Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Terriers throttle Maine

The BU Terriers did what they were supposed to do and destroyed the Maine Black Bears over the weekend. The Terriers took care of business 5-2 on Friday night before backing it up with an even stronger performance and a 6-1 win on Saturday night at Agganis Arena. Friday's night game was clearly the closer of the two as BU required some great saves from senior goalie Sean Maguire to stay tied and stay ahead later in the game. If BU had one flaw this weekend, it was being a little loose with the puck in their own zone. This lead to the benching of sophomore John Macleod in the middle of the game Friday night. The Terriers were able to take control of the game and eventually win the game because of their seniors. The senior class contributed to 4/5 goals and the win in net for the Terriers. Coach Quinn constantly says how important seniors are and this was the case Friday night in a hostile road environment.

The Terriers made the 4+ hour drive back to Boston after the game Friday to play the same terrible Maine team back at Agganis Arena. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Bobo Carpenter and Doyle Somerby on a wraparound and never looked back. BU played a complete game Saturday night which Coach Quinn noted after the game. Carpenter added another goal to get up to 7 on the year along with Matt Lane scoring goals # 12 and 13 on the season to tie him for the team lead with future Hobey Baker winner Ahti Oksanen. It  is certainly a great sign for this team to be getting scoring from so many different guys. None of the goal scorers from Friday night scored again on Saturday night yet the team put up 11 goals on the weekend. It is great to be getting scoring from the third line in Carpenter who has been a tear lately/finally getting some puck luck. It really has been underrated how important him and classmate Ryan Cloonan have been to this team. Both guys are playing top 9 roles on one of the best teams in the country as undrafted freshmen which is huge for the depth of scoring moving forward.

 The line of Greenway-Lane-Oksanen is one that nobody in the country can match up with. Even when they know what's coming, they can't stop it. What's usually happening with this line on the ice is Greenway or Oksanen winning a battle along the boards and feeding Lane in the slot for a one timer unless Ahti finds a way to shoot first #Ahti4Hobey


Thursday, January 14, 2016

Weekend Preview: BU/BC #robertmorris

The BU Terriers take on their arch rival Boston College Newton University Eagles for their only two scheduled games of the regular season this coming weekend. These teams could meet again in the Beanpot final (obviously) but that is far from a sure thing with BC having to play a top 10 team in the first round in Harvard. The #4 ranked Eagles come into the weekend overrated for sure but this still is the only top 10 matchup this weekend with the Terriers currently ranked #10. On top of a top 10 matchup, this is the best rivalry in college hockey where you can basically throw out the records whenever they meet. The teams, fans, coaches do not like each other no matter what front the coaches may put up when they are on camera. It brings out the best and sometimes worst in the players as they play in front of the most hostile crowds of the season outside of the Beanpot.

The Terriers come into this weekend on a bit of a heater having won three games in a row including two wins over top 10 teams in Quinnipiac and Havard. BC has gone 1-2-1 in their last four including an ugly loss to Ohio State who is the opposite of good. Despite the recent struggles, you will hear all about how talented BC is and how highly those in the media think of them. They are ranked 4 in polls despite being 10 in the pairwise rankings (which are the only ones that matter). I am not going to disagree with them that BC is talented. BC has plenty of talent especially up front and in goal if Thatcher Demko is healthy/knows where he is despite a concussion. The main point that I feel is being very overlooked is that BC has not been tested.  They just recorded their first win of the year against a current top 15 pairwise team. BU on the other hand has beaten three such teams as well tied Cornell and PC twice.  BC has not been pushed or really tested by any teams outside of Hockey East so we have no idea how good they really are. BU has played the top teams in the ECAC (Harvard, Cornell, Yale, and Quinnipiac) and Michigan along with PC. BU has been through a ringer of a schedule up to this point while BC kicks over tomato can after tomato can to easy victories.  To make this point clearer, lets take a look at two teams below (hint BU is better than both of them):

Team A: 4.15 goals for/game, 12.7 shooting %,  *QWB(Quality Win Bonus) .0034

Team B: 4.36 goals for/game,  12.5 shooting %, * QWB(Quality Win Bonus) .0036

*It is what it sounds like. It is a bonus factor into pairwise for beating good teams(BU's is .0112 best in the country)

Which team would you rather be at this point in the season?

Sunday, January 10, 2016

The BU wagon rolls along: sweep pair with Harvard and UMass



The BU Terriers swept their first two games of the second half of the season with 6-5 and 7-2 wins over Harvard and UMass. The first period of the Harvard game was their worst period of hockey this season but they got some very good play out of senior goalie Sean Maguire to keep the deficit to 1-0. The Terriers would begin to play better in the second as they got two goals from senior Matt Lane but unfortunately they were matched by two goals from Harvard's Sean Malone. The Terriers were forced to fight back from two separate two goal deficits in the third period but they found a way to continue to battle and fight back. The Terriers scored three goals in just over two minutes late in the third to come out a 6-5 victor against another top ECAC team on the road. Their last win of the first semester was a road win at Quinnipiac who is still the #1 team in the country with their only loss coming to BU.