Looking Ahead

BU will continue on their toughest stretch of the season as they get set to rap up the Hockey East season series with Boston College. This tough stretch started way back on 11/11/11, when BU lost 3-2 in overtime to unbeaten Merrimack. Since then BU has not lost, beating BC 5-0 two days later and then rolling past both UNH and Vermont the weekend before Thanksgiving. Then there was the Cornell game at Madison Square Garden. Yeah. By now you should know that BU won 2-1 in overtime.

The road does not get any easier after this upcoming weekend, either. Thursday the 8th, BU will bus up to Durham and finish up the season series with New Hampshire and that Sunday, BU will play their final game before the holiday break at Maine. And, oh yeah, the Terriers first game back is in South Bend Indiana, home to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Right now BU is 4-1-0 over the unyielding grind of games and two more W's this weekend would look mighty nice on the schedule card.

Full weekend preview coming sometime tomorrow.

A Closer Look: The Cornell Game

Ross Gaudet is my player of the
week for obvious reasons. Gaudet
scored his first goal of the year in
overtime of Red Hot Hockey take
three, giving BU the win 2-1.

Runner Up goes to Cason
Hohmann, who I thought played
his best game of the year, and he
nearly won the game in OT,
before Ross beat him to it.

(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU's lone game of this past weekend will go down as one of the most exciting and controversial games played. BU defeated Cornell 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,200 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

BU's Adam Clendening scored the contest's first goal on a five on three power play about half way through the first period. BU carried the play for most of the first frame, but that completely changed in the second.

Cornell did not score in period number two, but it was BU's bend but don't break defense that held CU off the board. The Big Red had 11 shots on goal in that stanza, but none could find their way past Kieran Millan who made 23 saves in the 2-1 victory.

Cornell finally tied the game in the third, as Locke Jillson scored his first goal of the season on a rebound. For Cornell, it looked like they took the lead with exactly four minutes to go as a shot deflected off the end board, bounced up towards the MSG roof, and fell in the net. The only thing that prevented this goal was the fact that everyone in the rink (including the refs) lost sight of the puck before it descended from the sky. The whistle clearly blew before the black rubber disk plopped into the net.

The end of regulation saw the longtime rivals knotted at one. Something had to give. With 2:12 left in the overtime session, Ross Gaudet redirected Max Nicastro's shot from the point into the baggy MSG net. The net exploded and so did the BU fans, who made the trip down.

All in all, it was probably the most exciting and intense game I've been to since the 2009 National Championship game. More on that later in the week as I will post the top ten most memorable BU games I've been to.

At The Polls 
BU moved up two spots from 15th to 13th in the USCHO rankings. Merrimack remained the Nation's lone undefeated team and stayed number one in the land. Boston College jumped up three places from number five to second. Notre Dame fell one place from second to third and Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota rounded out the top five. In two years, the top three will all belong to Hockey East.

BU also was slotted at 13th in the USA Today poll. The top five looked exactly the same, except Duluth and the Gophers were flip-flopped.

PairWise. Finally, we can actually start to look at this and get some kind of idea of who will be headed to the NCAA tournament come March.  Following BU's win over Cornell, the Terriers jumped all the way from 22nd to 16th. Now there is some rhyme and reason for that. Neutral sight games and non conference wins play a huge roll in the PWR.

The PairWise Ranking is a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament. The PWR compares Teams Under Consideration (TUC), those with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of .500 or more, judging them by four criteria: record against common opponents, head-to-head competition, record against other TUC if a team has played 10 or more games against TUC, and the RPI.                                                             -From USCHO.Com

Take for instance, Miami.  They are ranked 18th in the National Polls, but are currently in a tie with Western Michigan for 10th in the PWR. They have notable wins at Colgate (PWR 14), Michigan (PWR 20) and won the Denver Cup in Denver, dropping Providence and Denver (PWR 17). Tournament wins are also important and can really gain a team a ton of PairWise points, especially if the tournament is in a neutral sight or better yet, away.

Not to keep making examples, but BU's 2009 final PairWise was so high because they won three in-season tournaments, including that Denver Cup I just spoke of. The Terriers also went 9-0-0 in non conference play including all the wins in those three tournaments.

Around Hockey East
Tuesday Night: Vermont picked up their first league win, dropping UMass 2-1 at home... UNH lost a crazy game to Harvard 7-6 at the Crimson's barn.

Wednesday Night: Merrimack blanked Alabama Huntsville 6-0 at Lawler Rink.... Maine got by the USA U18 team 6-4 in an exhibition game in Orono.

Friday Night: Northeastern nipped Michigan 4-1 in Michigan... Miami drubbed Providence 6-2 in the first round of the Denver Cup... Colgate got the best of Vermont at Gutterson Field House, 4-1... Lowell blanked Alabama Huntsville 3-0 at home.

Saturday Night: BU snuck by Cornell 2-1 in overtime... BC came back and beat Yale at the Whale 3-2... Quinnipiac defeated UMass 4-2 at home... Princeton got the best Providence, 3-1 in the Denver Cup Consolation game... Maine was victorious against Clarkson 4-3 at home... New Hampshire slaughtered Alabama Huntsville 9-1 at home.

Cornell's Goal That Wasn't

Gaudet Grabs OT Winner

Wow! What a game!

2:48 into overtime at Madison Square Garden, Ross Gaudet tipped Max Nicastro's shot into the goal past Cornell's goalie Andy Iles. It was Gaudet's first tally of the season. The goal sent the BU half of MSG into a frenzy (myself included) while Cornell's rowdy crown sulked their way to the exits.

Before Gaudet's overtime heroics, there was a ton of other action to cover.

BU celebrates after Ross Gaudet's (22) overtime goal.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU took a 1-0 lead on a five on three power play in the first. The puck was deflected on net and the rebound was kicked out by Iles right on to the tape of defenseman, Adam Clendening's stick. Clendening buried the the loose puck. It was was the Niagara natives first goal of the season. The assists went to Garrett Noonan and Alex Chiasson.

BU and CU battled through a scoreless second frame. Cornell had the bulk of the chances and many would say that BU was lucky to head the third still owners of the lead. Cornell's had a disallowed goal after the puck crossed the line after the whistle blew.

Alex Chiasson is stop by CU goalie
Andy Iles on a break a way in the
first period.
(Photo by matt Dresens)

CU carried all the momentum they gained from the second right into the third period. Locke Jillson, the games second star, tied the game at the 11:06 mark of stanza three. Jillson was able to slam home a rebound after BU failed to clear the zone. Essentially, Jillson scored an empty net goal as Millan (23 saves) was well out of position.

