HOCKEY EAST HEADLINES

New Hampshire toppled No. 2 Michigan State on the road Thursday night, using two goals and three points from Morgan Winters and 34 saves from Kyle Chauvette to earn a 4-3 victory. Marty Lavins scored the game-winner with just five seconds remaining.

Boston College went undefeated at No. 12 Minnesota as Louka Cloutier earned his first NCAA win in his first start as an Eagle Thursday night. He made 18 saves in the 3-1 win and kicked out 31 in a 2-2 tie the next night.

Freshmen starred across the league as Maine’s Justin Poirier scored a hat trick in his collegiate debut to help the Black Bears sweep Holy Cross, while UMass’s Vaclav Nestrasil netted three goals of his own in a 4-1 win at Stonehill. Vermont’s Aiden Wright stopped 56 of 60 shots to earn a split with St. Lawrence, and Merrimack’s Parker Lalonde scored the game-winning goal in a 4-1 win over UMass Lowell.

Boston University will host Michigan State Friday night at Agganis Arena in a game televised nationally on ESPN2. Reigning National Rookie of the Year Cole Hutson faces off with the Spartans and goaltender Trey Augustine, who helped Team USA to back-to-back gold medals at the World Junior Championship.

HOCKEY EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Morgan Winters - New Hampshire

Morgan Winters (Sr., F; Osprey, Fla.) posted two goals and one assist on Thursday in a 4-3 win at No. 2 Michigan State. He tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 14:02 of the first period and gave the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead just 24 seconds after the opening faceoff of the second period. Winters also recorded an assist on the game-winner by Marty Lavins with 5.2 seconds left in the third period. This was the third career two-goal game by Winters and his fourth career three-point game.

PRO AMBITIONS CO-ROOKIES OF THE WEEK

Justin Poirier - Maine
Vaclav Nestrasil - Massachusetts

Justin Poirier (Fr., F; Valleyfield, Que.) scored three goals in Maine’s season-opening win on Friday and added an assist on Saturday for a four-point week. He finished the sweep with eight shots on net and one power-play strike.

Vaclav Nestrasil (Fr., F; Prague, Czechia) posted his first collegiate hat trick, which included two power-play goals, in UMass’ 4-1 win at Stonehill on Friday. His three strikes came on seven shots in the contest, a team high, and marked the first hat trick by a UMass freshman in 10 years. He now has four goals in three games to begin his collegiate career.

ARMY ROTC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Aiden Wright - Vermont

Aiden Wright (Fr., G; Wake Forest, N.C.) stopped 56 of the 60 (.933 SV%) shots he faced in a weekend split against St. Lawrence. He made 27 saves Friday night to earn his first career win, 2-1, in his first career start.

STOP IT GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Louka Cloutier - Boston College

Louka Cloutier (Fr., G; Sherbrooke, Que.) started both games on the road at No. 12 Minnesota, going 1-0-1. In his first career start, Cloutier posted 18 saves to earn his first win in a 3-1 victory. The following night, Cloutier made a career-high 31 saves as the Eagles tied the Golden Gophers, 2-2.

HOCKEY EAST TOP PERFORMERS

Dean Letourneau, BC (So., F; Arnprior, Ont.) Recorded two points in two games at No. 12 Minnesota. Letourneau tallied an assist in the 3-1 victory on Thursday before scoring the game-tying goal in Friday’s game with five minutes remaining in the third to send the game to overtime. It was his first NCAA goal.

Will Moore, BC (Fr., F; Missassauga, Ont.) Netted the game-winning goal in BC’s 3-1 victory on the road over No. 12 Minnesota.

Lukas Gustafsson, BC (Sr., D; Atlanta, Ga.) Posted an assist in each of the two games against No. 12 Minnesota, helping BC go undefeated against the Gophers.

Cole Eiserman, BU (So., F; Newburyport, Mass.) Racked up four points (3g, 1a) and two power-play goals in a 1-0-1 weekend series against Colgate. In a 6-2 win on Friday night, he scored BU’s fourth and fifth goals, both on the power play. In the 2-2 tie on Saturday, Eiserman scored BU’s first goal to tie the game at one.

Ryder Ritchie, BU (Fr., F; Kelowna, B.C.) Had three points (1g, 2a) against Colgate in a 1-0-1 homestand. He had the game-winning goal against the Raiders on Friday, his first career goal. He also blocked two shots.

Cole Hutson, BU (So., D; Chicago, Ill.) Tallied three points (1g, 2a) against Colgate. His goal was the first of the game in Friday’s 6-2 win. He add two assists in Friday’s contest on Cole Eiserman power-play goals.

Mikhail Yegorov, BU (So., G; St. Petersburg, Russia) Went 1-0-1 with a .922 save percentage, stopping 47 of 51 shots against Colgate, good for a 1.92 GAA.

Jaden Lipinski, Maine (Fr., F; Scottsdale, Ariz.) Potted two goals and added two assists for a four-point NCAA debut weekend. He scored both game-winning goals over Holy Cross.

Brandon Chabrier, Maine (Sr., D; Bayville, N.Y.) Dished out a pair of assists in each game of a sweep of Holy Cross, the most helpers in Hockey East. He also had a league-best plus-seven rating.

Albin Boija, Maine (Jr., G; Sundsvall, Sweden) Was the sonly conference goaltender to go 2-0-0 last weekend, sweeping Holy Cross at home. He had a 1.00 goals against average and .952 save percentage, including a 22-save shutout on Saturday. It was the only blank sheet in the league.

Michael Hrabal, UMass (Jr., G; Prague, Czechia) Stopped 39 of 40 shots he faced in a 4-1 win over Stonehill to improve to 3-0-0 on the season. It marked the 29th time in his 69 career games that he has recorded 30 or more saves in a game.

Chris Delaney, UML (So., F; Hopkinton, Mass.) Potted his first goal of the season Friday night at Merrimack to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Justin Gill, MC (Fr., F; St-Joseph-du-Lac, Que.) Scored the opening goal and had the primary assist on Parker Lalonde’s game-winning strike against UMass Lowell on Friday, earning a 4-1 victory.

Parker Lalonde, MC (Fr., F; Aberdeen, Sask.) Netted his first collegiate goal, a game-winner against UMass Lowell on Friday.

Max Lundgren, MC (Jr., G; Angelholm, Sweden) Made 34 saves and added an assist in Merrimack 4-1 win over UMass Lowell on Friday.

Kyle Chauvette, UNH (Sr., G; Goffstown, N.H.) Went 1-1-0 at No. 2 Michigan State with a 2.53 goals against average and a .933 save percentage as he made 70 saves on 75 shots. He recorded 34 saves in a 4-3 win on Thursday and posted 36 saves on 38 shots in a 2-0 setback.

Ryan Philbrick, UNH (Fr., D; Concord, N.H.) made his collegiate debut at No. 2 Michigan State, blocking 11 shots in a weekend split on the road. In Thursday’s 4-3 victory, he led all players with five blocks before adding six more on Friday. Philbrick is ranked first in Hockey East and tied for fourth in the nation in blocked shots.