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With Hockey East Stars, is Team USA a LOCK for WJC Gold? · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome into this episode of This Week in Hockey East.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Prue here with Eric Galanti.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to do something different off the top here, Eric, because we don't have any college hockey games this week.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're waiting for the tournaments to start back up at the end of December in early January.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We want to talk about the World Junior Championships, which are coming up very soon, just after the Christmas holiday.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And Hockey East is very well represented, especially among Team USA.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll get into that a little bit later.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But first of all, just how people have really started to gather interest for the world juniors over the last few years, Erica.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be something that I would follow just because I've always loved to follow the prospects.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you and I working in college hockey, it's a common thing for us to watch.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I think just the wider public has gotten more interested in some of these young guys, all under the age of uh 20, that are going to come through the pipelines for their NHL teams.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, they're they're great college hockey players a lot of the times, especially on Team USA.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think there's a couple different things.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we've talked a little bit about this before, but I think, you know, the first place you have to look is the growth of the national team development program and how that's really built a national team and a national culture for USA hockey that maybe didn't exist, you know, before that program or didn't exist in the same way, I should say.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we've talked to different players and coaches who maybe played in the tournament before there was a national team development program, and they talk about the impact it had on them.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: But just in terms of a general, you know, view and a general consciousness of what the tournament is, I think that's number one.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then you combine that with the fact that the number of NHL draft pick, high draft pick prospects that have started coming to college hockey more and more in the last five, 10, 15 years.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: So those two things really combine together, as you said, have really added a level of, you know, not just really hardcore niche college hockey fans, but really expansive hockey fans and just expansive sports fans generally has allowed the World Junior Tournament to really thrive and be known and be followed in a different way.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really exciting.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll have hockey's commissioner Steve Metcalf on a little later in the show.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing that we mentioned with him is it's it's it used to feel like this was really dead time, right?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: We know there's a break, but it felt like dead time.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: And now it doesn't quite feel like dead time anymore because we're still having the same college hockey conversations because it is so uh something that we're so aware of.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a really exciting thing.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's always been popular in Canada, right?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But in the US, here it's coming down the line, and uh nobody will be surprised that it's really the same teams that are gonna be the contenders again this year: USA, Canada, uh, Sweden, Finland.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Those are gonna be the good teams that we'll get into a little bit later.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But to give you some of the basic information for the tournament, it starts on December 26th through January 5th, the championship game.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It comes fast and furious.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it feels like there's games constantly, all day, every day.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Turn on NHL Network or what have you, and you'll see uh whatever game is going on at the time and all of those games being played in Canada, up in Ottawa.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the US starts in a in group A, which is a really stacked group.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll just read you off uh both of these groups.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Group A is USA, Canada, Finland, Latvia, and Germany, and group B is Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan because Russia is still not allowed in the tournament.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when USA and Canada are in the same bracket, and then you have Finland in there as well, it's not gonna be an easy one.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't doesn't look like a sweep for anyone.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it really is interesting that you get Canada and the United States.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: They'll play on New Year's Eve in-pool play.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Now, it's not like only one team advances, so uh, but it is really interesting.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: They'll get challenged early.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then Finland being there as well.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Finland, who was a semifinalist last year, the US beat Finland in actually a closer game than the final was against Sweden a year ago.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: So uh this team is going to be challenged definitely uh early on.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Sweden on the other side, you have Chechia who was a semifinalist last year against Sweden.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, Canada, uh, it'll be interesting to see back on home soil the fact they finished fifth last year.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, they were upset by Chechia early after winning a couple of championships in a row.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: So the motivation of that Canadian team playing the United States on December 31st in the last full round game, uh, that'll be really interesting to watch as the tournament goes on.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and let's get into the Hockey East representation there.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So as of right now, the US has 10 different guys that were on chosen to the preliminary roster from Hockey East.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's obviously a really large number of representation.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh most of the guys on Team USA are coming out of the NCAA.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few OHLers mixed in.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: But to look at where the guys come from in Hockey East, Boston College very well represented.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Six players coming from the Eagles.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the guys were there last year, but James Hagen's now on the team.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: He just barely missed the cut for last year's tournament.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perot, Teddy Stega, Drew Fortescue, and Aaron Mededian also on the roster for Boston College.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh BU, Cole Eiserman, Cole Hudson, and Brennan Svoboda, then Trevor Connolly from Providence College should also be a good addition.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: But we're seeing reporting, Eric, out of camp that there's going to be a BC line.