The first weekend of November was yet another busy one for New England’s Division 1 men’s teams as all three leagues enjoyed full conference schedules for the first time this season.
Hockey East remains anyone’s race as a whopping five different teams completed weekend sweeps.
Harvard continued racking up wins, but the Crimson weren't the only local team from the ECAC to have success. A pair of Atlantic Hockey teams also returned to winning ways, with one posting its best weekend of the year.
Here are 10 things we learned during this past weekend of college hockey:
1. Providence makes statement with sweep of UMass
Massachusetts made an early-season statement with its sweep of Denver last month, but winning a pair of games against the two-time defending Hockey East champion Minutemen would qualify as one as well. That’s what Providence did, taking five of a possible six points following 7-4 and 4-3 (OT) wins.
The Friars notched their first sweep of UMass since 2017 and remained undefeated in Hockey East (4-0-1) when junior Brett Berard (East Greenwich, R.I.) scored in overtime to complete a two-goal, third-period comeback at the Mullins Center. They finished the game with a 21-3 run in shots on goal.
Berard and senior Parker Ford (Wakefield, R.I.) had three points apiece while sophomore Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass.) netted a hat trick in Friday’s win. In that one, the Friars scored a pair of power-play goals against a UMass side that had previously allowed just one all season.
Nate Leaman’s Friars continued to ride freshman Bruins prospect Philip Svedeback. He has a .903 save percentage with games against the likes of Northeastern, Denver and the Minutemen.
2. History for Merrimack, Northeastern
Merrimack’s outstanding start continued with its first weekend sweep of Boston College since 1997, netting 3-1 and 5-2 wins to maintain a one-loss Hockey East mark. The Warriors (6-3 overall, 4-1 in Hockey East) have scored at least five goals in three of their six victories.
They emerged Monday ranked 19th in the USCHO poll.
While junior Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) has been leading the way and notched a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win, the Warriors received offense from other sources. Sophomore Mark Hillier scored on Saturday after assisting on two goals in the Thursday series opener.
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Jefferies is tied for third in Hockey East with 1.22 goals per game, behind only Northeastern’s Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.) and Boston University’s Matt Brown. McDonough scored his 100th career point and played in his 100th game as the Huskies swept a home-and-home set with New Hampshire, 6-2 and 3-0.
McDonough had five points in the series, but sophomore Justin Hryckowian one-upped his captain by netting his first career hat trick on Friday as part of a six-point weekend. Northeastern's Devon Levi made 33 saves in Saturday’s shutout, a program-record 12th of his career in just 41 games.
3. UConn stayed hot in sweep
Northeastern joined UConn in first place in Hockey East following its two wins, but the latter Huskies remained on pace with a five-point weekend against Maine. UConn’s pair of 3-2 wins, including one in overtime, moved its record to 9-1-1.
Grad transfer Ty Amonte (Humarock, Mass.) netted Friday’s game-winner in extra time. Sophomore Chase Bradley found the net once in each game to help the offense for the Huskies, who rose to a program-record No. 7 national ranking and now get ready for a key home-and-home with Providence.
The Huskies got another win for sophomore Logan Terness who remains undefeated at 5-0-1, while no freshman stopper in the country has a higher save percentage than Arsenii Sergeev’s .930 mark.
4. Henry Welsch continued his outstanding start
Junior Henry Welsch remained the hot hand as UMass Lowell pitched back-to-back shutouts against Vermont, 4-0 and 2-0. Welsch, who had just one career shutout entering the weekend, stopped 11 and 25 shots, respectively, to ride his winning streak to five consecutive starts.
Welsch leads the nation with a .952 save percentage through his seven outings, having allowed more than two goals in only his Oct. 7 season debut against Miami.
On the offensive side, senior transfer Jake Stella scored twice to lead the River Hawks to the series-opening win. Freshman Scout Truman and senior Zack Kaiser scored game-winning goals.
5. Crimson keep cruising
Harvard rolled to its third 4-0 start in as many seasons with home wins over Brown, 5-2, and Yale, 4-0. Junior Alex Laferriere, who logged a goal and two assists against the rival Bulldogs, now leads the Crimson with nine points.
