It’s been a very long offseason for Hockey East. Well college hockey in general. So it’s great to be able to return to picking the league games as the puck drops on the Hockey East season this weekend.
If you’re a loyal reader of the Hockey East column, you may remember that my long-time colleague Dave Hendrickson retired at the conclusion of last season. So I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome my new compatriot, Marisa Ingemi. Marisa is well-known to college and professional hockey in New England having began her career while a student at Boston University and, most recently, was the Boston Bruins beat writer for the Boston Herald.
So with the formalities aside, here are the picks:
Massachusetts vs. Connecticut (Fri. at UMass, Sat. at UConn)
This series wasn’t actually supposed to be played this weekend as the Minutemen were headed to Maine and the Huskies were supposed to play Vermont. But with both of those series postponed due to some restrictions related to COVID (note: no student-athletes or staff of either program has COVID), these two clubs decided to face-off instead. Such will be the way things go this season.
Jim’s pick: UMass 3, UConn 1; UMass 3, UConn 2
Marisa’s pick: UMass 3, UConn 1; UMass 4, UConn 2
Boston College vs. New Hampshire (Fri. at BC, Sat. at UNH)
It’s the favorite versus the up-and-comer. Boston College returns arguably the most stacked team in Hockey East. But that doesn’t mean the results of this series should be a foregone conclusion. In fact, many may remember last season when a red-hot BC team went to Durham and lost, 1-0, in overtime. Could that happen again? It’s 2020, so expect the unexpected?
Jim’s pick: BC 5, UNH 3; UNH 2, BC 1
Marisa’s pick: BC 4, UNH 1; BC 5, UNH 3
