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Well some shocking results certainly point to how difficult college hockey is to forecast, especially early on in the season.
Most notably, #3 Boston University Terriers were upset by unranked University of Massachusetts at Amherst Minutemen by a score of 3-2. This was the first conference match up of the season in Hockey East and highlights the parity in the league.
After seeing the score to this game, I figured it was just UMass being UMass and it really was no indication of how either side would do as BU would find their rhythm and a way to get back on top while the Minutemen would be inconsistent all year again showing flashes of brilliance, but burning out for long stretches.
However, after attending Boston University’s disappointing home opener against #9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, it seems like BU may be in trouble. I even had a really odd notion pop into my head that probably isn’t true; BU will be the hardest hit team in Hockey East by the players that graduated/left early.
That includes the Northeastern University Huskies who lost league MVP and Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist Brad Thiessen. This team is probably better in front of goal, but the question mark left by Thiessen, who left early to sign a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, leaves many to doubt this team and with good reason.
Junior Mike Binnington has one start; it was two years ago in Providence, the Huskies lost that game. Other than Binner, Northeastern brings in two freshman and has only given one any game time.
It seems though that head coach Greg Cronin has made his decision in net and is going with Freshman Chris Rawlings. He has started all three regular season games for NU and beat the Bentley University Falcons 3-2 this weekend in their only game.
Despite the win, Northeastern dropped out of the National Poll after being ranked at #20 going into the weekend. A good showing next weekend would definitely move them right back in though.
In other action, the Wildcats from the University of New Hampshire were able to take a tie from #1 Miami-Ohio Redhawks on Saturday night after the 6-3 loss Friday night. The University of Maine Blackbears earned a split in a pair of 5-3 games against the Michigan State Spartans.
Merrimack College Warriors won both their games this weekend beating Holy Cross 3-1 and Army 6-3. The Providence College Friars played a pair of games against Notre Dame and surprisingly split the series winning 3-2 on Thursday, and then losing 2-0 on Friday.
Speaking of Notre Dame, after splitting with Providence, the Fighting Irish followed them back east to play a Tuesday night game at Boston University, Notre Dame pulled off the upset behind some stellar goaltending by Brad Phillips winning 3-0.
University of Vermont Catamounts earned a first place vote in the National Poll and moved up to #7 after beating the visiting #14 Boston College Eagles 4-1. BC opened up the scoring, but UVM quickly got two back and never thought about relinquishing the lead.
From the three games I watched this weekend, I would have to say Northeastern’s stock is on the rise, Vermont is in great shape to make it back to the Frozen Four and BU and BC are in trouble.
While the Huskies seemed to struggle against Bentley throughout their non-conference tilt one thing was obvious, Rawlings is continuously improving.
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