March
4,
2003
Three stars shine in Hockey East
By
Nate Ewell
|
Hockey
East
REGULAR-SEASON
RECAP
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW |
|
Senior wing Lanny Gare emerged as New
Hampshire's top offensive threat this season, finishing
third in Hockey East scoring with 15-16—31 in
24 conference games.
|
Related
Links |
|
Brackets
TV
Schedule
Championship
weekend tickets: Sold out |
| Quarterfinal
Series Previews |
No.
5 Boston University at No. 4 Providence
BU: 21-12-3 (13-10-1)
PC: 19-12-3 (12-9-3)
Season series: PC
won, 2-0-1
Terrier Fact: BU and PC – the
Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers of Hockey East –
meet in the league quarterfinals for the third straight
year and fourth time in five years
Friar Fact: Providence was 6-0-2 in
February, the first time it went unbeaten in the month
since 1988-89
How Boston University Wins: The same
old story, stay out of the penalty box
How Providence Wins: Continue to get
great goaltending from Nolan Schaefer (7-0-2, 1.85 goals-against
average, .943 save percentage in his last 10 games)
and score when the games inevitably go into overtime |
No.
6 Massachusetts at No. 3 Maine
MA: 17-16-1 (10-14-0)
ME: 24-7-5 (14-6-4)
Season series:
Maine won, 2-1-0
Minutemen Fact: UMass’ sixth-place
finish marks its best in Hockey East play, and only
the second time the Minutemen have finished higher than
eighth
Black Bear Fact: Lucas Lawson led Hockey
East in league goals with 17
How Massachusetts Wins: As they did
in their win against the Black Bears two weeks ago,
the Minutemen need to score on the power play and get
great goaltending from freshman Gabe Winer
How Maine Wins: Limit goals against;
the Black Bears have given up four or five in each of
their last six losses |
No.
7 Merrimack at No. 2 Boston College
MC: 12-16-6 (7-13-4)
BC: 21-9-4 (16-6-2)
Season series:
BC won, 2-1-0
Warrior Fact: Merrimack’s freshmen
have accounted for 43 of the team’s 90 goals
Eagle Fact: Patrick Eaves, who was
leading the team in goals at the time of his injury,
returns to action Thursday
How Merrimack Wins: Find some goal
scoring, a struggle since Marco Rosa went down with
a broken wrist
How Boston College Wins: Get to goaltender
Joe Exter early and don't give the Warriors a chance
to build confidence and momentum |
No.
8 UMass Lowell at No. 1 New Hampshire
UML: 11-18-5 (4-16-4)
NH: 21-7-6 (15-5-4)
Season series:
UNH won, 2-0-1
River Hawk Fact: UMass Lowell has reached
the semifinals eight times in the last 10 years, tied
with Maine for the most in Hockey East
Wildcat Fact: When the UNH seniors
were freshmen, UMass Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald’s
Niagara team knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament
How UMass Lowell Wins: Get much better
performance on special teams (power play was seventh
in the league, penalty kill was ninth), a big challenge
against UNH (second in both)
How New Hampshire Wins: Simply play
their game, and contain the River Hawks’ Ed McGrane,
whose three-point night against Northeastern lifted
UMass Lowell into the playoffs |
History
says that only two teams seeded fourth or lower have ever
won the Hockey East Tournament. A quick look at this year’s
standings suggests that trend is likely to continue.
Boston
College, Maine and New Hampshire have been the dominant
trio in Hockey East all season, each seeming to have the
inside track on the regular-season title at one point or
another. They all made an appearance as the No. 1 team in
the INCH Power Rankings. BC and UNH shared the regular-season
title, with Maine close behind.
But
others could certainly stake a claim to the conference’s
postseason prize. Boston University has won every tournament
it’s entered this season (IceBreaker, Great Lakes
and Beanpot). Providence enters its series with BU on the
nation’s second-longest unbeaten streak.
The
league’s top three have been evenly matched all year,
and the next two weeks will have big implications on their
NCAA Tournament seedings. Others, like BU and Providence,
just want to ensure that they reach the dance – and
perhaps, along the way, add a little more history that favors
the underdog.
