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. 

Pre-Season USCHO poll released(Read bulletin board material)

The USCHO.com preseason poll came out today and has four teams from Hockey East in the top 20. The Poll looks as follows

1. Notre Dame- strong team with lots of returnees from Frozen Four team last year

2. Miami(OH)- Have two great goalies and will carry the team this year

3. North Dakota

4. Denver

5. Newton University?- This is not a top 5 team in the country, but hey I'll let them think they are to start off the year

6. Michigan

7. Colorado College- I still love this team for embarrassing BC last year in the tounrny

8. Minnesota- Duluth- defending champs

9. Yale- still the most overrated team in the shittiest conference

10. BU -I have seen BU ranked everywhere from 2 to 10 now. I prefer the lower ranking to motivate the team and avoid any early season let-downs but I truly believe this team is better 10 but no better than 5. BC at 5 is a joke but like I said we'll let them say their prayers before every game and pretend they are better than they actually are

...

12. UNH- led by Frozen pizza goalie Matt DiGiorno

15. Merrihack- Dennehy has the goons led by Bigos ready for their second season of being relevant.

16. Maine- Coach Tim Whitehead knows if this team doesn't make the tournament, it will cost him his job

There will be more hockey to come in the next few weeks as BU and many other teams have exhibition games this coming weekend.

I'm Happy Mike And I'm Proud To Be A Terrier

You know what struck me most about the Harvard game yesterday? The fact that this was only really one of the few games this year that I can think of where our Terrier hockey team really failed to put forth a winning effort on the ice. Not to say its the first time they've lost, but compared to last year's team where I really felt that many of the players on the ice were not cut out to be in the jersey they wore, I am immensely proud of how far this young team has come this year.

Think back to this time last year? How did you feel about that team? Disappointed? Frustrated? I know I did. Seeing guys like Kevin Shattenkirk and Vinny Saponari go out on the ice night after night and seemingly not put forth the effort needed to win games was just about as bad a situation as I can imagine the year after a national championship.

This year, even after Monday I feel nothing but optimism and good things about this team. Players like Alex Chiasson have stepped up hugely compared to last year, and others like Joe Pereira, David Warsofsky and Chris Connolly have proven to be much stronger leaders than last year's team possessed. Maybe we're not a tournament team this year. But looking to next year, with almost every player coming back from a team that has shown immense amounts of promise throughout the year and our usual heralded BU recruiting class coming in, I am incredibly excited to see our team take the ice. And make no mistake, this is a team that could make a run in HE and get into the NCAAs. But even if that doesn't happen, I'm still so impressed with this year's team and am proud to be a BU fan. Bravo, men.

Haters gonna hate, but our skaters are gonna go on and skate.

BU falls to #7 after bad weekend...Yale#1?

The Terriers fell five spots in the polls to #7 nationally after a weekend sweep at the hands of the Newton College Eagles. They may be good but they still are from Newton and are no good at talking trash even when they win games. They just walk into a poll while saying very creative phrases such as "BU sucks" or "sucks to BU". They also started a very classy and modest chant of "Jesus loves us" at the game Saturday night. As GW said, that's a retarded chant. Going to catholic school makes you no better than anyone else you arrogant fucks. You just have to take religion class while we take classes relevant to actual life. Fuck you.

Back to the polls though, the drop in ranking may bring the crowds down a bit for this last game against Northeastern but this will give this young team every bit of motivation to work hard over break to improve and get back to a ranking where they feel that they belong. Here is the top ten from the USCHO.COM poll:
1. Yale(10-1-0)- I still don't know how this team passed Duluth in the rankings but I guess the only team in the country left with one loss puts you at #1 no matter who you play
2. Minnesota-Duluth(12-2-2)- Duluth lost a tough one to Denver on Friday night but bounced back Sat night which still wasn't enough to hold onto the number one spot in the nation
3. UNH(9-2-4)- UNH continues to have a great first half. The real question is will they fold per usual in the second half?
4. B(N)C(11-5-0)- The bastards down in Newton jump four spots after their weekend sweep. I'll let them be ranked #4 in December. This weekend just shows how streaky this team is after two losses to Merrimack where they just looked like they couldn't play physical hockey.
5. North Dakota(11-5-2)- Jump up two spots after a solid weekend out west wearing black jerseys at home which they are 22-1-2 in since they came out a couple years ago.
6. Miami(10-5-3)- Miami continues to climb back to the top of the polls. Expect this team to be around come late March/early April
7. BU (7-3-5)- Our Terriers remain in the top ten at #7 with a pair of important games this week against Northeastern and RPI before the break.
8. Maine (7-3-4)- Maine only moves up one spot after only getting 3 points from PC over the weekend in Maine. If that series is in Providence, I give the Black Bears the benefit of the doubt but not up in Orono. They should have won two there.
9. Denver- They continue to climb after splitting with Duluth over the weekend.
10. Nebraska Omaha- Bigger drop than our Terriers after getting swept by the lowly (5-8-0)Bemjida State team over the weekend. They aren't quite as good as BC apparently.

