Bad. Kurker. WJC

A lot (noting good) has happened since I have been to a game. BU lost to Merrimack on the 6th and then tied the next night, despite (stop me if this sounds repetitive) getting heavily outshot. Last weekend I was unable to go to the Bentley, and thank God I didn’t go. BU lost 4-1 with Matt Lane scoring the lone Terrier goal.

Sam Kurker lets go a shot at
Northeastern last March.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Earlier this week the not so great news continued, as a report came out that Sam Kurker may be leaving the team to play juniors. The Indiana Ice of the USHL cut a backup goalie and added Kurker to their roster. If in fact he departs, he would have to sit out one calendar year from the day he leaves to come back and play at BU or any other college for that matter.

Kurker has one goal and no assists in nine games played this year. He has been the victim of some very untimely penalties throughout his career at BU. Last season, as a freshman straight out of St. Johns Prep, Kurker posted three goals, two assists for five points in 32 games played.

Kurker was supposed to play a year of juniors prior to coming to BU, but a late decommit by former recruit Robert Polesello forced BU into a tough place. There really was no time to find another recruit, so they asked Kurker (who was a second round draft pick by St. Louis before coming to BU) to come a year early.

Kurker showed signs of breaking out last year. He played his best hockey of his BU career in the Hockey East Quarter Finals, where he notched a clutch goal in Game 2 vs Merrimack. A lot of people thought he would take off after that series, but nothing really came out of it. He was held point-less for the remainder of last season and did not get on the score sheet until his sixth game of this year.

As of right now, Kurker is still at BU and is still on the BU hockey roster. More to come on this if he leaves in the next few days.

WJC

Last night the preliminary US World Junior team played their first exhibition game. Cuts still need to be made, but as of right now, there are five players on the roster with BU ties: Matt Grzeclyk and Danny O’Regan along with 2014 recruit Jack Eichel and former recruits Adam Erne and Anthony DeAngelo. Erne and DeAngelo, both decomitted two summers ago to play Major Juniors in Canada. DeAngelo posted an assist in Team USA’s 3-2 overtime win against Minnesota State last night.

Prelim WJC Roster Announced

Today the preliminary USA World Junior Championship roster was announced. The 26 man roster will be trimmed to 23 before the tournament gets underway in Malmo, Sweden starting on December 26th. Last year, of course, the US won the gold medal with a 3-1 win over Sweden.

This year's prelim roster has 19 players with NCAA ties. BU has three: Danny O’Regan, Matt Grezlcyk, who was the last cut of last year’s team, and 2014 recruit Jack Eichel. Eichel is the only “underage” player on the prelim roster.

Other players from Hockey East include Ryan Fitzgerald, Ian McCoshen, Steve Santini, and Thatcher Demko all from BC. Along with those four, Tommy DiPauli (Notre Dame), Brett Pesce (New Hampshire), and Jon Gillies (Providence) will all be out in Minnesota for the pre-tournament training camp. Out of the 19 NCAA players invited, 10 are from Hockey East.

Miami’s Riley Barber, Gillies, and Ryan Hartman, who plays for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL, are the only three returning players from last year’s gold medal team.

In years after winning the goal medal, the US has a tendency to not live up to the hype of the previous year. In 2004 the US won their first ever WJC title, beating Canada in the gold medal game. The next year the US served as tournament host in Grand Forks, North Dakota and failed to medal. In 2010, again the US topped Canada in the championship game and again they served as tournament host the next year, this time in Buffalo, New York. The US, again, did not medal.

Hopefully the trend does not continue this year.

Just Hang'n On

O'Connor, BU hold off Cornell surge, win 3-2

Mike Moran jumps into the arms of Danny O'Regan
to celebrate his goal in the first period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

With 1:27 left and BU up by a goal and down a man, it looked a lot like the 2009 version of Red Hot Hockey with the roles reversed slightly. If you recall, BU scored on a 6 on 4 with less than a minute left to tie that game at 3-3.

Cornell came within a few centimeters of copying that exact scenario, but instead a shot from the slot hit off Matt O'Connor's shoulder and then the crossbar and did not go in.

It was the definition of "just holding on."

BU got on the board in the first after getting heavily out-played. Danny O'Regan made an impressive effort to slide the puck over to a wide open Mike Moran. O'Regan almost knocked down and while falling, hit Moran with a pass that he one-touched into the goal. It was Moran's second of the year at 17:20 of the first.

BU managed just three shots on goal for the period and.... 11 total for the game. Needless to say, they made the most of their shots.

Robbie Baillargeon doubled the BU lead at 14:38 of the second on what looked to be a three on one. A Cornell defenseman forced Evan Rodrigues to go wide into the low circle. From what seemed to be behind the goal line, Rodrigues tucked a centering pass to Baillargeon through a crowd. Robbie was able to redirect the pass past Andy Iles for his 5th of the year.

By the end of the second, BU had been in the box five times. Cornell was not called for a single penalty until 1:52 into the third.

Less than a minute later, Nick Roberto finished off a beautifully set up power play. Matt Grzelcyk gave to Kevin Duane and Duane hit Roberto in tic-tac-toe form. Roberto one-timed home the pass for his fifth of the year, top shelf.

Captains Garrett Noonan and Patrick MacGregor raise the
new Kelley-Harkness cup after the game.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

It never seemed like BU was going to run away with this game. Their lack of offense and pressure left the door open for a Cornell comeback.

That comeback got started a little over a minute after the Roberto goal. Bruins draftee Brian Faerlin centered a pass that hit off Christian Hillbrich's skate in the crease. The puck banked in off the skate without a kicking motion and into the net for his third of the year.

Things got really interesting when Cole Bardreau put home his fourth of the year on a bang bang pass from John MacCarron. The pass hit Bardreau's stick and no sooner was the puck inside the far side of the net, past O'Connor. That made it 3-2 with 3:40 left.

O'Connor was clutch all night, but no more than he was in the final minutes.

BU again won Red Hot Hockey and are now 3-0-1 in the showcase.

Next weekend the Terriers will face Merrimack in a home and home.

Red Hot Hockey Round 4

Tonight the fourth installment of the semi annual Red Hot Hockey showdown between Boston University and Cornell at takes place at Madison Square Garden.

Opening face-off of Red Hot Hockey 2011.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU won the first match up 6-3 in November 2007. Two years later, BU battled back from an 0-2 hole and with two third period (one in the final minute) forced a 3-3 tie with Big Red. In the most recent meeting in 2011, Ross Gaudet tipped Max Nicastro's shot through his legs and into the net in overtime four a 2-1 win for BU.

Scouting the Big Red
Cornell jumped out of the gates to quick start, going 3-0-0 in their first three games that included a sweep at Nebraska-Omaha. Then, in their next four games, the Big Red picked up just a tie against RPI and lost to Qunnipiac (3-0), Union (3-0) and Clarkson (3-2). Their last three games went just as they started the season: perfect. Cornell downed St. Lawrence (5-2), Brown (5-1) and Yale (2-1).

Through 10 games played, four juniors are all within three points for the leading scorer race. John MaCarron leads the pack with 13 points, three goals and ten assists. Brian Ferlin and Joel Lowry are tied for the team lead in goals with six but Farlin has one more assist. Joakim Ryan has three goals and seven assist to round out the junior scoring domination. He is the loan defenseman of the group. 

