Notre Dame Preview : It's Us Against the World

The first thing all the haters are going to say when they read this title is "blah blah he isn't on the team". Yes I am aware that I am a D-1 hockey player for the soon to be 2012 national champs BU Terriers. I am, however, a finalist for the Blogger All-American team so get off my dick. Yes, I did just make that up. Now back to the game, tomorrow night's game leads off the second half for our BU Terriers (t4 Pairwise) and Notre Dame (t6 pairwise) at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The game will be the first college hockey game aired nationally on Versus at 7. Those are about the only non-opinionated words I am going to give you this post(read rant). If you want to a read an actual preview, here is a great one including some quotes from Coach Parker and captain Chris Connolly. Parker also gave his always straightforward opinion on former Terrier forward Charlie Coyle leaving the team to focus on only hockey up in Canada with the St. John Sea Dogs of the QJMHL. He also reveals how some of the slimeball recruiters with these teams have been after Clendening and Nieto as well but, that they would be staying put at BU. I'll give my opinion on the whole situation(it differs then my fellow bloggers) as quickly and concisely as possible. Canada sucks(except for Terrace,BC -gotta have Gill's hometown's back) specifically the CHL. Their recruiters are like a bunch of used car salesmen putting a bunch of wanna-be Cindy Crosby's out there most of which end up having middle of the road AHL careers and burning out with nothing to fall back on. Okay, that's over and I think I pulled the knife out of my back fully by now. It's time to move forward and onward with the season. You won't hear a mention of former players for the rest of the season unless it is Eric Gryba beating the living hell out of someone in the AHL or another past player doing something productive.

Now, all of the opposing fans and journalists are ready to write this BU team off after the end of the first half . I will always defend my team and make an argument why they won't miss a step but, I have been letting most(not all ) stuff go unanswered. I have full faith in this team despite everyone else's hating. We're just going to let them hate. Haters gonna hate, skaters gonna skate and bloggers gonna blog. I believe this team will come together even tighter than they already are and create a winning machine that wills themselves to victories that they have no business getting. Everynight that this team hits the ice, there will be 18 skaters and 1 goalie who will follow Herb Brooks' advice and care alot more about the name on the front of the jersey than the one on the back. They will play as a team and not as separate individuals. There is no reason this can't become a reality with the Hero from Canton(Wade Megan) along with others including Sahir Gill and Yasin Cisse following the captain's example for the forwards while sophomore, gritty d-man Garrett Noonan leads the defensemen into battle on a nightly basis to protect goalie Kieran Millan who has the ability to put this team on his back on a regular basis if he needs to anyway.

This team needs to adopt this personality and come together as one, with the strong support of the fan base and become a great team. Hell, they should just pull out a 2001 SuperBowl routine from the Patriots and get introduced as a team in introductions for a game to send a message. It certainly can't hurt. This team has the forward depth, defenseman, goalie, coaches, and fan base to win a national title. None of this one and done in the tournament bullshit. You set the goals high and you don't move from them no matter what. The second half will certainly tell us what the rest of the team is made of and how bad they really want to win and keep going what they had in the first half. If I was on the team, I certainly wouldn't want my season to be defined by two guys leaving the program instead of the 24 that stayed with it. Cue the Utah State chant! Let's go!

Goalies: First half in review

This is the last part of our first half review as we gear up for the second half beginning with the game this coming Saturday at Notre Dame on national TV through Versus(which becomes NBC Sports in the near future). Here are the goalies and our expert breakdown of their first half.

31 Kieran Millan- Millan has been shaky at times for the Terriers but overall, has played quite well sporting a 8-5-1 record with a 2.68 GAA and .917 Save % for the Terriers. Millan will be tested more often as the season progresses, as he will be relied upon by this team to carry them to where they want to go. Millan is going to need to find some gritty performances to win some tough games in the conference playoffs, the Beanpot, and hopefully, the NCAA tournament. Hopefully, he plays as good as he thinks he is because apparently this kid thinks he has all the swag in the world but "he is just ugly" according to teammate Garrett Noonan.

35 Grant Rollheiser- "Rollie" has only seen action in four games this season with 2 starts, which both resulted in wins. Rollie is sporting a solid 2-0, 3.34 GAA, .900 Sv % line for a backup goalie. Rollie has proven to be a capable backup to Millan and will continue to push his classmate for playing time in the second half.

1 Anthony Moccia- The third string goalie is opening the doors fantastically so far in the first half. Hopefully he can continue his strong performance in the second half because those doors aren't going to open themselves. The kid also is rumored to have a girlfriend so he is keeping up with the top 2 goalies off the ice as all three of these fine gentlemen are taken. Sorry, ladies.

Rock Chalk Terriers: Anyone But IRVING!

Yeah I'm fully aware that I have been majorly lacking in giving info on your basketball Terriers this season, but as the new year arrives and AE play approaches I fully intend to rectify that and allow us to once again be a distant second (or third) in quality of coverage to the DFP in yet another sport besides hockey. 

Yesterday the Terriers stayed home at Case Gym to take on another defending conference champ, the Bucknell Bison.  Unfortunately this would not turn out to be the biggest story of the night for the Terriers, as it was reveled prior to the game that standout G D.J. Irving would miss the game with a concussion and that his status going forward is day-to-day.  Apparently he was hit in the head during the Villanova game and began to show concussion symptoms starting Thursday.  According to Coach Jones he might be back for Thursday's game against La Salle in Philly but it's not a sure thing yet.  Best wishes to him on his recovery! 

Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon because the remaining Terriers got pretty badly abused on Thursday night, dropping a 14-point game to a Bucknell squad that's ranked a respectable 114th in the KenPom standings as of Friday morning.  They made a valiant effort to play it close in the early stages of the game, leading by one about halfway through the first, but Bucknell pulled away after that, taking a 46-29 lead into the locker room and never really looking back.  The Terriers got decent games from Darryl Partin (17 pts.) and Travis Robinson (15) and a good spark off the bench from Malik Thomas (8 pts, 2-2 FG and 2-2 FT), but defensive problems partly stemming from Pat Hazel only being on the floor for 17 mins. and a lack of depth without DJ really sunk the team.  It's tough to win a game when you get out-rebounded by a 2-1 margin.

The hopefully Irving-ful Terriers will get back in action on 12/29 at La Salle. 

First half review: Forwards part 2

This is the second half of the two part review on BU's 14 forwards. You can find the first 7 here and my expert opinion on the second seven is below. So..picking up right where I left off...

19 Justin Courtnall- The junior assistant captain has been a staple on the 3rd and 4th lines all season where he has done his job as a big, physical forward. Even though he has only posted a 1-1-2 line thus far, he has done a great job of being physical and jacking people up without taking many penalties. Some of the burden will fall on the junior to improve in the second half to make up for the departures but Courtnall has been doing very well at filling his role so far this season. This kid needs a good nickname for all the hits he has been laying out this year.

20 Matt Ronan- Yes, the bod(best offensive defenseman) is also in the forwards category. You know why? It is because he is the fuckin "bod" and he is awesome so he gets to get mentioned twice. He started the season at forward and came to BU as a walk-on forward before being switched to defense. Sounds like a familiar story right? Kid is going to be the next Matty Gilroy. Start the "Let the BOD Play" campaign!'

