Reaction From The Weekend

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to the Providence game because of my own hockey commitment, but I was able to see the best part of the game (from a BU perspective). As I was bringing my skates to the pro shop to be sharpened, I looked up at the TV and Matt Nieto had just scored on PC goalie Alex Beaudry, cutting the Friar lead to 3-1. Since skate sharpening takes about five minutes, I stuck around and caught Corey Trivino's power play goal making the PC lead 3-2.

That's all I saw of the Providence game, but I was able to make it to the Denver game.

As DU carried the play for about the first five minutes, it looked as if the Pioneers were going to dominate BU. Millan made some huge saves very early in the game. The entire momentum of the game changed when Denver's Nick Shore was called for both slashing and cross checking in the same shift.  Although BU did not convert on the power play, they gained all the momentum and minutes later Alex Chiasson picked up his second goal of the year.

Nick Shore slashed BU's Patrick MacGregor's stick out of
his hand in the first period. This was one of two penalties
that Shore committed in the same shift

BU's second goal was a complete fluke. Denver was on the power play and the puck was behind the BU goal. Millan had enough time to clear it from behind the goal line. In a way, it looked like the old BU stretch play where Rick Dipitro (who had a cannon for a goalie) would spring a waiting Terrier in on break-a-way. For Millan, it was not a break-a-way but it worked just as well. Denver's goalie Adam Murray misplayed the puck behind his goal, which allowed Corey Trivino to swoop in and score an eerily similar goal to Alex Burrows' in game two of the Stanley Cup against the Bruins. Take a look for yourself:

Trivino has now scored a goal in every game of the year.

Wade Stays Hot

Wade Megan and Trivino have been dominating the score sheet for the Terriers. Megan has four goals (including two in the exhibition game) and Trivino has three. BU needed more production out of these guys and they are certainly getting it. Trivino was drafted in the third round of the 2008 draft, while Megan was drafted by Florida in 2009.

At The Polls

The Terriers have moved up one spot to 7th in the nation with one first place vote in the USCHO rankings. Michigan is the nation's new number one, while BC, Denver Colorado College and North Dakota make up the rest of the top five. Merrimack (13) and Maine (18) are the other two Hockey East teams in the ranking and Providence was the third team left out.

I had Minnesota at number one in my rankings with a top five looking like this: U of M, BC, Michigan, Denver and BU.

BU dropped from 7th to 8th in the USA Today poll, while picking up one first place vote.

USCHO has put out the PairWise rankings already. Michigan Tech sits atop the rankings. Normally this poll does not even come out until the holiday break, as it is used to pick the NCAA tournament field.

Around Hockey East

Friday night, Providence kicked off an evening of upsets by downing the Terriers 5-3. #3 Denver knocked off top ranked BC 4-2 at Conte Forum.  Northeastern blanked UNH 4-0 at home. North Dakota got the best of Maine 3-1 in Grand Forks, while UMass upended Bentley 5-3 at the Mullens Center. Up in Lowell, the River Hawks defeated Minnesota-Mankato 4-2 and the last game of the night saw the USA U18's come away with a 2-1 win over Vermont.

Saturday proved to be another tough night for UNH as they fell 5-1 to Boston College. Providence won it's second game of the weekend 6-4 over UMass in Rhode Island's capital. In Merrimack's only game of the weekend, the Warriors got past Army 3-2 at Lawler Rink. Also, Maine and North Dakota skated to a 3-3 draw, while Lowell completed the sweep of Mankato with a 4-1 win.