John Doyle
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. And then there were 16 At long last, the field for this year’s Division I men’s tournament was released, and as expected the Minnesota Golden Gophers are the overall top seed for the first time since … Read more
BOSTON — If Boston University freshman Lane Hutson was expressly showing off for the Hobey Baker Award voters, he could have done a lot worse than the performance he turned in during the Hockey East championship game. Hutson scored twice, including the game winner at 1:57 of overtime to lift the Terriers to a 3-2 … Read more
BOSTON — Like Moses parting the Red Sea or Paul Bunyan carving the Grand Canyon, Merrimack’s Ottoville Leppänen can now also lay claim to creating a legendary chasm. Leppänen’s work with the puck pulled UMass-Lowell goalie Gustavs David Grigals out of position to create the opening Matt Copponi needed to flick Leppänen’s centering pass into … Read more
BOSTON — For a split second, Boston University freshman forward Quinn Hutson didn’t know if he could trust what his eyes were telling him. “It was pretty crazy,” Hutson said. “I saw it go in, it was kind of slow motion. I wasn’t sure, then everyone was celebrating.” Hutson’s goal at 10:52 of overtime gave … Read more
One doesn’t have to look too far back in time to know how significant it is for Boston University and Providence to face off at TD Garden. There was the 2018 Hockey East championship game, won by the Terriers 2-0. And with all due respect to the Hockey East tournament, there was a meeting with … Read more
It was only three weeks ago that the Boston University men’s hockey team was mired in the throes of a four-game losing streak, its longest of the season. The streak, in which the Terriers were outscored 15-7, put BU’s national standing and chances of securing the Hockey East regular-season title in peril. At the time, … Read more
Most of the national chatter surrounding ECAC Hockey this season has centered around Quinnipiac and Harvard, and for good reason. Both have spent plenty of time at or near the top of both the ECAC standings and the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll and are two of the favorites heading into the quarterfinals of the conference … Read more
Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf acknowledges there are pros and cons to running a league known for parity. Pros: Hockey East is widely acknowledged as an “any given night” league where there’s little surprise when a team low in the standings beats a contender. See: The second-half resurgences of Maine and New Hampshire, which are … Read more
With just four games left in the regular season, Connecticut coach Mike Cavanaugh has no intention of his team taking its foot off the gas. The Huskies — currently in fifth place in Hockey East with an 11-8-2 record (17-10-3 overall) and 16th in the latest USCHO.com men’s D-I poll — are very much in … Read more
New Hampshire coach Mike Souza has had a front-row seat to the rivalry between his school and state-line rival Maine for the better part of three decades, both as a player and a coach. Going back to the 1999 season as a player, when Maine and UNH were the toast of Hockey East, if not … Read more
Since the Beanpot has featured the same four teams for its entire 70-year history and rotates the first-round matchups on a three-year cycle, the law of averages dictates that Harvard and Northeastern should have previously met in the final about a dozen times. But it’s never happened before until this year, and Monday’s championship matchup … Read more
Growing up in Milton, Mass., in the figurative shadow of the TD Garden, Aidan McDonough was that rare youth hockey player from New England who didn’t necessarily dream about someday wearing a Bruins jersey. For McDonough, it was all about the Beanpot. “I didn’t want to play in the NHL — that’s a far-fetched dream,” … Read more
There were plenty of celebratory hoots and hollers coming from the UMass Lowell locker room last Saturday night in the immediate aftermath of its most recent game. It’s safe to say the River Hawks were happy about more than just a 3-2 overtime win at New Hampshire. With four wins in their last five games, … Read more
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. ECAC foes hand losses to No. 1 Quinnipiac In a highly anticipated matchup of ECAC heavyweights Friday night, No. 16 Cornell handed top-ranked Quinnipiac a 4-0 loss, snapping the Bobcats’ 17-game unbeaten streak “We had a … Read more
Without prying too much into Providence coach Nate Leaman’s personal life, by all appearances he’s a man of good habits. That might change, however, given how competitive Hockey East has been this year. “I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I might start,” Leaman said recently, with a chuckle. Just how competitive is Hockey East this year? … Read more
Nate Leaman is obviously pleased his Providence team is playing well enough to find itself near the top of a crowded Hockey East with one game to go before the holiday break. Be he knows in a heartbeat, things can change. “Northeastern won the league in the last minute of a game last year on … Read more
According to the latest line chart issued by the Boston University men’s hockey team, there are 12 players on the Terriers’ roster drafted by NHL teams. So it’s interesting that the team’s top scorer does not have the logo of a pro team printed underneath his No. 37. With eight points in his last six … Read more
It’s a good bet UMass coach Greg Carvel will be avoiding gluten when his team travels to Northern Ireland for this weekend’s Friendship Four tournament. The last time the Minutemen participated, six years ago, Carvel’s allergic reaction to an iconic dry stout of the Emerald Isle was a minor irritation of an otherwise memorable trip. … Read more
Merrimack coach Scott Borek has been around Hockey East long enough to remember when it was a top-heavy league. Traditionally dominated for the better part of its first two decades as a conference by the likes of Boston University, Boston College, New Hampshire and Maine, things have changed in the last decade — UMass Lowell … Read more
Ryan Tverberg has, so far this season, done everything in his power to get Connecticut to its highest national ranking ever — seventh in the latest edition of the DCU/USCHO.com D-I men’s poll. The scary thing for the rest of Hockey East? The junior forward might still have his best hockey in front of him. … Read more