January 9, 2012

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK #39 JOEY DIAMOND, MAINE (Junior Forward; Long Beach, N.Y.) Scored three goals and added two assists as Maine won a pair of games on the week Diamond Scored two goals against New Hampshire at Fenway Park. He notched the game-winner against Vermont on Wednesday at Alfond Arena. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #25 CONNOR TOOMEY, MERRIMACK (Freshman Forward; Billerica, Mass.) Scored both goals in a 2-2 tie at No. 4 Boston College on Sunday afternoon, including the game-tying goal with 1:10 to play. HEA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #31 KIERAN MILLAN, BOSTON UNIVERSITY (Senior Goaltender; Edmonton, Alta.) Tied a season-high with 42 saves to lead the Terriers past No. 6 Merrimack, 4-2 on Friday night at Agganis Arena. HOCKEY EAST CO-TEAM OF THE WEEK MAINE BLACK BEARS Both the Black Bears and Minutemen had a walkoff win at Fenway Park in overtime, with Maine beating New Hampshire (5-4) and Massachusetts beating Vermont (3-2). Maine took four points in two games this week, while UMass took three points in two games.   HOCKEY EAST CO-TEAM OF THE WEEK MASSACHUSETTS MINUTEMEN Both the Black Bears and Minutemen had a walkoff win at Fenway Park in overtime, with Maine beating New Hampshire (5-4) and Massachusetts beating Vermont (3-2). Maine took four points in two games this week, while UMass took three points in two games.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Joey Diamond of Maine ARMY ROTC THREE STARS AWARD At the conclusion of each Hockey East game, the " Army ROTC Three Stars of The Game" are selected. Here are the 2011-2012 season leaders to date: Rk. Name Cl. Pos. School 1. Kieran Millan Sr. G BU 2. Chris Rawlings Jr. G NU   Spencer Abbott Sr. F ME   Bill Arnold So. F BC   Chris Kreider Jr. F BC 6. Matt Ferreira Sr. F UML

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Mark Anthoine, Maine (So., F, Lewiston, Maine) Scored a pair of goals in Maine's 5-4 win over New Hampshire… Also added an assist on Wednesday against Vermont.

Andy Balysky, PC (Sr., F, Randolph, N.J.) Scored a short-handed goal in a tie versus UMass.

Joe Cannata, MC (Sr., G, Wakefield, Mass.) Stopped 53 of 59 shots at #10 BU and #4 BC this weekend.

Paul Carey, BC (Sr., F, Weymouth, Mass.) Scored one goal and tallied a game-high four shots in a 2-2 home tie against Merrimack.

Stefan Demopoulos, PC (Fr., F, La Mesa, Calif.) Scored late in the third period of a 4-4 tie versus UMass.

Grayson Downing, UNH (Fr., F, Abbottsford, B.C.) Scored UNH's fourth goal to help erase a two-goal deficit.

Brian Flynn, Maine (Sr., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Scored two goals and added an assist as Maine went 2-0-0 on the week… He tallied a goal on Wednesday against Vermont and also added an assist…. He followed that up by scoring the game-winning goal against New Hampshire in overtime as the Black Bears defeated the Wildcats 5-4 in history Fenway Park.

Sahir Gill, BU (So., F, Terrace, B.C.) Recorded a goal and an assist in the Terriers' 4-2 victory over No. 6 Merrimack on Friday.

Kevin Goumas, UNH (So., F, Long Beach, N.Y.) Netted a pair of goals including a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal in a 5-4 overtime loss to Maine.

Danny Hobbs, UMass (Sr., F, Shawville, Que.) Hobbs posted two goals and an assist in the overtime tie at Providence and the overtime win against Vemont at Fenway Park

Michael Marcou, UMass (Sr., D, Kings Park, N.Y.) Scored a pair of goals in two games this week including the overtime game-winner against Vermont at Frozen Fenway 2012.

Alexx Privitera, BU (Fr., D, Old Tappan, N.J.) Scored the game-winning goal in BU's 4-2 win against No. 6 Merrimack on Friday.

