The debut of new arenas at Connecticut and Sacred Heart highlighted a busy weekend of Division 1 men’s college hockey action around New England.
Also, some teams are surging throughout Hockey East, ECAC Hockey and Atlantic Hockey, including a pair of Ivy League clubs coming off complete six-point weekends in the standings races.
In Hockey East, Saturday night victories for Northeastern and Merrimack set up a showdown for first place next weekend.
Here are some of the stars from another exciting weekend of college action:
Chase Bradley, Connecticut F and Conner Hutchison, Sacred Heart D
It was a monumental weekend for two of Connecticut’s four Division 1 programs as sparkling new arenas opened on Saturday night in Storrs and Fairfield. Despite losses for both home teams, the two sophomores will go down as the first goal scorers in men’s games at UConn’s Toscano Family Ice Forum and Sacred Heart’s Martire Family Arena, respectively. Hutchison is second on the Pioneers in assists, but he scored his first goal since Oct. 21 at Niagara.
Prior to Saturday, Bentley was the last local team to open a new arena in 2018.
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Joe Miller, Harvard F
The freshman, a Toronto Maple Leafs draftee, has had a hot stick since the calendar flipped to 2023, scoring six of his 10 goals — which now tie junior Sean Farrell (Hopkinson, Mass.) for the team lead — over the past five games. Miller recorded his second multi-goal game of the season to help support junior Derek Mullahy’s (Scituate, Mass.) first career shutout as the Crimson beat St. Lawrence 5-0 on Saturday. Miller moved to the left wing alongside senior captain John Farinacci, who returned from injury this weekend, and junior Alex Laferriere.
Lane Hutson, Boston University D
The dynamic freshman defenseman capped off an exciting finish to Saturday’s game at Agganis Arena, scoring with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation in the Terriers’ 4-3 win over longtime “Red Hot Hockey” rival Cornell. Hutson and senior Domenick Fensore — who tied the game with 8:10 left — are tied for the Hockey East lead among blueliners with eight goals apiece. Hutson has shown a flair for the dramatic, scoring all four of his game-winning goals in the third period or overtime.
Aidan McDonough, Northeastern F
It should be no surprise that the senior captain from Milton, Mass., has helped the Huskies recover from a midseason slide and win back-to-back games in their return to Hockey East play. They ow have a home-and-home showdown for first place against Merrimack next weekend. McDonough remains the conference’s leading scorer with 15 goals and 29 points after starting the new year with three consecutive multi-point efforts against Harvard and Connecticut. After scoring the first goal at Frozen Fenway, he added a pair this Saturday to spoil UConn’s arena opening.
David Fessenden, New Hampshire G
UNH is off to a perfect 3-0-0 start this month thanks to the play of Fessenden, a senior from Parker, Colo., who began the stretch by pitching a 35-save shutout of Providence on Jan. 6. The 6-foot-6 goaltender followed up with 23 saves against Sacred Heart before adding another victory Sunday with a 27-save effort to beat Massachusetts. Two of the Wildcats’ last three wins were in league contests, allowing them to move out of the cellar. Fessenden had just two wins in the first half and now sports a .914 save percentage.
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Mathieu Caron, Brown G
A notable omission from the recently released Mike Richter Award watch list, Caron has backstopped the Bears to seven wins and a .927 save percentage this season. Like Fessenden, the sophomore is on a three-game win streak that includes a 24-save shutout in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Rensselaer. Caron, whose hot streak began the previous Saturday in a 6-2 win at ranked Merrimack, is fourth nationally in save percentage.
Danny Pearson, Bentley F
Pearson was the lead offensive figure behind Bentley’s first sweep of the season in Atlantic Hockey play. He scored four times (out of six goals this season) over the two games at Niagara. The sophomore from British Columbia netted a hat trick in Friday’s 6-3 win, becoming the first Falcon in nearly two years to score three goals in a game. On Saturday, Pearson scored another goal and freshman Nicholas Niemo (Middlebury, Vt.) had four points as Bentley logged its second straight six-goal game.
