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NCAA Records and Women's Playoffs! - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome into this week in Hockey Eastern Bridget Proof here with Eric Galante.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, we're going to take a look at some of the standings from the women and the men.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the home stretch on both sides.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we're also gonna take a look at some of the goalie finalists for the Mike Richter Award later on, but we want to start with the men's standings.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Final stretch, like we mentioned.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Eric, take us through what we're looking at.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, three weeks left.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we're in the home stretch for sure right now.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: And as we kind of look where we are in terms of the men's picture, you have to start with Providence, who just continues to play so well.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: They've opened up a six-point lead.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: They have two games at Vermont this weekend.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Then they have UNH next weekend before hosting UConn in the finale.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk a lot about UConn and Boston College.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Huge game this weekend.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: They are two and three.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: They do each have a game in hand against Providence, but both obviously would have work to do to catch up.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's this big group in the middle, right?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Only five points separating fourth place and ninth place.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: So there's still a lot of movement that's gonna happen over the course of the next couple of weeks.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: You see where BU is at 29.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: BU has played far more games than the teams behind them, UMass, Merrimack, and Northeastern.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: So uh there's some room for some of those teams to catch up.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's still a kind of a glutton there that has to be sorted out.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: But you look at where UConn is and you look at where Boston College is, and this is arguably the biggest series of the year to date with number 10 UConn taking on number 12 Boston College.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have Friday's game for you from Conte Purim right here on Nesson.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not just about the hockey standings with these two teams, it's about the fact of where they are in the bubble.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: BC enters at 14, UConn sits at 12.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: There's just massive stakes, and it should be so much fun this week.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll look at those two teams from the game that we're talking about coming up next.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: BC, starting with them on Friday, they lose to Merrimack.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: That meant that that Saturday game was really important for them to keep pace in the NPI picture.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it took a little bit of magic to beat them in that Saturday game, a game in which they trailed twice, ended up winning it four to two on two late goals.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And BC trailed one to nothing and they trailed two to one.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: But all of their goals came in the final 90 seconds of periods, capped with a winner by Oscar Heming.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: His first career goal with 36 seconds left to go in the third period.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: It really felt like it was a must-win game in terms of the NCAA picture for BC.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and just a really good weekend of college hockey for them.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about Merrimack in just a bit, but uh, somebody who keeps it rolling for BC is James Haggins.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: He scored on Saturday.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's got 34 points, which is the most among hockey east skaters, and he leads the race in the Hockey East scoring championship with 20 points in league games.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he's got six multi-point games over the last nine with 16 points in that span.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And now BC hits their two biggest games of the season that are left in terms of NPI, right?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be important for him and those other guys that have been leading the way to do well in this series against UConn.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we talk about the opportunity available, right?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: So two games against number 12 in the NPI.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the two biggest games left potentially until a late surge in the hockey's playoffs.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the importance of it for Boston College.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: For this UConn team, it feels a little like history is repeating itself again in the second half.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: They're unbeaten in their last five games, starting with another win in the Connecticut Ice tournament, which could be once again a catapulting weekend like it was last year.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, last year in the early in the month of January, they go up to Alphonse, they have a win and a tie.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: It felt like that was a real jumping off point in the second half.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: They do it again last weekend, right?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: They go up to Alphonse, they get a win.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: This time they get a shootout win, too.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a five-point weekend for UConn.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it felt like this was the weekend that Tyler Muslik really came out and showed how good a goalie he's been.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's been great all year, but backing up the fact that he was named to a Mike Richter semifinalist list this week, we'll talk more about that later.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: He stops 32 shots on Friday for a 2-0 shutout win.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then Saturday he goes and makes a ridiculous 50 saves to help UConn win in the shootout.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um Mike Kavanaugh mentioned how he thinks we're finally starting to see Tyler Muslik play to his potential, which we always thought was in there, right?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: He's a national team goalie from when he was before he went to UNH, but now he's really starting to settle in.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: On the offensive side, it felt fitting that of the guys that scored, Multowney, Richard, Tattle were the guys who scored the three goals for UConn.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the guys who helped push them in their playoff run last year and are heating up once again.