BU/BC weekend recap

First- we would like to thank everyone for making November such a success as it was our best month ever by far in page views. Also, we have posted on Twitter that we are taking requests for who fans would like to see interviewed next. We can't promise anything but we will try to get another interview in before the end of the semester if the interest is there. Feel free to leave a comment or send us an email if you are not on Twitter.

The first weekend of December always means one thing...BU/BC hockey and this year we got the pleasure of adding in basketball game down in Newton as well. Let's start with hockey. Friday night was a great turnout from BU fans as four full Peter Pan Buses filled up and traveled down to the shitty suburb of Newton to fill up the upper levels of Conte Forum. BU students including your favorite bloggers were there chanting at BC security over an hour before the game began. Then the team followed and jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals on a Charlie Coyle snipe and a Yasin Cisse breakaway goal(his first collegiate goal) after he was sprung on a great pass from freshman Alexx Privitera. BU was outshot throughout the game but continued to find ways to put the puck in the net as Garrett Noonan scored on BU's only shot on net in the 2nd period. BC tipped a puck in on one of their many power plays most of which was due to them flopping all over the ice like a bunch of little bitches(Yes, I'm talking to you Steve Whitney- who was later ejected for embellishment in the 3rd). It was 3-1 heading into third when freshman forward Cason Hohmann scored his first collegiate goal on a great pass from Sean Escobedo. That was the dagger and sent BC's fake fans back home while BU's fans partied for the remainder of the game. The final score was 5-3 good guys.

After the game, there was some more action as BU legendary coach Jack Parker told BC coach Jerry York what he thought of BC's diving throughout the game. York responded with sarcasm and then had words with Parker because he thought it was disrespectful when the BU team stick saluted BU fans after the 11/13 5-0 win. Parker apologized and the team went to the locker room while BC stood out there listening to their stupid slow and agonizing alma mater song. My theory on this is if you don't want an opposing team to stick salute on your ice then beat them. It's not our problem that we have more fans than you at your own home rink. Just typical BC move where they claim they' ve been wronged just because they suck.

Anyway onto to the bad, BC managed a split with a 6-1 victory at Agganis. BU outshot BC in front of a sold out and rocking Agganis Arena but BC managed to capitalize on some opportunities and solid play from freshman goalie Brian Billett who replaced the sieve that is Parker Milner. This ended the season series 2-1 in favor of BU with possible rematches remaining in the Beanpot Final, Hockey East and NCAA tournaments. I was really impressed with the student sections as even when the outcome was certain, the students stayed and kept chanting. BC's 9 fans in attendance were not heard from all night despite the scoreboard. The team also impressed in the effort department as they never stopped hitting and trying against those flopping girls. BU plays next this Thursday at UNH to finish up the season series with those dirty hicks after they just got swept by Lowell. They then finish up the first half of the season traveling deep into inbred territory at Maine on Saturday night.

Now, onto basketball as BU, an America East team, beat BC(ACC team) 75-61. I made the trip down to Newton for this one as well and the home crowd was almost as embarrassing as the team as they allowed BU to shoot over 35% from 3 point land to give coach Joe Jones a win over his former employer. BU senior Daryl Partin was easily the best player on the court as he continue to be one of the top 10 scorers in the nation. The win was great for the program and the team, who has now won 4 in a row. BU, once again, had a solid fan contingent and might have had more students at the game then BC did. Great game for the Terriers who play next Wed 12/7 against St. Joe's in Philly.

BU introduces new coach Joe Jones and game with BC

Here are the videos from the press conference today where BU officially announced Joe Jones as the 25th mens basketball coach in the history of the program. AD Mike Lynch also announced that BU would be playing BC in basketball this coming season for the first time since the 04-05 season. Stay tuned for a date and time to be officially announced.

Report: Joe Jones named new head coach at BU

Boston University has hired Joe Jones, the former associate head coach of the Newton University(Boston College) Eagles, as their next head coach. This is being reported by Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. Jones just finished his first season in Newton after spending the previous seven at Columbia where he posted a 86-108 record.

