Hockey East Tournament: Preview and Predictions

This weekend marked the end of tumultuous Hockey East Season.  Several teams saw their share of successes and failures.  In the end University of Maine and Merrimack College are out getting ready to plan for next season.

University of New Hampshire earned the number one seed separating themselves by quite a few points from everyone else.  Also clinching home ice advantage in the first round were Boston University, University of Vermont and Boston College.

No. 1 UNH Wildcats vs. No. 8 University of Massachusetts-Amherst Minutemen

Preview:

The Whittemore Center is a tough place to play, unless you are the 2007-2008 Northeastern University Huskies who went 2-0 there this season.

Fortunately for UNH, they will play UMass who haven’t quite faired as well up in Durham.  UNH won the regular season series 2-1, the loss coming in the first meeting between the two teams in Amherst.  UNH would win the home-and-home series about a month later.

UNH is riding a high horse right now, they are the only team in HE with less than 10 losses overall, and are the only team that hasn’t gone through a slump at some point during the regular season.

UMass has been struggling lately and needed to win on the last day of the season to make the playoffs.  The win shows that they have character.  One may say well, it was against Merrimack College, but the weekend before they beat the red hot BU Terriers, then swept the weekend against Merrimack.

Still, UNH is probably going to be too good to lose twice in one weekend in a place where they have lost only four times to HE teams all season.  Two of those loses though were at the hands of Northeastern University.

UNH Wins:

UNH is a strong team; they are hard to beat, especially on their own ice sheet.  They will play a fast paced game, and not give an inch. 

In order for UMass to win, they will need to attack the net hard right from the first whistle, all the way to the last horn.  They will need to beat Regan several times and limit the impact of all of the Wildcats stars.

If UNH gets down early, it could get quiet and allow UMass to make the game more like a neutral site game allowing the door to victory to open for them.

Prediction:

The Wildcats will win 2-0.  While UMass is a good squad, UNH is much better.  With the playoff atmosphere, guys like Mike Radja, and Kevin Regan aren’t going to let there be an upset.

No. 2 BU Terriers vs. No. 7 University of Massachusetts-Lowell Riverhawks: 

Preview:

BU students will pack Agganis Arena.  The Terriers are riding a 9-1 streak with the loss coming on the road.  They got off to a slow start, but lately, BU has been showing that they are most definitely a force to be reckoned with.

UML has had some poor results of late and will definitely be looking to improve on their downward trend.  However, BU is playing great hockey, they are scoring goals, playing well defensively, and just getting the job done night in and night out.

Since the second half of the season started, BU has been one of the better teams in HE, and probably even the nation as they have managed to sneak back into the nations top 20.

BU will look to its star players to keep the momentum going into the playoffs and hope that if they do make any mistakes; their goaltending will be behind them.

UML will need get off to a quick start and take the crowd out of the game, which will be hard, Agganis is one of HE’s loudest rinks.

BU Wins:

Because the Terriers will continue their streak of excellent play and get the job done and do what everyone expects them to do.

UML Wins:

If they can go hard at BU’s defense and score early, and end the series in two games.  BU will win game three if it gets that far.  They should also hope for terrible weather to prevent the Terrier faithful from making it back to Boston from spring break.

Prediction:

BU wins 2-0.  UML has been on a rotten pace lately, and BU is playing its best hockey of the season and not looking like they will be cooling off anytime soon.  Even if there are not enough students in the city, alumni and general fans will pack Agganis, and the BU squad won’t give them any reason to be quiet.

No.3 UVM Catamounts vs. No. 6 Northeastern University Huskies: 

Preview:

UVM, like BU were Hockey East bottom feeders in the early stages of the season.  Then one weekend, they took some thunder off of a hot team by skating to a draw and then winning the second night.

That team was the Huskies, it was in January, and the Huskies had just seen their marvelous unbeaten streak snapped by Merrimack.

UVM and NU played two games up in the Gutterson Field house, NU anxious to get back to adding wins, and UVM starting to desperately need wins.

Ever since, Northeastern has been in freefall as they were in first place in the HE standings, they now are sixth. 

The Huskies will be going to Burlington with revenge on their minds hoping to get back on track and make it to the Garden while stifling the opponents that marked the turning point of their season.

Because Northeastern struggles at Gutterson.  Vermont is 1-0-1 at Gutterson this season against the Huskies.  And while that doesn’t seem too convincing, the way the games went are, NU was lucky to pull out a tie.

UVM will have to use it’s speed to match the quick guys of Northeastern and make sure to control the pace of the game and keep the crowd interested.

Because Joe Vitale is going to gel the squad together like they were in the first half of the season.  Brad Thiessen will help by proving he is one of the nation’s best goalies.

The young guns will have to come out and get goals for Northeastern, if some of the third and fourth liners can chip in and take the pressure off of Vitale and his linemates, the Huskies should be able to score the victory.

Prediction:

This is going to be the most exciting first-round matchup.  The Huskies will pull off the upset and win 2-1.

Joe Vitale has emerged as a true leader legends are born in the playoffs, Joe Vitale and Brad Thiessen will write their greatest chapters to this point and carry the Huskies to a semifinal at the  TD Banknorth Garden.

#4 BC Eagles vs. #5 Providence College Friars: 

Preview:

When teams like Northeastern and UMass started to fall in the standings the door for the Friars to enter the home-ice battle opened.  Unfortunately for them, in the last week, they lost two to BU and NU and BC split their home-and-home series.

In the regular season, PC managed to win the season series 2-0-1, with both wins coming at Conte Forum.  However, the Friars have been on some bad form over the past few weekends and will need to turn it around if they want even a sliver of hope at beating BC.

BC’s form hasn’t been much better, and they have had some loses which may show that they are weak at home.  They haven’t won at Conte Forum since January, when they beat UVM 5-2 and 4-1.

BC Wins:

Because they will snap out of it, and figure out how to use the crowd to their advantage at Conte Forum.  They also will ride the momentum from their 4-1 win against Northeastern last weekend and play as hard as they did.

PC Wins:

Because they have already beaten BC twice at Conte Forum.  They will have to play hard and score early, much like BC did to Northeastern this weekend.  The longer this series is close, the more of an advantage BC has.

Prediction:

The Eagles will win 2-1.  This will be a tough series, Nathan Gerbe will bring the same intensity he brought to Matthews, and pretty much everywhere he goes.  Providence will try to answer, but BC will run the game.

While there is the potential for a very exciting series, the Eagles will finally hold down their home ice.  However, Providence is too good to get swept and they have had good fortunes at Conte Forum this season.

BC will not let themselves be the only team to lose four games to the same team in front of the home crowd.