The new year is here, which means the Division 1 men's college hockey season is back up and running.
It has been an ultra-competitive year across New England. No conference has showcased its parity more than Hockey East, where Merrimack and Connecticut have risen to the top on the strength of banner semesters.
Those two teams find themselves at record-setting places in the national picture, alongside ECAC rivals Quinnipiac and Harvard.
Before all the excitement of the playoff chases begins, here's a look at some of what we learned throughout the fall term in college hockey.
Quinnipiac is on a roll
The top New England-based team throughout the first half was Quinnipiac, which rang in 2023 holding a 15-1-3 record and a 14-game unbeaten streak. The Bobcats, who scored a whopping 26 goals in their last four games and average 4.16 per game for the season, have just one tie during their run and haven’t lost since being shut out on Oct. 22 at Maine.
Coach Rand Pecknold’s club earned victories even before the season began, as All-American defenseman Zach Metsa, fellow fifth-year contributors like Ethan de Jong and Michael Lombardi (Barrington, R.I.), and breakout goaltender Yaniv Perets all returned after last spring’s postseason run fell one game short of a Frozen Four berth.
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Former Salisbury standout Jacob Quillan has stepped up as a sophomore, scoring four goals in two games to finish the calendar year with 10, but no Bobcat has been more noticeable than Union transfer Collin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.), who has logged 21 of his 29 points during a 10-game run.
Staying in the ECAC, Harvard is fresh off putting up eight goals against Northeastern. The Crimson have plenty of star power and the most NHL draft picks of any team in the country, led by 20-point junior Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) who has points in eight straight games.
Merrimack is a force in Hockey East
It’s no fluke anymore. Merrimack has embedded itself firmly among the nation's best teams. The Warriors sit atop the Hockey East standings with three games in hand and are sixth in the Pairwise rankings.
Despite falling to Providence in the Ledyard Classic championship to close 2022, the 14-5-0 Warriors have lost just two of their last 13 games, and Saturday’s was their first setback this season by more than two goals.
Scott Borek’s team has plenty of the tools necessary to make a postseason run, including a goaltending duo led by undefeated junior Zachary Borgiel. Similar to Quinnipiac, a handful of fifth-year graduate transfers joined a veteran core, with Matt Copponi (Mansfield, Mass.) making a huge jump into his sophomore year.
The strong Dexter Southfield product leads Merrimack with 10 goals — making him one of just five double-digit scorers in Hockey East — and has stood out alongside stellar junior and top assist man Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.).
Quinnipiac (No. 2) and Merrimack (No. 6) are New England’s top two teams in the Pairwise rankings, but five others check in before the No. 20 spot. The race for final NCAA tournament positions seems likely to involve local clubs.
Hockey East continues trend of producing elite goalies
Coaches often use an adage that building a team starts from the net out.
It should be no surprise that elite goaltending has been a key to many teams’ first-half successes throughout New England, a region that has seen NHLers like Jonathan Quick, Spencer Knight, Connor Hellebuyck and Jeremy Swayman pass through its college ranks.
Entering the first week of the new year, seven of the top 13 save percentages in the country belonged to goalies from New England schools. UMass Lowell’s Gustavs Davis Grigals with a .931 mark leads the nation despite his team most recently being swept by Alaska Anchorage.
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Reigning Mike Richter Award winner Devon Levi was among the group before an eight-goal loss in Northeastern’s Sunday defeat — his and the team’s sixth loss in the last seven games — at Harvard. Crimson senior Mitchell Gibson had been the local leader before Sunday, but he still has a sparkling .928 average.
Tons of great freshmen throughout the region
It hasn’t taken long for first-year players to make an offensive impact, especially in Hockey East. Six of the league’s 23 scorers with at least seven goals are freshmen.
Boston College forward Cutter Gauthier — the No. 5 overall pick of the Philadelphia Flyers last summer who has seen time on the wing and at center — is the lone rookie in double-digits with 10, two off Northeastern senior Aidan McDonough’s (Milton, Mass.) leading total. (Only McDonough’s sophomore teammate Justin Hryckowian and UConn junior Ryan Tverberg have also potted 10 apiece.)
Boston University defenseman Lane Hutson has shown his dynamic two-way ability right from the start, leading all Hockey East newcomers with 18 points (11 assists) in 16 games. U.S. World Junior invitee Kenny Connors leads Massachusetts, and Cy LeClerc (Brentwood, N.H.) has been the lead scorer despite New Hampshire’s struggles with eight goals.
In ECAC Hockey, Dartmouth has had freshman Cooper Black carrying the load in net, while Brown and Yale have rookies producing at the top of the charts in Ryan Bottrill and David Chen, respectively. Adding to Quinnipiac’s incredible depth has been Sam Lipkin, the team’s third point-per-game scorer.
Excitement builds for new rinks
Connecticut will be the center of the college hockey world on Jan. 14 as UConn and Sacred Heart officially open their respective new arenas for game action. Fans visiting the Huskies’ Toscano Family Ice Forum and Pioneers’ Martire Family Arena will be treated to playoff-aspiring teams over the next couple of months.
UConn enters Saturday’s Frozen Fenway outdoor matchup in a tie for first place in Hockey East, while Sacred Heart — which has had 17 different players find the back of the net this season — has strung together a four-game win streak to jump into second in Atlantic Hockey behind only RIT.
To open the sparkling new arenas next week, UConn will host Northeastern in a Hockey East game while Sacred Heart entertains Boston College.
Between these debuts, the first on-campus edition of Connecticut Ice at Quinnipiac in late January and the 70th Beanpot at TD Garden in February, it should be a fun finish to the regular season around the region.
