An Update On The Hockey East Tournament Seeding

With the last week of the Hockey East regular season nigh, let’s take a look at what’s going on with the Hockey East seeding picture.

Unlike last week, the outlook for the Eagles is quite straightforward now. Based on last week’s results, BC can now only finish anywhere from sixth to eighth place. The Eagles currently sit in seventh, one point behind Maine and one point ahead of New Hampshire.

The issue for the Eagles right now is they are sandwiched between two teams that hold the tiebreaker over them. Maine swept BC this year (vomit) and UNH went 1-0-1, so BC is in a tough spot.

What that means is that to finish ahead of these two teams, BC needs to win the spot outright, meaning finish with more points.

That means we are watching three games this weekend. Fortunately for BC fans, they are all on different nights so all can be watched.

On Thursday, BC plays Providence in Providence. If the Eagles were to beat the Friars, the Eagles would clinch the seventh spot, with a possibility of being able to reach sixth. If the Eagles tie, the game Friday nigh between UNH and Northeastern becomes important.

If UNH and Northeastern were to tie with a BC tie, BC would clinch the seventh spot and would remain there. Additionally, regardless of the BC/PC game, BC would clinch the seventh spot if Northeastern were to beat UNH.

But let’s backtrack for a second. Let’s say BC beats Providence. If Boston University were to beat Maine, BC would finish with more points than Maine, leapfrogging the Black Bears into sixth place.

So, here are all the possible scenarios:

BC over PC, BU over Maine

Sixth: BC (25)

Seventh: Maine (24)

Eighth: UNH (22-24) [Maine owns the tiebreaker]

BC ties PC, Northeastern ties/beats UNH

Sixth: Maine (24-26)

Seventh: BC (24)

Eighth: UNH (22-23)

BC loses to PC, Northeastern beats UNH

Sixth: Maine (24-26)

Seventh: BC (23)

Eighth: UNH (22)

BC loses to PC, UNH ties Northeastern

Sixth: Maine (24-26)

Seventh: UNH (23) [wins head to head tiebreaker)

Eighth: BC (23)

BC loses to PC, UNH beats Northeastern

Sixth: Maine (24-26)

Seventh: UNH (24)

Eighth: BC (23)