Quack Quack's Money in the bank locks of the week-New Year's Eve edition

Here is a nice New Year's ever edition of my picks as I am surrounded by those idiots with their stupid hats and 2011 glasses. If I see one more idiot, I think I might just start stabbing them and go on my anti-New Year's rant but I digress.. I went 2-1 last week to improve to 20-11 overall which is pretty good I think right? Here is this week's picks which is going to stick to football but I will mix it up between bowls and the final week of the NFL regular season.

NFL:
Cleveland@Pitt(-6)
- The Steelers need a win to clinch a bye and the AFC North. They roll a Cleveland team that has rolled over and played dead since Peyton Hillis began to slow down. He is also questionable for this game so I think that Pitt defense has a field day against rookie Colt McCoy.

The pick- Pitt(-6)

San Diego@Denver O/U -47
- Neither one of these teams play defense whatsoever so the over/under is the easiest bet here in a week of uncertainty with which teams will play their starters and such. Denver gives up 30 a week and are easily the worst defense in the league. Tim Tebow has given the team a spark and will put up points for Denver so look for a high scoring game here.

The pick-Over 147

NCAA
Capital One Bowl
Michigan St. vs Alabama(-10)
- Alabama has three losses this season while Michigan State has one this season. How does this lead to Alabama being favored by double digits? This makes no sense to me. Go Sparta!

The pick-Michigan State(+10)




Rose Bowl-
TCU vs. Wisconsin(+3)
- This is a tough call but I am going to show some faith in the mid major just for felizmiguel and go with TCU here. The Horned Frogs are legit and prove it tomorrow on national TV.

The pick-TCU(-3)

World Juniors aka "The Charlie Coyle Show"

I know it's been awhile, but I thought I would catch you guys up on the WJC going on right now in Buffalo, NY. If you are unfamiliar with the WJC (World Junior Championship), here's the basic idea: there are two "pools" of teams, split up evenly according to their finish in the prior WJC. Each pool has 5 teams, and the teams play a round robin format within their pools for the first 4 games. The top 3 teams from each pool following the round robin play move onto the quarterfinals, with the top teams in each pool getting a bye (therefore moving directly to the semifinals). The individual teams represent their home countries (USA, Canada, etc), and the players must be under 20 in order to participate. 

Currently, team USA has completed 3 of the 4 round robin games, winning two in regular time and the third in overtime, thereby securing a spot in the next round. They play their final round robin game tomorrow night against Switzerland, looking to secure a next round bye with a victory. USA beat Germany 4-0 tonight, paced by a goal and an assist from Charlie Coyle, Team USA's official player of the game. Coyle leads the US team in scoring with a 2-3-5 line in 3 games, and is tied for 3rd in scoring amongst all players. He picked up his other 3 points on Tuesday, in USA's 6-1 demolishing of Slovakia. He assisted on team USA's first two goals of the game before punching in one of his own on an impressive top shelf shot from just outside the left post. 

While BU could undoubtedly use Coyle in their upcoming games, one has to hope that the experience and confidence he gains while representing his country on a major level will turn into points for BU in the rest of the second half. He has been playing on a line with Kyle Palmieri (currently playing in the Ducks system) and Chris Kreider (one of BC's best forwards), and at many times has looked like the best player on the line. Coyle has certainly impressed a lot of people with his play, and there can be little doubt that no one would be better to represent BU than him.

If you want to see Charlie and the rest of Team USA play, catch all their WJC games on NHL network or follow their live blog over at usahockey.com. 

Winter break odds and ends

Here are some good articles I have found in the last couple days about random shit if anyone is as bored as I know GW is this break.

USCHO.COM just published a breakdown of all(7) the holiday tournaments taking place this week from Wed to Monday. Every major school is playing in some type of four team holiday tournament.It is a good article to keep track of all the tournaments. We should see how teams plan on coming out of the gate right after the break as the second half makes or breaks seasons in college hockey. One thing that stood out to me was Union playing in a field with two other ranked teams(#19 Ferris State and #17 Minnesota) so they could get knocked down big time with a couple losses this weekend. Yale mysteriously isn't playing in a tournament over break which is probably because their coach is the coach of the USA in the world juniors but still. It is also because big time schools would smoke them and they know it deep down.

Speaking of the World Juniors...here is the link to the tournament as the USA plays their second game tonight after beating Finland in OT on Sunday night. The US continues on their quest to defend their gold medal as host up in Buffalo,N.Y.

Coach Parker also sent out the Friends of Hockey Holiday letter which indicates that captain Chris Connolly will be back from his broken finger for the tournament this weekend out in Illinois.

WTBU also predicts what Coach Parker would be looking for in the second half of the season

Terrier Hockey Blog has a nice article here covering former BU Hobey Baker Winner Matt Gilroy's two goals last night and other things leading up the tournament this weekend in Illinois. The highlights here are that Adam Clendening will play after the rumors about him being injured in the exhibition games for the World Juniors.

Pats take care of business in Buffalo...clinch division,bye,home field, #1 seed

The Patriots defense caused seven turnovers by the Buffalo Bills on their way to a 34-3 win in Orchard Park,N.Y. The defense caused 4 fumbles and 3 interceptions by the Bills(4-11). The win was another complete team effort. Tom Brady set an NFL record 309 straight pass attempts without an INT which the broadcast team,lead by Solomon Wilcots, kept talking about once the game was out of hand. It was easy to see why these guys get the Buffalo game week after week. They just kept talking about this record,which is impressive but not something they needed to repeat over and over along with the MVP race. Brady or Vick could win the MVP... we get it. Back to the game though, Brady went 15-27 for 140 yards and 3 TDs(2 to rookie TE Rob Gronkowski). Danny Woodhead rushed for 93 yards(including a 29 yard TD run) and Ben-Jarvus Green-Ellis rushed for 104 more to lead the New England rushing attack which totaled over 200 yards for the first time all season. Jerod Mayo lead the defense with a fumble recovery and numerous big hits causing many incompletions throughout the game. The three picks were by Pat Chung, Jarrod Page, and Dane Fletcher. This was all done with numerous regular contributors sitting out due to injury: Aaron Hernandez(hip), Mike Wright(concussion), Myron Pryor(back), Dan Connolly(concussion), Jermaine Cunningham(calf), and Brandon Deadrick(shoulder,flu).

The win was huge for this team as it locks up the division and the number one overall seed in the AFC East which gives the team a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The bye is huge for a team that has numerous injuries giving them two weeks to get healthy as next week's game at home means nothing against Miami. Look for a normal starting lineup next week as Belichick will want the team to stay fresh and sharp for the playoffs especially with a bye week after next week. The team is also undefeated at home this season and this win forces someone to come in and beat this team at home in order to knock the Patriots out of the playoffs. Here are the winners/losers from this week

Winners:
1. Tom Brady- 15-27, 140 yards and 3 TD's in another solid effort from the unquestionable leader of this team
2. Running game- Woodhead and Green-Ellis lead the rushing attack that does what it needs to do week in and week out for this team
3. Jerod Mayo- leads the defense that continues to get better. Was a difference maker throughout the game making big hit after big hit
4. Pat Chung- this second year safety is quickly becoming the leader of the secondary along with rookie corner Devin McCourty.

