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Dog Fight at Women's Championship (Again)! - This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome into this episode of This Week in Hockey East.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm BridgetPru here with Eric Galante.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's the final weekend of the Meg's regular season in the Women's Hockey East Championship weekend.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start there.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: The two teams that have been one and two in the women's side of Hockey East all year will meet up in the final as Yukon takes on Northeastern.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with a look back at the semifinals before we preview this matchup.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Starting with Yukon, they put up six goals in each of their playoff games this season.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: They started with a 6-1 win over Maine.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Next, it was a 6-1 win over the four-seed Holy Cross on Tuesday.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it's the fact that the scoring's been so spread out that's the most impressive thing, right?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph Phobic scores, Woodworth scores, Christina Walker scores, and Julian Pellerin each have two goals in the playoffs, right?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're really relying on their depth.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're talking about a game where, you know, we're we're going to be talking about the goaltenders, that depth might be really, really important and an advantage for UConn as they try to beat Northeastern for the first time.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: But this is the crazy thing with Tia Chan, right?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: How many times have we shown you videos saying this might be the save of the year?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's a new one every single week with her.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: She makes a couple of unbelievable stops there.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she's so impressive in net and once again turned in an all-world performance in the victory over Holy Cross.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh no surprise that she's a major part of why UConn is playing in the final once again.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll take on a Northeastern team, Bridget, that you were there and saw beat Vermont 3-1 in their semifinal.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Northeastern back to the one seed again this year, six-seed UVM.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was a three-to-one win for them at Walter Brown Arena.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Some key moments and some key players, I think, uh, to look back on that game.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jules Constantinople, she scored this bomb from the point all the way up at the blue line.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a crazy long-distance shot that finds its way into the net.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: She opens the scoring up, and that was really where the momentum started for Northeastern.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then the second goal was Morgan Jackson capitalizing on a bad turnover.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the UVM defenseman just popped the puck right out in front of the net, right to her tape, too.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: She just finishes that to make it two to nothing.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh an insane odd-angle goal from Eloise Carran.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: She just roofed it from a spot that you shouldn't possibly have an angle to score from, but she found the back of the net.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it was three to one at that point.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And another uh key moment of that game was Lily Shannon, the captain, making a save.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: She stepped in behind Yunson, who was a little bit out of position for a moment, blocked a shot, and so the momentum just kept building with all of those reasons uh for Northeastern.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we do need to focus on the goaltending in that game as well.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Liensa Yunson has been fantastic so far this playoffs.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and she's our Jersey Mikes, the sub-above player of the week.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: 39 saves first in the two overtime win over BU, and then 20 saves against UVM on Tuesday night.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And she was just named a top 12 finalist for goalie of the year for the second year in a row.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: So 939 save percentage, a 162 goals against the only person ahead of her in those categories is Tia Chan.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we have quite the goaltending matchup coming up in this final.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and here's some fun facts about Northeastern in the Hockey East tournament.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: They have a lot of history, but right now Northeastern is making its 10th consecutive appearance in the Women's Hockey East title game.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: They have six Hockey East titles, uh, and they're tied for BU with the most championship titles in Hockey East.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Their record has been really impressive when they enter the tournament as a one seed.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: They are 19-1 in the Hockey East tournament in the years that they've come in as the number one seed, and they are five and oh in championship games when they're the number one seed.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, uh, one last stat for you about them they have the most all-time wins in the Hockey East tournament with 39 going for 40 on Saturday.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And they are the one and Northeastern is the one seed, but of course, with the situation with NASEA's arena, this game is going to be taking place in stores.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Puck dropped 330 on Saturday on ESPN News.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's about can UConn get over the hump now against Northeastern, right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Northeastern got him a few times in the regular season.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: The last year in the Hockeys tournament, it was Northeastern beating Yukon in the semifinals.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: The year before that was when Yukon beat NU 1-0 late in overtime on a goal by Megan Woodworth.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: That was their first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So can Yukon get over the hump?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's the big story.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it feels like we could have a similar game, right?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Elite goaltenders, low scoring or close game, uh similar to the matchup they had in the championship game two years ago.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, should be a lot of fun.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So Yukon and Northeastern 330 on Saturday.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's plenty more to talk about, though.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: The final week of the men's regular season.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the hottest team going in is the U and the weekend they put together, sweeping their rival.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk with Jonathan Morello coming up next, right here on This Week in Hotkeys.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to This Week in Hotkeys.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're joined by VU forward John Morello.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: John, this interview brought to you by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Plan your weekend getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to have you with us, John.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, got a lot of questions about your season this year uh as a freshman, how things are going for you.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And also want to touch on you know being a Bruins prospect in Boston and what that's been like for you.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll start there.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've already gone to Bruins Development Camp two different times before you ended up uh as a freshman at Boston University.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Take us through what that process was like for you doing that before even going to college, and maybe some of the pointers or or things they wanted you to work on in your time at Boston University.