With only two weeks to play in the Atlantic Hockey and ECAC regular seasons and three remaining for the Hockey East clubs, the race for conference awards continues to heat up along with the respective playoff races.
Some candidates in the three New England-centric leagues became clear right from the start, but now is a great time to look at some of the award favorites (counting conference statistics only) before winners are named in about a month. Of course, there will be competition from outside of New England in Atlantic Hockey and the ECAC, but we’ll focus on those candidates who attend school in our region.
UMass has a six-point advantage atop the Hockey East standings and also boasts the top four scorers in league play with sophomore John Leonard (Amherst, Mass.), senior Jacob Pritchard, and Leonard’s classmates Mitchell Chaffee and Cale Makar all averaging 1.1 points per league game. Makar, who has 14 points in his last 11 games and has scored all 10 of his goals in eight Minuteman wins this season, and Boston University junior Dante Fabbro are the only Hockey East blueliners with more than one point per league game.
BU’s Joel Farabee is at the forefront of the Rookie of the Year conversation. He has 20 points in 19 league games for the Terriers, but 14 of those points, including 11 assists, have come in the last 10 contests. In goal, junior Joseph Woll has been Boston College’s key to league success, sporting the third-best goals against average (2.10) and second-best save percentage (.930) in Hockey East games.
From a national perspective, some have dubbed this “the year of the defenseman” as far as the Hobey Baker Award race is concerned. Makar and Harvard junior Adam Fox are strongly in the discussion, but the latter ranks fourth among all Division 1 skaters and tied atop the ECAC with 1.36 points per game overall.
Princeton forward Ryan Kuffner is even with Fox in the ECAC race, but Fox has five more assists than any player (23) and a league-high plus-14 rating. Quinnipiac sophomore Odeen Tufto and Yale senior Joe Snively round out the top four ECAC scorers, passing Quinnipiac defenseman Chase Priskie who was held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games for the first time all season last weekend.
Quinnipiac junior Andrew Shortridge has been stellar in net, allowing only 16 goals in 13 league games for a 1.33 goals against average and .944 save percentage in the ECAC. Harvard’s freshman class has contributed all season and boasts the top three rookie scorers in the league, including Casey Dornbach who has a 6-12-18 line in 18 league games.
Mercyhurst defenseman Joseph Duszak has been the top blueliner in Atlantic Hockey, but American International junior Blake Christensen and Bentley sophomore Luke Santerno are two of that league’s players averaging a point per game and will be looking to improve their All-AHC resumes down the stretch. Christensen could be the Player of the Year with 35 points in 26 league games putting him four ahead of Canisius senior Dylan McLaughlin for the lead.
Yellow Jacket sophomore Brennan Kapcheck and Bentley senior Tanner Jago have been the top defensemen. Kapcheck and Army West Point senior Dalton MacAfee (Needham, Mass.) lead AHC blueliners with 19 assists apiece.
Sacred Heart’s Josh Benson is the likely All-Rookie goaltending choice as his 2.45 goals against ranks third in the AHC, while Austin Magera ranks second among rookies with 22 points on 11 goals.
UMass loses defenseman
Second-ranked Massachusetts is left with only seven defensemen on its active roster after senior Ivan Chukarov left the program and signed a contract with the ECHL’s Worcester Railers on Tuesday. The 2015 Sabres draft pick and Des Plaines, Ill., native logged three of his 25 career points in 25 games this season.
Kolby Vegara dressed as the Minutemen’s seventh defenseman during Saturday’s 4-2 win at Boston College, but the Malden, Mass., native has played in only seven games as a freshman.
Unbeaten streaks snapped
The two longest unbeaten streaks in Division 1 men’s hockey came to an end over the weekend.
Bentley’s run was snapped at 12 games (10-0-2) following a 4-3 loss in the Saturday end of its Atlantic Hockey series at Niagara. A 3-1 win in the series opener was the Falcons’ eighth straight. Before Saturday, junior Jonathan Desbiens had scored a goal in nine consecutive games dating back to a Jan. 18 tie against RIT.
UMass Lowell had gone 10 consecutive games without a loss (9-0-1) prior to Friday’s 6-1 setback against Providence. The River Hawks were then handed their second straight defeat for the first time since losing to Boston University and Denver on Dec. 8 and 29, the two games immediately before the streak began.
It’s getting late!
Several of this past weekend’s games involving New England clubs weren’t decided without a flair for the dramatic:
On Friday, Dartmouth freshman Drew O’Connor scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season with 32.9 seconds left in regulation to lift the Big Green to a 1-0 win at Clarkson. Jack Badini clinched Harvard’s 3-2 win at St. Lawrence that same night with only 1:22 to play.
Brown junior Brent Beaudoin (Londonderry, N.H.) scored his fourth goal and ninth point in the last 11 games with 1:51 to play in regulation during Saturday’s eventual 3-3 tie with Colgate. The Bears tied Cornell by the same score one night earlier, thanks to a three-goal outburst in less than a one-minute span early in the third period.
BU junior Patrick Curry tied last Friday’s game against UConn with 1:05 to play in regulation, but Alexander Payusov won the 3-2 game for the Huskies 51 seconds into overtime. It was Payusov’s 15th goal of the season, making him the first Husky to reach that mark since both Tage Thompson and Spencer Naas in 2016-17.
In Atlantic Hockey action, Sacred Heart needed Magera’s sixth game-winning goal of the season in order to split its weekend series with RIT. The rookie from Georgia scored at the 4:21 mark of an overtime period on Saturday.
Husky milestones
Not only did Northeastern win its second consecutive Beanpot last week but the Huskies took over sole possession of fourth place in Hockey East following their weekend sweep against Vermont. The Huskies have now won 11 or more league games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2008-09 (18) and 2009-10 (11), advancing to NCAAs in the former year.
In addition, Saturday’s 2-1 win marked the 146th consecutive game played for senior captain Eric Williams. The Newmarket, Ontario, native has not missed a game during his collegiate career and currently sits four away from breaking Wade MacLeod’s record for career games played at Northeastern.
Loose pucks
― Despite taking a season-high 41 shots on goal, Merrimack was officially eliminated from Hockey East playoff contention following its 4-2 home loss to Maine on Saturday. The top five teams in the league secured their postseason places over the weekend, leaving BU, Connecticut, the Black Bears, New Hampshire, and Vermont looking to lock up the final three spots in the eight-team field.
― Providence senior Hayden Hawkey rose to the top of yet another category in the program’s record books as he allowed only one goal over two games over the weekend against UMass Lowell. While defenseman Jacob Bryson handed out three assists en route to Friday’s 6-1 win, Hawkey became the winningest goaltender in Friar history with his 65th career victory.
― Holy Cross has earned two of its eight Atlantic Hockey wins this season in shutout fashion against Robert Morris. The Crusaders finished this past weekend’s set with a 2-0 win in which senior Tommy Nixon made 32 stops for a clean sheet for the first time in his collegiate career.
― Harvard had won six consecutive ECAC Hockey games before Saturday’s 5-3 loss at Clarkson. Sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh (Andover, N.H.) still managed to extend his point streak to five games with a goal only 39 seconds into the first period.
