Hockey East monthly awards: Love for Goumas, not for plus-minus ratings

Hockey East named its players of the month yesterday, and two very familiar faces - not to mention a third soon-to-be familiar face - were handed honors their teams would have liked them to be winning months ago.

After a torrid start to the month in which his offensive totals were padded but his plus-minus took a huge hit, Maine’s Gustav Nyquist was named Hockey East Athletic Republic Player of the Month. In the month’s first weekend, Nyquist scored four goals against UNH, including a hat trick in the team’s Friday night defeat. Perhaps most memorable, however, was when he lost an edge and missed an empty net with just over 45 seconds to go in a tie game before Paul Thompson banked the game-winner off of Dan Sullivan’s right shoulder and into the net 30 seconds later. For the month, Nyquist totalled 10 goals and four assists and had five multi-point performances.



It hasn’t been a year full of sunshine and butterflies for BU’s Kieran Millan, but after a month in which the Terrier netminder didn’t lose a single conference game (5-0-1), the junior was recognized as the Pure Hockey Goaltender of the Month. Millan allowed nine goals in six conference games (1.50 GAA) including a shutout on February 19th at Providence and recorded a save percentage of .952 in conference play. The obvious blemish? Allowing eight goals in the Beanpot - including five to lowly Harvard in BU’s first Beanpot consolation game loss since 1980.



Finally, proving that quantity does matter more than quality, UNH’s Kevin Goumas took home the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month award - after winning the weekly version three out of four times in February. Goumas had a game-winning goal in UNH’s February 4th victory over Maine and registered the game-tying goal in Friday’s 2-2 draw with Northeastern. He finished the month with 4-7-11 totals, including three multi-point games.

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.

UNH and Northeastern Tie, Maine Beats - Then Beats - Merrimack: Hockey East Friday Highlights

at Maine 4, Merrimack 0
ORONO, ME - Four Black Bears scored and Spencer Abbott tallied three points to extend Maine’s winning streak to three games and hand Merrimack just its second shutout loss on the season, its first such defeat since falling to Providence by a score of 2-0 on November 5th. The two teams combined for 173 penalty minutes, including Kyle Bigos’ match penalty for a blindside hit on Maine’s Gustav Nyquist. The game disqualification means that Bigos will be ineligible for Saturday night’s game with the Black Bears.
Joe Cannata was pulled after letting four of the first 17 pucks he saw past, and took his first loss since January 21st. Dan Sullivan kept an opposing team off the board for the third straight game and currently has a shutout streak of 180 minutes going. The Black Bears as a team haven’t allowed a goal in 190 minutes of play.

Boston College 4 at UMass 3
AMHERST, MA - After the Eagles jumped out to a 4-1 lead midway through the second period, the Minutemen stormed back to come within one goal of tying, but were never able to get over the hump. Brian Gibbons, Joe Whitney and Cam Atkinson each had two-point nights for the Eagles, while nine Minutemen registered a point. John Muse only had to stop 17 shots for the win, while UMass’ Paul Dainton stopped 30 shots, in the process becoming the Minutemen’s all-time saves leader. With the loss, UMass drops to eighth in the conference, two points ahead of Providence.

at Boston University 3, Vermont 3
BOSTON, MA - The Terriers coasted to a three-goal lead nearing the middle of the third period before the Catamounts exploded, scoring three times in 6:52 to tie the game and holding on the rest of the way to earn a point and move into seventh place alone in Hockey East. Nine Vermont players registered a point on the night, and Lance Herrington’s first goal of the season tied it up with 6:31 to play in the game. Rob Madore stopped 43 shots to preserve the tie. Vermont now has a one-point lead on UMass, which lost to Boston College, and maintains a three-point cushion on Providence.

at New Hampshire 2, Northeastern 2
DURHAM, NH - Kevin Goumas shot the puck from the goal line and it bounced off of Mike Hewkin’s stick before hitting Chris Rawlings in the rib and falling into the Northeastern net. The goal - which came after an earlier Goumas goal was disallowed after the net was lifted - tied the game at two, and the Wildcats and Huskies weren’t able to solve each other the rest of the way. New Hampshire lost Greg Burke to what is probably a separated shoulder and Northeastern lost Hewkin to an upper-body injury and neither will play when the two teams face off Saturday at Matthews Arena.
Drew Daniels and Wade MacLeod scored for Northeastern, which got off to an early 2-0 lead thanks to some superb forechecking and great play in the neutral zone. Connor Hardowa, who was moved from defense to center on UNH’s fourth line following the Burke injury in the first period, scored the other Wildcat goal. With the tie, UNH maintains its grip on first place over BC by a point.

at Providence 3, Lowell 3
PROVIDENCE, RI - Matt Germain scored the first and last goal of the game for the Friars and Joseph Pendenza scored twice in 1:21 in the second period for Lowell, which earned a point for the first time since upsetting Merrimack on January 21st. Alex Beaudry stopped 33 shots for Providence, which is now two points out of eighth place in the Hockey East standings.