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Specific to Ryan Tattle, he's our service credit union scoring leader this week.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: A four-point weekend up at Maine.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: He now has 13 points over his last eight games.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: Such an important piece for what UConn wants to do, not just on the ice, but off the ice as well.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Joey Muldowney's been in a very good spot as well.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: He has 12 points over his last nine games.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a UConn team that is really starting to play well going into this weekend.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and when it comes to Muldowney, he's on the verge of breaking UConn's career goal scoring record in the Hockey East era.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: He just needs one more goal this weekend to pass Spencer Nas into sole possession of first place with 50 goals.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So he's just been so consistent over the last two years, and that record is right on the horizon for him.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: I also thought it was interesting how openly Mike Kavanaugh talked about the playoff picture and the NPI this week.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: He said he still doesn't shy away from the topic with the team.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: He posts about the NPI every week, and he said his team wants to look at it uh often.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: They use it as motivation, uh, the same way they did last year, uh, the first year that they made it into the NCAA tournament.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they've set themselves up to be in the driver's seat again for a second year in a row making the tournament if they just finish it out strong.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: They're right there.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the thing that's interesting about this weekend is because of who they're playing, it give both teams a chance to get marquee wins, to get quality win bonuses, to jump up a little bit and away from any bid stealers that could come along conference championship time.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think games like this is UConn really going to start relying on their experience, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: They brought back basically more than anyone in hockey east.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: They're seven seniors, they're 111 goals returning.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Does that start to show up this weekend?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: There's one other team that really has a great chance to get into the mix, and that is UMass.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: They're off a much-needed weekend off as they try to get healthy.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: UMass has a home and home with New Hampshire this weekend.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have Saturday's game for you at the Wittimore Center on Nesson.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: UMass, winners of seven of their last eight.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: One guy who's really stepped up recently, Justin Kerr, has goals in four straight games.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: He has five goals and assists since January 16th.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, big 6'5 freshman.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: So he's been really good recently.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: UMass has been scoring well recently.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: They'll take on a New Hampshire team that actually has gotten some goals lately, seven goals over the BU weekend where they split against the Terriers after, you know, that had been a real talking point for Mike Sousa.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: So UNH and UMass, that'll be Saturday here on Nessen.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: The other team that is as hot as anyone in the country right now, the Merrimack Warriors.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we're going to talk with Scott Borick about it on the other side during this week in Hockey.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's time for our interview segment presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Plan your getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the head coach of one of the hottest teams in Hockey East and the country right now is Scott Borek, who's nice enough to join us.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: The Merrimack Warriors are 10-3-1 since December 12th.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: They've moved up 26 spots in the NPI over that time.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Coach, appreciate you being here.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to chatting a little bit.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: What's been the biggest thing that's allowed you guys to go on this run here over the last couple of months?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think our team, we have a lot of new guys.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think we have as many as 14 or 15 new guys on our roster.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it took a while to get accustomed.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: It took a while to get to know each other, took a while to come together a little bit as a locker room.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we've gotten there and it hasn't been an easy ride, but at times it's uh been very happy, very successful, but other times not very much so.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think right now we're in a pretty good headspace in the room.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh our players are getting very comfortable with each other and comfortable with the challenges in Hockey East.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we want to talk to you about some of the individuals on your team as well.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll start with Justin Gill, a goal in each of the last six games, longest point streak in the NCAA at 11 games.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell people about his story and the impact that he's had for you guys this year?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sure.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's a unique individual.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he uh had dealt with uh professional hockey at uh a little bit in the American League, but more in the uh coast.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um was having a pretty good experience.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh when the rules changed within the NSA, uh allowing certain players with certain things that they've done in their past that made him ineligible years ago, um, or actually not even years, a year ago, uh were removed from that.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he wanted to go to college.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: He was a good student.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh school matters to him.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we were fortunate enough to be in the right place and and be able to land him to come here.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's done really well in school, which is exciting.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he's been in a lot to our locker room.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we were together for two months before he joined us.