December 6, 2010

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK #19 MIKE SISLO, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Senior Forward; Superior, Wis.) Sislo scored a goal on Thursday night and handed out a career-high five assists on Sunday against Vermont. Sislo factored in all five New Hampshire goals on Sunday. He registered six shots on goal and was a +2 overall on the week. ATHLETIC REPUBLIC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK #21 STEVEN WHITNEY, BOSTON COLLEGE (Soph. Forward; Reading, Mass.) Whitney registered four points (two goals and two assists) in two wins over No. 2 BU. He scored twice, including the decisive score in Saturday's 5-2 home win. He finished the weekend with nine shots on goal and a +3 rating for the Eagles. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #57 MARTIN OUELLETTE, MAINE (Freshman Goaltender; St.-Hippolyte, Quebec) Ouellette made 32 saves and recorded a shutout in just his second career start and first collegiate victory as Maine blanked Providence 5-0 on Saturday night at Schneider Arena. He made 13 saves in the first period against the Friars. PURE HOCKEY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #30 MATT DIGIROLAMO, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Junior Goaltender; Ambler, Pa.) DiGirolamo stopped 49-of-50 shots (.980 save%) lifting UNH to a pair of wins over UMass-Lowell and Vermont. DiGirolamo turned aside 25 shots on Thursday to record his second career shutout and allowed a single goal on 25 shots on Sunday against Vermont. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES The Eagles completed a weekend sweep of arch-rival Boston University on Saturday night at Conte Forum. BC opened the weekend with a 9-5 road win at Agganis Arena on Friday night. BC scored three goals in each period Friday and went 3-for-8 with a man advantage in the game. The Eagles also outshot the Terriers, 37-23, on the night.

Athletic Republic Co-Players of the Week Mike Sislo and Steven Whitney

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Spencer Abbott, Maine (Jr., F, Hamilton, Ont.) Scored three goals and added two assists as Maine took three points at Providence.

Cam Atkinson, BC (Jr., F, Greenwich, Conn.) Scored a team-high three goals and tallied four points in a home-and-home sweep of No. 2 Boston U.

Ryan Blair, UML (Sr., D, Ashburn, Va.) Tallied two points (1g, 1a), having a hand in both River Hawk goals for the weekend.

Joe Cannata, MC (Jr., G, Wakefield, Mass.) Stopped 63 of 67 shots in three games (.940 sv%), including 27 saves in a 2-1 win at Northeastern.

Stephane Da Costa, MC (Jr., F, Paris, France) Picked up points on four of Merrimack's six goals, netting three goals, two game-winners, 13 shots and a +3 rating.

Paul Dainton, UMass (Sr., G, Iqaluit, Nunavut) Made 25 saves on 27 shots including 12 in the third period for his third straight win.

Phil DeSimone, UNH (Sr., F, East Amherst, N.Y.) Dished out three assists in a pair of wins over Mass.-Lowell and Vermont over the weekend.

Joey Diamond, Maine (So., F, Long Beach, N.Y.) Recorded two goals and an assist in Maine's weekend series at Providence.

Brian Dumoulin, BC (So., D, Biddeford, Maine.) Tallied four assists in a two-game series sweep of No. 2 Boston University; totaled a +3 rating.

Eric Filiou, UMass (Fr., F, Vaudreuil, Que.) Scored his first career goal and had his first career assist in the 5-2 win vs. UML. Finished +3 for the game.

Brian Flynn, Maine (Jr., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Had a goal and an assist in Maine's weekend series at Providence.

Danny Hobbs, UMass (Jr., F, Shawville, Que.) Scored a pair of goals in UMass' 5-2 win over Lowell. He was +3 for the game.

Brett Kostolansky, UNH, (So., D, Denver, Colo.) Registered a pair of goals and two assists over the weekend.

Chris Kreider, BC (So., F, Boxford, Mass.) Registered four points (2g,2a) in two wins over No. 2 BU; scored shorthanded in Saturday's 5-2 home win.

Doug Kublin, UMass (Sr, D, Manlius, N.Y.) Had his first career multi-point game with a goal and an assist along with a +2 rating against Lowell.

Tyler McNeely, NU (Sr., F, Burnaby, B.C.) Scored his second-career game-winner and sixth of the season to defeat No. 18 Merrimack

Matt Nieto, BU (Fr., F, Long Beach, Calif.) Tallied a goal in both ends of the Terriers' home-and-home series with Boston College

Joe Pereira (Sr., F, West Haven, Conn.) Scored two goals against BC over the weekend to raise his team-leading total to seven

Michael Pereira, UMass (Fr, F, West Haven, Conn.) Had a pair of assists to improve his point streak to 8-straight games (6 goals, 5 assists).

