It wouldn’t be surprising if some college hockey fans in New England were dreaming a bit recently.
At one point during this past weekend’s action, the top four teams in the PairWise Rankings all hailed from New England.
A Saturday night tie during Maine’s series with Colgate jumbled some things around and dropped the Black Bears from No. 1, but the region is still well represented with four of the top five teams and five in the top nine.
Here’s one X-factor that we’ll be watching as each of those teams looks to maintain their success on a national level during this second semester.
Boston University: Mathieu Caron
Despite a 13-4-1 overall record, junior goalie Mathieu Caron had to weather an October rough patch during his first semester with his new Terriers team. The Brown transfer must continue the strong effort that he gave before the holidays with more big games ahead, including the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue and a Beanpot semifinal game against archrival Boston College.
Caron, who has played in every game and helped BU win five of its eight games against ranked opponents thus far, sports a .909 save percentage and 2.55 GAA that rank in the middle of Hockey East. However, anything close to his .925 mark over the last six games — including Tuesday’s overtime win over Northeastern — will surely help to keep his team in the national conversation for a long time, especially with elite talents Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson leading the way in front of him.
Maine: Depth scoring
Riding an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) to move within two wins of matching last season’s total, Maine has been a surprise team. Freshman brothers Bradly and Josh Nadeau have stolen headlines for their major impact as top-line players alongside senior center Lynden Breen, but the depth that coach Ben Barr has built in only his third year in Orono may be going unnoticed.
Breen became Maine’s first 20-goal scorer since 2012 last winter, but no teammate scored more than 10. This season, though, both Nadeaus have scored double-digit goals, four others have five, and 18 have found the net at least once. Perhaps even more impressive is the five skaters with 10-plus assists, including sophomore forward Thomas Freel and defenseman Brandon Chabrier who already reached or exceeded their output from a year ago.
The Black Bears have impressed with their start and continued success without a loss since Nov. 18 at BU, but continuing to rely on depth and not being a “one-line team” will go far as the postseason inches closer.
Boston College: World Juniors bump?
The 13-3-1 Eagles’ semester break was a busy one for an American-record seven members of second-year coach Greg Brown’s (Southborough, Mass.) team who won gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship. College coaches often talk about a confidence and play boost that they see in players after returning from playing in the elite tournament.
Cutter Gauthier used last year’s experience as a springboard for his playmaking ability, recording 21 of his 37 points and 15 of his 21 assists over the final 19 games. He was the Forward of the Tournament at World Juniors this time around and leads BC with 13 goals.
Who knows where such a jump for rookie stars Gabe Perreault, Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) could take BC now. The trio are already three of the team’s four leading scorers with Gauthier, while Jacob Fowler has started every game in goal. The tournament could benefit freshman defensemen Drew Fortescue and Aram Minnetian even more as they look to further their impact at both ends.
Quinnipiac: Health
Every team hopes to be at its fullest as the brunt of conference play rolls around in January, but the Bobcats are especially thankful to have both junior Collin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.) and senior Ohio State transfer Travis Treloar back in the fold after missing significant stretches. Only the Connecticut Ice tournament remains in Quinnipiac’s non-conference play, so their focus has almost solely shifted to making another dominant run through ECAC Hockey.
Graf was out of the lineup on two separate occasions for apparent head and lower-body injuries, but Treloar — who slid in as the top-line right winger when Graf was out — has actually missed more time (nine games) with his own ailment.
Coach Rand Pecknold (Bedford, N.H.) admitted that his team needed to show more resilience in dealing with the adversity of Graf’s second injury in a late-October game against New Hampshire, but the former Union transfer has posted an incredible pacesetting offensive effort with 26 points in 10 of the 14 games in which he has played.
Providence: More scoring
Coach Nate Leaman has often discussed sophomore goaltender Philip Svedeback’s development as a major reason for Providence’s success since his career began last fall, and his play (2.01 GAA, .911 save percentage) plus allowing the second-fewest shots on goal against in the country (386 total, 22.7 per game) were key in a first half that included wins over powers Michigan and Denver.
As impressive as those and other wins have been, the Friars might be more comfortable if they can put a few more goals in the net as the season continues, and they certainly have the talent to do so. Shooting at just 9.3 percent for the year puts them ahead of only two Hockey East rivals in UMass Lowell and UConn.
There are seven Providence players with at least four goals to their names, and senior Chase Yooder leads the way with six. One place the Friars could look for more scoring is Bennett Schmiek, whose 11 goals as a freshman ranked second on the team, but he has netted just two in 16 games this season.
