This Week in Hockey East

We are starting to enter the meat of the league schedule, and the race for home ice is getting hotter. As of this morning, the Hockey East standings look like this:

1 New Hampshire (10-1-2) 22 pts
1 Boston College (11-5-0) 22 pts
3 Maine (8-4-2) 18 pts
3 Boston Univ (7-4-4) 18 pts
5 Merrimack (7-4-3) 17 pts
6 Northeastern (6-7-3) 15 pts
7 UMass (4-6-3) 11 pts
8 Providence (3-7-4) 10 pts
9 Vermont (2-8-3) 7 pts
10 UMass Lowell (2-14-0) 2 pts

The race is closest at the top, where the top 6 teams all could conceivably grab a home ice spot. It will tougher for Northeastern to get it than, say, BU or Merrimack, but it can still happen. At the bottom of the standings, its safe to say that Lowell has its work cut out for them. They could catch up to Vermont for 9th, but thats not going to get them into the playoffs. A serious winning streak is going to be needed to get back into this thing. The race for the last few spots, really, is now between UVM, UMass, and Providence, with only two of those teams moving on. There is still a lot of hockey to be played, however, so anything can happen.

This week's slate of games are as follows:

Friday
Providence @ UNH 7pm
UML @ Merrimack 7pm
UMass @ Vermont 7pm
BC @ BU (7:30pm , on NESN)

Saturday
BU @ UNH 7pm
UML @ BC 7pm
Maine @ Northeastern 7pm
UMass @ Vermont 7pm

We could see some significant movement in the standings after this weekend, as Merrimack is making a move for home ice, beating BU last night and hosting cellar-dweller Lowell Friday. BU continues its murderer's row schedule Friday with a home date with BC, then they move up to Durham for the Wildcats Saturday. Maine drives down to Boston for one game with Northeastern, who are always tough at home, while UNH could be tested in both of their games this weekend.

At the bottom of the league, Lowell is going to have a tough time getting out of the basement with games on the road at Merrimack and BC, while UMass and Vermont battle for the last playoff spot up in Burlington all weekend. We should know more about who is in position for the postseason this time next week, with only a little over a month left to play. This is the time of year where season series wins are crucial, as home and homes determine the series outcomes. This stat can be huge when it comes down to ties for seedings and home ice. We'll see how this weekend plays out, it should be a good one.

As for BC, the Eagles sit right at the top, but have played three more games than UNH. They are going to need UNH to drop some of those in-hand games, which are against Providence, Maine, and Merrimack. This is definitely possible. BC still needs to take care of their own business and that starts Friday night at Agganis Arena against BU. We'll have more on this matchup tomorrow.