In 20 full years of Hockey East competition, one thing is unequivocally true about the Northeast’s premier college hockey league: there are very few surprises to start the season.
Despite the fact that it didn’t make it to the conference final last year, Boston College once again found itself atop the league’s preseason coaches’ poll. The Eagles, who were the unanimous pick to win the league title last year at this time, received five first-place votes, two more than second-place Maine, and four more than third-place Boston University, which finished the 2003-04 regular season with just enough points to edge Northeastern for the last playoff spot.
More than anything, the No. 1 league ranking speaks to the Eagles’ consistently top-shelf offense, which averaged 3.67 goals per game last year, the best in the league. There’s no arguing that BC is one of the top teams in the nation, at least on paper, so it’s justifiable that the Eagles would once again be the team to beat in the preseason poll. Rounding out the rankings, New Hampshire was picked fourth, a testament to the Wildcats’ depth despite the considerable losses of all-world goaltender Mike Ayers and Player of the Year Steve Saviano.
Ayers, who established himself as the league’s most dependable goalie during a stellar career between the pipes, was a sixth-round NHL draft pick by Chicago in 2000, but opted to join the Charlotte Checkers, the New York Rangers’ ECHL affiliate. Saviano stayed in New England, joining the AHL’s Lowell Lock Monsters, but leaves a talented offensive corps behind in Durham.
UMass Lowell and Massachusetts are No. 5 and 6 respectively, right around where they were last year. In the bottom third, Northeastern came in at No. 7 despite missing the playoffs after a meager season that ended in a race to the bottom with Merrimack. The Warriors were picked to finish last for the fifth time in six years, one spot behind Providence, which finished just out of contention for home ice in fifth place last season.
Early birds
Giving even more credence to Jack Parker’s annual gripe that the Hockey East teams play too long a season, four HEA teams played games last weekend, including one matchup between a current conference stalwart (Maine), and next year’s newcomers (Vermont). The Black Bears handled the Catamounts easily, cruising to a 7-1 win to start their 2004-05 campaign off on the right foot.
Merrimack also played a pair of early games, earning a win and a tie in two exhibitions against St. Thomas University of New Brunswick. Providence and UMass each played St. Francis Xavier of Nova Scotia last weekend, and both squads earned exhibition wins against the X-Men.
Friday Night’s all right for fightin’
In a move that is sure to improve Hockey East’s television coverage over last year’s flighty plan, the New England Sports Network (NESN) will broadcast 13 regular season games, including 10 as part of its “Friday Night Ice” package, which begins at the turn of the new year. BU, who signed a new deal to call NESN its broadcast home, made out as the biggest winner in the deal, with four games on the network’s Friday package, and 10 games overall, including the always-enticing January battle with Boston College.
UMass also got in on the deal, with three games scheduled for broadcast. December 4’s matchup against BU at home, as well as Feb. 11’s clash at UNH and Feb. 25’s game against the Terriers in the Mullins Center will all be broadcast on NESN. College Sports Television will also carry several Hockey East games, though no appearances by the Minutemen have been scheduled.
