The regular season is winding down for New England’s Division 1 college hockey teams, but that only means playoff races are continuing to heat up.
UMass opened up a six-point lead at the top of Hockey East after sweeping Boston College, but the next seven teams in the standings, down to eighth-place New Hampshire, are separated by only five points. Northeastern completed a weekend sweep after winning the Beanpot last Monday, while Providence enjoyed the same result to move into a tie for second place.
In addition, Boston University and Connecticut split their series, while Maine managed three points and eliminated Merrimack from playoff contention. (Only the top eight Hockey East teams will qualify for the league tournament this season.)
Yale’s weekend sweep didn’t help settle anything in the ECAC race as the Bulldogs are now in third and stand only two points behind first-place Cornell. Quinnipiac still holds down second after taking a three-point weekend, Harvard sits in a fourth-place tie, and Brown and Dartmouth are even right in the middle of the table. The Big Green posted a three-point weekend in New York’s North Country.
American International returns from non-conference play as Atlantic Hockey’s top team and has just two games remaining on its schedule. Bentley’s unbeaten run ended during a split at Niagara, while both Holy Cross and Sacred Heart also went 1-1 on the weekend. The second-place Falcons have an extra weekend of games to play and look to tighten their five-point gap on AIC.
After the third weekend of February action, here is New England Hockey Journal’s latest Division 1 Top 10:
TOP 10
1. Massachusetts
Record: 23-6 (15-4 Hockey East) / Last week: 1
The Minutemen swept a Hockey East home-and-home from Boston College via 4-3 and 4-2 wins. Sophomore Mitchell Chaffee finished the series with four assists, including three in Friday’s home win. Amherst, Mass., native John Leonard scored in each game and added an assist on senior Jacob Pritchard’s game-winning goal and 100th collegiate point in the series finale. Matt Murray made 44 stops to improve to 18-4 on the season.
2. Providence
Record: 18-9-5 (11-7-2 Hockey East) / Last week: 4
The Friars were dominant in one game and squeezed out another against UMass Lowell over the weekend, earning 6-1 and 1-0 wins to sweep a home-and-home series. Junior Kasper Bjorkqvist scored twice in Friday’s dominant effort, while freshman Tyce Thompson (Milford, Conn.) had a goal in each with Saturday’s lone tally coming with 4:01 left in the second period. Senior Hayden Hawkey made 41 saves on 42 shots in the series, including a 21-save shutout in the series finale.
3. Quinnipiac
Record: 22-6-2 (11-5-2 ECAC Hockey) / Last week: 3
The Bobcats managed three points out of a low-scoring weekend in ECAC play, earning a 2-1 win at Rensselaer after a 1-1 draw with Union. Sophomore Odeen Tufto scored Saturday’s winning goal with 34 seconds to play after posting an assist on freshman Wyatt Bongovanni’s lone goal against the Dutchmen. Junior Andrew Shortridge, who has now started 11 straight games, finished the weekend with 44 saves on 46 shots.
4. UMass Lowell
Record: 17-10-2 (11-6-2 Hockey East) / Last week: 2
Lowell was swept in its Hockey East set with Providence but still remains tied for second place in the league standings. Sophomore Connor Sodergren (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored the only River Hawk goal of the weekend during Friday’s 6-1 loss. Senior Christoffer Hernberg made 11 saves in both the first and third periods of the series finale and totaled 28 for the game.
5. Northeastern
Record: 19-9-1 (11-7-1 Hockey East) / Last week: 6
The Huskies enjoyed a 3-0 week to move into fourth in Hockey East, posting 4-1 and 2-1 wins over Vermont after topping Boston College by a 4-2 count to win their second consecutive Beanpot. Junior Matt Filipe (Lynnfield, Mass.) had four points in the weekend series, scoring the game-winning goal in both games. Defenseman Jeremy Davies had three assists, and senior Lincoln Griffin (Walpole, Mass.) scored twice. Sophomore Cayden Primeau posted 55 saves in the series.
6. Harvard
Record: 14-8-3 (10-6-2 ECAC Hockey) / Last week: 5
The Crimson split its weekend trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson after topping Boston University to claim third place in the Beanpot last Monday. Junior Frederic Gregoire scored twice in the 5-2 victory at TD Garden before finishing the weekend with another goal in a 5-3 loss at Clarkson. Sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh (Andover, N.H.) extended his point streak to seven games with three assists and then a goal at Clarkson. Sophomore Jack Badini scored with 1:22 left to complete a two-goal third period in Friday’s 3-2 win at SLU.
7. Boston University
Record: 11-15-3 (9-8-2 Hockey East) / Last week: 7
Junior Jake Oettinger pitched a 26-save shutout to help the Terriers to Saturday’s 2-0 win over UConn and curb a six-game skid. Sophomore Ty Amonte (Norwell, Mass.) and freshman Joel Farabee scored the goals during the victory after juniors Patrick Harper (New Canaan, Conn.) and Patrick Curry helped BU out of a third-period deficit in the eventual 3-2, series-opening loss. Junior Dante Fabbro and sophomore David Farrance both logged two assists during the series.
8. New Hampshire
Record: 11-10-8 (7-7-5 Hockey East) / Last week: 8
The Wildcats had this past weekend off, leaving them eighth in Hockey East but only two points behind fifth-place Boston College. UNH welcomes Northeastern to the Whittemore Center for its next two games.
9. Yale
Record: 13-9-3 (11-6-1 ECAC Hockey) / Last week: Not ranked
Yale welcomed New York State rivals Colgate and Cornell to Ingalls Rink over the weekend and captured a sweep that propelled it to third in the ECAC standings. Freshman Curtis Hall, a Bruins draftee, scored twice and junior Robbie DeMontis had three assists in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the then-No. 8 Big Red. DeMontis opened the weekend as one of three goal scorers against Colgate, while junior Corbin Kaczperski pitched an 18-save shutout. Senior Joe Snively and junior Evan Smith each had three assists in the series as well.
10. American International
Record: 17-14-1 (17-8-1 Atlantic Hockey) / Last week: 9
The Yellow Jackets scored first in one game and lasted until overtime in the other but Arizona State captured a pair of non-conference wins on the weekend, 4-1 and 5-4. Sophomore Tobias Fladeby scored twice on Saturday, including the tying goal with 1:05 left to force the extra period, and also posted one assist on the weekend, while junior Blake Christensen had two of his three helpers in the overtime contest. Junior Joel Kocur scored the lone Friday goal.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Lincoln Griffin
Northeastern / Sr. / F / Walpole, Mass.
Griffin scored three times and added two assists as the Huskies went 3-0 last week, beating BC to win the Beanpot title before sweeping Vermont. He scored once in each game in addition to handing out two assists last Monday as Northeastern won Boston’s February classic for the second consecutive year. Griffin logged 10 shots on goal over the three games and was one of two forwards in the country to post a plus-5 rating last week.
Hayden Hawkey
Providence / Sr. / G / Parker, Colo.
Cayden Primeau
Northeastern / Soph. / G / Voorhees, N.J.
Hawkey and Primeau were two of only five goaltenders to post multiple wins last week, but only the Huskies’ stalwart finished a perfect 3-0. Hawkey led the Friars to a sweep against UMass Lowell, making 21 of his 41 saves in his seventh shutout of the season on Saturday. Primeau stopped 88 of the 92 shots he faced in three games, including 33 in the Beanpot, and allowed only two goals on the weekend against Vermont.
