Since your normal bloggers decided to skip the exhibition game last night to spend some time with their ladyfriends: quackquack had a one year anniversary and work (acceptable), redd10 had to pick apples (ehh…), and felizmiguel had to watch glee and hgtv (seriously why am I friends with these guys), I figured someone needed to give the Bay State Blog some perspective on the BU home opener.
It was great to see 54 shots on net and 9 goals, showing offensive pressure we definitely weren’t used to last season. Sure, it’s against Toronto , not a Hockey East team, but it’s also without Alex Chiasson and Corey Trivino, and the sophomore and junior are bound to bring even more offensive experience to this lineup. I didn’t know whether to be disgusted or excited when the student section couldn’t keep track of how many times they’d said, “Fuck em up, fuck em up, BC sucks”…
It was good to see Kraus get an opportunity to start a game after being 3rd string for so long. It wasn’t good to watch him let up three goals in a period (at least one of which would have been an easy save for Millan/Rolle). The only positive thing I heard about Kraus all night came from my girlfriend… she liked his helmet.
Despite some lapses by the defense in the first, the Terriers have some solid defenders this season. Warsofsky looked as good as ever, showing great puck control and was a one-man clearing machine. Clendening played great, applying nice offensive pressure. Noonan showed solid stick handling skills. Nicastro played solid defense, but didn’t show much improvement after a year of experience, definitely unsettling thinking he will be a first string defender. Rosen scored a nice goal top corner, showing an offensive ability that fans didn’t get to see last year. Although his intermission interview made it seem he has about the same IQ as the former #2, Ruikka played nothing like Terrier Nation’s former fan favorite. That being said, he showed great stick handling ability, made some great clears, and played lockdown defense. Fingers crossed he manages to go this season without an injury so we finally get to see more of the junior.
Onto the offenders, Connolly and Pereira looked as good as anyone could expect from the Captains. Connolly made a great poke check to prevent a fast break early on in the first. Pereira showed his experience during one faceoff, knowing where the puck would be way before anyone else on the ice. He also managed to laugh off two Toronto attempts to instigate a fight, showing that he realizes what an exhibition game is (unlike Courtenhall who managed to get into a fight in a game that has zero signifigance…). Glass managed to make himself look foolish his first time on the ice falling right on his ass, but then played respectable hockey for the rest of the game (which was a surprise to almost everyone). Santana scored a nice goal on a great pass from Nieto, and also showed a great improvement in offensive awareness and stick skills to complement his incredible speed.
Now onto the real story of the night… the dawn of the Charlie Coyle era of BU Hockey began thirteen minutes and fourty seconds into the game, when Coyle scored the first of his three goals on the night. At least two of those goals wouldn’t have been scored if Martin had been able to actually cover up a puck… but a hat trick is a hat trick. Coyle also showed fantastic self-control avoiding a fight even after his helmet had been ripped off. Coyle got the last laugh though, being named the player of the game. He definitely earned it, with amazing offensive pressure and great defense, expect great things from this rookie. Last night, he made me proud to be from Weymouth.
Finally, the 7-3 score in the third period is the closest most fans will ever see to a varsity BU football game…
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