Here's a look at what's on tap for the American Hockey League teams with former Minutemen on their roster for this coming weekend:
Conor Allen (Hartford Wolf Pack) - 3/21 vs. St. Johns (7 PM), 3/22 at Adirondack (7 PM)
Joel Hanley (Portland Pirates) - 3/23 at Bridgeport (3 PM) -
Listen Danny Hobbs (Binghamton Senators) - 3/21 at Norfolk (7:30 PM), 3/22 at Norfolk (7:15 PM) -
Listen Michael Pereira (Worcester Sharks) - 3/21 vs. Springfield (7:30 PM), 3/22 vs. Hershey (7 PM) -
Listen Conor Sheary (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) - 3/21 at Syracuse (7 PM), 3/22 vs. Utica (7:05 PM), 3/23 at Albany (4 PM) -
Listen Casey Wellman (Hershey Bears) - 3/21 at Providence (7:05 PM), 3/22 at Worcester (7 PM), 3/23 at Manchester (3 PM) -
Listen
Live stats for all games can be found on
TheAHL.com The Worcester Sharks have posted video highlights of Sunday's 5-1 win over the Manchester Monarchs, which includes former Minuteman Michael Pereira's first professional goal.
Watch the video "Sharks vs. Manchester 3/16/14" here (clip of Pereira's goal begins around the 1:50 mark
Nick Canelas spoke with UMass hockey senior Michael Pereira over the weekend after Pereira made his professional debut with the Worcester Sharks of the AHL.
Read: Former UMass hockey standout Michael Pereira seizes opportunity in unexpected AHL debut weekend
Nick Canelas of the Daily Collegian has a story examining UMass hockey's senior class and the value it associates with this season's Hockey East Tournament.
Off the ice, Conor Sheary is pretty unassuming.
"He's a real mellow guy," teammate Michael Pereira said. "He comes off as a quiet and humble and nose-to-the-grindstone type kid. But when he gets down to the rink, he means business."
Notoriously competitive and difficult to play against, Sheary has attracted a lot of attention on the ice lately in what's been an otherwise down year for Massachusetts. He posted an eight-game point streak from Jan. 24 to Feb. 21, totaling five goals and five assists. Over that span, he also strung together a five-game goal streak despite facing two of the top goalies in college hockey, Northeastern's Clay Witt and Massachusetts-Lowell's Connor Hellebuyck, twice each.
"He's just continued to will our team to keep moving forward and stay in games," head coach John Micheletto said. "He's scored some big goals during that stretch."
Read more: Fighting To the End - Sheary a Bright Spot for Massachusetts
With UMass hockey entering a bye weekend in the final weekend of the regular season, awaiting its first round playoff opponent, Nick Canelas took a look ahead at the postseason in his column today for the Daily Collegian:
Daily Collegian - Canelas: Don't count out UMass hockey in a playoff game
Nick Canelas of the Daily Collegian has an editorial in today's paper saying not to look past the UMass hockey team when the Hockey East Playoffs start up. He says half of the team's losses were by one goal and the addition of Frank Vatrano to the lineup are reasons why UMass can be a scary team in the conference's opening one-game playoff round.
With the Minutemen coming off a bye weekend last weekend before resuming Hockey East play against Merrimack, Nick Canelas takes a look at the team's preparations during the 10-day layoff in today's Daily Collegian.
Nick Canelas takes a look at the play of UMass' line of Michael Pereira, Branden Gracel and Conor Sheary in his column for the Daily Collegian today:
It was a 3-1 game. Denver had snatched momentum from the Massachusetts hockey team with a pair of goals in the second period, and seemed well on its way to snapping the Minutemen's three-game winning streak.
Then The Big Three stepped onto the ice.
Branden Gracel made a play down low to get the puck to Michael Pereira in the faceoff circle. Pereira shot but didn't get a full piece of the puck. It was deflected and landed right in front for Conor Sheary to come in and finish the play to cut the UMass deficit to 3-2 16 minutes, 44 seconds into the second period.
Read more - Canelas: Play of top line essential to UMass hockey's success
Cameron McDonough takes a look at the opening weekend matchups for UMass hockey in this piece:
While this weekend will provide the usual nerves and excitement that accompany the season opener, it will also have an added element for Michael Pereira and the seniors for the Massachusetts hockey team.