Losers:
1. Wes Welker- Never thought I would see the day with Welker in this category but he earned it today with three drops which cannot be afforded in the playoffs.

Quack Quack's Money in the bank locks of the week-Christmas Eve edition

So I went 3-1 last weekend to improve to 18-10 overall. Lets just agree that I am just too good at this shit. Anyway I keep the Friday tradition rolling this week despite it being Christmas Eve. Here is my Christmas present to you...

NFL:
San Fran@Saint Louis(-3)
- I always say that I like to avoid the 49ers because they will show up one week and be great and then fall off the face of the earth the next week but I like Saint Louis at home here. San Fran won a 23-30 OT thriller earlier in the season in the Bay area but I think Saint Louis covers and wins at home to finally eliminate the 5-9 49ers from the playoff race.

The pick-Saint Louis(-3)

New Orleans @ Atlanta(-3)
-This a tough call for Monday night football this week. The Falcons clinch the division and the number one overall seed in the NFC with a win. The Saint need a win to clinch a playoff berth so both still have alot to play for. I think New Orleans bounces back and wins this one as they need it more than Atlanta who only needs to win this one or beat Carolina next week for home field throughout the playoffs. Go with the defending champs here.

The pick- Saints(+3)

NCAA(12/30)
Armed Forces Bowl:

Army vs. SMU(-7)- I know it is the armed forces bowl but Army still gets killed here. SMU is just too talented on the offensive side of the ball for Army to stay within reach in this one.SMU wins by double digits.

The pick- SMU(-7)

P.S. -Take the Lakers no matter what the line is on Christmas. I can't find the line but they own the Heat trust me.

Merry Christmas to all you idiots who actually read this crap I post every week.

BU basketball beats St. Joe's...Coyle make U.S. junior team

BU basketball took down the Hawks from Saint Joe's last night at Agganis Arena 85-79. Darryl Partin lead the way with 29 points. John Holland chipped in with 19 while Jake O'Brien added 11 points also. Jeff Pelage made his season debut and grabbed 7 boards while picking up 4 fouls in 10 minutes of work. I think he thought he was playing football out there or just hustling real hard in his limited minutes since that is a foul every 2:30 of action. The Terriers improve to 5-7 and now have a week off before returning to action against Quinnipiac next Wednesday at Case Gym.

In other news, Charlie Coyle made the U.S. World Junior Championship team while both Matt Nieto and Adam Clendening were left off the roster. Nieto was a long-shot to make the roster from the beginning of camp while Coyle was a lock more or less. Clendening seemed bound to make the team but suffered an injury last night in a shoot-out loss to the Czech Republic(read commie bastards). He was apparently injured going down to block a shot and it is unknown how long he will be out. If he is out for an extended period of time, it could be a blow to to the BU defense which is already short-handed this year with onlyPatrick MacGregor not dressing for games. I'll just blame the Yale hockey coach and US coach Keith Allain for his injury because I can. It is his fault for telling him to dive to block shots(whether he did or not is not relevant). It falls on his shoulders or one of the BC players on team. I haven't decided yet but hopefully it is a minor injury and the freshman will be back when HE starts back up Jan. 9th in Vermont.

Mens basketball set to square off with Saint Joe's...other odds and ends

The Terriers' mens basketball team prepares to take on Saint Joe's tonight at Agganis Arena. The (4-7 )Terriers will take on the (3-7)Hawks as their third out of 4 Atlantic 10 games this year. The tip off is set for 7:00 and will be televised on NESN...must be a slow TV night. This is the team's last game before break and a big game for the Terriers as they need to turn it around before conference play begins against Maine on January 2nd.

USCHO broke today that Providence defenseman Alex Velischek is leaving the team to join the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. Velischek,20, won the most valuable freshman award last year on Providence's team but had been struggling this year with only recording two points in 9 games due to an ankle injury. He will join Siouz City right after break.

The Boston Hockey Blog has come out with their mid-season power rankings for Hockey East. It is tough to pick a beef with them besides the 4/5 rankings but I'll let you read it and make your own decisions on that.

-Also Union lost twice to (#18)Western Michigan this weekend so the climb up the Pairwise for our Terriers begins...Up to #12 now. One ECAC team down....two to go.

Also, I am proud to announce that we have made our own e-mail here if anyone has any tips or suggestions or a beef with any of us then you can contact us that way. Please contact us at baystateroadsports@gmail.com with anything you feel the need to tell us.We greatly appreciate tips on any good stories related to any BU sport or Boston-area team(Please not mistake BC as a boston team unless it is something retarded they did.) We should get it up on the front page soon.

Pats have major letdown...still win the game

This young Patriots team seemed like the rest of the season was going to be them stomping all over the rest of the NFL.We all know though that anything can happen on any given Sunday. One mental lapse and a team goes from one seed to six seed overall. The Patriots certainly did not play their best game ever last night. They did do enough to come away with a 31-27 win over Green Bay lead by third year(first start) QB Matt Flynn who at times looked like Johnny Unitas out there against the young defense. Tom Brady then only passed for 163 yards and without much of a consistent running attack, this game seemed lost. The Packer held the ball for over 30 minutes longer than the Patriots yet this team found a way to win the game. The big plays were a 36 yard INT returned by Kyle Arrington for a TD and a 71 yard kickoff return by offensive lineman Dan Connolly which is making highlights(see below) all over the country today. Those plays lead to 14 points and the defense came up big on the last drive with two key sacks by Dane Fletcher and Tully Banta-Cain(after a costly penalty that negated an interception that would have ended the game). Overall, no one played great or had a stand-out game but the team did enough to win once again. The Patriots now sit two games above the rest of the AFC and one win or a Jets loss from clinching home field through the playoffs which is huge for this team that is undefeated at home the last three years with Tom Brady as QB.

Winners:
1. Tom Brady- not a great game by any means but he managed the game and threaded the needle when he needed to move the chains.
2. Aaron Hernandez- two TD's and another solid performance by one of the rookie TE's.
3. Dan Connolly- The video below says it all but he left the game at the half for a concussion or from being so tired from this run...I am not quite sure.
4. Kyle Arrington- He responded nicely from getting beat on a Greg Jennings(click on it if you wanna laugh) touchdown to pick off the next slant he saw and have a great return on it for a TD.
5. Dane Fletcher- The rookie out of Montana State had a huge sack at the end of the game to seal the deal and is showing some good stuff with his improved playing time with Brandon Spikes out four games due to suspension.
6. Devin McCourty- plays through a rib injury to make some great plays including his first career sack.
7. Vince Wilfork- played a ton this week due to injuries to Ron Brace, Mike Wright, and Gerard Warren and made a huge impact on the game throughout.

