Hockey East Roundup: Jan. 10-14, 2025

Hockey East Roundup! Get your Hockey East Roundup here! A low scoring series rewind hopefully should morph into a much better offensive weekend for Holy Cross, plus some great individual performances for this week's awards. Let’s get into it. 

Series Rewind: Providence Performs in Productive Weekend vs. Holy Cross

Last time I talked about Providence in a weekly series rewind, it included the lowest of low scoring affairs between the Friars and the Vermont Catamounts. 

This weekend, there was a bit more action from Providence, although not much more as they swept Holy Cross in 3-1 and 1-0 wins on Friday and Saturday respectively. 

Friday’s victory was technically in come-from-behind fashion, with Holy Cross’ Reghan Chadwick opening the scoring only 3:54 into the first period. The sophomore forward stripped defender Josie Lang of the puck right in front of the Friars net before using a spin-o-rama move to stuff the puck between the pads of goaltender Hope Walinski and into the back of the cage. 

The goal was the Crusaders first of 2025 – no I’m not kidding. Coming into the game HC had been shutout 3-0 and 4-0 by Boston University and Northeastern the previous weekend. It was a welcome sight for the team, and the excitement to finally get a goal under their belts in the new year was evident. 

That excitement didn’t last long. 

Less than 90 seconds later, defender Brooke Becker carried the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive, before sending the puck into the back of Abby Hornung’s net to tie the game at one. 

From there, Providence outplayed Holy Cross fairly well, with 12 shots on goal by the end of the first period while limiting their opponents to just six. In fact, the only periods that Holy Cross outshot Providence in were the thirds of both games – 9-7 Friday, and 7-6 Saturday. 

Following the goal from Chadwick, Walinski turned away the next 40 from the Crusaders through 110+ minutes of hockey. She was helped out by just enough scoring from her teammates as well. First on Friday was Reichen Kirchmair, who scored her 10th of the season 6:14 into the second. Lily Martinson added a third for Providence with under five minutes left in regulation, and the Friars closed out the game 3-1. 

In game two, Lily Hendrickson scored the only goal in the game two minutes into the middle period with help from Josie Lang and Mégane Quirion. It was Hendrickson’s first goal of the season, and it stood as the difference in the Friar win. 

All told, it wasn’t the most intense game that could have been played, however for Providence they got the job done when they needed to. What will be interesting will be how they carry the momentum from this game, and from all four of their games so far in 2025 (which they’ve won) into their weekend against Northeastern coming up. After a rough start to the season, the Friars are now comfortable above .500 at 11-8-3, however the gauntlet of games they start this weekend against NU and Boston College could prove to be a challenge. 

For Holy Cross, I’m a bit worried. After a solid start to the season, and generally just a better overall performance from them than we’ve seen in seasons past, it appears as though all of their goal scoring has dried up. The Crusaders have scored just six goals in their last seven games. Something needs to be shaken up offensively if they’re going to get back to winning, and winning Hockey East points especially.  

Weekly Awards: 

Co-Players of the Week: Kira Juodikis, F, New Hampshire – Senior 

The captain for UNH has been featured on this list before, and will most likely be featured again before her NCAA career concludes. With a hat trick against Merrimack on Friday, the senior is now up to nine goals and 15 points on the season, leading the Wildcats in both statistics. The first two goals of her hat trick came within 31 seconds of each other, and the final goal came while UNH was shorthanded – the first such goal for the Wildcats since Feb. 3rd, 2024. 

Adriana van de Leest, D, Maine – Senior 

In Maine’s only contest of the weekend, the senior defender played a factor in all three goals for the Black Bears in their overtime win over Harvard. She scored her third and fourth goals of the season just over two minutes apart in the first period, and was the primary assist on the game-winning goal for Maine as they secured just their sixth win of the season. van de Leest is now up to 11 points in 20 games, and is the highest scoring defender for Maine so far. 

