Confessions of a Hockey Chick

BU vs. Notre Dame = FAIL.

2009-10-20T21:33:00.004-04:00

Notre Dame defeated BU tonight 3-0. Here's why:

+ The Terriers fell into old habits of taking too many penalties. Once again they are lucky that the Irish only went 1-for-6 on the power play. Meanwhile BU only went 1-for-8 on their power play opportunities.

+ BU is cursed with this 'Can't Score Syndrome.' They had some decent chances -- especially in the third period where they had the puck in Notre Dame's zone for about five minutes where they had shot after shot with absolutely no luck. It was almost as if it was not meant to go in. I mean it got to the point where it was like, 'Okay, seriously?'

+ Notre Dame dominated face-offs winning them 35-18.

+ Does Nick Bonino still play for BU? Oh he does? Okay. I was just wondering. Because the only times I noticed him were when he took a hitting from behind penalty and when he bit it on the ice with no one around him. Bonino is a kid the Terriers need to come through big this year. So far, not so good.

The game was just ... weird. It wasn't as if the Irish were amazingly better than BU; and BU didn't necessarily look horrible. They just can't score. The Terriers are a young team. They have a lot of freshman who are still transitioning. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

....

2009-10-17T19:10:00.003-04:00

I'm just going to cut to the chase here: 5,000 people attended last Thursday's Coyotes-Blues game in Glendale.

5,000.

For the first time in this whole crazy debacle, I legit think the team needs to move. It had crossed my mind before, but I always thought about how heartbroken I would be if my team moved away. (I realize this is not the 'business' way of thinking at all.) But 5,000 people? AHL teams and college teams draw more than that. It has to be demoralizing for the players and even for some other fans who go out every night to cheer on their boys.

So who thinks the NHL would accept my bid to buy the team for $2,000?

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0-1

2009-10-17T18:42:00.004-04:00

The NCAA defending national champs are officially 0-1 on the regular season after falling to UMass last night 3-2. A loss is a loss, but I think they officially have a problem:

For the third game in a row, they had over 40 shots. The total shot count for the two exhibition games and their first regular season game is 136. Here's another way to look at it: they've out-shot their opponents 136-58. Insane. The offense is clearly getting shots in, they're just not finishing. Can we change that please? They have three huge games coming up against Notre Dame, Michigan and UMass-Lowell, so they'll have to change something.

On a lighter note, the banner raising last Saturday night left me teary-eyed. The athletics department put together a video of last year's highlights before bringing out parents of last year's seniors (along with Brian Strait's father) to help raise five banners: the Beanpot championship, regular season champs, Hockey East champs, Final Four and the national championship banner (fittingly raised by Matt Gilroy's parents).

As soon as they hit the rafters, it was back to reality.

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'Tis the Season

2009-10-05T10:50:00.004-04:00

I've been clinging to the 08-09 season after having two of my three teams winning championships (BU & Pittsburgh). But alas, it's time to move on. Pittsburgh raised their banner, and my Terriers raise theirs this weekend.

I had a bit of a wake up call on Saturday when I took in the BU-St. Francis-Xavier exhibition game. The Terriers looked human again - which is never as fun as being superhuman like they were last year. There's seven incoming freshmen, and I'm pretty sure all of them saw ice time. No reason not to; it's the perfect situation to get them all in. None stood out as incredible. They all did fine. I did like what I saw from Sean Escobedo in particular. He was pretty solid throughout the whole game.

BU managed 53 shots on goal. 53. In case you need a reminder: that's a lot of friggin' shots. They only got two goals. Granted a lot of credit goes to X-Men goalie Joe Perricone. He had an unreal night. I was very impressed with him. I still would've liked to get more than two out of those 53. It's those times when you miss the Colin Wilson shot.

Last week's preseason poll had BU ranked 3rd nationally; first in Hockey East. I'll take that. The roster will adjust slightly with Vinny Saponari and Colby Cohen back in the line-up and Kieran Millan playing the full game. They won't be the unbelievable team they were last year, but there are a lot more big players returning than most realize: namely Millan, Cohen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Saponari, Nick Bonino & Dave Warsofsky. If Corey Trivino can be on the top of his game this year, that will be huge too.

Wanna Go to Any Regular Season NHL Game for free?

2009-09-29T15:07:00.002-04:00

Just caught wind of a Twitter contest the NHL is hosting this Saturday. With all 30 teams playing, the NHL is giving away a trip for two to any regular season NHL game if you can correctly guess the winners of all 15 games. Only one person will win, and the Winter Classic at Fenway doesn't count. I guess we can't have everything.

