Now that the Hockey East season has hit its first of two full strides (the other coming, of course, in the next calendar year), it’s finally time to figure out just who’s who in what so far seems to be a most lopsided of conferences.
With UMass Lowell taking the weekend off following a strong come-from behind win against Vermont and Providencevisiting sunny Huntsville, Alabama for a two-game set with UAH, that leaves eight teams scrapping for points in Hockey East. And scrap is what most of them will have to do, as each of the conference’s four top ten teams has a two-game series on tap with an unranked - and, for all practical conversation, unremarkable - opponent.
Perhaps the biggest of these discrepancies will start on Commonwealth Avenue Friday night and finish in North Andover on Saturday, as newly-ranked number one Boston University plays a home-and-home with Merrimack.
After the jump, a preview of this weekend's four Hockey East series...
BU (6-0-2, 4-0-2, HE) has been paced by the duo of Captain Chris Connolly (4-6=10 totals) and Assistant CaptainDavid Warsofsky (2-7=9) en route to an undefeated start, their best since 1977-78. But bench boss Jack Parker isn’tready to buy into a number one ranking just yet.
“We’re a pretty good team, but I don’t think we’re number one,” coach Parker said when asked about his squad potentially being ranked number one after Saturday’s 2-2 tie with Maine. “(If we’re number one,)I’d like to know who’s voting.”
Now that they are number one, don’t be surprised to see BU, who’s gotten strong play between the pipes from Kieran Millan (1.95 GAA, .936 Sv %) to complement the guys in front of him, push even harder to stay on top of the charts.
Stephane De Costa (3-5=8) leads a hungry Merrimack squad (2-2-2, 1-2-1 HE) in scoring. The Warriors are averaging just over three goals per game this season, including a 7-1 home victory against UConn and a 4-2 defeat of then-number one Boston College at Lawler Arena. Merrimack is yet to be victorious on the road this season, and comes into Friday’s matchup on the heels of a 2-0 shutout loss to Providence at the Dunk.
Expect a big game from reigning Hockey East rookie of the week Charlie Coyle (4-4=8) of BU, as well as rookie teammate Sahir Gill, (3-5=8) who has quietly been putting together a very consistent season for the Terriers, alongside Connolly, Warsofsky and Alex Chiasson (3-4=7).
Heading further up I-95 are Greg Cronin’s Northeastern University Huskies, who can only hope that a change of scenery can serve them well after dropping three straight home games to Atlantic Hockey Association foes, including their most recent loss, a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Niagara in which the Huskies only managed to tally one goal on 15 power play attempts.
The lone bright spot in a 1-5-2 (1-2-1, HE) season has been Chris Rawlings, the sophomore goaltender who has proved himself a virtual brick wall against tougher competition, but seems to play to the level of his opposition. Through nearly 54 minutes against Boston College, Rawlings didn’t let one goal past him. When his team faced UNH, he only allowed two - incidentally, the same amount the Huskies scored.
But Cronin’s strategy of keeping his flock of youngsters - including Sharks’ prospect and Essex, MA native Cody Ferriero, gargantuan blue-liner Jamie Oleksiak and the returning redshirts Wade MacLeod and Steve Quailer - at home to begin the season has backfired. The Huskies’ lone win came at Lowell, and with the team not showing up, neither have the fans.
That isn’t a problem they’re having at Alfond Arena in Orono, where pre-season Hobey Baker favorite Gustav Nyquistand the No. 5 Black Bears (4-1-3, 2-0-1, HE) have been every bit as good as expected, and find a way to keep getting better despite a slew of injuries. Nyquist (3-10=13) and fellow junior Spencer Abbott (6-7=13) are tied for the team lead in points, and the Mainers have done it this season with offense, not defense. Nyquist is the team’s first skater to score 100 points in three seasons (35-71=106 career).
Robby Dee (5-7=12) is one off the pace for the team lead in points and rounds out the trio of Maine forwards with double-digit points early in the season. By comparison, only one Husky has more than four points - freshman forwardBrodie Reid (1-4=5)..
A platoon of goaltenders has combined for a 2.53 GAA with an .896 save percentage, for Maine only slightly better than their opponent’s .889.
No word out of the Maine camp yet on whether sophomore forward Joey Diamond or junior defenseman Will O’Neillwill be available for the Black Bears this weekend after they both went down in Saturday’s 2-2 tie at BU.
If Northeastern can’t keep pace early, expect them to play for the tie - of Maine’s eight games this season, four have gone to overtime and three have ended with everyone getting points. That said, getting even one point out of a close game won’t necessarily be easy for the Huskies.
In a battle of two of Hockey East’s most experienced squads, UMass (0-5-2, 0-2-2) heads to the Whittemore Center to face No. 9 UNH (4-1-2, 2-0-1). The Wildcats come into the game fresh off of a 2-1 victory over then-number 3 Boston College, in which only one penalty was called in 60 minutes of play.
UMass is no stranger to battles with greatness, either; in a home-and-home set three weeks ago, the Minutemen had a lead on BU numerous times before falling at home and tying the Terriers on the road.
The Minutemen are led on offense by sophomore defenseman Darren Rowe and freshman forward Michael Pereira. Although they come into the game riding a four-game in-conference winless streak, UMass’ last game was a 5-1 win over the Sweden under-20 team.
The offensively-challenged UMass squad faces quite a test against a defense-first Wildcats group that boasts thereigning Hockey East player of the week in goaltender Matt DiGirolamo. The junior only allowed one of Boston College’s 32 shots to get past him last week at Conte Forum and has been riding a hot streak all season long, earning the high praise of head coach Dick Umile. He may get one of the two games versus UMass off, but don’t be surprised to see him start both, as UNH is yet to use another goaltender this season.
Dalton Speelman, who assisted on the tying goal and scored the game-winner against BC, leads UNH with (4-3=7) totals in the team’s seven games. The sophomore forward is tied with classmate John Henrion (4-3=7) for the team lead. Henrion’s plus-6 leads the team singularly.
UNH has already face three number three teams, beating Miami and BC and tying Michigan. Their biggest challenge against UMass may well be avoiding a letdown.
In the weekend’s final series, a suddenly struggling No. 6 Boston College (5-3-0, 3-2-0) squad plays two in Burlington, VT. UVM (0-3-3, 0-2-2) comes into the game against a very good goaltender in John Muse as the conference’s worst-scoring team. BC, meanwhile, is back in a familiar spot near the top of the conference.
Since losing assistant captain Tommy Cross, however, BC has struggled mightily, dropping two of its last three and looking less like a team and more like a collection of individuals working for themselves (Northeastern, anyone?). Although BC and UNH played a tight game last weekend, a lot of the talented teams in HE have been playing to the level of their competition early in this season, and the Eagles need to kick that trend to secure four points from the Catamounts.
Boston College is led in scoring by junior forward Cam Atkinson (6-4=10) and continues to get very strong goaltending from Muse, which should bode well for the against a Vermont team whose highest scorer - Wahsontiio Stacey (5-1=6) - boasts as many points as Atkinson has scored.
Expect the experienced Catamounts to hang with a Boston College team they’ve grown familiar with over the years. If BC can stay away from the greed that’s plagued them lately, however, they should be able to pull away from Vermont.
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