Hockey East Roundup: Dec. 4-7, 2024

In our last full roundup of Hockey East in 2024, there was a lot to go through from the last weekend of games before the holiday break. The Crusaders played spoiler and then got spoiled themselves, some Huskies and a Catamount claimed the weekly awards, and I took a brief peek at how Merrimack and Maine match up in the last conference game of the year. Away we go, Hockey East fans. 

Weekend Rewind: Holy Cross has an… interesting weekend

If you told me Holy Cross would take a season series from Boston College in 2024-25 three months ago, I’d be shocked. If you told me that a week ago, I’d still be shocked. 

And now, four days after it actually happened, shock is still the best way to describe how I’m feeling. 

Boston College has just six losses all season: two against Wisconsin early in the year, one to Boston University, one to UConn – and two to Holy Cross. Looking back on Hockey East statistics since Holy Cross joined the conference, this seems like such an absurd thing to say. But HC has come into this year with something to prove, and they’ve demonstrated that against BC. 

In Friday’s contest, like the last time the Crusaders took down the Eagles, BC scored a goal within the first two minutes to take the 1-0 lead. Abby Newhook won a faceoff seconds into a BC power play and got the puck to Sammy Taber, who found the back of the net for her eighth of the season. 

For the remainder of the first, BC was solid, before really turning on the jets in the second and third. The Eagles outshot the Crusaders 19-6 in the middle frame, and 14-10 in the final period of regulation. Goaltender Abby Hornung, however, stood strong, making 38 straight saves after allowing the score on the first shot on goal of the contest. 

Then, in the last minutes of regulation, heavy pressure from Holy Cross after they pulled Hornung for the extra attacker allowed Mackenzie King to find the back of the net and tie the game at one with 2:52 remaining. After that, all the momentum was in favor of Holy Cross, as they had five SOG to BC’s one to the end of the third and through the overtime period. 

And it was Alexia Moreau who played hero for Holy Cross 2:14 into overtime, as the junior forward scored her fifth goal of the season to seal the win for the Crusaders at home. 

Following their win over Boston College, Holy Cross used that momentum to come out swinging against Merrimack on Saturday. Within the first 67 seconds of regulation, freshman Kenzee Hope had scored her first NCAA goal to give HC the 1-0 lead. Then, with 6:39 remaining in the period, Lane Lewis made it 2-0 with her fifth tally of the season. 

And that’s when things started to go off the rails a bit. 

Senior Emma Min, a minute after the 2-0 goal, took a slew-footing major penalty in front of the Holy Cross net while Merrimack was pressuring. The defender not only got the five minute penalty, but she was also ejected from the game, leaving Holy Cross with just six of the seven defenders they dressed and without their captain on the blue line. 

Sage Babey cut the deficit to just one on the ensuing major power play for Merrimack, which closed the gap slightly but not fully. Holy Cross then proceeded to keep the Warriors at bay for the majority of the next 40 minutes, until the home team pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. 

With 10.1 seconds remaining, it was once again Babey who converted for the Warriors, after she rifled a shot from the faceoff circle under Hornung’s arm and in. 

In overtime, penalty trouble again came back to bite the Crusaders, this time in the form of a body checking penalty on Carmen Elliott. The Holy Cross staff opted to challenge for head contact on the play against Merrimack, delaying the game slightly as the refs went to review the moment in question. It was determined there was no head contact, and play resumed with Merrimack on the power play in the now 4-on-3 overtime. 

A sneaky story this year is how rock solid the Merrimack power play has been – and once again they proved how rock solid thanks to leading-scorer Maria Lindberg, who notched her third goal on the advantage of the year to end it. After hemming Holy Cross in their own zone for a long stretch of game time, Lindberg found the back of the net and completed the comeback, sending the Warriors home with their fourth win of the year. 

For Holy Cross it’s a bizarre weekend for sure. A win against a top-10 team in the nation in come-from-behind fashion one night, before a loss against a team struggling in nearly all regards after failing to hold the lead the next night. There’s a lot of good marks for this team heading into the second semester, but I have a feeling the Merrimack loss is a game the Crusaders are going to want back. 

Weekly Awards: 

Player of the Week: Kyla Josifovic, F, UConn – Junior

UConn cleaned up over UNH and Maine this weekend, and it was Josifovic who helped make it happen with both game-winning goals – including the overtime winner on Saturday in Orono. The junior in total had four points in two games, including an assist both Friday and Saturday. She helped tie the game at one on the power play for the Huskies early in the third period against New Hampshire, and added another on UConn’s power play goal against Maine. In total Josifovic had seven shots in the two games, and is now tied for the lead in goals on the team with six. 

Pro-Ambitious Rookie of the Week: Claire Murdoch, F, UConn – Freshman

The biggest shining offensive star in Storrs is freshman Murdoch, who has been having an outstanding season for the Huskies so far. This continued over the weekend, where the forward had two assists – both on the game winners scored by Josifovic – and had nine total shots with three blocks to boot. Murdoch is now the highest scoring freshman in Hockey East, with 15 total points in 20 games played. 

Army ROTC Defensive Player of the Week: Jane Gervais, G, Vermont – Senior

On a Vermont team that has been struggling this season, Gervais has been one of the bright spots, with respectable goaltending numbers and by keeping her team in games time and time again. This past weekend, the senior made 23 stops on 24 shots against, helping the Catamounts secure a win over Merrimack in North Andover. The victory raised the goaltender’s season save percentage to a .910, and snapped a streak of eight games where the Catamounts had not added a win to their season record. 

