Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread (Part 2)
The 'Cats win what was essentially a must-win game to keep their hopes alive for home ice, and really bolster their chances of avoiding the play-in round by completing the sweep over BU. Looks like they benefitted from the postponement, as it sounded like UNH had the bulk of the best scoring chances after falling behind 1-0 in the early going. Like Felger said ... sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and while I don't want to dismiss the UNH effort ... if you heard the audio of the game, BU had none of their usual rabid support.
The two points brings UNH all the way up to a lofty tie for 3rd place with UMaine, and a single point ahead of Northeastern. Both of those teams have two games in hand, and will play each other twice at Mathews Arena next weekend. Maine then finishes the season with two at home against Providence, who currently trail UNH by 4 points, with their two games in hand next weekend vs. UMass. NU finishes up the regular season with a home-and home against BU.
UVM and Notre Dame are both stuck on 14 points. Notre Dame can max out at 20 points (.500) with wins in their last three games, but one of those is against BC. UVM can get to 22 points if they sweep their 4 games, but two of those games are against UMass-Lowell. So it's probably safe to assume both of those teams will have to get through the single-elimination play-in round, while only one of the four among UMaine/UNH/Northeastern/Providence will have to get through the play-in, and two of the remaining three will host the QF's.
I haven't worked out all the permutations, but it seems highly likely that UNH holds its QF/home ice fate largely in its own hands. Two wins at Merrimack next week forces Providence to run the table to simply tie UNH. IF Providence does sweep, that means two losses for UMaine. And with UMaine and Northeastern to share a max of 4 points next weekend, that's more good news for UNH.
Having said all that ... it was much the same way this time last year, and we all remember how that turned out. Hopefully this will be one of those "lesson learned" situations for the 'Cats. I'm going to stick with my prediction of a UNH @ Northeastern QF series, with the site of the games TBD. Surprisingly, I see Providence being the #6 team stuck with the play-in game, which would be disappointing for a team from which much was predicted/expected this season. UMaine has the toughest finishing stretch by far though, and if they return to their away-from-home form (or lack thereof) next weekend against NU, they would have to face a highly-motivated Providence squad with lots to prove, and the Black Bears could very drop like UNH did last season

and fall into the play-in round too.
Keep in mind everyone, though ... that as big as this weekend's sweep was ... a loss or maybe even a tie to Merrimack next weekend leaves the door ajar enough for this year's UNH to be, *erm* ... "this year's UNH", if you know what I mean.
Hopefully we'll have two big UNH turnouts down in North Andover two weekends from now, just like in the good ol' days.