Jones will replace Pat Chambers who bailed on BU earlier this month to become the next head coach of Penn State. It was reported that interim coach Brian Daly was to interview today. Chmabers said in an interview that if Daly was not given the position then he would be joining Chambers and director of basketball operations Adam Fisher in Happy Valley.

Other names that were being thrown out there around the job were Al Skinner, Daly, Jim Ferry, and Walter McCarty? Wait what? why did Pitino even throw his name out there? Then again I Love Waltah! just not as our next coach. Jones doesn't have a spectacular record as a head coach but it will be interesting to see how he does with a team that Chambers built for success.

Coach Chambers accepts Penn State job

There had been talks around college basketball for the past week that Coach Pat Chambers, who had just signed a two year extension with BU, would be the next coach at Penn State. These rumors became reality on Friday. Penn State began looking for a coach last month after their former coach, Ed DeChellis, left for Navy. BU has named current assistant Brian Daly as the interim head coach and it seems he has a real chance to stay for a season as it is quite late in the year to bring a new coach with a totally new philosophy.

We will have more on this for days to come but as current BU students and fans of the basketball program, we would like to wish Coach Chambers the best at Penn State. We wish it could have been a longer stay here on Comm. Ave but chances like a Big Ten coaching job only come around so often. Hopefully the program is able to bounce back from this setback and build off of last year's season.

Who stays-who goes? What will the 2011-12 Terriers look like?

So I was browsing the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog today(look to your left for the link) and saw them mention that Alex Chiasson was recently rated the #3 prospect in the Dallas Stars' system so that got me to thinking(never a good thing I know)...Does he leave after this year? Chiasson would certainly be a front runner to be a captain of some sort on a team that has the talent and experience playing together to be very very good. You can ask this same question about alot of guys on this year's squad. So I am going to break down my opinion a little on each one and see where that takes us. Obviously this might change after we win National Championship#6 in April so give me some slack when Joey Pereira is holding up that trophy because this could change some guys' minds.

1. Alex Chiasson RW- As stated above, he is the #4 prospect of the Dallas starts according to hockeysfuture.com. He is the highest rated forward and wing out of the group so things don't look good for BU fans when you look at that. In the end of the day though, the choice is usually up to the player. They can "ride buses" in the AHL as Parker would say or spend another year in school in most cases. The thing with Chiasson is the Stars are only #8 in the conference and their youngest RW is 28 years old. This could be a perfect storm for Chiasson to leave and play in the NHL right away or sometime next year. The draw of playing in the NHL would be enough to lure him away from BU I think. Parker usually gives his guys honest opinions so I expect Chiasson to leave if the opportunity presents itself. Parker isn't going to beg the guy back- Jerry York style(Please Cam Atkinson don't go!).
Prediction- Chiasson leaves after two years at BU and plays in Dallas next year

2. Kieran Millan G- There was really no talk of Kieran leaving after his sophomore slump last year. After this season...different story as Millan has been lights out since the calender turned to 2011. He was recently named HE goalie of the month for Feb and has put this young Terriers team on his back at times(read Maine series). Jack Parker has said on numerous occasions how the team would have lost a game that they won if they didn't have Kieran in net. Millan is a fifth round draft choice so he has had to work his way up the ladder. He currently is the Colorado Avalanche's #12 prospect. This may be scary at first for Terrier fans but he has two goalies ahead of him on this list and he seems to be an all but lock to stay at BU for his senior season.
Prediction- Kieran comes back to win 3 titles in 4 years...ok maybe only 2.

3. Charlie Coyle C/RW- The Sharks first round pick from this year is the #3 overall prospect in the system but also the top non-goalie and only wing in the top 10. This is also known as if the Sharks need a wing this off-season and think he is ready, Coyle could be a one and done. I don't think this will be the case though because Coyle has had his ups and downs his freshman year and could benefit from a second year under the BU coaching/training staff. Look for him to go Colin Wilson style and stay one more year with a chance to win a NC.
Prediction- Coyle stays for one more year before going pro

4. Dave Warsofsky D- The junior defenseman is ranked #10 in the Bruins prospect class. Parker said at the beginning of the year that he expect "Warso" to leave at the end of the season. He also though he was going to be a Hobey Candidate so he may have changed his mind. Warsofsky has obviously had a down year for his standards but he is still a hell of a player. To be honest, I didn't think Shatty had a great year last year and he was in the NHL All-Star weekend so what do I know?
Prediction- Follows Shatty's technique and leaves for the P-Bruins at the end of the BU season.

