Poll showing some early promise
With six of the top 15 teams in the latest USCHO.com poll, Hockey East may very well be the top conference in men’s college hockey.
Boston College leads the way in the top spot for the second straight week, followed by Providence at fifth, with the Friars earning one first-place vote. Boston University (ninth), Maine (13th), and New Hampshire and UMass (tied at 14th) round out the sextet.
“Early on, it seems like Hockey East is extremely deep,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “It’s shaping up that the league race is going to be a battle right until the end.”
A glance at the five unranked teams in the conference further illustrates the depth. Merrimack, Northeastern, and Connecticut were each ranked earlier in the season. UMass Lowell gave BC all it could handle last week before dropping a pair of one-goal games, and Vermont tied Providence on the road before prevailing in a shootout.
“It’s the deepest I’ve ever seen the league,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “There’s not going to be an easy out anywhere.”
Unlike the last two seasons, it is translating into the nonconference schedule. Two years ago, Hockey East teams posted a .567 winning percentage against teams outside the league. Just three Hockey East teams reached the NCAA Tournament, none of them higher than a three seed, and none of them made it out of the first round.
Last year’s .586 nonconference mark was slightly better, but combined with the parity in the league and teams knocking each other off, only two Hockey East teams qualified for the tournament.
It’s early, and there are still nonconference games to play, particularly over the holidays, but thus far, Hockey East teams have a .685 winning percentage outside the league, with plenty of quality wins.
Both UMass and Providence split series with Michigan, with the Minutemen following up with a sweep at Minnesota State. The Friars handed No. 2 Denver its only loss, and BC swept Michigan State. BU split with Notre Dame and North Dakota.
“Everybody’s taking care of business, so that’s great to see,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel.
“It’s great for our league. If everybody keeps winning nonconference, then we’re going to have five or six teams in the tournament. That’s the way it has been many years, and hopefully it will be that way this year.”
The majority of the remaining schedule will be conference play. Last year, the rigors of the Hockey East schedule served as a doubleedged sword, with teams competing in a playoff-like atmosphere down the stretch but only two reaching the 16-team NCAA field in March.
“I think the league forces you to be prepared each week,” said UNH coach Mike Souza, whose squad is on a bye this weekend. “All 11 teams have this mentality that you can be beaten on any night, and you can beat anyone on any given night. I think that breeds a certain level of competition from our teams in particular in our league.”
Maine event
BC (7-1) will put its No. 1 ranking on the line when it travels to Orono for a pair of games this weekend at Maine. It figures to be a charged atmosphere, as it will mark the first time in 11 years the Black Bears will host the No. 1 seed at Alfond Arena.
It also will mark Maine’s first home games since the mass shooting in Lewiston Oct. 25. The 5-1 Black Bears played their last four games on the road, splitting a series at Quinnipiac the weekend after the shooting, and sweeping Merrimack last weekend.
Tickets for both games are no longer available for purchase, although Maine’s athletic department announced that additional tickets could be released closer to puck drop if either one of the teams returns unused tickets.
“No matter what the situation, it’s always a tough atmosphere up there,” said Brown, “but especially now with all that’s going on, and both teams having a good start, we expect it to be pretty electric.”
The top line of senior Lynden Breen (2-5—7) and freshmen brothers Bradly (5-3—8) and Josh Nadeau (2-5—7) have led the way for a Maine team that has its highest ranking in 11 years, but the Black Bears are a balanced squad, with 11 goal scorers and 17 players registering at least 1 point.
Freshmen Will Smith (5-7—12) and Gabe Perreault (1-10—11) lead the Eagles in points, while sophomore Cutter Gauthier has8 goals in eight games. BC is excelling on special teams, with the power play ninth in the nation at 25 percent and the penalty kill eighth at 91.7 percent.
Weekend plans
Harvard hits the road to play Colgate Friday and No. 7 Cornell Saturday. BU-UMass Lowell, Northeastern-Providence, and UConn-Merrimack face off in home-and-home series, while UMass will host Vermont for a pair of games.