Boston College Women's Hockey '25-'26: It's The Hope That Kills You

Oh boy I couldn't disagree more lol... BU is just terrible, especially here in the 2nd half. I wish we could have just thrown the game today so we could have played them in the QF.

Vermont on the other hand is not playing badly at all. Sort of a similar run of form as us lately, some close solid wins, an inexplicable loss to Providence, and a great game against Northeastern. Going to be a close one.

I plan on flying up in the ol' Skyhawk and going to the game, weather permitting.

Chris Vogel said:

Feel like they've got the best shot of that group to take down UConn or Northeastern in round one.

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Believe it or not, Merrimack is the only team playing in the opening round that beat UConn this season, and they probably could've beat them twice, having been tied in the third today before eventually losing. Yes, it's hard for me to pick a team with the conference record they have, but it is worth noting they also beat Clarkson and played Holy Cross well in all three games, leading in two, "winning" one in a shootout, and losing the other two by one goal. 3-3 against ranked teams this year

I was doing my Patty K research and Thomas has had a heck of a year. I had no idea BC had a player this good on their team. Top that with a 3rd place finish in the league and things are looking up. The biggest buggaboo I see the the goals against at 96. That is about 40 more than the 1st, 2nd or 4th place team overall and 10 to 20 more in league play. If they can clean that up they are staring at first place.

Timothy A said:

I was doing my Patty K research and Thomas has had a heck of a year. I had no idea BC had a player this good on their team. Top that with a 3rd place finish in the league and things are looking up. The biggest buggaboo I see the the goals against at 96. That is about 40 more than the 1st, 2nd or 4th place team overall and 10 to 20 more in league play. If they can clean that up they are staring at first place.

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Thomas has been basically the entirety of the offense at times (multiple games where the plan is sit back in the defensive end and hope you eventually get either Thomas alone on a break or Taber and Thomas on a two on one).

The goals are a bit misleading, tough out of conference and got shelled by Minnesota to start the season (18 goals in 2 games). In league play BC is middle of the pack, UConn and Northeastern are just outliers in the conference this year. Part of the reason BC isn't closer is that the defense allows more shots than anyone in the conference by a wide margin.

We here baby let's gooo

Campbell moves into second place in career saves for Boston College with her final save of the second period (3,181).

TonyTheTiger20 said:

We here baby let's gooo

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Grant!

Going to be a long offseason, BC need to retain the young core (Thomas, Murphy, Maffeo, Tremblay, etc)

A quick best case lines projection if BC doesn't lose anyone to the portal. Don't read too much into freshman positioning and easily could shuffle around lines/pairings but tried to throw together how the Eagles may line up (example; splitting up Maffeo and Murphy to deepen scoring).

At the moment my semi-realistic portal wishlist is a starting goaltender, a middle six two-way forward (to replace Conner), and a top-six defender (ideally a top four but may be a stretch). Goaltender is number one need unless you're 1000% confident one of the two rostered can replace Campbell, which is a massive ask.

Strengths:

Experienced returning D-core, led by 2 All-Hockey East selections
Top line that can compete at top of Hockey East
Upside on second line if players develop

Weakness:
Lack of goaltending experience
Lack of offensive depth
Defensive unit may be too offensive minded

	LW	C	RW
Taber	Tremblay	Thomas
Babey	Devlin	Glaser
Klein	Piku	Portal
Advani	Semiga	Mara
EF	Lucas
Reserve	Powers	Niemann
	LD	RD
Griswold	Murphy
Dempsey	Maffeo
Dunn	Portal
ED	Lavoie
	G
Portal
Callaway
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Chris Vogel said:

Going to be a long offseason, BC need to retain the young core (Thomas, Murphy, Maffeo, Tremblay, etc)

A quick best case lines projection if BC doesn't lose anyone to the portal. Don't read too much into freshman positioning and easily could shuffle around lines/pairings but tried to throw together how the Eagles may line up (example; splitting up Maffeo and Murphy to deepen scoring).

At the moment my semi-realistic portal wishlist is a starting goaltender, a middle six two-way forward (to replace Conner), and a top-six defender (ideally a top four but may be a stretch). Goaltender is number one need unless you're 1000% confident one of the two rostered can replace Campbell, which is a massive ask.

