BOSTON — The Boston College Eagles have won or shared the Hockey East regular season title each of the past three seasons, and Jerry York’s club is expected to be the cream of the league yet again this season.
With the 35th season of Hockey East set to get underway in less than two weeks, the league’s head coaches tabbed the Eagles as the preseason favorite to win the conference, followed by Providence and Boston University.
Many expect this season to be a highly entertaining season and that’s reflected in the number of votes each of the top three programs received.
The Eagles topped the polls with 93 points and five first-place votes, while the Friars trailed by one in each category and the Terriers received 84 points and one vote to win the league.
Here’s the full poll:
1. Boston College
2. Providence
3. Boston University
4. Northeastern
5. Maine
6. Massachusetts
7. UMass-Lowell
8. UConn
9. New Hampshire
10. Vermont
11. Merrimack
Boston College has the look of a league champion. The Eagles finished last season 18-6 in conference, 20-14-3 overall and lost just one player from graduation and none to the NHL. BC also brings a talented class of freshmen led by Oliver Wahlstrom.
Wahlstrom, who was drafted 11th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2018 NHL Draft, is one of the top prospects in hockey. At 6-foot-2, 209 pounds, Wahlstrom is lethal both on the rush and from a standstill. He isn’t reliant on offensive zone setup and is an underrated playmaker. The talented forward scored 48 goals in 62 games for the U18 team and also led the national program with 46 assists.
He will join a talented team led by Julius Mattila (13 goals, 14 assists) and David Cotton (nine goals, 19 assists), as well as sophomore Logan Hutsko (12 goals, 19 assists) who will be looking to go back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
