Harvard Preview: Point Inflation

The Boston University Terriers try to build momentum off their weekend sweep of Maine and UConn when they face the #18 Harvard Crimson tonight at Agganis Arena. The 5-1-2 arrogant snobs Crimson are off to their best start in recent memory. Their only loss came to the hands of Yale in a 2-1 effort last weekend. BU will be looking to collect a crucial out of conference win against a ranked opponent as their next two games come at home to ranked teams from the EZAC(the fact that the last two national champs came from the conference is a fluke). These are games that good teams have to win. They face three ECAC opponents this week and they will need to bring their A game for each game but especially tonight against a Harvard team that has given them fits the past 5 seasons. Harvard won both games last year by a combined score of 13-6. Obviously, this is a much different BU team this season but they should have redemption on their mind as they hit the ice.

Looking beyond the record from the last few seasons(which are meaningless to tonight's game), the similarities statistically between these two teams is pretty ridiculous.  The strengths of schedule vary in BU's favor as their strength of schedule is ranked 12th to Harvard's 26th #EZACproblems but the similarities still are pretty interesting.

Terriers improve to 8-1-1 with wins over Maine and UConn

BU came back from a 2-0 deficit entering the third period to win 3-2 in OT to complete a home and home sweep of the Maine Black Bears. Goals from Ahti Oksanen and Matt Lane tied the game in the third before freshman sensation Jack Eichel won it on a wrister in OT. The first ten minutes were rough for the Terriers as Maine had them pinned down in their own zone and scored on a sweet Ben Hutton shot that beat O'Connor high glove side. Connor Leen later added a second goal for the Black Bears before BU flipped the scripts in the third. The Terriers outshout Maine 11-6 in the third. The win for the Terriers was their fifth conference win which matched their total from all of last season. 

This was a game BU should be happy to win after the early deficit and poor officiating both teams had to fight through. The elbowing call on Roberto was questionable at best and the interference call on Somerby was just flat out terrible. You can't commit interference when the guy you are hitting has the puck. I also thought the major call on Leen was borderline at best to be a major. If you combine this with the inability to get the right guys on the ice after a Maine icing in the second, this was easily the worst managed game of the year by the officials.

Guest Post from Burnt Boats: SHOOT IT

Next couple days I will look -statistically- into if BU's second line is underperforming, unlucky, or [insert a 3rd option (?)]. #math
— BurntBoats (@BurntBoats) November 17, 2014

BurntBoats with a guest post on stats, because I’m a #nerd. Note, unlike most of my #math, in this case shots means just shots on goal (meaning they either were saved or went in), I excluded only shots and goals on an empty net. Now no more words, let’s get to the numbers.

Shots per line by game this season, remember each line gets more (sometimes substantially) ice time than the next:

1: 12.6

2: 7.4

3. 4.4

4. 2.4

Weekend Recap: Maine votes down regulations on bear hunting, OREO line celebrates by sniping 3 in BU win

                                                  Photo Credit  to some hick from Maine

The #3 ranked BU Terriers improved to 6-1-1 on the season with a 3-1 win at Maine on Friday night.  The game certainly did not start off the way Coach Quinn and Co. wanted as Connor Leen put Maine up 1-0 less than 2 minutes on a short angle backhand that somehow got past O'Connor. The Black Bears wouldn't be able to beat O'Connor again though thanks to some solid play from both him and the defense in front of him. The Terriers tied the game up midway through the second on the powerplay on a great look from Evan Rodrigues to Ahti Oksanen who was wide open right at the faceoff dot and the Finn buried the chance. BU would take the lead that that they would not give up on a great shorthanded bid by Jack Eichel and Danny O'Regan. Eichel got the puck in the neutral zone and went on to absolutely toast the Maine defense before dishing a great backhand pass across to O'Regan who buried the chance. Eichel would later bury an empty net goal that each member of the OREO line would tally a point on the night.

Weekly Awards 11/11

Greg Jennings Award- given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM).




Winner- Evan Rodrigues- The senior assistant captain put the boys on his back this weekend picking up 2 goals and 2 assists for the Terriers including the GWG at BC on Friday night. Erod added two more assists on Saturday for good measure and seems destined to have a huge year for the Terriers.


Joe Pereira Trophy- Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)

Winner- Mike Moran- Moran put in his first two goals of the year this weekend. Friday night's goal was a veteran play as he banked the puck off BC goalie Thatcher Demko while he was down tying up the game at 2 early in the third. Moran piled it on Saturday night by batting a puck out of mid air and into the UConn net. Moran is a great third or fourth line player for this team as he limits his mistakes and always seems to make the right play while making life difficult for his opponent. 

Weekend Recap: BU beats BC, ties UConn

This weekend the #5 ranked BU Terriers had a set of Hockey East Games which on it's own would make for just another weekend in league play. Friday night's game was anything but another game in league play. The game was broadcast live on NBC Sports nationally to an audience looking to see the first matchup  of BU and BC this season lead by their freshmen superstars. Jack Eichel lived up to the hype once again for the Terriers with 5 SOG along with a goal and a +3 rating for the night. Noah Hanifin didn't do anything to stand out to me as a top 10 pick as he was on the ice for 4 BU goals for a -4 rating.

