As first reported by Over The Boards, Dubuque Saint defenseman William Lagesson committed to Massachusetts for this coming fall.  This is a huge pickup for Coach Micheletto and his staff, especially this late in the recruiting cycle.  The Swedish-born Lagesson was the first pick of the fourth round of this past June’s NHL Draft, taken by the Edmonton Oilers.  The 6’2’ blueliner  played in his native Sweden before joining the USHL’s Saints this year.

Lagesson has one goal and 11 assists in 25 games with the Saints.  He recently returned to the Saints after representing Sweden in the World Junior Championships.  Team Sweden finished fourth in the tournament while Lagesson had an assist and finished a +1.  Though he’s billed as a two way defenseman, it sounds like his primary focus may be his own zone, which will fill a big need with both Oleg Yevenko and Mike Busillo graduating this season.  He has good size and it sounds like he is a very physical player.

The Oilers had this profile on him last month.

Here’s an in-depth look at him prior to the draft from a New Jersey Devils blog.

An Edmonton blog, Oiler’s Rig, had this profile of him last Summer.

Overall this looks like an excellent addition to next year’s incoming class.  Lagesson was likely one of the top non-committed players that could come in next fall.  And, his presence will shore up a defense that will be losing two stay at home defensemen to graduation.

▲

All eyes in Hockey East this weekend were on Agganis Arena as the Boston College Eagles and Boston University Terriers renewed their rivalry.  The Eagles ended up charging out to a 3-0 lead and ended up taking down the #2 Terriers 4-2 in the game.  The celebration was short lived though for BC as they then went up to Orono and dropped a 4-2 decision to Maine yesterday.

The other big story around the league this past weekend was the performance of UMass’ next opponent, the Merrimack Warriors.  Mark Dennehy’s squad continues to defy expectations and swept a home and home with #12 Quinnipiac.  For his role in the wins, Warrior forward Brett Seney was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week.  Notre Dame’s Robbie Russo as Player of the Week while Danny Tirone, who picked up the win against UMass on Saturday, was Defensive Player of the Week.

With Maine’s upset of BC the Minutemen continue to stay in last place in the league despite picking up two points this past weekend:

▲

BU rebounded from their BC loss with an overtime win over Lowell Sunday afternoon and only slid one spot in the USCHO rankings to #3 as a result.  Lowell moved up a spot to #5.   Vermont tied and lost to Northeastern this past weekend and dropped a couple spots to #12.  The sweep of Quinnipiac propelled Merrimack all the way from #20 to #14.  Providence fell to #18 after losing to UNH early in the week and BC’s defeat knocked them down to #19.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

January 19, 2015

▲

Hockey East has five teams in the top 16 of the Pairwise.  UMass continues to come in last among league teams in the Pairwise at #50, just behind Maine.