Hockey East puckbag

As is common knowledge at this point, the 2010 edition of the U.S. Olympic women’s team features four Hockey Easterners –Kacey Bellamy, Molly Schaus, Kelli Stack, and Karen Thatcher- on its roster. And as any diligent hockey history student will recall, even though the league had not been conceived at the time, there were likewise four players from a Hockey East institution –a BU quartet in Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Jack O’Callahan, and Dave Silk- on the immortal 1980 men’s Olympic squad.

Furthermore, that team won its second gold medal in program history, the same feat that Mark Johnson’s pupils will be pursuing next month.

You decide whether you want to accept that observation as a positive omen or a jinx warning, in which case you’ll be knocking on Sherwood nonstop for the next eight weeks. Sorry if it really has to be the latter.

· In other international news, Boston University will break its game day attire back out on Friday without the services of Jenelle Kohanchuk and Tara Watchorn, both of whom are representing the Canadian U22ers in the MLP Cup. They will be joined by New Hampshire’s Jenn Wakefield, who recently swung and missed on her bid to play with the big girls in Vancouver.

· Building on that point, while their collegiate clubs still have yet to lock twigs for another three weeks, Kohanchuk and Watchorn have already confronted Northeastern’s Florence Schelling and Julia Marty in the MLP opener. The Canadians and Swiss combined for 38 penalty minutes, including three infractions and 14 minutes by Marty, in Canada’s 4-1 triumph. Was that a prelude to the long-awaited Beantown Dog fight?

· The latest peek at the semi-reliable Weather Channel forecasts calls for temperatures in the 20-degree range and a modest 10 percent chance of precipitation when New Hampshire and Northeastern go through their outdoor practice sessions at Fenway Park tomorrow. No specifics are being offered for game time on Friday, but flakes are supposed to fall overnight while everyone is resting or failing to rest due to unrestrained anticipation.

· Friday’s BU-Yale clash at Walter Brown Arena is slated to be senior forward Jonnie Bloemers’ 125th career game. That same milestone was hit on Sunday by the likes of UConn’s Michelle Binning and Amy Hollstein as well as Providence captain Colleen Martin.

· As was noted earlier on this site, PC’s Alyse Ruff enchanted her twenty-first birthday by scoring both goals in Sunday’s 2-0 triumph over Minnesota State. That improves the Friars to 2-0-1 on the year when one of their players is observing her special day. Junior defender Leigh Riley turned 21 on October 3, when Providence squeaked by Maine, 2-1, and senior winger Arianna Rigano turned 22 on November 27 amidst a 2-2 draw with Wisconsin. Don’t look now, but sophomore Bre Schwarz will turn 20 a week from Sunday, when rival New Hampshire is slated to visit Schneider Arena.

· One other Friartown bulletin: the team is now one win away from No. 600 in program history.

· Two apparent front-runners for this year’s sportsmanship honors: Maine’s Dawn Sullivan and NU’s Cassie Sperry. Both have played in every possible game for their respective teams and still have yet to be flagged for on measly penalty.

· Although her team remains idled until Frozen Fenway this Friday, New Hampshire forward Micaela Long is still safely the nation’s top helper with 22 assists, just ice chips ahead of Mercyhurst scorchers Vicki Bendus (21) and Jesse Scanzano (20). Additionally, Long currently owns the best plus/minus rating among all WHEA skaters at plus-14.

· With last night’s 4-0 whitewash of Princeton, nominal backup Leah Sulyma’s second consecutive shutout after a 52-save dolphin show, Northeastern has shriveled its collective goals-against average further to a nation’s-best 1.06 median. Massachusetts cohabitants Harvard (ECAC) and Holy Cross (Ind.) immediately follow at 1.23 and1.27 respectively.

· Right now, with 17 interleague games left in the regular season, Hockey East teams are a cumulative 21-17-8 versus ECAC rivals, 6-3-3 against College Hockey America, and 3-5-6 when dealing with the hegemonic WCHA.

· Parity be darned, climactic comebacks have been relatively scarce along this coast. Both Vermont and Providence have led after the second period in all of their respective team victories this season. Similarly, BU, Connecticut, and Maine have not trailed after 40 minutes in a winning cause, occasionally busting a tie in the closing frame but never deleting a deficit that late.