Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf acknowledges there are pros and cons to running a league known for parity.
Pros: Hockey East is widely acknowledged as an “any given night” league where there’s little surprise when a team low in the standings beats a contender. See: The second-half resurgences of Maine and New Hampshire, which are a combined 16-7-5 since the calendar turned to 2023.
Cons: With such parity comes a lot of teams canceling each other out, which has led to a concerning situation for the third-year Hockey East commissioner: With one weekend to go in the regular season, it is plausible — though certainty not inevitable — that the league will be represented by only one team in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“We have one team in, two is a distinct possibility, and I think three is the absolute most,” Metcalf said. “In the two- and three- scenarios, we need help from others.”
With only Boston University ranked in the top 16 of the PairWise — which the NCAA selection committee uses to decide which teams get at-large bids to the tournament — any Hockey East team to fall short of a conference tournament championship could very well find themselves on the outside looking in when the NCAA tourney bracket is announced on March 19. That includes Merrimack, Northeastern and Connecticut, three squads with winning records which have been consistently ranked in this year’s USCHO.com men’s D-I poll.
Six of Hockey East’s 11 teams have been nationally ranked at some point this season. Metcalf pointed to a 17-game stretch of non-conference games from late December to mid-January where Hockey East teams fared poorly as a major factor in where the league finds itself at this point.
“Eight of our 11 teams had a result that surely they’d like to do over, and some had multiple,” Metcalf said. “Those games were a killer for us.”
The Terriers are currently ranked No. 6 in the PairWise and, barring a disastrous final regular-season weekend and early exit from the conference tourney, should find themselves among the field of 16 NCAA tourney teams regardless of how they perform in the single-elimination Hockey East tournament, which starts next Wednesday (March 8) and concludes March 18 at TD Garden.
“The biggest thing is to continue playing the way we did this weekend,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said following a weekend sweep at Vermont that snapped a four-game losing streak. “We have to keep building our game and get back to being consistent every night. (We) have enough talent and skill to have a good team. We have to make sure we’re playing consistent hockey.”
Merrimack and Northeastern are tied at No. 17 in the PairWise, putting them right on the bubble. UConn is 19th. All three will have to finish the regular season strong, avoid being bounced early from the Hockey East tournament, and get help in the form of losses by teams ranked ahead of them.
Merrimack coach Scott Borek said his focus is on the Warriors’ regular season finale on Saturday at home vs. Vermont, then they can worry about the postseason. Merrimack has clinched a first-round bye and will host a home quarterfinal game in the Hockey East playoffs on March 11.
“The pressure’s on everybody in the playoffs,” Borek told Mike Machnik, radio voice of the Warriors. “You just have to play. I try to look at it as an opportunity — you have a pretty good team in the playoffs. Last year I was really disappointed with the way our season ended (a 7-2 loss at UMass Lowell in the conference quarterfinals). We didn’t play our best game. I say if we play our best game in the first round of the playoffs, I’ll be happy, and the result will take care of itself.”
The next highest-ranked Hockey East teams in the PairWise — Providence (23rd) and Maine (24th) would have to do the same and get a lot of help. The rest of the league — Boston College (25th), Lowell (27th), Massachusetts (35th), UNH (45th) and UVM (52nd) will certainly have to win the Hockey East tournament to receive the association’s automatic NCAA bid.
“Vermont, Maine and UNH have had unbelievable second halves,” Metcalf said. “They’ve certainly ruined some dreams and aspirations of the teams ahead of them, that’s for sure.”
