Confessions of a Hockey Chick

Disgusting.

2011-02-12T15:37:00.001-05:00

I had, like, three posts lined up before this - even one about how I'm really bad about consistently blogging. But after last night's Pens/Islanders gongshow, I had to post now. The whole game was just a disaster for both sides (I've seen enough Friday Night Lights episodes to know that winning by a lot doesn't make you a success), but the one thing that has my blood boiling right now starts around the 1:30 mark of this video:

Now even though I'm beyond loyal and completely biased toward the teams I support, I try to remain neutral when it comes to judging right or wrong in the sport. Fortunately, Trevor Gillies actions last evening allow me to side with my boys.

I had to look up Gillies' age to make sure he wasn't an 8 year-old with a strange ability to grow a mustache. He's not, he's 32. So really there is zero excuse as to why he not only shot Eric Tangradi an elbow to the head but then proceeded to taunt him after Tango is clearly hurting on the ice.

Are. you. serious.

All I have to say is that Gillies should be embarrassed and ashamed of himself. Actually that's not all I have to say, but what I do have to say is not suitable for public consumption. Grow up. There's nothing remotely professional about what he did.

Can't wait to boo you the rest of your career bud.

To Sum It Up: Penguins, Terriers

2010-10-23T10:14:00.002-04:00

"At 5-0, the Penguins are the last undefeated team in the AHL."

Those sweet words came from WBS Pens' beat writer, Jonathan Bombulie, after last night's win against the Hershey Bears. Just as expected, the Pens are off to a strong start. What wasn't quite expected is how they're doing it. This part I like. Bombulie described it well when he said:

Overall, I think the most impressive thing about the start the Penguins are off to is that it's sustainable ... the Penguins haven't done anything in the first five games that they won't be able to do for the next 75. They're just playing good fundamental hockey.

Like music to my ears. The exact type of successful team I like to see. Sure, it's not always as fun to watch as guys doing ridiculous Ice Capade moves, but it's more reliable. I've always been a fan of fundamental, hard-working teams over the rely-on-pretty-skill teams (see: San Jose Sharks).

With injured Pittsburgh players healing up, keep an eye out for Eric Tangradi and Andrew Hutchinson to be back in NEPA.

How about those Terriers too? Geez. If you remember back in my nostalgic preview, I basically said I wasn't expecting much out of them, and anything else will be a pleasant surprise. Well, count me as someone who's pleasantly surprised. After beating UMass last night, BU is now 3-0-1. They defeated both Wisconsin and Notre Dame to win the IceBreaker tournament opening weekend, tied UMass last weekend and got the win last night. Looks like they've woken up from last year. They're working for the wins.

Three guys I've especially enjoyed so far: Charlie Coyle, Sahar Gill and Matt Nieto. This freshman class is shaping up for a fun few upcoming seasons.

Class of 2014.

And last, but certainly not least, the Pittsburgh Penguins. They had an ... yeah, I guess interesting is a good word for it ... they had an interesting start to the year. By interesting I mean they were 1-3. Certainly not something anyone saw coming. I didn't panic because anyone who thought that was going to dictate the rest of the year should pull their head out of the sand. A lot of spoiled Penguins fans came out. People who clearly forgot what it was like prior to these past few seasons of being awesome. Back then, if you were to have a slow start, you knew that's what you were in for. Now, we go 1-3, and I look around at Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, et. al, and I know they'll figure it out. No team is invincible. A little adversity never hurt anyone.

And now they're 5-3 and in second place in the Atlantic. So there.

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Inside Hockey: Ryan Miller + Fashion + Charity

2010-10-19T20:30:00.001-04:00

I started writing for a lovely hockey site called Inside Hockey. First piece went up today. Take a peek:

When you think of hockey players, you think of tough guys with missing teeth. Guys who put their heart and soul into games and aren’t afraid to get roughed up doing so. You think of goaltenders standing in front of 80 mph shots. You think of clothing and catwalks … wait, what?

