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Women's Championship and Men's Crown are up for grabs this weekend! · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of This Week in Hockey East with Bridget Prue.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Merrick Galante.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: We are getting set for the finals of the Hockey East Women's Championship between Northeastern, who's back for a ninth consecutive time as they take on Boston University, who had to outlast the Boston College Eagles in two overtimes.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start with Northeastern.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Bridget, you were there for that Northeastern Yukon game.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think of Northeastern's chances to once again race this trophy?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that they proved that they're still once again the team to beat.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked about Yukon being the regular season champs.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Northeastern was able to just knock them off.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they had a Northeastern had a little bit of an up and down end to the season, but they're playing really good hockey right now.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: That win against PC, they looked like they controlled a lot of the play.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: The win against UConn, they started out a little bit slower.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: They gave up a power play goal to Riley Grimley in the first period.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then they they kind of reset though.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't really affect them too much.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they're an awesome third period team.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what happened.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this comeback was led by Skylar Irving, who scored two goals early in the third period.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: She is our night shift all-academic player of the week.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And she scored her 16th and 17th goal of the season.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: One of them really crazy bounce.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: She goes 1v5, throws it off the endboards, bounces back out to her.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: She pokes it in.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of those weird goals that uh, but she always finds a way to come up clutch.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: She already has three goals in this playoffs.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh back in net, Lisa Janssen, the freshman, got her second playoff win in her career.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: She's looking great as well, only gave up that one goal.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they have a solid backbone with this team that's playing really with a lot of energy in front of a goalie that is hot and is one of the best goalies in the league.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she was so good, especially down the stretch.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, Northeastern knows how to do it in these tournament settings.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: They'll take on a BU team that they just beat in the beanpot final a couple of months ago.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Boy, what an incredible game BC and BU was.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: It goes to double overtime.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was about as even as a game could possibly be, both in the eye test and literally in the statistics.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Shots ended at 40 to 40.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Grace Campbell made some incredible saves in that second overtime, but Christina Vogue eventually drives the net.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: The puck kind of sits right on the goal line.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: And Lindsay Bachner, who has a knack for scoring these overtime winners with our Jersey Mikes, a sub-above performance of the week.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: She pokes the puck in.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, she also scored the game-winning goal in overtime in the Beanpot semifinals to send BU to the final, and they go there once again.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: But it is crazy, right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: BU has not led for a second in this tournament.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And yet they are going to the final.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: The overtime win against Vermont and the double overtime win against Boston College.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be the fifth meeting of the season between BU and Northeastern.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Two of them are so long ago, it's hard to even remember what happened, but they split a pair of 4-0 games back in October.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern won 4-0 in that beanpot final that we mentioned.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then most recently, BU won in overtime 3-2 at Matthews Arena on February 4th.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that stood out, just looking back at those games, there was almost nothing special teams-wise.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Both penalty kills were elite.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: There was only one total power play goal scored in the four games.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see how much of a factor that might be.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: But should be a really good game against both teams that I think you're right.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Were, it's fair to say, somewhat inconsistent down the stretch, but certainly turned it on once they got to the playoffs.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it should be a fascinating final.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: That will be a 12 o'clock start over on ESPN News from Stores, Connecticut.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Should be a great one between Northeastern and BU.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll talk about the first place scenario still on the line over on the men's side here on This Week in Hockey East.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue here with Eric Galanti.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the first place spot on the Hockey East side of the men's standings is still up for grabs.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And Boston College right now controls their own destiny.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, what do they have to do in order to seal first place?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's kind of amazing they still do control their own destiny.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it took a shootout against UNH last Saturday for that to be the case.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: BC had a five-point lead over Maine.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Maine still has a game in hand, which will happen on Friday against UMass because they play two games this weekend.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: BC only plays one.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: But when BC went to overtime against UNH on Saturday, if they had lost that shootout, then it could have been a situation where Maine could have jumped up and at a minimum tied them.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: If BC had dropped a point against Merrimack, they could have actually overtaken them.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: But because they win the shootout and get that extra point, BC is still in position to win the title outright on their own.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: They don't need any help.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: The best they could have done had they lost was only tie the title.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now they would have gotten the number one seed, but so it was a pretty impactful shootout that happened.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So BC is far enough ahead.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: They're four points clear at this point.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So three points would guarantee Boston College the outright title.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Two points would guarantee them the number one seed because of the tie break that they have against Maine.