Steve Quailer, NU (So., F, Arvada, Colo.) Scored his first goal of the season against Merrimack and backed it up the next night with an assist at MC.

Chris Rawlings, NU (So., G, North Delta, B.C.) Stopped 45 of 48 shots (.938 save%) in the weekend split with Merrimack.

Chris Rooney, PC (So., F, Canton, Mass.) Scored a short-handed, game-tying goal late in the third period in a 3-3 draw versus No. 9 Maine on Friday.

Karl Stollery, MC (Jr., D, Camrose, Alta.) Picked up three points, including a goal and assist in a 3-1 win at Harvard Tuesday night.

Paul Thompson, UNH, (Sr., F, Derry, N.H.) Recorded his second career hat trick and added an assist for four points in a 5-1 win over Vermont.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

Cam Atkinson, BC (Greenwich, Conn.) Extended his scoring streak to five games. Has 14 goals in 16 games this season; he ranks third nationally in goals/game

Joe Cannata, MC (Wakefield, Mass.) Has allowed two goals or fewer in four straight games

Alex Chiasson, BU (St. Augustin, Que.) Has scored at least one point in nine of the last 10 games and has 14 points (5g, 9a) during the stretch

Stephane Da Costa, MC (Paris, France) Has goals in three straight and points in five straight

Matt DiGirolamo, UNH (Ambler, Pa.) Registered his second career shutout Thursday at UML. Has allowed two goals or less in seven Hockey East games this season, including just two goals in the last three games

BC's Brian Gibbons, BC (Braintree, Mass.) Has tallied multiple-point performances in four of the last six games and has at least one point in 14 games this season

Brett Kostolansky, UNH (Denver, Colo.) Did not score in his first 38 collegiate games, but has scored a goal in four of the last five since

Brice O'Connor, PC (Londonderry , N.H.) Picked up his first career point with an assist on Friday vs. PC

Martin Ouellette, Maine (St.-Hippolyte, Quebec) Picked up his first career win and first career shutout on Saturday vs. PC

Michael Pereira, UMass (West Haven, Conn.) Has six goals and five assists in the last eight straight games. Now ranks 4th nationally in rookie scoring and 2nd in HEA

PROVIDENCE PENALTY KILL The Friars have killed off 15 consecutive penalties, including 12 against Maine over the weekend.

UMASS-LOWELL'S PENALTY KILL Has held opponents scoreless in 24 of their last 25 power plays opportunities (96%).

UNH's top line of Mike Sislo, Paul Thompson and Phil DeSimone Have been on a tear of late. Over the past eight games, the trio has combined for 49 points (6.125 ppg) on 14 goals (1.75 gpg) and 35 assists (4.38 apg)

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: Boston College outscored Boston University 14-7 in two wins over the weekend.…BC swept a two-game series for the first time since January 2007. Ten Eagles – Cam Atkinson (3), Chris Kreider (2), Steven Whitney (2), Barry Almeida, Bill Arnold, Paul Carey, Brian Gibbons, Jimmy Hayes, Philip Samuelsson, Joe Whitney – scored the team's 14 goals. Almeida and Kreider each scored the first shorthanded goals of their careers. The team has scored five times while skating shorthanded this season…Boston College improved to 6-2-1 in nine games at Agganis Arena…Kreider tallied a career-high three points (1g,2a) in the win…BC was both awarded and converted a penalty shot in Friday's win at BU for the first time since Nathan Gerbe scored on a penalty shot against Providence on March 15, 2008…The Eagles went 18-for-21 on the penalty kill over the weekend, are 29-for-33 over the last four games and own a 89.6 percent kill rate this season, which is good for third best in the nation.

Boston University: Over the past 23 months, BU has allowed just five shorthanded goals and BC has scored four of those…Freshman Sahir Gill (Terrace, B.C.) has scored one point in each of the last seven contests… Eight different Terriers made their first-ever appearance against the Eagles in Friday's home loss...BU's freshmen have put up more points (44) than any of the other three classes thus far…Since February of 2008, BU is 20-5-5 in games that are tied after two periods…The Terriers have scored 21 of their 47 goals this season in the second period…Senior Joe Pereira scored a goal in each game versus BC and now has a team-leading seven goals on the season to surpass his total of five tallies last season…The 9-5 loss on Friday marked the first time the Terriers gave up that many goals in a game since a 9-6 setback against Maine on March 1, 2002…Kevin Shattenkirk, last year's team captain, extended his scoring streak to nine games with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and has tallied 13 points (4g,9a) during the stretch.