Andy Iles will get the start in the Cornell goal. Iles, who was a sophomore the last time these two teams met, comes into this game with a 6-3-1 record in ten appearances. In 603 minutes played, the senior from Ithaca, New York posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average.

NCAA History
BU and Cornell have only met twice in the NCAA Tournament, both times were in the National Championship game. Cornell won the 1967 National Championship game by a score of 4-1. BU got even in 1972, as they dropped The Big Red 4-0 in the National Title Game.

Quick Hits
- Matt O'Connor will again start in net
- Several players missed practice this week with illness. It is unknown at this time who is out.

O'Connor Does It Again

Terriers, Sioux Skate to Thrilling Draw

Last night was an impressive performance for sophomore goalie Matt O'Connor. Tonight was record breaking. O'Connor stopped a career high 55 shots in a 3-3 tie with the University of North Dakota.

Time and time again, O'Connor was there to bail out the Terriers with clutch saves at key points in the game. His previous high water mark for saves in a game was 42.

Matt O'Connor makes one of his 55 saves. This one came in
the first period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Much like last night, there were a ton of penalties and BU took advantage their third power play, less than seven minutes into the game. BU was able to set up and Matt Lane and Ahti Oksanen got the puck to Garrett Noonan at the top of the slot. From there, he delayed before launching a well placed wrist shot top left on Zane Gothberg (24 saves) that found upper twine. It was Noonan's third of the year. 

Less than two minutes later, the Fighting Sioux evened the game. On a delayed penalty to Dillon Lawrence, UND's Bryn Chyzyk picked up the puck before BU could touch up in the high slot. From there, he spun around and in all one motion flung a wrist shot toward the goal. The puck got through a crowd and beat O'Connor to the far post for Chzyzk's second of the year from Keaton Thompson and Wade Murphy at 8:49.  

The teams went to the 'room knotted at 1-1.

Seven minutes into the second, BU regained the lead. Danny O'Regan fed Nick Roberto who was all alone in the low slot. Roberto wasted little time, as he one-timed home his 4th of year. His shot found its way over Gothberg's right shoulder. It was only BU's 6th shot on goal to that point.

The lead lasted all of 14 seconds, as Stephane Pattyn ripped home his second of the year from Michael Parks at 7:13.

At 4:56 of the third period, Jake Moscatel was called for a charging penally. It was a touch call, and man did the Sioux make Jake pay. Brendan O'Donnell and Connor Gaarder set up Adam Tambellini with a wide open net after a cross box pass. Tambellini didn't miss and UND took a 3-2.

BU would even the score about three minutes later as things really opened up. Robbie Baillargeon finished off a rush with Evan Rodrigues and Dalton MacAfee. Rodrigues slid the puck over to Baillargeon at the last possible second, leaving Gothberg well out of position. Robbie had most of the net to shoot at and he did not miss, as he slammed home his 4th of the year into the bottom of the net. 

The game saw no more scoring and after a pretty intense overtime, with both teams having some pretty good chances, the game ended in a 3-3 draw. 

BU will face Cornell in the semi annual Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.  

O'Connor Backstops BU Win

Cason Hohmann celebrates after scoring
on a two on one in the first period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Matt O'Connor played one of his more impressive nights in the Terrier net, making 37 saves in BU's 3-1 win over North Dakota. ND's lone goal scorer on the night, Rocco Grimaldi said "[O'Connor] was hot. Give credit to that guy a lot. He definitely stole the game there."

After a very even first ten minutes, BU got on the board at 9:14 of the first. Garrett Noonan from the far corner rung the puck along the boards to Matt Lane along the half wall at the hash-marks. Lane tomahawked the puck out of the BU zone to Cason Hohmann in the neutral zone. The chip sprung Hohamnn and Danny O'Regan on a two on one into the zone. ND's Nick Matson took the O'Reagn pass option out of play, so Hohmann opted to shoot himself. He beat Clark Saunders (34 saves) blocker side with a quick wrister. It was Hohmann's third of the year.

BU would double their lead on the first of two power play goals with 2:45 left in the first. Garrett Noonan got the puck at the low circle from Ahti Oksanen who was at the point. Noonan cut to the front of the net and shoveled the puck towards the goal. It pin-balled around the crease before Danny O'Regan was able to tuck it home. There was a bit of confusion because no one could see that the puck was in the goal. It was lodged between the post and the inner net padding, essentially hiding the puck from the crowd. After a quick review, it was pretty obvious that it was a goal.

North Dakota's Rocco Grimaldi
cut to the net in the first period.
Matt O'Connor made one of his
37 saves on this play.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Hohmann went down after a weird looking collision in the middle of the period. He got up holding his wrist and went right down the tunnel and never returned. Turns out, he has a pretty serious shoulder injury, something that looked to be a problem in the UConn game.

"He's going to be out for a while unfortunately," Quinn said. "I liked how we responded, but it's obviously tough when you lose your top right wing. He gets an important goal on an initial rush. He finally shoots the puck. We lost him, and we had to patchwork our lines. For us to respond the way we did, I was pleased". (From College Hockey News)

BU looked to have made it 3-0 minutes into the second frame. Mike Moran tipped home Doyle Somerby's point shot, but after a lengthy review, it was determined that Moran hit it down with a high stick. Moran certainly tried to sell the goal with an all out celebration.

BU would actually make it 3-0 on the power play five minutes into the third stanza. Nick Roberto fed Matt Grzelcyk at the point from the near half wall. Grzelcyk's long range wister found Saunder's left leg  pad. The rebound went right onto the tape of Kevin Duane's stick. Duane backhanded home his third of the year to give the Terriers some much needed insurance.

Grimaldi cut the lead to 3-1 with less than three minutes on a pro-like wrist shot. He took a pass from Mike Parks and from the middle of the circle broke up O'Connor's shutout bid. In one motion, Grimaldi corralled the pass and with no stick handling, let the shot go. It's a very high skilled play that only a few guys can pull off.

With the goalie pulled, ND created a few good chances, but in the end BU came away with a much needed two points.

The two teams will go at it again tomorrow night. Game time: 7:00pm.

Siouxper Series Take Two

There are few games I look forward to more than the ones played against North Dakota. When the schedule came out, of course I looked forward to games like BC and the Beanpot, but right behind that was this weekend's series. The Sioux are easily my second favorite team and I follow the team pretty close because I get most of their games on TV. Last year, I was unable to get out to Grand Forks and when I saw on the broadcast last November that UND was coming out here, I got pretty excited. Anyway, on to the game...

Photo by Matt Dresens

Scouting The Sioux
ND comes into this weekend with a 4-5-1 record. They started off the year hot, as NoDak went 3-1-1 in their first five games. In those five games, they came back to down Vermont 5-3 before losing the next night. The Sioux's most impressive win of the year comes at Miami, a 4-2 decision in Oxford, Ohio. After getting swept by St. Cloud at home, North Dakota split their next two series against Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota-Duluth.

Rocco Grimaldi, who scored the game winning goal in last year's World Junior Championship Game vs Sweden is the Fighting Sioux's leading scorer with 10 points. The Rossmoor, California native has three goals and 7 assists in 10 games played. Fellow sophomore Drake Caggiula is second with a 4-4-8 line in 10 games. The teams's best defenseman is easily Dillon Simpson. The senior has a goal and 5 assists through 10 games.