Those are the players that were rated highest on their teams pro boards. I will go through the rest of the guys quickly and give people an idea what the pro teams expect from them
1. Wade Megan C/W- He is listed in the "other notables" category for the Florida Panthers but expect him to stay at BU for all four years.
2. Corey Trivino C- Trivino is listed as the Islanders #20 overall prospect and #4 center. This isn't enough for him to leave school early. Trivino and his awesome hair style stay for his senior season.
3. Justin Courtnall LW- Not even listed on Tampa Bay's prospect page...here for all four.
4. Grant Rollheiser G- Listed in the "other notable" category for the Maple Leafs but obviously is here to back-up Millan for another season.
5. Max Nicastro D- Listed in the "other notable" category for the Red Wings but he will be here for all four as well.
6. Yasin Cisse F- Not listed due to the two injuries he suffered from the last two seasons...has at least two great years here at BU before thinking about the pros.

-Like I said this is just because it crossed my mine and we didn't post anything else today so I went with it. We still a title to bring home though so we will worry about all of this stuff for real after the season ends. We will do some line predictions then for you but that is pointless until this season ends and the incoming class is finalized. Feel free to leave opinions below on what you think but if it is pro-BC or a troll I'll delete your comments quicker than it takes you to get from Newton to Boston which is like 30 minutes but still you get what I mean.

Rock Chalk Terriers: Upset City Baybay!

I'm still a bit in shock after seeing our Terriers basketball team pull of an immense upset in Burlington against the Scat-amounts, winning 66-64 in OT. Granted, Evan Fjeld went down in midgame with what's turned out to be only a sprained ankle (I'm glad it's only that, it looked fucking gross when they showed the replay of his ankle Theismannesque-ally bending in twain) Still, they were highly competitive even with Fjeld on the floor and the still-injured John Holland riding the pine cushioned seating with Jake. Darryl Partin took over the leading scorer role that he's verged on at times this year, scoring 23 for the Terriers.

The main thing I got from this game on TV was just how good D.J. Irving is and will continue to be as he grows within the BU program over the next three years. He scored 18 points in addition to running the offense very efficiently and effectively, particularly in the second half of the game. When Holland comes back, I see this team as certainly being a threat to Vermont for the AE tournament title. If Fjeld doesn't come back, the Terriers are the odds-on favorite right off the bat. With Fjeld and Holland both back, we could be in for another mighty interesting championship game in a couple weeks.

I also have to own up to totally blowing my picks for the AE over the weekend. Glad that BU won, but I didn't see at all that UNH and Maine would lose. Definitely gives me some pause as far as looking at the AE Bracket. Of course, that's when I'll make up my mistakes now with a perfect bracket there, but that's a story for another day.

Rock Chalk Terriers/America BEasts: Season Finale(s)

With little to lose or gain (except perhaps confidence), our Boston University Terriers head into their regular season finale against the Vermont Cat-mounters Catamounts at Burlington's Patrick Gym. Unfortunately, the Terriers may be without the services of team leader John Holland as he injured his ankle in the recent game at Binghamton, leading to the rest of the Terriers having to barely gut out a 53-51 victory. Given Holland's absence, tomorrow's game won't really be an adequate preview of the possible AE title game as one of the best players for either team will almost definitely not make an appearance.

Prediction: Vermont 68-58. Neither team has much to gain and Patrick is a tough place to play, especially with not John Holland. With him back it could be a very different story if the teams meet in the conference championship game, though.

