In recognition of this brilliance, readers will now have the option of calling 1-900-FAT-HEAD for a special Absolute Lock of the Week and a guaranteed Shocking Upset of the Week. Impress your date. Wow your friends. Put my kids through college.

On a more serious note, Hockey East now stands 11-3-1 in its interconference record. And there’s not a single game against a Division I Independent in the lot to pad the results. All 15 games have been against members of the other three major conferences.

The league’s Karhu Player of the Week is Merrimack’s Casey Kesselring, who scored three goals and assisted on three others in a two-game road trip to Ohio State.

Maine defenseman Adam Tate is Hockey East’s Rookie of the Week after assisting on five goals in the J.C. Penney Classic.

Last week’s record in picks: 11-2 Season’s record in picks: 21-4

No. 5 New Hampshire (3-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Rensselaer (1-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) Friday, 7 p.m., Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

New Hampshire swept its series with Alaska-Anchorage, 5-2 and 4-1.

"It’s a long way to go to play two hockey games," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "But I think we’ve improved from the Vermont [opening] game to where we’re at right now.

In all three games this year, the Wildcats have allowed double-digit shots in the first period and then tightened the screws in the second and third.

"It’s not like we’re giving up 20," said Umile. "We’re giving up 12 or 13 in the first period, but averaging something like four or five in the second and third, which is great. If we could play like that in the first period, I’d be really happy. But maybe that’s getting a little too greedy."

After opening against second-tier teams, New Hampshire now takes on two heavyweights in the form of Rensselaer and Boston College.

"It’ll be a real test," said Umile.

Rensselaer gained a measure of redemption for its opening stinkeroo against BU by defeating UMass-Lowell 4-2. The Engineers scored three times in the first and held a 4-0 lead until Lowell’s too-little-too-late comeback attempt in the third.

At least based on that one game, Rensselaer is more than a one-line team of Eric Healey, Alain St. Hilaire and Matt Garver. A makeshift second line of Doug Battaglia, Steve Caley and Brad Tapper accounted for five points in the win over Lowell, a potentially important development if the Engineers are going to be a factor on the national scene.

(For a more detailed look at Rensselaer from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: UNH bests Rensselaer 5-3.

No. 5 New Hampshire (3-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Boston College (2-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Tuesday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

UNH (previewed above) travels to Boston College for this rare Tuesday night matchup, in which the Eagles will be playing in their third game in six nights. BC has opened the season with back-to-back 3-2 wins over Bowling Green and Notre Dame.

No doubt, the BC faithful would feel more comfortable if their Eagles had exploded more forcefully in the two contests against projected second-tier opponents. But a win is still a win is still a win. Even more importantly, perhaps, was the way BC pulled out the game in South Bend.

"It was a character-type win for our club because we were down 2-0 at a visiting rink with ten minutes left on the clock," said coach Jerry York. "I thought we showed a tremendous amount of character to come back from that type of deficit."

Freshman goaltender Scott Clemmensen, a big piece to the Eagle puzzle this year, returned from the walking wounded to play his first collegiate game. He stopped 24 of 26 shots and, according to York, "certainly had a very fine game."

The freshmen continued to contribute, with defensemen Marty Hughes and Bobby Allen setting up the first and second goals, respectively, and Brian Gionta scoring the game-winner with an assist from Mike Lephart.

Although Marty Reasoner only shows one point to date, his picture-perfect setup of Gionta’s goal was but the latest example of his playmaking talents. "Marty was dominant during the course of the game and certainly a key to the win," said York.

PICK: UNH prevails, 4-3.

Merrimack (1-1-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Boston College (2-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

In last year’s playoffs, BC (previewed above) broke Merrimack hearts that had hoped to translate the school’s first-ever home ice into another first — a FleetCenter appearance. The revisiting of that match-up could be one of the top games this weekend.

Merrimack could muster only a split of its Ohio State road trip, falling 5-3 after taking the opener 7-2. The Buckeyes outshot the Warriors in both games, 48-32 and 43-35.

"[I’ve got] mixed emotions," said MC coach Ron Anderson to describe his reaction to the weekend. "It’s always tough to go into someone’s building and win two and, in particular, their building because it’s a little unique."

Although the Warriors fell short of the hoped-for sweep, several individual performances stood out. Most importantly, sophomore goaltender Cris Classen stepped to the plate and hit one out in the opener, stopping 46 of 48 shots.

"He played very well," said Anderson. "Time will tell, but he showed us what we hoped he’d show us down there this weekend."

Freshman Tom Welby played between the pipes in the second game.

Player of the Week Casey Kesselring scored three goals and three assists, serving notice that he could move into the Hockey East scoring elite. Sophomores Sandy Cohen, who had four goals and an assist, and Chris Halecki, who scored his first goal and added an assist, gave early signs of making major strides from last year’s respective point totals of 14 and one.

"I’ve said that there are sophomores that now have to take their games to the next level," said Anderson. "We were happy for Chris Halecki to get his first goal and for Sandy to get off to a good start.

"Sandy’s a natural goal scorer who went through the learning stage last year of what Hockey East and Division I hockey is all about. He got going this weekend, and we hope that continues for him. He’s certainly one of those guys we need to step up his game."

The Warriors begin a three-games-in-three-nights stretch on Friday, opening with BC and then proceeding to nonleague games against Union and Air Force.

"It’s a good early-season conditioning, tempo-building type of situation for us," said Anderson. "In a two-week period we’re going to play five games, four against non-league teams. That should get us right to where we’re at the top of our game by the time we come out of this weekend."

PICK: This one could go either way, but look for BC to have deja vu all over again, winning 3-2.

UMass-Lowell (1-1-0, 1-0-0 HE) at No. 6 Maine (2-1-1, 0-0-0 HE)

Friday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Predictably, Maine defeated St. Thomas 6-1 to set up a championship game slugfest with then-No. 5 Colorado College. Holding a 5-3 lead going into the third, the injury-hampered Black Bears had to settle for a 6-6 tie and a shootout loss. After the ten-minute mark, they played without four regulars, including two of their three seniors.

"It was a game that exposed our weaknesses and, at the same time, gave me cause for encouragement," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "It was a contrast of an experienced team [with] a young team that was playing its freshmen in key situations, especially with our injuries.

"I was pretty pleased with how we held up, although I think Colorado College, with the team that was out on the ice, outplayed us. We were fortunate to get the [tie] because of a tremendous effort by Steven [Kariya]."

Walsh had originally projected Kariya to reach All-America status by this, his junior, year. After his freshman season, however, that appeared overly optimistic, even though he squeaked onto the league All-Rookie team.

But with five goals and six assists in four games — three of the four against top-ten teams — Kariya is making a prophet out of his coach.

"Based on what he’s done against Minnesota and Colorado College, he’s clearly established himself as one of the Hobey Baker frontrunners," said Walsh.

On the blue line, in addition to Adam Tate’s five-point Rookie of the Week performance, junior defenseman David Cullen also contributed two goals and three assists in the Colorado College game and played great defense.

"He’s been a dominant player in both ends," said Walsh. "He’s stepped it up a notch and taken care of the void left by Jeff Libby. He’s making a case for being one of the better defensemen around."

Maine hosts UMass-Lowell and then Providence, both of which split games last weekend.

"First and foremost, we’ve got to get healthy," said Walsh.

Walsh expects Jason Price and Shawn Wansborough (being fitted for a knee brace) to return this weekend. Scott Parmentier and Marcus Gustafsson could take another week before returning.

