Editor’s note: NESN’s Tom Caron is on the 50-member USCHO ranking committee, and you can find his votes on the college hockey week that was every Monday on NESN.com.
For the second consecutive Monday, the Beanpot will have to wait. This time, it will have to wait two full weeks.
Last Tuesday, Boston University and Northeastern advanced to the championship game of the 63rd gathering of Boston schools. The finals now will be played Monday, Feb. 23.
It’s not surprising that BU made it through, although it took the Terriers two overtimes to dispatch of Harvard at TD Garden. The Terriers are firing on all cylinders right now and are the top team in my poll for the third consecutive week. They’ve won six games in a row since a Jan. 16 loss to Boston College and followed the Beanpot semifinal win with an impressive 5-2 victory over UMass-Lowell. Evan Rodrigues notched a hat trick in the win and now has three goals and nine assists in BU’s last three games.
BU has won 29 Beanpots, more than any other school, while Northeastern has claimed four, by far the fewest. The Huskies haven’t won the title since 1988.
Yet the Dog House is fired up for the championship game after Dustin Darou scored the Beanpot semifinal game-winner against Boston College with just 1:34 remaining. It was the defenseman’s second career goal in 64 games. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Huskies are rolling with a six-game unbeaten streak, and the folks on Huntington Avenue believe this could be the year they finally bring home the beans. They finally have dug out of a horrific 0-8-1 start and are above .500 for the first time all season after beating UMass 5-3 on Friday. They have their sights set on the 23rd and beyond. It’s not unreasonable to imagine the Huskies getting a first-round bye in the Hockey East playoffs. It’s doubtful they could make the NCAA tournament without a conference title, but we’re learning not to pick against Jim Madigan’s team.
We’ll just have to wait a little longer to see if the Huskies can knock out the top dog on my poll. They found that last week’s Beanpot opener was worth waiting an extra day. They’re hoping even better things come to those who wait for the finals.
Check out where the rest of the teams fell in the polls below.
Tom Caron’s official USCHO.com ballot for the week of Feb. 9:
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota State
3. North Dakota
4. Michigan Tech
5. Miami
6. Nebraska-Omaha
7. Bowling Green
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. Boston College
10. Denver
11. Providence
12. Minnesota
13. Harvard
14. Yale
15. Quinnipiac
16. Penn State
17. UMass-Lowell
18. Michigan
19. St. Lawrence
20. Merrimack
And here is the USCHO.com Top 20:
1. Minnesota State
2. North Dakota
3. Boston University
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Michigan Tech
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Miami
8. Bowling Green
9. Denver
10. Boston College
11. Providence
12. Michigan
13. Quinnipiac
14. Harvard
15. Yale
16. UMass-Lowell
17. Vermont
18. Robert Morris
19. Penn State
20. St. Lawrence
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@alongtheboards
