UMass Lowell's Joe Gambardella leads this week's Three Stars

1 – Joe Gambardella, UMass Lowell

The Staten Island, New York native was the Ledyard Bank Classic Most Valuable Player after leading the River Hawks to the tournament title. In UMass Lowell’s 3-2 opening-round win against Colgate, the senior forward scored the game-winning goal and added an assist. In the championship game against Dartmouth, Gambardella had five points on a goal and four assists as the River Hawks beat the Big Green 7-4. He finished the weekend with seven points, two goals, five assists, three shots on goal and a +3 rating. On the season, he leads the team in scoring with 31 points on 10 goals and a nation-leading 21 assists.

2 – Cal Petersen, Notre Dame

The junior goalie posted back-to-back shutouts in a sweep of Alaska over the weekend. In Saturday’s 5-0 victory, the Waterloo, Iowa native made 34 saves in keeping the Nanooks off the scoreboard. On Sunday, he made 21 more saves without allowing a goal in a 4-0 win.  He is now 11-6-2 on the year with a .923 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average to go along with four shutouts. Currently, he has gone the last 166 minutes and 49 seconds without allowing a goal.

3 – Ben Blacker, Western Michigan

The Oakville, Ontario native was named to the Great Lakes Invitational All-Tournament team after leading the Broncos to the tournament title. In Western Michigan’s 4-1 opening-round victory against Michigan State, he finished with 29 saves. The freshman netminder followed that up with a spectacular performance in the championship game as he shut out Michigan Tech in a 1-0 overtime classic with 23 saves. Blacker is now 5-0 on the season with a 1.65 goals against average and a .939 save percentage.