US Pull One Out In OT

Some how the US were able to pull out a win in a very tight and defensively played game against Finland. Finland i known for playing this style of hockey. Unlike the US the will sit back and defend rater that try and score 8 goals a game. The USA have far more skill and speed then the Fins and that is really how they win this game tonight

Nick Bjugstad celebrates after scoring the game-winning 
goal in overtime
(Photo Credit to USA Hockey and HHOF IIHF Images on Ice) 

The Americans, despite getting out played and out shot, took the lead in the first on the power play. After a very good looking PP a few minutes prior this one, the US had some very good chances but could not solve Finland goalie Joni Ortio. They finally beat him on a beautiful shot from the point by Nick Faulk. He took a pass from Jon Merrill and off his back foot drilled a slapshot past Ortio's blocker to give the Yanks the 1-0 lead.

BU's Charlie Coyle was on the ice for the goal. He would later in the second and third periods have some very good scoring chances, but could not get any of them past Ortio. One of these chances came on a two on one where Coyle's shot hit Orito in the mask. Generally when this happens the goalie has no clue where the puck is or came from. 

That was all the score in the first. 

Finland tied the game in the second. A Miscue by USA goalie Jack Campbell, lead to a turnover behind the net. There, a Finish player dished it out to Toni Rajala who found the back of the net, tying the game.

Two minutes later the US re-gained the lead. Chris Brown made a nice play in the half wall to knock the puck louse for Denver's Jason Zucker. Zucker wasted no time and rifled a shot, top corner over the glove of Ortio. The shot could not have be more prefect. With only a small window of space and net to shoot at, Zucker did not miss and may be one of the top ten straight shots that have ever seen go in. 

The lead held up throughout the rest of the period. 

Less then five minutes into the third the US almost upped their lead. Kyle Palmieri hit the post on a break-a-way and the rebound was also stopped.

Not scoring that goal was huge. Finland gained momentum and then tied the game instead of the US being up by a commanding 3-1 lead. In was another Campbell miscue behind the goal lead to Iiro Pakarinen's clean up tally tied the 2-2.

To the the surprise of a lot of people the game went to overtime. 

Kick Bjugstade was the hero for the Americans in the extra time. With 1:52 left in overtime (the game would have gone to a shootout if it was still tied after overtime) Bjugstade picked up the puck at the blue line. It was kind of a broken play as he move in toward Ortio and the net. The was no one to who was open to pass to,  so he shot . It was nothing near the caliber of the Zucker shot, but yet it still had enough steam to make it's way under the armpit of Orito. Once it did it bounced to the ice, in the crease and  rolled over the goal line into the net, giving the US the win. Also they picked up two points in the WJC (World Junior Championships) standings. After the goal Bjugstade was greeted by his teammates and was also mobbed by them.

The USwill take on Slovakia Tuesday night at 8:00. Like all the other game the US play, it will be on the NHL Network.

Video Highlights from TSN 

Catching Up On Last Week

This season Saponari
is playing for the
Dubuque Fighting
Saints of the USHL
(photo By Matt Dresens)
 

No games means not much news to report but there was some.... so here it is:

-> The Terriers picked up one of only a few recruits for next season. Evan Rodrigues has verbally committed to BU for next year. He is a 5-10 170 pound forward from Ontario. Rodrigues is currently playing for the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL). On the OJHL website it says that he is a "high skill forward".


-> Following his dismissal from the team, former BU star Vinny Saponari wanted to play for the Boston College Eagles next season. Well that's too bad Vinny, because it seems like you don't have the brains to play college hockey any more. Why do I say this? Because BC declined to admit Saponari into the college. He will have to find a different place to play next season.

Coyle has 5 goals and 9
assist for 14 points thus
far this season
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

-> Maybe the story with the most meaning is this one. Freshman sensation, Charlie Coyle was the only Terrier to make the US World Junior Championship team. Last season, the US took the gold in a thrilling overtime win over Canada in the championship game. Current Terrier Assistant Captain, David Warsofsky was on last year's squad.  This season, Charlie and the boys will look to repeat as the games come back to the States for the first time since 2005. The WJC will be played in Buffalo, New York starting the day after Christmas. All the US games can be seen on NHL Network.

Coyle, along with Matt Nieto and Adam Clendening were invited to the US Junior National camp. Only Coyle made the final cut. The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog reports that both Nieto and Clendening were near the final cuts. They also reported that Clendening suffered an injury and could not participate in the final day of the camp. (more to come on the injury)

I will have full game recaps for all the USA games throughout the tournament.

The Break Should Help

As you know, BU got off to one of the best starts ever in program history, not losing a game until midway through November. In that span, the Terriers rose all the way to the top of the Division One rankings. Since the loss to New Hampshire in mid-November, BU has won just two games. One win was against the Wildcats the next night and then last Thursday against Northeastern. They are the only wins the team has accumulated since the end of October.

The lack of winning dropped the Scarlet and White out of the top spot in both Hockey East and the National Rankings. As of today, BU finds themselves in third place in the Conference standings, behind Boston College and New Hampshire who both share the top spot with 18 points. In today's USCHO rankings, BU has dropped to their lowest spot, 10th, since before the Icebreaker Invitational back in the first week of the season.

The lost to RPI came on the same day the Engineers beat up the Terriers, just one year a ago.

From The Vault 

Former Terrier and current Colorado Avalanche, Kevin
Shattenkirk scores a shorthanded goal during last
year's BU-RPI contest at Agganis Arena. 

BU has a strange way of always coming back from the holiday break much better than prior to the time off. Last season, the team struggled to win any games at all and to score any goals for that matter. In the first game back, BU hung a seven spot on UMass. This was one of 14 post-break wins. BU only had 18 wins all season.

Last year was not the only example of this. In 2008 the team found themselves in a similar situation. BU was able win, starting on the first of February, 12 out of 16 games*, pushing them into the second overall seed in the Hockey East playoffs. 

* includes playoff games against Lowell and Vermont

Terriers Fall In Last Game Of '10

Wade Meagan scored the only BU

goal of the night, his third of the

 season.