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think no surprise, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: David Carl mentioned that.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's back as the head coach.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: He's obviously familiar with what the BC guys have done, playing against him a couple of times last year and coaching them in this tournament.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned the James Higgins thing, though.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the biggest thing that stands out.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, as you said, he just missed this team last year as a barely turned 17-year-old.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: So now at age 18, uh, he's going to be a huge part of this group.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it'll be really interesting to see how he does.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Now, the three guys, Leonard Perot and Higgins, have not played together exclusively with Boston College this year.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: They've played together a lot, but it hasn't been exclusive the way that Smith, Leonard, and Perot line was last year.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: But you mentioned how quick this tournament is, how it's compressed into such a short period of time.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: So any level of chemistry that's already built in that you don't have to build as a team, that can be so important to, you know, really hit the ground running.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it makes a lot of sense for David Carl to do that and put that group together early on.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, he's he did such a good job with this group last year.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: He obviously knows how to win the national champion and the gold medal winning coach.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that probably makes a lot of sense early.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I they're also been practicing on the top power play unit for Team USA.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like they're gonna be leaned on pretty heavily, get a lot of ice time.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's some really skilled forwards, and uh James Hagen's not drafted yet, but uh pretty much a consensus to be a number one overall pick.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh he's gonna be someone that there's a lot of eyes on.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we can't wait for this tournament.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: It should be really, really exciting.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Again, you have it right after Christmas.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of games.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: The United States will get Germany, Finland, and then Canada in pool play.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And uh remember, if you have, you know, BU only plays one game during this stretch against Yale on the road.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Providence is interesting, though, because they could potentially be down Trevor Connolly for the Ledyard Bank Classic, which will be Northeastern, and then potentially, you know, a game against Dartmouth, and potentially the Mayor's Cup game against Brown, if Connolly and the U.S.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: went all the way to the final, which is on January 5th.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: BC, as we mentioned last week, does not play any games during this stretch.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: B only plays the one.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: So uh that's always a scheduling quirk that these coaches now have to think about when you have so many teams going uh to and so many players from these teams going to world juniors.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: But uh that is what's to look for over the next couple of weeks.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna look ahead to what you should look for going forward as we kind of preview a little bit of the second half of the hockey season that's coming up on this week in Hockey East.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to go around Hockey East, previewing some of the most important dates from the second half.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's presented by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Visit HockeyEastOnline.com for your chance to win championship tickets and a two-night stay at Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll start right after the new year.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have a key matchup, Eric, between Boston College and UConn.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Both you and I will be on that game.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That will be a game that you can watch right here on Ness.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And but there's implications for the postseason in this game.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think question one when we look at the women's side, Bridget, is how these top four teams are gonna sort themselves out, right?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because remember, in the semifinals, not all of them are gonna be able to get home games, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Potentially two, and you know, there could be upsets somewhere.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: So the seeding is gonna be really, really important.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we've seen a lot of games between these teams so far.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: We've actually seen more of them than are still left to be played, but there's still enough.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: And one of them right out of the jump is this BC UConn game, as you talked about.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: UConn, who we've talked a lot about, right?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: They're so good defensively.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: They've won a lot of these low-scoring games against Boston College, trying to continue to build their momentum of having a really nice year that try to bounce back from that loss on the road at Holy Cross right before break.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, right out of the shoot, that'll be really interesting to see.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, you talk about this top four group.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Again, you know, they're gonna, three of them are gonna play in the bean pot.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: So they'll get extra games against each other.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that in a second.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: But in terms of the standings, look at how these teams navigate.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think we'll still have questions going into the final two weekends of the year, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: BU and UConn will play a series the home and home the last weekend of the season.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: BC and Northeastern will play a series the second to last weekend of the season.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this is going to, I don't think this is going to be settled early.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So every one of these games are gonna be crucial.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe that first game on January 3rd tells us a little bit about at least where those two teams are headed.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the women are a little bit further along in their seasons than the men.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: They start a little bit earlier, a week or so earlier.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh their playoffs are coming around the corner pretty quickly, and we'll see that uh how things develop throughout January and February uh before they hit the hockey east playoffs.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And to get to our next two important key dates uh for some of these hockey east teams is the bean pot.