Hockey East Roundup: Jan. 24-25, 2025

As we prepare to say goodbye to January, and say hello to the final month of the regular season, there’s still a lot going on in Hockey East. From some shifting in the top-five, to some interesting matchups in the bottom-five, this week had it all. We’re getting right into it, starting off with a big rivalry – and some big time wins. 

Series Rewind: Border Battle gets Maine back into a Rhythm

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the 2024-25 season hasn’t been kind to Maine, or New Hampshire. 

After finishing last season in third place in the conference, the Wildcats have struggled to get anything consistently going, and this weekend was no different. Maine on the other hand, after having a rough start to the year, have found their footing over the first month of 2025, and nothing shows that more than this weekend’s Border Battle sweep. 

Both games were close, though Friday’s opener had a little less scoring than the series closer. In each game the scoring started early, and on Friday it was New Hampshire who struck first with a Julia Cabral goal 2:22 into regulation.

Maine didn’t take long to answer, however, as Elise Morphy found Mira Seregély, who then hit the back of the net with just her second goal of the season at 7:41 into regulation. 

The tie at one held for the remainder of the period – mainly because UNH had just one shot on goal after their first one snuck behind sophomore Sedona Blair for their lone score. It didn’t help that there were three penalties called throughout the first period against UNH (although Shea Verrier’s slashing penalty was matched with a slashing penalty on Lila Shea at the same time), including two on grad student Maddie Crowley-Cahill. All told, Maine outshot the visitors 13-2 by the time the opening 20 minutes were done. 

UNH rebounded well in the second, however, with a 13-6 shot margin of their own. All 19 shots seen in the frame were turned away by Blair and by Maine netminder Julia Bachetti. Frederikke Foss’ interference call 12:46 into the second period allowed the Wildcats their lone power play of the evening, and although they registered five shots on the advantage, the team couldn’t break through. 

In the final period, similar to the opening one, the scoring happened early, after Lily Fetch added her team-leading seventh goal of the season 72 seconds in. A third penalty on Crowley-Cahill was called halfway through the period, though UNH didn’t allow a single shot on the ensuing two minute penalty kill, and the teams remained at a 2-1 score for the rest of the contest. The Wildcats had three shot attempts in the last 1:14 of regulation, but all were turned aside by Maine and the final buzzer sounded without any further challenge. 

Again on Saturday, a goal 2:04 into regulation — this one coming from Maine sophomore Haley Ryan for her first score of the season – was followed by a tying goal minutes later. Brooke Hammer knotted things at one at 5:02 into regulation, off the assists from Verrier and Sara Boucher. 

From there, the teams traded power play goals, which was honestly a surprise considering how dominant UNH has been on the PK and how… considerably not dominant Maine has been on the PP. First was Wildcat Alyson Hush, who scored her fourth power play goal of the year just 11 seconds into the first UNH advantage. Adriana van de Leest tied things right back up four minutes later with her fifth of the season, thanks to a Chavonne Truter cross checking penalty 11:40 into regulation. 

The final goal of the high scoring period came from Maine’s Raegan Wurm, who found the back of the net 43 seconds after van de Leest did. All told, UNH scored on two of their eight shots in the first period, while Maine scored on three of their eight.

Which makes you believe the two goaltenders struggled on Saturday, right? Wrong. 

In the second period, Maine — a team that had been registering a lot of shots on goal all season — had 23 total attempts on target, forcing Blair to make 22 saves in total. The one shot she missed was Mikayla Boarder’s game winner that came with 2:36 to play in the period. 

Bachetti also missed one of the UNH shots on goal in the period, although that came 3:41 into the period thanks to another power play score, this time from Sadie Makokis. UNH only had nine attempts on target in the middle period, which makes sense considering the substantial amount of time Maine had in the offensive zone. 

