Hockey East teams take aim at each other
As the men’s college hockey season kicked off, there was a focus among the Hockey East teams on performing better in nonconference games.
It’s been mission accomplished to this point, as the league has gone 6629-6 outside of the conference, with only a few games remaining (Northeastern, Boston University, and Boston College will compete in the Beanpot in February, and UConn will face Sacred Heart in the Nutmeg Classic at the end of the month, and then either Yale or Quinnipiac the following day.)
The focus now is on conference play, and which teams might be able to break through for a pair of wins each weekend, or at least a win and a tie. If last weekend is any indication, when all four two-game series resulted in splits, it will be no easy task.
BU (14-4-1) did not have a series last week, but recorded a pair of wins over Northeastern and UNH to move ahead of BC (14-4-1), which split with Providence, for the top spot in the PairWise. BC will face Merrimack for a pair of games, beginning Friday night at Lawler Arena and concluding Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum. The Terriers will return to series play this week, traveling to Vermont to play the Catamounts Friday and Saturday.
“I think it’s been talked about for a while now, how strong Hockey East is,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “There’s really no easy games, that’s clear. It’s tough to get wins. For us, we’re trying to just focus on Friday and try to get it done there, and then go from there.”
UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh takes a similar approach as his team gears up for a stretch in which it faces four teams ranked in the top 15 in the PairWise.
The Huskies face No. 13 UNH in a home-and-home series this weekend before the Nutmeg Classic, then will have two-game series in February against Providence (ninth), UMass (tied for 14th), and BU.
“It’s a cliché, but the only way to manage it without getting overwhelmed and anxious is just to focus on Friday night’s game, because if you start looking at it that way, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, how are we going to get through this gauntlet?’ ” said Cavanaugh, whose squad is 9-10-2 after splitting with Maine.
Coming off of a split with Merrimack, UMass (12-6-3) will not a have another series until it faces UConn Feb. 9-10. The Minutemen will travel to Matthews Arena to face Northeastern (711-2) Saturday afternoon, then will have a bye before facing Merrimack Feb. 2 and Maine Feb. 3.
“I expect a lot of one-win-and-oneloss weekends,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “There’s too much parity. It’s human nature. You win one night, the other team’s wound up the next night, you take the foot off the gas a little bit.”
Adding to the challenge is that the teams toward the bottom of the standings have picked up their play of late. The Minutemen faced NU Nov. 3, prevailing, 2-1, in overtime at Amherst. The Huskies were banged up in that meeting and were missing captain Justin Hryckowian and defenseman Hunter McDonald. Both have returned to the lineup and brought a spark.
“If you look at our last 10 games, we’ve played better hockey,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe, referencing a 5-4-1 stretch that saw the Huskies beat BC, tie No. 4 Quinnipiac, and lose to BU in overtime.
With the intensity ratcheted up for the final eight weeks of the regular season, the surviving teams should be battle-tested come tournament time. BU rode that experience all the way to the Frozen Four last year.
“There’s no question it’s going to be tough down the stretch here,” said Pandolfo. “The games get tighter. Teams lock it down a little better defensively as the games go on here, so we just have to make sure that we’re trying to be a little bit more consistent.
“I’ve talked about it a lot, but that’s what it is for us, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Long road home
Harvard will be back at home for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend, when the Crimson lost to Boston College, 4-1. That was followed by with eight road games, the first seven of which were losses before a 1-0 win over Yale last Saturday. The Crimson reside in last place in the 12-team ECAC, but just 8 points separate teams 2 through 12. (First-place Quinnipiac is 11 points ahead of second-place Brown and appears to be running away with the regular-season crown.) Harvard will host RPI Friday and Union Saturday.