Caps Take 2-1 Cup Final Lead

Jay Beagle (Alaska Anchorage) assisted on two of his team's three goals Saturday night as the Washington Capitals took the lead in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena.

Washington now leads the best-of-seven NHL title series, two games to one. It was the first-ever home victory for the Caps in the Stanley Cup Final in franchise history.

T.J. Oshie (North Dakota) combined with Beagle on Washington's second goal, by Evgeny Kuznetsov, to make it 2-0 in the second period. After Vegas pulled within one early in the third period, Beagle fed Devante Smith-Pelly in front of the Golden Knights net with just over six minutes remaining in regulation for a score that regained Washington's two-goal advantage.

Game Four is Monday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC TV, CBC TV) in Washington, D.C.

Dennehy in Charge with Wheeling (ECHL)

Mark Dennehy is back in the coaching game.

Dennehy, 50, who spent the last 13 seasons as head coach at Merrimack College, has been named the new Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers. It marks his first foray into the professional coaching ranks, as he becomes the 17th head coach in Nailers history.

Dennehy went 156-222-56 overall in 13 seasons at Merrimack. His overall career record is 159-250-59 in 14 collegiate campaigns, with the other one coming with the now-defunct NCAA Division I men's program at Fairfield University in 1999-2000. He served as an assistant coach at Princeton University before going on to Fairfield, and then worked as an assistant at the University of Massachusetts before taking the reins at Merrimack in 2005-06.

Dennehy's tenure in North Andover with the Warriors included a No. 1 national ranking, plus the first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament berth in school history in 2011 after they notched 25 overall victories and played in the Hockey East Championship game that season. He also guided them to six seasons of 15 or more total wins. Merrimack went 12-21-4 in 2017-18, winning at defending NCAA champion Denver during the regular season before falling to Boston College in the first round of the Hockey East postseason tournament.

A native of Dorchester, Mass. and a four-year letterman on the BC blueline as a player (1987-1991), Dennehy helped the Eagles to three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 1990 NCAA Frozen Four, and the 1990 Hockey East championship. He then skated one season with the Ayr Raiders in Scotland (1991-92) before turning to coaching.

Orpik Goal Boosts Caps to Game Two Win

A pair of former Boston College Eagles combined on the winning goal in Game Two of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday—even though they play for different teams.

Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, who helped BC to the 2001 NCAA title over North Dakota, scored the winning goal in the second period at T-Mobile Arena when his wrist shot from the right side went in off 2016 BC Beanpot Tournament hero Alex Tuch of the Vegas Golden Knights. The score stood up as the game-winner as the Caps defeated host Vegas, 3-2, to tie the best-of-seven NHL championship series at one game apiece. 

For Orpik, it was his first NHL goal since the 2015-16 NHL regular season, and his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal since 2014 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was a member of Pittsburgh's 2009 NHL championship team along with Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 23 saves on Wednesday.

Tuch, who tallied the game-winning goal in overtime in BC's Beanpot championship game triumph two years ago against Boston University, had a chance to tie the game for Vegas on a point-blank shot with two minutes remaining in the third period, but was denied by Washington netminder Braden Holtby. Reilly Smith (Miami), who tallied goal and an assist in Vegas' 6-4 triumph on Monday, had one assist in Game Two.

Wednesday was also the first-ever victory in the Stanley Cup Final for Washington in six games all-time. The Caps were swept by Detroit in four contests in 1998.

Game Three will be held Saturday night in Washington, D.C. (8 p.m. ET; TV: NBCSN, CBC).

Vegas Takes Game One of 2018 Cup Final

Reilly Smith (Miami) scored one goal and set up another as the Vegas Golden Knights took a one game-to-none lead in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final with a 6-4 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The goal by Smith, who helped Miami to the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four, broke a 2-2 tie early in the second period, after he had previously set up Vegas' second goal of the game. Erik Haula (Minnesota) drew the only assist on the Golden Knights' game-opening goal in the first period.

