Prior to this season, Boston University had not started 0-4 since first-year head coach Albie O’Connell was a senior captain in 1998-99.
There was a mixed bag of emotions in that stretch, but there was plenty for BU to be excited about last weekend in taking three league points from Northeastern, including a 4-1 decision Saturday night that allowed it to crack the win column for the first time this season.
“It’s a relief, for sure,” said O’Connell, whose team suffered shutout losses to Merrimack and Providence in its first two Hockey East games. “The guys deserve it. I’m happiest for the players; they’re the ones who go out and compete. They were short on a couple out at Minnesota State, and we felt like we had a good game (Thursday). We wanted that ‘W,’ so I’m glad we got it.”
Leadership was key en route to BU’s first win. Junior defenseman Dante Fabbro scored BU’s first two goals in the Saturday win and finished the series with four points. Meanwhile, Senior co-captain Bobo Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) lit the lamp in both games and had three points on the weekend.
“We knew that we had a good leadership going in,” said O’Connell. “When you start out 0-4, things can go sideways if you don’t have good guys in the locker room with some stick-to-it-iveness and just some belief in themselves. It speaks volumes to the guys, and I’m pretty fortunate, in my first year, to have those guys.”
Fabbro noted that a players-only meeting was called to discuss the slow start. That talk led to some of the best practices during his BU career and helped to create plenty of momentum during the series against the Huskies.
“We weren’t happy with the outcome of those games, so I think just sitting down with the team, we had a great feel of who we had in the locker room and what we were capable of doing,” said Fabbro. “After that talk, our practice that week was probably the best it’s ever been since I’ve been here. Leading into Thursday, I thought we started off slow, but we could really start to tell what this team could bring to the table as the game went on.”
Milestone, plenty of offense for Ivies
Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet earned his 400th career victory on Saturday as the Big Green defeated previously-undefeated Quinnipiac, 5-1. The Saugus, Mass., native has collected 307 of those at the Hanover, N.H., school, which places him one away from tying Eddie Jeremiah for the program record.
The Big Green are off to a 2-1 start and have matched Harvard’s offense with 13 goals through three games. Sophomore Quin Foreman (Needham, Mass.) scored his second game-winning goal of the year, while senior Carl Hesler (Boxborough, Mass.) posted his first two points of the season with a goal and an assist.
Harvard only managed one point against the Bobcats and Princeton with a 5-3 loss and 4-4 tie, respectively, but former Dexter School standout Jack Rathbone nabbed ECAC Rookie of the Week honors. The freshman defenseman from West Roxbury, Mass., has one point in each of Harvard's games this fall.
Ten ECAC freshmen have scored multiple goals this season. While Rathbone is the only defender in that group, Yale’s Curtis Hall is the only other NHL prospect. The Boston Bruins’ fourth-round pick last June, Hall scored his first two collegiate goals in the Bulldogs’ 4-2 win at Colgate.
Minute on Merrimack
Merrimack has started just 3-6, but four losses (and two wins) for first-year head coach Scott Borek’s team have been by a single goal. However, the Warriors defeated both Boston College and Boston University on their first try in the same season for the first time in Hockey East history.
The latest of those wins was Friday night at Lawler Arena, where the Warriors dropped BC to 0-5 on the season with a 2-1 contest. Senior Derek Petti (Tewksbury, Mass.) opened the scoring with his second goal of the season, which puts him one-third of the way to the career-high six that he set as a sophomore – all through just eight games.
Junior Patrick Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) leads the Warriors with three goals.
A winner at Bentley
Former Bay State Breakers goaltender Jake Bryniarski entered Saturday’s Atlantic Hockey game against Sacred Heart after the first period and stopped all 22 shots he faced en route to his first collegiate win at Bentley, including nine in the third and four in overtime.
The Falcons fell into a 2-0 hole after one, but scored in each of the last three periods for a 3-2 triumph. Senior Drew Callin netted the game-winner on the power play 3:06 into overtime.
Bryniarski had appeared in just four career games entering this season. The Rochester, N.Y., native is pursuing a master’s degree in Business Analytics after earning his undergrad in corporate finance and accounting.
River Hawk rookie soaring
UMass Lowell has more freshmen on its roster than any Division 1 team in the country, but Sam Knoblauch is quickly leading the charge out of that 13-player class.
The Michigan native scored goals in both one-goal games over the weekend at Maine, including his second game-winner in the 1-0 series finale. Knoblauch leads Lowell with four goals and has recorded six points in through eight appearances.
Lucas Condotta, Reid Stefanson and draft-eligible defenseman Chase Blackmun have also netted their first collegiate goals for the River Hawks.
Loose pucks
– New Englanders were at the forefront of Vermont’s Saturday night heroics. Freshman Johnny DeRoche (Lynnfield, Mass.) dropped the puck off for sophomore Ace Cowans in the slot, and the Beverly, Mass., native scored his first collegiate goal with 0.5 seconds left in overtime to lift the Catamounts past UConn, 2-1. Senior Liam Coughlin (South Boston, Mass.) scored the tying goal with 13 seconds left in regulation.
― UMass sophomore John Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) registered his third consecutive three-point game Saturday night at New Hampshire. Classmate Mitchell Chaffee scored a goal and two assists in the 5-1 win for his third straight multi-point game and fourth in six, while defenseman Cale Makar now has points in five straight games.
― Providence senior Hayden Hawkey pitched his second consecutive shutout with 27 saves in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Holy Cross. The last Friar to post back-to-back clean sheets was Jon Gillies (South Portland, Maine) in November of 2014 against Army and BC. Hawkey ranks third nationally with a .955 save percentage and fourth with a 1.01 goals against average.
― Speaking of the Friars, former Thayer Academy standout Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing two games with an upper-body injury, but took a hit to the head late in the contest. The freshman has not registered a point through his first five outings, but he has 11 shots on goal and a plus-2 rating.
― In desperate need of goals after being held to just one over its previous three games, BC opted to stack its top line with David Cotton, Julius Mattila and Logan Hutsko on Saturday. That paid off in a 4-1 win over Merrimack, as they combined for three goals, five assists and a plus-7 rating. Senior JD Dudek (Auburn, N.H.) opened the scoring vs. the Warriors.
― In Atlantic Hockey action, AIC’s Luka Maver scored his first two collegiate goals and points over the weekend against Canisius. Sacred Heart got its first game-winner of 2018-19 from freshman Austin Magera in Friday’s 3-2 game at Bentley.