It turns out Sean Avery isn’t the only guy in the NHL with some fashion sense. Sabres’ goaltender, Ryan Miller, has a taste for it himself. His Michigan clothing store, The Refinery, features plenty for label whores to drool over including Seven for All Mankind, True Religion, Nicole Miller and Hugo Boss. And on November 21, Miller is leaving his crease to take on the runway. The best part? It’s all for a good cause.

Read the rest at Inside Hockey.

Boo hoo

2010-10-17T18:38:00.000-04:00

Someone get this guy a tissue. Poor baby.

In Case You Were Wondering How Saponari Felt ...

2010-10-12T10:06:00.000-04:00

The 2010-11 WBS Penguins: Yes Please.

2010-10-09T10:00:00.002-04:00

I haven’t been this excited for a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ season in a long time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m always excited for the team I hold closest to my heart, but things could be really fun this time around.

For the first time in awhile, they Pens are kicking off the season with an awesome roster. And that’s not including the very real possibility that we’ll see Eric Tangradi, Derek Engelland and Ben Lovejoy at some point this year. Mark Letestu is on that list as well, but so far he seems to be the guy that had the best camp with the big boys.

Without further adieu, a quick glance at what's in store this season:

Up Front
Brett Sterling.

Okay, I know the team does not revolve around Sterling, but when I hear his name I think of how he dominated us in the Calder Cup Finals. Then I realize he's on my side now, and I love it. Sterling is not a big guy by any means, but he can score. Some say his signing is the biggest in WBS history. I'd have to look back, but if it's not the biggest it's certainly in the top 3.

Ryan Craig was another nice pick-up, coming off a 45 (23+22) point season with the Norfolk Admirals. He's battling a groin injury right now, but once he's healed up I think he could be a nice asset to have around.

Familiar faces like Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson, Chris Conner and Tim Wallace are all returning. Toss in Joey Vitale and you have a nice little offensive group.

The Blueline
My eyes are on Brian Strait and Robert Bortuzzo this year. They looked good last season, and as they mature, they'll get even better. Part of the fun of watching an AHL team.

Newcomers include Corey Potter, former BC Eagle Carl Sneep, Andrew Hutchinson and Jason DeSantis. Hutchinson is the one to watch out of this group.

The defensive corps aren't going to be as strong as the forwards, but it's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over.

In Net
This is the one area I’m concerned about. Both Brad Thiessen and John Curry have a lot of potential. We’ve seen them play great, and we’ve seen them play not-so-great. This goaltending situation reminds me of the San Jose Sharks: two guys who are good, but neither of them are above and beyond spectacular. You don’t look at either one and think: ‘Okay. I’m completely confident in him.'

Brad Thiessen earned himself the starting job last season, and he starts out at number one again. I hate to admit this by the way. Like, it makes me cringe. He was a Hockey East foe, and to see a Northeastern kid be ahead of my BU boy ... well, it’s just a tough pill to swallow. BUT I always gave Thiessen credit when he was a Husky. It’s not like he’s Nate Gerbe or anything. If all goes according to plan, Thiessen will have a solid year.

John Curry is my golden child. I will never dislike this kid even if he turned into Martin Brochu. People who have been reading this blog for awhile aren’t surprised at this. He was the walk-on goalie for BU who became a savior in Terrier Nation. He helped get the Pens to the finals in his first season. And then he got hurt. Curry never really seemed to get his mojo back since he was injured. He had a so-so year last year, so here's to hoping he's back to true form this season.

Overall ...
The Baby Pens are going to be a good team. Hockey's Future said the Pens won't be any different from last year. I disagree. I think they're already different from last year. Yes, they'll have to compete with the mighty Hershey, but they can do it. The key will be establishing good chemistry, having fun and working hard. If they can work night in-night out, they'll be rewarded. Those are the Penguins teams that have excelled in the past, and this year will be no different. I think they have the right group of guys to do it.

