Hockey East Saturday Highlights

at New Hampshire 3, Boston College 3
DURHAM, NH - Pat Mullane got free near the goal line and put home a Tommy Cross rebound with five minutes to go and Boston College held on to win Hockey East’s regular season championship. Phil DeSimone, Dalton Speelman and Mike Sislo scored for the Wildcats, who saw a 2-0 lead early in the second period go by the wayside when Cam Atkinson got behind the UNH defense and put the puck behind Matt Di Girolamo to tie the game with 12.4 seconds remaining. John Muse stopped 27 of UNH’s 30 shots to earn his 23rd win on the season, good for first in the conference.

at Providence 5 Merrimack 3
PROVIDENCE, RI - Senior night at Schneider Arena started sour and turned around in a hurry as the Friars’ answered Merrimack’s three-goal first period spurt with four unanswered goals of their own in the second period. Eric Baier scored twice and three Friars had multi-point nights as Providence won a Hockey East game for the first time since they beat Merrimack 2-0 on November 5th,  a span of exactly four months. Alex Beaudry stopped 22 Warrior shots to earn the win. Providence finished a point behind UMass and missed the Hockey East playoffs for the third straight season.

at UMass 4, Maine 4
AMHERST, MA - Just when it looked like they were down and out of the Hockey East playoffs, UMass scored twice in 18 seconds early in the third period to tie the game. Brian Flynn scored his 50th career goal and Josh Van Dyk assisted on the first two Black Bear goals of the night as Maine - unable to improve or hurt its standing heading into the Hockey East playoffs - wasn’t able to play spoiler to UMass’ playoff bids. The tie earned the Minutemen a point and put them into the Hockey East playoffs as the eight seed. Dan Sullivan, getting his eighth straight start in net for Maine, stopped 26 shots and Paul Dainton saved 32 Maine shots to preserve the tie.

Northeastern 4 at Boston University 2
BOSTON, MA - Mike Hewkin scored his first career goal and Steve Silva followed it up with his eighth of the season 61 seconds later to give Northeastern a 4-2 lead in the third period at Agganis Arena, and the Huskies held on the rest of the way to earn Clay Witt his second win of the season. Kevin Gilroy scored to make it 4-3 at 17:10, but the Terriers were unable to generate the equalizer as the Huskies ruined BU’s senior night a night after falling at home, 3-2. Witt made 41 saves to earn the win. Northeastern will return to Agganis on Friday as they face BU in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs.

at Vermont 4, Lowell 2
BURLINGTON, VT - Sebastian Stalberg scored mid-way through the second period and Rob Madore made 18 saves to hold off the RiverHawks and maintain seventh place in Hockey East heading into the playoffs. Vermont heads to the Whittemore Center on Friday to take on UNH in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs.  

BC pushes UNH to the Brink, BU outlasts Northeastern: Hockey East Friday Highlights

at Merrimack 6, Providence 1
ANDOVER, MA - What started as a promising season for the Friars spent two months burning steadily down. Friday night at Lawler Arena, the ashes finally settled. Merrimack - behind another strong effort in net from Joe Cannata - put the kabash on Providence’s playoff hopes and likely on Tim Army’s tenure as coach. Stephane Da Costa returned to action for the first time in three weeks and scored a goal and registered two assists as Joe Cucci scored twice for the Warriors, who clinched home ice in the Hockey East quarterfinals with the win.

Maine 4 at UMass 3
AMHERST, MA - It had been three years since Maine won a game at the Mullins Center, but they didn’t leave any doubt when this one was over. Dan Sullivan extended his and the Black Bears’ season-best win streak to six games, although he allowed two more goals than he’d allowed in the previous four games. Maine improved to 14-1-0 when scoring four or more goals on the season. Robby Dee scored the game-winner for Maine.

at Vermont 4, Lowell 4
BURLINGTON, VT - Five minutes into the third period, the Catamounts had a comfortable 2-0 lead on the worst team in the conference and were ready to seal another trip to the Hockey East playoffs. They still got their playoff berth when Providence lost, but the lead didn’t stand as the RiverHawks scored four goals in just over 11 minutes, taking a lead into the final minute before Jack Downing scored to tie the game at 19:14. David Vallorani continued his strong play with assists on all four Lowell goals as Michael Budd added a goal and two assists and Riley Wetmore had a goal and an assist for Lowell. Rob Madore stopped 22 shots to preserve the tie for homestanding Vermont.

Boston University 3 at Northeastern 2
BOSTON, MA - In a game that saw more penalty minutes than shots on goal, BU extended its conference unbeaten streak to ten games. Sahir GIll scored the game-winner and Kieran Millan fought off a late-game injury and flurry from the Huskies to help the Terriers clinch home-ice advantage in the Hockey East quarterfinals. Millan stopped 39 shots in the win, as Northeastern outshot BU 41-27. Wade MacLeod extended his current Hockey East point streak to three games and Cody Ferriero scored for the second time in as many games for Northeastern.

at Boston College 4, UNH 0
CHESTNUT HILL, MA - The Eagles outshot UNH 42-12 and weren’t any nicer on the real scoreboard as John Muse netted his third shutout and 21st win of the season to boost BC back into first place in Hockey East. Cam Atkinson scored twice and the Eagles scored three special-teams goals as Brian Gibbons recorded the game-winning goal and two assists. Chris Kreider was hit in the jaw with the puck in the second period and left the game to be x-rayed.
Hockey East’s regular-season championship will be decided Saturday night at the Whit as the home-and-home series concludes.

Stating the obvious: Hockey East's easiest weekly honors yet

After stymieing one of Hockey East’s most prolific offenses, Dan Sullivan (0.50 GAA, .971 sv % last weekend vs. Merrimack) has been named Hockey East’s Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week. In shutting out Merrimack through 82:48 of playing time last weekend, Sullivan set the record for longest shutout in school history, ousting current Detroit Red Wings G Jimmy Howard’s previous mark of 194 minutes.

He’s joined in the weekly honors circle by UNH freshman forward Kevin Goumas, who’s starting to get comfortable with the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week award, having won it twice consecutively and three times in four weeks. Goumas helped UNH come from behind against Northeastern, tying the game at two with his goal in the third period on Friday night, and handed out three assists Saturday night in the Wildcats’ 6-3 win at Matthews Arena.

With a six-point weekend in tow, Lowell’s David Vallorani (3-3) earned the Athletic Republic Player of the Week honors. The RiverHawks won the weekend series, taking three points from Providence and Vallorani scored the game-winner in Saturday’s 7-2 victory over the Friars.

For their all-team effort against Merrimack, Maine was also named Hockey East’s team of the week. The Black Bears killed all 12 Merrimack power plays and went six for 14 on the man-advantage en route to 4-0 and 7-1 wins at Alfond Arena.