The
Favorite
New
Hampshire’s three-point series against Boston College
last weekend not only gave the Wildcats a share of the title
and the tournament’s No. 1 seed – it also showed
that they were playing the kind of hockey they need to in
the postseason. They’ve got two very dangerous lines
at the moment, with Steve Saviano’s trio red-hot behind
the first unit of Lanny Gare, Colin Hemingway and Josh Prudden.
Add to that the fact that they’ve got supreme confidence
in their goaltender, Mike Ayers, who led all Hockey East
netminders with a .926 save percentage in league games.
Gate
Crasher
The
hottest team in the league – perhaps the nation –
during the past month has been Providence. Sharp goaltending,
commitment to team defense and opportunistic scoring make
the Friars dangerous. Add a dash of NCAA necessity –
since they need to at least reach the FleetCenter to have
a shot at the tournament – and Providence is the obvious
choice to break through the triumvirate at the top of Hockey
East and come away with the tournament title. Jon DiSalvatore,
one of the league’s best all-around players, leads
the Friar attack.
INCH's
All-Conference Team
G –
Joe Exter, Merrimack: Would figure prominently in any “most
valuable vs. best player” debate. Regardless, he’s
good.
D – Francis Nault, Maine: Defensemen with these types
of skills are few and far between. Nault throws tape-to-tape
passes so crisp you can hear them throughout the
arena.
D – Freddy Meyer, Boston University: From the good
(physical presence, timely goals) to the bad (penalties),
nobody defines the Terriers like Meyer. He’s not the
second-most-talented defenseman in the league, but where
would BU be without him?
F – Ben Eaves, Boston College: It’s a credit
to Ben and the Eagles that they shared the conference title
without his brother, Patrick, in the lineup for 12 weeks.
They couldn’t have done the same without Ben.
F – Lanny Gare, New Hampshire: He’s got great
presence, whether the puck’s on his stick, he’s
playing defense, or he’s in the locker room.
F – Martin Kariya, Maine: Even the cast full of stars
in Ocean’s Eleven had its George Clooney. As has been
said in Orono for the last decade, Kariya is Maine’s.
Coach
of the Year
This
was a league full of great coaching jobs this season –
from Massachusetts’ resurgence to Merrimack’s
resiliency to Maine’s continued strength. But don’t
overlook the co-champs just because they’ve got talent
– it took some great coaching to finish first in this
conference. We’ll give the nod to Jerry York, whose
team overcame injuries to defenseman J.D. Forrest and forward
Patrick Eaves, and shared top honors despite goaltending
that doesn’t quite match up to the other contenders.
The Eagles executed a game plan that limited opponents’
shots (best in the conference at 21.7 per game in league
play) without sacrificing offense (also No. 1, 4.04 goals
per game).
Player
of the Year
The
fact that he won the conference scoring title by 10 points
might make this point obvious, but there’s simply
no player in the league as feared as Ben Eaves. Boston College’s
junior center enters the playoffs with 53 points in 31 games,
a healthy 1.71 points per game clip (third in the nation),
but he was even better in Hockey East action (1.83, 42 points
in 23 games).
Freshman
of the Year
His
numbers may have tailed off slightly late in the season,
but Jim Howard had quite a debut season in Orono. The goaltender
didn’t suffer his first conference loss until February,
and finished second in the league in save percentage (.918).
Most important, he and Frank Doyle didn’t take long
to erase the Black Bears’ biggest question mark –
the departure of last year’s tandem of Mike Morrison
and Matt Yeats.
Breakthrough
Player
There’s
certainly no doubt what team broke through in 2002-03, so
it’s fitting that Massachusetts’ Greg Mauldin
is our Hockey East breakthrough player. The only sophomore
among the league’s top 14 scorers, Mauldin had a good
freshman season, but he became an offensive force this year.
Mauldin benefited from the arrival of a couple of freshman
wingers – Stephen Werner and Matt Anderson –
and head coach Don Cahoon’s willingness to let his
young team play an offensive style. The Minutemen have been
especially effective on the power play, where Mauldin has
scored four of his 19 goals.