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Will UMass Ever Give Up Another Goal? - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome into this week in Hockey East.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Richard Prove here with Eric Galante.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Big weekend ahead in Hockey East.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the Boston schools.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not only do we have the beanpot to look forward to on Monday, but Friday night Hockey East on Nessen features number 13 Boston College at Boston University.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned for that right here, puck drop at 7 p.m.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: in front of a sold-out crowd at Aghanis Arena.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, why don't we start with the Eagles?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: They got all six points last weekend against New Hampshire, a 5-2 win on Friday, 3-0 win on Saturday.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Friday was another game defined by some of the Bruins' picks, right?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Dean Laterno had two goals and an assist.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: James Haggins had a couple of points.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: James set up one of Dean's goals.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Dean set up a nice goal later in the game.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's the sixth time this year that the Bruins two first-round picks, Haggins and Laterno have scored in the same game.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: BC is 6-0 when that's happened.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Laterno now, you know, we've talked about it all year, but you kind of shorten the sample size a little bit.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: His last 15 games, 11 goals, 7 assists.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: He continues to perform really well and uh something that's going to be excited for Bruins fans to see in a rivalry game and then beanpot on Monday.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: I thought UNH did a really nice job on Saturday limiting Boston College.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is one of the things with this year's team that, believe it or not, as crazy as it sounds, is actually different than last year's team, is that with Heming now in, with Gasso back, they are a little bit deeper in their forward group.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Greg Brown's still mixing and matching his lines a little bit since coming for the second half.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: He said it's almost like restarting as we try to find the right combinations.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: But you see someone like Will Vote, right, who's our service credit union scoring leader this week, go back to that Lake State game.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: BC's down a couple of guys for World Juniors.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: He scores twice.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: They really needed him.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then in a, you know, that game was really a must-win NBI game.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: On Saturday, Vogt has three goals, a natural hat-trick, only three goals in the game.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: He has five points for the weekend.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's now tied his career at the high with eight goals.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, already has a career high, 18 points.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that's, I think, just showing you some of the depth of this Eagles forward group, which is maybe different than last year, where as good as some of those top guys were last year, it did get a little bit one-line by the end of the year.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's nice to see.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Gasso has been back and has been very good for them.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some positives on the BC side.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll take on a BU team that is as crazy as Sounds Bridget is trying to get their offense going right now.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: They've they've had some trouble last week.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: They dropped their two games against Providence College.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And just a side note quickly on PC, uh, they have been on an absolute roll.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about how hard it is to sweep in Hockey East.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: They have swept Maine, then BC, then BU in consecutive weeks.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So six straight wins coming into the weekend for them, and that's bounced them up in the NBI, up in the rankings, which we'll talk about a little bit more later.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, but for BU, the offense is definitely part of it, Eric.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And part of that comes from the power play.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, BU's keys, number one at the top of the list.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: They need to get their power play going.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: When Jay Pandoffa was asked uh what went wrong against PC in that series, he said our power play has been a real issue the whole year.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the numbers bear that out too, that that they've been struggling only one power play goal in their last 10 games.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And really, a lot of it hinges on Cole Eiserman.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to put that much pressure on him, but he was such a great power play producer last year.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: 10 power play goals, that was the most in hockey east.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's got three this year, and they all came in the first two games of the season.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he's gone 19 straight games without a power play goal, and you just feel like once he starts to get going there again, that could really help their power play out.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we need to see key contributions from him and Cole Hudson as well.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's got one goal and two assists in the six games since returning from World Juniors, where remember, he got a little bit banged up.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he was previously on well over a point per game pace.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Before that, he's on less than that now.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So those two guys, if they come up big, help the offense for BU this week.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: That would be huge.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Hudson is BU's Hobie Baker nominee.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that was announced this week, along with Hagins and Dean Laterno for BC.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, both of these teams are kind of right on the NPI bubble right now.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: BC is in the field this week as we record this.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: BU's on the outside looking in.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about the NPI later in the show.