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Catamounts Are Rolling in 2026! - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

0:07
SPEAKER_02: Hi folks, welcome in another episode of This Weekend Hockey East with Bridget Prue.
0:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm Eric Galante.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: Exciting times around Hockey East right now, and certainly the Bean Pot stands out among them all.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: Couple of really good semifinals Tuesday night, close games as it feels like they always are.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, some exciting stuff to talk about, Bridget.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: You were there calling those games.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh let's get into it as we see Boston University and Harvard going on their way to the final.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, both of those were really close games, like you mentioned.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: They were both tied one-to-one for a really long time.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: And part of that's due to goaltending, which we're gonna get into.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the atmosphere was great at Walter Brown.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: It was hosted at BU's home rank uh this year.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: And then obviously we're gonna see everything move over to TD Garden next Tuesday.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: But let's get into the BC Harvard game.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: That was the first game of the day.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Harvard sophomore goalie Ainsley Tuffy came up big, allowed just one goal.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she has the best save percentage in the country right now.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: So we were kind of expecting a big game out of her, and she's shown such a jump from last season to this season, and she's helped her team quite a bit.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: And then BC's Grace Campbell, she gets the loss, but she was great as well.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I felt like all four goalies on Tuesday were at the top of their games, hence the two to one scores.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's no, there's a couple of tough luck losers per se in terms of the baseball analogy there.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh, just one goal for Boston College.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: No surprise to see it was Ava Thomas.
1:31
SPEAKER_02: It feels like she's always the one scoring for BC.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: The Eagles did outshoot Harvard 41-34 in that game.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: As you said, Grace Campbell was really good.
1:39
SPEAKER_02: So the shot numbers were there.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: It's just about finding that finishing outside of that top line for Boston College right now.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, of course, one of the exciting things, they'll get to play in the third place game at TD Garden again.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: So chance to kind of reset themselves a little bit.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: And then in that second semifinal, another great game, rematch of last year's Beanpot Championship, rematch of last year's Hockeys Championship.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: BU and Northeastern have certainly played some games over the last few years, and no different here is BU gets the overtime winner.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was Northeastern hoping to go back to the championship game.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: They were looking for four straight titles, but BU able to beat them in overtime, very dramatic game and dramatic ending.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh, goaltending was a story in this one, too.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: And we'll start with BU goalie Mari Peterson.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: She's having a breakout season.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh she had been the backup for most of her time at BU.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: This year, she's able to take over the net.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Her and Michelle Pasechnik, we weren't sure to start the season.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: Who was gonna be 1A, 1B?
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, Mari Peterson has really taken over.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: She started eight uh of the last nine games.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: So she's really kind of stolen the net.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: And she was uh great in this game.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: 35 saves.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh, just gave up one goal.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: She's won all three of her games since the start of 2026.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: And then Northeastern's Lisa Younson, we commented on it during the game.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: She made some of the best saves we've seen, some spectacular saves, and what was ultimately a loss for her, but she gives up that power, that that goal in overtime on a four-on-three power play.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: So hard to hard to blame her for not being able to fight through that when they were down shorthanded.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: And it was a penalty by Jaden Bogden, who she slashed Sidney Healy, who was on a clean breakaway.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of one of those penalties you'd call a good penalty because the game could have ended right there, Sidney Healy being the leading goal scorer.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: And then so Biu ends up going on the power play, and it's Biu's captain, defenseman Maeve Carey, who was able to score on the advantage with two minutes left in overtime.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: She sends the Terriers to the Bean Pot Championship for the third straight season.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they're gonna get a chance to try to win it after falling a couple of times to Northeastern the last two years.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: So different opponent.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: Northeastern were certainly favored coming in based on just their NPI standing.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: So feel good story there.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about Maeve Carey, though, who scored the game-winning goal.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: She's our Jersey Mike's sub-above player of the week.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: No surprise there.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, what a time for the senior captain to go get her first point of the season, as you said, on the power play in overtime.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: Great to see that crowd shot there.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: It was an awesome crowd at Walter Brown, as you mentioned.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh, speaking of rematches, BU now gets Harvard in a rematch of a game that we just saw a couple of weeks ago in Northern Ireland, the finals of the Friendship series, with BU beating Harvard 3-2.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, just a moment on Harvard.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of crazy here, Bridget.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, first of all, really nice turnaround here for Laura Bellamy.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: She's done a great job.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: Their 10th win of the season last night, first 10 win seasons since she took over since 2021-22.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: But the stretch is kind of brutal, right?
