By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
The topsy-turvy nature of this college hockey season was on full display once again over Halloweekend, with even more upsets and high-scoring games all over the country. Several Bruins prospects took advantage of the chaos and landed on the scoresheet, whether they were extending point streaks or breaking droughts, with a few doubling down.
Will Zellers (RW) – North Dakota – Zellers logged a goal and an assist over NoDak’s weekend split with Minnesota-Duluth. He recorded the primary assist on Ben Strinden’s game-tying goal with the extra attacker as the Fighting Hawks stormed back from down 3-1 in the third period to force overtime on Friday. He then scored the eventual game-winner on the power play Saturday night, deking past a Duluth defender and beating the goaltender for a second-period lead they would not relinquish. Following the weekend series, Zellers sits in a four-way tie for second in team scoring with 3-3-6 in eight games.
James Hagens (C) – Boston College – Hagens’ season-opening point streak came to an end on Halloween night, but not before he extended it to six games on Thursday. He tallied a power-play assist on the Eagles’ only goal of the night, as his one timer made its way around the boards to fellow Bruin Oskar Jellvik, who threw it on goal for Teddy Stiga to deflect in. The Eagles have hit a rough patch over the last few weeks, dropping their previous three games against Denver and Northeastern, the latter of which was a shutout loss. Despite being left off the scoresheet on Friday, Hagens is still playing at a point-per-game pace and leading BC in scoring with 3-4-7 in seven games.
Ryan Walsh (C ) – Cornell – Walsh debuted as the captain of the Big Red over the weekend with a road split against UMass. He logged a pair of power-play assists in the 3-1 Saturday night win, setting up the eventual game winner and third-period insurance goal.
Philip Svedeback (G) – Providence – Svedeback stopped 25 of 27 UMass-Lowell shots to earn his second win of the season in the Friars’ 5-2 win on Halloween night. The Swedish netminder looks to have found his game after opening the season with back-to-back losses, having not lost a game since and allowing two or fewer goals in three of his last four starts. The win represented the 48th of his career, good for fifth all-time in Friar program history, and inching closer to fourth place in the record books behind Bill Milner’s 50 wins from 1975-79.
Jonathan Morello (C) – Boston University – Morello snapped a five-game point drought with a shorthanded assist in BU’s 8-5 Saturday night loss against Maine. The freshman now has four points on the season, two of which have come while shorthanded. The Terriers are tied for second in the country with four shorthanded goals, thanks in part to Morello’s efforts on the penalty kill.
Looking Ahead: The next week’s slate gets an early start with Mason Langenbrunner, Chris Pelosi & Elliott Groenewold all in action on Tuesday night. Langenbrunner and Harvard host Stonehill in their home opener, while Pelosi & Groenewold host the Alaska Nanooks.
As for the weekend, Langenbrunner will host Walsh and Cornell on Friday, and then Colgate on Saturday night. The Big Red will stay on the road and play Dartmouth after visiting the Crimson. Pelosi & Groenewold will take on local rivals Yale on Friday, and then head to Providence to play Brown to wrap up their weekend.
Morello and Svedeback each have Hockey East home-and-homes coming up. BU will host Merrimack, then head to North Andover on Saturday, while Providence will start on the road in Storrs before returning home for the second leg. Hagens, Dean Letourneau, Will Moore, and Kristian Kostadinski will take the long drive up to Burlington for a weekend series against Vermont.
It remains unclear if Oskar Jellvik will join them, having returned to the lineup last Thursday night against Northeastern, but he did not play on Friday at Matthews Arena. According to Mark Divver, Andre Gasseau has been ruled out until at least January due to a wrist injury.
Zellers and the Fighting Hawks will journey down to Omaha for a weekend set. Beckett Hendrickson and the skidding Minnesota Golden Gophers will welcome Notre Dame to open up their Big Ten home schedule at Mariucci Arena.
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