This past week of Hockey East action was a roller coaster of emotions for all but a handful of programs. On Monday night in the Beanpot final, the Northeastern Huskies shocked Boston University in overtime, courtesy of Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, to extend their winning streak to six games and rope themselves back into the top-25 picture. Five critical rivalry series for the conference would kick off on Friday night with UConn being the only team not in on the action.

               3^rd ranked Boston University would take on 10^th ranked Providence College in a home-and-home series. On Friday night, Providence picked up a Shootout victory (a tie by Hockey East standings) on Hudson Malinoski goal. Saturday saw the Terriers get back to their winning ways with a 5-2 outing on home ice, with Jeremy Wilmer, Jack D. Hughes, and Shane Lachance all having a multi-point night. 7^th ranked Maine would venture down to Durham to play a pair of games against their most heated rivals in 19^th ranked New Hampshire. Friday was disastrous for the Black Bears, as they were upended 6-2 by the Wildcats. Liam Devlin recorded a hat trick for UNH with Alex Gagne and Ryan Conmy each recording two points themselves. Saturday night was another beatdown in Durham, with the Wildcats picking up a 5-2 victory. Conmy and Devlin replicated their heroics from Friday night while Colton Huard and Cy LeClerc joined the party with two points each as well. 1^st ranked Boston College and 11^th ranked UMass met for a home-and-home over the weekend as well. On Friday, Ryan Leonard and Cutter Gauthier combined for 4 goals enroute to a 5-1 victory on the road. Sunday afternoon, the contest was much tighter with BC eking out a 6-4 victory at home. Leonard would record a hat trick in the effort that was matched with 3 assists by Will Smith. On the losing side, Aydar Suniev recorded 2 goals in the loss to add to his impressive year that he’s been having.

               In the unranked matchups, Northeastern played a home-and-home series with UMass Lowell. On Friday night, UMass Lowell would snap a 7-game winless streak against Hockey East foes, while also ending the Huskies’ impressive 6-game winning streak in a 4-2 victory at home. Scout Truman was the hero, recording 2 goals and an assist in the effort. The joy was short lived for the Riverhawks though, as they would fall 4-0 on Saturday. Cameron Whitehead was the star of the game for Northeastern stopping 42 of 42 to record the shutout. The last series of the weekend was between Merrimack and Vermont at the Catamounts’ arena. Friday night saw the visiting Warriors win 5-2 in a strong team effort. Saturday saw the Catamounts win 4-1 through a similar means of scoring by committee.

               Overall, the only series that did not go as expected for me was Maine failing to pick up a point during the trip down to Durham, as it raises the stakes of their series with Northeastern next weekend as they contend to stay in the National Championship picture. The biggest series next weekend will be between UMass and UNH due to the both the intraconference implications of those games, but also where they’re currently seated in the national standings, as the Hockey East is potentially vying to force what feels like an unprecedented 6 teams into the National Tournament.