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College Hockey Is Back Big! - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Hi folks, welcome in.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: We are back with this week in Hockey East, our third season of this show, and we are getting set for another outstanding season of Hockey East Action.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: So excited to bring it to you all season long here with our partnership with Nesson.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Along with Bridget Peru, I'm Eric Galanti.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: We are jumping right into a huge game to start our coverage this year of Hockey East on Nesson.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's all going to start on Friday night at Schneider Arena as the Providence Fryars, who really have a lot to be excited about, take on Michigan, number seven against number nine in the country to kick off our Friday night hockey East on Nesson coverage.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Bridget, let's start talking about these Fryars who were picked second in the Hockey East preseason poll.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: They bring back a lot, but most importantly, back in the NCAA tournament last year for the first time after a five tournament drought.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's start off by setting the table with where they ended last year.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think that'll help us explain, you know, what to expect for them this season.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So they finished fifth in the Hockey East standings.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: They ended up with a first round bye in the Hockey East tournament, and then they ended up losing to Yukon in those quarterfinals.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: They made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: They ended up losing to Denver in the regional semis, but it was just a good thing for them to be back and get some of those younger guys' experience.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, who did they lose coming into this season after that game?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: They lost their captains, Chase Yoder and Nick Poisson.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those guys had a lot of experience, both about 170 career games played.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then they lose Trevor Connolly, who is one of their best rookies.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: He ends up going pro into the Vegas Golden Knights organization.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So they will not have him for this season.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they do also have to replace their top four defensemen because Guillaume Richard, Connor Kelly, and Tage Harding all left for the pros.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Austin May went to a Northeastern.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: But Eric, there's plenty of important players that are returning.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's really going to be up front with some of these new young guys that's going to stand out.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: But it's amazing how, like, you talked about the people who left the building, right?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Really core guys.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yoder, as you said, who played so much.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you look at guys on the back end.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: I thought this was crazy.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: So against Denver in the NCAA tournament, Providence's combined seven Ds had 618 games of experience.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: The 7Ds that they're going to play against Michigan on Friday only have 114.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it's totally different.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why they're going to rely on guys up front like Roger McQueen, who comes in as a major junior guy.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: This is something we're going to talk about in a little bit with Steve Metcalf, the commissioner of Hockey East.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Canadian Hockey League guys are now eligible to play college hockey.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: So Roger McQueen, 10th overall pick by Anaheim this year, the highest draft pick in Providence history, a really highly thought-of guy.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's got a great connection with Malinowski for Providence.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: They've been friends going back.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're going to start on the same line together.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's going to be someone we talk about all season long, I think.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Then you look at a guy like Julius Sumpf, a fourth round pick of Chicago.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Played in a couple of world junior tournaments for Germany.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: He comes out of the queue again from major juniors.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Another guy, Jonathan Fauchon.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: How about this?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: He was the MVP of the Q League last year, the only guy in the league with over a hundred points.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the thing that stands out, Bridget, is these guys coming in.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really good test case for the impact that some of these Canadian guys are going to have coming down to college hockey.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's totally new this year.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many different rosters that have guys from the CHL that's going to make a big difference.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: So how they fare early on is going to be important.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Providence has a bunch of them on this roster.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that in the coverage during the game on Friday, but a couple of really key ads for this team.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Roger McQueen's going to be one of the more interesting players in all of college hockey.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I talked to a few people in the offseason that thought that he could have been number one overall if he had been healthy before and that he dropped to 10 because of injuries that he seems to be completely clear of now.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So he's healthy going into the season.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to see what happens for him this year at Provence.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they also have Phillip Spenback coming back, who's a Bruins prospect coming into his fourth season with the Friars, probably going to get a big workload in net once again.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he's been one of the more experienced goalies now.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: His nine uh 95 career game has played his second most in the nation among active goaltenders entering the season.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: 46 wins for him.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's top of the nation in active goalies.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So he brings that experience.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they lose their number two goalie, Zach Borgill.