Wheeler, Winnipeg Paste Penguins

Blake Wheeler (Minnesota) scored three of his team's five first-period goals, and added an assist as the Winnipeg Jets cruised to a 7-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday at the MTS Centre in Manitoba.

Wheeler's goals were his second, third and fourth of the 2017-18 NHL campaign. He tallied a career-high 74 points last season, on 26 goals and 48 assists. Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) stopped 31 of 32 Pittsburgh shots on Sunday as Winnipeg improved to 5-3-2 overall.

Princeton Tops Holy Cross in Home Opener

The Princeton University men's hockey team opened its 2017-18 regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 4-2 victory over Holy Cross at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink.

Derek Topatigh had three assists for the Tigers (1-0-0 overall), who were outshot, 40-38, by the visiting Crusaders. Eric Robinson and Jackson Cresey each tallied a goal and an assist for the home team, which scored three times in the middle period. Reid Yochim's power-play goal, the first goal of his college career, stood up as the game-winner and also gave Princeton a 3-1 lead at the time.

Spencer Trapp had two assists for Holy Cross (2-1-2), which finished 1-for-7 on the power play. The Crusaders came to Princeton off a 5-3 win at ECAC opponent Dartmouth on Friday.

Freshman goaltender Ryan Ferland made 38 stops for Princeton on Sunday in his NCAA debut, including 14 saves in each of the final two periods. The Tigers will begin their ECAC campaign at home on Friday against Colgate, before hosting Cornell on Saturday.

Tuch Lifts Vegas Over Boston with First NHL Points

Alex Tuch (Boston College) made his NHL debut a memorable one on Sunday, in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 3-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins at T-Mobile Arena.

Tuch, 21, stripped the puck from a defender and skated in to score his first NHL goal 14:38 into the second period to break a scoreless tie. Three minutes later, he set up the first-ever NHL goal by also-debuting teammate Vadim Shipachyov for his first NHL assist, and the game-winning tally. Malcolm Subban made 20 saves to earn his first-ever NHL victory, while Vegas has now won four of its first five outings in its inaugural NHL campaign.

A Syracuse native, the 6-foot-4 Tuch skated two seasons at BC (2014-2016), totaling 32 goals and 30 assists for 62 points in 77 appearances. Originally selected by Minnesota in the first round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, he went scoreless in six games with the Wild last season before being traded to Vegas in June. He also put up 18-19—37 points in 57 pro games last year with Iowa (AHL).

A product of the U.S. National Development Team Program, Tuch scored the game-winning goal for BC in overtime of the 2016 Beanpot Tournament championship game. He also had a goal in a 3-2 loss to Quinnipiac in an NCAA Frozen Four semifinal that spring, in his final appearance with the Eagles.

Eagles Post First Win of New Season

Boston College men's hockey finally broke into the win column.

Playing their first road game of the 2017-18 season at Hockey East rival Providence College on Sunday, the Eagles overcame a 3-0 second-period deficit with four unanswered goals. Junior defenseman Casey Fitzgerald scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime, as 13th-ranked BC beat no. 9 Providence, 4-3, to improve to 1-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in Hockey East play.

Christopher Grando and Graham McPhee scored BC's other goals on Sunday at Schnieder Arena, while Logan Hutsko had two assists. Joe Woll made 31 saves against the Friars, who led by three goals just over five minutes into the second period.

BC opened the season with a 1-1 tie against Quinnipac on Oct. 6, then fell to No. 10 Wisconsin by a 5-2 count on Oct. 13. Both of those games were played at BC's Conte Forum.

The Eagles will now travel to No. 3 St. Cloud State this weekend for pair of games in Minnesota. SCSU is coming of a two-step sweep of visiting Alaska (Fairbanks). The Eagles and Huskies have played just once before all-time, a 2-1 BC victory during the 2004-05 season.

Princeton Edges UWO in Exhibition, 6-4

Liam Grande's second goal with 5:05 remaining in regulation stood up as the game-winner as the Princeton University Tigers overcame an early 2-1 deficit to best Western Ontario, 6-4, in an exhibition game at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday evening.

