A crazy Saturday night started with eight New York Rangers prospects in action and by the time all the games were played, just two were eliminated from their conference playoffs. No worries those two prospects will get to come back and play in the NCAA tournament in a couple of weeks.
A prospect who is injured saw his team advance to his league’s semifinals but will he recover in time to play? Seeing him play in the big games is an important part of watching his development.
If anything Saturday made a strong case to find a better system than the Pairwise to determine NCAA tournament status. Two of the top four ranked teams have been eliminated from their league tournaments but they will remain high seeds come NCAA tournament time and sorry that is wrong.
There is no complaint if you lose in the championship final of your league playoffs but lose in your first round to the lowest seed in your league playoffs should come with a price otherwise what is the incentive to win your league tournament when you already know you are going to be the number one seed in the NCAA tournament.
Reward the teams who work hard for the entire season and make their NCAA seeding based upon their entire body of work. After all those underdogs who win their league playoffs are still given lower seeds despite winning their league playoffs are they not.
Or put it this way what incentive did Boston College really have to win the Hockey East playoffs? By losing like they did, they don’t have to play next week and get to rest players while they await their seeding in the NCAA. Why not give Michigan State and Western Michigan a higher seed if they win their league playoffs?
Hockey East Playoffs
If Boston College remains number one in the new NCAA poll come Monday then sorry the system is wrong. Entering the Hockey East quarterfinal matchup as the top seed, Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue pretty much were expected to walk all over Jackson Dorrington’s ninth-seeded Northeastern Huskies on their way to the conference tournament championship.
Someone forgot to tell Dorrington and his teammates that as they put on a defensive clinic in pulling off a Hockey East conference first. Northeastern defeated Boston College 3-1 to become the first ever ninth seed to earn a spot in the Hockey East semifinals.
And if anything this week, Jackson Dorrington made Chris Drury look like a genius trading for his rights. Wednesday Dorrington played over 35 minutes in helping Northeastern win in double overtime against Merrimack.
Saturday Dorrington blocked Ryan Leonard’s shot with under 20 seconds remaining in regulation and his team clinging to a one-goal lead while also trying to kill a penalty. Give Northeastern all the credit in the world as they blocked 20 shots and frustrated Boston College all night long.
Gabe Perreault got the primary assist on Boston College’s only goal and while he was credited with four shots on goal, none were high percentage scoring chances. The assist was Perreault’s prospect leading 15-32-47 which is also ninth overall in the NCAAs.
This was as textbook a defensive effort as you could ask for as Northeastern did not look like a 13-19-3 team entering this game.
Dorrington was scoreless with no shots credited to him but he was a +2 and credited with two blocked shots for the night as he postponed his expected joining of Hartford for at least a week. But he very much proved that he deserved the opportunity to sign that entry-level contract as a defenseman who actually plays defense.
Drew Fortescue was scoreless and credited with two shots blocking one shot.
As for Perreault and Fortescue, they now have to sit and wait as Boston College as the current Pairwise leader will earn an invite to the NCAA tournament but as an “At-large” team not as a conference champion. The system though is not going to punish them for this upset loss and that is wrong.
Both Boston College and Minnesota were eliminated in their conference’s first round but yet are getting to keep their first seeds despite losing to their league’s worst playoff contender. Why bother playing the league playoffs if you get rewarded for winning but face no consequences for losing.
NCHC Playoffs
Ty Henricks and his top-seeded Western Michigan Broncos made it two straight wins over eighth-seeded St. Cloud St winning game two 6-2 to advance to the NCHC semifinals next week. Henricks was not credited with any shots but was a +1.
The Broncos have to wait to find out who they face next week as that will depend on the outcome of who wins Sunday’s game three between Colorado College and Denver University. Western Michigan will remain the top seed in the NCHC playoffs.
Noah Laba and his sixth-seeded Colorado College Tigers dropped game two of their NCHC series with three-seeded Denver University 6-3 and will have to play a deciding game three on Sunday.
Laba and his teammates got off a to a great start as Laba scored his 10th goal of the season 2:15 into the game’s first period giving his team an early 1-0 lead. Laba carried the puck into the Denver defensive zone where he fired a shot from the high slot that found it’s way into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Koering ▶️ Wisdom ▶️ Laba🚨
1-0 good guys at the 2:15 mark of the first.#CCTigers pic.twitter.com/D4J1tt9zDu
— CC Hockey (@CCTigerHKY) March 16, 2025
For Laba the goal improved his season totals to 10-15-25. If Colorado College wants to advance to the NCHC semifinals next week they will need a big game out of Laba who might be playing his last game for the Tigers. And remember this, Colorado College has won just one game (Friday night) on Denver’s home ice since 2019, can they pull the upset?
ECAC Playoffs
Zakary Karpa picked a great time to score his first goal of the season as he led a Harvard Crimson comeback from down 2-0 with two second-period goals which forced overtime. And in the first overtime, Harvard scored at 6:09 to win game two of their ECAC quarterfinal series with Clarkson forcing a deciding game three on Sunday.
Just 44 seconds after Clarkson had taken a 2-0 lead in the second period, Karpa carried the puck behind the Clarkson goal and stuffed a wrap=around shot in to cut the lead to 2-1. It was his first goal since February 23rd of last year a total of 35 games between goals for the Harvard captain.
Karpa improved his season totals to 1-6-7 with the goal which sets up a game three on Sunday with the winner advancing to the ECAC semifinals next week. This game will be televised on ESPN plus starting at 1 PM EDT.
The CHL
Raoul Boilard had an assist, but it was not enough as his Baie-Comeau Drakkar lost to the Shawinigan Cataractes 3-2 in overtime in QMJHL play. Boilard earned a secondary assist on the Drakkar’s second goal of the game.
The assist improved Boilard’s season totals to 12-33-45 on the season which is second among Ranger prospects. The 33 assists leads all Ranger prospects which is one more than Gabe Perreault.
Nathan Aspinall was scoreless as his Flint Firebirds lost to the Soo Greyhounds 6-3 in OHL play. Aspinall did however collect his third fighting major of the season which means any more fighting majors and Aspinall will be subject to a two-game suspension.
Did Not Play
E. J. Emery did not play for his North Dakota Fighting Hawks as he missed his sixth straight game due to his lower body injury. North Dakota did however advance to the NCHC semifinals next week in St. Paul Minnesota. Who they play will depend on the outcome of the Denver/Colorado College series.