Sebastian Stalberg, UVM (Jr., F, Gothenburg, Sweden) Had a goal and two assists last week, including his seventh multi-point game of the season vs. UMass at Frozen Fenway.

Dan Sullivan, Maine (So., G, York, Pa.) Posted a 2-0-0 record on the week with a 2.48 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

Nick Bruneteau, UVM (Omaha, Neb.) Has seven points in his last six games.

Brian Flynn , Maine (Lynnfield, Mass.) Tallied his 75th career assist on Wednesday against Vermont

Danny Hobbs, UMass (Shawville, Que.) Since the start of December , Hobbs has 7 po ints (3g, 4a) in six games. He currently has a fourgame point streak in place.

SHANE LUKE, PC (DAUPHIN, MAN.) Recorded his first assist in his first career game on Thursday .

Josh Myers , MC (Colorado Springs, Colo .) Scored his first career goal in his third collegiate game.

Drew MacKenzie, UVM (New Canaan, Conn.) Is riding a six-game point streak.

Sebastian Stalberg, UVM (Gothenburg, Sweden) Has six multi-point games in his last nine contests (4g, 10a).

T.J. Syner, UMass (Springfield, Mass.) Has at least one point in 16 of 19 games this season and 5 multi-point games.

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: Boston College's lone game of the weekend was a 2-2 home tie against Merrimack. It marked BC's first tie of the season and first since Feb. 18 against Northeastern (7-7) last winter. It also extended a 25-game home unbeaten streak against Merrimack. BC last lost to the Warriors inside Conte Forum on Oct. 31, 1997. Since, BC is 22-0-3 against Merrimack at Kelley Rink ... BC is 1-1-1 in three overtime games this season. It is 5-3-1 at Kelley Rink where it is averaging 6,411 fans per game … Sophomore forward Bill Arnold returned to BC's lineup after missing two games while competing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships … Steven Whitney's shorthanded goal in the second period against the Warriors marked the team's fifth shorthanded goal this season. BC's five shorthanded goals have been scored by five different players – Whitney, Barry Almeida, Bill Arnold, Paul Carey and Chris Kreider … Paul Carey, who opened the Sunday's scoring, has five goals in the last six games. Barry Almeida, who assisted on Whitney's shorthanded goal, has eight points in the last eight games … Brian Dumoulin played in his 100th career game while Steven Whitney played in his 99th career game. There are six players on the roster with 100 games of experience – Dumoulin, Pat Mullane (102), Tommy Cross (111), Edwin Shea (116), Paul Carey (124) and Barry Almeida (136).

Boston University: The Terriers have won eight of their last 10 games – and seven of their last eight league contests – and are tied for first in the Hockey East standings…This is the latest in the season that BU has been atop Hockey East since the 2008-09 campaign…BU comes in at a season-best sixth in this week's USCHO.com Division I Poll…Freshman Cason Hohmann (Plymouth, Mich.) has recorded an assist in each of the Terriers' last three contests…In its win over Merrimack, BU became the first team since Boston College on Feb. 23, 2010, to score three first-period goals against the Warriors…BU has allowed 38 goals in Hockey East play this season and fifteen of them were the scorer's first collegiate goal…The Terriers lead the nation lead in both shorthanded goals (8) and penalty minutes per game (20.7)…Junior Ryan Santana (Yorba Linda, Calif.) returned to the BU lineup on Friday after missing the 2011 portion of the season due to a shoulder injury…Following the triumph over Merrimack, BU is now 5-4-1 this season when allowing the first goal…The Terriers meet Northeastern for the first time since last year's Hockey East quarterfinals on Friday and the crosstown rivals are a combined 15-2-1 since Nov. 13.

