With the calendar soon turning to February and the venerable Beanpot at TD Garden looming next week, Boston College rose back to the top of both New England Hockey Journal’s latest Division 1 men’s power rankings and the national picture following a marquee series sweep of its archrivals.
The other two Beanpot schools in our top 10 have experienced opposite recent trends.
Tournament season has begun before the first two Mondays of February, however, as Quinnipiac will return to its ECAC Hockey chase with the Connecticut Ice trophy already back in hand.
Here is NEHJ’s latest look at the top 10 teams in the region.
1. Boston College (18-4-1, 11-3-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 2
The Eagles hadn’t beaten the nation’s No. 1 team since the 2010 Frozen Four, but 4-1 and 4-3 wins over archrival Boston University vaulted them back into the top spot and ensured their second consecutive Hockey East sweep. Freshman dominance continued as Gabe Perreault scored in each game to give him goals in six of his last eight, while Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) each had three points across the two meetings with BU. However, rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler may have stood the tallest, finishing with a 32-save Saturday performance at Agganis Arena. Lake Superior State graduate transfer Jacob Bengtsson continued to play steady defense and also set up Smith’s game-winner.
2. Boston University (16-7-1, 11-4-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 1
In just five days, the Terriers have gone from riding a 12-game Hockey East unbeaten streak to being swept by archrival BC in a league home-and-home for the first time since 2010 and then suffering a 4-3 overtime loss on Tuesday at Northeastern. Macklin Celebrini has scored in six of his last seven games and leads all Division 1 rookies with 18 goals on the season. Sophomore Ryan Greene’s extra-attacker goal with 1:11 left against the Huskies helped BU climb from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime. BU dominated the extra period before taking a controversial too many men on the ice penalty. Celebrini also scored an extra-man goal in a Saturday comeback effort.
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3. Quinnipiac (17-6-2, 10-2-1 ECAC)
Previous ranking: No. 3
The Bobcats posted 1-0 and 4-3 wins over Yale and UConn, respectively, to earn their third straight Connecticut Ice championship. Goaltender Vinny Duplessis was the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, making 22 of his 28 saves over the final two periods against the Huskies to allow his team to erase a 3-1 deficit.
4. Maine (16-4-2, 8-3-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 4
The Black Bears have been idle since finishing a 5-3, 7-2 sweep of UMass Lowell on Jan. 20, giving them three wins in four Hockey East games since the calendar turned to 2024. Bentley junior transfer Harrison Scott posted four goals and an assist in the series — including a hat trick in the Saturday game — en route to Hockey East Player of the Week honors. He has a career-high 10 goals and 18 points for the season. The series also marked the third straight in which freshman Albin Boija and senior Victor Ostman split goaltending duties.
5. Providence (14-7-2, 7-4-2 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 5
Despite trailing 3-1 with less than three minutes left in Saturday’s second period, the Friars rebounded for three unanswered goals — including sophomore Austen May’s overtime game-winner — to finish a comeback and sweep over UMass Lowell. May posted a three-point game and had two goals and three assists for the weekend when adding in Friday’s 7-2 road win. Fellow sophomore Bennett Schimek had a career-high four points in the opening win. Senior Bruins prospect Riley Duran (Woburn, Mass.) had a goal and an assist in each game.
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6. Massachusetts (13-6-3, 6-4-2 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 6
A 2-1 win at Northeastern on Jan. 20 marks the most recent action for the Minutemen, who are 2-1-1 in Hockey East play in 2024. Head coach Greg Carvel referred to that as “probably (his team’s) most complete game of the season” as UMass killed a 5-on-3 and a five-minute major while scoring a shorthanded goal. Freshman Nick VanTassell scored his first collegiate goal with 3:21 remaining in the third period, making a winner out of classmate Michael Hrabal in a career-high 34-save effort on his birthday.
7. New Hampshire (13-8-1, 6-5-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: No. 7
After coming out on the wrong end of a 2-1 Friday score despite a 32-16 shot edge, the Wildcats finished at Vermont with a 6-3 Saturday victory. Junior Robert Cronin (Plymouth, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season on Friday before six scorers contributed to the winning effort. Freshman Ryan Conmy’s team-best 12th goal helped lead the effort, while sophomore Morgan Winters logged his second three-assist game. Sophomore Tyler Muszelik made 28 saves in his first victory since Dec. 9. The split was UNH’s second straight in league play after it scored four third-period goals — including three in a 1:07 span — for a 5-0 win at UConn the previous Friday.
8. Northeastern (10-12-2, 5-11-0 HEA)
Previous ranking: N/A
A healthy Huskies lineup has won three straight for the first time since last January after a 5-3, 4-1 weekend sweep of Merrimack and passing their first of two consecutive top-10 tests in Tuesday’s overtime triumph over BU. The team’s top scorer is sophomore Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine), who had two goals and three assists across the Merrimack series before netting his 13th of the year in the third period of the BU game. Junior Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.) had two assists against the Terriers, which included setting up rookie Dylan Hryckowian’s game-winner in overtime. Hryckowian had four assists himself against Merrimack. Freshman Cameron Whitehead has been steady in net of late, tying his season-high 38 saves in the last game.
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9. Connecticut (11-12-2, 6-8-1 HEA)
Previous ranking: N/A
Despite having yet to string together consecutive Hockey East wins, UConn has earned wins in January series splits against ranked Maine and New Hampshire before falling just a goal short to Quinnipiac in this past weekend’s Connecticut Ice title game. Junior Chase Bradley scored a goal and three assists over the two tournament games, making him the team’s lone double-digit goal scorer. Senior Hudson Schandor has scored four of his five goals in the past six games, including two as part of a three-point effort in Friday’s 6-2 win over Sacred Heart. Sophomore Arsenii Sergeev has won his last three decisions after going since November without an appearance in goal, highlighted by a 43-save effort on Jan. 21 at UNH. All six of the Huskies’ February league games are also against ranked foes.
10. Holy Cross (14-11-4, 9-9-3 AHA)
Previous ranking: N/A
Last weekend’s 5-2 and 5-3 wins at Mercyhurst extended the Crusaders’ win streak to three games. They marked their fourth and fifth straight with points. Holy Cross now sits third in Atlantic Hockey, though RIT and Sacred Heart place ahead with games in hand. Senior Jack Ricketts continued to show his scoring punch with four goals over the two games, including his first career hat trick all in the third period of Saturday’s game. Junior Matt Shatsky dished out four assists from the blue line with three coming on Friday, while Thomas Gale backstopped the sweep with 51 saves and helped his team to a perfect penalty-kill performance.