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that's a very hard thing to do to be able to join a team after two months that's already kind of forming and to walk into a fairly strong room uh and then get a seat in that room and be welcomed by your teammates.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Said two things to me.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: One, that he's a really good guy.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, two, we have a really good locker room.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And those two things have let us him on his point streak and let our team do a little bit better second half.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Coach, uh, we've talked a lot about Max Lundgren and what he's meant to your team and you know, both from the numbers that we see, the advanced numbers, anywhere you look, he's been one of the best goalies in the country this year.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: But I know he's also so important off the ice as well.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about what he brings to the table, both as a goaltender on the ice and what he brings to the locker room off it as well.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's fine, it's the same thing, consistency.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think one of the hardest things for any young person to have is consistency.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and he's consistent daily, not only in his, you know, in his play and his uh performance, but mostly in his preparation.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: He does the same things and gets himself ready to go.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's never really taken off his mark very well.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's always, you know, kind of seems ready, and he always has felt that way to me.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I've told the story before, but when he first came here, he wasn't eligible.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: He had to sit out that year and only practice, he couldn't play and he couldn't travel.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we got home from our first long road trip, I think it was Arizona, and we came into the locker room about 3 a.m.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: and there's Max waiting for us to help unpack the bags and unpack the sticks, and uh something I didn't expect, uh, never asked him to do.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: He just showed up and he did that every single weekend that we got back as a team.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: He was in the room waiting for us, and he was participating as if he was one of the guys that was on that bus.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, to me, that set himself up for success here.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: It changed a lot of how our players who are injured go about their business daily relative to staying connected to the team.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's been a huge uh positive for our program just having the human with us.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then you add in, obviously, he's very talented, he's very competitive, uh, and this year he's been very consistent.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So he's been there from the beginning for us this year.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, ironically, I heard you on your earlier segment mentioned the Mike Richter Award.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm surprised his name hasn't been mentioned in that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually kind of crazy to me.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's how things go, I guess.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he'll come back next year and get that award.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great story about him showing up for you guys even when he wasn't there.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also want to talk about one of your freshmen, Parker Lalon, making a push as one of the better freshmen in Hockey East.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: What stands out about him and his season so far?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Parker's just a very smart player.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, really, again, I say this probably too much, but a really good guy.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, you if you knew him, you'd just be rooting for a success because his approach is incredibly humble.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he goes about his daily walk in life with a lot of humility.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, comes to the rank, you wouldn't expect him to be exploding off the page point-wise like he has, or doing some of the things, kind of lead our team in some areas, uh, because he's just such a good human and he's so considerate, and he doesn't give you the doesn't feel like he has the edge of competitiveness when you're meeting him away from the rank.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: But when you meet him on the rank, uh, he has all that more, and he's been really good for us.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: The second half's been great for him.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, first half, I think he was feeling his way through, not just not just hockey-wise, but academically and on the campus and all that stuff.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Second half, um, he's been really good.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Coach, obviously in this stretch, one of the things that's happened is your scoring's been up a little bit, and a big reason why is your special teams, one of the best power plays in hockey east in the country this year.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: Penalty kill's been really solid all year.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: What's been the biggest key for your special teams to have so much success this year?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I say a power play is coached by Ryan DeRocher.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and again, they've consistently gone after the same exact approach since day one.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's done an incredible job with the group.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have two units, both of them can score.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: We often compete in practice to see who will get the next power play in a game, uh, and they get at it pretty hard.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, both units have been very successful for us.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think we've been able to keep uh certainly the one unit has been almost together for now for like three months.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the other units had some pieces move in and out of it, but has been still consistent with its biggest pieces.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I think that's helped.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever your power play has a slightly feel for where the other guys are gonna be when they have the puck, you're gonna start to grow.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's really what we've done.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we've been consistently um strong on the power play since the beginning of the year.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And not always good on power play one or power play two, but you know, as we tell our guys, you can't have a conscience on the power play.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's the next power play that matters, and we've been fortunate to get some in the third period, and it's helped our team win some games.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we're in the final stretch.