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a lot of reasons to think that hockey's position is actually better than most people think relative to where they are in the national picture.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they would have three teams in the field if the season ended today, but these games still are really important, right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: For BU, they get a game against NPI 14.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: That can really matter.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: For BC, they've been very good on the road this year, 7-2.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: They can do that again against a top 20 team.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: They really need to bank wins.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's important for them, and they'll get another opportunity at beanpot on Monday.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so BC gonna play the early game in the beanpot against Harvard on Monday.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Harvard has moved its way up the NPI to 19th.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another kind of crucial bubble game that we're talking about, and we'll we'll talk more uh NPI later.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: But BU starts their title defense in the second game of the Beanpot semifinal round against Northeastern, a team that they've seen three times already.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so they're pretty familiar with, and they beat them two of those three times.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Final note, we've talked about a couple of the midseason additions in this game.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oscar Hemming for Boston College, Tynan Lawrence for BU.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Both of those guys were in Craig Button's most recent um top 10 NHL draft rankings for 2026 of TSN.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's notable as well.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see both of those guys on the ice against each other on Friday.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we have a lot of hockey east games on Nessen this week.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Another one is Merrimack UNH Saturday, 7 p.m.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Merrimack is 7-2 over its last nine games, up to eighth in the hockey east standings, and only three points out of fifth place because that middle section there is pretty condensed.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they'll take on UNH, which is a team that is trying to bounce back after being swept their last two weekends.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Sousa, who we had on a few weeks ago, has talked about needing to find more offense and recently uh they definitely need to.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: They've had just four goals in their last four games.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tough task, though, because Max Lundgren has sneaky been one of the best players in hockeys recently.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: He is on a 7-2 stretch right now.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Merrimack is 7-2 over their last nine games.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: As you said, he's got a 936 save percentage, just over two goals against and nine starts.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Analytically, he's even better.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at some of the analytics, he's he's almost a top 10 goalie in the country this year.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's made 30 saves 14 times.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's been really good for Merrimack.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that task is not easy for New Hampshire.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Merrimack, as we said, they're, you know, kind of right back in this conversation, seven and two in their last nine games.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the only team that beat them in that stretch, UMass, who swept them uh a couple of weekends ago.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: UMass is absolutely rolling right now, and we're gonna talk with UMass head coach Greg Carvel on the other side of this break here on This Week in Hockey East.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's time to bring in our guest for the week, brought to you by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Plan your getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: The head coach of the UMass Minutemen, Greg Carvel, nice enough to spend a minute with us.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, you guys have played so well recently.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Five-game win streak.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: You've only allowed four goals over the last seven games.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, Michael Cravel's a big part of that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get there in a second.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: But from a general sense, what has allowed you guys to play so well defensively here over this recent stretch?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think we had to get a little desperate and be a good defensive team because uh we haven't been that deep offensively, and we've uh currently have three of our top nine forwards out.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So when we came back from break, we really focused on being a good defensive team.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we needed Michael Rabble to get back to his game, and I give our group a lot of credit.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: They've really committed to it, sacrificing the small details they need to play a good defense.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: The whole team's buying in right now.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and your media availability this week, you talked a little bit about how this might be the best that you've seen.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh your goalie Michael Robbel play.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: He gets the two shutouts, he gets named Hockey East Player of the Week.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: What's impressed you about him recently?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, he's he's found new levels.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, this is Mike's third year with the team.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: He's played a lot of hockey for us.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, we've been to two NCAA tournaments with Mike, and we needed him this year because we lost uh five forwards NHL contracts from last year's team.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: So we needed him to be a big part of our team.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: He got injured in the first semester, uh, was working back from it, and the the Christmas rest was great for him.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: He came back at a whole new level of commitment and focus and intensity, which we needed, and he's we're really riding his back right now.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that stood out, and this goes in line with what you're talking about, is just the number of shots you guys have blocked recently.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: That 22 against BU certainly stands out, but it's eight straight games with 10 plus blocks.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, especially when you guys coming in, you were a little bit younger up front, you did bring back a decent amount defensively.