Hockey East Power Rankings – 10/26/09

By Chris Aliano

1.  UMass-Lowell (3-1-0, 1-0-0 HE) – The Riverhawks returned to action with a pair of solid victories, both over sub-par teams (Colgate and Northeastern).  Regardless, they've backed up their early season hype...so far.  The real test comes this weekend: #4 BU heads to town Friday, and then they travel down I-93 for a Halloween date with the Terriers at Agganis. 

2. Vermont (2-2-0, 1-1-0 HE) – The Cats came crashing down Friday night after Merrimack trounced Vermont thoroughly in a 5-2 beating in Andover.  For now, this hiccup should be considered a mere anomaly.  The Catamounts are still a very talented team and should bounce right back this weekend when they travel to Maine for a Friday night contest.


3. UNH (2-2-1, 2-0-0 HE) – Forget what the national polls may say: this is a very good team.  They looked downright dreadful in both losses to Rensselaer and Miami early on, but they bounced back to tie the top-ranked Redhawks in the second game of that series and looked unstoppable this weekend.  They picked up four points in their 4-2 and 5-2 victories against Northeastern and Maine, respectively.  Sophomore defender Blake Kessel tallied five points on the weekend, and Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Dalton Speelman scored his first two career goals against Northeastern.  Now comes the next big test: a trip to Madison for back-to-back contests with #19 Wisconsin.

4. UMass (3-0-0, 2-0-0 HE) – The Minutemen remained undefeated after downing lowly Maine 5-3 in their only game of the weekend.  Junior forward James Marcou is catching fire, recording his second four-point game of the young season.  Next up his a home-and-home with Providence, contests that could indicate just what kind of UMass team we'll see this year. 

5. BU (1-2-0, 0-1-0 HE) – They should be ranked higher, but at the same time could be much lower if not for the dramatic victory against #5 Michigan on Saturday.  Losing Nick Bonino for possibly up to a month certainly doesn't help either.  The Terriers need Kieran Millan to play like he did on Saturday and for the defense to step it up should they plan on being an above-.500 team when their captain returns.  Home-and-home with Lowell this weekend is huge.

6. BC (1-1-0, 0-1-0 HE) – A nice road win for the Eagles last weekend, but Notre Dame has not impressed early on, so that factors into the victory.  Still, they went 8-for-8 on the PK, and Joe Whitney's game-winner was his second goal of the season, good for the team lead and possibly indicative that he has returned to his freshman year form, when he was outstanding in recording 51 points.  A home-and-home with upstart Merrimack this weekend has become exponentially more important with the Warriors off to a hot start.

7. Merrimack (4-2-1, 1-0-0 HE) – The Warriors jump up from last to seventh after impressive victories against #10 Vermont and UConn, improving their winning streak to four games in the process.  Junior forward Chris Barton had another multi-point weekend, and Defensive Player of the Week Karl Stollery had a four-assist weekend as well.  If anyone plans to take them serious, however, they'll have to come up big against Boston College this weekend.

8. Providence (4-1-0, 0-0-0 HE) – There's quite the commotion in Friartown, but are they any good?  They lit up winless Bowling Green on Friday night, 8-2, before edging the Falcons 3-1 on Saturday.  Hockey East Player of the Week Matt Bergland had a five-point weekend on three goals and two assists, including a hat-trick on Friday.  Meanwhile between the pipes, sophomore Justin Gates matched his career-high with 33 saves on Saturday.  Up next: a home-and-home against undefeated UMass.

9. Northeastern (2-3-0, 0-2-0 HE) – It's early, but freshman goaltender Chris Rawlings has not been the answer.  UNH made easy work of Rawlings in their 4-2 victory Friday night, and UMass-Lowell took out the Huskies the next night to hand Northeastern its first losing streak of the season.  They'll have the weekend off and will try to rebound against both of their city rivals in November with a home-and-home against BU and BC.

10. Maine (1-5-0, 0-2-0 HE) – It's been tough early on for the Black Bears, in a season that many believed would see Maine at least field a competitive team despite their struggles during the past two seasons.  They'll have their hands full with Vermont on Friday night.