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, um, those two development camps, they they uh they really helped me grow as a player, I think.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, um I learned a lot of different things from from different players, from the development staff, from coaches.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously, I mean they selected me because um I'm a two-way forward, um, a power forward, I like to drive the net, um, play heavy.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think they kind of just wanted me to, you know, embrace that um in my time at Boston University.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so they just they keep on, you know, helping me figure out ways to get towards the net, um, you know, be in better positions defensively.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: And um, it's really nice.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: They come to a lot of games and and they send me a lot of videos, so it's uh it's really helpful.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was gonna ask how much you actually get feedback.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen Adam McQuaid there.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know he's very involved in kind of going to I mean, luckily for him, uh around the Boston area right now, a lot of you guys are, but uh yeah, so is that something that happens on a weekly basis that you you might hear from one of those guys?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely, definitely a weekly basis.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um like home games, for instance, like they'll they'll probably be at every home game.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I probably I don't remember the last time they weren't at a home game, which is which is really nice.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, compared to last year when I was in Dubuque, um they I think they came by a couple times, um, but obviously it's way more convenient for them this year.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's just it's really nice getting a lot of feedback.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: How has your freshman year been as well?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, starting college is in and of itself becoming a student athlete, there's a balancing act that you have to do.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: What's your first year been like at BU as a student and as a player?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's been really good.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um I feel like I've I've adjusted to it pretty well.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um obviously the first semester I think was you know a little a little bit of a change coming back in school.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, I took I took one year um off school, so getting back into school was you know a bit of an adjustment.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but I felt I felt, you know, second semester going into it, I think I was I was really comfortable and I I knew what to expect out of out of myself, my teammates, and and then just out of school as as a whole.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh yeah, I I think it's been it's been pretty good.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's your major by the way?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: I always like to ask.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a business major.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have that's my degree as well.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um I wanted to talk to you about yeah, yeah, I have a business degree as well.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Pandolfo, your head coach Jay Pandolfo has mentioned multiple times after games um and in in weekly press conferences that your line and you have been some of the most consistent players throughout the season, kind of bringing the same thing night in, night out.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: What are those things that he's kind of praised you for uh that you guys have been doing well?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's just honestly some of the some of the basic things that that he's been kind of preaching to us the whole year, like um like being hard on the fore check, having good sticks, um, you know, in the neutral zone, the right positioning defensively, um, you know, not cheating the game.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's that's something that's um you know that we've we've you know been good at probably the whole year.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I think recently as a team, especially this past weekend against uh BC, I think we were um we were really good um defensively.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: We were really good on the four check, and that's why you know we had the success that we did.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I think just you know, us buying in as a as a whole team is uh is something that could really take us far.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, big weekend for you guys last weekend.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sweep over BC, outscored him eight to two.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Seemed like especially from just the beginning of that weekend coming out of the bye week, you guys had a lot of energy.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel energized at this point in the year?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the bye week helped you guys kind of focus and get on track.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Is that is that where you've you're feeling your games at as a team?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I mean, you hit it right on.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think we're really energized um as a team.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um the bye week, I mean, uh it was it was almost kind of weird not playing a game that weekend, but uh I think it was it it was really helpful for us.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: We we got to work on um you know coming together as a team.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: We got to work on, you know, some things that maybe haven't gone that great for us this year.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so we brought it and uh we brought it into BC and and yeah, we got we got the sweep, which was amazing.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you about your goaltender, Mikhail Yagorov.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: He spoke about um how the bye week he felt uh he saw some improvements for for you know you guys in different areas, uh, and he seems to be playing really well right now.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: How important is it for him to be going at this time of year?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're heading into the last regular season game and we're heading into the playoffs soon.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, obviously, like obviously really important.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's our he's our backbone.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and this weekend he was he was unbelievable.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um I mean he stood on his head.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that second game, um, you know, I think they they should have had probably a few more goals.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um and he he really saved us there.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely really important, but we have to be we have to be good in front of him.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: We have to uh we have to support him.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that's that's really important because you know there's there's a lot of times that that he can't bail us out, but but when he does, it's it's uh it's it's really nice.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, he's a really special goalie.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And playoffs right around the corner, final question.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just how do you think some of the adversity that you guys have gone through this season and some of the adjustments you've been able to make kind of in response to that can help you during the playoffs?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think honestly, I think the adversity was was amazing for us.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think if we went through this whole season where we were just, you know, maybe ranked top five team, not really losing many games, then we go into playoffs and and deal with adversity there.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I mean, what can you do?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's it's one game and and you're out if you lose it.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I think um I think it's important that we we dealt with adversity early, um, especially going down in games, um, you know, going into the third period down.