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How Good is Lawton Zacher? - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to This Week in Hockey East.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue here with Eric Galante.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: This week we'll be joined by Holy Cross women's head coach Katie La Chapelle.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And like at both the men's and women's slate of Hockey East games this weekend.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And first, let's get to the tonight's Friday night Hockey East on Nessing Game.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's UMass at BC.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Eric, it's a sellout crowd at Connie Forum.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, another one here for Boston College on a Friday night.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Should be fun.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Can't wait to be there.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Does it feel like Boston College kind of figured it out last weekend?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna see.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh their first sweep of the season.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: They get Vermont on the road.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: A two-to-one win, a really hard-fought win that they had to hold on to in game number one, and then a five-nothing victory, their best offensive game of the season in game number two.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I thought a couple of interesting notes.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, seven different goal scorers over the weekend for Boston College, and none of them were named Hagen's or Stega.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you're seeing a little bit of the potential depth of BC, and that's without Andre Gasot, and that's without Oscar Yelvik, who was a little bit banged up and he didn't play Saturday's game after playing Friday.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was also interesting because one of the things that we've seen, Bridget, with Boston College so far is they've generated their chances, it's felt like, but they've been underperforming their expected goals, right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: In that Denver game, in that Northeastern series with Lawton Zaccher playing so well.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about him a little bit later in the show.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Last weekend was the opposite.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: They outperformed their expected goals.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it feels like that's a positive sign for the offense coming along.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just, you know, a guy I want to talk about, you know, we talk about Haggins a lot.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about Laterno in a second.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: But the guy who's kind of been really an X Factor, I think, is Landon Recendis for Boston College.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: He scored the game-winning goal on Friday.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we talk about freshmen, we talk about guys coming in.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Can you get comfortable in hockey east?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get comfortable with college hockey?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's been the guy that's had to go up and down the card as the Eagles have been banged up with Gasso out, with Yelvik out, with whatever the case may be.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we've seen him on the fourth line, we've seen him on the first line, we've seen him on the second line.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's played well everywhere he's been, scores the game-winning goal, using his speed.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's not the biggest guy in the world by any means, but he kind of plays with a little bit of a punch.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: He's willing to be physical, he's willing to get into the dirty areas, but he can play with pace so well.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that goal was huge on Friday.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Not just the fact that it was the game winner, but it came right after BC gave up the lead late in that game when they were up 1-0.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a really important victory and a big goal late for Recendus.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: The other offensive piece, I think their power play feels like it's back.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little bit of a struggle last year.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like the percentage jumps off the page in a crazy way, but they're scoring, right?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: A one for six, a one for five.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not a great, great percentage, but it's shown it can be dangerous.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the guys who's getting power play minutes now, Bridget, is Dean Laterno.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's getting first power play minutes with some of those injuries that you mentioned, Eric.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he's been scoring consistently.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: He had another goal Friday against Vermont.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: He has three goals this season, so that makes him tied for the team lead in goals with both Haggins and Jake Sandrial.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he's playing on that line with Sandrial and vote.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's been an extremely effective line so far.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that line's been great.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think they'll keep it together.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: The last point is Luca Clucci has been awesome.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: The last couple of games here.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he was really good against Northeastern.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know we get a loss to Lawton Zachary, but I thought he was good on Friday at Matthews two weeks ago.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then last weekend, 50 saves, one goal allowed the Hockeys rookie of the week.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, he's kind of settling in really nicely.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about UMass a little bit.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Which UMass team do we get here, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Last weekend, tale of two games.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thursday, they lose 6'2.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: They get outshot 54 to 16.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: But as Greg Carvel talked about, we changed our approach a little bit and how we talked to the team after that game.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he was really, really proud of the way his team bounced back and they put together a four to nothing victory on Friday with a couple of power play goals.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Natalie will talk a little bit more on the broadcast about some of that locker room messaging, but he felt like it was a chance for him to believe in his team and how they responded from that loss on Thursday.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: We still don't know about Michael Krobel.