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: He graduated.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: They add two freshman goalies, Jack Parsons and Aaron Matthews, but still SPEC is going to be the number one guy.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think splitting time last year helped him a little bit.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Nate Lehman said he thought it helped down the stretch a little bit, the fact that he played, you know, 26 games instead of maybe more like 38 or whatever the case might be.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be to see as he's kind of the one really big piece that's back.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but what a challenge this weekend with the Michigan Wolverines, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, how about weekend one for Michigan?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: They scored 18 goals.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: That yes, 18 in two games against Mercyhurst.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, against Mercyhurst, but nevertheless, uh their power play was seven for 10 over the weekend.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's something that's gonna stand out because one thing that Nate Lehman told us when we talked to him yesterday was that they lost a lot from their penalty kill, right?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about all the guys they've lost, but a lot of those guys, especially the forwards that went out the door, were PK guys.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: So how that PK gets up to speed quickly against a ridiculous Michigan power play, as it seems like they're gonna be, I think is a really important aspect of this game.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the other piece that is important is Providence does have two exhibition games under their belt, a win against Simon Fraser, and then maybe most importantly, a big win over Quinnipiac, two to one on Sunday.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Penalty kill was four for four in the third period against Quinnipiac, a team that beat Boston College last week in a regular season game.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that'll be really interesting to see.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Should be a great matchup.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Providence and Michigan Friday night as we start our hockey on Nesson coverage.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: When we come back here on This Week in Hockey East, we're gonna talk with Hockey East Commissioner Steve Metcalf, that's coming up on the other side.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're happy to be joined by Hockey East Commissioner Steve Metcalf.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Steve, how are you doing?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing great.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Great to see you guys.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And this can only mean it's uh the beginning of hockey season, so always exciting time of year.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to get your thoughts first on last season, the success of the league.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You got a lot of teams from the men's side into the NCAA tournament.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: BU makes it for the women's side, great non-conference records.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just what are your thoughts on what you saw from last year?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, last year was really fun.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as you noted, non-conference winning percentage on the men's side was, I think it was the highest we've ever had, uh, 70-ish percent.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so when you win a lot of games, you know, it's all about the math, as uh Eric's well aware.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that math helps you get into the tournaments.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so getting six teams into the tournament is obviously fantastic.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the only thing missing off our resume from last year was you know winning the very last game.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but certainly uh look, we're hoping we're we're building on all the success we had last year and we could do a little bit more of it this year.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Steve, there's a lot that's different about college hockey, right?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of landscape changes.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: We want to focus in on a couple of those things.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Let's start on the women's side, though, because it was a notable change to see the number of league games go from 27 to 24 here in 25-26, allows for a little bit more non-conference games.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us a little bit about the reasoning that you guys decided to put that in place?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we think that's gonna be a great addition to how we do our scheduling.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was an idea that was born out of one of the coaches.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and really the intent was to uh give our teams a couple more non-conference games.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're hoping to have success in those games, and so that's really the impetus behind it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then with the last six conference games we played, we we held on scheduling those opponents until the very end of last season.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so at the end of the season, we could you know populate everyone's schedules with kind of the best on best situations, so it would help the top teams, and I guess you know, it wouldn't necessarily hurt the teams at in the bottom of the standings, but trying to give a little strength of schedule and maybe a little more interest in those, in those, uh, some of those matchups, especially for the top teams.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, we'll see how it goes, but uh, you know, so far it's been very well received.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: College hockey landscape is always changing, as you know.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: This past year or this past offseason, there's a change of rules that could really impact the kind of talent that comes into hockey east, and that's the rule that this uh CHL players can now come and join college hockey.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the impact of that's gonna be?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think this this was really significant when this happened.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh obviously it was something that was you know talked about a lot last, you know, I guess middle of last fall, and then finally I think it was November 7th, the rules changed where all these CHL players uh you know were now ineligible to play.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to say, I think someone told me we've got 50 50 CHL players in hockey east, and there's obviously you know many across the teams across the country.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I I think for some of the coaches, they you know, they're just waiting a little bit to see how they perform once we get into the games um because it's so new.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, some of the higher profile kids that you mentioned, uh Roger McQueen, I think everyone's got high expectations of some of those players already.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a lot that you know coming into college hockey, coming into hockey east that you know we'll want to see what they do, but I think it's a really exciting time.