BU comes in at #3 in both national polls

The BU Terriers came in #3 nationally in both the USCHO and USA Today polls. They were bested by Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota in both polls. Merrimack and BC trail right behind the Terriers in both polls coming in at #4 and #5 respectively. Here is the rest of the top 10 and other notables in both polls. BU remained #2 in the pairwise rankings which are the only rankings that matter for the NCAA tournament in March.

USCHO/USA Today

1. Minnesota-Duluth
2. Minnesota
3. BU
4. Merrimack
5. BC
6/7. Ferris State
7/6. Notre Dame
8. Michigan
9. Lowell
10. Ohio State
15. Maine

Receiving votes:
Northeastern
Harvard

- INCH dropped BU to #5 in their weekly power rankings behind Merrimack which is understandable but also behind Union? They must be the new Yale of this year aka the winner of the EZAC who's record indicates that they are alot better than they actually are.

- BU players recognized in HE's press release where forwards Alex Chiasson, Chris Connolly, and goalie Kieran Millan

Weekend Recap- Maine and Refs sweep BU

As soon as anyone reads the title to this, the first reaction is going to be stop complaining about the refs. That would be my answer but, unless you were at both of these games you will have no idea how poor the officiating was. Maine took both games by scores of 4-2 and 3-1. Both games were impacted in a major way by questionable(read: awful) calls by the officials. In game 1, Maine's go ahead goal was a powerplay goal 12 seconds after Wade Megan was called for hooking where he sticklifted the Maine player on a breakaway. Referee Tom Quinn took the fate of the game out of the players' hands at a time in the game where if anything you should be less likely to make a call in the end of a tie game. BU and Maine had played an even game to that point and it should have been allowed to play out by the players not referee Tom Quinn, who as a 12 year ref should have know better.

Very little was made of the officiating after Friday night's game by the players as their attention was quickly turned to Saturday night's contest. The same could not be said Saturday night as officiating once again was in Maine's favor. Referees Jeff Bunyon(19th year) and Kevin Keenan(8th) once again indicated the outcome of the game. Maine lead 2-1 in the third when numerous questionable calls were made including an embellishment call on Garrett Noonan as he was blindly cross-checked in the back. They also made a questionable hooking call as Noonan stick lifted a Black Bear. The worst call of all was when BU pulled goalie Kieran Millan and Adam Clendening went back to retrieve a puck and was called for slashing when all he did was make a play on the puck. You know its a bad weekend for the officials when Gravallese was the best ref all weekend. Chris Connolly publicly acknowledged that the refs sucked and Coach Parker made his feeling clear when he was thrown out of last night's contest with 4 seconds left.

Maine played well this weekend as they remained hot and moving up the HE rankings but the officials didn't allow for either game to have the finish it would have in any other league in college hockey.

The two losses set the Terriers back but not significantly as they remain #2 in the Pairwise rankings and 1st in Hockey East with 25 points. The actual standings look as follow now. I am placing them in points per game played to take into account which teams have played more games etc. This might be tough for NU kids to understand but I think it is pretty straightforward.

1. BU 1.31pts/game 25 pts in 19 games

1. Merrimack 1.31pts/game 21pts in 16 games

3. Lowell 1.294 pts/game 22 pts in 17 games

4. BC 1.25pts/game 25 pts in 20 games

5. Maine 1.20 pts/game 24 pts in 20 games

6. PC 1.06 pts/game 17 pts in 16 games

7. UMass .82 pts/game 14 pts in 17 games

8. NU .74 pts/game 14 pts in 19 games

9. UNH .722 13pts in 18 games

10. UVM .28 pts/game 5 pts in 18 games

- BU travels to Merrimack next Friday in which is turning out to be a game for first place in Hockey East. Hockey East is beginning to separate into a top tier,lower tier, and then Vermont who just suck. The top 5 appear to be BU,MC, BC, Lowell, and Maine, all of which are in the top 10 in the Pairwise. The next 4 fighting for the last 3 playoff spots will be PC, UMass, UNH, and Northeastern. It certainly seems like that 4-5 matchup in the HE quarters will be two nationally ranked teams going at it. So ideally, we would want our Terriers anywhere from 1-3 to avoid that 4-5 matchup in the HE Quarter Finals.