Losers:
1. Rob Ninkovich- missed a tackle on John Kuhn that lead to a Packer third down TD in the third quarter and could have cost the Pats the game
2. Tully Banta-Cain- Yes, he had a sack late but the game should have never come down to that as he got called for a dumb illegal hands penalty that negated a Brandon Meriweather INT that would have sealed the game.
3. Brandon Meriweather- He knocked his own defender(McCourty) off the ball that lead to a James Jones TD in the first and his pick didn't end up counting so he is a loser this week.

Press Conferences: Tom Brady,Vince Wilfork, Bill Belichick, Danny Woodhead




-Rumblin, stumblin,bumblin

NCAA Hockey Tournament predictions

So I need a study break before this last final and am going to try to take a look into the future and predict the seeding and regionals for the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament. I will try to keep my biases aside but that tends to not work out for me. Well here we go:

Note- number in parentheses next to #1 seeds indicate overall seed

East Regional (Arena@ Harboryard Bridgeport,CT)

1 Yale(4) vs. 4 Wisconsin- I think the Badgers sneak back into the tournament even though as of now they would be out. The Kohl Center is too much of a home-ice advantage to not get on some type of run in the second half.

2 Boston(Newton) College vs. 3 Notre Dame - Nothing to build hype for a game like a battle of Catholic schools. Priests gonna be moving masses around all over America to watch this one.

Midwest( Resch Center, Green Bay, WI)

1 North Dakota(1) vs. 4 Robert Morris- Robert Morris gets in for winning Atlantic Hockey which sucks but just how it is. Atlantic Hockey is like the NFC West of football but what you going to do? ND trounces them in the first round and take the #1 overall seed like they deserve over Yale.

2 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 3 Michigan - A high quality first round matchup as both teams were #1 in the country at some point in the season and have alot of talent on both sides.

Northeast(Verizon Wireless Center, Manchester,NH)

1 New Hampshire(3) vs. 4 Union- I think Union sneaks into the tournament barely based on RPI but in the process knocks RPI down to a 4 seed also(See west). Yes UNH as one seed. I still don't see them getting out of Manchester but who knows? Maybe this is the year to advance a round for the University of No Hardware.

2 Miami vs. 3 Maine- The Black Bears make the tournament after a streaky season and hope to get hot against a very good Miami team before a possible fourth matchup with UNH on the season.

West(Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri)

1 Denver(2) vs. 4 RPI - The Engineers make it 3 ECAC teams in the tournament this year because the national media loves them for playing cupcakes and winning. It is not what I want. I just don't see these teams losing to the Princeton's of the world to fall out of their current Pairwise spot.

2 BU vs. 3 Nebraska-Omaha- The Terriers(after a strong second half) return to the home of their IceBreaker Tournament title to play the regionals and get streaky Nebraska-Omaha in the first round.

My overall seedings for the tournament therefore look like this
1. North Dakota
2. Denver
3. UNH
4. Yale
5. BC
6. BU
7. Miami
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. Michigan
10. Maine
11. Nebraska-Omaha
12. Notre Dame
13. Wisconsin
14. RPI
15. Union
16. Robert Morris

- There aren't too many shockers here. Someone has to come out of Atlantic Hockey or so I am told. That would mean #31 Pairwise Robert Morris right now. I refuse to make predictions on what will happen in the tournament because I could not not pick BU to win it and there is a long way for this team to grow before that is a possibility. I have to BC ahead of us right now and still think they could grab a #1 seed but Yale plays no one the rest of the way which pisses me off. They will walk to a number one seed playing no one difficult all season long. Play a Hockey East team besides lowly Vermont. Hockey East gets four teams into the tournament comfortably with Merrimack fading late when everyone catches up to their Merrihack strategy.

Also here is a piece from ESPN.COM college hockey section on each HE coach's wish list from Santa. It ain't as bad as it sounds so give it a look.

- Here is a piece from NHL.com about the BU and BC freshman and sophomores joining together on team USA to try to repeat in the World Junior Championships later this month in Buffalo,N.Y.

Quack Quack's Money in the bank locks of the week

So I went 1-1 last week to put me at 15-9 overall so let's keep it rolling shall we? No more NBA picks because that shit is too difficult to predict we are going to go straight football this week.

NFL
Kansas City@St. Louis(-1)
- If the NFC West is ever a favorite against anyone out of the division do yourself a favor and bet against them. The NFC West blows like someone 7-9 is going to make the playoffs over the Packers or Bears because of this shit. This just isn't right in years like this. I am all for division winners getting in but not a home game. I think record should indicate seeding but hey what do I know?
Anyway with Cassel most likely back this week, the Chiefs roll here. I am taking a chance he plays and plays well but it is the Rams so I like my chances.

The pick- KC(+1)

Cleveland@Cincinnati(-1)
- hahahahahahah. This line is just too silly to be true. The 2-11 Bengals are favorites? First, the Browns are coming off a loss aka they will play will and Peyton Hillis will rush for 5,000 yards in the next game with 5 TD's. Bad news for GW's fantasy team matchup with Curly... The Browns straight up roll here in the battle for Ohio.

The pick- Cleveland(+1)

Philly@New York G-MEN(-3)
- Philly found a way to beat the Giants last time with an ok performance by Mike Vick(who apparently is looking to own a dog again the near future). They find a way to win again and cover the three point spread in New York even with Justin Tuck harassing Vick all day.

The pick- Philly(+3)

Atlanta@ Seattle(+5.5)
- Remember what I said about the NFC West? Yeah that is right they blow. Atlanta beats Seattle by 80 in this one and covers easily. Michael Turner tears Seattle a new asshole and laughs about it all the way to three TDs.

The Birds of Prey own this week. All four of these are locks. Parlay that shit. Combo bet city! Just throw the house down on these four as you can't lose by listening to my NFL expertise.

The pick- Atlanta(-5.5)

Saponari Officially Rejected by BC

According to a report on USHR, Vinny Saponari has officially been rejected by BC. There's no link because you have to pay for use of the site, and I'm not paying. Here's the excerpt, though:

Boston College admissions has denied the transfer application of former BU forward Vinny Saponari.

Saponari, booted from the Boston University hockey team after his sophomore season, would have entered BC as a junior in the fall of ’11.

Atlanta’s fourth choice in the 2008 draft, Saponari currently leads the USHL in scoring (8-22-30 in 21 games) while helping lead the expansion Dubuque Fighting Saints to the top of the Western Conference standings.

“He’s very disappointed,” said Dubuque coach Jim Montgomery. “He had a long face in my office.”

“It’s too bad, because he’s been playing great. I think he’s the most dominant player in the league now,” says Montgomery. “He’s ready to play in the AHL and develop into a professional player.”

