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College Hockey Weekend Recap

November 30, 2020, 6:15 PM ET [0 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
College Hockey Spotlight • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Arizona State sweeps Wisconsin as COVID strikes Badgers

Already without Edmonton Oilers prospect Dylan Halloway as he remains in Red Deer for Team Canada’s World Junior camp, the Badgers were even more shorthanded this weekend in what ended up as a pair of losses to Arizona State, the first two wins of the Sun Devils’ season.

Four Badgers' forwards were forced to sit out both games this past weekend due to COVID-19 related issues.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the four players forced to quarantine were forwards Roman Ahcan, Tarek Baker, Dominick Mersch and Ty Pelton-Byce. One of the four forwards tested positive for COVID-19, while the other three were kept away from the team due to personal contact with the contracted player. It’s unknown which of the four tested positive.

The Badgers could only roll out nine forwards for their weekend set with two defensemen jumping up to play forward.

“We went with what we had as far as healthy bodies and bodies that were able to play. "Let’s not kid ourselves, if we look around sports, this is what’s happening. You’re going to be in positions sometimes where you don’t have full lineups and you try to make the most of it,” Wisconsin coach Tony Granato said.

Prior to their series with the Badgers, Arizona State had scored just two goals in four contests, but the Sun Devils exploded for eight goals on Saturday and three on Sunday led by senior James Sanchez and Jax Murray who each had three points during the weekend

Boston College kicks season off with sweep of UMass

After a cancelation the weekend prior, and swapping Providence for UMass as opponents, the Eagles of Boston College finally hit the ice this past weekend, taking both entertaining contests against UMass. BC and UMass were ranked one and two in Hockey East’s preseason poll.

“Very excited heading back to BC with an excellent win for us tonight against I think a UMass team that is going to be capable of going right to the championship with a number of us. Watching them play without two good defensemen, I thought they impressed me an awful lot,” said BC head coach Jerry York.

While encouraged with how his team responded after trailing by two goals on Friday night, and putting forth a solid effort on Saturday with a young d-core that was missing two of its top defenseman in Marc Del Gaizo and Ty Farmer due to injury, UMass head coach Greg Carvel wasn’t too crazy about the 4:30 PM start time Saturday after a 6:00PM puck drop on Friday.

“I don’t like these 6:00 and then 4:30 [games]. It’s not the right thing to do to the players. We did it, apparently, because of TV, I guess, if that’s a reason. I don’t like it. You have to travel to Boston, back, travel after the game, and then play at 4:30. It’s not enough recovery time. These games are hard. I think it’s unfair to the players,” said Carvel.

“I don’t know why we can’t take a day off in between to allow for proper — I know why, it’s TV. We want to get games on TV, and unfortunately, we’re the only teams playing. So I understand why we’re doing it, I just hope that going forward, we get more teams playing and that — you know, if teams are a couple hours apart, there should be a day in between games, because it’s a lot to ask to turn around and play less than 24 hours later.”

The ride from Boston College to UMass Amherst is approximately 1:45.

Northeastern postpones winter sports until Dec. 18

Last week Northeastern was forced to postpone winter sports due to a small cluster of recent COVID-19 cases that led to quarantining athletes on five varsity teams the school said in a statement last week.

All games and practices through Dec.18 have been postponed.

"When you're making a decision of this magnitude, the number one priority is the wellness and safety of the student-athletes," athletic director Jeff Konya said. "Analyzing the facts as we know them right now, this decision gives us our best chance of conducting intercollegiate athletics in an appropriate way in mid-December."

According to Konya the outbreaks were in women’s basketball, women’s hockey and both men’s and women’s track and field. To date, the men’s hockey team has not come back with any positive tests.

USA. Hockey unveils 2021 Junior Team preliminary roster

On Monday, USA hockey named 29 players to their preliminary roster for its 2021 U.S. National Junior Team. The group will head to Michigan for camp beginning on Dec. 6. Of the 29 camp invites 24 are currently playing for a NCAA program.

Goalies: Drew Commesso (Boston University) & Spencer Knight (Boston College)

Defensemen: Brock Faber (Minnesota), Drew Helleson (Boston College), Ryan Johnson (Minnesota), Jackson LaCombe (Minnesota), Cam McDonald (Providence), Jake Sanderson (North Dakota), Alex Vlasic (Boston University) & Cam York (Michigan)

Forwards: John Beecher (Michigan), Matthew Beniers (Michigan), Brett Berard (Providence), Matthew Boldy (Boston College), Thomas Bordeleau (Michigan), Bobby Brink (Denver), Brendan Brisson (Michigan), Cole Caufield (Wisconsin), Sam Colangelo (Northeastern), Robert Mastrosimone (Boston University), Patrick Monyhihan (Providence) & Landon Slaggert (Notre Dame)

Non-Conference

Postponed Games:

Minnesota State @ Bemidji State 11/23

Bemidji State @ Minnesota State 11/27

Bemidji State @ Minnesota State 11/28

Completed Games:

RIT (8) Clarkson (5) 11/27
Boston College (4) UMass (3) *Hockey East flex game 11/27

Boston College (6) UMass (3) *Hockey East flex game 11/28
Arizona State (8) Wisconsin (5) 11/28

Clarkson (5) RIT (1) 11/29
Arizona State (3) Wisconsin (1) 11/29

Big Ten

Completed Games:

Wisconsin (6) Penn State (3) 11/23
Minnesota (4) Ohio State (1) 11/23

Wisconsin (7) Penn State (3) 11/24
Minnesota (2) Ohio State (0) 11/24

Notre Dame (3) Michigan (2) 11/27

Michigan State (3) Ohio State (2) 11/28
Notre Dame (2) Michigan (1) 11/28

Ohio State (4) Michigan State (2) 11/29

Atlantic Hockey

Postponed Games:

Holy Cross @ Bentley 11/27

Bentley @ Holy Cross 11/28

Completed Games:

AIC (3) Air Force (1) 11/27
Canisius (5) Robert Morris (2) 11/27

AIC (2) Air Force (1) 11/28
Robert Morris (5) Canisius (4) 11/28
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