(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The score 4-1 does not really describe how close this game should have been. RPI jumped on the Terriers early,  but after that, BU took over the game until the final minute of play, where the Engineers picked up their fourth goal. BU continued to struggle on special teams, giving up a short handed goal and two power play goals.

BU got a good chance to go up 1-0 in the first, as Sahir Gill missed a wide open net on the  powerplay.

The Terriers were also on the power play when the first goal of the game was scored. BU lost a  battle in the corner deep in the RIP zone. CJ Lee grabbed it and found some open ice. Once he got to the BU blue line, he dropped a pass over to Joel Malchuk, who ripped a slapshot past Grant Rollheiser. This was the third short handed goal that BU has given up in the last four games.

Following the RPI goal, BU had a slew of chances to tie the game. David Warsofsky had two one timers, both set up by Ryan Ruikka, but they both sailed over the net.

With nine seconds left in the period, the Engineers made it 2-0 on the power play. Tyler Helfrich onetimed Chase Polacek's pass past Rollie's outstretched right leg, into the back of the net. This was  RPI's second special teams goal of the night.

In the second, again on the power play, RPI made it 3-0 just 2:35 into the frame. Brock Higgs fond Polacek at the top of the crease. He one touched it into the top corner, past Rollie, who was pulled for Kieran Millan.

Minutes after the goal, BU started out playing the Engineers, who were sitting back on their heels. Pereira was stuffed on a break-a-way by goalie Allen York at the 15:17 mark. Ross Gaudet hit the post at 9:10 of the period.

A blind pass to no one by Andrew Glass, resulted in a good scoring chance for RPI. There was no goal scored but Gaudet was called for a slashing call in the corner. On the same man advantage, Matt  Nieto was stoned on another break-a-way.RPI also did not score on the power play.

After the kill, BU gained momentum and cut the lead to two. Wade Meagan picked up a rebound off of Gaudet's shot from the point. Gaudet got the puck from a scrum on the half wall, won by BU. Goalie Allen York broke his stick over the cross bar in frustration after the goal.

BU dominated the remained of the second period with the exception of a very scary moment with only 50 seconds to go. Millan sticked a puck into the high slot. The puck was picked up by an RPI skater. Ryan Ruikka made a play on the puck, but jammed it into the open BU  net. The goal did not count because the RPI skater dislodged the net from its moorings.

With 7:35 left in the third, Adam Clendening hit the post with a bomb from the point. As the puck came up around the boards, BU was flagged for an interference call.

Polacek scored his second goal of the game on yet another power play. He jammed home a rebound in front of Millan, the only goal that he gave up.

In the last minute, there were a ton of penalties called. Here is the list of all of them:

1st Malchuk, Joel        RPI    2 TRIPPING             03:17 PP
1st Leboeuf, Guy         RPI    2 TRIPPING             04:53 PP
1st Coyle, Charlie       BU     2 HOOKING              09:04 PP
1st Noonan, Garrett      BU     2 ROUGHING             10:04
1st Polacek, Chase       RPI    2 ROUGHING             10:04
1st Koudys, Pat          RPI    2 INTERFERENCE         10:54
1st Warsofsky, David     BU     2 CROSS-CHECKING       19:24 PP
2nd Ruikka, Ryan         BU     2 HOOKING              00:47 PP
2nd Higgs, Brock         RPI    2 HOLDING              06:20 PP
2nd Gaudet, Ross         BU     2 CROSS-CHECKING       12:35 PP
3rd Noonan, Garrett      BU     2 O-TRIPPING           07:07 PP
3rd Helfrich, Tyler      RPI    2 TRIPPING             11:13 PP
3rd Pereira, Joe         BU     2 TRIPPING             12:29
3rd Megan, Wade          BU     2 INTERFERENCE         17:21 PP
3rd TEAM                 BU     2 BENCH                17:21 PP
3rd Nicastro, Max        BU     2 CROSS-CHECKING       18:14 PP
3rd Chiasson, Alex       BU    10 10-MINUTE MISCONDUCT 18:14
3rd Lee, C.J.            RPI   10 10-MINUTE MISCONDUCT 18:14
3rd Bailen, Nick         RPI   10 10-MINUTE MISCONDUCT 18:14
3rd Warsofsky, David     BU    10 10-MINUTE MISCONDUCT 19:18
3rd Dolan, Bo            RPI    2 ROUGHING             19:24
3rd Noonan, Garrett      BU     5 GRASPING THE FACEMAS 19:44
3rd Noonan, Garrett      BU    10 GAME MISCONDUCT      19:44
3rd TEAM                 BU    10 GAME MISCONDUCT      20:00

-From GoTerriers.com

Back On Track

Alex Chiasson scored the game winning goal on
the power play at the 16:33 mark of the third
 period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Last night BU got back to their winning ways, as the downed Northeastern 5-4 in a wild game. I did not attend the game, I had my own hockey commitment. As far as I can tell from watch ing the video highlights, the Terriers once again had to fight back from an early deficit.

NU went up 2-0 in the first period on goals from Reid Brodie and Garret Vermeersch. BU would go on and score four straight goals (two in the first and two in the second).

Charlie Coyle grabbed the first Terriers goal off a rebound from a Garret Noonan shot. Ryan Santana picked up the game tying goal off his own rebound. This was his first collegiate goal.

In the second Corey Trivino scored as a result of a nice passing play from Sahir Gill and Joe Pereira. Trivino also made an NHLesk move to deek out goalie Clay Witt.

 BU upped the lead to two when Alex Chiasson made a nifty pass over to Matt Nieto who redirected the puck into the top corner, over the shoulder of Witt.

Northeastern came on strong in the late stages of the second period. Braden Pimm cut the Terrier lead to one. Then Wade Macleod potted a power play goal to tie things up, early in the third period.

Alex Chiasson won the game for BU on a power play of their own. Charlie Coyle won a battle behind the net then made a perfect pass to the goal mouth where, Chiasson was wide open. He one timed it into the back of the net and BU skated away with a 5-4 win over the Huskies of Northeastern.

With the win BU moves back into second place in the Hockey East standing, tied with New Hampshire with 16 points. BU takes on RPI in the its last game of 2010.

