The Best Day of the Offseason

Today is one of the more exciting days in the otherwise dull offseason of covering BU hockey. If you haven't heard already (and if you haven't you were probably under a rock) the 2013 BU hockey schedule was released today. The full and complete list of games can be viewed to the right on the sidebar.

The lone exhibition on the card this winter is a preseason prep game against The University of Toronto, a team the 2011 BU squad dismantled 9-1, lead by a Charlie Coyle hat trick. 

Casson Hohmann celebrates after scoring a goal at BC last
December.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The official season opener is against Providence at Agganis on October 13th. BU's first roadie of the year is up in Durham, New Hampshire as the Terriers take on the UNH Wildcats. This hopefully will be my first trip up to the Wittamore. BU wraps up the month of October with a home and home series with the University of Massachusetts. Friday is the home game, and Saturday (my birthday) sees BU travel out the the Mullins Center. 

November is a jam packed month for the Terriers and it starts off with the toughest test of the season: a two game set in Grand Forks, North Dakota against the Fighting Sioux. Yes, I know the NCAA forced the University to take away their nickname, but I'm still calling them the Sioux. Get over it and deal with it. The following weekend, BU trips to Merrimack for the first of three games with the Warriors. That Sunday, BU hosts Boston College. Seeing that a trip to North Dakota wasn't enough travel for the Terriers, the team will head north to Burlington, Vermont for one game on the the 16th, before returning to Agganis to host New Hampshire on Sunday. The next weekend, BU has one game against St. Lawrence at the Greek. On the final day of the month, BU and BC butt heads at Agganis.

December 1st, BU and BC play their final regular season game of the year at Conte Form. December, not unlike November, will be no easy stretch for the young group of Terriers. After BC, BU faces UNH for the third time in the first half, then host Maine, all before heading out to Denver, Colorado for the College Hockey Hall of Fame Game against, you guessed it, Denver University.

January seems to be a little lighter on the marque matchups compared to the two previous months. The month starts off with two games against former ECAC rivals Rensselear and Harvard. The Harvard game for whatever reason is on a Wednesday night. Those are the last two non-conference games (excluding the two Beanpot games) of the regular season. The remaining slab of January games pit BU agains Hockey East foes, starting with Merrimack on the 11th. The following weekend, has the Terriers against Northeastern then Lowell on back to back nights. Rounding out the month, BU takes on Providence in a home and home with the first game in the capital of Rhode Island. 

February is kicked off in Amherst against the currently coach-less Minuteman. Three days later, round one of the Beanpot has BU facing Northeastern in the early game at the Garden. The game in between the Mid-February Classic is home against Merrimack. The second round of the Beanpot is of course the second Monday in February. The subsequent weekend is in Orono, Maine against the Black Bears for a pair of games. BU closes out February with a home and home vs Lowell.

Coming down the home stretch, BU will battle Vermont in a two game set at Agganis in the first weekend of March, before closing out the regular season for the third straight year with a home and home against Northeastern.

Although it is fun piecing together the schedule here and there throughout the summer, it is nice to have the entire thing up and set now. Now its time to start looking forward to those weekend road trips to Vermont and Amherst. 

Nicastro Signs With Detroit

Max Nicastro
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The last mouth or so has been a great time for ex-Terrier defenseman Max Nicastro. On June, 1st, Nicastro's rape charges were dropped and today, the Thousand Oak's, California native was signed to an entry level contract by the Detroit Redwings.

Prior to being suspended from the team, Nicastro posted 3 goals, 6 assists in 27 games played at BU. Injures have always plagued Nicastro at BU, and last year was no diferent. In late January, Max suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out of the line up for a few games. In his first season at BU, Nicastro had his hand sliced open in a game against Merrimack at home.

Max will likely start the year in the AHL. After this past year, I think Max will be just fine with playing in the AHL. It sure beats being on trial for rape. Nicastro was originally drafted in the third round (91 overall) in 2008 by Detroit.