Pre-Season USCHO poll released(Read bulletin board material)

The USCHO.com preseason poll came out today and has four teams from Hockey East in the top 20. The Poll looks as follows

1. Notre Dame- strong team with lots of returnees from Frozen Four team last year

2. Miami(OH)- Have two great goalies and will carry the team this year

3. North Dakota

4. Denver

5. Newton University?- This is not a top 5 team in the country, but hey I'll let them think they are to start off the year

6. Michigan

7. Colorado College- I still love this team for embarrassing BC last year in the tounrny

8. Minnesota- Duluth- defending champs

9. Yale- still the most overrated team in the shittiest conference

10. BU -I have seen BU ranked everywhere from 2 to 10 now. I prefer the lower ranking to motivate the team and avoid any early season let-downs but I truly believe this team is better 10 but no better than 5. BC at 5 is a joke but like I said we'll let them say their prayers before every game and pretend they are better than they actually are

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12. UNH- led by Frozen pizza goalie Matt DiGiorno

15. Merrihack- Dennehy has the goons led by Bigos ready for their second season of being relevant.

16. Maine- Coach Tim Whitehead knows if this team doesn't make the tournament, it will cost him his job

There will be more hockey to come in the next few weeks as BU and many other teams have exhibition games this coming weekend.

BU continues to drop in polls despite win

The BU Terriers mens ice hockey have fallen two more spots in the polls this week to #16 despite a 4-2 win last night in Burlington over Vermont. They have fallen to #16 in the USA Today poll behind three fellow HE teams(BC #3, Maine #13, Merrimack#15). This recent fall may upset some Terrier fans as the team got the the two points they could get this week and still fell in the polls behind HE rival Merrimack who the Terriers prepare to play Wednesday night barring any cancellation of postponement due to the projected blizzard for the game. These current rankings should give the Terriers all the motivation in the world to come out playing hard against Merrimack to prove everyone wrong including these "experts" who vote in the poll. This team will not panic as last year's team did but they know they got away with one last night as they got outshot and outplayed but still won the game. Coach Parker was extremely harsh on the team as was sophomore forward Alex Chiasson. Some guys simply were not giving their best effort and it almost cost the team 2 points in the conference standings. Here is how the rest of the the rankings worked out.
1. Yale- These idiots remain number one after a win over big bad Harvard who has so many drafted players oh wait no they don't.
2. North Dakota- My #1 team in the nation
3. Newton University(Boston College)- Hate them but they have been playing pretty damn well
4. New Hampshire- They continue to win but as the schedule heats up the they usually tend to fade in the second half.
5. Minnesota-Duluth-
6. Denver
7. Michigan
8. Notre Dame
9. Wisconsin
10. RPI-I hate these cheap
11. Nebraska-Omaha
12. Miami
13. Maine- This team has been extremely inconsistent and fading fast. They need to turn around soon or they are in big trouble and could miss the tournament all together.
14. Union- Overrated. I hate ECAC teams
15. Merrimack- I hate them even more but they have been playing well lately. Wednesday night's game is huge
16. BU- We will be back in the top ten by the end of the season I hope but we would be the last team in the tournament as of now according to the USCHO.COM
17. Colorado College
18. Western Michigan
19. Ferris State
20. Alaska

BU falls to #7 after bad weekend...Yale#1?

The Terriers fell five spots in the polls to #7 nationally after a weekend sweep at the hands of the Newton College Eagles. They may be good but they still are from Newton and are no good at talking trash even when they win games. They just walk into a poll while saying very creative phrases such as "BU sucks" or "sucks to BU". They also started a very classy and modest chant of "Jesus loves us" at the game Saturday night. As GW said, that's a retarded chant. Going to catholic school makes you no better than anyone else you arrogant fucks. You just have to take religion class while we take classes relevant to actual life. Fuck you.

