This week in college hockey - Chiasson signs with Dallas

So I have been avoiding to blogging this week to avoid thinking about last weekend. I was out there in St. Paul and watched my last game as an undergrad. I'm not going to go all emotional and start crying like TO or something but it does suck that it is no longer socially acceptable for me to stand all game and yell offensive things at opposing goalies. BU lost a game where they simply got outplayed by a hot Minnesota team. They dismantled North Dakota the next day(which I also witnessed) and made it look easy doing so. They would simply rush to the front of the net and bury the puck. BC will certainly have their hands full with the Gophers next Thursday in the National Championship game(I know it's technically the semifinal but Ferris and Union suck).

Overall, I enjoyed the trip to St. Paul despite the outcome. As Coach Parker said after the game, it is a great hockey city and a good place to go watch hockey. The X was very nice despite the Minnesota and North Dakota students not showing up. The fact that the 8 BU fans plus band so 32 total could be heard on the telecast is just embarrassing to Minnesota. The rink was 9 miles from your campus and over 1,000 from ours. Lock it up. It was a nice city and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to go on a good hockey roadie.

After the games this weekend, players began to announce their intentions for next year. Many of the higher ranked seniors quickly signed contracts such as Maine products Brian Flynn(Buffalo), and Hobey Finalist Spencer Abbott(Toronto) along with Colgate Hobey Finalist Austin Smith(Dallas). Other big names leaving their respective schools are Michigan's Chris Brown(Phoenix), Denver's Drew Shore(Florida) and Jason Zucker(Minnesota), along with Northeastern's Anthony Bitetto who signed with Nashville today.

Northeastern took another big hit as BIG-time goalie recruit Jon Gillies decomitted after he learned that rising senior Chris Rawlings would remain at school and take most of the of the time in net. Gillies is supposedly considering the Q and other colleges. If he goes to the Q, then I actually almost feel for NU fans since the Q sucks and I would rather face him 3 times a year than lose a college guy to major juniors. I saw some people online suggesting that Gillies could consider BU but that won't happen with two big time goalie recruits of our own coming in this year in Matt O'Connor(USHL) and Sean MacGuire(BCHL). Both have had solid years in their respective leagues and figure to fight for the job come October. Also, BU doesn't take NU's sloppy seconds. It's the other way around.

The only departure from thus far has been the expected announcement by junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson that he will sign with the Dallas Stars, who drafted him in the second round in 2009 draft. There were rumors that they pushed him hard to leave last year and he chose to stay one more year at BU. That says alot about Chiasson's character and we wish him all the best with Dallas. Chiasson did have some nice comments about his departure which you can see here from the Daily Free Press:
“[Parker] thought if in my heart that’s what I wanted to do then he was going to support me through it.”

This quote really shows how honest Parker will be his players when it is time to make the decision to go pro and supports them either way. Charlie Coyle had similar comments about Parker even though it was quite evident Parker disagreed with the decision in that instance. That is the difference between Parker and York or Berenson who both basically beg guys to stay every year for the benefit of the program. Today, Berenson made a comment saying he was disappointed in junior Chris Brown's decision to go pro which was basically a big guilt trip to a kid who was already gone. No need to make that comment in my opinion.

BU's class next year(as of now) consists of 9 which includes forwards Matt Lane, Wes Myron, Mike Moran, Robert Polsello, and Jarrid Privitera. It also includes the two goalies mentioned above and 2 d-men in Marc Hetnik and Matt Grzelcyk. This number could increase if Adam Clendening, Matt Nieto, or Garrett Noonan decide to turn pro in the coming weeks. I remain hopeful that Nieto and Noonan will return as both of their organization in the Sharks and Predators typically allow guys to develop at school as long as they desire. Clendening is more of a toss-up but we won't really know until all the guys go to their development camps and then return to school . That's all I got for now but we will be posting grades for each player and the coaching staff in the next week or so.

Monday=day of the meaningless polls

The USCHO and USA Today polls both came out today and both have your BU Terriers at #5 in the country. Once again, these polls are meaningless. The Pairwise is how teams are seeded for the NCAA tournament (BU is t-4) and the new pairwise predictor from USCHO is helpful for fans to see how their team will rise or fall with outcomes this weekend. Here is a breakdown of the rest of the top 10.