Info on how to enter is in the above link. Check it out. Oh - and St. Louis will beat Detroit that night.

Quote Me

2009-09-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

"I have 10 fingers on my hands, and I want to win 10 times."
- Geno Malkin

I'm down.

It's Official

2009-08-20T15:02:00.007-04:00

Even though we knew it was coming for a few weeks now, the BU-BC match-up at Fenway is officially a go. January 8th will feature a 4:00pm women's game between UNH & Northeastern preceding the 7:30pm face-off.

As if this didn't feel enough like an early Christmas, apparently tickets will start as low as $5.00. $5.00. God only knows where those seats will be, but I will take that offer any day of the week.

LinkNation

2009-08-15T18:33:00.006-04:00

I read a ton of great hockey stuff everyday, so why not share it? I figure it's a good way to keep things going here during the off-season. Check 'em:

+ Coyote Ugly: A Call for 10 Depositions (James Mirtle)
Mirtle is a go-to guy for anything hockey. He's been doing an awesome job covering the whole Coyotes mess. It's where I go to try and make sense of it all.

+ Pens Universe Preseason Top 20 (Pens Universe)
A look at some of the top prospects in the system. For the most part I agree with the rankings. I would move Strait up a spot or two; Rummel is absolutely right when he says Brian's game is simple and solid, but it's also very smart. Then again, that's at the college level. I think he'll have no problem adjusting after a little while.

I'd also relax a bit with the Thiessen 'overtaking Curry by the end of the season' remark. I like Thiessen a lot, but I still think he has some maturing to do (as most goalies do when they transition). Curry beats him out by a mile there. That extra year at Northeastern would not have hurt Thiessen, but oh well. What can ya do. He'll be alright.

+ BC-BU Hockey a go at Fenway (Boston Herald)
January 8th is the magic date. It will be unbelievable. My only complaint: BC would be the 'home team'. Um, Fenway is pretty much ON the BU campus. So that really makes no sense. But whatevs. I think I'll be as nervous for this game as I was in the playoffs.

Hey -- remember when BU was down 3-1 but scored three goals in 59 seconds to push the NCAA championship game to OT? And then they won in OT? Unbelievable.

+ The Hockey News' AHL Jersey Rankings (The Hockey News)
Ugh, who picked these this year?! Okay, I agree with the first three. They're cool. But then it's all downhill from there. I would get into it, but I'm not even sure where to begin.

+ AHL Regular Season Schedule (The AHL)
DO IT PENS. Even if you did lose pretty much all of your offense.

+ The Replacements (Empty Netters)
A look at who might replace Talbot while he's out for the first two months.

+ War Simulation Puts Ducks' Battles in Perspective (OC Register)
Bobby Ryan & George Parros (how can you not love that guy?) visited Fort Irwin and got to see what it's like over in Iraq. Love seeing them do this stuff. Helps them see how really, really, really lucky they are.

Janne Goes to Russia

2009-08-04T18:15:00.002-04:00

Call it inevitable I guess. Janne Pesonen has reportedly signed with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL. I don't blame him.

The guy got screwed. He did not get a fair chance -- not even from Bylsma. I won't get into it here; look up my other posts on Pesonen for my in-depth feelings (particularly this one and this one).

Bottom line is the guy could have easily played in the NHL. Not only that -- he could have been great. He wasn't a huge guy, but my God those hands. Wow.

KHL wins this one.

A Hero Returns to North America

2009-07-22T18:31:00.011-04:00

Huge, huge news for Baby Pens fans coming from Jonathan Bombulie over at the Penguins Insider. Word on the street is that Andy Chiodo is about to sign with the Binghamton Senators. Yes, THEE Andy Chiodo. This one:

Yes, the Andy Chiodo who watched every other goalie get a shot at playoff games before he had to come in and save the day. And I mean, literally save the day. The guy who became a hero in WBS. The guy who survived by working hard, not just on pure skill.

There are certain players that Baby Pens' fans will never forget. The list starts like this: 1. Dennis Bonvie 2. Andy Chiodo. You can argue that John Slaney and Tom Kostopoulos might come before Chiodo. I put them after.

And now he's back. Not with the Baby Pens unfortunately, but with a team close enough that he'll be playing in the Wachovia Arena a handful of times during the season.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Chiodo, he was a Baby Pen for three seasons. He was typically the back-up, and his regular season numbers were good -- nothing spectacular but not bad. He even saw action in eight games for Pittsburgh. His moment of glory came during the playoffs. My God was he a playoff goaltender. Maybe the best I've ever seen.