Montgomery reports that the coaching staff at BC “was not happy” with the thumbs-down.

As for the future, Montgomery says his assistant captain “is keeping his options open” and will start talking to schools again in February.
“But,” Montgomery added, "he’s a little down on schools right now.”


So there you go. Hate to say it, but I told you so.

Slow Week...

If you haven't noticed, it's been slow around here lately. Blame it on finals week, which is obviously the only time felizmiguel can post since he probably doesn't even have finals (just kidding buddy). But seriously, in the finals vs. blog posting war, finals unfortunately has to win this time. Stay tuned for uninformed rants about the first half of BU's season, the World Junior Championship, and more of QuackQuack's surefire bets. For now, I leave you with this: if you aren't watching 24/7: Road to the Winter Classic, start. First episode aired last night, and it's a must-see for any hockey fan, even if you hate both the Caps and the Pens as I do...

Scandal rocks hockey east: druggiest college conference in the country?

According to what I imagine to be a ridiculously unscientific analysis The Daily Beast has proclaimed the druggiest college campuses in the country based on (I guess) drug arrests on campus and statewide rates of pot and cocaine usage. Here's the Hockey East rundown from the top 50 list:

1. UNH

2. NU

4. Maine

18. Vermont

44. UMass

Well I guess if you can't be the best rivalry in college hockey, there's no shame in shooting for the most drug-addled? Seriously I'm not surprised that the choir boys didn't make the list (didn't want to have to confess to it) and I'd have been mildly surprised if BU were on there. My main pleasure about this list is Northeastern being on there number 2 with a bullet. Big surprise though, right? I mean if my hockey team were that terrible on such a regular basis (even when they're having a "good" year) I'd prolly need the occasional bit of relief (read: blow) too. I just thought they did much more at UVM; I figured those hippies smoked enough grass to be 1-49 on the list, not just 18. Anyway, I think we can firmly conclude that Hockey East is the most drug-abusing conference in collegiate sports. Keep up the good work, mediocre schools that make up half of the conference!

As a side note I think the only reason Merrimack missed is because the French just smoke mad cigarettes. (Great work, da Costa!)

Breaking down the polls

As seen below we dropped from #7 to #10 this week which came of no surprise after a 4-1 defeat Saturday at RPI. Yale remains at number one with 45 out of the 50 first place votes. UNH, Minnesota-Duluth and Newton University split up the other five. North Dakota got zero despite having the strongest strength of schedule in the nation compared to Yale's 26. They have also played 8 more games than Yale who refuses to play anyone difficult out of conference at the beginning of the season for some reason. North Dakota and UNH have a legitimate case for number one over Yale. I refuse to give BC the right to number one yet, but they are better than Yale. They are actually much better than Yale but I think they still belong at 3 or 4 due to their inconsistency thus far. BC will be number one once again this season at some point I am sure along with a couple of other teams as I see no clear-cut number one team in the nation.

Yale will lose again and once that happens they should free-fall since any loss in conference will be to a bad team. They have one ranked opponent left on the schedule and that is Union on 1/28 and RPI on 1/29 in Troy. This will be Yale's stiffest test of the season since RPI is undefeated at home this season and Union is decent apparently. They play an astounding TWO teams in the top 15 of the Pairwise rankings for the remainder of the season. That is those games against RPI and Union. They then have five games against teams in 15-25 rankings of the Pairwise which realistically says they would not make the tournament as of today. They play Dartmouth(#19) twice, Clarkson(#22) twice, and Princeton(#21) once. The only other positive on Yale's resume is a win is at Colorado College(#15 pairwise) in November. The remaining 10 games come against teams outside of the Pairwise Rankings all together. Now let's compare this to a Hockey East team such as UNH. They have 5 games remaining against "tournament" teams or top 15 in the pairwise with two against Maine, two against BC and one against BU with two more against (#18 Merrimack). BU has seven more against top 15 teams. I don't understand how voters can undervalue these types of games. Sorry but UNH's win in Maine this past weekend means a hell a lot more than Yale defeating the club team from Sacred Heart. I am ok with Yale being in the top ten but they are not the #1 team in the country so stop ranking them there. Any of the top 10 teams would have their record or better with that schedule.

Pairwise- These are the computer rankings that the NCAA committee goes by in March when determining the seeding and teams in the tournament.
Krach- USCHO makes these up based on a formulas. Note that in both. Yale and Union's strength of schedule are not impressive while RPI has held it's own by playing BU and Brown I guess? I honestly don't know their strength of schedule is that high.

So here is my attempt at ranking the top ten teams without a computer.
1. UNH- They have two losses all season both of which came on the road to top 13 teams in Pairwise rankings. That sounds like a #1 team to me.
2. North Dakota- They have the number one strength of schedule and have a 13-5-2 record to show from it.
3. Minnesota-Duluth- They were number one in the country for a month for a reason.
4. BC-This team is streaky but is a top 5 team no matter how I hate them and everything they stand for.
5. Denver- Again,SOS play a role here as they get through the first half with a 12-5-3 record in a tough conference while challenging themselves out of conference.
6. Miami- Same as of above
7. Yale- They slide to #7 for their lone loss against (#34) Air Force. You wanna off set that bad loss? Play someone good you pussies.
8. Maine- Tough loss to UNH this weekend at home but still should make the tournament with ease
9 . BU- The loss at RPI hurts but this young team will grow throughout the break and come back strong to make a push at another Frozen Four appearance.
10. Nebraska-Omaha- They lost two to Bem. State. That is tough to do and stay in the top ten.

Also here is a piece from USCHO grading Hockey East teams throughout the first half of the season.

BU Drops to #10 in New Polls; Should Yale Be #1?

USCHO has posted this week's poll, and it features BU dropping back to #10. Yale maintains the top spot, while UNH hops over North Dakota to #2. The top 10 looks like this:

1. Yale
2. UNH
3. North Dakota
4. Minnesota-Duluth
5. Boston College
6. Miami
7. Denver
8. Nebraska-Omaha
9. Maine
10. Boston University

I'm sure QuackQuack will have something to say about the polls, but I just thought I would throw them up quickly. Another interesting page to check out is the RPI rankings. If you look at the strength of schedule column, Yale has the 26th toughest schedule in the country. Both they and conference mates Union (25) have SOS's outside the top-20, yet RPI's head coach insinuated that they were better than BU following Saturday's game. Really? Because playing cupcake teams in a cupcake conference doesn't make you a good team. Yale doesn't deserve to be #1 if you consider the toughness of their schedule, which the voters absolutely should. UNH, BC, Minnesota-Duluth or North Dakota all have much more legitimate claims to the top spot.

The Jets Cheat

To start this one off, just remember that the Rangers scored more goals on Sunday than the Jets did points...



