NCAA Journal: Opening Weekend on deck for Hockey East

Autumn has officially begun, and that means NCAA teams are back on the ice and ready for a new season. Last weekend was the final tune up for many teams in Hockey East, but this weekend the games will count in the standings. Let’s review and preview before puck drop. 

Preseason Poll: 

1. UConn (8) - 88
2. Northeastern (2) - 81
3. Boston College - 73
4. New Hampshire - 62
5. Providence - 55
6. Boston University - 52
7. Vermont - 47
8. Maine - 36
9. Merrimack - 25
10. Holy Cross - 20

If you’re looking for a more in depth season preview, be sure to check out our full length piece here. Rankings are done nationally in USCHO/USA Hockey format.

Non-Conference

#13/13 Northeastern at #12/12 Penn State (AHA) – Thursday Sept. 26 at 6 PM & Friday Sept. 27 at 3 PM 

The Huskies and Nittany Lions opened the season against each other last year and are doing so again in 2024. Both are expected to finish in the upper ranks of their respective conferences, with Penn State predicted to finish first in Atlantic Hockey America. 

A benefit for Northeastern is they’ve had game practice before the opener against PSU, thanks to an exhibition matchup against the Durham West Jr. Lightning. The Huskies cruised to a 4-0 win over the junior team from Canada, and got offensive upside from throughout the lineup – something the team struggled with throughout the fall last year. Defensively, the system should be pretty similar for Northeastern, but the real test will be not having Gwyneth Philips in net for the contest, who had a 27 save shutout in game one of the series last year.

Penn State also saw in-game action, with a 7-0 takedown over fellow AHA school RIT, including two goals from Tiffany Hill. Other good news is that their top-three contributors at forward are returning for another season – junior Tessa Janecke (17-36-53), fifth-year Brianna Brooks (14-18-32), and junior Katelyn Roberts (13-15-28). In net once again is Katie DeSa, now a junior, who nabbed preseason All-AHA first time honors earlier this month, and who posted a .938 save percentage in 14 games to end last season. 

Prediction: Definitely can see a split here. I’m not positive on who NU is going to dress in goal, and while getting the forwards meshing during in-game action is great, an exhibition game is not the same as a regular season contest. I think Northeastern takes a game to truly gel, but then rebounds for a win in the afternoon game Friday. 

Merrimack vs. #8/8 St. Lawrence (ECAC) - Friday Sept. 27 at 11 AM 

This is… certainly an interesting time for a season opener between the Warriors and the Saints. But nevertheless, these are two teams coming off losses in their exhibition tuneups – and who have very different outlooks of the season moving forward. 

St. Lawrence fell 3-1 against No. 4/6 Colgate over the weekend, with the lone goal being scored by graduate student forward Aly McLeod. The team also chose to start Kassidy Lawrence in net over junior Emma-Sofie Nordström, who was the primary starter for the team in 2023-24. Now, Colgate is a vastly different team than Merrimack is, and considering how productive the Saints offense was last year (at 3.2 goals per game), I wouldn’t take too much stock into how they performed in that game to how they should perform at Lawler Rink. 

On the other hand, Merrimack played U Sports school Concordia University, falling 3-2 in regulation. The Warriors got goals from graduate student defender Natalie Nemes and junior forward Sarah Hirst, but a last minute goal from Concordia snatched the win from the home team in the exhibition. Still, getting goals from both Nemes and Hirst is a good sign for the Warriors, especially if more of the defensive group and their forward depth can contribute more offensively – considering the team scored just 1.7 goals per game last year.

Prediction: Junior netminder Calli Hogarth has been solid in net for the Warriors over the last two seasons, and that should also help in this game against the Saints. I don’t think it’s going to be enough against the high-powered St. Lawrence offense – I’d expect SLU to take this one pretty handedly. 

Holy Cross at RPI (ECAC) - Friday Sept. 26 at 6 PM, Saturday Sept. 28 at 3:30 PM

These are two somewhat evenly matched teams heading into their weekend contest. HC was picked to finish last in the Hockey East preseason poll, while RPI was picked to finish ninth in the ECAC. The Engineers are a slightly better defensive team than the Crusaders, although the offense is much closer (HC had 1.9 goals/game last year while RPI had 2.3). 

Similarly to Northeastern and Penn State, only one of these teams saw exhibition action this last weekend. RPI took down the University of Windsor Ontario 6-0 on the 21st at home. This is also a team that performed relatively well in their own barn last year, with a 9-7-3 record overall, the best win coming against Yale in February, when the Bulldogs were ranked No. 14 in the country. 

Holy Cross on the road (and honestly overall) was not pretty, winning just four games away from the Hart Center. One of those wins was against ECAC school Brown in OT, 3-2. The problem is that two of biggest contributors to the Crusaders offensively a season ago are not returning – Millie Sirum and Bryn Saarela. Replacing the points and leadership the two provided is going to be challenging, and not getting any exhibition action doesn’t help the team all that much either. 