The Ted Donato-led club has used a rare combination of three goaltenders thus far, as freshman Canucks prospect Aku Koskenvuo made 21 saves to win his collegiate debut against Brown. The rotation landed back on senior Mitchell Gibson on Saturday, and he made six of his 10 saves in the third period.
Harvard, which is the lone unbeaten team in the country, now hits the road to RPI, Union and New Hampshire for three games in five nights next week. Its stiffest challenge will come just after Thanksgiving at Michigan.
6. Luke Haymes dominates for Dartmouth
Dartmouth got its first five ECAC Hockey points on the board with a 6-0 win over Yale and 2-2 tie with Brown. Freshman Luke Haymes posted his first career multi-goal game with two tallies including the game-winner on Friday before getting the Big Green started the following night. As a result, he has now scored in three consecutive games.
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Fellow rookie Cooper Black pitched a 28-save shutout and earned his first collegiate win against Yale, which didn’t score in either of its weekend games against New England rivals. Thirteen different players recorded a point to support Black in that game.
7. Quinnipiac starts its ECAC slate hot
Following an early bye weekend, Quinnipiac swept its opening ECAC games of the season in close battles with Colgate, 3-2, and Cornell, 2-0. In the latter game, sophomore Jacob Quillan scored both goals and Yaniv Perets needed to make only nine stops on the way to his 13th career shutout and second this season.
The Bobcats faced a 2-0 deficit in their Friday contest, but graduate Ethan de Jong scored the game-winner to complete a three-goal comeback in his 150th collegiate game. All three Quinnipiac goals came on the power play.
8. Brown's Mathieu Caron and Vermont's Oskar Autio stepped up in non-wins
Brown nabbed a point during Saturday’s trip to Dartmouth, as senior Bradley Cocca factored into both Bears tallies with a goal and an assist, his first two points of the season. Sophomore Mathieu Caron bounced back from a five-goal Friday night to post 34 saves, including all 15 he faced in the second period.
Transfer Oskar Autio returned to the net in Vermont’s Saturday game, making a season-high 28 saves in the 2-0 defeat. The Catamounts offense hasn’t offered much support as it has been shut out twice and held to one goal over the last three games.
9. Sacred Heart and Holy Cross get hot
Five-point weekends for both Holy Cross and Sacred Heart highlighted the weekend for local Atlantic Hockey teams. The Pioneers remain atop the league standings with just one loss on their record.
Graduate student Ryan Steele and senior Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) both had multi-point nights for the Pioneers, who scored three goals in 21 seconds to erase a two-goal deficit in Friday’s 6-3 win at Mercyhurst. The next night, graduate student Todd Goehring scored in regulation and had the shootout winner, while Luke Lush made 28 saves as SHU moved to 4-0-1 in its last five games.
Holy Cross enjoyed its best weekend of the season at Canisius, earning a 3-1 win (its first in Buffalo since 2018) and a 2-2 tie behind sophomore Thomas Gale’s 33- and 23-save efforts. Junior Jack Ricketts has scored in three straight games for the Crusaders, while Tyler Ghirardosi scored on Friday and won the shootout.
10. The Atlantic isn't just AIC's anymore
American International has won four consecutive Atlantic Hockey titles, but such a streak doesn’t mean claiming another will be easy. RIT went to Springfield, Mass., and swept the Yellow Jackets with 4-3 and 3-2 defeats.
It was a rare result for AIC, which had not lost back-to-back conference games since last November or been swept in a two-game weekend series since the Tigers also turned the trick in January 2019. Freshman Josh Barnes scored both goals in Sunday’s series-closing setback.
It was also a tough weekend for Bentley, dropping 6-0 and 4-2 home contests to Niagara. Junior Cole Kodsi and graduate Dylan Pitera scored goals, giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the first period and cutting their deficit to 3-2 late. The Falcons, who were making their league debut this season, have scored a league-low 19 goals in nine games.
