Last week saw only three teams sweep (Air Force, American International, RIT) and the standings just continue to get tighter and tighter. Just seven points separate second place from 9th place, including a three-way tie for fourth. So far, only Niagara has locked up their playoff spot and with just two weeks left in the regular season, every point is huge.

1. Niagara – The Purple Eagles have locked up the regular season title and might be taking it easy a little bit. They suffered their second league loss of the month last week. It’s the second straight week that the Purple Eagle have lost a game. By the time the playoffs start, the Purple Eagles should be fine. Read the rest of this entry »

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As we race toward the end of the season, there’s been lots of discussion about playoff spots and the ever-volatile Pairwise, and rightfully so. But we’re also starting to hear some talk about end-of-season awards. In fact, we here at CHN just published our first Hobey Watch earlier this week.

All this got me thinking about some of the Hockey East awards. There are always great debates over these, and I’m sure those debates will only get more heated as we get closer to awards night. So I figured I’d take a look at how some of these races are shaping up.

Keep in mind that every team still has six or seven games left, and that those games could not only impact some of these races, but possibly decide them. Also keep in mind that the Hockey East awards are based solely on conference play. Out-of-conference games aren’t taken into account, or at least they’re not supposed to be.

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The news of the weekend had to be St. Lawrence ending Quinnipiac’s 21 game unbeaten streak. The Saints and Rensselaer are now the two hottest teams in the ECAC, as St.Lawrence is 7-2-2 in their last 11 games and RPI is on a six game winning streak. Quinnipiac got back in the win column on Saturday, as they defeated Clarkson 2-1.

Positions two through six in the standings are separated by just 2 points and Rensselaer with their four point weekend leapfrogged a few teams to jump into second place all their own. Clarkson and Princeton also have a chance at a bye as they sit four points behind second place and three points behind Union and St. Lawrence for an ever important top four position.  Top four teams get a first round bye in the ECAC tournament, while positions five through eight get home ice in the first round. Check out the standings to see where your favorite team sits in a close race for the byes and home ice.

If the tournament were to start today, Quinnipiac would be the top ranked team in the NCAA tournament, per the Pairwise rankings. The ECAC would also have Yale (12) in the tournament and that would be it. Union sits in 16th but Merrimack leads Hockey East so they would be the presumed winner of the auto-bid, as they sit outside the top 16. Rensselaer and Dartmouth also sit on the bubble, but on the outside looking in. Read the rest of this entry »

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Amherst, Mass. – Josh Manson scored his first goal of the season 4 minutes, 4 seconds into overtime to complete a 5-4 comeback win for Northeastern over Massachusetts Tuesday night at the Mullins Center.

Robbie Vrolyk scored the game-tying goal 13:07 into the third, his second tally of the night, while his linemates Adam Reid and Cody Ferriero each had a goal of their own.

Michael Pereira led the Minutemen with two goals and an assist to push his point total to 25 for the year (12 goals, 13 assists).

Chris Rawlings got the start in goal for Northeastern, but was pulled after the second period after allowing four goals on 32 shots faced. Bryan Mountain took over for the third period and overtime and shut out UMass.

Steve Mastalerz made 40 saves for the Minutemen in a losing effort.

What I Saw

• Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said after the game that his decision to bring Mountain in was because he believed that Mountain was a more aggressive goalie than Rawlings, and it would be more fitting going up against UMass’ fast-paced, aggressive style of play. That move paid dividends for Madigan and the Huskies as Mountain gave the Minutemen no room to operate in the offensive zone. This style of play instilled life into the entire Northeastern squad. Mountain may not provide as big a target as Rawlings, but he was aggressive in his crease as UMass continued to drive the net and wasn’t afraid to play out against that attack.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Most energy this time of year is exerted on analyzing potential postseason matchups and the eventual NCAA tournament field. The national scene is always interesting to keep an eye on. Still, Hockey East typically raises a few questions on its own.

Merrimack’s surge in the second half has made the current league standings perhaps as strange as they’ve ever been this late in the season. It’s odd, for example, that Merrimack is still on the bubble for an at-large bid. Rarely has a team finished in the top few Hockey East spots and not been a lock essentially for the NCAA tournament. At this point, it looks like Merrimack will more than likely move itself safety should it play well enough in these final three weekends to win the Hockey East regular season title. The Warriors next four games come against Boston College, Boston University and Massachusetts-Lowell twice. All four of these are major opportunities to improve their league standing as well as their Pairwise resume.

The final two games of the season are against Massachusetts. Should the Minutemen get some momentum and gain TUC status by season’s end, a couple wins over UMass would make help Merrimack even further.

