Game day Preview: USA Under 18 Team @ Boston U

Before we get to the game starting at 6pm on Saturday the 2009 Hockey East and NCAA National Championship banners will be razed. Now to the game. The USA U18 team has a lot to offer including BU recruits Matt Nieto and Adam Clendening. Nito, lead teas usa with 67 points last season. Wile Clendening had a soled season manning the blue line.

"Adam is a very competent player with good hockey sense, He is [a] good defender with his stick and makes it tough on other team’s forwards. He makes good decisions with the puck.” -Ron RolstonU-18 coach -USA Hockey

Things to look for on the Bu side. Colby Cohen will be back in the line up after missing last weeks game do to off season surgery. Grant Rollheiser again miss the game do to a high-ankle sprain injury.

“I think there’ll be some lingering effects psychologically, maybe, Might even be a little slowed conditioning wise, but there’s no lingering effects . . . he’s better off than he was last year as far as the hip itself is concerned.” -Jack Parker 

Terriers land a big one

Yesterday it was reported on the USA U18 website that the Terriers had just got a commitment by left wing Matt Nieto for the 2010 season and will be added to the list on the far right hand bar . Nieto led the USA under 18 team in points last season with a healthy 67 points (26-41). Other Terrier players to play on the USA U18 team are Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, Luke Popko, and David Warsofsky.

Gilroy's first is a big one

Last night in the in the Rangers Devils game Matt Gilroy scored his first NHL goal. It came late in the second period, a slap shot that went right passed Devils goalie Martin Brodeur's leg pad. later in the second Gilroy had an other chance but this time Brodeur stood his ground an made the save. the Gilroy goal in the end was the game winning goal in the Rangers 3-2 victory.

Recap: BU vs SFX

There was some good, some bad, and some just plane crazy in the first game of the year. The good side is first. In Saturday's exhibition game between the X-men of St. Francis Xavier and the Terriers of Boston University the good side (from a boston point of view) was the Terriers had 53 shot on net. Including the first goal (photo to the right) by Nick Boinno (13). He scored of a rebound in front of the X-men net. Corey Trivino also picked up a goal at 15:50 of the second period. Corey's goal was set up with a "texted book" past from freshman Alex Chiasson. Kieran Millan play half the game leaving in the second period with 7 saves and a shut out.

“I was really happy with our overall effort in terms of poise with the puck, We only had three days of practice, and I think we did a number of things pretty well.”-Jack Parker

The bad
Things were going well up in till 9:10 of the second Period. This is when Adam Kraus (bu's third string goalie) let in one of the worst goals I have ever seen. The by X-men forward Nick Pageau's shot was to the stick side of Kraus. The Bu goalie less than interested in stopping the puck. It when right passed his right leg pad. Parker also noted that he was very upset that the Terriers were not scoring on the many chances that they given.

I was disappointed in one major thing. As the game progressed and we were having our way with them with shots, it seemed as if we felt ‘Well, we’ll get the next goal.’ But we never really went after it to make sure we got the next goal; we thought that it would come easy.”-Jack Parker

The Crazy
The X-man goalie Joseph Perricone (photo to the left) had to make 51 save in the 2-2 tie to just keep the game tied!

“I was hugging my goalie, no question, when we came into the room, we came into this knowing what we were up against in the defending national champs, but I liked how our guys competed from start to finish and found a way to tie the game at the end.” -Brad Peddle X-men head coach

 Click here for the USCHO box score

Game Day: St. Francis Xavier vs Boston University

Tonight the Terriers will open the season at Agganis Arena against the X Men of St. Francis Xavier. Tonight will be the first meeting ever between the two schools. The Terriers come in to this game in hopes of defending their national title from a year ago. The X Men on the other hand were fourth in their league with a 15-13 record and a play-off birth.

Things to Watch

Though out the NHL season this year there will be some very fresh faces to watch. At any given time in the season there could be up to 13  former BU players in the NHL. Of Course this depends on who plays on the NHL roster or who plays on the AHL roster. Here are some of the faces you could see this season in the NHL. There are as of last night three players from the 2009 season, Colin Wilson, Brandon Yip, and Matt Gilroy. Both Yip and Wilson were placed in the injured reserve. Matt Gilroy is Expected to play in the Rangers season opener against the Penguins tonight on the NHL Network. If you watch the game you will most likely see Chris Drury for the Ranger as well.

Bu TV Schedule Announced

All in all the terriers will have nine games telecast on ether ESPNU or NESN. The first game on TV will be the home opener against Notre Dame. That game will be shown on ESPNU.

Oct. 20 Notre Dame @ BU (ESPNU 7pm)
Jan. 2 Umass @ BU (ESPNU 4pm)
Jan. 8 BU vs BC @ Fenway Park (NESN 7:30pm)
Jan. 15 BU @ Providence (NESN 7:30 pm)
Jan. 22 BU @ BC (NESN 7:30pm)
Feb. 1 BU vs Northseastern {bp} (NESN 7:30pm)
Feb. 12 Maine @BU (NESN 7:30 pm)
Feb. 26 Bu Vermont (NESN 7:30pm)
Feb. 28 BU @ Vermont (ESPNU 3pm)