March 4, 2013

ATHLETIC REPUBLIC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK #16 JOHN HENRION, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Senior Forward; Holden, Mass.) Henrion registered a four goal weekend lifting the Wildcats to a three-point weekend against UMass. He scored the game-tying goal with 3.7 seconds left in regulation on Friday night and tallied his first collegiate hat trick on Saturday night in a 4-0 win. He was a +3 on the weekend and registered 13 shots on net. ATHLETIC REPUBLIC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK #19 MATT NIETO, BOSTON UNIVERSITY (Junior Forward; Long Beach, Calif.) Nieto tallied seven points (6g,1a) in the 2-1 week for the Terriers, including his first career hat trick in Friday's 3-1 victory over Vermont. He recorded the final two goals and added an assist in a 5-2 win over Merrimack on Tuesday before accounting for all of BU's goals on Friday with his natural hat trick. Recorded 10 shots on goal in three games for the Terriers. PRO AMBITIONS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK #37 CONNOR HELLEBUYCK, UMASS LOWELL (Freshman Goaltender; Commerce, Mich.) Hellebuyck stopped 62 of 63 shots (.984 save%) and recorded his fourth shutout of the season as UMass Lowell defeated Merrimack, 4-0, Friday at the Tsongas Center and 3-1 at Lawler Arena to move into first place. Had 31 saves in both games and earned first star honors in Friday's victory. HEA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK #29 CASEY DESMITH, NEW HAMPSHIRE (Sophomore Goaltender; Rochester, N.H.) DeSmith stopped 60 of 62 shots (.967 save%) in the three-point weekend vs. UMass. He made 35 saves on Friday night in a 2-2 tie with UMass and stopped 25 en route to the 4-0 shutout win on Saturday for his league-best fifth shutout of the season. HOCKEY EAST TEAM OF THE WEEK UMASS LOWELL RIVER HAWKS The River Hawks took home six points with a series sweep of Merrimack and a 4-2 win vs. No. 4 Boston College on Tuesday night at Conte Forum. The River Hawks moved into first-place and clinched the first home-ice spot in the quarterfinals with Sunday's victory.

Athletic Republic Co-Players of the Week John Henrion and Matt Nieto 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 2012-13 season leaders to date: Rk. Name Cl. Pos. School 1. John Henrion Sr. F UNH   Martin Ouellette Jr. G ME 3. Casey DeSmith So. G UNH   Joseph Pendenza Jr. F UML 5. Jon Gillies Fr. G PC 6. Bill Arnold Jr. F BC 7. Sam Marotta Jr. G MC 8 Joey Diamond Sr. F ME

HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS

Noel Acciari, PC (Fr., F, Johnston, R.I.) Netted a career-high two goals at No. 4 Boston College on Saturday to lead PC to the 5-1 win.

Jon Gillies, PC (Fr., G, South Portland, Maine) Helped the Friars to a weekend split with No.4 Boston College with 48 saves in the series (.923 save%).

Jordan Heywood, MC (Jr., D, Regina, Sask.) Tied a career-high with two goals at BU Tuesday.

Ben Hutton, Maine (Fr., D, Prescott, Ont.) Scored a goal and added an assist in Maine's 1-0-1 weekend.

Sean Maguire, BU (Fr., G, Powell River, B.C.) Totaled 86 saves (.945 save%) in the weekend series vs. UVM, including a career-high 49 in Friday's victory.

Michael Matheson, BC (Fr., D, Pointe-Claire, Que.) Was involved in all three goals in 3-2 win at PC. Scored once and tallied two assists.

Chris McCarthy (Jr., F, Collegeville, Pa.) Had four points (2g,2a) on the weekend against No. 19 BU. He posted a team-high 13 shots on goal.

Ryan McGrath, UML (Fr., F, O'Fallon, Mo.) Dished out two assists and skated to a +4 for the weekend

Matt O'Connor, BU (Fr., G, Toronto, Ont.) Stopped 32 of 34 shots (.941 save%) on Tuesday to lead BU to a 5-2 win over Merrimack.