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, not only the fact that they're still in this position, but BC got five of six against uh New Hampshire last week.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Despite being down a lot of forwards, um, you had Teddy Stega, who got hit early in the game Friday against New Hampshire.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: He came back briefly, but then did not play Saturday.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Andre Gasot, as well as he played on Friday with a couple of goals, took a slew footing penalty.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So he was suspended for Saturday.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: So he was out.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: BC was down Barard, BC's been down Yelvik and will be down Yelvik for a little bit.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um they were playing Michael Haggins, who's a defenseman, was listed as their third line forward on Saturday, but they still managed to get it done.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: And their big guys really stepped up, not just in their production, but in their play on the ice.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Gabe Perel played 28 minutes on Saturday.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the game went to overtime, but 28 minutes on Saturday.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Ryan Leonard, back-to-back games, played 24 plus minutes on Friday and 25 plus minutes on Saturday.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So they really needed their big guys to step up and they did.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hagins played a ton of minutes on Saturday as well.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think the thing with Boston College right now, you know, they had those two games that they lost to BU and UMass.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Really no shame in losing those two teams, certainly, but their big guys are really playing well, almost to the point that not that they're undervalued by any means, because I know how much people are talking about Leonard and Perot and Fowler, but some of these numbers are pretty crazy.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Leonard now is on a 14-game point streak.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: He scored 15 goals and nine assists.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's 24 points in his last 14 games.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's now the national leader in goals by five, and the hockey east leaders in goals by eight coming into the week on our service credit union scoreboard.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty remarkable how far out in front he is, how many of these goals are coming in the third period.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: He now is just two goals away from 30 for the season, which would make him just the third Division I player in the last 20 years to post back-to-back 30 goal seasons.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Cam Atkinson did it 2010 and 2011, and Brett Sterling did it for Colorado College in 2005 and 2006.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so pretty rarefied air for Leonard.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, then you have Perot, who's up to second nationally and assists with 31.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, Jacob Fowler actually might be the most underrated guy on this group and how well he played.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh BC's playing Merrimack this week, so it'll be seeing that team again that beat Boston College in January.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Since that game, Fowler over his last 15 games, has a 952 save percentage and a 1.40 goals against average.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's just silly numbers right now.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the best players are playing that way, and BC controls their own destiny, but they certainly are well aware of what Merrimack can do in Conte Forum.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because earlier this season, January 10th, Merrimack was the team that actually snapped their 18-game home win streak.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one that they certainly still remember.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: That was uh back right when World Juniors was finishing up, and they kind of caught them off guard a little bit.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a really long win streak that they helped snap.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at Merrimack and what they've been able to do recently, I was broadcasting their games at PC, and uh I was really impressed with their freshman line.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: They have, I would say, four offensive uh freshmen that I was I was completely uh impressed with.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'll start with the line that they just reunited.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ryan O'Connell, Kalen Fitzpatrick, and Caden Cranston were buzzing.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Cranston has gotten hot recently.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: He had two goals in that PC series, he had two goals the weekend before against Vermont.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And these freshmen, including uh Nick Pierre as well, they play in all three situations.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: They play power play, penalty kill, even strength.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and another player to keep an eye on in this matchup because he transferred from BC to Merrimack as Seamus Powell.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: He'll be going up against his brother, the captain of BC, Eamon Powell.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: But for Seamus this season, he really leads the Merrimack defense.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's got the most points on the team.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's had a really great season.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was really good.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that, you know, you mentioned Nick Pierre.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: He was excellent against BC back in January.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Zach Bookman coming back is really important.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: He scored a goal against BC.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So all really important pieces for Merrimack, and we'll see what they do.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: So BC controls their own destiny for the one seed, but if they should slip up, Maine has an opportunity.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: They have a massive series on the road at the Mullen Center this weekend against UMass, and we'll talk about that when we go around Hockey East coming up next.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's time to go around Hockey East, presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we mentioned Maine.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: If Boston College should stumble, Maine still has an opportunity.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: They likely need to get all six points this weekend, but there is still a chance of the number one seed and first regular season title for Maine since 1995, which still is hard to believe every time that I see that note.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Maine, despite the fact it's a tough road to get the one, it's not for lack of playing well here recently.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they are 6'1 and 3 since January 17th.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: They have not lost a game in regulation in that time.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: They have standings points in all 10 of those games since January 17th, dropping a game to UConn.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe more importantly, and maybe the reason they're in the position they are, is they have actually gotten at least two points in the standings in nine of their last 10 games.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: They've won three shootouts in that time.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about it on the show, Bridget, when with the game up at Alphonse against UNH, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: It felt like that third period on Saturday, Maine finally broke out.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: They hadn't scored more than three goals in a game in the second half of the season.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: That felt crazy.