In the 2004 Calder Cup playoffs, WBS faced Bridgeport in the first round. Michel Therrien gave both Marc-Andre Fleury and Sebastien Caron a shot before Chiodo. The Pens went down 3-games-to-1. Therrien decided to give Chiodo a shot, and magic happened. WBS won that series in OT of Game 7 -- after Chiodo made some heart-stopping (seriously, I think my heart stopped) saves throughout the series. They went all the way to the finals that year. They lost, but it was still a great ride.

The same thing happened in the postseason the following year. Chiodo didn't get the initial start, but he ended up on top. The Baby Pens defeated a stacked Binghamton Sens team (we're talking Spezza, Vermette, etc) in the first round. He was so much fun to watch, and he earned every bit of recognition and praise he got. Unfortunately, no one else gave him a shot after his third year here. He packed up and headed to Finland.

Bombulie mentions the response he'll receive when he returns to Wilkes-Barre. He thinks it will be lukewarm because people forget. This is true. People do forget. But those that saw him play through those playoff series will not. And they will be on their feet when he steps out on that ice.

Welcome back Chico.

Pens Sign Johnson

2009-07-21T18:43:00.002-04:00

Pittsburgh went ahead and signed goaltender Brent Johnson to a one-year, one-way contract. Decent signing. The Pens needed a back-up, and he's a back-up. I'm not sure I have much more to say on that front. It's about exciting to me as the headline I went with.

Seth Rorabaugh over at the Post-Gazette mentioned Johnson being "solid insurance should the unproven John Curry not be up to the task of being Fleury's backup next season," but I think the signing counts Curry out altogether. Johnson signed a one-way. I could be wrong, but I'm not sure how good Pitt would feel about paying an NHL contract at the AHL level. No organization is a huge fan of doing that. It's happened before, and it can happen again, but I think Curry is looking at another year in the A. Then again, he has surprised people his whole life. He could have a stellar camp and win the spot.

I like Johnson. Nothing against him. I'm protective over Curry (as you all know already), and I was hoping he'd get a solid chance at the back-up spot next year. But you know what? Another year will be good for him. I actually think it'd be better. He can really fine tune his game and work out some kinks.

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Good For Some Laughs

2009-07-13T12:13:00.007-04:00

The Two-Line Pass over at Puck Daddy just had me laughing with this week's What We Learned post. I thought it was worth noting. Especially with:

Evander Kane was apparently a beast at Thrashers rookie camp this weekend. He scored in the first scrimmage of the weekend, had the lowest body fat (4.1 percent), won the push-up contest and (55) but only came in second during fastest skater. Which means this draft was another total failure. Way to go, Waddell.

The Handsomest Man in Hockey, Colin Wilson, will probably start his pro career in the AHL. No shock there.

Okay, so I didn't laugh at this. But it is true: he IS the handsomest man in hockey.

The Flames got their new enforcer: Brian McGrattan(notes). I believe this brings Calgary's total number of Edmonton natives and former Coyotes and/or Panthers to an even 600.

Check out the post for more laughs ... because it's all true.

AHL Division Realignment

2009-07-07T12:39:00.004-04:00

The AHL released its division realignments today. The East Division (arguably one of the top two divisions year in and year out) will now look like this:

Adirondack Phantoms
Albany River Rats
Binghamton Senators
Hershey Bears
Norfolk Admirals
Syracuse Crunch
WBS Penguins

They moved Bridgeport out of the East and stuck them in the Atlantic with teams like Worcester, Providence and Hartford. I'll miss the Sound Tigers being in the East; a mini rivalry has developed between them and the Pens after some unreal playoff battles between the two. Then again, they're usually a pretty good team. Maybe I won't miss them that much.

Syracuse is moved in. This makes sense. They've been in the Western Conference for the past few seasons, and it seemed silly since they're only an hour and a half up Interstate 81 from WBS.

Barack <3's Ovechkin

2009-07-07T09:10:00.004-04:00

President Obama thanked Russia for Alexander Ovechkin during his trip to Putin Land. This is despite never having been to a Caps game. Maybe his next foreign policy move will be to repair relations between the NHL & KHL.

This, Headline Made Me Laugh

2009-06-30T20:29:00.006-04:00

My first thought when I read this: 'Oh Ryan Whitney was invited to try-outs!'

