For his role in helping the Massachusetts hockey program gain an opening weekend sweep in Colorado Springs Minuteman freshman Austin Plevy was named Hockey East Co-Rookie of the Week today.  He shares the honor with UConn’s Max Letunov who, like Plevy, also had a hat trick in his collegiate debut.  In addition to the 3 goals and one assist in Friday night’s 6-3 win Plevy also scored the game-winner on Saturday.  Plevy and Mercyhurt’s Taylor Best, who has played one more game than Plevy, are tied for the national lead in goals.  Shane Walsh (3G, 2A) and Nic Renyard (45 saves) were named Top Performers by the league this week for their efforts this weekend.

graphic by Hockey East

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All the Hockey East teams in action this past weekend played non-conference or exhibition games, so UMass currently sits in a 12-way tie for first place after the first weekend.  But, UMass is the only Hockey East team right now to be 2-0 on the season.  There were some pretty unexpected results around the league.  First and foremost was top ranked Boston College losing on the road at RPI, a team expected to finish in the bottom half of the ECAC.  Boston University didn’t enjoy their trip to the Capital Region either, dropping a 5-3 decision to Union.  Lowell didn’t experience the same troubles BC did against RPI, beating them at home 3-0.  Defending national champion Providence won and tied out at Miami.

Maine did better than expected, picking up a pair of ties against North Dakota and Michigan State at the Icebreaker Tournament in Portland, Maine.  Like UMass, Vermont made the most of their trip west shutting out Minnesota 3-0 in the Twin Cities.  Northeastern picked up a win at home against Colgate.  Rounding out the rest of the Hockey East action UConn split a series at Alabama-Huntsville while New Hampshire pounded AIC 7-3.  Notre Dame played a couple exhibitions while Merrimack was strangely idle.

Here are the league standings:

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UMass’ performance this past week was enough to gain the attention of some of the USCHO poll voters.  The Minutemen got 5 points in this week’s poll.  With their loss BC is #1 no more as North Dakota now owns that spot.  Providence is right on their heels though at #2.  BC drops to #4 while BU’s loss dropped them from #3 to #6.  Lowell moved into the top ten at #9.  And Vermont broke into the poll at #20.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

October 12, 2015

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It may be a tad too early to look at the Pairwise, but UMass is 23rd in case you were wondering.

College Hockey News has their Hockey East preview out.  UMass is picked to finish 12th.  Their UMass capsule says the team is returning most of their defense, but as we know that’s not really true with the team likely to play 4 freshmen blueliners every night.  Here’s CHN’s things to watch in the league this season.

Last, but not least, happy Thanksgiving to all the FTT readers north of the border!