• Superfans should know not to sweat Boston College’s 3-0 falter to Princeton on New Year’s Eve. In the absence of five players wrapping up their participation in USA Hockey’s Holiday Camp –those being celestial stopper Molly Schaus and four skaters who had combined for 34 of the team’s 57 goals in the first 17 games- the result at Hobey Baker Rink wasn’t exactly ice-shattering.
True, one could have expected a little more out of Melissa Bizzari, Ashley Motherwell, Mary Restuccia, and Danielle Welch in Friday’s game. And the “just trying to get our legs back” excuse shouldn’t pass any more muster than waiting for Kelli Stack, Taylor Wasylk, Megan Mangene, and Blake Bolden to spontaneously reemerge.
But come Monday, when the now 11-3-4 Eagles visit Yale, normalcy will be restored and they should have no trouble kicking enough ice chips over this hiccup.
• Speaking of the Holiday Camp, forget the fact that Schaus was sharing a crease with BU freshman Kerrin Sperry all through this past week. The real intrigue lies in the fact that Sperry had a chance to absorb more pointers on four of the Eagles’ puckslingers, and vice versa. The forthcoming Jan. 15 bout at Conte Forum, and subsequent meeting in the Beanpot semifinals, just got a little more stimulating.
• With the likes of Roxanne Douville in their cage, one can only wonder if Vermont’s 1-6-4 league record would be any better if the shootout were still in place.
• Northeastern sophomore forward Danielle Kerr, indubitably raring to build upon a feathery freshman campaign of no goals and three assists, was slated to make her belated season debut against Wisconsin on Saturday. Meanwhile, senior Autumn Prouty is due to play in her 100th career game.
• Maine senior Kaitlyn Zeek is likewise one game away from hitting triple digits in her career. Given that she has only dressed for 12 out of 19 so far this season, she will likely see action in one –possibly both- of this weekend’s two home bouts with Providence.
• The Friars and Black Bears are the only two teams with strictly Hockey East engagements remaining on their schedule.
• With PC goaltender Genevieve Lacasse out of the equation as she serves Team Canada in the MLP Cup, the door appears open for a split in the Maine series. That would make for Maine’s first thorough (i.e. non-shootout) victory over the Friars since Nov. 23, 2002. But if the Providence offense proves itself resistant to rust and does enough to overwhelm Black Bears’ stopper Brittany Ott, concurrently keeping the unripe Christina England and/or Nina Riley unbothered, they could still get the better hunk of the four-point wishbone.
• The floundering Vermont (2-8-8 overall) and Connecticut (7-10-1) programs each have four interleague games between now and Jan. 14, when they resume their Hockey East slates against each other at Freitas Ice Forum. For both teams, the prescribed approach would be to treat the nonconference stretch like a preseason gradually escalating in intensity.
• Providence will encounter six of its seven conference cohabitants at least once in the month of January. The odd team out is UConn.
• When New Hampshire hosts Northeastern a week from Sunday, there figures to be no Courtney Birchard or Florence Schelling in the mix. Both are guaranteed to be playing on the final day of the MLP Cup a week from Saturday, whether their respective country is gunning for fifth place, bronze, or gold. Although Schelling’s backup Leah Sulyma has seen but 89 minutes of action this season, the Huskies seem far more capable of supplementing the absence of their star. On top of that, they will have already broken in their new blades with two post-holiday games, whereas the Wildcats will still have not resumed extramural action since a Dec. 11 date with Dartmouth. Advantage: Northeastern.
Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond the Dashers
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