Hello again, I missed a week of Hockey East action last week due to having a busy plate, (I released a new album with the music group I play in with Damien from Damien’s Deliberations) but I am back with that sweet, sweet chaotic goodness that is our Division 1 coverage. There were multiple intraconference heavyweight series this weekend that have effectively reshaped the conference heading into American Thanksgiving weekend. Let’s jump straight into it.

UMass Amherst seems to like making me look bad this season by losing when I talk about them being a legit force, and then winning against teams that I think are national championship contenders. This trend carried into this weekend as the Minutemen knocked off 5^th ranked Providence College back-to-back in regulation. Lucas Mercuri scored the GWG in Thursday’s 3-2 contest, and Ryan Ufko authored the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 victory. Michael Hrabal was fantastic in Saturday’s contest, stopping 31 of 32 shots from the Friars. 4^th ranked Boston College continues to impress after downing UConn 5-4 (OT) and 3-0 over the weekend. Cutter Gauthier was magnificent on Friday collecting 3 points, including the GWG, his 5^TH of the season. Jacob Fowler was great in Saturday’s shutout win (October’s Hockey East goaltender of the month’s first clean sheet of the year), stopping 31 shots. 8^th ranked Boston University continues to get their season back on track after a sweep of 9^th ranked Maine this weekend. The Terriers picked up 3-2 and 5-4 victories. Mathieu Caron was exceptional on Friday stopping 29 of 31 against the Black Bears and was at his best in the 3rd period when his team only produced 2 SOG. On Saturday, Macklin Celebrini and Quinn Hutson took matters into their own hands by recording 3 points each, continuing their offensive romp this season. UNH continued their run by beating Hockey East cellar dwellers, Northeastern 4-2 and 4-0 respectively. In Thursday’s contest, Cy Leclerc gave Northeastern the Gauthier/Hutson Special by putting up 2 goals and an assist on them. Jakob Hellsten was remarkable on Saturday, stopping all 21 shots that he saw.

              Looking at the rest of the conference who didn’t see sweeps or intraconference play, UMass Lowell and Merrimack played with the intention of turning their seasons around. The teams tied on Wednesday’s affair 1-1, and UMass Lowell picked up an overtime win 3-2 on Saturday. Nick Rheaume was big for the Riverhawks, as he scored 2 goals, including the GWG. Vermont took an uneventful 2-1 loss to American International on Saturday, which had minimal implications for them, or anyone in the Hockey East at this point.

Overall, this week moved the needle in the conference to push Boston College and Boston University closer to the top of the national rankings, as well as UNH and UMass Amherst making bids to join the top-10. Providence and Maine will inevitably drop in the national rankings, but both teams played tight games against fellow top-15 opponents. Next weekend is a big-time non-conference weekend for the NCAA, so the intraconference standings will not be impacted, but the Hockey East’s top team have a chance to ascend the national rankings.