Latest / This Week in Hockey East / Turkey Day Special - This Week in Hockey East

Transcript

Turkey Day Special - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this episode of This Week in Hockey East.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Bridget Prue here with Erica Lancey.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of important non-conference games to dive into this weekend for both the men and the woman, and we'll be joined by Northeastern defenseman Jules Constantinople later on in the show.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: But first, let's talk about our quadruple header of Nesson Games on Friday, four Hockey East games on Nesson broadcasting starting at 1 p.m.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: with the BC men hosting Notre Dame at Connie Forum.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what more could you want for Thanksgiving than four college hockey games in a row on Friday?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be so much fun.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've talked a lot about Boston College, the way the schedule's fallen.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: They've been on Ness in a bunch here the last couple of weeks.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So uh just a couple of key points to get to here is the Eagles take on Notre Dame in what is just a was we teased last week.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is a gigantic weekend because of how important the non-conference schedule is on both the men's side and the women's side in terms of the NPI.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: We'll explain the why a little bit later.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: But talking about the games to start with, BC split in what I thought was a really good series, felt like a playoff caliber series against Maine over the weekend.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: They win 7-3 on Friday.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: They dropped Saturday's game 3-0.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: But even with that loss, BC's won five of their last six games since the start of November.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: They still are averaging more than four goals a game in that stretch, even after getting shut out by Mattis Russo, who was awesome for Maine on Saturday.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And even Saturday, they generated.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: They were still at about 3.6 expected goals despite just 21 shots.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they're still generating.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Greg Brown actually said he thought there were moments they played better Saturday than Friday, but just a couple of breakdowns that Maine took advantage of.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, they're still playing okay, and they're really one of the hottest teams in hockey east right now.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot, a lot of different players, Bridget, but different guys keep stepping up for BC.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, one guy we should talk about this week is Ryan Conme.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: He's our service credit union scoring leader.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: He had four goals and seven points in his last four games, including two goals and an assist on Friday night.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: He's a guy who early in the season had that success on the power play, and now it's starting to come five on five as well.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: And Greg Brown says Conme has gotten more comfortable playing in the system now after transferring from UNH in the offseason.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: And Eric, let's see if BC can keep it going offensively against Notre Dame and what's a crucial weekend.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is one of those things that makes college hockey a little bit different than some of the other college sports, right?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because in some of the other sports, when there's subjectivity, you can afford a loss somewhere along the way that kind of gets factored out in terms of the human element.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But because everything is a math problem in college hockey, right?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And everything is completely objective, this is the type of game you cannot lose, right?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because Notre Dame has not gotten off to a good start.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they're 3-8-1 coming into the week.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: They've played about the hardest schedule I've ever seen.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, just, you know, you look at this.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Since the start of November, Notre Dame has played number two Michigan at Minnesota, number one Michigan State, then they have this Hockey East weekend.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: After this, number two Wisconsin, then they open the second half with number seven Western Michigan, number one Michigan, and number nine Penn State.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's completely insane.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they might actually be better than their record, but their record is what it is.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're at home and you're facing a team with a poor record in the non-conference, you cannot lose this game.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is like, there's not enough time to make up unless you basically win as many games as you possibly can.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So this is one of those sneaky games that's so, so important in the course of a whole season, even though it doesn't necessarily jump off the page in terms of Notre Dame's record, but it is a rivalry game and that always factors in.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that we're gonna have a women's game as part of this Nesson quadruple header, right?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Penn State Northeastern.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that in a second with Jules.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then after that, it's Vermont taking on the number one team in the NPI right now, the Dartmouth Big Green.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: This could be a massive help to a lot of teams in the country if Vermont on Friday or Merrimack on Saturday, who's gonna play Dartmouth, could get a victory or get some kind of result here against the Big Green.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Their record is perfect.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're 6-0.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, they got off to a really good start last year under Reed Cashman and Bridget, they're doing it again.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Dartmouth so far averaging 4.3 goals per game, allowing just 1.2 goals per game.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: They have one win over a ranked team.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's a two-to-one win over number 17 Cornell earlier in the season.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And Big Green goalies have been good so far this year.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Emmett Croto and Rowan Clark have split time in net.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: They both have three wins.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: They both have great goals against average and save percentage numbers.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Croto with just outstanding numbers, a 1.00 goals against average, 960 save percentage.