Cornell nearly took the lead with four minutes to play. A shot by John Esposito took a very strange deflection of the dasher of the boards. The puck popped up toward the MSG roof. The puck was in the air so long that the refs blew the whistle because they lost sight of the puck. As the puck descended from the MSG rafters it hit Millan in the back and ended up in the net. After a lengthy review, the call stood, no goal.


After Gaudet scored in overtime, winning the game for BU, the Terriers move to 7-4-1 on the year and extend their win streak to four games.

Next weekend, BU faces BC in a home and home series starting Friday night at Conte Forum.

More coverage, plus pictures coming tomorrow. Sorry about that, the wifi at my hotel sucks, so I had to write the entire recap on my phone.

BU-CU Preview

Tomorrow, BU and Cornell will face off in the 43rd time and third installment of Red Hot Hockey. This season Cornell is 6-2-0 and winners of their last five games. Their last loss was at Brown, 5-4. They may have a five game win streak, but those wins have not exactly been against the cream of the crop in the NCAA. Wins include a 3-2 victory at Dartmouth and a 4-0 shutout of Qunnipiac at home. Cornell has shut out their opponents in the last three straight games. Earlier this year, the Big Red waxed Yale at the Whale 6-2, but Yale just lost to Sacred Heart so I really don't know how good the Yaleys are this year. Cornell currently sits atop the ECAC standings, two points ahead of second place Colgate.

Scouting the Big Red
Cornell currently has the sixth best defense in the NCAA and goaltender Andy Iles has a three game shutout streak coming into Saturday's tilt.

Cornell is lead by Nick D'Agostino, a junior defenseman from Bolton, Ontario, who has six goals and six assists in eight games played. Brian Ferlin is a close second in points with 11, five goals and six assists.

In net, Iles has a 2.34 goals against average to go along with a .915 save percentage in eight games played.

The Last Time They Met...
was on November 28th, 2009 at Madison Square Garden. BU made an impressive comeback, tying the game 3-3 in the final minute and that's the way the score stood at the conclusion of the five minute overtime period.

College Hockey Picks Week 8

Last week was my best week yet. I when 10 for 15 including a tie which counts as a loss for some dumb reason.

From Inside College Hockey's Pick 'em

It's Getting Red Hot In Here

Top: Cornell's Ken
Dryden. Bottom:BU's
Mike Eruzione. Both
program's most
famous alumni.

Saturday, BU and Cornell will renew their longtime rivalry in the third edition of Red Hot Hockey in New York City at Madison Square Garden. BU won convincingly at the first RHH, 6-3 on November 24th, 2007. That game marked the first time MSG was sold out for a college hockey game, as the arena saw all 18,000 seats filled with college hockey fans.

Cornell looked as if they we going to blow out BU on November 28th 2010, again at The World's Most Famous Arena after they took an early 2-0 first period lead. A Dave Warsofsky shorthanded goal cut the lead to 2-1 before Cornell regained a two goal lead just a minute and a half later. Nick Bonino made it 3-2 minutes into the third and Chris Connolly buried a rebound with one minute left in the game to tie it at three. BU dominated the overtime, but could not get the game winner.

Scorebord from Red Hot Hockey
take 2.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Rivalry 
Yes, this is not BU-BC, but this used to be almost, if not a bigger rivalry than BU-BC. The Terriers and Big Red have been battling it out for decades. BU lost the 1967 National Championship game to Cornell, but five years later the Terriers got their revenge, dropping the Big Red 4-1 in the ECAC Championship game and seven days later in the National Championship Game. The rivalry was so intense that Cornell even had "beat BU" in their fight song. The first ever BU-CU game took place in 1925, BU won 7-2 in Ithaca.

Since BU seceded from the ECAC in 1983, the rivalry has died down a bit, but the first game at MSG definitely gave the fire a huge stoke.

For more coverage on the BU-Cornell rivalry, check out the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog's Red Hot Hockey Since 1925.

Game preview wil be up on Friday morning.

Laughing at Yale Who Play At The Whale

No, this has not become a poetry blog and no, this has nothing to do with BU, but I thought I would draw up something for you all to read on an otherwise news-less Tuesday.

Tonight, overrated number 9 Yale lost to arguably the worst team in college hockey, Sacred Heart. The Bulldogs fell 7-6 on the road, despite out shooting the sisters of the poor 53-19. Not that I really should be laughing to hard because BU did lose to Holy Cross who is equally as abysmal, but who cares. Oh, did I mention it was Sacred Heart's first win of the year? They are now 1-11-0 on the year.


Craziness at Harvard
UNH was up 4-0 on Harvard in the first period. UNH squandered that four goal lead and then a three goal lead and the Crimson ended up winning 7-6 at home. The only reason I report this game is because I was supposed to go, but something came up and I ended up listing to it on Harvard's radio station. 

... Four Points Later

Corey Trivino is my player of the 

week. He had two goals in two games

to go along with first star honors in 

Friday's game against Vermont. Trivino

now has 8 goals and four assists on 

the year. Corey has already matched

his goal total for last season in just 10

games. He played 37 games last year.

(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU did exactly what they needed to do this weekend. They picked up a pair of wins and gained four valuable points in the Hockey East standings. It was especially important to win both games because both Merrimack and Boston College, the two teams in front of BU, did not play a league game all weekend.

Friday night, BU again played down to their competition's level. They let one win Vermont hang around the whole game and never really put them away. To be honest, BU was a little bit lucky to come away with a win. Following Garrett Noonan's power play goal late in the second period, the Terriers relaxed and Vermont carried the play for most of the third period. The Catamounts pulled within one goal with about four minutes to play, but BU hung on and weathered a fierce UVM barrage at the conclusion of the game.

Saturday was a completely different game. New Hampshire and BU slogged through a o-o first period. Both teams created relatively few chances and I really got the feeling that whichever team scored first would eventually win. Low and behold, BU's Wade Megan broke the deadlock in the second and the Terriers won. Although it was not the winning goal, it added some much needed action to an otherwise slow game.

Saturday's games took a sharp turn from a rather boring game to a very intense third period when UNH's Trevor Van Riemsdyk tied it 1-1 five minutes into the period. Two and half minutes latter, BU exploded for two goals in 36 seconds. First, Max Nicastro unloaded a wicked slapper that found the back of the net. Little over half a minute later, Corey Trivino put home a Chris Connolly pass on a two on one.

