Hockey East Online

	Athletic Republic Player of the Week Josh Burrows of Vermont

Wakefield, Mass. - With one weekend left in the regular-season schedule, five playoff spots and two home ice spots remain up for grabs, along with the regular-season championship coming down to the final weekend in the BC vs. UNH match up.

No. 5 ranked Boston College and Vermont both picked up four points this weekend in the league standings, which included the Catamounts sweep of BU and the Eagles’ pair of wins against Merrimack and Massachusetts. Both UMass-Lowell and New Hampshire collected three points, while Maine and Merrimack each took a game at Lawler Arena over the weekend.

Athletic Republic Player of the Week Josh Burrows (Prairie Grove, Ill.) was recently converted to forward and has thrived in his new position so far for the Catamounts, scoring three goals in the week, including the deciding goal on Sunday vs. the Terriers with 3:42 left in regulation. Senior forward Brayden Irwin (Toronto, Ont.) also had a solid weekend with five points (2g,3a) in the weekend sweep for UVM.

The Eagles exploded for a 7-0 shutout of Merrimack on Tuesday night at Conte Forum and then followed that up with a 2-1 overtime victory against Massachusetts on Friday night on a goal by rookie Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.). Sophomore forward Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.) scored his first career career hat trick for the Eagles on Tuesday vs. the Minutemen. Freshman Parker Milner (Pittsburgh, Pa.) stopped 51 of 52 shots (.980 save percentage) on the week for BC in two victories to earn Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honors.

UMass-Lowell posted a 4-0 shutout of Providence on Friday night thanks to Carter Hutton’s (Thunder Bay, Ont.) 30-save effort for his league-leading fourth shutout of the season and 10th of his career. On Saturday night, the teams battled to a 2-2 draw and PC goalie Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) moved into sixth place on the school’s single-season saves list on Saturday with 859 this season, which ranks second among league netminders this season.

The Wildcats climbed closer their eighth regular-season championship pulling out two comebacks on the weekend vs. Northeastern, a 4-4 tie on Friday and a 3-1 win on Saturday at the Whittemore Center. UNH’s Mike Sislo (Superior, Wis.) had a series-high five points (1g,4a) for UNH in the two game set. Freshman forward Justin Daniels (Suffern, N.Y.) recorded team-high four points (1g,3a) on the weekend for the Huskies.

Merrimack opened the weekend with a 6-3 win at home on Friday, but Maine bounced back the second night with a 5-1 victory. Freshman goalie Shawn Sirman (Blezard Valley, Ont.) had 24 saves in his first collegiate win for the Black Bears. Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) continued his torrid scoring pace with four points (1g,3a) in the win on Friday for the Warriors.

Cam Atkinson, BC (So., F, Greenwich, Conn.) Scored three goals and four points in wins over Merrimack and Massachusetts. Registered first career hat trick vs. Merrimack.

Alex Beaudry, PC (So., Cumberland, Ont.) Totaled 65 saves, including 31 stops in a 2-2 overtime tie against UMass Lowell on Saturday.

Justin Bonitatibus, MC (Sr., F, Arlington, Mass.) Netted a career-high three assists in a 6-3 win on Friday vs. the Black Bears.

Scott Campbell, UML (Jr., F, Navan, Ont.) Scored three points (2g, 1a) in a win and tie with Providence while recording a +2 rating.

Joe Cannata, MC (So., G, Wakefield, Mass.) Stopped 34 shots in a 6-3 win on Friday against Maine and picked up his first career assist.

Chris Connolly, BU (So., F, Duluth, Minn.) Tallied three assists in the weekend series at Vermont.

Stephane Da Costa, MC (Fr., F, Paris, France) Tallied a goal and three assists in a 6-3 win over #16 Maine Friday.

Paul Dainton, UMass (Jr., G, Genelle, B.C.) Made 31 saves against No. 7 BC for his fifth career 30+ save effort against the Eagles in eight games played.

