Two weeks in a row and two different UMass freshman goaltenders have been named Hockey East Rookie of the Week.  After Steve Mastalerz won the award last week, Kevin Boyle was honored today after this win over Merrimack on Friday.  It’s his second ROTW on the season.  Senior captains Danny Hobbs and T.J. Syner were named Top Performers.

The release also notes that Syner is just four points shy of hitting 100 for his career.

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Good news everybody!  Boston College is the unanimous #1 team in the country in this week’s USCHO poll.  Usually that’s not something you’d like if you’re about to take them on in a playoff series, but considering UMass is 2-0 against the top ranked team and 7-7-1 against all ranked teams this season, maybe it’ll work in their favor.  Boston University dropped a couple spots to #6 while Lowell moved up to #7.  Maine comes in at #10 while their opponent this weekend, Merrimack, dropped to #14.  BC picked up all the first place votes in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll as well.

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Friday’s Game 1 against the Eagles will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network, moving the game to a 7:30pm start.

The Collegian recaps the weekend that was for the team.

UMass alum Michael King has his takeaways from Saturday for College Hockey News.

The Herald says the Eagles are on the right flight.

Eagle coach Jerry York says this weekend’s series won’t be “a typical 1-8 matchup”, noting that the two UMass wins over BC “wasn’t a fluke”.

UMass has its work cut out for it per USCHO.

Remember to check back often as I’ll continue to work hard this week to get UMass fans completely prepared for this weekend’s playoff matchup.