The holiday weekend marked a true start to the Division 1 men’s college hockey season for New England programs.
With two October weekends complete, only the four Ivy League teams are still on the outside looking in at hitting the ice for the opening of the regular season. They will be waiting until the final weekend of the month to do so.
Three Hockey East teams started with multiple victories right away, while Quinnipiac maintained its place among the nation’s elite with an unbeaten first showing. The Bobcats are one of several local clubs getting set for big matchups this coming weekend.
Here are 10 things we learned during this past weekend of college hockey:
1. Sweeping successes
UConn and New Hampshire completed sweeps against ECAC opponents as Hockey East continued a strong start to non-conference play across the league at 11-4-1.
After opening the new season with two league games at Vermont last weekend, UConn moved to 4-0-0 for the first time since 1975 with a sweep of Union. In Saturday’s 4-3 win, sophomore Chase Bradley scored on a drop pass from 17-year-old freshman Matthew Wood at 1:49 of overtime.
“He didn’t get power play time and only a little bit of penalty kill time (last year), but now he’s one of those guys who plays in all situations for us,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh (North Andover, Mass.) said of Bradley. “I think you’re seeing the type of potential he has as a player here.”
UNH has now started back-to-back seasons with two wins after sweeping its trip to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, scoring four goals in each game. Sophomore Liam Devlin (Needham, Mass.) netted Friday’s game-winner in a 4-3 overtime triumph.
Babson grad transfer Ryan Black (Pomfret, Conn.) had a pair of assists and four Wildcats scored against Clarkson. Saturday marked the debut of touted freshman goaltender Tyler Muszelik, who made 31 saves to down St. Lawrence.
2. Emotional week ends with Merrimack winner
Immediately after the passing of assistant coach Josh Ciocco on Tuesday, it was unclear if Merrimack would make its season-opening trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
The Warriors came through with a Saturday win to cap the weekend, scoring a goal on the power play (which Ciocco coached) en route to a 3-2 victory over the No. 17 Golden Knights. Brown graduate transfer Tristan Crozier netted the winner — the Warriors’ second of two goals in the third period — and won a team-leading 10 faceoffs.
While all of the team’s five transfers skated throughout the weekend, Zach Bookman was the lone freshman to crack the first lineup. The New York native, who broke Cale Makar’s defenseman scoring records in the AJHL last season, has a “dynamic ability” according to coach Scott Borek and netted his first collegiate point on a Mac Welsher goal on Saturday.
3. Northeastern stays hot
The lone Hockey East series of the weekend featured preseason favorite Northeastern rolling to two wins over 0-4 Vermont to extend their season-opening win streak.
The Huskies opened the set with a 5-2 win before their two stars led the way to Saturday’s 5-0 victory as junior Devon Levi pitched a 23-save shutout and senior Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.) scored two goals and two assists to lead an offense that has included 10 different goal scorers in just three games.
“We want to establish a certain type of play and I thought we did that in the first period, and I liked how we closed the game in the third,” coach Jerry Keefe (Saugus, Mass.) said. “… We want to play a fast game, a game that we’re relentless when we don’t have the puck. When you have depth, you can play faster.”
On Saturday, Levi pitched his 11th career shutout to tie Chris Rawlings for the program record. The reigning Canadian Olympian has reached that mark in only 35 games.
4. Quinnipiac nails it down in opener
After earning a program record-tying 32 wins and falling one short of a Frozen Four berth last season, Quinnipiac started the new year in Friday night shutout fashion at Boston College.
A roster including seven graduate students makes the Bobcats one of the country’s most experienced teams. That group wasted little time making a mark as fifth-year players as Zach Metsa, Ethan de Jong — the only player in the country who entered the season with more than 100 career points — and Michael Lombardi (Barrington, R.I.) all scored goals in the 4-0 win.
Yaniv Perets did his job with a 16-save shutout, the 12th of his career. On Sunday, there was a hot goaltender at the other end of the ice as Boston University transfer Vincent Purpura held Long Island in a 1-1 tie with Quinnipiac before Perets was unscored upon in a shootout.
