Four players to watch this weekend

The state’s four Division I men’s hockey programs meet up this Friday and Saturday at Quinnipiac’s M&T Bank Arena in a two-day tournament. Here’s a player to watch from each team:

FRIDAY

Yale vs. No. 12 UConn, 4 p.m.

Yale: Soph. G Luke Pearson

It has been a tough couple of years for the Bulldogs after the Ivy League’s 202021 hiatus, but the numbers for Pearson, son of former NHLer Rob Pearson, jump off the screen. He has already played as many games, 10, as last year, posting a 1.69 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage. Both lead Division I hockey, and that’s after giving up a season-high four goals in his last game against Dartmouth and three to No. 10 Harvard the night before.

UConn: Fr. F Matthew Wood

Tage Thompson – you know, just out there scoring 30 goals halfway through the NHL season for Buffalo, no big deal – was the first Huskies hockey player to be taken in the first round of an NHL Draft. Wood might be next. The 6-foot-3, 190pound British Columbia native has 21 points, one off Ryan Tverberg’s team lead. And a week after this tournament, he’ll even turn 18.

No. 3/4 Quinnipiac vs. Sacred Heart, 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac: Soph. G Yaniv Perets

Perets doesn’t like to look at, hear about, know any of his statistics. Now isn’t the time to start; they’re merely stellar this season rather than last year’s superhuman, a .917 save percentage and a 1.80 goals-against average in 2022-23 after an NCAA-record 1.17 GAA, a .941 save percentage and 11 shutouts, one off the national record, in 2021-22. One of those shutouts came in last year’s Connecticut Ice final, a 29-save 2-0 win over UConn that got him named tournament MVP.

Sacred Heart: Sr. F Neil Shea

Shea transferred from Northeastern last year and not only led the Pioneers with 31 points, he shared the Atlantic Hockey scoring title with Army’s Colin Bilek, putting up 25 points in league play (and scoring more goals). He’s on top of Sacred Heart’s scoring again with 19 points, including three power-play goals. (It’s the penalty kill where the Pios have shone: Sacred Heart came into the week third in the nation on the PK at 88.1%.)

SATURDAY

Consolation, 4 p.m.; championship, 7 p.m.