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Clark right behind him with a 1.33 goals against average, 923 save percentage heading into the weekend, and that's been a factor for why they've stayed undefeated so far.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it'll make the challenge really hard for Vermont as they try to find their offense.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're averaging under two goals a game so far this year.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think they've actually played okay on the back end.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of the results don't seem that way, but they've gotten pretty good goaltending, especially from the eye test.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: They had that very impressive win over Maine a couple of Saturdays ago.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: They've scored first in their last two games.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if they can find a way to get their offense going, there might be some potential here because there's some good stuff to see on the back end, but it'll be a question, can they do that against a really good Dartmouth team?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's an interesting matchup for Vermont coming off the game against Harvard.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then following that at night, maybe the most important matchup because Providence has a real opportunity, Bridget, going out to Colorado College for two games this weekend.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's not that many games left for hockey's teams against the NCHC.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is two of them for Providence.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest thing for the Friars, Roger McQueen is starting to trend the way we all expected him to when he announced he was coming to Providence this season.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, McQueen, being that top 10 draft pick, you expect him to have a great uh freshman season.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: And he got off to a little bit of a slow start in terms of the numbers, in terms of the gold numbers, but he really has been involved in the offense a lot from the jump.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you're starting to see it all come to fruition for him.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: He's got four goals in the last four games.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: He has 37 shots in the last six games.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Nate Lehman said he was always generating the most on our team, but he just hadn't scored yet.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: So it was only a matter of time.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: And now the goals are coming too.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: And he's really firing off shots, winning a lot of faceoffs.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: He's got good size, and that's what's been making him effective over the last few weeks.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's been really good on the face-off.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you try to think of what you can do to quantify that, like, you know, if we take a number like game score, which I know is a little bit in the weeds, but it basically just like adds all the things together that you're talking about, not just scoring and put it in one number.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ryan Sykes does a really good job.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: He put this note out on Twitter.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: McQueen actually has the second highest average game score of any player in hockey this year.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that basically backs up what Nate Lehman said that he's been maybe Providence's best player.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: The question was, were the goals gonna come, Bridget?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And now they have in a big way.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll see if they can continue that against Colorado College, a good NCHC team that uh we already saw split against UConn earlier this year.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're seven and six right now.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: They got a win over Duluth last weekend.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of really big games, but an even bigger one on the women's side coming up.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Penn State Northeastern.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: This should be fantastic and a great measuring stick.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk with Jules Constantinople next on This Week in Hockey East.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: As always, our guest is brought to you by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can still plan your fall getaway, still a few days left at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Jules Constantinople of the Northeastern Huskies is nice enough to join us here on this Thanksgiving week.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jules, thanks so much for spending a minute with us.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have all gotten off to such a good start in hockey play, 9-0, best start in program history.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: What has been the key so far to you guys playing so well in the conference?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first off, thank you for having me.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think our our depth, I think we come to the rink.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy that this is the best program start.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think we come to the rink every day.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: We want to work hard.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's the culture we set.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's everyone comes in, buys in, and um, everyone just wants to be here.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: So you always have seemed to be pretty comfortable jumping up into the offense as a defenseman, and it's led to some good offensive stats for you already this season.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think your offensive ability helps you helps set you apart from other defenders in the league?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I definitely think uh it definitely sets me apart.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think I am someone that does play D first, but I do love to jump in and um take my offensiveness to uh to the net.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I do think it does set me apart.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Jules, you mentioned that culture piece a little bit, and Dave Flint's been doing this for a long time.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have had so, so much success.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things that we don't get to see that you guys get to see every day that allows you guys to have such a good culture as a group?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think it comes from our coaching staff, but it also comes from our leadership.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh Coach Flint is definitely an easy-going guy.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's very quiet.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think when you get him uh riled up, it it definitely motivates us a little bit.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think his main focus is if you just come in, work hard, and you buy in, um, there's the good results, and it seems to be working with us with the start we've had.