Manchester Region preview

Playoff hockey starts on Thursday in Fargo and Toledo, Friday is kicked off at 2 p.m in Manchester, New Hampshire with Boston College and Bentley followed by Providence and Denver.

Bentley has earned their first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament in their program’s 26 year history in D1. Bentley earned a spot in the tournament after going on a tear at the end of the season winning 10 of their last 12 games.

Bentley ripped through the Atlantic Hockey Association tournament winning five straight games including three shutouts and outsourcing their opponents 20-5 in those games.

Bentley is drawing arguably the toughest matchup in the tournament with Boston College, the overall number one team in the nation.

Boston College has been a hard out all season only losing the nation’s second least amount of games with nine total. Bentley is going to have a lot on their plate with this game.

Bentley has the fifth best scoring defense in the nation, only allowing 2.05 goals per game, the downside for them is that Boston College is great in every facet of the game.

Boston College ranks second in scoring defense allowing 1.74 goals per game, and ninth in scoring offense with 3.46 goals per game. Their offense is led by juniors gold medal winner Ryan Leanord and his linemate Gabe Perreault.

Leonard leads the nation in goals per game with .83. His and Perreault’s 47 points in 35 games help lead one of the most potent offenses in the nation.

Ethan Leyh leads Bentley’s scoring with 41 points in 36 games, but the real light shines on the net minder, Connor Hasley. Halsey leads the nation with a whopping 11 shutouts, four more than the next closest, which happens to be Boston College’s Jacob Fowler.

Halsey adds on an impressive .923 save percentage along with a 1.94 goals against average. Halsey along with the defense in front of him are going to have to put on a show for Bentley to give themselves a chance in this David vs. Goliath matchup.

Following the Boston College game the NCHC runner-up Denver is taking on Providence. Denver is looking to defend their national title from last season, while Providence looks to make some noise in their first appearance since 2019.

This is a closer matchup as in the PairWise rankings, Providence is ranked at eight and Denver is ranked at nine. Denver however, is one of the best all around teams.

Denver is the second ranked offense in the nation, the ninth ranked defense in the nation and third in the nation on the power play. Denver has a whopping seven players all over the 30 point mark.

Jack Devine leads the way up front with a Hobey Baker nomination and 56 points along with his teammate Zeev Buium, also with a Hobey Baker nomination and 43 points to hold down the defense.

Both of Denver’s goalies also aren’t anything to bat an eye at with a goals against averages under 2.15 and save percentages at .915 or higher.

Providence plays a more low-scoring game allowing only 2.53 goals per game. Providence doesn’t have a single player over 25 points and rely on all players to score. They split goalie duties with two solid goalies.

Phillip Svedebāck gets the majority starting 25 games and posting a .915 save percentage and 2.36 goals against. He’s backed up by Zachary Borgiel who got 12 starts and put up a .910 save percentage and a 2.54 goals against along with two shutouts.

Manchester is highlighted by two underdogs looking to stun some of the biggest powerhouses in hockey with a low-scoring affair and getting that one goal that wins the game.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email tqk5432@psu.edu