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TV Bonanza - Three NESN games in one week! · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Coming up on this week in Hockey East, we take a look at the preliminary USA World Juniors roster.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: We look around our three Nesson games for Hockey East this week, as well as go around the women's slate.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's all coming up on this week in Hockey East.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome inside this episode of This Week in Hockey East.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue here with Eric Galanti as always.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a game coming up for you just after this show, UNH against Northeastern, 7 p.m.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: puck drop here on Nesson.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where we're gonna start.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: We'll start with uh the matchup between the two teams.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, start us off.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think we're gonna try to do something a little bit different this week.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: We have a bunch of Nesson games on the calendar, which is really, really exciting as we get close to the end of the first half of the season.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So rather than really analyze these teams separately, which we've done a lot of, and now we're starting to see some of these teams again and again, we wanted to give you sort of three things to look out for as you take a look at this game.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll do that for uh this game, the Boston College Lowell game on Monday, and then the B U and U Mass game on Wednesday.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Those are all Nesson games over the course of this week before we next record.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So uh talking about UNH and Northeastern, I think the first thing you have to look out for is I know it's December, I know this sounds crazy, but this is like a true NCAA tournament bubble game.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is that if you look at where these two teams are, these are two teams that record-wise, early in the season, it didn't necessarily jump off the page, but they're right in the thick of it because of the schedules they've played and because of the fact they're in hockey east.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So their schedule is going to sustain through the whole course of the season.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: UNH right now coming into this week, UNH and Northeastern are right around kind of bubble territory, right?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern's 22nd, despite the fact they have a 3-6-3 record in the pairwise.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: New Hampshire comes in 18th.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Remember how close they were all season long.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: They were right around that number.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So any game that you have, not only A against teams right in that area, but B against teams in your conference right in that area, that can be so important once you get to the end of the season.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we won't know until we get to the end of the season, certainly, but it becomes a really important marker, not only because of where these teams are in the pairwise right now, again, right now, but the fact that this is the third meeting between these two teams.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, New Hampshire got a really nice win earlier this year, and then they had a tie in the second game at Matthews, so a third game, it's at Matthews Arena.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern feels like they're starting to trend a little bit, right?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: They've won two games in a row.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: They beat Boston College on Saturday.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then in a game against Bentley last week, it was a game that everyone around Northeastern was very open about saying.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't feel like they played the way that they're capable of playing, but they escaped with a result, which is kind of the opposite of what we've seen from them recently, right?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: They felt like they've been close and haven't necessarily gotten the results to this point.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So the fact that they were able to get a result against Bentley, I think is really, really important.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So this game could be pretty important with the momentum that it could give these teams going into the holiday break.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: New Hampshire also has a big game against Dartmouth, who we just saw against Boston College, how good that Dartmouth team is.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So really important game that could tell us where these teams are going to shake out.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because listen, as much as we think there's a ton of good hockey teams, eight of them are not getting into the tournament, right?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's only a 16-team tournament.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: So a game like this can be really important.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're talking about Northeastern's recent history, that win over number three Boston College is big for them in terms of when you're talking about pair up pairwise bubble, these teams going against each other.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the kind of games that when you win them, that gives you a boost.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you and you see those conference opponents automatically.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like you have to schedule um just out-of-town non-conference teams that are that are highly ranked, but you can do it within your conference automatically getting big wins.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's important for all these hockey east teams.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go into some of the recent history with UNH.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, first of all, they're coming off two wins over RIT, five to one and six to one wins, a weekend sweep for them.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, 10 goals from or 11 goals from 10 different goal scorers.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's only uh one player who scored twice in that weekend series.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's Connor Lovett.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and this offense has started to put up numbers.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: They've started to score at a quicker pace.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is their third time this season that they've had five or more goals.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Can they keep that going against Northeastern?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Can they keep getting contributions from up and down the lineup like they had against RIT last week?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the question for them.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and Northeastern, I think a question that they have still is special teams.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've talked about this quite a bit, but the power play uh still not going at full pace.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's at 8 uh the season.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, they haven't scored a power play goal in the last five games, but they also haven't given up a power play goal in the last five games.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you take the good with the bad there.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and once that power play does start to get going, you could see uh that that will also affect what we talked about potential rankings in the pair wise and also in the standings.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that second point about UNH's offense is really important because they've played really good defense all year.