In goal, Bruins prospect Zane Gothberg and former Alabama Huntsville tendie Clarke Saunders have split time. Gothberg has a 2-5-1 record in 8 appearances with a .906 save percentage and a 2.86 goals against average. Saunders on the other hand has posted a 2-0-0 record in 5 appearances. He is the holder of a .907sv% and a 3.62 GAA in 199 minutes played.

Beat up
According to an article in today's  Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota could be down to just 11 forwards this weekend.

"Mark MacMillan, Brendan O’Donnell, Colten St. Clair and Derek Rodwell have all been ruled out for UND’s nonconference series at Boston University, leaving the team with 11 available forwards."

More from the article:

In order to get more depth up front, the team has moved junior defenseman Andrew Panzarella and freshman defenseman Gage Ausmus to wing this week. At least one of them will play there Friday night.
“(They’ve) played right wing and left wing all week in practice and done a great job,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said. “I would expect that (they will stay there this weekend). I wouldn’t guess that might be happening. I would expect that.” 

History
UND and BU have met in some pretty meaningful games over the years, none bigger than the 1997 NCAA National Championship Game. After leading 2-0, BU watched a high powered (then accurately named) Sioux squad comeback and claim their 6th title 6-4. In 1990, UND had to travel to Walter Brown Arena and face the Terriers in a best two out of three series in the first round of the NCAA tournament. BU swept the visiting Sioux in two games by scores of 5-3 and 5-0. BU went all the way to the frozen four that year, losing to Colgate 3-2 in the semis. The two met again in the regionals in 2005. North Dakota blanked BU 4-0 at the DCU Center in Worcester. That year, ND lost the National Championship game 4-1 to Denver.

ND has come to Agganis once before. That was in 2009 as part of the Icebreaker Invitational. BU made quick work of the Sioux in round one 5-1 and then beat Michigan State in the tournament championship game 2-1 the next night. Last year, BU and ND split a series at the Ralph with both teams picking up 4-2 wins.

Freshman Lead the Way Past UConn

Nick Roberto was the game's number
 one star.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Last night, BU got back on track and finally scored more than one goal for the first time since November 1^st. BU dominated most of the contest, but some of the play was still really sloppy.

After a scoreless first period, the Terriers got on the board less than thirty seconds into the second. It was kind of a broken play that allowed Danny O’Regan to pick up a loose puck in the far left circle. From there, he cut all the way to the near post and tucked the puck behind UConn goalie Matt Grogan. It was a pretty sweet goal for the sophomore, his 4^th of the year.

Five minutes later, Nick Roberto doubled the Terriers’ lead. He took a pass from Robbie Baillargoen in the neutral zone and skated all the way into the low circle in the UConn zone. From almost where the hash mark touches the boards, Roberto whipped a wrist shot off the far post that banked into the goal. It was a very precise shot, good for Roberto’s third of the year.

With a little over five minutes to play in the frame, BU tacked on a power play goal. Evan Rodrigues set up Matt Grzelcyk for a one-timer at the top of the circle. Grzelcyk did not get all of it and the knuckling shot deflected off of Kevin Duane in front of the net. The deflection did enough to elude Grogan, and the puck bounced into the net. It was Duane’s second goal of the year.

UCconn notched their lone goal of the contest at 3:52 of the third period. Co-Captain of the Huskies Brent Harris found twine with a top shelf wrist shot over Matt O’Connor’s (20 saves) right shoulder.

Baillargeon tacked on the obligatory empty net goal with 47 seconds left to seal BU’s first win in four games.

BU will host North Dakota in a two game series next weekend. 

UConn Preview

This afternoon, BU and UConn will face off in the first ever matchup between the two schools. Next year, the Huskies will be a member of Hockey East.

Scouting the Huskies
UConn is 3-3-1 on the year and all three wins came in a three game win streak over Army (4-2) Sacred Heart (4-2) and Holy Cross (4-3). They were swept by Minnesota State at the start of the year and lost to Bentley on Friday night. The lone tie is against Union.

Seniors Billy Latta and Jordan Sims lead the teams in scoring with 6 points each. Latta has a team leading 4 goals with 2 assists in 6 games played. Sims on the other hand has posted a 2-4-6 line in 7 games. Junior Trevor Gerling has 5 points on the year (2g, 3a).

In net, senior Matt Grogan has seen the majority of time. In 6 games played, he has a 2-3-1 record with a .916 save percentage and a 2.98 goals against average. He has allowed 18 goals on 214 shots in 363 minutes played.

Recapping Maine

Friday night, BU was steamrolled 7-0 in their worst loss since... February 17th, 1995. That was an 8-1 trouncing by Providence, but that was their only loss in a 16 game stretch on the way to the National Championship. Before that, the program's worst defeat was in the 1994 National Championship game, when they fell 9-1 to Lake State.

I have little motivation to write about the shellacking so, here are a few pictures my friend and I took at the game that will visually show how bad it was...

All photos by Matt Dresens and Robert Treiber

HighwayTo Maine

Finally, I get the chance to go up to Orono. Tomorrow night will be my first trip to Alfond Arena,  completing all (at least the pre Notre Dame era) Hockey East rinks. Matthews was my first away game way back before I could even tell you the year and finally I get to say I've been to all of the HE arenas after Friday night.

From The Vault
Former Maine goalie Scott Darling makes a glove save
on BU's Wade Megan in the 2010 season. BU went on to win 
this game 7-4.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

- I believe Sean Maguire will be in net.

Scouting Maine
The Black Bears are .500 on the year, with a 4-4-1 record. Maine swept UMass in the last weekend of October and split with Vermont last weekend. UM has been swept twice, once by St. Lawrence in the opening weekend of the year and again by Lowell in early November.

Mark Anthoine leads the Black Bears in goals with five goals in nine games played. Add his two assists and he is tied for the team lead in total points at seven with freshman Cam Brown (1g, 6a). The other freshman who has racked up the points early on this year is Blaine Byron. Byron, a native of Ottawa, Ontario has notched three assists and three goals for six points in nine games. Other players to look-out for are the Swavely brothers, Jon and Steven, along with Devin Shore.

In goal, Maine has only played one goalie: Martin Ouellette. The senior from St. Hippolyte, Quebec  has a 4-4-1 record in nine appearances with a .921 save percentage and  2.31 goals against average. He has one shutout and has allowed 21 goals on 267 shots in 545 minutes played. 

The Last Time The Met...

February 16, 2013... BU 5, Maine 4 (to). Evan Rodrigues scored with 3 seconds left in overtime on a centering feed from Matt Nieto to put the Terrier past Maine in Orono. 

Gaudreau, BC Torch BU

For the first time all year, BU gave up more than three goals in a game and they picked a bad night to do it. Besides the first 5/10 minutes, BC dominated last night's game and cruised to a 5-1 smoking of the Terriers at Agganis.

BC got on the board halfway through the first and never looked back. John Gaudreau and Danny Linell help set up Austin Cangelosi right in front. After a few quick stick handle moves, Cangelosi tucked the puck between Matt O'Connor's (35 saves) legs for his third goal of the year.

Less than five minutes later, Gaudreau struck himself. BU was caught with the fourth line on the ice against BC's most explosive line of Gaudreau, Bill Arnold and Congelosi. Arnold and Linell setup Gaudreau right in the slot and he didn't miss, picking top right on O'Connor for his 7th tally of the year.

