Here is the updated Hockey East playoff picture after BC Hockey's touchdown victory over PC.
| Rk. | Team | GP | Record | Pts. | Max | PS | Remaining Opponents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston College Eagles * # | 25 | 17-7-1 | 35 | 39 | 1-3 | vs. UVM (2) |
| 2 | Boston University Terriers * # | 25 | 16-8-1 | 33 | 37 | 1-3 | vs. NU, at NU |
| 3 | UMass-Lowell River Hawks * | 25 | 15-9-1 | 31 | 35 | 1-5 | at PC, vs. PC |
| 4 | Maine Black Bears * | 25 | 14-10-2 | 30 | 32 | 3-5 | vs. UNH |
| 5 | Merrimack Warriors * | 25 | 12-8-5 | 29 | 33 | 3-5 | at UMass, vs. UMass |
| 6 | New Hampshire Wildcats * | 26 | 11-13-2 | 24 | 26 | 6-7 | at Maine |
| 7 | Providence Friars | 25 | 10-12-3 | 23 | 27 | 4-9 | vs. UML, at UML |
| 8 | Massachusetts Minutemen | 25 | 8-13-4 | 20 | 24 | 7-9 | vs. MC, at MC |
| Northeastern Huskies | 25 | 8-13-4 | 20 | 24 | 7-9 | at BU, vs. BU | |
| 10 | Vermont Catamounts | 25 | 3-21-1 | 7 | 11 | 8 | at BC (2) |
* cliched playoff berth; # clinched home ice for quarterfinals; (PS) possible finish
BC can now finish no worse than third and is in position to pick up another trophy, in Jerry York speak. Hockey East's regular season championship has been the one trophy that has alluded York and the Eagles the most over the past decade's dominant run. While the Eagles have won the regular season a Hockey East best 11 times, BC has only won the regular season championship five times over the last decade+ -- in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and last season.
The race for the 8th and final playoff spot will go down to the wire this weekend as both UMass and Northeastern have identical 8-13-4 (20 points) records with two games to play. UMass has a home-and-home with Merrimack, who will be looking to clinch home ice for the Quarterfinals, while Northeastern has a home-and-home with BU.
The Terriers have now clinched home ice with their weekend sweep of the Catamounts.
UMass and Northeastern tied the regular season series 1-1-1. The next tie-breaker is number of wins in conference play (again, tied) before you get to the third tie-breaker, "Best record against the first-place team(s), then the second-place team(s), then the third-place team(s), and so on."
Should the Minutemen and Huskies finish with the same number of conference wins, UMass would advance if either BC or BU win the regular season title, while NU would win if UMass-Lowell wins the conference. BC struggled with UMass this year, losing the season series 1-2-0, and swept the Huskies, so the rooting interest here seems to lean Northeastern. Will be an interesting final weekend in Hockey East.
If the season ended today, here is what the Hockey East quarterfinals would be:
No. 1 Boston College vs. No. 8 Massachusetts (UMass won the regular season series 2-1-0)
No. 2 Boston University vs. No. 7 Providence (BU 2-1-0)
No. 3 UMass-Lowell vs. No. 6 New Hampshire (UML 2-1-0)
No. 4 Maine vs. No. 5 Merrimack (MC 2-0-1)
Go Eagles!