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: What about that group defensively has kind of allowed you to, you know, sacrifice and block all that shots and and be something that can really help in terms of the defensive side?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, our top four defensemen came back from last year's team, which was going to be the backbone of the team, but the block shots are all all the way around, and that's a really good sign for a group when you're having 10 plus 20 block shots a game.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: That means the kids are really bought in, they're sacrificing, playing hard for each other.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but our back end is our backbone, and and the guy that's really stepped forward for us is Lucas Olvestad.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's actually in a three-game scoring streak, scored the game-winning goal uh at UVM on Saturday night in a one-nothing game, playing playing huge minutes and playing he's a you know, he's a senior.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: You it's rare to get seniors on your team anymore.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's a captain and he's been outstanding.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: So as important as Michael Ravo been has been for us, Lucas Olvestad's right there, too.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Another important guy on your team this year, Jack Musa, uh recently surpassed his 100th game played.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's been an important part of the offense for you guys as a junior.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the main things that he brings to your team?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: He's uh he's uh I I think he's one of the best players in our league.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, just he made the Spangler team and did a good job there.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Again, third year player for us, recent Hobie Baker candidate for us, the only guy on our team that we nominated.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's outstanding.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: He to me, he's the definition of fast twitch hockey, competes as hard as anyone we have, tremendous talent.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's hard to play against.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's fast, he's skilled, and he's got he's got he's got a big heart.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: He he's really the heartbeat of our team.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Greg Vaslov Nestrosil really came on and got off to such a nice start, especially as a freshman coming in, which obviously can be an adjustment.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: What have you seen from him?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's obviously a first-round pick, but adjusting to the level in college and how he's kind of gone through this first year and being a real impactful guy for you guys.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, my screen froze here for a little bit.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're talking about Vaslov.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, he he's a tremendous talent.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, when you get a high talented player like that, you always wondered like what's the how much commitment is he gonna have to the team?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how much entitlement is there in his game?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And there's absolutely none.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: He he's he plays his heart out, he's vocal, he's a he's just as a freshman, he's a he's a vocal leader, he's a physical leader.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um with all the talent that he has, it's great to see.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: And he plays huge minutes for us, you know, he's in the first line, first power play.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but this kid's uh he's a fierce competitor, and it's it's a real toy uh coaching him and watching his game grow over this year.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you kind of mentioned the idea of that team identity, and obviously I'm sure you had some idea of it, knowing the amount of defense when you had back, but in this day and age when there are so just so many new faces into every team, how how does that process maybe become a little bit different in terms of finding your identity?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas, you know, you might have a ton of guys back in years past and you can kind of just hit the ground running.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: And now, even though maybe it doesn't track with how we do the NPI and every game mattering, but it does it take time to involve into your identity and be able to believe and live and play to that identity every single game?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's what I've I've keep finding here year from year, is it takes my group time to grow into our identity.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um because I think the greatest thing a coach could ask for now is not to have a bunch of first-round draft picks, but is to have a bunch of seniors and a bunch of a team with juniors and seniors.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: But the way it is now, every every year you're gonna have eight, ten, twelve new players on your team, and it takes time to just acclimate them.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we had 11 new players this year, and the first half of the season was was frustrating because we're extremely inconsistent.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: But now that you know we've had we're two-thirds of the way through the season, I can now feel like we've got 20 guys in the ice that are all playing to the same identity, playing that the standard of play that we ask our players to play.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's why you see in our our group, you know, winning games.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're we're we're scratching by, we're again, we're we're missing three of our top nine forwards, um, and winning with defense.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: But defense takes commitment and it takes teaching.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell our kids all the time, it's a it's a huge jump from junior to hockey east.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's not as big a jump as real hockey.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so it just takes time.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, last year we we came on hard in the second half and we're hoping to do the same again this year.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I actually that's what I wanted to ask you about next was just a strong finish second half, right around this time, start to go on a run last year and the year before.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know every team's different, and you just kind of touched on it a little bit there, but what can you learn from those previous teams in the second half?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And is that something that you can see uh being similar this year?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it it was uh I believe it was uh mid to late January where we were a 500 team last year, and we had a real heart-to-heart discussion with our with our players, and they flipped a switch.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I really think it was desperation.