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Top Ranked BU, Ben Barr Interview Highlight This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

0:08
SPEAKER_01: Hi folks, welcome to another edition, episode two of This Week in Hockey East.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: Great to be with you along with Bridget Prue.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm Eric Galanti.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna jump right in with our college hockey game of the week on Nesson this week.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: It is the main Black Bears, the defending Hockey East champs traveling to Quinnipiac for a two-game series against the Bobcats.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: And we're so glad to be joined by the head coach of the Maine Black Bears.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: That is Ben Barr, who's nice enough to join us.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Coach, thanks so much for being here.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: Good to see you guys.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of things that we could talk about to start, but just because we were talking about it before we came on, you were looking for a new place in your new building, new offices, new everything, the renovations that are going on at Alphonse Arena.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you tell us where things stand with that?
0:50
SPEAKER_01: As that's obviously a huge part as you guys begin this season.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we uh we opened the renovation up a couple weeks ago and obviously played our first games here last weekend.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's it's better than anything I would have ever imagined.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: So um it's an exciting time to be up here right now and uh still working out the kinks with the lights in the in our uh in our offices and stuff, which is why I was a little bright in my office, so I moved.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: But um, other than that, we're pretty fortunate.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: Brand new locker room, weight room, medical facility, uh, concourse for the rink and everything.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: So hopefully you guys come up some point this this year and get a chance to check it out.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: You're coming into this season as the defending hockey east champions, and obviously there's normally a different message that comes along with that because now you're the team that's defending rather than trying to go out there.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: You kind of have a little bit of an extra target on you normally in that kind of situation.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: How do you manage the expectations of this team?
1:48
SPEAKER_00: What's the message to your team this season?
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, it's been, I mean, we have so many new players on our team that um it almost feels like we're just trying to find ourselves all over again.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: And I I don't imagine that's much different for for most teams across the nation.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, trying to trying to rely on on past successes to have any, you know, in indication of how things are gonna go this year is uh is a trap that we're um you know, it really doesn't I don't even think it it enters our our world at this point.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: We have so much work to do to become and find our identity as a team this year that um you know that's that was all good and you know obviously those are the good moments that we'll take with us uh for a long time down the road.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: But um we we have a lot of work to do as a as a team to find our identity here to try to have success um you know in our current year.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Ben, you mentioned some of the turnover, and it feels like everyone in college hockey now, rather than six or seven new guys you're dealing with, it's 10 to 15 new guys for everyone.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you obviously lose some key guys from last year, some key core guys.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: What has been the process of replacing and finding the new leadership with this year's group?
3:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just um, you know, we probably we've been going through it here the last couple weeks.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: We played an exhibition game a couple weekends ago, and it, you know, it it looked like we never practiced before.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we were, you know, last week was a was a little bit better, and you know, obviously we're gonna have to be even better to go on the road and play a fantastic Kunipia team and um you know, and their barn.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: So uh, you know, for us it's just you know, trying to understand what is uh you know winning hockey and and what isn't, um, you know, with with all the new faces.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: And you know, that they've been extremely coachable and you know, we have a good group of core veterans back.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: Um Thomas Friel, Brandon Holt, uh, you know, our senior captains that those guys are you know, they've been here through thick and thin.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: So uh we're relying on those guys a lot to to help us with this process because you know that's gonna be the I think the challenge for everybody.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: It's nice to have all these you know talented players, a lot of CHL players that were that were never eligible.
4:06
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: But you know, the teams that find their identity and and figure out how to play uh you know a solid brand of hockey as quickly as possible are the ones that are probably gonna benefit the most.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you about your goaltender, Alvin Boya.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: He was a big part of the team last year.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's gotten some NHL interest.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: He was at the Bruins development camp this year.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: What makes him such a special goalie?
4:30
SPEAKER_02: He's just really mentally focused.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: He's pretty fiery.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Um so he just he wants to win.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: He wants to win, he wants to succeed, he cares about his teammates, he cares about the University of Maine.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, that's that's what we're trying to get with all of our student athletes.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, he's one of those guys that uh you know, he's out there to he's always trying to push the envelope and get a little bit better.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: And that's uh we asked that from all of our guys, and you know, when it starts a net, and you know, obviously Alfie's done a great job with him and and our goalie and our other goalies as well.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, that's uh it's a it's a it's a real calming presence for us back there.
