Hockey East Online

	Co-Hockey East Players of the Week Tanner House and Casey Wellman

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- No. 9 Massachusetts opened the week on Tuesday with a 6-2 win at Vermont and then fell to No. 10 Quinnipiac in overtime on Saturday, 5-4. Maine and Providence upset the league’s top ranked team in No. 3 UMass-Lowell on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. Boston University won a overtime game on Tuesday at Harvard, 6-5, while Boston College downed Clarkson by a 6-5 score on Friday as well.

James Marcou (Kings Park, N.Y.) notched five assists for his 100th career point on Tuesday in the win in Burlington, while linemate Casey Wellman (Brentwood, Calif.) scored four points, including his first career hat trick. Wellman also added two goals in the overtime loss at Quinnipiac.

Maine also scored a league-high 10 goals on Saturday night vs. ECAC foe St. Lawrence at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Tanner House (Cochrane, Alb.) each had a league-high six points in two Black Bear wins during the week, including four and five points, respectively, in the game vs. the Saints. Maine’s Scott Darling (Lemont, Ill.) stopped a total of 44 shots on 46 shots (.957 save%) on the week.

BU’s Chris Connolly (Duluth, Minn.) had a strong effort on the weekend with the overtime gamewinner at Harvard on Tuesday and the game-tying tally with 51 seconds remaining on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in the 3-3 stalemate with Cornell in New York City.

Providence earned a 4-2 win vs. the River Hawks at Tsongas Arena on Friday, as sophomore goalie Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) notched 30 saves in his sixth win of the season.

Vermont edged Northeastern in a close game on Friday night at Matthews Arena and New Hampshire earned its fifth league win of the year to remain in first place with a victory on Saturday at Lawler Arena. Vermont sophomore goalie Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made 28 saves in his third win of the season for the Catamounts. Freshman forward David Pacan (Ottawa, Ont.) notched a goal in each game for UVM.

BC went 4-for-9 on the power in their win on Friday vs. the Golden Knights. Four different Eagles notched two points apiece in their second non-league win of the season.

The Wildcats top line of Paul Thompson (Derry, N.H.), Phil DeSimone (East Amherst, N.Y.) and Bobby Butler (Marlboro, Mass.) registered nine points (5g,4a) in the game. Merrimack outshot the Wildcats in the game, 38-32.

Cam Atkinson, BC (So., F, Greenwich, Conn.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) vs. Clarkson and has one goal in three of the last four games.

Alex Beaudry, PC (So., G., Cumberland, Ont.) Made 30 saves in a 4-2 win over No. 3 UMass Lowell on Tuesday.

Nick Bonino, BU (Jr., F, Unionville, Conn.) Tallied two points (1g,2a) in the third period of BU’s 3-3 tie vs. Cornell after putting up three points in the win at Harvard.

Bobby Butler, UNH Sr., F, Marlboro, Mass.) Notched a pair of goal and dished out an assist in UNH’s 5-4 win over Merrimack.

Paul Carey, BC (So., F, Weymouth, Mass.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) for his third multiple-point performance of the season.

Zach Cohen, BU (Sr., F, Schaumburg, Ill.) Scored two goals, including one in the final minute of regulation, in BU’s 6-5 overtime win at Harvard.

Chris Connolly, BU (So., F, Duluth, Minn.) Scored the OT winner in BU’s thrilling 6-5 victory at Harvard and posted the game-tying goal vs. Cornell at MSG.

Paul Dainton, UMass (Jr., G, Genelle, B.C.) Earned a win over Vermont making 27 saves and took the loss in relief at Quinnipiac making 28 saves.

Phil DeSimone, UNH, (Jr., F, East Amherst, N.Y.) Recored the game-winning goal and handed out two assists in Saturday’s 5-4 win over Merrimack.

Mark Fayne, PC (Sr., D., Sagamore Beach, Mass.) Scored one goal and recorded a career-high three assists in a 4-2 win over No. 3 UMass Lowell

Brian Flynn, Maine (So., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Scored (2g,4a) in Maine’s two wins last week with a +5 rating. Notched a career-high five points vs. SLU.

Rob Madore, UVM (So., G, Pittsburgh, Pa.) Stopped 28 shots in Friday’s 3-2 win at Northeastern.

Drew Muench, NU (So., D, Martensville, Sask.) Turned in his first-career two-assist game against Vermont on Friday night.

Gustav Nyquist, Maine (So., F, Malmo, Sweden) Scored a goal and added four assists in Maine’s two games.

David Pacan, UVM (Fr., F, Ottawa, Ont.) Scored two goals and had an assist in a pair of games. Scored the game-winning goal in Friday’s 3-2 victory at NU.

Joe Pereira, BU (So., F, West Haven, Conn.) Registered a career-high four points with two goals and two assists in BU’s 6-5 win at Harvard.