Maine: Maine extended its winning streak to four games with a pair of wins on the week… In addition, Maine has now won eight of its last nine games… The Black Bears defeated New Hampshire 5-4 in overtime on Saturday night in the 2012 Sun Life Frozen Fenway in front of 38,456 fans… Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored the game-winner 1:29 into overtime for the Black Bears… It was his ninth career game-winning goal and third of the season… The Black Bears are 2-0-2 in overtime this season with Flynn scoring both overtime game-winners… Maine is scoring at a 27.8 percent clip on the power play, which ranks third in the nation… The Black Bears, who have scored power play goals in 11 straight games, went 3-for-5 with the man advantage on Saturday against UNH… Mark Anthoine (Lewiston, Maine) has scored eight goals on the season and seven have come on the power play… The Black Bears are 4-0-0 on the season in games played at neutral sites… Joey Diamond (Long Beach, N.Y.) has goals in four straight games, while Anthoine has points in five straight… Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ontario) has 18 points in his last six games… He was named Hockey Commissioners' Division I National Player of the Month on Friday… Abbott leads Maine with 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points… Maine puts is four-game winning streak on the line this weekend when it travels to Merrimack for a pair of games.

Massachusetts: UMass is now 3-1-2 since the start of December with the win over Vermont at Frozen Fenway 2012 … The crowd of 38,456 to watch Frozen Fenway 2012 was the largest in program history for a single-game … The attendance was also the largest for any UMass sporting event this season – surpassing the 30,176 for UMass football game at Boston College – and the most for any event since UMass played football at Michigan (110,187) … UMass will have a three-game homestand where the Minutemen were unbeaten in the Mullins Center for the first half of the season at 5-0-3 – just the third time in the program's Modern Era (1993-94, 2007-08) that UMass did not lose a home game to start the season … The win over #13 Cornell put UMass at 3-2-1 against ranked teams this year (including a win over then-No. 1 Boston College) … When allowing 4 or more goals this year, UMass is 0-7-1, however, when cutting that to 3-or-fewer, UMass is 7-1-3 … Holding a lead or being tied after 2 periods has also been a good omen for UMass this year as the Minutemen are 7-1-3 (0-7-1 when trailing).

UMass-Lowell: The 12th-ranked River Hawks knocked off the Russian Red Stars, 6-4, in their only contest of the week—an exhibition game in the Tsongas Center. The meeting marked the third time UMass Lowell has faced a Russian team in its history and the first time it has prevailed in the contest. The then-named Chiefs fell to Sokol-Kiev, 3-1, in 1985 and Spartak, 8-2, in 1986. Six different River Hawks found the back of the net in Thursday's win and 11 players recorded a point. Malcolm Lyles, David Vallorani, Riley Wetmore and Scott Wilson all scored a goal and assist. Entering the weekend as Hockey East's leader in game-winning goals (4), Vallorani was responsible for the eventual game-winner to beat the Russian Red Stars. From this point forward, the River Hawks final 16 games are all against Hockey East opponents. UMass Lowell has just one contest next weekend, traveling to Burlington to face Vermont on Friday at 7 p.m. The last time the River Hawks were ranked 12th in the nation this late in the season was February 21, 2005. At that time, UMass Lowell was slotted 10th in the USCHO poll and ninth in the USA Today Poll.

Merrimack: Facing arguably its toughest weekend of the season, Merrimack lost at #10/9 Boston University 4-2 before tying at #4 Boston College 2-2 on Sunday… Merrimack is now 0-22-2 at BC dating back to October 31, 1997…The tie gives the Class of 2012 points at all Hockey East arena. BC is the only arena they have not won at. They will get one more chance on February 17…Connor Toomey (Billerica, MA) scored both goals in the tie and now leads Merrimack with seven goals. Toomey faced BC goalie Brian Billett, who was Toomey's teammate last year at New Hampshire (EJHL)…In the loss at BU on Friday, Merrimack allowed three goals in the first period for the first time since 2/23/10 (at BC) and lost for the first time when scoring two or more goals…Merrimack is now 11-1-2 when scoring two or more goals and is 9-1-3 when outshooting its opponent, as it did at BU and at BC this weekend…Brendan Ellis (Kelowna, BC) now ranks second among Hockey East defensemen in assists (13) and points (15)…In fact, Merrimack has four defensemen with 10 or more points. No Hockey East team has more than two defenders with 10 or more points…Merrimack remains in third place in Hockey East with a 11-4-4 overall mark, 7-3-2 in the league. With games in hand on most teams, the Warriors host Maine for a pair of games at 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday at Lawler Arena.

