Preseason Polls in, Regular Season Starts Saturday

The 2019-20 preseason polls for each of the six men's NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences have all been released. The following are the six schools chosen to finish first overall in their respective leagues at the conclusion of the regular season:

Atlantic Hockey: American International
Big Ten: Penn State
ECAC Hockey: Cornell
Hockey East: Boston College
NCHC: Minnesota-Duluth
WCHA: Minnesota State

American International, Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota State all won their respective conference regular-season titles last season, with Cornell finishing as ECAC Hockey's runner-up. All four also advanced to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, with Minnesota-Duluth ultimately winning its second straight national championship. The UMD Bulldogs were also voted first overall in today's USA Hockey/NCAA Division I Preseason Poll.

The 2019-20 NCAA campaign gets underway this Saturday with Maine visiting Providence in Hockey East action, along with eight non-conference NCAA tilts, and 11 exhibition contests pitting NCAA schools against Canadian universities. Northern Michigan also faces off with the U.S. Under-18 Team.

BC Women Blank Merrimack in Opener

The 2019-20 NCAA ice hockey season got underway on Friday night as Boston College blanked host Merrimack, 2-0, in Hockey East women's play.

Savannah Norcross tallied the game-winning goal for the Eagles, who are ranked eighth in the nation. Caroline DiFiore added an empty-net insurance goal, the first goal of her college career, and Maddy McArthur made 25 saves for the visitors to earn the shutout.

The Warriors and Eagles meet again on Saturday at Merrimack's Lawler Rink at 2 p.m. ET to close out the two-game series.

In non-conference NCAA women's action on Friday, defending NCAA champion and No. 1 Wisconsin won, 3-0, at Lindenwood, while No. 3 Clarkson edged host Syracuse, 4-3. Minnesota State won, 4-0, at Rensselaer, and Penn State skated to a 3-3 tie at Holy Cross. No. 2 Minnesota blanked visiting Colgate, 2-0, and No. 9 Ohio State bested visiting St. Lawrence, 4-1.

18 Years Later

In your prayers and recollections today, please remember Mark Bavis (Boston University '93), who was lost on United No. 175 on 9/11 on his way to training camp as a scout for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. He was 31 years old.

#MarkBavis #United175 #NineEleven

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame to Add Three Former Collegians

Former collegiate standouts Brian Gionta (Boston College), Tim Thomas (Vermont) and Krissy Wendell (Minnesota) will all be inducted to the U.S Hockey Hall of Fame later this year.

Gionta, 40, who is still BC's all-time leading goal scorer with 123 goals and nine hat tricks from 1997 to 2001, led the Eagles to four consecutive NCAA Frozen Fours, and also captained BC to the national title his senior season. He played 16 years in the NHL with New Jersey, Montreal, Buffalo and Boston, and won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003 before setting a still-standing Devils’ single-season record by scoring 48 goals during the 2005-06 campaign. The Rochester, N.Y. native tallied 291 goals and 304 assists for 595 points in 1,026 career NHL regular-season games, and also skated for Team USA in two Olympic Winter Games (2006, 2018), while captaining the American squad in his second Olympic go-around.

Thomas won the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL playoffs that spring as he backstopped Boston to its first Stanley Cup in four decades, and also received the Vezina Trophy that season as the league’s top goaltender. A native of Flint, Mich., he compiled a 214-145-19 record to go with a 2.52 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage, and 31 shutouts in 426 career NHL regular-season appearances with Boston, Florida and Dallas. A two-time All-America netminder at Vermont, Thomas, 45, helped the Catamounts to the 1996 NCAA Frozen Four as a junior while recording 81 career victories over four years at UVM. He also gained a bronze medal at the 1996 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with the United States.

Wendell, 37, played three seasons at Minnesota, where she posted 106-131—237 points in 101 career contests with the Golden Gophers. She tallied 104 points in her third and final NCAA campaign, and also helped Minnesota to the 2003-04 national title. She earned five silver medals and one gold medal at the Women’s World Championships, and also claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively, with the U.S. in two Olympic Winter Games (2002, 2006).

Dartmouth's Lovejoy Retires from NHL

Ben Lovejoy (Dartmouth) has called it a career.