Maine: The Black Bears took three of four points from Providence last weekend…Rookie goalie Martin Ouellette made 32 saves to record the shutout in just his second collegiate start. It was the first career win for Ouellette and Maine's first shutout since blanking UMass Lowell 2-0 in the Hockey East playoffs on March 13, 2010…Maine rookie Brice O'Connor (Londonderry, N.H.) picked up his first career point with an assist on Maine's first goal on Friday night… O'Connor was playing against his older brother, Ian, who plays for Providence for the first time in their careers…Maine appeared to have won the game on Friday night as Tanner House (Cochrane, Alta) scored as time expired, but it was ruled that the puck crossed the goal line just after time had expired…Brian Flynn played in his 90th consecutive game on Saturday night…Spencer Abbott had five points on the weekend and leads the team with 21 points. His 11 goals are a new career high…Maine defensemen Mike Cornell (Franklin, Mass.) and Josh Van Dyk (Woodstock, Ont.) were each a +5 in the game on Saturday night against Providence…The Black Bears return home to face arch-rival UNH on Friday, Dec. 10…The game will be televised on CBS College Sports Network.

Massachusetts: The Minutemen went from being the only team in the country without a win two weeks ago to being tied for the 2nd longest unbeaten streak (4 games) in the country. Over the last three games, all wins, UMass is outscoring teams 14-5…Over the last four games, UMass has outscored teams 5-2 in the first period after trailing opponents 11-to-3 through the first 8 games…UMass is now 3-1-1 when scoring the first goal of the game and 0-5-2 when failing to do so…A lead or tie after the second period has translated into UMass' unbeaten streak with a 3-0-1 record…UMass took a season-low three penalties against Lowell – they just all happened to be concurrent allowing the River Hawks to score on the third penalty after the Minutemen killed off two 5x3 power plays…UMass will travel to Maine next Sunday for its only game of the week – the Minutemen have won five straight against the Black Bears including all three games last year and are 10-4 against Maine since 2007...After seeing defensemen score four of five goals against Quinnipiac, UMass forwards scored four of the five goals against Lowell and account for 11 of the Minutemen's 15 points.

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks' struggles continued as their losing streak grew to seven games with a pair of losses to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The 3-0 loss to the Wildcats marked the first time UMass Lowell had been shut out since Mar. 13, 2010, when the River Hawks suffered a 2-0 loss in the Hockey East playoffs at Maine…On Saturday, UML scored twice in the second period to tie the game at 2-2, but ultimately fell 5-2 to UMass…Ryan Blair (Ashburn, Va.) led the way with a goal and assist, having a hand in the only two scores of the weekend…The goal was Blair's first since Mar. 20, 2009 in the 3-2 win vs. NU in the HE playoffs...Riley Wetmore (Swanton, Vt.) tallied the other UMass Lowell goal…The team's leading scorer with 13 points, Wetmore now has seven tallies to surpass his career-high set in 2009-10...In its last series before the holiday break, UML will play two of its three remaining non-conference games as they travel to Princeton on Dec. 10-11.

Merrimack: Ranked in the USCHO Poll for the second straight week and second time in program history, #18 Merrimack made it five wins in six games with wins at Harvard and Northeastern before falling to the Huskies 2-1 Saturday night at Lawler Arena…The loss was Merrimack's first home at home and just its fourth in 22 home games since the start of the 2009-10 season. Two of those losses are against Northeastern… Merrimack concludes its pre-holiday schedule with a 7-4-4 record, 5-4-3 in Hockey East, its best start in its Division I history…The victory at Northeastern was Merrimack's first in nine games and gave the senior class points at all Hockey East arenas…Scoring a goal in each of the three games this week, Stephane Da Costa extended his point streak to five games…Senior Chris Barton (Calgary, Alta.), who netted his 40th career goal in Friday's 2-1 win, saw his streak of 119 consecutive games snapped Saturday night. Barton is on pace to become the first Merrimack player to reach 100 points since Anthony Aquino in 2002…Merrimack's penalty kill moved into the top spot in Hockey East and second in the country, while it ranks second in team defense…With three points this week, Karl Stollery (Camrose, Alta.) is tied for second among Hockey East defenders in scoring with 10 points.

