Down the stretch they come.
Races throughout the Hockey East standings are tight with only three weeks remaining in the regular season. At the top, only one point separates Boston College from Boston University. Just four points stand between third and sixth place, while the next three teams are tied for seventh.
With such little separation, as evidenced by six teams being nationally ranked, anything can happen down the stretch and into the postseason. And it usually does.
Here’s one big question that we’re looking at for the 11 men’s Hockey East programs.
Is Boston College’s Cutter Gauthier taking over as the Hobey favorite?
With the freshman line of Gabe Perreault, Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) attracting so much attention, star sophomore Cutter Gauthier has seemingly flown under the radar and should find himself right in the middle of the Hobey Baker Award conversation. Perreault and Smith are on 15-game point streaks and rank atop the nation in points, but Gauthier has been on a goal-scoring tear with nine in his last eight games — including three multi-goal games in that span — to reach a nation-leading 26 goals in 29 games. With five regular-season games left, Gauthier is already within five goals of every NCAA scoring champion in the last seven seasons.
Will Boston University get another shot at its archrivals?
It’s hard to imagine a hockey fan anywhere who wouldn’t want to see at least one more BC-BU matchup in March — or perhaps even later — with the Eagles taking on the likes of star Terriers rookie Macklin Celebrini. His 43 points are tied for fifth nationally with Gauthier. The two archrivals ranked atop the polls when they met for a BC home-and-home sweep late last month, but the Terriers got the most recent win in the Beanpot semifinal. The recent emergence of Celebrini’s linemates Jack Harvey and Jack Hughes (Hingham, Mass.) has helped BU overcome its recent points of adversity.
Where is Connecticut’s offensive spark?
UConn has grabbed some marquee wins throughout the season and still has a path to shoot up the Hockey East standings with a strong finish. But it has been a rather unlucky offensive team with a 7.7 percent shooting mark that ranks second-worst nationally and just three goals in four February games. It sure isn’t for a lack of talent as Chase Bradley has had a career junior campaign with 11 goals and Canadian World Junior player Matthew Wood is one of the league’s top pro prospects. Coach Mike Cavanaugh (North Andover, Mass.) sure wouldn’t mind a late-season boost from Wood, who has scored just once since December.
Can Maine recover from its recent slide?
The Black Bears have recently fallen on some hard times, having lost three consecutive games during a 2-4 February record. This past weekend’s sweep at the hands of New Hampshire was a rare off weekend for three of Maine’s top five scorers as freshman brothers Josh and Bradley Nadeau and senior Lynden Breen were all held without a goal. How will they respond? We’ll likely learn a lot about this young group as it hosts red-hot Northeastern, travels to Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse and takes on ranked UMass before the end of the regular season. Maine has picked itself off the mat during its rare downs earlier in the year, but it’s crunch time now.
Will the Massachusetts freshmen keep up their pace?
Last season’s postseason miss followed four consecutive 20-win records under Greg Carvel. The Minutemen had been on the right track for most of the season, never losing consecutive games until this past weekend’s sweep at the hands of Boston College. A major reason why? Freshmen. Carvel was pleased with his team’s effort despite allowing two power-play goals to fall short last Sunday in Chestnut Hill, thanks in large part to the steadiness of Michael Hrabal in net. If the answer to the big question is yes, there is no doubt that the Czech goalie who has a .916 save percentage will be a big reason why. Classmates like Jack Musa and Aydar Suniev will, too. They are the only two Minutemen who have reached double digits in goals.
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Which UMass Lowell players can elevate their game?
Only two Hockey East teams have had a more widespread offense this season than UMass Lowell, which has had 20 different players light the lamp. However, last Friday’s 4-2 win over Northeastern marked the first time that the River Hawks scored more than three goals in a league game. Who can Norm Bazin’s club get to step up? Senior Scout Truman has been the leading point-getter all season, but he stepped up with a two-goal, three-point game in the team’s first Hockey East win since December. Bazin could look to junior Owen Cole, who has netted a team-leading 10 goals but only two in his last seven games.
Can Merrimack get healthy for the postseason?
Returning the majority of the team that competed for a Hockey East championship last March put Merrimack among the league’s preseason favorites, but coach Scott Borek (Swampscott, Mass.) has never had that roster at his disposal due to a wrath of injuries that impacted his lineup since day one. While time is running out before the postseason, who knows what could happen if they can get some healthy bodies back? Top-line forward Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) is the biggest piece of the puzzle, having scored more than a point per game despite being banged up for a lot of the year.
Will New Hampshire’s local-led run continue?
New England natives were at the forefront of New Hampshire’s marquee sweep over archrival Maine last weekend, which helped keep the Wildcats right in the thick of the national conversation. Junior Liam Devlin (Needham, Mass.) has recently given the type of impact that Mike Souza (Wakefield, Mass.) and his staff had been waiting for, posting four goals during a five-point weekend that included a Friday hat trick. Sophomore Cy LeClerc (Brentwood, N.H.) has scored in two of his last three games to reach the 10-goal mark again. If the stars can keep scoring while junior defenseman Alex Gagne (Bedford, N.H.) and goaltender Jakob Hellsten maintain their strong back-end form, making the NCAAs for the first time in a decade could be possible.
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Will Northeastern maintain its ‘Beanpot season’ form?
The hard-nosed team identity that coach Jerry Keefe (Billerica, Mass.) has sought all season showed during the Huskies’ six-game win streak and second straight Beanpot championship run. It could be a special stretch run on Huntington Avenue if Northeastern can maintain some momentum through this weekend’s big test of a two-game set at Maine. Freshman Cameron Whitehead has been strong in net pretty much all year, but the recent surge of senior Beanpot hero Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.) and sophomore Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine) have been key.
Does Providence’s Philip Svedeback have another run in him?
Providence coach Nate Leaman was outspoken about the impact that his now-sophomore goaltender Philip Svedeback had during the Friars’ run to the Hockey East semifinals a season ago. The Bruins prospect is only at a .900 save percentage for a team that has allowed the nation’s second-fewest shots on goal per game (22.8), but he had not allowed more than three goals in any of the seven games before last Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Boston University. The run featured a shutout at UConn earlier in the month. The 6-foot-4 Svedeback’s rookie season included a 4-1-1 mark down the stretch that led to TD Garden.
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With Wiedler locked in, where does Vermont go?
The Catamounts have shown major progress under Steve Wiedler, whose “interim” head coach tag was lifted with the signing of a four-year contract earlier this week. He has led Vermont to 12 wins for the first time since 2018-19, including three against ranked opponents. Could more be on the table? There is a lot to like about individual development, too. Sophomore Jens Richards — who scored just three goals last year — has already become the first Vermont skater to pot 10 since current NHL player Ross Colton in 2017-18, while senior Gabe Carriere has had his best full season in net with a .913 save percentage.
