HOCKEY EAST HEADLINES

Providence returned to its winning ways with a sweep at Vermont, scoring 10 goals, and extended its lead in the Hockey East Standings to nine points. The Friars will have the chance to claim at least a share of the regular season title this weekend. They have won it once, a shared crown with Boston College in 2016, but have never won the title outright.

Boston College swept UConn to leapfrog the Huskies in the Hockey East Standings and NPI rankings, two crucial wins taht boost the Eagles’ NCAA Tournament hopes. James Hagens scored a hat trick in Friday’s 5-2 home win and Lukas Gustafsson netted the overtime winner in Saturday’s 2-1 contest in front of 10,494 fans at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.

Massachusetts and New Hampshire traded shutouts in a split series. Michael Hrabal stopped all 21 shots he saw in Friday’s 4-0 victory at the Mullins Center while Kyle Chauvette turned aside each of the 29 he faced the next night, back-boning the Wildcats to a 1-0 victory.

Maine ended a four-game winless streak with a sweep of Merrimack in Orono. Josh Nadeau scored a hat trick in Friday’s 5-3 victory and skated in his 100th carer game for the Black Bears.

Northeastern’s Lawton Zacher picked up a 32 save shutout of UMass Lowell on Friday in a 2-0 win before his Huskies exploded for eight goals on just 20 shots in Saturday’s 8-2 victory. The wins propelled Northeastern into a tie for fourth place in the Hockey East table.

BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Josh Nadeau - Maine

Josh Nadeau (Jr., F; St-François-de-Madawaska, N.B.) led the country in goals (5) and was second in points (8) over a 2-0-0 weekend for Maine. He had back-to-back four-point games, recording a 3-1-4 line on Friday and a 2-2-4 line on Saturday. He had one power-play goal, 11 shots on net and a plus-five rating to go with his eight points.

PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Amine Hajibi - Northeastern

Amine Hajibi (Fr., F; Montreal, Que.) led all Hockey East rookies with four points, all on assists, in a weekend sweep of UMass Lowell. He recorded a plus-three rating, three shots on goal and one blocked shot in the weekend wins. He turned in a career-best individual performance Saturday, tallying three assists in an 8-2 victory over the River Hawks and extended a recent scoring surge to six points over his last four games.

ARMY ROTC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Brandon Holt - Maine

Brandon Holt (Sr., D; Grand Forks, N.D.) helped Maine to a 2-0-0 weekend over Merrimack with six assists, the most points of any blueliner in the country. He recorded two on Friday night and then racked up four helpers on Saturday. He finished with a plus-three rating, two shots on goal and one blocked shot.

STOP IT GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Lawton Zacher - Northeastern

Lawton Zacher (Jr., G; Buffalo, N.Y.) backstopped Northeastern to a weekend sweep of UMass Lowell, turning aside 63 saves (led Hockey East) across 117:11 minutes of action. He had the best save percentage (.984) in the NCAA among goalies who played at least two games last weekend while his 0.51 goals-against average was second in the nation. He opened the weekend with a 32-save shutout Friday, then followed with 31 saves in an 8-2 victory Saturday. He owns the best save percentage (.934, 3rd in NCAA), goals-against average (2.04, T-7th in NCAA) and shutouts (5; 1st in NCAA) among all Hockey East goaltenders this season.

HOCKEY EAST TOP PERFORMERS

James Hagens, BC (So., F; Hauppauge, N.Y.) Netted a hat trick on Friday night to lead the Eagles to a 5-2 victory over No. 10 UConn. On Saturday, Hagens had an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime to help BC to a weekend sweep over the Huskies.

Landan Resendes, BC (Fr., F; Marlborough, Mass.) Potted a late goal on Friday to put BC ahead by two midway through the third period in the 5-2 win over No. 10 UConn.

Lukas Gustafsson, BC (Sr., D; Atlanta, Ga.) Fired in the game-winning goal in overtime on Saturday to give the Eagles the road victory over No. 10 UConn. Gustafsson also had an assist on the game-tying goal.

Louka Cloutier, BC (Fr., G; Sherbrooke, Que.) Backstopped the Eagles to two wins over No. 10 UConn this past weekend, making a total of 42 saves across the two games.

Lee Parks, UML (So., F; Ottawa, Ont.) Scored a goal and added an assist to factor on both goals in UMass Lowell’s 8-2 setback on Saturday.

Nate Misskey, UML (Fr., D; Melfort, Sask.) Led the team with six blocked shots, including five in Friday’s 2-0 setback.

Luke Shipley, UML (Fr., D; Powell River, B.C.) Finished a series against Northeastern with one assist and four total blocked shots.

Miguel Marques, Maine (Fr., F; Prince George, B.C.) Had one goal and two assists in Maine’s 5-2 win over Merrimack on Saturday. He had one power-play goal and one blocked shots to go with three shots on goal over the weekend.

Griffin Erdman, NU (So., F; Wilmington, Del.) Tied Northeastern’s team-lead with four points on four assists in a weekend sweep of UMass Lowell. His two assists in each game was a career-best single-weekend points total and recording a plus-four rating.

Austen May, NU (Sr., D; Woodhaven, Mich.) Had a goal and an assist in weekend sweep of UMass Lowell, including a power-play tally. He blocked a season-high five shots in Saturday’s 8-2 victory and finished with eight blocks and a plus-two rating.

Hudson Malinoski, PC (Jr., F; Saskatoon, Sask.) Scored a hat trick in Providence’s 5-3 win at Vermont on Saturday.

Will Elger, PC (So., F; Westerville, Ohio) Finished a weekend sweep at Vermony with four points, posting a shorthanded goal and three assists.

Roger McQueen, PC (Fr., F; Saskatoon, Sask.) Scored in each game as the Friars swept Vermont on the road. He scored the game-winning goal on Friday night and added a key insurance goal in Saturday night’s 5-3 win. He totaled eight shots on goal over the weekend.