Strengths:

Experienced returning D-core, led by 2 All-Hockey East selections
Top line that can compete at top of Hockey East
Upside on second line if players develop

Weakness:
Lack of goaltending experience
Lack of offensive depth
Defensive unit may be too offensive minded

	LW	C	RW
Taber	Tremblay	Thomas
Babey	Devlin	Glaser
Klein	Piku	Portal
Advani	Semiga	Mara
EF	Lucas
Reserve	Powers	Niemann
	LD	RD
Griswold	Murphy
Dempsey	Maffeo
Dunn	Portal
ED	Lavoie
	G
Portal
Callaway
Pomarico

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Believe Frost could come back next year due to redshirting the 2024-2025 season. But seeing how little she played over her three seasons, not sure either her or the coaching staff would want that

Will said:

Believe Frost could come back next year due to redshirting the 2024-2025 season. But seeing how little she played over her three seasons, not sure either her or the coaching staff would want that

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You're correct, I didn't check for redshirts. I'd assume she's gone since she was honored on senior day.

Dear Blake James,

I understand you are busy trying to fix the mess with your football and basketball programs but I would like to ask you when are you going to do something about your Women's ice hockey program ? We lost to UVM in the first round of the playoffs at Conte yesterday and our season is all over. Yes the #6 seed UVM teams who WON 6 LEAGUE GAMES ALL YEAR !

Do you think this is normal ? I don't
Are you embarrassed ? I am.
Do you think that its ok for BCWIH to be as bad as they have been for this long ? I don't.
Do you thinks its normal for so many talented players to leave BC to play elsewhere ? I don't
Do you realize that BCWIH is the laughing stock of Women's college Hockey ? They are
Can you tell me How BCWIH has compared to Northeastern's women's ice hockey program over the last 6-7 years ? Its embarrassing

I am actually going to spend some time this week and look at BCWIH track record in Hockey East over these same 6-7 years and come back with some data. My guess it that Its going to be really hard to stomach.

Sincerely,

Reg

Well, super disappointed obviously. We lost because I was there, so that's on me... I'm a curse.

I honestly thought we played pretty well overall, but we had a couple pretty bad defensive mistakes that we were immediately punished for. We played GREAT in the first period, and pretty well in the third, but couldn't cash in on the opportunities we had. In general I thought Vermont didn't look all that threatening, so the overall defensive gameplan seemed to be solid, but the problem was getting absolutely pants'd on brutal defensive mistakes on both Vermont's non-ENGs.

Depending on who we manage to keep in Portal Szn (which is a massive question, obviously, even for teams who aren't, well, us lol)... we really need some forward depth. Thomas staying would be amazing. I doubt Taber is going anywhere, she seems like a real Eagle and while it does happen, I feel like the rising seniors are the least likely ones to transfer out since they graduate the following year and credits transferring is a huge PITA. I have no inside info though, just going off vibes. But the bottom line production needs to be better; "Eff it, Ava Thomas down there somewhere" isn't a strategy that will

I really like Tremblay. More freshmen like her, please.

I really liked Conner. More transfers like her, please.

I know nothing about the incoming freshmen so if anyone can share anything about who's coming in that would be cool.

Lastly, some positive thoughts as our season isn't quite over just yet. For the second season in a row (which is kind of nuts actually), BC Women's Hockey has a Hockey Humanitarian finalist! The winner will be announced at the Men's Frozen Four. Congratulations and good luck to Kara Goulding! https://bceagles.com/news/2026/2/24/womens-hockey-goulding-named-hockey-humanitarian-award-finalist

reggiedunlap9 said:

Dear Blake James,

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I don't think he reads USCHO dot com lol

reggiedunlap9 said:

Do you realize that BCWIH is the laughing stock of Women's college Hockey ? They are

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You've said this before, and I've responded as such before, but I don't think this level of hyperbole is warranted. We are not "the laughingstock of women's college hockey." We had one season barely below .500 after not having one in 16 years. Be critical, it's fine; but it takes away from your argument and makes it harder to take your legitimate criticisms seriously when you make such an absurd caricature of it.

