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.