Tuesday Linkorama

Junior goalie Kieran Millan was the co-winner of Hockey East Online’s defensive player of the week for his efforts in the Terriers’ 3-point weekend in Maine. BU earned the “team of the week” designation for its road win and tie. Millan, who was named top star in both games, now stands second in Hockey East’s 3-star standings behind UNH’s Paul Thompson. Co-captain Chris Connolly is fifth. Alex Chiasson, BU’s top scorer with 24 points, earned a spot on the top performers’ list while Joe Pereira’s first-ever shorthanded goal was a noted milestone.

WTBU Sports’ Paul Ryan explores a question with a seemingly obvious answer: “Where would BU be without Millan?”

Millan now has 54 career wins and is one victory away from tying Tom Noble for fifth on BU’s all-time list.

Looking back

Hershey is usually an unpleasant place for members of the rival Wilkes Barre/Scranton, but Baby Pens netminder John Curry had a great weekend during the AHL All-Star events in the Chocolate City. The former two-time All-American and Hockey East MVP, won the goaltending award in the skills competition. Then, last night he was the winning goal in the Eastern Conference’s 11-8 win over the West, stopping 27 of 31 shots.

Former Terrier Freddy Meyer picked up his first goal in nearly a year, but it was the Thrashers' only score in Atlanta's 4-1 loss to the Islanders.

Former Terrier Sean Sullivan, now playing down the Pike for the Worcester Sharks, demonstrated a perfect hip check in a recent game against Bridgeport:



Avalanche rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk had a successful All-Star experience. He scored in the All-Star breakaway and he contributed to the Team Lidstrom win in the All-Star relay.

Looking ahead

2012 recruit Robert Polesello picked up his 41st point in 32 game as Vaughan doubled up Upper Canada, 4-2.

Last month, in a post about former Terriers Tom Noble and Mike Sylvia joining the Catholic Memorial coaching staff, we noted that CM defenseman Marc Hetnik, son of a former Terrier of the same name, had been named to the Boston Herald pre-season Dream Team. Daily Free Press hockey writer Jake Seiner posted an update on Hetnik on USCHO:

Nothing ground-breaking to report, but was chatting with Catholic Memorial coach Bill Hanson today and he mentioned that his senior defenseman, Marc Hetnik, is a good candidate to be playing at BU in two years.

Hetnik is a big, athletic d-man, and probably the best high school blue-liner in the state. His dad played for BU, and was on the '78 championship team.

Hanson said Hetnik is likely to play a year of juniors after graduation then head for school, and could have a Garrett Noonan-like effect at BU. I'm not sure the player-comp lines up –– Hetnik is bigger and a bit more defensive-minded, I think (granted, I never saw Noonan in high school), but Hanson said he could see Hetnik becoming a top-4 D-man at a Hockey East-type school.

Hanson also mentioned Jerry York had come asking about Hetnik, and that Holy Cross is in the fold as well, and Hetnik may not need to spend a year in juniors to wind up a Crusader. The fact that Hetnik's dad played for and now works at BU is going to play a big factor in the decision, although it's worth mentioning his mother works for BC, so there's connections both ways.

Women's team

Grad student Catherine Ward was named Hockey East's Defensive Player of the Week. Saturday's win at UConn was a program-record ninth road victory. In the current 13-game winning streak, BU has yielded just 13 goals while scoring 50.

Freshman Marie-Philip Poulin was named Hockey East Player of the Month for January. The former Canadian Olympian had a 7-8-15 line in seven games, scoring at least one point in each game. During the month, Poulin broke the program's season point-scoring and goal-scoring records. She leads all NCAA D1 rookies in goal-scoring with 22.