Prediction: I could see this being a win and a tie weekend for RPI, although I’m happy to be surprised by the Crusaders. Offensively, I think the Engineers have more questions answered than HC does, not to mention the Crusaders are without main-starter Madison Beck after she graduated in the spring. It’s going to be hard for HC to come away with a win in Troy, and I think that’ll help RPI overall. 

Maine vs. #10/10 Quinnipiac (ECAC) - Friday Sept. 26 at 6 PM 

Oh Maine. I really don’t know what to think of the Black Bears. They’re not predicted to finish high in the Hockey East standings, but at the same time I wouldn’t be so sure that they’re an easy out. 

The team played an exhibition matchup against UNH, and after conceding two goals in the first period, they crawled their way back with two tallies from Mikayla Boarder, who had just four goals throughout all of last season. Julia Bachetti, the presumed starter, made seven saves through 25 minutes of play, with all three of Maine’s goalies seeing time in the game. 

For the Bobcats, they’re coming into the season ranked 10th in the nation after being eliminated last year in the ECAC quarterfinals by Cornell. They fell 2-1 to UConn in overtime during their exhibition contest on the 21st, but did convert on one of just two power plays they had throughout the game thanks to junior Emerson Jarvis. QU had the seventh best PP in the nation last year, with a 25.2% conversion rate. This seems poised to continue this year – which is bad news for Maine considering their penalty kill was one of the worst in the NCAA last season at just a 76.9% success rate, and the team gave up a goal on the PP against UNH. 

Prediction: I think a QU sweep is probably the most likely. The Bobcats are such a solid team once again heading into this season, and while Maine has flashes of being competitive, I think Quinnipiac is just a couple steps ahead of them. Although, nothing is out of the realm of possibilities at the Alfond. 

Boston College at Stonehill (NEWHA) - Saturday Sept. 28 at 7 PM 

Stonehill head coach Lee-J Mirasolo played under Katie King-Crowley during her time as a player at BC, and will now face off against her former coach for the first time since taking over the Skyhawks program. And it will be the first game action for either team this season, as the schools opted to not play any exhibition games. 

Neither program saw much turnover over the offseason and should be relatively the same in productivity for 2024-25. However, BC definitely has the advantage over Stonehill in this matchup, even if the teams both scored on average 2.6 goals per game last year. The BC power play was incredibly productive, and while Stonehill had a solid PK, the Eagles were scoring goals against deeper defensive teams than the Skyhawks were. 

That's not a knock against Stonehill, as I’d expect them to score a couple of goals on BC in their home barn on Saturday. But overall, the Eagles are just a bit too deep for Stonehill to keep up with right now. Maybe in a few years things will be different. 

Prediction: Stonehill keeps it close, but BC is gonna pull away on the scoreboard and with the win. Although I’d caution that the Eagles need to keep their eyes on this game to come away with the win, and not look at Wisconsin looming on the schedule next weekend. 

Matchup of the Week: 

#9 UConn vs. #3 Minnesota (WCHA) - Friday Sept. 27 at 6 PM, Saturday Sept. 28 at 3 PM

I think I’m gonna start a new segment for each of these previews/reviews: my matchup of the week in each conference. This one is no-brainer, with two of the top teams in the country squaring off. 

UConn is predicted to finish first in Hockey East after a historic run to the Bertagna Trophy last year. They’ve lost a lot on defense heading into this semester, but they’ve retained one of the best goaltenders in the NCAA in Tia Chan, who they’re going to need to be on her A-Game against the outstanding offense of the Gophers. The Huskies secured a comeback win against Quinnipiac in their exhibition contest last week, with Riley Grimley notching two points including a goal to tie the game in the second period. Leading scorer Jada Habisch (17-11-28) is also back, which will be helpful for UConn on the scoresheet. 

On the opposite side of the ice however, is Minnesota, who has become even more stacked than they already were this time last year when the two teams met. The Gophers pretty handedly defeated the Huskies in both games, and with the majority of the names from that game returning for this series, I don’t see how a repeat of last year doesn’t happen again. 

Prediction: Minnesota takes both. UConn will keep it close, definitely closer than the games in January, but the Gophers are just a bit deeper than the Huskies, and I think it’ll be difficult for UConn to keep up.

Teams Not Playing this Weekend:

Boston University – will open Tuesday, Oct. 1 vs Merrimack

University of New Hampshire – will open Friday, Oct. 4 vs Assumption (NEWHA)

Vermont – will open Friday, Oct. 4 at Clarkson (ECAC)

Providence – will open Friday, Oct. 4 vs St. Michael's (NEWHA)