New Hampshire: UNH competed in Sun Life Frozen Fenway 2012 coming up just short in a 5-4 overtime loss to Maine. The doubleheader drew a UNH record crowd of 38,456. In addition, it was the 13th different venue the Wildcats and Black Bears have played in during this historic rivalry... With the game tied at 1-1 Kevin Goumas, who netted a pair of goals in the game, scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal to give the 'Cats the lead only to see Maine scored a pair of power play goals just 50 seconds apart... UNH trailed 4-2 before New Hampshire scored third period goals just 1:43 apart to tie it only to see Maine win in overtime... Freshman netminder Casey DeSmith made his second career start on this grand stage and stopped 28 Black Bear shots on the night... The 'Cats have lost five in a row and seven of the last eight games following a seven-game unbeaten stretch... The Wildcats are still in search of its first road win as they moves to 0-6-2 away from Whittemore Center. UNH will travel to Providence College Wednesday night before playing its final non-conference game on Saturday night in the annual Battle for the RiverStone Cup XI against in-state rival Dartmouth College.

Northeastern: Northeastern welcomed in the U-18 U.S. National Team Development Program on Saturday night and lost in an exhibition contest, 7-4, at Matthews Arena. Garrett Vermeersch attained his first three-point performance of the season with a goal and two helpers while rookie Adam Reid turned in a nice outing against his old squad. Reid posted his first multi-point performance this season with a goal and an assist. The Huskies had four different goal scorers in all, including Robbie Vrolyk, Anthony Bitetto, Vermeersch and Reid. For Vrolyk, it was his first tally of the season. Both Chris Rawlings and Clay Witt stopped 15-of-18 shots while Witt earned the loss. The Huskies still own the country's second-best unbeaten streak of eight games, going 7-0-1 within that span. Through this weekend, Steve Quailer is the 31st most prolific scorer in the country, averaging 1.12 points per game. Freshman Ludwig Karlsson ranks seventh in the NCAA amongst rookies in scoring (0.94 points per game) while Chris Rawlings' save percentage has risen to fifth in the country at .931 (525-of-564).

Providence College: Providence skated to a 4-4 overtime tie against UMass on Thursday as four different Friars scored, including Tim Schaller who netted his career-high 10th goal of the season … After recording seven Hockey East ties last season, Providence posted its first league draw on Thursday against UMass … The Friars have scored one short-handed goal in three of the last five games, including the last two contests … Providence is tied for second in the nation with seven short-handed goals … Andy Balysky scored his second short-handed goal on Thursday and is one of three Friars who have two short-handed goals this season … The Friars have 22 players with at least one point … The Friars will complete their three-game home stand to start the new year on Wednesday night against New Hampshire.

Vermont: Three of the last four meetings between Vermont and UMass Amherst have been decided by one goal, but Saturday at Frozen Fenway marked the first overtime game between the schools since 1970 … The sellout attendance of 38,456 represents the largest crowd ever to watch a University of Vermont athletic event; The previous record was set when the UVM men's basketball team faced Ohio State in December of 1999 in a game watched by 19,100 fans at Value City Arena … The Catamounts have scored at least one power play goal in each of their last six games after going 2-7 against the Minutemen on Saturday … UVM is 7-for-24 over its last four games on the man advantage and sits at 17.7% on the season … Sebastian Stalberg has posted six multi-point games in his last ten contests, with four goals and 10 assists in that span … Nick Bruneteau has seven points in his last six games … Drew MacKenzie is riding a six-game point streak and has a point in eight of his last nine games … Bruneteau and MacKenzie are tied for eighth in the league in defenseman scoring.