Hockey East Roundup: Nov. 1-2, 2024

The calendar has flipped to November, and conference play is really getting underway in Hockey East, with some interesting splits and sweeps to discuss. We go North to Maine, before swinging through some impressive showings further south, and round things out with the upcoming installment of the Husky bowl. Away we go into another week of Hockey East.

Series of the Week: UVM and Maine split their matchups at the Alfond 

I haven’t talked a lot about the Catamounts or Black Bears so far this season, because frankly there hasn’t been too much to talk about. Both teams have had poor starts to the season, with just one win in conference each, before their weekend series against one another. However, two interesting games highlighted the series at the Alfond, and are getting some much deserved attention here in this week’s roundup. 

Friday afternoon’s game was a decent blow out for the Black Bears—an impressive five goal effort from a team that was averaging just 1.25 goals per game heading into the weekend. The number is now up to 1.6 G/GM, still not great but definitely better. 

The effort was helped by a rare power play goal, this one coming off the stick of Kendall Sundby for the first of her career. The freshman’s tally stood as the game winner, and was scored just 31 seconds into the second period. It was just the second power play goal for Maine this season and came off a major penalty assessed to Hailey Eikos.

Lily Fetch got things going for Maine, opening the scoring exactly 12 minutes into regulation. The aforementioned Sundby goal followed, before Fetch assisted on the Black Bears' third goal of the game, this time from Ava Stevenson who tallied her first points of the season on Friday. 

Across the first two periods, the Catamounts were absolutely dominated. The team had just three shots on goal in the opening frame, and four SOG in the period that followed. On the flip side, Maine had 16 and 15 in each period respectively, and they wound up outshooting UVM 40-18 overall. 

Raegan Wurm and Lila Shea added the last two goals for the Black Bears in the third period. Fetch and Stevenson (the latter had an assist on the opening goal from Fetch), added helpers on the Wurm tally, and finished the afternoon with three points each. 

Following the fifth goal, Ellie Simmons replaced Jane Gervais in goal for the Catamounts. In her second appearance of the season, which was just 8:34 in total time on ice, the redshirt sophomore saw no shots—the defense in front of her was able to block any remaining attempts the Black Bears had. 

Even before the fifth and final goal, the Catamounts kicked back into gear. They were rewarded with a Cecilia DesLauriers score 1:22 after the fifth Maine goal. It was the first goal and point of the sophomore’s career in the NCAA. It was just too late for the Catamounts to truly mount a comeback, as they eventually fell 5-1.

The momentum from the DesLauriers goal somewhat continued over into the first period of Saturday’s game, as UVM was able to outshoot Maine 8-4. However, on their second shot of the game just 24 seconds in, the Black Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to Mikayla Boarder’s second goal of the season. From there however, the Catamounts dictated play, thanks in part to a five-minute major penalty on Stephanie Jacob for boarding 2:40 into regulation. 

UVM dominated throughout the major power play, and tied the contest up off a rebound put in by Grace Nelles. It was then Nelles again who put the Catamounts ahead, off a similar rebound in front for her second of the game.

With 8:37 to play in the second period, the Catamounts found themselves with their first lead of the weekend, and that lead held for the remainder of the game. Gervais, after getting bounced in the first game of the series, rebounded with a 16 save performance and the win on Saturday. 

Although both teams improved their record, and added some much needed points in the conference standings this weekend, there are still some concerns overall. Maine’s power play (8.0% conversion—yikes) and lack of scoring is high on their list. And while the UVM power play has been decent (16.7% success rate), they also struggle with scoring (1.7 G/GM) and with shot totals (20.9 shots per game on average). 

The schedule also doesn’t look too appealing for Maine, as they host the red-hot Boston College Eagles this upcoming weekend. UVM on the other hand has just one game, a Saturday matinee with Holy Cross, where they might find some more success. But for a team struggling to score, I wouldn’t want to take on a Crusaders team that has been performing above expectations, and who in two games limited UConn to four goals on 70 shots. I guess we’ll just have to see how the weekend shakes out for both squads. 

Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week: Sammy Taber, F, Boston College

The sophomore only played one game this weekend, but tallied four points in that singular contest to help BC take the 7-3 win over Merrimack. Taber had two goals in the first period Saturday, and added two assists including one on the eventual game-winning goal for BC. The forward now has 11 points in nine games, leading the Eagles in the statistic, and is tied for third in overall scoring for any player in the conference. 

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

During the Huskies weekend sweep of Holy Cross, Murdoch was integral to the team’s success. While trailing by a goal in the third, it was the forward who sent the game to overtime after her fourth goal of the season tied the contest. She also added another goal on the weekend with the 2-0 tally on Saturday. The Canadian national now leads UConn in total goals scored and is tied for third in the conference with five. 