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's listed as day-to-day.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Jackson Irving was as good as he could have been, you know, really didn't get much help on Thursday.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: He still combined to make 85 saves between Thursday and Friday's game and ended up being the hockey's goalie of the week.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you talked about Jackson Irving, and something that Carl mentioned about him is he's just a great uh locker room guy.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's a favorite.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's really well loved by his teammates.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if he's back in this weekend, I think you know you're still gonna get good goaltending no matter who you go with there.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And some other players to keep an eye on this weekend.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Mikey D'Angelo, the sophomore transfer from Michigan State.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Carvel says he's finally feeling healthy for the first time in a while.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's absolutely flying in practice, Carvel was saying.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So look out for him.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And Bo Cosman coming back from injury, another uh good locker room guy, team first guy, Carvel said.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he's an important part of this team's identity, and he can also add speed and energy to the UMass lineup.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we have to bring up Jack Musa as well, playing really well still, as he has been most of the season.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: He is now tied for first place in Hockey East in points with 15 points, tied up there with Cole Hudson, as you see the top five scoring leaders in Hockey East right now.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked about it a little bit, Jack Musa, who is selected to the United States select roster that's going to compete in the Spangler Cup, Bridget.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, just a veteran player who's been so important to UMass over the years.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned Cole Hudson, though.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let's transition to that game.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: BU gets Quinnipiac, just a one game on Saturday in a key matchup between number 10, Quinnipiac, number 14, BU.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: A chance to continue the win streak a little bit here for the Terriers.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you talked about Cole Hudson.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's the service credit union scoring leader of the week.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: He had two goals in BU series with Merrimack, including the overtime game winner last Friday.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: He leads Hockey East with 15 points.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he has a chance to continue his point streak heading into this game against number 10 Quinnipiac.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's got points in the last six games.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And another important thing to keep in mind, BU's getting healthier.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Cole Eiserman trending towards playing this weekend.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Nick Rukinakis, who hasn't played at all this season due to injury, shed the non-contact jersey this week.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a chance for both of these guys to get back in the lineup this weekend.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the Terriers fare as they get the non-conference game this weekend.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: We have plenty more to talk about on the show, a lot of big matchups this week.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: But coming up next, we're going to speak with Holy Cross women's head coach Katie LaChapelle.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: The Crusaders are off to one of the best starts in Hockey East so far.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is next.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Stay with us right here on This Week in Hockey East.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, folks, to This Week in Hockey East.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Time to bring our guest in for the week.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Plan your fall getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Katie LaChappelle joins us, the head coach of Holy Cross.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, thanks so much for being here.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about your start a little bit.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nine and four, best start in program history.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And even of your four losses, three have been by one goal so far, and the other one was a goal plus an empty netter.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: What has been the biggest key to you guys getting off to such a fast start?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I just think uh we're way more consistent this year.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, maybe last year there were times where uh we felt like maybe we didn't have a good period or something like that, and um it kind of trickled into the next period where now our kids are, I think the resiliency is there and we're bouncing back a little quicker from um shifting momentum.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I just think we're creating a lot more offense.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're moving our feet more, and I just think we've got a really motivated team this year that that feels like we can do really well.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they're they're you know, when they're talking amongst themselves about uh those types of things and it's not always coming from the coaches, um, I think that's a really good sign.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And confidence is is something that everybody talks about when you get off to a good start.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen that confidence start to build?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And what is that doing for your team?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you certainly have, and I think you know, a lot of the things with with us are our older players are are so good about bringing in our younger players because they know um if you feel good, if you feel comfortable in school, if you feel comfortable socially, um, if you feel like you're immersing your team and you're not just a freshman or a first year.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, our group knows that people play play better that way.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so I think our group does a really good job of making sure that um we're bringing people in the right way and everybody feels comfortable and everybody's each other's biggest fan.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I think that helps with performance on the ice.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Katie, one thing that stood out looking at you guys is just the shot numbers so far this year.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Second most in hockey, sixth in the country, most in hockey, I should say, sixth in the country.