It's an announcement for Bobby Ryan and Ryan Whitney.
Yeah ... sorry. I found it amusing.

Unbelievable News

2009-06-23T09:39:00.003-04:00

Well, it is for me anyway.

Reports are surfacing that BC & BU will be taking part in the NHL's 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

BC is a definite go apparently. The Terriers should be the second. BU makes the most sense to play because of four reasons:

1. Fenway is practically part of the BU campus (I could see it from where I lived last year).
2. They just won the national championship.
3. The BU-BC rivalry is the only college match-up suited for Fenway.
4. I'm really biased and love my Terriers.

HOW COOL IS THAT GOING TO BE?! Now I need to get tickets ... even if I have to sell my soul or something along those lines.

Another Terrier Moves Up

2009-06-22T12:32:00.005-04:00

BU assistant coach, Dave Quinn, was named head coach of the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. He's replacing another former BU alum, Joe Sacco -- who was named head coach of the Colorado Avs.

Good to see another BU alum move up. A national championship will bring about these opportunities.

I wonder how many offers Jack Parker has gotten in his career? A ton I'm guessing.

Quote of the Day

2009-06-21T13:34:00.004-04:00

My mom put a picture of [the Stanley Cup] in my crib when I was born. She told me that anytime you start something, you should do it the best you can and finish at the top.

-Kris Letang

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At Last

2009-06-15T12:36:00.007-04:00

Well, the kids did it. I held off on writing about it because I needed it all to soak in. Even now, it's hard for me to coherently write everything I'm thinking. I'll be brief: what a series. Seriously. Momentum swung back and forth; just when you thought one team had it, things shifted. For myself, it went kind of like this:

Games 1&2: Not again.
Games 3&4: New series. We got this.
Game 5: FML.
Game 6: I can barely watch the second half of this game.
Game 7: S:EIG@%!%$&A! YES.

How do you not love that though? Yes, obviously I would have liked to just win it in four games and avoid all the nerves. But it's much sweeter when you've battled for it.

This was my first Stanley Cup; I say that because the last time Pittsburgh won I was only around four years-old. It is awesome, and I want some more ASAP.

Other than that, just some thoughts:

+ How great is Dan Bylsma's story? He went from assistant in the AHL last season to head coach of the Stanley Cup champs a year later. I'll admit I was wrong about him. I wasn't the biggest supporter of his move to the NHL (although I do stand by the fact that his success was also because of the players making a 'motivation' adjustment). I always liked the guy, I just didn't think he'd be able to do what he did. But it worked out just fine.

+ Marian Hossa. No, I don't really feel bad for you. Maybe a little, but that's about it. I also don't really believe that you have 'no regrets.' I know I'd be kicking myself. Try again next time.

+ Naturally you have to give props to the Red Wings. They're pretty much a model for what a team should be like in the NHL. They're a hard team to beat, and it's something to say you did so.

+ I'd happily like to point out, Game 7 was all about the WBS alums: Maxy Talbot, Marc-Andre Fleury and Dan Bylsma. Represent.

+ Say what you want about Sid; he deserves this. Sure, he whines. But he is unreal. And he (along with Malkin and Ovechkin) helped revive the NHL. I think all hockey fans can respect that.

Love you Stanley. xoxo

The Best Game On Earth

2009-06-13T16:09:00.006-04:00

It can make you the happiest person in the world, or it can break your heart
For most of us, each year usually brings the latter
But when the time comes, and your team wins that Cup, it is completely, 100% worth it
This truly is the best game on earth.

Jack's Not Happy

2009-06-11T18:30:00.006-04:00

BU head coach, Jack Parker, seemed a little upset about Brian Strait skipping his senior year and heading to the pros.

In an interview with USCHO, he said:

A lot of guys who are good players in this league have gotten to be NHL players, and there’s no reason to think he won’t. But will he play next year? It all depends. They’re in the Stanley Cup finals right now; they’ve got a pretty good team. They’re telling him that they’re going to lose all these defensemen to free agency — that they’re not going to sign them. And they may lose some of them, but it doesn’t mean they won’t sign another free agent. They don’t know who they’re going to get in the draft or who they’re going to trade for. I think he thinks it’s best for him.

I don’t think there’s any question in my mind that the only reason you should leave BU is to go play in the NHL — not to go play in the American Hockey League. What he’s going to give up next year and what he could have had here next year is something he’ll never get back, no matter if he plays 10 or 15 years in the NHL.