Instead of holding on for dear life in the final minutes, BU allowed very few grade A scoring chances and Matt Nieto sealed the game with an empty net goal in the final minute.

At The Polls
BU moved up one place in the USCHO poll from 16th to 15th. Merrimack became the new Number One by default. Previous Number One Minnesota lost and dropped to third. Notre Dame was second, while Colorado College and Boston College rounded out the top five. It is the first time in program history MC has been ranked #1.

Again, BU was left out of the USA Today ranking.

I have BU at 12th in my poll.

PairWise... It's still to early.

Around Hockey East
Friday Night: Northeastern skated past Providence 5-2 at Schneider Rink... Maine and UMass skated to a 2-2 tie at the Mullins Center... New Hampshire shut out Lowell 5-0 on the road... BU slipped by Vermont 4-3... Notre Dame topped Boston College 3-2 with 2.1 seconds left in overtime in South Bend.

Saturday Night: Lowell blanked UMass 4-0 at home... Northeastern got past Vermont 4-1... BU beat New Hampshire 4-1 at home.

Honored 
Kieran Millan was named Hockey East defensive player of the week for his efforts in BU's 4-1 victory over UNH. Millan stopped 33 of 34 shots he faced. BU was also named Hockey East's team of the week.

Statement Game

BU takes season series with 4-1 win.

The Terriers are now looking like they have started to click. They've reeled off three straight wins and have scored 13 goals in 3 games, including 8 this weekend.

After a sluggish first period which saw no scoring and no real good chances, BU grabbed the lead in the second. Wade Megan was attempting to rush into the UNH zone but the puck deflected up in the air, Megan jumped up, grabbed the puck, and skated into the Wildcat zone. From the bottom of the far circle, he let a shot go with basically no angle. Somehow, the puck found it's way into the goal behind UNH goalie Matt DiGirolamo's legs.

BU's Patrick  MacGregor fights though a sandwitch check
from UNH's Nick Sorkin (21) and Kevin Goumas (27)

The rest of the period, like period one, was a hard fought struggle.

UNH tied the game five minutes into the third. Trevor Van Riemsdyk buried a loose rebound past BU goalie Kieran Millan (33 saves) low glove side. It was Van Riemsdyk's first career goal as a Wildcat.

Two and half minutes later, the game changed completely. Max Nicastro took a pass from Chris Connolly at the point. The junior defenseman reared back and let go an absolute bomb of a slap shot that DiGirolamo simply never saw. The net exploded when the puck hit the twine and all 4,994 in attendance went nuts.

36 seconds later, Corey Trivino potted his eight goal of the year on a two on one. Connolly and Trivino broke in 2 on 1 after picking up a misplayed puck at the blue line. Connolly dished to Trivino and the puck wound up in the top corner of the UNH goal. The play was reviewed because it looked like the puck went off Trivino's skate and in, but there was no "distinct kicking motion" to over-turn the play and the goal stood. 

After BU killed off Evan Rodrigues' two minute hitting from behind penalty, Matt Nieto scored on an empty net from about 70 feet out. He was lucky it dribbled in because if it had gone wide, it would have been icing, allowing UNH a chance to set something up off the face off.

Following the win, BU moves into sole possession of third place in Hokey East with 11 points, two points behind second place Merrimack and 3 points behind first place Boston College. Both BC and MC did not pick up a single point in the league this weekend. The Mack was idle and BC lost it's lone game of the weekend to Notre Dame with 2.1 seconds left in overtime out in South Bend.

UNH Preview

BU goes for three straight wins tonight, as the University of New Hampshire Wildcats come to Agganis Arena for the second time this season.

Last night BU defeated Vermont 4-3. UNH blanked Lowell 5-0 at home. A lot of things have changed since BU and UNH last played on opening night. UNH lost four games in a row (including the loss to BU) and did not even score a goal until the third game of the year. The Wildcats did some serious soul searching on a road trip to St. Cloud Minnesota. UNH got smoked in game one of the two game series. Saturday night, in game two, New Hampshire managed a tie and they haven't lost since then. That game was on October 22. The next weekend the team picked up their first win of the year, 2-1 in overtime at Union College. The Union win was the first of four W's in a row. Victories included a 5-2 drubbing of Northeastern and a 7-3 shellacking of UMass as well as last night's 5-0 shut-out of Lowell.

UNH is currently tied with BU for third in Hockey East.

Scouting the Wildcats
Sophomore Nick Sorkin and Senior Captain Stevie Moses lead the team in scoring with five goals and seven assists each. Each have 12 points in 11 games played.

UNH will be without their their leading point scorer, Dalton Speelman for tonight's game. Last night the forward suffered both a separated shoulder and a broken wrist in last night's game against NU.

After struggling out of the gate, Matt DiGirolamo is starting to look like the goalie that USCHO said was the best netminder in the Nation. In 10 games played DiGirolamo has an .894 save percentage with a 3.14 goals against average.

The Great Debate 
Last night Grant Rollhieser played a solid game in net for the Terriers. Kieran Millan was benched for skipping class and now tonight, Parker has a decision to make on who will start in goal. Parker said earlier in the week that the starter would be a game time decision, so we will all have to wait to see who will start tonight. If it were up to me, I would go with the hot hand and put Rollie back out there. Anyway, check back later for the official starter.

BU Beats Vermont 4-3

A more in-depth recap from last nigh's game.


After a slow start that saw both teams acting like it was a boxing match and basically feeling each other out, Vermont broke the the ice and picked up the game's first goal. A shot came from about the top of the circle and Grant Rollhieser fumbled it, allowing Blake Doerring to tap in a looses rebound that was just sitting in the crease. It was Doerring's first collegiate goal.

The aftermath from a collision between BU's Max Nicastro
and Tobias Nilsson-Roos.

BU answered minutes later. Sahir Gill coraled a dribbling puck behind the Vermont goal and sent a back hand pass intended for Justin Courtnall. The pass defected and bounced right on the tape of Corey Trivino, who was wide open in the slot. Trivino beat UVM netminder Rob Madore five hole for his seventh goal of the year to tie the game at one.

1:18 later BU took the lead on their first of two power play goals on the night. Vermont's Anders Franzon attempted to clear the puck on his back hand. The Junior defenseman badly miss played the puck and turned it over, right in front of Madore. Charlie Coyle swooped in and wristed a shot top shelf making it 2-1 BU. Matt Nieto was credited with an assist, but I'm not sure he ever touched the puck.