Elsewhere in the AE tomorrow:

Albany at Maine: Maine and Albany are locked in at the 3 and 4 seeds in the tournament so neither really has anything to gain or lose no matter the outcome other than as perhaps with BU and UVM, confidence. That being said, Maine is still looking to recover from their massive tailspin that they only recently ended against UNH so perhaps the Black Bears will feel the have more to prove tomorrow Verdict: Maine 65-57

Binghamton at Stony Brook: Stony Brook has 5th locked up and will be playing Albany no matter what happens whereas Binghamton is gonna be playing UMBC in the 8-9 opening round game at the AE tournament with or without a win. Neither team's been good lately but SBU has been at least good enough to pick up a couple wins lately against decent AE teams (Maine @ UHart). Verdict: Stony Brook 65-55

New Hampshire at Hartford: Given their injury situation this year the Wildcats could've been forgiven for falling to the conference cellar but they've hung tough to fight their way to what could be an almost-.500 record for the conference season. (Plus Binghamton and UMBC set the bar very, very low for the cellar) UNH also hasn't been terrible on the road while Hartford has done a terrible job defending their homecourt despite home wins against Maine and BU. However, both teams will be playing very intensely as they fight for 6th and 7th place in the conference and matchups against either Maine or BU. Verdict: UNH 65-60

Rock Chalk Terriers: BU Beats Canisius For Fourth Straight Bracketbusters Win

Photo by Junhee Chung, Daily Free Press

The BU men's basketball team overcame a 3-point halftime deficit and a slow shooting start to defeat the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday in ESPN's yearly Bracketbusters event. Down 32-29 at the end of the first, the Terriers pulled away to a 70-62 victory on the shoulders of (once again) 48 combined points by John Holland and Darryl Partin. Solid defensive efforts in both halves allowed the team to take over once they found their shooting stroke and for much of the second half it seemed like the Terriers would be in good shape. This win makes six straight for the Terriers and is encouraging in that it showed the team's ability to play from behind as well as take care of business against the teams it should beat, which will be very important both against Binghamton and in the first round or two of the AE tournament. All in all it was a much more composed team than the one that lost in the fairly recent past to Hartford, UMBC and Quinnipiac. Still though, Coach Chambers called the win "ugly" and said that the team failed to keep Canisius from executing the game they wanted to play while crediting Partin ad Holland with carrying the team to the W. The Terriers are putting themselves in a good position to beat Binghamton and perhaps Vermont in their last two games of the season. This may be a team capable of making an AE tournament run and qualifying for the NCAAs.

Elsewhere in the AE, Vermont got crushed by Charleston 85-70, Hartford beat UMBC 64-57, Manhattan squeaked by Stony Brook 64-63 in overtime, Siena beat Maine in Albany 71-60 and UNH suffered an embarrassing 58-49 loss to Marist. Overall a bad weekend for the AE as at least SB and New Hampshire should have been able to pull off wins, with SB playing at home and both teams facing horrible opposition. The conference really showed itself deserving of it's 29th place Pomeroy rating (out of 32 conferences and the independents) with only one BB win and the marquee team suffering a blowout on ESPNU. Not goo for my predictions record either as I now move to 5-4 by splitting on the weekend (I got the BU, Vermont and Hartford/UMBC games correct)

Also yesterday's game that I didn't get a chance to preview/predict went to Albany over Binghamton by a score of 57-54 in Vestal. Makes me feel better with BU paying the Bearcats a visit in the next few days to know that the lesser bu (lower-case intended) is eminently beatable at home. I don't think anyone's arguing that Albany is a better team than the Terriers.