22 Ross Gaudet- The redshirt junior Ross Gaudet only has one point on the season but it just happened to be in OT at Red Hot Hockey to win BU a huge game. That is a pretty awesome spot to score your one goal of the year. He is also one of the leaders of this Terriers team even though he isn't wearing a letter. That's what winning teams need. The leadership can't end with the captains. It has to throughout the upperclassmen. Plus, the kid Tebowed when he scored his only goal. That is fucking awesome!

23 Cason Hohmann- The freshman has grown throughout the first half posting a 1-3-4 line on the third line. His lone goal did come at BC ,so that's pretty awesome. He had a pretty good celly too as his goal sealed the game for the Terriers. Now on to where Hohmann has struggled in the first half,...the kid has no game with the ladies(according to some of the upperclassmen). Teammate Garrett Noonan said in our interview with him that "He's pretty dusty with the ladies". C'mon buddy. You should be spitting game like a player aka like NiCastro. The kid needs some help from the upperclassmen on how to impress the ladies or maybe from us here at BSRS. We all know that me and GW can spit game like crazy. The great looks certainly make it a little easier for us than others but, hey not our fault.(Wish we could say the same for the rest of the blog- Sorry guys but you just don't have the swag like us). Back to hockey though, Hohmann seems to be gaining confidence game by game and should see the ice throughout the second half and hopefully will see increased production as well.

26 Evan Rodrigues - The other freshman forward for the Terriers has also grown through the semester. He has yet to net the first collegiate goal but has shown some nifty moves and has 4 assists as well. We hope those nifty moves will result in some goals in the second half. Rodrigues also appears to have some issues off the ice. Teammate Sahir Gill described Rodrigues for us " I think Rodrigues has a pretty terrible style, too. He is always wearing Hollister and stuff, he's stuck in middle school." Not a good look bud. You gotta drop the Hollister and Old Navy tees and dress with more swag. This freshman class seems like it still has plenty to learn.

27 Yasin Cisse- The redshirt freshman looked like a guy who hadn't played in a game in close to two years when he first returned to the ice in early November. He has improved each game since then and is now becoming a force for the Terriers. The rumors are that he will move up to play on the top line in the second half at right wing. That certainly will give him the potential to put up big numbers and help contribute on the stat sheet more often in the second half.

28 Sahir Gill- The sophomore from Terrace, British Columbia has been moving around through the lineup so far for the Terriers. He has been producing wherever he has been put sporting a 5-9-14 line. He is another forward that will be leaned up more heavily in the second half and I fully expect to answer the call. This guy also has been awesome off the ice. He sat down with us for an interview, beat GW handily in NHL12(4-1 I believe), and had a lady friend(though not official so calm down MacGregor). To top it all off, he is from the home of the albino black bear...that's pretty fucking cool if you ask me. The bear in the video kinda reminds me of Millan the way he walks around...

1st Half Review: Defensemen

While QuackQuack reviews the forwards, I'll be taking a look at what I consider to be the backbone of this year's Terrier squad - the defensive corps.

The Freshman

Alexx Privitera 
The lone freshman on the blue line for the Terriers this season, Privitera saw limited time in the first half - appearing in only 9 of 16 games.  His lack of ice time can be attributed to his often shaky play - whether it be handling the puck or just knowing when and when not to pinch.  His play improved somewhat as the semester went along, and Coach Parker has expressed faith in the young d-man.  As Parker has pointed out, it takes a little bit longer for defenseman to adjust to the college game, and you often notice their mistakes more than the mistakes of a young forward.  Expect to see Privitera stake a claim for a permanent spot in the defensive rotation early on in the second semester.

The Sophomores


Patrick MacGregor
MacGregor has been nicknamed "Truck" by his teammates, and after watching him play it is easy to see why the name is so fitting. Pat Mac is a big kid - and he isn't afraid to put that on display.  Whether battling for pucks along the boards or delivering an open ice check, MacGruber uses his size to his advantage every shift.  That being said, he is prone to taking a few penalties.  This is partly attributed to his size advantage (it's easy for a big guy to make a clean play seem dirty simply because of a size advantage. Just ask Bigos), but is certainly also because MacGregor lacks quickness on his skates and sometimes gets caught out of position.  We think he has the potential to be the top stay at home d-man for this squad, but time will tell on that one.

Adam Clendening
Currently the sole BU player up at the WJC's (that's right Coyle, we've excommunicated you from the Terrier family. No soup for you!), Clendening was one of the best d-men on the roster this past semester.  One of only two of the corps to appear in all 16 games, Clendening posted a 1-11-12 line in the first half.    The only real bad thing we can say about Adam is his tendency to take penalties - he accumulated 14 penalties for 36 penalty minutes, averaging almost a penalty a game.  If he can stay out the box a little more and can keep producing assists for this BU squad, he'll definitely be recognized as one of the top d-men in Hockey East come the end of the season.  That is, of course, assuming he won't jump to the OHL before then (Jokes. Sort of).


Garrett Noonan
Certainly no stranger to our readers here, Noonan has been a fan favorite at BU all semester.  Arguably the best of the group in the first half, Noons tallied 5 goals and 2 assists in 15 games (only missing one game due to injury).  What's nice about Garrett is that he doesn't exactly fit a particular mold for d-men.  He can jump up on the rush, he can stay at home, he can use his body or he can use his stick skills.  One thing is for sure about Noonan though - when he steps on the ice, you can be sure you're going to get 110% effort from him.  However, the same observation about Clendening regarding penalties can be made about Noonan as well - he tallied 14 for 36 minutes, just like Adam did.  While we maintain that some of those penalties were complete crap, you certainly want one of your best defensemen to be on the ice and not in the box.  Look for more of the same from Noonsy in this upcoming semester, but hopefully with a few less penalty minutes.

The Juniors


Ryan Ruikka
While technically a "junior", Ruikka was redshirted due to injury so he will have enough academic credits to graduate after this semester if he so chooses.  But whatever, I'm including him with the juniors. Deal with it. Generally splitting time with freshman Alexx Privitera, Ryan has been only decent thus far this year.  While he showed some upside when he was healthy last season, he seems rather lost out there this season.  In 11 games, he's talled 1 assist and 3 penalties for 6 minutes - definitely what one would consider underwhelming.  On the bright side, we hear he's recently had some success with the ladies after helping them study for exams (not kidding).  Looks like he's been getting some brain...er...I mean using his brain...


Sean Escobedo
The one they call "Scooby" has had an up and down career thus far at BU.  Some games he's cutting down angles and making smart plays with the puck, and others he's making bad pinches and taking dumb penalties.  This past semester, while definitely a step forward for Escobedo, was more of the same.    Appearing in all 16 games, he tallied 3 assists to go along with 26 penalties (on 13 penalties).  He also was tied for the team worst in +/- at -5.  While we were encouraged at times, we hope he can cut down on some of those penalties in the second half.

Max Nicastro
After being called out early on in the year by Coach Parker for his subpar play, Nicastro has really stepped it up to another level in the past month or two.  He no longer jumps at every opportunity to join the rush and instead has been making smart decisions at the blue line.  He's also put up a respectable 1-3-4 line in 15 games (missing one game for cutting class), which is not too shabby for a quasi-stay at home defenseman.  If ole Maxy can be as good on the ice as he reportedly is with the ladies, we have high hopes for his second half.

Other...