- BU also lost freshman d-man Alexx Privitera to a right wrist injury on a high hit by Maine d-man Will O'Neill. Junior d-man Max NiCastro also was injured Friday night did not play Saturday night forcing BU to rotate 5 d-men both nights as they dressed an extra forward last night. Ryan Ruikka played well in his first action in a while as did senior forward Kevin Gilroy while freshman Yasin Cisse dressed but did not see much action. I would expect NiCastro back for Friday's game as he is a tough player as he showed his freshman year when he played the next weekend after cutting his wrist open in the HE Qf's against Merrimack.

Our Interview with Jake Moscatel and Matt Ronan

As always, thanks to Jake and Matt for sitting down and talking to us.  We definitely got a solid look inside the world of #walkonproblems.

JM = Jake Moscatel
MR = Matt Ronan

Matt, can you talk about your family connection to BU?

MR - Absolutely. Ever since I was born, or since before I can remember we were always a BU hockey family.  My cousin played here, graduated in 1991.  I was born in 1990 so ever since I can remember it was always BU hockey.  My brother Dan was actually looking at Princeton for a while, but when that didn’t work out he did a year in the USHL and came here.  It’s been an absolute dream for me.  I thought I was going to play Division 3 hockey or something because I didn’t have a great year in juniors (in the EJHL).  I was actually thinking about playing in British Columbia where Sahir Gill and Garrett Noonan played.  But then right in the beginning of the summer before freshman year, I found out (I could walk-on at BU).  It was pretty lucky and kind of a miracle.

Another one for you - we saw somewhere that you received the Edward M. Burt Community Service Award at Belmont Hill’s Prize Day Ceremony in 2009 – what was that about?

MR - Honestly, I think that was because my buddies and me always used to volunteer at this retirement home called Meadowbrook.  So senior year I was in charge of that.  We would go play cards, and one lady could still play scrabble so we would play that with her.  We also did this thing called horse races – where we would stand up and they would throw these huge dice on the ground.  Nobody was really sure what was going on but there was a lot of cheering and stuff, they were pretty excited about.  One time we went in there and Rene Rancourt was singing, so nobody wanted to come and play games with us.  It was really actually pretty funny.

JM - It wasn’t really about playing the games to them, as much as it was that they liked seeing the kids.  “Oh, you remind me so much of my second grandson. You’re cute, you’re so cute.”

New week of meaningless polls: BU stays at #2

BU has remained #2 nationally in the latest USCHO.com poll while receiving 5 first place votes this week. That was 5 more than last week as current #1 and defending champs Minnesota-Duluth held all the first place votes last week. Here is the rest of the top 10 and other notables.

1.UMD 17-4-3 - The Bulldogs are lead by BU captain Chris Connolly's brother Jack. It is a good time to be a member of the Connolly family.

2. BU 15-6-3- BU is on a roll(just like I said they would over break) and have the most fan support behind them since 2009.

3. Minnesota 17-9-1 - The Gophers are starting to fade but should be able to hold on for an NCAA berth

4. Notre Dame 14-9-3

5. Merrimack 13-5-5 - They lost senior forward Carter Madsen this weekend to a serious knee injury which is a tough blow for the club but they always seem to stay afloat despite injuries, well the last couple years

6. The Ohio State 14-7-4- They are starting to fade alot like Minnesota due to their youth but we'll see how much fight they have in that team.

7. Newton University (BC) 14-10-1- Shit happens when you don't have a decent goalie, eh?

8. Michigan 15-9-4 - Michigan has been climbing especially since getting d-man Jon Merrill back from his first half suspension

9. Cornell 11-4-4 - Cornell is actually a decent team unlike Yale last year who just beat up on the EZAC.

10. Ferris State 15-8-3

11. Lowell 14-6-0- They sweep NU and make it seem like the 2/17, 2/18 series with BU is going to be a good one

15. Denver 13-8-3

20. Maine 12-8-3- Thank you for sweeping Maine. Now its your turn to get swept you bunch of hillbillies.

-The USA Today poll still isn't up because they suck for whatever reason. INCH released their power rankings and they finally recognized BU as their #2 team. I guess you need to outscore PC 14-1 in a weekend to be recognized as a good team.

