January 13, 2011

UMass Lowell hosts Massachusetts Friday night on NESN

Providence (Fri.), No. 3 Boston College (Sun., CBSCSN) at No. 14 Maine (at Alfond Arena)

- Maine's Robby Dee has tallied points in five straight games, including at least one goal in three straight games.

- The Black Bears are 5-1-0 on the season when scoring the first goal of the game. The lone loss was last Saturday at Merrimack.

- In the last seven games, the Friars have killed off 38 of the last 39 penalties, including 20 consecutive penalties. That stretch has raised their rank to 17th nationally with a rate of 83.9 percent.

- BC is unbeaten in its last eight meetings with Maine (7-0-1).

Vermont at Northeastern - Two-Game (Fri., Sat. at Matthews Arena)

- The Catamounts have played the eighth toughest schedule in the country according to the USCHO.com RPI. UVM has played a top-20 ranked team in seven of its last 12 outings.

- Northeastern's Brodie Reid and Wade MacLeod are in the midst of a three-game goal-scoring streak, spanning back to the contest at Boston University on Dec. 8.

Massachusetts vs. UMass-Lowell - Two-Game Series (Fri. at UML, NESN; Sat. at UMass)

- UMass is 19-31-6 against UMass Lowell all time, after having won three straight against the River Hawks. UMass is 7-17-4 in Amherst and 11-13-2 in Lowell.

- UMass won the first meeting of the season series by a 5-2 score on Dec. 4th, thanks to a three-goal third period after each squad traded two-goal periods. Danny Hobbs led UMass with two goals.

No. 15 Merrimack vs. Alabama-Huntsville - Two-Game Series (Fri., Sat. at Bridgestone Arena)

- Merrimack concludes its non-conference schedule with two games against Alabama-Huntsville. It will be the first-ever college hockey games in Tennessee.

- Merrimack is currently 4-0-1 against non-conference opponents.

- The Warriors are 8-3-1 lifetime against Alabama-Huntsville, and it will mark their first meeting since 1994.

- At 10-4-4 through 18 games, the Warriors are off to their best start in its Division I history and are one of four teams in the country with four or fewer losses. They rank eighth nationally in winning percentage at 66.7%.

No. 4 New Hampshire vs. Dartmouth (Sat. at the Verizon Wireless Arena)

- UNH holds a 6-2-1 advantage in nine previous Battle for the RiverStone games, including a 5-2 UNH win in last year's meeting on Jan. 16.

- The Wildcats and Big Green have met 51 times in the all-time series history with UNH holding the advantage at 32-17-2, which dates back to February 19, 1936.