...
17. Merrihack(7-4-4)- They move up a spot after splitting with Northeastern? The voters love Merrihack all of a sudden. We'll see how this team fares in the second half with teams no longer overlooking them.

Receiving votes
Providence- Stealing a point up in Maine Friday night is a step in the right direction for the Friars.


The Inch power rankings are also out(but the website is down apparently) as they have the Terriers dropping to #8 which is about where they stand nationally in my eyes and many others. The season is not over by any means. This team still has 7 wins already and the potential for 9 wins by week's end. Expect to see an energetic effort come Wednesday night against the forgotten city rival Northeastern Huskies( Granted they are forgotten because they haven't won a Beanpot since the 80's and suck this year).

BC SUCKS!

It is now officially BC week. You know what that means...time to do everything to get pumped up for the games this week. One may ask what do you do a week before the game to get ready? Well I make awesome videos with my dogs. Here are a couple...BC sucks. Let's smack them next weekend!! Time to shut up those choir boys and take control of Hockey East before winter break.

BU vs BU

Alright so I checked the schedule for this week and I see the Terriers are playing Brown University on saturday...easy W, right? We'll see. Brown played the third-place Wildcats on monday, and had a hell of a game. Sislo opened the game for the Wildcats with the only first-period goal, and wound up scoring again in the third, but the real kicker of the game was the fact that Brown scored 4 goals in the second period, three of which went unanswered. Brown held a 5-3 lead over the Wildcats until they tied it up late in the third. If you want a recap of this game, click here.

While UNH isn't too tough of a team (except for causing the only bruise in an otherwise awesome Terriers season), Brown still put up a fight, showcasing a pretty aggressive offense, and putting on a pretty physical defense. Do I think that Brown is gonna destroy the Terriers, make 'em look like chumps, and ruin the rest of their season? Absolutely not. But I am saying watch out for them, and don't take them for granted.

I look forward to this game! Have a happy Thanksgiving!












Also, should you find yourself at a Red Robin with QuackQuack, you better order a goddamn root beer float if you want maintain your dignity.

BU moves up polls again...now #3 in USCHO.COM poll

Our Terriers continue to climb in the polls this season. The Terriers have been ranked #3 nationally in the latest USCHO.com poll including seven first place votes. The top ten remained fairly consistent though with only some leapfrogging within the top ten.
1. Miami 5-1-2 - They had a three point weekend which is enough to hold onto your spot no matter where you are ranked
2. Minnesota Duluth- 6-0-2- They received eight first place votes and with that undefeated record probably deserved a few more.
3. BU- 6-0-1- This might be the highest we get all season in the national polls as we have beaten up on the bottom of Hockey East to climb in the rankings since taking down #11 Notre Dame and #18 Wisconsin in the Ice Breaker. This is a young team that will be tested for real by #7 Maine this weekend. If they play like they did Saturday night against Lowell, Maine will run us out of the building.
4. BC 4-2- This drop was expected after a tough loss at Merrimack's high school hockey rink on Saturday night. Expect a big bounce back Tuesday night at the expense of Lowell and BC to see the #1 ranking again at some point this season. This team is going to be battling all season through the ups and downs of defending a national title.
5. Yale 2-0- On the positive, they finally played some fucking games and won. I don't get how they received a first place vote based on two games. Congrats on putting the studying on hold for two nights to play some hockey.
6. Michigan-4-1-3- Dont really know much about these guys but seems like the ties have sent them down in the polls
7. Maine-4-1-2- They have like every big time scorer in the nation on one team. Big matchup this week with BU at Agannis Arena on Saturday night.
8.Nebraska-Omaha-5-1-0- Record speaks for itself here
9. North Dakota-4-3-1- They rebounded from a two loss to Maine last weekend to only drop one spot in the polls.
10.New Hampshire-2-1-2- They put up a touchdown on Cornell but stay in the #10 spot because they only played one game this weekend.

odds and end leading into the weekend

- Expect a big bounceback game from the Pats this weekend as they look to rebound from getting thrashed by the Jets last week. Every expert in the country is picking the team to roll Buffalo but don't tell Wes Welker that. When asked about the Bills this week, Welker spoke nothing but praise of the team that the Patriots have not lost to since 2003.

-Randy Moss wore the number 33 in practice today as a tribute to injured captain Kevin Faulk. Now just wait for the media to warp this into some attack on Moss.

-BU hockey talk heats up as multiple blogs are posting Hockey East preview for the coming season. There is one on the Boston Hockey Blog that only has the top two teams to be announced. There is also one of the Warrior Rink Rat blog by the Eagle Tribune's by Mike McMahon but this one sucks and supports Merrimack hockey including that little gay ass frenchman Da Costa so I'm not posting the link for people to look at just to rip on how bad it is. After every team preview, they say the next team will be the next day. Then two weeks later they do another one. There is no way there is that much going on at Merrimack. The school blows and is in fuckin North Andover. Yeah I heard its crazy there all the time pause nahhht.

- Shatty has his first goal in an exhibition game for the Avalanche this week as five former Terriers are on the roster(Colby Cohen, Brandon Yip,Dave Van der Guilk, Zach Cohen(AHL)).