Hockey fans don't need to wait until the NHL's regular season is over to get a taste of the playoffs, especially in Boston. The Hockey East playoffs, which feature eight Div. I New England teams battling for the Lamoriello Trophy, are about to begin. Hockey East is one of the premiere Div. I men's hockey conferences in the country and features many NHL prospects on the rosters of its teams -- as well as devoted and thoroughly insane fans.
In Boston, the Boston University Terriers, the Northeastern University Huskies and the Boston College Eagles all play in Hockey East, and they will each be heading to the playoffs this weekend, playing a three-game series in quarterfinal action.
The Terriers enter the postseason ranked No. 1 in Hockey East and No. 1 in the country. BU managed to edge out Northeastern via an 8-2 drubbing of the Providence College Friars in their last game of the season and will next welcome the No. 8 University of Maine Black Bears, who have lost their last six games of the season to the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, the University of Vermont Catamounts and the UMass Lowell River Hawks. Maine is a weak team that scored the fewest goals in Hockey East play this season. The Bears went 0-2-1 against the Terriers with the two losses coming in 4-1 and 7-2 contests, and they will have their hands full when they come to visit BU's Agganis Arena.
The Terriers are an extremely well-rounded team, adept at both scoring and preventing goals in all game situations. Freshman Kieran Millan provides the goaltending needed for playoff success, with a Hockey East-leading 1.77 goals-against average (GAA) and a second-place .925 save percentage. Millan grabbed the starting job partway through the season and never looked back, going 21-1-3 in his appearances for the Terriers. BU's goal differential is an outstanding plus-74, with 143 goals scored and only 69 allowed.
Up front, the BU offense is far and away the best in the league. The Terriers have five forwards in the conference's top 10 in scoring. The well-balanced attack highlights sophomore standouts Colin Wilson and Nick Bonino. Seniors Chris Higgins, Brandon Yip and Jason Lawrence round out the Terriers' domination of Hockey East point-leader boards.
And they're tough. BU skates a fast, physical game that keeps other teams pinned in their own ends. The Terriers bring pressure and they work the puck well in the offensive zone. They take a lot of penalties (18.9 minutes per game, just behind Northeastern for most in the conference), and they draw a lot of penalties as well, with a second-best 207 power play opportunities in 36 games. They lead the conference in both power-play conversion and penalty kill percentage, as well as absolute power play goals and shorthanded conversions. The excellent special teams play allows the Terriers to capitalize on their physical game.
The Terriers are recognized as being head and shoulders above the competition, not only in Hockey East, but also in the nation, with 44 out of 50 first-place votes going to BU in the USA Today Coach's poll. Expect them to make a huge impact in the conference tournament and in the NCAA Tournament this spring.
The Northeastern Huskies come into the tournament in the second seed after holding on to the first seed for much of the season, and they will host the No. 7 Minutemen at Matthews Arena. The season series favors the Huskies, two wins to one.
Northeastern's offense is not particularly strong (3.03 goals per game), so the team is reliant on strong team defense and brilliant performances by junior goaltender Brad Thiessen. Thiessen is first in the conference in save percentage (.932), first in minutes (2,184:03) and third in GAA (2.12).
It is a formula that has worked so far, propelling the Huskies to fourth in the nation. But there are a number of questions about the Huskies' chances outside of the regular season. The team's special teams are mediocre, especially the power play, which has a bottom-half 14.9 percent conversion rate. Without a strong offense or power play, the Huskies' ability to score goals may be in jeopardy. Thiessen is an excellent goaltender, but it is hard for him to get wins when he has no goal support.
The Huskies play a tough, system-oriented game that results in a lot of penalties. Northeastern nearly tied with BU for the dubious distinction of most penalty minutes per game (19.4). Fortunately, the penalty kill is a stronger part of the special-teams package, with a third-ranked 86.8 percent kill rating.
The Huskies will meet with success in the tournament if they can build an early lead and then play a holding game in the later periods. With good skating and hard work, they can make sure that the shots on Thiessen are low-quality and unlikely to go in net. However, they have to build a lead first in order to play their lead protection game. An item of concern is the last two games, in which the Huskies were solidly outworked by the Boston College Eagles. For a blue-collar team that succeeds on defense and grit, being outworked is a sure recipe for an early playoff exit, but the Huskies should be able to make it through the Minutemen and on to the semifinals.
Boston College is the sixth seed in the tournament and will be traveling to Durham, New Hampshire, to face the No. 3 New Hampshire Wildcats. The Eagles had a disappointing season following the loss of standout forward Nathan Gerbe to the Buffalo Sabres. The would-be senior managed 68 points in 43 games for the Eagles last season and was go-to forward for last year's Beanpot-winning team. Additionally, sophomore goaltender John Muse and key senior forward Benn Ferriero have had mediocre seasons, further undermining what was probably going to be a rebuilding year, anyway.
The main bright spot for BC has been senior Brock Bradford, who leads Hockey East in goals with 23. Sophomore Brian Gibbons has shown some scoring touch and hockey sense to go with his skating and is a building block for future Eagles teams. Other than that, the season has been difficult, with the 11-11-5 record a huge disappointment for a program that prides itself on sustained success and the largest collection of Lamoriello Trophy wins.
Despite a middling season, the Eagles may have recently turned a corner. In a weekend home-and-home series against Northeastern, they managed a convincing 4-1 win and a tough 2-1 overtime loss. In the loss, the Eagles managed to outplay the favored Huskies for about 55 minutes of regulation but were unable to close out a win. Still, the Eagles have made significant progress since February, when Northeastern dominated a 6-1 loss in the Beanpot's opening round.
The Wildcats and Eagles match up very similarly. New Hampshire's goal differential is plus-7 (106 goals for, 99 against), and BC's is plus-5 (104 goals for, 99 against). Still, the Wildcats enjoyed more non-conference success and, as a result, are ranked 9th in the nation against the Eagles' 20th. The season series also favors New Hampshire, which took two out of three from BC this year, but the Eagles today look a lot stronger than the team that lost twice to the Wildcats in February. If they can continue their recent hard-working style, the Eagles should be able to pull off the upset and come back home to Boston for the semifinals.
