BOSTON – Just four teams remain standing in the quest for the Lou Lamoriello Trophy as Hockey East Tournament Champion.
Hockey East couldn’t have asked for two more intriguing semifinal matchups at the TD Garden on Friday night. The top four teams in the regular season standings all advanced to Boston for the league’s penultimate event.
Archrivals Boston College and Boston University kick things off at 5 p.m. followed by Northeastern and Providence in the nightcap.
No. 1 Boston College vs. No. 4 Boston University
If having a chance to play for a league championship weren’t enough, Friday’s first game is also almost assuredly an elimination game. Despite winning the regular season title, Boston College finds itself on the Pairwise bubble and Boston University must win the championship this weekend in order to make the NCAA Tournament.
Its’ cliché to say about playoff hockey, but goaltending will play a pivotal role in this matchup. Former NTDP teammates, BC’s Joe Woll and BU’s Jake Oettinger, both went through a sophomore slump this season, but both are playing well of late.
Woll is 7-0-0 with a .951 save percentage in his last seven starts, allowing just eight even strength goals in that time. The St. Louis, Mo., native had to stand on his head to help the Eagles past Merrimack last weekend.
Oettinger is 4-0-1 with a .958 save percentage over his last five games. He’s only given up five even strength goals during that stretch.
The Terriers outshot the Eagles in both games of a weekend split back in December. If last weekend’s possession struggle against Merrimack was any indication, the Eagles will need to rely on Woll to bail them out.
When Oettinger is on his game, there aren’t many goaltenders who are better than him. As long as he doesn’t give up any soft goals, the night should belong to the Terriers.
Getting back to BC’s possession struggles against Merrimack, the Eagles’ defense has been an issue all season long. It’s why Jerry York’s team went winless in out of conference action.
It will be interesting to see what line BC tries to match up against Jordan Greenway and Brady Tkachuk’s line. The two Terrier heavyweights should pose a serious threat to BC’s breakout. The Eagles don’t really have the personnel to counter either of the two big forwards down low.
BC has to hope its playmakers, Logan Hutsko, Julius Matilla and David Cotton, can find a way to get past the BU defense and solve Oettinger.
No. 2 Northeastern vs. No. 3 Providence
It’s hard to believe BC-BU isn’t the marque game of the night, but when you have two top ten teams battling it out for a chance to play in the final, even one of the best rivalries in college hockey takes a back seat.
What makes this game all the more captivating is the fact these two teams couldn’t be more opposite. Nate Leaman’s Friars are a very structured team. They play to spots, rely on a tenacious forecheck, and score more by committee. On the other bench, Jim Madigan’s Huskies have one of the most potent first lines in recent memory with the vaunted power play. NU is more run and gun with less structure in its game.
Providence went 1-0-1 against Northeastern during the regular season. Perhaps more impressively, the Friars were one of the few teams able to keep Adam Gaudette, Dylan Sikura and Nolan Stevens off the score sheet in their 2-1 win.
Providence is one of the few teams in the country built to shut down, or at least minimize, a line with the likes of Gaudette and Sikura. Providence’s top center Brian Pinho is one of the best two-way forwards in all of college hockey. He was named Hockey East Defensive Forward of the Year for a reason. Other players, including Brandon Duhaime and Vimal Sukumaran have the speed and physicality to make life miserable for opposing forwards.
A key for Providence will be maintaining its physical and intense brand of hockey while staying out of the sin bin. Giving Gaudette and company too many opportunities on the man advantage will spell doom.
The goaltending duel in this game pits two Montreal Canadiens prospects who have found themselves and proven some of their naysayers wrong. Providence junior Hayden Hawkey was considered by some, including this observer, to be the potential Achilles heel for the team’s success. The Denver, Colo., native saw his save percentage in conference games improve from .905 as a sophomore to .924 this season.
Northeastern freshman Cayden Primeau took home top goaltending honors at the Hockey East banquet Thursday night. The Voorhees, N.J., native posted a .937 save percentage in conference games a year after his struggle’s in the USHL saw his draft stock somewhat plummet. While Gaudette, Sikura and Stevens earn much of the press, Primeau has been the difference maker for a Northeastern program that grappled with inconsistent goaltending over the past few seasons.
In an example of the changing of the guard when it comes to how the hockey world views defensemen, Northeastern’s Jeremy Davies and Providence’s Jacob Bryson have both proven undersized blue liners can be impact players.
Both sophomores stand well below 6-feet, but their ability to retrieve pucks, escape trouble, and move pucks north quickly cannot be overstated. Davies and Bryson help transition from defense to offense and have the puck on their sticks more often than not. While both are known for their offensive exploits, they defend with their feet and a good stick when forced to play without the puck.
Friday night at the TD Garden should be fun.