Regardless, the Warriors’ 8-3-3 run in the second half has made the playoff race in Hockey East entertaining we’ve seen in years.

(After the jump: BC’s MVP, Merrimack dynamic duo and the key to Vermont’s success.) Read the rest of this entry »

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With St. Cloud off over the weekend, the race for the MacNaughton Cup got a little tighter. The top seven teams are all within six points of each other now. Things got a bit tighter in my power rankings as well, although not a whole lot changes in terms of positions.

1. Minnesota (20-6-4, 12-6-4 WCHA) — Last week: 1
Minnesota split a pair of 3-2 games with Wisconsin, but neither of my next two teams played over the weekend, so the Gophers’ hold on the top spot is still pretty strong. They’re actually tied for fourth in the league, three points out of first, but they’re still second in the Pairwise. Erik Haula, Nick Bjugstad and Seth Ambroz each had two points in the series. The Gophers lost Sunday’s game at Soldier Field despite outshooting the Badgers 38-19.

2. St. Cloud State (18-11-1, 15-6-1 WCHA) — Last week: 2
The Huskies had the weekend off, so they stay at two. They have a one-point lead over second-place UNO, and they also have two games in hand. St. Cloud is currently ninth in the Pairwise.

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We’re coming into the last two weeks of the regular season and things are as jumbled as ever in Atlantic Hockey. There was some thought that the previous weeks would help clarify things, but that’s not what happened. The difference between second place and ninth is just seven points, with all nine of those team holding a shot of a first round bye.

Niagara officially clinched the regular season title, but stumbled into it as they split a series against Robert Morris. The Purple Eagles have lost two league games this month after losing just one the entire season. It could just be a little hiccup or maybe the Purple Eagles are declining a little. Either way, things don’t get any easier for the Purple Eagles. Their last four games are against Mercyhurst and Air Force, both fighting for second place. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dear Hockey East,

Please reconsider the new playoff plan you’re implementing next season. Vermont just swept Northeastern in a huge series. Northeastern now heads to UMass on Tuesday for what is essentially a must-win game. Then this coming weekend, UMass hosts Maine in a series that could wind up deciding both teams’ seasons. Why are all these games so important? Because of that race for the eighth and final playoff spot. Because not all of those teams are going to make the postseason.

This is what makes the Hockey East regular season better than the regular season in any other conference. In other leagues, none of those games I just mentioned would be nearly as important. Sure, they might decide seeding, but they wouldn’t decide seasons. I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say that in a league where everyone makes the playoffs, I don’t really care if someone finishes ninth instead of 10th. Home ice in that new first round is something to shoot for, but there’s no way that race will ever be as exciting or as meaningful as a race for the final playoff spot.

I’m not saying you have to stick to the same eight-team format. In fact, I’d be worried that an eight-team playoff in a 12-team league would lead to too many meaningless games at the end of the regular season for the bottom couple teams. A 10-team playoff would be ideal in my opinion. There are several ways to make this work. One would be the old WCHA format, with first-round series pitting 1 vs. 10, 2 vs. 9, etc., followed by a play-in game between the two lowest remaining seeds prior to the semifinals. Another would be having two play-in games pit 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9 prior to the quarterfinals.

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LOWELL, Mass. — Massachusetts-Lowell completed a season sweep of Massachusetts on Saturday, winning 3-2 in front of a Tsongas Center crowd of 5,468. All five goals came during a seven-minute stretch in the middle of the second period. Lowell’s Christian Folin opened the scoring 6:23 into the period on a shorthanded 2-on-1. The River Hawks’ special teams struck again four minutes later, as Riley Wetmore one-timed a Scott Wilson pass into the back of the net for a power-play tally.

The Minutemen (10-15-2, 7-12-1 Hockey East) cut the deficit in half 38 seconds later when Michael Pereira batted a rebound out of the air for his 10th goal of the season. Just 26 seconds after that, Derek Arnold deposited a rebound to give Lowell (16-9-2, 10-8-2 HE) a 3-1 lead. Conor Sheary cut the lead to 3-2 two minutes later, but that was as close as UMass would get.

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BOSTON — Vermont defeated Northeastern, 3-1, Saturday night to complete a weekend sweep of the Huskies at Matthews Arena.

Junior winger Chris McCarthy scored twice of UVM in the win. His game-winner at 8 minutes, 24 seconds of the third period broke a 1-1 tie. Brett Bruneteau added an empty-net goal for the Catamounts with 29 seconds left in regulation to seal the win.

