The unofficial first half of the Hockey East men’s season has been one to remember.
A whopping eight of 11 teams are currently ranked in the top 20 of the Pairwise Rankings, which means that more than half of the league is squarely in the national conversation before game action picks back up on Dec. 28 with a series of holiday tournaments and non-conference action.
Four Hockey East teams have already banked double-digit wins, while five are separated by a single point in the league standings. On top of first-to-11th depth, Hockey East has also shown its strength with a .700 win percentage outside of league competition.
There are still plenty of questions to be answered as the road to TD Garden in March continues. Here’s one on each team.
How will Boston College’s stars return from World Juniors?
With at least a few Hockey East participants in the IIHF World Junior Championship annually, coaches often discuss the boost it can provide when players return after competing in the high-level event. The Eagles can certainly attest, as four of their six players on the United States preliminary roster -- forwards Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) and Gabe Perreault, and defensemen Drew Fortescue and Aram Minnetian -- were on last year’s gold medal-winning squad before helping BC go on a 21-3-0 finishing run. Leading scorers Perreault (23 points) and Leonard (12 goals) haven’t lost a step with freshman James Hagens filling now-San Jose Shark Will Smith’s (Lexington, Mass.) key role. So coach Greg Brown’s team will hope for a similar result upon resuming play in January. For instance, Leonard and Perreault went 15 and 16 straight games with points after the break a year ago.
How much more time will Maine’s key contributors miss?
After making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2012 last March, the Black Bears have seen a number of returning characters contribute to a 12-2-2 (5-2-2) opening that has them atop the league standings. However, senior captain Lynden Breen and junior Brandon Holt — who is one of just four defensemen nationally averaging at least a point per game — both missed several games before break with lower-body injuries. Breen had surgery and will be out for an undisclosed period after suffering his injury Nov. 30 at RPI, a night he had a hat trick and an assist. Coach Ben Barr’s group is unquestionably better with those experienced players in the lineup, but having a 10-goal scorer already in senior Harrison Scott helps provide depth to help it withstand the absences.
Does Providence have more in the tank on the power play?
One of the deepest offensive teams in Hockey East thus far, Providence has had 18 players score a goal and seven have registered double-digit points. That level of depth and great goaltending from junior Philip Svedeback (9-2-1, .922 save percentage) — a Bruins prospect who has won four straight contests — has Nate Leaman’s team in prime position. The outstanding coach would certainly like to see a power surge on the power play, though. Aside from an incredible 5-for-8 night in a Nov. 9 overtime win at Northeastern, the unit has converted just four times in 16 other games. Only graduate Logan Will and standout freshman John Mustard have scored multiple man-up goals, but the room has no shortage of talent.
Can UMass Lowell finish what it has started offensively?
Coach Norm Bazin’s River Hawks have been a great surprise thus far, surpassing last season’s win total (8-24-4) amid a 10-4-2 start. While maintaining their usual defensive strength (third-best in Hockey East with 2.4 goals and 25.8 shots allowed per game), this club is also averaging 3.3 goals after managing only 2 a year ago. Junior Scout Truman and senior Owen Cole have performed well again, but 10 others have multiple goals on a well-balanced attack. The emergence of freshmen in top-liner Chris Delaney (Hopkinton, Mass.) and leading scorer Mirko Buttazzoni (team-high 14 points) packs even more of a punch. Add in Northern Michigan transfer Beni Halasz finding his groove in goal late in the semester alongside veteran Henry Welsch, and there is a lot to like in Lowell.
Will Boston University find much-needed consistency?
The Terriers are 9-6-1 after a see-saw semester, but last Wednesday’s late-game rally to avoid a sweep to UMass offered a glimpse of the trusted simple game that coach Jay Pandolfo hopes his team can continue. Junior co-captain Shane Lachance (Andover, Mass.) and Quinn Hutson were once both dropped from the listed top line, while sophomore Max Lacroix even got two November starts in net to offer senior Mathieu Caron a reset that has seemed to benefit him of late, as he’s posted two 30-save efforts within a 4-1-0 stretch. Freshmen Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) and Cole Hutson have been as advertised, but they need to find that consistency.