Pro-Ambitious Rookie of the Week: Éloïse Caron, F, Northeastern – Freshman 

In the lone game of the week for Caron, the freshman had three points in the Huskies’ matchup against Yale. With the productive night, plus another assist in the Beanpot semifinal game this Tuesday, Caron is now up to 18 points in 21 games for the Huskies. She’s tied for first in rookie scoring in the conference, and the game-winning goal she scored against Yale was the third of her young career. 

Defender of the Week: Kyla Bent, D, Vermont – Grad Student 

Another team desperate for conference points is Vermont, and Bent was instrumental in helping them secure three this weekend against BU in Saturday’s win. The defender had the game winner for the Catamounts, which is just the second goal scored by Bent this season – the only other coming against Clarkson back in October. She also blocked an additional two shots on Friday in the losing effort, and was on the ice for all four of UVM’s goals this weekend. 

Stop It Goaltender of the Week: Hope Walinski, G, Providence – Senior

It’s been an up and down season for Providence and Walinski, but backstopped by their goaltender as I mentioned above the Friars were able to sweep the weekend series from Holy Cross. In the two games Walinski only allowed a single goal, making 41 combined saves to raise her save percentage to .927 for the season. The shutout was the third of the season for the senior, and the ninth of her career. 

Complete Scoreboard: 

Out of conference games are bolded

Friday: 

Maine 3 at Harvard 2 – OT 

New Hampshire 5 at Merrimack 3 

Providence 3 vs. Holy Cross 1 

Boston University 2 at Vermont 1 

Saturday: 

Providence 1 vs. Holy Cross 0 

Vermont 3 vs. Boston University 2

Tuesday: Beanpot Semifinals at Matthews Arena

Boston University 2 vs. Harvard (ECAC) 1 – OT, 

Northeastern 4 vs. Boston College 2 

What to Watch: Merrimack & Holy Cross 

Friday at Holy Cross, 6 PM | Saturday at Merrimack, 3 PM 

The main reason I picked this series to highlight is because I think this might be the perfect place for Holy Cross to get back into their scoring touch. And I know, the Crusaders only scored two goals in their overtime loss to the Warriors right before the semester break. 

However. 

For some reason I just think this weekend could be where HC gets back into the groove. Am I saying I think they’re going to sweep? No, I’m definitely not saying that. But I do think they’re going to find a way to score some goals, and that will be critical moving into the last few months of the season – even if they don’t pull off a win. 

Merrimack won’t be an easy win though. The Warriors are averaging 2.0 goals per game to HC’s 1.9. Very even marks. And I do tend to lean more toward Holy Cross’ goaltending with Abby Hornung than I do with Calli Hogarth of Merrimack. Not that I have anything against Hogarth. It’s just that Hornung’s .936 SV% is far higher than the .901 that Hogarth is sporting. 

One place I do expect these teams to differ is their special teams units. The MC power play is outstanding, at 24.5% conversion this season – the best mark in Hockey East. Holy Cross and their 8.5% dead last in the conference, and fourth-worst in the NCAA. 

Neither school succeeds on the PK very much, but with the difference in power play efficacy that can be much more dangerous for Holy Cross. They don’t have the same scoring abilities on the advantage that Merrimack seems to have, and that probably will come back to hurt them in this series. 

Prediction: Merrimack is gonna get the win Friday, but Holy Cross comes back after that to split. I want to see some goal scoring, and if HC can up their shot totals higher than it’s been in their last few games, I think that’ll happen. However, just because I said this, Hogarth is gonna go out and have a shutout to spite me. Guess we’ll see. 

Full Upcoming Schedule: 

Streaming Details Available Here

Friday: 

Maine at UConn – 6 PM 

Merrimack at Holy Cross – 6 PM 

Northeastern at Providence – 6 PM 

Vermont at Boston College – 6 PM 

Saturday: 

Vermont at Boston College – 2 PM 

Holy Cross at Merrimack – 3 PM 

Providence at Northeastern – 3 PM 

Maine at UConn – 4 PM 

Boston University at New Hampshire – 6 PM 

Tuesday: Beanpot Consolation and Championship Games at TD Garden

Boston College vs. Harvard (ECAC) – 4:30 PM

Boston University vs. Northeastern – 7:30 PM