As the college hockey schedule inches closer to playoff time, the games begin to mean even more across Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, and Atlantic Hockey. There are two points at stake in every game involving New England teams in all three conferences this weekend.
All four Beanpot teams get at least one day of the weekend off in preparation for Monday’s second round at TD Garden. Northeastern kicks off the slate with the nation’s lone Thursday game against UConn, while Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard all skate the following night. BC visits UMass Lowell before the River Hawks host UMass in a clash of sister institutions. First, the Minutemen will have a sold-out home crowd on its side against BU.
Elsewhere in Hockey East, Providence heads to Maine, and New Hampshire plays a border rival for the second consecutive weekend with its series at Vermont. UConn is a home team on Saturday as well, hosting Merrimack.
Union and RPI are in New England for ECAC games this weekend. The Engineers have a Friday night game at Dartmouth, while Union visits Harvard as well as the Big Green. Yale and Quinnipiac meet for the first time this season, and Brown visits Princeton before the Bears and Bulldogs swap opponents on Saturday night.
The region’s four Atlantic Hockey schools all play separate series this weekend. Bentley hosts Canisius with its nation-long unbeaten streak continuing, while Holy Cross hosts RIT. First-place American International and Sacred Heart are both on the road.
HOCKEY EAST
Northeastern (16-8-1, 9-6-1)/Merrimack (7-19-1, 4-13) at UConn (7-17-2, 2-12-2)
Thursday, 7 p.m./Saturday, 5 p.m. at XL Center, Hartford, Conn.
What to watch for: Northeastern will get an extra day of rest as compared to its Beanpot counterparts before playing for its first back-to-back tournament titles since 1984-85, but its Husky counterparts need this pair of Hockey East contests in Hartford to have any realistic chance of making a postseason push. UConn is winless in six straight games overall (0-5-1) and 12 straight in Hockey East (0-11-1), though freshman Ruslan Iskhakov factored into all three goals Friday against BC, scoring two. Merrimack, boasting Hockey East Rookie of the Month Chase Gresock, hasn’t played since a Jan. 26 overtime loss at Vermont.
Fun fact: Since 2012-13, Northeastern’s Tyler Madden is only the second freshman in the country to score two overtime goals in a season. Current Buffalo Sabre and North Chelmsford, Mass., native Jack Eichel, formerly of Boston University, is the other.
Providence (15-8-5, 8-6-2) at Maine (10-13-3, 6-7-3)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Alfond Arena, Orono, Maine
What to watch for:One of the quirks in Hockey East’s unbalanced schedule in recent years is that this series marks the Friars’ first visit to Maine in three years. It doesn’t matter where the series has been played, though, because PC holds a 17-0-1 advantage in the last 18 meetings since 2012. Looking at the here and now, Maine has split its last two series against UMass and New Hampshire with junior Mitchell Fossier (2-5-7, including four power-play points) leading the way for an offense that has scored five power-play goals in that span. Providence managed only one point last weekend against Vermont.
Fun fact: Friar senior defenseman Vincent Desharnais has scored seven goals in 117 career games. Four have come this season, including one in each of the last three games.
New Hampshire (10-9-8, 6-6-5) at Vermont (11-13-2, 4-10-2)
Friday/Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.
What to watch for: These two teams are still looking to climb in Hockey East as they sit in seventh and ninth, respectively, but they have played their best hockey lately. The Catamounts are 3-0-1 in their last four games after junior Stefanos Lekkas stopped 79 of the 81 shots he faced in a win and tie at Providence, while the Wildcats lost for only the second time in 13 games (8-2-3) last Saturday against Maine.
Fun fact: These two teams have needed overtime in five of their last nine head-to-head meetings, including on Oct. 27 when sophomore defenseman Benton Maass scored to lift UNH head coach Mike Souza (Wakefield, Mass.) to his first career win.
Boston University (10-12-3, 8-6-2) at Massachusetts (20-5, 12-3)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.
Boston College (10-12-3, 9-4-3)/Massachusetts at UMass Lowell (15-8-2, 9-4-2)
Friday, 7:15 p.m./Saturday, 7 p.m. at Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
What to watch for: UMass has a busy weekend ahead as it looks to continue its first-place ways in Hockey East, first hosting BU for a rematch of last week’s 7-5 road win. The Minutemen, who still average more than four goals per league game, will then visit a UMass Lowell squad that carries an eight-game unbeaten run (7-0-1) into Friday’s home contest with BC. Monday’s Beanpot win over Harvard made it back-to-back for the Eagles since going 0-1-1 against the River Hawks two weeks ago, while the Terriers have lost back-to-back.
Fun fact: UMass Lowell has scored 3.38 goals per game (27 total) during its current eight-game run, up from an average of 2.76 (47 total) through its first 17 games of the season.
ECAC HOCKEY
Yale (11-7-3, 9-4-1)/Brown (8-10-3, 5-6-3) at Quinnipiac (20-5-1, 9-4-1)/Princeton (6-13-2, 4-9-1)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at People’s United Center, Hamden, Conn.