1. Newton University (BC)- 27-10-1- They beat UMass with officiating going their way all weekend. Nothing to be bragging about.
2. Minnesota Duluth- 24-8-6- They will go as far as soon to be Hobey Finalist Jack Connolly will take them
3. Michigan-23-11-4- Red Berenson gets his red-hot team ready for another NCAA run
4. Minnesota-26-12-1- The Gophers will be a tough out come NCAA time, especially since they will be placed in St. Paul.
5. BU- This team is the grittiest team in the top 5 and keeps finding ways to dig deep and win games. Still the best team in the nation waiting their time to make a run.
6. Union-22-7-7- If they don't win the EZAC tournament, an at-large team is going to get bumped and not be a huge Union fan anymore.
7.Miami-23-13-2- They are hanging in there and can be anywhere from out of the field to a #1 seed.
8. Ferris State- 23-11-5- Their QF loss to Bowling Green is going to kill their seeding
9. Denver-23-12-4- Beat Wisconsin in 3 games as they finally seem to be getting healthy
10. Lowell-23-12-1- Losing to PC in 3 puts the NCAA tournament faith of this team in the hand of others which you never want
11.Maine- BU's opposition this coming Friday in the HE semis fresh off knocking Merrimack out of the playoffs
15. Merrimack- Look like they will miss the NCAA's barely after their HE QF loss to Maine

- Some other notes from this week....BU junior forward Alex Chiasson was name the Hockey East Player of the Week with his 6 points and +3 rating over the weekend...Kieran Millan also was the obvious choice for Defensive Player of the Week with his 150 saves and .943 save percentage over the weekend...Chris Connolly, Sahir Gill, and Garrett Noonan were also named Top Performers. Chris Connolly also played his 150th career game this weekend while Kieran Millan broke the HE tournament record with 68 saves in Game 3 of the QF series with UNH.

BU sweeps UVM, back on track

The BU Terriers improved to 9-0 on the road in 2012 with a pair of wins, 5-0 on Friday and 3-2 OT win Saturday at the University of Vermont. I made the trip up to Burlington for the first time so you all are lucky enough to get a first hand recap of both games. First, on Friday night BU came out flying despite all the haters out there all of last week. The team didn't let the PR problems off the ice affect them on the ice as they beat Vermont 5-0. They broke out after a long review of their first goal which was a wrist shot that hit off a UVM d-man's leg past Madore barely. The review by my favorite referee Bunyon took several minutes but it was eventually ruled a goal. In Bunyon's defense, I was right on the goal line and couldn't tell if the puck fully crossed the line. It apparently was very close as it took the referees several minutes to figure out the call. These reviews make you appreciate the NHL system that much more where one phone call is the whole review. That was Escobedo's first goal of the season. BU poured it on from there as Cason Hohmann scored on a great low wrister that beat Madore 5-hole due to a great screen by Justin Courtnall. Escobedo scored his second of the game during a 5 minute powerplay on a questionable call on UVM. Either way, we will take the call as it put BU up 3-0 heading into the third. Wade Megan added a goal in the third and Courtnall made a great move to fool Madore on a break away. It was great to not only win easily, but also get scoring from some from unusual places. Sahir Gill and Ryan Ruikka added 2 assists each and BU sailed to a win behind senior Grant Rollheiser who made 18 saves for his second career shutout, his first of this season. Rollheiser looked solid throughout the game and had great rebound control and I wouldn't be surprised to see him this Friday on Senior night at Agganis Arena. The highlights from Friday night are below.

On Saturday night, it was a total different hockey game. Kieran Millan was in net for BU and he let in a soft goal early when Connor Brickley beat him five hole. UVM stretched the lead on a powerplay goal by Sebastian Stalberg who beat the whole Terrier defense backdoor. UVM would then play well to finish out the period and keep the 2 goal lead. In the second, the only scoring was Sahir Gill on a spectacular diving goal on the pass from Wade Megan. Gill layed out full extension and pushed the puck past Madore, who played well in his senior night. BU continued to buzz and had a goal called back after it was ruled that a rebound was kicked in the net which was a questionable call at best since it seemed the puck just came out of a scrum in front of the net. I never got a chance to see the replay so maybe I was wrong, but that is highly unlikely. The Terriers continued to play hard into the 3rd but couldn't get one past Madore until the final 2 minutes when Millan was pulled for a 6th skater and Wade Megan banged home a greasy, rebound goal which is what he does best for this team. The goal was Megan's 17th of the year and sent the game to OT even as Sahir Gill hit the post in the waning seconds of regulation. BU kept the momentum going into OT and crushed the UVM crowd's spirit as freshman Alexx Privitera sent a low slapper 5 hole on Madore and completed the gutsy comeback.