Justin Daniels, NU (Fr., F, Suffern, N.Y.) Registered his first-career multi-point performance on Friday vs. UNH (1g,2a). He added another assist on Saturday at UNH.

Brian Foster, UNH (Sr., G, Pembroke, N.H.) Went 1-0-1 vs. Northeastern, stopping 52 shots in two games for .912 save percentage.

Brian Flynn, Maine (So., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Recorded two goals and one assist in Maine’s 1-1-0 weekend at Merrimack

Tanner House, Maine (Jr., F, Cochrane, Alb.) Had a goal and three assists in Maine’s 1-1-0 weekend at Merrimack

Carter Hutton, UML (Sr., G, Thunder Bay, Ont.) Backstopped UML to a 1-0-1 weekend, stopping 54-of-56 (.964) shots, while picking up his fourth shutout of the season.

Brayden Irwin, UVM (Sr., F, Toronto, Ont.) Scored two goals and had three assists for five points in a weekend sweep of Boston University.

Kyle Kraemer, NU (Sr., F, St. Louis, Mo.) Potted goals in each contest this past weekend vs. the Wildcats.

Chris Kreider, BC (Fr., F, Boxford, Mass.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) in two BC wins, including the overtime goal in a 2-1 win over Massachusetts.

Drew MacKenzie, UVM (So., D, New Canaan, Conn.) Had a goal and two assists in Vermont’s sweep. He had the lead assist on both of UVM’s PPG’s in Sunday’s win.

Tyler McNeely, NU (Jr., F, Burnaby, B.C.) Recorded his third three-point outing of the year with a goal and two assists against UNH on Friday.

Gustav Nyquist, Maine (So. F, Malmo, Sweden) Scored two goals and added three assists in weekend split at Merrimack.

Vinny Saponari, BU (So., F, Powder Springs, Ga.) Recorded a goal and an assist in Friday’s loss at Vermont.

Mike Sislo, UNH (Jr., F, Superior, Wis.) Notched five points (1g,4a) in two gameswith a +4 rating in UNH’s three-point weekend with Northeastern.

Dalton Speelman, UNH (Fr., F, San Jose, Calif.) Scored the game-tying goal with just 5:02 remaining in regulation to help UNH to 3-1 win Saturday vs. NU.

Joe Whitney, BC (Jr., F, Reading, Mass.) Recorded four points (1g,3a) in two BC wins. Had three assists against Merrimack and scored once in a 2-1 win over UMass.

Colin Wright, UML (Fr., F, Burlington, Ont.) Tallied a pair of assists in UML’s 4-0 win over the Friars at the Tsongas Center.

Chris Auger, UML (Belleville, Ont.) Reached 50 career points with a goal and assist on Friday

Chris Barton (Calgary, AB) Played in his 100th consecutive game on Saturday since arriving at Merrimack

Alex Beaudry, PC (Cumberland, Ont.) Has recorded 31 saves or more in each of the last three games

Scott Campbell (Navaan, Ont.) Has eight points (5g, 3a) in the last eight games

Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) Has 21 points (15 assists) in his last 12 games

Jeff Dimmen, Maine (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Played in his 100th career game on Saturday night at Merrimack

Kyle Kraemer, NU (St. Louis, Mo.) Scored a goal in each contest this past weekend, extending his goalscoring streak to five games. It is the most games a current Husky has ever scored in a row

Tyler McNeely, NU (Burnaby, B.C.) Scored 12 points in his last nine games, including his third three-point outing of the year with a goal and two assists against UNH on Friday.

