:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48917595/2016-2-20NortheasternUConnMHOC036.0.0.jpg)
With just two games remaining for each team in Hockey East, here is where the standings are right now.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6090183/Screen_Shot_2016-02-22_at_11.36.00_PM.0.png)
The top-five teams in the conference had separated themselves a while ago while sixth-place Northeastern sits in the next tier all by itself after a spectacular second half of the season.
UConn, sitting at 10th, will be competing with Maine, New Hampshire, Merrimack and Vermont for the final two home-ice seeds, with seventh-place Vermont in the best shape to succeed. The Catamounts will be playing two games at Merrimack, and would need to be swept by the Warriors and have New Hampshire beat UConn once to fall out of the top eight. A win or tie in their first game would clinch it for them.
The Huskies will be taking on UNH this weekend in a home and away series which will start Friday night at the XL Center, and need three points this weekend to have a chance at a top-8 seed. If they lose the first game, it will mean a road trip for the first round of the conference tournament.
One can hardly fault Mike Cavanaugh's squad for this past weekend's sweep at the hands of Northeastern. The same team which clobbered them to the tune of a 15-1 aggregate last year won by a combined 9-3 this time around. Progress! The same can be said for the previous weekend, when a very talented Providence team swept them but by a much smaller margin than last year. Such is life when growing your program in the best hockey conference in the country.
New Hampshire is coming off a solid weekend performance of its own, grabbing a point from BU and narrowly missing a chance to tie the second game by a goal. We'll have a full preview before the weekend, but know that the Wildcats have been playing well: taking wins over UMass Lowell and Providence in addition to ties with BU and Vermont in their last seven games.
On a more positive note, our friends at BC Interruption have pointed out that three of UConn's four Hockey East wins have come against top-five teams: two against UMass Lowell and one at home against Boston University.