Before last week’s opener against state-school rival UMass-Amherst, Lowell coach Tim Whitehead joked about the Alumni Cup at his team’s kickoff luncheon. The Cup, awarded annually to the winner of the series between the two schools, has gone west to Amherst both years of its existence — despite Lowell’s higher position in the standings.

"I thought last year we really overachieved as a team," said Whitehead, stating facts before moving his tongue into his cheek. "We were picked to finish last; we did much better than that and got back to the Fleet.

"But [athletic director] Dana Skinner came to me and said, ‘Yeah, but what about the Alumni Cup?’ You know, basketball school vs. hockey school.’

"So this year, we don’t care where we finish in the standings, and we don’t care about getting back to the Fleet. As long as we win the Alumni Cup."

After the laughter died down, Whitehead expressed his admiration for the UMass-Amherst squad and indicated that winning the Alumni Cup would be no small feat.

That night, the River Hawks drew first blood, winning 6-4 at home.

"We played well, but we didn’t play great," said Whitehead after the game. "We’re not where we need to be yet… but it was a good step in the right direction." Greg Koehler picked up where he left off last year, netting four goals and assisting on one other on the weekend. Defenseman Mike Nicholishen again showed why he earned All-Hockey East honors last year, quarterbacking the power play flawlessly and playing solid defense in his own end.

The River Hawks then headed out the Mass Pike to Troy, N.Y., to face Rensselaer. After falling behind 4-0, they rallied in the third, but could only narrow the gap to 4-2.

It doesn’t get any easier, though, taking on Maine in Orono.

PICK: Banged up or not, Maine is just too strong, winning 5-3.

Northeastern (2-0-0, 1-0-0 HE) at Colgate (2-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

Friday, 7 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, NY

Northeastern (2-0-0, 1-0-0 HE) at Cornell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Lynah Rink, Ithaca, NY

Break up the Huskies.

After finishing in the cellar last year, they now share a piece of the Hockey East lead with a 1-0-0 record. While perhaps the results are a tad incomplete, wins over Providence (2-0) and Bowling Green (6-3 one week earlier) are still steps in the right direction.

"I don’t think it was a hockey classic, by any means," said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder about the PC tilt. "It wasn’t a game that would keep you at the end of your seat, but we were happy to be on the right end of it."

The Huskies led Providence by only a 1-0 score until an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left sealed the W.

"It’s good for our kids to be in a close game like that," said Crowder. "It was good, given the youth that we have, not to buckle."

Shutting out the Friars also ranks as a significant step forward for a club regularly playing three freshmen, a sophomore and junior transfer David Dupont on the blue line.

"That’s huge," said Crowder. "As coaches, you take it from a different perspective sometime than the players, but at the same time, for them, any time you can get into those situations and come out successful, it’s just a vote of confidence."

Northeastern now travels to face the Colgate Red Raiders and the Cornell Big Red, both of whom will be celebrating their official home openers (although Cornell already unfurled its 1997 ECAC championship banner last week in a home exhibition game against Ryerson).

"It’s going to be a real learning experience for a young team going into those two buildings," said Crowder. "Both places will have the sea of red going.

"It’s going to be a good environment to take a young team early in the season. Hopefully, we can keep minimizing our mistakes, and it’ll be a great learning experience for us."

As for Colgate, it’s appropriate that this game be played on Halloween night. So far, the Red Raiders are the consummate trick-or-treat team. They opened the season by shocking Michigan at Yost Arena and gained an impressive split. Then, last week, they had to go into overtime to beat Army. What’s up with that?

Dru Burgess has the hot hand right now, netting a hat trick against the Cadets.

Cornell features junior Kyle Knopp (32 points) along with Ryan Moynihan (27 points as a freshman) at forward. Jeff Burgoyne ranks as one of the league’s best defensemen. But goaltender Jason Elliot is Cornell’s straw that stirs the drink. Elliot has won back-to-back ECAC Tournament MVP honors and posted stellar numbers the last two years (2.35 GAA, .923 SV% and 2.73 GAA, .909 SV%).

(For a more detailed look at Colgate and Cornell from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: A tough road trip for the Huskies. They drop both, 3-2 to Colgate and 4-1 to Cornell.

UMass-Amherst (0-1-0, 0-1-0 HE) at No. 3 Boston University (2-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Friday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA

BU jumped out to a 3-0 lead against a supposedly rebuilding Vermont team, but then had to hang on for a 3-2 win.

"They weren’t tougher than I expected, but they might have been tougher than my guys expected," said BU coach Jack Parker. "We played real well in the first half of the game, got a nice lead and were in very, very good control of the game.

"Then all of a sudden we got completely out of our game, took some stupid penalties and let the crowd get to us. We lost our poise and let Vermont take it to us. We were very, very fortunate to win the game. We led 3-1 going into the third period, they got the only goal in the period and they also dominated territorially. [Goaltender] Michel Larocque stole it in the third period for us."

Given BU’s abnormally high reliance on its freshmen this year, attention continues to be focused on the rookies’ performance.

"Scott Perry played very well," said Parker. "He was probably the only freshman who really jumped out at me as playing solid throughout."

Tom Poti continued to stake his claim as potentially the top offensive defenseman in the country, scoring one goal and assisting on BU’s two others. He has three goals and two assists in two "official" games, but factoring in the exhibition-status Ice Breaker Invitational would give the sophomore five goals and four assists in four games. In total, Poti has scored or assisted on nine of BU’s 15 goals so far this year. Stunning numbers.

In their only game of the weekend, the Terriers host UMass-Amherst. Aside from a UMass 10-2 trouncing of BU in the 1919-20 season, the Terriers have owned this series, winning all 15 contests since. The Minutemen lost to state-school rival UMass-Lowell 6-4 in their only action last week. Specialty teams proved decisive as Lowell scored three goals in its 10 chances, compared to one in 10 for UMass-Amherst.

"I thought our rotation and our end-zone play was good," said coach Joe Mallen. "Our failure to clear the puck when we had possession was what killed us in the game."

But Mallen still remains optimistic. "I saw a lot of good things, especially in the third period," he said. "This was a game [in which] we lost some of the one-on-one battles, and we lost some of the loose-puck battles. Those are things I’m sure we can correct."

Despite the loss, Mallen could look to impressive performances by forwards Tim Lovell, who totaled four points, and Jeff Blanchard. Although most fans know Lovell well, Blanchard is an unrecognized face in the crowd. Blanchard’s intensity helped set up a Lovell goal.

"That was just a terrific effort," said Mallen. "To get the tar knocked out of him like he did and give us that second effort, I thought that was going to turn the game around right there.

"His improvement from the end of last year to now has just been terrific. If he keeps it up, he’s going to have a good sophomore year."

PICK: BU once again, 5-2.

Providence College (1-1-0, 0-1-0 HE) at No. 6 Maine (2-1-1, 0-0-0 HE)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Providence suffered a frustrating 2-0 loss to Northeastern before picking itself up with a 5-4 overtime win over Union. If not for the comeback, the Friars could have headed into road trips to Maine and Minnesota-Duluth with three losses in an exhibition and two regular-season games.

"[Northeastern goalie Marc] Robitaille played well, [Union’s Trevor] Koenig played well, and the kid from Guelph played tremendous — we put 50 shots on him," said Providence coach Paul Pooley after the win. "So we’ve faced three pretty good goaltenders in our first three games."

Pooley’s own goaltending had been a question, but Mark Kane allowed only one goal in the Northeastern tilt and freshman Boyd Ballard made two game-saving stops in the overtime against Union.

