By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff
With Friday’s 3-2 win over Northeastern, BU has already clinched home ice for the Hockey East quarterfinals. Now, all that’s left to decide is its ultimate seeding for the tournament and its opponent in that opening round. The Terriers can finish second, third or fourth based on the following Saturday night scenarios:
Second
Win and a UNH loss to BC
Third
Win and a UNH win or tie
Tie and a Merrimack loss or tie
Loss and a Merrimack loss
Fourth
Tie and a Merrimack win
Loss and a Merrimack win or tie
In other words, the Terriers will be rooting for BC for perhaps the first time in their collective collegiate careers. (Funny how the world works, ain’t it?) If they were to finish third or fourth, they would either get Northeastern or Maine, who are locked into the sixth and fifth seeds regardless of Saturday’s results, at Agganis in the first round.
To see for yourself how everything could shake out, here’s the Hockey East standings as of this moment:
1. BC 39 points
2. UNH 38
3. BU 36
4. Merrimack 35
5. Maine 32
6. Northeastern 25
7. Vermont 17
8. UMass 15
9. Providence 13
10. UMass-Lowell 10
BU owns the tie-breaker over UNH with a 2-1-0 record against the Wildcats this season, while Merrimack would break a tie between itself and BU thanks its 1-0-2 record against the Terriers. The only other intriguing race comes at the bottom of the standings where UMass (at home vs. Maine) and Providence (at home against Merrimack) will each fight to extend their seasons for at least two more games. UMass can clinch that last spot with a win, tie or Friars loss.
National Picture: BU remained tied for 15th in the PairWise with Maine and Dartmouth after Friday’s win and would still be the last team into the national tournament if the season ended today thanks to the RPI tie-breaker. A 3-2 Colorado College (14th in the PWR) win over No. 22 Wisconsin did nothing to help the Terriers move up at all.
Sam, I read that Chris Kreider broke his jaw last night. Any word if he is out for the season?
York said last night that there is no timetable for his return, but that he could be out for the rest of the season. From what I’ve read, it’s pretty hard to predict how long it’ll take to recover from a broken jaw. Could be as short as a couple weeks or as long as a couple months.
First time we root for BC in our collegiate careers? If I recall there was a rather pivotal series between BC and NU late in 2009 that determined whether BU would win the regular season crown. That was only two years ago. I was certainly rooting for BC then.