Halloween weekend is over, and with it another week of college hockey has concluded. Some teams looked scary good, while other rankings are looking frightening.
Hockey East conference play opened last week, which in college hockey means a majority of the remaining matchups will be intraconference.
The weekend opened with a home-and-home between Northeastern and No. 11 Boston College.
The two teams continue to trend in opposite directions to popular expectations, with Northeastern winning both games with scores of 4-1 and 3-0.
Northeastern goalie Lawton Zacher continues his incredible start, saving 72/73 shots across the games.
Though the Huskies were outshot 55-73, their two three-goal wins earned them a jump from the first off the poll last week to No. 14 this week.
Meanwhile, the Eagles need to figure it out fast if they don’t want to waste the year. They’ve now fallen from the preseason No. 6 team to No. 18.
New Hampshire hosted Vermont in what would end up as a series split. Both games were one-score games excluding empty-netters, in what was an overall even series.
There aren’t many ranking implications in this one, but both teams have quietly played well and may challenge rankings in the near future.
No. 16 Providence and UMass Lowell played home-and-home, with a blowout win for both home teams. Both games were very even shot-wise, with Lowell only outshooting Providence 51-50 on the weekend.
UConn entered the week ranked ninth, hosting Harvard on Friday and Merrimack on Saturday, as the Ivies opened their seasons this weekend.
The Harvard game was as close as it could get, with both teams having 37 shots and the game ending in a 1-1 draw, with UConn winning the shootout.
UConn’s game against Merrimack was far more eventful, with the Huskies outshooting the Warriors 40-21 and winning 5-1. Though two goals were on an empty net, UConn outplayed Merrimack and moved to 2-1 in Hockey East play.
Merrimack, meanwhile, moves to 2-2 in conference play this year.
No. 5 BU travelled to No. 12 Maine for a two set as the fifth-ranked team in the nation to begin the week.
Game one went into overtime, where Maine’s Brandon Holt scored to win the game for the Black Bears 5-4.
Game two was an unprecedently high scoring game, with Maine winning 8-5. Both teams started their backups, with Max Lacroix for the Terriers and Mathis Rousseau for Maine.
Even though the starters only started game one, the concerns continue for both Mikhail Yegorov and Albin Boija. Neither was amazing in their starts, and both now sit below a .900 save percentage on the year. What were supposed to be two strong spots for the teams have not been such.
Despite goaltending concerns, the weekend sweep for the Black Bears earned them a jump from 12 all the way to six this week.
The Terriers took over Maine’s 12 spot, and for the first time this year are no longer Hockey East’s highest ranked team.
No. 13 UMass Amherst hosted No. 20 Cornell as the Big Red opened their season. It would be a split, with the Minutemen winning game one 2-1 and Cornell 3-1 in game two. UMass stayed put, while Cornell hopped to 17 in the poll.
Heading into this week, the biggest takeaway of Hockey East is the parity. While no Hockey East team is currently in the top five, the conference occupies seven top twenty spots, which is the most of any conference.
Though Providence and Boston College could be on the verge of falling out, Lowell is inching their way toward the rankings, and Merrimack could be in that conversation soon as well.
Maine has the highest Hockey East ranking this week, coming in at sixth nationwide. But the reality is that the top half of Hockey East has been overall very even, and if things hold as they currently stand then we could see a Hockey East tournament without a clear favorite heading in.
The Big Ten, NCHC and Hockey East currently hold seventeen of the top twenty spots in the rankings, and although we haven’t seen much of the Ivies yet, signs are starting to point toward these three conferences as the big three this year.
This week, UMass Amherst will host Maine in a two-game set to kick things off Thursday night.
Boston University will take on Merrimack in a home-and-home beginning in Boston.
New Hampshire and UMass Lowell will also play a home-and-home, starting in Lowell.
The third home-and-home of the weekend will be UConn and Providence, starting in Connecticut.
Vermont hosts Boston College as the Eagles look to avoid being unranked for the first time since the end of the 22-23 season.
Northeastern will be the only Hockey East team playing outside of the conference, as they host Stonehill.