UNH preview

The BU Terriers mens ice hockey(8-5-1) team prepares for the final game of their season series with the 6-8-2 UNH(University of No Hardware). The Terriers have won the first two games against their hick conference foe by a combined score of 9-1. However, the second game(4-1 BU win) was much closer than the score indicated. The Terries scored 3 times in the third to pull away including an empty net goal. This game, unlike the first two which were at Agganis, is in the middle of hillbilly country up there in Durham. Apparently the UNH fans are planning a "Blue Out" for the game which is odd to say the least. I have heard of "white outs" and "black outs"(which actually make sense) but a "blue out" is just retarded. How intimidating is seeing a bunch of people dressed in blue? The answer is not at all. Silly hicks. We better shut them out to keep the stupid fish off the ice.

I'll get back to the game though. According to our friends( we call them our friends but they probably hate us) at Boston Hockey Blog, sophomore forward Matt Nieto will be out of tomorrow night's game due to a shoulder injury in practice. This is a blow to the Terriers which will force other forwards to step up. He is questionable for Saturday's game at Maine. Either Wade Megan or Evan Rodrigues will probably be the guy to step up into one of the top 2 lines.

UNH is coming off a sweep at the hands of Lowell. Something that would never had happen a year ago. They should come out hungry on their home ice as they play their last game of the first half against a nationally ranked team at home. Speaking of Lowell, some of our favorite bloggers over at Ice is Life released this gem of an article today. Apparently, why they didn't jump from unranked to number 7-11(where they believe they belong) in the meaningless media polls is Parker's fault. This is also why BU is ranked ahead of them apparently. Okay buddy. I'm sure it has nothing to do with BU taking the season series from #2 BC and beating other ranked opponents(Denver and Cornell) while Lowell plays Alabama Huntsville and Minnesota State. You can make the argument that Lowell deserves to be higher than 18(I would give them 15) but, in a meaningless December poll, it isn't worth splitting hairs over. Lowell isn't a top 10 team right now so calm down and lay off the crack for a second. It also isn't worth your time(well you're from Lowell so I guess you got nothing better to do) to blame a coach who has openly said he hopes his team is ranked lower to keep them motivated (specifically last year when the team was ranked #1 in November). Just another example of people from Lowell going full retard(See below).

We should have a UNH recap and Maine preview up Friday. Tomorrow night's game will be on TV if you get WBIN which I believe is channel 50 on BU's cable system so all BU students should be able to watch the game(don't quote me on this).

NHL Realignment

So if any of you heard the NHL is going to be realigned. Keeps the teams more centralized and less travel for some teams especially the Detriot Red Wings. I am in favor of this idea. For the most part everyone keeps their biggest rival. Islanders keep Rangers, Bruins keep the Canadians, Red Wings get Blackhawks. I am higly interested on the how  the playoffs will be setup. 4 conferences, 4 teams each with a possible setup of intraconference rivals play each other in the 1st two rounds. This makes for much heated playoff hockey which is the best type. It was by far the most radical but seems like the most enjoyable. Getting to see Crosby against Ovi multiply times of the year is must see TV. Wondering what you all think, message our twitter(@bsrs_blog) or leave a comment.

Hockey East Picks: Midweek Edition

Following a tumultuous weekend in HE play, there are a few games on the schedule for tonight, wednesday and thursday.  Here are the updated rankings and our picks:

1. Felizmiguel (35-21-5, 2-8-1 last week)
2. George Washington (34-22-5, 4-6-1 last week)
3. Raymundo (32-24-5, 5-5-1 last week)
4. Quackquack (31-25-5, 3-7-1)

Tuesday, December 6

Providence at Boston College
GW - BC 5 PC 3
QQ - BC 7 PC 5
Ray - BC 3 PC 0
FM - BC 4 PC 1

Wednesday, December 7

Vermont at Merrimack
GW - Merrimack 4 UVM 2
QQ - Merrimack 5 UVM 3
Ray - Merrimack 2 UVM 0
FM - Merrimack 5 UVM 0

Yale at Massachusetts
GW - Ylae* 3 UMass 2
QQ - Yale 5 UMass 2
Ray - UMass 2 Yale 1
FM - Yale 4 UMass 2

Thursday, December 8

Boston University at New Hampshire
GW - BU 5 UNH 4
QQ - BU 5 UNH 3
Ray - BU 3 UNH 2
FM - BU 3 UNH 2

We'll have our picks up for Friday through Sunday later this week.

BU continues to rise..up to 11/12 in the national polls

The USCHO.com polls and USA Today polls were thrown in chaos this past weekend as each of the top 3 teams went 1-5 for the weekend. That allowed a new team to jump up and become #1 as defending champion Minnesota-Duluth regained the top spot in both polls. State rival Minnesota holds the #2 spot in both polls here is the breakdown of the rest of the top 10 and other polls. The number in parentheses is the USA Today poll if they differ from USCHO

1. Minnesota-Duluth 11-3-2

2. Minnesota 13-4-1

3. BC 11-5-0

4. Ohio State 12-3-0

5. Merrimack 9-2-1

6. Colorado College 8-4-0

7. Notre Dame 10-5-3

8. Western Michigan 8-4-4

9(10). Ferris State 10-5-1

10(9). Union 7-3-5

11(12). BU 8-5-1

18(NR). UML(Lowell) 9-4-0

20. PC(NR)- 8-6-1

Northeastern also received some votes fresh off their sweep of CCHA powerhouses Michigan and Notre Dame. The Pairwise rankings are also full of HE with BC (2T), Merrimack(2T), UML(9t), BU (11), PC (16t), Northeastern (22T), and Maine(24) all coming in the top 30 of the rankings that determine the NCAA tournament field. That is a solid 7 out of the conference's 10 teams in the top 30 or 8/11 if you count Notre Dame as a Hockey East school as they will be beginning in the 2013-2014 season.

The Inch power rankings also came out this afternoon and have BU up 2 spots to #13. They also have BC, Merrimack, UML, and PC in their top 2o which is great news for Hockey East. I don't know what this world is coming to when UML and PC actually aren't eyesores for the conference.

Hockey East also released the weekly conference awards with forwards Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle being named in the Top Performers category. They also recognize freshmen Yasin Cisse, and Cason Hohmann for recording their first career goals while Alexx Privitera recorded his first career point assissting Cisse's goal. The team also has won their conference season series with both UNH and BC for the first time in a while. It would be fantastic to complete the sweep of UNH on Thursday to get back on the winning track.

Also it has just been announced that forward Charlie Coyle and defenseman Adam Clendening have been named to the preliminary U.S. roster for the World Junior Championships in late December. Matt Nieto got snubbed which sucks for him because he has really earned the opportunity with his play so far. Congrats to Coyle and Clendening. There are still 7 more cuts to be made before the final roster is announced on December 22nd.

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.