The points put UVM in seventh place in the Hockey East playoff race. Northeastern, however, remains out of a playoff spot.

What I Saw

• Brody Hoffman continued to play well for Vermont. Northeastern carried play for lengthy stretches on Saturday night. UVM’s freshman goaltender help it weather these spells. His save total wasn’t particularly lofty — 21 saves — but he made every save he should have a few he probably shouldn’t have. Offensive woes aside, the Huskies have plenty of talent up front. They moved the puck well on Saturday, creating some difficult saves that Hoffman wiped away without too much trouble. The Catamounts are in a battle with the Huskies and two other teams for two playoff spots. Quality goaltending will be the difference. Hoffman provided that all weekend, and he has for most of the season.

• Hoffman’s success aside, Northeastern’s forwards missed a series of high-quality scoring chances in the third period. NU coach Jim Madigan’s frustration with his team’s inability to finish has been clear for most of his tenure. The group is among the league’s most talented and diverse, but offense hasn’t been consistent for the Huskies the last two seasons. Saturday night, Cody Ferriero scored the Huskies’ lone goal on a lovely finish. The sequence is one of many from the season that revealed the talent level of this Northeastern team. The misses in the third period showed the other side of this Northeastern team.

• The Catamounts thrive on keeping opponents out of synch. Throughout the weekend, they prevented Northeastern from gaining any real rhythm. The Huskies’ breakouts rarely resulted in offensive zone possession time. The Catamounts snuffed them out before they got that far. A physical slant to UVM’s game also kept Northeastern from generating much consistency on Saturday.

What I Thought

• Northeastern’s injury problems were among the reasons they struggled to win games in the early parts of the second half. At this point, they’ve become the reason the Huskies won’t make the Hockey East tournament. Madigan dressed seven defensemen on Saturday, with freshman Dustin Darou returning to the ice for the first time since the New Year. Despite the extra blue liner, it seemed like Colton Saucerman or Josh Manson were on the ice every other shift for the Huskies. The two rarely played together, but they certainly saw time with the rest of their colleagues. They’re both quality defenseman, but it’s difficult for players to remain at their best when they’re playing that a often as these two have to. It extends to the forwards lines as well. Ferriero, Kevin Roy, Vinny Saponari and the other more talented NU forwards play major minutes in all situations. The injury situation for the Huskies isn’t going to improve any time soon.

• Chris McCarthy was brilliant on Saturday night. The winger is among UVM’s biggest scoring threats. He scored twice for the Catamounts in the win over Northeastern. His eighth and ninth goals of the season were both critical. His first came at 12:10 of the second period to tie the score, 1-1, before he scored his second at 8:24 of the third. McCarthy’s wrist shot is among the league’s best. He brought it out for both of his markers on Saturday. Despite UVM’s place in the standings, coach Kevin Sneddon expects the team to compete for a league championship should it earn a playoff spot. McCarthy needs to continue scoring to make that a possibility.

• UVM’s defensive unit looked as sharp as it has in a long time. Sophomore defenseman Michael Paliotta logged major minutes on Saturday, along with freshman Caylen Walls. Both are big bodies who add a physical presence along with efficient puck movement. Nick Bruneteau, Nick Luukko and the other UVM defensemen contributed with strong performances in front of Hoffman.

What They Said

“He’s raw from a technical standpoint, but if you want to talk about maturity, poise and those kinds of things, he’s not a freshman.” — UVM coach Kevin Sneddon on Brody Hoffman

Hockey East is full of talented freshmen. It’s unlikely Hoffman will warrant any consideration for Freshman of the Year or even on the all-Freshman team. Still, he’s been a critical component of a talented UVM team that’s improved on last season’s struggles. After the weekend, Hoffman’s save percentage is at .909 on the year, while his goals-against average is 2.74. Neither of these are elite — or even particularly good — numbers, but Hoffman’s performance in his first year with UVM has Sneddon excited about his potential moving forward.

What They Didn’t Say

Sneddon didn’t elaborate too much on some injuries that occurred during the game, but neither Kyle Reynolds or Robert Polesello should miss much time. Reynolds left the game in the first period and did not return. Polesello’s bump came in the third.

What Else You Should Know

• Northeastern is back in action on Tuesday night against Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. The date is the result of the postponement from last weekend’s snow storm in New England.

• UVM hosts New Hampshire for two games at Gutterson Fieldhouse next weekend.

• This weekend’s games left Northeastern in 10th place in Hockey East. The Huskies are four points behind UMass for the eighth and final playoff spot. Meanwhile, Vermont is three points clear of UMass for seventh place.

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