ESPN recapped the BU win on Saturday, while Full Court Press grades the Terriers against the Griffs, posts some cool pictures and put up video of PChamb's presser. They also break down the state of the AE, prior to some games this week with immense conference tourney implications. (Albany/Maine, BU/Vermont, Hartford vs. UNH/Stony Brook)

RCT Links 2/19

From the Full Court Press Blog:

Toughness Key For BU Down Stretch

Partin, Holland Scoring Duo One Of AE's Best

Rock Chalk Terriers: Bracketbusters BU vs. Canisius

BU played one of their best games of the season last Tuesday against UMBC at the HAA, and riding a 5-game hot streak there is utterly no reason to think that they shouldn't run train on the Golden Griffs, or at least pull out the victory tomorrow (well, today at this point). The teams are very close in Pomeroy Ratings (BU at 173, Canisius at 175) and Canisius has played a mildly tougher schedule, but the Terriers are just too good at home. The UMBC game pushed their winning streak in Boston to 7 games. Although they are the 311th team in division 1 basketball for FG% and that has proved their undoing at times, this BU team has had far less trouble finding their stroke at home. And when they do, the team just ends the game, boasting a 10-1 record in conference when they score more than 60 points. I just don't see Canisius being good enough to hold the team back on such a hot streak, especially given the multiple threats that BU possesses. BU also has not given up more than than 55 points in 6 of their last 8 games, so the Griffs probably won't beat them by putting up a ton of points.

My Verdict: BU beats Canisius 70-60

RCT: BU vs. UMBC Links

Forgot these at the bottom of my article--all good reads esp. the DFP/FCP ones

ESPN

Holland, Partin Lead Way as BU Blows Out UMBC

The Daily Free Press/Full Court Press

Retrievers Heeled

BU-UMBC Press Conferences

Grading The Terriers 2/15 vs. UMBC

Partin, Holland Scoring Duo One Of AE's Best

Rock Chalk Terriers: Terriers Victorious Over UMBC

BU basketball took a huge step last night towards securing the #2 seed in the America East conference tournament by soundly defeating UMBC and their obnoxious asshole fiery coach Randy Monroe at Agganis Arena, 85-53. The Terrier defense was certainly more than adequate holding UMBC to such a low point total (both a function of UMBC's ineptitude as well as BU's coverage), but it was their offense, particularly that of Darryl Partin and John Holland, who combined for a total of 47 points, which won the game. The team played a fast-paced game game marked by quick, sharp passes and transition points that are the essence of well-executed Pat Chambers basketball. They also penetrated well, outscoring the Retrievers 40-14(!) in the paint. Finding open shot after open shot, the hallmark of their game last night can't have helped but spread the defense and make the paint way more accessible. Solid leadership at the point by D.J. Irving helped find the open man again and again, for 17 assists in all. Like BU's hockey team, this squad looks like one which will only get better next year. But for now with the hot streak they're on, this could very well be a tournament team for the AE. All in all a great and encouraging night for the Terriers.

My 2010-11 AE predictions record: 1-0

Rock Chalk Terriers: BU vs. UMBC @ The Greek 2/15

Yes, they beat us once at home. Yes, they're coming off a win against Maine in Orono (a win that looks less and less impressive by the day). Still, this game is all the Terriers' to lose. I just do not see the Retrievers shooting 10% better than the Terriers from the field and hitting 47% of their threes again. Beyond Chris de la Rosa, the Retrievers boast no other scorers averaging double figures on the year, whereas the Terriers have two clear scoring threats in John Holland and Darryl Partin, as well as numerous complementary pieces around the two of them. Remember, the Terriers would have won that last one save for a late scoring drought in the final five minutes, so it's not like they got blown out. I say the Dogs (our Dogs) easily win this game to put themselves in great position to lock up the two seed after UVM beats Maine tomorrow (more on that game later tonight/tomorrow as well as a game recap of the Terriers).

As usual, a good preview of the game also can be found at the Daily Free Press' Full Court Press blog.

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

BU wins in mens' hockey and hoops

BU mens' basketball opened up the night with a 70-67 win in Albany. Hockey finished it with a 5-2 win over those smart bastards from across the river at Harvard.

First, the basketball team came over a 16 point halftime deficit to gain their largest come from behind win under coach Pat Chambers. Senior guard John Holland lead the team with 27 points and eight rebounds. Darryl Partin added 16 points to help BU refuse to lose this game to the Great Danes of Albany. The loss drops Albany to 1-4 in America East play while BU improves to 3-1 as they improve from their loss in to Maine in their first AE contest. Albany was lead by guard Tim Ambrose with 18 points in a game that Albany lead throughout until 4:00 to go when BU took over the game for good. BU continues AE play Monday in Baltimore at 7:00 p.m.

