HOCKEY EAST HEADLINES

The 2022-23 Hockey East men’s regular season champion will be decided in the final weekend as three teams - Boston University, Merrimack, and defending champion Northeastern - all remain in the hunt for the crown. The Terriers can take the outright win with at least five points in a two-game set against Providence.

Merrimack sits second with just one game remaining (home against Vermont) and needs both Boston University and Northeastern to drop points to have a shot at the regular season title, the first in Warriors’ history.

Northeastern can leapfrog Merrimack with at least five points against UMass Lowell this weekend and is guaranteed to host a quarterfinal round game on March 11.

UConn controls its fate for a bye into the quarterfinals and home ice, while UMass Lowell chases the Huskies for both positions.

Maine vaulted into sixth position in the Army ROTC Hockey East Standings after a sweep of Boston College. The crucial six points put the Black Bears in line for at least a home game in the Opening Round, although they could finish as high as fourth with help.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont are guaranteed to be road teams in the Opening Round on March 8, while Boston College, Maine, and Providence jockey for home ice on that same date.

HOCKEY EAST CO-PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Alex Jefferies - Merrimack
Ryan Tverberg - UConn

Alex Jefferies (Jr., F; Lunenburg, Mass.) reached the 40-point mark for the first time in his collegiate career with a goal and two assists in a weekend sweep of UMass Lowell. The junior scored the game-winning goal and assisted on the other in a 2-0 win on Saturday after setting up the game’s opening score in Friday’s 5-3 victory.

Ryan Tverberg (Fr., F; Richmond Hill, Ont.) scored two goals and added two assists for four points in a 2-0-0 weekend. He posed a plus-two rating over the weekend and scored the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 6-1 win over New Hampshire.

PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Grayson Arnott - Maine

Grayson Arnott (Fr., D; Toronto, Ont.) powered a weekend sweep over BC with one goal and two assists. The freshman scored the game-winning goal Saturday night, while assisting on the game-winning strike on Friday night.

ARMY ROTC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Domenick Fensore - Boston University

Domenick Fensore (Sr., D; Thornwood, N.Y.) led all league defenders and was tied for the overall league lead in both assists (3) and points (4) in a sweep of Vermont. Fensore had the primary assist on Quinn Hutson’s winner in Friday’s 5-3 triumph, one of his two helpers on the night. He then assisted on the winner and lit the lamp himself in a 3-0 win on Saturday.

STOP IT GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Victor Ostman - Maine

Victor Ostman (Jr., G; Danderyd, Sweden) posted 31 saves on both Friday and Saturday night for 62 saves in a pair of victories. He now has nine 30-plus save performances on the season. The junior allowed zero even strength goals on the weekend sweep of Boston College.

HOCKEY EAST TOP PERFORMERS

Dylan Peterson, BU (Jr., F; Roseville, Calif.) Scored two goals in a 5-3 win at Vermont on Friday, bookending the scoring with a goal in the first minute of the game and the final minute of the game. He then recorded the primary assist on Domenick Fensore’s goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win. Peterson was a plus-three and helped BU go 7-for-7 on the penalty kill over the weekend.

Quinn Hutson, BU (Fr., F; North Barrington, Ill.) Netted the game-winning goal in Friday’s 5-3 victory at Vermont.

Drew Commesso, BU (Jr., G; Norwell, Mass.) Recorded his second career shutout with a 23-save performance at Vermont on Saturday. He made 12 of those 23 stops in the third period and helped kill off 51 seconds of 5-on-3 time late in regulation.

Tristan Fraser, UConn (Fr., F; West Vancouver, B.C.) Netted two goals in a 2-0-0 week for UConn, wrapping the weekend with a plus-three and won 59% of his faceoffs that he was apart of.

Arsenii Sergeev, UConn (Fr., F; Yaroslavl, Russia) Made 29 total saves while allowing only one goal in a win over New Hampshire on Saturday. Sergeev finished with a .967%.

Carl Berglund, UML (Sr., F; Hammaro, Sweden) Posted a team-high three points in Friday’s 5-3 setback to Merrimack, scoring two goals and dishing out an assist to match his season best set single-game output. He registered eight shots on goal across the weekend series.

Filip Fornaa Svensson, UML (Gr., F; Linkoping, Sweden) Net a single-game season high three points against Merrimack in Fridays’ 5-3 loss as he finished the night with a goal and two assists. He put nine shots on goal in the two-game series.

Lynden Breen, ME (Jr., F; Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B.) Recorded one goal and three assists in a weekend sweep over Boston College, helping the Black Bears to secure at least home ice in the Opening Round of the Hockey East Tournament. He assisted on the game-winning goal Saturday night before dishing out two assists and scoring a goal on Friday night.

Jakub Sirota, ME (Gr., D; Kromeriz, Czech Republic) The captain scored the game-winning goal on Friday night, and assisted on the first goal during Saturday night’s victory. Sirota lead a defense that allowed zero even strength goals on the weekend in a sweep of Boston College.

Zach Bookman, MC (Fr., D; Syracuse, N.Y.) Dished out an assist in Friday’s 5-3 win at UMass Lowell.

Mike Brown, MC (So., D; Belmont, Mass.) Netted a goal and added an assist in Merrimack’s 5-3 win at UMass Lowell on Friday.

Hugo Ollas, MC (So., G; Linkoping, Sweden) Made 36 saves for his fourth shutout of the season on Saturday night, backboning Merrimack to a 2-0 victory over UMass Lowell.

Jack Hughes, NU (So., F; Westwood, Mass.) Tallied three points (1g, 2a) in a split weekend with UMass. He recorded an assist on Northeastern’s first goal in game one and recorded a goal and an assist in game two, helping to shutout UMass in a 3-0 win. He also won seven of 12 faceoffs and totaled four shots, one block and a plus-one rating.

Devon Levi, NU (Jr., G; Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que.) Posted 55 saves on 58 shots in 118 minutes of work, including his sixth shutout of the season on Saturday, stopping all 32 shots. He leads Hockey East and is tied for third in NCAA in shutouts. After the weekend, he leads the conference (.951) and NCAA (.934) in save percentage and is tops in Hockey East in wins (13), saves (695), and GAA (1.69).