University of Toronto Preview: What to watch for

                                            -photo credit to Goterriers.com

The BU hockey season finally kicks off this coming Sunday in an exhibition game against the University of Toronto. Toronto is a Canadian college(duh) that has already begun its pre-season schedule. It currently stands at 1-2 with a win over UOIT(idk who that is) and two losses to York University(Not BC but they still suck if they have that name). They have both of their goalies returning with Brett Willows(8-5-0, .913, 2.99 GAA) and Garrett Sheehan(8-7-0, .914, 2.96). Their leading returning scorer is senior Kyle Ventura who put up 24(15-9) pts in 28 games last season. Toronto will also play Lowell on Saturday so it will be interesting to see how they do against two of the best teams in Hockey East. Their coach is Darren Lowe who has been there since 1995 and that's about all the relevant information we got for you. The opposition seems pretty excited to play here according to goalie Brett Willows on twitter. Here is the tweet in response to us calling him a sieve...

  " excited to see you too... But mostly to play in front of more then 100 fans who actually know what  hockey is"

 Here are some things to keep an eye for BU as guys battle for jobs. There are 14 forwards and 1 BOD fighting for 12 spots up front while 7 dmen and the same BOD fight for playing time as well. 2 freshman goalies along with junior 3rd goalie Anthony Moccia round out the roster. 

1. What are the top 6 forwards going to look like? 

- I would say the only locks up here are Nieto, Megan and Gill. That would leave 3 spots for the likes of Cisse, Kurker, O' Regan, Lane, Myron, Rodrigues, Hohmann.

2. Who will play with Rosen and Santana on the grinder line?

 I think the obvious pick here would be freshman Mike Moran is he is active but he certainly will not be active for every game so there will be some different combinations on this line for sure.

3. Will Coach Parker keep his two best dmen together?

I would love to see a Noonan- Privitera pairing out there but he seems to like to split up his best offensive dmen and pair each of them with a stay at home partner on defense. It will also be interesting to see who sits. I don't see him sitting a captain so Ruikka will be in the lineup leaving someone out of MacGregor, Escobedo, Grzelcyk and Oksanen as the odd man out.

4. What will the goalie playing time be?

- Each goalie could see a period of play or Parker could simply split time between the two freshman goalies who will start 100% of the games this year. If he does only use 2, it will be interesting to see how he splits up playing time. Both goalies will get starts throughout the season though.

It's good to be back and previewing actual hockey games instead of guessing line combinations all summer long.

QQ's Hockey East predictions for this weekend
 Sat 10/6
Merrimack @ Union - Merrimack 2-1. I think Union gets distracted by raising a Frozen Four banner among other things and Merrimack grinds and finds a way to win on the road early in the season.
Quinnipiac @ Maine - Maine 3-2. I think Dan Sullivan does just enough in net and Joey Diamond does enough up front to get past an EZAC team at home.

Wed 10/10
Merrimack @ Northeastern - Northeastern 3-2. Tough task to go on the road twice in a week and win. I think NU takes the opener at home.

Edit: Feliz Miguel's HEA picks

10/6
Merrimack @ Union: Union is a top team in the country and Mack lost a ton of talent.  Union 5-2
Quinnipiac @ Maine: Gonna be a tough one, not sure if Maine can win it if it wasn't Alfond.  Maine 5-4

10/10:
Merrimack @ Northleastern: Will take time to vaunted class to integrate itself at NU.  Mack still a better team, and NU has done a poor job protecting their house at Matthews lately. Merrimack 3-1