The Catamounts grabbed the first goal of the second stanza. Kyle Reynolds made a nifty move to allude Terrier denseman Patrick MacGregor. Reynolds then tossed what seemed to be a very weak back hand shot on goal. Rollhieser just missed it and the puck wound up in the back of the BU net.

Wade Megan would regain the lead for the Scarlet and White at the 6:47 mark of the second. While on the power play, Sean Escobedo threw a low wrist shot on Madore and the goaltender kicked out the rebound right into the slot where Megan was camped. Megan wasted no time and slammed home the rebound just inside the right goal post. The goal was technically an even strength goal, but Megan scored before the Vermont convict could even step on the ice.

BU's fourth goal was a power play goal. Matt Nieto found Garrett Noonan at the top of the far circle. Noonan walked in and let a snap shot fly from the face off dot. Madore never saw the shot through a screen and the puck found it's way into the Vermont goal.

After that goal, BU started to play a bit more relaxed and to Vermont's credit, the Catamounts made things very interesting in the final minuets. BU was called for too many men on the ice with about five minutes to go. Sebastian Stalberg put a loose puck by Rollhieser with 3:58 left to play.

Vermont had a few good looks after they pulled Madore, but could not get the equalizer. Trivino hit the side of the empty net with about 30 seconds left. In the final seconds BU looked to have iced the puck, which would have given UVM one last chance to set something up off the face off. The ref, for some reason, never blew the whistle and the game ended right there.

One funny note out of this game was that I ran into Alex Chiasson's dad at one of the concession stands. He came up to me and because I was wearing his son's jersey (photo) he wanted to take a picture.

BU has now won back to back games for the first time since March of last season. BU goes for three straight tonight against New Hampshire.

BU One Better Then Vermont

Tonight, BU did not play their best game, not by a long shot, but did still manage to come away with 2 points and a W.

Vermont jumped out to and early 1-0 lead on Blake Doerring's first collegiate goal. Corey Trivino evened the game at one, minutes later. Charlie Coyle gave BU the lead on the first of two Terrier power play goals. BU took a 2-1 lead in to the dressing room after period one.

Vermont tied it at two on Kyle Reynlods first career goal as a Catamount. Wade Megan put home a loose rebound, gaining the lead back for the Terriers. Garrett Noonan picked up the team's second power play goal of the night, making it 4-2 BU.

Vermont was able to cut the lead to 4-3 in the final minutes of the game on the power play.
BU has now won two games for the first time all year. Tomorrow they will go for three straight against New Hampshire.

Check back tomorrow for a more in-depth recap. Sorry thus was so brief, the T was having some issues and so I got home very late.

A Visit From Vermont **Updated**

Vermont's Dean Strong and BU's
Nick Bonino take the opening
face off of 2009 the Frozen Four.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Tomorrow, BU will welcome the University of Vermont Catamounts to Agganis Arena. This season, Vermont has struggled in all phases of the game. They rank dead last in Hockey East in total offense (2 goals a game), penalty kill (62.5%), and are in last place in the league standings with one point in six games.

The Catamount's have just one win all year, handing number one ranked Minnesota their first lost of the year in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Last weekend, Vermont tied New Hampshire (BU's opponent on Saturday night) 4-4 at home. So far this year, the Terriers have a history of playing down to their competition's level. If I was Parker, I would have been drilling it in to my team's head that "hey they beat the best team in the Nation in their building".

Vermont plays BU very tough at home. In 2009, BU was swept in a weekend series with the Catamounts at Agganis. It was the only time all season the the Terriers lost two games in a row. BU ultimately got their revenge in the Frozen Four as they ended Vermont's season in the National Semi Final in Washington D.C.

Updated: Millan will be benched Rollie to start.
Senior goalie Kieran Millan will be benched for the Vermont game for skipping class. In his place, fellow senior, Grant Rollhieser will make his second start of the year.

Scouting the Catamounts 
Vermont is lead by junior forward Sebastian Stalber, brother of Victor Stalbeg who is currently playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. Victor was a Hoby Baker finalist in 2009. Anyway, Sebastian has three goals and three assists in seven games, he leads the team in points. Connor Brickley is the team's leading goal scorer with four in seven games, but has yet to register an assist.

Vermont is very solid in goal. Four year starter Rob Madore is 33 saves away from moving into third all time at Vermont for saves in a career. If your wondering, Tim Thomas leads the school in total career saves. This season, Madore has a .854 save percentage, 22 goals against and a 1-3-1 record in five games played.

The Last Time They Met...
was last year in a weekend series at BU. The two teams tied on Friday night 3-3, after BU jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Saturday, BU won 3-1 behind a solid goaltending showing from Keiran Millan.

Back To Back?
BU has not won consecutive games since March 4th. That 3-1 win over Vermont was the first leg and the next weekend, BU defeated Northeastern 3-2 making it back to back wins. Since then, BU has not won two games in a row, but the Terriers have a chance to end that streak tomorrow night.

College Hockey Picks Week 7

Team with blue dot next two school logo is the team I picked.

From Inside College Hockey's Pick 'em

Still Confused

Here's something to ponder on your  rainy Wednesday evening: BU is 3-1-0 against ranked teams they are 1-3-1 against unranked teams.

BU beat UNH, who at the time was ranked in the top 20. BU then went on to lose to Providence, beat number three Denver and lose to Holy Cross. BU then picked up their lone win against an unranked team, UMass, in a home and home series. Then there was the fiasco in Lowell, and finally BU lost their only game to a ranked team, so far against Merrimack. They then followed that up with a five nothing shut out of Boston College (that always fun to say).

Confused on why BU can only beat good teams? Yeah so am I.

BU faces two unranked opponents this weekend as Vermont and New Hampshire visit Agganis on Friday and Saturday respectively. Hopefully BU takes both teams seriously and comes away with four points. Vermont and UNH actually played each other last weekend and skated to a 4-4 draw. To state the obvious,  both schools are pretty equal. BU clearly has the ability to play with any team in the country, but to be able to do that in March in the NCAA's, the Terriers need to buckle down and start rolling off some wins in a row. Theres no better time to do that than this weekend with two league opponets coming to town.

In Other News
BU reseved a verbal commitment from The USA U18's Matt Lane. According to the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog, Lane will be on campus next fall. He is listed as 5-9, 178 pound forward who calls Rochester New York home.

