The first full weekend of action for New England’s Division 1 teams in the 2019 calendar year includes eight conference games between Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, and Atlantic Hockey. Quinnipiac hosts a pair of ECAC foes in its first home games in a month’s time, while Merrimack and Holy Cross are both on the road to resume their league slates.
Four of the weekend’s non-conference games feature regional opponents facing off in Springfield and Waltham, Mass., Durham, N.H., and Burlington, Vt. Boston College heads to Arizona State for two games looking to break its non-conference losing streak of more than two years, and Providence entertains Miami for a pair in Schneider Arena.
Additionally, two New England teams will play games in National Hockey League buildings during weekend tournaments. UConn is at the Ice Vegas Invitational, while Brown heads to Pittsburgh for the Three Rivers Classic.
HOCKEY EAST
UMass Lowell (8-8-1, 4-4-1) at Massachusetts (14-2, 7-0)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.
What to watch for: The River Hawks have faced an up-and-down start, but they will have to hand a first Hockey East loss to their state school rivals in Amherst in order to avoid a three-game losing streak for the first time this season. Sophomore Mitchell Chaffee (tied for the league lead with 11 goals) and UMass have more of its Hockey East schedule to play than any team, though it is averaging 4.43 goals per league game through the first seven. Lowell has averaged 2.89 over nine contests but hasn’t been as stingy on the defensive side, ranking in the bottom half of the conference defensively for the third straight year.
Fun fact: UMass Lowell has won consecutive games just twice this season, while its record includes five wins immediately following losses.
Merrimack (4-14-1, 2-8) at New Hampshire (5-7-5, 1-4-3)/Northeastern (12-3-1, 6-1-1)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Whittemore Center, Durham, N.H.
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena, Boston
What to watch for: Merrimack hits the road for the first time following a four-game homestand, returning to Hockey East play a short drive north and then in Boston before a Tuesday non-conference game at Michigan. The Warriors have lost four straight games and are winless in eight after falling to Denver and Colorado College, despite a pair of goals from junior Tyler Drevitch (Middleborough, Mass.) in the former span. Northeastern is unbeaten in eight straight, including two wins over Merrimack by a combined 16-3 score.
Fun fact: Since 2012-13, junior Grant Jozefek and sophomore Zach Solow are the first pair to score 10 goals apiece through Northeastern’s first 15 games.
ECAC HOCKEY
Colgate (4-10-2, 1-3-2)/Cornell (6-5, 4-2) at Quinnipiac (15-3, 6-2)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at People’s United Center, Hamden, Conn.
What to watch for: The Bobcats return to league action and do so after shutting out their first opponent in non-conference action just Saturday night in Uniondale, N.Y., 6-0. Friday marks QU’s first home game since Dec. 7, but the Bobcats have lost only once since the weekend before Thanksgiving with a 8-1 record in those games. Colgate has won one of its last six games, while Cornell is just 2-3 in five and will be skating for the first time since Dec. 1 at Harvard.
Fun fact: Former Salisbury defenseman Peter DiLiberatore was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week, marking the fifth straight week that a Quinnipiac player has earned a league honor.
Rensselaer (4-13, 3-5) at Harvard (5-4-2, 2-3-2)
Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass.
What to watch for: These league rivals resume their series for the first time this season and enter the game in opposite states, though the Crimson only stand a game above .500 after ending the first half with a pair of 2-1 decisions in a loss to Cornell and a win at Bentley. The Engineers have yet to crack the two-goal mark per game, allow the second-most goals (3.47) in the ECAC, and have lost seven straight, while Harvard ranks second in the league with 3.64 goals and boasts defenseman Adam Fox at the top of the nation’s No. 1 power play. The Crimson only has one game this weekend, but its turnaround is quick with a Tuesday night game against Boston University looming.
Fun fact: Harvard is 8-2-2 in its last 12 games against RPI, including four straight home wins.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Holy Cross (2-11-2, 2-7-1) at Mercyhurst (8-10-2, 6-5-1)
Friday/Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Mercyhurst Ice Center, Erie, Pa.
What to watch for: The Crusaders finished the first half of their Atlantic Hockey slate with a 2-0 shutout at Robert Morris and now return to Pennsylvania hoping for similar results. Sixteen players have scored to help the Crusaders average 2.4 goals per game, including senior Mitch Collett with a team-leading four and Michael Laffin with two last time out against RMU, but their 3.6 average on the defensive end will need to be cut down in order to push for a playoff berth.
Fun fact: Holy Cross has the fourth-best penalty kill (82.9) in Atlantic Hockey, though its power play (15.4) is tied for third-worst with American International.
NON-CONFERENCE
Boston College (6-7-2) at Arizona State (14-7-1)
Friday, 9:05 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena, Tempe, Ariz.
Saturday, 9:05 p.m. at Gila River Arena, Glendale, Ariz.
What to watch for: BC’s 23-game losing streak in non-conference play has been discussed ad nauseum, but history could be on the Eagles’ side in a series against the team they beat on Nov. 13, 2016 before starting that streak at Harvard five nights later. After being shut out Monday at Notre Dame, BC will have the tall task of beating Sun Devil goaltender Joey Daccord (North Andover, Mass.) whose .929 save percentage ranks ninth nationally.
Fun fact: Current junior David Cotton scored the deciding goal in BC’s last non-conference victory against the Sun Devils more than two calendar years ago. This season, Cotton is tied for the Hockey East lead with 11 goals.