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think we know how to bounce back now.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, maybe early on we we got a little down on ourselves when we were when we were losing early, but um I think now we know what to climb back as a team, so that's that's really important going into the playoffs, and um I think that'll help us for sure.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, John, so much for taking some time to talk to us this week.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck this weekend.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when we come back, we'll talk more about the final weekend of games on the men's side next on this week in Hockey East.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to talk about the men's bubble picture for the playoffs in the final day of regular season games.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start there.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, really want to dive into some of the Hockey East teams on the NCAA bubble, but uh we got so many questions about who's in, who's out, right, Eric?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know you answer these questions all the time.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: What does my team need to do to be a lock in this NCAA tournament?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the one thing we do know is Providence is in.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a PC fan, you can relax.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're in.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh everything else has to do with seeding as they clinched that uh number one seed in the Hockey East tournament for the first time in program history this weekend.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm really excited for them, and it's uh it'll be great to watch them in the tournament.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're in, and they really can't move a lot, which is what's kind of interesting about this.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Greater than 99% chance to make the tournament.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're in a pack of teams right around a two-seed line right now.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: The four teams that are the projected one-seeds are pretty far ahead in the NPI right now, so it would be tough to get up there, but the path would start with a win over Yukon this weekend.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like you said, it's everything else that becomes interesting here.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the interesting part is when it gets to that next layer, the next uh tier of hockey East teams below Providence College.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So let's look at where those teams are right now on the NPI bubble.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, you have four hockey East teams that are in position that they could still get an at-large berth without winning the conference championship game.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's BC, UConn, UMass, Maine.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Eric, it's really a shrinking bubble right now.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a reason that we're showing you 12 through 21, right?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: The top 11 teams are basically already locked in the tournament, right?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: From Duluth up.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: That tournament probability we're showing you is from a website, playoffstatus.com.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's an all-encompassing number that puts together your chances of winning your conference, your chances of being event at large, your chance of your spot being taken away because of a bid stealer.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So 11 teams right now have greater than 99% odds to make the tournament.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then Atlanta cocky and CCHA has to get one of the spots.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So there's really only kind of three spots available right now.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And one of those could potentially be going to Wisconsin.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get to that in a second.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that's interesting is this group of teams are the only teams left that could win out, lose their conference final, and still have a chance to make it.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone other or anyone below 22 would have to win their conference tournament to get in.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: But the other big point I think is important, Bridget, is that a lot of people were wondering why did UMass move down despite having a really good week, which they did, a win and a tie against UConn.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: But their actual NPI number moved closer to where UConn is at the 15 spot.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's why UMass's odds to make the tournament right now are better than some of the teams ahead of them in Maine and Bowling Green.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to make sure we get that point across that UMass did move closer to the field, even though they're number 20 right now.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: But you see how many CCHA teams are on there, which is gonna make the CCHA tournament fascinating and something that folks have to watch to see are they gonna get two teams in?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Are they only gonna get one team in and just get their automatic qualifying spot?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, that could steal some spots.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But let's talk about Wisconsin really fast.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's look at what they're doing and how it affects hockey east.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Wisconsin plays at Penn State.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and a Wisconsin win could push them closer to a lock.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a Hockey East Bobble team fan, you're rooting for them to get losses uh in this final weekend because they would be taking a spot from one of your teams.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the available points by beating Penn State on the road would really push them up.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a spot that would potentially go away.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start with how Maine and UMass could potentially get in this tournament.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Why does UMass have better odds than Maine right now, despite being below them?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's the fact that UMass plays BC on Thursday, right?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have that available points by beating a team like BC.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Maine only plays one game this weekend and it's against Vermont.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: So if UMass, it's probably a must-win in terms of getting an at-large to beat BC on Thursday.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maine likely has to win out, and they would need some help.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if they got all the way to the conference final, they're given about a 33% chance to make the tournament if they were to lose the conference final.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: But UMass, if they're where to win out, get to their conference final and lose, they would have about a 7-10 chance of making the tournament.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: So must win for UMass in terms of the at-large piece.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Maine has got to get all the way to the Hockeys final.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if they were to lose there, they would still need a little bit of help.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: But there is a path for both of those teams.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and take us through the path as well for Boston College and Yukon, because these are the two that are above the cut line.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're right there.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're just trying to not lose their spots to one of these conference tournament winners, potentially being uh one of those uh teams that's not in the NPI picture right now.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Yukon's holding on by a thread right now.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought they played really well on Saturday, but Michael Hrable was Michael Horable and played even better.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Yukon plays Providence on Saturday.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have that game at four o'clock right here on Nessen.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's a huge opportunity for UConn because to get a win against a team number six in the NPI would be the best available points of any game left remaining on the schedule.