- Hockey East also published it's weekly press release where it recognized goalie Kieran Millan as defensive player of the week with .984 save percentage on the weekend. They also recognized Sahir Gill, Matt Nieto, Wade Megan, Garrett Noonan, and Alexx Privitera as Top Performers. I think that is good right? For whatever reason got shafted from that section but got recognized for his 12 points in his last 6 games. Coach Jack Parker was mentioned for his 400th career Hockey East win. It's a great Monday to be a Terrier fan.

BU sweeps PC by a combined score 14-1

BU came into the weekend looking to build on their 3 game winning streak to begin 2012 and they did just that. The Terriers took care of business quickly Friday night building a quick 4-0 lead after one period and eventually cruising to a 6-1 victory at home. The win was Coach Parker's 400th Hockey East win of his career. Senior goalie Kieran Millan made 36 saves on the night while sophomore d-man Adam Clendening highlighted the offense with 3 assists. The Terriers got goals from sophomore Sahir Gill, junior Alex Chiasson(on a blast from the right circle), Ryan Santana, and Matt Nieto in the first. Santana's goal being the most entertaining as he chipped the puck over a very aggressive Beaudry who was way out of net. The onslaught continued in the third as freshman Alexx Privitera scored from the point and sophomore d-man Garrett Noonan added the sixth and final goal before celebrating with a Jagr salute to the fans. The win was a great win that the team needed after two come from behind wins and 2 big points in Hockey East. The win moved the Terriers into sole possession of first place as BC lost to Maine Friday night and Merrimack lost to UNH.

Then came Saturday night where the Terriers returned to Schneider Arena where they suffered their first loss of the season 5-3 at the hand of the Friars in October. The Arena was packed full this time just kidding there were more PC hockey players than PC fans. The very pro-BU crowd had plenty to cheer for early and often as the Terriers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one behind goals from Matt Nieto(PP), Max NiCastro and Sahir Gill's first of the night. The Terriers added 3 more in the second from Noonan, Gill and Megan. Kieran Millan would preserve the shutout in the 3rd as Megan and Chiasson would add goals to complete the 2 point conversion and make it a an 8-0 victory.

Another 4 point weekend for the Terriers means they have sole possession in Hockey East standings with a 12-4-1 conference record with a 15-6-1 record overall which is good for 1st in the Pairwise rankings. The Terriers return to Agganis Arena for two against the inbreds from Maine this weekend. Maine will come in full of confidence as they are fresh off a sweep of BC up in Maine this past weekend. Pretty good weekend to be a Terrier fan , eh?

NFL Champ. Weekend

New Contract Please!?!

Shimmy Shake All The Way To Indy?

Cant Spell Elite Without "Eli"

The Commander of the Boston TE Party

Hey ya'll! So today is the 2nd biggest day in the NFL. Giants vs. 49ers and New England vs. Ravens. Let me start and say that I predicted these teams from last week and I predicted how 3 of the games would finish (I am awesome, and I know it). So lets start in the AFC.

I am going to take the New England in a close game. The reasoning is Brady to TEs or small white WRs. I like the Ravens defense a lot and they will probably force a lot of punts but Brady will be magical on a couple of drives. With Reed and Lewis playing tight coverage on the TEs I think it won't be as high scoring as last week. I think the NE defense finally has shown up and are starting to get healthy at the right time to hinder Flacco and Co. If I was the Ravens head coach, I should start praying that Ray Rice controls the ball and time of possession and Suggs just goes berserk on the pass rush to have a chance. I think the biggest difference is that the Ravens don't play well on the road and Brady is pretty good at home in the playoffs (9-2).