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Is that been a point of emphasis for you guys this year?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Has it kind of just been the way that games have played out?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: What has stood out to you about your shot numbers and the chances that you guys are creating offensively?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's something we talk about.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's we have game goals and and you know, we have that in some of our game goals.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a I think a good focus here this year on a few of those things where higher shot numbers, lower shots against.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so we've been hitting those marks a lot.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the the group is seeing that when we hit those marks, the the outcome is positive.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so they're they're able to focus on something.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: These kids here are are so smart academically that giving them something that they can see, I think has been helpful.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh, you know, I give credit to our you know our staff, um, you know, um with Janine and Ed and Christina really thinking that that's something we needed to make sure our kids are um looking at.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, the uh the older coach in me is bought into the stats a little bit more um thanks to them.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's been helping our kids see results.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be excited from what you've seen from your freshman Violet Carroll so far.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: She gets Hockey East rookie of the month.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's allowed her to be so successful so early on in her collegiate career?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, she's just an like an awesome kid and and um has a really good way about her and and is just a hard worker.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: And she did a lot, honestly, over the summer too, you know, some working on her skating and things like that to be college ready, like right from the start.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we've got her, we've got her lined up with Naomi Herzig, uh, who is also another rookie.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I think that they have some good chemistry there and they're comfortable with each other.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, most of this year they've been playing with Lane Lewis and Lane's a senior, um, really calm presence.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I think that's helped them as well, where that they just talk a lot about, you know, when they go down from a shift, but they all three love hockey, they work so hard and and they've they've definitely got a lot of skill.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and when you have a line that's like that, I think it helps everybody be successful.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, kind of taking that point and expanding on it, it does feel like when you look at your roster, you have a decent mix of freshmen who are really contributing, and then some of those older players who have been around the program.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: How valuable is it early in a season when just like that line you're talking about, you can kind of pair a veteran with a freshman or pair an older player with a younger player.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: How does that allow you to get started faster earlier in the year?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's huge because you know that really up and down that lineup, we can have um you know four, four lines that we really can put out there at any moment.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and that's been helpful to know that we um don't have to rely on one or two lines to get scoring.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: We've been getting scoring from pretty much all of our groups.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so that's been helpful.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so I think that's that's a big deal.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And um just to have that that mix in lines and also to know, hey, if if you're playing well, um this isn't like all the seniors just get the play.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, who whoever's whoever's playing well, however we feel we need to mix the lines um or the D pairs, um, we're not afraid to do that as a coaching staff.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: And our team is is great at um really uh cheering each other on um and and making sure that uh we're going forward that way.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Both your goalies have great numbers so far.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You got Brooke Laranjay, Abby Hornog, first and second in overall goals against average in hockey east this season, looking solid so far.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's been working for your defense and your goaltending this season?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, both of those uh goalies, you know, Brooke and Abby are been fantastic this year.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: We, you know, we're really lucky.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and and I know uh myself and Bill Riga on the on the men's staff, we talk about that all the time.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: How how important that is if you have two kids that are really uh really playing well, uh, gives the team a lot of confidence, and they give the team a lot of confidence in how they play, uh their calmness uh with rebounds and all of those things.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: And for our group to know at any moment, you know, every game, we know we can be in the in it at the end because of our goaltending.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like our D, um we have a good mix of D, some younger kids, some older kids, um, but maybe not as much experience as we've had in the past.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: We graduated, uh, you know, uh we were heavy on the seniors in our defense last year.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so um it's been awesome to see our D this year really kind of come along and find themselves as they're earning more ice time than maybe they've had in the past.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And one last question from us what are some of the keys to this weekend series against Maine?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, Maine's Maine's having a great year, and and I think Molly's a heck of a coach.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, that group, they play physical, they play fast.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so we've been talking to our team all week on making sure um we're ready for that, we're ready for their four check, and we're ready for them to be physical.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, you know, we always we always say if we can play Holy Cross hockey, um, and the kids know what that means, we we have a chance to be in every game, and so we know that we're gonna have to be very consistent for three periods um, you know, with with Maine coming in just the way they play.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you certainly have played a lot of Holy Cross hockey this year, and it's been great fun to watch so far.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, thanks so much for your time.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations on the great start to the year, and we look forward to watching you this weekend.