"[Ballard] was huge," said Pooley. "He made some big-time saves to give us a chance to win that game. That’s tremendous for his first game."

Forwards Mike Omicioli and Fernando Pisani were a constant force, scoring three of the five Friar goals. Although he didn’t score, Jerry Keefe looks to be a lock to improve on the 23 points he scored last year.

PICK: Maine wins 5-3.

Union (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at Merrimack (1-1-0, 0-0-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Union (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at UMass-Lowell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Sunday, 2 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA

Union dressed 10 freshmen in its 5-4 overtime loss to Providence last week. After graduating 13 seniors — "The Dirty Dozen" — last year, the Dutchmen are thin up front and often left All-American goaltender Trevor Koenig out to dry. Other than breakaways and deflections, Koenig consistently stopped the first shot, but too often had to face second and third chances.

(Merrimack and UMass-Lowell are previewed above. For a more detailed look at Union from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: Union drops two, 5-2 and 4-2.

Boston College (2-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at UMass-Amherst (0-1-0, 0-1-0 HE)

Sunday, 2 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

(Both teams previewed above)

PICK: Here’s a focus test for the young BC team. If it looks ahead to Tuesday’s game against UNH, Tim Lovell and company will send them home with long faces. The Minutemen may jump on top, but BC prevails 4-2.

Air Force (1-1-0, 0-0-0 vs. aligned D-I) at Merrimack (1-1-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Sunday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Air Force will be hoping to use fatigue as a weapon in this game since Merrimack will be playing its third game in three nights. Whether it has the talent to achieve that, however, may be another story.

The Falcons return three of their top five scorers: Justin Kieffer (34 points), Nels Grafstrom (23 points) and defenseman Dan Davies (23 points). Last year’s top goaltender, Pat Kielb, graduated, leaving the netminding mantle to Aaron Ratfield, who compiled a 3.29 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage in 12 games.

Air Force opened its season with an unimpressive split with Nebraska-Omaha. The Falcons won the opener 4-2 despite being outshot 38-12, and then lost 6-1.

PICK: This game could be unsuitable viewing for young children. Merrimack 10-1.

Army (2-1-0, 0-1-0 vs. aligned D-I) at UMass-Lowell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Wednesday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA

Army graduated all but three of its top ten scorers last year. Andy Lundbohm (46 points) and Greg Buckmeier (44) are the major returning players, but unless coach Rob Riley gets unexpectedly strong contributions from incoming freshmen and junior varsity players hoping to make the step up, the scoring looks rather thin.

Goaltender Daryl Chamberlain (2.95 career GAA, 889 career SV%) returns for a senior year in which he could rewrite the Cadet record book.

Although historically, teams have viewed the service academies as pushovers, Army took Colgate to overtime one week after the Red Raiders upended Michigan. UMass-Lowell can’t count these chickens before they’re hatched.

PICK: UMass-Lowell 5-1.

Except for two Friday night games — UMass-Lowell hosting UMass-Amherst and Northeastern traveling to Providence — the nonconference fare continues, led by the J.C. Penney Classic, which potentially pits No. 5 Colorado College and No. 6 Maine in the championship game.

Last week’s record in picks: 8-2 Season’s record in picks: 10-2

J.C. Penney Classic

No. 5 Colorado College (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) vs. St. Lawrence (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

No. 6 Maine (1-1-0, 0-0-0 HE) vs. St. Thomas University All games at Alfond Arena, Orono, ME Colorado College – St. Lawrence: Friday, 5:00 p.m. Maine – St. Thomas: Friday, 8:00 p.m. Consolation/Championship: Saturday, 4:00/7:00 p.m.

Last week, the visiting Maine Black Bears shocked Minnesota 6-1 in the opener of a two-game set. Although the Golden Gophers came back to salvage a split with a 3-2 win, Maine served notice that it is again one of the nation’s top teams.

"It’s a tough place to play," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "I’m just very pleased that we won one and put ourselves in a position to actually tie that second one late and just couldn’t get it done."

In the preseason, Walsh felt that Maine’s biggest question marks were on the blue line, following the departures of Jason Mansoff and Jeff Libby.

"We went with six [defensemen]: Shawn Mansoff and Brian White, David Cullen and Robert Ek, and Jason Price and Adam Tate," said Walsh. "They played very well. Adam Tate is just a terrific freshman defenseman. He’s playing the point on the power play, is killing penalties and taking a regular shift.

"And obviously, Alfie Michaud was terrific [in goal] all weekend. He’s started out where he left off last year."

Michaud earned Hockey East’s Karhu Player of the Week honors for his performance, particularly his 16 second-period saves in the Friday night win. And in the Garth Snow tradition of offense-minded goaltenders, Michaud assisted on two goals.

On the darker side, the extent of a knee injury to Shawn Wansborough won’t be known until later in the week.

"It looks like it could be a little while," said Walsh. "He got hurt midway through the first period of the first night, so it put an exclamation point on how we played, because we did it without him."

This week, Maine hosts the J.C. Penney Classic, starting out with St. Thomas University, a Canadian Final Four team two years ago, while No. 5 Colorado College and St. Lawrence clash.

The Saints graduated a lot of bodies last year, but return All-America candidate Paul DiFrancesco and talented junior defenseman John Poapst. After losing their top two goaltenders, however, they are suspect between the pipes with junior Eric Heffler and two freshmen, Jeremy Symington and Sean Coakley.

"St. Lawrence has improved dramatically in the last couple years," said Walsh. "They’ve recruited better and have a quicker team."

Colorado College lost WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Eric Rud and top goaltender Judd Lambert from last year’s team, but returns most of its offense, led by All-WCHA selection Brian Swanson (51 points) and All-Rookie pick Toby Peterson (38 points).

"Colorado College’s record speaks for itself," said Walsh. "They’ve been in the Final Four each of the last two years, so we’re excited to have that kind of field."

(For a more detailed look at St. Lawrence and Colorado College from their own conferences’ perspectives, check out this week’s ECAC Preview and WCHA Preview. For a more detailed look at St. Thomas University, you’re out of luck.)

PICK: Maine should have its way with St. Thomas, 6-1. Colorado College will have a tougher time with St. Lawrence, but will still prevail 5-3. The Black Bears then will take the championship game, 4-3, with Alfie Michaud and the Alfond crowd the deciding factors.

Northeastern (1-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at

Providence College (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Friday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

Northeastern raised some eyebrows with a 6-3 win over Bowling Green last weekend. When one considers a Husky lineup that included only three upperclassmen — among them David Dupont, who received a game disqualification in the first period, the win becomes doubly impressive.

"We’ve got a long way to go," said coach Bruce Crowder, "but it definitely was a nice start. To have that kind of youth in the lineup and see what they have the possibility of doing was really encouraging for us here."

In last week’s preview, Crowder discussed his displeasure with the strength and conditioning he found in last year’s team and the resolve to change that situation.

"Last year, we didn’t win a single game in the third period," he said. "Unless we were already winning, we failed to win even once."

The Huskies now are one for one in that department. They entered the third tied 2-2, after weathering almost two full minutes of a five-on-three combined with Dupont’s five-minute major, the type of adversity that often causes young teams to falter. In that period, they scored three times, plus an open-netter.

"All in all, it’s nice to see," said Crowder. "Maybe the commitment of the kids in the offseason with the weight training and conditioning showed some immediate signs of working. I thought we played well and stuck to our system."

The Huskies travel down Route 95 to Providence on Friday in one of the two Hockey East clashes this week.