And what's more fitting than to play the first regular season game against our interstate brothers, the Hershey Bears? They're stacked again - even without guys like Alex Giroux (who failed to make the Edmonton roster. This continues to blow my mind). Rumor has it Sheldon Souray will not be playing in tonight's match-up. I'm certainly not complaining about that.

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Terriers Begin a New Era (and I Do Too)

2010-10-08T11:33:00.002-04:00

Tonight marks the start of the Boston University hockey season as they take on the Wisconsin Badgers in the Ice Breaker tournament in St. Louis.

After four seasons, it also marks the first time I won’t be sitting in section 108 for every home game at Agganis Arena. And, well, it’s sad.

In the four years I was at BU, I saw two Beanpot championships, a lot of Eric Gryba penalties, a kid named Colin Wilson who always found a way to score and the best hockey game I have ever seen – which came with a nice National Championship trophy as well.

More importantly, I found myself a hockey family. Because a lot of my girl friends can only stand the first 30 seconds of a game, I started tagging along with four of my guy friends. I didn’t know them all that well in the beginning, but by the close of the 2009-10 season, I was proud to call them some of my closest friends – not to mention some of my favorite people. Ever. (Trust me, if you met them, you’d agree).

If it wasn't for them, I wouldn’t have learned things like:
+ ‘Get on the Ice’ is just as effective and a lot more fun to chant than ‘Get off the ice’
+ Southern Comfort isn’t that bad.
+ Not all BC students are Jesuits - or are they?
+ Knocking out ceiling tiles is a lot easier to do than attempting to take one home is a little more difficult.

But we all collectively agreed, that watching a team down 3-1, with 59 seconds to go in the National Championship game, miraculously tie it up and go on to win in OT is the single, greatest thing that we saw – and, as far as hockey goes, will probably ever see.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m going to miss them. A lot. And I won’t feel bad for nagging them each season to reunite for a game.

Now, aside from my sappy feelings on the upcoming season, the Terriers are undoubtedly facing a transition year. Some names you won't see on the ice: Colby Cohen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Eric Gryba, Nick Bonino. Scary.

The new BU Terriers are young. The USCHO preview mentioned there are 17 freshman and sophomores and only one senior -- possibly Jack Parker's youngest squad ever. Young teams don't always bring in a ton of wins, but they can be a lot of fun to watch. In a season or two, after they're used to playing with each other, BU will be a strong team.

The one guy I'm looking forward to seeing the most this year is first-rounder Charlie Coyle. He gave a nice sneak peek of what he can do with his hat trick last weekend against Toronto. The other player I'm excited about is Dave Warsofsky; he's little, but he's one of BU's best right now.

Overall, I'm not expecting a lot from the Terriers. I'm looking forward to see the young guys and watching them grow. Everything else will be a pleasant surprise.

Get it BU.

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Saponari Crosses Enemy Lines

2010-10-07T19:05:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I’m going to kick off the official start of hockey season with a joke:

Vinny Saponari.

Remember him? You may recall him as one of the producers of the infamous, chart-topping hit, ‘Party like a Puckstar.’ Or you might remember him as the kid who got booted off the BU hockey team for thinking he was above showing up on time and staying sober the nights before games. Yeah, that’s him.

Well, the kid has skills, so he was going to have to play somewhere else to keep his career going. Then, with a swift kick to every BU fan’s nuts, he committed to play for the Boston College Eagles. Wait, let me repeat that for you:

The. Boston. College. Eagles.

Per NCAA rules, he has to sit out a year before he can join the Eagles, but words cannot explain how excited I will be for the first BU-BC match-up in the 2011-12 season. Cannot even wait. I know Terriers fans will eat this up. It has to be one of the first times, if not the only time, that a player has transferred down Commonwealth Avenue – either way.

As a hockey move, good for him. BC has an elite program, and isn’t going to be horrible anytime soon (unfortunately). Saponari is a good hockey player. And he will go pro. A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do. He got lucky that someone as good as BC was willing to put up with him.