The 2nd game is a match up of a regular season game between the Giants and 49ers, which the 49ers won on a game saving INT in the Giants final drive of the game. But things have changed since that time, the Giants are playing as arguably the best defense in the postseason and the the front four have been playing on another level with the likes of Osi, JPP, and Tuck. On the other side of the ball, the 49ers have shown that they can score and play with the best offenses in the NFL (read the Saints). The weather is suppose to be bad and the field sucks there supposedly. I think the big deciding factor of the game will be Giants WRs YACs (yards after catch). If you look at the last few games the Giants have played they have had big plays from Nicks and Cruz and all the big plays come on 20-25 yard routes that they turn it up field and score. If the 49ers can stop the big play and just limit Eli Manning (you can't spell ELITE without ELI) to 15 yards and in I would take the 49ers BUT I am not going to too because of the Big 3 of JPP, Osi, and Tuck. I think they will control the type of offense the 49ers run and they will stop it. I like the Giants in this game that will be a tight affair.

Recap: Giants vs Patriots in the Super Bowl

PC Preview

The #2/3 (13-6-1 )BU Terriers prepare for a home and home this weekend with the (9-9-2)Providence College Friars. The Friars took the first game in October, a 5-3 win at PC's Schneider Arena. The Terriers are coming off a 3 game winning streak to begin 2012 with victories over Merrimack, Northeastern, and Harvard. The Terriers got goals from 6 different players last weekend as Megan, Rodrigues, Clendening, Connolly, Noonan, and Rosen all scored in Friday or Saturday's game. The Terriers look for a big weekend against Providence to take control of Hockey East and keep the positive momentum going into a pair with Maine next weekend. PC's two leading guys in points are freshman Ross Mauerman(8-9-17) and sophomore Derek Army (8-7-15). Their leading goal scorer, forward Tim Schaller is out for 3-4 weeks with mono. Man, kid was being too much of a player over break. The Friars are lead in net by senior Alex Beaudry who has posted decent numbers with .902 2.82 and 8-8-2 record for the Friars under first year coach Nate Leaman who has already made great strides with the program in his short time in Providence.

Bracketology Attempt 1

So last year, I took my first shot at predicting the Frozen Four Field in December and ended up getting 3 out 4 for the actual Frozen Four. I think we all know that was more luck than me actually knowing anything but we are going to see if I can capture that magic again. So here we go.
Here is the Pairwise rankings(which the NCAA goes by in determining the field) as of right now
1. Minnesota Duluth
2. The Ohio State
3. BU
4. BC
5. Michigan
5. Notre Dame
7. Merrimack
7. Northern Michigan
7. Minnesota
10. Western Michigan
11. Lowell
12. Cornell
13. Ferris State
14. Colorado College
15. Michigan State
16. AHA Hockey Winner
So this field would most likely look like this.

Now we are going to take a look at my expert opinion on how things will shake out. I think the final rankings end like this:
1. Minnesota-Duluth- just don't see anyone catching them here
2. Notre Dame
3. BU- They just win baby
4. The Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. Northern Michigan
7. Minnesota
8. Merrimack
9. BC(swim and dive team)
10. Western Michigan
11. Colorado College
12. Cornell
13. North Dakota- They're punching guys in the hand-shake line so that means they're getting back to North Dakota hockey so I think they have a strong second half
14. Lowell
15. Denver
16. AHA winner/ UCONN

So the brackets look like this

Northeast(DCU Center-Worcester,MA)
1. BU vs 4 North Dakota- Nice East-West big program stand off to begin the tournament
2. Northern Michigan vs 3 Cornell - And the other game that no one cares about in this regional

Midwest(Resch Center, Green Bay,WI)
1. Notre Dame vs 4. Denver- Quality CCHA WCHA matchup in the first round
2. Michigan vs 3 Colorado College- Another one here with two big name programs going at it.

East(Bridgeport Arena, Bridgeport,CT)
1.Ohio State vs 4 Lowell- Lowell gets into the tourny only to get ousted by Ohio State quickly
2 Merrimack vs 3 Western Michigan -Merrimack gets another close regional and doesn't draw Duluth which gives them a chance for the Frozen Four

West (XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul Minnesota)
1. Minnesota-Duluth vs 4 UCONN- The West Regional gets what it wants with Minnesota and UMD in the same bracket with two eastern teams
2. Minnesota vs 3 BC- Great first round Matchup with West East again

Frozen Four: BU, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota Duluth

Here is another projected look at the field that might be less biased than me

In other notes- BU gets a good mention in the USCHO TMQ with captain Chris Connolly getting a solid action picture as well.