"They were a team that had our number last year," said Crowder. The Friars took all three league games from Northeastern. "They’ve got a lot of new guys in their lineup, too, so I don’t really know anything about what Paul [Pooley] is doing. We’re just going to have to play hockey in a way that whatever they throw at us, we can execute and eliminate our mistakes."

Although the Friars became the only league team to drop an exhibition game to a visiting Canadian team — 6-3 to Guelph — that dubious honor deserves a king-sized asterisk. Not only is Guelph the defending Canadian university champion, it also tied second-ranked Michigan State.

"We started off okay, but we looked like we were playing our first game," said PC coach Paul Pooley. "We outshot them quite badly" — 39-17 — "but just made some mistakes. Their goalie [Mark Gowan] played great. I think he’ll sign an NHL contract. He’s that good."

An 0-for-7 power play didn’t help.

"We had a couple good puck possessions and got some shots away, but I wasn’t totally happy," said Pooley. "Our power play has got to be good this year and we’re going to have to find ways to do it. I wasn’t totally pleased with what was going on out there."

What had to be especially displeasing, however, was the goaltending in the Guelph game. Mark Kane struggled in the second period, allowing five goals on just nine shots. Friar fans have to hope that performance was simply one bad period in a meaningless exhibition game and not an omen of things to come. After last year’s erratic goaltending, however, that might be akin to convincing Sigmund Freud that sometimes a dream is just a dream.

On the plus side, freshman Boyd Ballard turned away all the third-period shots he faced in relief of Kane. Both of them. Two for two is a good start, but Ballard’s prowess remains an open question.

"I’ll have to see who plays well in practice before I decide who plays on Friday," said Pooley. PICK: With both teams very young, goaltending could prove decisive. Northeastern’s Marc Robitaille is rock-solid; Providence’s Mark Kane, Scott Swanjord and Boyd Ballard are still question marks. Northeastern 3-2.

UMass-Amherst (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at UMass-Lowell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Friday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA

The UMass-Lowell River Hawks downed Dalhousie last week 4-2 in an exhibition.

"It was a good first step for us," said coach Tim Whitehead. "There were some things we did well, and some things we didn’t do so well. But it’s very early and we’re a very young team. It’s going to take us quite a while to really get where we want to be as far as our systems, and playing defense first and all the little things that go along with that.

"Guys were thinking defense first, but they had to think about it instead of reacting, so it’s going to take us some time."

Still, for the most part, Whitehead liked what he saw.

"Especially the work ethic," he said. "Guys were really hungry and stuck together as a team. There were a lot of positives, but it was just one step. We’ve got a long way to go. There’s a lot of teaching that we have to do, and a lot of practice to get where we want to be."

With a team consisting of two-thirds freshmen and sophomores, Whitehead needs some young forwards to step up and contribute immediately. Two such candidates distinguished themselves against Dalhousie.

"I thought Brad Rooney and Nick Carso played well," said Whitehead. "Both were pleasant surprises. For their first game, they had an impact."

Meanwhile, late recruit Mark Fontas still awaits NCAA Clearinghouse approval. As such, he cannot practice or play with the team.

As has become an emerging tradition, UMass-Lowell hosts sister school UMass-Amherst for its home opener.

"It should be a good opening night," said Whitehead. "It’s becoming a good rivalry. We’re going to have our hands full. They’re an experienced team that I’m sure is ready to make the next step, so it’s a real big challenge for us.

"They’ve got a good, strong defense and goaltending. They’ve got a lot of talent up front. They’re a well-balanced team.

"I actually picked them to finish much higher than I guess the other coaches did [8th in the preseason poll]. I have a lot of respect for where that team is now. They’ve beaten us two out of three two years in a row, so we’ll certainly have our hands full."

UMass-Lowell proved better hosts for Dalhousie than UMass-Amherst. While the Lowell score was a respectable 4-2, the Minutemen whitewashed the Canadian school 7-0.

"It certainly was a nice start for us, but we realize it’s only an exhibition game," said coach Joe Mallen. "We had a variety of scorers, you certainly can’t do any better than not allowing any goals, and we saw some very positive signs.

"Tim Lovell looked very good. It was his first game back after not playing for a year. As the rust comes off, I think he’s going to be doing some great things for us."

While Kris Wallis, Nick Stephens and the injured Jeff Turner have gotten most of the ink regarding the freshmen class, two other important rookies got off to good starts against Dalhousie.

Matt Smith, a 6-6 defenseman from Brampton, Ont., played well, continuing a tradition of beef on the Minuteman blue line. Smith joins, among others, Brad Norton (6-5, 235), Dean Stork (6-3, 210), Kevin Tucker (6-5, 223) and the relatively diminutive Tom O’Connor (6-2, 205) and Mike Gaffney (6-1, 205). Apparently, cross-training sessions for this group involves playing line for the UMass football team.

The other significant rookie performance came from 6-4 Finnish goaltender Marcus Helanen, who played one period and is likely the heir apparent to Brian Regan’s job after Regan graduates this year.

"Brian Regan looked good," added Mallen. "He only had 10 or 12 saves, but he played very well."

Like Whitehead, Mallen admires his state school rival.

"I think they’re a good team," said Mallen. "They’re real strong in the goal with Marty Fillion. With Mike Nicholishen and Chris Libett they have two really outstanding defensemen. And they’ve got some good firepower up front with Greg Koehler and Shannon Basaraba and some of those guys. I think it’s really going to be a tight game."

PICK: Fillion – Regan, Nicholishen – Gaffney and Koehler – Lovell is a wash. The supporting cast decides it for Lowell, 3-2.

Boston College (1-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Notre Dame (3-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA)

Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce Athletic and Convention Center, South Bend, IN

Boston College opened its season with a 3-2 win over visiting Bowling Green. Even more impressive than the win, however, was the list of significant contributors.

Third-stringer Andy McLaughlin tended the nets well. He hopes to interject himself into the mix along with still-injured Mike Correia (out several more weeks with a popped hamstring) and freshman Scott Clemmensen, who broke his foot on Oct. 1, but got two strong practices under his belt before backing up McLaughlin for the BG game.

Fourth-liner Andy Powers scored one goal while freshmen defenseman Bobby Allen and Marty Hughes scored the others.

"That’s the thing that’s been missing in our program," said BC coach Jerry York. "We’ve always had some quality players, but we’ve never had the kind of depth you need in Hockey East."

Allen, in particular, played a very strong game both offensively and defensively. Just one game into the season, he already looks like a cinch for the All-Rookie team. Hughes also showed his offensive flair with the game-winning goal, which earned him Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors.

"That adds such a dimension to your team when you can add an offensive threat from the blue line," said York. "They both have had a history of scoring goals. They’re dangerous players. I’ve always felt that good teams can strike in a lot of different ways."

Although he didn’t score like his two freshmen defensive brethren, Rob Scuderi also showed a flair for hitting the home run pass and, aside from getting turned once, solid play in his own zone.

The transformation on the BC blue line is dramatic. The three freshmen are already playing better than the three of last year’s seniors that they replace. Not only did the rookies play well offensively, the entire BC defense allowed not a single breakaway, a statement all too rare last year.

Of course, before their enshrinement in the BC Hall of Fame is complete, they’ll need to duplicate last weekend’s efforts against better offensive teams than Bowling Green. But watching Bobby Allen, in particular, play just the one game reminds you of Nomar Garciaparra scooping up his first ground ball in spring training. He has the look…

In the Don’t Stop the Presses Department, Marty Reasoner and Brian Gionta looked dynamite together even though they didn’t score a point. It’s easy to see how they lit up Ottawa one week earlier. This duo will be tough to stop.