This team showed some heart this weekend taking 4 points with all the controversy heading into the weekend including the tough comeback on Senior night. Privitera played outstanding in his first games back from a broke wrist and showed some guts playing through some pain after he blocked a shot on Saturday night. This team continues to battler through adversity and prove they have what it takes to win games. They return home Friday for the final weekend of the regular season for a home and home with Northeastern. I'll get to that tomorrow or Wed though. I will leave you with the updated standings and playoff picture here. BU has clinched the 3rd seed in the conference at worst case and can still win the regular season title with a little help from UVM this weekend. BU needs to gain 2 points on BC this weekend to win the regular season title. BU also reached the 20 win plateau for the first time since 08-09 and are currently sitting 4th in all three polls(Pairwise, USCHO, and USA Today). Sean Escobedo, Sahir Gill, Grant Rollheiser, and Alexx Privitera were all named Hockey East Top Performers which is great to see heading into the playoffs. Alex Chiasson was also recognized for playing his 100th game as a Terrier. Chiasson seems to be the emotional leader of the team right now in what could be his last season if he turns pro, which seems likely at this point. He set up the game-tying goal Saturday night so be sure to recognize Chiasson on senior night as well as he is also most likely playing his last home regular season game for the Terriers.

P.S. if you're not going to the game Friday night for the return of Vinny Sap to Agganis and Senior night then you have no life and no friends. That is all.

1st Half Review: Forwards Part 1

I first would like to apologize for our slow times here. We, unfortunately, had to take finals this past week so we haven't had much time to blog. Yes, even we study for finals. Now back to hockey. This is going be the first of four posts reviewing each player on this year's BU team in our typical biased fashion. So here we go. This will be the first half of forwards on BU's current roster (7 today, 7 tomorrow)...

8 Ben Rosen- First, we would like to say Happy Hanukkah to our favorite (and only) Jewish BU hockey player. Hope he has 8 Crazy Nights Adam Sandler style. Rosen had a solid first half for the Terriers posting an 0-2-2 line while centering the fourth line, including an assist on Ross Gaudet's GW OT goal at Red Hot Hockey. His impact isn't measured in terms of points as he centers the 4th line which is a grinding line that can really change the course of the game when the top 3 lines aren't playing as well. Exhibit A of this was Red Hot Hockey where his line accounted for the winning goal and were praised by coach Jack Parker as the best line for the Terriers. He will likely see much more ice time in the second half with the recent departures at forward (Charlie Coyle to QMJHL and Corey Trivino-dismissed). I would expect to see Rosen get some special teams time as he seems capable to play both the PK, possibly with linemate Ross Gaudet and run the point on the PP with his defensive experience in previous seasons.

9 Alex Chiasson- The assistant captain had an up and down first half of the year. The junior forward hit a low point when he was a healthy scratch against UMass in October and seemed to turn it around since then. He is the second highest returning scorer on the team posting a 5-9-14 line in 15 games in the first half. If this team is going to continue to get better through the second half, they need Chiasson to become a dominant power forward on that second line. Chiasson also leads the team in +/- with a +8 and should only get better depending where he plays next semester. Rumors out there is the second line could be Nieto-Megan- Chiasson..I don't hate it for sure. I would look for big things from Chiasson in what is most likely his last semester at BU with him currently being rated as one of Dallas' top prospects.