The score would remain 2-0 after one.

BU came out with some jump in the second, cutting the lead in half just two minutes into the frame on the power play. Nick Roberto got the last touch on a strange deflection play. Robbie Baillargeon's shot came in from the top off the circle, hit off a BC defender in front, before hitting Roberto and going up over Thatcher Demko's (22 saves) shoulder and into the net. Evan Rodrigues also picked up an assist on Roberto's second of the year.

BC took over after their third goal. That goal was a result of one of the most skilled hockey plays I've ever seen.  Gaudreau walked right down broadway and stick-handled between two or three guys. He then took the puck behind the net, before dumping off a behind the back no-look pass right on the tape of Bill Arnold at the post. Arnold slammed home his second of the season and essentially ended the game. The play by Gaudreau completely fooled O'Connor and he had no clue where the puck was and no one picked up Arnold.

BC added two third period goals. Kevin Hayes at 7:35 and Destry Straight at 8:27 only added salt to an already painful wound.

BU will look to get back on track next weekend in Maine on Friday night, before welcoming UConn to the Greek for the first time on Sunday.

A Key Point

BU faces BC tonight and if you didn't know that already, then what are you doing here? Anyway, the lone game this weekend could be a critical point in the year.

BC's Stevan Whitney attempts to hit the puck in with his
hand vs BU in lat year's Hockey East Semi Finals. The puck
never actually went in on this play and BU won 6-3.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

These types of games have a way of shaping a season. Take 2012 for example. BU was a middle of the road team before steam-rolling BC 5-0 in mid-November. After that game the team reeled off an impressive 7-1-0 streak to close out the first semester.

This year, BU has a chance to do something similar. After BC, the schedule softens up for a weekend before North Dakota comes to town for a pair of games the following weekend.

A win Friday night should act as a spring-board for the 2014 Terriers. They are a team that has proven they can hang (at least scoreboard wise) with the best teams in the nation. The Michigan game proves that. They also have shown the ability to struggle with lesser teams, i.e Michigan State.

BU is a classic case of a young team looking for an identity. Eight games through the year with a 4-4-0 record, a win over Boston College would go a hell of a long way in proving this team can compete with top level teams.

They beat #3 Providence in the first come-from-behind win of the year, last Friday night. Is PC really a top tier team?

Who knows, but from what I saw on Saturday night, BU hung right with them and that game was very evenly matched.

So, say PC is a top five team this year... Does that make BU a contender? Again, who knows, but this weekend will be a key point in proving that question, win or lose.

Scouting Boston College
BC is 4-2-1 on the year and have notable wins over RPI (7-2) and Wisconsin (9-2) and a tie against number one Minnesota. They have lost to Michigan (3-1) and Minnesota (6-1).

The Eagles are led offensively by standout junior Johnny Gaudreau. In 7 games played, Gaudreau has 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points. Kevin Hayes is second with a 3-6-9 line in seven games, and Bill Arnold is one point behind him with 8.

In goal, both junior Brian Billett and  freshman Thatcher Demko have split time in the cage this year. Billett is 2-2-0 in four starts with a 3.63 goals against average and a .887 save percentage. Demko is 2-0-1 in three starts, posting a 2.27 goals against and a .920 save percentage.

The Last Time They Met...
March 22, 2013... BU 6, BC 3 in the Hockey East Semis.

Another Blown Lead

Providence Battles Back To Top Terriers

From the drop of the puck this game was incurably even. Scoring chances, penalties and shots where all very close and with out the empty net goal, so was the actual score.

After a scoreless first period that saw both teams hit multiple pipes, BU got on the board at the 15:08 marker of the second on the power play. Nick Roberto and Danny O'Regan set up Ahti Oksenen for a one-timer that the Finn ripped past Providence goalie John Gillies glove side high. It was Oksanen's second goal of the year.

The lead did not last long, as Sam Kurker and Mike Moran found themselves in the box for tripping and crosschecking respectively. Six seconds after the Moran penalty, Derek Army slammed home a rebound goal to Sean Maguire's (33 saves) right side. It was Army's second of the year from Anthony Florentino and Ross Mauermann at 18:03, a 5 on 3 power play goal.

3:28 into the third, Mauermann found the back of the net on his own. He tucked a back hander though Maguire's legs to give the Friars a lead they would never relinquish. From where I was (right behind the net) it was a petty soft goal and a tough one to give up at that point in the game.

Gillies stood tall the rest off the way, making a cupel key saves to preserve the lead. Mauermann iced the game with an empty net goal with just 46 seconds left.

BU will face Boston College in their lone game next weekend at home. Thankfully that game is at home... BU has yet to win in the scarlet sweaters this year.

How Did I Miss This?

Usually I wont write a recap if I don't go to the game, so here are a few video highlights from last night's comeback win over Providence.



I unfortunately had to cover my high school's football playoff game in Easton instead of going to Agganis. They lost 49-14...

I will be down in Providence tonight.

Get Friared Up

If last week was a test for the Terriers, than this weekend is going to an all out war. BU will face the third ranked Providence Friars in a home in home. Tomorrow night BU will serve as the host and PC will do the same on Saturday.

From The Vault
Former Terrier Wade Megan fights through a check during a
game at PC's newly renovated Schneider Rink back in
February of 2011.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

I unfortunately wont be able to make Friday's because I am covering the Medfield High Football game at Oliver Ames at the same time. I will be down at PC on Saturday.

Scouting the Friars
Ross Mauermann leads the Friars in scouring though five games played this year. The Janesville, Wisconsin native has four goals and four assists. Tied with him for the goal scoring lead is sophomore Mark Jankowski, who has 4 goals and an assists for five points in as many games.  Nick Saracino is another player to look out for. He has yet to score a goal, but does have four assists.

In goal, PC has one of the best. Jon Gillies, who was a member of  the 2012 USA WJC team has a 3-0-1 record. In four games the South Portland, Maine native has made 133 saves on 140 shots, good for a .950 save percentage and a 1.71 GAA. 

The Last Time They Met...

January 25/26... BU 3, PC 2... BU 3, PC 3

Tuesday Take--- Week 4

Player of the week: Matt O'Connor

 Well, that could have gone better.

Overall the Michigan trip will be remembered as the weekend we couldn't hold a lead. A while back, BU had a record when leading after two periods of something ridiculous like 55-0-1. That was back in 2008-10/11, maybe, I'm not really sure; all I know is it was an impressive stretch.

This weekend was the exact opposite of that streak. Carrying a 1-0 lead deep into the third period should get you at least one point. Well, in both games BU had that 1-0 lead in that situation and came away with a pair of frustrating defeats.

It's not to say they should have won these games, though. If not for the play of both Sean Maguire and Matt O'Connor, this weekend would have been a complete debacle. BU was thoroughly out-played in both games, as both State and Michigan dominated the time of possession, shots on goals and especially scoring chances.

At points in both games BU looked flat and rather un-aggressive. It was only towards the very end of both games when the team was trying to tie the game did they really crank up the offense. It was frustrating to see them not score more goals, but 44 shots in two games isn't going to get the job done. 

Next week not only doesn't get easier, it gets a lot tougher and a lot more important. A home and home with Providence, who is up to number three in the USCHO rankings, and the first weekend of Hockey East play will truly test the young Terriers. 