Adam Shemansky, Maine (Fr., F, Robbinsville, N.J.) Scored a goal and added an assist to finish the weekend with two points.

Carl Sneep, BC (Sr., D, Nisswa, Minn.) Recorded his third multiple-point performance of the season in a 6-5 win over Clarkson.

Paul Thompson, UNH, (Jr., F, Derry, N.H.) Potted two goals and added an assist in Saturday’s 5-4 win over Merrimack.

David Warsofsky, BU (So., D, Marshfield, Mass.) Scored a shorthanded goal against Cornell at MSG and earned a pair of assists in overtime win at Harvard.

Theo Anderson (Gothenburg, Sweden) Recorded his first career goal on Saturday against St. Lawrence

Chris Auger, UML (Bellevile, Ont.) Has tallied seven points (2g, 5a) in the last four games

Justin Braun, UMas (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) Has recorded at least a point in five of the last six games (2g,5a)

Bobby Butler, UNH (Marlboro, Mass.) Has 13 points (8g,5a) in a seven-game scoring streak

Chris Conolly , BU (Duluth, Minn.) Has scored five goals and three assists during his current five-game point streak

Brian Dumoulin, Maine (Bideford, Maine) Tallied his first multiple-point effort (2 assists) in Friday’s win over Clarkson

Damon Kipp, UNH (SALMON ARM, B.C.) Handed out a career-high two assists on Saturday

Kyle Kraemer, NU (St. Louis, Mo.) Leads the Huskies with a six-game pointstreak (4-3-7)

Mark Nemec, Maine (Rouses Point, N.Y.) Picked up his first career point with an assist on Friday against UMass Lowell

Wade MacLeod, NU (COQUITLAM, B.C.) Scored his 70th career point (29g,41a) in Friday’s loss to Vermont

James Marcou, UMass (Kings Park, N.Y.) and Casey Wellman (Brentwod, Calif.) Have combined for 18 points in the last four games Wellman (6g,2a), Marcou (1g,9a)

James Marcou, UMass Scored his 100th career point in the win over Vermont with a school record five assists

Merrimack’s power play Netted a goal for the 10th straight game vs. UNH on Saturday

Jake Newton, NU (San Jacinto, Calif.) Has logged an assist in each of his last three games

UNH’s top line of Butler, Phil DeSimone (EAST AMHERST, N.Y.) and Paul Thompson (DERRY, N.H.) Have a combined 21 points (10g,11a) in the last three games

UNH’s offense Has scored three or more goals in seven-straight games, including four games of four or more in that span

Alex Velischek, PC (Kinnelon, N.J.) Scored his first career goal on Tuesday against UMass Lowell

All of us who work daily in college hockey were pleased by last week’s announcement that Paul Kelly has accepted a new position as Executive Director of College Hockey Inc. Two questions that came up at the time of the announcement were: why the need for this position and why now? The job of marketing college hockey has fallen primarily to the commissioners of the six Division I conferences, with the NCAA Office doing its part in conjunction with the national championships. While the commissioners have gladly assumed such duties, they have always been second to our immediate responsibility to serve our leagues. While we couldn’t wake up each morning and think about promoting college hockey in a generic way as our first order of business that day, we now have someone who can.

That we need to do this now stems partly from a need to respond to a more aggressive recruiting strategy implemented in recent years by junior hockey interests in Canada. Some of this includes our need to respond to wildly inaccurate information being published and distributed both in Canada and here. Some of this has to do with the changing landscape of where players come from in the United States. Increasingly, there are talented players being produced in areas where college hockey is not a presence. Just look at the 42 Californians who played NCAA Division I hockey last year. And there were 10 Texans on D-1 rosters too.

As for the timing, college hockey will receive resources from USA Hockey, initiated by the National Hockey League, that makes the establishment of an office and staff possible this season. We look forward to seeing the profile of our game raised to new heights in the coming months.

Dec. 2, 2000: UMass Lowell plays the first 0-0 game in the school’s 34-year hockey history when the River Hawks and fifthranked New Hampshire are both shut down at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. Junior Cam McCormick stops 29 shots to record the shutout for UMass Lowell.

Dec. 3, 2004: BU defeats BC, 3-2, at Walter Brown Arena as Jack Parker becomes the fourth coach in college hockey history to win 700 games.