New Hampshire: UNH is off to its best start at 9-2-4 (.733) since the 2006-07 season when it was 13-2-1 (.900)… Paul Thompson registered his second career hat trick on Sunday against Vermont. He becomes the first UNH player to record a hat trick since Bobby Butler did so on Feb. 12, 2010. Thompson's previous hat trick came as a freshman in a 5-4 overtime win at PC on Nov. 17, 2007…Mike Sislo dished out assists in all five UNH goals on Sunday becoming the first player to have five points or more in a game since Dec. 11, 2008 vs. Holy Cross when three players had five-plus points including Sislo, who had a career-high six points (4g, 2a) that night. Sislo becomes first UNH player since Nick Poole (Jan. 9, 1993 at Snively Arena vs. Merrimack) to register five assists in a game...The Wildcats extended its Whittemore Center unbeaten streak in Hockey East contests to 25 games (18-0-7) with its last loss coming in January of 2008…New Hampshire is now 9-0-0 in its last nine games in December with its last loss in the month coming on Dec. 28, 2007 vs. North Dakota…Matt DiGirolamo registered his second career shutout stopping 25 shots on Thursday at UML. He has allowed two goals or fewer in seven Hockey East games this season, including just two goals in the last three games. He is 7-1-2 with a .948 save percentage and a 1.49 GAA in 10 Hockey East contests.

Northeastern: Northeastern earned its third victory of the season in demonstrative fashion at No. 18 Merrimack on Saturday night as the Huskies picked up their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season. Before the triumph, the Huskies last win over a ranked team came at home vs. BC on Feb. 19, 2010. Senior Tyler McNeely provided the heroics as NU's captain was able to score the game-winning goal at MC against the Warriors' top-ranked penalty-killing unit in Hockey East. The Huskies win at Lawler Rink ended the Merrimack's five-game unbeaten streak at home. The Warriors were 4-0-1 before Saturday's contest and were 16-3-2 at home since the start of last season. On Friday night at home against Merrimack, sophomore Steve Quailer netted his first goal of the season, ending a 50-game scoring draught for the Hockey East All-Rookie Team member from 2008-09 (Quailer missed all of last season). Sophomore Chris Rawlings turned away 45 shots, combined, to anchor Northeastern's defense. The Huskies penalty- killing unit stopped up the Warriors' power play, killing off 12-of-13 opportunities throughout the course of the weekend.

Providence College: The Friars tied No. 9 Maine, 3-3, on Friday as sophomore Chris Rooney scored his first-career short-handed goal late in the third period to force overtime. The following night, the Friars were dealt their first home loss this seaso, PC is now 3-1-3 at Schneider Arena…The Friars, who did not score a short-handed goal last season, already have two this season...The Friars have killed off 15 consecutive penalties…Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) who had five points last season, already has 10 points this season, doubling his point total from his rookie year…Senior Ian O'Connor (Londonderry, N.H.) and his younger brother, Brice, a freshman on the Maine team, played against each other for the first time in their collegiate careers this past weekend…The last time a PC player faced off against his brother was during the 2005-06 season when Tony Zancanaro battled Brad Zancanaro of BU…PC, which played in five overtime games during the 2009-10 season, already has played in five overtime contests this season…The Friars will play at Brown on Dec. 7 in the 25th Annual Mayor's Cup.

Vermont: The Catamounts lost their second consecutive game to the Wildcats of UNH Sunday 5-1 at the Whittemore Center…Paul Thompson recorded his second career hat trick and captain Mike Sislo collected five assists in the contest for UNH…Sophomore Tobias Nilsson-Roos netted his second goal of the year and registered a team high four shots in the loss for Vermont. Seniors Josh Burrows and Brett Leonard both picked up assists on the play. Junior Rob Madore made 27 saves for the Catamounts (1-6-3 HEA, 1-7-4 overall). Vermont returns to action when it travels to No. 2 Yale Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game at Ingalls Rink.

COMMISSIONER'S CORNER BY JOE BERTAGNA

Thoughts while waiting for our first snow of the year...

Maybe Merrimack should play in the Beanpot. In an eightday period, the Warriors defeated Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern, the latter two games coming on the road.

Opening weekend for Hockey East Tournament ticket sales showed an increase in sales from December of 2009. Having four teams in the national Top Seven will spike interest, not to mention the early success of the aforementioned Warriors.

Look for the Lamoriello Trophy to come to a rink near you as soon as we get through the holidays. The second annual "Road to the Garden" tour will launch at the Boston University at University of Vermont game on Sunday, January 9. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports.

Maine and UNH had concerns over goaltending entering the season. Results from this past week seem to indicate that they have nothing to worry about on that score.

New Hampshire's Paul Thompson has quietly moved to the top of the Hockey East conference and overall scoring list. The senior forward from Derry, NH, has 18 points during his current eight-game point streak to move past the competition.