At The Polls

BU fell to 18th in the USCHO Poll after the tough weekend in Michigan. Minnesota was the unanimous number one, taking all 50 first place votes. Notre Dame remained at number two. Providence (as mentioned before) is third, moving all the way up from 8th. Michigan stayed at four, and North Dakota moved up one slot from six to round out the top five.

Around Hockey East

Friday: Providence got past Miami 3-2 in overtime at home... Northeastern doubled up St. Lawrence 6-3 in Canton, New York... Lowell upended Michigan State 4-1 at Munn Arena... Maine one upped UMass at Alfond 3-2 in overtime... Boston College and Minnesota skated to a 3-3 draw in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes... Notre Dame beat Minnesota Duluth 3-2 in Duluth... BU fell to Michigan 2-1 at Yost.

Saturday: Vermont slugged Penn State 5-2 in Philadelphia... Merrimack topped Army 4-2 at Lawler Arena... Miami and Providence tied 4-4... New Hampshire was downed by RPI in Troy... St. Lawrence handed Northeastern their first loss 6-4... Lowell snuck past Michigan 2-1 at Yost... Maine steamrolled UMass 8-4 at home... Minnesota Duluth won 4-1 over Notre Dame... Michigan State came back to beat BU 3-1 at home.

Sunday: BC was torched 6-1 at Minnesota.  

A Few Photos From Last Night

Same Story, Different Night

For the second night in a row BU carried a 1-0 lead deep into the third period, but were unable to hang-on, as Michigan State scored three goals in the last five minutes to top the Terrier 3-1.

Cason Hohmann and Matt Lane work a two on one in the
second period. Earlier in the game Hohmann set up Lane
for the Terriers' lone goal, here he was stopped.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Again, BU was outplayed for the majority of the first period and had to kill several penalties. Goalie Sean Maguire turned aside 11 shots in period one and BU only managed five, but one did go in.

Cason Hohmann took a long pass from Doyle Somerby along the MSU bench at the far side of the ice. Just inside the blue line Hohmann dumped off a pass to Matt Lane and from the mid slot he beat MSU goalie Jake Hildebrand low blocker side. It was Lane's second goal of the year and Somerby's first collegiate point.

BU seemed to cary the play in the second frame, but just could not get another goal, allowing Michigan State to hang around.

With 4:56 left, Michigan State final solved Maguire, who played a very strong game. Brent Darnell threw the puck at the net from the low circle. The puck puck hit BU defenseman Garrett Noonan's skate, changed directions, and slipped through the legs of Maguire into the back of the net. It was Darnell's first of the year from Brock Krygier and Jake Chelios at 15:04.

Less than a minute later, Joe Cox banged home a rebound goal at the side of the goal. Dean and Jake Chelios picked the assists. This put State up 2-1 with little over four minutes to play.

BU had a number of good looks with Maguire pulled. One that particularly stands out was a sprawling glove save by Hildebrand off a Noonan shot. Of course that all took place before Greg Wolfe notched the obligatory empty net goal with four seconds left.

BU was outplayed pretty much the whole nigh and really didn't deserve to win this game, but its not like they didn't have chances to put it away. Overall it was a really frustrating weekend. The team posted just 46 shots in two games. To put that in perspective, Michigan had 44 shots alone Friday night.

The schedule doesn't get any easier next week, as BU will play up-start Providence in a home and home series.

Road Trip within a Road Trip

Tonight BU will trek 70miles west to East Lancing from Ann Arbor and take on the win-less Michigan State Spartans. 

- Sparty has only played Mass State schools this year and have not picked up a single point. They were swept by UMass in Amherst and lost last night at home to Lowell. 

- BU has (for whatever reason) seemed to play better on Saturday nights rather than Friday's, this year. A more aggressive attack early will go a long way in continuing that trend. Last night, BU was outshot 44-19.

- Sean Maguire will be in net for the Terriers.

Scouting the Spartans

MSU is lead offensively by defenseman Rhett Holland, who through 3 games has 3 assists for 3 points. Senior forward Greg Wolfe is the team leader in goals scored with 2. Last year's two leading scorers, Matt Berry (15-16-31) and Tanner Sorenson (13-8-21) have yet to play a game this year.

In goal Jake Hildebrand and Will Yanakeff have split the goaltending duties through three games. Hildebrand has a 3.00 Goals Against, with a 9.10 Save Percentage in 120 minutes played. He has made 61 saves and allowed 6 goals. Yanakeff on the other-hand, has allowed 5 goals on 28 shots for a 5.00 GAA and .848 SV% in 60 minutes. 

History

The 1990 NCAA tournament, which at the time was best of three formate, saw the 8 seeded Terriers travel to Munn Arena and face the #1 Michigan State. MSU won Game1 6-3, only to see BU storm back and win the next two games, both by a score of 5-3. BU would lose in the first round of the Frozen Four 3-2 against Colgate, who lost the National Championship game 7-3 to Wisconsin. In 2007, Michigan State beat BU 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA Regionals in Grand Rapids. MSU went on to win the National Championship that year, beating BC 3-1 in the Title Game.  

The Last Time They Met

October 16th, 2008... Agganis Arena. It was the championship game of the Icebreaker Invitational and BU came away with a 2-1 win. 

Photos From Last Night

Lack of Offense Leaves Michigan Ahead in the End

For 45minutes, one goal and Matt O'Connor was enough for BU to to cling to the lead vs Michigan at Yost Arena. Then everything changed.

Alex Guptill scores on a penalty shot midway through the
third period to give Michigan the lead
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Garrett Noonan was called for an iffy tripping penalty with around 15 minutes to play. Noonan went down in the aircraft carrier position (as Jack Edwards would call it) to block a centering pass. He got the puck, but then took out the Michigan player. It was certainly a tough call for the play and Michigan finally was able to cash in on the power play to tie the game. Mac Bennett set up Tyler Motte who had the entire goal to shoot at. He one-timed the pass into the net for his fourth of the year.

Michigan took the lead on a penalty shot less than two minutes later. Mike Moran was called for hooking on Alex Guptill after he broke into the zone in the clear. From where I was, it looked like all Moran did was lift Gupuill's stick, but I did not get a clear look at the replay. Nevertheless, Guptill beat O'Connor five hole on the penalty shot to give the Wolverines the lead.

BU was out played the entire night and were extremely fortunate to ever have the lead, something they got late in the first period. Noonan made a heads up pinch deep into the Michigan zone. From down in the near corner, Noonan found Robbie Baillargeon in the mid-circle. From there the freshman, who played by far his best game of the year tonight, snuck one past Zach Nagelvoort high blocker side. The goal came at 18:25.

BU managed just 12 shots the first two periods and it was not until the final minutes, when they were really pushing to tie the game did the offense actually post some scoring chances. In all, BU had 19 shots on goal. Michigan had 44.

O'Connor played out of his skull tonight. If not for him, this game could have been 12-1. Michigan even had a goal taken away in the third before the real goals were scored. A big scrum lead to the puck crossing the line, but it went over the line off a Michigan hand not a stick and thus it was not a goal.

Tomorrow night, BU will head down the road to East Lancing and take on Michigan State, who lost to Lowell 4-1 tonight.

BU Bucks Wisconsin

Tough weekend to be a Badger hockey fan, eh? After giving up nine goals the night before at Boston College, Wisconsin lost 7-3 at BU.