Dec. 5, 1992: Paul Kariya became the first Black Bear to dish out five assists in a game against a Division I opponent when he assisted on five goals in Maine’s 11-2 win over Northeastern on

Boston College: BC matched its season high with four powerplay goals in Friday’s 6-5 home win over Clarkson. The Eagles previously scored four power-play goals (in five chances) in a 4-4 tie at New Hampshire (Nov. 6). It has score multiple man-advantage tallies five of 11 games this season...BC has scored four or more goals six times in 11 games and is 5-0-1 in those games. The team is averaging 3.82 goals per game, a mark good for third in Hockey East and sixth in the nation...Friday’s 6-5 home win over Clarkson snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Golden Knights dating back to Jan. 21, 1991 an 8-5 win inside Conte Forum...Carl Sneep ranks second on the team in scoring and tied for fifth among all defenseman in college hockey with 12 points (5g,7a)...Junior center Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.) has a team-high 10 assists in 11 games...Senior alternate captain Ben Smith (Avon, Conn.) has nine goals in 11 games (0.82 goals per game), ranking eighth among national leaders in that category.

Boston University: Despite their 4-7-2 record, the Terriers are undefeated in their last three games (1-0-2) and 2-1-2 in their last five contests…Sophomore goaltender Grant Rollheiser held Cornell scoreless for the final 34:30 of Saturday’s Red Hot Hockey contest and is 3-0-3 in his last six decisions…The contest against Cornell at sold-out Madison Square Garden was the first time all season that BU did not have a player miss the game due to injury…Junior Nick Bonino has eight points (2g, 6a) in the five games since he returned from injury and the team is now 34-0-5 in the last 39 games he has scored at least one point…Nine different Terriers have scored a power-play goal this season and six have recorded two or more…Special teams have accounted for 18 of BU’s 37 goals this season…BU will begin a four-game homestand that stretches until Jan. 2 when it welcomes Vermont and Boston College to Agganis Arena this weekend…Friday’s game against the Catamounts will be a rematch of last year’s national semifinal.

Maine: Maine exploded for 10 goals in a 10-1 win over St. Lawrence on Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland… It was the most goals for the Black Bears since beating Nebraska-Omaha 11-0 on Feb. 27, 1998…Maine scored a season-high five power play goals on Saturday against St. Lawrence as it finished the game 5-for-8 with the man advantage…The Black Bears finished the weekend 6-for-11 on the power play…Maine has defeated three teams this season that were ranked in the top-10 when they played the Black Bears…Sophomore Gustav Nyquist scored his 50th career point on Saturday against St. Lawrence. Nyquist has 53 career points in 52 games…Seventeen different Black Bears scored at least one point on the weekend…Six of Maine’s top seven scorers have scored three of more power play goals on the season…Sophomore Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored a career-high five points on Saturday against St. Lawrence with two goals and three assists…Five different Black Bears finished with three or more points on the weekend, including Tanner House and Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) who each chipped in with six points in the two games.

Massachusetts: UMass is now 3-1-0 against ranked teams after the loss at #9 Quinnipiac and 4-1-0 in road games…Seven of UMass’ next 10 games will be on the road…With the come-from-behind rally at Quinnipiac, UMass is now outscoring teams 19-to-7 in the third period…The loss at Quinnipiac was just the fourth time in 71 games that UMass lost when scoring four-or-more goals…UMass ranks 4th nationally in scoring offense (3.92 gpg) and 3rd in power play conversion (16-for- 56, 28.6%)…after going 4-for-12 on the power play in its previous two games, UMass was 0-for-1 against Quinnipiac…since the 2005-06 season, Boston College holds a 6-5-1 edge over UMass, the all-time series is 39-10-3 in favor of the Eagles…In that same stretch, UMass Lowell is 7-3-2 against UMass with the all-time record 28-18-6 in favor of the River Hawks…Boston College and UMass Lowell will be the fourth and fifth straight ranked opponents that UMass has faced.

UMass-Lowell: The third-ranked UMass Lowell River Hawks (8-4-1, 4-3-1 HE) struggled, dropping two Hockey East contests to Providence and Maine last week… The River Hawks’ third place ranking in the USCHO and USA Today college hockey polls tied the program’s previous high set on Jan. 14, 2002… The week’s two losses snapped UMass Lowell’s eleven-game streak of scoring three or more goals a game… Senior Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) scored the River Hawks’ lone tally against Maine, landing him on the doorstep of 50 career goals as he is just two away… Senior defenseman Nick Schaus (Buffalo, NY) is tied for fifth in the nation for point-per-game (1.09) by defensemen…After making a season-high 37 saves at Providence, senior goaltender Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.) is 18th in the nation in GAA (2.29) and 19th in save percentage (.918)…In six home dates, UMass Lowell has drawn 28,678 fans for an average of 4,780 per game, the most since the opening of the Tsongas Arena in 1997-98…The River Hawks will have a chance to bounce back this weekend, traveling to UNH on Friday, before returning home to face UMass on Saturday.

