{"id":137763,"date":"2022-12-21T14:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=137763"},"modified":"2022-12-21T14:00:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T20:00:48","slug":"this-week-in-hockey-east-conference-commish-metcalf-says-preconceived-notions-about-league-are-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/12\/21\/this-week-in-hockey-east-conference-commish-metcalf-says-preconceived-notions-about-league-are-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Hockey East: Conference commish Metcalf says preconceived notions about league ‘are gone’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Merrimack has been the surprise team in Hockey East over the first half of the 2022-23 season (photo: Merrimack Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve reached the unofficial halfway point in the Hockey East season.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, your usual scribe, John Doyle, is under the weather so you\u2019re stuck with yours truly filling in to give some thoughts \u2013 with the assistance of Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf \u2013 on some of the topics around the league and college hockey.<\/p>\n

Get well very soon, JD!<\/p>\n

So, in no particular order, here are a few bullet points from the season to date:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The standings are hardly what anyone expected. The two teams sitting atop the league are Merrimack, picked to finish eighth and Connecticut, chosen seventh preseason by the coaches. Back in 2019, the athletic directors voted to eliminate the bottom three teams from the postseason. Because of the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season and changes made during the COVID-challenged season of 2020-21, it was the only year in recent history that teams were eliminated after the regular season.<\/p>\n

Two of the teams to miss the postseason that year? You guessed it \u2013 Merrimack and UConn. Which proves a team\u2019s fate can change rather quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny preconceived notions that you have about, \u2018This is the way it used to be in Hockey East,\u2019 are gone. Now it\u2019s just so competitive and deep,\u201d said Metcalf. \u201cThere\u2019s a combination of new kids coming into the programs. Whether it be from another program, a grad transfer or a freshman, some of these kids can really change the way the program looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Metcalf is a PairWise watcher. He admits that every Monday morning it\u2019s part of his routine, and as things get later in the season, those checks of the rankings that mimic the NCAA tournament selection process become even more frequent. And right now, you have to like what you see for Hockey East. The league has six teams in the top 16, including aforementioned Merrimack leading the way in third. Add to that Boston University, UConn, UMass, UMass Lowell and Providence with both Boston College and Northeastern \u2013 a team currently battling injuries that will be dangerous if it gets healthy \u2013 sitting near the PairWise bubble.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Non-league play has been good to Hockey East thus far, with teams posting an impressive .629 winning percentage outside of conference play. The only league with a better mark is the Big Ten, which is winning at a .758 clip.<\/p>\n

Surprising to note, though, is that Hockey East still has almost 40 percent of its non-conference games ahead of it. The first few weeks back from break combined with the Beanpot games for BC, BU and Northeastern, as well as teams that fill second-half conference bye weeks with non-conference games will account for the more than 40 games remaining out-of-conference.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It doesn\u2019t take a conversation with Metcalf to understand that the return of the Friendship Four, the Thanksgiving weekend tournament played in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was a smashing success. With more than 22,000 fans passing through the turnstiles of SSE Arena, it\u2019s clear that the region was more than happy to welcome the event back for the first time since November 2019.<\/p>\n

And while there is a strong desire to keep things going with this event, Metcalf says that it is more likely than not that the tournament will alternate between a men\u2019s and women\u2019s event each year going forward. Thus, the 2023 edition will likely be comprised of women\u2019s teams before the men head back to Belfast in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelfast will continue, which is good news,\u201d Metcalf said. \u201cIt will be women\u2019s games in 2023, so next season, and then the men are likely going to an every-other-year tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

All great news as international hockey is great for Hockey East and college hockey.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There are a lot of new faces around the league right now. Sure, there were two new coaches this year in Jay Pandolfo at BU and Greg Brown at BC (two hires that could be filed under the \u201cthat was obvious category.\u201d) But you also have four new athletic directors that will help guide and shape this league in the coming years.<\/p>\n

A couple of those faces were very familiar as Boston College hired former Maine AD Blake James to take over their department. And after legendary AD Bob Driscoll retired at Providence, he was replaced by Steve Napolillo, who has nearly two decades of leadership experience in Providence College athletics, including being an integral part of the committee that hired current coach Nate Leaman.<\/p>\n

The other two faces aren\u2019t as familiar to Hockey East. Maine this week announced that Jude Killy will take over as AD in late January. Killy does come from a college hockey school, Miami. And New Hampshire hired Allison Rich, who spent the last nine seasons at Princeton.<\/p>\n

Having a college hockey background is hardly a requirement for an AD position, but for any commissioner having those athletic directors familiar with the nuts and bolts of a niche sport like hockey is a luxury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great having [ADs] in those positions who support hockey, and are familiar with hockey,\u201d said Metcalf. \u201cThat\u2019s good for me. For our schools, hockey is a priority. It\u2019s great to have ADs in there that a very familiar with college hockey.”<\/p>\n

\u2022 Another great thing for college hockey was the recent announcement that outgoing Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will be taking over as president of the NCAA in March. It may not seem like a direct correlation to college hockey or Hockey East, but Baker is indeed a college hockey fan.<\/p>\n

He recently traveled to Belfast for the Friendship Four and, as Metcalf noted, was very into the games, especially as UMass came within a hair of knocking off Quinnipiac in the title game, a tie and shootout loss for the Minutemen.<\/p>\n

But Metcalf recounted a conversation he had with Baker while in Belfast about the 2014 Union team that won the national championship. Baker\u2019s son was attending Union at the time and the family followed the team\u2019s Cinderella run to the national title.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was shooting off names of players like Shane Gostisbehere and their goaltender [Colin Stevens],\u201d said Metcalf. \u201cHe feels like he\u2019s a pretty good fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 And finally, if you don\u2019t have them yet, now is a perfect time to purchase tickets to Frozen Fenway and the 2023 Hockey East championship at the TD Garden. Both make great holiday presents!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve reached the unofficial halfway point in the Hockey East season. Unfortunately, your usual scribe, John Doyle, is under the weather so you\u2019re stuck with yours truly filling in to give some thoughts \u2013 with the assistance of Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf \u2013 on some of the topics around the league and college hockey. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":137764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[800],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Hockey East: Conference commish Metcalf says preconceived notions about league 'are gone' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve reached the unofficial halfway point in the Hockey East season. 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