Lane's stats for the NTDP:

A Promising Weekend

Luke Popko, BU's best faceoff man in
team history.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

This past weekend had a few firsts for the Terriers. BU lost their first overtime Hockey East league game since 2003 when Merrimack came back and defeated BU 3-2 in OT at Agganis on Friday night.

BU's 5-0 shut out of Boston College was the Terrier's first blanking of BC since 1983. It was also BU's first win against BC since 2010. In my eyes, it was BU's best performance against the Eagles since 2006. The game that comes to mind is BU's 6-2 shellacking of BC at the start of December 2006. BC has had their share of lopsided wins against the Terriers as well, including a 5-0 beating that same season in the NCAA Regional Final in Worcester.

Springboard
BU's rout against BC could be just what the team needs to spark them. Look at the Bruins, for example. The B's have won five straight games after destroying the Toronto Maple Leafs in Air Canada Center. Before that win, Boston had won just four games.

Now look at BU, a team that has been up and down all year. Now, with this eerily similar beating of an arch rival in their barn, BU could have finally figured out how to put everything together and play a full 60 minutes.

It would not surprise me if BU took off after last night's win. Next up on the schedule is a struggling Vermont team coming to Agganis on Friday night. Saturday, the University of New Hampshire will try to even the season series. BU's two home league games this upcoming weekend are very big games. BU is currently tied for fourth in Hockey East with those UNH Wild Cats. A weekend sweep would go along way into getting back into the top of the Hockey East standings, where most people predicted them to be at the start of the year.

Struggling: The Face-off
BU's faceoffs have been less of a draw and more of an automatic loss. The Terrier's inability to win any important faceoffs in the Merrimack game was a clear reason why they lost the game. BU was burned several times down the stretch in the faceoff circle and it led to MC's tying goal. The problem has left me wondering if we can get Luke Popko (photo) back. Popko graduated in '10, so of course he can't come back, but the pesky fourth line center seemed to win about 90% of the draws he took.

At The Polls 
After going 1-1 over the weekend, BU remained at number 16 in the USCHO poll. Minnesota is still the number one ranked team in the Nation despite Merrimack, ranked second, picking up more first place votes with 25. Minnesota had 20 first place votes. Boston College slipped to number three with Notre Dame and Colorado College rounding out the top five.

In the USA Today rankings, BU was two points away from cracking the 15 team poll. Ohio State and Michigan Tech tied for 14th with 52 points each. The top five is identical to USCHO's.

My rankings

PairWise: Who cares... its way to early.

Around Hockey East
Friday Night: Boston College slipped by Northeastern 2-1 on a goal scored with 2.8 seconds left in regulation... Lowell remained hot, defeating Maine in 5-3 at Alfond Arena... Providence shut out the nation's lone Independent school, Alabama Huntsville 3-0 at home... UMass waxed Holy Cross 7-2 at the Mulins Center... Merrimack upended BU 3-2 in overtime.

Saturday Night: Lowell completed the weekend sweep of Maine with a 4-3 road victory... UMass won it's second game of the weekend, defeating Northeastern 4-2 at home... New Hampshire and Vermont skated to a 4-4 draw at Gutterson Field House, home of the Catamounts... Providence again topped UAH, this time by a score of 4-2.

Sunday Afternoon: BU shut out BC for the first time since the schools joined Hockey East in 1984. BU won 5-0.

Sunday Funday

Wade Megan had two goals in BU's 5-0

win over arch rival BC.

(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU routs BC 5-0 at Conte


Anyone who says that they saw this coming before the game is a complete liar (you in the back with your hand up, liar). BU took it to BC from the very start of the game. The Terriers started the scoreing less than a minute into the game.

Chris Connolly rushed the puck up ice, carrying it into the BC zone before dropping a pass off to defenseman Sean Escobedo. Escobedo then made another drop pass this time to Corey Trivino. Trivino gathered the puck and ripped it past BC goalie Parker Milner, just 54 seconds into the game.

BU was called for six penalties before they scored again. The Terrier PK was stellar, unlike in the Merrimack game two nights earlier. BU shut down one of the nation's best power plays as BC went 0 for 8 tonight.

The Terriers second goal came ironically enough on the power play. Connolly gave chase to a loose puck in the far corner, picked it up and shoveled a pass over to Trivino. Trivino then dumped it off to Wade Megan who came in from behind the net.  Once Megan had the puck, he was limited with options with the puck. The other Terrier forwards were behind the BC net, so Megan attempted a usually unadvised wrap-a-round attempt on the power play. The move paid off for the Florida Panthers draft pick as his shot creeped its was up Milner's arm and into the back of the net. The puck never got more than two inches over the goal line.

That closed the scoring in the first.

BU took over the game in period two. BC got themselves into some penalty trouble when Patrick Brown and Tommy Cross were called for tripping and boarding, respectively. The result was a BU five on three power play for an extended period of time. The Terriers made BC pay as Sahir Gill found Adam Clendening who then set up Alex Chiasson for a one timer that the junior forward blasted off the cross bar and into the net behind Milner.

Chiasson had a hand in BU's fourth goal, as well. He picked up the puck in the far corner and skated behind the net where he actually ran into Charlie Coyle. Coyle took the puck from Chiasson and found Matt Nieto wide open out in front. Nieto slammed it in past Milner through the goalie's five hole, upping the lead to 4-0 Terriers.

Minutes into the third period, BC found themselves again in some penalty trouble. BU did not score on any of those power plays, but did take over the game and did not allow BC to get any real chances to score.

Wade Megan iced the game while BC's power play struggles hit an all time game high. A BC defenseman had the puck at the point and lost control of it, allowing Megan to give presure. He knocked the puck forward and won the foot race for the loose puck at center ice. Megan then skated in alone on Milner and beat the helpless goaltender low blocker side. It was BU's 5th short handed goal of the year.

After the win, BU moves into fourth place in the Hockey East standings tied with UNH with 7 points. Kieran Millan made 21 saves good for his second shut out of the year. BU is now 4-4-1 on the year.

One Tough Weekend (Part Two)

Tomorrow, BU will head over to Conte Forum to take on the Nation's second ranked team, Boston College. BC is 9-2-0 on the year and is coming off a win that they stoll from Northeastern. The Eagles scored with 2.8 seconds left in regulation to win 2-1. BC’s two loses are two Denver and UMass.

Strangely enough, BC's two losses have come against teams that BU has taken 5 out of possible 6 points from. BU upended Denver 4-3 at home and beat and tied UMass in a home and home series.

