Outside of one Atlantic Hockey series between American International and Robert Morris, the first weekend of Division 1 hockey action since Christmas is full of non-conference action for teams across all three of the New England region’s conferences.
Eight games will take place at two traditional holiday tournaments over the weekend. Northeastern travels to Burlington, Vt., for the second time this season to participate in the Catamount Cup, while Brown and Providence join host Dartmouth at the 30th installment of the Ledyard Bank Classic.
Two NCHC clubs will be in New England for a pair of games apiece. Denver visits Merrimack and UMass Lowell for weekend dates, and Colorado College’s trip begins against the Warriors on New Year’s Eve and continues two nights later (Wednesday) at Maine.
Among the highlights on the remaining non-conference slate are a neutral-site game for Quinnipiac, Boston College visiting an old rival, two Connecticut foes matching up in New Haven, and another shot at Hockey East for Bentley.
CATAMOUNT CUP
Northeastern (10-3-1) vs. Rensselaer (4-11)/Alabama Huntsville (3-15)
Friday/Saturday, 4 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.
What to watch for: Despite missing goaltender Cayden Primeau and forward Tyler Madden, who are competing for the U.S., at World Juniors, the Huskies still should have plenty to work with against a pair of mightily struggling squads. Junior Grant Jozefek (10 goals, six assists) and a league-leading offense led Northeastern to six straight wins before Christmas, while RPI lost five straight and UAH five of its last seven. Senior Ryan Ruck will likely see the net with Primeau gone after making his first appearance in a year on Nov. 30.
Fun fact: Northeastern had 10 wins at Christmas for the second straight season and fourth in the last 10.
Alabama Huntsville/Rensselaer at Vermont (5-8-1)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.
What to watch for: The tournament hosts will get looks at the same two teams after Northeastern’s games, beginning with the WCHA’s Chargers. The Catamounts will hope to give junior Stefanos Lekkas (.936 save percentage on 499 shots, fourth-most in the country) a bit of an easier weekend against two of the four worst offensive clubs in all of college hockey. Sophomores Alex Esposito (West Haven, Conn.) and Max Kaufman finished with three points apiece over UVM’s three December games prior to break.
Fun fact: The Catamounts have not played either of these opponents since the 2009-10 season. Vermont won both games en route to a berth in NCAAs.
LEDYARD BANK CLASSIC
Brown (2-6-3) vs. Providence (9-4-3)/Army West Point (8-8-1)
Saturday/Sunday, 4 p.m. at Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.
What to watch for: Two Rhode Island rivals meet three hours from home to open a 30th Ledyard Bank Classic that is full of connections. Brown finished the first semester on a 1-0-2 unbeaten run and has freshmen Justin Jallen and Tristan Crozier leading its offense averaging only two goals per game, while Providence was 4-1-2 in its last seven games to move within a point of the Hockey East lead. With the No. 2 goal differential (plus-27) in Hockey East, Hayden Hawkey and the Friars have the statistical advantage in both of its games.
Fun fact: Saturday’s 100th all-time meeting between Brown and Providence will mark the first outside of Rhode Island since a Dec. 30, 1959 meeting at Boston Arena.
Army West Point/Providence at Dartmouth (4-6-1)
Saturday/Sunday, 7 p.m. at Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.
What to watch for: The hosts look to snap a four-game winless streak round out each day of games against the same opponents as Brown, including a meeting with a Big Green alumnus in West Point head coach Brian Riley. Dartmouth has an even goal differential, largely thanks to five tallies from both sophomore Quin Foreman (Needham, Mass.) and freshman Drew O’Connor, but it ranks 49th nationally on defense. Senior defenseman Dalton MacAfee, also of Needham, Mass., leads the New England-heavy Black Knights with three goals and 14 assists.
Fun fact: Dartmouth looks to win its own tournament for the eighth time ever and first since defeating Robert Morris and Merrimack in 2015-16.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Robert Morris (7-8-1, 6-5-1) at American International (7-7-1, 7-4-1)
Saturday, 7:05 p.m./Sunday, 3:05 p.m. at MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
What to watch for: Both teams return to action coming off league series against Holy Cross, but the Yellow Jackets are winners of four consecutive games. AIC’s 3.13 goals per game rank second in Atlantic Hockey, despite having scored just eight times on the power play. Sophomore Tobias Fladeby has a 5-1-6 line over his last four games and leads the team with eight markers on the season. In goal, junior Zackarias Skog has won all of the last four games and amassed a .943 save percentage in that span.
Fun fact: AIC received votes in the national rankings three times this season. Before January of 2018, the Yellow Jackets had never received consideration for the USCHO.com Top 20.
NON-CONFERENCE
Maine (5-7-2) at Princeton (3-8-2)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.