Matt Ronan
While he hasn't appeared in a regular season game with the Terriers, we'd be remiss if we did not include "the BOD" in our first half review.  Whether he is snapping twigs on slappers in practice, dominating on the dance floor or trolling for followers on twitter (@rice_a_ronan), Ronan does it all with the blue collar determination of a walk-on.  Probably because he is one #walkonproblems.  And for those of you wondering why we are including him in our review of defensemen, then you obviously didn't read our interview with Sahir Gill. So do it. Now. Seriously, just click here.

1st Half Review: Forwards Part 1

I first would like to apologize for our slow times here. We, unfortunately, had to take finals this past week so we haven't had much time to blog. Yes, even we study for finals. Now back to hockey. This is going be the first of four posts reviewing each player on this year's BU team in our typical biased fashion. So here we go. This will be the first half of forwards on BU's current roster (7 today, 7 tomorrow)...

8 Ben Rosen- First, we would like to say Happy Hanukkah to our favorite (and only) Jewish BU hockey player. Hope he has 8 Crazy Nights Adam Sandler style. Rosen had a solid first half for the Terriers posting an 0-2-2 line while centering the fourth line, including an assist on Ross Gaudet's GW OT goal at Red Hot Hockey. His impact isn't measured in terms of points as he centers the 4th line which is a grinding line that can really change the course of the game when the top 3 lines aren't playing as well. Exhibit A of this was Red Hot Hockey where his line accounted for the winning goal and were praised by coach Jack Parker as the best line for the Terriers. He will likely see much more ice time in the second half with the recent departures at forward (Charlie Coyle to QMJHL and Corey Trivino-dismissed). I would expect to see Rosen get some special teams time as he seems capable to play both the PK, possibly with linemate Ross Gaudet and run the point on the PP with his defensive experience in previous seasons.

9 Alex Chiasson- The assistant captain had an up and down first half of the year. The junior forward hit a low point when he was a healthy scratch against UMass in October and seemed to turn it around since then. He is the second highest returning scorer on the team posting a 5-9-14 line in 15 games in the first half. If this team is going to continue to get better through the second half, they need Chiasson to become a dominant power forward on that second line. Chiasson also leads the team in +/- with a +8 and should only get better depending where he plays next semester. Rumors out there is the second line could be Nieto-Megan- Chiasson..I don't hate it for sure. I would look for big things from Chiasson in what is most likely his last semester at BU with him currently being rated as one of Dallas' top prospects.

12 Chris Connolly- The senior captain has been a difference-maker for the Terriers as his constant hustle and desire to win is something all fans can appreciate. He has been snake-bitten on the goal front but has still posted 13 assists with a 0-13-13 line in 15 games so far this year. He also has posted a +7 rating and has only taken one penalty all year for the Terriers. He has done a great job, in my opinion, of having this team ready to play since the embarrassing loss to Lowell in the beginning of November. He will continue to be tested as a leader going into the second half but if there is a reason he was the unaminous choice as the first 2 year captain since Jack OC in the late 70's. I would expect to see some goals start pouring in for the senior. Once the first one hits the back of the net, it should open the flood gates.

15 Ryan Santana- Santana never hit the ice in the first half due to offseason surgery but he seems to be splitting time on the fourth line in the second half with senior Kevin Gilroy. Despite not hitting the ice, Santana still made headlines (in a good way). Santana attempted and failed the Rhett's challenge which involved eating a triple bacon cheeseburger, a root beer float, an order of fries and an 8 scoop ice cream sundae in 30 minutes. I give him an A for effort though. I might give it a try next semester but GW can barely eat a single cheeseburger so it might be a one man adventure (stay tuned for details). Santana also made news in our interview with Garrett Noonan for having a "pretty greasy muzzy" going during Movemeber. Kid making headlines even when he is hurt. You got to love it.

16 Kevin Gilroy- The senior forward hasn't seen the ice since being benched for skipping classes in early November but still has a goal on the season in only 5 games played. I would expect more of the senior in the second half, splitting fourth line RW time with Santana. Hopefully the time watching from the stands will give Gilroy extra motivation to show what he is capable of when is out on the ice. I'm still calling that he scores the GW OT goal in the National Championship game in Tampa. He wins it after Noonan ties it up and does an awesome celly.

17 Matt Nieto- The sophomore forward leads the Terriers in points posting an 8-8-16 line in the first half in 14 games. The Terriers will be depending upon Nieto to continue to produce big numbers, assuming he has recovered from his shoulder injury that caused him to miss the last two games before break.

18 Wade Megan-The junior forward has put up solid numbers so far this year posting a 7-1-8 line in 16 games. Megan has done a great job, playing mostly with the two freshmen on the third line. It would be expected that Megan will move up to the second line for second semester which should produce more points for the junior from Canton, NY. Just change the words from Jayne to Wade in the song below and we have his goal song for next semester.

Tim 'Jesus' Tebow ( You Just Got Tebowed)

Felt that since we cover all sports and now since the Pats are playing the Broncos today at 4:15 on CBS, I might as well comment on him.

As a fan, I am always a big Tim Tebow fan ever since his freshmen season when he was taking snaps with Chris Leak and just plowing through opposing players. In college, he did two things that will always standout to me. First, he took and gave this huge hit to fellow NFL player, Eric Berry, in college.


Lastly, the comments he said after losing very early in the 2008/2009 season and later winning his 2nd NCAA title with University of Florida.




These two actions lead be to believe in this guy as QB in the NFL before anyone else really did. Looking at him now, he still can't handle the playbook that much and still has a funky throwing motion.  He runs like a RB on many occasions a la a white mans Michael Vick. He arm strength is about average. His size is okay but could be better. All those are physical attributes that he will most likely will not overcome since he is at his peak for physical strength. His true attributes are his intangibles. I am not talking about praying to God throughout the game. Come on BC does that and they suck at everything. What Tebow really has his aurora around him that inspires people to play better. He believes in you and he expects the same from his players and coaches. He is beyond amazing in the 4th quater. He pushes himself to just win (ALL I DO IS WIN- DJ Khaled). It really is his only way to say that he could play QB. His passion for the game is foremost. In high school, he played with a broken leg and won a game on a 20 yard run with it. In college, he won 2 NCAAs and Heisman. In the NFL, he is 7-1 as starter. Those are FACTS he is winner, he brings something to the table that Brady, Manning(s), Brees, Montana ever did. He brings a quasi God-like persona to the field cause he always finds a way to win in the most breathtaking, unimaginable, incredible, utter disbelief.

Tim Tebow shouldn't be judged by his physical attributes, his style of play, his strength, his running ability, his faith, his intangibles. He should be judged by his record as player of the game. So far he is doing really well from himself and I hope he continues to do well and maybe win a Super Bowl down the road.

Concussions

Concussion- A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that may result in a bad headache, altered levels of alertness, or unconsciousness.

It temporarily interferes with the way your brain works, and it can affect memory, judgment, reflexes, speech, balance, coordination, and sleep patterns.

"You aren't a real player until you get a concussion."

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As many of you have known this is hot topic in the NFL, NHL, MLB, & soccer. Researchers and major universities (including BU) have noted that concussions can lead to other head traumas and lead to serious consequences. For instance, the NFL just had a debacle in James Harrison's hit on Colt McCoy last week. Harrison could've lined up his chest and wrapped his arms around the McCoy and not go for the big hit. Another example, the leading scorer in the NHL Claude Giroux accidentally got his head hit by his teammate Simmons and Crosby as well accidentally. In the MLB, the worst play to get a concussion is when the runner runs into home plate and bashes the catcher. In soccer, I watched some gnarly 50/50 headers that knock one of the players out of the game. 