Notre Dame is one of the biggest early Western surprises. At the beginning of the season, coach Dave Poulin talked about the need to develop a winning mentality to take their fair share of the 12 one-goal losses the Fighting Irish sustained last year. So far, at least, that seems to be developing in light of a 4-3, 4-1 sweep over St. Cloud last weekend. They now stand 3-0-0, including, as do all CCHA teams, wins over Canadian teams.

Will they stick with Powlus at quarterback this week? Whoops, wrong Boston College-Notre Dame game.

The Fighting Irish had trouble scoring last year, averaging only 2.6 goals a game, but return six defensemen and starting goaltender Matt Eisler.

(For a more detailed look at Notre Dame from a CCHA perspective, check out this week’s CCHA Preview.)

PICK: Notre Dame wins the pigskin battle 28-27 when the Eagles go for two. But BC wins the important Clash of the Catholics this weekend, 4-2.

No. 4 New Hampshire (1-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Alaska-Anchorage (0-2-1, 0-0-0 WCHA) Friday, Saturday, 7 p.m., Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska

New Hampshire beat a rebuilding Vermont team 5-1 in UNH’s home opener, but coach Dick Umile fell far short of a ringing endorsement of his team’s play.

"After watching the film, I don’t think we played as bad as I might originally have thought," he said. "We just gave up more shots than I would have liked to in the first period. Sean Matile had to come up with two or three really good saves because we turned it over, but after that we settled down and played well in the second and third period."

In the two combined, UNH held the Catamounts to only 10 shots.

The second line of Mike Souza centering Derek Bekar and John Sadowski continued to shine, with Souza scoring twice to repeat the number one star honors he earned the previous week.

"He’s a goal-scorer, and he’s playing very well right now," said Umile. "That whole line is playing well."

Umile intends to play it by ear as far as his goaltending is concerned this weekend against Alaska-Anchorage. Matile is the starter, but freshman Matt Carney could see action either in relief or as a starter in one game.

An even greater unknown is how the team will react to the marathon road trip.

"I don’t know if there’s much we can do," said Umile. "We’re only going out the day before because of classes, obviously. We get out there sometime around two o’clock on Thursday. We’ll have a skate and hopefully by seven o’clock the next night, they’re ready to play.

"I’ve never taken a team out to Anchorage so I really don’t know how it will affect them, but it’s probably no worse than having to go out and play in Denver with the altitude changes. So we just have to find a way to get comfortable and get ready to play."

As for Alaska-Anchorage, this much is known. In Alaska, it can get pretty cold.

(For a more detailed look at them from a WCHA perspective, check out this week’s WCHA Preview.)

Okay, okay. Maybe you’d like a little more information from this column.

In short, Alaska-Anchorage is a touch football team playing amongst Purple People Eaters. Last year, under new coach Dean Talafous, the Seawolves committed a scant 90 penalties for 191 minutes in 32 league games, a mind-boggling average of less than three penalties a game. To put that in perspective, North Dakota, league runner-up for least penalty minutes, totaled 222 penalties for 534 minutes. Stunning numbers.

Whether through lack of aggressiveness or talent or both, however, the Seawolves had trouble scoring, averaging only 2.4 goals a game. Based on their two losses and a tie this year — 4-2 to Alberta and 5-5, 4-0 to Alaska-Fairbanks — that remains a problem.

On the plus side, Doug Teskey in goal is a strength.

PICK: Alaska Anchorage wins the battle of least PIMs, 4-18 amd 8-14, but UNH wins the war of W’s and L’s, 4-2, 6-1.

Merrimack (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Ohio State (1-1-0, 0-1-0 CCHA)

Friday, 7 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m., OSU Ice Rink, Columbus, Ohio

Based purely on Merrimack’s performance against Guelph last weekend, the Warriors look like a legitimate dark horse in Hockey East this year. Two weeks earlier, Guelph tied No. 2 Michigan State and one night later it beat Providence 6-3. Merrimack, however, humbled Guelph, holding a 9-1 lead at one point before the game slopped its way to a 10-5 finish.

"It looks like we have some guys who can score some goals," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. "But since we gave up five, we’re still not settled on our team defense."

In past years, the Warriors played tighter to the vest than they did down the stretch last season and in the Guelph exhibition. Is a change in playing style taking root at Merrimack?

"Your personnel has a lot to do with how you’re going to play," said Anderson. "We’re still not so sure that we don’t have good team defense. It’s something we work awfully hard on. Ideally, you have both, some offense and good team defense.

"We’re certainly not going to become a run-and-gun team. We’re going to become a team that still works hard on defense, but we’ve been trying for years to get some improved firepower up front. Hopefully, we’re getting closer to that stage."

The Guelph contest did little to clear the muddied goaltending waters, since the Warriors faced so few shots early and finished in a sloppy cruise control. Nonetheless, Cris Classen started and played about 30 minutes, recording seven saves while allowing one goal. Tom Welby played roughly 20 minutes in relief, stopping 12 shots and giving up two goals. Tim Thompson stopped three of five shots in the closing minutes.

"We saw pretty much what we thought we were going to see out of them," said Anderson. "That being the case, we’re still not settled on who we think are our best or who we’re going to play."

Looking ahead to Ohio State, Anderson noted that the Buckeyes already have an official game under their belt — a 3-0 loss to No. 7 Miami — in addition to a Canadian exhibition game, while his own squad has only played the Guelph exhibition.

"It’s early in the season for us," he said. "They’re a little further along than we are in their preparation for the season, so we expect to have two tough games out there."

Prior to Ohio State’s 3-0 loss to Miami, it defeated Toronto 5-0 one week earlier. The Buckeyes are led by sophomore goaltender Ray Aho, an honorable mention for the CCHA All-Rookie team. Fellow sophomores Hugo Boisvert (11-27–38) and Eric Meloche (12-11–23) lead the offense along with senior blueliner Ryan Root, who scored 35 points last year and was a force on the power play.

PICK: Ohio State does have a "real" game under its belt, a potential concern for the traditionally slow starting Merrimack. The Warriors also have nagging questions about their defense and goaltending. Still, this vote goes to the Warrior offense. They sweep this weekend, 5-4 and 5-3.

No. 3 Boston University (1-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Vermont (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, VT

Entering his 25th season at the BU helm, coach Jack Parker reflected on his position prior to last Saturday’s home opener.

"I was thinking before the game, I’m a pretty lucky guy," he said. "This is a nice way to make a living, getting jacked up for another college hockey season with a bunch of good guys to hang around and the prospects of a pretty good team."

His Terriers then did nothing to dampen the mood, dominating last week’s No. 10 team, Rensselaer, 6-0. Tom Noble tossed a shutout, while Chris Drury and defenseman Tom Poti continued to be the big guns in the Terrier offense. Still, Parker felt far from complacent following the win.

"We could go and get beat 5-1 by Vermont next week," he said after the game. "Sometimes it’s bad to have things go so easy in your first game. You pay the price for a while.

"Our whole philosophy here is progress, not perfection. We’d just like to make some progress game-to-game and see if we can get better during the early months of the season.

"I’ll go to practice tomorrow and tell the guys, ‘We’re not going to remain the same. We’re either going to get better, or we’re going to get worse.’

"It isn’t automatic that we’re going to play like we did tonight."

This year’s squad displays greater speed than past editions, but less size.

