Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
First of all, let me take the time to congratulate the University of New Hampshire Wildcats on winning the regular season Hockey East title for its eighth regular-season title and third in the last four years. For sure, it is an accomplishment, especially with the amount of unrest there was in the league this season. And for me personally, it was a pleasure to be there at ice level to see it.
That being said, the Wildcats did little to help themselves in terms of the big picture. UNH captured just one of a possible four points in the weekend tilt and despite winning a trophy, actually hurt themselves when it comes to winning hardware that actually matters.
Don't let the trophy fool you. UNH is not the best team in Hockey East. Not by a long shot. The past weekend proved that as through seven periods of hockey (six regulation and one overtime), the Wildcats were outplayed in six of them. UNH was unable to beat Boston College at all this year, and while going 0-1-2 while being outscored 10-9 against the Eagles isn't terrible, the quality in all three contests was on BC's side. Remember that in both of the two ties, UNH needed frantic third-period comebacks to salvage a point and UNH was totally out-played by the Eagles on Saturday, getting outshot, 40-18, in a 3-2 loss.
Now the Wildcats have put them in a must-win situation. They are in the top-10 in the PairWise Rankings, which are designed to mimic the system used by the NCAA when seeding teams, but remember that teams outside the top-16 in the rankings can make the tournament by winning their conference tournaments. Therefore, if you want in, you had better have a pretty good spot within the top-10. At this point, the regular season champs run a very real risk of missing the national tournament altogether, which would snap an eight-year streak of making the tounament, the second-longest in the nation.
Win the whole thing and the PWR is meaningless in terms of getting in and rankings only matter for seeding. But the Wildcats have to at least win their quarterfinal series against Vermont at the Whittemore Center to improve their stock. Vermont is still ranked in the USCHO poll and is tied for 16th in the PWR, so a sweep in that series would do wonders. That followed by a win over either UMass-Lowell or rival Maine would solidify their place as a tournament team. But lost out in that first round and forget it.
One thing teams need down the stretch and in the playoffs is great goaltending and after this weekend, that is one thing I am convinced the Wildcats have. Brian Foster made some huge saves in an overtime period of the 3-3 tie on Friday that was spend almost competely in the UNH zone and on Saturday, he made 37 saves, giving him 69 on the weekend with a .920 save percentage.
Boston College finished the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the nation, picking up 17 of a possible 22 points in February to improve to No. 4 both in the USCHO and PWR rankings, giving them a very good shot at a No. 1 seed in the national tourney. The interesting thing to watch for in the playoffs is who gets the start between the pipes - frosh Parker Milner or John Muse, the veteran with a national championship under his belt? My money is on Milner, who has been outstanding down the stretch, aside from one bad period on Friday night, and owns a 1.91 GAA. Muse was less than spectacular on Saturday and Jerry York has shown no qualms about sitting a veteran for the hot hand in the past.
So let's take a look at the quarterfinal matchups of this Hockey East Tournament:
No. 8 Vermont at No. 1 UNH
Vermont has remained in the national tournament conversation because of some tough early-season wins against non-conference opponents, but have done very poorly within the league. The Catamounts do hold a 2-1-0 record against the Wildcats this season, but UNH has yet to lose a game on home ice.
No. 7 UMass at No. 2 Boston College
This season the Eagles have absolutely owned the Minutemen, who needed help to get into the tournament and got it. BC has not lost to UMass (3-0-0) and have held the Mass Attack to one goal in all three games, while potting 10.
No. 6 Merrimack at No. 3 Boston University
The storyline in this one is great. Due to inconsistency and injury, BU was a basement team at the beginning of the season and ascended all the way to a third seed and home ice. Merrimack has been that cute little cousin who tries really hard, but just can't play with the big boys over the last few years, but have come on late to make a solid case as a team to watch and fear in the tournament by beating some of the better teams in the league.
No. 5 UMass-Lowell at No. 4 Maine
Both of these teams have shown nothing but inconsistency this season. Maine looked like it could compete for a two seed at one point, but a sweep by lowly UMass at the end of the season displays that this team still has a lot of problems. Not the least of those problems is the fact that their starting goaltender missed the final series of the season and was suspended indefinitely while reportedly being treated for alcohol-related problems. Lowell is in a very similar situation (other than the suspension issues), having been one of the top teams to start the season, falling almost out of the tournament altogether, then rebounding.
Prediction:
UNH over Vermont, 2-1.
UMass-Lowell over Maine, 2-0
BU over Merrimack, 2-1
BC over UMass, 2-0
In another related topic, Hockey East proved to be one of the most unpredictable leagues in college hockey. My preseason predictions were way off, as were the predictions of both USCHO and InsideCollegeHockey.com, the two major online sources for national college hockey news. Let's take a look at just how different the Hockey East landscape ended up from how it looked before the season started.
As you can see, myself, USCHO and InsideCollegeHockey all failed to be clairvoyant enough to forsee injuries to BU and all of us thought UMass-Lowell would be fighting for top billing in the league after a strong finish to last season. All of us saw UNH as more of a middle-of-the-road team than an actual contender and none of us forsaw Merrimack making a late-season run into the playoffs as the sixth seed.
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