Thanks to the blizzard that swept through the region on Friday and Saturday, there wound up being just three games over the weekend, plus the Beanpot on Monday. Combine that with a busy week for me, and these power rankings are a little shorter than usual. I promise I’ll make up for it next week.

1. Boston College (17-7-2, 12-6-1 HE) — Last week: 1
The Eagles won their fourth straight Beanpot on Monday, beating Northeastern 6-3. With the win, BC’s seniors became the first class in program history to collect four Beanpot titles. Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and an assist in the game, while Steven Whitney had a goal and two assists. The Eagles now have a three-game winning streak.

2. New Hampshire (16-7-3, 11-6-2 HE) — Last week: 2
The Wildcats tied Providence 3-3 on Sunday, pulling within one point of first-place BC in the process. Scott Pavelski scored the tying goal with 3:26 left in the third, while Grayson Downing and Maxim Gaudreault each had two points. UNH gave up two power-play goals in the game, marking just the seventh and eighth they’ve allowed all season.

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It was certainly an exciting weekend in the WCHA, as all 12 teams were in action. The top three and bottom three teams in my rankings stay where they were, but the six teams in between are all on the move. A split between the top two teams allowed North Dakota to gain a little ground, while the two Mavericks both made big moves — just in opposite directions.

1. Minnesota (19-5-4, 11-5-4 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers split with St. Cloud, so nothing changes at the top. Erik Haula scored twice in Friday’s 4-2 win, then tallied two assists in Saturday’s 4-3 loss. He has points in 19 of his last 20 games and is now tied for first in the WCHA and fourth in the country with 1.40 points per game. Adam Wilcox gave up four goals on 21 shots Saturday, marking just the fourth time this season he’s allowed four goals in a game.

2. St. Cloud State (18-11-1, 15-6-1 WCHA) — Last week: 2
Friday’s loss to Minnesota ended a six-game unbeaten streak for the Huskies, but they bounced back to win on Saturday. Drew LeBlanc scored two goals in the series, including what proved to be the game-winner on Saturday. He now has 40 points on the season, tying him for second in the league. Ryan Faragher surrendered seven goals on the weekend, but he also faced a ton of shots — 81 to be exact.

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Durham, NH – UNH came out flying in the early going, running out to a 17-6 shot on goal advantage in the first period. But it was Providence College that took a 1-0 lead into the intermission on a power-play goal by John Gilmour at 13 minutes, 27 seconds of the period. UNH would score at 14:52 of the second period to send the game to the third period knotted at one. UNH wasted no time in the third period taking an early 2-1 lead on a goal by Dan Correale at 30 seconds of the period, but PC would respond 5 minutes later on the power-play to tie the game at two, again.

Providence would take advantage of a power-play midway through the third to take a 3-2 lead. That goal was scored by freshman Nick Saracino and was his second of the game. Scott Pavelski would score a late tying goal as UNH and Providence would hold on for the three all tie. The tie puts UNH one point behind Boston College for first in the Hockey East standings, while it puts PC in a tie with Boston University for the final home playoff spot. The tie did little to move UNH in the Pairwise rankings, as they still sit in fifth place. (more…)

As the finish line to the regular season begins to come into focus, so does the race for the MacNaughton Cup. Five teams are within five points of the WCHA lead, currently held by St. Cloud State, with many of those schools still having to play one another.

After the break,the effect of outdoor games in the conference race,  a fan in Bemidji wears a bag on his head and Minnesota-Duluth sees their chances of home ice slip away.

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The first Beanpot Monday is behind us, which means we are about one week away from the stretch run. The standings have done nothing but tighten up over the last few weeks, as Boston College, Boston University and New Hampshire have struggled for consistency. Interesting to note since coming back from break the top three have combined to go 13-15-3, while Maine (who was in last place) has gone 6-3-3 in that same time frame. The top six are now separated by a mere seven points and the fight for home-ice is going to be an interesting battle to the end, but I guess so will the fight for the regular season title.

At press time, there is a huge storm figuring to wreck havoc on the Friday Contests, so please check ahead before you head out to your local rink and of course please be safe. I am going to go ahead and preview the games as if all the games were going to happen as scheduled, but at this time that is seriously doubtful. I will post another blog later if any games are postponed, as the information becomes available. CHN will keep you up to date. (more…)

Is it possible that Hockey East will only send two teams to the NCAA tournament this year? It’s something that has only happened once in the last 14 years. BC and UNH still look like safe bets, but no one else is any better than a bubble team right now. Lowell dropped out of the top 16 in the Pairwise over the weekend. Merrimack and Providence are being held back by poor non-conference records. BU is still in the top 16, but given the way the Terriers have been playing, you have to wonder how much longer that will last.

