The college hockey season is in full swing, and the rankings are starting to better reflect the teams’ play over their pre-season expectations. As usual, it was another eventful week for the Hockey East teams.
Some of the non-conference games went about as expected. UMass Lowell took on the reigning NCAA champion Western Michigan, and the Riverhawks fell in both games. Though game one was a 2-1 finish, game two had a 6-0 blowout loss.
RPI hosted two separate Hockey East opponents this weekend, with Boston College coming to town on Friday, followed by Providence on Saturday.
Both Hockey East opponents won their respective games 5-1, with the Eagles outshooting RPI 41-11 in what was an extremely one-sided affair from any angle. Neither team fluctuated much in the rankings due to RPI being one of the lower teams of the NCAA at the moment.
Vermont went up to Minnesota to play St. Cloud State in a two-game set. Vermont goalie Aiden Wright stole the show in game one, making 45/46 saves for the Catamounts.
Sebastian Tornqvist’s first goal of the year was the overtime winner for Vermont, and they went into Saturday looking for the sweep.
Tornqvist’s goal would be the final one for Vermont in the series, with a 4-0 St. Cloud win the next day. Though it was only a split, Vermont’s 2-2 record is a fine start.
Merrimack and New Hampshire faced off in one of two Hockey East matchups this weekend, with Merrimack storming to a 5-1 victory. The shot counts were close, but Merrimack was better at putting it away.
Freshman Parker Lalonde was the star of the game, with a hat trick in just his third career game. Lalonde is a 21-year-old from the BCHL, so not a traditional freshman, but he’s still looked like a difference-maker for the Warriors.
The other conference matchup for Hockey East was UMass and Northeastern. The unranked Huskies put together an upset, taking down UMass 4-2 and handing the Minutemen their first loss of the year.
And the Minutemen almost did it again the following day.
UMass hosted Bently the day after Northeastern, and after two periods, it was 4-3 Falcons. A Larry Keenan goal halfway through the third tied it up, and UMass took the game in overtime.
For a UMass team looking to contend, these are games they need to win handily. Losing to one unranked team and barely beating the other is a cause for concern and losing a conference matchup to a team that shouldn’t be a challenge can end up costing teams big-time down the road.
Three ranked Hockey East teams faced ranked opponents this weekend. No.12 UConn hosted No.16 Ohio State in what ended up being just as advertised. Both games were extremely close with each side earning a win.
Kristoffer Eberly was stellar in the Buckeye net during both games, with Tyler Muszelik holding down the fort for the Huskies in game one. UConn’s Kam Hendrickson’s first collegiate start went okay, but Eberly outperformed him to take the split on day two.
Both teams played each other so well that they both moved up in the rankings. There was not another outcome that could’ve been more mutually beneficial.
Maine went down to Connecticut to face Quinnipiac for a two-game set. Quinnipiac almost doubled Maine’s shots in both games, with game one being a 4-4 draw and game two a 4-0 Bobcat victory.
Maine now sits at 2-1-1, with both victories coming against a much weaker Holy Cross team. With Boston University only two weeks away, Maine’s legitimacy will soon be put to the test, and if Quinnipiac was any indication, it may not be pretty.
Boston University themselves had a disappointing weekend, being swept at home by the powerhouse Michigan State. Game two was a close overtime loss, but the Terriers were lucky to only lose by two in game one.
For most teams, losing to one of the fastest-climbing teams in the country is nothing to scoff at.
But for the Terriers, entering the week ranked No.1 in the country, the series is nothing but a disappointment. Moving from No. 1 to No. 4 in a single weekend is a deflating blow, and the Terriers now have to regroup from that.
This week’s slate will only feature one Hockey East series, a home-and-home between No.4 Boston University and No.11 UConn, a pivotal matchup for both.
The only other ranked matchup for any Hockey East team has No.7 Denver visiting No.9 Boston College.
The rest of the schedule:
Friday Oct. 24: Colgate at No.10 Maine, Lowell at Mercyhurst, No.6 Quinnipiac at Merrimack, No.14 UMass at Omaha, LIU at New Hampshire, No.15 Providence at St. Thomas
Saturday Oct. 25: Colgate at No.10 Maine, Lowell at Mercyhurst, LIU at Merrimack, No.6 Quinnipiac at New Hampshire, UMass at Omaha, No.7 at Northeastern, No.15 Providence at St. Thomas