Editor’s note: NESN’s Tom Caron is on the 50-member USCHO ranking committee, and you can find his votes and thoughts on the college hockey week that was every Monday on NESN.com.
Trophy Season.
It’s what they call the second half of the season at Boston College. It begins with holiday tournaments, continues in February with the Beanpot and ramps up for real in March with the Hockey East and NCAA tournaments. For the past 10 years, it has been Boston College’s time. The Eagles always find a new gear for the new year, and it’s looking like this season will be more of the same.
Over the weekend the Eagles took three of four points from Northeastern in a home-and-home series with the Huskies. Saturday’s 4-2 win (you may have missed it since they dropped the puck at 4:10, a scant few minutes before they kicked things off in Foxboro) snapped NU’s six-game unbeaten streak and extended BC’s own streak to seven games (5-0-2.)
The Eagles looked in sync, killing off six Huskies power plays and getting two goals from Chris Calnan. Defenseman Steve Santini was back for the game, playing for the first time since injuring his wrist in October. Santini would’ve played for Team USA in this year’s World Juniors if not for the injury.
BC had to settle for just five players on that team — Thatcher Demko, Noah Hanifin, Ian McCoshen, Alex Tuch and incoming freshman Miles Wood. With everyone back from Canada — McCoshen missed the game with flu-like symptoms — the Eagles looked like a formidable team to deal with in Hockey East play.
They looked like the kind of team ready to win more trophies. They’ll have to expand the trophy case at Conte Forum if they do, as the Eagles have more NCAA titles (four) in the past 13 years than any other team in the nation. They’ve also won five straight Beanpots and three of the last five Hockey East tournaments.
With a strong weekend against Northeastern, who is also their first-round Beanpot opponent, there’s plenty of reason to think BC will once again be the favorite on the first two Monday’s in February. We’ll get another preview this Friday when they renew The Battle of Comm. Ave. against BU at Agganis Arena. That game will be televised on NESN.
For now, I’ve got the Eagles moving up significantly in my USCHO poll this week. I have them ranked 11th, on the cusp of the top 10 and on the verge of creating another “Trophy Season” to remember at the Heights.
Here’s my official USCHO.com ballot for the week of Jan. 12:
1. Boston University
2. Harvard
3. Minnesota State
4. North Dakota
5. UMass-Lowell
6. Bowling Green
7. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Vermont
9. Miami (Ohio)
10. Michigan Tech
11. Boston College
12. Minnesota
13. Denver
14. Nebraska-Omaha
15. Colgate
16. Quinnipiac
17. Providence
18. Union
19. Merrimack
20. Michigan
And here is the USCHO top 20:
1. Minnesota State
2. Boston University
3. North Dakota
4. Harvard
5. Minnesota-Duluth
6. UMass-Lowell
7. Bowling Green
8. Nebraska-Omaha
9. Miami (Ohio)
10. Vermont
11. Michigan Tech
12. Quinnipiac
13. Denver
14. Providence
15. Colgate
16. Minnesota
17. Boston College
18. Yale
19. Michigan
20. Merrimack
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@BCHockeyNews
