Hockey East Power Rankings 12/2

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

1) No. 5 University of New Hampshire (7-2-4, 5-1-2 HE)
The Wildcats posted the best record of any Hockey East team in November, going 5-1-2. Perhaps more impressively, they went 3-1-0 against BC, BU and Merrimack — teams that are firmly in the upper echelon of the league. They also have the best winning percentage in conference play at .750. Senior Paul Thompson leads UNH’s second-ranked offense, as he has tallied 13 points in his last six games and now leads the conference with 18 points this season on seven goals and 11 assists.

2) No. 8 Boston College (9-5-0, 7-4-0 HE)
Before you all show up outside my door with pitchforks and torches for putting BC ahead of BU, let me explain. The Eagles went 5-3-0 in November (that’s better than BU) and they rank third in the conference in offense (3.29 goals per game), first in defense (1.93 goals-against average), first on the power play (22.7 percent) and first on the penalty kill (90.6 percent). Junior Cam Atkinson leads the league in goals (11) and senior John Muse is tops in GAA (1.57), save percentage (.950) and winning percentage (.727).

3) No. 2/3 Boston University (7-1-5, 5-1-4 HE)
Fact: The Terriers only had one win in November. Given, they did go .500 (1-1-4) in the month and didn’t play the Little Sisters of the Poor — all their games were against teams with winning records — but still, it’s a little hard to justify their current national ranking. Add in the fact BU ranks fourth in offense (3.08 GPG), third in defense (2.46 GAA) and tied for fourth in special teams (+1 net), and this seems like a more appropriate spot than the top. Freshman Sahir Gill continues to impress — he’s tied for first nationally with a plus-13 rating and leads all HE rookies with 13 points.

4) No. 18 Merrimack College (6-3-4, 4-3-3 HE)
The fact that national voters still seem to think the Warriors are some sort of fluke is hilarious. They’ve already won their season series against BC and they also split a weekend series against BU three weeks ago. Moreover, they went 4-1-0 to close out November, with their only loss in that time coming by a lone goal at UNH. Merrimack’s biggest strength is its second-ranked defense, led by junior goalie Joe Cannata, who is second in the league in GAA (2.15) and fourth in save percentage (.923).

5) No. 9 University of Maine (6-3-3, 4-2-1 HE)
The Black Bears went .500 (2-2-1) in November and scored just 2.20 goals per game — a pretty incredible number considering their season average is a league-best 3.50. Most recently, Maine suffered an embarrassing sweep at the hands of BC in which it was outscored 8-1 on the weekend. Junior Gustav Nyquist, who led the country with 61 points last season, has just three points in his last five games. At the other end of the ice, rookie goalie Dan Sullivan ranks next-to-last in the league with an .885 save percentage.

6) Providence College (6-5-3, 3-3-3 HE)
The Friars are over .500 and went 4-1-2 in November, but make no mistake about it, there’s a huge gap from fifth to here. Three of those wins came against Alabama-Huntsville (2x), who is arguably the worst team in the country, and Holy Cross, who isn’t a whole lot better. PC is also terrible on special teams, as it ranks last on the power play (9.2 percent) and second-to-last on the PK (77.6 percent). Senior Kyle MacKinnon has been a bright spot, though — his nine goals place him second in the league.

7) University of Massachusetts (2-6-3, 1-3-3 HE)
It’s hard to believe that a two-win team could be this high in a league like Hockey East, but the conference’s basement is crowded, decrepit and musty right now. The Minutemen could be on their way out of there, though — in their last three games, they’ve tied UNH on the road, embarrassed Vermont 4-1 and pummeled a pretty good Quinnipiac team 5-2. Freshman Michael Pereira, younger brother of BU’s Joe Pereira, leads all HE rookies with seven goals and is currently riding a seven-game point streak.

8) Northeastern University (2-7-4, 2-4-3 HE)
The Huskies have also been pretty good in their last three games. They tied Providence on the road, smoked the Friars 5-0 at home the next night and then tied Vermont on the road last weekend. They had lost five straight before that, though, including three games against Atlantic Hockey teams. NU is still struggling to light the lamp — it ranks ninth in the league with 2.15 GPG — but sophomore Chris Rawlings continues to be a rock in net. He’s third in GAA (2.36) and second in save percentage (.931).

9) University of Vermont (1-6-4, 1-5-3 HE)
The Catamounts beat BC three weekends ago and… umm… yeah, that’s pretty much it. They haven’t won any other games and their offense is atrocious. UVM ranks last in the league with 2.00 GPG and has scored two goals or fewer in eight of its 11 games. The defense, despite returning five upperclassmen and junior goalie Rob Madore, hasn’t been spectacular either. It ranks eighth with a 3.18 GAA and has given up 12 goals in its last three games.

10) University of Massachusetts-Lowell (2-10-2, 2-8-0 HE)
Simply put, the River Hawks are bad. They’ve lost five in a row and nine of their last 10, including being swept by Minnesota State-Mankato — arguably the worst team in the WCHA — last weekend. Friday’s 8-3 beatdown at the hands of the Mavericks was their fourth loss this season by three goals or more, giving them twice as many blowout losses as any other HE team. UML’s defense has been horrendous, giving up 3.86 GPG — more than half a goal per game more than anyone else.