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's Katie LaChappelle, the head coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders, out to a nine and four start.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about some of the other teams that have stood out in their starts on the women's side when we come back.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is this week in Hockey East.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're a little bit over a month into the season so far, especially on the women's side, which started in late September.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's been a couple of really good stories across Hockey East.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of them we just talked about with Katie LaChappelle and Holy Cross Bridget, but let's dive into a couple of these other teams that have had some great starts.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, UNH is one of those teams.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right now they're in third in the Hockey East standings.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're 6'5 and 1.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: They split last weekend against Providence College, and this weekend they're gonna be at UVM.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they've won three of their last four coming into the weekend.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we mentioned the fact that they're a top three team early on just shows you how strong the start they've had, and they've gotten contributions from around their lineup.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: They also have a few really good young freshmen as well, but we want to focus right now on Kelly Hardy.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: She's our Jersey Mike's a sub-above player of the week.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: She had three goals uh her whole career prior to this year.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And she's already has three uh six goals this season, nine points, also a career high for her.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: She had two goals against Providence on Friday.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So good to see her stepping up uh as the captain as well for this team.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been really important.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's kind of a similar conversation to what we were having with Katie LaChapelle before.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: When you have these veterans and you can pair them with really good freshmen, that's when you have kind of a nice mix here.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how about Nina Rossi, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Four assists last weekend in the split against Providence.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: She already has 12 points this year as just a freshman.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she's one of a bunch of freshmen that are really, really contributing well.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're just showing a lot of good offense, right?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, prior to the loss on Saturday, they had scored 17 goals in their prior three games, including eight of them in a victory over Merrimack.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: They're second in hockeys, they're 12th nationally in scoring overall for the season.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So when you compare, when you pair that with the goaltending that UNH has pretty consistently gotten over the years, you really have something here, right?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Sedona Blair, Nomi Martinez have split tied.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: But Blair, who's always been good, Bridget already has a 932 save percentage this year, which is a career best.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: So uh it'll be really interesting to see here, right?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Their next two weeks at Vermont, and then a home a home against Holy Cross.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, what can this UNH team do?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: That will be very interesting to see.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and another series we want to take a look at is the rivalry series between BC and BU on the women's side happening this week.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that always produces entertaining games.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Friday night in particular, a good game to keep an eye on because it's Attaganis.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, normal that's where the men normally play.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bigger arena.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're trying to break the women's attendance record on Friday night.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So BC and BU always draws a big crowd.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's see if they can push that number up even higher than they got it last year.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And for BU, a story has been their goalie duo uh between grad transfer Michelle Posechnik and the returning junior uh goalie Mari Peterson.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: When I spoke to Tara Watchhorn this week, she said that Posechnik has gotten more comfortable, both with just getting back to the swing of things after taking a year off and with the system that's being played out in front of her.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so she started to get comfortable and separate herself as the 1A for this team.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is a weekend it feels like this both these teams really need.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when we come back, we're gonna look around the men's side a little bit and wrap up our show.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for staying with us here on This Week in Hockey East.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go around the men's side of Hockey East, presented by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of Hockey East, Boston Children's where the world comes for answers.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Northeastern has been one of the hottest teams this season.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're now seven and one so far, second ranked defense in the country.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Eric, another storyline for them.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: How good has Lawton Azacker been so far?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's time that we kind of evaluate this, right?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're we're beyond just he's played really well.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, last year you and I were on here.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: We talked so much about, you know, that might have been the best season that any hockey's goalie has ever had of a full-time starter, the season that Jacob Fowler put together last year.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Lawton Zachary so far this year is actually exceeding Jacob Fowler's pace.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we wanted to take a moment, be super nerdy while we have the time.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, Steve Metcalf in advance.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it's kind of these numbers are kind of crazy, right?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: So Lawton Zaccher has allowed three goals in the last five games.