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, uh, what's it gonna take for you guys to have the finish that you want?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have to stay true to ourselves, to our game, uh, not get caught up in the um, you know, someone else's game, keep our identity in our pocket with us and understand that we're a team that has to win as a group.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: We can't win with individuals.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have to defend as a group, we can't defend individually.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if we stay on the attack, we'll be successful.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like the first half, we played some really good hockey, but for the most part, we played about 40 to 45 minutes and we didn't get things over the finish line.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: A couple of losses this year that have really hurt us uh and hurt us right now nationally that um you know, frankly, we kind of gave away because we got on our heels in the third period.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but now as long as we stay on the attack and stay true to it, I think we'll uh have a good finish here and hopefully play for a while.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Scott, it's been fun to watch the group the last couple of weeks.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Look forward to seeing how things go down the stretch.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us for a couple of minutes.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh thank you guys.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's Scott Borick, the head coach of the Merrimack Warriors.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: His team will be up at Alphon for two this weekend.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: When we come back, we'll talk about the final weekend of the year on the women's side.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's coming up next on This Week in Hockey East.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to This Week in Hockey East.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's the final weekend on the women's side of the regular season, and here's a look at how we started the week in terms of the Hockey East standings.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Northeastern and Yukon have clinched the one and two spots, and then BC and Holy Cross are both in good position to get those buys in the quarterfinal.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: BC with two games left.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Holy Cross, just one game left.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: They need two points against UVM Friday, or for UNH or BC to drop points somewhere to guarantee a home game in the quarterfinals.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So UNH and BC Friday has those implications.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It should tell us about where the top of the top five shake out.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: BC hosts BU to wrap up on Saturday.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be a game here on Nessant at 4 p.m.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the Eagles are coming off maybe their biggest win of the year, right?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: 1-0 overtime win over Northeastern.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Ava Thomas, who else scored the overtime winner, and she's our Jersey Mike's sub-above player of the week.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Bridget, I feel like we've talked about her, but I think she might be kind of underrated in what she's doing.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thomas had 25 shots on goal across two games last weekend.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's not 25 attempts.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's 25 shots on goal.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: She has 10 plus shots in four straight games.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: She hasn't had fewer than six shots in a game since November.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And her 260 shots this year are 50 more than anyone else in the country.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Again, that's shots on goal, not attempts.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy what she's been doing as a freshman.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Grace Campbell was great in that game on Sunday, the hockey scholarie of the week.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: She made 38 saves in the shutout win.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: And now they're gonna play their rivals who BC swept BU in November.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: BU has an interesting weekend, right?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because they obviously have the rivalry game Saturday, but Friday's game against Provenance before might decide who gets the home game in the 8-9 matchup next week.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Those two teams entering the weekend right together at 8-9.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: So really important weekend for BU as well.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we have a top 10 matchup on the women's side this weekend as well.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's no stakes in terms of the standings, but Northeastern and Yukon are both top 10 in the NPI.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so for the national stage, this sets up and also could maybe be a preview of what we see in the Hockey East Championship game.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: These have been the two best teams in the conference this season.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So both teams in good position, five and six, Northeastern five, Yukon six in the MPI.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh good chance for Yukon to get some momentum back.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they were swept by Northeastern back in January.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So Yukon, right now, winning four straight.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Can they come into it and keep rolling?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: They have 15 goals in their last four games out scoring opponents 15 to 4 in that stretch.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: For Northeastern, they just are coming off that overtime loss to BC.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was their first loss since the Beanpot semifinals.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And just the second time they were shut out this year.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: They still haven't lost in regulation to a conference opponent, which is crazy, which explains how they were able to clinch that first place spot so quickly.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, teams are getting their players back from the Olympics this week.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: BU gets back the Welkie Twins, Northeastern gets back Alessia Beckler, uh, UVM, Julia Mesled, and Holy Cross, uh Naemi Herzig all coming back from their time in Milan.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's really, you know, it's an interesting time, right?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Just one weekend left, and it's not true home and homes, right?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: People play different teams.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be interesting to see what happens.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: But that Northeastern Yukon game, interesting spot too.