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the whole ecosystem, if you will, of junior hockey is kind of getting reset and and uh college hockey is kind of moving to the top of the pyramid, if you will, and and then you know, conversely, um, you know, college hockey will then push more players to the NHL than they ever have before.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think that's good for college hockey.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: I remember, Steve, we were sitting upstairs at Conte Forum the night that the news broke that the CHL guys were gonna become eligible, and and I've never seen someone get more texts in like a 10-second period than you had to answer in that second.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you kind of made the point though, right?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because the the big thing is, yeah, we can talk about the individual impact that these guys are gonna have, but it's more and more avenues for the best players, the guys who want to get to the NHL, choosing college hockey.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you're already seeing some of the effects of that, and it's only gonna add to it, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: You look at NHL rosters on this opening weekend, 91 players on opening night rosters or hockey East alums.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: 37% of all college hockey alums that are playing in the NHL are hockey East guys.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: It all feels like we're just kind of at a moment and an inflection point for college hockey and hockey East as a whole, for how many guys who are going to the next level are choosing hockey East and college hockey to be where they play.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it feels like it's just such an important moment right now.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're we're very proud of the the number of pros that we're producing out of the league.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And as you noted, uh, you know, I think more than we've ever had on opening day rosters, and you know, our league's got more players in the the NHL than anyone, you know, by quite a by quite a margin.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that's something we're very proud of because we've we think we're you know the top place for guys league to for guys to come and develop.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, when you're producing so many NHLers, then obviously that's uh born true.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Steve, just a quick thought.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Spangler Cup coming up this year.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: For those who don't know what it is and what to look for, what would you say?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is uh yeah, this is an exciting uh kind of uh uh side hustle for me over the last uh couple months.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the NCAA granted college hockey the ability to go and do a tournament like this.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's really bears some similarity to what uh players, you know, when they leave their teams to go play for world juniors.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um so Spangler Cup is a very old historic uh international uh hockey tournament that's played over Christmas in in Switzerland, Davos, Switzerland.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so now college hockey can put together an all-star team to go.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so just imagine the fun of picking the best players across the country, putting them all together and and uh you know going out to play and um you know play play with the best of the best and play in a tournament, which you know, I think we can go and have some success in.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we've certainly got some hockey's flavor.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've got uh Mike Sousa from New Hampshire is on the uh coaching staff, uh, and then some of the other positions on our staff that we're taking over there, hockey East folks.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I guess when this airs on Friday night, the first five players that have been selected for the team will be will have been announced.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh we've got a hockey guy in that first five, so that's always fun too.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, thank you so much for for joining us.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Arthur, do you have one last question?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was just gonna say, I think it's like that that's such the great thing about this show, right?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the platform is just like, you know, you you saw the number of eyeballs on college hockey last weekend, right?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: You saw, you know, now the way that World Juniors has taken off, the last like five to ten years.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Now this tournament's gonna be added to that.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's all just positive momentum for the sport.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it really feels like it's just such an exciting time to be a part of it.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: And and we're seeing, you know, the growth of hockey, Steve, with you know what we're seeing at uh kind of all these international and then national hockey league levels.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's uh it's a great time for college hockey.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think uh, you know, it might might be true to say that ahead of us is is gonna get even stronger and hopefully more fun to watch as well.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you so much, Steve.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we'll take a look around the Hockey East men's and women's polls coming up next.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Steve.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back, folks.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: We are going around Hockey East, presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Head to HockeyEastonline.com for your chance to win two tickets and a night stay for the Hockey East Men's Championship.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk a little bit about just kind of a big picture preview of things, right?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: We certainly won't have time to get to every team, but we'll start with the men.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Boston University was the favorite in the preseason poll coming into the season, off of a frozen four for the third year in a row last year.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Bridget, you got to see BU up close and personal.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: Let's start our preview there.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: What did you see from the Terriers last weekend?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they took a win against LIU.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was their first regular season game.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then they played on Sunday an exhibition game against RPI.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Power Play was already firing, and we can get into some of the personnel that they added.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason why they're picked first in the Hockey East Coaches poll and second in the country in the USCHO.com poll to start the year is because I think a lot of teams and a lot of people are acknowledging just how deep this roster is.