MERRIMACK’S HOME RECORD AT LAWLER ARENA The Warriors won a school-record 12th home game and have defeated all nine HEA schools

PAT MULLANE, BC (WALLINGFORD, CONN.) Has posted a point in his last four games (2-2-4)

Shawn Sirman, Maine (Blezard Valley, Ont.) Earned his first collegiate win on Saturday night with a 5-1 victory at Merrimack

UNH’s second line of Mike Sislo, Peter LeBlanc and Stevie Moses Have combined to scored 31 points (3.9 ppg) on 11 goals (1.45 gpg) and 20 assists (2.5 apg) over the last eight games

Brett Watson, UMass (Media, Pa.) Scored his first goal in 82 games vs. BC, it was his first goal since Jan. 18, 2008 against Providence and was his third career goal

JOE WHITNEY, BC (READING, MASS.) Has a current four-game (1-5-6) point streak

It was another great day for hockey yesterday. Yes, Team USA fell short in its gold medal quest but the game and the accompanying attention was great for all of us involved with hockey on a day-to-day basis. People who do not watch or discuss hockey did so yesterday and they had to come away impressed with what they saw. And I hope the NCAA Rules Committee was watching: give college hockey 4-on-4 overtime before rushing to shootouts.

In addition to the Olympic finale, men’s regular season play ended for some conferences and women’s tournament play began. In a game with Pairwise implications for Hockey East women’s teams, Quinnipiac lost an ECAC playoff game in the fifth 20-minute overtime. (The Bobcats’ goalie had 19 saves in the second overtime alone.) This is what we get this time of year and there is no better time.

With one weekend left for the Hockey East men, we are the only one of the six NCAA men’s conferences who hasn’t crowned a regular season champion. Not only that, we have the unusual dynamic of teams fighting for home ice who aren’t even guaranteed a playoff spot yet. Just when you think you’ve seen every kind of finish, we get this season’s race. Once again, the battles for first, fourth, and ninth may very well come down to the final hour of the 150-day season.

Boston College: With two home wins last week, BC improved to 11-2-0 in Conte Forum this winter…Cam Atkinson’s hat trick against Merrimack marked his career first…With four points (1g,3a) in two wins last week, junior Joe Whitney has 96 career points (30g, 66a) in 112 games…Defenseman Philip Samuelsson (Scottsdale, Ariz.) recorded his first multiple-point performance (two assists) against Merrimack…BC improved to 21-0-2 against Merrimack at home since October 1997… BC swept the season series with the Minutemen, capturing road wins on Dec. 4 (3-1) and Feb. 5 (7-1) and a 2-1 overtime home win on Friday night. Freshman forward Chris Kreider, who notched the decisive score at 2:02 of the overtime period, has two game-winning goals this month with his other breaking a 1-1 tie with 13.8 seconds left in the third period that gave BC a 2-1 home win over UMass-Lowell on Feb. 13…Freshman goalie Parker Milner has started each of BC’s last three games and went 3-0-0 with a 0.67 GAA and a .973 save percentage, stopping 73-of-75 shots faced…With two wins last week, BC improved to 20-10-2 overall, achieving the 20-win mark for the 11th time (all in the last 13 years) under head coach Jerry York.

Boston University: The Terriers’ 7-3 loss to Vermont on Friday marked the first time they had allowed seven goals in a game in over four years (7-4 home loss vs. UNH, 2/17/06)...Last season, BU was 5-0-0 when allowing exactly three goals but is just 1-6-3 this season in that scenario...Senior forward Zach Cohen (Schaumburg, Ill.) had five goals in the month of February and three were gamewinners... Junior defenseman Colby Cohen (Villanova, Pa.) now has 11 points (2g, 9a) in 11 career games vs. UVM...BU’s juniors hold a slim 101-97 lead over the team’s sophomores in the race for scoring by class, but the sophomores have the most goals of any class with 41...Former Terriers Chris Drury and Ryan Whitney helped Team USA reach the gold-medal game at the 2010 Olympics before falling in overtime to Canada. Drury becomes just the second Terrier to win two Olympic hockey medals, as he was a member of the 2002 silver-medal team in Salt Lake City...The Terriers enter the final weekend of the regular season in a three-way tie for fifth in the Hockey East standings with UVM and NU and will face the Huskies in a home-and-home series to close out the schedule.

