Parity = Parity

All Teams Essentially Equal In Hockey East

After a somewhat bizarre night in Hockey East, the standings are more muddled than ever.  Only one thing is really clear.  New Hampshire is the favorite to win the conference.  Not necessarily the best team, but the favorite.  They have consistently proven that they have a nose for important wins, and it has earned them a five point cushion over the second place teams.

Besdies UNH, who defeated UVM in an excellent overtime game last night, there's not a whole lot about Hockey East you would want to bet on right now.

All of a sudden, the Northeastern Huskies are a contender again.  They pushed their winning streak to five in a row last night by hanging tough at Matthews Mudpit Arena to pull out a 3-2 victory.  Somehow, some way, that puts the Huskies in position for a home playoff series.  Their 23 points are good enough for the four seed as of right now.

Elsewhere in Hockey East, Maine returned to home ice and returned to form by absolutely demolishing the Riverhawks of Lowell.  At this point, I don't know what to make of the Black Bears, because they looked simply awful last weekend at Agganis.  But behind a 5 goal, 7 point night from winger Brian Flynn, and a four goal third period, the Black Bears smacked down UML 8-4.  As The Maine Campus tells us, Flynn's night was a record breaking one.  Maine is now tied with the Eagles for second place in Hockey East.

And finally, opposite night concluded with a topsy turvy Merrimack victory over the UMass Amherst Minutemen.  Joe Coochy Coochy Cucci led the Warriors to a 4-1 victory with a hat trick at Lawler Rink.

Let's review.  Three players (Joe Cucci of Mack, Brian Flynn of Maine, and Kyle MacKinnon of Providence) had hat tricks last night. 

The 9th place team (Mack) beat the 5th place team (Amherst) , and the 10th place team (Providence) beat the 4th place team (BU).  Meanwhile, the 8th place team (UVM) took the 1st place team (UNH) to overtime.  Meanwhile, the 6th place team (Northeastern) beat the 2nd place team (BC) to jump into 4th place.  Keeping up?

Maine and Lowell combined for 12 goals, Providence and BU combined for 9 goals, as did UNH and UVM.

The worst scoring team in Hockey East (Providence) scored 5 goals against the hottest team in the league (BU).  The third-worst defensive team (Mack) allowed just one goal.

So what does this all mean? Nothing at all.  Just that nothing is for sure in the nutty world of Hockey East.