Defending league and national champion Boston University is the favorite in this year’s race for the Hockey East championship, a vote of league coaches shows.
The Terriers, coming off a school-record 36-win season that ended with an overtime win over Miami in the national championship game, earned six of the 10 first-place votes.
UMass-Lowell and Boston College each got two first-place votes, but the RiverHawks outpointed the Eagles to finish second in the balloting.
New Hampshire and Vermont tied for fourth, while Northeastern, which finished one point out of the title last season, is picked for sixth.
Also Wednesday, the league announced at its annual media day that UMass-Lowell radio play-by-play announcer Bob Ellis was the 18th recipient of the Joe Concannon Hockey East Media Award.
Ellis is beginning his 26th season calling Lowell games.
The full poll:
Team (first-place votes) Points
1. Boston University (6) 84
2. Massachusetts-Lowell (2) 79
3. Boston College (2) 76
4. New Hampshire 59
Vermont 59
6. Northeastern 57
7. Massachusetts 47
8. Maine 32
9. Providence 24
10. Merrimack 23