Danny O'Regan, BU (Fr., F, Needham, Mass.) Earned four assists in three games, including two in Saturday's 3-1 win over Vermont

Michael Paliotta (So., D, Westport, Conn.) Netted his first goal of the season on Saturday in the second period for the eventual game-winner vs. BU.

Joe Pendenza, UML (Jr., F, Wilmington, Mass.) Recorded five assists on the week with three helpers in Merrimack sweep.

Kyle Reynolds, UVM (So., F, Sylvan Lake, Alta.) Posted a goal and two assists over the weekend against No. 19 Boston University.

Evan Rodrigues, BU (So., F, Etobicoke, Ont.) Recorded five points (1g,4a) on the week, helping the Terriers win two out of three games.

Vinny Saponari, NU (Sr., F, Powder Springs, Ga.) Registered his second playmaker of the season, posting three assists on Saturday night at Maine.

Nick Saracino, PC (Fr., F, St. Louis, Mo.) Scored a power-play goal in each game over the weekend as PC and BC split.

Colton Saucerman, NU (Fr., D, Colorado Springs, Col.) Scored his first two career power play goals on Saturday night in the tie at Maine.

Steven Whitney, BC (Sr., F, Reading, Mass.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) in team's 3-2 win at Providence.

Matt Willows, UNH (So., F, Congers, N.Y.) Scored in each of UNH's games against UMass this weekend.

CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO's HOT

Greg Amlong, UML (O'Fallon, Mo.) scored his first cAREER goal at Merrimack SUNDAY

Joey Diamond, MAINE (Long Beach, N.Y.) scored his 100th career point on Friday nighT. He becomes the 52nd player in Maine history to reach the milestone. HE has 57 goals and 45 assists

Connor Hellebuyck, UML (Commerce, Mich.) stopped 62 of 63 shots (.984) and earned his 13th straight win and fourth shutout of the season

John Henrion, UNH (HOLDEN, MASS.) recorded his first collegiate hat trick on Satur - day night against UMass

Jordan Heywood, MC (Regina, SK) Played in his 110th straight game Sunday

H.T. Lenz, UVM (Vienna, Va.) Skated in his 100th career game Friday at BU

Chris McCarthy, UVM (Collegeville, Pa.) Has five goals in his last seven games

Joe Pendenza, UML (Wilmington, Mass.) HAS eight-game point streak WITH 12 POINTS (3G,9a)

MICHAEL PEREIRA, UMASS (WEST HAVEN, CONN.) Played in his 100th career game Friday at UNH

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE THE FRIARS OWN A 4-1-4 RECORD IN THEIR LAST NINE

Chad Ruhwedel, UML (San Diego, Calif.) made his 100th appearance FRIDAY vs. MERRIMACK

Matt Willows, UNH (CONGERS, N.Y.) has four goals in the last five games after posting just one goal in his first 37 career games

TEAM NOTES

Boston College: BC played before a sellout crowd of 7,884 fans on Saturday against Providence, marking the fifth Kelley Rink sellout of the season. BC averaged 6,784 fans per home game in the 2012-13 regular season...BC's loss to the Friars marked the first since Feb. 29, 2008, snapped an 18-game BC unbeaten streak (15-0-3) and came on a night in which the host Eagles saluted their seven-member senior class of Pat Mullane, Patrick Wey, Steven Whitney, Patch Alber, Brooks Dyroff, Parker Milner and manager Tom Maguire for four spectacular seasons. The group is 111-38-8 in four seasons…With a 4-2 home loss to UMass- Lowell on Tuesday, BC fell to 8-2-0 against the River Hawks in the last 10 meetings...Junior Bill Arnold's two-goal performance marked his second of the season. Despite the loss, BC captured the regular-season series against the River Hawks, 2-1-0...Following Tuesday's defeat, junior forward Kevin Hayes, who suffered a contusion to his left quadriceps muscle the game, underwent surgery to release pressure on the area and will miss the remainder of the season during recovery.