BUT if there’s one thing I hate, it’s someone who is presented with an unbelievable opportunity and isn’t mature enough to keep it. There are no excuses. You’re not 2 years old. You can act like a grown-up.

My favorite quote out of Saponari’s comments on joining BC was:

"I love the city of Boston, and Boston College always has a good team. I played against them for two years. I know how the program is –– the professionalism that comes with being there and playing there."

Keyword: Professionalism. The one thing that got him kicked off the team in the first place. Well bud, I hope you fare better there.

To his credit, he did admit he acted like a jackass – sorry, that he wasn’t “very mature when I was at BU, but I hope in the long run, [the experience] helps me. It was an unfortunate situation, but I’ve grown up and learned from it.” If that’s the truth, I’m glad. I don’t wish him to be horrible for the rest of his life. Only when he plays against BU.

I always enjoyed calling Nate Gerbe a little bitch. Saponari isn’t as good as Gerbe was at the college level, but I will certainly enjoy bestowing him with the same nickname.

And So It Begins ...

2010-10-07T18:43:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the 2010-2011 hockey season.

The @33dellis Fiasco

2010-09-08T09:08:00.006-04:00

The past 24 hours has brought trouble to Dan Ellis’ Twitter paradise after some poorly worded tweets and some overly-sensitive people came together to create chaos.

In case you’re behind on the whole situation, Ellis - former Nashville & new Lightning goaltender - followed up on a tweet from Reggie Bush who was talking about upcoming labor negotiations.

Bush’s tweet was:

Ellis followed up with:

And apparently this is what caused all hell to break loose. Fans reading his tweets were outraged that any pro athlete could complain about money. I don’t see harm in Ellis’ follow-up comment to Bush, but I can see where some people were disgruntled with it. So let’s look at both sides:

Team Normal People:
The economy still blows. Unemployment is still high. And here is a professional athlete with a multi-million dollar contact complaining. There’s just no way that gets received well. Plus his follow up reaction was this:

Ellis’ comment on being more worried about finances now than he was in college is ridiculous. There’s no way he’s in rougher shape now than he was in college. Sure, there are less worries in college because really all you’re there to do is play hockey, go to class and booze. For a lot of students, other people take care of the finances (parents, scholarships) or you worry about the loans moreso after school than anything else. Even so - very, very few people have a solid income in college. DEFINITELY not an income of a couple million bucks.

I also think his, “If you don’t make a lot of money, I don’t expect you to understand ...” came off a little bit snooty.

Team Ellis:
He was right when he asked if we would like getting 18% cut out of our salary. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t - and their 18% is a lot more cash than my 18% would be. 18% of $3 mil is like $540,000. Yikes.

There’s also a lot more to player finances than meets the eye. On top of escrow and all that CBA goodness, there’s agent fees, higher taxes (which can include residency depending on the player’s situation) and probably some more I’m not even aware of. Careers are short-lived; players can be out of a job by 35-40 years-old - not quite the retirement age the rest of us are used to. Don’t get me wrong, these guys still have plenty of comfort room, and no one’s losing their home anytime soon. But for those not making the millions, it can add up.

Finally: relax, people. Do you really think this guy was trying to say he is bitter about his paycheck? I don’t think so.

Bottom line is he took some heat for poorly chosen words. The unfortunate outcome of this is that we will lose some candidness from Ellis going forward. The great thing about athletes on Twitter is that fans get to see their personalities and who they are while getting the chance to interact with them one-on-one. It’s a huge boost to the fan experience. I think people would prefer someone who tweets like his true self (like a Paul Bissonnette and a Dan Ellis) as opposed to the more canned accounts (like Rob Schremp - no offense, but that guy is tweeting what he's told to). But why should Ellis go back to being uncensored if he just takes heat for it? Not saying he didn’t deserve it, but he has no reason to do it anymore.

