We are now two weekends deep into the NCAA hockey season, and the second weekend of October was not as kind to the Hockey East as a whole. We saw a massive intraconference upset, a major interconference upset, and a lot of disappointment from some of the conference’s best teams.

              Starting with the intraconference mayhem, the National number 1 team, the Boston University Terriers, were stunned on the road against the UNH Wildcats. Despite a 2-goal performance from Macklin Celebrini, the Terriers fell by a score of 6-4. Mathieu Caron allowed 6 goals on 35 shots, which is a disappointing, but unsurprising outing from him (See my last Hockey East article or my Terriers primer). However, beyond BU’s flaws, Morgan Winters’ 2-goal output was remarkable, with his second tally being the shorthanded game winner in the second period. Also, I’d like to give big props to Ryan Conmy, Liam Devlin, and Cy Leclerc for having multi-point nights themselves.

              Maine, Boston College, Providence, and Northeastern all took care of business over the weekend against (on paper) inferior competition. For Maine, Bradly and Josh Nadeau cranked up 4-points each over the course of their two wins against Rensselaer. Andre Gasseau paced the field for BC in their 4 to 1 victory over Liberty with a 2-point performance. Providence dominated Stonehill 7 to 1 with multiple players collecting multiple points (Riley Duran and Tanner Adams continue to post points). Once again, Northeastern’s best got the offense going against Bentley, headlined by Liam Walsh’s 3-point output.

              Merrimack College had a disappointing opening weekend against Arizona State. A 1-0 Overtime loss on Friday, and a 4-2 loss on Saturday are cause for concern that this team could struggle against the strong mid-tier teams of the Hockey East who excel at playing in their defensive zone. Additionally, UConn took two difficult losses to Holy Cross 2-1 and 2-0 between Friday and Saturday. UConn’s offense was already a noted concern in their series against Colgate, and if their offensive impotence continues could paint them as one of the weakest teams in the Hockey East. Vermont’s weekend started with a win over St. Lawrence, where Simon Jellus had 2-goals for the Catamounts. Vermont ended their weekend with a 3-2 Overtime loss to Clarkson, which for how I anticipated this group’s season to go, is a respectable loss for a team that might not finish in the cellar of the Hockey East.

              UMass Amherst replicated the efforts of the Providence Friars from a week ago in their series against the Michigan Wolverines. Friday started with a painful 7-2 loss, but the Minutemen pulled off a massive upset on Saturday with a 6-3 victory. Ryan Ufko and Jack Musa both posted 3 points in the upset victory, and this win is definitely a momentum builder for this group to start their season.