UMass, UNH skate to a draw

Both teams came out skating strong during the first period, especially UMass who seemed to get off to a better start than last night.  UNH goaltender  Matt DiGirolamo was forced to make a huge sprawling save just 2 minutes into the game after his defense dissolved in front of him and UMass aggressively crashed the net. 

UNH answered with an increase in speed through the neutral zone and retained puck posession.  After a stretch of maintained possession, Paul Thompson fired a shot on net that was saved by UMass goaltender Paul Dainton . Thompson gathered the rebound and slid it through the crease to the captain Mike Sislo who fired the puck top shelf and slipped it past an already committed Dainton. 

UMass was quick to respond to UNH’s goal when freshman defenseman Adam Phillips scored on DiGirolamo.  UMass crashed the net and maintained presence, sliding the puck in DiGirolamo’s five hole until it trickled in the net. 

UNH scored their second goal on the powerplay when Stevie Moses fired the puck past Dainton after an assist by DeSimone and a secondary assist by Thompson.

At the end of the first period, Phillips and Moses exchanged some words and both received matching penalties for grabbing each others’ facemasks.  Phillips was discharged for the game for initiating the scrum. 

The score remained 2-1 through the second period.  Both teams seemed tired and frustrated by the end of the period with some back and forth between players that led to penalties for Austin Block and T.J. Syner, penalties that carried into the third period.

After returning from his penalty, Syner scored in the third period to tie things up 2-2. Michael Pereira scored seconds later to take the 3-2 lead. 

UNH relentlessly answered with less than a minute in the third period on a goal by Blake Kessel assisted by DeSimone to send the game into Overtime. 

The score remained the same through the Overtime period with several chances for UMass on a 5 on 3 opportunity.

The three stars of the game were DeSimone and Thompson from UNH while UMass goaltender Dainton earned the second star of the game for stopping 43 of 46 shots faced. 

Maine Completes Comeback For Second Straight Night As Huskies Falter

The Maine Black Bears knocked off the Northeastern Huskies for the second consecutive night, beating them by the same score they did on Friday of 4-2.

This time Northeastern took a 2-1 lead into the the third period before surrendering three consecutive goals. Just like the previous night, Maine came back from two separate one-goal deficits to tie the game at 2-2 and the Huskies could never answer back.

"We knew it wasn't going to come easy so we just stayed determined, didn't get frustrated, and eventually we were able to overtake them," said Maine head coach Tim Whitehead.

Unlike Friday, the Huskies power play wasn’t effective, going 0-5 and only managing to get two shots all game with the man-advantage. Maine, who had many more chances with the extra attacker, went 1-9. The Black Bears outshot Northeastern by a large margin of 40-19.

The Huskies got both of their goals at even strength. Tyler McNeely scored his third goal of the season 7:23 into the game to give NU the early lead, while Wade MacLeod put the team back on top 2-1 with his fourth of the season after Maine’s Spencer Abbott had tied the game early in the second period.

"We came out a little lazy for some reason, I'm not sure why," Abbott said. "They took advantage of it in the first and they outplayed us but going into the second we had a game plan to just get the puck deep and not many teams can handle us down low if we do our cutbacks."

Joey Diamond tied the game 4:19 into the third period with his sixth goal of the season and then Maine took over and went for the jugular.

"We knew right from the beginning that it was going to be a tough game," Diamond said. "We were going to have to grind it out like we did last night.

"It's exactly what we needed," Whitehead said. "He shrugged off the defenseman and took it to the net and just willed it into the net. I've seen him do that before and I think that was a big turning point."

Ryan Hegarty got the game winner just two minutes after the Black Bears tied the game up and they never looked back. Klas Leidermmark added an insurance goal later in the third.

Chris Rawlings made 36 saves for the Huskies in the losing effort, while Dan Sullivan stopped 17 for Maine.

“It was a hard fought series,” said Whitehead. “When you finish those close games you’re glad to have been in them. It was a good experience for us against a very determined, strong Northeastern team, I thought they deserved a little better fate this weekend but it’ll come for them and we’re pleased with the third periods both nights.”

Northeastern has now lost five consecutive games. Their last win came back on October 23 when they beat UMass-Lowell 3-1.

On the other hand, Maine is unbeaten in their last six games as they are 6-1-3 overall and have yet to lose a game in Hockey East play (4-0-1).

No. 5 Maine comes from behind to beat Northeastern

Maine forward Joey Diamond scored on a power play in the third period to put the Black Bears ahead for the first time all night and never looked back, beating the Northeastern Huskies 4-2 in the first of two games between the teams this weekend at Alfond Arena in Orono.


The Huskies got the lead late in the first period when freshman forward Rob Dongara got his second goal of the season. During a power play after Maine defenseman Ryan Hegarty went to the box for high sticking, Garrett Vermeersch got the puck to senior forward Wade MacLeod at the point. MacLeod took a quick shot that was deflected in front by Dongara and went past Maine goaltender Dan Sullivan who was out of position after the deflection.