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we we've mentioned it on the show that they've had a couple of really big outliers.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe outlier is not the right word because you can't just take away games where you give up a lot of goals, but a significant majority of the goals they've given up have come in two or three games, right?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: The game against Quinnipia, the game against Providence stands out.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we've kind of grown to trust New Hampshire's defense at this point.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: If their offense can match that, I think that's a pretty important thing.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you look at someone like Connor Lovett, who's gonna be our night shift all academic standout from last week with his couple of goals, he's someone who, if they can step in and it's not just Con me.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just LeClaire.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's some of those other pieces that's really important.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a third point about this game that we want to talk about is just where do the shots live in this game, right?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: New Hampshire, we've talked a lot about the fact they're really good at limiting shots.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: In the two games against Northeastern, they held them to 23 and 29 shots in two games.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern has given up a lot of shots this year.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: They've given up 30 a bunch.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now they've been able to overcome it the last couple of games.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And Jerry Keith's talked about there's a difference between the shots out wide and shots right in the slot, right?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not necessarily just about the number, but how does that affect the flow of this game?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Who's sort of controlling things in this game?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's something we're gonna watch as well.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the one last point I want to make and we can discuss is just the goaltending matchup because I feel like we say this a lot, but there's so many good goalies in hockey east.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is another good goaltending matchup.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Cam Whitehead has kept Northeastern in games at times.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Jared Whale, third best goals against average and save percentage in Hockey East, he's had a solid season too.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh important as always to get a good effort from your goalies.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Should be good, New Hampshire and Northeastern for the third time this year, seven o'clock Friday, following us on Nesson.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll talk about the women's side a little bit.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go around Hockey East on this week in Hockey East.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue here with Erica Lanti.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into the woman's slate, I wanted to just make the announcement or continue with the announcement that the women's beanpot will be at TV Garden once again this season, and tickets are on sale now.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Tuesday, January 21st is the championship, the consolation game as well as the championship game.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you can get your tickets for that.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the first round this year will be played at Northeastern's Matthews Arena.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So Northeastern BC and Harvard BU will be playing that day.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then we could see a rematch of the Hockey East Championship or the Beanpot Championship from last year, which uh was Northeastern against Boston University.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: It had a lot of drama.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It went to overtime.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Skylar Irving scored the game-winning goal to give Northeastern their 19th beanpot title.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're going for a 20th.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know that Northeastern always gets up for the bean pot, but this year, all three of those hockey east teams that are involved are right up at the top of the Hockey East standing.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be another great matchup there.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can't wait to go uh and be in attendance for that.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's time to go through the women's slate of games around Hockey East presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Visit hockeyeastonline.com for your chance to win championship tickets and a two-night stay at the Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a theme of this segment, Eric, is that a lot of these teams are about to hit winter break.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So these are the last matchups for these women before getting a few weeks off.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them don't have games again until January.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, first of all, PC already hit their break.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they played their last game Wednesday against Boston College.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then to look into some of this weekend's matchups, Eric, tell us about some other games that are are on the slate for this weekend.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we kind of had a big midweek slate here.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes the timing can be off this last week of the season.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to see what Holy Cross does with a couple of games against Boston College and then against Merrimack.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, Holy Cross has gotten off to a really good start this year.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: They've been very solid throughout.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they've been out of conference play for the last couple of weeks, so they'll get another chance at BC.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that Holy Cross beat Boston College the last time that those two teams played in Worcester, and then BC returned the favor.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then the game against Merrimack becomes important because, you know, can they get out of that bottom two spot?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Can they jump into the top eight and potentially get a home game in the hockeys playoffs?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I know we're a ways away from that.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, and then just looking at the schedule, the thing that stands out is Holy Cross has a lot of home games at the end of the year.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they have a stretch where five of six games at the end of January and the beginning of February are at home, and then their final two games are up at Maine.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that seven-game stretch, if they can just tread water enough, get enough good wins going into that stretch, they have a real chance to kind of move up the standings at the end of the year with a lot of home games.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So looking forward to seeing what they do this week, especially against a tough Boston College team coming off.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Some nice results against the top teams in the league and BU, UConn, and then Northeastern last week.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to talk about Boston College a little bit further with their final game coming up before the break, like you mentioned, Grace Campbell having a great season so far.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and she's our Jersey Mike's a sub-above women's player of the week.