Back to the polls though, the drop in ranking may bring the crowds down a bit for this last game against Northeastern but this will give this young team every bit of motivation to work hard over break to improve and get back to a ranking where they feel that they belong. Here is the top ten from the USCHO.COM poll:
1. Yale(10-1-0)- I still don't know how this team passed Duluth in the rankings but I guess the only team in the country left with one loss puts you at #1 no matter who you play
2. Minnesota-Duluth(12-2-2)- Duluth lost a tough one to Denver on Friday night but bounced back Sat night which still wasn't enough to hold onto the number one spot in the nation
3. UNH(9-2-4)- UNH continues to have a great first half. The real question is will they fold per usual in the second half?
4. B(N)C(11-5-0)- The bastards down in Newton jump four spots after their weekend sweep. I'll let them be ranked #4 in December. This weekend just shows how streaky this team is after two losses to Merrimack where they just looked like they couldn't play physical hockey.
5. North Dakota(11-5-2)- Jump up two spots after a solid weekend out west wearing black jerseys at home which they are 22-1-2 in since they came out a couple years ago.
6. Miami(10-5-3)- Miami continues to climb back to the top of the polls. Expect this team to be around come late March/early April
7. BU (7-3-5)- Our Terriers remain in the top ten at #7 with a pair of important games this week against Northeastern and RPI before the break.
8. Maine (7-3-4)- Maine only moves up one spot after only getting 3 points from PC over the weekend in Maine. If that series is in Providence, I give the Black Bears the benefit of the doubt but not up in Orono. They should have won two there.
9. Denver- They continue to climb after splitting with Duluth over the weekend.
10. Nebraska Omaha- Bigger drop than our Terriers after getting swept by the lowly (5-8-0)Bemjida State team over the weekend. They aren't quite as good as BC apparently.

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17. Merrihack(7-4-4)- They move up a spot after splitting with Northeastern? The voters love Merrihack all of a sudden. We'll see how this team fares in the second half with teams no longer overlooking them.

Receiving votes
Providence- Stealing a point up in Maine Friday night is a step in the right direction for the Friars.


The Inch power rankings are also out(but the website is down apparently) as they have the Terriers dropping to #8 which is about where they stand nationally in my eyes and many others. The season is not over by any means. This team still has 7 wins already and the potential for 9 wins by week's end. Expect to see an energetic effort come Wednesday night against the forgotten city rival Northeastern Huskies( Granted they are forgotten because they haven't won a Beanpot since the 80's and suck this year).

Terriers fall to #2 in polls after two ties over the weekend

Obviously the national polls mean much less in college hockey than they do in college football but they are worth paying attention to as they come out each week. Our Terriers' stay as the #1 team in the nation lasted only one week as we fell to #2 with Minnesota-Duluth taking #1 after an impressive 4 point weekend out west. Here is how the rest of the USCHO.com poll shaped up:
1. Minnesota-Duluth(9-1-2)-two wins over Michigan Tech this weekend vault the Bulldogs past the Terriers into the #1 spot
2. BU(6-0-4)- two ties against a rising Merrimack team is nothing to be ashamed of but enough to lose the #1 spot in the rankings. This is a good place for BU as the #1 target has been taken off this young team's back for the time being.
3. Maine(6-1-3)- This is the hottest team in Hockey East and with a couple wins over BC this weekend could move further up in the polls and HE standings.
4. Nebraska-Omaha(8-1-0)- Have a chance to rise or fall in the standings this weekend with a pair against North Dakota
5. Yale(5-1-0)- They lost to Air Force this past weekend which you would think would cause them to fall more than one spot but for some reason USCHO loves this Yale team
6. Miami(6-3-3)- The split with Alaska causes the Red Hawks to continue to drop
7. New Hampshire(5-1-3)- big home and home with BU this weekend to go with the Maine/BC series should give everyone a good idea who really is the best team in HE.
8. North Dakota(7-4-1)- Swept Wisconsin this past weekend to gain some momentum heading into a series with Nebraska-Omaha
9. Michigan(6-3-3)- A split with #11ND is not exactly what you are looking for at home but Michigan will take it at this point in the season.
10. Newton(Boston) College(6-4-0)- N(B)C continues to lose games and split weekends as they did again with UVM this weekend. This is a tough loss despite it being in Vermont. Vermont has struggled to score all year. They are purple because they are a bunch of little girls.

The INCH power rankings are very similar to the USCHO poll with some minor flip flopping here and there.
1. Minnesota-Duluth
2. BU
3. Maine
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Yale
6. North Dakota
7. UNH
8. Miami
9. Michigan
10. Union
...
13. BC
20. PC? These guys are on crack but its funny because BC is ranked closer to PC than to us. Losers.

-This weekend approaching is going to be filled with good games as 6 of the top 10 teams play one another(BC/Maine, BU/UNH, ND/ Nebraska). A bunch of splits could mean more of the same in the polls or a bunch of sweeps could totally turn the polls upside down.