The final period of the weekend is where UNH really found their stride, as they forced Bachetti to make 17 saves while the Black Bears were defending their narrow lead. The majority of the Wildcat shots came in the last 4:26 of regulation, where UNH had 20 total attempts (12 were saved by Bachetti, four were blocked away, and the final four were wide of the net). It was a chaotic sequence to close out the contest, but with the final buzzer, Maine was on top once again to sweep the season series from UNH. 

Six points on the weekend allowed Maine to leapfrog the Wildcats for sixth place in the conference. While both teams are still pretty far back of the top-five (eight points for Maine, 11 for UNH), there is still some time to make up that ground moving forward through the last few weeks. 

Both squads will now have to take on a red-hot Providence team, and the seemingly-forgot-how-to-score Holy Cross Crusaders as well in the last one-off weekend of the season. All four games should be interesting, although I’m pretty sure there’s one team both UNH and Maine are looking forward to playing more. 

And I’m pretty sure both are happy to be done playing each other. At least for now.

Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week: Mari Pietersen, G, Boston University – Sophomore 

Pietersen has struggled at times for BU, and after an injury-riddled fall, the sophomore made her second start of the semester on Friday – and went a perfect 25 for 25 in the shutout of Holy Cross. She followed that up with another shutout (this time with 15 saves) on Saturday, in BU’s return to Walter Brown Arena. It was the first two clean sheets for the sophomore in the NCAA, and it raised her season save percentage to a .904 in 371 minutes played so far.  

Pro-Ambitious Rookie of the Week: Lisa Jönsson, G, Northeastern – Freshman 

It was a perfect 3-0 week for Jönsson, and almost perfect save week as well, as the freshman made 81 stops on 82 shots. After winning Beanpot MVP on Tuesday – with a 30-save shutout of then-No. 15 BU – the rookie followed it up with her seventh shutout of the season Friday, in a 25 stop effort against Merrimack. Her lone goal against of the week came in the first period Saturday, and she then proceeded to stop the next 13 shots Merrimack sent her way. 

There are a lot of things I could say about Jönsson, which I think will have to be saved for a later date, but for now all I’ll say is the freshman is in first for save percentage (.959), goals against average (1.07), and is tied for the top spot in shutouts with seven alongside Ava McNaughton of Wisconsin and Katie DeSa of Penn State. She’s also 13-3-0 since taking over the Northeastern net. 

I’d say that’s pretty damn good. 

Defender of the Week: Tory Mariano, D, Northeastern – Senior 

I’ve never thought of Mariano as a point production machine, but the senior has been proving that wrong over the last few weeks. The defender had six points in NU’s three games, including a career-high three assists on Friday against Merrimack. She also scored the eventual game winner on the red-hot Northeastern power play Saturday night, her second such game winner over the last two weeks. Mariano is now the highest scoring defender on the Huskies, with 14 points in 26 games. She had just 15 career points over three seasons (94 games) at Northeastern before her senior campaign. 

Stop It Goaltender of the Week: Julia Bachetti, G, Maine – Sophomore 

Before her outstanding last five minutes on Saturday, Bachetti was dominant throughout the preceding 115 minutes of action against UNH this weekend. The sophomore made 50 saves over two games, including the aforementioned 31-save effort on Saturday in the win. After a lackluster start to the year – as well as some injury issues – Bachetti has now stopped 92.3% of the shots she’s faced since Jan. 1oth, and has gone 3-1-1 in that stretch.

Complete Scoreboard: 

Friday: 

Boston University 2 at Holy Cross 0 
Maine 2 vs. New Hampshire 1
Providence 4 vs. Boston College 1 
UConn 3 at Vermont 2 – OT 
Northeastern 4 vs. Merrimack 

Saturday: 

Boston College 2 vs. Providence 1 – OT 
Boston University 3 vs. Holy Cross 0 
Maine 4 vs New Hampshire 3 
UConn 1 at Vermont 0 
Northeastern 4 at Merrimack 1 

Who to Watch: Boston University vs. a Trio of Opponents 

Friday vs Boston College – 6 PM | Saturday vs Vermont – 4 PM | Tuesday at Northeastern – 7 PM

The Terriers' schedule doesn’t get any easier over the next week and change, with two city rivals and a rematch against a Vermont squad that beat them less than two weeks ago on deck. 

