It turned out that everyone was right
that the end-of-the-year series between New Hampshire
and Boston College would decide the Hockey East regular
season championship. But no one thought that Boston
University was going to crash the party.
The Eagles blew a 3-2 third-period lead
on Senior Night at Conte Forum, skating to a 3-3 tie
with the Wildcats before drowning in Lake Whitt by
a 5-2 score on Saturday. BC allowed the Terriers to
sneak through the back door, as Jack Parker’s
club swept cross-town rival Northeastern and stole
the Hockey East crown from the hated Eagles –
all by a single point.
Heading into the weekend of Jan. 27
– through 17 league games – Boston College
held a 10-point lead over its Commonwealth Ave. counterparts,
but the Terriers knocked off the Eagles that night
to take the season series, proceeded to beat BC 3-2
in the Beanpot final and outscored the Maroon and
Gold 18-7 in league points over the last 10 conference
contests.
With the Hockey East playoffs sweeping
in like a New England Nor’easter, BC is forced
to pick itself back up after finishing the season
at a 1-5-1 clip while BU must catch its breath and
move past its red hot finish to focus towards the
playoffs and an upset-hungry UMass squad.
THE FAVORITE
The Black Bears are currently on a 10-1-2
run and haven’t lost since UNH took it to them
by a 7-4 score. That was an emotionally inspired evening
by the Wildcats since they were returning several
of their top players from the previous night's team-issued
suspension. But while it’s a tossup as to whether
or not Maine may be playing better hockey than the
Terriers right now, it’s still tough to pick
against BU at the Garden, its home away from home.
The Terriers have been getting very
good to outstanding goaltending from John Curry. They
have two great veteran lines, but their freshman line
of Jason Lawrence, Chris Higgins and Brandon Yip combined
for three goals and five assists during their two
Beanpot games at the Garden just a month ago –
so nerves shouldn’t be a problem.
The knock on BU when it struggled during the first
half of the season was that the team didn’t
come out to play hard every single night. But head
coach Jack Parker has screwed everyone’s head
on straight, and the Terriers have marched into March
with a 14-1-2 record in their last 17 games.
First-Round
Matchups
No.
8 Massachusetts at No. 1 Boston University
UM: 13-19-2 (10-15-2 HEA) BU: 21-9-4 (17-7-3 HEA) Season Series: BU won 2-1-0
Minuteman Fact: UMass
is 2-23-0 all-time at BU. One of those wins
came in 1920. Terrier Fact: In the 12 years
the playoffs have used a best-of-three quarterfinal
format, BU has been a part of the only two eighth-seed
upsets over the No. 1 team. No. 8 Merrimack
knocked out No. 1 BU in 1998, and No. 8 BU eliminated
No. 1 BC in 2004.
How UMass Wins:
The Minutemen win all of their games by out-working
their opponent, and that needs to be the case
this weekend. Whoever starts in net –
highly likely to be Gabe Winer’s job until
he loses it – will need to string together
a couple epic performances. How BU Wins: UMass doesn’t
have the scoring depth to win many games coming
from behind so if the Terriers can pick up a
couple early scores in each game, they should
sail into the semifinals.
No. 7 UMass Lowell at
No. 2 Maine
UML: 14-18-2 (11-14-2 HEA) UM: 24-10-2 (17-8-2 HEA) Season Series: Maine won 3-0-0
River Hawk Fact: UML
enters the postseason on a three-game winning
streak, the longest in the conference. Black Bear Fact: Maine has
beaten Lowell nine straight times – including
a two-game sweep in the playoffs at Alfond last
year – by a combined score of 47-14.
How UML Wins:
The team has gotten a bit of its offensive mojo
back of late, and if the River Hawks can put
on some early pressure and crack through Ben
Bishop or Matt Lundin, they could rattle the
inexperienced playoff netminders. How Maine Wins: The only blemish
against Maine’s record in the last three
weekends of play was a 2-2 tie on Friday night
when UMass’ Jon Quick made 48 saves at
Alfond. Peter Vetri and the UML defense haven’t
been able to handle that type of barrage all
season. Maine will score plenty and the defense
should be solid like it always is come playoff
time.
No.
6 Vermont at No. 3 Boston College
UVM: 18-12-6 (10-11-6 HEA) BC: 20-11-3 (17-8-2 HEA) Season Series: BC won 3-0-0
Catamount Fact: UVM
was shut out in each night of its two-game trip
to Conte on Jan. 20-21 and was responsible for
120 minutes of Cory Schneider’s 242:19
shutout streak. Eagle Fact: Since nearly breaking
that record for the longest shutout streak in
the country, Schneider has allowed two goals
or less only twice in the last 12 games (4-7-1).
How UVM Wins:
Joe Fallon has been great in net all season,
posting a 1.92 goals-against average in league
play, and he should continue that pattern against
the struggling BC offense. UVM needs to pick
up the pace on offense to win, though, as the
Cats have only scored more than two goals twice
in their last eight games. How BC Wins: If Schneider can
match Fallon’s efforts, the top line of
Chris Collins, Brian Boyle and whoever fills
in on the other wing – it’s been
Brock Bradford of late but Stephen Gionta saw
the majority of the line time – will provide
enough offense to win the series.
No. 5 Providence at No.
4 New Hampshire
PC: 17-14-3 (14-10-3 HEA) UNH: 18-11-7 (14-7-6 HEA) Season Series: Tied 1-1-1
Friar Fact: The
Friars are just 1-8-0 in their last nine trips
to the Whittemore Center and have lost four
in a row in Durham. Wildcat Fact: This is the 10th
straight year that UNH has hosted their first-round
matchup. UNH has won four consecutive quarterfinal
series and is 7-2 in that stretch.