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: And we've seen women's hockey continue to grow a bigger fan base and have bigger stages over the last few years.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: And you were part of the last two being pot telled at TV Garden, uh, your team on both.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what did you feel like you've seen on that stage?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: How was it like to perform on that stage?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's insane.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think the first year it was definitely nerve-wracking playing in front of that many people.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: You could like see our heart rates, like we were uh all skyrocketing.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I definitely think it's just growing the game more.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh each year, like the first year it was big, and then the second year when we went out there, there was even more people, and I can't wait to see what happens this year with it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just incredible to see the growth it has.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I guess jumping off that, there's been this moment, it feels like, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: That PWHL has done a really nice job of, you know, growing the sport the last couple of years, the bean pot being at TD Garden, as we've talked about.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: For you as a player, when you're watching all of this happen around you, and especially considering, you know, the number of former Northeastern Huskies who are now playing professionally in the PWHL, what what what is it like for you as a player to get to see this happening in real time while you're, of course, you know, getting to the point where maybe these are options for you to consider down the road?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's it's cool.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely definitely um kind of almost prepares you for that moment.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where my future holds after Northeastern.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty excited to see where where I go, but I could say that the way uh college hockey is growing and the fan base is growing, it's it's incredible.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you talked about this a little bit, but and it's it's not that far away.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: What are you hoping to see from this year's bean pot uh once again at TV Garden?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: And and now do you think maybe your heart rate won't be quite as high as the first time?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because Daflin was telling us back back uh right after that first one that you guys all wear the heart rate monitors, and that he was seeing that was like at the national anthem, everybody was was kind of all excited.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: And do you just think you're maybe a little bit more used to it?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: And and are you hoping to see um an even bigger turnout this year?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's crazy.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: He is right.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: We wore the heart rates, and I'm someone that doesn't get in the red that much, and I was in the red all of uh the national anthem.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um I definitely hope for a bigger turnout, and uh I'm super excited to see it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you you have a big series this weekend, a big game against Penn State.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: We know what their record is, we know what your guys' record is.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know for you guys as players, you're trying to look at every game exactly the same, but you know, both coaches kind of threw out the idea of this could be sort of like a measuring stick, a good barometer of where you guys are.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is the hope that you guys can obviously hoping to win, but what's the hope that you guys can get out of a weekend like this still early in the season?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um confidence in a way.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think we keep building confidence each game, but this is again a top 10 matchup.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's gonna, it's Penn State.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm super excited.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've had this game marked.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think um they are a very physical, disciplined team.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think with us with the series, I think if we stay tuned to our details and we stay tuned to our systems, we come out with a lot of energy and we create chances and we capitalize on those chances, we'll set a really good pace going into the series.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: I got some fun questions for you now.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: All right, I was told that you give the score reports on the bus rides and that they're a hit.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us what that is.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so basically, after every Saturday game on a road game, uh I basically, our media Delaney, uh, she gives me the scores throughout college hockey, and I kind of yell score report and I say all the scores.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of get messed up a couple times, but it it's fun.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: It brings a smile in everyone.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love to hear the reactions at the scores, so yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: You took it over for someone else.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Who who used to do it and how did you end up in charge of it?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Maury Murphy did it my first year.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think it was Abby Marone, my second year, and then I done it the last two years.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know how I took it over.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm always the last one on the bus, and I might be the loudest one.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think Delaney was just like, Joel's here, you're it's your go.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, all right, I'll do it.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: This one's not hockey related.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when you were a kid, what occupation did you want to have when you were growing up?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um this one's crazy.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I loved anim I love animals, and I've always said I wanted to like be a vet or like be and or I went like around like way off from it, and I said a teacher because I like liked kids.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I don't I don't know at at this age now what my occupation is, but yeah.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh one last one.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: You got a fun fact about yourself?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have any hidden talents?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Any weird pregame rituals that you can share with us?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't have any hidden talents, I don't think.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think I can sing, I can't sing.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um think I can dance, I can't dance.