Nicole's NCAA Notebook: February 17, 2025

• Cornell clinched the ECAC regular season championship on Saturday with a win over Brown. It's the 7th title in the program's history.
• I've been hyped for weeks since I realized the top two teams in Hockey East faced each other in a pair of games to close out the season. My bad for putting that out in the world because the games aren't nearly as exciting as I hoped they'd be since Boston University took a win and tie with shootout loss to New Hampshire while Connecticut was swept by Providence. BU now has a five point lead over UConn. The Terriers needs a minimum of a single point to keep their title hopes alive. The first tie breaker is head to head. Connecticut won the first game 3-1, but this weekend's outcomes would come into play. But if BU can pull two points out of the weekend, the regular season title is all theirs.
• As a reminder, BU was picked to finish 6th in the Hockey East coaches preseason poll. It's been an absolutely stellar season for the Terriers, who are hoping to win their first league title since the 2012-13 season.
• Providence's two wins moved them to a tie with BC for third in Hockey East.
• Friday's results led to some shakeup in the Pairwise. Things evened out a little after Saturday, but it's truly amazing to see how much one result can cause things to move. St. Cloud State is in 10th after splitting their weekend series with Minnesota, while the Gophers are down to fourth and Cornell moved ahead of them into third. There are tenths and hundredths of a point separating teams right now, so I expect we'll continue to see things move up until the final conference tournament results are in.
• LIU's lead atop NEWHA is up to four points. They close the season against Saint Anselm while 2nd place Sacred Heart faces Post.
• Wisconsin already clinched the WCHA, but things are interesting on the rest of the table. Ohio State is two points clear of Minnesota and five points clear of Minnesota Duluth. The Buckeyes face St. Cloud State, who are pretty set at fifth in conference but could use the quality win bonus NPI points from beating OSU. Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth face each other in the final weekend of the regular season.
• Goals of the week:

Ella Annick's game-winning goal for St. Cloud State

Bryn Prier's very fast hat trick for Quinnipiac

Northeastern's Lily Shannon's OT game-winner

This no-move move from BU's Christina Vote

The hustle from Providence's Millie Sirium

This pass from SLU's Kristina Bahl and the finish from Kiley Mastel

This cross-body shot from Morgan Smith

The angle on this goal from Minnesota's Ava Lindsay