Box Score 

Dog Fight

Tonight the Terriers will try and get back on the winning track  as Northeastern invades Agganis Arena tonight.

The Huskies are just 3-8-4 on the season, but have been playing better as of late. NU had a terrible start to their season winning just 1 of their first 11 games. This includes 3 straight to Atlantic Hockey Conference opponent Holy Cross, Bentley, and Army The AHC is widely considered the worst league in all of NCAA D1 hockey.

What To Watch For

• Captain Steve Qualier. He has just one goal on the season, but has been in the league for four years and has some experience. He has a hard shot and skates pretty well.
• Goalie, Chris Rawlings. Rawlings last season shutout BU, 1-0 in early November. This season he has 792:37 minutes of playing time.

The Last Time They Met...

was on the last weekend of the season last year. BU won both games, clinching the third spot in the Hockey East standing in the process. 

A Step Below

BU had their worst weekend of the season by far last weekend, falling a step below the two two teams in Hockey East (BC and UNH), losing two games at the hands of their arch rivals, Boston College 9-5 and 5-2 respectively.

It was clear that BC was a much faster team than BU. Because of that, the Terriers a had a tough time even getting the fundamentals of the game down. In Friday night's contest, Sean Escodedo very nearly scored on himself. The play did result in a goal off the stick of Bill Arnold. That's the worst of the fundamental break downs, but there were many more. On breakouts, pucks were being tossed up the middle of the ice and not to the boards. BC picked off a number of these passes and turned them into good scoring chances and a few goals throughout the weekend.

The power play continued to struggle, going a combined 3 for 21 over the course of the two games. BU also had two short-handed goals scored on them. I think the main reason for this is their inability to win face-offs. It seems that every draw was won by the opposition and then easily cleared causing the Terriers to reset and regroup. Also, what is wrong with skating the puck into the zone? Enough with the get over the red line and dump it in crap. Skate it in and don't give the other team a chance to clear it right back down. Then, once the puck is in their zone, SHOOT!! There is no need to set up the perfect shot. Bad angle shots result in rebounds that can be put it. Not every goal is going to make SportCenter's Top Ten Plays.

These break-downs will have to be a quick fix because Northeastern comes to Agganis on Wednesday.

I'm reluctant to even have a player of the week but
Joe Pereira is as good a choice as any. Two goals over
two games is good (also accomplished by Freshman Matt
Nieto) will have to do for this week. Parker also said
that Joey had a "hell of a night" in his press conference
after Saturday's game.
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

At The Polls

BU, as you should have expected, took their biggest fall in the polls today.  They dropped from 2 all the way down to 7 in the USCHO poll. In the same ranking,Yale took over the Number One spot from Minnesota Duluth, making them the fourth team to summit the poll. Duluth slid to second followed by New Hampshire, Boston College and North Dakota, who all made up the top five. 

The Terriers slipped all the way from 6th to 14th in the Pair Wise.

Around Hockey East

As you know, BC swept BU. New Hampshire upended Lowell 3-0 on Thursday night. Lowell also lost to UMass 5-2 on Saturday night. Maine and Providence skated to a 3-3 tie Friday Night, before Maine shelled PC the next night 5-0. Northeastern and Merrimack split their weekend series. UNH also beat Vermont on Sunday.

New Night, Same Result

Matt Nieto had two goals over the
cource of the weekend, including
BU's fist of tonight.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

 BC drums BU again

Just like the night before BC dominated BU in all phases of the game.They used their speed to vastly outplay a comparatively slower BU team. This proved a bad combination for the Terriers as BC came away with a 5-2 win, completing the weekend sweep.

BU grabbed their only lead of the series in the first period. David Warsofsky made a nice move to get around a  BC defender and then slipped a pass to Alex Chiasson in the slot. Chiasson shot was stopped by goalie John Muse, but the big redound bounced onto the stick of Matt Nieto who burried it.

BC answered the call mid-way through the period. Cam Atkinson scored his third goal of the weekend, tying the game at 11:46 from Brain Gibbens and  Joe Whitney. The goal came off a scrum in front of the net. It was a result of BU once again not being able to clear the puck and continuously losing battles in the coroners and behind the net.

Brian Dumoulin potted the first of three second period goals for the Eagles, It came in another scrum out in front.Only 1:16 later, Steven Whitney scored BC's third goal as he took a slapshot from the face off dot- beating Millan over his stick side shoulder. BU defenceman Garret Noonan backed off from Whitney which gave him far too much time and space to wind up and let the shot fly.

Showing some resiliency, BU was able to quickly get back in the game as Joe Pereira jammed in a lose puck that was sitting between Muse's legs. The opportunity arose as a result of some aggresive play from Sahir Gill and Corey Trivino driving to the BC net. Unfortunately, similar efforts were few and far between this entire weekend.

The Terriers had a chance to tie the game little over three minutes later as they went on the power play. This backfired for BU as BC's Chris Kreider broke in on Millan alone and beat him five hole.

In the third the same thing happened except BC's Stephen Whitney scored on a break-a-way seconds after the BU power play had terminated

As you can tell the PP had a tough night, as it has all season. BU ranks ninth in Hockey East in power play % and really shows no sings of improvement. In fact I think its getting worse. Also everything is too slow, passes are being telegraphed, guys are looked right at the intended receiver and not shooting enough (although tonight apeared better then last night in that regard).

BU has no time to sit and reflect on how poorly they performed because this is a short week. Northeastern, who has not been playing badly, comes to Agganis on wednesday, followed by an away match with an improving RPI club (a dominant victor over Brown U 6-2 this evening.)

Well That Sucked

Tonight BU played by far their worst game of the season against BC of all teams. The Eagles broke the record for most goals scored in one game at Agganis Arena, tonight with 9. The previous record was 7, held by BU who accomplished the feet multiple times over the five year life of the arena. I don't really want to recap how badly BU played, so here some others recaps: 


USCHO box score

Go Terriers.com recap

Video recap (coming soon)

Hockey East recap

Boston Hockey Blog recap

BC's Brian Gibbons beat BU goalie Grant Rollheiser on a
penalty shot during the third period.
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

The two teams will go at it again tomorrow night over at BC.