So @33dellis - I’m on your team. But for God’s sake, let it go. I think we may have gotten a tiny bit over-defensive yesterday. The best move is to close it out and move on from it. Or write up a guest blog post. I’m sure a site like Puck Daddy or From the Rink would host it without a doubt. I’d be really interested in reading that. You’d have to be careful because if you misword things again, then you could end up in hotter water than you already were in. But it gives you a platform of more than 140 and can help some people understand a bit more.

Just my two cents.

Duffrie Heads to Pittsburgh

2010-09-03T12:35:00.001-04:00

Latest news coming out of the 'Burgh is that Hilary Duff has signed with the Pens. And by Hilary Duff, I mean Mike Comrie. Comrie signed for the league minimum of $500,000. I'm indifferent to him -- he won't hurt, he won't help, and he's cheap. I agree with Puck Daddy here:

"If nothing else, he'll serve as a place-holder for Eric Tangradi as he continues to mature as the forward-of-the-future."

Although I don't know the progress Tangradi's made this off-season, he could use a little more time in the A just to fine tune some things. I think this will be good for him, and I'm sure he'll have plenty of opportunities to strut his stuff in the show this year.

Hope ya like Pittsburgh Hil. You never know, you just might get to see good old Wilkes-Barre, PA someday!

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Antero & Antii

2010-09-03T09:10:00.032-04:00

I figured the Niemi signing was a good start to kick back into gear with blogging and get into the groove before the season starts. Can you believe it's almost here again?

So, San Jose signed Antii Niemi. We know him as the Stanley Cup winning goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks. He was on fire during the 2010 postseason, and that earned him a nice little arbitration award of $2.75 million. But Chicago had about $5 left in cap space, so they let him walk.

Now he finds himself on the Sharks. I mean, for God's sake Doug Wilson had to do something this off-season, and he sure as hell wasn't going to try and sign a D-man to help out his Rob Blake-less defense. I shouldn't say that - he tried to nab Niklas Hjarmalsson, but Chitown was having none of that.

So after signing Antero Niittymaki earlier in the summer and feeling fine with him being their go-to goaltender, they decided to pick up Niemi. Both Antero & Antii are good goaltenders. Both are capable of getting hot at the right times. But I personally am not 100% comfortable with these two. First of all, both of them are decent regular season goaltenders -- averaging pretty close stats:

Niittymaki: 49 GP, 2.87 GAA, .909 SV%
Niemi: 39 GP, 2.25, .912 SV%

But are they enough? I've seen people say, "The regular season doesn't matter." Except it kind of does because you need it to get you into the post-season safely. The Sharks are without a doubt going to make the play-offs. I'm not crazy. They're going to be a good team. But I have to believe that neither of these guys will be as strong of a force that Nabokov during the first 80.

The plus side: they are both cheaper than Nabby, and by no means are they going to be awful for the Sharks. And at least one guy won't be starting 70 games a season and getting nice and tired just in time for the play-offs.

As far as play-offs go, all I have to say is, just because a guy was hot during one post-season doesn't mean he will get hot again in another. It's a clean slate. And do you want either of these guys as your lead play-off goaltender if they're not hot during that stretch? I don't know. After sleeping on it, I feel a little better about it ... but not much.

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Lemieux & Crosby Break In the Consol Center

2010-07-27T15:26:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful thing.

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B.C. Got Screwed

2010-06-25T11:11:00.000-04:00

Yes, I actually did write that headline. We all know by now, I bleed Terrier red and white. The BC Eagles usually make me sick to my stomach. But this is one situation where I actually feel bad for my foes down the street.

Shortly after the Eagles won the NCAA hockey championship, three guys on the team were involved in an incident where they basically crashed into the MBTA Green Line (Boston's subway for any outsiders). No one was hurt, and no one was drunk. The guys did flee the scene at first, and according to the Globe, there were beer cans and vodka in the car. The media ate it up (not a huge story, but it was still covered in some big time pubs).