5:11
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, he was that this past weekend, and um, I'm sure he will be going forward.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: And obviously a game from Justin Poirier in his first game, having a hat trick obviously stands out.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: But as you mentioned, the CHL guy coming in from the queue, it's gonna have a seismic seismic impact on college hockey.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: We know that, but especially for you guys from your proximity to a lot of these leagues that all of a sudden are eligible.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: What has been the thing that you guys have kind of noticed as you've started to go through this process of bringing in some CHL guys and the impact you think like it could potentially have on your program?
5:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, every I think every we have I think eight on our team.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: So we have you know quite a few CHL players from you know, really the three different CHL leagues.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: And every one of them I think has had a different experience.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, the 20-year-olds uh that were aging out of juniors, it's it's maybe a little bit of a different mentality than some of the younger guys, like um, you know, Justin Poirier, Miguel Marcus, you know, some of the guys that you know made that jump, you know, maybe a year or two before they had to.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's you know, sometimes you take for granted when you're, you know, the the things have been the same way for so long in college hockey, as far as where we recruit players, whether it's the USHL, the BCHL, the North American League, and now you've added these other leagues that are now eligible.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, the thing that you take for granted a little bit is that most of the players that are playing in those traditional college development leagues, they understand what they're getting into.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: And and some of these CHL players, this has it's never been on their radar until four or five months ago.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: And uh, so that's been the thing, you know, just making sure we're aware of, you know, some of the different, you know, obviously the the school piece of it, there's some culture shock with it sometimes, depending on where a student athlete is coming from.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: So uh, you know, we've been working through that with with our guys, and some of them it's been easy, no problem, and some of them it's there's been ups and downs.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: But um, as long as they're they're willing to to to talk about it and and work through it and get a little bit better every day, which all of our guys have been, um, we found that it's um it's been uh you know a really a really positive experience so far.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we're only a a couple weeks in, but uh you know, if they if they're playing at their at their best, obviously they're gonna help a lot, you know, our team and many other teams that um that brought CHL players in as well.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, coach, just what are you expecting and hoping to get out of this matchup against Quinnipiac?
7:39
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, that's just a really tough early season matchup to go on the road and play one of the best teams in the nation in their in their rings.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: So it's gonna be a lot different challenge than um you know the we that we had this past weekend.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh playing at the Alphonse is always a huge advantage to us, and uh going on the road is is definitely always a challenge anywhere, but especially playing a team that's um as well coached, as talented as Quinnipiac.
8:03
SPEAKER_02: So uh it'll be a great challenge for us, and and we'll have to be much better than we were last weekend.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: It's a couple of crazy games last year, Ben.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't expect much different this weekend.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Good luck.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, guys, appreciate it.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: That's Ben Barr, the head coach of Maine.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to their game this weekend against Quinnipia and looking forward to talking plenty more of Hockey East.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: That's all coming up on this week in Hockey East.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: It's time to go around.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Hockey East presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Plan your fall getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: Eric, it's time for us to talk about some of the men's matchups this week.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: We have a top five matchup to talk about between BU and Michigan State, but first let's take a look at the polls.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: We have six of the top 14 teams in the USEHO.com poll as hockey east teams.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, isn't it amazing?
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Boston University jumps up to number one.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: It felt like everyone who was up there had some sort of blemish last weekend.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: So BU, who did not lose, they tied on Saturday to Colgate.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: They're the number one spot.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: Then you see Maine, who we talked about.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about that Maine Quinnipiac game as we go through.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: Nice bounce back weekend for Boston College, and then UMass, Yukon Providence.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about all these teams.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: But what a week for Boston University, right?
9:17
SPEAKER_01: They're number one in the country.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh, two alums inked some massive contracts in the NHL, right?