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when I talked to Jay Pandolfo uh before this past weekend's games, he said he thinks that people are giving them this kind of respect because of the returning players they have.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: He said, you have Yogorov in net, you have Cole Eiserman, you have Cole Hudson back.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have incoming freshmen who are highly regarded and two transfers from North Dakota who are really good players.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's our overall roster that they're looking at.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: He said they have 19 NHL draft picks on the team, uh, including the new addition, Sasha Bavert, who was NCAA rookie of the year last year.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's a big get and he's gonna be the center of their top line.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just as you go down the roster, you notice all of these draft picks.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the key for them, though, they got off to a slow start last year, is fewer penalties and building that chemistry a little bit quicker.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it definitely improved as year went on.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was a big reason why they went as far as they did, but it's definitely something that Jay Pandolph always talked a lot about.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I think it's interesting if we look at this hockey's preseason poll right up top, because it's different than what you saw in the national preseason poll in the order of some of these teams, right?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Province picked second in the poll.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about them.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have UConn and Maine, who were the finalists in hockey last year.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, really nice bounce back for UConn against Colorado College last weekend to earn a split.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: They're maybe a little flat in game one, even though they scored early in that game.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: But it's kind of crazy.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: They've played two games.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: 14 guys already have a point, six guys have already scored a goal.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: Malt Downey is back, Tattle's back, Jake Richard is back.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: They all had good performances that stood out this weekend.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then you add in guys like Mike Merktag and Caden Cheyenne, who had their performances open weekend, a couple of points for each of them.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: But the biggest thing, Tyler Muslik with a 938 save percentage for those first two games.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's on the road at a good Colorado college team.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot to like there with how much UConn brings back.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then Maine, similar situation, right?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: They bring back Albin Boya.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that might be the most important guy coming back in all of Hockey East with the year that he had last year.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they'll open with Holy Cross this weekend.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're starting to see the culmination of everything that Ben Barr's done from the recruiting standpoint to Alfons Arena's uh construction and all of the upgrades that they've had there.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's all starting to come together.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: More NHL draft picks on this roster than maybe we're used to seeing the last couple of years.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's a credit to all the success that they've had.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: So those are two really interesting teams up top.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it really you could really just keep going down this list, Bridget.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's so much interesting in terms of the hockey's men's side.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'll I'll bring you to a matchup I'm excited to see this weekend, which is number 11 Boston College against number 12 Minnesota.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of Bruins players and Bruins connections in this game.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: As you know very well, BC has six Bruins draft picks, including James Haggins, who is the Bruins first round pick last year.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of eyes on those six guys, but also a Bruins connection on Minnesota.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Casey Middlestat's brother John and Luke Middlestadt are both in the lineup.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're seniors this year.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot to look at in that one.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're gonna talk a lot about BC, the draft picks, James Hagins.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back this weekend.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's one hockeys conference game this week, Merrimack and Lowell.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: We saw them play last week.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Lowell with a 4-0 win over Merrimack.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Jay Ahern, who comes in as a transfer, grad transfer from Niagara.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's the service credit union scoring leader from last week, had a power play goal.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: He had 19 goals in 39 points last year, second in Atlantic hockey in goals.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Lowell with 12 freshmen this year, which is tied with BU for the largest freshman class in hockey.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Austin Elliott, part of that freshman class, 17 safe shutout in his debut.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: So uh, how does Lowell do this year?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Trying to bounce back a little bit.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: There were some moments, there were some flashes last year.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: They were ranked early, kind of fell off a little as the year went on, but I think there's a lot to like about this freshman class.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: We could keep going, right?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: You could talk about UMass at 70 shots in their first game against Northern Michigan.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh UNH is gonna open on the road at Michigan State.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much we can talk about, and we will, and we're very excited to cover this men's side this year.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: We're also very excited to see how the women are gonna fare.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: We'll play catch up with them a little bit a couple of weeks into their season and give you some teams to watch as we roll on this week in Hockey East.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to go around Hockey East on the women's side, presented by Boston Children's Hospital.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, let's start with the Hockey East women's preseason coaches poll.