"That’s a big question mark with this team," said Parker. "We don’t have the look up front that we’ve had in the past. Last year we had Danny LaCouture, Billy Pierce and Matt Wright, who are all 200-pounders, fast skaters, and can really bang guys.

"Pete Donatelli will fill that role for us this year, and he’s done a good job so far for us, but we still don’t have those 6-2 guys. Therefore, we’ll play through guys, but we won’t be as physical a team.

"But we might be a little quicker than we’ve been the last few years, so that’s going to help."

Six freshmen got their first taste of official Division I action and performed well. The four new forwards were distributed over all but the top line, and Joe DiPenta and Colin Sheen saw time on the blue line.

"All the freshmen played extremely well," said Parker. "In particular, I thought Joe DiPenta looked like a junior or senior out there…. And Colin Sheen played very well considering that he’s a roverback out there playing with Poti."

Vermont lost to UNH last week 5-1. After the first period, the Catamounts were held to only 10 total shots. Look for more of the same this week.

Where have you gone, Martin St. Louis? Cat nation turns its lonely eyes to you (and Eric Perrin and Tim Thomas). Woo-woo-woo.

(For a more detailed look at Vermont from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: In a mere shadow of last year’s Battle of the Titans, Drury outscores UVM 2-1 and BU wins 5-1.

UMass-Lowell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at Rensselaer (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

Against BU last week, the Rensselaer Engineers didn’t skate, didn’t hit and didn’t come close to winning the game. Without a game under their belts, compared to BU’s two, they had none of the game conditioning they needed.

It’s now a week later and the tables are turned. They’ve completed a "real" game against an elite team while Lowell played an exhibition against Dalhousie.

This week, the Engineers get a shot at proving why they were the ECAC coaches’ pick to win their league. Their defensemen get to prove they are not, in fact, turnstiles. And Eric Healey, Matt Garver and Alain St.-Hilaire get to prove they’re not pretenders in the race for top Eastern line.

(For a more detailed look at Rensselaer from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: Lowell picked the wrong time to trek to Troy, New York. Rensselaer takes out frustrations pent up from last week’s embarrassment, 5-2.

Union (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at

Providence College (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

After hosting Northeastern on Friday night, (see the preview above) Providence then welcomes Union on Saturday. Union was the surprise of the ECAC last year, earning first-year coach Stan Moore ECAC Coach of the Year honors. Moore instilled a stifling defensive system and as a result the Skating Dutchmen finished a surprising fifth place.

Credit for much of that success also went to goaltender Trevor Koenig. While Vermont’s Tim Thomas and Clarkson’s Dan Murphy were expected before the season started to collect all the netminding awards, Koenig led the nation in goals against average (2.03) and save percentage (.931). He won the Dryden Award for the most outstanding goaltender in the ECAC, and earned first team All-ECAC and All-America honors.

Koenig’s supporting cast this year, however, looks shaky. The returning "Dirty Dozen" — the Dutchmen lost 13 players and returned 13 — include three of their top six scorers from last year: Brent Ozarowski (29 points), Ryan Campbell (20), and Mark Szucs (20). However, nine other forwards graduated as did four defensemen.

That adds up to a lot of holes in the dike for the Dutchmen to fill.

PICK: Koenig can’t do it all. Providence wins 4-2.

Although the season has barely begun, injuries to BU’s Chris Heron and both of Boston College’s goalies could have a significant impact on both teams’ chances this week.

And be sure to check out the Northeastern preview for some interesting developments in Husky-land.

Last week’s record in picks: 2-0 Season record in picks: 2-0

No. 8 Maine (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) at No. 7 Minnesota (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) Friday, 7:30 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN MSC, WABI-TV5 Saturday, 7:00 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN MSC

Maine opens its season with a road trip to Minnesota, where the Golden Gophers lost to the forget-the-rebuilding-let’s-reload Michigan Wolverines in the annual Hall of Fame game. The Gophers led 2-0 before the Wolverines came back to win, 3-2.

"I’m concerned about the fact that they’ve played a game," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "Much like Michigan State had an advantage over BU [in the Ice Breaker tournament], I see a similar advantage for Minnesota. They know a lot more about their team than we know about ours right now.

"They also have terrific speed up front and that concerns me."

The Gophers do return four of their top five scorers in forwards Ryan Kraft (25-21–46), Casey Hankinson (17-24–41), all-rookie selection Dave Spehar (20-17–37) and Reggie Berg (11-26–37).

However, they lost WCHA Player of the Year Mike Crowley, the defenseman who made their offense go. They also lost number two defenseman Brian LaFleur. Although the Black Bears also lost their top two defensemen, Jason Mansoff and Jeff Libby, the Minnesota blue line losses cut deeper. All-rookie pick Ben Clymer (7-13–20) is expected to pick up much of the slack.

Minnesota’s Steve ("Warm Up") DeBus (25-12-1, 3.15 GAA, .888 SV%) earned first-team All-WCHA honors and could be a critical advantage over Alfie Michaud (17-8-1, 3.09 GAA, .864 SV%), who is expected to get the nod both games.

"I’m fairly pleased with how we’ve come through camp," said Walsh. "We’re still not where we really need to be, though. Our freshmen especially are thinking a lot. Until they can start to play naturally it’s going to hurt us. We’re probably going to rely on six of them, although I’m not sure all six will play the first game."

Penalties could prove the decisive factor. Last year, Minnesota led the WCHA in penalty minutes (26.4 per game); Maine finished last in Hockey East (15.71 per game) and first in the nation in power-play efficiency (30.2 percent). If those tendencies haven’t changed with the the personnel, Maine could reap the benefits.

(For a more detailed look at Minnesota from a WCHA perspective, check out this week’s WCHA Preview.)

PICK: The safe pick would be a split, especially with already battled-tested Minnesota taking the opener, while Maine scrapes off the rust. But when your editor is a Minnesota fan, it pays to go for the jugular. Maine sweeps 4-3, 4-2.

No. 10 Rensselaer (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at No. 4 Boston University (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA WABU-TV68

BU split its games last weekend in the inaugural Ice Breaker Invitational. The Terriers lost, 3-1, to a Michigan State team that had already played a tune-up game, and then beat Clarkson, 5-4.

What created a lot of attention, however, was not the on-ice action, but the off-ice discussions over whether the games should be treated as exhibitions or not. As noted here last week, BU coach Jack Parker left no doubt about where he stood on the matter.

"We only have six days of practice before we play those games," he said at the time. "They’re definitely not going to count."

Clarkson coach Mark Morris seconded that sentiment. "We entered into the agreement to participate under the notion that it was going to be two exhibition games," he said. "All the coaches agreed at dinner that that was the case. That was the notion that all the coaches were under going into the tournament."

Nonetheless, controversy erupted. Soon NCAA officials were being consulted.

"The fact is that the NCAA allows us to play X amount of games," said Parker. "If they’re going to give us more games, we can play more. At any time, we can call them exhibitions.

"For example, we play 34 games every year. If we would like to play an exhibition game, we could call RPI in the middle of the summertime and say, ‘Instead of playing that first game as a real game, let’s play it as an exhibition game. We’ll only play 33 real games and one exhibition.’ As far as the NCAA is concerned, we still played 34 games. Only 33 of them are going to count. We can do that any time we want….

"We didn’t decide the day before that we were going to play exhibitions. We decided last spring when we signed the contract that we were going to play exhibitions.

