Why Maine sucks besides their very average 4-4-1 record ...
Maine(4-4-1):
1. The sophomore class is -12 despite the whole team being +2. Ben Hutton, Devin Shore, Steven Swavely,Ryan Lomberg, Bill Norman, Will Merchant, and Kyle Williams. They are the definition of a sophomore slump as a class. That's not a good recipe for success when your largest class is also playing the worst.
2. Their fans are trashy- The fact that their student section holds a ref doll from a noose is really all you need to know. The chirps aren't limited to the students either as fans of all ages show their class or lack there of as soon as you walk into the rink.
3. They only beat crap teams- Their only wins so far this season come against Vermont, Bentley, and UMass(x2) all of which were at home.
BU just has to take it to them and play their game. Good things will happen just like their last trip to Orono last February....
Projected Lines(Top 3 according to Boston Hockey Blog)
Lane- O'Regan- Hohmann
ERod- Baillargeon- Roberto
Kelley-Kurker- Ryan
Moran-Lawrence-Moscatel
Oksanen-Noonan
Grzelyck-MacGregor
Somerby-MacAfee
Maguire
OC
Moccia
UConn(3-2-1): Read our interview with current UConn assistant and former Terrier Joe Pereira
GW and myself took the trip down to Storrs, CT this past Tuesday to watch the Huskies take on Holy Cross at home. UConn won a 4-3 thriller by scoring 2 goals in the last 8 minutes to come from behind after holding a 2-0 lead early in the game. UConn has some size on defense but not too much ability for those guys to jump into the rush unless you leave them wide open in the slot as Holy Cross did on the first goal of the night. Offensively they are a scrappy bunch with no superstars but certainly plenty of grinders who are willing to work hard and clean up loose rebounds. BU's defense will need to work hard to keep them to the outside and away from the net. They utilized rebounds and second opportunities to score 3 out of their 4 goals.
Defensively, the goaltender, Matt Grogan, made most of the saves he should have made. He did seem to struggle with low shots when there was traffic in front of the goal. The Terriers need to get pucks and bodies to the net to put the pressure on him as he gave up quite a few wide open rebounds even when he made the initial save. Holy Cross outshot UConn 14-4 in the first period so this is a team that you can appear to jump on early and pin them down in their own zone. UConn was also running a 1-2-2 forecheck throughout the game but seemed to be getting beat up the middle more often than they should have. The weak side forward was slow in rotating over to cover the stretch pass up the middle. If they don't fix that, Oksanen and Grzelcyk might have 47 assists Sunday.
Why UConn sucks
1. They play in Atlantic Hockey
2. Former BC assistant Mike Cavanaugh is the head coach
3. They have no fans- They are offering a $15 deal for students to come up to BU Sunday but considering how few of them showed up Tuesday in Storrs, I am not expecting a big UConn student crowd to make the trip.
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