This is such a major issue that many of the leagues, especially the NHL and NFL, have done nothing about. Each league has rules but in reality it comes down to the players aka the goons like Harrison and Cooke from the Penguins. The information that the players receive is minute compared to most readers of the site (assuming you all are college educated BU students/ alumni). By informing the players of the actual consequences of a hit on opposing player could make the players think twice. You could see Harrison be like "don't want that to happen to me..." 

Other rules could be stipulated especially in the NHL where great players are sidelined because of head trauma. For instance, fighting could be ruled out of the league. Harsh? No. Loss fans? Yes. Real fans stay? Yes. By thinking about removing fighting in the league makes the fans wonder about a league without fighting. There are such leagues they are in the college hockey where throwing a punch is an automatic suspension similar to other professional leagues not named the NHL. College hockey is fun. There are hits, roughing penalties, trash talking, and great plays. So by removing fighting, it still is hockey. The essence is still there. Hockey could also make changes to the rink. There were numerous occasions to make the glass more forgiving as well as the boards that the governing body shots down. 

This is serious issue that should be researched into more by ALL leagues. Any thoughts from our readers?  

Well I guess we have to say something/second half projections

So this has been quite the week for BU hockey. The program has been in headlines throughout the week. First, senior forward Corey Trivino was removed the team and lost his scholarship after an incident Sunday night here in a BU dorm. Trivino has been charged with numerous charges including intent to commit rape. I am going to lay off commenting on this one as it has already been through the ringer this week through various online fan boards and various other blogs. It seems like the only decision to be made by Coach Jack Parker, was made quickly like it needed to be before the story took off from there in a public forum. That part was unfortunate for both Trivino and the victim. We wish the best to both Trivino and the victim in recovering from this incident.

Since Trivino's removal on Monday, sophomore forward Charlie Coyle has announced that he plans on leaving the BU program. Coyle will be joining a stacked St. Johns Sea Dogs team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team is loaded and seems to be aiming to win the Memorial Cup up there. Once again, I'm going to lay off going on a rant about this without knowing all the details. It is has been reported that Coyle was struggling academically and he hints at this as he says his decision was made so that he could focus fully on hockey. Myself and GW disagree on whether NCAA or major junior will get him more ready for the NHL/AHL next season. I think playing 18-25 year olds will better prepare him for the big leagues as opposed to playing some 16 year old little prick who thinks he is the next Crosby but clearly isn't. Either way, best of luck to Coyle in the rest of his hockey career. We will let you know if anything else come from this but Boston Hockey Blog has been all over this and the Trivino story from the beginning.

Now for all of the haters out there, just calm down. This team did lose their top two centers but they still have the same defense and goaltenders that have allowed 2 goal over their two wins last weekend. This puts more pressure on guys to step up and play together. It also puts more pressure on the students here to support the team more now than ever. The student body needs to make this a way to come together and get behind the guys that still are here. The season isn't over unless you let it be over. This team may not score as many goals as they did this past semester but they have already found out ways to win. I have faith that this will continue in the second half. This is a NCAA team for sure and if they come together through this then they could be serious contenders in April.

Now here are my power rankings going into the second half of the season and projections

1. Newton University 12-6-0 - I'll leave these fruits here just because despite going 4-5 in their last 9 games they still have a very good team if they can find a consistent goalie

2. BU 10-5-1- Obviously the loss of both Coyle and Trivino hurts but this team still has a team full of guys who can carry the team to the NCAA's including Connolly, Gill, Nieto, Chiasson, Noonan, and Clendening just to name a few.

3. UMass Lowell 10-5-0- This team is for sure the wild card in Hockey East as they will be interesting to see if they can continue to play stellar hockey behind Doug Carr.

4. Merrimack 10-2-2- Injuries are killing them now and I think it will combine with a tougher schedule in the second half of the year to cause them to fade but they still grab home ice and probably grab a NCAA berth

5. Maine 6-7-2- Maine is easily the most inconsistent teams in the league but I still think they are better than PC for this year atleast

6. PC 8-7-1- This team has made leaps from last year and will make the conference playoffs this year. Now can they win a QF series at Lowell or Merrimack? Probably not but they did already take a game at PC this year.

7. Northeastern 7-7-2- The hottest team in HE currently but they will have to do more damage in the conference before I buy in. Also their fans are just fucking annoying and it is going to be too funny to watch them go back to Huntington Ave without a Beanpot again in Feb. That will make how many years? 24? sucks to sucks

8. UNH 6-9-2- The University of No Hardware seems destined for another year of winning zero games of any importance

9. UMASS 5-7-4- UMass is still so inconsistent but they are still in position to steal a playoff spot from either UNH or PC.

10. UVM 3-11-1- They just aren't good this year. I expect to see them back with Sneddon as their coach.

If You Haven't Seen This Yet You Aren't a True Hockey Fan

Yesterday in the Blackhawks vs Wild game, Patrick Kane pulled off a ridiculous move on the Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom to win it.



PS- Just Dirt!

PSS- The triple deke by Conway got shit on this. Watch from the 6:20 mark. 

Corey Trivino Situation/My Take

Here's what I wrote yesterday night on the Trivino situation but didn't get around to posting until now...just in the interest of getting it all of my chest.
In the interest of truly covering our Terrier hockey team, its necessary for us to at least post something about Tuesday's real stunner.  The only way I can really describe how I felt that morning is like I got kicked in the stomach, and I think that was probably a common response among Terrier fans upon learning that the resurgent senior Terrier F and leading goalscorer Corey Trivino had been booted from the team for a very disappointing alcohol-related arrest that resulted in charges for assault and breaking and entering.  As more details came out throughout the day, the tragedy of the situation became more and more apparent, with an RA forced by school regulations to put herself in harm's way multiple times and an exceptionally talented but apparently self-destructive young player who has hit rock-bottom and put not only his career but perhaps his freedom itself in grave jeopardy.
For those of us who, in our state of shock, sought more insight into the events leading up to and including Sunday evening and Monday, Coach Jack Parker was very forthcoming to College Hockey News, The Boston Hockey Blog and the Boston Globe (at the very least) in providing interviews Tuesday.  Parker has been almost universally lauded, and rightfully so, for his swift response of pulling Corey's scholarship  and kicking him off the team before the story even reached the press.  His words paint a picture of a young man who was respected and liked by both his coaches and teammates yet was brought down by his own refusal to seek help for a problem that seemed to grow significantly over time.  I may be incorrect in remembering this, but I don't recall Parker sending off the Saponaris or Andrew Glass by describing them as "good kid(s)."  To me that's what is the saddest part of all this (after the crime itself of course).  He is not a bad person (according to his former coach), but someone who did a horrible thing, and made an enormous mistake that will alter the course of his and this young woman's lives.
One question I have after getting the details of this story is did the influence of certain individual former Terriers lead Corey astray perhaps?  By all accounts he was quite close on campus with one Vinny Saponari, who became notorious for his misbehavior to the point that he and his brother were kicked off the team (despite the younger's great talent).  Perhaps his influence put Corey on the path to where he found himself Sunday night?  It may be a reach, and longtime readers know we certainly have no love for those brothers on this blog but by all accounts Corey was a good kid who got in over his head and allegedly did a terrible thing.  It's natural to wonder how he might have turned in that direction.
The one bit of relief I found in Parker's words was that none of the rest of the team was around for the incident.  I was initially afraid that some sort of negligence on the part of his roommates had allowed Corey to be out in the halls, inebriated, with no one to check on him.  That they had left him, not allowing him to accompany them is okay with me as I feared that they had been there and not done anything to stop it.
Not that it matters as much at the moment, but I remain confident that this team can win without Corey. The team is so loaded with talent that the cupboard is far from bare.  Toughness got the team this far, putting themselves in a position to be successful, and toughness will get them over this hurdle.
I see two key guys the rest of the way as determining how far the Terriers will go from here.  Chris Connolly hasn't done much this year (compared to his usual) so if he steps up in a big way and gets out of his goal-scoring drought there's no reason he can't replace Coyle's output.  The fourth line has been great for energy so far this season and as Ryan Santana comes back from his injury he simply must be a productive player on that line (and he most definitely can).  If the Terriers can really mitigate one of those losses, if not both, I think they'll still be a very dangerous team from here on out.

