As October draws to a close, conference play will soon heat up around New England's Division 1 college rinks.
The season’s second month also marks Ivy League programs — Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale — opening play with regional battles on both Friday and Saturday night. All four Friday games involving Hockey East teams are league contests, as are three of the five on Saturday.
Merrimack and UMass will look to build off last weekend’s wins in a home-and-home series, while Maine travels to UConn for two games. Providence-Boston University and Northeastern-UMass Lowell contests are also on tap Friday in Hockey East. Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s Mike Souza makes his Whittemore Center debut as head coach the following night.
Quinnipiac and AIC trade home games, but the weekend’s non-conference highlight is a visit from a St. Cloud State. The undefeated program, after Thursday night’s 7-0 shellacking at Boston College, visits Northeastern.
HOCKEY EAST
Merrimack (2-3) vs. UMass (3-1)
- Friday, 7 p.m. in Amherst, Mass. (NESN)
- Saturday, 7 p.m. in North Andover, Mass.
What to watch for: From the Olympic-sized Mullins Center to the tight quarters of Lawler Rink, it would be no surprise to see a weekend of contrasting games. No matter where the games are played, Greg Carvel will have his Minutemen rearing to go after losing control of their finale at Ohio State. Meanwhile, Merrimack impressed in its Hockey East debut, shutting down a highly-skilled BU club.
Fun fact: Three Hockey East defensemen lead their teams in scoring, but UMass star Cale Makar leads that group after consecutive four-point weekends. BU’s David Farrance and UNH’s Max Gildon are also the top offensive producers.
Maine (2-2) at UConn (2-2)
- Friday, 7:05 p.m./Saturday, 3:05 p.m. in Hartford
What to watch for: UConn makes its home debut after beating Army West Point and RPI over a season-opening, four-game road trip. The Huskies took a beating from Providence to open Hockey East play in their other game last weekend, while Maine’s weekend at Minnesota Duluth (outscored 11-4) was no better. For two teams likely competing in the middle of the standings, this is a big one.
Fun fact: UConn has allowed the second-most goals (14) of any Hockey East club, with Maine one behind (13). The Huskies have allowed six of their goals in the third period.
Northeastern (2-2) at UMass Lowell (2-2)
- Friday, 7:15 p.m. in Lowell, Mass.
What to watch for: These two teams always seem to play tight games, though Northeastern boasts a 4-2-1 mark in the last seven meetings. This contest not only opens each of their Hockey East slates, but the winner will also jump above .500 entering a Saturday non-conference tilt.
Fun fact: Lowell goaltender Tyler Wall pitched his fourth collegiate shutout last Friday night at Miami. He made 36 saves in that game, marking his highest total while blanking an opponent as a River Hawk.
Providence (3-1-1) at Boston University (0-3)
- Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Agganis Arena
What to watch for: BU is in desperate need of a win entering its home opener after being run out of Merrimack’s Lawler Arena on Saturday. The Terriers will need veterans like North Reading, Mass., native captain Bobo Carpenter (two goals, one assist) to lead the way. Providence never makes things easy, but settled for a 2-2 tie in its last action at Sacred Heart.
Fun fact: The Friars pitched a 3-0 shutout against BU in last season’s first of four head-to-head meetings on Oct. 28, 2017 at Schneider Arena. That game marked PC’s first win in the series since the 2015 national title game at TD Garden.
Vermont (1-1) at New Hampshire (0-3-1)
- Saturday, 7 p.m. in Durham, N.H.
What to watch for: Vermont has had to sit on Oct. 13, 3-2 loss to Quinnipiac that got away in the final few minutes. UNH has had similar results in the form of three one-goal losses. Close games are the norm in Hockey East, so it shouldn’t be any different as the Wildcats get their first taste of home cooking this season.
Fun fact: All eight of the Wildcats’ goals have been scored by different players. Senior Ara Nazarian (Boxford, Mass.) is the only New Englander in that group.