12 Chris Connolly- The senior captain has been a difference-maker for the Terriers as his constant hustle and desire to win is something all fans can appreciate. He has been snake-bitten on the goal front but has still posted 13 assists with a 0-13-13 line in 15 games so far this year. He also has posted a +7 rating and has only taken one penalty all year for the Terriers. He has done a great job, in my opinion, of having this team ready to play since the embarrassing loss to Lowell in the beginning of November. He will continue to be tested as a leader going into the second half but if there is a reason he was the unaminous choice as the first 2 year captain since Jack OC in the late 70's. I would expect to see some goals start pouring in for the senior. Once the first one hits the back of the net, it should open the flood gates.

15 Ryan Santana- Santana never hit the ice in the first half due to offseason surgery but he seems to be splitting time on the fourth line in the second half with senior Kevin Gilroy. Despite not hitting the ice, Santana still made headlines (in a good way). Santana attempted and failed the Rhett's challenge which involved eating a triple bacon cheeseburger, a root beer float, an order of fries and an 8 scoop ice cream sundae in 30 minutes. I give him an A for effort though. I might give it a try next semester but GW can barely eat a single cheeseburger so it might be a one man adventure (stay tuned for details). Santana also made news in our interview with Garrett Noonan for having a "pretty greasy muzzy" going during Movemeber. Kid making headlines even when he is hurt. You got to love it.

16 Kevin Gilroy- The senior forward hasn't seen the ice since being benched for skipping classes in early November but still has a goal on the season in only 5 games played. I would expect more of the senior in the second half, splitting fourth line RW time with Santana. Hopefully the time watching from the stands will give Gilroy extra motivation to show what he is capable of when is out on the ice. I'm still calling that he scores the GW OT goal in the National Championship game in Tampa. He wins it after Noonan ties it up and does an awesome celly.

17 Matt Nieto- The sophomore forward leads the Terriers in points posting an 8-8-16 line in the first half in 14 games. The Terriers will be depending upon Nieto to continue to produce big numbers, assuming he has recovered from his shoulder injury that caused him to miss the last two games before break.

18 Wade Megan-The junior forward has put up solid numbers so far this year posting a 7-1-8 line in 16 games. Megan has done a great job, playing mostly with the two freshmen on the third line. It would be expected that Megan will move up to the second line for second semester which should produce more points for the junior from Canton, NY. Just change the words from Jayne to Wade in the song below and we have his goal song for next semester.

BU loses to Holy Cross,chaos ensues

The #7 BU Terriers mens ice hockey team lost in a classic trap game 5-4 to the College of Holy Cross at Agganis Arena Saturday night. It marked the Terriers first ever loss to an Atlantic Hockey team and has caused alot of backlash from fans. I have read fans on various websites blaming Coach Parker, Kieran Millan, Charlie Coyle to the band. Now let's not go turn into the Red Sox here. Was the game ugly? Of course. I was beyond angry walking out of the rink Saturday night. There is a reason I waited over 24 hours to post something. It is because it is just ticking me off and it is tough to put a positive spin on anything that happened. The Terriers got outworked and simply didn't execute hard enough to win the game in front of a fairly full Agganis Arena due to parents' weekend.

Wade Megan was thrown out of the game in the third for a hit from behind which was a penalty but I can't blame Megan for playing hard. He was skating around hitting guys trying to wake up his team the whole third period. I won't get into how the call was changed based on the injury to the opposing player. It is always scary when a guy gets hurt but don't make it a major penalty because of it or guys will be milking injuries all over the country to get a call.

Now to begin, there is plenty of blame to go around here but it doesn't all fall on Coach Parker. He does need to find a way to motivate better and mentally prepare the team for games against lower ranked opponents such as PC and Holy Cross. We will see first hand if he can do it this week against UMASS who has one win this year, against Bentley. Some of the blame falls on the coaching staff's shoulders but certainly not all of it.

Next, sophomore first round pick Charlie Coyle has been singled out along with other forwards for not producing. Let's take a look at the top two lines this year shall we?(through 4 game splayed)

Alex Chiasson- 4g,3a,+7- 7 points

Charlie Coyle- 0g, 5a +6, 5 points

Matt Nieto- 4g, 1a, +5, 5 points

Chris Connolly- 0g, 3a, +0, 3 points

Sahir Gil, 1g, 4a, +0, 5 points

Corey Trivino 3g, 2a, 5 points +1

These top two lines of forwards are dominating when they are on the ice. The 3rd and 4th lines are struggling but the third line is two freshman with Cason Hohmann and Evan Rodrigues(both who have showed signs of catching up with the college game so far). The defensmen are struggling at times and leaving Kieran Millan out to dry. These problems will get less apparent with hard work and the return of injured players Ryan Ruikka and Yasin Cisse. Cisse can bring another scoring touch to the 3rd or 4th line while Ruikka will create competition among defenseman as one of the four lower defenseman: Escobedo, Nicastro Clendening, or Privaterra will need to sit every game once Ruikka returns and is 100%.

