Checking in on a few trends around the league as the calendar flips to December.
—When Boston College assembled the non-conference portion of its schedule well before this season started, it could bank on some serious competition against traditional power programs like Michigan State (B1G) and St. Cloud State (NCHC).
But Western Michigan (NCHC) and Dartmouth (ECAC Hockey)? Few could have foreseen those two programs being among the country’s best in November of 2024. Yet the Eagles have made what turned out to be a tougher-than-expected non-league schedule look easy so far.
BC, ranked No. 3 in the latest version of the USCHO.com D-I men’s poll, is 10-3-0 on the season, including a 6-1-0 non-conference record.
“When you make the schedule, a lot of times you don’t know that everybody’s going to be this good,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “But it’s great to have tests. (Ours) has to be as tough a non-conference schedule as anybody’s. To have to sharpen your game and realize where you can improve, and also what is really working well for you several times in the first half of the year is great. I feel like we’ve learned a lot.”
Brown spoke after the Eagles’ 5-3 home win vs. No. 13 Dartmouth on Friday, capping a weekend where Hockey East went 11-2-1 over out-of-league competition, improving the Association’s overall record in such games to 42-19-2 for the season.
Brown, who for many years was an assistant to legendary BC coach Jerry York, said playing tough non-league games has always been in the program’s DNA.
“You want to be tested,” Brown said. “It makes you grow up quicker, it makes you improve faster. You learn immediately what your shortcomings are, and, hopefully, what your strengths are. It seems the best way to go for me.”
—It’s been an up-and-down season for Massachusetts, as its record shows — the Minutemen are 7-6-2 overall with just one win (1-4-2 record) in Hockey East play.
Coach Greg Carvel said the team was feeling really good about itself following a 5-1 win at Providence on Nov. 16, rebounding from a 2-1 loss to the Friars at home two nights earlier. A disheartening home loss to Vermont — the 3-2 final left UMass winless in three tries vs. the Catamounts this season — was sandwiched between a 5-3 win vs. Harvard (ECAC Hockey) and Army West Point (Atlantic Hockey America).
“We should be on a four- or five-game winning streak,” Carvel said. “It would be great to carry that. I don’t like our record, but I like this team. When we put it all together, we’re an NCAA-level hockey team. Just too many games this year, goaltending wasn’t there, the defense wasn’t there, or the offense wasn’t there. When we get them all together, we’re a good hockey team.”
Injuries have contributed to UMass’s lack of consistency. Freshman forward Daniel Jenčko’s return to the lineup helped spark the Minutemen in their win vs. Army. Carvel said Jenčko’s play this season has been a pleasant surprise.
“I knew he had the skill set to do it,” Carvel said. “He had a really good summer off the ice. He got stronger. He’s got a better attitude than I thought, and what I mean is, he’s willing to compete harder than I thought he was going to. (He’s) got really good hands and really good instincts.”
The Minutemen look to enter their two-week winter break on a high note and have a great chance to do that this weekend with a pair of games against Boston University — in Boston Friday (6 p.m.) and at home Saturday (7 p.m., NESN).
—Maine coach Ben Barr commented recently on the firing of former Black Bears captain Jim Montgomery by the Boston Bruins.
Montgomery was fired after leading Boston to a 120-41-23 record in just more than two seasons. It didn’t take long for Montgomery to find a new job — he was hired by the St. Louis Blues just five days later.
“On the surface, it just seems ridiculous that a guy like that, with that kind of record, gets fired,” said Barr. “But it’s also great that he ends up getting to go (to St. Louis). It’s kind of his home there. Maybe things happen for a reason.”
Montgomery captained Maine to a record of 42–1–2 and the 1993 NCAA championship. He was an assistant coach for the Blues from 2020-22.