Boston University: With its win against Merrimack on Tuesday, BU avoided its first one-win February since the 1953-54 season...BU had an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) against Vermont snapped in Saturday's loss to the Catamounts...Matt Nieto's hat trick on Friday was the first by a Terrier since Brandon Yip achieved the feat on March 6, 2009, at Providence...Jason Lawrence recorded BU's most recent natural hat trick at UMass just seven days prior to Yip's...Nieto is just the second Terrier to record a hat trick at Agganis, joining David Van der Gulik, who did it twice (2/4/05 vs. UML, 3/10/06 vs. UMass)...Over the last two months, BU's forward line of Nieto, Danny O'Regan and Evan Rodrigues has been one of the best in the country, combining for 58 points (27g,31a) in 16 games. O'Regan leads the team with 30 points and is attempting to become the first freshman to lead BU in scoring since Tony Amonte in the 1989-90 season...Cason Hohmann (Arlington, Texas) won 18 of his 20 faceoffs in Friday's win over UVM...Senior Sean Escobedo (Bayside, N.Y.) is second in the nation in blocked shots per game (2.64)...BU will honor its six-member senior class after its regularseason finale on Saturday at Agganis Arena vs. Northeastern.

Maine: Maine went 1-0-1 on the weekend against Northeastern…Six of Maine's last eight home games have gone to overtime… The Black Bears are 1-1-4 on those six games…Maine skated to a 4-4 tie on Saturday night, marking the seventh tie of the season for the Black Bears…The seven ties ties the school record for ties in a season set in 2000-01 and tied in 2001-02, 2004-05, 2010-2011 and this season…Maine began the game 3-for-3 on the power play on Saturday night…The Black Bears finished the game 3-for-6…The three power play goals ties the most power play goals scored in a game by Maine this season…Four of Maine's top six scorers on the season and freshman…The rookies have accounted for 40.1 percent of Maine's total offense…Six of Maine's 10 game-winning goals on the season have been scored by freshmen…Martin Ouellette (St.-Hippolyte, Que.) tied his career high with 35 saves on Saturday night against Northeastern.

Massachusetts: Playing in his 100th career game, Michael Pereira scored his ninth goal of the past 12 contests on Friday at UNH. Pereira now ranks 12th in program history with 42 career goals…Sophomore Steve Mastalerz played in his 13th game of the season on Saturday, surpassing his freshman year total of 12 games played…Four UMass defensemen 10 Or more on the season, led by Conor Allen's 17.

UMass-Lowell: UMass Lowell moved into first place in Hockey East, clinched home ice for the playoffs and extended its winning streak to seven games with the weekend's victories over Merrimack, 4-0 at the Tsongas Center and 3-1 at Lawler Rink…Sunday's victory – UMass Lowell's fifth in a nine-day span – marked the latest in a regular season it has occupied first place in Hockey East, and was also the seventh consecutive over a nationally-ranked opponent for a Division I-era record…UMass Lowell is 17-2-1 over its last 20 games…With Friday's win over Merrimack, UMass Lowell became the first team to reach the 20-victory plateau…Freshman Connor Hellebuyck extended his winning streak to 13 games and also earned his fourth shutout of the season in Friday's win. Since suffering a 5-1 loss in his first collegiate start on Oct. 19, Hellebuyck has maintained a 1.13 GAA and a .957 save rate.

Merrimack: In a crucial span of four games in eight days, Merrimack dropped all four of them, slipping to sixth place in Hockey East…The Warriors are in the midst of their longest losing streak of the season…Merrimack had its streak of 36 straight successful penalty kills snapped and 29 straight at home in first period of Sunday's loss to Lowell. It was the first power play goal of the 2013 calendar year allowed by Merrimack at Lawler…In Friday's 4-0 loss to Lowell, it marked the first time Merrimack was shutout in 42 games dating back to February 10, 2013, when the Warriors were also blanked by Lowell…On Tuesday, Jordan Heywood notched both goals in a 5-2 loss to BU. Heywood became the first Merrimack defender to have two multi-goal games in a season since Bryan Schmidt in 2004-05…Shawn Bates notched his eighth point in eight games, scoring the lone goal in Sunday's 3-1 loss to Lowell…Merrimack concludes the regular season with a homeand- home with UMass next weekend...Merrimack has defeated UMass seven straight times at Lawler.

