Jim ConnellySaturday night, second-seeded Mercyhurst flirted with playoff death. Sunday, the Lakers’ hopes perished. A two-goal game for rookie sensation Pierre-Luc O’Brien, along with a 22-save performance by netminder Kevin LaPointe, propelled fourth seed Sacred Heart to a 3-2 upset victory in the second semifinal of the Atlantic Hockey tournament, ending the Lakers’ hopes of repeating … Read more
Greg Kealey is making an early case to be the inaugural MVP of the Atlantic Hockey championship. Thanks to a two-goal, three-point performance for Kealey in the semifinals, the top-seeded Crusaders advanced, 4-1, past six seed Canisius Sunday. They will face Sacred Heart, the winner of Sunday’s second semifinal, next Saturday night with the winner … Read more
It happens all the time that a fluke goal wins a playoff game in overtime. What doesn’t usually accompany that is when a coach draws the goal up on the chalkboard before in-between periods. Sparked by an overtime goal at 1:37 by Justin Carre that deflected off a defenseman’s skate, and a shutout performance by … Read more
Saturday has officially become donut day at the Atlantic Hockey tournament. Holy Cross’ Tony Quesada became the third straight goaltender to post a shutout, blanking ninth-seeded American International, 5-0, as the tournament’s number-one seed advanced to Sunday’s semifinal of the inaugural Atlantic Hockey tournament. “The goaltending in this league is great,” said Pearl. “I look … Read more
Second-seeded Mercyhurst saw the grim reaper in Saturday’s last quarterfinal game of the Atlantic Hockey tournament. Thanks, though, to a three-goal, third period rally, the Lakers escaped postseason death, knocking off pesky seventh seed Bentley, 5-4, to advance to Sunday’s semifinals. “We’re excited that we’re still playing hockey,” said head coach Rick Gotkin. “That was … Read more
What began as a little more than a pleasant morning skate for Sacred Heart resulted in enough to propel the fourth-seeded Pioneers to the semifinals of the inaugural Atlantic Hockey Championship. Paced by a solid 26 save performance by goaltender Kevin LaPointe and a goal and an assist from fourth-line winger William Billinghurst, the Pioneers … Read more
To stay alive in the Hockey East quarterfinals, No. 3 Boston College accomplished something that it hadn’t done in 44 years. Goaltender Matti Kaltiainen made 14 saves to post BC’s first shutout over Boston University since Feb. 24, 1960, as the Eagles staved off elimination with a 4-0 victory over the Terriers in Game 2 … Read more
The Atlantic Hockey tournament begins Friday with host Army taking on AIC in the play-in game. That begins an intriguing weekend that includes traditional powerhouses Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst, regular-season champion Holy Cross and Jim Connelly’s darkhorse, Connecticut.
Less than a week ago, Boston University was two-and-a-half minutes away from hitting the golf course. Now, they’re 60 minutes away from the Hockey East final four. Just five days after BU’s season was on life support until David van der Gulik’s goal over New Hampshire with 2:30 remaining in overtime in a must-win game, … Read more
Twenty years of Hockey East history remained intact with a bounce of the puck and an overtime goal for the Boston University Terriers Saturday. David Van der Gulik’s goal at 2:30 of overtime gave the Terriers a 4-3 victory over No. 8 New Hampshire, salvaging their playoff lives by finishing eighth in Hockey East, one … Read more
Northeastern may be holding on by a thread to its playoff life, but with only one game left in the regular season, the string has not broken. Thanks to an all-out effort that included a two-goal performance by Jason Guerriero and a 38-save shutout by goaltender Keni Gibson, the Huskies’ remained alive for the playoffs … Read more
For Massachusetts-Lowell and Merrimack, facing off on Thursday night, one would have figured that playoff positioning between those two clubs would be decided. That rationale, though, didn’t take into account that Merrimack freshman goaltender Jim Healey’s career-high 48 saves, helping the Warriors salvage a 3-3 tie with the River Hawks, leaving the question, “Who will … Read more
The final week of the season in Atlantic Hockey is all about positioning, positioning, positioning. And with first place already in the grip of Holy Cross, Mercyhurst looks to secure second — which may not be such a good thing. Jim Connelly reports.
With the end of the season in sight, Jim Connelly hands out his year-end awards in Atlantic Hockey. Also: Holy Cross has a two-headed goaltender (again), and even if Holy Cross has the regular season all but sewn up, there’s still an interesting race to watch.
As strong as the numbers for Matti Kaltiainen, goaltender for the No. 1 Boston College Eagles, have been this season, shutouts have been hard to come by. So as the minutes ticked away Saturday night against Massachusetts-Lowell, and the River Hawks, despite being down, 5-0, continued to press in attempt to break the doughnut bid, … Read more
The Eagle Express continued its ride toward the Hockey East regular-season title thanks to a three-point night from the league’s leading scorer, Ryan Shannon, and a 21-save performance from goaltender Matti Kaltiainen, as No. 1 Boston College knocked off Massachusetts-Lowell, 4-1, in front of an sellout crowd of 7,884. Shannon, one point short of 100 … Read more
Holy Cross has a shot at going wire-to-wire in Atlantic Hockey, but breathing down the Crusaders’ necks is three-time defending regular-season champion Mercyhurst. Jim Connelly takes a look at the race in the final weeks.
Entering a two-game series against No. 1 Boston College, some suspected that No. 13 Massachusetts, just a point behind the Eagles entering the weekend, could challenge Hockey East’s top team for the regular-season title. After winning convincingly on the road Friday night, 5-2, the Eagles silenced the naysayers Saturday night, routing the Minutemen, 6-1, and … Read more
As the Hockey East season winds down, coaches understand one thing is usually true, night in and night out: goaltending is strong. So Friday, when two hot goaltenders decided to duke it out — Northeastern’s Keni Gibson and Maine’s Frank Doyle-the crowd of 2,154 at Matthews Arena was in for a treat. The result was … Read more
Holy Cross is now the odds-on favorite to win the regular-season title — but with this year’s playoff changes, how much does it matter? Also: some surprising upsets, and Army — coming off the renewal of college hockey’s oldest rivalry — gets some national airtime.