New week of meaningless polls: BU #2

The USCHO and USA Today polls came out this afternoon as they do every Monday and the BU Terriers are ranked #2 in the USCHO poll (with the USA Today poll to come out later), which is their highest ranking in the second half of a season since 08-09. The Terriers were the only Hockey East team to earn two wins this weekend and therefore moved up from 6 to 2 in the USCHO poll. The Terriers also moved up to #3 in the Pairwise rankings, which are the rankings the NCAA committee goes by when deciding the field. I am going to take my first stab at what I think the field will look like sometime this week. Here is the rest of the USCHO top 10 and other notable teams

1. Minnesota Duluth 15-4-3 - This team is clearly the best the in the nation and seems destined to for a #1 seed come March.

2. BU 13-6-1- They're looking pretty good eh?

3. BC 14-8-1 - They have been up and down as of late and kinda don't have a goalie. Should probably fix that.

4. Minnesota 16-8-1

5. Ohio State 14-6-3

6. Merrimack 12-4-5 - They're hanging in there despite the injuries which is impressive for a team that is new to the success. The schedule doesn't get any easier in the coming weeks though

7. Notre Dame 13-8-3 -

8 . Western Michigan 12-7-5

9. Cornell 10-4-3

10. Michigan 14-8-4 -Slowly climbing back into the national picture. Get a huge boost from getting Merrill back on D.

14. Lowell- The loss to UVM certainly isn't selling anyone that they are for real

15. Denver 13-8-3

Receiving Votes

Harvard

Northleastern- Still the 3rd/4th best team in Boston after this weekend

BU rallys in 3rd, beats Harvard in OT

The BU Terriers came out flat last night against Harvard over in Cambridge at the Bright Hockey Center and as a result were down 3-1 at the end of one period. They slowly regained their form throughout the game and eventually won 4-3 in OT. The highlight of the game was senior captain Chris Connolly's first 2 goals of the season. Junior forward Ben Rosen tied the game up with less than 3 minutes remaining after Max NiCastro had hit a post and Alex Chiasson had a few near misses. The Terriers scored twice in the third to tie the game and won in OT as sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan banged home a rebound off a Chris Connolly shot and promptly celebrated by jumping into the glass right by the BU students. It was certainly a sloppy effort by BU through the first 40 minutes but the fight and the heart in this team cannot be questioned as they came from a 2 goal deficit two nights in a row to win games 4-3. BU remains #3 in the pairwise and tied for 1st in Hockey East, who have played one more conference game to date. The Terriers have a home ans home with Providence College next weekend. PC beat BU 5-3 in October handing BU it's first loss of the season.

BU takes over sole possession of 1st place in HE

The BU Terriers took over first place in the Hockey East conference with a 4-3 win over Northeastern tonight at Matthew Arena. The Terriers put themselves in a 2-0 hole after one with some sloppy defensive play at the end of their first but responded with 4 straight goals to take the lead and the game. The Terriers struck first on a shot from the point from sophomore Adam Clendening with a big Yasin Cisse screening NU goalie Chris Rawlings. BU then tied the game on the first of 2 goal from our Hero from Canton Wade Megan who scored off of a great hustle play by Ryan Santana who played one of his best games as a Terrier tonight despite not scoring himself. The Terriers took the lead for good during a 5 minute powerplay on an Evan Rodrigues goal. The goal on the pass from classmate Alexx Privitera was Rodrigues' first collegiate goal. Congrats to the freshman on the achievement and hopefully he can find the net some more in the second half. BU struck again on the powerplay in the third to give themselves a cushion which they would need as Megan struck again, this time on his team leading 5th powerplay goal.

With the win and the BC loss to UMass, BU moves into sole possession of first place in the conference. Merrimack also destroyed Maine and UVM pulled off the shocker taking down Lowell in OT. The win also bumps BU up to #3 nationally in the pairwise which is the only relevant poll out there. The Terriers return to action tomorrow night at Harvard in a preview of the first round of the Beanpot. This game will have huge implications of the pairwise rankings and therefore is a must-win for the Terriers.

