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Hockey East roundup: BC, UNH win Sunday matinee games in opposite fashion

Boston College 3, Massachusetts 2
The Eagles fell behind early in the third period, but scored a pair of unanswered goals in the middle to latter stages en route to another win for the nation's premier squad at Kelley Rink on Sunday, also capturing the season series. BC has emerged victorious in six straight contests and 25 of the last 26. This was the fourth consecutive one-goal game between the two rivals as BC beat UMass twice in the Hockey East quarterfinals in March, before it earned a 5-4 overtime victory on Oct. 19 in Amherst. Freshman defenseman Michael Matheson tied the game at 2-2 - with his first-collegiate goal - at the 9:13 mark of the stanza, while junior Patrick Brown delivered the heroics with his first of the season at 16:23. Senior Steven Whitney and sophomore Johnny Gaudreau assisted on Matheson's goal to extend their point streaks to seven games each. The Eagles went 4-for-8 on the power-play during the weekend, which included a Friday victory at Maine. The Eagles are converting 40 percent (10-for-25) of their man-up opportunities this season and lead all of Division I college hockey in that category. Senior Parker Milner earned his sixth win in seven decisions, stopping 29 shots, while his Minuteman sophomore counterpart Kevin Boyle made 28 saves between the pipes, including 14 in the opening stanza, despite falling back even to 2-2. Also on the visiting side, UMass junior Troy Power opened the third period with a goal - just 1:42 into the stanza, while assisting on sophomore Steven Guzzo's first-period goal. The Eagles return to action next weekend with a pair of archrivals providing the opposition. Friday's game at Kelley Rink welcomes No. 7 Notre Dame for the first time since 2008-09. UMass

New Hampshire 4, Maine 0
Things saw much less dramatics in Alfond Arena as sophomore Casey DeSmith made 42 stops for the third shutout of his career in an easy Wildcat win over the rival Black Bears in the matinee contest. The win was UNH's first in Orono since Dec. 10, 2010 and marked the first time it had blanked Maine from the scoreboard since Jan. 17, 1998. In addition to DeSmith's standout performance, senior Austin Block scored a pair of goals to pace the offense and match his career-best mark as the Wildcats improved to 5-1-1 overall. Additionally, sophomore Trevor van Reimsdyk and senior Connor Hardowa posted a pair of assists from the blue line. Junior Dan Sullivan made 41 saves between the Maine pipes as he dropped to 0-6-0 on the season in the team's eighth loss. Maine's anemic offense was paced by rookies Ben Hutton and Will Merchant, who both posted five shots on goal. The Wildcats are back in action in less than a week as they take on another border rival in the Vermont Catamounts next Saturday at the Whittemore Center. Maine looks to break its six-game losing streak in a weekend series at UMass-Lowell on Friday and Saturday.

Joshua Kummins is the Hockey East beat writer and a weekend editor for SB Nation Boston. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.