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: She had a shutout against Northeastern, a three to nothing win for the Eagles.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's the first shutout of the season for Boston College.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she's also played a majority of time in net 16 of BC's 17 games so far, third most minutes of any hockey East goalie.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's taking on a very large workload, and she's been able to do a good job with it.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another team I want to talk about, we talk about this top four a lot, Bridget, but let's talk about New Hampshire.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Are we shortchanging them a little bit?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, if you look at where they are in the standings, they've been hanging right there at that number five spot, just a little bit behind what I'll call like the cluster at the top of the group that includes BC, BU, uh Northeastern, and UConn.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they've been right there and they've been getting good goaltending as well.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: As a team, they have five shutouts this season.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sedona Blair has four, and Nomi Martinez has a shutout of her own.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So they've been able to keep up with the pack.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe at some point you see here in the next semester, they start to crack up into that lineup.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: But it's been really solid hockey to try to get into that top four.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: BU started to run away with it for a little bit there, but now it's the pack is kind of still pretty solid and hard to get into.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, I still don't think you can complain if you're UNH and you're sitting right there at the number five spot.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you want to be able to host, but you're still in a good position, I think, uh, if you stay there, but with the potential to move up as well.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll talk about a couple of other Nessen games this week, starting Monday when BC hosts UMass Lowell.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: More action for you on Monday, a rare non-beanpot Monday game, as Boston College hosts Lowell.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: They'll play up at Lowell on Friday and then the return on Monday.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Three things to watch in this game.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I wanted to talk about is just where Boston College's resume is right now.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important that we note this.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we've talked a lot about how BC has the number one strength and schedule in the country so far.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And frankly, it's not that close.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the fact that they've won so many of these games has put them in a position in the pairwise that's kind of staggering.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not to go too deep in the weeds, but I think folks know who follow the pairwise, there's this quality wins bonus that's handed out, which basically is exactly what it sounds right, like, right?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you win a game against a top 20 RPI team, you get a little bit of a bonus bump in the pairwise.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So just to like put in context where Boston College's resume is right now, Bridget, versus the other teams, Boston College's quality win bonus right now is 0.0247.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: The number doesn't matter, but just we're using it as context.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So if you say Boston College, let's just say 247 to make it easier to understand, the next highest quality win bonus of any team in the country is Michigan at 97.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even close.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: The next highest after that is St.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Cloud State at 59.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Then you go down to Michigan State at 52.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, these teams are not even close to where Boston Colleges is right now.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the number's gonna fluctuate as the year goes on, obviously, depending on what those teams do, and BC still has to take the care of their games.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: But based on the schedule they've ended up having so far, they're in a really good position here, Bridget, if they can continue to stack up wins and they have a chance at two more this weekend against another top 15 team in Lowell.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they come into the week uh third in the USCHO.com poll.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: They've been right up towards the top in the top three for most of the year.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they're hanging out right there because they've put up some really consistent hockey.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh going up against UMass Low, though, I think is it's gonna be a different matchup.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because of the way that Lowell plays, they're so they're if if you give up the first goal to Lowell, there's they have this ability to just lock games down.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And BC has such a high scoring offense that if they get caught playing that kind of game that UMass Lowell wants to play, it's gonna be really frustrating.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh Norm Bazin is a great coach and he knows uh how to do that really well.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a lot of experience in that, and that's the style that his UMass Lowell teams always tend to play.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But when you look at the matchup for special teams between the two teams, UMass Lowell has had the best power play in Hockey East right from the get-go.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now they've come back down to earth a little bit recently, just one power play goal in the last six games, but they're still have the top percentage uh in the conference at 30% this year.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then Boston College, I think everyone's kind of just been sitting around going, is this gonna hold?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it the fact that they have not allowed a power play goal?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is this gonna hold the whole season?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first 13 games of the year, they were a perfect 30 for 30 on the penalty kill.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not just a high-powered offense, they have really good defensive structure um on special teams as well uh for their PK.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you get the top penalty kill versus the top power play, it's always something you need to talk about.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and BC's basically at 91% for two years now on their penalty kill.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the final thing I want to make sure we look at is who's gonna start in goal for Lowell?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've seen Benny Halas kind of maybe take this job.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he has back-to-back shutouts, including a win against St.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Lawrence in the Adirondack tournament.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've seen Henry Welsh play really well.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Norm Bazan has played two goalies quite a bit over the course of his career at Lowell.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, but Halas has kind of re-established himself as an option for Lowell.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see who we see in net for Lowell over the course of this weekend.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Another Nessing game for you on Wednesday, BU and UMass.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about that when we come back.