American International knows that success in March begins now.
Before it can make history with a fourth consecutive Atlantic Hockey championship, Eric Lang’s group is testing itself against a non-conference gauntlet that has included an exhibition game at Boston College and home-and-home series against Providence, UMass and Quinnipiac. A set with another Hockey East foe, UConn, awaits in December.
“It’s a great reminder of how close we really are to being one of the top-tier programs in the country,” Lang said of playing the likes of Providence and UMass, two national title-winning programs. “We didn’t pick our battles with some great programs. We picked some battles with elites, the best of the best. That’s the goal for us.”
American International knows that success in March begins now.
Before it can make history with a fourth consecutive Atlantic Hockey championship, Eric Lang’s group is testing itself against a non-conference gauntlet that has included an exhibition game at Boston College and home-and-home series against Providence, UMass and Quinnipiac. A set with another Hockey East foe, UConn, awaits in December.
“It’s a great reminder of how close we really are to being one of the top-tier programs in the country,” Lang said of playing the likes of Providence and UMass, two national title-winning programs. “We didn’t pick our battles with some great programs. We picked some battles with elites, the best of the best. That’s the goal for us.”
The team’s 2-7-1 record may not stand out right now, but the effort does. The Yellow Jackets faced overtime in four of their last five games, including twice against Quinnipiac at the end of October and in Friday’s 2-1 setback at Providence.
“Every program is going to go through a little adversity at some point,” AIC’s sixth-year head coach said, “so I’d rather it be in October and November than February and March.”
Before the Yellow Jackets became the first No. 16 seed to beat the No. 1 (St. Cloud State) in a program’s first-ever NCAA game in 2018-19, they played a non-conference schedule consisting only of teams that qualified for the national tournament. By March, the same could be true of this season’s slate.
In its most recent battle with a ranked foe, AIC tested the Friars and battled them to a 3-on-3 extra session.
Not only did fifth-year senior forward Chris Dodero score a shorthanded, game-tying goal in the third period, but he contributed to an incredible team effort on the defensive end. The team blocked 25 shots for the second time this season, and Dodero was responsible for three.
Playing a 'mature game' has been a point of focus for AIC, which is one of the nation’s oldest teams. The roster features 10 seniors and graduate students.
“I think our team defense has come a long way since the start of the season,” Dodero said. “It’s a big step for our team. Now, we’re learning how to play a complete game. Even though we’ve come up on the short end, we’re encouraged about our future. … It started with (Providence transfer Jake Kucharski) making a few big saves for us, and then we’re pretty engaged, defending from the inside out.”
Dodero’s growth from freshman to senior year has become an example for all of the Yellow Jackets, especially in today’s often-changing, transfer portal-dominated college hockey world.
After playing sparingly as a freshman, the native of West Chicago, Ill., played in nearly every game of the aforementioned NCAA postseason run before becoming Atlantic Hockey’s Best Defensive Forward and an All-AHA Second Team player last season.
“It’s easy to put your name on the transfer portal and say, ‘I’m not on the power play, I’m not playing as much as I’d like,’ and change the situation,” Lang said. “Chris was in that situation before the Portal (existed), but he looked himself in the mirror and became an elite player. He’s a special person, an elite competitor with high-end skill, and he’s the best student of the game that I’ve ever coached.”
Though he has developed a 200-foot game, Dodero has notched points in six of his first eight games, scoring goals in both of their league series -- splits against Army West Point and RIT -- and each game against Providence. Most recently, he has played with UConn grad transfer and co-leading scorer Brian Rigali, as well as sophomore Julius Janhonen.
The league schedule takes center stage over the next two weekends for the Yellow Jackets, starting with a two-game series against Bentley beginning Thursday in Springfield. Those are the games that matter most, but the games that have already been played do play a big role.
“We take a lot of pride in (non-conference) games since we’re a smaller school, but we’re going to bring effort and compete in every single game,” Dodero said. “You’ll expect that mature, hard-working game. … In a lot of the losses, we’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties or turnovers, so the great thing is that we can fix everything and learn from those mistakes.”
O’Brien’s back
Looking to break a four-game losing streak, Boston University received a significant boost to its forward lineup on Friday night as junior Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) -- who scored a team-leading eight goals during the shortened 2020-21 season -- returned after missing eight consecutive contests due to injury.
O’Brien gave the struggling Terriers a spark while playing on junior Wilmer Skoog’s top line throughout the weekend. The former Thayer Academy star generated a game-high seven shots and set up sophomore Dylan Peterson’s game-tying goal in the second period of Friday’s eventual 2-2 draw with UMass before adding a goal and an assist on the way to a 4-3 overtime win the following night.
“He was competitive and brought a good energy on the bench and in the locker room,” BU coach Albie O’Connell said after the series opener. “He’s a veteran player that we dearly missed through that stretch (of about a month). … Getting a guy of his caliber and character back into the room was great. He really played the right way tonight. I was pretty proud of him.”
On Friday, the second point in the Hockey East standings went to the Minutemen as former Salisbury School forward Lucas Mercuri scored the only goal in the league’s first shootout of the season. BU, which hasn’t won since Oct. 23 against Merrimack, is still missing sophomore Luke Tuch and UMass Lowell junior transfer Matt Brown from its lineup.
