>5.) Northeastern. Especially in light >of B.C.'s recent embarrasment at UNH and Maine's recent manhandling >by thier first round-foe Northeastern. Northeastern has some good >leadership in its seniors. Northeastern will likely face B.U. before it gets >to the finals though ... and then it gets to play Lowell. Now, Lowell is the >team that gave them an early exit last year ... as well as diminishing any >shot they had at an at-large bid to the tourney. It would be a "spirited" >game to say the least. Interesting pick, but I doubt it'll happen. The Huskies certainly have enough talent to pull off the upset (like they seemingly do every year), but somehow or other I don't think they're going to be able to upset Maine in a 2 of 3 series at Alfond. They've been Jekyll & Hyde all season long, with spotty goaltending from a pair of fairly good netminders. Even if they're able to come up with one victory, I can't see them playing enough consistent hockey to win a multi-game series on the road--and at Maine, to boot. >I really like Boston College in this scenario, but I can't >see B.C. getting by a real good Providence squad in the first round. It's >easier for me to imagine Northeastern upsetting Maine. I agree. The Eagles have one really solid line, but PC contained Reasoner & Co. in all three of the regular season games this year (Friars were 2-0-1 vs.BC, with the one tie coming at Schneider Arena), winning the last regular season contest 4-1 at Conte Forum earlier this month. PC matches up well with the Eagles, and with Senior captain Justin Gould coming back for the playoffs, the Friars should be heading to the Fleet Center for the second straight year--quite an accomplishment for this team and for coach Paul Pooley. Andy Dursin Boston College '97 (and a PC fan) HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.