Ahti Oksanen gave BU the lead on the power play 8:28 into the game. Garrett Noonan got him the puck at the left and from there the Finnish born defenseman ripped a slapper past Wisconsin goalie Landon Peterson, high blocker side.

Ten minutes later, Jake McCabe tied the game on the man advantage. Nic Kerdiles and Mark Zengerle set up McCabe at the the middle point, where he shoveled a shot on goal. It was a seeing eye shot that made its way through traffic and behind Matt O'Connor. It was McCabe's second goal of the year.

Play was pretty even though the middle of the second period before a scoring free-for-all started around halfway through the frame.

Garrett Noonan drilled a one-timer, set up by Oksanen, past Peterson at the 10:28 marker and 18 seconds later Robbie Baillargeon notched his first as a Terrier to make it 3-1 BU. The Baillargeon goal came off a tip from a low Matt Grzeclyk shot.

23 seconds after Baillageon's goal, Keegan Meuer and Eddie Wittchow came down on an odd man rush and banged one past O'Connor to make it 3-2. O'Connor looked to have made the initial save sprawled out with his glove, but had the puck hit in by Meuer for his first of the year.

BU regained the two goal lead on a power play late in the second. Nic Kerdiles picked up five and a game after he destroyed Tommy Kelley from behind away from the play. BU did not look sharp at the beginning of the marathon power play, but managed to pull it together. Matt Grzelcyk scored the eventual game winner from the top of the circle. It was Grzelcyk's first of the year from Baillargeon and Danny O'Regan at 18:28, a power play goal.

3:22 into the third, Mike Moran potted his first of the year on an odd man rush. Moran was on the far side and instead of sliding it over to a teammate who was covered in the slot, Moran got off a shot that trickled through Peterson's legs, over the goal line, and into the bottom of the goal. That made it 5-2 BU and essentially put the game out of reach.

A little over six minutes later, Michael Mersch cashed in on the power play to make it 5-3.

Less than a minute later, Matt Lane shut down any hope of a Wisco comeback as he scored on spin-around shot in the lower left circle. The shot beat Peterson low glove side for Lane's first of the year. Baillargeon and Cason Hohmann picked up the assists.

Just over three minutes later, Hohmann picked up a goal of his own to round out the scoring. It was his second from Noonan and Evan Rodrigues at 13:11.

BU will head off to Michigan next weekend to face the Wolverines and Michigan State on back to back nights.

BU Battles Bucky Badger

Tonight, BU will face number 2 Wisconsin at home. Last night, the Badgers were not just blown out, but they were massacred 9-2 a couple stops up the green line at BC. The Badgers came into this weekend with a perfect record, after sweeping Northern Michigan on opening weekend.

From The Vault
BU and Wisconsin kick off the 2011 season at the Icebreaker
Tournament in St. Louis
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Scouting the Badgers
Sophomore Nic Kerdiles and senior Michael Mersch both have a 2-2-4 line through three games played  and lead the team in scoring. Mersch and Kerdiles were one/two in scoring last year, too. Mersch had 23 goals, 13 assists for 36 points in 42 games. Kerdiles, as a freshman, posted 11 goals, 22 assists to make 33 points in just 32 games. Junior Jake McCabe is easily the team's best defenseman and last year he racked up 21 points on three goals and 18 assists. McCabe was a member of the 2012 USA WJC Team that won Gold in Ufa, Russia last winter.    

In goal, Joel Rumpel and Landon Peterson have both seen time this year. Both split time last year with Rumple getting the majority of the starts. Rumple had a .929 save percentage, a 1.96 goals against and a 16-9-4 record. This year he has a .952sv% with a 1.00 GAA.

The Last Time They Met...
October 8th, 2010 in the first round of the Icebreaker Innovational held that year in St. Louis. BU (luckily) won the game 4-3. Wisco actually scored a goal late in the third period to tie the game, but the replay system was broken and the play was never reviewed. A shot beat Keiran Millan and hit the inside cross bar and it was not until I got home and watched the highlights did I fully realize it was a goal. Some times its better to be lucky than good.

History 
BU and Wisconsin have met three times in the NCAA tournament, with BU winning all three tilts. First was the in 1972 National Semi Finals. BU won 4-1 leading to their second National Championship in as many years. Skip ahead to 1978 and again the two teams met in the first round of the Frozen Four. Again, BU won on its way to a National Championship, this time 5-2. The most recent meeting was in the '94 regional in Albany, NY. BU won 4-1, but history did not repeat itself, as the Terriers lost the National Title Game 9-1 to Lake State.

RPI Engineers a 3-1 Win Over BU

Matt Lane makes a rush up ice in
the third period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

It was a slow start that killed the Terriers and from the get go, it looked like RPI had more jump.

Just 3:25 into the game, Matt Tinordi picked up a loose rebound in the crease off a Brock Higgs shot and beat Sean Maguire right through the legs.

Before BU could even get another shot on goal, T.J. Ryan took an interference penalty at his own blue line, committing the game's first infraction. Over all, it was a really stupid penalty and not one that needed to be taken. Man did BU pay for it. It couldn't have been more than ten seconds into the power play when Ryan Haggerty one-timed Jacob Laliberte's from the left point into the bottom of goal. It was Haggerty's first of two on the night and less than five minutes into the game, RPI had a 2-0 lead.

BU looked like they had cut the lead in half in the closing minutes of the first. Cason Hohmann took a shot from the right side that bounced up over RPI goalie Sean Diebold's shoulder and seemed to cross the goal line. The play was reviewed for about ten seconds and was determined to be no goal. From where I was, it sure looked like the puck crossed the line. If that goal had counted, it would have made for a completely different game.

BU seemed to control play in the second frame, as they outshot the Engineers 16-8. After a few good looks on the power power play that resulted in more frustration, the Terriers finally got on the board with exactly one minute left in period two.

Ahti Oksanen sprang Kevin Duane in on a break-a-way. Duane was all alone from the RPI blue line and in. The freshman beat Diebold high glove side for his first collegiate goal, cutting the RPI lead in half.

It took just 1:48 of actual game time for RPI to get the goal back. 48 seconds into the third period, Haggerty (again, assisted from Laliberte) scored off the faceoff from the point to regain the two goal lead.

RPI would hold that two goal lead all the way until the final buzzer. BU had a few decent chances with Maguire pulled late but it was not nearly enough.

Tonight BU is back at it, as they host #2Wisconsin.

RPI Preview

Tonight, BU will take on RPI at Agganis as the increased non conference schedule rolls on. Last weekend, the Engineers played a pair of road games. Saturday night, they blanked Sacred Heart 6-0 at Milford Ice Pavilion and Sunday they were blown out at BC, 7-2.

After losing to BC, the bad news continued for RPI, as word got out that starting goalie Jason Kasdorf is out for a number of weeks with an injury. Kasdorf was a USCHO preseason top 10 goalie.

Scouting the Engineers
Two games into the year, RPI is lead in scoring by sophomores Mike Zalewski and Milos Bubela, along with senior Matt Tinordi, who all have a goal and two assists. Rensselaer returns a trio of juniors who were all in the top five in scoring on the team last year. Matt Neal had 30 points (8g, 22a) in 34 games, while Jacob Laliberte  posted an 11-17-28 line and Ryan Haggerty notched 12 goals, 14 assists for 26 points in 36 games played.

