The best time of the year in men's Division 1 college hockey is here.
Outside of the Beanpot and Connecticut Ice tournaments, it's almost all conference play from here on out for New England teams across Hockey East, ECAC Hockey and Atlantic Hockey.
There is no shortage of storylines to follow as the second half of the season gets underway, especially with so many of the nation's top teams and players residing locally. It should be a fun finish, leading into conference tournaments, NCAAs (including regionals in Providence, R.I., and Springfield, Mass.), and the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.
Here’s what we’ll be watching as the action commences over the next couple of weeks.
1. Who will win the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue?
Boston College and Boston University will meet in three of the most anticipated games of the season over a span of less than two weeks. Their venerable Commonwealth Avenue rivalry resumes with a home-and-home series (Jan. 26-27) before a Beanpot semifinal round date at TD Garden (Feb. 5).
While BC-BU games always draw attention, this year’s series is especially significant as the teams slot in the top four of the current PairWise Rankings and would be No. 1 seeds in NCAA regional brackets if the season ended today. (Notably, the other two top teams are also from New England in No. 1 Maine and No. 3 Quinnipiac.)
Star sophomore Cutter Gauthier — who is Hockey East’s leading goal scorer with 13 (and 23 points) in 17 games — and this summer’s potential No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini help to lead their respective teams, but Gauthier’s Eagles have been headlined by a star-studded freshman line on which Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) and Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) have combined for 18 goals.
The Terriers also boast a fellow World Junior veteran and former first-round pick in electric defenseman Lane Hutson, though the star power doesn’t come close to ending there. There are so many reasons to mark your calendars for this huge series and, of course, the Beanpot on the first Monday of February.
2. Can Maine remain elite?
While this week’s two national polls favor the Eagles and Terriers at the top, the all-important numbers of the aforementioned PairWise favor Maine, which has piled up a 12-3-1 record as arguably the biggest surprise team in the country.
Can third-year coach Ben Barr’s team keep it rolling? Led by stud freshman brothers Bradly and Josh Nadeau — who have both eclipsed the 20-point mark — and a much deeper lineup than seasons past, the Black Bears showed no signs of slowing down in sweeping Lake Superior State and Dartmouth by a combined 10-3 score to win the Big Green’s Ledyard Bank Classic last weekend.
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Maine has won six straight games, but its most impressive statistic to date is a 6-3-1 record against ranked opponents with a victory over reigning national champion Quinnipiac and a 1-0-1 mark against Boston College. Series against UMass, Providence and rival New Hampshire offer opportunities to grow that win total going forward.
3. How far can reigning champ Quinnipiac go?
With Harvard’s youthful team struggling to the tune of a 1-7-3 record, it looks even more apparent than ever that the ECAC Hockey race will run through Quinnipiac. The only question left to answer may be whether its path can lead to another Frozen Four berth.
The Bobcats are 7-0-1 in league play, and their only overall loss since October came in a pre-Thanksgiving battle with Boston University. Look for defense to remain a strong point for the Bobcats, who have still allowed the second-fewest goals (1.9) and shots (22.8) per game in the country, with BU transfer Vinny Duplessis taking over the net for now-Carolina Hurricanes prospect Yaniv Perets.
There’s plenty of offense to go around, too. After missing five early games due to injury, star junior Collin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.) is healthy and poised for another deep run. The Union transfer last season is producing at a nation-leading rate of 1.92 points per game while scoring 11 goals on only 45 shots. Sophomore Sam Lipkin and junior Jacob Quillan each have 10 goals apiece.
4. Which Hockey East teams have a surge in them?
In the Hockey East standings, fourth-place Providence and 10th-place Merrimack are only separated by six points. There is plenty of room for movement down the stretch.
New Hampshire and UMass are off to resurgent starts as compared to a year ago, with the Wildcats having played the fewest Hockey East games of any team (4-3-2). Led by rookie Ryan Conmy, UNH has developed strong depth and clicks at 26.3 percent on the power play while North Dakota transfer Jakob Hellsten has performed well in net. UConn, meanwhile, has been led by Canadian World Junior standout Matthew Wood and a top-10 penalty kill.
It would not be a surprise to see Merrimack make up serious ground against a challenging slate ahead if it can get fully healthy behind the elite duo of senior Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) and junior Matt Copponi (Mansfield, Mass.). Jefferies missed about a month, but has 10 goals in 14 games. There are plenty of other pieces like one of the league’s top-scoring defensemen in sophomore Zach Bookman and senior Zachary Borgiel, who has made a run of consecutive starts in net.
Major injury issues plagued Northeastern in the first half as well. No. 1 center Justin Hryckowian and defenseman Hunter McDonald are both back in the lineup, but freshman stopper Cameron Whitehead kept them in games even amidst a long skid. Sophomore Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine) and senior Clarkson transfer Alex Campbell have nine goals apiece, so there’s reason for optimism.
5. Who will emerge from the Atlantic Hockey fray?
The rest of the Atlantic Hockey season is shaping up to be quite intriguing in New England, where all four of the region’s programs could finish in strong playoff position.
Sacred Heart sits two points behind first-place RIT with a game in hand entering the first full weekend of 2024, with Northeastern and RPI transfer TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) averaging just over a point per game to lead a strong offense and 25-percent power play.
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Just behind the Pioneers are American International and new head coach Andy Jones’ Bentley squad, which have both bagged wins over Hockey East foes. With a 3.2 goal-per-game offense and freshman Nils Walstrom standing tall in goal, the Yellow Jackets just beat UMass Lowell last weekend. Bentley has two strong backstops in senior Nicholas Grabko and sophomore Connor Hasley, the former who is the reigning Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Month.
Despite sitting seventh now, it is hard to count out Holy Cross. Bill Riga sure knows how to put together playoff-ready teams from his time at Quinnipiac, and the Crusaders used a second-half run to get all the way to last season’s title game at Canisius in only the coach’s third year at the helm. Junior Liam McLinskey and senior Jack Ricketts are the only two 20-point scorers in the conference, and Jason Grande sports the top save percentage at .924.