“When we got the goal, I thought it was a lucky bounce but we got it and that kind of settled us down,” said Huskies head coach Greg Cronin. “I knew the first ten minutes was going to be important because Maine historically comes out and plays extremely hard off the energy the crowd generates and they did that.”

Maine responded just 1:33 into the second period when Jeff Dimmen scored his second goal of the season on a Black Bears power play.


Northeastern took the lead back on another power play goal later in the second. This time it was junior forward Mike McLaughlin who got his fourth goal of the season on a rebound after a shot by defenseman Mike Hewkin. But just as before, the Black Bears wasted no time in tying up the game as Spencer Abbott got his seventh goal of the season just a minute and a half later.


Diamond broke the tie in the third period, putting a puck past Huskies goaltender Chris Rawlings after he got a feed from teammate Adam Shemansky in front of the net.


"He just made a great pass out in front, put it right on my tape and it was just kind of a tap in goal from there,” Diamond said. “We knew coming into this weekend that Northeastern’s a great team and it was just a grind the whole game.”


Rawlings made 30 saves for the Huskies, while Sullivan only had to stop 17 shots to get the win.

“The first thing we wanted to do was to jump all over them right off the bat, take the crowd out of it, and we did that and we were right in it,” Rawlings said. “Our power play kicked in for us which was good and it was nice to see them help out. Now we’ve just got to execute.”

Gustav Nyquist added an empty net goal to seal the win for Maine, who is now 5-1-3 overall and 3-0-1 in Hockey East.


The two teams will meet tomorrow night and do it all over again.


“I think they carried the play for most of the game but I think it was a good game,” Cronin said. “I think that our power play got a lot of energy in a positive way, we got two goals but all of our possessions were really good. We just have to build on that.”

BU remains unbeaten; Merrimack earns first point versus number-one team in 12 years

The last time these two teams met, Boston University (6-0-3, 4-0-3 HE) beat Merrimack College (2-2-3, 1-2-2 HE) in three games to win the Hockey East Quarterfinals. Last night, the physical Warriors squad responded to sophomore forward Ross Gaudet’s second-period tally with a score of their own to force a 1-1 tie with the Terriers in front of 5,172 fans at Agganis Arena.

“I thought both teams played hard,” BU bench boss Jack Parker said in his post game comments. “But, in general, I didn’t think it was a well-executed game by either team…it appeared in my case that we were, the old John Wooden line: ‘be quick but not in a hurry’ – we seemed to be in a hurry tonight…it seemed like we were rushing things.”

In a contest marred by 22 penalties (12 infractions were called against BU, while 10 MC players were whistled), neither team could find a sustained “flow” in any of the game’s four periods.

The Warriors and the Terriers – who are ranked atop two national polls for the first time since the 2008-09 season – exchanged scoring opportunities (many of which came on the power play) in the first period. Sophomore forward Wade Megan’s tip-in chance was denied by MC’s junior netminder Joe Cannata, Terrier senior co-captain Joe Pereira couldn’t find the back of the net on a one-timer opportunity on a BU power play, and BU’s junior goaltender Kieran Millan put in good work between the pipes during the game’s opening period to keep the score knotted at zero after one.

The second period, which featured five penalties (3 against the Terriers, 2 against the Warriors), saw the contest’s only scoring action. With 8:04 one by, freshman standout – and this month’s Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month – Sahir Gill found Gaudet in front of the net for the go-ahead goal.

“It was a good stretch pass by [Adam Clendening] as I was coming through the middle,” Gaudet said after the game. “I tipped it up to Gill – we got deep, Gill won the scrum in the corner and made a good pass to me when I was cutting to the net, I shot it, Cannata made a save, and it bounced [in] off [of] my shoulder.”

BU’s goal celebration didn’t last very long, however, with MC’s freshman forward Mike Collins burying his first collegiate goal only one minute, nine seconds later. Freshmen Shawn Bates and Rhett Bly were credited with assists on the Collins wrister.

The two teams exchanged power play opportunities again in the third, but neither team could send home a game-winner. Millan made some fine saves (and got some help from his active defensemen) in the final minute of the frame to send the contest into overtime, where BU – who held a 3-0 shot advantage – failed to capitalize on several more scoring opportunities.

Both teams played well in net (Millan recorded 35 saves – including 13 on the power play – while Cannata stopped 32 shots), defensively and on the power play.

“For the most part, I think out defensemen and forwards did a good job of tying up sticks and keeping traffic to a minimum,” Millan, who benefited from the heads-up play of sophomore defenseman Max Nicastro in the final ten seconds of the third period, said in his post game remarks. “36 shots…it wasn’t that tough of a game [in net], we played pretty well defensively,” he added, noting that getting lucky is “part
of [being a goalie].”

