Now that the high school basketball season is all about done with the state finals this weekend, it’s back to the college hockey picks. This weekend the playoffs begin as eight teams battle in the “play in best of three round” for a right to head to the quarterfinals next weekend. We will pick each game whether the series goes three games or not.
Last time out: 2-2-0 Season record: 42-21-9
This weeks games:
Fri-Sat-Sun (if necessary) at higher seed
Maine (11-19-4, 5-15-2 HE) at #14 Vermont (18-11-5, 10-8-4)
The Black Bears and Catamounts battle at Gutterson FieldHouse. Maine closed the regular season with a split at home against Northeastern, while Vermont did the same at home against Merrimack. Maine should stay in these games, but in the end Maine still has not won a game on the road this season and that trend will continue.
The pick- Game 1- Vermont 4, Maine 2 Game 2- Vermont 3, Maine 2 and Game 3 if necessary- Vermont 5, Maine 2
UNH (12-17-5, 7-11-4) at Merrimack (14-14-6, 7-8-6)
The Wildcats have been on the downside in the second half of the season, while the Warriors have gone the opposite direction. Merrimack is 7-3-2 in their last 12 games.
The pick- Game 1- Merrimack 3, UNH 2 Game 2- Merrimack 4, UNH 1 Game 3 if necessary- Merrimack 4, UNH 3
UMASS (5-27-2, 2-18-1) at #10 Providence (20-9-5, 11-7-3)
This series should be the biggest mismatch of the play in round. The two teams did play last weekend in Providence, with the Friars winning 6-1 and a tight 2-1 game.
The pick- Game 1- Providence 5, UMass 2 Game 2- Providence 4, UMass 0 Game 3 if necessary- Providence 5, UMass 1
UConn (12-14-8, 8-9-4) at Northeastern (16-13-5, 9-10-3)
This may be the best and closest matchup of the weekend. I am gonna take the Northeastern Huskies in two, but if I had one pick for a 3 game series this weekend this series would be the one.
The pick- Game 1- Northeastern 3, UConn 2 Game 2- Northeastern 4, UConn 2 Game 3 if necessary- Northeastern 2, UConn 1