Next, the hockey game was the type of game BU hockey fans enjoyed as the team rose to #1 in the nation early in the season and the type of game the team needed before the toughest regular season week of the season. The captains lead the way with the scoring in a 5-2 win over (3-12-0) Harvard. Chris Connolly had two goal while fellow co-captain Joe Pereira tallied another as BU cruised once the game was tied up 1-1 early in the second. Wade Meagan and Justin Courtnall added the other goals for the Terriers. The goal was Courtnall's first and also was Pat MacGregor's first career point as he had an assist on the play.

MacGregor filled in for a suspended Max NiCastro and looked solid out there. He seemed to have grown since his last shot at action November 27th against Brown. The only flaw I noticed at the game was his failure to get on the ice. He was almost always the last guy on the ice for his line which may have been the plan to limit his ice-time but also due to inexperience doing so. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to inexperience. Overall, a good night for the freshman.

The whole team played well and "very thorough" to quote the great Jack Parker after the game. I was at the game and liked what I saw overall from the team. This was a big game with 3 ranked opponents looming this week(#12 Merrimack, #3 BC, #4 UNH). Kieran Millan looked solid in goal while not being forced to make any great saves out of his 31 that he made before Adam Kraus took over with five to go(he leads the Terriers now with 1.00 save% and 0.00 GAA). All four of the lines were skating well tonight and looked ready for a big week ahead of them. This was a must after the weak performance up in Vermont last weekend despite the 4-2 win. The Terriers had 21 more shots than the 16 they put up in Vermont. That tells it all as they got the puck on net early and often.

I would say the disappointment of the night(if there was one) was the Coyle-Chiasson-Nieto line. Coyle played physical but didn't do anything great with the puck and Nieto was trying to develop some stuff but it just wasn't there. Chiasson had a good first period but seemed to lose his head a bit in the second and third as he looked to retaliate for a hard hit in the second by hitting any Harvard player he could find. This isn't a bad mentality to have when you're up 5-2 and I love the agressiveness but QuackQuack the elder and myself noticed he seemed to lose his offensive mindset in the third. I expect this line to bounce right back as all three of these guys looked real good up in Vermont while the rest of the team struggled.

With the win, BU moves up to t-12 in the Pairwise rankings as Miami(OH) and company took some losses this weekend as teams enter the grind of their conference schedules as BU does this week. BU's next five games are against ranked teams as they play @#12 Merrimack,#3 BC,@#4 UNH, and two @#13 Maine. The game Tuesday is the game rescheduled from last Wednesday when it was snowed out. Merrimack may be missing enforcer(read: goon) Kyle Bigos as he was hurt in their game today @ Alabama-Huntsville. The injury seems serious enough to keep him out Tuesday but this will depend on how those tests come out when the team returns home because there is no way they have the right equipment to do that shit down south.

Mens basketball set to square off with Saint Joe's...other odds and ends

The Terriers' mens basketball team prepares to take on Saint Joe's tonight at Agganis Arena. The (4-7 )Terriers will take on the (3-7)Hawks as their third out of 4 Atlantic 10 games this year. The tip off is set for 7:00 and will be televised on NESN...must be a slow TV night. This is the team's last game before break and a big game for the Terriers as they need to turn it around before conference play begins against Maine on January 2nd.

USCHO broke today that Providence defenseman Alex Velischek is leaving the team to join the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. Velischek,20, won the most valuable freshman award last year on Providence's team but had been struggling this year with only recording two points in 9 games due to an ankle injury. He will join Siouz City right after break.

The Boston Hockey Blog has come out with their mid-season power rankings for Hockey East. It is tough to pick a beef with them besides the 4/5 rankings but I'll let you read it and make your own decisions on that.

-Also Union lost twice to (#18)Western Michigan this weekend so the climb up the Pairwise for our Terriers begins...Up to #12 now. One ECAC team down....two to go.

