For ECAC and Atlantic Hockey clubs, this is it. The postseason begins next week.
American International has already clinched a share of its first regular-season title in program history, but whether or not it takes the crown outright remains to be seen this weekend. Bentley and Holy Cross both hit the road for their series as the Yellow Jackets host Sacred Heart to conclude the New England rivalry set on Saturday afternoon.
Things are less settled in the ECAC as the top five teams are separated by four points. New England schools are a major part of the race as Harvard and Quinnipiac are tied within one point of the top slot and Yale is fifth. The Crimson and Dartmouth head to the Capital District to conclude their seasons this weekend, while Quinnipiac visits Brown and Yale.
In Hockey East, there is plenty to be decided over the final two regular-season weekends. UMass clinched its first-ever regular-season title with a Thursday win, but the next five teams are separated by five points. Northeastern, Boston University, and Maine can all finish in any of five positions in the standings with the Huskies still able to climb as high as second.
Here’s our final full Division 1 weekend preview of the college hockey regular season:
HOCKEY EAST
Northeastern (21-9-1, 13-7-1) vs. Boston College (10-18-3, 9-9-3)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena, Boston
What to watch for: These two teams played for the Beanpot in their first meeting this year back on Feb. 11 and now play their league set over the Hockey East season’s penultimate weekend. The Huskies started a five-game winning streak on that second consecutive Beanpot-winning Monday night with senior Lincoln Griffin (Walpole, Mass.) scoring five of his seven goals in that span. Northeastern can extend its streak against the Eagles, who have lost their last six games since Feb. 8, to four games for the first time ever in a series that dates back to 1933. Â
Fun fact: BC’s power play has gone 11-for-43 in its last 12 games, tied for Hockey East’s best mark in that span with UMass. Junior David Cotton has scored three of those goals.
UMass Lowell (18-10-3, 12-6-3) vs. New Hampshire (11-12-8, 7-9-5)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Whittemore Center, Durham, N.H.
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
What to watch for: UNH enters its Friday night home game looking to bounce back from being swept by Northeastern last weekend and will be facing a team against which it allowed two extra-attacker goals and had to settle for a 2-2 tie on Nov. 9 at Tsongas. Freshmen have been key for both clubs as the ‘Cats have two freshmen at or nearing 20 points in Angus Crookshank and Jackson Pierson, the latter who is two shy, while Lowell’s first-year group averages just over two points per game.
Fun fact: Junior Kenny Hausinger is slated to become the seventh current UMass Lowell skater to play in 100 career games tonight.
Maine (14-14-4, 10-8-4) at Massachusetts (25-7, 17-5)
Saturday, 8 p.m. at Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.
What to watch for: The Minutemen wrapped up their first-ever Hockey East regular-season title with Thursday night’s 4-2 win over Merrimack and will look to keep its hold of a No. 1 seed in NCAAs with strong play over their final two games. Sophomore Cale Makar scored twice and added an assist, the latter his 26th of the season to set a single-season program record for a defenseman, as UMass came from behind for the victory. Maine is 4-0-1 in its last five games with seven points from junior Mitchell Fossier in that span.
Fun fact: UMass sophomore Matt Murray made 18 saves on Thursday night and set a new program record with his 20th win of the season.
Vermont (12-18-2, 5-15-2) at Connecticut (10-20-2, 5-15-2)
Friday, 7 p.m. at XL Center, Hartford, Conn.
What to watch for: These two teams split a pair of one-goal November games in Burlington, Vt., and now meet with pride on the line having been eliminated from Hockey East playoff contention over the last couple of weeks. Vermont, which boasts the fifth-best defense in Hockey East (2.34) despite the second-worst offense (2.16), has been swept in back-to-back weekend series since a Feb. 9 win over New Hampshire, while UConn will look to snap a three-game skid that began after a Feb. 15 overtime win against Boston University.
Fun fact: Vermont junior Stefanos Lekkas has 980 saves this season, ranking fourth in program history after passing the mark that former Boston Bruin Tim Thomas set in 1994-95.
Merrimack (7-22-3, 4-16-2) at Boston University (13-15-4, 11-8-3)
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Agganis Arena, Boston
What to watch for: This Saturday night clash in Boston comes after the two teams were both in action on Thursday with the Warriors losing to UMass and the Terriers skating to a tie at Providence, despite a 45-save effort from junior Jake Oettinger. BU is 3-0-1 over its last four games and will welcome in a Warrior team that has gone 0-8-2 since a Jan. 12 win over Connecticut, though senior Derek Petti (Tewksbury, Mass.) is carrying a five-game point streak after scoring against the Minutemen.