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: They found desperation and urgency, and we try to get to that point sooner this year, and coming back after Christmas, you know, we really try to get to that point, and I think we're there now.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a matter of uh you know holding on to it, getting some bodies back, and of course, strong defense.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's giving our group a lot of confidence, and Mike Corable, when he's playing well, it gives us tremendous confidence, and and again, he dealt with he was up with injury for over a month in the first half, and he just he lost his game, but he has worked hard.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Extremely proud of him.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: He is uh I can't imagine there's a better goal in college hockey right now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we look forward to watching the stretch run, Coach UMass will have Northeastern on Friday, and then we'll have them on Nesson against UMass Lowell on Sunday.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for a couple minutes, Coach.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's Greg Carvel, the head coach of the UMass Minutemen.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about the women's side of college hockey.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Bunch of sweeps last weekend.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's next on this week in Hockey East.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, folks, to this week in Hockey East.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was a rare weekend of sweeps last weekend on the women's side.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: That has been few and far between across Hockey East, but Northeastern, Holy Cross, and Vermont all getting sweeps.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: How about Vermont?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: They mean they do it on the road against BU.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great weekend for the Catamounts and that line of Stella, Retram, Lauren O'Hara, and Kaylee Lewis.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: They combine for six points.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Retram in particular, three goals, one assist in our series.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she's our Jersey Mike's sub-above player of the week.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: UVM's in pretty good position here.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk a little bit more about them next week.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be on Nesson when they host Northeastern, but right in the middle of the pack, in good position to get a bye in the hockeys playoffs.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh they're in a good spot right now.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Northeastern, they are in as good a spot as you could possibly be right now, Bridget, as they sweep UConn in a huge series last weekend.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they've been on such a crazy run in in terms of both how they've been doing uh in conference, but also they have had a great non-conference as well.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So they've with those wins over Yukon last week with that sweep, got their 19th and 20th wins of the season.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they've won 15 of their 16 conference games as well.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh at the point as we enter the weekend, 12 points ahead of UConn in the hockey east standing.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's quite a bit of separation for them from first place to second place.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Big jump.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it and what was interesting too, with this being the top two teams in the conference, Northeastern decides to go and split their goaltenders, and they have Renan Trimbecki, the freshman Friday.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: She makes 31 saves in her win.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then Lisa Jonsen comes in, makes 45 saves in a one-to-nothing shutout win for her Saturday, her fourth shutout of the season.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the most saves she's made in her career at Northeastern.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: She's played 46 games for them.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just the most number, the highest number of shots she's faced, the most saves she's had as well.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't want to snub the goaltender on the other side, just a great effort from Tia Chan in that series as well.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: She made maybe the save of the year when she jumped across her crease to stop a shot by Jaden Bogdan, just uh Jayden throwing her stick across, as you see there, jumping backwards to try to grab that pug.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it when you look at the overhead, too, it's just an amazing stop by her.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: She's once again one of the top goalies in hockey east.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: As you see, it just barely stays out.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, great job by her, but unfortunately, even with that, Northeastern able to take both of those wins against UConn.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: UConn has two games against UNH this weekend as they try to bounce back and solidify that second spot.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just ridiculous there.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern gets Holy Cross, who now all of a sudden, after another sweep, is in third entering the week.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And is this maybe the biggest series in their program history with how good they've been as they take on Northeastern Thursday, Friday here?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, Holy Cross, as high as they've ever been in the NPI.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're 13th.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're like right there.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can pick off one of these games against Northeastern, who knows?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: They're like legitimately in the conversation.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that's massive.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: They took two games off Providence last weekend.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: They won their 10th hockeys game for the first time in program history.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're rolling right now.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: They even have a chance to get to second place, Bridge.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: They're only one point behind Yukon.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So really cool to see Holy Cross right now.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and another series we have here on Nessen this weekend.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Merrimack at BU, 4 p.m.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, puck drop at on Saturday at Walter Brown Arena.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a weird weekend for BU.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're rolling just three forward lines and eight defensemen.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that's because BU is without Luisa and Lily Welke.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: They'll miss about a month going to the Olympics to play for the German national team.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So without them, it's gonna really put some maybe extra strain on that forward group for the Terriers.