4:37
SPEAKER_02: They played 14th ranked DL on Saturday.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: Then they beat BC on Tuesday in the bean pot.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: This weekend, oh, they just have number nine Princeton and number six Quinnipiac on the road.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: And then they'll go to TD Garden on Tuesday to try to win a beanpot.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: So, and that's of course coming off a trip to Northern Ireland early in the month.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: So uh busy time of year here for Harvard.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, you have Northeastern and Boston College in the first game.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh, Northeastern beating the Eagles twice earlier this year.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and join us here on Nesson next Tuesday.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: The third place game is at 4.30 championship game at 7.30 on Tuesday, January 20th.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: And when we come back, we'll get you to our Friday night hockey east game on Nesson.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: UNH in Northeastern coming up in just a bit.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: It's time to get you set for Friday night hockey east on Nesson.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: UNH tries to keep things rolling against Northeastern, a team that's trying to bounce back from a tough stretch.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And to look at New Hampshire, they've had a little bit of time off first games since their weekend split against Colgate on January 3rd and 4th.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: UNH is six and one over the last seven games.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: They've shown that significant movement is possible in the NPI, Eric.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: They go from 45th on November 17th up to the top 25 in the last few weeks.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're right there.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: And again, we've talked about this a little bit, but a couple of reasons what stand out for UNH.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: Number one, they probably have, again, as I've said this, if you were looking at this like a basketball resume, they have the best set of wins in Hockey East, right?
6:11
SPEAKER_02: At Michigan State, at UConn, two wins at Alphon, and then they were the first team to beat Dartmouth this year.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: Number two, they've been so good on the road.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna have a home game in the game that we're talking about here, but seven and three in road games this year, that obviously helps in the NPI.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: Remember though, this was right around the time last year where UNH was going on a similar run, and then it kind of fell off a little bit in hockey's play.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: Can they sustain that run now at the middle part of January here as they start to get into conference play?
6:43
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're gonna find out.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh, some of the reasons we think they might be able to do that.
6:48
SPEAKER_02: One guy's Jacob Newcomb, who, you know, like some UNH guys in the past, maybe a little bit under the radar, but his hot streak lines up with this UNH stretch of late.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: Over this six and one stretch, Newcomb, five goals, eight points, 14 shots on goal over that Colgate weekend series.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: So I know they dropped a game to Colgate, but there's a lot of reasons to feel pretty good about where New Hampshire is right now.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and another guy to mention here is Marty Lavins.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he missed a bunch of time back in October and November, and he was always going to be a key piece for them this year.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: He's back now.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: He played in the Spangler Cup, and Mike Seuss always refers to him as a real driver of their team.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: But one thing to look at with UNH too is just their shots are their shots are allowed down this season.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So they're 2.3 shots allowed per game, the last six.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: That's UNH's bread and butter when they get things going right.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: Good at defending, good at blocking shots, getting those shots against down.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: And for Northeastern, still time here for Northeastern to get things right, but they've they have to try to turn things around quickly.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Five straight losses going back to that last game at Matthews Arena against BU in December.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a couple of things here I think that stand out, right?
8:01
SPEAKER_02: This isn't like that big a hot take here, but you know, the puck's just going in more than it was earlier in the season.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh, why do I say that?
8:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you look at it, you know, their last three games, 13 goals allowed to start 2026.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: And the thing that stands out is if you look at their expected goals allowed, it actually was some of their lower numbers on the year versus it was sort of the opposite early in the season, where maybe they were giving up a bunch of expected goals, but they were doing a really good job keeping the puck out.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: One of the big reasons why has been the third period.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: You look at Northeastern earlier this year, over their first 13 games of the season, just 27% of their goals were allowed in the third period.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: But over this six-game stretch, more than 50% of their goals allowed have been allowed in the third period.
8:45
SPEAKER_02: A couple of those empty netters, but even that kind of shows that they've just been down in some of these games the way they haven't been earlier.
8:52
SPEAKER_02: So that third period is something that does stand out with this team.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: Let's be fair though, right?
8:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's still all new, right?
8:59
SPEAKER_02: Now they're traveling to practice.
9:01
SPEAKER_02: They don't have a home arena.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: Sunday's game's gonna be at Walter Brown.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: So there is part of this stretch where they're just trying to get used to their new surroundings a little bit.