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Their power play had been really struggling.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: That felt crazy.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it felt like it all just finally got released and the offense came to life in that third period.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it really has been a spark, right?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: So now in the last four games, including that one against UNH on February 15th, they're averaging 3.8 goals per game.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: They were only scoring just over two in the first 12 games of the second half.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Their power play has woken up.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Four for the last eight on the power play after that crazy stretch where they went 0 for 27.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, and we know what Alvin Boya has been doing in goals.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when you combine that with a little bit more offense here, and not just offense that we don't expect to sustain, but offense that I think we expected all along, Maine's in a really good spot right now, but that does not make it an easy matchup this weekend at UMass, who's been playing extremely well.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and Maine has to have a huge weekend in order to pass Boston College, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it is really important for them.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: For UMass, it's important for a different reason.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's important for their pairwise rankings as well as their positioning in the standings, but uh they're they've been moving up around that bubble area of the of the pairwise and they want to stay right ahead of that line.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll take a look at some of the keys to know for UMass on this matchup.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they're coming off kind of a crazy weekend against UMass Low.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: They took five of the six points.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Cole O'Hara scored twice on the power play.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So their power play's been clicking.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: They had a goal in each of those games on the man advantage.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you look at some of the other players to keep an eye on, Jack Musa's been on a bit of a hot streak, eight goals, nine assists, and 17 points in the last 12 games.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cole O'Hara, 11 goals, nine assists, 20 points in the last 12 games.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now just one point behind Denver's Jack Devine for a national lead in points.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's been somebody that I know we mention him occasionally, but the name O'Hara should probably be talked about quite a bit on the case.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's unheralded anymore.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think now everybody's very aware over what he's done over the last month, now that he's just sniffing the national lead, how good he's been recently.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he did it on the power play again this weekend, too, which is one of UMass's real, real keys and what's made them so good here these last 12.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and Robble is is playing pretty well.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it really, when you look at it, the players that UMass needs to be playing well this time of year are the the players that they've they knew they could get offensive from, they are, and they're getting that goaltending from Robble that they really need.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that you know, this weekend is one of those when you play Maine, even at home, it's gonna help you because of how good Maine is.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So UMass is in a pretty good spot.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Not to say if they were to lose out here the rest of the way, they would be totally safe for the NCAA tournament, but they're in a reasonably good spot right now.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And Maine still has a chance at a number one seed in the NCAA tournament as well.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So they need to take care of business for a couple different reasons, but should be a really good series.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Friday's game has been moved to Nesson, so that's a late ad.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll be seven o'clock on Friday on Nesson.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Over on Nesson Plus, it'll be the team that UMass beat last Saturday, UMass Lowell.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: They'll host New Hampshire.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about another NCAA bubble team in Lowell on the other side when we come back.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Time to continue around Hockey East, presented by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of Hockey East.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Over on Nesson Plus tonight, it is UNH traveling on the road to UMass Lowell.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is a UMass Lowell team after dropping five of six points to UMass, is now on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament picture, but just by a hair, they're still very much in the mix, but some crucial games down the stretch coming up here for Lowell.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they finish off with a home and home series against UNH, like you mentioned, Friday at home.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is the first time these two teams have met this season, coming on the last weekend.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look back to last year and even heading into the the season before that, UNH has won the previous four meetings, and they actually held UMass Low scoreless in three out of those four.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but teams are very different uh this season, as well as we'll get to you know, some players coming back from injury, and there's there's a lot going on in this series that should make it interesting.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: But looking at the month of February that UMass Lowell has had since February 1st, they're two, five, and one, but they really have been playing better than their record would show.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lull had a regulation loss and a shootout loss against UMass, they got only one out of those six points against UMass, but they played really well.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like they there were points in that game where they were the better team.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: They led in both of those games at different times.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at who they've been able to get back, they got back Lieber Nemich.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's someone who missed a good chunk of January.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now that he's back in the lineup, that infuses a little bit more offense.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was a guy that they missed on the power play.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was somebody that could score.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's good to see that some of those young guys for this UMass little team are scoring as of late.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Lee Park's one of those as well.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: He scored a goal Saturday, his seventh goal of the season.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nemich scored as well.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when you look at these two teams, you feel like they're in a similar spot where their record hasn't been good recently, but they've played better than that.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at UNH, it's a similar thing, Eric, and they're coming off some injury adversity as well.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's no doubt.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, you mentioned it with Lowell, right?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: They had a lead in that game against Providence going to the third period on that Saturday.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: They had a lead with like five minutes left in the game against Yukon earlier in the month and lost that game in overtime.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: New Hampshire, we've talked a lot about.