I do like when players stick out all four of their college years, but as I said in an earlier post, Strait is ready. He's solid and smart. Would it have hurt him to stay his senior year? No. But I don't think it's an awful decision by him.

Strait will not play in Pittsburgh next year. I mean, stranger things have happened I guess, but I'm fairly confident he will be in the AHL. I don't see anything wrong with that. He will adjust to a faster game than what he's been used to. After he develops a little more, he will be in the NHL. I'm not worried about the kid.

It's okay Coach. We'll all miss him too.

Best Out of One

2009-06-10T20:36:00.003-04:00

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
- Douglas H. Everett

Game Five Awful

2009-06-08T09:26:00.005-04:00

Game Five was so bad I had to give myself time before I wrote about it. Seriously. Thinking about it now still makes me cringe. I wish Game Six were being played in five minutes just so we can move on.

Yeah, so Detroit chewed up the Pens and spit them out on Saturday night. The 5-0 score pretty much says it all, but there are a few things I want to touch on:

+ Marc-Andre Fleury. He just wasn't good. I'm not placing all the blame on him because the entire team was just ridiculously bad, but it definitely wasn't his best showing. Bylsma made the right move by pulling him; I might have done it one goal earlier. I'm not worried about the kid though. He's a different kind of 'mental' than most goalies I've met. He'll be fine. One this is certain: he needs to have the game of his life on Tuesday, and should the Pens force it to seven, he needs to have an even bigger one then. If all else fails, put John Curry in. Simeon Varlamov anyone?? ;-)

+ There's been talk about how Detroit is a bunch of old guys who get tired, blah blah. Well, Pittsburgh certainly showed its age by acting like babies on Saturday. They completely lost their heads and took stupid, selfish penalties out of pure frustration. It was like they were looking for the fastest way to dig their own grave. The Pens have my heart, but to see them act like they did is embarrassing. Lock it up boys. No one is going to feel sorry for you if you behave like that.

+ Just a quick comment on the Hossa situation. I'm not angry with him because he took less money to play for Detroit. The big reason this whole saga pisses me off is how he went about it. For one thing, he told Pittsburgh he wanted big money to stick around. So Pittsburgh offered him big money. Oh - then he decides he doesn't want that anymore. But above all, he publicly came out and slapped his former team in the face by literally saying he had a better chance on Detroit. It's like, "Hey, good times guys, but you're not going to win the Cup next year. You're not good enough for me. Okay, thanks. Bye." Maybe he got confused and still thought he was in Atlanta. I mean as you can see, Pittsburgh is a pretty legit team. OH - and then there's that whole loyalty thing that I'm pretty big on. So in any case, it's not that he took less money to go to Detroit. Yes, that's cute. It's just the way he went about it.

So yeah, Saturday night was bad. Really bad. How Pittsburgh responds will be key. They can either use Game 5 as motivation or they can use it as discouragement and watch the Cup slip from their fingers. Going home will give them a big jump, and anything can happen in a Game 7. They need to get their confidence back to where it was in Game 4 -- when you could see that they realized they could beat these guys. And (fingers crossed) if they make it to seven, they will need it more than ever at the Joe. Because believe it or not Pens, you CAN win in Detroit.

Do it.

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Strait Moves On

2009-06-03T09:04:00.006-04:00

This lady is happy this morning after seeing that Brian Strait has signed with the Pens. Actually, it's bittersweet. I would have liked to see him stay and help out the Terriers for his senior year, but he's only going to be moving to my other favorite team so I'll live with it. I'm actually a little surprised he didn't stick around for his last year considering he was named one of the captains for the upcoming season. But why not go out on a high point (aka after winning the national championship)?

I think Strait's ready. He's a smart, solid defenseman. I always liked how he played; he's someone you feel comfortable having out on the ice. He'll more than likely be playing for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next year or two, but that will give him plenty of time to adjust to the pros.

Good luck bud. See you in the WB. BU will miss you.

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Dr. Juice

2009-06-01T10:47:00.003-04:00

I was just reading ESPN's latest blip about the NHL starting their investigation into the accusation that some guy sold Caps players steroids.

It made me think of this: Maybe this has come up before, but did anyone realize that the same guy who more than likely helped juice up Barry Bonds is the team doctor for the San Jose Sharks?

This guy seems like a winner:

Ting is a fellow who came to the attention of the California medical board twice before; once because of his dispensing dangerous drugs to friends and athletes. Ting's two sons, walk-ons for USC football, suddenly quit the team last year under suspicions of juicing.