The Captain Candidates

                                                        Last Year's Captains(minus Noonan)


Due to the coaching change in BU hockey this offseason, the captains of next year's squad was not named at the Friends of Hockey Banquet this past weekend as is typically done. Retiring coach Jack Parker said that he thought this should be something incoming coach David Quinn should decide. Quinn will be arriving on campus once the Colorado Avalanche's season ends this week. Quinn will have plenty of work to do right away as he needs to finish up his recruiting class for next season and get to know his team as summer workouts begin. We have been told that he has stated that he isn't firing any members of the staff so it would seem that both assistant coaches, Buddy Power and Mike Bavis, are welcome back as part of his staff next season. One would assume volunteer goalie coach Mike Geragosian would also be welcome back with open arms considering the work he has done with goalies over the years.

Quinn will most likely listen to what his staff and the players say about each other when considering his choices but we figured we would break it down and make a case for each of the upperclassmen. There are guys who will be favored over others but there are no bad choices in this group. This is according to our completely unbiased opinions and no knowledge of what happens off the ice.  All of the guys listed below will be leaders next year. These are just our guesses for captains. You can vote yourself on the right in our current poll.

Seniors(Next Year)

1. Garrett Noonan- Noonan is the only returning captain from last season's team. He wore an "A" for the second half of last season. He is always one of the most passionate players for the Terriers and would be a great fit to fill a leadership role again next season. I would go as far to say he is a lock to wear some type of letter despite the coaching change. He came back to his school and team when he had an opportunity to go pro this past spring. That dedication to the program and leadership should be rewarded with a C or A when those decisions are made.

2. Sahir Gill- Gill is another senior who has filled a top 6 forward role in each of the last two seasons. He is crucial killing penalties and will be a guy this team relies on for some scoring next season. He has always come across as a team-first guy to us and I would give him a good chance to wear a letter.

First half review- Forwards

Now that the first half of the season is over and the Terriers sit at 10-5-0(8-4-0) , it is a good time to look back at individual player's first halves. For reference last season, BU finished the first half at 10-5-1. Obviously, two very different teams but similar results. This year's team is much younger and have more reason to be excited for the second half of the season as the underclassmen develop and execute even better. Here is the review of each forward still on the roster.

1. Cason Hohmann (4-12-16, 15 GP) "Texas Toast" has had a hell of a first half for the Terriers. He has been noted by Coach Parker on numerous occasions as a guy who needed to make a jump this year for the team to succeed. He certainly has met that challenge. He leads the team in points and has doubled his point total from last season(35 games played). He is the top line center and has been producing all season.  He is usually the fastest guy on the ice when he is out there but that might only because Nieto plays on a different line. That is a race I would love to see.

2. Wade Megan(9-6-15, 15 GP)- The Captain from Canton, NY leads the team in goals in the first half and they have come in a variety of ways. He sniped against his hometown St. Lawrence Saints and he had one of the greasiest goals of all time against UNH. The team is 9-2-0 when he records a point and 8-1-0 when he scores a goal. He is obviously a big part of this offense and on pace to do even better than his 20-9-29 line in 39 games last year.

3. Danny O'Regan (5-6-11, 15 GP)- The freshman from Needhman, MA and St. Sebastian's stepped in right away and contributed for BU. He has been the second line center all season and has done it very well. The Sharks' fifth round pick has been responsible on both ends of the ice and has scored some big goals for this team in the first half. Specifically, I am talking about the final goal against UND to finish the game and put it out of reach. He has a great ability to set up in front of the goalie and put pucks away. Very Jason Lawrence-like in that aspect.

Weekend Recap

HS has your interesting Maine recap from Saturday night here. BU knocked off #1 UNH back on Thursday night by a 3-2 score. BU jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind goals from Wade Megan, Sahir Gill and Sam Kurker. Megan's goal was a typical goal for the captain as he kept poking and jabbing at a rebound from a Matt Grzelcyk shot and eventually put it past Casey DeSmith. It remained 1-0 until Sahir Gill scored his 2nd goal of the season off a great pass from Cason Hohmann on a 2 on 1, which was set up by a nice pass by Garrett Noonan.  BU made it 3-0 later in the second when freshman Sam Kurker bounced a shot past DeSmith to give BU a 3-0 lead. This was exactly what they needed as I said in my preview. They needed to get out to a lead because UNH just doesn't allow goals in the 3rd this year.  UNH added 2 goals from Kevin Gouma and John Henrion but could not score over the last 8:06 as BU killed 8 of 9 powerplays including one with 2:07 remaining. The team competed extremely hard and has to be happy to get out of Durham while handing UNH their first home loss of the season.  Matt O'Connor was once again huge for this team and together with Sean Maguire's second consecutive shutout on Saturday, there is alot to like about this goalie tandem. O'Connor has been seeing more time but I would think it is going to become a true rotation for the second half as it has become a healthy rivalry.