Enjoy the first of many videos of BU fans I'll hopefully take with the new flip camera Santa brought me. If we want the team to keep up this level of play, we gotta step up our game as a blog. This video is nothing great but I wanted to test everything out tonight so we can get some good stuff come Beanpot and playoff time.

Cue the Megan music!

This week in Hockey East

Alright well I haven't posted since Monday, and because we have been slacking on putting up our picks each week, I am going to take matters into my own hands this week. I am just going post my own picks and opinions on the games this week along with some other good college hockey articles I've run across this week.

First, there is a single hockey east game tonight with UNH traveling to PC. PC looks to continue their solid play in the second half but have gotten off to a rocky start tying UMass at home and losing the Mayor's Cup(read very very poor man's Beanpot with the two Providence schools) to Brown. They look to get back on track tonight against an UNH team that just can't seem to have anything go right for them. Tonight I'll take PC at home 5-3. I think PC has a decent second half but they still have 2 with BU and BC each and alot of games against the top of the conference remaining.

For the rest of the weekend some games to watch are obviously BU@NU Friday night on NESN. This should be a close contest as usual at Matthews when the two schools show up. It should be a great game and will be even more interesting to see what stunt the NU idiots pull this year. Last year, they not only counted to 10 while Millan was down with an injury(which a NU student recently told me was his favorite chant of all time) but they threw trash on the ice at the BU players once they lost the game. They are just classy classy individuals. It won't be if they do something stupid this weekend it will only be when and how poorly the school will look because of it. For the rest of the games Friday, I'll take Lowell over UVM and BC over UMass. No way the fairies from Newton lose twice at the Zoo in a season.

NU also plays BC at Fenway on Saturday as BC tries to get redemption for losing to BU at Fenway two years ago. Another interesting series will be Maine traveling to Merrimack for two. Merrimack won at Alfond 2-1 on the first weekend of the season but Merrimack has been shaky as of late and Maine is hot off an OT win at Frozen Fenway. Maine is easily the most inconsistent team in the league so I would expect a split here. I'll go with Maine Friday and Merrimack Saturday.

BU and UNH take on EZAC teams Saturday night as BU takes on Harvard at the Bright Center(home of the rink where I got my only game puck from) and Dartmouth plays UNH in Manchester. This should be a good weekend of both conference play and non conference games that will have a large impact on the Pairwise rankings.

Now here are some links that are worth taking a look at...

1. CHN Managing Editor Adam Wodon takes a look at the battle between college hockey and the major junior hockey leagues up in Canada. He basically exposes the major junior teams for the slimeball, used car salesmen that they are. Yeah, paying players off under the table and convincing them that playing against 16 year olds is good for their development is very moral.

2. CHN writer and BU alum(which automatically makes you awesome) Scott McLaughlin released his HE power rankings where BU comes in 2nd. I'll take 2nd for the time being considering we were 4th last week.

3. CHN writer Joe Meloni gives BU a good write-up for their complete game effort vs Merrimack on Friday night.

4. Lastly, the mid-term pre draft rankings came out with a few future Terriers showing up. 2012 foward Matt Lane showing at 133 overall for North American skaters while 2013 forward Robbie Baillargeon comes in at #43.

Around the NFL

So entering the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs, there are a lot of things happening. To begin with, I pray for the offensive coordinators of the Green Bay Packers family and friends. It will be a tough week for the Packers. Entering Lambeau is the Red Hot New York Football Giants who played their best game of the season in a dominating performance over Matt Ryan ( BC SUCKS) and the Atl Falcons. This game is going to be decided on 3 factors: the Giants run game, Packers run game, and the Giants defense. Giants need to hold on to the ball as long as possible to stop the Packers and the Packers need to establish the run the stop the Giants Big Three Pass Rushers. JPP, Tuck, and Osi. Close game, I like the Giants in the upset.

Another game big game is TIM TEBOW vs TOM BRADY, I mean Broncos versus Pats. I like the Pats here in this game cause they will score with just three players, Brady, Gronk, and Hernandez. The only way the Broncos win is if Tim Tebow throws for 316+ yards and the team rushes for over 150 yards but I think the Dark Lord will play over the top help on the left side and make Tim throw to his right, his worst side. If Tebows wins, IF he does, I will be shocked.

