For the second time this season, a disturbing off-the-ice incident at Boston University took the spotlight away from some great hockey on the ice. This continues to be arguably the greatest regular-season title race in league history. The narrowest gap between first and fifth was six points in 2005-06. Right now, the top five are separated by just five points. This week’s power rankings feature a new No. 1, and only one of the top seven teams is in the same spot as last week.

1. Boston College (21-10-1, 15-7-1 HE) — Last week: 2

The Eagles return to the top spot for the first time since Jan. 11 after beating Merrimack 4-2 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday. BC has now won seven straight, and Friday marked Jerry York’s 900th career victory. Johnny Gaudreau registered a goal and two assists on the weekend and now has five goals and five assists in his last five games. He is second among Hockey East freshmen with 14 goals and 28 points on the season.

2. Massachusetts-Lowell (20-9-0, 15-8-0 HE) — Last week: 1

Lowell’s three-week run atop these rankings comes to an end, but more because of what BC did than anything. The River Hawks split with BU, losing 7-4 on Friday and winning 4-2 on Saturday. Doug Carr gave up a season-high six goals on Friday and got pulled for the first time all year, but he bounced back by stopping 39 of 41 shots on Saturday. Scott Wilson, Riley Wetmore and Chad Ruhwedel all had three points on the weekend. (more…)

During playoff races, it’s not uncommon to hear coaches discuss the value of “controlling your own destiny.” The ability to clinch playoff spot or positioning with wins is the preference for coaches and players in any sport. For Massachusetts and Northeastern, though, that may no longer be the case.

Currently, the clubs are knotted in eighth place in Hockey East, dangerously close to falling subject to the league’s tiebreaking scenarios. The first of which is head-to-head record in conference games. The clubs tied, 3-3, to open the season. UMass defeated Northeastern, 4-2, on Nov. 12 in Amherst, and Northeastern beat UMass, 4-3, in overtime on Feb. 3. So that tiebreaker won’t get us anywhere.

The second tiebreaker is wins in Hockey East play. Both teams currently have seven.

So this is where we get to control of each teams’ destinies being taken from them. The third tiebreaker is record against first-place team. If that’s tied, it falls to record against second-place team and so on. Currently, Boston College occupies the top spot in the conference, which gives the Minutemen the tiebreaker over Northeastern for the time being.

Now, with each team having four games left, it’s likely that we’ll have a clear cut eighth-place team by the time the regular season ends — around 10 p.m. on March 3. However, BC, Massachusetts-Lowell, Boston University and Maine are all still very much alive for the league regular season title. Should either UMass or Northeastern play well enough to separate from the other, the control of their destiny remains in their hand. However, neither has done so to this point, and there’s no reason to believe either will.

Merrimack needs to find its offense

Even after a sweep at the hands of BC, Merrimack is still just two points shy of Maine for the final home ice spot in the Hockey East Tournament. However, the pair of losses continued a difficult stretch for the Warriors, who have gone 1-4-1 in their last six and 6-9-5 since starting the season 9-0-1. (more…)

The postseason awards in Hockey East are always great for conjecture. As we quickly approach the end of the regular season, nearly all of the league’s end of year distinctions have resulted in heated debates on various web forums.

In the player of the year battle, the discussion will likely fall to Maine’s Spencer Abbott, who enters this weekend’s trip to Northeastern with 16 goals and 36 assists, for a league- and nation-high 52 points. However, there’s little doubting that Boston College’s Chris Kreider is the best player in the conference, if not the country, based solely on his raw talent and prospects as a pro.

Meanwhile, the freshman of the year race is down to either BC’s Johnny Gaudreau or Massachusetts-Lowell’s Scott Wilson. Once again, Wilson possesses the edge in almost every statistical category, but Gaudreau’s recent brilliance has led some to consider the BC winger the favorite.

These final few weeks will determine the winners — along with that whole business of a conference champion. No matter where your allegiances lie nor where your conclusions for these individual honors rest, it’s safe to say we’re in for a fantastic finish.

Three Up

Alex Chiasson, Junior, Forward, Boston University

The 2011-12 season got even worse for Boston University Sunday morning when Max Nicastro was arrested on sexual assault charges. BU’s been through his before, as Corey Trivino as also arrested on charges related to an on-campus incident in December. After the Trivino arrest and the departure of Charlie Coyle to the QMJHL, the Terriers needed several players to pick them up. Now, with Nicastro out of the lineup, there are more questions. (more…)

Boston University defenseman Max Nicastro was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with sexual assault, according to BU Today. Nicastro has been suspended from the team pending the outcome of the investigation. BU coaches and players were not available for comment Sunday afternoon.

