Photo from Jim Pierce: Joe Vitale (26) and Mike McGlaughlin (background) of the Huskies and Kieran Millan (center) of the Terriers scramble in front of the net at the Beanpot Championship a few weeks ago.
Northeastern and Boston University are currently seperated by one point with one weekend left.
Hockey East Awarded Mike McGlaughlin the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Award after scoring two game-winning goals and adding an assist this weekend.
What Happened This Weekend:
For probably the first time all season, all five Hockey East matchups resulted in sweeps. None of the top four played against each other, so all have clinched home-ice for the Hockey East Quarterfinals.
The No. 1 Boston University Terriers took the home-and-home series from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Minutemen. Friday night at UMass, BU had to come back from being down 3-0, but eventually win 6-3.
UMass will now battle for positioning in the standings on the final weekend, while the Terriers will look to move to the top as the four points have guaranteed them at least a second-place finish.
The No. 4 Northeastern University Huskies got a shutout from Brad Thiessen at Matthews Arena Friday night, then continued dominant play, ending home-ice hopes for the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Riverhawks.
Lowell lost its comfortable hold on fifth place and now cannot move up, as they can only tie the teams ahead of them. They would not win the tie breaker.
Northeastern kept up the pace and remains one point ahead of BU in the standings.
The Merrimack College Warriors were downed by the No. 9 University of New Hampshire Wildcats quickly ending the Warriors' playoff hopes and catapulting UNH back into the National Top Ten.
The Wildcats currently own the third-place tie breaker, but they play the third-place team this weekend.
The Warriors are now two points from not finishing in last place, something they had hoped wouldn't happen this season.
The Friars of Providence College had their playoff hopes taken away by the No. 20 Boston College Eagles, who were out of the rankings for the first time all season, but made their way back in.
With the wins, BC will not finish below sixth in Hockey East but can only move up to five. The Eagles were the only team to join the Top 20 this week, as they replaced Lowell.
The University of Maine Blackbears lost two in Vermont (the second in overtime) to the No. 7 University of Vermont Catamounts.
While Maine didn't get any points, they did clinch a playoff spot. Unfortunately for them, it will only grant them a matchup in Boston against the Terriers or the Huskies. They cannot move up as they could only tie Amherst, who owns the tie-breaking procedure against them.
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