Will New Hampshire continue positive trends against a second-half gauntlet?
The Wildcats’ only loss since the first weekend of November came to then-No. 5 Maine, and they rode a 3-0-1 run into their mid-year recess. It will get tougher, as the Black Bears, BC, BU, Maine and UMass Lowell are all on the schedule multiple times from January through March. For now, Granite State fans should like that their team sports a Hockey East second-best 88.9 percent penalty kill and has found consistent goaltending from Alaska junior transfer Jared Whale. Sophomore Ryan Conmy (16 points in 13 games) has gone on an eight-game point scoring run and stands as a top-10 producer in the league. With a huge slate against Hockey East elites still to come, it could be a challenge for UNH to keep all of those numbers up.
Does UConn have what it takes to make NCAAs?
That question isn’t usually asked of .500 teams, but with the 7-7-1 Huskies sitting 15th in the Pairwise, they are squarely in the mix. UConn is surpassing meager preseason expectations with the help of returnees and newcomers alike who have leveled up. Sophomore Jake Richard was the Huskies’ best player (four goals, nine points in 10 games) when he wasn’t sidelined with an upper-body injury, while juniors Ryan Tattle and Jake Percival (Avon, Conn.) have both hit career-high goal totals. Percival has a team-best seven. In net, Callum Tung’s freshman year got off to a late start due to injury, but all he’s done through three games is post a .958 save percentage. That internal program development has to have coach Mike Cavanaugh feeling good.
Can UMass fulfill Greg Carvel’s vision?
Even with the Minutemen sitting a game above .500 (8-7-2) and winning just twice in league play, the ninth-year coach hasn’t shied away from sharing that he feels his club is NCAA tournament-caliber. A mid-semester slump from sophomore goaltender Michael Hrabal and relying on multiple freshmen defensemen led to the up-and-down record. Hrabal beat Providence and Boston University during a 4-2-0 finish, and things will continue trending upward with more consistency and increased scoring from the likes of Kenny Connors, Dans Locmelis and Lucas Mercuri around two of the league’s top scorers in junior Cole O’Hara (23 points) and sophomore Aydar Suniev (10 goals).
Is Northeastern’s Cam Lund the best player nobody is talking about?
Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.) has impacted games at the level of a Hobey Baker candidate so far as a junior, though the Huskies will need another strong finish to help make reality out of such aspirations. The former Cushing standout is driving the offense with eight goals and 18 points after 15 games, while his 71 shots are second to Leonard in Hockey East. Finding a deeper scoring pool will be key in the second half to support Lund, who has already logged runs of four and three straight games with a goal. Junior Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine) and sophomore Dylan Hryckowian are Lund’s only teammates with more than three goals, while the team’s power play is a mere 4-for-41.
How far can freshmen bring Vermont?
Although second-year coach Steve Wiedler’s lineup includes a solid mix of both experience and youth, the latter has been a carrying strength from the outset of the season. Freshmen Max Strand and Colin Kessler wasted no time adjusting to college hockey as the team’s leading point producer (15) and goal scorer (six), respectively. The pair has worked into top roles on the power play alongside senior Simon Jellus, whose goals in each game last weekend helped the Catamounts enter the holidays with a road sweep of Union. Even with Minnesota State grad transfer Keenan Rancier in the fold, returning sophomore Axel Mangbo has been outstanding of late in goal, earning five of the team’s last six wins after appearing in only three games last season.
Will a Merrimack goalie take the position and run with it?
Two years after Hugo Ollas and Zachary Borgiel shared the net for a team that played for the Hockey East title, three less experienced goaltenders — all of whom have dealt with injuries or absences and been pulled from games thus far — are competing for the Warriors. Freshman Ryan Keyes has the strongest numbers in limited action (.927 save percentage in four games), but Max Lundgren has seen the most work (eight starts) and could have the upper hand entering the second half following a strong 26-save effort last Saturday against Northeastern. Can he carry that momentum into January? It would certainly help coach Scott Borek’s club as it looks to improve once play resumes.