Interview with BU's Sahir Gill

We'd like to thank Sahir for taking the time to sit down with us and answer our questions.  A great interview, and a great guy.

If you haven't read our interview with BU's Garrett Noonan, you can do so here.

What was your favorite NHL team growing up?

SG - Calgary Flames, actually.

Even being from British Columbia?

SG - Yeah, I hate Vancouver. Tough to root for [the Flames], but I always liked them.

What’s it like where you grew up? It’s pretty far north right? We googled it and its right near a grizzly bear park, which we thought was funny.  

SG - We’re famous for the Kermode bear, which is a white black bear, like albino black.  I mean, Northern B.C. is like 16 hours north of Vancouver so there’s not much to do there besides play hockey on the ponds or lakes.

Big cultural difference from Canada to Boston/USA?

SG - Yeah, especially in Boston.  I’m from a town of like 9,000 people so it’s a little different.  I’m more of a country kid, and there’s a lot going on here, people are always in a hurry and don’t have as much time.

Favorite moment as a hockey player thus far in your career?

SG - I won two national championships with Vernon, so those two for sure.

Speaking of - what was it like winning back to back RBC cups with Vernon?

SG - That first year we didn’t really expect it, it was a lot different the second year.  We kind of rolled through each series in the first year, just kind of wondering what was gonna happen.  Eventually we got to the tournament there and won it. Best time of my life there.  The second year we had more of a target on our backs, expected to win.  Two different teams, a lot of similar players but it was unreal.

Did you have a “Welcome to College Hockey” moment?

SG - Yeah, probably that first Icebreaker tournament we had, not much of a crowd but a big venue.  Being out there [in college], it was a lot different, not really as comfortable.  In juniors you kind of get more comfortable being in the same spot.  Playing against guys like Connolly that are a lot older, you know you play teams like Holy Cross and Merrimack that have a lot of kids that are 25.  But yeah probably playing in that first Icebreaker tournament was my welcome to college hockey moment.

Do you give Connolly a hard time for being older?

SG - No, I mean he knows.  It’s not that it’s a sensitive subject but you don’t want to rag on him too much.  Being the captain he can tell you to shut up pretty quickly.

You spent half a season with the Chicago Steel in the USHL in between time with the Vernon Vipers in the BCHL – can you compare the two leagues/the style of play/talk about your time in both places?

SG - USHL was not different but a lot younger, a lot of younger kids in that league.  BCHL was more up and down the ice than the USHL.  And travel in the USHL was longer, traveling at least 4 hours for each game.  And in the BCHL, unless you’re going out of conference, most of the stuff is pretty close.  A lot bigger crowds in the USHL for the most part.  But I like the BCHL better.

There are a number of Vernon alums in Hockey East – Braden Pimm (Northeastern), Mike Collins (Merrimack), Kyle Bigos (Merrimack), etc. What’s it like competing against those guys after having been teammates in juniors?

SG - It’s fun, especially with Biggie (Bigos) because everyone sees him as one of the dirtiest players in Hockey East but he’s pretty gentle off the ice.  Him and Collins are both hilarious kids and we talk a lot in warm-ups before the games.  All those guys are really good players and it’s nice to see a familiar face, especially for me because I’m not from around here. 

So no bad blood between any of you guys?

SG - Maybe with Biggie a little bit, he gets a little ruthless out there.  He competes hard and anything goes with him on the ice.  So you know when he’s out there and you wanna give him a little lick if you can.

So you spent a year with Noonan in Vernon and now you’re in year 2 with him here - How do you feel about 5 years of your life being around him?

SG - He’s my best friend and he’s a riot.  Not really off-the-walls but he’s got something to say all the time and he’s usually pretty funny when he does.  But he’s a great guy and him and his family have been really good to me as far as taking care of me being out here.  I met him when I first got to Vernon and he’s maybe a little quieter there than he is here but he’s a great guy and I’m looking forward to our next few years here.

How did you and Noonan come up with your center ice handshake? When did it start?

SG - We wanted to do the bang-bang dance that Stastny and Duchene do (video here) but last year coach wasn’t too happy down the stretch so we didn’t have the balls to pull that one off.  So this year, we stole it off Subban and Price (video here).  We’re just trying to get something going and we’ve been lucky to win a few games.  It’s fun, we look for each other after a win and try and do it.

It’s funny because we’ve noticed it up in the stands and tried to figure out what it was.

SG - We never really know if people see it.  We try and do it right in the middle of the ice but we never really know.

Not to cross any boundaries here, but do you actually have a girlfriend? MacGregor is claiming you do on twitter.

SG - It’s not official. MacGregor’s an idiot, he’s trying to tell anyone he can that I have a girlfriend. 

We were kind of confused because he had Noonan and Nieto backing him up.

SG - It was honestly a hectic day that day.  Every one was jumping on my back – Boston Hockey blog, all the boys were giving me a hard time. But nothing official.

Have you thought about your future as a hockey player, such as going the free agent route to the NHL?

SG - You see a lot of guys go as free agents so you never know.  I think this year is my last draft year so hopefully I’ll go this year but you can’t really jump ahead.  Especially this year, we’ve got a really good thing going right now so if the team does well, everybody looks good.  Hopefully I can benefit off of that and get a few looks.

I think I saw last year that you talked with a few teams before the draft.

SG - Yeah I had a few talks.  It came down to draft day and it was funny, me and Noons were watching the draft together and I was right there when he got the call.  So it was pretty cool to see him go.

Favorite off-ice activity/down time activity?

SG - A lot of shows, watch a lot of shows on the computer and TV.  Definitely Xbox too, I’m not too good at Call of Duty but NHL I think I’d put my title up with anyone.  I know Noons talks a lot of game but we go toe to toe pretty often.

Anything particular for shows?

SG - Yeah, How I Met your Mother is big, and the classics like Seinfeld and Friends.

Anything good on your recently played on your Ipod?

SG - I love Katy Perry, I’m not ashamed of that at all.  Noons is all about Lady Gaga but I love Katy Perry.  “Teenage Dream” is my favorite song. Just throwing that out there.

If you could play on a line with any other 2 forwards in the history of the game, who would you choose and why?

SG - I’m more of a passer, so maybe [Mario] Lemieux.  He seemed to put the puck in the net a fair bit.  And maybe [Wayne] Gretzky, hopefully he can get me a few goals.  I’m having a little trouble scoring right now.

Do you have any nicknames amongst the team? Who has the best nickname on the team?