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: The beanpot is a time for three of the four hockey east teams that are in that tournament, uh, BU, BC, and Northeastern, to really sharpen their edges, create uh, you know, some resilience, learn from a playoff-like atmosphere.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so you can take that experience and use it in the Hockey East tournament, and maybe even use it in the NCAA tournament if you make it that far.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh these are these are important matchups.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: The first round will be January 14th.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the semifinals at Matthews Arena, uh, those games will be broadcast on Nesson and the championship and third place game will be January 21st uh at TD Garden again, like last year, which was a historic event for for the woman in that in that uh bean pot.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was the first time that the woman had played at TD Garden.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're going back for another round.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that is also on Nesson on January 21st.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it was, uh, if you didn't get a chance to go see it in person last year, just to describe what it was like a little bit.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: We had over 10,000 people in the stance for the championship game, which uh maybe we'll see something like that again.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a large crowd.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we also saw the championship game have a goal with the in the last minute to tie it, and then a game-winning goal in overtime.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a lot of fun to be a part of that broadcast.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so that is coming up in January as well.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then we look towards the end of the regular season, Eric, what do you see there?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think, you know, just one more note on the beanpot quickly.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's worth pointing out.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, those non-conference games could be crucial because three of those hockey teams that we're talking about are all back in the NCAA tournament conversation, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: So those games do become doubly important and even a potential consolation game for one of those teams.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in terms of some of the lowers, you know, going down the seeding list a little bit, look out for what New Hampshire does the last couple of weekends, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: They play BC and BU in home and homes the last two weekends of the year.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: They're fifth right now.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: Can they stay at that spot?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Can they find a way to jump up?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: They might be able to with a decent run of games before you get to BCBU.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then the other one worth pointing out is Maine, right?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: They had a nice win against Merrimack last week, 3-2 to finish out the first half.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Adriana Vandalist had a goal and an assist in the game from Maine.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: She's our Jersey Mike's sub-above player of the week.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: Maine is now up to the sixth spot as of this recording.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can they find their way into that buy, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Out of the opening round.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's gonna be tough to start because they play so many games on the road at UNH, at Boston College, a game that you'll have on Nesson, at Harvard, and then two at UConn.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: So look out for a couple of those games early on to see whether Maine can find their way up and out of that opening round.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, that should be interesting.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then the last few dates to mention have to do with the hockey east playoffs.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the tournament will start on February 26th, then the championship game will be March 8th.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the first six teams, first six teams in the standings get a bye.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what you're talking about, being important with seating.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so we'll see how that plays out.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: The playoffs once again start at the end of February and finish on March 8th.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then the winner of the Hockey East tournament will head on to the NCAA tournament, and potentially there could be more than one team from Hockey East going this year.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: When we come back, we'll talk about a couple of men's games to watch for as we look ahead to the second half on this week in Hockey East.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: We continue around Hockey East, the segment brought to you by Boston Children's Hospital.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Wanted to look at a couple of men's date storylines to look out for in the second half of the season.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, as we'll talk about a little bit later with Steve Metcalf, there are so many teams in the conversation on the men's side.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty exciting when you look at the pairwise.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And uh one team I wanted to start with is UConn.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: We touched on this briefly last week, but UConn actually moved up.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: They're 15th in their pairwise uh at the end of the break.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And they have two tournaments that are crucial because UConn has played more conference games than any other team in hockey east.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: So their strength of schedule is really coming from their conference games, whereas a lot of the teams we'll talk about the strength of schedule is coming from the non-conference games.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, what that means is Yukon, who doesn't have that juggernaut on their non-conference schedule, so they have to find wins in those games.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Their record overall at 7-7-1.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're the only team in the top 25 of the pairwise, Bridget, that doesn't have a winning record.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: So they have to get these games, right?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna go to Milwaukee.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Look out for what UConn does in that holiday tournament.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get a game against Wisconsin in the final?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get a win against Wisconsin in the final?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then maybe even more importantly, that CT Ice tournament, which UConn has been close a couple of times, but has not been able to win yet.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's their last non-conference games.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get a game against Quinnipiac?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get a win against Quinnipiac?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: That might be their last best chance at a non-conference win.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Those are a couple of dates maybe under the radar.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Look out for UConn.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: If they can get those games and be what we expect them to be in Hockey East, they have a real chance to crack the NCAA tournament field.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: 15 in the pairwise at this time of year.