Maine: Sophomore forward Gustav Nyquist leads the nation in points with 54 and in points per game with 1.69…The 54 points are the most for a Maine player since Steve Kariya scored 65 points during the 1998-99 season…Nyquist had a hand in four of Maine’s five goals at Merrimack on Saturday night…Maine held Merrimack’s power play, which was ranked second in the nation entering the weekend, scoreless on 10 chances in the weekend series…Maine captain Tanner House was named the winner of the M Club Dean Smith Award last Wednesday, presented to the top male and female student-athlete at Maine…Maine defenseman Jeff Dimmen has 11 goals on the season, the most for a Maine defenseman since David Cullen had 11 during the 1998-99 season. Dimmen is just two goals shy of tying the school record for goals in a season by a defenseman. Dimmen saw his five-game scoring streak snapped on Saturday night at Merrimack, but currently has points in 10 straight games...Maine has 52 power play goals on the season and has currently scored a power play goal in 10 straight games…Maine’s has killed off 36 of 40 opponent power plays the last nine games.

Massachusetts: UMass dropped its sixth straight game following a 2-1 overtime loss at #7 Boston College…UMass has now lost eight of its last nine games…UMass took no penalties against Boston College – the first time UMass has not drawn a penalty in a game this year…In the last six games, UMass 1-for-27 on the power play (3.7%) and 19-of-27 on the penalty kill (70.4%)…UMass is now being outscored 30-to-18 in the first period for the season…In the last six games, UMass has been outscored 9-1 in both the first and second periods.

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks picked up three points in their weekend home-and-home series with Providence College…UMass Lowell can clinch a Hockey East playoff berth with just one more victory or a loss by Massachusetts…Carter Hutton continued his fantastic campaign on Friday, recording his fourth shutout of the season in the River Hawks’ 4-0 win over the Friars…The 30-save performance added to Hutton’s UML career shutouts record, it was his 10th…Senior defenseman Steve Capraro (Medford, Mass.) scored the first goal of his 103 game career on Friday, the gamewinner… Senior Chris Auger reached the 50 career points plateau with a goal and an assist...The River Hawks enter the final weekend of the regular season on the cusp of home-ice for the Hockey East playoffs…UML hosts Vermont for a pair of games in the Tsongas Center, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. each night.

Merrimack: With a 6-3 victory over #16 Maine on Friday, Merrimack set Division I school records with 11 Hockey East wins and 12 home wins in a season…They have beaten every Hockey East school this season at home and overall for the first time ever…Merrimack scored six goals against Maine for the first time since losing 7-6 January 9, 1998. The last time they scored six and beat Maine was January 9, 1979 in the second-ever meeting…They scored five third-period goals, marking the first time they scored five in a period since December 13, 2003 against UNH…Eleven different Warriors netted a point in Friday’s win including Bobby Kramer (New York, N.Y.) and Fraser Allan (North Battleford, Sask.), who each scored their first goals of the season. Joe Cannata notched his first career assist. Cannata finished February with a 5-2-1 record, a 2.38 GAA, and a .921 save percentage…Stephane Da Costa, who continues to lead all rookies in scoring nationally and in Hockey East with 42 points, has more points than any Merrimack player since Anthony Aquino in 2001-02. He ranks third nationally among all skaters in points per game…Da Costa had a nine-game point streak snapped Saturday after netting four points on Friday…Merrimack’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2004 is three (combined Merrimack points with UMass points missed).

