Six Current/Future Terriers On NHL Central Scouting Report

Adam Clendening has 2 goals and 8
assists on the year for a total of 10
points. he was ranked 61st in the
NHL's Central Scouting
Mid-season Report.
(Photo By Matt Dresens)

Earlier this week the NHL Central Scouting Report came out. The CSR is a list of the best possible draft eligible players. On the mid season rankings BU has three current players and three future players on the list.

Spearheading the rankings for the Terriers is Matt Nieto. Nieto is ranked 55th, a likely second round pick. Adam Clendening fell into the 61ft slot, an early third round pick. Freshman, Sahir Gill was next slipping in as the 139th (5th round) best draft eligible player. A likely soon to be star at BU, Cason Homann was put in the 172nd position. I think this is low for a player with so much potential. It is likely because of his size, only 5'8. Following Homann was defenseman Alexx Privitera from Muskegon of the USHL. Privitera  came in at 193, a 7th rounder.  Rounding out the six Terriers is their goalie of the future, Matt O'Connor from Youngstown, also in the USHL. O'Connor was ranked 24th out of all goaltenders on the CSR.

In News 
Tomorrow (weather permitting) BU will take on Merrimack with out Max Nicastro. The Blue Liner was handed a one game suspension by coach Parker for throwing the net into a referee after Vermont's second goal.

Chiasson's Two Goals Puts BU Past Vermont

For the first time in exactly a month, BU won a game. The last one came on the 8th of December, 31 days ago. Last night, despite getting out shot 31-16, the Terriers were able to hold off the Catamounts 4-2 at Gutterson Field House.

With two goals in last night's win, Alex Chiasson now has
seven on the season, the exact number he had all of last
season.
(Photo By Matt Dresens) 

It was Vermont who jumped out to an early lead on a really strange goal. A broken two on one had BU's Garret Noonan diving to break up a pass off the stick of Chris McCarthy. The pass was broken up but took a odd deflection of Noonan's stick shaft and into the net, over Millan's blocker.

BU answered with a 4 on 4 strike. Charlie Coyle, who had great success on faceoffs at the World Junior Championships, was kicked out of the circle . Matt Nieto stepped in and could not have won the draw cleaner. It went right back to the point where Max Nicastro took a blast off the inside of the post and by Vermont goalie Rob Madore.

Not long after, BU found themselves on a two on one of their own. Alex Chiasson picked up the puck in the neutral zone and took off with great speed toward the Vermont net. Corey Trivino was his wing man. With a Vermont defender back-checking hard and then sliding to his knees, Chiasson pulled one of the best toe drags I have ever seen, completely undressing the defender. Chiasson then picked the top corner on Madaore to make it a 2-1 game.

Prior to the two quick goals, Vermont had been badly outplaying the Terriers. All the play was down the BU end.

Both goalies played well in the second, as there were no goals scored in the stanza.

Vermont tied things up on Josh Burrow's first goal of the season. There was a huge scrum in front of the Terrier net. The puck somehow creeped over the line just before the net was knocked off its pegs. At a closer look though, it did seem that the cage was off before the puck crossed the line. Max Nicastro made sure it came off, though way after the puck went in, as he tossed the net into the referee. He was given a ten minute misconduct.

Believe it or not, BU answered with a power play goal. Charlie Coyle won a battle in the corner and fed Chiasson in the slot with a crisp pass. Chiasson when down on one knee and one-touched the pass into the upper twine, giving the Terriers a 3-2 lead with 13:00 minutes left.

As the Catamounts came up the ice, in one last desperate attempt to tie the game, Corey Trivino picked off a centering pass and skated all the way in on the empty net and pushed the puck over the line, handing UVM the loss and improving the Terrier's record to 9-5-6.

A Full Line Up, Finally, Sort Of

BU will take the ice tonight for their first Hockey East League game since a 5-4 win over Northeastern back on the 8th of December. Tonight, BU will have a complete lineup for the first time in a long time. Chris Connolly and Alex Chiasson are back from injuries and Charlie Coyle has returned from Buffalo and the WJC. Ok, maybe the line up will not be completely full. Andrew Glass was dismissed from the team earlier in the week for missing team meetings. Glass was in the middle of his Junior campaign. He had one goal this season and had a hard time finding the ice. He will likely be replaced by fellow Junior, Kevin Gilroy.

On to the game. Vermont has had a terrible season to date. They find themselves one point better than last place Lowell in the Hockey East Standings, with just five total points. BU can not take this game lightly at all. If anyone had not noticed they have been playing like crap since the end of October. A good win tonight could be a huge boost of confidence for the Terriers. Vermont always plays BU tough. Even the National Championship year, Vermont beat BU twice in one weekend in Agganis. BU did however win the most important game they have ever played against the Catamounts later that season in the National Semi Final, 4-3.

