Over the holiday break, there was a plethora of exciting Hockey East action including Holiday Tournament wins, the Frozen Fenway venue and a series of important conference games setting up an exciting final month and a half to decide who will come out on top as king of the HEA.
Holiday Tournaments
After many of the squads enjoyed a break after final exams, it was time to hit the ice again. But before the teams got back to Hockey East action, they all participated in Holiday Tournaments.
Three of the teams were able to take home tournament titles.
Maine won the Florida College Classic title with a 5-2 win over fellow HEA competitor Massachusetts. Meanwhile UMass Lowell claimed its holiday tournament at the UConn Holiday Classic with a thrilling overtime victory over UConn, 4-3, and a throttling of RPI, 7-2.
Perhaps the biggest tournament triumph, however, was Northeastern’s 3-2 win over then No. 2 Minnesota in the Mariucci Classic Tournament.
Frozen Fenway
The following weekend Fenway Park played host to Frozen Fenway as Hockey East players from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont were given the opportunity of a lifetime: to skate on America’s most beloved ballpark in heated border rivalry games.
Both games proved to be overtime thrillers as Massachusetts defeated Vermont, 3-2, and Maine bested New Hampshire, 5-4, to help both squads earn the honor of Hockey East Co-Teams of the Week.
The following weekend, Boston College and Northeastern got their turn to skate on the Frozen Fenway ice as the Eagles knocked off the Huskies, 2-1, in another hard fought battle at the illustrious ballpark.
Hockey East Action
In other HEA action, Merrimack continued to struggle over the break after the Warriors had ascended to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in school history.
Merrimack came away with a third place finish in the Ledyard National Bank Classic despite being the favorite to win it all. The Warriors then went a meager 2-2-2 in their next six conference games, making them 4-5-4 since starting off the season undefeated at 9-0-1 and sitting atop the HEA standings. Merrimack now sits tied for second place with 21 points with Boston College.
One of the hottest teams in the Hockey East conference has to be the Terriers.
After a below average start, BU has stepped it up and leapfrogged to the top of the standings.
Over the break they posted impressive wins over Harvard, Northeastern and Merrimack. They did, however, lose the Hockey East conference’s first nationally televised game on the new NBC Sports Network at future HEA opponent Notre Dame, 5-2.
The Terriers’ big rival, BC, has had a mediocre break with a third place finish in the Great Lakes Invitational followed up by a 1-1-1 mark in its next three Hockey East tests.
Not only does BU sit on top of Hockey East with 25 points, but it is also nationally ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation. The conference’s remaining ranked teams include the Warriors at No. 5 and perhaps the nations most surprising team, UMass Lowell, at No. 11 overall.
Two other teams that have impressed so far this season are Providence and Maine.
The Friars have had a slow start to the second half of the season, posting a 1-4-1 mark since the break.
On the other side, the Black Bears have been on fire, securing their Holiday Tournament and Frozen Fenway affair against New Hampshire. Additionally, Maine picked up a big win over Vermont and went 0-1-1 in a two-game away series at Merrimack.
The bottom four teams in Hockey East are UMass, UNH, Northeastern and UVM, respectively, but outside of the Catamounts, the other teams are only separated by a combined four points, meaning anything could happen in the battle for the last few spots in the Hockey East Playoffs.
The action so far in the HEA has been exciting and look for it to remain the same, as this league is anyone’s to take and the winner of Hockey East has gone on to win three of the last four National Championships.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