"I told them to forget tonight," Parker said. "It was a stinker. It isn't what happened to us tonight, it's how we react to what happened to us tonight. That's the only important thing right now."

Rivalry Re-newed

BU- BC, what else do I have to say? The Terriers and Eagles will kick off a home and home series tonight at Agganis Arena. Tomorrow the two teams play again over at Conte Forum. Both games are on CBS College Sports and start at 7:30.This weekend is the first two, with a total of four games,that the teams will play each other. They will then have one more Hockey East league game and the Beanpot opener  in early February.

BC started the season on a tear winning their first three games of the season. That included a 2-0 shutout of Northeastern and a weekend sweep of Denver in the Pioneers Magnus Arena. It looked as if they had not missed a beat from their National Championship team of a year ago. In fact this team is basically the same team as last years Eagles squad, with only a few fresh faces.Throughout late October and most of November, BC proceeded to win one lose one, until they swept Maine two weekends ago. Last weekend they fell 5-3 to Merrimack and then rolled past Vermont 6-0 on Sunday.

What To Watch For

• Cam Atkinson Boston College Forward. Atkinson leads the team in total points with 17. He is also team leader in goals with 11, five more then anyone else on the Eagles. He is a pure goal scorer, no doubt about it. Last season he had 30 goals, but just three against BU. He creates space with his speed and has a pretty good shot considering his size (5' 8'', 165) 

•  Chris Kreider Boston College Forward. Kreider is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in which he had 15 goals and 8 assist totaling 23 points. He also was a stud on the US World Junior Championship team which won the gold medal by beating Canada 6-5 in overtime in the Championship Game. He has had a bit of a slow start this season, as he did last year, but came on at about this time last year. BU does not want to see this guy get hot in the series. He is a lethal scoring threat and will likely (hopefully) head to the pros next season. 

• Brian Gibbons Boston College Forward. Gibbons is one of only three seniors on the Eagles. He is second in scoring with 17 points (6g 11a). He, like Atkinson, can score from everywhere. He has good speed and a hard shot.

• John Muse, Boston College Goalie.  Muse has 8 wins including three shutouts. He has 322 saves and looks to be back to his freshman form, the year he took the Eagles all the way to a National Championship in 2008.

The Last Time They Met...

was last year's Beanpot Championship game. BC dropped the Terriers 4-3, but BU did come back from 4-1 down in the third. 

Nieto Needs Break Out Weekend

Nieto during warm-ups for the UNH
game in which he score his second
goal of the season in.
(Photo By Matt Dresens) 

Freshman Matt Nieto has been on the cusp of scoring some big goals for the Terriers. With BC on the card this weekend, he will have to put home some of those scoring opportunities to help BU get past a tough, close knit Boston College team. 

Nieto has just two goals this season, one against UMass and one against UNH. Both goals were good scoring chances but by far not the best that he has had. Against Lowell back in October he had a clear break-a-way. He skated in on the goalie and tried to jam it in on the post. It was stopped with a leg pad. To score all he had to do was wait a little longer (and he had the time) and roof. This was not his only chance on a break-a-way to score. In overtime of the UMass game in which he scored in, he had a chance to win it with just a few seconds left. As he got to the top of the circle and tried to shoot, he was hacked from behind. This should have resulted in a penalty shot, but it didn't. Nieto did get a shot off, but it went wide left.

In Other News 
Colin Wilson scored his 4th goal of the season last night in Nashville's 4-3 shootout win over the, all of a sudden, scorching hot Columbus BlueJackets.

The NCAA Tournament As It Would Look Right Now

Playoffs? Already? No, but the Pair Wise rankings have come out and have been out for a couple of weeks now. The PWR determines the field of 16 for the NCAA tournament. You will not find it on USCHO (they're still figuring out how to use their new format to their website), but the PWR is up on The College Hockey News and Sioux Sports.com.

BU sits in fourth right now, making them the final number one seed.

The winner of each Conference tournament is an automatic qualifier regardless of their Pair Wise Rank. 

Here's how my playoff bracket looks going into December:

Regional site: Bridgeport Connecticut, East Regional 
1. Yale vs. 16. Canisuis/Robert Morris (Atlantic Hockey Conference leaders)
8. Michigan vs. 9. Denver

Regional site: St Louis Missouri, West Regional 
2. Nebraska Omaha vs. 15. Maine
7. North Dakota vs. 10. Minnesota

Regional site:Green Bay Wisconsin, Mid-West Regional 
3. Minnesota Duluth vs. 14. Rensselaer
5. Notre Damevs. 11. Union

Regional site: Manchester New Hampshire, North-East Regional. 
4. Boston University vs. 13. Dartmouth/Boston College
6. New Hampshire* vs. 12. Miami

*Site host automatically seeded at their host site. In a normal Bracket the 5th seed would play the 12th seed and the 6th seed would play the 11seed.

The Frozen Four is in St. Paul Minnesota on March 7th and 9th.

Colby Cohen Traded To Bruins From Colorado

Former Terrier, Colby Cohen was traded today to the Boston Bruins from the Colorado Avalanche. The B's gave the Aves defenseman Matt Hunwick, and in return received Cohen.

The Bruins say it was to make room on the salary cap for when Mark Savard comes bak from a concussion.

"This (move) will be enough to activate Marc Savard when he's ready to play," general manager Peter Chiarelli said in a conference call. - USA Today


Last season at BU, Cohen racked up 14 goals and 16 assist, his most productive offensive year with the Terriers. In case you forgot he did score the game winning goal in the National Championship game back in 2009 and was named tournament MVP. He was also an All American last year. 


This season with the Avalanche, Cohen has played in only three games, recording no points and is -1 on the year. In AHL Lake Erie he has played in 14 games, scored one goal, his only point, and has 12 penalty minutes.

It's Like '07 All Over Again

Garret Noonan (top) and
Ben Rosen (bottom) are
my "Players of the
 Week"

Noonan had two assists
over the weekend and
one came on Rosen's goal,
his first collegiate goal
in the first period of the
Brown game.That is why he
was named
a "Player of the Week"

(Photos by Matt Dresens)

During the 2007 season, BU racked up nine ties throughout the year. This season they are just four away from that mark and we're not even in December yet. (although the next game will come on Friday which is in December). 