Houston played a great game last week and are entering Baltimore on high note. However, I like the Ravens because the defense is still one of the best in the league and they are better home team this year. Houston does have a chance if Yates plays well and Foster runs even better than he did last game. I think the Houston defense will show up so it depends on the Houston offense.

The last game is the 49ers versus the Saints. Toughest game to call, 49ers play great at home and the Saints are bad away from NOLA. Saints can light up the scoreboard and the 49ers play you tight with a top defense. Saints have new found run game and the 49ers have one of the best run stops teams in the league. I am going with the 49ers with a late score to win.

So in recap, Giants vs 49ers in the NFC game and Pats vs Ravens in the AFC game.

New polls: BU climbs to #6

The BU men's ice hockey team has climbed to #6 nationally in the USCHO poll while we wait on the USA Today polls to come out later this afternoon. The team is coming off a big win over now #7 Merrimack. The other Hockey East school in the top 10 is Newton University(BC) coming in at #4 after their 2-2 tie with Merrimack yesterday afternoon. The rest of the top 10 and Hockey East teams look as follows

1. Minnesota-Duluth 14-3-3

2. Ohio State 14-4-3

3. Notre Dame 13-6-3

4. BC 13-7-1

5. Minnesota 15-7-1

6. BU 11-6-1

7. Merrimack 11-4-4

8. Colorado College 12-7-1

9. Cornell 9-4-2

10. Western Michigan 10-7-5

11. Lowell 12-5-0

Receiving Votes

Northleastern

Maine

Harvard

The Pairwise rankings are the only relevant rankings and currently have BU in 5th there right behind BC at 4. Merrimack and Lowell would also be in the NCAA tournament if it started today with NU, Maine and PC all missing out despite being considered Teams under consideration.

INCH also came out with their power rankings which only have BU at 11 but hey haters gonna hate I guess. I don't see how you can put both Union and Colgate ahead of BU but apparently these guys think the are better than BU.

BU prepares now for two away games within Boston this week as they travel to Northeastern and their always classy fans for the first game against former Terrier Vinny "Party like a Puckstar" Saponari before traveling to Harvard Saturday night for a game that will have big implications on the Pairwise. Matthews will be packed Friday night and trash will probably be thrown on the ice or at the BU fans per usual. I guess you just have to do whatever it takes to get some attention when you're the the 3rd most relevant hockey program in Boston. I'm looking forward to their "HateBU" week this week. Should be some A+ material coming out of Huntington Ave this week. "Sucks to BU hahaha we're so funny and intelligent". Cue the Vinny Sap music already!

BU doubles up Merrihack 4-2

The BU men's ice hockey team got back to their winning ways last night with a big 4-2 win over conference foe, Merrimack. The win temporarily moves BU into first in Hockey East with one more game played than BC and one more point. The win also moves BU to its highest place in the pairwise rankings as they moved into t4th with the win. It was huge win for the confidence of this team as they attempted to rebound from a bad 5-2 loss at Notre Dame last weekend. The return of sophomore d-man Adam Clendening was a welcome site to see and a boost for the Teirriers.

The game did not start off ideally as Merrimack jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on Josh Meyers' first collegiate goal. Junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall tied it up 14 seconds later for BU off a rebound of his own shot. This was the second goal in as many games for the junior who seems determined to lift the team and his own play after the two mid season departures. Alex Chiasson took the lead for good for BU on a great powerplay goal on great passes from Chris Connolly and Adam Clendening to set up the goal. BU then hit again on the next man advantage on a great pass through the crease by Matt Nieto to freshman Alexx Privitera who banged home the goal.

In the second period, Merrihack lead goon Kyle Bigos made it 3-2 with a slapper from the point through traffic. That is the last mistake Millan would make though on his way to 42 saves on the night. Sophomore forward Sahir Gill made it 4-2, which was the final, on a great pinch interception and pass from Max NiCastro. The third period was scoreless and the Terriers walked out of Agganis Arena with their 11th win of the year. Millan was solid with 42 saves as was the entire roster. BU was lead by Justin Courtnall as he had a goal and responded to Merrimack goon Kyle Bigos after he took a cheap shot at former Vernon Viper teammate Sahir Gill.

