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?

Hockey East Power Rankings

So after the first weekend where every team has competed in conference play, I figured it was about time to reveal my first Hockey East power rankings. So here we go

1. Newton University-Boston College 7-1 (5-0)- undefeated in the conference so far but haven't exactly faced any of the big boys yet. Their conference opponents combined record is 6-14-2. Not exactly facing the top of the conference so far. This changes this weekend as they play Maine Friday night at home before playing UMASS once again on Saturday night.

2. Merrihack 6-0(4-0)- I'll give Merrimack this. They look good so far but like BC haven't played any of the top tier of Hockey East besides Maine where they squeaked out a 2-1 win in their season opener. They are going to have a couple quality wins to sell me but so far they seem legit.

3. Maine 3-2-1 (3-1)- Maine's only loss comes to Merrimack(even though it was at home) and they competed in their series in North Dakota out of conference. Maybe Whitehead will build an actual team this year with the loss of Nyquist... just kidding it is Tim Whitehead we're talking about.

4. BU 3-2-1 (2-1-1)- Obviously inconsistent so far but I believe Hockey East will get four teams into the NCAA by the end of the season(not necessarily in this order) but as of now BU has plenty to prove. We will see if Saturday's dramatic OT win over UMASS sparks the team to go on a run if they have another "let down" game in Lowell this Saturday.

5. UNH 2-4-1(1-3)- Obviously UNH got off to a terrible start but I believe that got it on track this weekend with a pair of convincing wins over Union and Northeastern. They will be right there at the end of the season fighting for the NCAA's as usual(but never actually winning anything of importance). They have two home games this weekend so it will be interesting to see how the team performs.

6. PC 2-3-1 (2-2) -PC came out flying in conference play but were quickly silenced with a sweep by Maine this past weekend. They get UVM for two this weekend at home which is a series in which if they want to be considered legitimate contenders, need to take 3 points.

7. Northeastern 1-4-1(1-4-1) Northeastern beat UNH at home when UNH was still reeling but then lost to them this past weekend back at UNH. Northeastern is better than their record indicates since their losses have come to BC, Merrimack, Maine,and UNH so don't count them out.

8. UVM 1-3(2-2)- They really haven't done anything noteworthy thus far besides win @ Minnesota but that is one more accomplishment than the teams I am listing below them have accomplished thus far.

9. UMASS 1-3-2 (0-3-2)- Ok this is a bit of a stretch considering their only win is against Bentley. They did go into Matthews and tie NU though and they gave BU a hell of a weekend this past weekend despite choking away multiple goal leads in both games.

10. UML 2-3(0-2)- They failed to give BC much of a fight this weekend despite outshooting them in both games but not scoring. Learn how to score and beat someone besides Minnesota State without losing to UCONN and get back to me. Yes, I am writing this very different than if I was traveling to Lowell this weekend. If I was making the trip, I would have placed Lowell in first and been praising Mickey Ward because I value my own life. Of course, that is assuming anyone in Lowell can read or would read this shitty blog but hey you know what I mean.

BU rises another spot in polls, BC falls from #1

Despite last Friday's loss to Providence, the BU mens ice hockey team rose a spot to #7 in the latest USCHO poll, due in large part to a victory over #3 Denver on Saturday. The polls mean nothing, especially this early in the season but it is good to see that the Terriers are respected nationally as a top 10 team which I believe they really are. The Terriers look to hold pace with only one game this weekend at Atlantic Hockey powerhouse Holy Cross...well Atlantic Hockey contender Holy Cross. Here is the rest of the top 10 and significant others

1. Michigan(+3) 4-0 and just destroying whoever they play even without defenseman Jon Merril

2. BC(-1)- The loss to Denver bumps them down a spot but they still remain one of the top teams in the country and I still hate them. That is all

3. Denver- Took care of business perfectly for us last weekend, winning down in Newton and losing in Boston

4. Colorado College(+3)

5. North Dakota(+1)- took 3 out of 4 points from Maine to make up for last year's sweep at the hands of the Black Bears

6. Notre Dame(-4)- Drop down four spots but they open their new rink Friday night so that should make highlight news whether they win or not

7. BU(+1)- Just gotta keep building off the Denver win and not overlook Holy Cross this weekend

8. Minnesota(+6)- The sweep of state rival Duluth certainly helps this young team gain some confidence

9. Yale(+1)- They still haven't played so I have no idea how they stay in the polls

10. Miami(-5)- They seem to be in for a down year without Miele and Campfer

13. Merrimack- Merrihack just sneaking out wins over Army and Maine so far. Northeastern should test them at Lawler Friday night.

18. Maine(-1)- Managed to take one point in North Dakota and get back to the HE schedule this weekend.

Others receiving votes : Providence- 69, UNH - 12, Lowell-12, Northeastern-3

Also here are the inch power rankings and the usa today poll.