Scouting the Eagles
BC lost it’s fare share of players to graduation and the NHL, but this teams still brings a ton of talent to the table. World Junior standout, Chis Kreider is the team's leading goal scorer with 8. He also leads the Eagles in points with 16. Calgary Flames draft pick, Bill Arnold is second in points and goals with 14 and 7 respectively in each category.

BC's biggest question coming into the year was goaltending. Four year starter and two time National Champion, John Muses graduated at the end of last year, leaving a huge hole in net for BC. So far, junior Parker Milner has carried the load nicely. He has played every minute (except 1:47 when BC pulled him four and extra attacker) and has a .920 save percentage with a 2.08 goals against average. In 11 games Milner has stopped 263 of 286 shots.

The Last Time They Met...
was the first Monday in February in the first round of the Beanpot. BC won their fourth game against BU last year in overtime by a score of 3-2. The last time BU beat BC was in the in the 2010 season at Conte Forum. Colby Cohen won the game in overtime for the Terriers on a deflected one-time slapper.

Injury Report
Last night I ran into Corey Trivino during the second intermission and he said quote: "I think I can play against BC." That decision will be up the medical staff seeing as he missed the Merrimack game with a swollen ankle.

Merrimack Comback Upends BU



BU's Ben Rosen stops in
the corner after rushing
the puck up ice. MC's Jordan
Heywood plays defense.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Toomey pots OT winner for Mack', BU looses 2nd straight



Tonight, Merrimack accomplished something that has not been done since 2003 and that was beat BU in a Hockey East league game in overtime. Providence was the last team to do it back on February 21st 2003.

Before we get to the overtime goal, there was other scoring to cover. MC got on the board first a little over six minutes into period one. Justin Mansfield put home a loose rebound past BU goalie Kieran Millan who was stuck in an un-athletic position. The play seemed like it was in slow motion as the puck creped its way past Millan before Mansfield was able to score.

Following that goal, Merrimack got themselves into a world of penalty trouble. Karle Stollery was called for interference and seconds later Jordon Heywood was also flagged for interference. While BU was already on a five on three advantage, Merrimack goon, Kyle Bigos cross-checked a BU player out in front (More on Bigos later). Unfortunately, BU was only able to grab one goal out of the two man advantage. Alex Chiasson and Matt Nieto both had chances to score, but it was Garrett Noonan who slammed in a rebound on the near side, past Warrior goalie Joe Cannata.

Garrett Noonan scores BU second goal.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Later in the period BU's fourth line combined to score a nifty goal. Ben Rosen hit freshman Cason Hohmann with a break out pass from deep in the BU zone. Hohmann made a mad rush up the ice and found Assistant Captain Justin Courtnall on the fare side. Courtnall corralled the puck and put a back hander on net which found it’s way past Cannata.

The second period saw no scoring, but both teams did have some chances. BU had a few nice looks on the power play, while MC finally actually put some shots on Millan, who only faced six in the first. Oh yeah, then there was the Bigos incident.

Wade Megan had the puck along the boards facing the glass in the attacking zone. Merrimack punk Kyle Bigos thought it was a fine idea to drill Megan face first into the glass. The refs did not agree and the 6 foot 5 inch Eric Gyba-like defenseman was kicked out of the game. 

The third period was one to forget for the Terriers. Not only was there no flow at all, but there were a tone of penalties. The teams combined for a total of 10 infractions in the third period alone. Out of all of those, one sticks out.

Charlie Coyle was trying to regain his balance and grazed an MC skater. Coyle was called for interference, setting up the Warrior's game tying goal with less than two minutes to go.

Brandon Brodhag ripped a slapper past Millan after Merrimack pulled Cannata giving the Warriors a six on four advantage. The assists went to Heywood and Stollery.

In overtime, Conner Toomey looked to have tipped Stollery's shot past Millan, who I don't thing ever saw the shot in the first place. After winning this game, Merrimack remained the Nation’s lone undefeated team. On the BU side of things, it drops the Terriers 3-4-1 on the year with an away game at Boston College on Sunday.

One Tough Weekend (Part One)

I'll start with Friday's game against Merrimack. The Warriors are the only undefeated team in the nation at 7-0-1. MC battled Northeastern in a home and home series. Merrimack came away with three of four points with a tie and an overtime win.

Scouting the Warriors
Senior Ryan Flanigan is Merrimack's leading scorer with 10 points -five goals and five assists. Fellow Senior Jesse Todd is a close second with three goals and four assists for a total of seven points. In my eyes, MC's best skater is Senior Karl Stollery. I don't know why, but this guy seems to be all over the ice when BU plays the Warriors.

The Mack's best player by far is Senior goalie Joe Cannata. Cannata is 6-0-1 on the year with a .939 save percentage and a 1.046 goals against. In 427 minutes played, Cannata has only allowed 10 goals.

Stats are great, but Cannata's story does not end there. He has passed Providence's Alex Beaudry as my most feared goalie in Hockey East. Cannata is the type of goalie that only needs one goal from his team and MC is in really good shape to do that for him. In other words, he can steel games.

The Last Time They Met...
was back on January 18th. Merrimack came away with a 3-2 win at Lawler Rink. MC has not lost a game against BU since the 2010 Hockey East Quarterfinals, when BU blanked MC 3-0 in game three at Agganis.

To Be Continued
BU plays Boston College on Sunday at BC's barn. The preview will be up on saturday.

Injury Report

The Boston Hockey Blog is reporting that Corey Trivino will miss both games this weekend with a swollen ankle. With that said, Yasin Cisse should stay in the lineup as well as Freshman forwards Even Rodrigues and Cason Hohmann. 

Ryan Santana is still out with a shoulder injury. A rough time table for his return is the holiday break, but nothing is set in stone.  

College Hockey Picks Week 6

Team with blue dot next to their school logo is the team I picked

Last week I went 8 for 16. Needless to say, this is not going well.

Open Net

The team, as a whole played terribly against Lowell. There's no questioning that. Even before the fiasco in the old mill town occurred, BU's goaltending has been about as stable as the stock market.

Kieran Millan played shaky at best in the exhibition game, giving up 5 goals in two periods. The next weekend he shut-out New Hampshire. Granted, the Wildcats have the league's third worst offense behind only Northeastern and Vermont, who could not score on a soccer net as of right now.