SG - For me, it’s pretty simple. Just “Giller” or “Gillsy”.  MacGregor has “Truck” going on right now, he’s a big kid.  “MacGruber” too, I think I started that one.  I’d probably say those two.  Ronan’s got “BOD” going on right now – Best Offensive Defenseman – he’s been switching back and forth between offense and defense in practice a lot.

Alright, so we have a few questions from Twitter for you now. Do you have any pre/game post game rituals?

SG - Pregame, just a lot of time in the stands, hanging with the boys mostly.  Talking about the game, nothing too serious. Nothing that I have to do.  I nap before every game, and play a game of NHL too.  Post game, they make us stretch which I don’t really like to do.  But that’s it for post game.

Why BU? Why college hockey compared to Canadian major junior? Any other schools in the running?

SG - I came to BU when I was 14 with my midget team.  That was the first college campus I’d seen, or whatever you would call it here. So I liked it a lot, always pictured coming here if I could.  I wasn’t really intent on coming to college but my 16 year old year I decided I would stay eligible for college and got a few offers there so I decided to can major junior.  As far as other schools, BC was one of them.  So if anyone is out there reading this, I chose BU over BC.  Northeastern a little as well, and a couple schools out west too like North Dakota.

Were you tempted to stay on the west coast at all?

SG - I wasn’t really concerned with location, I didn’t really care about that. Nothings really too close to home for me. I just liked BU, knew they had a good program here, seemed to be a good place to go.

Who’s the team clown?

SG - Escobedo for sure.  Noons for our class for sure.  But Scoobs, there’s always something going on with him.

Does he ever mess with Coach Parker or is that off limits?

SG - Yeah you’ve got the New York – Boston thing going on there.  Scoobs will throw on the accent and start rapping in Coach’s face or something.  He’s always pretty funny.  Especially in baseball season they are always going at it.  Coach is pretty smart with the chirps too, he comes back pretty good.  It’s fun to watch.

Who’s the best trash talker or chirper on the team? Best chirp you’ve heard at BU?

SG - Escobedo’s pretty funny, he’s got a lot to say a lot of the time.  As far as chirps, nothing really stands out right now.  Megan’s pretty funny in the game sometimes. If he gets mad at someone, he’ll get pretty loud.  He was on [Tommy] Cross (from BC) last time, because Cross was saying he wanted to go home (since they were up 6-1) or something.  So Cross was sitting on the bench for a long time and Megs was like “You gonna go out there? Gonna see any time?” And he kept pointing at his wrist out on the ice and Cross was looking at him like “What are you talking about?” He had no idea.  I thought it was pretty funny.

This is another one we asked Noonan - who thinks he has swag but actually doesn’t? He said Millan.

SG - I could see Millan.  He thinks he’s the best guy in the world sometimes.  He’s from Edmonton, those Alberta kids over there – you guys wouldn’t know it – but they think they’re great.  I think Rodrigues has a pretty terrible style too.  He’s always wearing Hollister and stuff, he’s stuck in middle school.

Weekly update of meaningless polls- BU #9

In this week's edition of meaningless polls BU jumped up two and three spots to improve to #9 nationally in both the USCHO and USA Today polls. This climb is a result of two wins this past weekend and the Terriers taking six out of their last seven. Here is the rest of the top 10 and other notables in the USCHO poll and their USA Today ranking if different

1. Minnesota-Duluth 12-3-3- Duluth holds onto the #1 which I'm cool with since ChrisCo's brother plays there.

2. Minnesota 14-5-1

3.(4) Boston College 12-6 -It's funny how they can lose to Lowell in their only game of the week and not lose a spot here.

4.(3) Ohio State 13-4-1
5. Merrimack 10-2-2- A win against UVM and tie to Colgate kept Merrihack 5th in the polls as they fight through some injuries

6. Notre Dame 11-6-3

7. Colorado College 9-5-0

8. Western Michigan- 9-4-5

9. BU 10-5-1 - Jumps back into the top 10 heading into the break after winning 6 of their last 7 and showing the ability to be one of the best teams in the nation

10.(11) Ferris State- 11-6-1

14. Denver 7-6-3

17. Lowell 10-5-0- Cue whining from Lowell today as their fans are unable to put together that just because you go from the worst team in college hockey to respectable doesn't put you in the top 10 of the polls. The fact they are still whining today is even funnier considering they lost to unranked Northeastern this weekend.

18. North Dakota 9-8-1

Receiving Sympathy Votes-

Northeastern

PC

Harvard

Here also are the Pairwise rankings where BU comes in 5th and the INCH power rankings where BU jumped up to 11 even though they have Colgate and Union ahead of them for who knows what reason. Those jokes play in the EZAC.

Also, the Hockey East Weekly Press release came out today naming BU goalie Kieran Millan player of the week for posting a .967 save percentage over the weekend in the 2 wins. BU was also named the team of the week. Corey Trivino, Alexx Privitera, Sahir Gill, Adam Clendening, and Chris Connolly were all named as top performers for their stellar play over the weekend.

BU as a team has reached 10 wins in the first half for the first time since 08-09. It is a fucking good time to be a BU fan right now. Let's keep it going in the second half beginning with those other catholic fucks out in Indiana on New Year's Eve. Also, surprise surprise the Parker haters have gone quiet for some time now. The way it should be.

BU beats Maine 5-1 to finish first half

- The hillbillies above weren't too happy once again last night as BU sent them back to their sad,pathetic lives in Canada I mean Maine which is actually much worse than Canada.

The BU men's ice hockey team finished off their unofficial first half of the season(16 games out of 34 regular season games) with a 5-1 win at Maine. Alfond Arena was packed as usual and CBS college sports had a nice piece on the history of inbreds filing into Alfond and how "great" they are. The win gives BU a 10-5-1(8-4-1) record going into a 3 week break due to final exams and the holidays. They return to the ice next December 31st at Notre Dame in the first ever televised game on Versus. Now back to the game...

The Terriers went down early while killing off a 5 minute major penalty and game misconduct on assistant captain Justin Courtnall. The call could certainly be questioned as it was deemed to be conduct to the head, but if you watched the TV replay it was clearly shoulder to shoulder contact with the Maine player conveniently putting his head down after the contact(read: he sold the call-must have learned from Whitney on BC). The resulting powerplay resulted in a Maine goal from inbred Mark Anthoine off the left dot.The kid looks like he got run over by a truck aka his parents were related before they had him for sure.

Maine then committed their own game misconduct from captain Brian Flynn. This call could also be questioned but it went in BU's favor so we're going to just pat the refs on the back for that one. BU scored 5 unanswered goals after the first goal of the game by Maine. Senior Corey Trivino scored his first of two(13 on the year) on the night to tie the game 1-1 with 1:37 left in the second.

BU took the lead for good on a Sahir Gil(4th of the year) tip in goal on Adam Clendening pass/shot to put BU ahead 2-1 with 13:49 left in the game and BU added 3 more throughout the 3rd period including Corey Trivino's 13th of the year along with Gil's second of the game. Freshman d-man Alexx Privitera also added a nifty backhand goal for the first of his collegiate career. He has played much better since spending a few games a s a scratch in the middle of this semester. It was Privitera's goal that send the 4910 hillbillies back out to the parking lot to fire up their houses to drive back to the trailor park home.

Senior goalie Kieran Millan broke the all-time saves record at BU passing Sean Fields' mark of 3055(Millan now stands at 3057) which is quite the feat given the amount of great goaltenders to come through BU throughout the years. Congrats from all of us here to Kieran for breaking the record and the stellar play so far this season.

