HOCKEY EAST HEADLINES
In a nationally televised game on ESPNU, No. 2 3 Boston College staged a late-game comeback to topple No. 10 Providence on the road Tuesday night. Ryan Leonard scored the first two of his five goals last week in secure the win, including the overtime strike in the 3-2 win. He netted the game-winner again in Friday’s 3-0 win over rival Northeastern while Jacob Fowler returned in net to post a 28-save shutout.
Northeastern struck back with a 4-2 win over the third-ranked Eagles on Saturday, using three first-period goals to fuel the offense. Dylan Hryckowian scored twice, while Cameron Whitehead 22 saves over the final two frames to secure the one-goal lead until an empty net goal have the Huskies a win.
No. 5 Maine entered a sold-out Whittemore Center to take on arch-nemesis New Hampshire and escaped with a 3-1 win, the Black Bears’ first win in Durham since Feb. 2, 2019 and snapping a seven-game road winless streak.
No. 13 Boston University used a four-goal third period that included two strikes each from Cole Eiserman and Matt Copponi to take a 6-3 win over Merrimack in the first game of a unique home-and-home before the two teams dance in the semifinals of the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland next Friday.
UConn split a weekend series with No. 15 UMass Lowell, taking a
4-1 win on Friday with two-point nights from Ethan Gardula, Joey Muldowney, and Kai Janviriya. The next night, the River Hawks took
a 1-0 win with rookie Libor Nemec’s game-winning goal and a 32-save shutout from Beni Halasz.
HOCKEY EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ryan Leonard - Boston College
No player in the NCAA scored more goals last week than Ryan Leonard
(So., F; Amherst, Mass.), who potted five goals, including two game-winning
strikes, and added an assist in a 2-1-0 weekend for the Eagles. Leonard
knotted the game with 4:04 remaining in the third period at No. 11 Providence
before striking with just 48 seconds left in overtime to take the road win. He
opened the scoring in Friday’s 3-0 win over Northeastern in another two-goal
game and found the back of the net on Saturday. He now has eight goals
during a six-game scoring streak.
PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
James Hagens - Boston College
James Hagens (Fr., F; Hauppauge, N.Y.) posted two assists in each
of BC’s two wins this past week. Hagens had two assist against No.
10 Providence, including the primary helper on the winning goal. He
posted another two assists in Friday’s 3-0 victory over Northeastern.
HOCKEY EAST DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Jackson Dorrington - Northeastern
Jackson Dorrington (Jr., D; North Reading, Mass.) led all Hockey
East defensemen in scoring over the weekend with three points from
one goal and two assists en route to upsetting No. 3 Boston College.
Finished with four blocks and four shots on goal. He is currently tied
for fifth in league blocks (14).
STOP IT GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Beni Halasz - UMass Lowell
Beni Halasz (Jr., G; Budapest, Hungary) picked up his first win and
shutout in a River Hawks uniform and his sixth career shutout in a 1-0
win over UConn on Saturday. He stopped everything that came his
way on Saturday for the 32-save perfect game to help lift the River
Hawks to the 1-0 victory.
HOCKEY EAST TOP PERFORMERS
Aidan Hreschuk, BC (Sr., D; Long Beach, Calif.) Blocked seven shots as well as playing a role on the BC penalty kill that went a perfect 7-for-7 over the three games.
Jan Korec, BC (So., G; Bratislava, Slovakia) Made 24 saves in his first start of the season on Tuesday night, picking up his first win of the season in BC’s 3-2 overtime victory against No. 10 Providence.
Cole Eiserman, BU (Fr., F; Newburyport, Mass.) Scored two goals in the third period of the Terriers’ 6-3 victory over Merrimack on Friday night. He tied the game at 3-3 early in the frame before scoring the game-winning goal with 8:08 remaining in regulation. Eiserman ended Friday as the NCAA leader in goals among rookies with nine, only one behind the overall leader.
Brandon Svoboda, BU (Fr., F; Pittsburgh, Pa.) Recorded the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career on Friday in the Terriers’ 6-3 win over Merrimack. He scored just 1:27 into the contest and then added a second strike in the second period to even the score at 2-2. Svoboda now has three goals this season.
Mathieu Caron, BU (Sr., G; Abbotsford, B.C.) Matched his season high with 36 saves in Friday’s 6-3 win over Merrimack. He made five of those saves during penalty kills as BU held Merrimack to an 0-for-3 mark on the man advantage. He also stopped all nine shots he faced in the third period to help BU rally for the win.
Lynden Breen, Maine (Gr., F; Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B.) Scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the game-winning goal in Maine’s 3-1 win at UNH on Friday, the Black Bears’ in Durham since 2019. He also had a game-high nine face-off wins and two shots on goal to go with a plus-two rating.
Frank Djurasevic, Maine (So., D; New Rochelle, N.Y.) Had a short-handed goal, two blocked shots, three shots on goal and a plus-one rating in Maine’s 3-1 win at UNH on Friday.
Albin Boija, Maine (So., G; Sundsvall, Sweden) Stopped 24 of 25 shots for a .960 save percentage to give Maine a 3-1 win at UNH, the first in Durham for Maine since 2019.
Libor Nemec, UML (Fr., F; Bratislava, Slovakia) Scored the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 1-0 victory against UConn, bringing him to two game-winning goals on the year.
Nick Anderson, UML (Gr., D; Orono, Minn.) Set up the single goal in UMass Lowell’s 1-0 win over UConn on Saturday, finishing the weekend with a plus-two weekend.
Caden Cranston, MC (Fr., F; Rochester, N.Y.) Netted a go-ahead goal against Boston University in Merrimack’s eventual 6-3 setback at BU on Friday.
Ivan Zivlak, MC (Sr., D; Gislaved, Sweden) Scored the opening goal in Merrimack’s tilt at Boston University.
Dylan Hryckowian, NU (So., F; Ile Bizard, Que.) Tallied a three point weekend en route to a split with No. 3 Boston College. In game two, he recorded two goals and one assist and added six shots on goal to finish with a plus-two rating.
Nick Poisson, PC (Gr., F; Vancouver, B.C.) Recorded his 100th career point in Saturday’s overtime win against LIU. He assisted on the game-tying goal with 1:57 remaining in regulation and scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
Isak Walther, UVM (Sr., F; Södertälje, Sweden) Scored two goals Sunday as the Catamounts completed a season-sweep of #20 UMass with a 3-2 road win.
Axel Mangbo, UVM (So., G; Mölle, Sweden) Made a career-high 38 saves backstopping UVM to a 3-2 road win at #20 UMass Sunday.