Also, I am proud to announce that we have made our own e-mail here if anyone has any tips or suggestions or a beef with any of us then you can contact us that way. Please contact us at baystateroadsports@gmail.com with anything you feel the need to tell us.We greatly appreciate tips on any good stories related to any BU sport or Boston-area team(Please not mistake BC as a boston team unless it is something retarded they did.) We should get it up on the front page soon.

BU falls to La Salle 84-81 for first home loss of the season

The Terriers' men basketball team dropped to 4-6 overall this season and 2-1 at home after an 84-81 loss to the La Salle Explorers at Agganis Arena. Darryl Partin lead BU with 20 points on 8-17 shooting before fouling out with 30 seconds remaining. John Holland and Dom Morris both added 15 points off the bench but this was not enough to overcome the Explorers' offensive attack lead by Rebun Guillandeaux's 21 points and Earl Pettis' 19 points. The Terriers lost the lead for good with around five minutes remaning after trailing for much of the first half by as much with 12 points with five minutes left before halftime. BU still had two chances to tie the game and send it to OT with under a minute left but G D.J. Irving missed the second of 2 free throws and John Holland missed a three at the buzzer to sum up a frustrating night for the Terriers as they could not get much consistency on the defensive end of the court. They were in the double bonus by the end of both halves and they could have used those points back at the end of the game as John Holland's shot clanked off the backboard to end the game. Matt Griffin's intentional fall in the middle of the second half also hurt and he did not see much time for the rest of the game.
I felt like Morris has the most potential to be a difference-maker on this team as you could tell when he was on the court as he showed off all of his offensive talents. Him and Partin were easily the stars of the game for BU as Holland, Jake O'Brien, and Matt Griffin all had quiet nights. This team will need more from their upperclassmen if they want to take advantage in America East play starting in January.

BU basketball wins home opener Friday...loses to Hampton tonight

The Terriers fell to 2-3 on the season as they lost a tough one tonight 51-50 to Hampton in the preseason NIT tournament in Washington D.C. John Holland lead the way 12 points which explains it all as the team struggled all night to score while shooting 25% from the field. They shot even worse from 3 point land at 15%. Patrick Hazel lead the team with 4 blocks while the Dom Morris lead the team with 9 rebounds. The team needs a quick bounce back as they take on Nevada of the WAC tomorrow at 5:30 before they get a few days off for the Turkey Day break. The Terriers remain 1-0 at home after their 58-36 win Friday night in front of a fairly loud crowd at Case Gym. Hopefully the team continues to gel and grow as the season progresses. The team returns home Saturday at 5 to play Cornell in another non-conference game. Here is the press conference from the game Friday.

BU basketball picks up first win of the season

The BU men's basketball team picked up their first win of the season last night in Dick's Sporting Goods NIT season Tip-Off at Villanova's Pavilion. The Terriers edged the Colonials of George Washington 76-67 to improve to 1-1 on the season after a 66-64 loss to Northeastern over at Matthews Arena last Friday. Senior John Holland lead the way with 28 points and junior Captain Jake O'Brien added 20 more as they jumped all over the Colonels early and often. It was the first time since 1979 that the Terriers have beaten GW who have gone 17-1 against us all time before last night. The Terriers' win means Coach Pat Chambers gets to against his former school and mentor Jay Wright tonight as the #6 Villanova WildCats will play BU. This game will surely be sentimental for Chambers and should give the Terriers a reason to fight for an upset win.

Three freshman(DJ Irving, Travis Robinson, and Dom Morris) contributed significant minutes for the Terriers who have only two returning players healthy right now with Jeff Pelage sidelined with an ankle injury. Junior transfers Patrick Hazel, captain Matt Griffen, and Darryl Partin also put in good minutes as this team looks to gel as a unit in these first couple games before America East action heats up the next couple weeks. The team's home opener is Friday is against Marist this Friday at the Roof which looks to be a sell-out crowd and should be a loud atmosphere.

Here is a good article with a lot of America Eats predictions for the season from respected sources which I am not. So I will leave it to the professionals until I see a few more of these teams play one another.