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're right on the bubble.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: You need those wins for sure.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to talk about another team that's in the pairwise and kind of feels maybe like they're a little bit safe where they are in the pairwise.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Providence College has had a really good season so far.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: They've won a lot of their non-conference matchups.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so they sit right now sixth in the pairwise.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: They have a holiday tournament coming up as well, December 28th and 29th, the Ladyard Bank Classic up in New Hampshire, hosted by Dartmouth, who has been a ranked team.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they start out with a game against Northeastern.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, but that being a non-conference game because it's in the holiday tournament.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: But PC has such a tough schedule coming up.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really crucial part of the season to really see uh if that first half is sustainable with some of the goaltending that they've been getting and all four lines being able to produce.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can they continue that into this really tough stretch?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because Eric, if you look at their schedule from January 17th to 22nd, it's 11 games against top 15 teams in the pairwise.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it starts with maybe the hardest matchup of all of them against number two Boston College on January 17th and 18th.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: The first meeting between those teams went to overtime, really hard-fought game.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited to see the conclusion of the regular season matchup between those two teams.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think the other thing that's worth noting with Providence is they get Maine at home at January on that stretch of those 11 games in a row.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get those games against the main team that has not lost anything except for the two games against Boston College?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the other thing I think that's worth looking at is UNH.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Is UNH gonna make the run that it feels like they're playing well enough to make right now, Bridget?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: They tied Dartmouth.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jason Seedham had a goal in that game, showing I think the depth of UNH's scoring has really come along.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: He's our night shift all academic standout this week.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Goals in two in a row, points in four in a row.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: So not just to LeClaire, Devlin, and Conme.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: But UNH's hockey schedule may be the hardest outside of maybe Providence.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: You can you can kind of compare uh UNH in the second half of the season, three games with BU, three games with BC, two at Maine, two at Lowell, two with UConn, three with UMass still left.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's so you look at the early part of that, a home and home with Boston University, starting Friday, January 17th at home on Nesson.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a date to watch, I think.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's right before a stretch for BU where they play their BC games.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: UNH starting their really difficult stretch.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Can U and H pick one or two off against BU?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Can they get those wins?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Last year the problem became there weren't enough wins for UNH to get at the end of the year to get in the bubble.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: This year, those wins are available to them.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: The question will be can they get them?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: So those are a couple of dates to watch for UNH.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and another thing that we've we talk about, we talk about on the women's side, the bean pot is always such a fun event to go to.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've been to the last uh, I don't know, five or so bean pots in a row.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I like to go as a fan.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if I'm not working it, Eric, I don't know if you're working it, but uh just always fun to be in the building.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's coming up in February, and then we get to the end of the men's regular season, right?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: We get to the final uh day of the regular season.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Ten out of the 11 teams play on March 8th, and then the playoffs start on March 12th.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it really should be a lot of fun.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait to see it.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we will have our interview with Hockey East Commissioner Steve Metcalf.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned for more this week in Hockey East.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: We have a special treat for you here with not a ton of games going on during the Christmas break.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we figured we'd bring in the commissioner of Hockey East, Steve Metcalf.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: And this segment is brought to you by the Shift Group, helping former athletes and veterans become elite business professionals.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: Mr.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Commissioner, thanks so much for joining us.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Eric, uh, thanks for having me.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Great to see you.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much to talk about right now.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're at a natural sort of halfway point where we can evaluate things.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we'll talk about both the men's side and the women's side.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Why don't we first start with the men's side of things?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the pairwise picture is pretty remarkable right now.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Not that we haven't had these moments in the past, but uh where hockey is right now, hockey is right now, over 70% on their non-conference win percentage, seven teams inside the top 15, eight on the bubble.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's a pretty remarkable time to be a hockey team.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think you you you hit on one of the key stats there is that 70% winning percentage in our non-conference games.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, uh critical to have success out of conference.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we've had some really quality wins uh, you know, against you know, good teams that are going to be in the tournament.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so, look, it's a great position to be in at this break.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's a you know, a bunch of non-conference games left, there's a bunch of hockey left to be played, but you'd rather be in this position when you get to this break, uh, you know, mid-season break than not.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, we've we've got some teams that have really built a great resume.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think one of the differences this year, maybe versus years past, is sometimes in years past, when that non-conference record isn't quite as high, each team's strength of schedule is coming off what they're doing in the non-conference.