Millan, played ok against Providence, but did give up five goals. So, that's not great. The next night he looked very solid except for when Denver's John Lee scored from outside the blue line on a slap shot. Against Holy Cross, well I missed that game, he managed to give up five goals against an Atlantic Hockey team, so I can't say he played stellar. He played well out at UMass. He stopped a break a way that kept the score 2-0 and following that save, Matt Nieto scored on a 2 on 1, cutting the Minuteman lead in half.

And now we get to the Lowell game. To put it lightly, he sucked. Every save was an adventure, a huge rebound here, a misplayed puck there. It was all around terrible.

On to Grant Rollhieser, who has not exactly been the second coming of Patrick Roy, not by any stretch of the imagination. Rollie's first appearance of the year came in the exhibition game vs St. Francis Xavier. He faced seven shots and turned all of them away with ease. His first start of the year was an adventure. He gave up three goals in one period to UMass, but to his credit, only one was his fault. Ryan Ruikka tried to clear on the penalty kill and in the process the puck hit a stanchion and deflected right onto the stick of a UMass forward, who easily scored. Then, Charlie Coyle cut right in front of the BU goal and he had his pocket picked, giving Rollie no time to react and allowing UMass to score.

Rolhieser played ok in the third period of the Lowell game, allowing one goal on 14 shots.

The point is that neither of the two senior netminders have played all that well this year. Just like the team as a whole, the goaltending has been extremely inconsistent. That needs to change fast and one of the two, Rollie or Millan, have to step up and take the bull by the horns and start playing like they can.

For the near future, meaning this weekend and the next couple, I would not be surprised at all if Parker instituted a goalie rotation. Likely, Millan will prove that he is the full time starter, but until one of them pulls away there should be a rotation.

How Low-ell Will It Get?

By now you have probably heard that BU got smoked 7-1 by UMass Lowell on Saturday night. Sometimes the score does not tell the whole story of a game and here it's no diferent. Lowell could have won this game 20-1.

Ross Guadet's (22) body language after the game says is all.
BU was beat up and battered around by Lowell.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The Riverhawks dominated BU for 59 of the game's 60 minutes. Corey Trivino deflected Adam Clendening's shot from the point, past UML goalie Doug Carr, 16 seconds into the game. After that, BU got extremely complacent and Lowell took it to them in all phases of the game. UML won all the physical and mental battles and the score showed it. In fact, it was BU's most lopsided loss since 1999, when the Terriers were routed 8-2 by Providence in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. The next night  though BU won by the same score, but ended up losing the series in game three by another rather lopsided 5-1 margin.

To make matters worse, Lowell lost arguably their best player and Captain, Riley Wetmore minutes into the game. So yes, BU did not even face all the Riverhaks could throw at them.

Instead of basically re-writing all the frustrating things that came out of the weekend (like I did after they lost to Holy Cross) I'm going to try and look ahead to a very tough weekend for BU. As BU tries to get back on track, they will first have to play the Nation's only un-beaten team, that being Merrimack. Two nights later, BU will travel a half a mile from Agganis to play BC, the number two ranked team in the country.

If this season has taught us anything, it is that BU can play with the best in the land. Hell, a night after loosing to Providence, the Terriers took down Denver, who at the time, were ranked third. It should be an interesting weekend to say the least.

Streak Snapped
Matt Nieto's 8 game scoring streak came to an end on Saturday. Nieto was a game away from tying Chris Drury's 9 gamer - the school record - from the 1996 season. Nieto's best chance to score was in the second period, but Carr made a ridicules glove save on the sophomore forward from point blank.

At The Polls
Who cares, they're  not that good
USCHO
USA Today
My Top 20

Around Hockey East
Friday night saw Boston College continue to rip through the league, defeating Maine 5-1 at home... Northeastern and Merrimack skated to a 1-1 draw at Lawler rink... Providence skated past Vermont, who has yet to pick up a point in league play, 5-2 at Schneider Rink... UNH roasted UMass at home 7-3.

Saturday: UMass bounced back from the loss nicely and defeated the Nation's former number one, Boston College 4-2 at the Mullins Center... Providence completed the sweep against Vermont with a convincing 5-1 victory... New Hampshire defeated Maine 3-2 at home (don't look now, but UNH is not that bad)... Merrimack stayed unbeaten as Ryan Flanigan scored a short-handed goal in overtime to put MC past Northeastern 3-2 at Matthew's Arena... Lowell destroyed (thats putting it nicely) BU 7-1 at Tsongas.

Looking at Tomorrow's Post
Tomorrow, I will look at the, all of a sudden, un-stable goaltending situation and the leadership, or lack there of it.

Lowell All Over Terriers

Lowell players celebrate after
waxing BU 7-1 at Tsongas
Center
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Riverhawks run circles around BU 


LOWELL- It was the worst game I can remember going to. The most lop-sided outcome that no one could have predicted. If I were to have told you before the game that the final score was going to be 7-1, most everyone would have said that BU had won. Well that was not the case. Lowell beat-up and kicked BU while they were down all night long.

The rout started in period one, but it was the Terriers who actually got on the board first. BU dominated the opening 16 seconds of the game and Corey Trivino scored at the 19:44 mark, on a deflection that beat UML goalie Doug Carr. I was actually sitting next to Doug's father at the game.

After that, it was all Lowell. Joe Pendenza tied the game minutes after Trivino's goal. It was the first of seven un-answered goals for Lowell. Pendenza beat Millan who had an all-around horrible night in net, to the glove side.

Less then a minute later, Derek Arnold put home a power play goal past Milan. BU got out of the period  facing a 2-1 deficit, despite only mustering three shots (one of which went in) on Carr.

The floodgates opened wider then the Merrimack River -which runs adjacent to Tsongas Center- in the second period. Scott Wilson scored less then two minutes into the frame and 11 seconds later, Dan Furlong potted his first goal of the year.

Terrence Wallin picked up Lowell's third goal of the period before David Vallorani scored his first collegiate goal, beating Millian short side. Kieran, who was off his game all night, never recovered from a play on the other side of the net and could not get to the post fast enough, allowing Vallorani to pick his spot.

Derek Arnold scored his second of the night at 3:56 of the third, beating Grant Rollhieser, who came in relief of Millan after the second. That closed the scoring for the night and to be completely honest, it could have been 10-1. Lowell hit a post in the third and had a goal dis-allowed in the second. Rollie actually made a pretty decent save on one Lowell opportunity in the closing minutes, too. Also, Millan was lucky on one shot that bounced up in the air and fell on his right leg pad and just stayed there in period two.

