Talent showcase will take to ice for Hockey East’s final rounds

After another weekend of playoff action, we now know who will be playing in the semifinals of the men’s Hockey East tournament, with Boston College, Boston University, UMass, and Maine punching their tickets to TD Garden on Friday.

Not surprisingly, all four schools were represented when the conference announced its finalists for the season-ending awards Monday, and that is where this week’s review begins.

■ In what could be a preview of when the Hobey Baker committee releases its list of 10 candidates later this week, BC’s Cutter Gauthier, BU’s Macklin Celebrini, and UMass’s Ryan Ufko were named finalists for Player of the Year. Gauthier’s 32 goals is tops in the nation, and his 1.49 points per game is good for eighth. He is the first BC player to reach 30 goals since Johnny Gaudreau did so in 2013-14.

Celebrini’s 30 goals trail only Gauthier, but his 1.67 points per game is tied with BC’s Gabe Perreault for the best in the NCAA. He is the first Terrier to eclipse 50 points in a season since Jack Eichel notched 71 in 2014-15.

Ufko is the only defenseman of the three, scoring 10 goals and 16 assists. His six game-winning goals tied the school’s single season record.

Celebrini is also in the running for Rookie of the Year, along with BC forwards Will Smith (18-40—58) and Ryan Leonard (2623—49). Smith’s 1.66 points per game is third in the NCAA; Leonard’s 11th at 1.40.

BC’s Greg Brown, BU’s Jay Pandolfo, Maine’s Ben Barr, and UNH’s Mike Souza are up for Coach of the Year.

■ With Northeastern’s season over after the 4-2 loss to BU in the quarterfinals, attention will turn to the fate of forward Justin Hryckowian. Bypassed in the draft, he drew interest from several NHL organizations after his sophomore campaign, but returned to Huntington Avenue for his junior year and served as captain.

He’ll likely get offers now as well after posting 13 goals and 30 assists in 32 games, although the option of coming back for his senior season, where he could play one more year with younger brother Dylan, could be a draw as well.

■ When UConn gave up a goal with 12 seconds remaining in the second period Saturday to go down 4-1 at BC, it appeared the final 20 minutes at Conte Forum might just be a formality. The Huskies stormed back though, scoring three goals in the first 5:35 of the third to pull even before ultimately succumbing, 5-4.

“In my 11 years, I don’t know if I’ve ever [been] prouder of a team than I was tonight,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh. “You’re on the road, down 4-1, to the No. 1 team in the country, and to battle back, that’s not an easy thing to do. I give them a lot of credit.”

Matthew Wood scored the final two goals of UConn’s season, giving the 2023 first-round pick of the Predators eight in the final five games, after only having eight in the previous 30.

“I thought he really started to take pucks to the net,” said Cavanaugh. “All the good goal-scorers I’ve coached, they can beat a goalie clean, but you’ve got to score a lot of goals going to the net too, and that’s what I thought he did so much better.”

■ Graduate transfer Jack Malone has played a key role for BC all season, using his experience from his time at Cornell, where the Big Red reached the regional final last season, to serve as one of the veteran leaders along with captain Eamon Powell for the young Eagles. He had a pair of goals in Saturday’s win, including the game-winner, to send BC to the semifinals.

“I give Jack a ton of credit,” said Brown. “He was the vocal guy on the bench, and he was leading by example on the ice. He had three periods of great hockey, and it was very fitting that he got the goal.

“He’s a grad student. He’s been through this before. He knows how different or heavy playoff hockey is.”

■ Harvard’s season came to an end with a sweep at the hands of Cornell in the ECAC quarterfinals. In the opener Friday, the Crimson fell behind 4-0 before rallying with three straight goals, but could not come up with the equalizer in a 4-3 loss. Saturday’s contest saw Harvard again trying to tie the game in the final two minutes, but the Big Red put it away with a pair of empty-netters to eliminate the Crimson with a 4-1 win.

A glance at the roster suggests that Harvard will only lose three seniors, including goalie Derek Mullahy. The transfer portal can make projecting a team’s roster a fool’s errand, but it would seem captains Ian Moore and Zakary Karpa would be back as seniors next year.

The Crimson’s underclassmen got plenty of experience for a team that only had three league points at the holiday break, yet rallied in the second half to finish with 28 to secure home ice for the first round of the conference tournament, and advance to the quarterfinals.

This year’s growing pains could lead to a return to the ECAC’s top half next season.

■ Holy Cross lost two of three at home to AIC to see its season end in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals. The Crusaders finished second during the regular season, marking the first time they had home ice for the first two rounds of the playoffs since 2006.

The Yellow Jackets will be looking for their fourth conference tournament title in six seasons when they face RIT in next week’s championship game.