Hockey East Online

	CCM / RBK Player of the Week Viktor Stalberg of Vermont

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- No. 4 New Hampshire took three points this weekend against Providence to increase its lead to six points atop the Hockey East standings, while Boston University and Vermont swept their respective series against Maine and Merrimack to close within one point of Northeastern and Providence College, who are currently tied for third place with 24 points.

The Wildcats and Friars battled to a 1-1 tie on Friday night at Schneider Arena, despite the Friars holding a 53-29 shot advantage in the game. Senior goalie Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.) amassed a career-high 52 saves in the game, which included 20 stops in the opening period. PC netminder Tyler Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.) stopped 28 saves in his 24th start of the season for Providence. On Saturday night, UNH won 4-3 in a back-and-forth slugfest between two of the better offensive teams in the league. PC once again outshot UNH, but senior forward Mike Radja (Yorkville, Ill.) continued his strong play with a three--point game and the game-winner with three minutes left in the third period.

The Terriers now own their best record of the season in league play (10-8-3) with a weekend sweep of Maine in two low scoring series at Agganis Arena. On Friday night, sophomore forward Luke Popko (Skillman, N.J.) ended the game just 10 seconds into overtime to give BU the 2-1 win, then on Saturday freshman Colin Wilson (Winnipeg, Man.) broke the scoreless tie with 1:30 left in overtime to give the Terriers their second four-point weekend of the season. Both Maine’s Ben Bishop (Des Peres, Mo.) and BU’s Brett Bennett played well for their respective clubs in two starts over the weekend. Bishop turned away 68 of 71 shots by the Terriers, while Bennett picked up his 10th and 11th wins of the season and owned a .971 save percentage.

Vermont remained in the hunt to host the first round of the Hockey East playoffs for the first time in school history, as it pulled off a weekend sweep of Merrimack College. Sophomore forward Viktor Stalberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) tallied three goals on the weekend, including both game-winning goals against the Warriors.

No. 7 Boston College picked up two wins on the week with its 14th Beanpot title in school history on Monday, a 6-5 triumph over Harvard at TD Banknorth Garden and a 5-2 victory over UMass-Lowell on Saturday night. The River Hawks handed the Eagles a 3-1 loss on Friday a Conte Forum. Sophomore forward Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) had two goals with the game winner in the win on Friday night for the River Hawks. Freshman Nick Petrecki (Clifton Park, N.Y.) and Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.) were solid contributors for the Eagles this week. Petrecki scored three goals, including the game-winning OT goal in the Beanpot final, while Gibbons was named MVP of the Beanpot with four points (2g,2a) in the game. Freshman Joe Whitney (Reading, Mass.) also had five assists on the week for the Eagles.

No. 15 Northeastern and Massachusetts split their weekend series, the Huskies earned a 2-1 win at Matthews Arena on Friday and the Minutemen took a 3-1 victory on Saturday night at the Mullins Center. UMass freshman goalie Paul Dainton (Genelle, B.C.) and NU sophomore Brad Thiessen (Aldergrove, B.C.) both played well over the weekends posting 63 and 58 saves respectively on the weekend.

Brett Bennett, BU (So., G, Williamsville, N.Y.) Backstopped the Terriers to a weekend sweep over Maine, stopping 34 of the 35 shots he faced for a .971 save %.

Alex Berry, UMass (Jr., F, Danvers, Mass.) Scored two goals on Saturday in the win over Northeastern.

Ben Bishop, ME (Jr., G, Des Peres, Mo.) Finished the weekend with a 1.46 GAA and a .958 save%. Finished the weekend stopping 68 of the 71 shots that he faced.

Paul Dainton, UMass (Fr., G, Genelle, B.C.) Had a 1-1 record over the weekend with 63 saves and a 1.50 GAA in the weekend series vs. Northeastern.

Danny Dries, UNH (Fr, F, Lake Orion, Mich.) Recorded four points (1g, 3a) during the weekend for the Wildcats.

Kory Falite, UML (So., F, Billerica, Mass.) Scored two goals and totaled a team-best eight shots in two games. Falite netted two goals with the GWG on Friday at BC.