The entire night, Lowell out worked, out hustled, out battled and just wanted it more then the Terriers. It goes back to a phrase that my hockey coach uses all the time: "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

Jack Parker had this to say after the game: “The team in white worked like heck. They beat us to every loose puck. We made little dink plays at the blue line, turned the puck over and it went the other way. I thought it was a total breakdown from everyone on our team — from a discipline point of view taking stupid penalties and mouthing off to referees, from a stick your nose in there and compete point of view. Everybody. We just looked like a deer in headlights.”

Game Photos
College Hockey New's : The Take Away (its a recap)

More coverage in the coming days.

Looking At Lowell

Tonight, BU will play their lone game of the weekend against 2-3-0 Lowell at the Tsongas Center. The Riverhawks swept their season opening series out in Minnesota against Mankato State. Since then, Lowell has yet to win a game. Two days after coming home from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Lowell was tripped up by UConn in overtimes and last weekend was swept by Boston College. Although the Riverhawks were out scored 10-5 in the two loses to BC,  Lowell was very competitive and even out shot BC 39-20 on friday night.

Under first year head coach Norm Bazin, Lowell has ditched their neutral zone trap, and switched to a shoot first mentality. That might have something to do with how they out shot BC,by almost 2 to 1. I don't know if Lowell just tossed every opportunity thay had on goal or if those were actually high scoring opportunities, but never the less the team is generating more offensive then before.

Scouting the Riverhawks
UML's leading scorer is Riley Wetmore, a junior from Swanton Vermont. In five games this year, Wetmore has racked up 3 goals and two assist for a total of five points. Joe Pendenza also has five points   in five games and has a line of  2-3-5.

Goaltending is anything but a stable postion in the old mill town. All three goalies on the Riverhawks' roster have seen action, two have actually started games. Brian Robbins has a win and two losses in three games played with an .852 save percentage. Sophomore Doug Carr picked up the team's other win and has a .909 SV%. Robbins was pulled mid-way through one of the BC losses and Marc Boulanger was put in, in relief.

BU News
Kevin Gilroy and Max Nicastro will be benched for Saturday's games for skipping class... Alex Chiasson will be back in the line up... despite playing very well, Sahir Gill will be moved down to the second line... With Nicastro out, freshman Alexx Privitera will be back in the line up on defense... Kieran Millan will start in goal... Yasin Cissie could dress for his first game of the season... BU has won the last four meetings with Lowell.

Enough Is Enough

Frozen Fenway from when BU beat
 BC 3-2 in 2010.
(Photo from Sky Scraper City.com)

More outdoor hockey? Yes. A BC-Northeastern game has been added to Frozen Fenway take two. Maine and UNH will play January 14th. That same night, UMass will take on Vermont at Fenway Park. A week later, BC and NU will play. Oh, and I heard that Catholic Memorial and BC-High will play there, too. 

So, when does playing a game outdoors become overdone? Umm... how 'bout right now. Something that used to be a special thing that a program did once -if that- has now turned into a regular occurrence. Only three teams (Merrimack, Providence, and Lowell) from Hockey East have not played a game at the Fens. 

Outdoor hockey used to be something that was limited to ponds and backyard rinks. Now we have million dollar rinks being placed in the middle of giant sports stadiums without a roof. The sight lines suck. The ice is no better, and its freezing cold. 

No, I'm not writing this because BU is not playing at Fenway. In fact, I'm actually happy they're not. If I want to freeze my ass off at a game I'll go up to Merrimack. I'm writing this because someone needs to put an end to outdoor hockey. Save it for the ponds.

It will be interesting to see what happens when a school pours tons of money into building a rink outdoors and 10,000 people show up for an event that was supposed to sell out a 45,000 seat professional baseball stadium. 

Yes, Winter Classic games used to be very cool. In the early 2000's when Michigan and Michigan State played at Sparty's football stadium it looked really cool. Yes, the first Winter Classic was a spectacle at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. The snow was falling and Sidney Crosby's shoot-out winning goal to put the Penguins past the Sabres was sweet to watch. Ever since then, the outdoor game has been so watered down that the NHL is now playing two of them a year and not just one.

If college teams want to draw big crowds and make money, there are other ways at going at it than the outdoor game. Take Red Hot Hockey for example. BU and Cornell have sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City twice (and it will be solid out again this year). The place is rocking, and oh by the way, its not 25 degrees in there. Another example is North Dakota's game against Clarkson this season. That game will be played indoors in the hockey crazed city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Hell, you could probably sell out a mite tournament in Winnipeg right now.

All kidding aside, there are other ways to promote the game other than games outside. The Winter Classic is cool, don't get me wrong, but this year alone there are 10 outdoor games* scheduled in North America alone.

Enough is enough.

* the 10 games are made up of NCCA, NHL, AHL and CHL teams and this does not count the probably numerous high school or lower level outdoor games to be played.

College Hockey Picks Week 5

Team with the blue dot next to school logo is the team I picked

Well, this has not gone as planned. Following up a brutal 8 for 17 week, I went an even more awful 7-18. To my credit, ties are counted as a lost so the recored looks worse the they actually are.

News, Notes, and Other Stuff

While at BU, Bonino amassed
45 goals, 72 assists, for a total
of 117 points in 116 games
played in thee seasons. One of
those goals was the game tying
strike in the national
Championship game.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Yesterday, former Terrier star, Nick Bonino was called up from AHL Syracuse and will join the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL. Bonino played in 4 of the Ducks 6 playoff games last spring. Anaheim was ousted by Colin Wilson's, Nashville Predators in the first round of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

In 35 NHL games, Bonino has scored one goal and registered 1 assist. While in the AHL last season, he played 50 games in which he racked up 12 goals and 33 assists for a total of 45 points. In 9 games with the Crush this season, Bonino has 2 goals and 9 assists.

His Ducks jersey has been added to the blog header as he makes his 2012 NHL debut tonight against Washington on Verses.

BU Gets a New Recruit For Next Fall
The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog is reporting that BU has picked up another recruit for next year. Wesley Myron of the BCHL's Vancouver Grizzles is a  "a polished power forward" according to the post. For More info on Myron, click here.


Alternative Energy  
BU is undefeated while wearing the alternative uniforms this season. BU dawned the throw-back sweaters over the weekend and came away with a win and a tie. Nick Bonino is wearing the alternate jersey in the picture at the top of the article. 


BU, also won the National Championship in 2009 while wearing the alternate white uniforms. For an example of the red alternates, look at the Captaincy Photo of Chris Connolly on the left side of the side bar.