Here’s how the tightly bunched men’s races are shaping up in Hockey East, the ECAC, and Atlantic Hockey
Nothing is set yet, but BC, Maine, and BU appear to be on track to take the top three spots heading into the conference tournament.
There’s a logjam in the middle of the Hockey East men’s standings with two weeks to go in the regular season.
Nothing is set yet, but Boston College (24-6-1, 16-4-1), Maine (19-6-5, 11-4-5), and Boston University (18-12-1, 12-8-1) appear to be on track to take the top three spots heading into the conference tournament. BC (47 points) and Maine (42) have clinched first-round byes and home ice in the quarterfinals. BU (38) sits in third place.
After that, it gets murky, and that’s where the weekend review begins.
· Just 2 points separate the next five teams. UConn (17-10-3, 9-8-3) and Providence (18-8-5, 8-7-5) each have 30 points, followed by UMass Lowell (15-12-3, 8-10-2) at 29, and then Merrimack (13-16-1, 9-10-1) and UMass (17-12-3, 8-9-3) each at 28.
There will be plenty on the line over the next two weekends. The fourth- and fifth-place finishers will each get a bye and will square off in the quarterfinals the weekend of March 15, with the fourth-place squad serving as host. Teams 6-8 will host single-elimination first-round matchups March 12.
· Merrimack, which was off this past weekend, is the only one in the bunch that wouldn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Its 4-6 record outside the conference has the Warriors 23rd in the PairWise, the system used to determine and seed the field, and means they would have to win the conference tournament to qualify.
· UConn put itself in a good situation by taking 2 points from Maine with a 3-2 overtime win at home. Jake Richard scored the winner with 40 seconds left in the extra session. The Huskies, eighth in the PairWise, will have another top-10 opponent Tuesday when they face BU, which is seventh after splitting a series with Northeastern (11-16-3, 6-11-3) in which the road team won each night.
· The series followed a familiar pattern for BU, one that has seen the Terriers struggle in the first game but rally for a split in the second. BU looked lethargic at times on Friday night at Agganis Arena, and the Huskies capitalized, with Bridgewater native Cam Lund scoring two goals and adding an assist in the 5-1 win.
The Terriers answered with a 3-1 win at Matthews Arena on Saturday behind a goal and an assist for Cole Hutson, as well as 28 saves from fellow freshman Mikhail Yegorov.
· Providence jumped into a tie for fifth place with a 4-2 win at home over UMass Lowell, leapfrogging the River Hawks and Merrimack from seventh place. The Friars are sixth in the PairWise. Lowell is on the bubble at 14th.
· UMass is 12th but missed on a chance to move further up the standings on Friday when it squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period at UNH (11-14-5, 3-13-4) and settled for a tie. The Wildcats took the extra point when Cy LeClerc scored in the shootout.
The Minutemen responded Saturday with a 3-1 win at home as sophomore goalie Michael Hrabal made 35 saves. Cole O’Hara had a goal and an assist to give him a line of 18-27—45 and put him in a four-way tie for most points in the nation.
· BC entered this past weekend tied with Maine for first, but while the Black Bears lost in overtime and earned just a point, the Eagles traveled to Vermont and took 6 points with a sweep of the Catamounts.
Junior Andre Gasseau, a seventh-round pick of the Bruins in 2021, had three goals and three assists on the weekend as BC maintained its top spot in the PairWise. Sophomores Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault each reached the 100-point mark over the weekend. The Eagles can finish no worse than second in the league.
· With a 3-2 win over RPI on Senior Night, Harvard (10-15-2, 8-10-2) ensured a return engagement at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, clinching home ice for the first round of the ECAC tournament, which begins the weekend of March 7-9 and is single elimination. Freshman Lucas St. Louis scored the winner with 3:18 remaining.
· Quinnipiac (21-9-2, 15-4-1) has clinched a first-round bye and appears to be in the driver’s seat to win the Cleary Cup as the regular-season ECAC champion, carrying a 4-point lead into the final weekend after posting wins over Yale and Brown. At 13th, the Bobcats could reach the NCAAs with an at-large bid, but a deep run in the conference tournament to Lake Placid would help.
· Holy Cross (19-12-2, 18-5-2) clinched the No. 1 seed for the Atlantic Hockey America tournament when Sacred Heart defeated Bentley Saturday night. Sacred Heart (19-10-5, 16-7-3) moved up to the second seed with the win, while Bentley (18-14-2, 16-9-1) will be the No. 3 seed. All three will have a bye for this weekend’s first round before hosting a best-of-three quarterfinal March 7-9.
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