ECAC HOCKEY
Yale (0-0) at Brown (0-0)
Friday, 7 p.m. in Providence, R.I.
What to watch for: Yale returns more scoring from last season (91 percent) than any ECAC team and boasts 16 upperclassmen, while Brown looks to drastically improve its 2.2 goals per game average from last season. Both sides are looking to become league contenders after down seasons.
Fun fact: This Yale-Brown clash will be the 180th in history. The teams first met all the way back on Feb. 18, 1898, playing on a pond a few miles north of New Haven, Conn.
Harvard (0-0) at Dartmouth (0-0)
- Saturday, 7 p.m. in Hanover, N.H.
What to watch for: The weekend’s other ECAC clash is ripe with returning scorers. Dartmouth returns all but one of its top 11 contributors from a team that was red-hot in last season's second half. Harvard’s best player is All-American defenseman Adam Fox, but the Crimson's biggest challenge is replacing forward Ryan Donato (Scituate, Mass.), who left early to sign with the Boston Bruins.
Fun fact: Harvard has recorded shutouts in five of its last six season openers. Two have come against the archrival Big Green, including one last season in Cambridge.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Holy Cross (1-3) at Bentley (0-2-1)
- Friday, 7:05 p.m. in Waltham, Mass.
What to watch for: For the first time, this league rivalry will be contested at the new Bentley Arena, as the Crusaders enter with 14 goals scored in just four games. It’s been a balanced effort, too, as freshman Matt Barry is one of four Holy Cross players with two goals to his name so far.
Fun fact: Bentley will play Holy Cross for the 65th time, matching Army and AIC in program history. Sacred Heart is the only team the Falcons have played more (71).
NON-CONFERENCE
Quinnipiac (3-0) vs. AIC (2-2-1)
- Friday, 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mass.
- Saturday, 7 p.m. in Hamden, Conn.
What to watch for: Two of New England’s best clubs outside of Hockey East meet for two games. The Bobcats are off to a hot start in non-conference play, but they’ll step outside of Hockey East — the only league on the schedule so far this season — to meet an AIC club that has the early Atlantic Hockey lead.
Fun fact: AIC sophomore Brennan Kapcheck was named Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week after earning Rookie of the Year honors last season. The Illinois native posted four assists, a plus-4 rating and five blocked shots in the Yellow Jackets’ last two games against Bentley.
St. Cloud State (5-0) at Northeastern (2-2)
- Saturday, 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena (NESN)
What to watch for: Northeastern scored just four goals in last weekend’s series against 4-0-1 Union, so freshman Tyler Madden (three goals) and the Huskies will need to bust out if they want to upset a St. Cloud team that has only allowed five all season.
Fun fact: This is St. Cloud State's first visit to Northeastern since Nov. 24, 2000. The Huskies (from Minnesota) skated to a 4-1 win.
UMass Lowell (2-2) at Bentley (0-2-1)
- Saturday, 7:05 p.m. in Waltham, Mass.
What to watch for: Both teams will enter this one after playing league games on Friday, so look for Bentley’s defense corps to make the River Hawks’ first trip to the new Waltham, Mass., building building a challenging one. Senior blue-liners Alexey Solovyev and Tanner Jago have combined for three of the Falcons’ eight goals. For UML, senior Connor Wilson and junior Kenny Hausinger have scored three apiece of the team's 10.
Fun fact: Lowell becomes the second Hockey East team to visit Bentley Arena in its short history. Merrimack earned a 1-0 shutout there two weeks ago.
Vermont (1-1) at Brown (0-0)
- Sunday, 5 p.m. in Providence, R.I. (NESN)
What to watch for: Brown welcomes in a struggling Hockey East club to continue its season debut weekend. Each team finished with less than 2.2 goals per game (Brown 56th, Vermont 57th nationally) last season. They also skated to a 2-2 tie on Dec. 9, 2017 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Fun fact: Brown sophomore Luke Kania made 34 saves against the Catamounts last year. It was one of his seven games with 30 or more stops.