Recent updates: the charges have been dropped. Apparently it was the MBTA's fault. The driver was going 35 mph rather than the 10 mph it should have been. On top of that, the T driver had multiple moving violations in Florida and Massachusetts despite testifying he had a clean driving record.

Here's where I feel bad: Because of the incident, the Eagles were not invited to the White House as most NCAA champions are. It was kind of silly to not extend an invite to them in the first place -- it was three guys out of the entire team. Had it been true, it would have been embarrassing and irresponsible, but punishing the whole team is a little much. Leave the three kids behind if you must.

The Eagles also did not get a sign on the Mass Turnpike like area champs usually get. Does this mean the Terriers are still up there? ;-)

Read more about his whole mess in the Boston Globe.

Hey Silver

2010-06-24T08:27:00.000-04:00

Sharks Break Up with Nabokov

2010-06-22T23:01:00.000-04:00

It's official: the San Jose Sharks are parting ways with the best goalie in the history of the franchise. Sharks' GM, Doug Wilson, met with Evgeni Nabokov today to basically say 'It's been real.'

The news is not all that surprising. After another average post-season from Nabby, there was plenty of talk of him moving on. Then there were some recent rumblings of him sticking around. Now, the speculation is put to rest.

I was originally torn on the decision. Nabokov, after all, is one of the biggest reasons the Sharks do so well during the regular season. The guy starts like 70 games a year. He's a great goaltender ... who just has not fared as well when it comes time for playoffs. And let's face it, that's when you need your goalie to be on fire. I don't blame Wilson for deciding to mix things up; it also frees up some space for the remaining list of guys San Jose has to re-sign: Patty Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi and Manny Malhotra to throw some names out there.

I'm interested to see who they go after. There has been whispers of Tim Thomas possibly heading out there ( the Bruins wouldn't mind unloading him), but Fear the Fin made a good point: he's old and expensive. That being said, Wilson made it pretty clear he's looking for a veteran goaltender. Maybe a guy like Marty Turco who is on his way out but still has a bit left in him until Greiss is ready to take the reins. Jose Theodore, Chris Mason and Dan Ellis are some other unrestricted free agents that pop out at me. Either way, whoever it is has big shoes to fill.

More on the Nabokov Situation:
+ Working the Corners
+ Official Sharks Site
+ Fear the Fin
+ Puck Daddy

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No Words.

2010-05-27T20:29:00.000-04:00

I'm always a sucker for sports commercials with touching moments and dramatic music. This year's post-season has been full of just that. I've really enjoyed all the commercials they've had, but the most recent, 'No Words' spot really got me.

There is just something about seeing how much this Cup means to them, seeing how it leaves them speechless ... it's awesome. And when Brett Hull is speechless, you know it's something big.

UPDATE: Saponari Responds to Release

2010-05-05T15:19:00.000-04:00

Vinny Saponari's response to the release:

I just found out today, like all of you, and I'm pretty shocked, just as shocked as everyone else. I didn't see this coming. I know I'd made some mistakes as far as rules go, but I really didn't think it would lead to this.

Well, that's why they're called 'rules' bud. Not to mention you broke a team drinking rule ... without being 21 yet. Hmm. That's not just a team rule, it's actually a law. But any how ... he pretty much ruined any chance (if there was any) of being welcomed back to the team by proceeding to whine about the whole thing:

I guess what better example to your team that you're serious than to kick off a player who's played a lot of games. To me, do I think it's justified? No. I love this team, and I wasn't ready to leave. I made a mistake or two since I've been here, but I didn't feel like I was a bad thing for the team, or any kind of bad influence. To me, it's unjust, to [Parker], maybe not.

Really, his best option would have been to have a brief comment saying he's upset about it, and he's sorry for breaking the team rules. End of story. Instead, he did not offer up one apology for his behavior. Sure, it's normal behavior for a regular college kid. But guess what? He's not a normal college kid. He's playing hockey for a Division I school, and he's drafted by an NHL team. He came off as big brat. Even if you feel that way, you don't publicly say it. A lesson in media relations I guess. You wouldn't hear a professional athlete say this (well, unless it's Sean Avery). Whether Parker was rash in his decision or not doesn't matter because Parker's reputation is better and more established than Saponari's.

