The Hockey East conference has become the least consistent in college hockey this year, with major fluctuations on a weekly basis. To no surprise, this past weekend was no different.
UNH’s weekend started well with a 6-3 win over RPI driven by junior forward Nick Ring’s four-point game. Saturday wouldn’t be as kind to the Wildcats, as Union won 6-0.
UMass Lowell’s weekend started with a 7-1 defeat against Union and concluded with a 2-0 loss to RPI to finish a disappointing weekend.
Union forward Brandon Buhr had four points on the weekend, highlighted by a hat trick against UNH.
In total, the two Hockey East teams outshot Union and RPI 117-111, with no game having more than a six-shot difference either way, but a combined .836 SV% was the fatal flaw for both teams.
No 13. Boston University played No. 10 Quinnipiac in a single game on Saturday, with the Bobcats scoring three in the first period to contribute to their eventual 6-2 win. BU was outshot 49-33, highlighting an all-around poor performance in a game crucial to their rankings. Now, the preseason No. 2 sits at 18 and finds themselves dangerously close to dropping off the polls for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season.
No. 8 Maine hosted Vermont for a two-game set in one of four Hockey East series this weekend. Maine earned a dominant 7-0 victory in game one.
Game two wasn’t to Maine’s standards, as Vermont pulled off the 2-1 upset via an early-third-period goal by junior Daniel Sambuco. Maine outshot Vermont 44-28, but a stellar performance by both Vermont goaltenders won it for the Catamounts.
Merrimack and No. 15 Providence played a home-and-home starting in Providence. Game one went to the Friars 4-2, with Anaheim Ducks’ draft pick Roger McQueen picking up his first two collegiate goals in a three-point game for the freshman.
Game two was a different tone, as the Warriors took a 3-0 lead in the first half of game time. Though Providence tried to climb back and managed to cut the deficit to one goal with a minute left, Merrimack held strong enough to claim victory.
One of two ranked Hockey East matchups this weekend featured a home-and-home between No. 12 UMass Amherst and No. 18 Boston College.
UMass led 2-1 after the first period of game one but were outscored 9-2 the following five periods as they’d be swept by scores of 7-3 and 4-0. UNH transfer Ryan Conmy headlined BC’s statement weekend with four points.
The Eagles moved to No. 15 in the polls while the Minutemen fell to 17.
The other ranked matchup featured both Hockey East Huskies, with No. 14 UConn and No. 11 Northeastern playing a home-and-home.
UConn scored the first two goals of the series 11 seconds apart, and a Jake Percival hat trick drove their 4-2 game one win in Storrs.
Game two looked like a totally different story with Northeastern going up 3-0 early in the second period, but a good fight by UConn brought it back within. Late in the third, Percival proved to be the bane of Northeastern’s weekend, tying it up on a delayed penalty with five minutes left in regulation. This would eventually send the contest into overtime, allowing Joey Muldowney to win the game and complete UConn’s 3-0 comeback.
UConn took Northeastern’s No. 11 spot while the other Huskies dropped to 12.
The last time no Hockey East team was in the top ten nationwide was March of 2022, but there’s real danger that number could be reset soon. Maine sits at No. 10, with UConn and Northeastern occupying the next two spots, while the 15-18 spots are also taken by Hockey East schools.
This week kicks off Thursday with No. 18 UMass at No. 16 Providence in the first game of a home-and-home that’ll finish Saturday.
No. 11 UConn and New Hampshire will play a home-and-home starting Friday.
No. 15 Boston College will host No. 10 Maine for a series, while No. 18 Boston University and No. 12 Northeastern play a home-and-home in two series that will have major implications on the Thanksgiving week poll.
Merrimack heads to Long Island University on Friday while Vermont hosts Harvard Saturday in Hockey East’s only non-conference games of the week.