The absence of Kasdorf will leave junior Scott Diebold in net. Diebold made 7 saves in 17 minutes against BC last weekend and a year ago he had a 2-4-1 record with 3.22 goals against average, an .873 save percentage in 354 minutes.

Switching It Up
Tommy Kelley will be on the top line with Evan Rodrigues and Danny O'Regan, while Robbie Baillargeon will move down to the second line with Matt Lane and Cason Hohmann.

It is still unknown who is in goal, but I have a have a feeling it will be Maguire, based on the rotation.

Quick Hits From The Weekend

I'd love to go into an in-depth look at this past weekend, but unfortunately I was not at Saturday's game vs. Holy Cross, so I can't really add much there. Anyway here are a few quick thoughts.

Both Ahti Oksanen and Sean Maguire were named "stars of
 the game" on Friday.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

Ahti way Kid
Sophomore Ahti Oksanen was a major standout out on Friday night. The Finnish born defenseman had a hand in all three goals Friday and added another assist Saturday. It's not the points, though, that really stood out. It was his confidence with the puck and where to go with it. Both of these looked to be missing last year. I wouldn't underestimate the fact that he moved from Finland and had to completely change his entire life. A little time to learn the "American way" in both life and hockey seems to be paying dividends for Oksanen.

Getting Their First
Three Terriers found the point column for the first time in their collegiate careers this weekend. Tommy Kelley and Nick Roberto both scored goals and Kevin Duane added an assist. Both Kelley and Roberto scored in the exhibition game vs. St. Francis last weekend, but of course those don't actually count as real goals. Duane registered an assist on Roberto's goal.

Staying Consistent
The 1st, 2nd ,4th, and 8th leading scorers from last year are picking up where they left off. Danny O'Regan, Cason Hohmann, Evan Rodrigues, and Garrett Noonan all had goals this weekend. The key to this year will be upper-classmen leadership and scoring and so far (yes, it's only been one weekend) they are getting it.

At the Poles
USCHO: Miami was this week's new number one after former number one Lowell lost to Sacred Heart on opening night. Wisconsin (who will be at Agganis on Saturday night) jumped up one place from third to second. Minnesota moved up two slots to three from five. Notre Dame leap-frogged from 8th to 4th and Michigan slid all the way up to 5th from 11th to round out the top five. Lowell is now 9th. BU moved up 4 slots from 19 to 15.

Around Hockey East
Thursday: Boston College lost at Michigan 3-1.

Friday: New Hampshire rolled past Clarkson in the opening round of the Icebreaker Invitational 4-1 in Minnesota... Northeastern pummeled Alabama Hunstville 9-1 at Matthews... Providence torched Minnesota Mankato 5-1 at home... Maine fell at St. Lawrence 3-1... Sacred Heart upset #1Lowell 2-1 at Tsongas Center... Notre Dame blanked Western Michigan 4-0 at Family Arena... Vermont allowed North Dakota to come back and win 5-3 at the Ralph... Merrimack was shutout 1-0 at Denver... BU got by UMass 3-1 at home.

Saturday: Northeastern finished the sweep of UAH at home with a 3-2 win... Providence completed the sweep of Mankato State after a 3-0 victory... Maine was swept by St. Lawrence after a 5-2 loss... Lowell cruised past UMass at home... Notre Dame again blanked Western, this time on the road 3-0... New Hampshire lost the Icebreaker Invitational Championship game at Minnesota 3-2... Vermont and North Dakota skated to a 2-2 tie... Denver again shutout Merrimack, this time 4-0... BU upended Holy Cross 3-2 at Agganis.

Sunday: Boston College steam-rolled Rensselaer 7-2 at Conte.

Second Period Breakout Puts BU Past UMass

For the first time in 41 years, someone other than Jack Parker was credited with a coaching victory for Boston University. Tonight, David Quinn became that "someone" as BU topped UMass 3-1 at Agganis.

Evan Rodrigues scores BU's third goal of the second period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The first period was scoreless, but that doesn't mean there were not chances. BU had a five minute power play that was soon wiped out by a Sam Kurker penalty. UMass had some solid chances as well on the man advantage, but Sean Maguire was up to the task.

It didn't take long into the second for the Terriers to find the back of the net. Ahti Oksanen and Evan Rodrigues helped set up Garrett Noonan from the high slot. From there the Captain took two steps and fired a low wrister that found it's way through traffic and inside the left post past Steve Mastalerz. This marks the second straight year a defenseman has scored the first goal of the year. Ryan Ruikka did it last year vs Providence.

A little over five minutes later, BU doubled their lead off a perfectly set up power play. Oksanen found Cason Hohmann in the far low circle. Hohmann from there made a quick pass through the UMass box to Tommy Kelley right in the middle of the slot. Kelley wasted little time getting the shot off, beating Mastalerz top shelf for his first collegiate goal.

Two and half minutes later, Evan Rodrigues pulled off a highlight real move to essentially put the game away. He carried the puck through center ice before getting to the top of the right faceoff circle. At the point, he undressed UMass's Ben Gallacher with a sweet toe-drag move. In the same motion, he ripped a shot off that picked top left on Mastalerz. The goal was very similar to the one he scored against BC in the Hockey Semi's last spring.

UMass out-played BU for large portions of the third period, specifically after they killed off a lengthy 5 on 3 early in the frame. Sean Maguire really came up big a some crucial situations, making some key saves.

The Minutemen finally broke up Maguire's shutout bid with 9:36 to play. Freshman Setven Iacobellis scored on a low shot after a power play set up by Adam Phillips and Colin Shea. It was his first collegiate goal.

BU nearly scored on the empty net twice and had to kill off two late penalties to preserve the W, but all in all, it was a good start to the season. Tonight, BU will take on Holy Cross at Agganis. I wont be there, as I will be down the Green Line a few stops at Fenway to catch the Red Sox playoff game.

UMass Preview

Tonight. It's Here. The season opener and the start of the David Quinn era.

BU will play host to UMass starting at 7:30 at Agganis Arena. It is still unknown who will be in net for BU tonight, but I have a feeling it will be Sean Maguire, simply because he was the starter in the exhibition game.

From The Vault
Matt Lane drives around the net in last February's match-up
at the Mullins Center.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

BU has just five seniors and two juniors on the roster, easily one of the youngest team in recent memory and if not program history. UMass on the other hand has nine seniors and five juniors.

Scouting UMass
The Minutemen return their top three scorers from last year. Senior Branden Garcel had team high 14 goals, 20 assists and 34 points a year ago. Connor Sheary posted 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in 34 games played. Mike Pereira finished one point behind Sheary with a 13-13-26 line.

In goal we will most likely see Steve Mastalerz, a junior from North Andover. Last year in 15 appearances he racked up a 4-8-1 record with a 2.96 goals against average and an .898 save percentage.  

The Last Time They Met
February 1st, 2013... UMass 5, BU 1... Mullins Center... Ben Rosen scored the lone BU goal.

My Take Monday

Saturday was the first look we all got at the new look Terriers, as they defeated St. Francis Xavier 2-1 in an exhibition game. BU picked up goals from two freshman, Nick Roberto and Tommy Kelley, and was back-stopped by a strong goaltender performance by Sean Maguire, Anthony Moccia and Matt O'Connor.