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's very, very similar, still just the one win since starting hockey's play in the second half of the season, but they've been really close in a lot of these games.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: They've had leads in a lot of these games.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they get a tie on Saturday against Boston College.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think folks know the situation by now.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: If not, Jared Whale had to leave the game on a stretcher off the ice on Friday from Boston College.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: All reports are from UNH that he's doing okay and back resting comfortably on campus.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we're very excited to hear that and continued prayers to him that the recovery will continue positive the way it has.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you had Rico DiMatio stepping in, was solid down the stretch Friday, and then just played great on Saturday.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And because of it, he was the hockey scholarie of the week and deservedly so.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: 31 saves, but most notably, he has Ryan Leonard coming in on him in overtime in a 1-1 game and stops him with a key glove save, which was awesome.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so uh something that's certainly going to be a memory for him.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, he talked about it.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I got a little bit of momentum.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I felt pretty good, was happy about that.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And now, you know, let's see what happens here going forward.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So uh it's still possible for both these teams to move up in the standings.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: As you said, it has not been a stretch that really stands out record-wise, but uh it doesn't mean these are two teams that haven't played well here recently.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and one thing Mike Judas said as well is because we're dealing with this adversity in net, we really need to lean on our veteran defensemen.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And somebody that has done that for a lot of the season already is Alex Gagney.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's somebody that they need to lean on more.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: There, there's a few other senior defensemen as well that can step in.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And run support is gonna be big, no matter who's in net, uh, because they've had leads, but they haven't been able to extend it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that puts a lot of pressure on the goalies.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: So this week it's definitely important to get some a little bit of extra run support.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of Lowell as a last piece, it's worth looking at where we are on the bubble right now quickly.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's kind of crazy how small the bubble is right now.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, the top nine teams feel like locks.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Really, you can almost go down to the top 10, top 11 are all like 80% to make the tournament.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: UMass, we've talked about, they're in a pretty good spot right now.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Again, if they lose out, it might be a problem, but they're in an okay spot right now.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: So then after that, you're dealing with Quinnipiac, you're dealing with a surging Penn State, and then you have Arizona State and Lowell just on the outside.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now you can almost forget Quinnipiac's spot when you're evaluating this, right?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because the ECAC has to have a spot.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be a one big league.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: If it's Quinnipiac, it'll be Quinnipiac.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: But if Quinnipiac, even if they weren't to were to lose in the ECH tournament, they're lot likely dropping out anyway.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that spot just goes to the ECAC champs.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of established.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: So then when you do that math, you're likely looking at one spot left because you have to have the other two spots for the other conferences.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you're looking at one spot left and basically like three teams for that one spot, maybe two team, you know, two spots if UMass or Michigan fall off.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you're basically looking at Lowell, Penn State, and Arizona State for that final spot in the NCAA tournament.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: So there is no margin for error whatsoever here for UMass Lowell down the stretch, which makes a weekend like this so important.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll see what they can do on home ice starting tonight on Nesson Plus against New Hampshire.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll wrap up our show with some short shifts here on This Week in Hockey East.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back inside this week in Hockey East.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue with Eric Galanti.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to take our short shifts presented by the shift group, helping former athletes and veterans become elite business professionals.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my short shift this week has to do with the major awards being giving out on the women's side.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look through who got them, it's not really a big surprise.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the Hockey East Player of the Year getting the Cami Granado Award is only the second Friar to ever do so, is Riken Kirchmeyer having a great junior season.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: She led the league in points and just was so solid and a leader on that Providence Friars team.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that really made a lot of sense.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look down the list a little bit further, Claire Murdoch getting rookie of the year for her Yukon Huskies.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: She led all rookies in pretty much every stack category.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: You could have points, assists, game-winning goals, goals.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, she had an outstanding freshman season.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then her head coach, uh Chris McKenzie, getting the Hockey East Coach of the Year award for the second straight year for once again leading Yukon to a first place finish in the regular season standings.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all much, much deserved from that group.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, we want to talk about Hockey East Live, which is gonna debut on Saturday night at 7 o'clock right here on Nesson.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: First of its kind whip around live show that's gonna showcase the final four games of the men's regular season.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: They're each gonna start with staggered start times to make sure that something is always on.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll have a Nesson crew in the studio.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Adam Pellerin, Billy Jaffe, and Razor will all be there to be able to look in at the key action and get you set for where everything is gonna shake out over the final day of the regular season in a red zone style format, something that we've talked about internally for a long time and just really, really excited to make it happen.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that'll be 7 o'clock on Saturday on Nessen as we wrap up the regular season and get you set for the playoffs.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Women's tournament finals this weekend.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Playoffs are on the horizon.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So much to talk about.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Can't wait for it right here.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us on This Week in Hockey East.