Are you kidding me? How dumb is that guy. Just goes to prove what everybody has said about the Jets all along: dirty playing, cheap talking losers. Embarrassing. And I'm sure this will bring on a "Spygate" reference from Tiger and the rest of you Jet fans. Give me a break. They taped games from the sideline. You can have game footage, you just can't tape it on the sideline or take any tape that benefits you during a game. Plus, multiple head coaches pointed out that they themselves did it as coaches and that most coaches in the league did it. So screw off. And they never taped the Rams walkthrough before the Super Bowl in 2001. Charges were dropped, Arlen Specter is a crybaby douchebag. Anyways, 11-2 baby! Suck it!

Pats run train on Da Bears...clinch playoff spot

The Pats owned the Bears 36-7 in a driving snow storm in Chicago at the historic Soldier Field. The Pats jumped out to a 33-0 lead in the first half and held on for a win to clinch a playoff spot and improve to 11-2 overall this year. Tom Brady threw for 369 yards and 2 TDs while BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran for 87 yards and the defense forced four turnovers to seal the win. This was another all around team effort as Wes Welker had over 100 yards receiving and Deion Branch contributed along with rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski. This was another team effort to give the Pats a two game lead for the number one overall seed in the AFC as they have a game on Pittsburgh and the tie-breaker due to their head-to-head win. Their win today along with the Jets 10-6 loss to Miami gives them a two game lead in the division with three to play. The Patriots will next play a strong Green Bay team coming into Foxboro next Sunday night. They did lose QB Aaron Rodgers today to a concussion to his status will be up in the air until he clears numerous tests by the doctors.
Winners:
1. Tom Brady- 369 yards passing, 2 TDs and no picks is a pretty good game if it wasn't in a snowstorm.
2. Deion Branch- 8 catches for 151 yards and a TD right as the first half expired put the last nail in the Bears' coffin.
3. Shayne Graham- 3 for 3 on field goals in a blizzard is pretty damn good for a mid-season pick-up.
4. Wes Welker- Welker continues to grow back into his old form and had his first 100 yard game today.
5. Bill Belichick- Easily the best team in football right now. This team is clicking on all cylinders right now lead by the best coach in the game.

Losers
1. Da Bears- They looked ho ho rendus today!

BU ends first half with 4-1 loss at RPI in chippy contest

Our Terriers ended the first half 8-4-5 overall after a 4-1 loss to RPI yesterday in Troy,NY. The Terriers gave up three powerplay goals and one shorthanded in a frustrating game in which the Terriers accumulated 55 penalty minutes in the third period alone, 12 of these were attributed to coach Jack Parker as his voice echoed throughout the arena in the third as he chewed out the refs. Three Terriers were thrown out of the game. Alex Chiasson was the first Terrier to get tossed in the third period. Sean Escobedo suffered a violent hit from behind from RPI Engineer C.J. Lee. Chiasson was brought down to the ice in a stranglehold two minutes later and just started punching Lee with one of his punches landing on a referee. Junior Assistant Captain Dave Warsofsky followed Chiasson 1:04 later and slammed his stick violently as he exited the ice. Freshman Garrett Noonan was ejected with 16 seconds left in the game following another melee. Captain Joe Pereira summed up all the penalty minutes best when he said: “You mess with one of us, you’re going to mess with the whole team,”. This is the positive from yesterday's game as the team defended one another.

The negative would be the 0 for 5 on the powerplay and the recent struggle on the penalty kill for the Terriers heading into the break. The special teams seem to be a focal point of what the young team will work on over break. Expect the team to come back back refreshed and ready to go for the New Year's tournament out in Chicago. Their next game is New Year's Day against Brown in the Sillelagh Tournament. They continue HE play a week later in Vermont and look to start off the second half in a strong way.

This team exceeded expectations in the first half as they finish third in HE only two points behind BC and two to six points behind UNH because they have played two fewer games. Stay tuned here over break for any updates we can bring you about the team or any videos I decided to make when I get bored over the next month.

Quack Quack's Money in the bank lock of the week

I improved to 14-8 after last week's 2-1 performance which I'll take everyday of the week and twice on Friday. My options are limited until the college Bowl season goes into full swing in the next couple weeks so I am going to stick to NFL and college basketball. I am a little late this week but you last day of classes and work will do that to you. Gotta get money get paid you know what I'm saying? Here we go with this week...


Atlanta@Carolina(+7)
- The best team in the NFC against the worst and it is only a seven point spread? Are you kidding me? This shit is too easy. Atlanta all the way here. This is a trap game for the Falcons lead by Newton College product Matt Ryan but they still win by 10 points in this one because the Panthers are just that bad.

The pick- Atlanta

NBA:
Orlando@ Utah(-3.5)
- There really isn't much else for you me to choose from so I am going with Orlando over Utah tonight in Utah or the state of seven wives. The mormons and all their wives will be disappointed after this one when Dwight Howard tears apart the Jazz. Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap are solid big men for Utah but Dwight Howard is simply in a league of his own. Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter give Orlando options from the outside and Orlando will cover here.
The Pick- Orlando



Baseball-
RedSox - 6/1 odds to win it all next year
- They sign Carl Crawford out of nowhere,trade for Adrian Gonzalez and still have Tito as the manager. This team should be a 1/1 odd to win it all. This lineup has 4+ all stars in it and 3-5 more on the pitching staff. Put the house down on the Sox baby!

BU Adds Recruit for Fall 2011

BU got another commitment for the fall of 2011 today, 17 year old forward Evan Rodrigues. Rodrigues competes in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, and thus far this season has totaled 12-22-34 in 21 games. You can see his complete stats here. The 5'10", 170 pound right winger was being pursued by Notre Dame  and Michigan as well as BU. If you want to read more about Rodrigues and his career thus far, check out this feature.

Rodrigues joins forward Cason Hohmann, defenseman Alexx Privitera, and goalie Matthew O'Connor in BU's fall of 2011 recruiting class.

Boston Hockey Blog write up.
Terrier Hockey Blog feature.

BU falls to La Salle 84-81 for first home loss of the season

The Terriers' men basketball team dropped to 4-6 overall this season and 2-1 at home after an 84-81 loss to the La Salle Explorers at Agganis Arena. Darryl Partin lead BU with 20 points on 8-17 shooting before fouling out with 30 seconds remaining. John Holland and Dom Morris both added 15 points off the bench but this was not enough to overcome the Explorers' offensive attack lead by Rebun Guillandeaux's 21 points and Earl Pettis' 19 points. The Terriers lost the lead for good with around five minutes remaning after trailing for much of the first half by as much with 12 points with five minutes left before halftime. BU still had two chances to tie the game and send it to OT with under a minute left but G D.J. Irving missed the second of 2 free throws and John Holland missed a three at the buzzer to sum up a frustrating night for the Terriers as they could not get much consistency on the defensive end of the court. They were in the double bonus by the end of both halves and they could have used those points back at the end of the game as John Holland's shot clanked off the backboard to end the game. Matt Griffin's intentional fall in the middle of the second half also hurt and he did not see much time for the rest of the game.
I felt like Morris has the most potential to be a difference-maker on this team as you could tell when he was on the court as he showed off all of his offensive talents. Him and Partin were easily the stars of the game for BU as Holland, Jake O'Brien, and Matt Griffin all had quiet nights. This team will need more from their upperclassmen if they want to take advantage in America East play starting in January.