"Nerves, excitement, bittersweet," Pereira said. "It's your last opening weekend."
And this is an important weekend right out of the box for the Minutemen, because rather than ease into Hockey East action with a slew of non-conference games against unranked opponents, they are opening at No. 19 Boston University on Friday before traveling to No. 1 UMass Lowell on Saturday for what will be a non-conference game against a conference opponent.
Read more of UMass hockey excited to start new season against No. 19 BU, No. 1 UML
Cameron McDonough takes a look at UMass' top line, which features its top-three returning scorers from a year ago: Branden Gracel, Michael Pereira and Conor Sheary:
The Massachusetts hockey team has its fair share of question marks heading into the season.
How will Year 2 of the John Micheletto era go?
Who will replace last year's seniors, especially on the second line?
Will Steve Mastalerz step up and be the No. 1 goalie?
And who will step up on defense and replace Conor Allen?
But there are few questions about who the first line will be.
Seniors Branden Gracel, Conor Sheary and Michael Pereira were all moved to the first line during the 2012-13 season by Micheletto and became an instant offensive force in the Hockey East.
Read more of UMass hockey looking for repeat from first line The UMass hockey team was able to bounce back from a tough loss on Friday night to pull out a 4-1 win at No. 11 Maine on Saturday keeping their playoff hopes alive.
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican has a look around Hockey East which includes a mention of Michael Pereira being named the Hockey East Player of the Week after scoring his second hat trick of the season against Providence after scoring a goal and an assist in the win over No. 1 Boston University.
Scott Cournoyer of the Daily Collegian has a recap of Friday's home-opening win over Bentley and Saturday's tough loss at Providence for the UMass hockey team.
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican has a recap from last night's 5-3 hockey win over Bentley.
Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette has a recap of the hockey team's 5-3 win against Bentley yesterday in the Mullins Center home opener. Mike Pereira had three goals and an assist.
Speculation abounded last week about the possibility of UMass rising sophomore Michael Pereira being selected in the NHL Draft last Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, that didn't come to pass despite Pereira being one of the top rated college draft-eligible players and having been ranked by the Central Scouting Services agency over the last two years.
The NHL Draft begins tonight and will finish up on Saturday. Mike Pereira has continued to gain attention as one of the top NCAA Players likely to be taken. Last week he was listed as one of the top-10 NCAA Players eligible for the Draft. Today he is listed as one of the top New England talents - a region that has seen several notable players taken in the first round.
"I think (NHL teams) would be smart to take him. He's a very noticeable offensive player whose skating is obviously better than a lot of the players on the ice. He has very good balance agility and a real good stick." -- Central Scouting's New England Regional Scout Gary Eggleston
HockeysFuture.com has assembled a top-10 list of NHL Draft Eligible NCAA Prospects with UMass forward Mike Pereira coming in at seventh overall. The NHL Entry Draft will be this Friday and Saturday. Pereira was the runner-up for the Hockey East Rookie of the Year and was a unanimous All-Rookie Team selection.
Pereira is a dynamic winger that possesses excellent speed, vision and hockey sense. He is a player that can make things happen every time he's on the ice. Pereira's best attribute is his skating and what makes him so dangerous is how he utilizes his speed. He has excellent acceleration and a great first gear. Pereira has the ability to make plays at high speeds and can do so in any type of situation. He also has good balance and is remarkably strong on his skates.
After a back-and-forth flurry in the first 10 minutes on Saturday night, Northeastern managed to tie the game in the 2nd period and neither side could score for the balance of regulation or overtime as the Minutemen settled for a 2-2 tie with the Huskies. The Mass Attack heads out on the road this weekend with games at Boston College (Friday) and at Merrimack (Saturday).
Highlights:
Dick Baker has a couple of updates on his MassLive.com Hockey Blog including a note on Justin Braun being recalled by the NHL San Jose Sharks, freshman Mike Pereira being ranked n the NHL Central Scouting List and Merrimack jumping Boston University in this week's polls.