Barr wins first on tight Friday in Hockey East
The outstanding parity in Hockey East this season continues to be displayed as all six Friday games involving teams from the conference were one-goal games. Four ended in overtime, while four (three in league play) ended with identical 2-1 scores.
The evening’s only offensive outburst was a highlight for Maine, as head coach Ben Barr earned his first career victory with a 6-5 triumph over Merrimack. The Black Bears topped the three-goal mark in the second period -- after not reaching it in any of their first eight games -- before getting the overtime winner from freshman defenseman David Breazeale. The visitors responded with a 2-0 win in which sophomore Zachary Borgiel posted his first career shutout.
Three Saturday contests were decided by two goals, but the other two went to overtime.
Vermont was resilient for a second straight series, overcoming three separate one-goal deficits before taking an extra standings point with a shootout win at New Hampshire. Junior defenseman Andrew Lucas scored in regulation and then in the shootout, while sophomore Gabe Carriere backstopped the Catamounts’ first road win with 36 saves, marking his second effort with 30 or more in as many starts.
Worth the wait
Like Barr and, earlier this season, his own head coach Reid Cashman, Dartmouth goaltender Justin Ferguson (Hudson, N.H.) is coming off of a milestone first win of his own.
The senior who played for the USPHL’s Middlesex Islanders played back-to-back games in the North Country, starting with Friday’s 3-2 win over St. Lawrence during which he matched his career-high with 30 saves. He kept the game scoreless with a 15-save effort in the first period.
Sacred Heart and Yale may have only played an exhibition game on Saturday, but it turned out to be a special one for Pioneer graduate transfer Dante Palecco. The former Yale forward scored two goals to lead his new team to a 3-1 win over his former one in New Haven.
THREE MORE STARS
Hockey East - Ben Meehan, UMass Lowell
A sophomore defenseman from Walpole, Mass., Meehan scored a goal and an assist in each of the River Hawks’ wins over ranked opponents this past weekend. The weekend sweep of Northeastern and Boston College extended Lowell’s unbeaten streak to eight games since a season-opening, Oct. 2 loss at Arizona State.
After scoring his first collegiate goal against BU on Oct. 30, the Dexter Southfield graduate contributed to both of the team’s tallies in Friday’s 2-1 overtime triumph, assisting on senior Lucas Condotta’s third-period strike before netting the winner in the 3-on-3 extra frame. He also scored Lowell’s first of two power-play goals after setting up junior Andre Lee’s first of two in a 4-2 win the next night.
ECAC - Zach Metsa, Quinnipiac
Metsa showed off his playmaking ability as the Bobcats ran their win streak to five games and unbeaten streak to seven with a non-conference weekend sweep of Arizona State. The senior defenseman and second-year assistant captain from Delafield, Wis., assisted on five of Quinnipiac’s 10 goals during the matching 5-2 wins.
After helping out on two of Quinnipiac’s five unanswered goals on Friday, Metsa piled up three more assists -- two as part of UMass graduate transfer Oliver Chau’s first collegiate hat trick -- during the series-sweeping victory. He leads ECAC Hockey in assists (12) and plus-minus (13).
Atlantic - Matt Gosiewski & Matt Lombardozzi, Bentley
The two New England natives are in the midst of strong runs for Bentley, which bounced back from back-to-back losses for a 5-4 win in its Saturday series finale at Air Force. Gosiewski (Wilton, Conn.) led the way offensively, scoring a goal in each of the first two periods before adding an assist.
From the back end, Lombardozzi (Leominster, Mass.) has been dynamic over the last two weekends. The Rivers School product has an Atlantic Hockey-leading four power-play goals in as many games, including the lone tally in the Falcons’ 2-1 setback on Friday.
THIS WEEK’S HAT TRICK
1. Rivalries renewed: The upcoming slate features a pair of Massachusetts league rivalries. The weekend begins a day early with a pair of Thursday night games involving New England teams, including the start of an Atlantic Hockey series between Bentley and AIC at MassMutual Center in Springfield.
Beginning the following night, Hockey East foes Northeastern and BU will renew acquaintances for the first time since its final games prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. The opening game of the set is scheduled for Agganis Arena.
2. Key series for Huskies, River Hawks: Hockey East home-and-home weekends continue with a meeting of UMass Lowell and UConn teams that have played well of late and concluded this past weekend in a fifth-place tie in the still-early standings.
Entering Saturday’s NESN-televised matinee in Lowell, the River Hawks will aim to continue their winning ways as the Huskies look to shake off back-to-back ranked losses against BC and Providence that followed a four-game win streak.
3. Trading places in ECAC: After Harvard and Dartmouth made the long trek to the North Country and picked up one win apiece this past weekend, Clarkson and St. Lawrence will be on New England turf for their second road trips of the season.
The two rivals will spend part of their upcoming split series visiting a hot Quinnipiac team, while Brown returns to action alongside Yale with a swing through Cornell and Colgate. The Bulldogs are still in search of their first victory this winter.