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Jack Eichel and Lane Hudson both getting eight-year deals.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: And they are playing this massive matchup with Michigan State for two games at home, starting on Friday night at Againis.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: Bridget, you've seen the Terriers up close for a couple of games now.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about what stands out with them.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they got their first win against LIU.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: They got a win and a shootout win against Colgate last weekend.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: I think this is gonna be their biggest test so far.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: This is the first ranked opponent they're gonna play this season.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: And not only are they ranked there, you know, they were just the number two team, now the number three team in the country.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so in that last game against Colgate, you kind of saw them get away from their details a little bit.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: There was a little bit of sloppiness, and they're gonna have to really clean that up in order to beat a team like the Spartans.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: For BU, the good news is you're already seeing the chemistry form.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Ryder Richie and Cole Eiserman play off each other really well already.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: Richard Richie's just a freshman, Eiserman is sophomore, and they both have such offensive minds.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: They can both make plays, they can both score.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I asked J Pandolfo about it after this weekend.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, they have really good chemistry and they're working, winning their pucks.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and when their details are good, they're really good players.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: They're both very gifted offensively.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Ryder can make plays, and we know we can put the puck in the back of the net.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: So when you're doing those things right, it's fun to watch them.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: And I'll add in uh Cole Hudson, who once again has been productive uh productive from the blue line for Boston University.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: All three of those guys, Richie Eisenman and Hudson, all averaging over a point and a half per game this season so far through just three games.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: And BU has really an abundance of offensive weapons, I would say.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not just those top line guys, but the bottom six players have been producing as well.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Last weekend we saw first career goals for four different BU players, uh, including some freshmen, John Morello, Jack Murtag, and Junior Mick Frischette.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they all scored, they're all in the bottom six, so there's been some depth scoring as well.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: There's one player, too, that I feel like we haven't seen a lot of yet, and that's Sasha Bois Vert.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: He's a transfer in from North Dakota.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: He suffered a minor upper body injury in BU's exhibition game two weeks ago.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: He came in and played a little bit Saturday, felt like something was just off.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: He said uh he felt good in warm-ups, but then he started to feel bad during the game and thought he might be hurting the team.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: So he took himself out of that competition.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: But he's a he was the top line center going into that weekend, and he's somebody that we know can score as well, the NCHC rookie of the year last year.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the thing with BU is we saw like the high and the potential on Friday, and then you see some of that consistency thing come up on Saturday.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: And the great thing about covering Jay Pandolfo teams is like we don't have to make up something like what he's thinking, because he says it.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: He says exactly what he's thinking and his postgame.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: And he was really disappointed with how things went on Saturday.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: But obviously, it's easier to be that coming out of a win and or in a tie and not a loss, and doing so in October.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, he's confident it'll come along.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: But that's something that we talked about a lot with BU last year.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: It's certainly something it looks like we may be talking about early this year, but we'll see against this Michigan State team.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the other thing was the power play, right?
12:30
SPEAKER_01: Eiserman, three power play goals in three games.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: That that'll play, right?
12:33
SPEAKER_01: But uh the ceiling Friday, again, a little bit of a struggle Saturday.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: But again, as Jay said, it's October, sky's not falling.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Michigan State's here, though, and this is such a good challenge, right?
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, we keep saying this, but it's just so great that we get these matchups early in the season, that we get these type of games.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, national audience for this one.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be interesting to watch this Michigan State team, which again, ton of ton of high-end talent, just like Boston University, similar styles, but it it's interesting because they're certainly not infallible, right?
13:04
SPEAKER_01: Because we saw what UNH did to Michigan State last weekend.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll take a look at the highlight too.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: This is against uh UNH.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: It ends up being a Marty Lavins game-winning goal with five seconds left in regulation.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: So UNH starts out the season with this big emotional win against the then number two team in the country.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: And I guess we can talk a little bit about UNH here as well, because they have this crossover and with Michigan State starting against two different hockey east opponents, it kind of transitions nicely.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: And when you look at how they were able to use their power play against Michigan State to be successful, they were two for five, including a goal by Morgan Winters on the power play.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: He scored twice in that game.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: And he's this week's service credit union scoring leader.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: Silent Clerk got a power play goal as well.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: And also to take a look at their goaltending this year, uh, what a UNH debut for Kyle Chavette.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: He's a union transfer.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: He was third team all ECAC last year.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: He had 34 saves in that win, 36 saves the following night in the two to nothing loss.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: He's somebody to keep an eye on for them as well.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: They get Merrimack to open Hockey East play this weekend.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one other team I want to talk about in terms of the hockey East games is there is one Friday, UMass taking on Northeastern out in Amherst.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Let's just spend some time on this UMass team because the thought coming into the year about UMass was it was the opposite of last year, right?