In Dick Baker's latest MassLive.com Hockey Blog, he looks at Mike Pereira's numbers as he leads UMass in scoring and plus-minus. He also mentions the ticket office's holiday ticket specials and mentions a feature article from the Catholic Mirror on head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon.
HockeyJournal.com writer and UMass alum Andrew Merritt mention's UMass four-game unbeaten streak in his
weekly Hockey East column. He writes that "the key to UMass' success has been freshman Michael Pereira who has 11 points (6 goals) in the past eight games."
From the home office in Wakefield, Massachusetts, here are the top 10 surprises in Hockey East this year.
10. Massachusetts freshman Michael Pereira leads the Minutemen in scoring.
Hey, we all knew there would be new names atop the UMass stat sheets after the departures of James Marcou, Casey Wellman, Justin Braun, Will Ortiz, and Matthew Irwin. Even so, you had to figure T.J. Syner would be the new top dog. Instead, Pereira has taken that title in the early going.
Read more: http://www.uscho.com/hockey-east-blog/2010/12/08/the-top-10-surprises-in-hockey-east/#ixzz17WI53dYP UMass hockey freshman Michael Pereira was one of the runner-up's for the Hockey Commissioner's Association Rookie of the Month Award. T.J. Tynan of Notre Dame earned Rookie of the Month honors after posting 6 goals and 6 assists as the Irish went 4-3-1 in November.
Denver's Sam Brittain, Holy Cross' Derek Kump and Matt Lindblad of Dartmouth were the other runner-ups with Pereira.
In Dick Baker's MassLive.com, he writes about
Michael Pereira being named the Hockey East Rookie of the Month after scoring four goals and adding two assists in four games during November.
Dan Gigliotti of the Daily Collegian looks at the impact the freshman class is making on the UMass hockey team, but quotes coach Cahoon as saying there is still a lot of work to be done. He also has an update of UMass players in the NHL.
Click Here to read the article. After scoring four goals and two assists in four games during the month of November, Michael Pereira was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Month today. Check back for the complete release.
After a two goal, two assist week and helping the UMass hockey team win a pair of games against Vermont and Quinnipiac, freshman winger Michael Pereira was
named one of the runner-ups for the Inside College Hockey National Player of the Week.
Steve Levine of the Daily Collegian has a feature today on freshman winger Michael Pereira who leads UMass in scoring.
The Massachusetts hockey team was expecting contributions from its large crop of freshmen players. Nobody expected the type of production rookie forward Michael Pereira has provided thus far, as he is tied for the team-lead in goals (five) and points (seven) through the team's first nine games.
"Michael has done a great job," UMass coach Don Cahoon said. "He brings athleticism and a real sense around the goal in terms of offensive finishing - something that we need as much of as we can get. It's nice to have a freshman come in and be able to contribute right away on that front."
Click here to read the whole story.
It was a thrilling game last night for college hockey fans as UMass clawed back after trailing twice to take a 3-2 lead with just over 60 seconds left in the 3rd period only to have No. 8 New Hampshire score 20 seconds later to force a 3-3 tie. Here are the recaps from last night's action.
Dick Baker had two additions to his MassLive.com UMass Hockey Blog last night. The first features freshman goalie Jeff Teglia in a comparison with BU netminder Kieran Millan who was in a similar position during his freshman year. The second focuses on UMass' early season success recently against Boston University and what the Minutemen must do to emulate that.
Teglia Can Find Confidence At Other End Of The Rink
UMass Hopes To Continue Early Season Success Against Terriers
One of the main story lines heading into tonight's game (and next Friday) against Boston University will be brother's Michael Pereira (UMass freshman) and Joe Pereira (Boston University senior captain). Stuck in the middle of the battle will be the family and friends who will cheer for both team's. Matt Vautour has
a feature today in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
In Dick Baker's MassLive.com UMass Hockey Blog, he has several posts on recent UMass skaters with updates on their pro careers. He also previews what will be a hot topic this weekend as the Pereira brothers face-off in Saturday's game at Boston University.
Wellman Surprisingly Sent Down By Wild
Just Like At UMass, Marcou Comes Up Big For AHL Sharks
Former MVP Kostka Still Good On The Power Play
Brotherly Unlove Takes Place Saturday Night At BU