A Little Wintertime Baseball

To break up the monotony of hockey posts going on around here lately (give us a break, it's all we've got here), I thought I would lay down a little baseball for you all. If you are a Red Sox fan, feel free to keep reading. If you aren't (cough Tiger cough), you might as well just stop here...

Unless you've been living under a rock this week, you know that baseball's winter meetings have been going on. In reality, it's just a bunch of free agent signings disguised as GM meetings. Anyways, in a rare showing of spending money, the Red Sox have landed two of the biggest deals of this off-season thus far. No, I'm not talking about Cliff Lee (who's going to the Yankees, just accept it now). I'm talking about the signing of Carl Crawford and the trade for Adrian Gonzalez. The Crawford signing came as a shock to a lot of people in baseball, especially since it was widely assumed that he would be heading to Anaheim to play with his buddy Torii Hunter. Instead, Crawford inked a huge deal late last night that will lock him up in the AL East for 7 more years. The 29 year old will be making about $20.28 million per year for those seven years, bringing this near-record contract to a total worth of $142 million. While with the Devil Rays last season, Crawford batted .307 with 19 homers, 90 rbi's, and 47 stolen bases. Carl raped the Red Sox on the base paths all year last year, so you've got to be happy that he will no longer be playing against us and instead by tormenting opposing pitchers for us. Smart move by Epstein, taking a page right out of Belichick's playbook (grabbing Welker from the Dolphins after he threaded our defense).

The Gonzalez deal is equally monumental for the Sox. While they had to give up few top prospects - Casey Kelly being the big one - you have to be happy with acquiring an All Star caliber first basemen in the prime of his career. While no long term deal has been established the Gonzo yet, the expectations are that he will sign a deal similar in length and amount to Crawford's. The 28 year old lefty batted .298 last year, with 31 homers and 101 rbi's. It's not unreasonable to expect that his numbers will increase this season, especially with the short porch in right field.

So there you go. One week, two deals, ballgame. The Red Sox have to be considered pre-season World Series contenders at this point, even if they don't sign anybody else for the rest of the offseason. As of now, this is probably what the opening day line up would look like:

1. Carl Crawford, LF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. JD Drew, RF
7. Jason Varitek/Jared Salt., C
8. Marco Scutaro, SS
9. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF

Are you kidding me? That's at least 4 All Stars right there - Crawford, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis. Do everybody a favor and just hand us the World Series now. We'll save you the embarrassment of mauling you later.

Postgame Press conferences from tonight's 5-4 win over Northeastern

The other two press conferences are unavailable at this time so I will get those to you when they are available. My take on the game from what I heard on the radio(while I was working to support this blog haha) is that this was a game of streaks. Northeastern went up 2-0 then BU scored 4 straight to go up 4-2 before Northeastern tied it up 4-4 before the great french Canadian Alex Chiasson put the game winner in off the powerplay to give BU a big conference win after a rough weekend against BC. There were alot of good things to take from this game as the freshman played well(Coyle,Nieto, Gill, Clendening). Kieran Millan also stole the game for BU making 37 saves and keeping BU in the game all night. The Terriers take on RPI Saturday to end the first half 6-3-4(16 pts.) in the conference which isn't bad at all considering the expectations coming in. The Terriers look to end the season 9-3-5 overall with a win Saturday in New York with a 3:30 start so let's hope they can get it done.

Quick Thoughts on the BU Win vs NU

Hey ya'll! So tonight the Terriers took down local foes Northeastern University. As the only member that stayed/ even showed up (George, Quack, Feliz, Ray) I decided to give you all a quick thought on the game. BU went down quick on 2 goals by NU. The team still looked like it had a hangover from the terrible weekend that just passed against BC. BU responded scoring 2 goals (Coyle & Santana[his 1st as a Terrier]) in the 1st period to tie the game up heading into intermission (also we won some chicken). We came out strong in the 2nd period and scored another two goals to have the lead at 4-2 (Trivino & Nieto). NU picked up the play midway through the 2nd after NU pulled Rawlings and placed the back up sieve, Witt, between the pipes. They scored soon after to cut the lead to 4-3 heading into the 2nd intermission.

After a slow opening, BU was caught with their hands down the pants and got 2 penalties on the same play to give NU a 5 vs. 3 powerplay. NU converted on the powerplay to make it 4-4. It seemed that the puck was left out in the open in front of Milan and none of the defenders cleared the zone and MacLeod lit the lamp on a right top shelf goal. With only a few minutes left, Alex Chiasson lit the lamp to make it 5-4 BU. BU held on for great kick start win.

The players showed a lot determination out there and as a fan I was proud to be Terrier. Hopefully, the play continues when BU travels to Troy this weekend to play RPI.

BU NU Preview

Alright, we all know how much I, along with all of the other bloggers here, hate BC, but I have an especially deep hatred for NU. To me, the Huskies are almost as bad as the NC Eagles. I've been going to the BU NU games since 7th grade (I'll be at the back-to-back ones in March), and I've developed just an absolute hate for these fucks. Greg Cronin is easily the spottiest coach I have ever seen, having seasons that have some form of potential, or, like now (3-8-4), just shitty ones.

I sincerely don't expect much of a fight from NU, but given the ups and downs of this season, anything is possible. I think the biggest point for BU is for Parker to get this squad over the steamrolling of this past weekend. If the team is mentally out of the past weekend, they'll have a good game, and keep this season positive.

NU, for this season, has had a fairly decent past few games, splitting a two game series with Merrimack, and tying UVM before that. They'll be firing on all cylinders tonight, and I'm expecting a physical showing from their defense.

Nieto has been having a couple of decent games, and I'll expect him to keep up the good gameplay. After this weekend's disappointment, I'm expecting Millan to step it up a bit (getting pulled after the first period last friday, was NOT cool, Kieran). As long as they keep their heads up from last weekend, and pick up their defense a bit, I think it'll be a decent game.

And always, remember the "safety school" chant for the game. Let's beat these fucks, shut up the most annoying fanbase in HE, and get a good confidence boosting game.

USA Hockey Announces Junior Camp Invitees

Last year's victorious USA team. 

29 players have been invited to the Junior National's camp in preparation for the World Junior Classic - and 3 are from Boston University. Defenseman Adam Clendening, forward Charlie Coyle and forward Matt Nieto will all be in camp for the US once BU breaks between semesters. Other Div. 1 schools were well represented, including 4 from BC, and a couple teams with 1 or 2 (North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, etc). The tournament officially begins December 26, by which point Team USA will be down to 22 players. Last year, the US squad took down Canada in the finals to win the gold medal, and BU's own Dave Warsofsky was an assistant captain for that team. Team USA looks to repeat this year with another strong batch of players, not the least of whom are Coyle, Nieto and Clendening. I personally think only 2 of the 3 will make the team, probably some combination of Coyle and either Nieto or Clendening.

