BU @ Merrimack
When last BU and Merrimack met, BU was ranked number one nationally and Merrimack was still unranked. In a home-and-home set, the two teams each skated to a tie. It’s safe to imagine that this season series finale won’t end the same way.
Merrimack started BU’s slide down the polls that weekend, and the slide is still going - the Terriers went from 14th to 16th this week despite a 4-2 victory over Vermont last Sunday, meanwhile Merrimack cleaned up against Maine, beating the Black Bears 7-1 at home. For their efforts, the Warriors were bumped up to 15th, one step ahead of BU. The rankings may chance by the time next week’s rescheduled game takes place on Tuesday, but the intentions won’t.
It’s just a hunch, but somebody’s going to out and out win the series rubber match, and that somebody will do it with goaltending. Merrimack’s Joe Cannata and BU’s Kieran Millan have been consistent between the pipes this season, but Cannata’s been on a hot streak lately and feels pretty good after nearly shutting out the high-scoring attack of Maine.
Merrimack plays a strong defensive game at Lawler Arena, and BU just plain didn’t look that good against Vermont Sunday night. Their forward lines clunked along, the defense was often out of position and Millan looked every bit like a goaltender whose team had abandoned him. Jack Parker’s a good coach, and there isn’t any reason to believe that he can’t get his troops to turn things around. But then again, we’ve been saying that for the last two months.
UVM @ NU
Northeastern enters the two-game home set with the Catamounts on the heels of a four-point weekend in which it overcome a two-goal deficit at UMass and never trailed against Lowell, en route to being named Hockey East’s team of the week. Vermont enters the weekend after giving it to a stunned BU squad for most of their 60-minute tilt at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
But that was a BU team searching for itself, and this is a Northeastern group that seems to have found itself after 8 weeks of struggles to do so. The Huskies are less talented than the Terriers, but that means little when a team is playing with as much confidence as Northeastern is. Greg Cronin’s young squad has started to gel, and it showed in the team’s coming from behind against UMass and playing from ahead against Lowell, getting freshman goaltender Clay Witt his first collegiate win.
Another four-point weekend could go a long way to getting Northeastern within sight of a home-ice series in the Hockey East playoffs, while a four-point weekend won’t really do much of anything for Vermont, which is in a fight for a playoff spot of any kind. If the Huskies keep their chemistry going and can get a strong performance from Chris Rawlings and Witt, if he sees time, they could give themselves an awful lot of momentum for when Maine visits Matthews Arena next weekend.
If, on the other hand, Vermont is able to get strong work between the pipes from Rob Madore and can generate any amount of secondary scoring, they can frustrate the young Huskies and create some space for themselves and maybe leave Boston with a few points. And with cellar-dwellers UMass and Lowell facing off twice this weekend, it would be a good idea for the Cats to do just that.
When last BU and Merrimack met, BU was ranked number one nationally and Merrimack was still unranked. In a home-and-home set, the two teams each skated to a tie. It’s safe to imagine that this season series finale won’t end the same way.
Merrimack started BU’s slide down the polls that weekend, and the slide is still going - the Terriers went from 14th to 16th this week despite a 4-2 victory over Vermont last Sunday, meanwhile Merrimack cleaned up against Maine, beating the Black Bears 7-1 at home. For their efforts, the Warriors were bumped up to 15th, one step ahead of BU. The rankings may chance by the time next week’s rescheduled game takes place on Tuesday, but the intentions won’t.
It’s just a hunch, but somebody’s going to out and out win the series rubber match, and that somebody will do it with goaltending. Merrimack’s Joe Cannata and BU’s Kieran Millan have been consistent between the pipes this season, but Cannata’s been on a hot streak lately and feels pretty good after nearly shutting out the high-scoring attack of Maine.
Merrimack plays a strong defensive game at Lawler Arena, and BU just plain didn’t look that good against Vermont Sunday night. Their forward lines clunked along, the defense was often out of position and Millan looked every bit like a goaltender whose team had abandoned him. Jack Parker’s a good coach, and there isn’t any reason to believe that he can’t get his troops to turn things around. But then again, we’ve been saying that for the last two months.
UVM @ NU
Northeastern enters the two-game home set with the Catamounts on the heels of a four-point weekend in which it overcome a two-goal deficit at UMass and never trailed against Lowell, en route to being named Hockey East’s team of the week. Vermont enters the weekend after giving it to a stunned BU squad for most of their 60-minute tilt at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
But that was a BU team searching for itself, and this is a Northeastern group that seems to have found itself after 8 weeks of struggles to do so. The Huskies are less talented than the Terriers, but that means little when a team is playing with as much confidence as Northeastern is. Greg Cronin’s young squad has started to gel, and it showed in the team’s coming from behind against UMass and playing from ahead against Lowell, getting freshman goaltender Clay Witt his first collegiate win.
Another four-point weekend could go a long way to getting Northeastern within sight of a home-ice series in the Hockey East playoffs, while a four-point weekend won’t really do much of anything for Vermont, which is in a fight for a playoff spot of any kind. If the Huskies keep their chemistry going and can get a strong performance from Chris Rawlings and Witt, if he sees time, they could give themselves an awful lot of momentum for when Maine visits Matthews Arena next weekend.
If, on the other hand, Vermont is able to get strong work between the pipes from Rob Madore and can generate any amount of secondary scoring, they can frustrate the young Huskies and create some space for themselves and maybe leave Boston with a few points. And with cellar-dwellers UMass and Lowell facing off twice this weekend, it would be a good idea for the Cats to do just that.
UMass @, vs. Lowell
NESN may be the network for all of New England, but they’re doing themselves a disservice by broadcasting this matchup Friday night when Merrimack’s playing at Alabama-Huntsville and everybody would rather watch that game.
It will be tricky for anyone but the most serious of college hockey fans to get excited about this series, but it’s one that could prove to be an important stop on the way to the future success of Massachusetts’ two public hockey programs. Lowell comes in on a school-worst 11 game losing streak and the Minutemen enter on a five-game slide of their own, their last win coming against Lowell six weeks ago.
It’s a weekend that will feature a lot of youth, and UMass’ Michael Pereira will be the key cog in the Minutemen’s success while Lowell will look to Riley Wetmore to light the lamp and give the RiverHawks a chance to make some noise. But it’s another series that will likely come down to goaltending, and don’t be surprised to see UMass senior netminder Paul Dainton get two looks this weekend as the Minutemen try to get themselves a bump in the conference standings.
Providence, BC @ Maine
If there’s any life left in the Black Bears, they’ll need it this weekend to stay in the fight for home-ice in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs. Fortunately for Maine, they play a reeling Providence team and not Boston College first, or else they might be too far on the schneid to save themselves.
Ian O’Connor and Kyle MacKinnon will need to generate some offense if Providence wants to have any hope of keeping pace with a Black Bears squad that promises to get a lot of pucks on Alex Beaudry. But if Gustav Nyquist and Spencer Abbott are the only ones getting to the net, expect Beaudry to hold his own and for the game to become a snoozer.
Tim Whitehead’s squad plays as if they’re allergic to defense, and that’s not something that will serve them well against a BC team that plays as if they’re skating for their lives every time out. If Cannata can slow down the Maine attack, John Muse can certainly do as much with a bigger skill set and stronger defense in front of him. And if Muse succeeds in doing as much, expect whichever goaltender Maine puts out to face the Eagles’ firing squad to struggle and BC to return to southern New England with two more points.
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