After going an impressive 6-0-1 through the first month of the season, BU has only been able muscle together one more win since the end of October. That came last weekend against New Hampshire in a 4-2 win at Agganis. The night before, the Wildcats ended the Terriers unbeaten streak at 10. 

Parker had this to say about the abnormally high number of draws thus far this season:"I have a closet full of ties; I’ve got enough ties.”

He might need a bigger closet because there is still more than half the season to go. 

At this point in 2007, BU had an identical number of ties at five. They also both won and lost a game in overtime before the last month of the year rolled around. 

At The Polls 

BU remained in second in the USCHO poll by the skin of their teeth. The Bulldogs from Yale and BU are tied (the theme of this article) at 901 points, but BU gets a leg up because they picked up one first place vote and Yale did not. Minnesota Duluth held on to the top spot and Nebraska Omaha and NewHampshire rounded out the top five. 

Yale edged BU for second in the USA Today poll by just six points (454-448). The top five was the same except for that. 

The Terriers slipped to fourth in the INCH Power Rankings. 

BU moved up from 6th to 4th in the Pair Wise Rankings. 

Around Hockey East

On Friday night, BC was taken down by Merrimack, 5-2. The Eagles responded by blanking Vermont 6-0 on Sunday. UMass also beat Vermont last Tuesday 4-1. Northeastern tied the Catamounts 2-2  Saturday night. That same night, Lowell was blown out 8-3 by Minnesota State. State beat the Riverhawks again the next night, 3-2. Merrimack was upended by UNH 2-1 and UMass picked up it's second straight win by beating Quinnipiac 5-1, also on Saturday night.

Crap Shoot Goes For Knot

Ben Rosen, scored his first career goal

in the first period. Behind him is Harry

Zolnierczyk who was later tossed from

the game.

(Photo By Matt Dresens)

Tonight, BU and Brown played one of the ugliest games in a long time. There were 8 total goals but, at the same time, lacked any sort of flow at all. Pucks were being iced and tossed into the stands, plus there were many penalty stoppages.

Brown came out of the gates with a full head of steam. Two goals in the first two minutes put the Terriers in hole. Brown's first goal was kind of a fluke. The puck bounced up in the air and Harry Zolnierczyk batted it down and in one motion somehow hit it over to Jesse Fratkin, who put it past Millan. It was the first shot of the game. Brown's second shot on goal also found the back of the net. BU's David Warsofsky tried to headman the puck, but was pickpocketed by Zolnierczyk, who then skated in on Millan and slipped a backhander between the goalie's legs, giving the Bears a 2-0 lead on just two shots.

BU responded with a little over 8:30 left in the period. Garrett Noonan made a nice play to keep the puck in the Brown zone. At the same time, he slid a pass to Ben Rosen who scored his first collegiate goal. Rosen transferred from Brown, before the start of last season.

BU tied up the game in the early minutes of the second period. Captain Joe Pereira was sent on a 2 on 1 with Ryan Rukkia. Pereira opted not to pass and took a shot that was stopped by Mike Clemente, but there was a small rebound that Pereira pushed in, along with the goalie.

Later in the second frame, BU took the lead on a 5 on 3 power play. Brown's Bobby Farnham and Zolnierczyk were sent to the box for crosschecking. Zolnierczyk disagreed with his penalty and threw a fit, resulting in a 10 minute misconduct and another penalty. Might I add, this guy is the Captain of an Ivy League school. His night of penalties did not end there. In the middle of the third period, after Adam Clendening made a nice spin-o-rama move on him, he tried to take out Clendening at center ice. Clendening was skating through the neutral zone and Zolnierczyk threw a nasty leg check and was tossed from the game and BU was given a five minute power play. Clendening took a long time to get up, but did return on his next shift. Anyway, back to the goal.... Clendening and Warsofsky both help set up Alex Chiasson for a goal. Once Chiasson got the puck at the top of the crease, he delayed and waited for Brown goalie Clemente to over-commit to the left post. Alex popped the puck in on the right side, giving BU a 3-2 lead.

The lead was short-lived, Jack Maclellan tied things up for the Brownies on a power play of their own.

Brown took a 4-3 after BU successfully killed off a power play to begin the third period. David Brownschidle beat Millan by collecting his own rebound and puting it past the netminder. Although the goal was not a power play goal in the box score, it may have well been. BU's PK unit was still out there and was very tired, thus resulting to a muscle goal.

BU was not about to lose its first home game of the season, thanks to Wade Megan. Megan tied the game with about 7 minutes left by stuffing home a rebound on the far post, giving the assist to Warsofsky and Guadet.

Video Highlights 

Brown Comes To Town

Tomorrow, BU will take on the Brown Bears at Agganis Arena. Brown is unranked, but are currently riding a three game unbeaten streak. Starting with a 5-2 win over Colgate on November 19th. The next night the Bears upended Cornell 3-2. This past Tuesday, Brown skated to a 5-5 tie with New Hampshire.

In the UNH game, Brown was up two goals in the third period. UNH scored two goals in the final two minutes and tied the games at 5.(Video Highlights)

What To Watch For
I honestly know nothing about this team. I looked at the stat sheet and will put up the scoring leaders and goalies.

• Harry Zolnierczyk, Brown forward. Zolnierczyk leads the team in goals with 5. He is also second in overall scoring with 8 points, 5 goals and 3 assists. 

• Jack Maclellan, Brown Forward. Maclellan leads the team in points with 11 (3g, 8a). 
• Brown goalies. Mick Clemente leads the team in minutes played with 245. He has 2 wins, one loss, and one tie. Freshman goalie Marco DeFilliop, has a 2-1-1 line and 119 minutes in the cage. 

In Other News

Last night Three former BU standouts were all in action in the same game. Ryan Whitney of the Edmonton Oiliers, faced Kevin Shattenkirk and Brandon Yip of the Colorado Avalanche. The Aves found themselves down two in the second frame. Shattenkirk got the Aves rolling with his third goal of the season. (Video Highlights). Colorado tied it later in the second. Matt Duchene jammed home Yip's pass from behind the net (Video Highlights) . With less than a minute left in the game, the #1 overall pick in the NHL draft, Taylor Hall put home a rebound and won the game for Edmonton (Video Highlights). 