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some pregame.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I play uh we play sewer before every game, and I think I'm pretty good at sewer, but I think my my teammates would say otherwise.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right, and and I guess one final one.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: What are your Thanksgiving plans for this weekend?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I will be going to my roommate and teammates Lily B's house, uh, Lily Brazis.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, super excited to spend the holidays with her and her family.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: All right, well, thank you so much, Jules Constantinople, for joining us this week.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: And when we come back, we'll get more into that matchup between Northeastern and Penn State coming up next on Nesson.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's time to check in on some of the big women's matchups this week, including our Nesson game between number four Penn State and number seven Northeastern.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's a 330 puck drop here on Friday.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: And Eric, these are two teams that have dominated their conference game so far this season.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really been amazing.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Northeastern, as we said, unbeaten.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Penn State unbeaten overall, which makes this a lot of fun.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think why has Northeastern been so good?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: We should dive into a couple of reasons for that.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: The the first big thing is their special teams have been fantastic.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have the best power play in hockey so far this year at 25%.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: They have the best penalty kill in hockeys this year at over 95%.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: What leads to a good penalty kill most of the time?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really good goaltenders.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And once again, Northeastern has that right.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: They've played both goaltenders here a little bit recently.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: We know how good Lisa Jansen was the end of last year.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: She is a 925 save percentage, leads hockeys with a 15-0 goals against average this year.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've seen a bit more of Renna Trimbecky here recently.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Had 30 saves over the weekend in the game she played against Maine, up to a 939 for the year, 230 save games already this season.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's been great so far.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So they have that goaltending once again.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, two good goalies.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it can never really hurt you.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Dave Flint knows that very well.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And uh some key players producing are another reason why this team has been doing so well so far.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we just talked to Jules Constantinople.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: She leads all hockey east defensemen with four goals, 12 assists, and 16 points.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: She also leads all defensemen in power play goals with four in the whole conference.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: And and you look at some of the freshmen that have been able to get involved so far this season for Northeastern as well.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Freshman's uh striker Sablocki with 16 points in just 14 games.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: And the captain Lily Shannon is our Jersey Mike's a sub-above women's player of the week.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: She had four goals last weekend against Maine.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: She leads Hockey East in goals.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: She's got 10 goals, 13 assists, and 23 points.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: She has the highest point for game pace in the conference.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: She's 1.64 points per game.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Also top five in total face-off wins for Northeastern as their top center.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on the other side for Penn State, as you mentioned, unbeaten so far.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just absolutely rolling, same similar stuff, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Power play's been really good.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: They've scored 16 times in their last 10 games.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when we think of the Penn State main, we're thinking men, we're thinking of Gavin McKenna.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: When we're thinking of the women, we're thinking of Tessa Janicke.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's been absolutely awesome and fun to watch so far this year, Bridget.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, our head coach Jeff Campersall called her a generational talent.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, compared her to Alina Mueller, who was that for Northeastern, and said that she's a master in the face-off circle.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: She also blocks a lot of shots, and she leads Penn State with 25 points in 14 games played.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, as we said, you'll see that game on Friday.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Another big one, again, similar to the men.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Bunch of non-conference games on the women's side, but one that stands out in the nutmeg classic.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: UConn, just another, you know, another top 10 matchup for UConn.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of been their whole season so far.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: They get Quinnipiac in this Connecticut rivalry.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Julia Pelerin coming off a hat trick against Vermont last week.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: The Huskies outscored UVM 10-3 over the weekend, and Tia Chan was good once again.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: She had a shutout in Friday night's game to start the series.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Two shutouts so far this year, nine, three, and one record.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So her being the main goalie this year and not splitting time with Megan Warner has not been an issue so far.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely not.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: She's got the best save percentage in Hockey East as well coming into the weekend.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and to talk about number nine, Kunapiek, they already had six games against Hockey East Schools, and they've won all six.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: They met UConn in an exhibition matchup as well to start the season and won three to nothing.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: So they've been good against the conference this year.