There will be no lack of intensity this weekend as Hockey East’s final four — Boston College, Boston University, Maine and Massachusetts — vie for the Lou Lamoreillo Trophy.
BC and BU will be looking to erase bitter memories of losses in the Beanpot, held in the same building just over a month ago. Maine will be relishing its first trip to TD Garden in a dozen years. And UMass, after being shut out of the semifinals last year, is back and in search of its third Hockey East tourney title in four seasons.
Save for the trophy itself, however, there’s little tangible up for grabs this weekend for three of the four participating schools. Only UMass has an uncertain future beyond Saturday — and even the Minutemen, according to USCHO.com analysis, have about an 80 percent chance to make the NCAA tournament regardless of how they do in the Hockey East semifinals. BC, BU and Maine are all assured of a spot in the big dance.
The specific scenarios are too numerous to mention here, so go to USCHO’s Pairwise Predictor, a must for any college hockey junkie (but try not to get too addicted).
So, like a team scoring an insurance goal in the waning minutes of the third period, the two Boston schools and the one from Orono will be breathing a little bit easier as they enter the final phase of Hockey East’s version of March madness.
“I don’t think we’ll be gripping our sticks as tight,” said BU senior forward Luke Tuch. “(Our) place is set in the (NCAA) tournament, but we’re never satisfied. I think it’s just getting right back to work (at practice), competing and going at each other and making each other better.”
The matchups will feature BU (No. 2 in both the tournament seeding and the USCHO.com poll) vs. Maine (No. 3 tournament, No. 7 USCHO) at 4 p.m., followed by BC (No. 1 in both) vs. UMass (No. 5 tournament, No. 13 USCHO). All games will be on NESN and ESPN-plus.
Boston College will be the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and will play in the Providence Regional the following weekend regardless of what happens at TD Garden. Nevertheless, BC transfer forward Jack Malone, who fell one game shy of the Frozen Four last season with Cornell, said the Eagles’ motivation from this point forward is simple — win Hockey East, and win the national championship.
“Our mentality going into each game has to be the same,” said Malone. “Doesn’t matter who we’re playing against, doesn’t really matter what’s on the line. Our goal is to win six more games to finish out the year and get two more trophies. There isn’t any level of comfortability with going into play one opponent as opposed to another.”
BC was twice a winner over UMass this season — 5-1 on Feb. 16 in Amherst, Mass., and 6-4 two nights later at the Silvio O. Conte Forum. Despite the relative ease of their two victories, Eagles coach Greg Brown said his team won’t be looking past the Minutemen, a program only four years removed from winning the NCAA championship.
“There’s no trap in the semifinals of Hockey East,” Brown said. “We know they’re a great team. Hard-fought games both times. They have a successful program, they know how to win. We know it will be a huge battle for us and we know we’ll have to be at our best.”
It’s been a while since BU and Maine last played each other. That was on the weekend of Nov. 17 and 18, when the Terriers pulled out a pair of one goal wins — 3-2 and 5-4 — at Agganis Arena.
BU freshman defenseman Gavin McCarthy said his team has come a long way in the ensuing four months, and the maturity they’ve gained since then should go a long way toward success in the postseason.
“Doing things the right way — obviously we’ve had our moments when (we) took our foot off the gas a little bit,” McCarthy said. “Playing on our toes, not playing on our heels, that’s going to be huge for us going down the stretch. Everybody’s fighting for their life.”
