Why your team/coach sucks: UVM Wildcats

This is part 5 of an 11 part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 can be seen by clicking or scrolling down)

Your Team: UVM Wildcats
Your 2015-2016 record: 15-22-3(6-13-3)
Your outlook: UVM will finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the conference standings. They were picked 9th by the coaches but they could easily finisher higher if they get an improved year from goalie/midget Mike Santaguida who posted a .913 save percentage last season.  They return virtually all of their forwards from last season as well as adding freshman Ross Colton who should be able to play a top 6 role immediately. The real question will be can the defense provide any offense at all with top dmen Alexx Privitera and Yvan Pattyn graduating. This gets to my next point which is what type of coaching they are going to need but not going to get to make any noise in conference.

Weekend recap: Split City

The BU Terriers split their two Hockey East games this past weekend. They began the weekend with a 6-2 win over the UVM Catamounts and then dropped a close 3-1 game to UNH at Agganis Arena. Overall, it's not the weekend you wanted but it also wasn't terrible. The split leaves the Terriers at 6-4-0 overall  and 5-3-0 in Hockey East play which is good for third place currently. They continue to take care of lesser opponents and struggle to break through against teams ranked top 5 nationally as their record sits 1-4 against teams ranked from #1-7  and 5-0 against everyone else. Their next game comes against St. Lawrence in a non-conference tilt next Saturday at Agganis Arena.

Friday night, the Terriers scored at will against UVM, who failed to sustain any offensive pressure all night after a 5 on 3 right at the beginning of the game on two borderline calls. The penalty killers and goalie Sean Maguire came up huge to keep the game scoreless. After that point, it was all BU. Freshman defensman Ahti Oksanen scored his third goal of the season during a BU PP. His goal was followed by junior Sahir Gill scoring his first goal of the year(on a great pass from Matt Grzelcyk) and Wade Megan adding one 40 seconds later to give the Terriers a 3-0 lead after one. The Terriers continued to score at will in the second as Alexx Privitera let off a wicked wrister on a powerplay to make it 4-0 before UVM's Chris McCarthy put UVM back within 3.

Privitera's goal was the one that chased UVM tendy Brady Hoffman from the game and brought in back-up sieve Billy Faust. He did not fare much better as Wesley Myron would then score his first career goal, breaking the goalie camera/part of the back post while he was it. Sean Escobedo turned in the move of the night to make it 6-1 with his slick spin move and wrister that beat Faust 5-hole.  The third period was uneventful besides a UVM powerplay goal to get to the 6-2 final. There was alot to be happy about for the team and the 35 man BU student section that dominated the noise level at the Gutt all night.

Weekend Preview- Way too many cats

The BU Terriers mens hockey team takes on two northern, state-school, conference opponets this weekend. They first travel up to Burlington, Vermont for a game Friday night with the 1-3-2 Catamounts. The conclude the weekend back at Agganis Arena hosting the #5 ranked 6-1-1 UNH Wildcats. These are two big conference games for the Terriers as they need atleast 3,if not all 4 points to remain in the top tier of Hockey East.

First, BU travels to Burlington, Vermont for an away game at a tough place to play in the Gutterson Fieldhouse. BU won both games up there last year with the second being a late comeback and OT win. Last year's Vermont squad was one of the worst in Hockey East history and only recorded 7 points(3-23-1) in conference on the year. This year's squad seems to be improved despite some early departures such as Sebastian Stalberg. They have already grabbed 4 points and are over half way to last year's total only 6 games into the 27 game conference schedule.  Their lone win this year came at home versus PC two weekends ago and they have scraped together ties at Merrimack and at Lowell. Their leading scorer is senior forward Chris McCarthy who has 4 points in 6 games but they have an even scoring attack as 13 players have recorded a point for them thus far including former BU recruit Robert Polsello who has put up a stunning 0-1-1 line in 6 games thus far. UVM seems to have solved  their goalie issues from last season in freshman tendy Brody Hoffman. He has posted a solid statline (.918 save %, 2.44GAA). All he needs now is to get some more wins. Offense has been the struggle for UVM as they have scored more than 2 goals once all season and average 1.7 goals/game. It would make sense for BU coach, Jack Parker, to give freshman goalie Sean Maguire a good chance for his first win as a Terrier with fellow freshman Matt O'Connor most likely getting the start on Sunday against UNH.  This game is a must win for the Terriers and cannot be overlooked before Sunday's matchup with UNH

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.