Weekend In Review

Player of the Week
Corey Trivino scored three goals
in two games over the weekend.
Against UNH, his tally was good
for the game winner and he put
BU on the board in Orono, scoring
the teams first goal of the game. He
added his second of the game in
 the third period,  putting distance
between  BU and Maine.

(photo by Matt Dresens)

This past week, BU won two games against UNH and Maine, respectively. It may have been the best two games the Terriers have played all year. They pretty much dominated UNH from start to finish, despite only scoring two goals. That may have been in large part to UNH being on the power play for basically the entire second period and BU hitting two or three pipes on shots that cleanly beat UNH goalie Chris De Smith. BU killed all five New Hampshire power plays.

Up in Maine, the two teams fought a hard battle in the first period. Maine took a 1-0 lead on the power play, before BU proceeded to score five unanswered goals in a 5-1 thrashing of the Black Bears. The game was not only important because league points were at stake, it was also significant in terms of the PairWise. Maine was (and still is) a Team Under Consideration(TUC) and the game was in their barn.

Some history was also made up in Orono. Kieran Millan set the program record for saves in a career with 3,057 over his three and a half seasons at Boston University. After picking up the win at Alfond, Millan has now won 8 games against Maine, also a team record. He only has lost twice to the Black Bears; twice in the Hockey East tournament, the quarterfinals in 2009 and the semis in 2010. He has never lost to Maine in a regular season league game or in Orono.

At The Polls 
I don't really know why I always start with the meaningless polls in this segment. Both the USCHO and USA Today polls are cool to look at, but have no bearing whatsoever on the NCAA tournament like the PairWise does.

So here's a look at the PWR:

BU is currently in 5th, one place out of a number one seed in the Tournament. This ranking, (it's not a poll) unlike the other two, changes after every game is played and not just on the Monday after. Anyway, Ohio State is currently in first with an RPI of .5985, with Minnesota Duluth, Boston College, and Merrimack closely behind. BU is a bit further back, but still well in the mix at 5 with an RPI of .5664.

Hockey East is very well represented in the PWR. Along with BU and BC, Lowell (10), Northeastern (18), Providence (20), Maine (27), and UMass (30) all have an RPI above .5000, the criteria for being in the PWR. FYI, 70% of the league is considered a TUC at the moment. So, not only are league games important in terms of points, but also in the national picture in terms of the NCAA tournament.

On to the meaningless polls.

USCHO has BU ranked 9th, three spots up from last week. Duluth is still the overwhelming number one, despite tying unranked Wisconsin. The Bulldogs took 49 of the possible 50 first place votes. Ohio State had the other. Minnesota was second with BC, OSU, and Merrimack rounding out the top five. The only other Hockey East team in the poll was Lowell, who came in at 17th.

In the USA Today rankings, BU is also 9th, with the top five looking identical.

Around Hockey East
Tuesday Night: BC trumped Providence 4-1 at home.

Wednesday Night: Merrimack slipped by Vermont 5-3 at Lawler Rink... UMass upended overrated Yale 3-1 at home.

Thursday Night: BU beat UNH at the Whitt 2-1.

Friday Night: Lowell stayed hot by knocking off Boston College 3-2 at Tsongas Arena.

Saturday Night: BU rocked Maine 5-1 at Alfond... Northeastern defeated Lowell 3-2 at Matthews Arena.. Colgate and Merrimack skated to a 1-1 draw in a non conference matchup.

Honored 
Kieran Millan was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. He stopped 58 of 60 shots he faced in the two games played. The Terriers were named HE's team of the week for sweeping their two game slate over the weekend.