Top 10 Reasons Why BC Sucks

Top 10 Reasons Why BC Sucks

Happy BC Week everyone

1.Jerry York is no gentleman: It is no secret that BC "happens " to land some of the top recruits that committed to smaller schools to only de-commit and go to BC. There is a gentleman's agreement in college hockey where coaches agree to not continue to pursue recruits who have committed to a different school. The great Jerry York continually poaches recruits and breaks this agreement among coaches along with other big name coaches *Cough Minnesota and Wisconsin Cough*. It's not only immoral, it's a black mark on all of college hockey.


2. Boston College Athletics covers up scandals: Two BC hockey players were kicked off the team during the 2007 IceBreaker Tournament for a "violation of team rules". This violation of team rules by Brian O'Hanley and Brett Motherwell is rumored to have been activity involving cocaine and hookers. The real reason why they were kicked out of the program never came to light from either BC or any reputable news source. Seems awfully strange that an All-American like Motherwell leaving the program over missing curfew didn't cause a reporter to think maybe there was more to the story...or maybe the reporter wasn't allowed to report what they found. We'll never know because BC covered their tracks on this one and probably other cases as well throughout the years.


3. Please stop diving: BC players try to sell penalties by falling easily to the ice anytime they feel contact. I'm not saying BC's coaches encourage this type of behavior but Jack Parker may have felt that  they did so it must be true.


4. Support of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston: Back in the early 2000s, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in recent memory. Some 900 victims - all young children - were sexually abused by priests affiliated with the Archdiocese. Absolutely awful, inexcusable stuff that was covered up and kept hidden until reported by the Boston Globe. To pay for the legal fees and settlements resulting from these cases, the Archdiocese needed cash - and fast. Here's where BC comes into play: the Archdiocese agreed to sell BC some forty-six acres of land near BC's campus for the hefty price tag of $108 million, all of which went towards debts incurred as a result of the abuse scandal. Ipso facto: BC implicitly supports organizations that cover-up scandals. Not that surprising I guess, in light of #2 on this list.

Weekly Awards 11/4

Greg Jennings Award- given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM).




Winner- Jack Eichel- Hockey East isn't showing Eichel much love in their weekly or monthly awards this year but we certainly will. Eichel leads the league in points and shots per game as well as 2nd in +/-. He is the best player in the league whether the interns that decide these awards this week want to admit it or not. He has not even been named a top performer for one week despite having at least one point in every game thus far. We all recognize that these awards are meaningless but it really is just baffling as to why they conveniently omit him from any awards each week. Haters going to hate I guess.

Update 2:34 Hockey East named Eichel rookie of the month so ignore most of what I said above
Joe Pereira Trophy- Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)

Winner- Cason Hohmann- Hohmann could probably win this award every week with how he plays the game. He seemed especially fired up Saturday night and was forechecking the shit out of PC all weekend long. Texas Toast is becoming a great college hockey player and a real pest for opposing D's. I can only imagine how fired up he will be to play Friday at BC and he certainly will be fun to watch.

Weekend Recap- Terriers split with PC

The BU Terriers split their weekend series with the Providence College Friars. The Terriers won Friday night in a convincing 4-1 win where they outshot their opponent 42-18 which included runs of 15-1 and 9-0 to end the first and second period. The Terriers went down in the first on a Stevan McParland goal that goalie Matt O'Connor definitely wants back. The Terriers responded as they would not allow another goal the rest of the night. They tied the game later in the first on a snipe by dman Johnny Macleod who netted his first career goal. He was set up on a great pass by Matt Lane who had another very good weekend for the Terriers along with Olsson and Roberto on his line. The game winning goal was a tap in for Ahti Oksanen after a Jack Eichel wrister trickled through Jon Gillies. Evan Rodrigues added an insurance tally off a rebound from a Robbie Baillargeon shot. Eichel added a breakaway short handed goal to account for the 4-1 final. This was the most dominant performance of the season thus far and certainly is comforting knowing that the team can go on the road and dominate the opposition because they have done it in both of their road games so far.

The tables got turned Saturday night as BU dropped a tight 2-1 decision to PC at Agganis Arena. BU played well enough to win the game but Providence goalie Jon Gillies played out of his mind in the third period to hold onto the win for the Friars. BU came out flat and played their worst period of the season in the first. They only trailed 1-0 but it could have been much worse without the play of Matt O'Connor. Both Providence goals were the results of failed breakouts by BU in their own end. Nick Roberto failed to clear a puck on the penalty kill which lead to the first goal and the second goal resulted from a Brandon Hickey turnover. BU played very well the last 30 minutes of the game but could only beat Gillies once(O'Regan powerplay goal) despite outshooting the Friars 34-16 the last two periods.