Taking a Closer Look at the Xavier Game

Millan allows the 5th SFX goal, their
second shorthanded goal of the night. 

Before everyone wigs out over the pre-season loss, let's all remember that they called it an exhibition game for a reason. BU has had about one whole week of team practices and Saturday night's loss was the first time BU has played in a competitive situation all year.

St. Francis, on the other hand, had already played two games defeating Dalhousie University 8-1 and loosing 2-1 to Calgary. SFX, also has had a few more weeks of practices than BU.

Not to put all the blame in the lack of preparation, BU did come out flatter than Iowa in the first period and their special teams was even worst. BU allowed two short handed goals in two periods and before anyone in the building knew it, it was 5-0 Xavier.

Starting goalie, Kieran Millan allowed 5 goals on 17 shots. Junior forward, Wade Megan, who scored two goals for BU, says there's nothing to worry about in goal.

“I don’t think one person on this team is worried about Millan,” Megan said. “He’s proven from the time that he’s been here that he’s more than capable, so we just tried to play hard in front of him, and that just means we need to score more goals if he lets a few in. 

“He’s bailed us out many, many, many times, so I don’t think that’s a cause for concern at all.” From the Daily Free Press

With that being said, Millan did look like he was fighting the puck all night. It seemed like he was struggling to (A) see the puck and (B) then make the save. A couple  of the goals scored were to the glove side, which has historically been a weak point for the senior netminder in past years.

Coach Parker also said that Millan's poor performance "surprised him". I'm sure Kieran will start this weekend's season opener against UNH, but it would not shock me if he was on a short leash. Grant Rollheiser played a perfect third period, stopping all 7 shots he faced. Last season, Rollie picked up the win in BU's 4-2 victory over UNH.

In Other News
> 2009 co captain, John McCarthy was sent down to AHL Worcester by the San Jose Sharks. McCarthy played in 37 games, scoring 2 goals and 4 assists with San Jose last season. His jersey will temporarily be taken down from the blog header, until he is called back up to the Sharks.