BU is #1 in new polls...Cue the duckboats!

The USCHO.COM poll and new INCH power rankings both have our Boston University Terriers are the #1 team in the nation after the team's undefeated start(6-0-2) through the first eight games. The USA today poll should be out early tomorrow or late tonight but all signs point to the Terriers being #1 in that poll also. This scares me because it puts a bullseye on this young team's back. I would prefer the underdog role as I am sure Coach Parker would too. Lets hope our Terriers dont do what the Patriots did yesterday and shit the bed once people started calling them number one in the league. This team has alot of hockey left to play and whether we like it or not, they will lose eventually (probably after the basketball team does which I doubt has ever happened before)and they will hit road bumps this season. Regardless of what we want here is what the top ten in the USCHO poll look like:
1. Boston University- Coach Parker hates this spot as it puts a bullseye on a young team's back that doesn't need any more pressure.
2. Minnesota-Duluth- Suffered their first loss over the weekend but bounced back with a win Saturday night and sit tight in the #2 spot.
3. Yale- This team took forever to play a game but now look like they will run through the ECAC.
4.Miami(OH)- Miami comes out of the weekend with only one point from Ferris State. Not what the #1 team in the nation.
5. Maine- I think they are the most talented and best overall team in the country with that one loss the only belmish so far this season. Mark it down now...this team makes the Frozen Four.
6. Nebraska-Omaha- They have nothing better to do in Nebraska than play hockey and grow corn so they must be good.
7. Boston(read Newton) College- It is early and this team is very good so no one should count them out, but it is tough to be the champs and B(N)C has been playing like it(hmm who predicted this?). Three losses in the last three weekends are not what you're looking for here(even though all of them were to good teams) but look for them to take some frustration out in Vermont this weekend.
8. Michigan- Their football team gave up 65 points this weekend. That is all I got.
9. UNH- This team is off to its good start as usual. It is all about the second half as this team crumbles in March year after year.
10. North Dakota- Their nickname is the Fighting Sioux...thats pretty cool.

The INCH power rankings were fairly similar with a few teams flip flopping here and there because it isn't a poll.
1. BU
2. Minnesota-Duluth
3. Maine
4. Yale
5. Miami
6. Michigan
7. Union
8. North Dakota
9. UNH
10. BC

P.S. I am stealing "cue the duckboats" from el pres on barstool sports in case there is some crazy copyright law about that.

BU moves up polls again...now #3 in USCHO.COM poll

Our Terriers continue to climb in the polls this season. The Terriers have been ranked #3 nationally in the latest USCHO.com poll including seven first place votes. The top ten remained fairly consistent though with only some leapfrogging within the top ten.
1. Miami 5-1-2 - They had a three point weekend which is enough to hold onto your spot no matter where you are ranked
2. Minnesota Duluth- 6-0-2- They received eight first place votes and with that undefeated record probably deserved a few more.
3. BU- 6-0-1- This might be the highest we get all season in the national polls as we have beaten up on the bottom of Hockey East to climb in the rankings since taking down #11 Notre Dame and #18 Wisconsin in the Ice Breaker. This is a young team that will be tested for real by #7 Maine this weekend. If they play like they did Saturday night against Lowell, Maine will run us out of the building.
4. BC 4-2- This drop was expected after a tough loss at Merrimack's high school hockey rink on Saturday night. Expect a big bounce back Tuesday night at the expense of Lowell and BC to see the #1 ranking again at some point this season. This team is going to be battling all season through the ups and downs of defending a national title.
5. Yale 2-0- On the positive, they finally played some fucking games and won. I don't get how they received a first place vote based on two games. Congrats on putting the studying on hold for two nights to play some hockey.
6. Michigan-4-1-3- Dont really know much about these guys but seems like the ties have sent them down in the polls
7. Maine-4-1-2- They have like every big time scorer in the nation on one team. Big matchup this week with BU at Agannis Arena on Saturday night.
8.Nebraska-Omaha-5-1-0- Record speaks for itself here
9. North Dakota-4-3-1- They rebounded from a two loss to Maine last weekend to only drop one spot in the polls.
10.New Hampshire-2-1-2- They put up a touchdown on Cornell but stay in the #10 spot because they only played one game this weekend.

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!