Hockey East Wrap Up (Oct. 22-29)
By: Brian DeAlmeida
Last Week In Review:
I’m really going to toot my own horn here because I had another great 5-1 weekend. To be honest coming into the season I thought I would only get 10-20 wins on the season but somehow I’m two week in and I’m already 10-2. Move over Chris Berman there’s a new Swami in town.
So it was another big weekend in #WomensCawlidgeHawkey as Hockey East competed in 14 game while going 3-6-1 in out-of-conference play. Sure it has only been two weeks but we are starting to see a reoccurring theme of Hockey East teams struggling against their out-of-conference opponents which is not good for when postseason play rolls around. But if there is one light at the end of the tunnel, it’s that there is still a A LOT of hockey left to play.
We were graced with possible the play of the year as well as the comeback of the year in the Friday night Mercyhurst vs Northeastern game. Mercyhurst scored 4 on the Huskies in the first period and it seemed as if the game was all but over. That was until Northeastern would score 5 unanswered to defeat the Lakers. The highlight of that game from who else but Kendall Coyne who scored a shorthanded goal midway through the 2nd period. She blocked a shot in her defensive zone, took the puck across center ice where she embarrassed a defender and decked out the goalie before burying the puck on a backhanded shot. The play was so good it was even featured on SportCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Night.
Shocker of the week (not really) came from the other side of Commonwealth Ave as the Eagles defeated Maine 4-0 and then demolished New Hampshire 6-0. BC’s goalkeeper Katie Burt was barely pressured making a measly 43 saves over the two games. Alex Carpenter kept doing Alex Carpenter like things, grabbing 4 assists on the weekend. The main threat of the weekend for the Eagles was Haley Skarupa who grabbed 2 goals in the first game and collected another 3 saves in the second.
And Im all about the underdog on this blog and we have to give credit where credit it due and recognize the Merrimack Warriors who grabbed their first win in program history over the weekend when they defeated New Hampshire 2-1. Somehow the Warriors scrapped together two goals off of only 12 shots in their victory while Samantha Ridgewell was unbelievable in net grabbing 34 saves.
The final big series of the weekend was the #9 Terriers and the #4 Clarkson Golden Knights. The Terriers would drop both games despite holding a 2 goal lead in the first game. Both games were pretty tightly contested until the 3rd period where the Golden Knights were able to pull away. Freshman Sammy Davis would score in the 2nd game to boost her team high goal tally to 5.
What To Watch For:
There are 14 games on tap for this weekend with another 4 Hockey East match ups set to take place. We may quite possibly have the game of the season on hand when the unranked Boston University Terriers (3-3-0)(2-0-0 HE) will take on the newly ranked #10 Northeastern Huskies (4-1-1)(0-0-0 HE) at Matthews Arena. #2 Boston College (6-0-0) will also take on a Top 10 opponent in #9 Cornell (0-0-0). There will also be two other Hockey East show downs between Vermont (0-4-0)(0-0-0 HE) and Providence (0-2-0)(0-0-0 HE) as well as Providence vs Northeastern and Vermont at Boston University.
Flashing back to when i mentioned the game of the year, I truly believe this Northeastern and BU game can be an instant classic. The Huskies are coming off a fantastic weekend with two stand out wins over Mercyhurst as well as an appearance on SportsCenter by their stud Kendall Coyne. The Terriers, on the other hand, just suffered two losses at the hands of a very good Clarkson team and are looking to get back on the right track. They have yet to have significant contribution from their stars like Sarah Lefort and Victoria Bach and now is the perfect time for them to come front and center. The stage is set and these two teams are ready for a complete knock-out, drag down fight.
Also this weekend we will see Boston College take on another ranked team in #9 Cornell. Despite us being three weeks into the season, the Bears have yet to hit the ice in a regular season contest. They did play a scrimmage against Western Ontario where they walked away with a 3-2 win. However, the Eagles are dismantling every single team that they have crossed yet and this will be their first real resistance of their season. But as always, the Eagles have that Alex Carpenter girl and she’s pretty good at finding the back of the net.
We also have two other Hockey East battles against teams towards the bottom of the standings so we will start to see some separate between those lower tier teams. Vermont and Providence will face off in their first Hockey East match up of the year and then the Catamounts will take on BU and the Friars will travel to Northeastern.
Brian’s Red Hot Picks of the Week [Week 2 (5-1) Overall (10-2)]:
So for this week, and the rest of the season, the picking will be a little different. I will attempt to select every single Hockey East game (and quite possibly go well below .500) as well as the good ole’ BU game as well. So after going 5-1 in week one and week two, here is the third installment of Brian’s Red Hot Picks of the Week:
Pick #1
The Game: Vermont @ Providence
The Story:
The Friars and Catamounts will enter this one winless and luckily for them, there can’t be two losers in a hockey game. Scoring is going to come at a premium as well with both teams combining to score only 6 goals over their first few games.
My pick:
Im not saying it’s a bad thing but SOMEBODY had to be Merrimack’s first victim and sadly it was UVM and sadly they will also be the Friars victim on this night.
Pick #2
The Game: Boston University @ Northeastern
The Story:
Welcome to the game of the week in all of #cawlidgehawkey, and yes I mean men’s and women’s. BU is coming off of two Ls to a very strong Clarkson team while NU stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to beat Mercyhurst last weekend.
My pick:
To be honest this one is a complete toss up and picking either team isn’t a bad choice but I bleed scarlet and always will so I gotta go with my Terriers on this one. They’re going to rebound and rebound in a very strong way.
Pick #3
The Game: Providence @ Northeastern
The Story:
If I was forced to pick a team that will finish in the top 3 of Hockey East Northeastern would easily be in that group especially in Kendall Coyne’s senior year. If you noticed I didn’t mention the Friars in that group and well this game will showcase why.
My pick:
Northeastern and Kendall Coyne are going to run all over the Friars in this one. Get ready for another highlight reel play ESPN.
Pick #4
The Game: Vermont @ Boston University
The Story:
The Catamounts have gotten off to the start they never wanted with 4 straight losses while only finding the back of the net 4 times in that span. The Terriers are a loaded gun just waiting to be fired after start the season at a measly .500.
My pick:
This one is going to be all Terriers and hopefully the Terriers offense will come to life.
This Week’s Hockey East Schedule:
Friday October 23
Colgate @ Merrimack 2:00pm
New Hampshire @ Clarkson 3:00pm
Boston College @ Cornell 7:00pm
Brown @ Maine 7:00pm
Saturday October 24
Vermont @ Providence 1:00pm
BOSTON UNIVERSITY @ Northeastern 2:00pm
Colgate @ Merrimack 2:00pm
New Hampshire @ Clarkson 3:00pm
Boston College @ Cornell 3:00pm
Brown @ Maine 7:00pm
Connecticut @ Penn State 7:00pm
Sunday October 25
Providence @ Northeastern 2:00pm
Vermont @ BOSTON UNIVERSITY 3:00pm
Connecticut @ Penn State 2:00pm
Hockey East Standing:
Hockey East Overall
GP W L T Pt GF GA W L T GF GA
Boston College 2 2 0 0 4 10 0 6 0 0 32 10
Boston University 2 2 0 0 4 6 3 3 3 0 15 17
Maine 4 2 2 0 4 8 9 2 4 0 10 17
Merrimack 2 1 1 0 2 3 3 1 5 0 12 25
Northeastern 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 30 22
Providence 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 13
Vermont 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 23
Connecticut 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 10 10
New Hampshire 3 0 3 0 0 1 12 0 5 0 5 19