"Where people thought the NCAA would get involved in this, I have no idea. The NCAA doesn’t get involved in this. It’s not the NCAA’s business. They said we could play 36 games. We could play 30 of them as real games and six as exhibitions if we wanted to."

One the ice, the Terriers met with predictable results — in fact, almost the exact results picked here last week. They faced a Michigan State team that, like BU, had been picked to win its conference, but had also been on ice for two weeks to the Terriers five days and already had played a game against Canadian university champion Guelph.

"I thought we all played much better the second night after having the first game under our belts," said Parker. "I thought we were kind of lethargic and legless the first night, but that’s expected. We only had five days of practice.

"I thought Drury played extremely well and most of our defensemen played well, especially Tom Poti and freshman Joe DiPenta."

Drury scored three goals and added an assist, earning him the first of what is certain to be many Player of the Week honors.

Poti totaled two goals and two assists. Unlike some offensive defensemen who give back almost as many in their own zone as they create in the opponent’s, Poti was not on the ice for a single goal.

Unfortunately, Chris Heron fractured his shoulder and will be out six to eight weeks. Heron came on strong last year and was expected to be a key contributor up front.

This week, the Terriers host Rensselaer, the team picked first in the ECAC’s preseason coaches’ poll.

"We had all we could handle with Clarkson and RPI was picked higher than Clarkson," said Parker. "They didn’t have a senior last year, so they have everybody back from last year’s squad. They’ll be an experienced team.

"We have the advantage of playing at home, obviously, and hopefully we’ll take advantage of that."

Rensselaer features All-American Eric Healey, who scored 30 goals and 56 points last year while teamed up with Matt Garver (44 points) and center Alain St.-Hilaire (40 points).

Partisans of the two leagues may debate the merits of those three compared to Drury and any two warm bodies, or UNH’s Jason Krog, Mark Mowers and Tom Nolan. Whatever the outcome of that debate, Rensselaer clearly has a formidable weapon in its three big guns.

Additionally, the Engineers rely on a experienced defense and two sophomore goaltenders, Scott Prekaski and Joel Laing, who split time equally.

(For a more detailed look at Rensselaer from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: BU pulls out a 4-3 thriller.

Bowling Green (0-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Boston College (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

My kingdom for a goalie.

No doubt, that is what BC coach Jerry York is thinking. Freshman goaltender Scott Clemmensen fractured a bone in his right foot on Oct. 1 catching a football as part of a preseason workout. Although initially expected to return to practice last Friday and play against Bowling Green, that estimate has proven too optimistic. He will miss the Bowling Green game and is questionable against Notre Dame the following weekend.

Returning goaltender Mike Correia popped his left hamstring during an intrasquad scrimmage and is expected out four to five weeks.

"They’re just barely walking around," said a rueful York.

Which leaves no one but Andy McLaughlin between the pipes. Literally. In BC’s 10-0 exhibition thumping of Ottawa, McLaughlin, BC’s third-stringer, was the only netminder dressed.

"We did not have a backup," said York. "If Andy had gone down, I don’t know what we’d have done."

The BC staff is hoping to receive NCAA Clearinghouse approval for George Barker, a freshman who played some high school hockey but had expected only to play intramurals so had never submitted the paperwork. Early in the week, he had been cleared to practice, but not yet to play. Old-timers will be fumbling through their cerebral cobwebs to remember the last time a team suited up only one goalie for a Division I contest.

Otherwise, the Eagles look primed to take off after having whipped the same Ottawa squad that held Northeastern to a 3-3 tie one night earlier.

"Ottawa was probably tired after playing Northeastern the night before," said York. "But given that context, we moved the puck exceptionally well for early in the season. Our special teams were very good and we got steady goaltending from Andy McLaughlin."

Much of the Eagles’ hopes this year ride on the shoulders of their three freshman defensemen: Bobby Allen, Marty Hughes and Rob Scuderi.

"All three stepped in and really pleased the coaching staff with their performance," said York. "They all collectively moved the puck from the zone very well. That’s a key to college hockey. If you can move the puck, it prevents the long forecheck."

Freshman forward Brian Gionta earned Rookie of the Week honors with five points against Ottawa. The 5′ 7" dynamo played on Marty Reasoner’s line, a pairing that should create headaches for opposing defensemen all year long.

Getting the job done against an overmatched Canadian team, however, is a far cry from beating the Hockey East iron.

Bowling Green doesn’t fit the iron category either, though. The Falcons graduated the potential All-Americans — Curtis Fry, Mike Johnson and Kelly Perrault — that York recruited before coming East. Defenseman Peter Ratchuk also unexpectedly turned pro.

Tragically, Dan Price, a 17-goal scorer last year, is also unavailable. He was the driver in an automobile accident that killed a passenger and also injured Price’s knee. Police say that alcohol was a factor.

Small wonder, then, that they lost 3-0 last weekend to Western Michigan. BG coach Buddy Powers must be shaking his head, wondering what can go wrong next.

"[The losses] change their whole complexion," said York. "They were more of a senior-oriented team last year. I’m sure Buddy will have a good group of players. I’m just not as familiar with them as last year. But I think it’ll be a good test for both teams."

(For a more detailed look at Bowling Green from a CCHA perspective, check out this week’s CCHA Preview.)

PICK: BC passes the test with flying colors, 5-2. If this were the NHL, third-stringer Andy McLaughlin would be renegotiating his contract.

Vermont (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at No. 6 New Hampshire (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

Last weekend, UNH beat New Brunswick 6-1, in a game coach Dick Umile used primarily to evaluate talent and prepare for the season opener against Vermont. As a result, he got to see his three freshmen defensemen — Eric Lind, Sean Austin and Mark White — play a fair number of minutes, freshman native son Corey-Joe Ficek score a goal, and backup netminder Matt Carney stop what little third-period action came his way.

"Lind, Austin, and White are going to help us," said Umile. "They’re good, strong kids. Carney handled himself fine and the local kid, Ficek, played real well. We were pleased with the kids. We were looking to see what they could bring to the table."

The first line of Mark Mowers, Jason Krog and Tom Nolan should be unstoppable. All three had over 50 points last year and deserved All-Hockey East berths, though injury and ballot-splitting kept Nolan off the team. Against Ottawa, the line generated one glittering chance after another but failed to capitalize until the final five minutes.

So, Coach, were you thinking of benching them for the Vermont game?

"They were driving me crazy," said a laughing Umile. "Instead of little, short passes, they were trying to hit home runs. They were driving me nuts."

Count on Nolan, Mowers and Krog to drive Vermont nuts this week.

The second line of Derek Bekar, Mike Souza and John Sadowski was the best surprise of the Ottawa game. Brad English also delivered two solid hits on his first shift and could be an important physical role player on the fourth line. Although the third line consisted of Rob Gagnon, Jason Shipulski and Dylan Dellezay, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Ficek replace Dellezay there before long.

"The third line looked like the third line last year," said Umile, referring to last year’s "S line" of Souza, Shipulski and Sadowski. That pairing provided effective counterpunching to teams worn down trying to defend Boguniecki & Company on the top two lines.

Souza, a sophomore, provided the best assessment after the Ottawa game.

"This wasn’t Maine, and it wasn’t Boston University, and, more importantly, it wasn’t Vermont, who we’re playing next week," he said. "These guys were okay, but I think Vermont will be tougher in the offensive zone, so we’ll have to bear down a little more."

Vermont somehow won’t look the same without The Elves — Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin — darting this way and that up ice, not to mention Tim Thomas, a brick wall in the nets for most of four years. The three graduated All-Americans leave King Kong-sized skates to fill.

