Volume IV: Cats Rule and Dogs Drool
UNH men's hockey knocked off the top-ranked Terriers, while the Merrimack women continued their hot streak, knocking off the six-time defending league champs.
The Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. was the place to be on Friday night. The Wildcats’ men’s hockey team opened their season with none other than top-ranked Boston University in front of over 6,000 fans. The first period had six goals, three from each team. The barn was rocking.
Early in the second period, UNH sophomore Morgan Winters took a feed in the slot from Robert Cronin and hammered a shot past Mathieu Caron to give the Wildcats the 4-3 advantage. Just 4:22 later, the Wildcats were on the penalty kill and Winters forced a turnover at mid-ice before going down all alone on Caron. The sophomore pulled the puck to the right and slipped it between Caron’s legs to give the Wildcats a 5-3 advantage. You would have thought the roof was coming off the building.
Both sides battle back-and-forth for the remainder of the game, as a strike from Kristaps Skrastins early in the third proved to be enough insurance for the Wildcats to pull off the upset in front of the home crowd.
Despite the loss, Macklin Celebrini put on a show with a pair of goals for the Terriers. Boston University is off to a rocky start this year, as the top team in the country just barely got past Bentley in their season opener, before dropping this one to the Wildcats. Are the doors opening early?
Weekend Recap
We will start with the women this week. One team that I have been impressed with so far in the 2023-24 campaign is Merrimack. Erin Hamlen’s squad is unbeaten in their last five games with a record of 4-0-1 (UNH defeated the Warriors in a shootout on Saturday night). On Friday, Merrimack upended No. 7 Northeastern, the six-time defending league champs, 1-0 behind a 29-save shout from Calli Hogarth. We should have a better idea if Merrimack is legit after this weekend. The Warriors are hosting two games with No. 12 Vermont beginning on Friday, October 20 at 2 p.m.
There were two other league matchups on Friday night as UNH defeated rival Maine, 3-2, and Boston College knocked off UConn, 4-3, in overtime. Abby Newhook called game for the Eagles with 1:01 left in overtime to give BC their first win of the year. BC then defeated the Huskies again on Saturday night as Julia Pellerin and Katie Pyne both scored in the second period and Grace Campbell posted 26 saves to lead the Eagles to a 2-1 victory. BC will now play a home-and-home with Holy Cross beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 20.
Outside of league action, Holy Cross slipped past Brown, 2-1, in overtime behind a game-winning strike from Millie Sirum, her second of the game. Sirum picked up her first of the game with just 1:43 remaining in the contest, then sealed the victory with 2:20 to play in the overtime period.
Ida Kuoppala picked up two more points this past weekend to push her season total to a league-leading nine (5g, 4a), while seven others are tied with six points.
On the men’s side…
UNH was the talk of the town this weekend as the Wildcats knocked off No. 1 Boston University, 6-4, on Friday night in a packed Whittemore Center. Airing on NESN, UNH sophomore Morgan Winters scored back-to-back goals just 4:22 apart to begin the second period and give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead over the Terriers. Midway through the second, Macklin Celebrini’s second marker of the game brought BU back to within one. Kristaps Skrastins then scored early in the third and the Wildcats played stout defense to hold off the nation’s top team.
Providence rolled past Stonehill, 7-1, as the Friars recorded 61 shots and had seven different goal scorers to pick up their second win of the year. Providence will now wait for No. 3 Denver on Friday, October 20 as the Friars will host the Pioneers at Schneider Arena beginning at 7 p.m. That should be a good one.
Boston College, Maine and Vermont also picked up wins on Friday night.
UMass Amherst and Northeastern headlined the men’s side of Hockey East on Saturday, as the Minutemen avenged a Friday-night loss with a 6-3 win versus No. 6 Michigan on Saturday night. Jack Musa and Ryan Ufko both had three-point nights for UMass, while Bentley transfer Lucas Vanroboys notched two goals in the win. In the absence of his brother Justin, Dylan Hryckowian led the Huskies with eight shots on goal and finished with a goal and an assist to lead Northeastern to victory.
After two solid weekends of play, UMass Amherst freshman forward Jack Musa leads Hockey East with six points (1g, 5a), while teammate Ryan Ufko (2g, 3a), Providence’s Luke Krys (0g, 5a) and Northeastern’s Vinny Borgesi (1g, 4a) all rank second with five. Ufko, Krys and Borgesi are all defenseman.
League News
The National Hockey League (NHL) announced that former Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna has been named the recipient of the 2023 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. The annual award, one of the most prestigious in hockey, was presented to the NHL by the New York Rangers in 1966. It honors the memory of Lester Patrick, who spent 50 years in hockey as a player, coach and general manager and was a pioneer in the sport’s development.
There were 74 Hockey East alumni named to NHL rosters for opening night of the 2023-24 season. In total, 31 of the 32 member clubs carry at least one Hockey East alumnus on their roster. A full list of players can be found here.
The 74 players represent every Hockey East member institution, led by Boston University (17), Boston College (16), and Massachusetts (8). Rounding out the schools are Providence (7), Northeastern (7), New Hampshire (5), Maine (4), UMass Lowell (3), UConn (1), Merrimack (1), and Vermont (1). Additionally, four Notre Dame skaters who competed in Hockey East earned NHL roster spots.