Nicastro, a junior, becomes the second Terrier to be arrested for sexual assault this season. Corey Trivino was arrested on Dec. 11 and was subsequently dismissed from the team.

According to the report, Nicastro was arrested by Boston University police at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning. He is being held on $25,000 cash bail and will be arraigned Tuesday morning.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the incident occurred in an on-campus dormitory and that the school would not take any action beyond the indefinite suspension from the team until the investigation is complete. He also said Tuesday would likely be the earliest anyone would be made available for comment.

Nicastro has three goals, six assists and a minus-2 rating in 27 games this season. The Terriers will be at Vermont for two games this weekend. With Nicastro suspended and Alexx Privitera still recovering from a broken wrist, the Terriers will likely have just five healthy defensemen this weekend. They played with five defensemen in games against Maine and Merrimack a few weeks ago while Nicastro was out with a shoulder injury.

BOSTON — Northeastern and Providence tied, 2-2, Saturday at Matthews Arena. The clubs battled to a pair of draws this weekend, but the two games couldn’t have looked more different.

On Friday, a 1-1 tie, neither team managed to create consistent rhythm offensively, resulting in just 44 total shots in the game. Saturday, however, was a back-and-forth affair, with the teams creating chances. Northeastern’s Chris Rawlings made 47 saves in the game, while PC’s Alex Beaudry stopped 33 of NU’s 35 shots.

The clubs combined for 34 penalty minutes in a second period that two players ejected for illegal hits, two 5-minute power plays and three goals, one of which was reviewed and rewarded to the Friars.

In overtime, a Myles Harvey tripping minor put Northeastern on the power play, but the aggressive PC power play negated the Huskies’ man advantage.

The point keeps PC one point clear of New Hampshire in sixth place in Hockey East. Northeastern slips back to an eighth-place tie with Massachusetts. Entering the weekend, Northeastern held the tiebreaker with UMass. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. With the clubs splitting the season series, 1-1-1, it fell to the second tiebreaker, Hockey East wins, which gave NU the advantage — seven league wins to UMass’ seven. However, with UMass defeating Maine Saturday night, that is no longer the case. The first two tiebreakers are now even as well, so it falls to third — record against the first place team. With BC defeating Merrimack Saturday, the Eagles jumped into first. Northeastern 0-3-0 against BC in league play, while the Minutemen took two of three from the Eagles. As of now, this gives UMass the tiebreakers, lifting them into the playoffs and leaving Merrimack out for the second time in three years.

What I Saw

• Providence carried its gameplan of taking of taking odd-angle shots on Chris Rawlings over to Saturday’s game. Tim Schaller scored from the goal line on PC’s first shot of the weekend, and the Friars kept trying from that point forward. On Saturday, these attempts had the same general effect of creating second and third opportunities for the Friars. The difference being that they got to these pucks in the second game. Rawlings turn away most of the rebounds in one of his stronger performances of late. However, the effort was certainly there, which only demonstrates the compete level and belief from PC. Nate Leaman has brought a whole new attitude to this club, and it seems to respond to his methods. They didn’t get any wins this weekend, but they didn’t deserve to lose either game. (more…)

Durham, NH. – On a night where New Hampshire was honoring its seniors on its annual senior night, it was one of the less heralded seniors that gave UNH a spark in the early stages of the second period that would propel them to victory over a struggling Vermont team. Kevin McCarey scored a goal 5:44 into the second period to the tie the game at one and Greg Burke responded 10 minutes later to give the Wildcats a lead, in which they would never relinquish. Brett Bruneteau scored the first goal of the game for Vermont and took a 1-0 lead after one period but Casey Desmith would stop the rest from that point for a total of 29 in the game.

The score of the game in some cases did not give the whole story of the game. In the second and third periods, New Hampshire sent 33 shots toward Vermont goaltender Rob Madore. Rob Madore sent aside 30 of those shots, with many of those being amazing saves. His performance kept Vermont in the game for long stretches but the result was never in doubt despite the close nature of the score. Connor Hardowa would give UNH an insurance goal midway through the third period to seal the victory.

With the win New Hampshire improves to 13-15-3 on the season and 10-12-2 in Hockey East play. The two points keeps them in seventh place in the standings, which is four clear of both UMass and Northeastern who are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot.  Next weekend UNH plays UMass in their biggest weekend of the season. With two wins they could lock up a playoff spot and with two losses they could be tied going into the last weekend of the season. Vermont falls to 6-23-1 on the season and has been eliminated from playoff contention. (more…)

Durham, NH.- Vermont used a late goal by H.T Lenz with 13.3 seconds left to go in regulation to propel them into overtime and Drew Mackenzie scored 1:38 into overtime to give Vermont the 4-3 win over New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center. The win was their sixth of the season and had to be deflating for a UNH team that held the lead with just 14 seconds left in the game.