Kieran Millan needs to get a game off this weekend to give Grant "Rollie" Rollheiser a chance to play well and push Millan to raise his level of play as well. Then again, we are only four games into the season. Last year this team began 6-0-4 and rose to be #1 in the country and then fell from there. The positive spin to this year is that problems are being diagnosed earlier in the year with more time for them to be addressed by the coaching staff and veteran leaders on the club. They could go unanswered and BU could miss the tournament for the 3rd year in a row or the questions will be answered and this team will be stronger because of it. So don't jump off that bridge yet and leave the fucking band alone.

Northeastern salvages a split...prepare for 2-3 more with BU next weekend

The Boston University Terriers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Northeastern Huskies last night at Agganis Arena. The Terriers held leads of both 1-0(on a Max NiCastro pp goal) and 2-1(on Chris Connolly's pp goal) but then proceeded to give up three straight goals to face a 4-2 deficit with five minutes left before KGilroy pulled the Terriers within one. BU could never scramble to grab the tying goal and lost watching themselves slip into #3 in HE and t16 in the Pairwise. With a win, the Terriers would face UVM in the HEA playoffs next weekend as opposed to 2-3 more with NU. Coach Parker descibed the team's play as casual and taking too many stupid penalties. The dumbest of which was Alex Chiasson's roughing penalty with six minutes to play. Chiasson could be seen getting chewed out by Parker while he was in the box. This was a poor effort by the Terries combined by poor officiating(who refused to call embellishment while NU players flopped all over the ice). Hopefully next weekends crew will take a better control of the game and not let it get to the chippness level it did both nights. Garrett Noonan is facing a one game suspension for his third game misconduct this season that Parker said he will appeal with the league office this week. None of this surprises me when I know how much referee John Gravalese hates BU with a passion. Here is Parker's presser below:



BU had stayed in third in conference thanks to a PC victory over Merrihack. BC also finished their sweep of UNH to grab their first regular season title since 2005. The HE quarters look like the following:
8 UMASS@ 1 BC
7 UVM @ 2 UNH
6 NEU @ 3 BU
5 Maine @ 4 Merrihack

Stay tuned for previews and predictions for the playoff hockey that awaits

Merrimack making Wednesday night's game their NCAA title game already

I was just reading some things over on the Warrior Rink Rat Blog which is the official blog for Merrimack Hockey run by my bff Mike McMahon from the Eagle Tribune. I was checking for weather updates and apparently there are 10-16 inches of snow predicted for the Merrimack Valley area but it could stop anytime from noon to 10p.m The game would most likely be rescheduled if the snow has not stopped by three or four and there is ten plus inches on the ground. Just a little update for people going to the game. There should be a decision midday tomorrow though and I will post it here as soon as I know.

McMahon then goes into an article titled "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!". If that doesn't scream this game is our most important one ever then I don't know what does. This clown then goes into detail how BU and Merrimack are number one and two in penalty minutes in Hockey East almost a minute a game ahead of that other school I don't like down in Newton. These teams did play two physical games in November that ended in ties but this is more of a way that Merrimack forces opponents to play as how BU plays consistently. BU plays a game depending on the opposing team and Merrimack forces you to play physical and get under your skin with their hitting after the whistle and consistent cheap shots lead by sophomore defenseman Kyle Bigos. McMahon defends the goon saying he often gets penalized just because he is bigger than the guys he is hitting.

"When Bigos, for example, outweighs an opposing player by 50 pounds and is sometimes as much as eight inches taller, a collision is going to have quite the negative effect on the smaller man.

That doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to hit and it certainly doesn't mean the officials need to penalize him every time he does."