T. J. Oshie (North Dakota) had two assists for the Capitals, who squandered 2-1 and 4-3 leads en route to surrendering three third-period goals, including an empty-net tally with three seconds remaining in regulation.Washington outshot Vegas, 28-24 on the evening, and will try to even the best-of-seven NHL championship series in Game Two on Wednesday night.

At Last it Begins ...

The 2018 Stanley Cup Final begins tonight in Las Vegas, and both the cinderella Vegas Golden Knights and the upstart Washington Capitals feature several former NCAA players on their rosters.

For Vegas, the college roll call includes Ryan Carpenter (Bowling Green), Erik Haula (Minnesota), Jason Garrison (Minnesota-Duluth), Brad Hunt (Bemidji State), John Merrill (Michigan), Brandon Pirri (Rensselaer), Nate Schmidt (Minnesota), Reilly Smith (Miami), Alex Tuch (Boston College) and Zach Whitecloud (Bemidji State), according to hockeydb.com.

For Washington, its NCAA alumni include Jay Beagle (Alaska Anchorage), Travis Boyd (Minnesota), Alex Chiasson (Boston University), Pheonix Copley (Michigan Tech), Aaron Ness (Minnesota) Matt Niskanen (Minnesota-Duluth), Brooks Orpik (Boston College) and T.J. Oshie (North Dakota). 

Game Two of the NHL's championship tilt will be held Wednesday in Nevada, before the best-of-seven series shifts to Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

Carle Takes Reins at Denver

David Carle is the new men's hockey head coach at the University of Denver. The longtime DU assistant succeeds former head coach Jim Montgomery, who joined the NHL's Dallas Stars earlier this month.

Carle, 28, has served as an assistant with the Pioneers for eight of the last nine seasons, spending the 2013-14 campaign as an assistant with Green Bay (USHL) before rejoining DU as a full-time assistant in 2014. He has helped DU to eight NCAA Tournament berths in his overall tenure, including the 2017 NCAA title.

The past four seasons, according to denverpioneers.com, Carle has helped Denver to a 115-51-23 overall record, a 66-32-14-8 mark in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, one NCHC regular-season title, two NCHC Frozen Faceoff titles, and four NCAA Tournament appearances with one national championship. He becomes the youngest current head coach in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey with this hiring.

A native of Anchorage, Alaska, Carle was offered the head coach position at UAA earlier this year, but turned it down. His college playing career came to a premature end as a freshman in 2008 when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, after which he joined Denver’s coaching staff as a student assistant under former head coach George Gwozdecky. A product of Shattuck- St. Mary's in Minnesota, Carle was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Draft.

Carle, who has served as DU’s primary recruiter, is expected to retain former fellow assistant coach Tavis MacMillan.

BU's Quinn Takes Over New York Rangers

Another NCAA head coach has gone directly to the NHL.

Nearly three weeks after Denver's Jim Montgomery was hired by the Dallas Stars, Boston University's David Quinn has been chosen to lead the New York Rangers.

A former BU defenseman ('89), Quinn took over his alma mater in 2013, succeeding his mentor, the legendary Jack Parker. In five seasons at the helm, Quinn guided the Terriers to a 105-68-21 overall record, including four NCAA Tournament berths, two Hockey East Association regular season titles, two HEA tournament crowns, one Beanpot Tournament title, and the 2015 NCAA Championship Game in Boston.

Quinn, 51, led the Terriers to the Hockey East championship this past season and the NCAA Northeast Regional final, where they fell to Michigan.

As a player, Quinn was a first-round draft choice of the NHL's old Minnesota North stars in 1984. He then skated three seasons for BU (1984-1987), while battling a blood disorder known as Christmas Disease. He later went on to play two years professionally with Binghamton (AHL) and Cleveland (IHL) before getting into coaching.

Quinn served as a college assistant at Northeastern and Nebraska-Omaha, and then spent five years as an associate at BU, helping the Terriers to the 2009 NCAA title in his final year there. He then coached Lake Erie (AHL) for three seasons and then spent one season as an assistant with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche before taking the top job at BU.

The Rangers, who advanced to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final and the 2015 Eastern Conference Final, did not qualify for the playoffs this season, the first time they had missed the postseason since 2010.