It all comes down to this weekend for men’s Hockey East, as Maine and Boston College will finish up their regular season schedule and also see who comes out on top as the regular season champions of the league.
Boston College (25-6-2), who is #1 in the country and currently in first in Hockey East, has one game remaining on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at home vs Merrimack College. #5 ranked Maine (21-6-5) faces a tougher challenge with two road games on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (7:30 p.m.) in Amherst against #16 UMass. The Eagles (17-4-2 in Hockey East, 52 points) own a four point lead on the Black Bears (13-4-5, 48 points) for the top spot in the conference. A tie in the standings and the teams would share the regular season championship, but would give the #1 seed to Boston College based on head to head as they swept the season series 2-0 back in November. There are several different scenarios that would see Maine finish first, but Boston College must not gain more than one point and Maine must take care of their business as well.
Both teams will host quarterfinal league playoff games on March 15th. BC and Maine are also a guarantee to participate beyond the Hockey East Tournament. The Eagles are currently first in the pairwise rankings that emulates the NCAA Tournament seedings, while the Black Bears are fourth. After not making the NCAA Tournament in 12 years prior to last season, Maine will be back in it for a second straight year. Last March they fell 3-1 in the opening round to Cornell.
