year and sits fourth among league goaltenders in overall save percentage (.920).
Max Kaufman (Rochester, N.Y.) scored the decisive tally 20 seconds into overtime Saturday night at Dartmouth to earn his first career game-winning goal. Kaufman now has four goals and three helpers on the year for the Catamounts
Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.) posted his third shutout of the year in 4-0 blanking at Yale with 34 saves. Tirone improved to 7-4-1 on the year and sits second in the league in both overall goals against average (2.10) and overall save percentage (.932).
HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS
David Cotton, BC (So., F; Parker, Texas) Scored once and dished out three helpers in a 4-4 draw with Harvard, extending Boston College's unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1).
Julius Mattila, BC (So., F; Tampere, Finland) Had his first career four-point outing (2g, 2a) against Harvard and finished a career-best plus-four in the 4-4 draw.
Jacob Tortora, BC (Fr., F; Victor, N.Y.) Netted his third goal and had two assists for the Eagles against the Crimson.
Dante Fabbro, BU (So., D; New Westminster, B.C.) Had a hand in all three Terrier goals at Red Hot Hockey, scoring once and setting up the two others.
Jesse Schwartz, UConn (Sr., F; Toronto, Ont.) Scored twice, including one game-winning goal, in two wins for the Huskies last week. He opened the scoring in a 4-1 road win at Vermont before breaking a 1-1 tie against RIT Saturday.
Adam Huska, UConn (So., G; Zvolen, Slovakia) Earned a pair of wins including a season-best 39-save performance in a 4-1 win at UVM Tuesday. He allowed just two goals in the two games, earning 1.00/.968 numbers on the week.
Tim Doherty, ME (So, F; Portsmouth, R.I.) Helped Maine to a 4-2 win over RPI at the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday with two points (1g, 1a). He also won seven of 12 faceoffs and had four shots on net.
Jeremy Swayman, ME (Fr., G; Anchorage, Alaska) Went 1-1-0 in Belfast, stopping 52 of 56 shots against #10 PC and RPI.
Patrick Holway, ME (So., D; Cohasset, Mass.) Assisted on the game-winning strike in Saturday's 4-2 win over RPI.
Niko Rufo, UMass (Sr., F; Stoneham, Mass.) Netted a hat trick against Quinnipiac, including the game winner, in a 6-3 win over Quinnipiac. The victory earned UMass its first series sweep since 2015. Rufo now has six goals and five assists on the year, more than his four goals and 10 points over four season with Providence.
Mitchell Chaffee, UMass (Fr., F: Rockford, Mich.) Pushed his point streak to four games with two goals in the home-andhome with Quinnipiac. He enjoyed a three-point (2g, 1a) weekend for the Minutemen.
Alex Esposito, UVM (Fr., F; West Haven, Conn.) Found the back of the net in each of two games for the Catamounts, scoring the only marker of a 4-1 setback to UConn before extending his goal-streak to three games on the road at Dartmouth.