Josh the Intern's HockeyEast Wrap-Up

'Twas a quiet weekend in HockeyEast. Three of the five games I was keeping an eye on ended up as one-goal losses or ties. Providence blew its first chance to get its foot inside the USCHO door as they allowed seven goals against Minnesota-Duluth. Despite the setback, the Friars still remain tied for first in the conference after last week's win over Northeastern. Within the national top 20, Michigan State (20) tied with HockeyEast's Maine (8) 4-4 in their first game of the weekend series, but upset Maine 3-2 the next day. Maine's Spencer Abbott added two assists in the first game and both goals in the second to improve to 7 points on the season, topping HockeyEast. Elsewhere, UNH (9) tied Michigan (3), hopefully improving their standing in the USCHO Top 20.

Spencer Abbott; 2010 HockeyEast championship.

Boston College (1) proved themselves once again with a 6-2 win over Denver (6) in the first of a two-game weekend series. BC had already netted five goals before Denver even found the back of the net. The Eagles' first line of Whitney, Gibbons, and Atkinson each tallied a goal, while three others also scored their firsts of the year. On Saturday, the Eagles John Muse stole the show, tallying his first shutout of the year. Cam Atkinson, Jimmy Hayes, and Tommy Cross each scored their second goals of the series to lead the Eagles to a 3-0 win. The series helps BC to a 3-0-0 record this year, while Denver drops to 1-2-1. Expect to see some movement this week in the USCHO Top 20.

In HockeyEast, BU and Massachusetts battled it out on Saturday night in Agganis Arena, but only managed a 2-2 tie after overtime. Boston University jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on, but were unable to add to it and allowed the Minutemen to catch up with third period goals from sophomore Darren Rowe and senior Marc Concannon. Chris Connolly and and freshman Matt Nieto scored for BU and Sahir Gill (BU) and Michael Pereira (MA) were both held scoreless. Unfortunately, neither team could even themselves atop HockeyEast with BC, Maine, and Providence, and both are now tied for fourth in the conference.