Come back each week for a preview of interesting NCAA games coming up and some thoughts on what happened in the previous week's action. Check out Thursday's How to Watch for links to all the weekend's games.
(5) Colgate at (14) Brown
Friday at 6:00 PM Eastern
Brown has started the season 6-0, but faces a pair of tough tests this weekend with Colgate on Friday and Cornell on Saturday. In Colgate they'll be facing a team averaging 4.33 goals per game and against Cornell, they'll be facing one of the toughest goaltenders in the country.
Part of what has worked so well for the Bears is a depth of scoring that crosses several lines. Freshman Monique Lyons has had a great start to her career and is tied with sophomore Ava Lyons for the team lead with four goals each. They've been quick, moving well in transition. Last season Brown was short-handed threat, but they've found a way to bring that magic to even-strength play, quickly turning play in the other direction and outracing their opponents to the puck.
A key as they start playing other ranked ECAC teams is going to be puck possession. Colgate is going to do their best to control play. Brown has to be aggressive, not get pushed out of their own game and not fall back into a reactive defense as the Raiders try to set up shop in the offensive zone.
After a couple of surprising losses in the early weeks of the season, Colgate seems to have found their footing. They've won six in a row, including a come-from-behind victory over Union last weekend. Sophomore Kaia Malachino has already surpassed her goal total from last season and leads the team with ten lamp-lighters. The offense has been led by her, Kalty Kaltounková, Emma Pais and Elyssa Biederman, but there have been contributions from the third and fourth lines.
Colgate's experience might help propel them here. Most of this team played in the national semifinal last season while Brown is pretty new to being atop the standings. The Bears can't be intimidated and have to believe that they belong in games like this.
Northeastern at (10) Connecticut
Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 1:30 PM Eastern
It's the weekend for rematches as the two teams who battled for the Hockey East titles last season meet again, with Saturday's game being broadcast on NESN. UConn won their first-ever conference title, tournament title and NCAA Tournament bid last season, earing the last with a 1-0 overtime victory against Northeastern.
Connecticut's strength last season was their goaltending. That's not to say they don't still have stellar netminders, but this year they have rookie Claire Murdoch leading the offense while Ava Rinker is already more than halfway to last season's point total after just ten games. The team defense has been on point, allowing just 1.8 goals per game.
It's been a difficult start to the season for Northeastern, who are 5-5-1 overall and 3-3-1 in Hockey East. They've not been able to string wins together, having some major up and down weekends. It's been a little feast or famine - they're averaging 3.8 goals per game in their wins but have just two goals total in their five losses. More than a third of their goals have been scored by two skaters - veteran Skylar Irving and rookie Éloïse Caron. They have to get contributions from further down the line sheet.
I don't think this will be the same low-scoring game we saw in the Hockey East tournament. UConn has to make the most of their opportunities.
Stonehill vs. Franklin Pierce (home and home)
Friday at 7:00 PM and Saturday at 1:00 PM Eastern
This is also a rematch of last season's conference tournament championship game, which Stonehill won 3-2 in overtime. At that time, Franklin Pierce were a bit of an upstart - they were the No. 5 seed heading into the post season, but they went on a run in the tournament, beating top seeded LIU in OT in the semifinals before pushing Stonehill until the very end.
This time around, the Ravens sit atop the NEWHA standings six games in. They're 5-1 in conference and sit 12th in the nation in team offense, scoring three goals a game. In conference, they're allowing just two goals a game. Mikayla Kelley and Maggie Korneta led NEWHA in points and are pushing the Ravens' growth while Jill Hertl continues a solid career in net to anchor FPU.
Most importantly, I think, is Franklin Pierce is playing from a place of belief and confidence. There's an assuredness to their game right now - they're playing smart, being decisive and just looking much more like a team that knows who they are and that they deserve to be where they are.
Stonehill set itself a tough out of conference schedule that has skewed all their stats and have started 3-3 within NEWHA. They're missing the offensive leadership of Alexis Petford and rookie Alexsa Caron has really had trial by fire in net, facing about 40 shots per game. Bailey Feeney and Gracie Sacca have both stepped up big time and are well on their way to setting new personal bests for goals and points in a season.
Saturday's game can be watched via a free stream, making this a good time to check out some NEWHA action.