BU sweeps UVM, back on track

The BU Terriers improved to 9-0 on the road in 2012 with a pair of wins, 5-0 on Friday and 3-2 OT win Saturday at the University of Vermont. I made the trip up to Burlington for the first time so you all are lucky enough to get a first hand recap of both games. First, on Friday night BU came out flying despite all the haters out there all of last week. The team didn't let the PR problems off the ice affect them on the ice as they beat Vermont 5-0. They broke out after a long review of their first goal which was a wrist shot that hit off a UVM d-man's leg past Madore barely. The review by my favorite referee Bunyon took several minutes but it was eventually ruled a goal. In Bunyon's defense, I was right on the goal line and couldn't tell if the puck fully crossed the line. It apparently was very close as it took the referees several minutes to figure out the call. These reviews make you appreciate the NHL system that much more where one phone call is the whole review. That was Escobedo's first goal of the season. BU poured it on from there as Cason Hohmann scored on a great low wrister that beat Madore 5-hole due to a great screen by Justin Courtnall. Escobedo scored his second of the game during a 5 minute powerplay on a questionable call on UVM. Either way, we will take the call as it put BU up 3-0 heading into the third. Wade Megan added a goal in the third and Courtnall made a great move to fool Madore on a break away. It was great to not only win easily, but also get scoring from some from unusual places. Sahir Gill and Ryan Ruikka added 2 assists each and BU sailed to a win behind senior Grant Rollheiser who made 18 saves for his second career shutout, his first of this season. Rollheiser looked solid throughout the game and had great rebound control and I wouldn't be surprised to see him this Friday on Senior night at Agganis Arena. The highlights from Friday night are below.

On Saturday night, it was a total different hockey game. Kieran Millan was in net for BU and he let in a soft goal early when Connor Brickley beat him five hole. UVM stretched the lead on a powerplay goal by Sebastian Stalberg who beat the whole Terrier defense backdoor. UVM would then play well to finish out the period and keep the 2 goal lead. In the second, the only scoring was Sahir Gill on a spectacular diving goal on the pass from Wade Megan. Gill layed out full extension and pushed the puck past Madore, who played well in his senior night. BU continued to buzz and had a goal called back after it was ruled that a rebound was kicked in the net which was a questionable call at best since it seemed the puck just came out of a scrum in front of the net. I never got a chance to see the replay so maybe I was wrong, but that is highly unlikely. The Terriers continued to play hard into the 3rd but couldn't get one past Madore until the final 2 minutes when Millan was pulled for a 6th skater and Wade Megan banged home a greasy, rebound goal which is what he does best for this team. The goal was Megan's 17th of the year and sent the game to OT even as Sahir Gill hit the post in the waning seconds of regulation. BU kept the momentum going into OT and crushed the UVM crowd's spirit as freshman Alexx Privitera sent a low slapper 5 hole on Madore and completed the gutsy comeback.

This team showed some heart this weekend taking 4 points with all the controversy heading into the weekend including the tough comeback on Senior night. Privitera played outstanding in his first games back from a broke wrist and showed some guts playing through some pain after he blocked a shot on Saturday night. This team continues to battler through adversity and prove they have what it takes to win games. They return home Friday for the final weekend of the regular season for a home and home with Northeastern. I'll get to that tomorrow or Wed though. I will leave you with the updated standings and playoff picture here. BU has clinched the 3rd seed in the conference at worst case and can still win the regular season title with a little help from UVM this weekend. BU needs to gain 2 points on BC this weekend to win the regular season title. BU also reached the 20 win plateau for the first time since 08-09 and are currently sitting 4th in all three polls(Pairwise, USCHO, and USA Today). Sean Escobedo, Sahir Gill, Grant Rollheiser, and Alexx Privitera were all named Hockey East Top Performers which is great to see heading into the playoffs. Alex Chiasson was also recognized for playing his 100th game as a Terrier. Chiasson seems to be the emotional leader of the team right now in what could be his last season if he turns pro, which seems likely at this point. He set up the game-tying goal Saturday night so be sure to recognize Chiasson on senior night as well as he is also most likely playing his last home regular season game for the Terriers.

P.S. if you're not going to the game Friday night for the return of Vinny Sap to Agganis and Senior night then you have no life and no friends. That is all.

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...

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.

National polls, weekend recap

Both polls came out today and put BU #12 nationally in the USCHO and USA Today polls. BC remains the top team in both receiving a majority of the votes in both polls. Here is the top 5 of each polls and notable others throughout Hockey East.