Yes, it's nice to win these game, but there were still a lot of things that could have gone better. BU had three 5 on 3 power plays and failed to score on any of them. The power play as a whole went one for nine and really did not look good. It seemed at times the team was trying to make too many passes. I'm all for a good set up with a tic-tac-toe slam in goal, but after it doesn't work the first five times, change it.Take a few more shots and try and bang in a rebound goal (it seemed to work for Roberto, just saying).

In addition I thought there were a few opportunities for one-timers. I think it was Grzeclyk in the second period with the one instance I have in mind. If he hadn't set up for a wrister and instead took a one-timer, I think it would have gone in, or at least created a better scoring chance.  

Clearly the power play needs some work, but we all do need to remember there are nine freshmen on the team and a new coach. Things are going to take time to mesh.

Around Hockey East
Saturday: Lowell and McGill tied 3-3 at Tsongas Center... New Hampshire skated past Acadia 6-3 at home.. Northeastern blanked Dalhousie 5-0 at Matthew's... Vermont shut out Ottawa 7-0... BU got by St. Francis Xavier 2-1.

Sunday: Boston College torched St. Francis 8-2 at Conte... Vermont rolled past Ottawa 4-1 in Burlington... Maine topped Dalhousie 5-1 at Alfond... Merrimack and McGill tied 1-1 at Lawler Rink.. Notre Dame beat Guelph 5-2 at Family Arena.

Roberto, Kelley Put BU Past X-Men

Wow, what a strange game. How many times do you see two teams combined have 16 power plays yet, there are only three goals scored in the entire game. BU had three 5 on 3 power plays and capitalized on none of them. They did have a few good looks and St. Francis goalie Drew Owsley made a few decent saves, but other than that it was typical "October hockey" on the pp for both teams.

Anthony Moccia saw action in
for the first time in his BU career
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

BU went 1 for 9 on the man advantage, while the X-Men struggled their way to 1 for 7 on the power play.

Some of the calls (both ways) were ridiculously soft and some were just the flat out wrong call.

Oh, and then there was the Jake Moscatel incident. After completely upending an X-Men skater near the blue line, Moscatel got into it with StFX's Zack MacQueen. It escalated to the point where Jake took his helmet off (something your not even allowed to do in the NHL anymore) and dropped the gloves. MacQueen (who is allowed to wear a half shield) looked very confused at the whole situation and the refs stepped in before any real punches were thrown. Had this been a "real" game, Jake would have been tossed on the spot. Instead, tonight he got two minutes for roughing which canceled with MacQueen's roughing call, and only had to serve a two minute instigator call. 

I didn't even know there was an instigator penalty in college and really, what did he instigate if there was no fight?

Anyway, BU got on the board long before Moscatel goon-squaded the game. Freshman Nick Roberto pick up some loose change in front of the net on the power play and was able to beat a sprawling Owsley with a quick roof shot. Fellow freshman Robbie Baillargeon and Danny O'Reagn picked up the assists at 15:27 of the first period.

St. Francis was quick to respond, as Rob Slaney beat Sean Maguire to the right side on a rebound. It was a power play goal at 17:02.

The second period was chalk full of penalties and at points, it was hard to remember what five on five hockey looked like. The one bright spot out of that period was third string goalie Anthony Moccia. Moccia stopped all seven shots he faced in the first action in his BU career. 

The game looked like it was destined for overtime and a tie and how could you not think so. No team could score on their plentiful power play chances. 

It took a a really flukey goal, but nevertheless BU took the lead at 17:07 of the third period. Matt Grzeclyk dished the puck to the top of the zone, where Tommy Kelley took a spin around slapper. The puck was on edge and seemed to knuckle past Owsley and into the goal to give BU the W. 

BU killed off a late StFX PP behind a couple strong saves by Matt O'Connor who kicked aside seven shots in total.  

The real season begins next Friday when the Terriers host UMass in the season opener.

Hockey Is Back

Garrett Noonan was named
captain of the 2014 squad.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Yes, final there is a hockey game to go to! Tomorrow night BU takes on St. Francis Xavier in the lone exhibition game of the year. Expect goalie Sean Maguire and Matt O'Connor to split playing time in net In addition, the team will dress 13 forwards and 7 defenseman.

These two teams played two years ago in the fall of 2012 with SFX winning 6-4. Two years prior to that the two teams tied 2-2, both games were at Agganis. 

SFX has already played  a few game this year. Last night they defeated Aigles Bleus de Moncton 4-2 to improve to 3-1-0 on the year. Two goalies played for the X-men in that game: Drew Owsley and Morgan Clark, they combined to make 39 saves. I would expect them both to play tomorrow night. There were no stats on the players from SFX on their website.

-- Today, Garrett Noonan and Patrick MacGregor were named co Captains. Noonan wore the "A" last season, MacGergor was not a captain last year. Apparently he took some big steps over the off-seaosn and really became a leader. I guess we will see.

-- Forward Jake Moscatel will miss the game do to a sickness. 

In Other News
Former Terrier Alex Chiasson scored the first goal of the year for the Dallas Stars last night. Dating back to last year, Chiasson has scored 7 goals in 8 games in the NHL. 

The Last Year

It started one day in the summer of 2009, the summer after the team won the National Championship. I was bored one afternoon in August, and I was looking to make a comment on the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog about the schedule for the upcoming year. Little did I know (at the time) you needed a Blogger account to make a comment. So I made an account and shortly after, I hit this button that said "Start your own blog" completely by accident. I kept going with it and after what must have been a good two hours, I had a blog that completely copied the THFB. 

In the coming weeks I actually started writing posts. The main thing that fueled my blog at the start was the pictures. I starting bring my camera to games in '09 and had all these picture of BU hockey games, but nothing to really do with them. Then I said to myself that I would do some research on games that were coming up and news surrounding the team, and maybe throw in a few pictures while I was at it. That turned into every Friday morning of eighth grade waking up (way too excitedly) at 5:30am and writing game previews during the season. 

Ill be the first one to admit that the first year/year and a half of the whole thing, I had no clue what I was doing. 

That all slowly changed in 2011 when I got to high school and actually understood the English language a little more. Also, that was the year I decided copying the THFB's design was incredibly unoriginal and so, I adopted the grey background with the three columns still used today.

In 2012, I started the Twitter account that is tied in with the website. Like the blog itself, I had no clue what I was doing when I first got on Twitter. With time, I figured out it was the best thing I ever did to "advertise" the blog. I also met a ton of people in and around the College Hockey circle.

Last year, for whatever reason, was a struggle for me to write articles (I think I can call them articles now). I also missed a lot more games last year due to hockey games of my own. It is always easy to write when the team is doing well, but nothing was harder than trying to cover the team in January and early February , last winter.

The 4th place finish in the Beanpot final was the absolute low point and I even considered stoping the blog at that point. I was so disinterested in things that the next week's games up in Maine felt like a chore to watch. Thankfully the team pulled out three points in Orono so it was not so unbearable to watch.

The next weekend, Vermont came to Agganis and I couldn't tell you a thing that happened that weekend. Friday night I had my playoff game for Medfield High. We were the one seed in South Regional with an 18-1-1 record. We lost in the first round of the playoffs to Pembroke 4-3 in a shootout after coming back from 0-3 down with less than 6 minutes to play. The loss was crippling to me and I took it pretty hard. I still went to the BU-UVM game that Saturday night, but I didn't even really watch the game. 

At that point, I was really just looking forward to the summer and for the first time maybe ever in my life, I just wanted hockey to be over.