You've said this before, and I've responded as such before, but I don't think this level of hyperbole is warranted. We are not "the laughingstock of women's college hockey." We had one season barely below .500 after not having one in 16 years. Be critical, it's fine; but it takes away from your argument and makes it harder to take your legitimate criticisms seriously when you make such an absurd caricature of it.

Oh yes we are a laughingstock and its absolutely warranted. I think you might be the only person that would consider this statement "absurd"

The collapse of the BCWIH program is absolutely the talk of Woman's College Hockey. I know you like to default to Kingers annual excuse that anyone complaining must be a disgruntled parent but that's not the case. I'm sorry. Do you still think she's the right person for this job ? I respect your loyalty to your friend Kinger Tony but its getting ridiculous now.

I will be back with some statistics. Stay tuned

I think the best way to do this is provide BC program stats starting with the 2019-2020 season. That was the season after both Keller and Newkirk graduated and it was also the year in which both Lonergan and Watts inexplicitly left the program. Or, in other words, it was the beginning of the end for BCWIH.

BCWIH Hockey East Regular Season Finishes

2019-2020 4th Place
2020-2021 2nd Place
2021-2022 4th Place
2022-2023 4th Place
2023-2024 4th Place
2024-2025 3rd Place
2025-2026 3rd Place

Please keep in mind just how bad of a conference Hockey East has been ranked Nationally over this same period of time.

@TonyTheTiger20 just wondering. Is that good ? Or are we still rebuilding ?

BCWIH Hockey East Playoff Record

2019-2020 Lost in Quarterfinals to UConn
2020-2021 Lost in Quarterfinals to UConn
2021-2022 Lost in Quarterfinals to Maine
2022-2023 Lost in Semis to Northeastern
2023-2024 Lost in Semis to UConn
2024-2025 Lost in Semis to BU
2025-2026 Lost in Quarterfinals to Vermont

@TonyTheTiger20 just wondering. Is that good ? Or are we still rebuilding ?

By my rough calculations BCWIH has played Northeastern 27 times since the start of the 2019-2020 season including Beanpots and Hockey East Playoffs.

In those 27 games BC has only won 6 times. I will say it again. BC has only beaten Northeastern 6 times in women's ice hockey over the last 27 games .

@TonyTheTiger20 just wondering. Is that good ? Or are we still rebuilding ?

Since the collapse of the BCWIH program began in 2019-2020, BC has only qualified for the NCAA tournament ONCE in 2021 and that was during covid when many D1 teams didn't even field a women's hockey team.

Also, by my very rough calculations, I believe BC has only finished the year on the final USCHO top 15 rankings 1 time. Again in a covid year.

@TonyTheTiger20 just wondering. Is that good ? Or are we still rebuilding ?

Good morning. As I continue to dig a little deeper into the numbers, I thought I'd share some of my research on the annual Woman's Beanpot, Boston College hasn't won the Beanpot since 2018

Since the collapse of the BCWIH program began in 2019-2020, Boston College has not only never won the Beanpot, they have only played in 2 Championship games. No BC team has ever played for a Beanpot Championship in the TD Garden.

2019-2020. BC Finished in 3rd place
2020-2021. No Beanpot
2021-2022 BC finished 2nd
2022-2023 BC finished 2nd
2023-2024 BC finished 4th
2024-2025 BC finished 3rd
2025-2026 BC finished 4th

FYI. There are only 4 teams that play in the Beanpot every year.

@TonyTheTiger20 just wondering. Is that good ? Or are we still rebuilding ?

Reggie - is there a womens hockey booster group you’ve joined? Have you written to Blake James? I don’t care if BC gets a new coach or not but it feels like you oversimplify things.

Wisconsin is a wagon. The WCHA has taken off. I have to think it’s very compelling for any young person to choose WCHA at this point even if a big ten or umd school doesn’t want them. Mankato just made noise. One of their coaches is part of USA hockey now I think as well.

Hockey East is not appealing for the best talent. I am biased but think centrally located AHA is a better choice at this point, Penn State for B1G reasons, Hurst also gets those tough New York teams on their schedule routinely.

The challenges are so much bigger than you present.