Something's Missing

Former Terrier, Nick Bonino
attempts a shot in last year's
game against Harvard.

Bonino was sent down to the AHL by
the Anaheim Ducks, yesterday

UPDATE
Bonino was called up back up by the
Ducks from AHL Syracuse as of
today (11/25)
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

It's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and BU plays Harvard tonight. Wait, What?  That's not happening this year. WHAT? BU always plays Harvard on this day, or at least has a game against someone. For the longest time, the Terriers and Crimson have had their pre-Thanksgiving contest tonight. Each year the home team would flip flop. BU one year, then Harvard the next, and it went on like this well into the 90's and up until this year.

In 2009, the Terriers took on the Crusaders of the College of the Holy Cross. Although BU did not play Harvard, they did still have a game. Last season, BU went over to Harvard and won a thriller in comeback fashion in overtime.

This season, BU will play the Crimson on the 15th of January at Agganis. Why is this game not tonight?

This weekend's game against Brown was originally scheduled for tonight  but was switched at the last minute. So now we can all kick back and watch Brown (who was supposed to play BU tonight) take on New Hampshire. Also, Vermont will visit UMass. That game is on CBS College Sports.

Other games around the country tonight include Ferris State at Michigan, Princeton at Quinnipiac, Colgate at Niagara, and Sacred Heart at Yale.

So, as I watch theses games tonight, I will be saying to myself "why am I not at Agganis tonight?"

In Other News
The College Hockey News ran a great article about the tragic story of Travis Roy, 11 Seconds, 15 Years.

The Power Play Needs a Makeover

Sahir Gill lays a hit on a UNH forward. He also is
one of my "Players of the Week"
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU is currently ranked at #9 in penalty kill. At one point this year they were at the top of that statistical ranking. The other half of the special teams category, the power play, you would have to look much farther down the ranking to find BU. In fact they are not even on the top 40 list at all. BU went just 1-11 on the power play over the weekend. Last weekend they went 0-17. Something has to change.

This happened last year too. BU was struggling to even get pucks to the net. Over the holiday break Parker revamped the power play and in the teams first game back against UMass, they scored 3 PP goals on route to a 7-3 win. The new power play looked sort of like a diamond. One player would be behind the net, the two defenseman would be at the point, and there would either be two skaters out in front of the goal or on the face off dots. That work last year, could it work again this year? I don't know, but I would like to see something done, anything! Maybe decline the penalty?

Something will change this upcoming weekend when Brown comes to town. Chris Connolly, the teams top goal scorer, will be out for 4 to 6 weeks with a broken finger. Connolly has just one power play goal this season, but is sill a key man on the man advantage for the Terriers. He is the setup man. He feeds the defenseman the puck for onetimers and also the other forwards for tap in goals.

At The Polls 

BU, for the second straight week, finds it self as the #2 ranked team in all three polls. The USCHO rankings have Minnesota Duluth again at #1 followed by BU, Yale, Nebraska Omaha, and Miami (oh), rounding out the top five. Maine dropped all they way from 3 to 10, after being swept at the hands of Boston college who moved from 10 to 7. Merrimack cracked the top 20 for the first time since 1988. They currently sit at 18. 

The top 7 is identical in the USA Today poll.

The top 4 were the same in the INCH Power Rankings. Maine remained in the top five, at #5. North Dakota, UNH, Miami, Michigan, and Union made up the top ten in this poll.

BU remained in the one slot in the Hockey East standings and now have 14 points,. after the win over New Hampshire.

The Terriers find themselves down three spots in the Pair Wise rankings from 3 to 6. This is undoubtably the most important of all the poll because it determines the field of 16 for the NCAA tournament.

Around Hockey East. 
As you already know BU and UNH spilt a home and home series. BC swept Maine at home. Merrimack also picked up a sweep against Lowell. Northeastern tied Providence 3-3, Friday night a then blanked them 5-0 Saturday.

My Player of the Weekend
I've got two.
Grant Rolleihser, Stopped 41 shots in BU's 4-2 win, Saturday night. With this win he upped his record to a perfect 3-0-0 on the season. Pretty good for a guy who sat on the bench for almost a month, to come in and shut down #7 New Hampshire. It would not shock me if he got the start this upcoming Saturday against Brown University.

Sahir Gill. He had a ton of energy in the win. He was up and down the ice and created many chances to score which he eventually did in the second period. It was on a break away, which makes three of this type this year. He did not pull his typical move, fore hand back hand, but instead just stuffed it five hole.

Freshman Pave The Way To Victory Lane

Matt Nieto picked up his second
goal of the season in the
 second period.It was
 the first BU goal.
(Photo By Matt Dresens) 

One night after UNH had broken up BU's unbeaten streak, the Terriers turned the tables on the Wildcats and did the same thing to them, thanks in large part to four second period goals.

It was New Hampshire who drew first blood, though. In the final minute of the first period, Paul Thompson, who had two goals last night, fed Brett Kostolansky at the point. The freshman wasted no time and he reared back and beat BU netminder, Grant Rollheiser, five hole. This was Kostolansky's first collegiate goal and it came on the power play.

BU answered right back in the opening minute of the second period. Alex Chiasson and Corey Trivino both took good whacks at the puck, before Matt Nieto swooped in and slammed it past UNH goalie Matt DiGirolamo, tying the game.

The Wildcats were way outplaying the Terriers in the middle part of the period. BU also got a little lucky. Stevie Moses was able to split the Terrier defense and go in on a semi breakaway. Rollie made the initial save and in the process kicked off the goal from its moorings. Moses was able to score on the rebound, but the play was reviewed and the ref saw what 6063 fans all saw, that the net was off.

The luck ran out shortly after. A basically identical play occurred except for the net not being kick off.  Phil DeSimone was stopped by and outstretched Rollheiser. Paul Thomson collected the rebound and deposited it into the back of the net.