The win sends the Terriers into break having won 6 of their last seven and sitting second in Hockey East and 5th nationally in the pairwise rankings which are the only ones that mean anything. Stay tuned as we will have an interview with Terrier sophomore sensation Sahir Gil in the next few days along with some other stuff recapping the first half before we take our own final exam break.

Hockey East Picks: December 9, 10 and 17

Sorry for the late post... All picks were made midweek, we swear.

Friday, December 9

Boston College @ UMass Lowell
GW - BC 4 UML 2
QQ - BC 4 UML 3
Ray - BC 3 UML 0
FM - BC 3 Lowell 2

Saturday, December 10

UMass Lowell @ Northeastern
GW - UML 4 Northeastern 2
QQ - NU 4 UML 3
Ray - NU 3 UML 2
FM - UML 2 NU 1

Boston University @ Maine
GW - BU 4 Maine 2
QQ - BU 4 Maine 2
Ray - BU 4 Maine 2
FM - BU 4 Maine 3

Merrimack @ Colgate
GW - Merrimack 3 Colgate 1
QQ - Colgate 4 Merrimack 3
Ray - Merrimack 2 Colgate 2
FM - Merrimack 3 Colgate 1

Saturday, December 17

Union @ Merrimack
GW - Merrimack 5 Union 2
QQ - Merrimack 4 Union 3
Ray - Merrimack 1 Union 0
FM - Merrimack 5 Union 4

St. Lawrence @ Vermont
GW - St. L 5 Vermont 4
QQ - UVM 3 St. L 1
Ray - UVM 1 St. L 0
FM - St. L 4 UVM 1

Maine Preview

The Boston University mens ice hockey 9-5-1(7-4-1) team travels up to Orono, Maine today to finish up the first half of the season against the Maine Black Bears 6-6-2(5-5-1). BU comes in after a solid 2-1 win over UNH Thursday. That was without one of its top forwards in sophomore Matt Nieto. They look to finish the first half season strong against this team of underachieving hill billies. All the local fans are sure to be firing up the houses and driving their family rooms over to Alfond Arena. It will be interesting to see the atmosphere up there in Canada I mean Maine. Hopefully no BU fans making the trip hit any moose or women without teeth that tend to hang out in the roads up there. Maine is looking to finish off another mediocre first half and season under coach Tim Whitehead who is under scrutiny from the hicks at all times. The game will be broadcast live at 7:30 on CBS college sports network or channel 37 here at BU.

BU finishes off the season sweep of UNH 2-1

The BU mens ice hockey team finished off the season series sweep over UNH in a 2-1 hard fought win. UNH scored first on a rebound goal by George Burke(4:32 into the first), who roofed the puck past Kieran Millan. That is the only puck he would let by all night as he made 28 saves. BU controlled most of the play through the end of the first and throughout the second as they tied the game on a greasy Wade Megan goal with the assist from Alex Chiasson on a nice 2 on 1 rush during a powerplay. BU scored the game winning goal with 12:09 left in the second as Sahir Gill made a great pass to Corey Trivino who buried the puck into the empty net for his 12th goal of the year. Chris Connolly also had an assist on the play which was his 100th career point as a Terrier. Congrats to the captain from all of us schmucks here at BSRS. You got to love the effort Connolly gives in every game and is a great example to the rest of the team.

The Terriers held on for a 2-1 win in front of 5220 at the Whittemore Center. That isn't even close to a sellout so I guess the "blue out" didn't go over as well as they planned. Shocker. The silly hillbillies probably only own Overalls as their only blue attire anyway. The win puts BU at 9-5-1(7-4-1) at the season with one game remaining in the first half this coming Saturday at Maine. The loss drops UNH to 6-9-2(4-7-1) and free falling in the Hockey East standings.

MLB Winter Meetings

So as reported by ESPN, Big Al agrees to terms with the Angels. So makes me think where the rest of the free agents will go. So prediction time

1. Prince Fielder: seems like he is going to go where the money is. I could forsee Miami, Cardinals, Cubs. Mostly NL CLUBS since that is where more pursuit is coming from.
2. Jimmy Rollins: coin flip between Phillies and Cards now. Probably will get more monet to go to MidWest but each place he has a good chance of returning to playoffs.
3. CJ Wilson: between the Marlins and Angels, he is an AL pitcher and wants to stay that way.
4. Ryan Madson: Red Sox have an outside chance since Bard didnt prove anything late in the season this year. I think teams that need a closer(red sox, tampa(complete outside chance), etc will make a run at him.

UNH preview

The BU Terriers mens ice hockey(8-5-1) team prepares for the final game of their season series with the 6-8-2 UNH(University of No Hardware). The Terriers have won the first two games against their hick conference foe by a combined score of 9-1. However, the second game(4-1 BU win) was much closer than the score indicated. The Terries scored 3 times in the third to pull away including an empty net goal. This game, unlike the first two which were at Agganis, is in the middle of hillbilly country up there in Durham. Apparently the UNH fans are planning a "Blue Out" for the game which is odd to say the least. I have heard of "white outs" and "black outs"(which actually make sense) but a "blue out" is just retarded. How intimidating is seeing a bunch of people dressed in blue? The answer is not at all. Silly hicks. We better shut them out to keep the stupid fish off the ice.

I'll get back to the game though. According to our friends( we call them our friends but they probably hate us) at Boston Hockey Blog, sophomore forward Matt Nieto will be out of tomorrow night's game due to a shoulder injury in practice. This is a blow to the Terriers which will force other forwards to step up. He is questionable for Saturday's game at Maine. Either Wade Megan or Evan Rodrigues will probably be the guy to step up into one of the top 2 lines.

UNH is coming off a sweep at the hands of Lowell. Something that would never had happen a year ago. They should come out hungry on their home ice as they play their last game of the first half against a nationally ranked team at home. Speaking of Lowell, some of our favorite bloggers over at Ice is Life released this gem of an article today. Apparently, why they didn't jump from unranked to number 7-11(where they believe they belong) in the meaningless media polls is Parker's fault. This is also why BU is ranked ahead of them apparently. Okay buddy. I'm sure it has nothing to do with BU taking the season series from #2 BC and beating other ranked opponents(Denver and Cornell) while Lowell plays Alabama Huntsville and Minnesota State. You can make the argument that Lowell deserves to be higher than 18(I would give them 15) but, in a meaningless December poll, it isn't worth splitting hairs over. Lowell isn't a top 10 team right now so calm down and lay off the crack for a second. It also isn't worth your time(well you're from Lowell so I guess you got nothing better to do) to blame a coach who has openly said he hopes his team is ranked lower to keep them motivated (specifically last year when the team was ranked #1 in November). Just another example of people from Lowell going full retard(See below).

We should have a UNH recap and Maine preview up Friday. Tomorrow night's game will be on TV if you get WBIN which I believe is channel 50 on BU's cable system so all BU students should be able to watch the game(don't quote me on this).

NHL Realignment

So if any of you heard the NHL is going to be realigned. Keeps the teams more centralized and less travel for some teams especially the Detriot Red Wings. I am in favor of this idea. For the most part everyone keeps their biggest rival. Islanders keep Rangers, Bruins keep the Canadians, Red Wings get Blackhawks. I am higly interested on the how  the playoffs will be setup. 4 conferences, 4 teams each with a possible setup of intraconference rivals play each other in the 1st two rounds. This makes for much heated playoff hockey which is the best type. It was by far the most radical but seems like the most enjoyable. Getting to see Crosby against Ovi multiply times of the year is must see TV. Wondering what you all think, message our twitter(@bsrs_blog) or leave a comment.