Joe Fallon, UVM (Sr., G, Bemidji, Minn.) Made 34 saves and allowed just two goals in a pair of wins over Merrimack on the weekend.

Kyle Kraemer, NU (So., F, St. Louis, Mo.) Had point in each of the Huskies’ three games (2-1-3) last week.

Pierce Norton, PC (Jr., South Boston, Mass.) Scored twice in a loss at No. 4 New Hampshire on Saturday night.

Luke Popko, BU (So., F, Skillman, N.J.) Popko scored the overtime game winner in a 2-1 win over Maine and also earned two assists in the Beanpot victory against NU.

Mike Radja, UNH (Sr., F, Yorkvile, Ill.) Notched four points (1g, 3a) as the Wildcats captured a win and a tie against No. 14 Providence over the weekend.

Rob Ricci, MC (So., C, Brampton, Ont.) Notched the primary assist on both of Merrimack’s goals in two games at Vermont.

Ben Smith, BC (So., F, Avon, Conn.) Tallied four points – two goals and two assists – in BC’s 2-1-0 week.

Colin Vock, UVM (So., F, Plymouth, Mich.) Recorded three assists and a plus-3 rating in a weekend sweep against Merrimack.

Joe Whitney, BC (Fr., F, Reading, Mass.) Tallied a team-high five assists in BC’s 2-1-0 week.

Boston College: BC captured its 14th Beanpot title with a 6-5 overtime victory over Harvard on February 11...Freshman Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.), who totaled four points (2g,2a) in the Beanpot championship, to earn MVP honors, joins then-freshman Krys Kolanos as BC’s most recent Beanpot MVPs...BC scored three power-play goals in the second period in the team’s 5-2 at UMass-Lowell (2/16), improving its season conversion rate to 24.5 percent (38-of-155), which is best in the nation...Senior Pat Gannon (Arlington, Mass.) has totaled a career-high 14 points (4g,10a) this season, surpassing his previous single-season high of nine points in 2005-06, his sophomore season...The Eagles were outscored 5-1 in the first period last week, yet outscored their opponents by a combined score of 11-5 in the second, third and overtime periods... Kyle Kucharski (Saugus, Mass.), Matt Lombardi (Milton, Mass.) and Andrew Orpik (East Amherst, N.Y.) combined to tally five points (2g,3a) in BC’s 2-1-0 week.

Boston University: In his last four starts, sophomore goaltender Brett Bennett has posted a 0.99 goals against average and a .951 save percentage...BU is the only sub-.500 team in the country to boast a positive scoring margin...The Terriers are 7-2-2 in their last 11 league games with the only losses coming against first-place New Hampshire... Following the weekend sweep over Maine, the Terriers are now 8-0-1 in their last nine meetings with the Black Bears...After coming out on the wrong end of its first seven one-goal decisions this season, BU has won its last three contests all by a single goal...The Terriers will be looking for their first five-game winning streak since January 2007 when they take on Northeastern in a home-and-home series next weekend.

Maine: Maine players have missed 74 games to injury this season... Maine has allowed just three power play goals in its last 16 games... Maine goalie Ben Bishop was outstanding for Maine this past weekend, posting a 1.46 goals against average and a .958 save percentage. Bishop also moved to second place on Maine’s all-time saves list with 2,235 career saves, trailing just Scott King (1986-90) who finished his career with 2,463...Maine’s 1-0 overtime loss was the first 1-0 overtime loss since falling to Minnesota 1-0 in overtime in the NCAA Tournament during the 2004-05 season...Senior forward Wes Clark (Oakville, Ont.), who had just 10 career goals entering this season, scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season on Friday night against BU.

Massachusetts: UMass improves to 11-2-2 when scoring threeor- more goals this season…Massachusetts converted multiple power play chances in a game for the seventh time this season when the Minutemen were 2 for 4 on Saturday. The team is 5-1-1 when scoring two-or-more power play goals in a game…The Minutemen have killed off 19-of-22 opponent power play chances over the last seven games (86.4%)…UMass improves to 6-3-4 at the Mullins Center this year after Saturday’s win.