Over the next ten minutes, BU took over the game. Ryan Santana made a heads up pass to a wide open Adam Clendening at the red line. Clendening took it and went all the way to the top of the face off circle, where he ripped a wrist shot over the shoulder of DiGirolamo and into the top corner. This was also Clendening's first collegiate goal.

BU would tack on another just under five minute later. UNH was on a power play that backfired. The Wildcats lost control of the puck near their blue line. Trivino was able to pick up the bouncing puck and find Chiasson wide open out in the slot. Chiasson one-timed the pass into the upper twine, giving BU a 3-2 lead.

With just 17 second left in the period, Sahir Gill picked up a loose puck at center ice. He burned two UNH defenders and skated right in on DiGirolamo and stuffed it between the goalie's legs, upping the lead to 4-2, the final score.

There was no scoring the third period, but thankfully BU did not just sit on the lead like they had in the Icebreaker tournament, against Wisconsin. BU pressed New Hampshire throughout the third frame. Cycling the puck and taking smart shots that produced rebounds, allowed the clock to keep running. A power play with about 7:30 to go had a lot of good chances, but no one was there to put home rebounds.

At 17:31 of the third period, Sean Escobedo picked up his second five minute major of the weekend. He slugged a UNH skater direcly in the face. He will be suspended for next Saturday's game against Brown.

You would never know it but Grant Rollheiser did have to make 41 saves, his career high, and for that he was crowned the first "Star of the Game". Rollie moved to 3-0-0 on the season after picking up the win.

Game Photos
Box Score
Video Highlights


Bad News
Captain, Chris Connolly will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken finger. This is according to the Boston Hockey Blog.

In Other News
Kevin Shattenkirk, again found the score sheet, tonight. No goals, but he racked up two assists in the Aves 4-3 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.

Rollie To Start In Goal Tonight

Grant Rollheiser will make his
second start of the season tonight.
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

I don't really know why Parker would make this move. Kieran Millan played pretty well last night, even though he gave up five goals. He made some big stops and a couple of flashy ones too. But hey, its Parker's decision and we will wait and see if it pays off. It might just be to give Millan a rest, who has started every game since Halloween. 

Grant Rollhieser holds a perfect 2-0 record this season. He backstopped the Icebreaker Championship game, making 30 saves, on rout to his second Icebreacker Championship game win. (He was the winning goal in the '09 tournament, where he held Michigan State to just one goal). His other with this season came against Lowell, a 2-1 win, which the Terriers had to come back and score two late third period goals to win. Rollie made 24 saves. 

In Other News

Kevin Shattenkirk stayed hot for the Avalanche, as he picked up his second career NHL goal. A wrist shot from the point that some found it's way through a crowd out in front and then past the legs Ranger's goalie Marty Biron. The Aves skated away with a 5-, waxing of the New York Ranges, former Terrier, Matt Gilroy's team. Gilroy registered no points in this game, but did have a nice hit on former teammate, Brandon Yip. 

UNH Powers Through BU, Unbeaten Streak Is Over

David Warsofsky's two goals went for not
as the Terrier's were out played in
Durum New Hampshire tonight.
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

Thompson's two goals leads the way for the Wildcats

The end of The Streak was near. We all knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time. There are now no undefeated teams in College Hockey. With the win UNH now holds the longest unbeaten streak at 10 games, tying BU's mark.

The game started off well for the Terriers. Charlie Coyle won a battle in the corner and then found Sahir Gill out in front. Gill's shot was stopped, but it produced a rebound that David Warsofsky found and roofed on UNH goalie Matt DiGirolamo, giving BU a 1-0 lead.

The lead was short lived, as New Hampshire's Phil DeSimone made a nice back hand pass from behind the net to the front of the goal. The puck slid across the crease and Millan had no idea where it was. Paul Thomson picked up the rebound and shot it into the crowd out in front. The shot somehow found the back of the net, tying the game.


UNH went up by one with exactly eight minutes gone in the first period. BU had some real trouble getting the puck out of their own end. A turnover by Wade Meagan lead to the goal. John Henrion picked up the puck and all in one motion, spun to the front of the goal and took a shot, beating Millan five hole.

With just under five minutes left in the first frame, BU's Sean Escobedo took a five minute major for hitting from behind. The call came just 15 seconds after Garret Noonnan had been whistled for a bogus tripping call. It gave UNH a 5 on 3 for 1:46. BU kept the Wildcats at bay for the rest of the period and killed off the remaining 12 seconds in the second period.


The start of the second had a furious pace to it. UNH had a 2 on 1 which Millan stopped. The play went the other way and the Terriers skated out of the zone and developed a 4 on 2. Corey Trivino hit the cross bar and the play went back into the BU end. Damon Kemp took a shot that bounced off the glass and pinballed around in the crease before Paul Thompson again put in the rebound, for his second goal of the game. The play went to review for a long time, but the goal stood.


Shortly after, Nick Sorkin scored his first Collegiate goal, beating Millan far on the glove side. The puck hit the post and then went in and he [Millan] was kind of hung out to dry. 


BU got one back on their own 5 on 3. Warsofsky picked up his second goal of the game on a bomb of a slap shot. Max Nicastro made a one touch pass to Warsofsky who one-timed it into the top corner, over DiGirolamo's shoulder. 

At 16:40 of the second, Trivino had a golden opportunity to cut the lead to one. DiGirolamo was down but Trivino's shot missed the mark over the net, and the two goal margin would stand.


With 1:15 remaining, Thompson found DeSimone, who jammed home the pass through Millan's legs. The goal came on the power play and it marked the most goals BU has given up all season. 


The third period saw no goals, but it did have a ton of New Hampshire power plays. Adam Clendening racked up two penalties in a span of about 30 seconds. He got out of the box from a slashing call and then was flagged for an elbowing minor after only meer seconds from stepping out of the box. Noonan also had a tough game penalty-wise picking up two of his own. 


Millan did actually play pretty well, despite giving up 5 goals. He stopped 44 shots, his best on the season. 