What to watch for: This series begins a stretch of three games in six nights for Maine, which will welcome Colorado College to Orono on Wednesday to close the latter Tigers’ New England stay. One streak will have to give in the non-conference pair at Princeton. The Black Bears have won just one of their last four games, though sophomore Eduards Tralmaks and junior Ryan Smith have each scored twice in that span dating back to Nov. 23, while the host Tigers are winless in eight straight since starting 3-1-1.
Fun fact: Juniors Chase Pearson (6-4-10) and Mitchell Fossier (1-7-8) have combined for 18 points over Maine’s last 10 games.
Denver (8-4-2)/Colorado College (7-9-2) at Merrimack (4-12-1)
Friday, 7 p.m./Monday, 4 p.m. at Lawler Rink, North Andover, Mass.
What to watch for: The Warriors kept things close for much of the first half playing eight one-goal games and will have to do the same against two talented NCHC clubs. These will be tough challenges for breaking a 0-5-1 winless streak as Denver ranks third in the NCHC with 3.36 goals per game and CC has had 17 individuals score. Juniors Tyler Irvine and Johnathan Kovacevic (12 and 10 points, respectively) will have to step up to lead a Merrimack offense that hasn’t scored more than twice in five games, but the Warriors have also allowed at least seven goals six times in the last eight.
Fun fact: Merrimack senior defenseman Alex Carle is the brother of Denver’s David, who is the youngest head coach in Division 1 hockey at 28 years old.
Colgate (4-9-2) vs. Quinnipiac (14-3)
Saturday, 5 p.m. at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y.
What to watch for: It’s a non-conference affair for two ECAC teams at the former home of the New York Islanders before returning to league play against one another next Friday in Hamden, Conn. The Bobcats will be looking to bounce back from a 3-1 loss at then-No. 1 UMass that they have had to sit on since Dec. 8 against a team it shut out, 5-0, on Nov. 17. QU still ranks sixth in offense (3.71 goals per game) and second in defense (1.76) nationally, thanks to senior Chase Priskie at both ends.
Fun fact: Both Quinnipiac goaltenders rank in the top-16 nationally in save percentage. Junior Andrew Shortridge is first with a 0.83 mark, while sophomore Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Mass.) rounds out that group at 2.10. They each have three shutouts.
Denver at UMass Lowell (8-7-1)
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
What to watch for: Lowell’s second game in 32 games and lone game of this weekend sees Denver visit Tsongas Center for the first time ever. Freshmen will continue to be a key for the River Hawks in the second half as that class averages more than two points per game, while junior Tyler Wall aims to continue his solid play having allowed two or fewer goals in eight of his 11 starts. However, the eight-time national champions enter Friday’s game at Merrimack with a 2-3 record away from home.
Fun fact: The River Hawks are 8-4-2 against NCHC opponents since the league was formed in 2013-14.
Bentley (5-10-1) at New Hampshire (4-7-5)
Sunday, 5 p.m. at Whittemore Center, Durham, N.H.
What to watch for: The Falcons have defeated Hockey East teams nine times since 2008-09 and look to top UNH for the second time in that span after a 5-1 game on Oct. 8, 2016. Bentley has dropped three straight games by one or two goals, though sophomore Brendan Hamblet (Hopkinton, Mass.) has scored twice in that span. UNH finished the fall on a 3-1-2 run that included two wins over Dartmouth and sophomore Mike Robinson’s (Bedford, N.H.) first collegiate shutout.
Fun fact: UNH junior Liam Blackburn is riding the team’s longest point streak this season at six games, while freshman Angus Crookshank has points in five of the last six. Blackburn has three goals and six assists in that span.
Connecticut (5-11-1) at Yale (7-3-2)
Monday, 4 p.m. at Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.
What to watch for: These two teams may hail from the same state, though they enter this game in complete opposite states in the season. The host Bulldogs suffered their only loss in a seven-game span at UMass prior to break, though senior Joe Snively had four points in two games and leads the Yalies with 17 in 12 games on the season. UConn has sat on seven straight losses since Dec. 7 and will be missing leading scorer Jachym Kondelik who is competing for the Czech Republic at World Juniors.
Fun fact: Yale began its recent unbeaten run with a 6-3 win over the Huskies at the Friendship Four in Belfast over Thanksgiving. For UConn, that loss was the midway point of the current skid.
Boston College (6-6-2) at Notre Dame (11-5-1)
Monday, 5:05 p.m. at Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Ind.
What to watch for: It’s been a tale of two seasons for BC as it is on a 6-1-2 run after starting with five consecutive losses, thanks in large part to a David Cotton-led top line that has logged 38 points. The Eagles are hoping to finish the calendar year on a positive note in South Bend after the lone setback in that aforementioned stretch (Nov. 23 against Bentley) continued a 22-game losing streak in non-conference play. Their final non-league games besides the Beanpot come in succession.
Fun fact: The Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks will play in the NHL Winter Classic the following afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium. Four players currently on those teams were collegians in New England, including Northeastern’s Dylan Sikura with Chicago.