Oh yeah, Saponari also said he's in contact with his 'people.' Give me a break.

Guess you'll have to party like a puckstar elsewhere.

Saponari Brothers Released from BU Terriers; Trivino Suspended

2010-05-04T12:40:00.000-04:00

My jaw dropped a little bit when I saw the news a few minutes ago. The Terriers have released both Vinny and Victor Saponari from the team. They have also suspended Corey Trivino.

College Hockey News has the article. It lists a bunch of incidents that led to the release including drinking on game nights. I have to believe the Puckstar video (see the below post) set this off. The timing is too coincidental, and the song was certainly not something Jack Parker would enjoy. All stupid things that could have been avoided.

The biggest loss here is Vinny. He's very talented and had a solid year, finishing with 30 points. He was going to be someone the Terriers counted on next season for sure. I'm disappointed. Don't like to see him go, but props to BU for holding players to its standards.

More to come as I get updates ...

BU Terriers: Party like a Puckstar

2010-04-29T16:08:00.002-04:00

Just when you thought the Beanpot Trot was bad, some BU Terriers (said to be Vinny Saponari and Corey Trivino) have come up with their own musical work.

They rapped and put it on YouTube. It's not rated PG by any means, so I'm guessing it will be taken down shortly. It's already made an appearance on Barstool.

Listen and enjoy. And try not to be too embarrassed.

Check Yourself

2010-04-28T08:27:00.002-04:00

You know how I always ramble on about how the post-season is different? Bret Hedican really summed up my thoughts:

I know it's cliché, but you need players who aren't worried about themselves or the stat sheet, but instead about the team, no matter what their role is. You have to have a group of guys that don't have the egos. You can't have egos in that room. When you walk through the door, you are all the same, no matter if you play five minutes or twenty-five minutes a night. Every one is just as important as the next guy because it's going to take every guy to win.

Will the Sharks Prove Everyone Wrong? Or ...

2010-04-20T16:15:00.001-04:00

Okay, I’ll just get it over with: Dan Boyle’s freak OT goal sucked for San Jose. A lot. Some say Ryan O’Reilly got his stick on it, but it was pretty much an own-goal.

Ouch.

People started talking about 'the curse' -- also known as 'choking'. The Sharks like the do it a lot. Then again, everyone brings it up whenever they lose a game.

I will say this though: there are signs this year that the Sharks might have a slightly better chance than usual. I look at guys like Devin Setoguchi who have stepped it up: the kid is playing like he’s on fire. Working hard, hustling, getting a ton of shots in, scoring OT winners. You get the picture. In Game 2, you saw this from others too.

This type of play is essential in the post-season. It’s why teams sign guys like Manny Malhotra. It’s when you need skill guys like Setoguchi to adjust to post-season play (like he has) and start getting physical and putting it all on the line.

That’s why you’ve seen the superstar line of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patty Marleau be basically useless. They’re pulling their usual postseason disappearance act (to be fair, this is Heater's first year with SJ). It’s sad because if these guys turned it on and stopped feeling like it should just click for them automatically, the Sharks would be the deadliest team in the NHL.

But they don’t. They have yet to adjust. The postseason is completely different. When you’re up against a young Avalanche team with nothing to lose and who is putting everything they have into it, you have to match that.

For example, you had some Sharks saying Game 2 was not a must-win. Okay – technically it isn’t. But that’s the exact attitude that gets them eliminated before their time each year.

Play-offs is about so much more than the regular season. It's about heart, sacrifice, will, unity .... the list goes on. And the failure for some players to grasp this is the reason why the Sharks have disappointed the past few years.

Should the Sharks make an early exit again, it's time Doug Wilson brings in the right guys ... and finds a new home for those that can't make that transition to the most important months in hockey.

