In (another) down year for Hockey East, the question for BC was where its challenges were going to come from. Harvard graduated several talented players (and won't play the Eagles until the 2nd half of the season), and BU lost one of the best women's hockey player of our generation as Marie-Philip Poulin graduated (finally).
On paper, Northeastern appeared to be the team that would rise to the occasion. A hot start lifted them to 5th/5th/4th in the various polls, and 5th in the Pairwise. With the top 3 in a league of their own, the Huskies appeared to be at the top of that second tier.