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: But this year, because the conference schedule is so impressive, there's so many teams that you can actually build up your strength of schedule in the league.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: So a team like New Hampshire, Steve, who's you know right on the bubble right now inside the tournament today, they're gonna have 11 opportunities against teams within the top 20 right now in the second half of the season, most of those in conference.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: So there's gonna be so many chances for these teams to continue to move up.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's it's good when we've got so much strength and depth in the league, uh, because you know what you described uh can can work in our favor.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think over the next couple of weeks, we've got a number of teams involved in some Christmas tournaments and a few key non-conference games.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, Denver going up to Maine for two stands out.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, some great opportunities to, you know, go have some success in the Christmas tournament, go have uh some important non conference victories, and then hopefully everyone's taking care of the games which were you know, which were um favorite in, I guess I'll say.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um And so then we then we've set ourselves up for the you know the stretch run with just just conference play.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's one of those weird things where when you're not playing a conference game, you're really rooting for the other teams in your conference, right?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Which is obviously a little bit of an odd thing for fans, but it really is important and these Christmas tournaments could prove that.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, it it I think we uh we all should be rooting for each other in these important non-conference games.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I know that is the case with uh with some of our coaches that really pay attention to this.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh, you know, I've been able to go and see a couple of these non-conference games, and it is kind of fun to root for for one of our teams and share.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and the coaches get excited too when you've you've got uh a big cheerleader in stance.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the women's side a little bit.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think one of the real revelations of this year, Steve, has been the re-emergence of COM AV, right?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Not just in the hockey's picture, but the national picture.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not really just about those two teams, but it's the fact that we're really talking about four teams in the national picture potentially for the tournament, not just the one or two in years past.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So uh it gives the women's league just that extra jolt a little bit in the national scene.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we, you know, we've got this there's a kind of a delineation there between the top four uh as we get to break.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, uh Boston College and Boston University, both in the in the top 15, which is how many teams are in the women's tournament.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's a position we haven't, we just haven't had the last couple of years.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we had a couple of years when Northeastern was our top dog and really, really top of the of the uh pairwise uh rankings.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: But now to have two teams in in the uh top 11 as we go into break, you know, would look would obviously love to have a a third or a fourth, but um, you know, progress for sure.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: How important is that?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've talked a little bit the last couple of years about, you know, the ECAC has been really, really strong on the women's side.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: Hockey EC has been trying to catch them.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: It feels like that's happening.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, maybe one of the biggest results of the year is Boston College winning those two games against Clarkson because that that could hold up all the way until March and be a deciding factor.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: The the ECAC um has had our number last uh last year, maybe last two years, and we've done better this year for sure.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's definitely helpful.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you you know, you pointed out the two signature wins on the women's side, a sweep of Clarkson, which, you know, again, you know how this math works.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: You put that kind of hay in the barn, if you will, and it stays in there.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so everyone benefits a little bit.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh BC obviously benefits the most.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh look, hopefully we've got a few more.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's only a handful of uh non-conference games left on the women's side, but let's hope we have some success there and that and then we get into you know conference play to finish the season.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: One of the cool things that's happened, at least with the you know, growing consciousness of college hockey, is that you know, this period used to really feel like a dead time, as well as there being no games.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: And now with the emergence of world juniors and especially the United States team, it feels like we're still thinking college hockey all the way through the year.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: It almost feels like Jerry York's old phrase of trophy season, which used to start at Bean Pot, now really starts earlier, right, with the World Junior Tournament and more and more drafted guys and potential NHL guys coming, not just through college hockey, but specifically with Hockey East.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: How have you seen this change over the last five to 10 years of the World Junior Tournament, just in the growing consciousness of hockey fans this time of year?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, the World Junior Tournament like it is really such a great event.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I had an opportunity last year to go for a couple days in Sweden for the first time I'd ever been to it.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, just the games and the pageantry and and you know, uh when Sweden played and Canada, US, some of the some of the marquee teams, what what just a fantastic event, and and obviously very, very, very high level of hockey.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, look, these last couple of years have been really good for us as far as uh participants on, you know, in the world junior tournament, certainly on the U.S.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: team.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh look, when we've got these uh 10 representatives going to camp, and I guess uh I like the chances of most, if not all of them, making their teams.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, that's fun to watch those games and when you've got, you know, kind of a horse in the race, if you will.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Last thing we want to talk about in this segment is just, you know, we are slowly but getting closer to the time when we're gonna start to talk about playoff picture and hockey's tournament.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: And the women's tournament this year is already guaranteed.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Their final will be at UConn, the men's tournament back at TD Garden.