9:10
SPEAKER_02: So we'll see if they can get their feet under them a little bit after dropping a couple of games over the weekend to Vermont.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they got that game at 7 p.m.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: on Ness.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: And then Sunday, their game will be at Walter Brown, which is on the campus of BU.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: That's where they're gonna be playing.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Bemi and the women are gonna be playing some games in the second half without Matthews Arena.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Also on Ness.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: And speaking of a team that swept Northeastern, UVM is coming.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that is UVM at UConn for two this weekend.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: And we'll start with Vermont.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about UVM with head coach Steve Wheedler next segment.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: He's coming up to join us, but let's talk a little bit about them here too.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: First ranked in Hockey East.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we it was their first ranked Hockey East weekend sweep since 2020.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: They had a three to two and a five to three win over number 16 Northeastern.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's three straight wins to start 2026 for Vermont.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: You go back to November 15th, they're 4-2 in their last six Hockey East games.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: That includes a win at Maine, that includes a win at BU.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: They're now tied for seventh in Hockey East, just one point out of a tie for fifth place.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: And the biggest thing, and we'll talk with Coach about this in a little bit, they found their offense here over the last few games.
10:20
SPEAKER_02: That was the biggest thing early in the season.
10:23
SPEAKER_02: First bunch of games, they were one or two goals a game pretty consistently.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: But over, you know, this last six-game stretch, they're averaging more than three goals a game.
10:34
SPEAKER_02: They've scored three and five their last six.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: So that's really crucial for Vermont.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: There's a couple of players that stand out in terms of why, but finding their offense here has been a huge factor.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, James Richards, too.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: He had three goals and eight shots over the weekend.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: He's our service credit union scoring leader.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Five points for him in his last three games, and seven of his eight points uh have come in the last six game stretch, so he's really picked it up.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: They got a good challenge here with UConn, right?
11:04
SPEAKER_02: The first place Huskies split last weekend against Lowell.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: Bridget, you called that Saturday game up at Lowell.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: What stood out to you about the Huskies?
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think goaltending here is a story as well.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tyler Musick has been so good this season, but Lowell was able to force him out of the net after two periods.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: So Tyler Musick starts the game Friday, gets pulled uh for Cam Hendrickson, the freshman, and he plays a pretty perfect third period.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: So then it's a decision for Mike Kavanaugh.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: He decides to go with Hendrickson again in the Saturday game.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: He did great.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh he recorded his first collegiate win.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh, only gave up one goal, made 28 saves, and Yukon won that Saturday game five to one.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Moldowney and Sheehan, not surprisingly, these two guys were impactful.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: They both had two goals in the game.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Yukon had some penalty issues, then some big penalty kills.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: They're normally a pretty disciplined team, so that puts some stress on them, but they were able to make it through that without breaking.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and this is kind of a sneaky big weekend for Yukon because after Saturday's game, they won't play another home game until February 21st.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: It seems hard to believe, but Connecticut Ice, a couple of weekends with just one game, it'll be until February 21st until they're back home.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: So obviously, the importance of you know trying to take care of home and then getting some wins on the road.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: So that'll be a fun weekend to see.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: Vermont and Yukon.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk with Vermont head coach Steve Wheedler coming up.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: That's next here on This Week in Hockey East.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: It's time to bring in our special guest today, brought to you by Boston Harbor Hotel.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: Plan your getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
12:43
SPEAKER_02: We teased it a little bit.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: The head coach of the University of Vermont, Steve Wheedler, nice enough to spend some time with us.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: Coach, first of all, congratulations on the big weekend against Northeastern.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for being here.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: Just kind of from a you know big picture standpoint first.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: What was the biggest things that stood out to you in terms of that weekend suite?
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for having me on.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: Happy to do this.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: Um I think for for our program, it was really it's really kind of simple.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: Like all the credit really belongs to our players.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: I think they um really took ownership of our program and and the standard at which we wanted to play.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: They made sure to um control what they could.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a perfect weekend in any way.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: I think uh we've gone through that and looked at the things that we need to adjust and get better at.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, when you take care of the controllables, you play to your identity um and you stick to your process, you're gonna have a chance of winning hockey games.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of the day, it comes down to execution.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: And uh we say if nobody tries to beat a hero, somebody gets to play a hero.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And uh we had those situations pop up in those games and we came out on the right side of it.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Three straight wins for you guys, you scored three or more goals in all of those three.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: What's allowed your offense to start clicking recently?