USCHO:

1. BC(42) 7-1-0

2. Colorado College(5)4-0-0

3. Michigan 6-1-0

4. Western Michigan(1) 5-0-3

5. Minnesota 7-1-0

7. Merrimack 6-0-0

12. Boston University 3-2-1

20. Maine 3-2-1

USA Today

1. BC(30)

2. Colorado College(3)

3. Michigan

4. Notre Dame

5. Minnesota

7. Merrimack

12. Boston University

The INCH power rankings also came out today and place BU up two spots to #14 in the country. For some reason they respect the EZAC and have Colgate, Union, and Yale ranked ahead of BU despite Yale's unproven 1-0-1 record and Union's loss to UNH this weekend. Everyone will find out how weak that conference is once they all fail to make a Frozen Four again. Yes Yale that is directed at you. Also here is a recap of BU players mentioned in the HE performances of the week

Hockey East Weekly Top Performances:

Charlie Coyle So, F- Recorded a goal and three assists in the weekend home and home series with UMass.

Sahir Gil So,F-Scored three points against UMass including the tying goal Friday night

Matt Nieto So, F- Recorded two goals, including the game winner Saturday, and two assists in the series with UMass

Career Milestones/Who is Hot/ Trends

Sahir Gil - Has a point in all six games this season

Matt Nieto- Has scored a goal in all six games this season

"Boston University: Dating back to last season, sophomore Matt Nieto has scored a goal in eight straight games, the longest streak by a Terrier since Chris Drury scored in nine straight games from Nov. 1-26, 1996…The Terriers have outscored their opponents 10-2 in the second period this season but have been outscored 10-3 in the first period…BU went to overtime with UMass in both ends of this past weekend's home-and-home series and came away with three points. The Terriers have not lost a conference game in overtime since Feb. 21, 2003, at Providence…BU erased a 2-0 deficit on Friday before coming all the way back from a 3-0 deficit in Saturday's overtime triumph…Sophomore Charlie Coyle currently sports a league-best plus-9 rating and has recorded two points in each of the last three contests…BU leads the nation in shorthanded goals this season with four…Senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser (Chilliwack, B.C.) earned his first start since last December on Saturday and overcame a three-goal first period to record 29 saves in the victory. He is now 12-7-4 in his career with a 2.91 GAA…Travis Roy was the recipient of Boston University's prestigious Young Alumni Award on Saturday as part of this year's Alumni Weekend."

Wednesday Morning Odds and Ends

Former Terrier standout and current Colorado Avalanche (read: BU West) forward Brandon Yip scored a shootout goal last night to lift the Avs over the Red Wings, 5-4. The Yipper was the 6th Avs skater to come out in the shootout, and beat the Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard top shelf glove side to score the only shootout goal for either team...

Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller spoke out against head shots in the NHL, referencing injured Bruins forward Marc Savard in the process. "Savard's still not playing," Miller said. "One of the best playmakers we have in this game is still not playing because of a stupid hit". Miller's comments came after one of his teammates, Jason Pominville, was nailed from behind by Blackhawks D-Man Niklas Hjalmarsson...Savard was injured last March 7 on a blindside hit from the Penguins resident scumbag Matt Cooke...

Hockey East announced its first round of weekly award winners, and BU was represented well. Junior defenseman and assistant captain David Warsofsky won the Athletic Republic Player of the Week award, while freshman forward Sahir Gill took home the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week award. As a team, BU won the very first Hockey East team of the week award. All of this, of course, comes on the heels of last weekends title win at the Ice Breaker in St. Louis...

Sticking with BU hockey, the men host UMass-Amherst this Saturday night in their home opener, while the women host Wayne State on both Friday and Saturday night...

Recent Patriots acquisition Deion Branch practiced yesterday, wearing number 84 (his number 83 is in use by Wes Welker. After practice, Branch made it  clear that he is not here to replace Randy Moss: "Not here to replace Randy. I’m not Randy. I wasn’t Randy Moss when I was here and I’m not here to replace him"...

Rangers Ace Cliff Lee lifted Texas over Evan Longoria and the Tampa Rays last night, in Game 5 of their AL Divisional series. The Rangers now move on to face another AL East team - the Yankees - in the AL Championship series. As a Red Sox fan and avid hater of all things Yankee, I really hope Lee saves his best stuff for those Bronx Beaters...

The Miami Heat's "Big 3" should probably just start renting out spots on the Injured Reserve now. Dwayne Wade is currently attempting to heal his strained right hamstring, and last night former Cavalier and current racial ignoramus Lebron James limped off the court with leg cramps. Watch out Bosh, it's only a matter of time...

According to The Bleacher Report, Vikings quarterback and resident "sexter" Brett Favre issued a tearful apology to his team prior their Monday night defeat at the hands of his former team, the New York Jets. It has yet to be determined if Favre was crying due to embarrassment or shock over having been turned down by somebody other than his sister...

That's all I've got for you folks. If you are a BU hockey fan, be on the lookout for a preview of this weekend's matchup against those clowns from Zoomass