Roberto suspended for remainder of season

BU junior forward  Nick Roberto has officially been suspended for the remainder of the season. Roberto is reportedly serving a suspension for being involved in gambling activity by CHN. He will not play for the reminder of this season and I would guess his future at BU is very much in doubt. However, as reported by WEEI reporter Scott McLaughlin, Roberto remains a member of the team at this time. First, I want to say that this was a great job of reporting by Mike McMahon and Adam Wodon at CHN. They remain one of roughly three stories to correctly have identified Roberto as suspended and not kicked off the team. Kudos to them for responsibly reporting the story without fueling the speculation and rumors being spread by others on the internet.

The rest of what I'm about to say shouldn't be misinterpreted as defending Nick Roberto. What he did was obviously wrong and he is now serving the penalty for those actions. I have no issue with players gambling but the NCAA obviously does so if you are going to do it, you can't let your debt or the allegations get this serious and not expect conequences. Roberto messed up which I'm sure he is very well aware of. I hope he is able to come back from this at BU or somewhere else to finish his hockey career. He did nothing malicious and is becoming the forefront of this story because BU self reported his violation to the NCAA as they should have. BU handled this 100% correctly. They sat out Roberto while the investigation was taking place and turned over everything to the NCAA. If you are transparent and forthright with the NCAA, then they usually do not punish the program. The coverups are what are punished severely.  David Quinn and the athletic department certainly handled this correctly so props to them for that. Just another example of why Quinn is the best in the business.

Greer bolts for the Q; Oksanen injury forces staff to add another forward

The Terriers lost some serious depth this past week as the injury to Ahti Oksanen is now being reported as more serious than originally anticipated. They still plan to reevaluate him in the next few weeks but he is crucial to their ability to score goals from the forward position. Hopefully he can return at some point this season but it is seeming less and less likely after he suffered a shoulder injury in the Terriers last game of the first half against Quinnipiac.

Re: Oksanen- Sources I talked to say nothing has been decided as far as when (or if) he'll be able to return.

— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) December 17, 2015

Terriers finish first half with CT split

The BU Terriers finished the first half with a split against ECAC Connecticut foes Yale and Quinnipiac this past weekend. The Terriers dropped Friday's night contest at Yale after jumping out to a 1-0 lead on an Ahti Oksanen goal. The goal was  a great play and pass from freshman forward Jordan Greenway who continues to dominate games physically against any opponent. Unfortunately, the game went downhill from there for the Terriers as Yale tied the game and then took the lead and extended lead on John Hayden goals.The first of a which was on a major penalty after a borderline hit by freshman Ryan Cloonan. Cloonan was thrown out of the game and given a major. The hit was borderline for a major but was definitely a penalty of some sorts and just not a necessary play in the neutral zone. Cloonan will certainly learn from it as Coach Quinn referred to it as a "stupid penalty" after the game. The Terriers pushed hard to tie the game after killing off the rest of the major but gave up another Hayden goal on an odd man push. It was a tough game to lose as the Terriers got within one late on a Bobo Carpenter goal but could not get the tying goal across. Charlie McAvoy had a real good night Friday night as he continues to make some silly moves to break defenders ankles and generate some great offensive opportunities for his team.

Terriers tie Cornell, win Kelly Harkness in Shootout

The BU Terriers tied the Cornell Big Red in regulation and one period of OT at the 5th edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. The Terriers started off a little rough as Coach Quinn alluded to in his postgame press conference but Cornell still held a 2-0 lead after two due to a nice tip in front and a bad play from Connor LaCouvee/ BU's defensemen in clearing a loose puck around the net. Despite the two goal deficit, BU had a few quality chances at the end of the second and anyone watching could see the momentum changing at that point.

I feel bad for @CornellWAFT for what's about to happen

— BayState RoadSports (@bsrs_blog) November 29, 2015

BU came out with that same urgency in the third to come back from two separate leads in the period. Bobo Carpenter scored his second goal of the year on a great feed from AJ Greer who had his best game of the year by far. Greer would tie the game himself later in the period on a nice shot top shelf shortside. Cornell would jump ahead again on another tipped goal that snuck 5 hole on LaCouvee. The Terriers would not be denied the Kelly-Harkness cup as Jordan Greenway scored his first collegiate goal to tie the game and send it to OT. The Terriers would have all the chances in OT including a PP goal but could not score so the game goes down officially as a tie. They did go to a shootout to determine the winner of the trophy. BU got goals from O'Regan, Ahti, and Matt Lane to take the shootout with some very nice saves from Connor LaCouvee who had an even better celly after the clinching save. If you are a BU fan and don't love this celly, then you should go root for BC because this was AWESOME