New Hampshire came out quick in the early going off a Scott Pavelski goal 7:18 into the game, but Vermont came right back 35 seconds later to tie the game at one, on the first goal of the night by H.T Lenz. With 50 seconds to go in the first New Hampshire would take a 2-1 lead into the dressing room off a power-play goal by Eric Knodel. The score would stay at 2-1 until midway through the third period, where Vermont would tie it up off a shot by Michael Paliotta. UNH would take the lead again 45 seconds later off a goal by Kevin Goumas, but the lead would not hold as Lenz would score his second in the last minute against UNH this season, the other earlier in the season up in Burlington.

With the loss New Hampshire drops to 12-15-3 overall and 9-12-2 in Hockey East. The loss puts any hopes of a home ice berth in the first round of Hockey East playoffs essentially out of the question and keeps them only four points ahead of UMass for the final playoff spot. Northeastern who tied with Providence tonight moves to within three points of UNH, with a game in hand, but the Wildcats stay in seventh place, despite the loss, two points behind Providence for sixth place. (more…)

LOWELL, Mass. — Boston University snapped a two-game losing streak and moved into a first-place tie by beating Massachusetts-Lowell 7-4 on Friday night. Michael Budd put the River Hawks (19-9-0, 14-8-0 HE) up 1-0 early in the first, but BU’s Wade Megan answered less than a minute later. Alex Chiasson (1g, 3a) and Yasin Cisse scored later in the first to give the Terriers (18-10-1, 14-7-1 HE) a 3-1 lead after one.

The onslaught continued in the second with goals from Chris Connolly (1g, 2a) and Adam Clendening before Lowell’s Malcolm Lyles managed to cut the lead to 5-2 in the final minute of the period. Riley Wetmore scored early in the third to make it 5-3, but Ross Gaudet (1g, 1a) answered less than two minutes later to restore the three-goal lead. Matt Ferreira scored Lowell’s fourth goal and Matt Nieto (1g, 2a) capped the night’s outpouring of goals.

With the win, BU is now tied with Boston College for first in the conference with 29 points. Lowell is now tied for third with Maine at 28 points. As of 10:25 p.m., BU was third in the PairWise, while UML was sixth. The Terriers and River Hawks meet again Saturday night at BU’s Agganis Arena to decide the season series. (more…)

BOSTON — Northeastern and Providence played to a 1-1 tie on Friday night at Matthews Arena. Friar goaltender Alex Beaudry made 20 saves in the draw, brushing the few scoring chances NU created aside without much difficulty.

PC’s leading goal scorer Tim Schaller scored 29 seconds into the game, with a bad angle attempt from the right goal line extended. The puck kicked in off the skate of NU goaltender Chris Rawlings. The first couple shifts of the game, Schaller created three chances for PC, but left the game midway through the first with an undisclosed injury.

PC coach Nate Leaman said after the game that Schaller will be out for Saturday night’s matchup with Northeastern. This compounds some existing injury woes for the Friars, with defenseman Daniel New already out for the weekend. Moreover, defenseman Mark Adams suffered a concussion in the third period and will miss tomorrow’s game, Leaman said after the game.

What I Saw

• Odd-angle shots were the plan for the Friars throughout the game. Rawlings’ 6-foot-5 frame allows to him to stop most shots he’s able to square himself, too. PC looked to exploit this by creating scoring chances on shots from the goal line and the half-wall. In the first period alone, PC attempted eight shots from half-wall. Eventually, Northeastern took this play away to an extent, and the Friars went back to more traditional attempts from the point, looking to create traffic in front of  Rawlings.  In the second, the odd-angle looks came from Rawlings’ left with seven shots come from beyond the faceoff circle. While the first attempt resulted in a goal for PC, Rawlings handled the later efforts without much worry. The NU defense recognized the effort as well, preventing many of these chances from getting through. (more…)

The playoff races are getting closer, seemingly by the day and it is amazing to realize that we are in the home stretch with only three more weekends of Hockey East regular season play remaining. As we look at the standings we realize that there are only two points separating the top five teams, thus leaving five teams with a legitimate shot at winning the league regular season title. UMass-Lowell holds the top spot with 28 points, Boston College and Boston University are tied for second place with 27 points and Maine and Merrimack are tied for fourth with 26 points. (more…)