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Three of those have been shutouts.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: He has a 975 save percentage over a six-game win streak.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: You could even shrink it.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: He has a 982 save percentage over his last five games.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's not just the best goalie in the country by a little bit.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: He has been the best goalie in the country, and it is frankly not that close.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: You can use all the regular statistics that we can certainly talk about all the time.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Overall 956 save percentage, 138 goals again, seven wins.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: But if we go just one step farther here to just kind of break this down, if we use a stat called X goals saved above expected, what does that mean?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: The number of goals that you have saved above or below, in this case, above, what would be expected of you?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh College Hockey News does a pretty good job with their X goals and has an evaluation of that.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if we look at his expected, you know, his goals saved above expected so far this year, it is almost 13, right?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So he has saved 13 more goals than what would be expected of him based on the shots he's allowed this year.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: 13.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we're not even what, a month plus into the season?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's three and a half more goals saved than anyone else in the country.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's five more goals saved than the next speck' hockey east goalie, which is Tyler Muslik, who we'll hit on in a second, who's been really good for UConn.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to take the context of this, now I'm really going one step farther here.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Jacob Fowler, same number last year.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: The number of goals saved above expected was 30 of them.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He saved 30 goals for Boston College.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Lawton Zacker has already gotten 42% of the way to Fowler's total from last year in just 22% of the games.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So he is on a pace.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now who knows if it's going to continue, but the point is to say he is on just a ridiculous goaltending pace right now.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And as we know, Bridget, he's done it against really, really good teams.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern's gotten all these ranked wins, and they'll have another challenge this weekend with UConn.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Lawton Zachar has been drawing attention from around the league, around the country, like you mentioned, when you put up those kind of numbers.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Mike Kavanaugh, uh, when we spoke to him this week, he talked about that's one of the challenges.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: He says they have the hottest goal turnover in the country right now.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he also called out Vinny Borghese as one of the most elite defensemen uh that they'll play against this season.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he's going to be playing in the Spangler Cup.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of shows you uh that he's on the higher, higher end caliber uh of these college hockey players.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh Saturday marks the last game that Yukon will be at Matthews Arena.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Kavanaugh said he's a little bit sad about that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people are.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to near the end, right?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: December is here, and come the new year, uh, Matthews Arena will be no more.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we're starting to see the final trips for a lot of these teams out there.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and to just bring some perspective on how UConn comes into this weekend, they've split a lot of their weekends.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And last weekend was no different.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: They have a loss and then a shootout win against Providence College.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: They take two points in the weekend series.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Joey Maldowney was injured in that Friday game, didn't play in the Saturday game.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's not ruled out for this weekend's game.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: He might get in to one or both of them.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Kavanaugh said that that doesn't mean that we can't be successful, even if he's not in the lineup.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have to play without Joey for the Spangler Cup.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: He said he thinks that he can he has a deep enough roster that can handle the stress of him being out of the lineup as Muldowney is their leading scorer this season and was second uh in hockeys last year in goals.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So an important loss, but can they win without him?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think they can.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he said if you're dressed and you're in this lineup, you're expected to contribute.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And he said uh he thought that they did that well against PC in that Saturday game.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that, you know, UConn so far has kind of been the team that, you know, I don't want to go too far here, but has kind of defined this college hockey season, right?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: They've basically split every weekend.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of been the theme of the whole year, right?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Really, really good teams are not coming away with sweeps.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so, so difficult to sweep.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked a lot about the number of unranked teams that have beaten ranked teams.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of the theme of the year.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, again, you know, we talked about it with BCU Mass.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can talk about it here with Connecticut and Northeastern.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's just tough to come away with sweeps.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: So you're looking at teams that are splitting weekends, and uh, it should just bring some excellent, excellent hockey.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we can't wait to watch it again this weekend.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Our thanks to Katie La Chapelle for joining us this week, and thank all of you for joining us.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: This has been another episode of this week in Hockey East.