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks power play has scored in four straight games and is 6-for-19 (31.6%) over the last four games…The River Hawks defense contributed with seven points (1g,6a) over the weekend. Barry Goers (Ivyland, Pa.) had a goal and an assist, while Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alb.) and Nick Schaus (Buffalo, N.Y.) each totaled two helpers…Saturday’s contest was just the third time the River Hawks lost this season when holding at least a two-goal lead in a game (11-3-0). Two of the three losses were to BC at Tsongas Arena…UML has won three straight when scoring three goals or more, including Friday’s 3-1 win at BC, and are 13-3-1 overall this season when scoring at least three goals in a game.

Merrimack: The Warriors went 11-for-11 on the penalty kill this weekend at Vermont. They have killed 35 of last 38 man disadvantages dating back to January 26th (six games)…Excluding two games against Boston University, Merrimack has not scored a first-period goal in a Hockey East game since November 24th against UMass-Lowell, a span of eight games…Making 12 straight starts in goal, sophomore Andrew Braithwaite (Kingston, Ont.) has a .915 save percentage, a 2.41 goals-against and one shutout…Playing in his 119th career game on Friday, captain Derek Pallardy (Chesterfield, Mo.) was 11-for-16 on draws and was 20-for-30 for the weekend…Sophomores Joe Loprieno (Bloomingdale, Ill.) and Matt Jones (Kentwood, Mich.) played in their 60th career games Saturday…Merrimack has not scored a five-on-five goal in three games.

New Hampshire: The Wildcats extended their Hockey East unbeaten streak to 11 games (10-0-1) and are now 6-0-1 in their last seven games, overall...Kevin Regan stopped a career-high 52 shots on Friday night, including a career-high 20 in the first stanza, to help preserve a 1-1 tie... Danny Dries provided UNH’s offense on Friday night with a power-play tally... Dries has scored in six-straight games as he notched career-highs in points and assists as he had a three-assist effort on Saturday... Mike Radja ranks second nationally just one behind Ryan Jones on Miami (7) with six game-winning goals. During the current 11 game stretch, he has scored 23 points (10g, 13a) averaging 2.0 ppg...The Wildcats are 8-2-1 against nationally-ranked opponents...UNH needs only one victory for its 12th straight 20+ win season.

Northeastern: Northeastern won the season series against Masssachusetts, 2-1, with a 2-1 win on Friday night. NU hasn’t won at the Mullins Center since Jan. 15, 2000...Northeastern has had late-season Hockey East games against Boston University in each of the last four seasons and is 3-2-2 in those games. The two losses came in 2005-06...Northeastern is 10-0-3 when sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen allows two goals or less... Kyle Kraemer scored his first goal of the season on his 23rd birthday on Feb. 15. He had goals on consecutive nights after not scoring since Feb. 28, 2007...Defenseman Louis Liotti (Westbury, N.Y.) missed the first game of his collegiate career on Monday against BU. He had played 95 in a row.

Providence College: Senior goalie Tyler Sims tied a Providence College record by playing in his 109th career game on Saturday. Dan Dennis (1993-97) was the other Friar goalie to play in 109 contests... PC has outshot its opponents in 22 of the 28 games played this season, including a 53-29 edge in a 1-1 tie against UNH on Friday. The series loss against UNH this season is PC’s first series defeat against a Hockey East team. The loss against UNH on Saturday also ended PC’s five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) against ranked teams...The Friars are 9-6-1 against ranked teams.

Vermont: The Catamounts are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games…Joe Fallon is 5-1-1 with a 1.81 goals against average in his last seven starts. He has allowed just five even strength goals in that span…Viktor Stålberg ranks tied for second in Hockey East games with three game-winning goals…Sophomore Colin Vock has a team leading 16 assists and 21 points…Vermont’s two-game sweep of Merrimack was its first since taking back-to-back games against Boston College on Jan. 19 and 20 last season at Gutterson Fieldhouse… The Catamounts are 35-7-11 in their last 53 games when scoring first…UVM is 4-1-1 in its last six home games…The Catamounts have gone 1-for-28 on the power play in their last eight contests.