Even though physical play resulted in 17 total power play opportunities (10 for BU and 7 for MC), both teams’ power play units posted 0-fers for the night. BU has now killed 32 consecutive power plays.

The Terriers expect the same style of slow, physical play from their opponents tomorrow night; but, they said, they hope to be a little more effective in staying out of the penalty box.

“I expect a little more intensity tomorrow night, especially in their rink – it’s a tough place to play at,” Gaudet said. “There’ll probably be a good crowd there to get them going even more, so we’ll definitely be expecting a little more for them.”

BU and MC will wrap up their home-and-home series with a 7 p.m. game at Lawler Arena on Saturday.

NOTES:

According to the Merrimack Warriors’ web site, last night’s tie marks the first time that MC has earned a point against a top-ranked team since the HE quarterfinals in March, 1998 (a contest against BU)…BU and MC have gone to overtime five times (including last night) – all five games have ended in a tie.

Hockey East Week 6 Preview

Now that the Hockey East season has hit its first of two full strides (the other coming, of course, in the next calendar year), it’s finally time to figure out just who’s who in what so far seems to be a most lopsided of conferences. 

With UMass Lowell taking the weekend off following a strong come-from behind win against Vermont and Providencevisiting sunny Huntsville, Alabama for a two-game set with UAH, that leaves eight teams scrapping for points in Hockey East. And scrap is what most of them will have to do, as each of the conference’s four top ten teams has a two-game series on tap with an unranked - and, for all practical conversation, unremarkable - opponent. 

Perhaps the biggest of these discrepancies will start on Commonwealth Avenue Friday night and finish in North Andover on Saturday, as newly-ranked number one Boston University plays a home-and-home with Merrimack. 

After the jump, a preview of this weekend's four Hockey East series...

Rankings Review - November 11, 2010

It is me, Kat, super Twitterer, writer for way too many websites, and a member of the elite "my first date with my husband was a BU hockey game" club (me, my friend Meghan, and a parent I met through work this summer). I'm here for a look at the Hockey East standings and national rankings as we gear up for another weekend of college hockey action.

Nationally

The week kicked off with four Hockey East teams in the top 10 of the national polls (Inside College Hockey, USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey.) Without the Pairwise to rely on yet this season, these rankings become crapshoots in the nicest sense of the term. Boston University, for instance, was ranked first across the board, but as even their own coach, Jack Parker, exclaimed, "We're a pretty good team, but I don't think we're the No. 1 team in the nation." The honor was bestowed because of BU's unbeaten status through 8 games, which the program hasn't done since 1977-78.

Maine's steadiness despite a series of injuries to key players like Tanner House have them in the 3/4 spot on the polls. Their dominant series against perpetual power North Dakota a few weeks ago is still in voters minds, while the team is demonstrating that they have scoring mettle beyond that of Gustav Nyquist.

Boston College is dropping in the polls like beer cans in the Mods on a Saturday afternoon. (Thanks to a friend that was a BC RA for a spell for all the BC stories and references one might ever need.) Even the seemingly BC biased Inside College Hockey drops the team lowest at number 10 - USCHO has the Eagles at 7th and USA Today/USA Hockey has them hanging on at 6th. The Eagles tend to have bumpy fall seasons, and I don't think they can be counted out. I haven't seen a BC game since the Denver series, so I am eager to watch them again and see what the "problems" could be beyond a lack of or too much confidence.

UNH is a steady 9/10 in the polls, and it is the play of goaltender Matt DiGirolamo (if it's a goalie, it's DiGirolamo) that is the buzz around this Wildcat team. They also have two top lines of scoring talent who have carried them through some tough non-conference games.

The Basement of Hockey East, But Not For Long?

Northeastern, UMass and Vermont have fallen on harsh times this early season. Overall, Northeastern is at 1-5-2, UMass is at 0-5-2, and Vermont is at 0-3-3. Out of these three teams, I think UMass and Vermont have the best chances to turn their season around. UMass has a good young core of forwards who will get seasoning as the season continues. Vermont has the opposite - a core of upperclassmen that need to parlay their experience to their younger teammates. If Northeastern can settle down and banish the penalty monster, they have a chance at redeeming themselves after a slew of difficult losses to unheralded programs.

Hello, World

You knew this day was coming. 

No, not that day. This day.


While it's been a great year for Hockey East, which currently boasts four of USCHO's top nine teams, it hasn't been such smooth sailing in the HE blogosphere, which has blown out more than a few tires since the dawning of the 2009-10 season. 


Fortunately for those of us who can't brave a New England winter without alcohol and hockey, this hasn't gone anywhere. 


But fear not, New Englanders. Your need for all things hard rubber, sharp metal and carefully smithed wood will not go unfulfilled. Sieves the Day is here to, um, well...Save the Day! 


After the jump, more about what's coming in the days ahead...