Jim Connelly

Call me the comeback kid, the UMass-Lowell of picks, whatever. There are three weeks left in the regular season and, for the first time all year, I’m back in first place! Dave last week: 3-6-1 Jim last week: 7-2-1 Dave’s record-to-date: 97-64-14 Jim’s record-to-date: 98-63-14 Friday, February 16 Merrimack at Boston College Jim’s pick: So many difficult games … Read more

No championship game in the 60-year history of the Beanpot has gone to double overtime. Thanks to Boston College’s Bill Arnold, that still holds true. [scg_html_beanpot2012]Arnold and his linemates refused to settle for a second overtime in the waning seconds of the first and, in doing so, generated a late three-on-two rush. Arnold finished it … Read more

The end is near to the Hockey East regular season and the race for the league title, home ice and the final playoff spot all tightened up this past weekend. What a few weeks back was five points separating three teams for the league title is now two. Two weeks ago it seemed like New … Read more

There was still about a minute remaining in Friday’s game between No. 8 Merrimack and No. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell when the cheer of “We’re number 1!” broke out from the River Hawks’ student section. With Lowell leading 3-0 after a Riley Wetmore empty-net goal with 1:34 remaining, the Lowell faithful – SmartPhones in hand – were … Read more

The last seven times Northeastern and Boston College faced one another, the games were decided by a goal or less. So heading into Monday’s second Beanpot semifinal, there was reason to believe this tilt between the Huskies and Eagles could be one to remember. [scg_html_beanpot2012]For Northeastern, it certainly was, but for all the wrong reasons. … Read more

Yet another mediocre weekend of picks for Dave and me. Guess that’s a product of how tight this league is. Jim’s last week: 5-4-0 Dave’s last week: 5-4-0 Jim’s record-to-date: 81-60-13 Dave’s record-to-date: 84-57-13 Friday, February 3 Boston University at Merrimack Jim’s pick: Even though I rarely pick against Merrimack at home (though did last weekend and … Read more

There were four weekend sweeps in Hockey East – Massachusetts-Lowell over Massachusetts, Maine over Boston University, Boston College over New Hampshire and Northeastern over Vermont – that taught me just one thing (that can be divided into three different groups). So here are the three classes that will make up the Hockey East race as … Read more

Massachusetts-Lowell went two full periods in Saturday’s game against rival Massachusetts without a single power-play opportunity. When finally given the chance – and plenty of them as UMass was whistled for four penalties early in the third – the 11th-ranked River Hawks put the game away scoring twice with the man advantage to cement a … Read more

No. 7 Boston College scored twice in the final 3:05, including Steven Whitney’s game-winner in the final minute, as the Eagles earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over New Hampshire Friday in front of 7,228 at BC’s Kelley Rink The game looked like the blueprint for Boston College’s third straight disaster. Having lost two close games … Read more

Massachusetts-Lowell sophomore Derek Arnold scored his 10th goal of the season at 2:50 of overtime to lead the River Hawks to a dramatic road victory over Northeastern Saturday night at Matthews Arena, giving Lowell the sweep of the weekend home-and-home series. Arnold’s goal came after Lowell withstood a massive barnstorm by Northeastern in the third … Read more

The Boston University Terriers remained one of the nation’s hottest teams on Friday night, defeating Providence 6-1 in front of 5,171 at BU’s Agganis Arena. It was BU’s fourth straight win in Hockey East play. The Terriers dominated the game on the scoresheet from the opening faceoff, scoring early, posting four goal in the first … Read more

Neither Dave nor I had stellar weeks, but at least I picked up a game on the old man (finally!) Jim’s last week: 5-3-1 Dave’s last week: 4-4-1 Jim’s record-to-date: 71-51-13 Dave’s record-to-date: 75-47-13 Friday, January 20 Providence at BU Jim’s pick: Love the way the Terriers are playing right now. Providence, not so much. … Read more