Games Galore

The Terriers first game, against Robert Morris in the Nye Classic in Anchorage, is still five days away, but a number of future opponents hit the ice this past weekend for exhibition games. Alaska Anchorage thumped S.Alberta IT Friday, while RMU, Michigan, Massachusetts and Vermont all earned wins today. Maine’s tune-up last night was also the first Division 1 game for the NTDP U18s this season. Billy Ryan’s hattrick powered the Black Bears to a close 5-3 win. BU 2008 recruit Vinny Saponari’s wrap-around goal pulled the U18s within a goal early in the third and later he and David Warsofsky assisted on a powerplay goal to narrow the lead again, before Ryan’s ENG.

Friday night, Ethan Werek picked up his 2nd game of the year in his fourth game for Stouffville since returning from a tweaked knee.

In USHL play, newest 2008 recruit Chris Connolly scored a pair of goals—one shorthanded—and an assist to lead Omaha past his brother’s Sioux Falls team, 6-3. 2009 recruit Max Nicastro didn’t hit the scoresheet in Chicago’s first win of the season, but the 6-2 defenseman from California who is being mentored by Chicago Steel Coach Steve Poapst, a former Colgate standout and NHL blueliner, earned some praise from McKeen’s editor Max Geise:

Nicastro is an impressive prospect in his own right. He possesses a little bit of everything, with no glaring flaws. He can move the puck and play a physical game, but he projects to be a no-nonsense, shut down defenseman if he reaches the NHL.

Brian Durocher's women's hockey team, now in its third varsity season, opened its year in St. Paul playing two national powers, North Dakota and Minnesota in the Nike Bauer Women's Classic. The Terriers came away with a hard-earned 2-2 tie against the Sioux and fell to the 7th ranked Gophers, 4-2, after leading 2-1, after two.