New Hampshire: UNH extended its unbeaten streak to five games (2-0-3) with a win and a tie in a weekend series against UMass. The Wildcats own the nation's second longest unbeaten streak behind only UMass Lowell…UNH also trails only UMass Lowell in the Hockey East standings. New Hampshire is second with 31 points, while the River Hawks are alone in first with 32 points…On Friday, UMass scored the go-ahead goal with 1:05 left in regulation, but John Henrion and the 'Cats got the equalizer with 3.7 seconds left in regulation to grab a critical point and a 2-2 tie…On Saturday, John Henrion posted his first collegiate hat trick in a 4-0 win…Henrion and Matt Willows accounted for all of UNH's offense during the weekend as Willows scored a goal on Friday and Saturday night…In Saturday's 4-0 win, Casey DeSmith stopped all 25 shots he faces en route to his fifth shutout of the season. DeSmith is second in the nation and first in Hockey East with fifth shutouts…The UNH power play has been red hot with goals in sixstraight games including a three-goal outpouring at Vermont on Feb. 22…After allowing a pair of power play goals on Feb. 17, the Wildcat penalty kill got back on track blanking opponents in four-straight games and 14-straight power play opportunities.

Northeastern: Northeastern converted half of its power play chances (3-for-6) in a wild 4-4 draw at Maine on Saturday night, but the Huskies skated away with bitter tastes in their mouths after learning their postseason hopes would end at Alfond Arena. The Huskies can still leapfrog Massachusetts in the final Hockey East standings, but with two games to play and a five-point Maine lead, NU cannot elevate to eighth place and win that final Hockey East postseason bid. Northeastern curbed a five-game winless streak at Alfond Arena on Saturday night with its 4-4 draw at Maine. The Huskies' last win in Orono occurred on Oct. 25, 2008, in 2-1 fashion. The last time these two teams tied in Orono was on Jan. 29, 2005 (2-2). Colton Saucerman scores his first two career power play goals in a big spot, converting both the Huskies' markers in a 5-on-3 situation.

Providence College: The Friars split a weekend series with fourthranked Boston College, with each road team winning…Providence's 5-1 victory on Saturday night snapped an 18-game winless streak against the Eagles, as it was PC's first victory over Boston College since a 3-2 victory on Feb. 29, 2008. It was also Providence's largest margin of victory over the Eagles since a 9-5 win at Schneider Arena on Dec. 3, 1993…Noel Acciari netted a career high two goals in the win…Chris Rooney tied his career high with two points on a goal and an assist…John Gilmour's two assists also tied a career high mark…Providence is now 10-1-4 when leading after one period, 11-0-2 when leading after two and 13-2-4 on the year when scoring first…The Friars have netted short-handed goals in three consecutive games…Freshman Nick Saracino scored a goal in each of PC's three games versus BC this season…With a 1-1-1 series record versus BC this year, the Friars snapped a three-year winning streak by the Eagles in the season series (dating back to PC's 2-0-1 mark vs. BC in 2007-08)…The Friars are now 3-2-3 against top-five ranked opponents this season.

Vermont: Vermont posted 50 shots overall on Friday and 22 shots in the third period, which both both marked season-highs…UVM had 92 shots on the weekend and out-shot Boston University by a total of 32 in the two games...The Catamounts won the faceoff battle 44-16 in Saturday's 5-2 win at BU…UVM is 9-0-2 this year when leading after two periods ... Saturday marked the first game in the last 13 meetings between the schools at Agganis Arena that has been decided by more than two goals…It was the 70th meeting in the all-time series…The Catamounts snapped an eight-game winless streak to the Terriers, dating back to Feb. 28, 2010…Chris McCarthy had three points on Saturday and now has five goals in his last seven games...UVM has allowed just two 5-on-5 goals in its last seven contests.