The Terriers and Wildcats go at it again tomorrow night at Agganis, Game time 7:00 pm

Box Score
Video Highlights or should I call them Lowlights? (coming soon)

Weekend With The Wildcats

BU once again puts it's undefeated record on the line this weekend against the #7 UNH Wildcats in a home and home series. Fridays game is scheduled for 7:00 at the Whittemore Center (AKA, Lake Winnipesaukee).  The Whitt has an Olympic sheet of ice, the only one of it's kind in Hockey East. Saturdays game is at the smaller, more North American style Agganis Arena, measuring a manageable 200 x 90 compared to the 200 x 100 sheet north of the border.

Last weekend UNH shutout UMass, 3-0 then the next night the Minutemen came back and tied up the Wildcats, 3-3. New Hampshire had a tough schedule start to their season, having to travel out to Miami (OH). They managed a split with the Red Hawks, losing the first game 6-3 and then winning Saturday night by the same score. After that they tied two straight to Michigan and Northeastern respectively. Following the two ties, the Wildcats rolled off four wins in a row over Cornell, BC, Lowell, and UMass in that order.

I will not be attending the game up there, but the game is on NESN so I should have a recap.

What To Watch for 

• Mike Sislo, UNH forward. Sislo is tied for the team lead in goals at 5, with Stevie Moses. He has 8 total points just two points shy of the team's top point getters, Phil DeSimone and Paul Thomson who both have 10.  Last weekend the top three point leaders were involved in 6 goals over two games. Sislo is one of five seniors on the Wildcats.

• Matt DiGirolamo, UNH goaltender. DiGirolamo, now in his junior year, played the roll of back up his first two seasons on campus to Brain Foster. He came into relief for Foster in 2009 as the Terrier's had shelled Foster. As DiGirolamo came into the game, the BU student section welcomed him by chanting "frozen pizza". Hinting that his name is similarly pronounced like DiGiorno, the oven ready pizza company. While he might have a joke prone last name, he is also a pretty solid goalie. He is probably just as good as Foster was. (He also has awesome pads, shinny silver with blue out lines, looks pretty sharp)

The Last Time They Met...

was January 23. UNH cruised to a 4-1 win. The loss snapped BU's short lived two game winning streak. 

Did You Know?

The three consecutive ties this season, matched the longest unbeaten streak for all of last season. 

BU's undefeated record gives them the longest unbeaten streak in all of college hockey, UNH has the second longest streak at 9 games. 

Shatt Pots First NHL Goal

In a game that had three former Terriers, Brandon Yip, John McCarthy, and obviously Kevin Shattenkirk, plus Joe Sacco another former Terrier and coach of the Colorado Avalanch, Shatt could not have picked a better night to pick up hie first NHL goal. The Aves won this game in comeback fashion 4-3 in overtime over the San Jose Sharks. Shatt's goal came on the power play, as he went top shelf on Sharks goalie Antiero Niittmaki. Shattenkirk also picked up a two minute delay of game call for chipping the over the glass in the second period.

Ties Are Good But Not Great and Can't Keep BU In Top Slot In The Nation

Wade Meagan Scored his first goal 

of the season and all the BU players

should take not of this goal.

(explanation farther down the 

page)

Photo By Matt Dresens

Coming into last weekend, BU was ranked #1 in the Nation. Because of this, they might have thought they were going to walk right over unranked Merrimack.Wrong. The Warriors gave BU all they could handle and the Terriers should be thankful that they came away with two ties and there are still no "L's" on the schedule, yet.

Merrimack was up 3-1 going into the final period of the weekend. BU showed a sign of a good team and did not just mail it in being down two. Chris Connolly and Corey Trivino both scored and assisted on each other's third period comeback goals.

Things That Caught The Eye 
Kieran Millan stayed very sharp over the weekend, stopping all but 4 shots.

Adam Clendening, at the start of the season showed signs that he could really be something special on defense. Over the weekend that was not there. Clendening made some huge mistakes in the defensive zone, seeming to take a very long time to make a decision on whom to pass to. This led to turnovers and good scoring opportunities for Merrimack. Luckily, Millan was there to get Clendening off the hook. I also think that he, along with the rest of the team, need to shoot more. He had some good set ups for one timers that he just didn't attempt. Instead, he passed to the other defenseman on the blue line.

BU's penalty kill in Friday nights game was exceptional, killing off all ten Merrimack power plays. Game two was a different story. The Warriors jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game on the power play. A slap shot was tipped in front of the goal and into the upper twine. Merrimack grabbed another man advantage goal late in the first period. This was a result of nice passing which caused Millan to be out of position. These two man up goals were only the third and fourth power play goals scored on the Terriers this season. Two came in the first weekend of the season.

While the PK shined, the PP sucked. BU's power play went a dismal 0-13 on the weekend. Its not that the setups where bad but there were no real good shots to the front of the net. Blind passes to the goal mouth made it easy for Merrimack to clear, because there was just no one there for BU. They need to take smarter and many, many more shots, instead of continuing to try and set up the perfect shot with a ton of passes. Case in point, Wade Meagan. Meagan took a pass from Sahir Gill late in the first period and skated directly to the goal and stuffed it home. He did not try and go back to Gill for a better percentage shot instead, he went right to the net and scored. BU needs to do more of this.

At The Polls

For the first time all season, BU fell in the USCHO poll, from #1 to #2. The two ties were not enough to  retain the Nations top spot as last week's #2, Minnesota Duluth flipped places with BU and became the fourth team to reach the top of the poll. The last three Mondays there had been a new #1, Miami, BU and now Duluth. Rounding out the top five was Maine, Nebraska Omaha, and Yale respectively. BU picked up 11 first place votes. 

Duluth also leapfrogged the Terriers in Inside College Hockey's Power Rankings. 

The Terriers are also slotted #2 in the USA Today poll.

BU still finds themselves in first place in the Hockey East standings with 12 points. The closest competitor is Maine at 9 points. 

BU also finds themselves in second in the Pair Wise Rankings, the most important off all the polls because it determines the NCAA tournament field. 

What Happened around Hockey East. 

Vermont and BC split a series up at Gutterson Field House. Providence swept Alabama-Huntsville, the nations only independent school. UNH upended UMass Friday night, while UMass was able to come back and tie up the Wildcats the next night. Maine swept away a struggling Northeastern team, who has not won a game since the 23rd of October. As you already know BU and Merrimack tied both games they played over the weekend.