You can view the full roster here.
You can view the official tournament page here.

How do you like them apples Fatty? Pats trounce Jets 45-3

The Pats trounced the Jets tonight 45-3 down at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro in front of a national audience on ESPN. The Pats jumped out to an early 17-0 lead and never looked back. Mark Sanchez threw 3 picks while Tom Brady threw for 4 TDs while BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran for two more to lead the way for the Pats. Danny Woodhead lead the receiving corps with 104 yards on 4 receptions. The Patriots improve to 10-2 and travel to Chicago(9-3) next week to take on the NFC North leading Bears. The Jets(9-3) host the Dolphins this coming week. The Pats played the best "60 minutes of the year" according to coach Belichick in his press conference. The Patriots certainly looked like the superior team in every aspect of the game tonight as the Patriots once again blew out an AFC rival on MNF as they beat Miami 42-14 earlier in the year. Brady won his 26th consecutive regular season home-game. The offensive line was great and this young defense stood strong when the Jets did get anything going offensively. Here are the winners losers from this week. No homo on the smiley face I just fuckin hate the Jets and won't stop smiling until next Sunday.
Winners
1. Tom Brady- 326 yards and 4 TDs is pretty good against one of the best defenses in the league right?
2. BenJarvus Green-Ellis- lead the team with 72 yards rushing and 2 TDs
3. Danny Woodhead- 4 catches for 104 yards and 2 rushes for 11 yards
4. Devin McCourty- another pick for the rookie CB out of Rutgers as he continues to grow into one of the best defensive backs in the league
5. Deion Branch- 3 catches for 64 yards and a TD for the Louisville product
6. Wes Welker- 8 catches for 70 yards and a TD as he continues to look better each week as he stil comes off that serious knee injury.

Losers
1. Fatty Rex Ryan- his team got demolished ten times than a box of twinkies in the Ryan household.
2. Mark Sanchez- 3 picks is just not good
3. The Jets- They suck

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).

Thoughts on a Lackluster Weekend

Although I already posted my weekly rankings, I felt I had a little more to say about BU's home and home with BC from this past weekend. You'll have to excuse me here, as there's little doubt this post will turn into an uninformed diatribe...

We went into this weekend with some high hopes. People had started whispering about BU, that we weren't as good as the polls represented, that we only had 1 win in November and that we belonged outside of the top 5 in the country. Well this was our chance to show the doubters wrong. To at least put up a good fight against BC and get a split or maybe a win and a tie. We needed to show that we could hold our own against the defending national champs, a top ten ranked team, and most importantly - our cross city rivals. Needless to say, it didn't exactly go as planned.

Friday night was easily the worst loss of the season to that point. Some people might think that only losing by 4 isn't cause for grave concern, but that game was. The game was never as close as the score represented, and giving up 9 goals is never good regardless of circumstances. BC wreaked havoc on our entire squad, leading to what most certainly could only be called a beat-down. Their forwards pressed our d-men at the points, leading to poor passing all around and many unnecessary turnovers. I think the area this was most evident was when BU went on the power play - BC's forwards gave our point men no room to breathe, and any BU player who touched the puck was instantly greeted with a BC defender right in his face. All together, it was no good.

But those of us here at the BSRSB felt that maybe BU would go headhunting Saturday at Conte. Maybe the lesson would be learned, maybe our guys would come out burning and tear the place down. Unfortunately, that's not exactly how it turned out. A good first ten minutes led to a BU goal early, but the lead was quickly forfeited and from there it was BC all the way. When they scored two goals in less then a minute part way into the second period, there was no doubt that BC was scary good at scoring at will. A good Joe Pereira goal a few minutes later couldn't stop the bleeding, and BC took Saturday's game as well.

*A quick side note about the fans at Conte on Saturday. It was easily their biggest crowd of the year if I had to guess, and so I'll forgive you for having maybe 50 people in jerseys and the rest in those abominable "superfan" shirts. But here's where I take issue - literally almost every single chant was a BU sucks chant in some variety. I'd say 7 out of every 10, with the other 3 being "Let's Go Eagles/BC Rejects". Look, we get that you think we suck and that you're better than us etc. etc. But couldn't you guys think of anything else besides "Sucks to BU"? For a school that supposedly is superior to BU academically (according to any BC student/alum), you'd think they would be clever enough to think of something. Anything. There's so much material: a Vinny Saponari chant, a Beanpot chant, a National champs chant, anything. They even chanted "Jesus Love Us" at one point. Congratulations? Last time I checked, believing in a particular religion didn't make you superior to anybody else, but hey what else would you expect from BC students?

Anyways, back to hockey. Look, does this weekend kill our season? Not a chance. Is there a good chance that our guys use it as a learning experience? Absolutely. Losing two games to BC in December doesn't make us dead in the water. It certainly doesn't inspire confidence, but it doesn't kill us. Personally, I think you can mark this weekend's losses up to a couple of things: 1.) BC pressured our guys all game long both nights, forcing turnovers and causing general uneasiness on all parts of the ice, 2.) Our team is still pretty young, with 17 of 26 players being underclassmen and therefore lots of required growing time, and 3.) BC flat out just had the superior will to win for all 60 minutes of both games. It's too early to tell if this weekend will be the mark of our team this season, but I would certainly doubt it. We split with UNH and tied Maine already, both top ten teams. Losing two to another top ten team doesn't put us out of contention. It just certainly doesn't help.

Hockey East Power Rankings - Depression Week

Terrier freshman Matt Nieto, scored two goals this weekend against BC

Yeah it's a depressing weekend around the BSRSB. Two losses to our crosstown rivals, and embarrassing ones at that, are never a good morale booster. And with that, here we go...

1.) BC - They have now reclaimed their spot atop Hockey East, and in my rankings as well. They played like the best team in Hockey East this weekend - and perhaps in the country. Their forwards are tough, fast, and aggressive. Their defensemen control the puck well and deny good scoring chances. The ones they let through are almost always stopped by one of the best goaltenders in the country, John Muse.

2.) BU - They drop to number #2 this week after being thrashed two nights in a row against BC. Do I think this marks the end of their season? No. Do I think this is a disheartening sign from a team many of us had high expectations for? Yes. However, hopefully this will teach the young guys what it takes to hang tough with arguably one of the top 3 teams in the country.

3.) UNH - A pair of victories over teams they deserved to beat leads to UNH retaining their #3 spot. Dick Umile's club has played an impressive first half, marked by their strong forward and goalie play.

4.) Maine - 3 points was perhaps one point short of what the Black Bears wanted out of a series with PC this weekend. But after a 3-3 tie on Friday and a convincing 5-0 win on Saturday, that's exactly what they got. Credit PC, however, as they have been playing the top teams tough this season.

