Weekend In Review

Matt Nieto has now scored a goal in 8 

straight games dating back to to last 

season. It is thelongest such streak

since Chris Drury's 9 game

 goal streak back in '96.

(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Yes, BU would have liked to sweep UMass, but three points will have to do and it better because they did not come easy. The Terriers had to dig themselves out of a grave (to use a Halloween term) not once, but twice over the weekend.

Out at UMass, anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Until Matt Nieto, arguably the hottest player in college hockey right now, scored on a three on two, midway through the second frame. Sahir Gill scored the tying goal off a rebound, evening the game at two, where it would stay knotted through the overtime session. 

On to Saturday. If anything else had gone wrong in this game, BU would have lost. The Terriers once again proved that they can come back and make games very interesting. They did it against Providence earlier in the year and against Holy Cross last weekend. The difference between those games and this past weekend's was that BU could not fully overcome the deficit and ended up losing both games. This past weekend though, BU came back not only to tie but to win.

Down three nothing after the worst period the team played all year, BU stormed back, scoing four straight goals before UMass re-tied the game on a power play goal by Mike Pereira. 

Matt Nito had scored a goal in every game up to Saturday's contest and his streak was not about to end in this game. Nieto scored the biggest and most clutch goal of the year on the power play, 3:17 into overtime on a wrist shot, after he took a pass from Charlie Coyle.

Coyle picked up his first goal of the year, the game tying goal of Saturday's win. The assist came from none other that Matt Nieto, who seems to be doing everything for BU. Coyle leads Hockey East with a plus 9 rating and is second on the team in points with 9 behind, you guessed it, Nieto.

Athe The Polls

BU move up one place in the USCHO rankings from 13th to 12th. BC remained the Nation's number one ranked team, followed by Colorado College, Michigan, Western Michigan, and Minnesota rounding out the top five. The only other Hockey East school to make the poll is Merrimack, who came in at 7th.

In the USA Today ranking, BU stayed put at number 12. The top five looked like this: Boston College, Colorado College, Michigan, Notre Dame and Minnesota. Merrimack was also slotted at 7. 

My team of the week goes to Lake State, who swept Miami and now have a 6-1-0 record. The Lakers have not started a season this well since the days when Jeff Jackson was their bench boss. 

Around Hockey East

In other action around Hockey East, Maine swept their weekend series with Providence while BC and Merrimack also won both their two games over Lowell and Vermont respectively. Northeastern fell 5-2 at UNH. UNH also beat Union 2-1 in overtime Friday night.