The W: Hockey East's real season starts Friday in Providence
Hockey East went 3-4 against top-10 teams before playing a league game, and PWHL camp lists show which expansion team is still holding auditions.
Hockey East has been the best story in women's college hockey for two weeks, and it hasn't played a league game yet. That changes Friday. The conference lost its favorite on opening night and still put three teams in the top 15. I think it's deeper than anyone out West wants to admit.
The number
3-4. That's Hockey East's record against top-10 teams last weekend, by our count from the scores on our college pages. Vermont split with Minnesota Duluth. UConn swept Clarkson. Boston University lost at Wisconsin, and Providence dropped two to Quinnipiac.
The league went 6-8 overall on Friday and Saturday. It's one weekend, so call it a first look. But all three wins came from teams ranked 12th or lower when the puck dropped.
What the voters did with it
Northeastern fell from fifth to seventh in this week's USCHO poll after losing its opener 2-1 in overtime at RPI. UConn jumped from 12th to ninth. Vermont is in at No. 15, its first week in the poll this season.
The W read: the voters got UConn right and went light on Vermont. A team that shuts out Duluth 3-0, then takes the rematch to overtime, has earned better than the last line of the ballot.
Friday in Providence
Hockey East waited until the second weekend of October to play itself, which is one way to keep everybody unbeaten in the league.
The first one that matters is Northeastern at Providence, 2 p.m. Friday at Schneider Arena. It's the league opener for both. Northeastern is the reigning regular-season champion and is 0-1, because it outshot RPI 42-14 and lost anyway.
Providence is 2-2 and just lost 3-1 and 6-1 to Quinnipiac. The Friars then go to Boston College at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Eagles' last game was a 17-0 win over Stonehill, so somebody's about to find out what that number was worth.
Boston University visits New Hampshire at 6 p.m. Friday. The Wildcats are 2-2 after sweeping Long Island 5-2 and 3-0. Then Northeastern gets them Sunday in its home opener at Walter Brown Arena.
The call: Northeastern by two or more on Friday. Forty-two shots is a team doing nearly everything right, and that kind of night rarely repeats. The game page will have the lineups and the live score.
Providence plays 24 league games this season. Nobody wins the league in October, but a contender can't afford to give away the first weekend.
Meanwhile, in Columbus
No. 1 Wisconsin visits No. 2 Ohio State on Friday and Saturday. The Badgers hold 16 first-place votes to the Buckeyes' four, and 12 poll points separate them. I broke down the title rematch this morning, and my call stands: a split, with Ohio State taking Friday.
The PWHL: read the camp lists
Training camp rosters landed Wednesday. Camps open Nov. 18, and opening weekend is Dec. 5-6.
Two lists say a lot. Hamilton is bringing 31 players: 17 forwards, 10 defenders and four goalies. Sixteen of them are signed. Boston is bringing 29, with 15 forwards, nine defenders and five goalies, and 19 are signed.
Do the subtraction. Hamilton has 15 players in camp without a contract, and Boston has 10. Six of the 31 are 2026 draft picks, led by first-rounder Nelli Laitinen and second-rounder Jade Iginla, who are both already signed.
The W read: that's a real tryout in Hamilton and a tune-up in Boston, which is how it should be. An expansion team that has every job filled in October has stopped looking. I covered this week's signings on Tuesday, and Hamilton's plan still reads the same: build from the blue line and make the forwards fight for it.
National-team note
The Women's World Championship runs Nov. 6-16 in Denmark. PWHL camps open two days after the final.
That's tight for anyone playing for a medal, and it's still the right call. The league built its calendar around the tournament instead of through it. Canada invited 48 players to its selection camp, and every one of them knows a good November sets up December.
What I'm watching
Vermont, again. The Catamounts go to Franklin Pierce on Friday and Saturday, and this is the weekend a newly ranked team gets caught looking at its own number.
If Vermont sweeps, it should be inside the top 12 on Monday. If it splits, the voters will say they were right to be careful. I'm taking the sweep.
