New polls: BU climbs to #6

The BU men's ice hockey team has climbed to #6 nationally in the USCHO poll while we wait on the USA Today polls to come out later this afternoon. The team is coming off a big win over now #7 Merrimack. The other Hockey East school in the top 10 is Newton University(BC) coming in at #4 after their 2-2 tie with Merrimack yesterday afternoon. The rest of the top 10 and Hockey East teams look as follows

1. Minnesota-Duluth 14-3-3

2. Ohio State 14-4-3

3. Notre Dame 13-6-3

4. BC 13-7-1

5. Minnesota 15-7-1

6. BU 11-6-1

7. Merrimack 11-4-4

8. Colorado College 12-7-1

9. Cornell 9-4-2

10. Western Michigan 10-7-5

11. Lowell 12-5-0

Receiving Votes

Northleastern

Maine

Harvard

The Pairwise rankings are the only relevant rankings and currently have BU in 5th there right behind BC at 4. Merrimack and Lowell would also be in the NCAA tournament if it started today with NU, Maine and PC all missing out despite being considered Teams under consideration.

INCH also came out with their power rankings which only have BU at 11 but hey haters gonna hate I guess. I don't see how you can put both Union and Colgate ahead of BU but apparently these guys think the are better than BU.

BU prepares now for two away games within Boston this week as they travel to Northeastern and their always classy fans for the first game against former Terrier Vinny "Party like a Puckstar" Saponari before traveling to Harvard Saturday night for a game that will have big implications on the Pairwise. Matthews will be packed Friday night and trash will probably be thrown on the ice or at the BU fans per usual. I guess you just have to do whatever it takes to get some attention when you're the the 3rd most relevant hockey program in Boston. I'm looking forward to their "HateBU" week this week. Should be some A+ material coming out of Huntington Ave this week. "Sucks to BU hahaha we're so funny and intelligent". Cue the Vinny Sap music already!

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

Hockey East Weekend Roundup

Another eventful weekend of college hockey leads us into this Weekend Roundup. Almost all of Hockey East was in play at one point or another (with the exception of those farmers up in Vermont), so there's a decent amount to cover...

Boston University

Only in action once this weekend, our Terriers came away with one point thanks to a tie with UMass-Amherst. Although they moved up two spots to #8 in the national ranking, I would argue that this weekend was a bit of a letdown following victories against Wisconsin and Notre Dame in the Ice Breaker. Hopefully they can grab two victories this coming weekend, with games against UMass and PC.

Boston College

Those choir boys down at BC continue to impress this year. They took down UDenver (a top ten ranked program) on both Friday and Saturday night. Goalies John Muse and Parker Milner took care of business, and that's a deadly sign for the rest of Hockey East. If their defense continues to keep pace with their offense, it's going to be a long year for everybody else.

Northeastern

NU looks to be in for a long season if their play continues like this. They only played once this weekend, skating to a 1-1 tie with RPI on Friday night. The Huskies looked rough in that game, going 0-8 on the powerplay. The only bright spot will and continues to be goalie Chris Rawlings, who made 29 saves on Friday night.

UMass-Amherst

The Minutemen played to the aforementioned tie with BU on Saturday night, in a game that nobody expected them to even contend in. It's a point that they probably needed, after being swept by Minnesota and even losing their exhibition game against New Brunswick. A big plus for them was the emergence of freshman Jeff Teglia, who performed spectacularly in the absence of Paul Dainton.

UMass-Lowell

In play twice this past weekend, coming away with two ties. On Friday night it was a 2-2 tie against Niagara, highlighted by freshman goalie Doug Carr stopping 34 of 36 shots to keep the River Hawks afloat (what the hell is a River Hawk again?). On Saturday, ULowell battled to a 4-4 tie against RIT, with the game tying goal being scored by Lowell with 1.3 seconds left in regulation. This brings their record to 0-1-2 on the year, and they look for their first win this Friday night at home against PC.

Maine

Maine played a rare Thursday-Friday series against Michigan State last weekend, and came away with a tie and a loss. Thursday night saw the Black Bears pull out to a 3-1 loud, only to have to settle for a 4-4 tie. On Friday, Maine forward Spencer Abbott scored two goals in literally ten seconds, but the Spartans of Michigan State still prevailed with a 3-2 victory. This has to be a disappointing start to the year for Maine, who has been predicted across the board as a favorite to contend with BC for tops in HE. They look to turn things around at home against North Dakota this Friday.

UNH

New Hampshire was only in play once this weekend, a game against Michigan which resulted in a 3-3 tie. This isn't a bad result for the Wildcats, as UM is a top ranked program in the country. UNH has been decently impressive thus far, and they look to continue that trend against Northeastern this Friday.

Merrimack

Also only in play once, the Mack beat the crap out of UConn on Saturday night, 7-1. Before you start to be impressed by that result, please remember that UConn hockey sucks and I'm pretty sure they've never even been nationally ranked. Ever. Of course the clowns over at Warrior Rink Rat are probably throwing parties all week, but let's not be fooled here. This is about as impressive as quackquack misspelling basic words. It could happen any day of the week.

Providence College

Minnesota Duluth (not to be confused with regular Minnesota) handed the Friars a two night beat-down extravaganza this past weekend. PC lost 5-3 on Friday night and 7-1 on Saturday night, which probably isn't that surprising since, well, PC blows. To be fair, MD is currently ranked 5th in the country. But still.

Redd10's Updated Power Rankings

1. BC
2. UNH
3. BU
4. Maine
5. Vermont
6. Merrimack
7. UMass Lowell
8. Northeastern
9. UMass Amherst
10. PC

Branch returning to Pats...BU moves up into #10 of the rankings

The Patriots have reacquired WR Deion Branch from the Seattle Seahawks for a 2011 fourth round draft pick. The move was highly anticipated after Branch was given the day off for "personal reasons" Monday. The move was rumored for close to a week once the Randy Moss trade was completed last Tuesday. The move gives the Patriots more depth at receiver and another veteran option at receive along with Wes Welker. Branch was originally traded from New England to Seattle for a first round draft choice in 2006 after a contract dispute with the Patriots. Branch spent four injury plagued seasons in Seattle but it was becoming apparent that he was expendable in recent weeks with the signing of veteran Brandon Stokley to bring the team to five starter-caliber receivers on the team. The move loses one of the Pats' eight draft picks in the first four rounds but a move they surely will take to gain a receiver who has a history with Brady and knows how to win championships.

In other news, our BU Terriers moved up four spots in the USCHO polls from #14 to #10 due to their pair of wins over #13 Wisconsin and #17 Notred Dame to win the IceBreaker Invitational. This moves the Terriers right behind HE foes UNH(#9) and Maine(#8). The choir boys remain number one in the rankings but look for that to possible change with a pair of games at #6 Denver next weekend.