Stephane Piche, who played both with and against St. Louis and Perrin as a youngster, will be looked upon the make the biggest step up offensively. Three untested faces — James Tierney, Andrew Allen and Marty Phillips — will be looking to replace Thomas in the Catamount nets. Simon Tremblay and Jason Reid are the only sure-fire returning blueliners.

Looks like a lot of holes for the UNH snipers to draw their cross hairs on.

(For a more detailed look at Vermont from an ECAC perspective, check out this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: UNH in a first-round TKO, 5-1.

Bowling Green (0-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Northeastern (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA

The times, they are a-changin’.

"I had three kids among my better players last year show up and do the two-mile run in 17 1/2 minutes, one in 16 3/4 and one in 16 1/2," said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder. "In a two-mile run! And they’re supposed to be Division I athletes! By the time you get them in shape, the season’s half over."

Crowder determined that this season would not be a repeat.

"This year, we put a lot of accountability into the kids coming back," said Crowder. "They had to send us every month what they were doing. We’ve seen some great improvements in kids. You can see some kids have an extra quicker step."

The noticeable improvements, however, were not universal. Eric Kaminski, the fourth-leading Husky scorer last year, has temporarily left the team.

"Eric is looking to get himself in shape before he’s allowed to come back," said Crowder. "He’s no different than anyone else. It’s basically in Eric’s hands right now."

One player who surprisingly will not be back is Brian Addesa, one of only two Husky defensemen who played in more than 20 games last season. Addesa, who was involved in 31, was cut.

"We told everybody coming back from last year’s team that it was going to be a dogfight," said Crowder. "We were going to have kids coming in that were going to push kids. If kids weren’t ready for it, or didn’t come up a step, [they’d be in trouble.]

"We felt that Brian needed to take it up a step anyways. We just felt looking at him that that didn’t really happen. In all honesty, any time you get into a rebuilding situation, if you’re going to be successful, you have to get in the habit of recruiting better than what you have. It’s just the nature of the beast."

Northeastern tied an Ottawa squad, 3-3, that BC would shellack 10-0 the following night. Even so, the Huskies dominated all but the second period despite playing only two juniors or seniors.

The line of Roger Holeczy, Todd Barclay and Billy Newson looked particularly good. So, too, did the new faces on the blue line: freshmen John Peterman, who looks like the power-play quarterback the Huskies lacked last year, Mike Jozefowicz and Arik Engbrecht, along with junior transfer David Dupont.

"We have to clean up our neutral zone defense," cautioned Crowder. "There were a lot of situations that we gave up opportunities where our defense was pinching. We also have to clean up our discipline after the whistle. And we’ve got to take care of finishing. We had opportunities, we just didn’t finish."

(Bowling Green is profiled above in its game with Boston College. For a more detailed look at Bowling Green from a CCHA perspective, check out this week’s CCHA Preview.)

PICK: Northeastern gets a feel-good start to its season, 3-2.

Guelph at Merrimack (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Exhibition Friday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Canadian university champion Guelph takes on Merrimack and Providence in exhibition games this weekend. Guelph will be no pushover. Although outshot by third-ranked Michigan State 49-12, it still held on for a 3-3 tie.

For Merrimack, this will be the first chance to sort out its goaltending puzzle. Although Cris Classen was considered the heir apparent to the job, he’s had mixed results in intrasquad scrimmages. Tim Thompson looked exceptional in one, but ordinary in the other. Such competitions, however, must be taken with a grain of salt.

The same is true for the Merrimack defense. Andrew Fox, Tony White and Mike Rodrigues must make the step from bit players to significant contributors. Otherwise, it will be a long year for whoever is in the Warrior nets.

One new defenseman who has looked outstanding is Steve Moon. Moon, however, is ineligible to play this year because he played in three major junior exhibitions a few years ago. Next year, after sitting out the first three games, he will begin play as a sophomore. "John Jakopin in his junior year" and "monster" are just some of the phrases used by salivating Merrimack followers to describe his play. As Red Sox fans are wont to say, wait till next year.

Based on the scrimmages, the offense won’t have to wait for anything. It looks like run-and-gun time in North Andover this year. The first line of Rejean Stringer, Kris Porter and Chris Halecki poured in 12 goals in the two scrimmages. The second line of captain Martin Laroche, Casey Kesselring and Sandy Cohen totaled seven, with five for Laroche.

A potential third line shapes up of bull-in-a-china-shop Jayson Philbin and long-time prep school linemates Vince Clevenger and Ron Mongeau, who look to prove that the total can indeed be more than the sum of its parts.

Of course, while the intrasquad scrimmages point to giddy offensive prospects, they don’t exactly provide ringing endorsements for the defense and goaltending, Merrimack’s potential Achilles’ heels.

PICK: Merrimack wins 4-3.

Guelph at Providence College (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Exhibition Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

Providence fans will be looking to see how freshman goalie Boyd Ballard performs. The early returns are good, but at this point we’re only talking about the Dixville Notch votes. Ballard, or returnees Mark Kane and Scott Swanjord, will need to be more consistent than Dan Dennis was last year for the Friars to return to the FleetCenter.

Captain Mike Mader, one of only two seniors, likes what he’s seen of the freshmen.

"Boyd Ballard has been a pleasant surprise," he said. "The rest of the freshmen are all big. Everyone is over six feet. Jay Leach is a big defenseman. He’s 6-4, 210. He’s a mobile defenseman for a big kid.

"Heath Gordon looks pretty good. They all look good. They’re all big and physical. They’ll add a lot to our team.

"I don’t think we were physical enough last year. We got beat up at times. We ended on a sour note when we didn’t make the FleetCenter in Hockey East, so that drove us this summer to get back to the FleetCenter and see what we can do from there.

"We’ve got to own the boards and own the corners. That’s huge for us. With these guys being so big, I think we can overpower teams with our strength and with our speed."

PICK: Providence wins 2-1.

Dalhousie at UMass-Lowell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Exhibition Saturday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA

UMass-Lowell opens its schedule with an exhibition against Dalhousie. The River Hawks will be moving into the Tsongas Arena later this season, but will be staying put in the Tully Forum until the new facility is ready.

At present, the target opening date is Dec. 6 against UNH. If that schedule slips, the school would seem likely to opt for Jan. 23, when it hosts Providence. That would be the first home game following the return of students for the spring semester.

Coach Tim Whitehead will be looking to see who will fill the nets following the graduation of Neil Donovan, Ryan Sandholm and Marc Salsman. The obvious answer is Hockey East Rookie of the Year Greg Koehler. Beyond Koehler, however, the returning forwards will have to step it up a notch and the incoming freshmen will need to contribute right away.

The River Hawk power play will also bear watching in this game, since the departed trio were all members of the top unit. During Lowell’s successful first-half run last year, their special teams ranked among the best in the league.

PICK: Lowell 4-1.

Dalhousie at UMass-Amherst (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE) Exhibition Sunday, 2 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

In Amherst, the Minutemen encountered tough luck when premier recruit Jeff Turner broke his leg at the end of the first practice. He is expected out until at least January. Although this is a significant blow, coach Joe Mallen likes what he sees so far out of two other forward recruits, Kris Wallis and Nick Stephens.

Will Tim Lovell show some rust after sitting out all of last year? He’ll need to contribute right away for the Minutemen since they follow this exhibition with eight league games. How quickly the team gets out of the chute will go a long way to determining its ultimate fate in the league standings.

PICK: UMass-Amherst 4-2.

Dave Hendrickson is the Hockey East Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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