Northeastern upsetting No. 1 Boston College part of a huge weekend for men's college hockey
The upset kept the Huskies' season alive and left open the possibility that as many as 10 teams from New England could qualify for the 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament. It's not likely the number will be that high, of course, but the fact that it is a possibility, less than a week from when the brackets will be announced, indicates it's a good time to be a college hockey fan in these parts. And that's where the weekend review begins.
▪ BC had taken two of the three meetings with Northeastern, including
Advertisement
They executed the game plan perfectly, clogging up the neutral zone and limiting pucks on net, with 12 Huskies combining to block 20 shots, led by Vinny Borgesi's three. Cameron Whitehead handled the ones that managed to get through, as the sophomore goalie made 30 saves.
'Obviously the game was personal for us, for the last time we played them,' said Whitehead. 'It feels pretty good.'
The game was scoreless until Bridgewater native Cam Lund and Joe Connor scored 2:09 apart late in the second period to give the Huskies a lead they would not relinquish.
JOE KNOWS PUCK 🚨
📺
— Northeastern Men's Hockey (@GoNUmhockey)
▪ BC is still assured of having the No. 1 overall seed when the pairings are announced on Sunday, and will look to regroup and make some adjustments over the next week.
'I think if teams are going to sit in the neutral zone a lot, we have to get guys skating away from the puck, not just the puck carrier,' said coach Greg Brown. 'I think we did that at times but not as consistently as we'd like to. So we have to do that and just be a little sharper in our execution.'
Advertisement
▪ There will be six teams from Hockey East — BC, Maine, Boston University, UConn, Providence, and UMass — headed to the NCAA tournament. It could be seven if Northeastern wins two more games at TD Garden, beginning Thursday against Maine in the nightcap. BU will face UConn in the opener, with the championship on Friday.
▪ Like BC, UMass will look to stay sharp over the next week after
'I'm extremely, extremely proud of our team,' said UMass coach Greg Carvel after the loss. 'I thought we played an outstanding game in a tough place against a very good team on the road.
'We're at a phase where this group knows they can beat anybody, and they'll go home [Saturday] believing it probably a little bit more.'
▪ The Atlantic Hockey America champion will hail from Massachusetts, as Holy Cross and Bentley advanced to Saturday's championship game in Worcester. Bentley finished off a sweep at Sacred Heart with a 3-0 win. Connor Hasley made 26 saves to record his 11th shutout, tied for the second most in a season in NCAA history, and one off the record. Ethan Leyh had a pair of goals for the Falcons in the decisive game.
A.J. Hodges had a natural hat trick in the third period of Game 1 to break a 2-2 tie and lead Bentley to the 5-2 win.
Advertisement
▪ Holy Cross needed overtime and a pair of goals from Devin Phillips to take Game 1 against Army, 3-2, then saw five players light the lamp in Game 2 to complete the sweep, 5-1. Liam McLinskey had a goal and two assists in the clincher to become the first Crusader to reach 50 points (23 goals, 28 assists) in a season since Tyler McGregor in 2005-06.
▪ Harvard nearly pulled off an upset of its own, pushing Clarkson to the limit in the ECAC quarterfinals before dropping Game 3 in overtime, 2-1. The Crimson had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in Game 1, but Clarkson rallied with a pair of goals, including the winner with 25 seconds remaining. Harvard was able to bounce back in Game 2, rallying from a 2-0 hole to win, 3-2, on Casey Severo's overtime goal.
Harvard junior Aku Koskenvuo started all three games, stopping 88 of 95 shots, including 39 saves in Game 3.
▪ Clarkson will face Dartmouth in Lake Placid in the semifinals on Friday. Quinnipiac and Cornell meet in the other semifinal. Quinnipiac finds itself on the right side of the bubble and would inch closer to clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a win on Friday. Clarkson, Cornell, and Dartmouth can only get in with a win in Saturday's championship game.
A Dartmouth victory over Quinnipiac in the title game would likely result in both schools qualifying.