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, yeah, recently is is the correct word.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, we you know, our our team's been at Christmas break, we were plus 36 in odd man rushes.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: So we were we were getting out in transition and and creating scoring chances, and um, we just weren't burying on them.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: So when we kind of had the Christmas break and were able to, you know, reflect on ourselves analytically and structurally, um, we did see that that was a strong part of our game.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: How do we get the pucks over the goal line?
14:27
SPEAKER_01: Became kind of the emphasis and um give credit to our guys, like they show up to the skills work, they don't skip, um, and they bought into the habits and details that we were preaching, and that's really been the difference.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: Just those habits and details that really matter at scoring at this level has been an extreme focus of our group um since probably our BU weekend, and our guys have stuck with it, not gotten frustrated, and now they're finally seeing uh you know the fruits of that labor.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: So um happy for them, and you you need them to see some success, especially when you know the amount of work that they're putting in.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: How much confidence does it allow you to play with, just kind of not having to press all the time and sort of trusting that the goal scoring is gonna start to come as it has now in the last few games?
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I thought that kind of um, you know, uh the BU weekend had a little, I know we only scored three goals in that game that we won, but it had a little bit of that feel because you know, BU tied it up late, and um we were able to come back and score that big goal.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Sinclair scores one uh right at the end of regulation to win it.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Um so that started to build a little bit of that confidence, and believe it or not, I do think the loss to Merrimac, um, although um you know frustrating and and you want to win every game you play in, it did produce some offensive confidence in our guys because we kept coming back in that game.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: We didn't uh it didn't end up five-nothing.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: We didn't we never said die and showed some resiliency, um, and we were scoring nice goals.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I think you know, leading up to that, we had talked to the team about our ability to transition and uh create odd bands, and it was evident in that game.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: So kind of when those things happen, even though you lose the game, um, you win some battles within it, maybe internally, maybe confidence-wise.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: And um, I think that's what led into it sticking with us for RPI and then Northeastern was you know, Merrimack kind of reaffirmed some things for us that we can get out, transition, go fast, and score goals.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, it's kind of been a culmination of uh work and uh some confidence building since the BU weekend.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you about Jens Richards as well in his senior season, four goals so far in 2026.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: What does he bring to you guys and how have you seen him grow throughout his career with you as well?
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, just an unbelievable human.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, him and Phil Turnquist are our two captains.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Um I would say our senior class as a whole has a lot of leadership inside of it.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, we call these guys the glue class since they showed up on campus.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: They have a way of bringing everybody together.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: They're definitely the glue guys inside of our locker room.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: Um and they they were kind of the first class that we've had that really cared about the program more than themselves.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, and Phil and Jens are a big example of that.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: And Jenny's been working, you know, he had that good sophomore season, and uh he had a knee injury, um, he had to get some surgery on it.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: I think that really delayed him from getting off to a good start as a junior, and he was battling that last year.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's back and healthy.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: And in the fall, we were saying, hey, Jenny looks fast again.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Like he's back to his speed game, uh, which was good to see.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And he's been putting in the work.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, he's like every time he crosses the blue, it's destination far post.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Like he's he's just absolutely driving his legs.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: He's six foot three, he can fly.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it makes it hard on defenders.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I think this weekend had a little bit of like a coming out party or a welcome back party for Jens, especially in the gut.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, our fans want to see him play in that way.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: And um, credit to the kid, best human, hard worker.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, you're always happy to see guys like that get rewarded.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Vermont Head Coach Steve Wheeler, nice enough to join us here on This Week in Hockeys.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Coach Colin Kessler's another one, maybe one of the more underrated guys in the league.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: He's only two assists off of the league league right now, 13 assists.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: What stands out to you about him and his second season with you and what's allowed him to kind of take off in terms of his facilitating this year?
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, I didn't know that assistant, uh, that assist stat, so thanks for for for that.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, Collins, uh, he's an offensive driver for us.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, he he's definitely he's definitely getting a little frustrated here and there with the with the amount of goals he scored.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: He had a couple good looks.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: He thought he scored one on Saturday, and it actually hit off a Jens and went in the net.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they both kind of split Sellied, went opposite directions, and both both of them thought they scored, but then the way that they came together was pretty funny uh to celebrate the Gens goal.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: But like I said, Collins uh an offensive driver for us.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh we moved him into the middle since Christmas break.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: I think that's helped uh kind of center or um uh center play and center, ground his game um and and force him to have good habits and details inside of what he's doing.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: And um, on top of that, he has the offensive capability to break players down one-on-one, great speed, um, really high offensive IQ.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: So he'll find the goals.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: We're not worried about that.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: I think the assists are are um obviously a byproduct of all the offense that he is creating for us.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: And last question, wanted to talk about your freshman goaltender, Aiden Wright.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: What kind of growth have you seen from him already this season?
19:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, this is an extreme competitor, right?
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Um he's always been that way.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: He's from a non-traditional hockey market, um, grew up in the south, had to travel around through youth hockey to try to obtain his goal play in Division I.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, and through that process, he learned how to compete.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: He learned how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, this guy never never gives up on a puck.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's incredibly athletic and gets across the crease really well.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Um and he's got a little bit of velcro to him.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: Like when he's at his best, pucks are hitting him and sticking to him.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: And we've seen that a lot this year.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: He's a freshman, so he's you know, he's he's working through finding consistency, but um he's had it over this last little stretch, and we expect big things out of him.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: I think that when you have that kind of character and work ethic and talent, um, you know, sky's the limit for you.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: And uh we're happy to see him win a couple of awards.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: He he's won some weekly awards within within Hockey East, I think three of them.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And I I expect more of the same here down the stretch run for the kid.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: And um, again, when you bring the talent and the work ethic um plus that competitor mindset, you can do whatever you want to do in this game.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: Coach, good catching up, continued success here.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: Many thanks for the time.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for having me on.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: That's Steve Wheedler, the head coach of Vermont.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: We'll finish up with one of the big ranked matchups in Hockey East this week.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: That's next on This Week in Hockey East.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: We continue around Hockey East, brought to you by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of hockey's Boston Children's, where the world comes for answers.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: Big one this weekend.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: BC against Providence.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: The Friars coming off a big home sweep against Maine last weekend.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was an impressive sweep for I think a few reasons.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: First of all, you look at them having that tough loss in their previous game, five to one loss against Alaska Fairbanks.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: They weren't happy with that series, and they thought that their rust really showed coming out of the break, and they were kind of back to square one.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not what they looked like against Maine.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And number two, they had to do it with the news that Phillips Fed back is going to be out for a while.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Four to six weeks was the latest update we had on his knee injury.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: So that complicates things.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: You have to throw your freshman goaltender Parsons in net for the series.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: And number three, the way that they did it, outscoring Maine nine to one over those two games, right after it felt like Maine was poised.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: They're coming off that series over Denver that they had success.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And they PC put them right in their tracks there.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Eight different goal scorers for Providence, uh, nine goals.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Roger McQueen scored two on Friday.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Just a good power play in general for PC on the weekend against Maine.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: And probably most importantly, Jack Parsons came in and played solid.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: 26 saves Friday, then 20 saves in a shutout on Saturday.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: He was the hockey East rookie of the week.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was awesome.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: And now the big thing that Providence did was they brought in a new goaltender this week.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: So Michael Simpson, who spent the last year and a half playing pro hockey, but this is one of the things ruled eligible by the NCAA that includes 10 games in the AHL last year, but downs fed back.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: They bring in Simpson for a little bit.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: He's been in Savannah in the ECHL this year.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: Previously was in the OHL.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: That's why the eligibility this year was a little bit different.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: So deemed eligible by the NCAA.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: He takes on Boston College this week.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: I think the big thing with Boston College this week, Bridget, is we're gonna get to see the full Eagles team for the first time, right?
23:09
SPEAKER_02: They were missing guys in uh the Milwaukee tournament for World Juniors, then they were missing guys in the exhibition against Stonehill last week because there was some travel stuff.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of guys that were sick.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: So we haven't really seen the full Eagles yet.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: But remember, they've only lost twice since November 1st.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: This is a massive series for both teams.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: Can't wait to watch it.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: And we want to quickly hit on the women that are headed to the Olympics as well, with most international teams having announced their rosters, 15 men's alums, 30 women's alums.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: You can catch a few of them playing in the beanpot.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Both the Welkie sisters will be there.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: They're playing for BU, they'll be with Germany, and Alessia Beckler from Northeastern will be playing for Switzerland.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Can't wait.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: Have a great week, folks.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: A lot of big games.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk more about it as we continue this week in Hockey East.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: We got it.