Connecticut (6-11-1) at the Ice Vegas Invitational
Western Michigan (9-6-1) / St. Lawrence (3-12-1) or Air Force (10-7-1)
Friday, 8 p.m./Saturday, 8/11:30 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
What to watch for: The Huskies head west to a second-year NHL building for their second in-season tournament after snapping a seven-game skid with Monday’s win at Yale. Junior Adam Huska has allowed more than three goals only once in his last five appearances, while his team’s offense will get a boost with the return of freshman leading scorer Jachym Kondelik from Team Czech Republic at the World Junior Championship. UConn first faces Western Michigan, which went 1-0-1 against then-No. 3 Minnesota Duluth during a Dec. 7-8 series.
Fun fact: UConn has never skated against Western Michigan or St. Lawrence in its hockey history, though all-time leading scorer Todd Krygier is a third-year assistant coach at WMU.
Brown (3-7-3) at the Three Rivers Classic
Robert Morris (8-9-1) / Union (9-4-4) or St. Cloud State (13-1-2)
Friday, 7:30 p.m. at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Cranberry Township, Pa.
Saturday, 4:30/7:30 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa.
What to watch for: Brown heads to Pittsburgh for this seventh annual tournament and will be guaranteed to face a ranked opponent in the championship round after opening with the hosts. The Bears can make it two wins in a row against Atlantic Hockey foes following a season-high five goals in their Ledyard Bank Classic win over Army West Point and look to follow their city foe Providence in capturing this tournament title. Sophomore Joachim Weberg has scored in three straight games and helped Brown to its 2-1-2 month of December.
Fun fact: Brown could face the nation’s only one-loss team in the second game of the tournament. St. Cloud State was handed that loss on Oct. 27 at Northeastern.
Sacred Heart (5-8-2)/Clarkson (11-6) at Vermont (7-8-1)
Friday, 7:05 p.m./Sunday, 4:05 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.
What to watch for: Vermont won its own Catamount Cup title last weekend and has the opportunity to conclude non-conference play with two more wins in Burlington, where Atlantic Hockey’s Pioneers will make their first visit since 2004 to open the weekend. Both of UVM’s opponents are coming off two-win weekends as Sacred Heart, despite the lowest-scoring offense in Atlantic Hockey, swept RIT to end December and Clarkson beat Arizona State and Minnesota Duluth to claim the Desert Classic.
Fun fact: Four Catamounts enter this weekend in the midst of three-game point streaks. One of them is sophomore Vlad Dzhioshvili who only played in seven games last season.
Miami (9-6-3) at Providence (11-4-3)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Schneider Arena, Providence, R.I.
What to watch for: Despite being out shot for the first time this season, the Friars extended their season-long unbeaten streak to six (4-0-2) in a Ledyard Bank Classic title win over Dartmouth. Junior Kasper Bjorkqvist has logged a point in every game of PC’s run, while Josh Wilkins’ streak is two games longer. The RedHawks have a New England native in the lineup in freshman forward Monte Graham (Hanover, Mass.), who has points in four of his last six games, and the NCHC’s top goaltender by save percentage (.936) in junior Ryan Larkin.
Fun fact: Last year’s Ledyard Bank Classic champion (Minnesota Duluth) went 16-7 after capturing the December tournament en route to winning the national championship in St. Paul last April.
Massachusetts at American International (8-8-1)
Saturday, 2:05 p.m. at MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
What to watch for: UMass hosts UMass Lowell in Friday night Hockey East action before these rising Pioneer Valley foes meet for the fourth straight season the following day in Springfield. Both teams brought in new coaches before the 2016-17 season after finishing last in their respective conferences and have been on an upward trajectory ever since. Both are near the top this season; the Minutemen enter this weekend as the lone Hockey East unbeaten with wins in back-to-back games and 11 of 12, while the Yellow Jackets have won five of their last six.
Fun fact: Current junior Zackarias Skog led AIC to its first-ever shutout of a Hockey East opponent on Jan. 3, 2017, making 27 saves in a 3-0 win over the Minutemen. His classmate Joel Kocur scored his first collegiate goal in the win.
Dartmouth (5-7-1) at Bentley (5-11-1)
Saturday, 5:05 p.m. at Bentley Arena, Waltham, Mass.
What to watch for: Bentley’s four-game losing streak includes three one-goal losses, but the Falcons have one more non-conference chance to break that streak. Both teams are coming off Hockey East losses and have similar season resumes, averaging 2.8 goals per game and more than three allowed, less than a 20 percent power play, and a 77 percent penalty kill. However, the Falcon power play ranks third in Atlantic Hockey and has scored in four of the last six games. In addition, both teams’ leading scorers (Dartmouth’s Will Graber and Bentley’s Luke Santerno) have only scored four goals.
Fun fact: Against Bentley, senior captain Kevan Kilistoff will become the fourth Dartmouth player to appear in his 100th career game this season.
Yale (7-4-2) at New Hampshire
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Whittemore Center, Durham, N.H.
What to watch for: The Wildcats host a league affair with Merrimack before Yale visits ‘The Whit’ to continue a four-game stretch against Hockey East opponent that is slated to conclude Monday against Maine in Portland. After a New Year’s Eve loss to UConn, the Bulldogs will look to grab a win from this out-of-conference stretch as they take to the Olympic-sized sheet against a New Hampshire team that has won three straight and has junior Liam Blackburn in the midst of a seven-game point streak with three goals and seven assists.
Fun fact: The winning team in each of the last four Bulldog-Wildcat meetings has scored exactly four goals. They split two games in 2017-18 after not meeting since 2006, playing in New Haven and then at the Ledyard Bank Classic in Hanover, N.H.