Follow Andrew Mahoney
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
LSU's Kim Mulkey Sends Message to Flau'jae Johnson After Career Announcement
LSU's Kim Mulkey Sends Message to Flau'jae Johnson After Career Announcement originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Flau'Jae Johnson is not only a star basketball player for the LSU Tigers. She is also a multi-talented woman. Advertisement Over the last three years, she has helped lead the Tigers to the Elite Eight round of the women's NCAA Tournament. As a freshman during the 2022-23 season, she teamed with Angel Reese, who is now with the WNBA's Chicago Sky, to guide LSU to the national championship with a win over Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes. Johnson is also a rapper who has appeared on "America's Got Talent" and "The Rap Game." She has released three albums, and on Friday, her new single, named "Remember When," dropped. Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey took to X to congratulate Johnson. "Proud of you @Flaujae 💜🤍💛," Johnson wrote. Johnson, who is originally from Georgia and also played baseball as a kid, averaged 11.0 points and 5.9 rebounds a game as a freshman at LSU. Last season, she put up 18.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals a game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 38.3% from 3-point range. Advertisement The 5-foot-10 guard was named to the All-SEC first team this past season. She had the opportunity to declare herself eligible for this year's WNBA draft, but she decided to instead remain at LSU for her senior season. LSU Tigers guard Flau'Jae Johnson (4) drives to the basket at Florida Gators guard Jeriah Warren (20) Matt Pendleton: Imagn Images She has already signed with Unrivaled, a women's pro three-on-three basketball league. She has a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with the league, and she, along with Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings, has ownership equity as part of that NIL deal. Related: Paige Bueckers' Former Teammate Sends Message After Career Move This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
10 hours ago
- USA Today
Clemson will face familiar opponent in 2025 ACC/SEC Basketball Challenge
Clemson will face familiar opponent in 2025 ACC/SEC Basketball Challenge NEWS: Matchups are set for the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge, per sources. UF @ Duke UNC @ UK UVA @ Texas NC St @ Auburn Clemson @ Bama LVille @ Ark OU @ Wake SMU @ Vandy A&M @ Pitt Miss St @ GT Miami @ Ole Miss LSU @ BC VT@SC Tenn @ Cuse Mizzou @ ND UGA @ FSUhttps:// — Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 11, 2025 Clemson basketball will face a familiar opponent in the ACC/SEC Challenge this year. CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported Wednesday that Brad Brownell's Tigers will take on coach Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge. An official date and start time were not announced. The matchup will be a rematch of teams who met twice during the 2023-24 season, including in the West Region final of NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles on March 30, 2024. After defeating New Mexico, No. 3 seed Baylor and No. 2 seed Arizona in the tournament, the Tigers reached the Elite Eight for only the second time in program history, and the first since 1980. Clemson fell to Alabama, 89-82, at Arena (Staples Center), denying the Tigers their first trip to a Final Four. Prior to that, Clemson and Alabama met four months earlier on Nov. 28 in Tuscaloosa, an 85-77 Tigers victory in the 2023 ACC/SEC Challenge. Last year, Clemson smothered No. 4 Kentucky in the ACC/SEC Challenge for a 70-66 win at Littlejohn Coliseum on Dec. 3 behind 11 points and 20 rebounds from Ian Schieffelin. Guard Jaeden Zackery led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, and fans stormed the court after the victory. Clemson finished 27-7 overall last season and 18-2 in ACC play and was a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers fell to McNeese State, 69-67, in a first-round upset in Providence, Rhode Island. Clemson was ranked No. 23 in the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Alabama went 28-9 overall and reached the Elite Eight before falling to Duke in the East Region final in Newark. The Crimson Tide were ranked No. 6 in the final Coaches Poll. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
NBC Sports
11 hours ago
- NBC Sports
With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster
WACO, Texas — Baylor coach Scott Drew had plenty of players for the first practice of the summer Wednesday, about two months after the team photo from last season was widely circulated on social media with an X marked over all 14 of those players since none was returning to the Bears. Only four of those players exhausted their college eligibility. Nine others left in the transfer portal and one-and-done guard VJ Edgecombe could become Baylor's highest pick ever in the NBA draft later this month. 'Guys you didn't want to lose and were valuable, we haven't had many that we've lost. Whenever you do, that just tears at a coach, because you feel like you didn't do your job,' Drew said this week. 'With the portal, I think we've all gotten used to a lot more turnover in a hurry, and not to take things necessarily personal.' The Bears rebuilt their roster with eight transfers and a four-player signing class with a five-star prospect and the son of a NBA champion. Among the 14 players at the first practice was Cameron Carr, the former Tennessee guard who transferred to Baylor in the middle of last season long after that team photo session. One of the former Bears was guard Robert Wright, who averaged 11.5 points and 4.2 assists a game as a freshman last season and had reportedly agreed to a lucrative NIL deal to stay before transferring to BYU for an even bigger package. 'You know people are going to leave. Rob, obviously, was someone we had an agreement with. When you make an agreement, you think you're done,' Drew said, without getting into any specifics. 'Obviously that was a surprise to us, but again, the staff did a great job of putting together a roster and team. That's part of, hopefully, the House settlement, where you get to a point where you know who's on your team and when they're locked in, they're locked in.' The eight incoming transfers have more than 500 of games played combined, including guards Dan Skillings, who played 100 games over three years for Cincinnati, and JJ White, who started 75 of 99 games at Omaha over the same period. Juslin Bodo Bodo is a 7-foot post from Cameroon, started all 71 of his games for NCAA Tournament team High Point the past two seasons. Obi Agbim, a 6-3 guard, was the Mountain West newcomer of the year after averaging 17.6 points and 3.4 assists in 29 games last season for Wyoming. Five-star prospect Tounde Yessoufou, a small forward from St. Joseph High School in California, leads the signing class that also includes Andre Iguodala II, whose father was a four-time champion over 19 NBA seasons with four teams; Italian forward Maikcol Perez and big man May Soyoye. Baylor, Gonzaga and Houston are the only teams to win at least one game in each of the past six NCAA Tournaments, though the Bears have lost in the second round the past four years since their national championship in 2021. Drew and his staff will get an early look at the new squad with Baylor representing the United States at the World University Games next month in Germany. 'Any year you get a foreign tour, it's huge. ... Since we're returning 0.0 (percent of our) scoring, this give us all an opportunity,' Drew said. 'The games will be good for those that can play in it. But the practices will be great for everyone. And then, the one thing everybody leaves out is you do these team-bonding activities. There's nothing better than being overseas, that really brings you together a lot more than when you have all the distractions you do in the United States.'