Stop-It Goaltender of the Week: Lisa Jönsson, G, Northeastern – Freshman 

Jönsson, in a 2-0 victory over UNH on Wednesday, recorded her fourth shutout so far of the season. The mark is tied for fourth best in the NCAA, while her .967 SV% is the highest of any goaltender in Division I. The thing about her shutout mark, however, is she’s done it in just eight starts as a freshman netminder. The Swede has been sensational, and is coming off a November where she was named the NCAA goaltender of the month and the Hockey East player of the month. Northeastern has long been known as Goaltender U – and that appears to be continuing with Jönsson now in net. 

Emma’s Awards: 

Ok I’ll say it – Sage Babey and Abby Hornung deserved some love this weekend. 

Babey had three of Merrimack’s four goals on the weekend, including the game-tying goal on Saturday with 10.1 seconds remaining in regulation. Hornung, the goaltender Babey scored on in said contest, made 64 saves across two games, including 38 on Friday against No. 10 Boston College. 

I’m not saying the players who were highlighted by the conference this week didn’t deserve their awards, I’m just saying I think Babey and Hornung also had great performances, and they deserve some love for them. 

Complete Scoreboard: 

Wednesday: 

Boston College 4 vs. Providence 2 

Northeastern 2 at New Hampshire 0

Friday: 

Vermont 2 at Merrimack 1 

Holy Cross 2 vs. Boston College 1 – OT

Boston University 3 at Maine 1 

UConn 2 at New Hampshire 1

Saturday: 

Merrimack 3 vs. Holy Cross 2 – OT

UConn 4 at Maine 3 – OT

What to Watch… I mean it’s just the one 

Maine vs. Merrimack – Saturday at 6 PM | Cross Insurance Arena, Portland, ME

For the last games until January for both teams, the Black Bears and Warriors are heading to Portland for the “Maine State Pride Game” at the Cross Insurance Arena. 

The arena, which sits 6,206 and is home to the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, has hosted Maine before. Last season the Black Bears played Dartmouth in a 6-3 win on Dec. 9th, and are looking to have a repeat performance against a Merrimack team that has a slight edge in momentum after the last two weeks. 

These two teams are having fairly similar seasons overall. Both have just three wins in conference so far, although out of conference Merrimack has performed much better than Maine has. 

Last weekend, the Warriors played a close contest at home against Vermont before falling 2-1. They followed it up with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in overtime against Holy Cross, with the aforementioned game-tying goal with just 10.1 seconds remaining in regulation from Sage Babey.

Maine on the other hand dropped a 3-1 contest against BU on Friday. And although they played UConn very closely on Saturday – and were productive on the power play with two goals on the advantage against the Huskies – the overtime winner cost them. The Black Bears are now 2-9-0 in their last 11 dating back to Nov. 1st. 

Let’s take a look at some statistics: Merrimack has a decent goals per game average with a 2.0 on just 20.3 shots per game. Their 2.9 goals against average is a bit more concerning, and they’ve given up at least 30 shots in 11 of their 18 games played this season. 

Maine on the other hand is worse. The Black Bears are averaging just 1.4 goals per game on 27.1 shots. This team can shoot – they just haven’t been finding the high danger chances and are struggling to put them in the back of the net. And while they have kept the average of their opponents to 33 shots per game, they’ve allowed over 30 in seven of their last eight contests, with a season-high of 61 against No. 1 Wisconsin (which… yeah I’m not gonna give them too much grief for that, it’s Wisconsin). Freshman netminder Kiia Lahtinen is doing her best, but the team average of 3.68 goals against is the worst of any Hockey East school by over half a point (Vermont is the next closest with a 2.95). 

The Warriors also looked solid against Holy Cross on Saturday. After going down 2-0 early in the game, the team bounced back and kept applying pressure on the Crusaders. Merrimack was driving to the net and forcing Abby Hornung to make some key saves throughout. It’s going to be challenging for Maine if Merrimack plays the same way they did on Saturday, and with the way they’ve looked the last two weeks I’d be shocked if they didn’t. 

Prediction: I’m going with Merrimack on this one. They have the momentum of the overtime win with them while Maine is coming off that overtime loss at home to UConn. The shot counter will be close, and I foresee this being a one-goal game when it’s all said and done. But the Warriors are gonna play upset on State Day in Maine and come away with the three Hockey East points to close out 2024. 

Streaming details for the game can be found here.

Monthly Standings Update:

As of Dec. 10, 2024

Pairwise Rankings Found Here

1. Boston University – 30 Points (9-2-1 in conference, 11-5-1 overall) 
   1. Last Month: No. 1 
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 10
2. UConn – 28 Points (10-3-0 in conference, 12-8-0 overall)
   1. Last Month: No. 2
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 15
3. Boston College – 27 Points (9-4-0 in conference, 12-6-0 overall)
   1. Last Month: No. 4 
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 6
4. Northeastern – 26 Points (8-4-1 in conference, 10-6-1 overall)
   1. Last Month: No. 3
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 13
5. New Hampshire – 16 Points (6-7-0 in conference, 10-8-1 overall)
   1. Last Month: T-8
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 22
6. Vermont – 14 Points (3-7-2 in conference, 4-13-2 overall)
   1. Last Month: T-5
   2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 34

T-7. Holy Cross – 11 Points (3-7-1 in conference, 7-9-1 overall)

1. Last Month: T-8
2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 23

T-7. Maine – 11 Points (3-10-0 in conference, 3-16-0 overall)

1. Last Month: T-5
2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 36

T-7. Providence – 11 Points (3-6-2 in conference, 7-8-3 overall)

1. Last Month: T-8
2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 30

10. Merrimack – 9 Points (3-7-1 in conference, 6-11-1 overall)

1. Last Month: No. 7
2. National Pairwise Ranking: No. 31