Projected Hockey East standings using the KRACH rating system.

With two weeks to go in the regular season, Boston College is still projected to finish atop the Hockey East standings, despite Notre Dame pulling ahead of the Eagles this past weekend.

Using the KRACH to project points earned for every Hockey East team in the final two weekends, the Eagles, thanks to a much easier schedule than the Fighting Irish, are projected to win the league by more than one point.

Aside from that, the standings look much like they do right now. Boston University is projected to be the first team out of the first-round bye spots, with Lowell edging the Terriers by one point. Northeastern continues to surge here at the end of the season, and they also have the league’s easiest schedule remaining, but they can’t catch the Terriers regardless of how well they do. What Northeastern’s play, plus easy schedule, does for the Huskies is give them some breathing room with Vermont.

Strength of schedule remaining, using average opponent KRACH rating

Using these projections, the first round of the Hockey East playoffs would look like:

First-Round Byes: Boston College, Notre Dame, Providence, UMass Lowell

5. Boston University vs. 12. Massachusetts

6. Northeastern vs. 11. Maine

7. Vermont vs. 10. Connecticut

8. New Hampshire vs. 9. Merrimack

Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 - 12:16 pm | Blogs, Commentary, Hockey East