Army ROTC Defender of the Week: Andi Calderone, D, UNH

After losing Friday, a big part of the reason the Wildcats bounced back for the shutout win on Saturday was Calderone. The defender assisted on the eventual game-winning goal in the second period, and had three blocks in the contest to lead all skaters. She had another two blocks on Friday as well, and was one of the biggest reasons UNH kept things as close as they did for the first two periods. 

Stop It Goaltender of the Week: Noemi Martinez, UNH

The other big reason for the UNH bounce back was Martinez, who in just her second start in the NCAA made 30 saves to blank Northeastern at home. The netminder made 14 saves in the third period while the Huskies were trying to claw their way back, and her performance gave UNH their first win over NU since Dec. 2, 2017 – a streak of 24-straight winless contests for the Wildcats. 

Weekly Scoreboard: 

Friday: 

Maine 5 vs. UVM 1 

BU 5 vs. Providence 1 

UConn 2 vs. Holy Cross 1 (OT) 

Northeastern 4 at UNH 1 

Saturday: 

UVM 2 at Maine 1 

BU 3 at Providence 2

UConn 2 at Holy Cross 0 

UNH 2 at Northeastern 0 

BC 7 vs. Merrimack 3

What to Watch: Northeastern/No. 10 UConn 

Friday at UConn – 6 PM & Saturday at Northeastern – 2 PM 

It had to be the rematch of the Huskies for what to watch this week, and not just because the teams have the same mascot. 

No, it has everything to do with how last year ended in Hockey East—with these two teams facing off. UConn came out on top, both in the regular season and the tournament, ending the run Northeastern had of dominance in the conference. These two teams are set to meet for the first time since the conference tournament title game back in March, and are coming in on completely different momentums. 

For Northeastern, they’ve played well to start the season, with a respectable 5-5-1 start. The problem? They can’t seem to win back-to-back games – in fact, they’ve yet to outright win a series so far this season. Compared to last season, they’re playing fairly similar hockey, with a 2.3 goals per game average, and a power play that is struggling. The issue is that their goal differential is much closer than the Huskies are used to seeing. This time a season ago they were giving up 0.9 goals per game to their opponents. This season – 2.1 G/GM. 

On the opposite side of the ice is UConn, who have been playing well over the last few weeks (they’ve won five of their last six). However, similarly to Northeastern, they’ve struggled to score to open the season. Last weekend they scored just four goals on 70 shots across two games against Holy Cross, a team NU scored eight on in the same amount of games. Northeastern also gave up more goals to the Crusaders than UConn did, though.

There are a couple of factors I’m looking for in this weekend’s series, namely the special teams, and faceoffs. Northeastern’s power play has been ice cold this season, with just one goal on their last 14 attempts. UConn’s penalty kill, however, has also not had the best start to the season, with their opponents scoring on 18.5% of their opportunities. If there was a time for NU’s power play to click, it would be against this struggling UConn group, but that’s a big if. 

Faceoffs wise, I think this is truly a place Connecticut can shine, as they’re winning 51.8% of draws this season, while NU is winning just 48.2%. The lack of success in the dot was evident against UNH this past weekend for Northeastern, and while they did score off the faceoff on Friday to tie the game, otherwise it was a pretty lackluster weekend in the circle. 

Prediction: I think either UConn sweeps this weekend once again, or there’s a split between the two. Northeastern has not played well in the second game of the weekend, especially if the start time is in the afternoon. That especially doesn’t bode well heading into a 2 PM start on Saturday. Connecticut also had Northeastern’s number last season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that trend continue in 2024-25. 

Full Upcoming Schedule:

All times in EST, streaming details available here

Thursday: 

No. 15 BU at Merrimack – 6 PM 

Friday: 

Merrimack at No. 15 BU – 3 PM 

Northeastern at No. 10 UConn – 6 PM 

No. 13 BC at Maine – 6 PM 

Providence at UNH – 6 PM 

Saturday: 

Holy Cross at UVM – 1 PM 

No. 10 UConn at Northeastern – 2 PM 

UNH at Providence – 3 PM 

No. 13 BC at Maine – 6 PM 

Monthly Standings Update: 

1. Boston University – 18 points (6-1-0 in conference, 8-3-0 overall)

2. UConn – 14 points (5-0-0 in conference, 6-4-0 overall)

3. Northeastern – 11 points (3-3-1 in conference, 5-5-1 overall)

4. Boston College – 9 points (3-1-0 in conference, 6-3-0 overall)

T-5. Maine – 7 points (2-4-0 in conference, 2-8-0 overall)

T-5. UVM – 7 points (2-4-0 in conference, 3-7-0 overall) 

7. Merrimack – 6 points (2-3-0 in conference, 4-4-0 overall)

T-8. UNH – 5 points (2-4-0 in conference, 5-4-1 overall)

T-8. Providence – 5 points (2-4-0 in conference, 5-5-0 overall)

T-8. Holy Cross – 5 points (1-4-1 in conference, 4-5-1 overall)