Hockey East Tournament Season is upon is, and this year’s preliminary round is going to be a fun time for everyone involved. Wednesday, March 13^th between 7 and 7:15pm, matchups between Vermont/Connecticut, UMass Lowell/New Hampshire, and Merrimack/Northeastern will get underway to see which programs advance to the quarterfinals.

               Starting off the night, Vermont will be playing at Connecticut. In 3 meetings this year, UConn came out on top twice, with every game in the series being decided by a 3+ goal margin. Vermont’s only win in the series occurred in the teams’ first meeting, a 4-1 victory that was dominated by Gabriel Carriere’s 32 save performance in the win. UConn won the second meeting by a score of 5-2, a game that was dictated by a 2-goal performance by Matthew Wood. The two teams’ final meeting of the season went similarly to the second one with Wood scoring twice again, with Joey Muldowney also beating Carriere twice. Heading into this matchup, Vermont is certainly an underdog, and unless Jens Richards and Ryan Miotto get the offense going, overcoming UConn will be a tough task, even with the consistently great play of Carriere.

               The second matchup of the night will be the third consecutive contest between UMass Lowell and New Hampshire. As it stands on the year, UNH has beaten the Riverhawks 4-0 in both contests played this season (last weekend). The first meeting saw UML fail to beat Jakob Hellsten on 21 attempts, and they failed to contain Harrison Blaisdell who had two goals in the game. In the rematch Hellsten stopped all 18 shots, and Stiven Sardarian broke through with a two-goal outing. For the Riverhawks to have any chance in this game, they will need strong performances from Scout Truman, Owen Cole, and Matt Crasa. The Wildcats will continue to rely on Ryan Conmy, Cy Leclerc, and Morgan Winters to create scoring, while the likes of Alex Gagne and Jakob Hellsten keep pucks out of the net.

               The final matchup of the night will feature Merrimack and Northeastern. In three meetings this year, Northeastern has been the victor twice, with Merrimack’s win coming back in October at the start of the season. Michael Citara was great for the Warriors, scoring two goals in a 4-1 victory in their first contest of the season. The first rematch was a 5-3 win for the Huskies, with Jack Williams and Cam Lund posting dominant 3-point performances enroute to the victory. The final meeting had a similar vibe as Williams and Lund recorded 2-points each again in a 4-1 victory. Merrimack will be looking to Matt Copponi and Zack Bookman to continue to carry their offense in this game, and they will need a 2022-23 performance from Hugo Ollas if they’re going to keep their season alive. Northeastern will continue to look to their top players in Justin Hrycowian, Alex Campbell, Dylan Hrycowian, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Williams, and Lund to put Merrimack away and advance to a likely rematch with Beanpot rivals this weekend.