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: So much on the line, and yet nothing on the line in terms of the standings themselves, but could be really crucial to figuring out where everybody goes down the stretch here.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: When we come back, we're gonna talk a little bit about the aforementioned Mike Richter Award and some of the hockey schullies that did make that list, and maybe a little bubble talk and Olympic talk as well.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's coming up next time this week in Hockey.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Continuing around Hockey East presented by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of Hockey East, Boston Children's Where the World Comes for Answers.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: The 10th semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award were announced this week, and three Hockey East goalies are on that list.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: UMass's Michael Robbel, Northeastern's Lawton Zacker, UConn's Tyler Music.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Each have their spot on that list, and each of them have pretty cool stories, Eric.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we've talked about Zacker a lot of it early in the season, right?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: And he was kind of the biggest reason that Northeastern was in the position they are.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: He's still the biggest reason Northeastern's been, you know, the success that they've been at times this year.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's his second straight time being named to the Mike Richter Awards semifinalist list.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: He was last year as well with Brown.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: He's third in the country per college hockey news and goals saved above expected at over 18 this year.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: One number I really love with Zacker, he has a 936 save percentage while shorthanded this year.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: You almost never see, even for the best goalies, you almost never see a number that high on the penalty kill.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's coming off a season high 41 saves against Providence.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: He's a absolutely deserving of being on this list.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then there's Michael Robble, who deserves a lot of credit for being on this list because he didn't get off to the best start this season.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he was down with an injury a bit in the middle of the year as well.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So he hasn't had the easiest go, but he had one of the best January stretches you could possibly have.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Six and one in January, a 973 save percentage in that month, three shoutouts named Haki East player of the month of January.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And he's allowed two goals or fewer in nine of the last 10 games.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: As long as he's going like this, UMass has a chance uh in every game.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, we touched on it a little bit earlier, but the the thing with Tyler Muslik, right?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so happy to see him here because it's the ultimate story, right, of the progression that you would hope someone would have throughout their college career.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: We've documented his story a little bit.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: When you're a national team goalie, you know, for the development program, that obviously means something that people think enough of you as a prospect, right?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: He goes to New Hampshire.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: He had to battle some injuries really throughout his whole time there, never quite found his groove.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: He ends up losing the net to Jakob Helston that sophomore year, and he finds a new home with UConn last year.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Continues some injuries again, right?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, he actually got injured in the game against BC in November.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: He missed some time.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: He splits time with Callum Tung.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: He's pretty solid for the majority of the year, but they end up kind of going with Tongue for the majority of that playoff run.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: Muslik started the hockey's final, but Tung got both games in the NCAA tournament.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: But now this year, we talked about it, Bridget, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: He was the undisputed number one guy and was going to be a huge factor into whether UConn could be as successful as we all thought they had a chance to be.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: And he has just exceeded every expectation, right?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: 935 save percentage, goals against just over two.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: CHN puts him second nationally in goals saved above expected.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: And he's actually gotten better as the year has gone on.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Since the start of December, he's 9-2-1 with a 945 save percentage.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm so impressed with him and excited that we'll be able to get to watch him the next couple of weeks on Nesson with this UConn team as they try to push back for the NCAA tournament.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Hockey East looking for its second straight Richter award winner with Jacob Fowler from BC winning it last year.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of precedence when it comes to Hockey East Goalies winning this trophy.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in the 12 years since the award has been given out, hockey East Goalies have won seven times.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Connor Hellebuck got the very first one ever when he was at Lowell.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thatcher Demko at BC, Caden Primo for Northeastern, Swayman for Maine, who's now playing up in the Olympics.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Devin Levi won it twice with Northeastern and Jake Fowler last year with Boston College.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: So will Hockey East have a goalie win this award again this season.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that's part of the reason why that uh all the American goalies on the men's side are uh hockey scholies, the American goalies on the women's side are hockey schoolie.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it, you know, it all just goes hand in hand.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh not goalie you, goalie conference, maybe, perhaps, but we'll see what happens with that award.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: Fun time of year.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: The Olympics wrapping up, obviously.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and we have some really, really crucial games, none bigger so far this year than BC and UConn, both for the hockey standing, the stakes there, and the bubble stakes for the NCAA tournament.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk more about that on the game if you join us Friday night at 7 from Conte Forum.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us here for this week in hockey.