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: And Kaelin Lamarche is someone you need to keep an eye on.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: She had seven goals in the weekend against Northeastern back in October, and they're notoriously hard to score against.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: So uh she has 19 goals this season.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's the most in the nation.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: When we come back, we'll talk MPI, Red Hot Hockey, and Hockey East alumni in the PWHL next on This Week in Hockey East.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We continue talking around Hockey East, presented by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of Hockey East.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Boston Children's, where the world comes for answers.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is time.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's here.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving is here.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's the most exciting part of the year.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: It means we can look ahead, not to the pairwise anymore, but to the NPI, which replaced the pairwise this year as what's going to decide the men's hockey tournament.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: It replaced the pairwise on the women's side a little while ago.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've talked about it.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why does this non-conference matter so much?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's the same as the pairwise, right?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: The NPI, which folks, if you don't know yet, basically we used to use three different criteria to compare teams.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'd compare those numbers through the prayerwise.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: We get rid of all of that now, and we basically just look at a hockey-specific RPI.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's much more similar to a lot of the other college sports, and it's the same to what the women's side is doing.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it has felt volatile if you've looked at the NPI at all this year, but it's really not about the NPI, which is the point we want to get across.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: The point, Bridget, is that this year has been different and this year has been volatile, which thus is causing the NPI to look volatile so far.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think people have probably checked in on their favorite team and saw them somewhere way lower than they were expecting to be in the NPI.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked about it a lot last year on this show, how Hockey East non-conference record was just so good.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Hockey East set its best out of conference record in league history last year.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And this year it's been different.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: Hockey East is uh 30, 25, and five, including a losing record against the NCHC, Big Ten, ECAC.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and Eric, explain what that means for the Hockey East rankings as the season goes on.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the ECAC's the big one because that's where Hockey East had such a dominant record last year, but it does a couple things, right?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: The league's overall standings, because you compare on these non-conference games, drops a little bit.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, Maine BC last weekend, top 15 matchup, right?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: But in the NPI, it's a team in the 20s against a team in the 30s.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't get the bump from playing your own conference because everyone is compressed a little bit.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing is just there haven't been these massive wins that we saw last year, right?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Northeastern has beaten Denver, but that's really the one big win for a hockey team, some of the top hockey's teams.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that quality win bonus?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: That still kind of factors into the NPI.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And those wins just haven't been there.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, Providence played Michigan, didn't get those wins.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that bump is not there.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: BC against Denver, Quinnipiac not there.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: BU over Michigan State.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when you don't have those wins, that's what really bumped.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Remember how many of those wins hockey East had early in the season?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a little bit of bad luck, right?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: BC gets a nice series out at Minnesota.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota hasn't been as good.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about it with Notre Dame.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's not gonna bump the way you would hope this weekend.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: So things become really important as we get now into this portion of the season.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Ivies have been really good.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So they're way up there, and you're gonna have to pick off some of these games with, you know, 25% of the non-conference games left are this weekend, Bridget.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this weekend becomes super important, including down at Madison Square Garden.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a big non-conference game this weekend.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Red Hot Hockey Saturday night at 8 p.m.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: between number 19 BU and number 17 Coronel at Madison Square Garden.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just one of the examples you're talking about, Eric.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: BU is currently all the way down at 38 in the NBI.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: If they win Red Hat hockey, they'll jump up in the NBI.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they'll help out the league's record against ECAC teams, and then hopefully if they get going, that will factor in if they go on a run down the road.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: So uh a lot of uh important non-conference matchups this weekend, and we'll we'll see what happens.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 11 of them this weekend on the men's side should be really, really interesting.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Important weekend for Hockey East.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Also want to quickly mention the PWHL is underway, 44 Hockey East alums on opening night rosters.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's really, really cool to see.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's a new record for Hockey East.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: We'll follow that as we go through this year.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for joining us, folks.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: For Bridget, I'm Eric.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the games this weekend.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk next week.