The best time of the year is here in Division 1 men’s college hockey. While Atlantic Hockey is getting set for first-round playoff matchups this weekend, ECAC Hockey will be putting the final touches on its regular season and Hockey East is in the final two weeks of a pennant chase unlike any the league...
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The best time of the year is here in Division 1 men’s college hockey.
While Atlantic Hockey is getting set for first-round playoff matchups this weekend, ECAC Hockey will be putting the final touches on its regular season and Hockey East is in the final two weeks of a pennant chase unlike any the league has seen before.
New England is home to some of the best teams in the country.
Five of the top 10 in the national picture hail from the region again this week.
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Here is our latest look at the top teams in the region.
1. Boston College (25-5-1, 17-3-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 1
After earning USCHO’s first unanimous in-season No. 1 ranking since 2017 last Monday, the Eagles extended their Hockey East win streak to 10 games and hit the 25-win mark for the first time since 2015-16 following a sweep of Vermont. Sophomore Cutter Gauthier and freshman Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) each had a two-goal game in the series. Gauthier is up to a nation-leading 29 goals, while freshman Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) paces all of Division 1 with 51 points after logging a goal and four assists.
2. Boston University (22-8-2, 16-4-2 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 2
The Terriers kept pace with BC atop the Hockey East standings by posting a dominant sweep against UConn. Playmaking sophomore Jeremy Wilmer stood out with a six-point weekend, including a goal and four assists in Saturday’s home win. Wilmer now has 11 points across a five-game point streak and 29 assists for the season. Freshman Macklin Celebrini scored in each game and finished the series with five points, which remarkably puts him nine ahead of sophomore defenseman Lane Hutson for the team lead. Junior Mathieu Caron posted a 23-save shutout on Saturday and stopped 49 of 50 on the weekend.
The Bobcats enter this weekend on a four-game win streak. Sophomore defenseman Charles Alexis Legault had a goal and an assist for his fourth straight multi-point effort, helping Quinnipiac build a 5-0 lead. Senior Collin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.) had just one assist on senior Travis Treloar’s goal, but extended his point streak to eight games. Before Brown, the Bobcats swept Union and RPI.
4. Maine (19-9-2, 11-8-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 3
Since a 16-4-2 start, the Black Bears have gone just 3-5 in February and continued their run of mixed results with a 5-1 win and 4-0 loss against Northeastern. Freshman Bradly Nadeau’s two goals and an assist led the way in Friday’s victory, marking his fifth multi-goal game and bringing him to the 15-goal mark for the season. Bradly and Josh Nadeau are Maine’s first pair of rookie 15-goal scorers since the 1992-93 national championship season. Freshman Albin Boija had a 32-save performance, but took the Saturday loss despite Maine’s 40-22 shot advantage. Boija has started six of the past seven games over senior Victor Ostman.
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5. Providence (17-10-3, 10-7-3 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 5
The Friars returned to the winning track a week after losing at Boston University, edging past UMass Lowell 2-1 on Saturday to complete a three-game season sweep of the River Hawks and improve to 3-3-1 during the month of February. Freshman Graham Gamache’s two goals included the game-winner with 6:39 left in regulation. Sophomore Bruins prospect Philip Svedeback withstood the hosts’ fourth and final power play late to finish with 19 saves for the victory. Defense has continued to be a hallmark of the team’s play under coach Nate Leaman, allowing 20 or fewer shots in a game for the 12th time this season.
6. Massachusetts (17-10-3, 10-8-2 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 6
A weekend after suffering a home-and-home sweep to Boston College, the Minutemen split a pair of 3-2 decisions against New Hampshire as the middle of the Hockey East standings remained tight. UMass was the Friday winner on the strength of graduate transfer defenseman Samuli Niinisaari’s two goals. Freshman center and Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis had two assists in the win and three overall during the weekend. On Saturday, sophomore Cole O’Hara’s back-to-back goals turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead nearly halfway through the third period, but a controversial goaltender interference non-call allowed the Wildcats to force and eventually win in overtime.
Though the ultimate result was a series split, the Wildcats left the weekend with huge momentum following a late comeback from a 2-1 deficit that produced Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win in Durham and kept them within two points of fifth place in Hockey East. Junior defenseman and captain Alex Gagne (Bedford, N.H.) scored his first goal of the season to tie the game with just 2:09 left, while classmate Liam Devlin (Needham, Mass.) followed with the game-winner. It was Devlin’s fifth goal and sixth point in a four-game span. North Dakota transfer Jakob Hellsten continues to provide strong goaltender play with a 2.14 GAA that ranks second in the league.
8. Northeastern (15-14-2, 8-13-0 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 7
Saturday’s win at Maine moved the Huskies to 8-2 in their last 10 games and marked the first time an opponent pitched a shutout in Alfond Arena since 2021. Senior Clarkson transfer Alex Campbell scored two goals to support the strong goaltending performance of freshman Cameron Whitehead, who made 39 saves en route to a 4-0 win. Whitehead has recorded at least 30 stops in each of his last three games and has upped his save percentage to .916 for the season, which is now in a three-way tie for second-best in Hockey East. Sophomore Cam Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored the lone Northeastern goal in Friday’s 5-1 loss.
9. Holy Cross (18-12-4, 13-10-3 AHA)
Previous ranking: No. 9
The Crusaders entered Thursday’s regular-season finale with an outside chance at claiming their first Atlantic Hockey crown since 2006, but a 5-1 loss to Bentley snapped their seven-game win streak and allowed RIT to clinch first place for the second consecutive season. Junior Liam McLinskey scored his 15th goal of the season in the second period, becoming only the ninth player in Division 1 program history to reach the 40-point plateau. Senior Jason Grande made 31 saves to finish his year with a .929 save percentage, despite Bentley’s four-goal run to break a 1-1 tie that dropped the Crusaders in regulation for the first time since Jan. 12.
The Falcons are the hottest New England-based team in Atlantic Hockey, having posted a 3-1-2 February record to vault into sixth place and within only five points of second-place Holy Cross in the final standings. First-year coach Andy Jones’ club took five out of six points from the rival Crusaders and Sacred Heart last weekend, ahead of a postseason first-round game against Robert Morris on Saturday. Former Northfield Mount Hermon goalie Connor Hasley is unbeaten in his last four starts, including a 30-save Thursday effort to beat Holy Cross on the road and a shootout victory to claim the extra league point against Sacred Heart on Saturday. Freshman Kellan Hjartarson had a goal and an assist in the Holy Cross win, while senior defenseman Nick Bochen and sophomore Ryan Upson scored as Bentley completed a two-goal comeback to draw even with Sacred Heart.
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6. Massachusetts (17-10-3, 10-8-2 HEA)