Denver down 2 goalies heading into BC/BU weekend

Denver University is already down their #1 and #3 goalies for this weekend's trip east to play #1 Boston College and #8 Boston University. It now appears that there is a chance that their #2 goalie and projected starter for both contests, junior Adam Murray, is less than 100% even though he is expected to play in both games according to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. Murray sustained a 'lower body' injury in an exhibition game last weekend against the US under 18 team and is expected to practice with a light load this week. If he were to get hurt or be unable to play, then #4 goalie and former DU rugby player Zach Hope would be thrusted into action as #1 goalie Sam Brittain is out until the second half recovering from major off season knee surgery. The #3 goalie, freshman Juno Olkinuora, is serving a three game suspension from playing in a league with professional players. These circumstances could leave the #3Pioneers in pretty desperate times if Murray's injury were worsen during either of the games this weekend. This would force Hope to play in his first ever D1 hockey game against a top 10 team. Denver/BC will be broadcast live on CBS sports network at 7:30 while BU/PC will be on NESN beginning at 7 on Friday. BU/DU will not be broadcasted Saturday night at this time.

New polls released from USCHO Week 2

The new polls were released this afternoon with some fairly major moves as the voters only have one weekend of action to vote on so fairly big moves aren't unexpected. Here is what the top 10 and other notables look like. The first number would be the USCHO.com poll with the second being the USA Today poll.

1. Boston College - #1 in both polls after winning the Ice Breaker Tournament. Yeah yeah no one cares about that tournament. We won it last year and looked how that ended up.

2. Notre Dame- #2 in both polls make it two Catholic schools at the top of the polls and the most arrogant ones at that. Excuse me while I go puke my brains out.

3. Denver- #3 have not played a game yet but will certainly be tested as they travel to BC and BU this weekend for a pair of great non-conference games

4. Michigan 4/5- Michigan wins 3 games to start off the year granted not against the greatest opposing teams

5. Miami- 4/5- Their loss this weekend drops them down three spots

6. North Dakota- #6 They got romped by BC this weekend which isn't a great sign but it is a long season and their mascot is still racist as Feliz Miguel would say.

7. Colorado College- 7/8- Thank you for raping BC last year in the tournament.

8. BU- 8/7- Jump two and drop one in each poll after the 5-0 win over #15 UNH.

9. UMD- The defending champs stay in the top 10 even after a loss.

10. Yale- You play in the EZAC. Your games shouldn't even count in the polls.

13. Merrihack- A nice win up in Orono keeps the Warriors in the polls and moving up

15. UNH- Frozen pizza looked be thawing a little bit giving up four goals to BU behind an inexperienced blue line

17. Maine- The Black Bears split a weekend at home which is what Maine fans have grown accustomed to under Timmy.

Others receiving votes: UMASS, Northeastern? Fuck you Saponari

Here are some other links about BU's win this weekend and Millan's play

Millan

3 big findings from HE this week

Rock Chalk Terrier: Basketball Beanpot?

In the immortal words of Indians Red Sox Dodgers Rays Outfielder Manny Ramirez, I'm happy to be back, I'm here to play. After a semester student teaching I'm ready to jump back into the fray of blogging BU and Boston sports by introducing what I hope to keep a regular feature on the blog: Rock Chalk Terrier, featuring discussion of our dearly beloved BU men's basketball team, which I eventually plan to spin off into game previews and recaps.

Imagine my surprise Monday when I read a piece in the Boston Herald online that I actually did not think was stupid. (Unsurprisingly it was not the product of Dennis or Callahan or whichever one of WEEI's morning monkeys writes there) This article posited the idea of a Basketball Beanpot tournament similar to the one played among the Boston hockey schools every February. In addition to BU, BC, Harvard and Northeastern, the tournament could potentially include other Massachusetts D1 programs UMass and Holy Cross, both schools with substantial tradition in the sport.

The coaches at the schools all seem to think this is a great idea, but simply a logistical issue that needs to be solved as far as how to pull it off. At least initially I feel that the best approach the schools should take toward this tournament would be to take a similar approach to how the Philadelphia Big 5 is run. those 5 schools (La Salle, Penn, 'Nova, St. Joe's and Temple) All play one another each year on their home courts and the team with the best record in those games against each other is declared champion. I think this would be fine in the case of this tournament as well since these teams typically play 3 or so games a year against other Beanpot schools in their non-conference schedule. Playing everyone every year would build rivalries at all of these schools, which can in the long run give fans a compelling reason to come out to the games. Plus the teams haven't been as unbalanced against each other recently as you might think given their vast differences in conference prestige (ACC vs. A-10 vs. CAA vs. Ivy League vs. AEast); BU is 3-5 against Beanpot schools since the 2008-09 season, Northeastern is 3-3, Holy Cross is 1-8 (but 9-3 in the 4 years before), UMass and BC are 4-3 and surprisingly enough, Harvard is 7-2 (they'd have been this and least year's champs, BU and NU would've tied for 2008-09). Given this kind of parity I think it'd make sense to pull the trigger on making it happen. ARE YOU LISTENING, COACHES?

