Hockey East met the ECAC this weekend and lost the argument
Seven Hockey East women's teams played ECAC opponents and went 3-9-1, with BU outshot 86-42 by No. 9 Colgate.
Hockey East went looking for a statement weekend against the ECAC and got one, just not the one it wanted. Seven Hockey East women's teams crossed over, and by our count they came home 3-9-1. That isn't a bad bounce or an unlucky travel schedule; it's a league that has real work to do before conference play starts counting.
Boston University ran into a wall
The ugliest numbers came from Walter Brown Arena. No. 9 Colgate shut out BU twice, 2-0 on Friday and 1-0 on Saturday, and outshot the Terriers 86-42 across the two nights. Brooke Davis needed only 20 saves for Friday's shutout. On Saturday, Mari Pietersen made a career-high 45 saves and still lost.
BU is 1-4-1, and its goaltending isn't the problem. Generating 21 shots a night against a top-10 opponent is.
The ranked trips went sideways
No. 8 UConn lost twice at No. 7 Princeton, 2-1 and then 6-5 in overtime. Princeton was playing its first games of the season, which makes it sting a little more. The 6-5 loss is the one that should bother the Huskies, because scoring five on the road usually buys a point.
No. 15 Vermont lost twice at No. 14 Cornell, 3-2 and 1-0, also against a team opening its season. New Hampshire dropped a 3-2 overtime game to St. Lawrence. Holy Cross lost to Harvard 5-1 and 8-2.
The two bright spots
No. 6 Northeastern went to No. 4 Quinnipiac and looked like it belonged. Friday finished 2-2 before the Bobcats won the shootout, which goes in the books as a tie. Saturday was a 5-1 Northeastern win, the best Hockey East result of the weekend by a distance.
Maine swept RPI, 5-3 and 3-1. Mackenzie Podewell scored three goals across the two games, and Kiia Lahtinen made 19 saves on Saturday. The Black Bears are 3-5-0, which tells you how hard the first month was.
What it means
The poll still has three Hockey East teams ranked, and the conference schedule will flatter the middle of the table for a while. But crossover weekends are what the tournament math remembers in March, and this one goes on Hockey East's permanent record.
The W read: Northeastern is the class of the league right now, and it isn't close. My call: the Huskies sweep BU at Walter Brown on Oct. 30 and 31.
