College Hockey:

This Week in Hockey East: Nov 13, 2008

Best Ever?

Hockey East has long prided itself on its top-to-bottom strength. Unlike top-heavy conferences that might boast comparable teams come NCAA tournament time, Hockey East could claim that most years even its teams that fell short of making the league playoffs provided significant challenges.

This season, however, we may be seeing that strength at an all-time high.

“From a historical point, this is the best league that we’ve ever had from top to bottom, vis–vis ourselves and vis–vis the rest of the nation as well,” Boston University coach Jack Parker says.

Massachusetts-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald chimes in that it’s not even close.

“I don’t think there’s been a year that’s ever been this competitive,” he says. “And we’re just starting. This is easily the most competitive and challenging year ever.”

The strength at the top starts with Boston University, currently ranked number one in the country. Defending national champion Boston College, New Hampshire, and Northeastern all rank in the top seven, giving Hockey East four of the nation’s top seven teams.

Vermont and Massachusetts round out the Top 20.

And what of the four teams not in the national rankings?

You have Lowell, who last Friday night had the Terriers on the ropes but couldn’t put them down for the count.

“I thought we outplayed BU and deserved better,” MacDonald says. “But our goalie got hurt in the second period. It was a tough position to put a freshman [backup] in and they scored four goals in the third period.

“[But] we played great.”

You have Maine, a perennial power undergoing a rebuilding year after losing a big senior class. Yet that rebuilding includes a 2-1 win over the defending national champions last Sunday.

“We were a team that had no points in league play, going against one of the top teams in the country,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead says. “For us to beat them, 2-1, does show a lot of competitiveness for our league. It is an indication that it is

going to be another great season for the league.”

Then you have Merrimack, picked to finish last, knocking off a UMass club that had been undefeated in its last five games.

“What we ran into last Saturday at Merrimack was no huge surprise to us,” UMass coach Don “Toot” Cahoon said. “They skate better and move the puck better than they have in recent memory. Coach [Mark] Dennehy has a lot of young players there who are continuing to improve.

“I think a lot of teams are going to be in for a rude awakening if they go into Merrimack’s building unprepared.”

Dennehy isn’t about to disagree, especially since in the game before the win over UMass his Warriors took BC into overtime.

“I think the teams at the bottom end of last year’s table have strengthened themselves,” he says. “We think we have.

“One of the things I wanted to do when I came here was to make sure that there were no easy nights in Hockey East. Anyone who was at Lawler Arena last Friday against BC might have witnessed the most exciting game there in a number of years.”

Even Providence, still looking for its first league win, stormed back from a two-goal deficit on Friday to salvage a tie with Vermont.

“We are typically pretty tough when we have a two-goal lead,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon says. “But give all the credit in the world to Providence, who in their own building just made it very difficult for us to play against [them].

“They really slowed us down in a good way, with their aggressive forechecking style. I thought they got better as the game went on.

“Any time you can get a point at Providence, it certainly is a good thing.”

Put it all together and the league’s 25th anniversary year looks like its best ever.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re rated down in the pack a little bit in this league because anybody can beat anybody,” Parker says. “I think what has separated this league — for a long, long time — from every other league is the fact is that it’s so strong from top to bottom.

“What makes it different this year is that everybody is strong compared to the other leagues. We’re in a situation where people ask me, ‘Do you like your team?’ and I tell them that I like our team a lot, but the problem is I like every other team in our league, too.

“Teams that were rated to be down in the lower echelon are as good as anybody in this league, and the teams in the upper echelon of our league are as good as anybody in nation.”

Small wonder eight of the league’s 10 team got votes in last week’s poll.

All if which promises exciting races for the league crown, home ice playoff berths, the last few berths themselves, and what will likely be a significant number of NCAA tournament selections.

Quick Hits Around The Rinks

Boston College

Two weekends ago, Boston College dominated the special teams battle to sweep Merrimack, going two-for-nine and three-for-seven on the power play while shutting the Warriors out in their five man advantage opportunities.

This past weekend, however, the Eagles got swept themselves (by Notre Dame and Maine), scoring only singletons each game.

The power play failed to score in 16 total opportunities while the penalty kill gave up a goal both nights.

“Special teams kind of run hot and cold,” BC coach Jerry York says. “It’s hard to maintain great penalty-killing or a great power play for a long time.

“We weren’t real crisp in our entries. We had a lot of teams icing the puck against us. We’ve had a lot of shots blocked. We’ve got to move pucks quicker and get something on the goaltender.

“Entry into the zone and more crispness on our passing to open up a shot, and shooting the thing when you get a chance to are key for us. We’re passing up some good chances.”

Boston University

Talk to Jack Parker about his team’s number one ranking and what you’ll get is a big yawn.

“I don’t think it means anything, to tell you the truth,” he says. “People knew that we had a pretty good team this year. We were voted fairly highly in the preseason polls in our league and in the nation.”

“The last time we were rated No. 1 was in 2006 — the very last poll of the year after the Hockey East tournament. Then we proceeded to lose two games later to Boston College in the national tournament.

“The polls are something for the fans to get involved in. When the NCAA comes out with [the PairWise] starting in January, that means a little more something because that’s the selection criteria. Even then, that changes so drastically
from game-to-game, the only poll then that counts is the last poll that selects the NCAA tournament field.

“After that, the NCAA champion will be the No. 1 team in the nation. That’s what everybody fights for and everybody’s trying to get to. One team wins their last game and everybody else loses their last game.

“This doesn’t mean much to us except that we’ll have a little bit bigger target on our backs.”

Maine

Sunday’s win over BC gave the Black Bears three straight wins and their first in Hockey East.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead says, “As one of the announcers said Sunday night, this would not be unusual for Maine to knock BC off at home just two years ago, but last year and this year we are in a rebuilding phase, so this one feels extra special.”

The graduation of last season’s large senior class has created an abundance of opportunities for this year’s rookies.

“We are very pleased with our freshman class,” Whitehead says. “They and the sophomores make up the bulk of our team, so it is important that they do contribute right away, and they have. We have strong freshmen at all three positions.

“We have Scott Darling in the net. We have Will O’Neill, Ryan Hegarty and Mark Nemec at defense. We have quite a few freshmen forwards in Spencer Abbott, Brian Flynn, Gustav Nyquist, Kyle Solomon, Theo Andersson, Nick Payson. They have all played significant roles for us.

“We are very pleased that each one is contributing. Nyquist has put up quite a few points. Scott has been very good in th