Here's who would've won the last few years (Based on best record, which admittedly is skewed since BC often doesn't play the lower level schools like BU, Northeastern and Holy Cross)

2010-11: Harvard (2-0)-2

2009-10: Harvard (3-0)-1

2008-09: BU-1 & Northeastern-1 (2-1)

2007-08: Holy Cross (2-0)-2

2006-07: BC (2-0)-5

2005-06: BC (3-0)-4

2004-05: BC (3-0)-3

2003-04: BC (4-0)-2

2002-03: Holy Cross (2-0)-1

2001-02: BC (3-0)-1

Breaking down the polls

As seen below we dropped from #7 to #10 this week which came of no surprise after a 4-1 defeat Saturday at RPI. Yale remains at number one with 45 out of the 50 first place votes. UNH, Minnesota-Duluth and Newton University split up the other five. North Dakota got zero despite having the strongest strength of schedule in the nation compared to Yale's 26. They have also played 8 more games than Yale who refuses to play anyone difficult out of conference at the beginning of the season for some reason. North Dakota and UNH have a legitimate case for number one over Yale. I refuse to give BC the right to number one yet, but they are better than Yale. They are actually much better than Yale but I think they still belong at 3 or 4 due to their inconsistency thus far. BC will be number one once again this season at some point I am sure along with a couple of other teams as I see no clear-cut number one team in the nation.

Yale will lose again and once that happens they should free-fall since any loss in conference will be to a bad team. They have one ranked opponent left on the schedule and that is Union on 1/28 and RPI on 1/29 in Troy. This will be Yale's stiffest test of the season since RPI is undefeated at home this season and Union is decent apparently. They play an astounding TWO teams in the top 15 of the Pairwise rankings for the remainder of the season. That is those games against RPI and Union. They then have five games against teams in 15-25 rankings of the Pairwise which realistically says they would not make the tournament as of today. They play Dartmouth(#19) twice, Clarkson(#22) twice, and Princeton(#21) once. The only other positive on Yale's resume is a win is at Colorado College(#15 pairwise) in November. The remaining 10 games come against teams outside of the Pairwise Rankings all together. Now let's compare this to a Hockey East team such as UNH. They have 5 games remaining against "tournament" teams or top 15 in the pairwise with two against Maine, two against BC and one against BU with two more against (#18 Merrimack). BU has seven more against top 15 teams. I don't understand how voters can undervalue these types of games. Sorry but UNH's win in Maine this past weekend means a hell a lot more than Yale defeating the club team from Sacred Heart. I am ok with Yale being in the top ten but they are not the #1 team in the country so stop ranking them there. Any of the top 10 teams would have their record or better with that schedule.

Pairwise- These are the computer rankings that the NCAA committee goes by in March when determining the seeding and teams in the tournament.
Krach- USCHO makes these up based on a formulas. Note that in both. Yale and Union's strength of schedule are not impressive while RPI has held it's own by playing BU and Brown I guess? I honestly don't know their strength of schedule is that high.

So here is my attempt at ranking the top ten teams without a computer.
1. UNH- They have two losses all season both of which came on the road to top 13 teams in Pairwise rankings. That sounds like a #1 team to me.
2. North Dakota- They have the number one strength of schedule and have a 13-5-2 record to show from it.
3. Minnesota-Duluth- They were number one in the country for a month for a reason.
4. BC-This team is streaky but is a top 5 team no matter how I hate them and everything they stand for.
5. Denver- Again,SOS play a role here as they get through the first half with a 12-5-3 record in a tough conference while challenging themselves out of conference.
6. Miami- Same as of above
7. Yale- They slide to #7 for their lone loss against (#34) Air Force. You wanna off set that bad loss? Play someone good you pussies.
8. Maine- Tough loss to UNH this weekend at home but still should make the tournament with ease
9 . BU- The loss at RPI hurts but this young team will grow throughout the break and come back strong to make a push at another Frozen Four appearance.
10. Nebraska-Omaha- They lost two to Bem. State. That is tough to do and stay in the top ten.

Also here is a piece from USCHO grading Hockey East teams throughout the first half of the season.