No, he gets penalized because he lands elbows to the head like its his job. An elbow to the head is a penalty. It doesn't matter if it is tough to avoid because he is tall and a goon. Don't hit people illegally and you won't get penalized. You need to be physical right back at this team in order to beat them. You need to find the line between physical and stupid. There is still a game to be won out there and I expect the Terriers to find this line and use to win the game tomorrow night. This team has all the motivation in the world to go stomp this team and it needs to happen. They got away with a less than 100% effort against UVM Sunday night but this is a HE game against the team directly behind you and you are fighting for HE home ice which is huge come March. There is no reason the Terriers shouldn't be able to come out flying and jump all over the Warriors. If they sit back and take the physical play they will get run out of the building like Maine did Saturday(7-1 MC win). They need to establish a checking game and take plenty of shots getting people to the front of the net. More shots need to be taken from this team. You're not going to win many games with only 16 shots on net. This is a big game as McMahon thinks but Merrimack is hyping it up even more so. It is their NCAA title game or something. BU needs to just go in there and win a big conference game and be done with Merrimack and their cheap shots for this year barring any postseason play.

McMahon then goes into detail about the Terriers and Warriors "rivalry" before November in the HE quarterfinal round last March. First, it isn't a rivalry until Merrimack actually does something. Make a NCAA tournament or even the HE tournament finals. Then we'll talk about this wanna-be rival.

His description of one event last March made me chuckle for a quite a while.

"The Warriors and Terriers combined for 163 penalty minutes in their three-game playoff series last spring where a melee broke out with just 1:14 left in the final game after Alex Chiasson tucked a shot on Stephane Da Costa and then threw a punch before Da Costa responded, grabbing Chiasson. The pair threw jabs at each other and both were ejected."

First, they both are French so this is hilarious that they are fighting because both probably was trying to surrender the whole time. Thankfully Chiasson is French Canadian so they just do whatever America tells them to. I just find it hilarious that he makes Chiasson out to be the bad guy here. Merrimack was trying to take cheap shots all series lead by Bigos. I was at all three games and I know what I saw. These guys were trying to draw BU into a fight and trying to steal the series. Don't go and act like Da Costa is always the victim as the whole MC fan base does. He gets hit just like your team does to everyone else. Either be a fan of physical hockey or don't. Don't change your mind depending on who is getting hit. Da Costa is a little French bitch who hopefully Courtnall send through the glass tomorrow night.

The rest of the article is stupid about home ice and where the Warriors rank nationally. One part of the article I did enjoy was that there reports that Yale has been cheating all season! That is why they are #1 besides paying the voters and playing cupcakes all year. Here is what is said

"Julie Robenhymer, a blogger for hockeybuzz.com, reported that Yale could be facing sanctions for playing Cahill, who she reported to be possibly ineligible.

Cahill took last season off for personal reasons, but according to Robenhymer, he was expelled from Yale for academic policy violations. He spent the year in France, playing for Les Phenix, tier-II team in the French Hockey Federation. According to Robenhymer, Cahill was playing for a team that compensated most of its players.

According to NCAA rule 12.2.3.2 in the NCAA Division 1 Manual, "an individual shall not be eligible for intercollegiate athletics in a sport if the individual ever competed on a professional team."

According to Robenhymer. an investigation is ongoing after an anonymous letter was sent to the NCAA and the ECAC. But Yale head coach Keith Allain, quoted in the Yale Daily News, denied that there was any investigation into Cahill's eligibility."

There is also a piece here from USCHO.Com about potential draft picks from the College Ranks which includes Matt Nieto, Adam Clendening, Sahir Gil, and other BU recruits.

Update- Sophomore defenseman Max NiCastro has been suspended for the game tomorrow night by Coach Parker for his actions Sunday night. NiCastro pushed a net into a ref after Vermont's second goal that resulted in a ten minute misconduct. This is all first reported by the Boston Hockey blog.