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about ticket sales and the interest in the two tournaments already at this point.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I guess I'll start on the men's side.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: As I'm sure you'll remember, uh, last year we sold out both days of the garden.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we've really tried to um encourage everyone to get their tickets early so we don't get in a situation where you're left out.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, um, you know, tickets are on sale obviously already, and and there's uh a little discount you can get if you want to buy both days.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it goes to the uh beginning of January.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so get your tickets for the garden.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as you mentioned, the women's championship game, we decided to just uh mix it up a little bit this year and had a lot of conversation last year with the ADs and the coaches and decided to have a predetermined site.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that site for our championship game is going to be UConn.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Those tickets just went on sale, and we had the best attendance we've, I think, had in hockey history between the semifinals and the finals on the women's side last year.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so hopefully this turns into uh you know a really well-attended event and a great atmosphere for the players.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: So uh certainly um, you know, go grab your tickets for that as well.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: I want to ask a couple big picture things that maybe we can talk about.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: And let's start on the women's side.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that continually comes up is expansion to the women's NCAA tournament.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Now, percentage-wise, they're in a pretty similar place to a lot of the other sports, but it feels like there's good teams that are having a hard time making that field because it is so small, numbers-wise.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: What conversations are you hearing about potential expansion with the women's tournament?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's certainly when the tournament expanded to 11, I think that was fantastic.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, obviously, the the the women's coaches um across the country wanted to get more teams in.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a little bit formulaic on how they uh determine the size of the field versus how many how many uh institutions sponsor women's hockey.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so women's hockey's you know kind of right at that number right now.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: So expansion is going to be, I think it's gonna be tricky in the short term uh to expand the women's tournament.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I always hear these rumors about teams like Delaware is coming on board as a new Division I team, and I hear rumors about a couple of other teams coming.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if the numbers just tick up a little bit, then I think it increases the chances of expanding the field.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: We are seeing a lot of teams come up to the Division I level right now.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're hearing a lot of things about potential scholarship limits and opting in.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: And there's so much that still is kind of unknown as we sort of figure it out.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: But what are you seeing right now in terms of the growth of college hockey and how it sort of fits into this larger conversation about scholarship limits and things like that when it comes to the NCAA right now?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, this is, you know, there's been a lot of change at the NCAA level with the house settlement, um, you know, which people are still trying to figure out, you know, where they want to be with that.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, some of the big programs obviously are gonna invest more in their student athletes, um, you know, particularly football and basketball.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not really clear yet how it's gonna trickle down to hockey.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned, you know, roster limits uh is something that may go into effect, uh a 26 roster limit.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so that's only applicable if if you opt into the new house settlement um you know agreement.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I just don't know how many folks are gonna do that yet.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, we'll just have to wait and see.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think it'll be something.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's deadlines in late spring uh where schools have to decide what they're gonna do for the following year.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll just have to wait to that date.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: The last kind of big picture thing I wanted to ask about is a lot of folks are hearing about the CHL eligibility.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Folks sort of know a lot about it.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: There may be some folks who see that and don't exactly know what it means.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: I remember seeing you in person the day that the announcement came into effect, and you were getting so many texts you couldn't even look up from your phone.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was kind of just this big story in college hockey.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: What can you tell us, maybe for the folks who aren't fully aware what it might mean of sort of some of the challenges and conversations around it, and now that it's going into effect, what it has the chance to bring to college hockey?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think simply put, the CHL is the uh Canadian major junior league, uh very, you know, uh a great competitive junior league, lots of uh future pros and and uh you know great players that come out of the league, but you can't, you were you were ineligible to play college if you played in the CHL until I think first week of November when that changed.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the NCAA said, you know, all those kids uh were no longer professional and they could go play college hockey.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a uh you know a really big pool of great hockey players that now are available to play college.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's really good for the college game.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um someone said to me, you know, it's just gonna take a couple of years for the kind of the uh the ecosystem to reset.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: But now that'll become a feeder league, if you will, into college hockey.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then college hockey will just simply produce more NHL players than they currently do.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's gonna be good for college hockey, but just a couple of years of resetting the landscape, if you will.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's really interesting times, that's for sure, but it's also really exciting times in college hockey.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it's uh great to chat about.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're glad we get to do it every week on this show, and we're glad we had a couple of minutes with you here, Steve.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks very much for having me.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's the Commissioner of Hockey East, Steve Metcalf.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: We appreciate you joining us for our show today for Bridget Prue and Steve Metcalf, and all of us at Hockey East American Lante saying happy holidays, and we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks when the games restart right here this week in Hockey East.