2010 Hockey East Tournament Preview

This season, Hockey east was a complete crapshoot after the top two teams. Pre-season favorite BU struggled early will need a tourney win to get to the NCAAs and defend their title, a young BC team came together late to be the conference’s flagship team, and upstart Merrimack surged late to make their first playoff run in a long time. Now, we come to the tournament. One team will win and get an auto-bid to the NCAAs. Three teams, (UNH, BC, and Maine) are pretty much in. UVM may just need to win their first round series (as the 8 seed no less), while everyone else has to win the whole thing. Lets look at each matchup and see who may be skating at the Garden next week.

# 1 New Hampshire vs. #8 Vermont

To me, this is the most intriguing matchup, because UVM is probably the highest regarded #8 seed in Hockey East history. UNH had a great year, lead by their seniors Bobby Butler and Brian Foster. The Wildcats are definitely the favorite here, playing at home where they are strongest. They do have weaknesses, as BC showed last weekend. If you pressure them enough and play a turnover-free game, they have a hard time scoring. The Catamounts are used to playing series on the road, as they almost never play home and homes. UVM did knock off BU a few weeks ago, but I just don’t see them pulling off the upset here. UNH in 2.

#2 Boston College vs. #7 UMass

BC comes in to the tourney as the hottest team in the league. Lead by Brian Gibbons and Cam Atkinson, they have scored over 40 goals since the end of January, and they have let up only 21. The defense has been the biggest factor in their surge, and UMass will have a tough time getting at the net. The Minutemen have a strong one-two scoring punch in James Marcou and Casey Wellman, and they are capable of scoring in bunches, but BC can answer UMass’s one line with three quality scoring lines of their own. BC has also only lost 2 games at home this year, so I’ll give the nod to them. BC in 2

#3 Boston University vs. #6 Merrimack

BU NEEDS to win this tournament if they want to defend their NCAA title. Merrimack may be just a little happy to be there as anything higher than the 8 seed. BU plays well at home in front of their crowd, while Merrimack has struggled on the road. The Warriors have been hot of late, lead by freshman standout Stephane DeCosta. They have been able to play a more open style, which has allowed them to score more goals. With DeCosta on the ice, they are a tough team to stop. BU is lead by Nick Bonino up front, but a lot of their scoring comes from defensemen, as they like to cycle the puck deep and get traffic in front for guys like Shattenkirk and Warsofsky to fire on net. Merrimack can definitely win one game here, but BU wants another crack at BC. BU in 3

#4 Maine vs. #5 UMass Lowell

Maine limps into this series without their starting goaltender, on the heels of a staggering sweep at the hands of UMass. This one does not look good for the Black Bears. Lowell has two top notch goalies in Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton, as well as some great scoring punch from forwards Chris Auger and Kory Falite. Maine has been strong this year, with Gustav Nyquist more than likely landing himself on the All-Hockey East team at years end, but the absence of starting goalie Scott Darling will be too much. I like Lowell to win here. A lot. In fact, I like Lowell to get back to the finals. Lowell in 3.