How PC Wins:
Providence has played the highest level of league
competition over the last two months, and this
won’t be any different. PC needs to keep
each game close and hope its hard-working style
of play can win out over the finesse team in
the end. How UNH Wins: The Wildcats
can score, and everyone knows that. But it’s
the team’s goaltending that has provided
the most welcomed spark since early February.
THE GATE CRASHER
It isn’t always appeasing to the
fans when the gate crasher has a first-round date
with the favorite, especially when it’s also
a matchup that pits the top team in the field against
the last one that got in. But that just happens to
be the case this year.
Of the four teams that have to hit the
road for their best-of-three series this weekend,
UMass has the best record in its last 10 games, albeit
a modest 4-4-2 mark. Add to the fact that BC is 3-0-0
against a Vermont team that is 3-7-4 since Jan. 20,
Lowell is 0-for-the-century against Maine at Alfond,
and Providence knocking off New Hampshire wouldn’t
be much of an upset; and UMass appears to be the only
true underdog with a chance to make a loud splash
this weekend.
The Minutemen were 1-2-0 against BU
this season, but their lone win came on Nov. 12, and
they dropped both games at Agganis Arena. Still, each
team that has seen UMass in the second half of the
season has expressed its wish to stay as far away
from the Minutemen as humanly possible come playoff
time. Massachusetts beat three teams – Vermont,
Colorado College and Boston College – that were
ranked in the top-five during the time of their meeting
this season, and they did so with flawless performances
in net.
UMass has a proven veteran winner in
Gabe Winer and an unflappable freshman in Jon Quick
who have split time between the pipes, and Don Cahoon
won’t show his hand when it comes to who will
play and when. Everyone knows that when it comes to
postseason hockey, the best team doesn’t always
win; the best goalie, however, sometimes does.
INCH’S ALL-CONFERENCE
TEAM
F – Chris Collins, Boston
College Collins led Hockey East with 26 goals and
52 points and was second in assists with 26. He nearly
doubled his career totals in each category, and he
is a serious contender for the Hobey.
F – Greg Moore, Maine Moore shattered his past career-highs with
23 goals, 14 assists and 37 points, and he helped
turn what is usually an offensively handicapped team
into the highest scoring offense in the league.
F – Brett Hemingway, New
Hampshire After getting suspended for the first leg
of a big February series with Maine, he promised to
deliver in his return to the lineup. He did so to
the tune of two goals and an assist in a 7-4 win,
starting a stretch in which UNH went 5-1-3 in its
last nine games. He was also fourth in HEA with 18
goals and tied for fourth with 37 points.
D – Peter Harrold, Boston
College He was a mainstay on the blue line and an
important leader for the young BC defensive corps,
picking up the void left by Andrew Alberts. He was
also a plus-18; no Hockey East defenseman even came
close to that.
D – Marvin Degon, Massachusetts His 10 goals were tops among league blueliners,
and his presence at the point for the Minutemen was
invaluable. But there is one thing that sticks out
about this offensively gifted defenseman. He also
plays defense.
G – John Curry, Boston
University Earlier this season, Jack Parker listed his
three stars of the game as “John Curry, John
Curry and John Curry.” His statistics won’t
always jump off the page at you, but he has all of
the intangibles that make him a winner. Forget the
top seed in the playoffs, BU wouldn’t even have
home ice if it weren’t for Curry.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Providence has been treading water since
the turn of the New Year, which may cause some people
to jump from Tim Army’s bandwagon to that of
Tim Whitehead or Jack Parker. Whitehead did a spectacular
job breathing a new life into his team’s season
after going through turmoil both on and off the ice
in November and December, and Parker turned an overachieving
team into a regular season conference champion.
But no one – definitely not in
Hockey East and maybe not even in the entire country
– got so much out of so little the way Army
did this year. The Friars may be disappointed with
a fifth-place finish in the standings after holding
the lead through much of the first half, but they
would have had to turn their 6-8-2 second session
into 9-5-2 or 10-6-0 against the toughest post-December
schedule in the league to earn a share of the Hockey
East crown. It’s just a lot to ask.
Plus, major points go to Army for resurrecting
the program of his alma mater to every extent –
particularly the public’s perception of Providence
and the belief of everyone inside the locker room.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
There isn’t much to say about
Chris Collins that hasn’t already been said
this season. It’s hard to imagine that, after
the amazing run Cory Schneider was on for two months,
Collins may have actually been more valuable to Jerry
York’s team over the course of the entire year.
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Big Ben Bishop boasted the best winning
percentage of any goalie in the league with his 17-6-2
record. He has a 2.14 goals-against average, and he
has allowed just one goal in six of his last 11 starts,
a stretch in which he compiled a 9-0-2 record. Life
after Jimmy Howard didn’t turn out to be so
bad after all.
BREAKTHROUGH PLAYER
A lot of players had breakout years
this season, and this could have gone to guys like
Greg Moore or Chris Collins. Joe Fallon and Brian
Boyle deserve some appropriate attention here, too.
And although Peter MacArthur’s statistics didn’t
exactly skyrocket from a year ago, they did improve
while he transformed from a freshman to a vital locker
room leader. Oh, and scoring the game-winner in the
Beanpot does a thing or two to help someone earn national
prominence. Just ask Chris Bourque.
John Curry and the Terriers won the regular
season title on the final night.