AROUND HOCKEY EAST: Boston College earned a pair of victories over Hockey East foe Merrimack last weekend, taking a 3-1 victory at home Friday before skating out of North Andover with a 2-1 win the next night. Christopher Brown (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) found the back of the net in consecutive games for the fi rst time in his career (Oct. 28, Nov. 3) and set up the decisiv e tally in a 3-1 home win against Merrimack on Friday. The next day, Christopher Grando (Islip, N.Y.) scored his first career game-winning goal while Aapeli Rasanen (Tampere, Finland) dished out three assists on the weekend, including the game-winning helper on the road Saturday. Merrimack netminder Craig Patano (Bridgewater, Mass.) earned a pair of 30-plus save performances in two games against Boston College, kicking out 31 shots Friday and coming back with 33 saves the next night ... New Hampshire improved to 6-1-1 on the year and 3-0-1 in league play with a 3-0 shutout at UMass. Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.) pitched a 27-save shutout, the eighth of his career ... Northeastern senior captain Nolan Stevens (Sea Isle City, N.J.) scored the first hat trick of his career in a 4-1 victory over Boston University on Saturday, while defenseman Ryan Shea (Milton, Mass.) dished out a trio of helpers to finish plus-three in the win. The Huskies are now the only unbeaten and untied team in league play ... UConn and Ver - mont split a weekend series in Hartford, as UConn nabbed game one, 5-1, while the Catamounts came back to earn a 4-2 victory. Maxim Letunov (Moscow, Russia) registered a three-point weekend for the Huskies while Ross Colton (Robbinsville, N.J.) potted a goal in each of two games at UConn. Colton's weekend included a penalty shot score on Saturday to help the Catamounts to a 4-2 win. He finished the weekend with eight shots on net and ext ended his league-leading goal total to seven on the year ... UMass Lowell and Maine took a game apiece at the Tsongas Center. The River Hawks got their first win in league play on Friday thanks in part to a third-period power-play goal off the stick of Chris Forney (Thief River Falls, Minn.) before the Black Bears came storming back the next night, establishing a 6-0 lead before allowing UMass Lowell on the board. Eduards Tralmaks (Riga, Latvia) had his first two-goal and three-point game of his rookie campaign in Saturday's 6-2 and now leads his team with five goals ... Bost on University took a 2-0 win from Providence Friday night, powered by two goals from Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) and a 31-save shutout from Jake Oettinger (Lakeville, Minn.).
Nolan Stevens (Sea Isle City, N.J.) netted his first career hat trick in a 4-1 win over #11 BU Saturday. The Huskies' senior captain netted the game-winning goal in the outing, bringing his point total in his last two games to five (4g, 1a). The win propelled Northeastern into second place in the league standings (3-0-0).
Eduards Tralmaks (Riga, Latvia) had his first twogoal and three-point game of his young career Saturday in a 6-2 win over UMass Lowell. The rookie Black Bear now leads his team with five goals and is tied for the team lead in points with seven. The victory put Maine at 2-2-0 through its first four games in league play.
Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) scored both goals in Boston University's 2-0 win over league rival #6 Providence Friday night. He found the back of the net twice less than two minutes apart and helped anchor a Terrier defense that limited the Friars to 27 shots on net in the shutout.
HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS
Christopher Brown, BC (Jr., F; Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) Found the back of the net in consecutive games for the first time in his career and set up the decisive tally in a 3-1 home win against Merrimack on Friday.
Christopher Grando, BC (Fr., F; Islip, N.Y.) Scored his first career game-winning goal Saturday at Merrimack and is now tied for the team lead in scoring with three goals.
Aapeli Räsänen, BC (Fr., F; Tampere, Finland) Dished out three assists on the weekend, including the game-winning helper Saturday at Merrimack.
Jake Oettinger (So., G; Lakeville, Minn.) Posted a 2.04 goals against average and .937 save percentage over the weekend, highlighted by a 31-save shutout against the #6 Friars on Friday.
Maxim Letunov, UConn (Jr., F; Moscow, Russia) Registered a three-point weekend for the Huskies as they split a series with Vermont. In a 5-1 win, Letunov dished out two assists while he scored a goal in a 4-2 loss the next day.
Craig Pantano, MC (Jr., G; Bridgewater, Mass.) Earned a pair of 30-plus save performances in two games against Boston College, kicking out 31 shots Friday and coming back with 33 saves the next night.
Danny Tirone, UNH (Sr., G; Trumbull, Conn.) Recorded his second shutout of the season and the eighth of his career in a 3-0 win at Massachusetts on Saturday, stopping 27 shots to move to 6-1-1 on the year.
Benton Maass, UNH (Fr., D; Elk River, Minn.) Scored his first NCAA goal in a 3-0 win at UMass and now leads the team with nine assists and 10 points.
Ryan Shea, NU (So., D; Milton, Mass.) Dished out three assists and finished plus-three in the 4-1 victory.
Ross Colton, UVM (So., F; Robbinsville, N.J.) Potted a goal in each of two games at UConn, including a penalty shot score on Saturday to help the Catamounts to a 4-2 win. He finished the weekend with eight shots on net and extended his league-leading goal total to seven on the year.