The Terriers improved to 11-6-1 and will return to action next Friday against another hot team in Northeastern who is currently 17 in the pairwise. Matthews Arena will be jammed with the usual class acts who threw trash on the ice at the end of last year's BU win. Saturday night will be another road game at a Boston school, as the Terriers travel to Cambridge to take on Harvard.

Merrihack Preview

The BU Terriers will open up the second half of their conference schedule against the #7 ranked 11-3-3(7-2-1) Merrimack Warriors. Merrimack went undefeated in their first 10 games including a 3-2 OT win at BU in November. Since then, they have struggled due to injuries and an increase in the strength of schedule. Since the beginning of December, the Warriors have struggled with a 2-2-3 record against less than stellar opposition. The highest ranked team during that period was t13 Pairwise Colgate who Merrimack tied. Merrimack has struggled through injuries to most of their team and have not been able to gel since their sweep at the hands of Providence in the beginning of December.

Merrimack is led in total points by senior, trash talking forward Ryan Flanigan who has posted 14 points in 17 games so far this season but also had a little extra to say to Garrett Noonan in the handshake line in November. That will certainly be something to watch during the game and afterwards to see how bad Noonan beats up on the little punk from Rochester,NY.

The Terriers come into this game coming off a 5-2 loss at Notre Dame on New Year's Eve. The Terriers will be getting sophomore defenseman(and our next interview hopefully) Adam Clendening back from WJCs which should give the team a boost along with the elevated roles of Sahir Gill(who gets a shoutout on USCHO) and the hero from Canton Wade Megan. The Terriers look to prove to the nation that the new revamped lineup is just as effective as the lineup from the first half.

First polls of 2012

The National polls have come out for the first time in 2012 and despite the fact that they mean shit, they are fun to look at. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 and other teams I deem significant in the USCHO and USA Today polls.

Note- The USA Today poll place is in parentheses if different than the USCHO poll.

1. Minnesota-Duluth 12-3-3- The defending champs are playing like it heading into the second half and certainly are on of the teams to beat.

2. Ohio State 14-4-1-

3. Minnesota(5) 15-6-1- Minnesota stays high in the rankings despite losing to Northeastern in the Mariucci Classic. They will receive a big boost when Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad return from the WJC this week.

4. Boston College 13-7-0- Those fairies stay high in the rankings despite losing to Michigan this past week and squeaking by Michigan Tech.

5. Notre Dame (3) 12-6-3 - Notre Dame looked really good this past weekend against BU and seem ready to start a run in the second half

6. Colorado College(8) 12-6-0

7. Merrimack(6) 11-3-3- The hack is back moving up the rankings with a win and a tie this weekend up in NH against some great competition...oh wait nevermind

8. Western Michigan(9) 10-5-5

9. Colgate(7) 12-4-2

10. BU (11) 10-6-1- BU drops 1 and 2 spots with the loss at Notre Dame this weekend, but look to right the shit against Merrihack this coming Friday.

11. Denver(10) 10-7-3

12. UMass- Lowell 12-5-0- UML fans can finally relax and know they are in the top 15 in the meaningless polls.

13. Cornell(14) 8-4-1

16. Michigan(13) 11-8-3

Receiving votes:

Northeastern

Harvard

- Looks like there is a chance for all 4 Beanpot schools to be ranked when the tournament starts up in a little bit over a month.

- Here are the only meanings that mean anything with the pairwise rankings. Usually the top 14 or 15 from the pairwise make the NCAA tournament field. BU sits at 7 currently. Also, here is the HE weekly performance release with no love for BU whatsoever.

Happy New Year to All Our Loyal Readers and Fans

Last night was a great night to say goodbye to crappy 2011 and Hello to 2012. I highly suggest that you all attend a NYE in NYC, so many concerts, bars packed, & clubs pumping.
But on a serious note, on behalf of all of us, I hope New Year brings all of you great joy, great health, and more Ws in hockey than any other year. So Happy New Year to you, your family and your friends. As Always, GO BU! #bsrs4life