New Hampshire: UNH captured three out of four points for the second-straight weekend, despite only leading for 4:50 during the entire weekend...New Hampshire is just one point away from its eighth Hockey East regular season title and third in the last four years...UNH’s second line powered the offense on Friday night with three goals and eight points on the night. The line has been red hot with 31 points (11g, 20a - 3.875 ppg) over the last eight games since it was assembled... The Wildcat offense continues its remarkable run of two or more goals in every game since November a span of 26-straight games... Friday night’s overtime game was UNH’s third-straight overtime game and 10th overtime game of the season. It marks the first time since the 2002-03 season the “Cats played in 10 or more overtime games. The Wildcats are 3-1-6 in overtime this season, while the 2002-03 team was 2-2-7 in 11 OT games...UNH continues its success in Hockey East capturing 15 wins in league play for the fourth-straight season...Saturday night’s three goals came from three different lines, while all four lines scored at least once over the weekend against Northeastern...Friday night’s widely-talked about match up between UNH and Boston College will air live on NESN at 7:30 p.m. live from the Whittemore Center.

Northeastern: Northeastern’s implausible record of scoring first and going on to win 13-of-15 games was dashed this weekend thanks to the play of New Hampshire. The Huskies scored first in both games, but could not hold on for the victory. Friday night’s tie was NU’s second of the season while the loss dropped Northeastern a game below. 500 in conference play...Since Northeastern’s first line of Kyle Kraemer – Justin Daniels – Tyler McNeely has been formed, the trio has tallied 34 points (17-17-34) over the course of their last 13 games as the Huskies’ top line (Kraemer 7-4-11, J. Daniels 4-4-8, McNeely 6-9-15)...Northeastern has not clinched a playoff berth just yet, but a Massachusetts’ loss or a Northeastern victory against Boston University (whom the Huskies are currently tied in fifth) will solidify a playoff berth for the Huskies.

Providence College: Providence College is 4-0-1 in the last five meetings against UMass Lowell at Schneider Arena…Sophomore Alex Beaudry has 859 saves this season which ranks him sixth all-time in PC’s single season saves list…Beaudry ranks 15th in the country with a .918 save percentage…The Friars have thwarted 21 of the last 23 opponent power-play opportunities…PC ranks 13th in the country on the penalty kill (84.7%)…Freshman defenseman Alex Velischek (Kinnelon, N.J.) has 11 assists this season which is the most by a PC freshman defenseman since Cody Wild had 15 assists during the 2005-06 season…Senior defenseman Mark Fayne (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) who has played in 137 career games, has missed just one game in his four years at Providence College.

Vermont: The Catamounts weekend sweep of the Terriers was its second against BU in as many years…Last season Vermont won back-to-back games at BU on Nov. 21 and 22 to become the first team in 16 years to sweep the Terriers in their own building…Ten of 12 Vermont forwards in the lineup on Friday recorded at least one point in the 7-3 victory against BU…Senior Brayden Irwin had five points in the wins against the Terriers and has 33 points (14g, 19a) in 32 games on the year to lead the team…Senior assistant captain Patrick Cullity (Tewksbury, Mass.) has a team leading plus-18 rating…Vermont is 9- 7-4 against BU since joining Hockey East…The Catamounts won the season series against the Terriers 2-0-1…Vermont has at least one power-play goal in six of the last eight contests…UVM plays two games at UMass-Lowell this weekend…The two teams skated to a 3-3 tie on Nov. 6 in the first meeting of the year between the two teams.

Voting has been ongoing for the last four weeks on the league website and will continue through the final weekend of the regular-season schedule

Forwards:
Brian Gionta
Nathan Gerbe
Ben Eaves
Patrick Eaves
Brian Boyle
Ryan Shannon

Forwards:
Ryan Ginand
Jason Guerriero
Wade MacLeod
Mike Morris
Mike Ryan
Joe Vitale

Forwards:
Peter Lenes
Torrey Mitchell
Brian Roloff
Patrick Sharp
Viktor Stålberg
Dean Strong

Forwards:
Anthony Aquino
Chris Barton
Greg Classen
Matt Foy
Brent Gough
Rob Ricci

Forwards:
Matt Bergland
Jon DiSalvatore
Peter Fregoe
Fernando Pisani
Devin Rask
Jon Rheault

Here is the remaining schedule for the All-Decade Team annoucements: Boston University (March 5), Maine (March 5), New Hampshire (March 5), UMass-Lowell (March 6)