Merrimack: Merrimack suffered its first loss in seven home games this year, falling to University of New Hampshire 5-4 Saturday afternoon… Dating back to last season, the Warriors are 9-3-1 in their last 13 home games, with two of the losses to the Wildcats…Saturday’s game featured the second straight sellout at Lawler Arena…Ten different forwards notched a point in the loss, including senior Justin Bonitatibus (Walpole, Mass.) who has goals in two straight games…Joe Cannata (Wakefield, Mass.) made his second straight start, breaking the rotation with Andrew Braithwaite (Kingston, Ont.). The two had alternated starts in the first 11 games…Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) extended his point streak to seven games and has points in eight of 10 games this year. Da Costa continues to lead the country in points per game for rookies with 1.60…The Warriors have potted at least three goals in 10 straight games and are tied for the conference lead with 3.92 goals per game…Merrimack’s power play and penalty kill are both ranked second in Hockey East, while its combined special teams percentage of 58.2% is second nationally…The Warriors play their final home game until January 23 this Friday against Northeastern. Following Friday’s game, they will play seven straight on the road.

New Hampshire: UNH’s top line of Bobby Butler, Phil DeSimone and Paul Thompson have 21 points (10g,11a) in the last three games...New Hampshire is 4-0-1 in its last five games and sits alone atop the Hockey East standings for the first time this season... With a 5-6-3 mark through November, the Wildcats have an identical record to 2008-09 squad that qualified for the NCAA tournament...Bobby Butler has 13 points (8g, 5a) in a seven-game scoring streak with eight goals and five assists. Butler is tied for the nation’s lead in goals with 12. He is tied with Canisius’ Cory Conacher and Ferris State’s Blair Riley...Blake Kessel, with a pair of assists on Saturday, became the league leader and is tied for the nation’s lead in defensemen assists with 12...The Wildcat offense has scored three or more goals in seven-straight games, including four games of four or more in that span...Paul Thompson has eight points (5g, 3a) in the last three games and with 14 points (7g,7a) has already set a career benchmark for goals, assists and points...The UNH power play has scored four times in the last three games...Phil DeSimone has seven points (2g,5a) during his current four-game scoring streak, including goals in back-to-back games...Saturday’s five goals at Lawler Arena is the most by a UNH squad since Feb. 16, 2005.

Northeastern: Senior forward Kyle Kraemer broadened his pointstreak to a team-best six games with his team-leading fifth goal in a 3-2 loss against Vermont on Friday night. The St. Louis native is also riding a four-game goal scoring streak heading into this weekend’s home-and-home series against Merrimack...Freshman Jake Newton has accounted for an assist in his last three contests while classmate Justin Daniels tipped in his third-career goal in Friday’s game against the Catamounts...Sophomore defenseman Drew Muench turned in his first-career two-assist game against Vermont on Friday night. The last time Muench secured a pair of points was a two-goal effort against the Catamounts on Jan. 19, 2008...The Huskies had their four-game powerplay-scoring streak halted against Vermont, going 0-4 on the extra man. On the flipside, freshman Drew Ellement’s hooking call proved to be the only infraction on Northeastern all night, marking a season low.

Providence College: Providence College’s win over No. 3 UMass Lowell was its seventh of the season, already matching last season’s win total…In that win, senior Mark Fayne recorded a career-high four points and three assists. Fayne, who has 11 points (3 g, 8 a) this season, is one point shy of equaling his career high…The win over No. 3 UMass Lowell also marked the highest ranked opponent that PC has beaten since a 4-2 triumph at No. 2 BU on January 13, 2009…The Friars, who recorded one win over a ranked team last season, have already defeated three ranked teams in 2009-10…PC completed a stretch on five games in 11 days with a 4-2 loss at Dartmouth on Friday…The Friars finished their non-conference schedule with a 5-2 mark, their best nonconference record since the 2003-04 season when they posted a 9-3-1 mark…The Friars are 3-1-1 at Schneider Arena this season…Junior Matt Germain (Rockland, Mass.) has recorded at least one point in four of the last five games…PC has outshot its opponents in three consecutive games, including 47 shots against Dartmouth on Friday.

Vermont: The Catamounts improved to 9-3-4 against Northeastern since joining Hockey East in Friday’s 3-2 win…The loss was just the fifth in the last 23 home games for the Huskies and two of those losses are against the Catamounts…Vermont is 5-0 this season when holding its opponent scoreless on the power play…The Catamounts have out scored their opponents 26-23 at even strength but have been outscored 16-6 in special teams situations…Only Alabama-Huntsville (4) has scored few power-play goals than Vermont (5) this season…The Catamounts have outscored their opponents 26-24 in the first two periods but have been outscored 15-6 in the final 20 minutes...Vermont plays eight of its next nine games at home…According to the College Hockey News KRACH Ratings the Catamounts have played the sixth toughest schedule in the country and the most difficult schedule of any Hockey East team…Vermont plays three games in the next seven days beginning with a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament first round game against Yale on Monday at Gutterson Fieldhouse…The Catamounts defeated the Bulldogs 4-1 in the East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn., last March.