In the first round of Hockey East playoffs, University Of Maine Black Bears were given the chore of facing off against the hottest team of the conference, Merrimack College Warriors.
The score stayed close through the first with the home team only going up by 1 at the end of 20, but by the opening of the 2nd, goals started coming and it was over only a few minutes in with freshman Matt Copponi(21) scoring the game-winner.
Babson College Beavers won a bit of a back-and-forth battle with Skidmore College Thoroughbreds, where they were outpaced with the opening tally before jumping on three straight, then never letting up the lead to grab the 2022 D3 NEHC Championship 5-3.
Boston College Eagles, who have struggled some this college hockey year welcome #1 UMass Minutemen into Silvio Conte Forum for the first of two Hockey East fights for postseason position to end the regular season.
Despite dropping the opening mark, the home team stuck with their game and tied things up on sophomore Trevor Kuntar(15)‘s 9th near the end of the 2nd, then went ahead early in the 3rd on senior Jack McBain’s(11) 18th, which equaled all the goals he’d got in his 1st 3 years at school, for the 2-1 win.
The closest Hockey East battle of the NCAA Division 1 conference took place for game 2 on a Sunday afternoon at Silvio Conte Forum.
Boston University Terriers visitors got on the board first, but Boston College Eagles kept it close and struck near the end of the 2nd to tie and took the lead to at 14:40 of the 3rd to win it 3-1 on a Drew Helleson(4) 3rd of the season tally.
NCAA Division 1 #5 rated hockey club, Quinnipiac University Bobcats arrive in Cambridge for the 1st time in a couple seasons to match up against Harvard University Crimson for what is billed as an ECAC barn-burner of highly-skilled teams.
The home team tallied late in the 2nd on a senior captain Casey Dornbach(47) strike and junior goaltender Mitchell Gibson(44) stopped 39 for his 1st shutout of the season.
Bentley University Falcons welcome the other Falcons from Air Force Academy to Bentley Arena for their annual visit and dropped the 1st game pretty handily, but kept things tight throughout the rematch for a 4-4 tie into overtime, then freshman forward Luke Vanroboys(26) clinched it for the win in the 5th round.
University Of Vermont Catamounts pay a visit to Andover for a late season Hockey East conference matchup vs. Merrimack College Warriors and keep it close throughout, but the hotter than hot home team got the game winning tally from sophomore Alex Jeffries(19) early in the 3rd.
Harvard University Crimson receive a late campaign visit from ECAC foe Yale University Bulldogs for the 1st time in a couple seasons and the visitors kept it close through a period and a half, but the home team finally notched the only goal they need on a strike by junior forward John Farinacci midway through the 2nd to a 2-0 victory.
A Hockey East battle hits Schneider Arena for a late season matchup and the home team, Providence College Friars kept it close and even tallied the first strike midway through the 2nd, but the visiting Boston University Terriers answered quickly, then an absolute rocket launcher from junior forward Matt Brown(37) late in the period put it away.
4-1 was the Hockey East final for this one.
A big Hockey East battle set for one of the few remaining weekends of NCAA Division 1 hockey for the season and Boston College Eagles play host to UMass-Lowell Riverhawks for a close game that came down to the winning tally with just under 2 minutes left from the visiting team’s junior Zach Kaiser(23).
