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Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

B

BUhockey24

New member
It has been described and elaborated on for years that the Hockey East is the deepest conference top to bottom in the country and that it is anyone's tournament. This is debatable on several levels but in recent years the tournament has belonged to either BU or BC. This year however teams like Merrimack, UMass Lowell, Maine and UMass Amherst are all dangerous and have as good a chance of winning as they every have.

My guess from watching the teams this year is that Boston College is probably the best team overall but it is my too small a margin to guarentee them tournament favorites as single elimination in the semi's and championship games make it even harder to predict.

I honestly believe that no. 8 UVM has just as good a chance to win as no. 1 UNH. Here is my prediction however just for fun.

UNH v. UVM 2-1 series
BC v. UMass Amherst 2-0 series
BU v. Merrimack 2-1 series
Maine v. UMass Lowell 2-1 series
------------------------------------------
UNH v. BU
BC v. UML
------------------------------------------
BC v. BU

I think BU has a good shot because of three reasons. 1. I am a BU fan and admit to being impartial. 2. They need to win to have an NCAA berth so they will be extra motivated and 3. They have more talent and experience than Merrimack and UNH and have shown they can beat BC. However, I think you can make an argument for each team winning the tournament this year.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

It's about time someone started a thread to talk about the Hockey East tournament!

Great job BUhockey24!
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

BUhockey24 said:
UNH v. UVM 2-1 series
BC v. UMass Amherst 2-0 series
BU v. Merrimack 2-1 series
Maine v. UMass Lowell 2-1 series
------------------------------------------
UNH v. BU
BC v. UML
------------------------------------------
BC v. BU
Click to expand...

This scenario can't happen, UNH would play Lowell in the semi, the other being BU-BC.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

slurpees said:
This scenario can't happen, UNH would play Lowell in the semi, the other being BU-BC.
Click to expand...

But if one of the three reasons BU wins is that he is a fan of BU, wouldn't this matchup happen because he likes the matchup?
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

slurpees said:
This scenario can't happen, UNH would play Lowell in the semi, the other being BU-BC.
Click to expand...

it would be epic though........... but if they meet in the semi's that would be almost as epic. I think BU got a great draw, BC not so much......UNH, not at all
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

I'm guessing that the Semis will be BU-UNH and BC-Lowell, with a BC-UNH final (again).

Lowell would cause more angst for BC at Tsongas Arena, but not at TD Garden. There, I think BC waltzes over the Riverhawks.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

Hockey East re-seeds for the semifinals

UNH, BC, BU, and UML fans all seem confident. The only one who don't are Maine. Still think BC is the best team, but could see any of the four actually winning it.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

My predictions :

UNH v. UVM 2-1
BU v. MC 2-0
MEv. UML 2-1
BCv. UMA 2-0


#1UNH v. #4ME
#3BU v. #2BC

UNH v. BU

:eek:
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

BUhockey24 said:
I think BU has a good shot because of three reasons. 1. I am a BU fan and admit to being impartial. 2. They need to win to have an NCAA berth so they will be extra motivated and 3. They have more talent and experience than UNH
Click to expand...

Well 1/3 ain't bad ha ha ha ha ha ha
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

BUhockey24 said:
I think BU has a good shot because of three reasons. 1. I am a BU fan and admit to being impartial. 2. They need to win to have an NCAA berth so they will be extra motivated and 3. They have more talent and experience than Merrimack and UNH and have shown they can beat BC. However, I think you can make an argument for each team winning the tournament this year.
Click to expand...

Always great to see someone come right out and tell everyone that they're a fanboy. I do appreciate your willingness to embrace that.

With BC and UNH the only teams in good NCAA tourney standing right now, point #2 is not going to distinguish BU from any of the other teams not named BC/UNH.

I'll also disagree with your comment that the #8 seed has just as good of a chance to win as the #1 seed. I would disagree. Winning on the road is difficult in the QFs and that severely handicaps the chances for 4-8. On top of that, in the end the teams with better talent and coaching have a far greater chance of winning this thing. That's why you've seen BU and BC dominate recently (they have had both... and still do). Maine had talent and coaching (and cheating too). UNH has talent. There's the winners of the tournament the last what, 12 or 13 years? While it is arguable that the mediocrity of the league as a whole makes it more competitive and this is the year to buck that trend, in the end BC has the greatest chance of winning and it's far greater than the chance that UVM wins as the 8 seed.

If I'm handicapping (rover/spin control insert gambling joke here about the "gambino family"), I would put BC as the clear favorite, with BU next in line with a decent drop in odds and UNH 3rd with slightly less favorable odds than BU. Everyone else is significantly less likely to win the tourney IMO.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

I don't see BU being good enough to step up this year in must-win situations. After seeming to be back to his freshman self, Millan has not looked particularly great the last two weekends, our defense has underachieved in front of him defensively and I still don't think we have enough scoring punch to make up for those deficiencies. In my mind this is actually a better team than the 07-08 version, because this year's squad have at times beaten some good teams, and that team went the entire year losing basically every game against a team with equal or better talent. However, I still don't see anything that makes me think 'BU can turn it on because this is do or die,' even with a solid showing last weekend.