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: It looks a lot like the final regular season standings from last year, and that includes UConn being number one again.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and off to a pretty good start, right?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: They've really challenged themselves early in the season.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: A split with number 11, St.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Cloud stayed at home, a split with number nine Clarkson.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: So they've certainly played some games here to really test them early in the season.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they're the highest-ranked hockey east team right now.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: They'll have another ranked matchup this weekend with Princeton.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, a couple of names really stand out.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Julia Pellerin, who played for Boston College the last couple of years, a huge addition, jumps right into the top line along with Claire Murdoch and Ashley Aillard.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're going to be really effective up front.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then what a luxury to have Tia Chan back, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Who led Hockey East and goals against and save percentage last year.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: So no reason to think that UConn doesn't have an opportunity to be right back on top of this conference.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: NBU finished behind them in the regular season standings by just one point last year.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: They go on to win the Hockey East Championship.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: They go to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: So good for them to be back.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And their confidence is already up.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: They decided they want to start the season against top 10 ranked opponents.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the first weekend they played against number three Minnesota.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you looked at those scores, they didn't look that close, but I broadcast both of those games, and they the Terriers kept up with the physicality.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: They were in those games until they started to fall off in the third period.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: They just Minnesota just has some really talented players.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but they kept up and they go again this week against another top 10 team in Colgate.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they they're about to uh start the season out with some tough opponents, and they have a new goalie in their system, Michelle Posechnik, who is took a year off, but two years ago she was the number one goalie in all of women's hockey, so she could be kind of a secret weapon.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it'll be really interesting.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, now they're kind of uh defending their title from a little bit of a different spot.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: Last year we talked about it most of the year, right, Bridget?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: If you were with us, it was a top four.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then Providence kind of came along and it became a top five at the end of the season.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: And where is Providence going to be this year?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna get a really interesting look at it because if you look at the weekend they have coming up, they'll be at Northeastern on Friday and then turn around and play Boston College on Saturday.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So those were the teams we just mentioned them, right?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: UConn BU and then Northeastern BC and Providence all in that top five.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: So which of those teams can emerge to kind of the top?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Which of those teams will it be a top four?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: Will it be a top five?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're certainly gonna see as it plays out.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that'll be an interesting test for Providence, who got off to a little bit of a slower start last year, and they'll try to see how they jump things early in the season in hockey's play.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Boston College.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they have Holy Cross on Friday.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Really nice bounce back game for them against St.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like the bet with BU.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Tough weekend for BC on the road at Minnesota to start, but they bounced back in a big way against St.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: A's.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: 70 shots.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: 12 of those shots came from Ava Thomas, who's the Jersey Mike's a sub-above women's player of the week.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: A goal and three assists for the freshman, as we said, 12 shots on goal and a four to one victory on the road over St.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: A's.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it was just the offensive output and the confidence boost that Boston College was looking for offensively.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so to bring in a freshman like Thomas, paired along with Kate Ham, who had a couple of goals against St.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: A's, a really good combination, I think.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: And let's see if they can build off it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, last year, the Eagles were able to bounce back from an early season defeat to Wisconsin, and then they end up beating Clarkson twice at home about a month later.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll see if they can build on that.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting weekend with Providence against Northeastern First and then Boston College.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: There is so much to talk about with this league this year, both on the men's side and the women's side, and we're so excited that we'll be able to take you through it all year long from here through the Hockeys Championship weekend uh at TD Garden on the men's side coming up in late March.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we'll be here on Nesson Nation on Wednesdays and then Fridays over on Nesson at 6:30, leading into our Friday night hockey game each week, which, as we said, this week starts with Providence taking on Michigan.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: So it should be great, great fun all season long.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to being with you, Bridget.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to bringing in some guests along the way to talk about Hockey East.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: Our great thanks to Steve Metcalf for joining us today, and we will talk to you next time.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: Enjoy the games, folks.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for watching this week in Hockey East.