Fun fact: BU did not commit a penalty in Thursday’s game at Providence, accomplishing that feat for the first time since Jan. 15, 2008 against Dartmouth.
ECAC HOCKEY
Quinnipiac (23-7-2, 12-6-2)/Princeton (8-16-3, 6-12-2) at Brown (11-11-5, 8-7-5)/Yale (13-11-3, 11-8-1)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Meehan Auditorium, Providence, R.I.
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.
What to watch for: Brown and Yale are separated by two points in the middle of the ECAC standings, while Quinnipiac, which is tied for second, has a three-point advantage on the Bulldogs in the standings entering the final regular-season weekend. Thus, the swing is large for all of these clubs as even the Tigers are only four points behind eighth-place Union. The Bobcats are the hottest team of the bunch with a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, but the first of those losses was to Brown on Feb. 9.
Fun fact: Brown sophomore Chris Berger had scored a goal in five straight games before Saturday’s 2-0 win at Dartmouth. He was the first Bear with a streak of that length sine 2013-14.
Harvard (16-8-3, 12-6-2)/Dartmouth (10-13-4, 9-8-3) at Rensselaer (10-19-3, 7-11-2)/Union (15-11-6, 8-10-2)
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Houston Field House, Troy, N.Y.
Friday/Saturday, 7 p.m. at Messa Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.
What to watch for: Last weekend’s sweep of Brown and Yale, behind 63 combined saves from junior Cameron Gornet, has set up the Crimson to compete for the ECAC regular-season title this weekend, though it hasn’t beaten these teams on the road since 2014 and 2010, respectively. Harvard enters the series tied for second in the ECAC with Quinnipiac but first-place Cornell is only one point ahead, while Dartmouth is coming off a split weekend against its New England foes and will look to create some momentum before at least hosting in the first round of the conference tournament next weekend.
Fun fact: Junior Adrian Clark’s shutout last Friday against Yale was Dartmouth’s second of the season against the Bulldogs, a first in 112 years of series history.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Sacred Heart (15-14-4, 14-10-3) at American International (17-15-1, 17-9-1)
Saturday, 1:05 p.m. at MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
What to watch for: The Yellow Jackets had an opportunity to clinch their first-ever Atlantic Hockey regular-season title on Thursday night, but the visitors built a two-goal lead through two periods and pitched a shutout from there en route to a 5-2 win. Sacred Heart, which got two goals from rookie Austin Magera in that game, finished 7-1-1 on the month of February and now enter the final weekend of the regular season tied for second place with Bentley. Prior to Thursday, AIC had not lost a league game since Jan. 25 at Mercyhurst.
Fun fact: Following Thursday night, Magera has three multiple-goal games as a freshman. All of them have come within the last eight games, and all have been Pioneer victories.
Bentley (15-13-4, 14-9-3) at Army West Point (9-17-6, 8-12-6)
Friday/Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Tate Rink, West Point, N.Y.
What to watch for: The Falcons will have a first-round bye in the Atlantic Hockey postseason but its fate will be decided this weekend on the banks of the Hudson River as they can be seeded anywhere from second through fifth. These two teams split a November series on Bentley’s ice with the Falcons bouncing back for a 4-2 win after a 3-2 loss in the Friday affair In that game, junior Aidan Pelino made 15 saves, while a pair of points came from Michael Zuffante who scored the lone Falcon goal in last Saturday’s 1-1 tie with Holy Cross.
Fun fact: Bentley captain Tanner Jago has 84 career points, recently moving into third place all-time among Falcon defensemen. He is three points from tying for second.
Holy Cross (9-18-5, 9-13-4) at Air Force (15-12-5, 13-9-4)
Friday, 9:05 p.m./Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Cadet Ice Arena, USAFA, Colo.
What to watch for: The Crusaders are 5-2-2 over their last nine games and look to build upon last weekend’s three-point effort against second-place Bentley that included a road win. Senior Mitch Collett and freshman Anthony Vincent (Wilton, Conn.) have a team-leading eight points apiece as Holy Cross has scored 3.22 goals per game in that span. Air Force is coming off a three-point set of its own at Mercyhurst. Â
Fun fact: Junior defenseman Dalton Skelley became the 11th Holy Cross skater to reach double-digit points this season with an assist in Friday’s 5-3 win at Bentley.