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Last year, we weren't quite sure about the defense core early because it was young.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: We kind of trusted what the forward group would be.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: This year, the forward group's really young.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Greg Carvel loves the depth of it, but it's young and it's untested.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, so far they're 3-0.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've already seen them have 70 plus shots in the game against Northern Michigan in the opener.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then you look at first round pick, Vasiloff Nestrashil.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: He's been awesome so far.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: A first round pick of Chicago, and you look at what he's done, a hat-trick against Stonehill last time out, four goals so far in his three games on 19 shots.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: He's a big freshman, six foot six.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: So there's that adjustment period, but he's looked very good so far.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: You combine that with Jack Musa, who, you know, was really good last year, so it's certainly not a surprise, but three goals, seven points so far.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Greg Carville called him as good a forward as he's ever had at UMass.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: He's making plays faster.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: The puck is on and off his sticks so quickly, as much as any player he's had.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: We could go on and on and on.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Michael Harabel should be pretty steady and net.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, there's some youth up front for UMass, and it's really interesting how they're going to be tested, right?
15:36
SPEAKER_01: They've started with some really big games early in the Greg Carvel era.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: This year's a little bit different.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit of a slower build into the schedule.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Now they get Northeastern and then Bentley on Saturday.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Then you look at what they have coming up.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: It's at Omaha, Cornell, Maine, BC, Providence is their next five weekends.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: So it's been pretty impressive what we've seen from them so far.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: And now they're going to start to ratchet up to a totally different level.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: They'll take on a Northeastern team looking to bounce back from a loss to Army in their opening weekend.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, the other thing with UMass, the power play has been really good.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Four power play goals in the first two games.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: When UMass is going right, their power play is usually going right.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: We've seen that so far.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: So I'm really interested to see what we get for UMass as they get into Hockey East play this weekend.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of really good Hockey East men's matchups.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: We'll take you through the women's matchups uh next and also kind of look back at what the key moments have been for them so far.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned for that, as well as our preview for the main Quinapia game right here on Essen.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Let's go around Hockey East presented by Boston Children's Hospital and look at some of the women's action so far.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: I think it's perfect to start out with Northeastern.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Notably, they've gotten off to a perfect start.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: They have two wins over RIT, a six to two win over RPI, and then a four to nothing shutout over Providence in their only conference game so far.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: The Huskies have only allowed four goals in those four games, and some of that's thanks to sophomore goaltender Lisa Janssen.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: She was in net for the shutout.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: She returns for her sophomore season after a fantastic freshman year.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she was the national goalie of the year semifinalist, and she had seven shutouts last year, uh, which was the most of any freshman goalie.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: She had also had the best save percentage, which is 9 through 8 save percentage, and the best goals against average, which is uh 1-6, one goals against average for any freshman in the country.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: And they also had freshman goaltender Renatrambecki, who made her first career start in goal against RPI last week, allowing just one goal on 12 shots in the win.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: So this is a maybe another uh goalie find for uh uh head coach Mike Flint, who, or Dave Flint, who uh always seems to find these great goaltenders.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: And uh Northeastern's offense was on display as well.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jersey Mike's a sub-above player of the week.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Lily Shannon had six points.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: She had two goals and four assists uh in the two wins for Northeastern last weekend.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: And uh this week's series for them against number seven Quinni Piac will be a good test just to see how solid this Northeastern woman's team is this year.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: They were off to a very nice start.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: It'd be interesting to see how they do.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one other notable performance.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: How about Vermont last weekend?
18:14
SPEAKER_01: This week they'll be competing at the icebreaker.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what a special set of results, right?
18:19
SPEAKER_01: They go on the road to number 12 St.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: Lawrence last weekend.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: Friday night, they score a late goal in the final five seconds for a 1-1 tie against a ranked team.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: Ellie Simmons made 33 saves in the effort.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: And then Saturday, they turn around an overtime win, two to one.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: First ever win at St.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Lawrence for Vermont, and they post that weekend on the road.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: So pretty impressive stuff for Vermont.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: They've played all ranked teams so far.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Their first five games are going to be against ranked teams.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: They also played a couple of, you know, games against Penn State where they lost both, but made it closer at the end.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so really interesting to see what we get from this Vermont team with this challenging start.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, also want to note Boston College swept their opening series in hockey's play.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Ava Thomas 10 points now in three games.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: BC and Cornell is part of a weekend slate where Hockey East plays six ranked opponents this weekend.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when we come back, we'll dive into this weekend's top 10 matchup between Maine and Quinnipiac.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Can Maine stay undefeated?
