Eagles Still Winless Headed into November

Boston College men's hockey is off to an 0-4-0 start for the first time in almost 80 years.

The Eagles dropped their fourth straight contest of the nascent 2017-18 NCAA campaign to St. Cloud State, 7-0, in BC's home opener at Conte Forum on Oct. 26. Prior to that, BC recorded losses at Wisconsin (0-3, 5-7) on Oct. 12-13, and at Quinnipiac (0-1) on Oct. 19. An 8-1 exhibition victory against visiting Canadian university New Brunswick on Oct. 6 will not count in the Eagles' official record and statistics.

It is the Eagles' worst start to a hockey season since the 1937-38 squad lost its first five games. BC has also not recorded an out-of-conference victory in NCAA play since besting visiting Arizona State, 3-1, in Nov. 2016.

Junior forward David Cotton leads the Eagles to date with three goals and one assist for four points, with all three of his goals coming in the 7-5 setback at Wisconsin. Junior goaltender Joseph Woll has gone 0-4-0 in net with a 3.71 goals-against average and an .867 save percentage in stopping 85 of 98 shots over 210 minutes played. As a whole, BC currently ranks 56th overall in NCAA Division I scoring (1.25 goals per game), 53rd in team defense (4.50 goals against per game), 42nd on the power play (2-of-13, 15.4 percent) and 21st on the penalty kill (11-of-13, 84.6 percent), according to USCHO.com.

BC will try to get on track this weekend with its first Hockey East conference games this year, a home-and-home series with Merrimack on Nov. 2-3.

Arizona State Over .500 After Six Games

Don't look now, but Arizona State is 4-2-0 to begin the 2018-19 NCAA campaign.

The lone men's hockey Division I independent, the Sun Devils started the season with a home sweep of Alaska in which ASU didn't allow a goal. ASU then dropped two close contests to 2018 Frozen Four participant Ohio State (2-3, 1-3), and then swept host Alabama-Huntsville this past weekend by 2-1 and 5-1 scores.

Sophomore forward and Phoenix, Ariz. native Johnny Walker currently leads the Sun Devils with four goals and four assists for eight points through ASU's first six games, which places him among the top 10 players in national scoring. Junior goaltender and Boston native Joey Daccord has played every minute in net so far for ASU, and has gone 4-2-0 with a 1.18 goals-against average and .956 save percentage, while allowing just seven goals in all. He also leads the nation with 357 minutes played to date.

ASU's penalty kill also ranks among the top 10 nationally. The Sun Devils have negated 30-of-32 opposing power plays, and are tied with Sacred Heart for third overall in Division I at 93.7 percent.

Next on tap for the Sun Devils will be the visiting Omaha Mavericks, this Friday and Saturday at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Ariz. ASU will then visit Omaha in November. Omaha defeated
ASU, 5-1, a year ago in Nebraska before the two schools skated to a 4-4 tie the next night.

ADDENDUM: ASU upped its record to 6-2-0 with a two-step sweep of Omaha, 6-3 and 7-2.

Adrian Edges Princeton in Exhibition

NCAA Division III Adrian (Mich.) topped NCAA Division I host Princeton in an exhibition men's ice hockey contest on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink. Individual statistics and team records from the contest will not count in either school’s official totals.

After Ryan Kuffner and Jake Paganelli staked the Tigers to a 2-0 second-period lead, Dino Balsamo got the visiting Bulldogs on the board. Adrian would then tie the contest late in regulation before Austin Bottrell put home a rebound on a power play with 6.2 seconds remaining in overtime for the win.

Kevin Entmaa went the distance in goal for Adrian, and finished with 23 saves. Ryan Ferland, Andrew Shaw and Jay Forget split netminding chores for Princeton in playing one period apiece,
with Forget also playing the overtime, and combined for 30 stops. Save totals were partially skewed by several 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 power play practice situations exchanged by the two teams prior to the start of the second stanza.

Adrian, which finished 24-6-0 overall last season and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament's quarterfinal round, will begin its 2018-19 regular season at Utica on Oct. 26-27.
Princeton, which claimed the 2018 ECAC Hockey Championship, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009, went 19-13-4 overall last season and will open its new
campaign at Penn State on Oct. 26.

Devils Roll in 2018-19 Opener

Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame) and Travis Zajac (North Dakota) scored two goals apiece as the New Jersey Devils opened their 2018-19 NHL campaign with a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the 2018 NHL Global Series in Gothenburg, Sweden on Saturday.

Miles Wood (Boston College) set up two goals for the Devils, who got 17 saves from Keith Kinkaid (Union). Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville) made 22 stops for Edmonton. The victory marked New Jersey’s third win in its last five season openers, and also makes the Devils  21-9-6 overall in season-opening contests.