Max Veronneau set up three Princeton goals and Eric Robinson had two assists while Reid Yochim, Jackson Cressey, Josh Teves and Alex Riche also scored for the Tigers, who finished 15-16-3 overall a year ago. Freshman netminder Ryan Ferland stopped all four shots he faced in playing the final eight minutes and 24 seconds of regulation for the Tigers, and also picked up the victory (which will not count in NCAA totals, as an exhibition) as he was in net for Grande's game-winner.

Princeton starting goaltender Austin Shaw stopped 19 of 22 shots over the first 40 minutes on Saturday, while Ben Halford saved two of three shots in just over 11 minutes of play. Princeton finished 3-for-7 on the power play, and stopped 4-of-5 man-advantage attempts by the Mustangs, who got two goals from Anthony Stefano.


Princeton will open its 2017-18 regular season against visiting Holy Cross on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. at Baker Rink.

Gibbons Boosts Devils at Buffalo

Brian Gibbons (Boston College) scored one goal and set up another as the New Jersey Devils improved to 2-0-0 on the nascent NHL season with a 6-2 win at Buffalo on Monday afternoon.

Andy Greene (Miami) also posted an assist while Cory Schneider (Boston College) made 23 stops for New Jersey, which last opened 2-0-0 in the 2014-15 campaign. Rookie defenseman Will Butcher (Denver), who notched his first three career assists in the Devils' 4-1 opening night victory over visiting Colorado on Saturday, finished with a plus-two rating.

New Jersey will attempt to remain unbeaten on Wednesday when it travels to Toronto.

BC, Quinnipiac Tie in Boston

No. 13 Boston College and No. 14 Quinnipiac skated to a 1-1 tie on Friday evening in the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey regular-season opener for both teams at Conte Forum in Boston, Mass.

The visiting Bobcats opened the scoring on Alex Whelan's wrist shot from the left circle over the shoulder of BC netminder Joe Woll (28 saves) 15:10 into the second period. The host Eagles forged a tie with 4:01 remaining in regulation on Jacob Tortora's first career goal, as he put home a rebound to the left of Quinnipiac goaltender Andrew Shortridge (25 saves) on a power play. Shortridge had made a penalty-shot save on BC's David Cotton in the first period.

Each team registered three shots on goal in a scoreless overtime stanza. Quinnipiac outshot BC, 29-26, in all on the night, and now leads the all-time series between the two Eastern schools, 2-0-1.

Quinnipiac fell at Boston University, 3-2, in overtime on Sunday, while BC will host No. 12 Wisconsin on Friday night.

2017-18 NHL Campaign Begins

The new National Hockey League regular season began Wednesday, with four games on the docket.

Calgary is at Edmonton tonight, while Toronto is at Winnipeg, Philadelphia at San Jose, and St. Louis at two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh.

Nine months now, until the next NHL champion is crowned.

New NCAA Hockey Season Underway

The 2017-18 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey campaign dropped the puck on Friday night as Alaska Fairbanks blanked visiting Simon Fraser, 6-0, in an exhibition contest at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

On Saturday, second-ranked Boston University topped No. 16 Union, 4-1, at Agannis Arena in Boston, while Colgate upended visiting Niagara, 5-1, at the Class of 1965 Arena.

Saturday and Sunday saw a slew of exhibitions, as Arizona State, Boston College, Colorado College, Northeastern, Robert Morris, St. Cloud State, Alaska Anchorage, Connecticut, Michigan, UMass, UMass Lowell, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Denver, Lake Superior State, Maine, Minnesota State, Quinnipiac, Minnesota and Vermont all recorded victories over Canadian schools.

In the U.S. Hall of Fame Game at the Kohl Center in Madison on Sunday, host Wisconsin edged former WCHA opponent Michigan Tech, 3-2. Exhibitions continue tonight, with Lethbridge visiting Air Force, while more NCAA teams will swing into action starting Friday, as 20 games between NCAA Division I schools are on the schedule that evening.