19:18
SPEAKER_00: We'll discuss that next on this week in Hockey East.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: Maine and Quinnipiac is our big matchup coming up Friday night, 7 o'clock on Nesson.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Bridget, let's talk a little bit more about Maine.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: We talked with Ben Barr earlier.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: This Blackbears team's picking up right where they left off last year.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they have a perfect first weekend of the season.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: They sweep Holy Cross.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: It was a five to two win uh for the Blackbears on Friday, and then a six to nothing shutout on Saturday, with Justin Fourier getting a hat-trick in his debut.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: So already off to a good start for his collegiate career.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: One player I want to bring up, who I did ask Ben about in our interview, was Alvin Boya, because I think that he is going to be one of the best goalies in college hockey again.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: So he's important to bring up.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: My question is: can Alvin Boya have an even stronger season than last year and push for a Richter award?
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he was a finalist for the award last year.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: He had the fifth best goals against average in the country and the fifth most wins.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: And he was a big part of Maine's run to the Hockey East Championship.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: He was named the MVP of the tournament.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: So to me, a lot of success early on in this season, too, while the team gets its footing and while, as Ben mentioned, they try to integrate a lot of new players, it's going to be important for Albin Boya to be calm and in the net and kind of backstop the early part of this season.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is if Jacob Fowler doesn't have the year that he does, which was literally one of the three best goalie seasons in hockey's history, then Albin Boya's winning most of, if not all, these awards last year.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: So he certainly has the potential to do it here this year.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: This is a challenging matchup, though, and I think we're going to learn a lot about this main team.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: It feels like every coach you talk to when they play Quinnipiac, they come away saying you're going to learn a lot about your team when you face a team like them.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: They're so good structurally.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: They're usually so good in October.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Last year was kind of out of the ordinary for them that they struggled.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, really nice win against BC on the road.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Did have a tough loss at the icebreaker, but then they bounced out back in a massive way against Notre Dame.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: So they should be firing at all cylinders, excited to get home.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: One thing that stands out for this matchup, though, Maine just played Holy Cross and Bill Riga, who was Ramp Pecknold's longtime assistant for Quinnipiac.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: So they play a very similar style.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: So Quinnipiac, which can be a little bit different than what we see in Hockey East, but Maine just saw it for two games against Holy Cross.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: So that's something to note with this particular matchup.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, should be a lot of fun against uh Quinnipiac this weekend for two.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Before we wrap up, want to get to some quick hitter fun stories that we saw across Hockey East this week.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: Bridget, I know you want to talk about something that happened out in Minnesota.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is something that uh people in the area are interested in because Dean Laterno is a Bruins prospect.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Fun story, he finally got his first collegiate goal last weekend in BU's second game of this season.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: He's such a big, powerful, uh just large center, and you see him finally get that goal, and it's really just good for him to get it out of the way early in this season so it doesn't linger and follow him uh around as the year goes on.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: So maybe he can just breathe a sigh of relief, he gets his first.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the thing that obviously folks are looking for the scoring because the zero last year stands out.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: But I think folks know the story at this point.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: He came in a year early to Boston College when with Will Smith left early for the NHL, coming directly to college from St.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Andrews, so not taking the USHL path.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, whatever the path, whatever the decision was, the thing that we've seen so far is he looks much, much stronger.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: And not just that, but he's using his strength in a way that's allowing him to anticipate earlier and get to some of those offensive skills, which is the reason he's drafted first overall.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a really good sign.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: The other thing I just wanted to mention again, you look at where we are right now.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: After Saturday, we're already gonna have seen 19 matchups against two ranked teams this year in college hockey.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: A bunch of them lost early last week.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: We already saw Western Michigan go down as number one.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: They're playing lowell this week.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: We already saw three and four go down.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: So a couple of big matchups.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: It should be so much fun.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: We can't wait to talk about it as we talk all year long with This Week in Hockey East.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you joining us here today.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy some truly outstanding matchups across the league this week.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: For Bridget Crew, I'm Eric Galanti, and we will talk to you next time on This Week in Hockey East.