The longtime NHL defenseman from Concord, N.H., retired from pro hockey last week, following 11 years in the league and a Stanley Cup championship ring with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016. In 544 career NHL regular-season appearances with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, New Jersey and Dallas, he scored 20 goals and added 81 assists for 101 points, to go with 287 penalty minutes. In Stanley Cup Playoff action, he recorded 5-11—16 points and 26 PIM in 76 postseason games.

Lovejoy, 35, played one year at Boston College (2002-03), notching six assists in 22 contests before transferring to Dartmouth. He then skated three NCAA seasons with the Big Green, and collected 11-43—54 points in 96 career matches, while helping Dartmouth to the ECAC Hockey tournament semifinals in both 2006 and 2007. He turned pro as a free agent with Norfolk (AHL) following his senior season in 2006-07.

After going scoreless in five outings with Norfolk, Lovejoy joined Pittsburgh's system the following season and subsequently notched 18-62—80 points in 213 regular-season AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He also recorded a career-best plus-42 plus-minus rating in 2008-09, and added three goals and 11 assists in 37 career Calder Cup playoff contests.

BC's Guerin Named Minnesota Wild GM

Bill Guerin (Boston College) was named General Manager of the Minnesota Wild last week, making him the fourth GM in the franchise's history.

Guerin, 48, served the past five years as Assistant GM with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. He was also GM of the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the past two years, and also spent three years as a development coach with Pittsburgh.

A first-round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils (fifth overall) in 1989, Guerin played 17 seasons as a forward in the NHL with New Jersey, Edmonton, Boston, Dallas, St. Louis, San Jose, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh from 1991 to 2010. A 12-time 20-goal scorer, he collected 429 goals and 427 assists for 856 points to go with 1,660 penalty minutes in 1,263 career NHL regular-season outings. He added 39-35—74 points and 162 PIM in 140 Stanley Cup Playoff games, and won hockey's most coveted trophy twice, in 1995 with New Jersey and in 2009 with Pittsburgh. He also skated for the U.S. Olympic Team on three occasions, and won a silver medal with the Americans in Salt Lake City in 2002.

A junior hockey product of the Springfield (Mass.) Olympics program, Guerin played two seasons at Boston College and helped the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament both years (1990, 1991), including the 1990 Frozen Four in Detroit. He tallied 40-30—70 points in 77 career games, and was ultimately inducted into the BC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Shattenkirk on the Move, Butcher Stays Put

A pair of former NCAA defensemen are heading different ways in the NHL's Atlantic Division.

Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University) was bought out by the New York Rangers with two years remaining on his four-year, $26.6 million contract, according to Reuters, while Will Butcher (Denver) signed a new three-year deal worth $11.2 million with the New Jersey Devils, according to msn.com.

Shattenkirk, 30, joined the Rangers in the summer of 2017 after splitting the 2016-17 campaign between St. Louis and Washington. In two seasons in Manhattan, the first limited by injury, he notched seven goals and 44 assists for 51 points in 119 regular-season outings.

A 2014 U.S. Olympian, Shattenkirk has registered 75-274—349 points in 609 NHL regular-season games with Colorado, St. Louis, Washington and the Rangers. He also has five goals and 34 points in 64 career Stanley Cup Playoff appearances. A first-round draft choice (14th overall) of Colorado in 2007, and a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program, he totaled 18-60—78 points in 121 contests over three seasons at BU, and was also a member of the Terriers' 2009 NCAA championship team.

Also originally drafted by Colorado (2013, 123rd overall) and trained by the U.S. NTDP, Butcher signed with the New Jersey Devils as a free agent in 2017 after completing a highly-successful three-year stint at DU that culminated in both an NCAA title and the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. In 158 appearances overall with the Pioneers, he collected 28-75—103 points. His totals included seven goals and career-high 37 points as a junior captain in 2016-17, when he was also named a First Team All-America selection.

Butcher, 24, who has represented the U.S. at both the World Junior Championship and the World Championships, has notched nine goals and 74 points in 159 NHL regular-season outings over two seasons with the Devils, and also has four points in five career Stanley Cup Playoff matches. He posted 44 points in 2017-18 to earn selection to the NHL All-Rookie Team that season.