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.
That’s a wrap on the college hockey season.
It came down to Providence College and Boston University for all the marbles, and after an intense and shocking game, it was the Friars who were crowned champions. Providence won its first ever NCAA title with a 4-3 victory over the Terriers on Saturday night at TD Garden.
BU actually led Providence by a goal in the third period of the Frozen Four Final when things took a surprising turn. The Friars caught a huge break with nine minutes remaining as defenseman Tom Parisi dumped a puck in on Terriers goalie Matt O’Connor. What appeared to be a harmless shot turned into a nightmare for BU when O’Connor mishandled the puck and knocked it into his own goal.
Providence struck again over two minutes later to give them the 4-3 lead, and the rest was history.
It was a thrilling end to a thrilling season, so let’s do it again next year, shall we?
Check out Tom Caron’s final USCHO ballot below.
TC’s entire top 20:
1. Providence
2. Boston University
3. North Dakota
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Minnesota State
6. Denver
7. Miami
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. Michigan Tech
10. Minnesota
11. Harvard
12. UMass-Lowell
13. Boston College
14. St. Cloud State
15. Quinnipiac
16. Yale
17. RIT
18. Bowling Green
19. Colgate
20. Vermont
And here’s the USCHO.com top 20 poll:
1. Providence
2. Boston University
3. North Dakota
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Denver
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Minnesota State
8. Miami
9. Michigan Tech
10. St. Cloud State
11. Harvard
12. Minnesota
13. Boston College
14. Quinnipiac
15. Yale
16. RIT
17. UMass-Lowell
18. Bowling Green
19. Colgate
20. Michigan
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
