Hockey East Weekend Preview

Here's your weekend Hockey East preview, courtesy of hockeyeastonline.

Seven of the nine games on tap this weekend feature Hockey East play with several intriguing matchups, including Boston College at New Hampshire Friday night live on NESN, while Northeastern will entertain No. 5 Boston University at Matthews Arena. No. 8 UMass-Lowell will head north for a single game at No. 15 Vermont on Friday and then the River Hawks will return home for a ESPNU showdown with the Wildcats on Sunday at Tsongas Arena (5pm).


The Wildcats won the season series vs. the Eagles in 2008-09, 2-1, but the Eagles got the last word as they swept the ‘Cats in the Hockey East quarterfinals playoffs at the Whittemore Center last March. The Eagles have scored at least three goals in three of the four regular season games to date.
UNH’s Brian Foster (Pembroke, N.H.) is 3-0-1 in three career meetings with the River Hawks. He owns a 0.98 GAA, .965 save percentage and a pair shutouts against UML. Foster recorded 77 saves last weekend at Wisconsin, including a career-high 47 stops on Friday night in Madison. The ‘Cats own a 4-2 record in their last six games at Tsongas Arena. The River Hawks 3.50 goals per game is 13th best in the country among Division I clubs.

BU and NU last met in late February and tied both games by scores of 2-2 and 1-1. The Terriers are coming off a weekend split with UML, while NU hasn’t played since Oct. 24.
UMass-Lowell (4-2-0 overall) and Vermont played five times last year, as the River Hawks swept the Catamounts on the road in the league quarterfinal round, after the schools split the regular season series in 08-09.

The Eagles will host the Huskies at Conte Forum as the lone Saturday night game of the week. Northeastern won three of the four meetings last year vs. the Eagles, but BC won the last meeting between the schools on March 7 (4-1) of last year.

On Sunday, Providence will also travel north to play an afternoon game vs. the Catamounts. The Terriers will also head north to Maine for a single game in Orono. The Friars are coming off a 2-1 win at UMass last Saturday night. Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) notched a career-high 47 saves in the win for PC. Maine also is coming of a 4-1 victory vs. Vermont last Friday night at Alfond Arena. Sophomore forward Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) extended his league-high point-streak to six games on the season with 11 points in that time span. Maine’s power play is fourth best in the nation at 27.7% (13 of 47).

The Minutemen (4-1-0 overall, 3-1-0 HEA) will play a rare non-league home-and-home series with Niagara beginning on Friday night in Amherst. The teams will play again on Sunday in New York. (4pm). UMass’ offense ranks sixth in the nation at 3.80 goals per game. Recently named Hockey East Player of the Month James Marcou (Kings Park, N.Y.) leads the league in scoring with 11 points overall and seven points in league play. He is currently the active leading scorer in the league with 90 career points.

Merrimack is the lone Hockey East team idle on the weekend, they rank right behind UMass in scoring offense at 3.75 goals per game, ranking seventh nationally among Division I schools.