My gut feeling is that at least one of those bubble teams will make it. If the Terriers can get back to playing at least close to the level they played at during the first semester, they have a pretty easy schedule that should help them save face. The River Hawks play all Teams Under Consideration the rest of the way, so they can definitely move up if they get hot. The Warriors and Friars have the steepest climb, both because they need the most wins and because they have pretty tough schedules.

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Another interesting weekend in the ECAC and again Quinnipiac remained undefeated in conference play. The Bobcats defeated Yale 6-2 on Saturday to further solidify their hold on the standings. It’s not what’s going on at the top that is intriguing, but its what is happening in the middle that is interesting. A mere three points separate positions three to ten. Union and Dartmouth are tied for third place, while five teams sit in a tie for sixth.

Rensselaer, St. Lawrence and Brown are trending upwards, while Dartmouth and Cornell have trended down in recent weeks. If the season ended today, Quinnipiac would be the number one seed in the NCAA tournament according to the Pairwise, while Yale and Dartmouth would join them in the tournament. The latter is right on the bubble, while Colgate and Union sit on the wrong side of that bubble just out of the tournament. All around interesting stuff going on within the conference as so much parity is reigning supreme.
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BOSTON — Advancing to the Beanpot finals, Northeastern defeated Boston University, 3-2, at the TD Garden Monday night. Freshman sensation Kevin Roy scored a hat trick, taking advantage of three crucial BU defensive breakdowns. This is the second time in three years that the Huskies have played in the tournament final. It also marks the first BU senior class since the 1960s to not win a Beanpot trophy. NU will face the winner of Boston College-Harvard next Monday, February 11th.

What I Saw

Playing in his first Beanpot, Roy scored a hat trick, notching goals in each of the three periods. The freshman is a special player and constantly puts himself in position to be successful. The performance was reminiscent of Boston College forward Johnny Gaudreau’s emergence into the national spotlight last year as a freshman, who had four points in BC’s pair of victories. Overall, Roy has a rare hockey vision and consistently creates scoring chances for himself and teammates. His second goal of the game was representative of Roy’s awareness. He got himself to the net on the rush and was rewarded with a simple goal, after BU carelessly turnover the puck. The third goal, however, was probably his most impressive. Roy, again, got himself to the net and was in perfect position to craftily convert the large rebound from BU goalie Matt O’Connor out of the air and into the net.

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Our top team was idle this weekend, but there’s plenty of movement in the rest of the top six. The No. 2 team pulled a little closer to the top, and teams three through six are all in a different position than last week. The bottom half continues to be much less chaotic, as teams seven through 12 all stand pat for the second week in a row.

1. Minnesota (18-4-4, 10-4-4 WCHA) — Last week: 1
The Gophers had the weekend off, so they stay at the top. They remain second in the Pairwise, but St. Cloud has opened up a five-point lead on them in the race for the MacNaughton Cup. Minnesota does have two games in hand, though.

2. St. Cloud State (17-10-1, 14-5-1 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Huskies outscored Bemidji 8-1 in a weekend sweep, extending their unbeaten streak to six games. They also now have a three-point lead over second-place UNO, and they’ve climbed to eighth in the Pairwise. Ryan Faragher saved 24 shots on Friday to earn his second shutout of the season, then stopped 21 of 22 on Saturday. Drew LeBlanc notched a goal and two assists in the series, while Jonny Brodzinski scored a pair of goals. LeBlanc leads the WCHA with 30 assists and ranks second in points with 38.

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Durham, NH – UNH had many chances in the first period but failed to capitalize throughout the period. Merrimack would score the first goal of the game six minutes, 18 seconds into the game as Clayton Jardine sent a pass to Shawn Bates all alone in the high slot and the latter fired over Casey Desmith’s glove to give Merrimack the 1-0 lead, which would hold through the first intermission. The second period would be dominated by UNH, where they would send 20 shots toward Merrimack goaltender Sam Marotta but they would be outscored 2-1 in the period. Merrimack took a 3-1 lead into the final stanza.

UNH continued to dominate the game through much of the third period sending another 20 shots toward Sam Marotta, but Marotta saved them all and was in the zone. Merrimack would add an empty-netter to up the lead to 4-1 and they would get the win in front of 5499 disappointed Wildcat fans.

Merrimack improves to 12-10-5 overall, 10-6-2 in Hockey East, while UNH falls to 16-7-2 and 11-6-1. UNH continues to sit in second place two points behind Boston College in the Hockey East standings. Merrimack jumps into third place one point back of UNH in second and one point ahead of fourth place. Despite the loss UNH actually rose in the Pairwise because RPI became a TUC. Merrimack now enters the national picture in a big way after a weekend sweep of UMass-Lowell and UNH. (more…)