The college hockey playoffs are just about upon us and things sure are going to get wild, but there’s still a little bit of time to go.
This week’s national polls were pretty consistent with last week’s as Minnesota State, Michigan and Denver all retained the top three spots. Minnesota moved up a spot to No. 4 this week, while Quinnipiac fell for the second straight week down to No. 5.
Take a look back at what was one of the final weeks of the 2021-22 regular season:
Who’s Playing Well?
The women’s Hockey East tournament kicked off Wednesday and Merrimack College stunned New Hampshire 4-1 to earn the first playoff win in school history.
Merrimack finished the regular season at 8-24-1, but now advances to the second round where they’ll take on No. 3 Northeastern in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
Local Spotlight
The Merrimack men’s squad also got some love this week with sophomore forward Alex Jefferies being named as one of the co-Hockey East Players of the Week. Jefferies netted three goals across the weekend for Merrimack in a sweep of Vermont.
Boston University backup goaltender Vinny Duplessis also earned some Hockey East recognition by being named the Goaltender of the Week. Duplessis filled is for starter Drew Commesso while he was away at the Olympics and has been impressive since — even notching a shutout in BU’s Beanpot championship win over Northeastern.
National News:
Michigan may be No. 2 in the USCHO poll, but they currently sit atop the pairwise standings and very well may be the last team standing when the college hockey season is all said and done.
The Wolverines have won 12 of their last 13 games, including each of their last eight. Michigan had an impressive weekend sweeping then-No. 11 Ohio State at home.