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A marquee upcoming weekend awaits the Bobcats as they head west to North Dakota beginning Friday. The two teams split an October weekend in Hamden, Conn., last season, including a 5-2, series-opening win for Quinnipiac.
5. BC without key pieces
Despite Boston College being shut out against Quinnipiac, first-year coach Greg Brown has seen improvement in his team throughout the early goings of the season. Perets denied the Eagles on multiple breakaways, but their 19 shots weren’t enough to make it the game more competitive on the scoreboard.
There is no reason for concern as BC played without top freshmen Cutter Gauthier and Oskar Jellvik against one of the best teams in the country. Gauthier missed the game due to a “family matter,” BC said.
6. Battle in Western Mass.
UMass head coach Greg Carvel was displeased with his team’s effort in an exhibition loss to Sacred Heart last weekend, but the Minutemen found a second gear late on Saturday and came back for a 2-2 tie with another Atlantic Hockey opponent in local rival American International.
Sophomore defenseman Scott Morrow (Darien, Conn.) burst through the AIC defense to set up senior Michigan State transfer Josh Nodler’s tying goal. The two UMass goals came just 1:11 apart.
Blake Bennett scored his first goal of the season for the Yellow Jackets after leading the conference with 20 a season ago. The senior netted seven of his points in last year’s playoffs alone.
7. Friars on fire in opener
Providence rolled to a season-opening win as six different Friars scored goals and freshman Bruins prospect Philip Svedebäck needed to make just 16 saves to beat Sacred Heart 6-1 on Friday.
Junior Chase Yoder had half of his assists last season in one game with three, while locals Patrick Moynihan (Millis, Mass.) and Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass.) lit the lamp.
It was just one game, but that was the type of offensive effort that Nate Leaman was looking for after last season’s league-leading goal total didn’t translate into enough wins to make a championship run to TD Garden.
8. Breaking the ice
Though there are still 16 underclassmen on the roster, Maine is looking to grow under second-year coach Ben Barr. The Black Bears split their opening weekend at Air Force and defending national champion Denver at the IceBreaker Tournament, winning the opener 4-1 after starting Barr’s tenure 0-7-1 a year ago.
Junior Lynden Breen scored twice in the third period against Air Force to break open a 2-1 game. The loss to Denver was respectable as classmate Victor Ostman made 33 saves, allowed one of the goals on power play, and Donavan Villeneuve-Houle got Maine on the board in the final frame.
Holy Cross wasn’t as successful against a ranked NCHC opponent, falling twice at North Dakota. Freshman defenseman and former Phillips Andover standout Charlie Spence (Medfield, Mass.) scored on Saturday as the Crusaders avoided a second straight shutout.
9. Lowell bounces back
A pair of seniors stepped up as UMass Lowell emerged from its first back-to-back weekend of the season with a split against Miami (Ohio). Carl Berglund and Brian Chambers (Weymouth, Mass.) both had three-point nights in Saturday’s 4-2 win.
Alaska transfer Gustavs Davis Grigals has had the upper hand in goal early on for the River Hawks, winning for the second time in as many starts over the first two weekends. He made 22 saves against the RedHawks after shutting out St. Lawrence.
As a trip to Michigan State awaits, Norm Bazin’s club could have its answer in net following the departure of another grad transfer in Owen Savory.
10. Rocky D1 debut for Stonehill
Stonehill made its Division 1 debut on Saturday, falling 7-1 to an aforementioned Long Island program that had the same status just two years ago and played Northeastern tough in last weekend’s season opener.
Sophomore Frank Ireland (South Easton, Mass.) scored the Skyhawks’ lone goal to make the score 2-1 at the first intermission.
The Skyhawks, who are led by coach David Borges, will play the Sharks and fellow D1 newcomer Lindenwood in a February road series. The remainder of their schedule until then comes against former Northeast-10 and Division 3 opponents.