5.) Merrimack - As good as they might think they are, they really aren't. They split with a rather awful Northeastern team this weekend (need I remind you of Northeastern's 3 losses to Atlantic Hockey teams?), in what was a disappointment I'm sure. While many Merrimack fans think this team is deservingly ranked, consider this: they have lost to BC, UNH, PC, and NU, and they tied BU as well as Vermont. Is this really a team that should be ranked top 20 in the country? I don't think so.

6.) PC - A tie with an impressive Maine team is all I needed to move PC up this week. Look, they've been one of the surprises of Hockey East this season and although I don't think they will do anything substantial this year, I'm still impressed.

7.) Northeastern - They beat Merrimack. I instantly like any team that can beat Merrimack. Thanks, guys (and Chris Rawlings. But mostly Rawlings).

8.) UMass - Amherst - They beat UMass - Lowell in a battle of state schools on Friday night. The real question here is: which team had the lower average IQ?

9.) Vermont - A tough weekend for VT, they got smacked around by UNH this afternoon. Not that anybody can really blame them, as UNH has been one of the best teams in the country thus far this season.

10.) UMass - Lowell - Look, there isn't much to be said about ULowell this season. They suck, they suck, they suck. Sorry guys. I've given up all hope on these guys this year.

Post Game

Joe Pereira's post game comments, courtesy of the Boston Hockey Blog.
Go Terriers box score.
CBS Sports Video Recap and Steven Whitney Interview
USCHO.com recap.
Finally, Jack Parker post game comments...

No redemption for BU...BC completes a sweep in December...Congratulations.

There are good nights in hockey and bad nights in hockey and we had two bad ones in a row and this is sums up the weekend in a nutshell. We'll get them at the Beanpot and in Jan.

They skated better better, defended better, had more shots on goal had more break away and quite simply made us look like an average hockey team. I am not saying we are as GW may disagree here. This team is skilled enough and has the leadership to do damage in postseason this year and I believe finished the year in top 10. This team had one loss before this weekend. I repeat one. It is not time to go abandon them and assume the season a lost cause. They will bounce back against Northeastern Wed and RPI next weekend. This team will make the tournament. Consider this weekend of learning for your Terriers if you want to put a positive spin on it. This team will turn it on in the second half. BC is a top ten team in the country easily and probably top 3 when they show up .When being a key word though. If they pick and choose who to show up against. This team isn't going anywhere. Only time will tell but keep the faith Terrier nation.

Eagles Trounce Terriers in Showdown; Terriers Look for Redemption

Well, that wasn't how we wanted it to go. The BC Eagles jumped out to an early first period lead and never looked back in a 9-5 rolling of the BU Terriers on Friday night. The Eagles scored 3 first period goals, including two in the first 3 minutes, to effectively put the game away early. In fact, the Eagles scored the first 4 goals of the contest before BU freshman Matt Nieto wristed a shot by BC netminder John Muse in the 2nd period. For the Terriers, there were basically no bright spots. Kieran Millan made the start in net and gave up 3 goals on 13 shots in one period of play. After that, back-up Grant Rollheiser gave up 6 goals on 24 shots (to be fair to Rollie, one of the goals was due to terrible stickhandling by Sean Escobedo, and another was a penalty shot due to a penalty by Escobedo). Offensively, BU did manage to pour in 5 goals, but by that point the game was over anyways. Charlie Coyle had two assists, while Max Nicastro scored his first goal of the year for the Terriers.

Personally, I'm glad this happened when it did. Because so far this season, the Terriers haven't been subjected to that kind of beating and I hope it serves as a wake up call to this team. It's not ok just to eke out ties or to play just good enough to win by one or whatever. Hopefully tonight will be a different story for the Scarlet and White, hopefully they can jump out early and earn a split for the weekend.

Tonight's contest will start at 7:30, and will be broadcast on CBS College Sports. The Boston Hockey Blog will have their live blog per usual. For now, I leave you with game highlights (or, more appropriately, lowlights) as well as Parker's post game comments....

LETS GO

Sorry QuackQuack, didn't mean to bump your Money in the Bank post from the top, but I had to post my excitement for this game.

Being unable to watch it (fuck you, shitty cable in Keene), I'll be at my computer avidly watching the gametracker, praying.

It's time, Parker. Time to shut these fuckers up. It's time to show BC why they're ranked number 8. Time to show them what a Hockey East Championship-caliber team means. Shut up the choir boys/superfrauds/eagleboys. Make Muse skate off the ice with his head hung in shame. But most of all? Shut up that fucker Jerry York. Parker, this is your time to shine. BU's got a barely winning, but winning nonetheless record against these bastards (125-108-17), and we gotta keep that up.

Expect BC to skate hard tonight, they're coming off of a 6-0 victory against UVM, and back-to-back victories against Maine, so the momentum is flowing. BU needs to step up their offense, and be more aggressive with the puck if they want to beat the Newton pansies.

Bottom line here is this:
Fuck 'em up, fuck 'em up, BC SUCKS

Just remember this from Coach Brooks. It's time to get pumped, Terriers. It's time.

Quack Quack's Money in the bank locks of the week

So I had a rough week last week going 1-3 in my betting expertise. Hopefully I can bounce back for you this week as my overall record of 12-7 still is over .500. It is BC weekend so I can't lose this weekend. It just can't happen. Here we go...

NCAA FB
UCONN@South Florida(-2)
- This is a ridiculous line. UCONN is playing great right now after last week's win over Cincinnati. They go to a BCS bowl with a win in South Florida. Yes they are both 7-4 and the game is in South Florida but I don't see UCONN missing out on one of its last chances to go to a BCS bowl before having to deal with TCU starting in 2012. UCONN lead by senior captain fullback Anthony Sherman beat South Florida and get the automatic BCS bowl berth.
The Pick-UCONN




NFL
Cleveland @ Miami(-4.5)
-I did a double take at this line. Miami has been up and down the whole season and Cleveland's mo is to play to the ability of the opponent. They will not Miami lightly especially in Miami. Expect Peyton Hillis to have another big day running the ball though and to not only cover this line but win the game and carry Curly's fantasy team on his back once again. Cleveland wins this game and knocks the Dolphins out of the playoff picture for good.
The Pick- Cleveland(+4.5)



NBA
Oklahoma City@Toronto(-1)
- I am mixing it up here and going with an NBA game. I know Oklahoma City has Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook who are dirty and Toronto sucks so I am going with Oklahoma City here. Durant and Westbrook combine for 60 points and run the Raptors out of their own building.
The Pick- Oklahoma City

Also BU/BC games for this weekend...BU wins both and opens up a first place lead in HE. I can't find any lines on these games so this doesn't really count but BU wins 5-3 tonight and 5-4(OT) tomorrow night. BC sucks!