Hockey East Picks: Midweek Edition

Following a tumultuous weekend in HE play, there are a few games on the schedule for tonight, wednesday and thursday.  Here are the updated rankings and our picks:

1. Felizmiguel (35-21-5, 2-8-1 last week)
2. George Washington (34-22-5, 4-6-1 last week)
3. Raymundo (32-24-5, 5-5-1 last week)
4. Quackquack (31-25-5, 3-7-1)

Tuesday, December 6

Providence at Boston College
GW - BC 5 PC 3
QQ - BC 7 PC 5
Ray - BC 3 PC 0
FM - BC 4 PC 1

Wednesday, December 7

Vermont at Merrimack
GW - Merrimack 4 UVM 2
QQ - Merrimack 5 UVM 3
Ray - Merrimack 2 UVM 0
FM - Merrimack 5 UVM 0

Yale at Massachusetts
GW - Ylae* 3 UMass 2
QQ - Yale 5 UMass 2
Ray - UMass 2 Yale 1
FM - Yale 4 UMass 2

Thursday, December 8

Boston University at New Hampshire
GW - BU 5 UNH 4
QQ - BU 5 UNH 3
Ray - BU 3 UNH 2
FM - BU 3 UNH 2

We'll have our picks up for Friday through Sunday later this week.

BU continues to rise..up to 11/12 in the national polls

The USCHO.com polls and USA Today polls were thrown in chaos this past weekend as each of the top 3 teams went 1-5 for the weekend. That allowed a new team to jump up and become #1 as defending champion Minnesota-Duluth regained the top spot in both polls. State rival Minnesota holds the #2 spot in both polls here is the breakdown of the rest of the top 10 and other polls. The number in parentheses is the USA Today poll if they differ from USCHO

1. Minnesota-Duluth 11-3-2

2. Minnesota 13-4-1

3. BC 11-5-0

4. Ohio State 12-3-0

5. Merrimack 9-2-1

6. Colorado College 8-4-0

7. Notre Dame 10-5-3

8. Western Michigan 8-4-4

9(10). Ferris State 10-5-1

10(9). Union 7-3-5

11(12). BU 8-5-1

18(NR). UML(Lowell) 9-4-0

20. PC(NR)- 8-6-1

Northeastern also received some votes fresh off their sweep of CCHA powerhouses Michigan and Notre Dame. The Pairwise rankings are also full of HE with BC (2T), Merrimack(2T), UML(9t), BU (11), PC (16t), Northeastern (22T), and Maine(24) all coming in the top 30 of the rankings that determine the NCAA tournament field. That is a solid 7 out of the conference's 10 teams in the top 30 or 8/11 if you count Notre Dame as a Hockey East school as they will be beginning in the 2013-2014 season.

The Inch power rankings also came out this afternoon and have BU up 2 spots to #13. They also have BC, Merrimack, UML, and PC in their top 2o which is great news for Hockey East. I don't know what this world is coming to when UML and PC actually aren't eyesores for the conference.

Hockey East also released the weekly conference awards with forwards Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle being named in the Top Performers category. They also recognize freshmen Yasin Cisse, and Cason Hohmann for recording their first career goals while Alexx Privitera recorded his first career point assissting Cisse's goal. The team also has won their conference season series with both UNH and BC for the first time in a while. It would be fantastic to complete the sweep of UNH on Thursday to get back on the winning track.

Also it has just been announced that forward Charlie Coyle and defenseman Adam Clendening have been named to the preliminary U.S. roster for the World Junior Championships in late December. Matt Nieto got snubbed which sucks for him because he has really earned the opportunity with his play so far. Congrats to Coyle and Clendening. There are still 7 more cuts to be made before the final roster is announced on December 22nd.

BU/BC weekend recap

First- we would like to thank everyone for making November such a success as it was our best month ever by far in page views. Also, we have posted on Twitter that we are taking requests for who fans would like to see interviewed next. We can't promise anything but we will try to get another interview in before the end of the semester if the interest is there. Feel free to leave a comment or send us an email if you are not on Twitter.

The first weekend of December always means one thing...BU/BC hockey and this year we got the pleasure of adding in basketball game down in Newton as well. Let's start with hockey. Friday night was a great turnout from BU fans as four full Peter Pan Buses filled up and traveled down to the shitty suburb of Newton to fill up the upper levels of Conte Forum. BU students including your favorite bloggers were there chanting at BC security over an hour before the game began. Then the team followed and jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals on a Charlie Coyle snipe and a Yasin Cisse breakaway goal(his first collegiate goal) after he was sprung on a great pass from freshman Alexx Privitera. BU was outshot throughout the game but continued to find ways to put the puck in the net as Garrett Noonan scored on BU's only shot on net in the 2nd period. BC tipped a puck in on one of their many power plays most of which was due to them flopping all over the ice like a bunch of little bitches(Yes, I'm talking to you Steve Whitney- who was later ejected for embellishment in the 3rd). It was 3-1 heading into third when freshman forward Cason Hohmann scored his first collegiate goal on a great pass from Sean Escobedo. That was the dagger and sent BC's fake fans back home while BU's fans partied for the remainder of the game. The final score was 5-3 good guys.

After the game, there was some more action as BU legendary coach Jack Parker told BC coach Jerry York what he thought of BC's diving throughout the game. York responded with sarcasm and then had words with Parker because he thought it was disrespectful when the BU team stick saluted BU fans after the 11/13 5-0 win. Parker apologized and the team went to the locker room while BC stood out there listening to their stupid slow and agonizing alma mater song. My theory on this is if you don't want an opposing team to stick salute on your ice then beat them. It's not our problem that we have more fans than you at your own home rink. Just typical BC move where they claim they' ve been wronged just because they suck.

Anyway onto to the bad, BC managed a split with a 6-1 victory at Agganis. BU outshot BC in front of a sold out and rocking Agganis Arena but BC managed to capitalize on some opportunities and solid play from freshman goalie Brian Billett who replaced the sieve that is Parker Milner. This ended the season series 2-1 in favor of BU with possible rematches remaining in the Beanpot Final, Hockey East and NCAA tournaments. I was really impressed with the student sections as even when the outcome was certain, the students stayed and kept chanting. BC's 9 fans in attendance were not heard from all night despite the scoreboard. The team also impressed in the effort department as they never stopped hitting and trying against those flopping girls. BU plays next this Thursday at UNH to finish up the season series with those dirty hicks after they just got swept by Lowell. They then finish up the first half of the season traveling deep into inbred territory at Maine on Saturday night.

Now, onto basketball as BU, an America East team, beat BC(ACC team) 75-61. I made the trip down to Newton for this one as well and the home crowd was almost as embarrassing as the team as they allowed BU to shoot over 35% from 3 point land to give coach Joe Jones a win over his former employer. BU senior Daryl Partin was easily the best player on the court as he continue to be one of the top 10 scorers in the nation. The win was great for the program and the team, who has now won 4 in a row. BU, once again, had a solid fan contingent and might have had more students at the game then BC did. Great game for the Terriers who play next Wed 12/7 against St. Joe's in Philly.