Rankings out...BU#6, BC loses grasp on #1

The USCHO.COM polls for this week were just released and look as follows for the top ten
1. Miami(OH)
2. Boston (Newton)College
3. Minnesota-Duluth
4. Michigan
5. Yale
6. Boston University
7. Maine
8. North Dakota
9. Nebraska-Omaha
10. New Hampshire

No real shockers here as BC loses its #1 title with a loss to #13 Notre Dame as their priests touched more little boys than the priests down in Newton to come out with the 2-1 victory Saturday night. Miami takes the #1 spot as they beat Western Michigan 9-1 over the weekend and ND lost two tough ones up in Orono to those streaky Maine Black Bears(I know it is only three weekend but this team is streaky). No other hockey east schools are in the poll as Vermont and Merrimack received votes but that shows how poor the rest of the league is looked upon by the rest of the country this season. BC only loses one place in the poll as nobody else did much to make a move besides Miami as Yale has not played yet and Michigan also has a loss so BU would have been next in line to pass the Eagles but it a little early in the season for that to happen. We will wait until early April to pass them in the standings(aslong as we win the head to head games for bragging rights). We will take the jump from 8 to 6 after a solid four point weekend in HE play. The Terriers look to continue the wins against UMASS Lowell in a home and home this weekend.

-Also the BU women held onto their #5 ranking in the national poll after a four point weekend.

Thursday's Hockey Odds and Ends

The Boston Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night, 3-1, in a contest held down in D.C. The Bruins got goals from David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Matt Hunwick, as well as a stellar 35 save performance from goalie Tim Thomas. The Bruins D-Men kept the Capitals potent offense in check, including shutting down superstar Alex Ovechkin. Lucic recorded the always impressive "Gordie Howe Hat Trick", which consists of a goal, assist, and a fight (see the goal below this post).  Thomas continues to make his case for starting goalie, improving his record this season to 3-0 with a ridiculous .67 gaa and a .979 save percentage. The B's are back in action tonight against these same Capitals, this time at the Garden...


Prior to the Bruins-Capitals game on Tuesday night, Versus showed a 15 minute video about former BU Terrier Travis Roy. For those of you who don't know, Roy was a promising 20 year old freshman in 1995 who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury only 11 seconds into his BU career. The injury left Roy a quadriplegic, and forever ended his hockey career. These days, Roy gives motivational speeches and raises money for his charity, The Travis Roy Foundation. The video included BU great Chris Drury as well as legendary coach Jack Parker You can find the video right below this post, and I'd definitely recommend that any BU fan or hockey fan in general should watch it...


The Daily Free Press (BU's top student newspaper) has a good article about BU's lone seniors - Captain Joe Pereira and back-up goalie Adam Kraus. You can read that article here.

Keeping with BU hockey, the men travel to Zoomass tomorrow night for a rematch of last Saturday night's tie at Agganis, while the women take on St. Lawrence at Walter Brown Arena. If you are a BU student who doesn't want to make the trek out to Amherst like QuackQuack will be, I would highly recommend attending the women's game. They are extremely talented this year and are a fun team to watch...

Ever since I bought tickets through BC for the BU at BC game last season, I've been receiving e-mails from the BC athletic department from time to time. And last night, I received probably the funniest e-mail yet - a promo for the upcoming "Ice Jam". Apparently the "Ice Jam" is some sort of retarded rally to get kids hyped about the winter sports season. Here's the best part - this dumb ass video featuring members of the men's and women's hockey and basketball teams:

Seriously how retarded is that? First off, getting Bob Costas as emcee seems a little dramatic. This isn't the opening ceremonies of the Olympics for Chrissakes. It's an overblown rally. Plus, what kind of production value is that? Cmon looks like that video was shot on a freakin Flip Cam or some shit. All I'm saying is for a school that thinks it's a half step away from Harvard, that was pretty shitty. Did none of them own a camcorder or something? Good lord. I guess I'll just never understand those holy-types...

Notre Dame Hockey Frosh Are Boozebags Too!

Not to be outdone by their Catholic school brethren at the outhouse on the hill, Notre Dame Icerish freshmen Riley Sheahan and Kyle Palmieri were arrested for public intoxication on Sunday. And by public intoxication I mean standing in the back of a moving pickup truck and blowing a .10 and .12 respectively. And oh yeah, Palmieri apparently also attempted to wrestle himself away from the cops who were attempting to arrest him while trying to get at one of their tasers. BADASS!!

Even Notre Dame kids are better at drunken debauchery than you, BC. Take note Parker Milner: you don't just toss away your beer, abandon your buds and run off to the hospital when you think you're gonna get tagged by the cops. No, you try to wrestle them and steal their taser first before ultimately running for the hills. At least try to get a good story out of it or make a show for your less belligerent friends to enjoy. Point to Notre Dame. Once again, BC shows that their real name oughta be Bushleague College.

BC Hockey: Attending Masses, Causing Crashes--UPDATE

The MBTA police report of the BC Hockey crash is now available on the Boston Globe's website. Props to the LetsGoDU Hockey Blog for posting it first!

Also gotta love the headline in today's Metro about the accident--"T says BC boozebags should pay." BC Boozebags! I love it!