Following their back-to-back shutouts of Holy Cross this past weekend, BU gets another two games at the newly reopened Walter Brown Arena to start their week. First is a matchup against BC – a team the Terriers split with in the fall. 

The two squads are coming off different weekends, and although BC was able to salvage two points against Providence on Saturday, the Eagles were looking for a big six point weekend in conference play, and were unable to do so. The team scored just three goals combined Friday and Saturday, in an uncharacteristic low-scoring weekend. 

BU, on the flip side, scored six goals across two games, which isn’t their highest offensive weekend but still better than the back-to-back shutouts against New Hampshire and Northeastern they were coming off of. 

What will be interesting is how the teams hold up. Both are sporting top-10 nationally penalty kills (BU is in third with 91.1%, BC is sixth with 87.8%), and have been fairly successful on the advantage as well. Both teams scored on the power play over the weekend, including two on eight attempts against Holy Cross on Saturday for BU. 

After BU’s Friday one-off against BC, Vermont then hops over from Northeastern to swing through Wally B for the last game of the season series between the two teams. In Burlington earlier in the month, the Terriers won a hard-fought 2-1 game against UVM Friday, before following it up with a 3-2 loss Saturday. 

Vermont has been struggling this season, but they had two solid games against UConn this past weekend including an overtime loss Friday evening. While their scoring is still pretty rough (1.3 goals per game on average – the lowest of any team in Hockey East), they will be coming off a game against Northeastern, a team they’ve consistently played hard throughout the years. 

It’ll be interesting to see if the goals from this weekend continue to flow for BU, after they’ve come back from the semester break struggling to score overall. But one positive sign in that department was a goal from freshman Lola Reid in Friday’s 2-0 win, the first point for the rookie forward since Nov. 1st, a 13-game pointless stretch. 

After Vermont, it’s another Tuesday midweek game for BU – and it’s another against Northeastern, though this time it’ll be at Matthews Arena, not TD Garden. 

Every single game this season between the Terriers and Huskies has finished with a 4-0 win for one of the two teams. Northeastern just beat BU in the Beanpot final on the 21st, led by freshman Jönsson, who made her first career start at BU back in October (in a 4-0 BU victory). The bad news for the Terriers is that the Huskies have finally found their scoring, just as BU themselves have started to struggle. 

Over the first nine games of the second semester, the Huskies are averaging 3.3 goals per game, which is almost a full goal higher than their season average of 2.4. BU, in their eight games in 2025, are scoring at a 1.8 goals per game clip, decently far from their 2.5 season average. 

What will make things interesting is the Huskies are traveling this weekend, with a one-off game against UConn on Saturday. BU on the flip side will stay home, getting back a few extra hours that Northeastern will spend on the bus. 

What I’m keeping my eye on is the evident frustration the Terriers had closing out the Beanpot final which will no doubt rear its head on Tuesday. The good news for BU is that while both these teams have rock solid penalty kills, their power play is just a little bit more dominant – although Northeastern’s has continued to stay red-hot. 

It’ll be a fun week of hockey from the Terriers. And it also will have huge implications on the season standings, considering BC is three points behind them in second place in the conference, while Northeastern is four points away. It’ll be a big week for the top-four in the standings, and these points are gonna be critical moving into the last month of the regular season.

Full Upcoming Schedule: 

Streaming Details Available Here

Friday: 

Maine at Providence – 2 PM
New Hampshire at Holy Cross – 5 PM
Boston College at Boston University – 6 PM
Merrimack at UConn – 6 PM
Vermont at Northeastern – 6 PM

Saturday: 

Maine at Holy Cross – 1 PM
New Hampshire at Providence – 3 PM
Vermont at Boston University – 4 PM
Boston College at Merrimack – 4 PM
Northeastern at UConn – 6 PM

Tuesday: 

Boston University at Northeastern – 7 PM