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: BU is hosting that game, but they're only three and nine this year at Walter Brown Arena.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: They struggled at home last weekend.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: They dropped both of those games to UVM.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And for Merrimack, uh, they won two of their last three games.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what happens in that series.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we'll talk about the top teams on the men's side and what's at stake for the teams on the NPI bubble this year.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: We continue around Hockey East presented by Boston Children's Hospital, where the world comes for answers.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for the first time this year, Hockey East would have three teams in the tournament if we were to hit the tournament entering this week.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: It would be Providence, Boston College, and UConn.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have some bubble teams to talk about as well, UMass, BU, and Maine, all still within striking distance.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, let's talk about some of the reasons why the outlook has improved.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think this is just really important to spend a minute on because, you know, early in the season, this has been a topic of conversation a lot.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Folks who follow college hockey know that your non-conference record really does matter as a league.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And Hockey East was lagging a little bit, right?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: They were at like 543 in terms of their win percentage for a while.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing that's quietly happened here is since the start of the second half, since officially December 29th, Hockey East is 14-5-1 in non-conference games.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best record of any conference in that stretch.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe even more importantly than that, head-to-head against the ECAC over the last 10 games, they're 9-1.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: That mat that starts to matter because it just allows everybody to kind of rise a little bit.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we talk about so much that non-conference record being important.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, everybody's kind of jumped up.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, is it precarious, two of those teams, right?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: BC and UConn, where they are in terms of the bubble?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we know that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: But this has been brewing for a little while.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So teams moving up.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that they're in there by a thread, Bridget, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: This has been kind of, they've been pushing up for a little bit.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: You look at some examples of why, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yukon, gigantic win over Quinnipiac last week.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Beanpot coming up.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's huge non-conference opportunities, especially for BC getting Harvard, because as you mentioned before, Harvard's right there.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: They've gotten themselves to 19.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a huge chance.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Providence, who seems like, you know, just in now, it's only like three weeks ago, they were 18th in the outside.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Six wins later, they're seventh in the NPI coming into this week.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: But even some of the teams that didn't feel like they were in the picture, and let's go back to UMass, who we just talked about with Greg Carvel, UMass was 42nd in the NPI on January 12th.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that long ago.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Four wins later, that's it.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Four wins later, they're first.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: They've made a massive jump.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that is just huge for the entire league.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so things are, you know, looking up for where Hockey East is right now.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll just finish out with talking about UMass uh and Northeastern that game on Sunday, another one of our Hockey East on Sing games this week.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh you look at what Michael Robble has been able to do.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: We talked a little bit about it with Coach Greg Carve, but these are the numbers uh through 2026 so far.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He has a five and one record, 977 save percentage, and a 0.67 goals against average.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So anything under one is obviously incredible, and that's what he's been this season, and that's credit to three shutouts in his six starts in 2026.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see if he can continue to roll in the new year uh when they have this matchup against Northeastern uh and then Lowell on Sunday.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: That game is on Nesson at 3:30 p.m.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that like, you know, it's not like the teams that UMass have beaten here was number one and number two in the country, and you still see them make the jump they make.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the good thing that we're seeing in the NPI, and again, remember, it's one of these things where technically the NPI isn't correct until the last day of the season, right?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only day that it's officially correct.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it just allows you to see sort of where we are, right?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the wins really matter.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: So even, you know, Providence winning six games in a row, UMass winning four games in a row, even like a Merrimack jumping in back to the top 30, and the way the quality win bonus structure is, and we don't need to go into all that right now because it's complicated, but it's all available for a lot of these hockey teams.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: So to have three in, to have three in striking distance, to have a couple of more kind of in the top 30, that's really huge for the league.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just I think you might still see some jumps.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's a long way to go.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this idea that it was a tough year for Hockey East early may not still be the case.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: But we'll see what happens this weekend starting Friday night at Aganis with the Battle of Comav for the 299th time, and then being caught on Monday.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Should be great, folks.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us for this week of Hockey.