Players To Watch For 

• Wahsontiio Stacey, Vermont Forward. In his senior year with the Catamounts, Stacey leads the team in goals and overall points. He has 9 goals to go along with 6 assists for a total of 15 points. 

• Rob Madore, Vermont Goaltender. Madore is one of the better goalies in Hockey East but just does not have the team to back him up. He is the type of tender who can steal a game and stand on his head. This season he has an .897 save percentage but just three wins on the season.

The last time they met... 

was February 28th, 2010. Vermont came back and beat the Terriers 3-2 in Gutterson Field House, the site of tonight's contest. 

Back Where They Started

When the preseason rankings came out BU was in the 14 slot. That is exactly where they sit now in the current USCHO rankings which came out Monday.

This Saturday the Terriers will open the second half of their Hockey East schedule, with a game at Vermont. Then it's a quick turn-around as BU travails to Merrimack on Wednesday the 12th.

In Other News 
The US WJC team won the Bronze Medal yesterday after a 4-2 win over Sweden. Russia pulled a BU-esk comeback against Canada to win the Gold. Down three goals going into the last stanza, Russia scored five third period goals to win 5-3 and claim their first Gold since 2003.

USA-Sweedan highlights:



Canada-Russia highlights:

What We All Wanted To See

USA-Canada. What else do I have to say? Yes, it is a night before everyone thought the two would meet (in the championship game), but who the hell cares? The winner of tonights contest will take on Russia in the championship game. The Russians slipped by Sweden 4-3 in a shootout earlier today. The loser will play the Swedes in the Bronze medal game.

A rematch of last year's WJC Final. This year I think the edge goes to the U.S. because of one player... Jack Campbell. The US netminder has played great this tournament, a far cry from the performance of the  two Canadian. Here is a video break down and preview from TSN.

Canada beat Switzerland 4-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to this game. The US, on the other hand, had a bye. 

Tough Pill To Swallow

Last night BU and Notre Dame played their second game of the season against one another. In the previous meeting, BU upended the Irish 5-4 in the Icebreaker Championship game. Last night's game looked a lot different. 

Justin Courtnall put Notre Dame Senior Ryan Guentzel
through the glass midway into the second period. A 15
minute delay (as long as the intermission between
periods) took place after the hit. Glass was every
where, according to the radio broadcast and it took some
time to clean that up. Never mind the fact that they had
to get a new pane of glass.

Alex Chaisson was out last night with a knee contusion. It is still unknown if he will play this weekend at Vermont. BU was also without Charlie Coyle, who is still at the WJC. With that, BU played with only 11 forwards and the lines were all messed up. The Terriers showed that you do need your whole bench because in the third period they were vastly out played and out shot by the Irish who held a 20-7 shot advantage in the third frame alone.

BU surrendered two goals in the third period after leading 3-1 on goals from Joe Pereira, Adam Clendening, and Chris Connolly. UND cut the Terrier lead to 3-2 on a goal from Anders Lee. Then with BU on the power play, with just two minutes and change left, Sam Calabrese tied the game with a short handed goal. 

BU should have been given a penalty shot in the overtime, as Chris Connolly was slashed in the arm on a breakaway. There was no call on the play, not even a power play. 

Notre Dame won the shootout and took third place in the Shillelagh Tournament. The shootout is irrelevant to the teams record and will go in the books as a tie. 

Brown Route

Earlier today, BU took on Brown in the Shillelagh Tournament opener, a Holiday tournament played about 45 minutes outside of Chicago. I could not make the trip out so I was forced to watch the game on the computer. The web cast was a far cry from HD quality and lacked game announcers so it was tough to follow the action. I did what I could before I turned it off after Brown took a 6-1 lead with about 7:00 left in the third.

Through the first and about half way through the second period the game was close. Matt Nieto picked up the only Terrier goal on a 4 on 4 in the first frame. After one it was 1-1. BU had several chances to take the lead in the beginning of the second. All chances were denied by Brown netminder Mike Clemente. A dumb penalty by BU defenceman Max Nicastro opened the flood gates for the Bears. Even I could tell on the web cast that Max clearly hit a Brown player right in the back.

After scoring on the power play, Brown went on to hang 5 unanswered goals, beating BU 6-1.

BU will take on tournament host Notre Dame tomorrow in the consolation game. UND lost to Minnesota State 4-3 on a last minute goal by State. BU beat Notre Dame back in the Icebreaker Invitational Championship game last October.

BU goaltender Kieran Millan played his worst game of the season tonight. The Terriers welcomed back forward Chris Connolly to the lineup but were without Charlie Coyle who is in Buffalo for the World Junior Championships.

Of note, BU has yet to field a complete squad in  either of this years intra-season tournaments. During the Icebreacker, the Terriers were without Corey Trivino and Alex Chaisson due to suspensions and lost Yassin Cisse for the year in the opener. Hopefully when Coyle returns the team will be more competitive.