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that includes the playoffs for hockey's teams, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because none of these teams we're talking about are going to get in a quarterfinal against Providence.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it would be a neutral site game.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a huge opportunity for UConn.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a must-win, but it's just a huge chance for them to try to move up.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: BC's another one where the the thing I would stress is look more at the NPI number and less at the ranking for the next week or two.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: BC really didn't move down that much, right?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: They only moved down from 12 to 13 despite being swept.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: But they moved a lot closer to the bubble because their NPI number, right, that 54.27 is a lot closer to 54.03 than they were going into the week, where their tournament odds were probably closer to like 80%.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: So Thursday's not a must-win for BC against UMass.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like a must-win for UMass, but again, it's an important game against the top 20 team.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that you really have to watch is like if Augustana doesn't win the CCHA title, could they be an extra bubble team, right?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: If Minnesota State doesn't win but gets to the final, could they be an extra bubble team?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Those are all things that could steal spots from hockey's teams.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that you really have to watch for over the next week.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about that opportunity cost, basically, with some of these games.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we mentioned it, UConn Providence on Saturday, BC.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: They'll have Northeastern on Saturday.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have that game at seven for you.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll also have the BU Terriers against Lowell.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be a six o'clock start on Saturday.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's part of a triple header of games here on NESA that finished out the regular season.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's hopefully somewhat of an explainer on where things are, but we'll talk plenty about it in the next couple of weeks.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: More to come on our show is up next.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: We continue on, presented by Boston Children's Hospital.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Boston Children's where the world comes for answers.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: One team that we do want to quickly acknowledge for their performance last week was Merrimack.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Their weekend at UVM.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: They take five out of six points.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: They're in good position to get a home game in the opening round now, and they will finish Thursday against Lowell.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Really nice weekend for Kaelin Fitzpatrick, who's our service credit union scoring leader for the week.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: A five-point game on Friday.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first time a Warrior had a five points in a game since November of 2023.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Then he added another goal Saturday.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: He has goals in four straight games and six of his last seven.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So pretty impressive stuff there.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that's happening is the women's season coming to an end, as we talked about, championship Saturday.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So some major awards, Bridget, were announced.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've gone through most of the major awards.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and on Wednesday, it was announced that Northeastern Stryker Zablocke was named the Hockey East Player of the Year.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, striker is the first freshman since uh 2017-2018 season to win.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: She led Hockey East, scoring 34 points in league games.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And she also shares Hockey East Rookie of the Year honors with Boston College's Ava Thomas.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was wondering how that was going to shake out because it felt like this year there were so many good rookies, it was really difficult to choose.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, co-rookies of the year this year, Ava Thomas had 46 points this season.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then maybe the easiest award to hand out, and that's no slight against anyone else, because there were a lot of wonderful coaching jobs this season.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Katie LaChapelle is chosen by her peers as the Hockeys Coach of the Year.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Holy Cross obviously turned in their best season in program history, finishing fourth in Hockey East.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: They made it to the hockey semifinals.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just an amazing story all year that it's been really fun to follow along with.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Katie did a wonderful job with Holy Cross.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh those are the major awards on the women's side again, the championship 330 on Saturday.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: But before we go today, Bridget, the most important race this week took place on Friday in Providence.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: You got that right.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna finish out the so the show strong here.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Saving the best for last.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: This was the first ever, Schneider 500.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And look at that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's Daphne was out in an early lead, but here comes Anya, the two-year-old Dotson, to take the win.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Tanner, he's 11 years old, though, right there, nice Bruins jersey for him.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know if he trained too much for this, but he looks happy anyway.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so the winner, two-year-old Dotson, Anya.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So and I'm just excited to see where this goes because I think this should prompt other teams to do the same thing.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want a wiener race in on every rank this year.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I'm excited to see if we can get another one going.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I do believe they plan on doing this again next season.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Did you say Tanner's 11 years old?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: 11 years old.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Be like a separate age division or something.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, true.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: True.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if we get more, maybe we could do a senior division and then a regular division.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, congrats to Anya.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations indeed.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Fun times down in Providence.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're doing a lot of celebrating, as we said.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Friars clinching their first ever regular season title.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: So again, big day on Saturday to wrap up the hockey's regular season.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Three games for you here on Nesson, starting at four o'clock, UConn and Providence, then at six on Nesson Plus, it's Lowell and BU and wrapping things up at seven o'clock.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be DC and Northeastern, and then we'll get you the whole playoff schedule over the course of the following week, which we'll have for you straight through to the Hockeys Final on Nesson.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Fun week.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for joining us for another edition of This Week in Hockeys Deputy.