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.
What to watch for: Yale and Quinnipiac begin the weekend in a second-place ECAC tie, one point behind Cornell, so Friday’s first meeting since the Connecticut rivals split last year’s series and then the Bobcats swept two in the playoffs is an important one. The Bobcats swept Clarkson and St. Lawrence last weekend with its top-ranked offensive and defensive units (3.85-1.85 goals per game) in the league, while Princeton, despite its two point-per-game scorers, has scored only three times in three games after being swept. Brown, which lost to Yale last weekend after earning back-to-back wins, now faces the Tigers on Friday for the first time since being swept in last season’s ECAC playoffs.
Fun fact: Quinnipiac’s Chase Priskie and Alex Whelan scored twice apiece against the rival Bulldogs in the first round of last season’s ECAC playoffs, while Yale’s Kevin O’Neil scored a goal in the series against Bobcat now-sophomore Keith Petruzzelli.
Union (13-8-5, 6-7-1) at Harvard (11-7-3, 8-5-2)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass.
Rensselaer (8-17-2, 5-9-1)/Union at Dartmouth (8-11-2, 7-6-1)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.
What to watch for: The ECAC teams from New York’s Capital District make the trip to New England, though it’s only a one-game weekend for Harvard as it prepares for Monday’s Beanpot consolation game with BU against a Union club that has only won once in its last four games. The Crimson had a four-game win streak snapped last Monday, though senior Michael Lackey and his defense have allowed more than two goals only four times in its last 18 games. Dartmouth has lost three of four but can extend a seven-game win streak against the Engineers on Friday.
Fun fact: Union sophomore Jack Adams (Boxford, Mass.) has three points in his last four games, including two assists in last Saturday’s 6-0 win over Colgate.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
American International (15-12-1, 15-8-1) at Army West Point (8-14-4, 7-9-4)
Friday/Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Tate Rink, West Point, N.Y.
What to watch for: The Black Knights struggled with Holy Cross on the road last weekend and now get their only chance this season to play against Atlantic Hockey’s top team, one that has won three straight after pulling out two wins over Niagara on home ice in Springfield last weekend. The Yellow Jackets put home six goals in each game with the Purple Eagles and had three players, including freshman Chris Theodore, score twice over the weekend. AIC and Army have both allowed three goals per game for the season, but the Yellow Jackets have the top offense in overall (3.32) and AHC (3.67) games.
Fun fact: AIC junior Zackarias Skog has more wins (12) than any AHC goaltender, though his .885 save percentage for the season is the lowest among qualifiers.
Canisius (9-15-3, 6-13-2) at Bentley (12-11-3, 11-7-2)
Friday, 7:05 p.m./Saturday, 4:05 p.m. at Bentley Arena, Waltham, Mass.
What to watch for: The Falcons look to continue the nation’s longest current unbeaten streak (7-0-2) when Canisius visits Waltham looking for only its second win since sweeping North Dakota over the first weekend of January. For Bentley, junior Jonathan Desbiens has scored in six straight games and junior Aidan Pelino has a .930 save percentage during a total nine-game run that is tied for the Division 1 program record. Two of Bentley’s five straight wins came against the Golden Griffins two weeks ago in Buffalo, 4-2 and 3-1.
Fun fact: Bentley has allowed the fewest total goals (70) and second-fewest on average (2.69) in Atlantic Hockey.
RIT (12-11-3, 10-7-3) at Holy Cross (6-16-4, 6-11-3)
Friday/Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
What to watch for: The Tigers return to AHC play after losing its final pair of non-conference games to Arizona State and will do so against a Crusader crew that is unbeaten in three straight including last weekend’s 1-0-1 series with Army West Point. Senior Peter Crinella (East Longmeadow, Mass.) enjoyed a great weekend against the Black Knights, scoring once and adding three assists for four of his 13 points to lead Holy Cross, which now sits two points behind ninth-place Robert Morris, to only its second three-point weekend of the season.
Fun fact: Holy Cross senior Spencer Trapp is the lone Atlantic Hockey defenseman with multiple power-play goals in his team’s last three games.
Sacred Heart (10-13-3, 9-9-2) at Niagara (10-14-3, 9-9-3)
Friday, 7:05 p.m./Saturday, 4:05 p.m. at Dwyer Arena, Niagara University, N.Y.
What to watch for: SHU’s win over UConn and road sweep at Robert Morris was part of an 8-0-1 last week for the New England-based Atlantic Hockey teams, but the Pioneers will look to keep that momentum going on the road against the second-highest scoring team (3.22 goals per game) in the league. Freshman Josh Benson stopped 45 of the 48 shots he faced in as three of his teammates scored twice each over last weekend in Pittsburgh, helping SHU rise to seventh in the standings and only three points out of fifth.
Fun fact: The Pioneers have gone 3-1 over the last two weekends, killing off 18 of 19 penalties (94.7 percent) to lead Atlantic Hockey during that span.
