It wasn’t too long ago that the Northeastern Huskies took the TD Garden ice by storm and captured their second consecutive Beanpot championship. And now, the Huskies have a shot to bring home more hardware from Causeway Street.
The Hockey East title will be on the line this weekend, with Northeastern, Boston University, Boston College and UMass Amherst set to duke it out. And you can watch all the action on NESNplus.
Here’s how to watch the Hockey East semifinals and finals:
Friday, March 22
4 p.m. ET — Hockey East Semifinals: Northeastern vs. Boston University (NESNplus)
7:30 p.m. — Hockey East Semifinals: UMass vs. Boston College (NESNplus)
Saturday, March 23
7 p.m. — Hockey East championship (NESNplus)
Here’s a preview for each team:
UMass
The Minutemen clinched their first Hockey East regular season championship after a dazzling 28-8 season in which they went 18-6 in conference play. They enter the tournament No. 3 on USCHO.com’s national poll. They went 5-1 against teams remaining in the tournament, with the lone loss coming in overtime against Northeastern. They have been paced offensively by a stellar trio forward of Cale Makar, Jacob Pritchard and Mitchell Chaffee, as well as Matt Murray in net. They are seeking their first Hockey East Tournament championship and second NCAA Tournament bid.
Boston College
The Eagles are the shock of the tournament, advancing to the semifinals despite a down year in which they finished 13-21-3 and 10-11-3 in Hockey East play. After dropping their tournament opener to Providence, BC rallied to top the Friars 4-3 and 2-1 last weekend to punch their ticket to the Garden. As shown in the Beanpot, the Eagles are a threat as long as Joseph Woll is in net, but the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect has struggled against the Minutemen, allowing seven goals on 60 shots.
Northeastern
The No. 6 Huskies are 4-0 in games on neutral ice this season, which includes a 2-1 overtime win against the Terriers in the Beanpot semifinals. The Huskies are looking to raise their second Hockey East Tournament banner in the last four years after going 25-10-1. NU is paced by a strong core of upperclassmen with Jeremy Davies on the blue line and Brandon Hawkins at forward. Freshman forward Tyler Madden and sophomore goalie Cayden Primeau (Beanpot MVP) are two emerging stars as well.
Boston University
The Terriers enter the weekend looking to defend their title from last season, but might have a tall task ahead of them. BU went a combined 1-4-2 against the Huskies, Eagles and Minutemen en route to a 16-17-4 record. The Terriers will need to win out in order to receive a bid into the NCAA Tournament, which they qualified for in each of the past four seasons. Freshman Joel Farabee leads the team with 17 goals and 19 assists, while the Terriers are anchored by standout junior netminder Jake Oettinger in net.