BU gets first win in over a month...edges UVM 4-2

In a game in which the BU Terriers got outshot 31 to 16, they certainly made every shot count. BU won its first game since the eight of December with a big 4-2 win at Vermont tonight. Sophomore forward Alex Chiasson had two goals while Max NiCastro and Corey Trivino added the others for the Terriers. This was huge win for this young BU team that is trying to answer all of its critics. Kieran Millan made 29 saves and the only two goals he allowed were tipped off of BU players in front of the net. The win solidifies third place in HE for the Terriers leading up to Wednesday night's matchup with Merrimack (who is coming off of a 7-1 thrashing). BSRS will be well represented at the game as GW, Raymundo, and myself will be making the trip up to North Andover to catch the game. It is a huge game for the Terriers as Merrimack sits three points back with one game in hand in the standings after they thrashed Maine. BU improves the overall record to 9-5-6 while UVM falls to a lowly 3-11-4. Look for the rankings coming out tomorrow afternoon and the pairwise rankings are updated. Wednesday night's game are big for both and should be a good one if the first two meetings were any sign as both ended in ties(2-2,3-3). Lawler Arena is a tough place to play so we will see if this young team can respond and build a winning streak.

The win also puts BU to #15 in the pairwise rankings up from #17.

Note- Parker was not pleased with the performance at all and the press conference was very similar to the ones after the games last year so look for the team to get fired up for the game Wednesday after he rips into them the next couple days.

Bye bye Glassy! Andrew Glass dismissed by Parker

The Boston Hockey Blog is reporting that junior forward Andrew Glass has been kicked off the Boston University hockey team for a "whole bunch of things" according to coach Jack Parker. At the time of the quote, Glass was still suspended indefinitely but has been dismissed from the team in the hours since. Glass was suspended for the season opener of the last season for breaking team rules and apparently has again started acting up. This leaves the team shorthanded off the bench as it only leaves two forwards inactive for each game and one defenseman. Glass must have really pissed Parker off to make this move mid-season and when he was the tenth highest scoring player on the team. The Wrentham,MA native is a seventh round draft pick of the Washington Capitals but his shot at the NHL now looks slim to none with nowhere to play for this coming semester. Look for him to try to hook on with a junior team for the remainder of this season and maybe transfer for next season...or maybe just make a fuckface club with the Saponari brothers and talk about how much of hardass Parker is for not encouraging all this shit and distractions that this young team does not need to see or hear about.

-Boston Hockey Blog also has a preview on the UVM-BU game Sunday up in Burlington.

-Freshman forward Charlie Coyle is back on campus from the world juniors and will have his first practice Saturday after being given a few days off by Coach Parker

- Sophomore forward Alex Chiasson is "100%" according to coach Parker and dropped the no contact jersey for Friday's practice.

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.

BU completes sweep of Lowell with two goals in last five minutes

This is a game the 2009-10 BU Terriers panic and lose after going down 1-0 in the third to a team they should beat at home. This year's team is much different. Trailing 1-0 with four minutes left in the game, an ugly loss seemed to be looming but once again the Terriers dug in and tied the game up with 3:43 left on Alex Chiasson's third goal of the season on a great pass from Warso to Coyle who put it on net for Chiasson to finish. The Terriers then got the winning goal from junior captain Chris Connolly with 27.5 second left to give the team a scrappy 2-1 win in front of a packed crowd. The Terriers' defense were tested as they were forced to use a five man rotation the whole game once Max Nicastro received a 5 minute major and game misconduct for hitting from behind. It was a dumb penalty to take especially so early in the game. Junior goalie Grant Rollheiser played well in his first game action since the Ice Breaker. He made some solid saves and rarely let up rebounds. He earned some more playing time with his start last night but still expect Kieran to get the nod against Maine and their high powered attack next weekend.

This was a huge win for the Terriers to get all four points this weekend and lengthen the lead in Hockey East as BC fell to Merrimack in their first student sell-out in ten years. I am sure everyone is going to jump on the Merrimack bandwagon now but I will take BU just doing what needs to be done even if its not pretty wins. The Hockey East standings still need time to pan out with BU playing 5 games already and most other schools only having played two or three out first place standing is premature. BU has done what it needed to do against some weaker opponents coming out with 9 out of a possible 10 points which I will take everyday of the week. Bu is one of three teams left undefeated in Hockey East and the only undefeated team in the conference. Hopefully this team continues to work and stick together as Chiasson has taken the role of the enforcer on this team(scary I know) getting a penalty for hitting after the whistle Friday Night and getting thrown out of the line last night after a scrum after the final buzzer went off.