BU will advance, but I don't think we'll make the final.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

Nick Papagiorgio said:
Always great to see someone come right out and tell everyone that they're a fanboy. I do appreciate your willingness to embrace that.

With BC and UNH the only teams in good NCAA tourney standing right now, point #2 is not going to distinguish BU from any of the other teams not named BC/UNH.

I'll also disagree with your comment that the #8 seed has just as good of a chance to win as the #1 seed. I would disagree. Winning on the road is difficult in the QFs and that severely handicaps the chances for 4-8. On top of that, in the end the teams with better talent and coaching have a far greater chance of winning this thing. That's why you've seen BU and BC dominate recently (they have had both... and still do). Maine had talent and coaching (and cheating too). UNH has talent. There's the winners of the tournament the last what, 12 or 13 years? While it is arguable that the mediocrity of the league as a whole makes it more competitive and this is the year to buck that trend, in the end BC has the greatest chance of winning and it's far greater than the chance that UVM wins as the 8 seed.

If I'm handicapping (rover/spin control insert gambling joke here about the "gambino family"), I would put BC as the clear favorite, with BU next in line with a decent drop in odds and UNH 3rd with slightly less favorable odds than BU. Everyone else is significantly less likely to win the tourney IMO.
Click to expand...

BUhockey24 said:
It has been described and elaborated on for years that the Hockey East is the deepest conference top to bottom in the country and that it is anyone's tournament. This is debatable on several levels but in recent years the tournament has belonged to either BU or BC. This year however teams like Merrimack, UMass Lowell, Maine and UMass Amherst are all dangerous and have as good a chance of winning as they every have.

My guess from watching the teams this year is that Boston College is probably the best team overall but it is my too small a margin to guarentee them tournament favorites as single elimination in the semi's and championship games make it even harder to predict.

I honestly believe that no. 8 UVM has just as good a chance to win as no. 1 UNH. Here is my prediction however just for fun.

UNH v. UVM 2-1 series
BC v. UMass Amherst 2-0 series
BU v. Merrimack 2-1 series
Maine v. UMass Lowell 2-1 series
------------------------------------------
UNH v. BU
BC v. UML
------------------------------------------
BC v. BU

I think BU has a good shot because of three reasons. 1. I am a BU fan and
admit to being impartial. 2. They need to win to have an NCAA berth so they will be extra motivated and 3. They have more talent and experience than Merrimack and UNH and have shown they can beat BC. However, I think you can make an argument for each team winning the tournament this year.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
UNH has owned BU this year.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

unh1982 said:
UNH has owned BU this year.
Click to expand...

The Terriers team that we played a couple months ago is NOT the same team skating in the Scarlet and White now. They've improved greatly.

I'm not one for changing picks, but how many people who did their picks early are wishing they could go back and reconsider their choice for the #4 v. #5 matchup? Darling's dismissal is a pretty big deal for Maine -- having seen him play, along with Wilson.

How much will the be in the back of the Black Bears minds? Will that give Lowell something to pounce on?

A quick comment to NP's post: their postseason resume speaks for itself, and the consistent lack of success over the years points to coaching, and I won't argue that point with you. However, this year as opposed to year's past, I think there is a mentality in the UNH team from both Coaches and players (including a Hobey Baker candidate captain, see butlerforhobey.com :D ) that is making up for the lesser talent.

It's no guarantee that they'd beat anybody else, but it makes them fun to watch. It's why I won't pick against them in this tournament (yup, bias). Hopefully the ghost of collapses past won't affect them too much moving forward . . . (and okay that wasn't as quick as I thought it would be.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

unh1982 said:
UNH has owned BU this year.
Click to expand...

That's great but UNH owns no one in the postseason so it's very irrelevant, especially for UNH.

Parker vs. Umile and York vs. Umile are not good matchups for UNH. On any given night if Parker were to coach against Umile in the postseason, Umile's probability of winning might be close to Jack Parker's BAC. :eek:

And York probably owns him even worse.
 
Re: Hockey East: Anyones Tournament

Nick Papagiorgio said:
On any given night if Parker were to coach against Umile in the postseason, Umile's probability of winning might be close to Jack Parker's BAC. :eek:
Click to expand...

UNH has had some pretty good success vs. BU in the post season (2-1 in the NCAA's, including upsetting them as the #1 team in the nation and almost doing it again last year). They also won their 2nd HEA title vs. BU, and again upset them in... maybe 2005? as a lower seed in the HEA semis... Good try though.

BC, obviously, owns UNH in the post season, and Maine does in the NCAA's... other than that, I like UNH's chances against any other team in HEA based on history (which, of course, is what BC fans base everything on regarding UNH)
 
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