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: More this week in Hockey East, this segment presented by Boston Children's Hospital.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, another Nessing game on Wednesday, BU and UMass uh coming up at the end of next week.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think first thing we want to talk about with this game is where is BU's momentum coming out of their bell pot win against uh in Northern Ireland?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: They came back against Notre Dame.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Their third periods have been so good recently.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: BU on their three-game win streak now is plus nine in the third period.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: They're minus one in goal differential in the first two periods of this game of those games.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that Jay Pandolfo's talked about a lot this year, but they've shown the ability to come back.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So now that they have a trophy, Bridget, I'm really interested to see how this BU team can kind of take off from there in the final game of the first half.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and as for UMass, there's a lot of high-powered offensive players on this UMass team.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you look at their top two lines, uh, that group of six players is they have a lot of talent.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: They have a lot of scoring ability.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: You look at Idar Sunyev as one of those players that we've talked about before, but Cole O'Hara has been having a great season.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's at the top of hockey east right now in points, top 10 in the country as well.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he's somebody that we just haven't talked enough about, I think.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he's started to play really well, had his best game of probably his career against Harvard last week.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Two goals and two assists for him there.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he has this ability to create plays.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of his points come off of assists this season.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And his head coach, Greg Carvel, told me before the broadcast we did uh for UMass against UVM that Cole O'Hara had he's seen him take some really big steps off the ice and on the ice.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he's been putting a lot of prep work into what he eats, uh how he lifts, and different things like that.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been translating for him this season.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he's a really great compliment to that line with Lucas Mercury and Idar Suniev.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've already seen him tie his career high in goals.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's exceeded his career high in assists and points.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh he's been a really fun player to watch for UMass.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, just speaking of guys that are worth pointing out, uh, as a final point to watch in this game, Matt Capone came in as a transfer from Merrimack to BU this year.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't even think slow start's the right word, but just maybe took a little bit to fit into what the system that BU wants to play.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Their centers are so important in that system, but he's been really good recently, right?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: He has points in three straight games coming into this recording, two goals and four assists.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: He has multiple points in three of his last six overall.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he's been one of those guys that have kind of really helped with BU, and he's been really good in the third period in some of these comebacks that BU's had over the last couple of games that we've talked about.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: So a couple of guys to make sure you watch when BU goes to UMass to wrap up the first half schedule for both of those teams.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that game is uh Wednesday after they play at BU here on the weekend.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when we come back, we'll finish up with some short shifts and tell you some stuff going on around Hockey East.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us on this week in Hockey East.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Time to take some short shifts presented by the Shift Group, helping former athletes and veterans become elite business professionals.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, just wanted to note that tickets are on sale for Hockey East Men's Championship weekend back at TD Garden.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just make sure you note it's Thursday, Friday this year rather than the normal Friday, Saturday, because the World Figure Skating Championships setup is taking place over the weekend.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Thursday, Friday, and then it'll go back to Friday, Saturday in future years.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure to look out for that when you're buying your tickets.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so that's on sale now.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, we always get to this time of year where the world junior preliminary rosters were announced.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: The U.S.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: team is filled with college guys and filled with hockeys.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, once again, Bridget, uh, most notably, six players from Boston College are on that preliminary roster, starting with James Haggins, Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perot, and Teddy Stega among forwards, and Drew Fortescue and Aaron Menedian on the back end.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I just want to note folks may be asking, where is Jacob Fowler on that list?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: He just turned 20 about a week and a half ago, so he's not eligible for the tournament, whereas Leonard and Perot don't turn 20 until 2025.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why they are eligible.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: These are these are some of the best players in the conference, and it's so awesome to watch them play internationally.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: But when they're gone, these games that are still being played, because BU's still gonna be playing games without these guys, and it and it changes the dynamic of what these games are gonna look like and and who steps up when those players are gone.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the World Juniors have has it feels like have just kind of continued to grow in stature over the years.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's a really great thing that that all these guys get the opportunity to compete for a roster spot.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and one last thing to talk about some non-conference games on the men's side that we didn't have a chance to mention earlier.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Providence college and Colorado College.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: That will be a two-game series Friday and Saturday at Schneider Arena.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: So a home game for the Friars, and then Alaska Anchorage is at Merrimack, and LIU is at Vermont.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that Colorado College Providence game.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's a real heavy weight.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't quite fit in our show with so many nesting games, but uh that's one to definitely watch for a Providence team that's off to a strong start once again.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Should be a really fun week.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you enjoy the games.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us on this week in Hockey East.