The Hockey East playoffs are near on the calendar, and the Terriers have a score to even.
As the regular season is coming to a close, BU is looking for as many points as it can get. The path to the NCAA tournament is likely for the Terriers (14-15-2, 10-11-0 HEA) through the only road they’re able to take, Hockey East. For now, it is the only conference every team they’re set to play is from. That trip starts with a program they’re neighbors with, one they’ve only faced 300 times.
BU has already faced their rivaled Eagles (19-10-1, 13-7-0 HEA) twice this season. Most recently, the Terriers’ 6-2 loss at TD Garden on Feb. 9th saw their Beanpot Championship banner swapped with one that hadn’t been in the rafters since 2016. Back on Jan. 30th, it suffered a 4-1 loss at Agganis Arena.
Coming off of a weekend split against UNH and some much-needed rest, here are some notable considerations as we near the weekend.
BU coming off its bye week
The Terriers have had two weeks now without a game of hockey played. In other years, its bye weeks would be considered as a halt in momentum prior to the conference playoffs. For this year’s BU team, it is being approached with more comfort.
“It came at a good time for us. Gives you a time to really think over things, reset, number one, as a team, but as a staff, give the players a chance to reset. [A] lot of time to work and practice on things that you know we need to get better at,” said head coach Jay Pandolfo., “Obviously this late in the season. You hope some of those things were already rectified, but, we’re still a work in progress for us.”
Pandolfo said that his team had conducted 10 practices since its win over UNH on Feb. 14th.
Emphasis on the man-advantage, Olympic film watch
For a power play that has not converted often, BU had much more time to work on it with the break.
This year, the Terriers rank 49th in the entire nation at a 15.4 percent success rate on their power play. Compared to last season’s fourth-ranked power play (28.1 percent), the bye week granted a lengthy timeslot for BU to work out its kinks.
“We definitely spent more time on that than we typically would,” said Pandolfo of his special teams. “We’ve spent a lot of time on that in the last two weeks, so I guess that was one thing we probably did a little bit more of, no question.”
Along with that, BU took the break as a way to study the Olympic Games, which saw NHL players compete for the first time since 2014. In film sessions, the coaching staff went over clips throughout the preliminary games to break down the teams that found success with the details and little things.
“We didn’t get together at 8am, at least I didn’t,” said Pandolfo. “I’m sure those guys got together and watched the [gold medal] game…our guys definitely were paying close attention to those games, and obviously it was a lot of fun.”
Playoff Implications for this weekend
The Terriers, with 29 points, currently rank 7th in Hockey East. These two games come as crucial to determine its final seeding for the conference playoffs. Here’s a look at the standings below heading into the weekend.
BU could gain as much as 35 points from these next two games, which would still place them into contention for the fourth seed and, with that, a bye week. Regardless of the results, the Terriers are still extremely likely to host a playoff game at Agganis Arena.
The best-case scenario for the Terriers for all seeding purposes in their favor would have to see the following outcomes: BU beats BC. UConn wins over UMass and Providence defeats UNH, and vice versa for the worst-case scenario.
Adding to that, other favorable results would include Northeastern and Maine splitting, both of whom aren’t that far ahead in the standings either, and Vermont sweeping Merrimack, which would hold the Terriers comfortably where they are.
It would take the luck of the Irish for BU’s paws to claw its way up the standings in the conference. Before they can look for any four-leaf clovers headed into March, they’ll have to beat the talons of Hockey East scoring leaders James Hagens and Dean Letourneau. Both of whom are two of four players in the conference with more than twenty points registered this season in conference play: Hagens with a leading 24 points and Letourneau (tied with Maine’s Brandon Holt and Josh Nadeau) with 20.