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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-04-14T15:02:00.001-04:00

Ladies and gents, it's here ...

IT'S PLAY-OFFS TIME!!!

It seriously feels like Christmas. That excited feeling in your stomach that is just craving 7 o'clock. The battle to decide which games to watch and the anger of finding out one of them is a "JIP" game as Versus calls them (join in progress). Thank God for live streaming!

There's just no other time like the post-season. For over a month you invest all your emotions into your team. Competitiveness runs through your blood. Your heart races as time ticks down. And God forbid a Game 7 goes into overtime because that is just way too much to handle. You lose sleep because you stay up to watch the west coast games ... which proceed to go into three overtimes and before you know it your alarm is going off. But it's okay because it's the play-offs.

I had a taste of the Stanley Cup last year, and I want it again. Not to mention I'm still waiting for a Calder Cup after WBS has gotten to the finals three times in the past ten years with no luck.

The great thing about hockey is that with the post-season comes a clean slate. Anything can happen. The regular season is gone.

Let's rock and roll.

Mellon Arena: The Last Days

2010-04-08T16:35:00.000-04:00

Tonight marks the last regular season game the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh will ever see. Sure, it will get some play-off games in there, but this is the beginning of the end.

Despite growing up five hours away from the Igloo, I was able to catch a handful of games there. My first NHL games ever in fact. My family would stay at the Marriott across the street. Guys that walked through the lobby? Chris Chelios. Pavel Datsyuk. Steve Yzerman. Scotty Bowman. Just to name a few. In fact, I was squeezed up against Bowman in a crowded elevator.

I had awesome Igloo seats for the games I went to. I remember it clear as day: I saw the Colorado Avalanche, the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings. A few of the names I watched skate by me: Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Peter Forsberg. Al MacInnis. Brendan Shanahan. Alexei Kovalev. Robert Lang. Martin Straka. I was in awe.

I even got to see my Baby Pens play two games there dressed in Pittsburgh Hornets jerseys.

I'm big on nostalgia. I tear up when I know it's the last time I'm walking out of a rink for the season - let alone EVER. I ache a little when I think of the season ticket holders who have been going to the Igloo for years. After you watch 40+ games a year in a place, it starts to feel like home.

The Igloo is not considered a nice facility in this day and age. But I loved it. I loved that silver dome. I loved the smell. I loved being packed in with thousands of people. I haven't been there in years, but I'll miss it.

It's hard to let go, isn't it?

Frozen Four Detroit:

2010-04-08T12:55:00.004-04:00

The NCAA Frozen Four kicks off tonight at Ford Field in Detroit. About a year ago, I had my face buried in my hands as I watched my BU Terriers fall behind 3-1 to Miami in the championship game .... followed by the greatest 59 seconds of hockey I've ever seen when we tied it up and went on to win in OT. It was one of the greatest feelings. Funny how sports can do that to you, isn't it?

But now it's officially time to move on.

Miami-Ohio is back after becoming BU's victim last year in the final game. I love the type of team head coach Enrico Blasi puts together, and I wouldn't mind seeing them finally get their championship. They're still probably feeling the sting of last year's game. This would be a great way to redeem it.

Miami's opponent tonight is good, old Boston College. I'm not the best person to talk about them considering I hate them. The bottom line is they have a good team again. We'll see how they fair. In two of their last three games they gave up over six goals (6 and 7 respectively). Um, that's not that good. They gotta figure something out.

The Wisconsin Badgers. Who doesn't love Bucky the Badger? I've always been a Wisco fan (was THIS close to going there for school too); I probably like them more than any other team in the final four. Blake Geoffrion is the big name here. He's up for the Hobey, and he's pretty unreal. Count on him to do some damage.

And finally, the Cinderella team. Ah, how I love these types of teams. Following in Bemidji State's footsteps, RIT has surprisingly found its way into the semi-finals. RI-who? Yeah, I know. You'll love them though because there's no way not to. No scholarship players. No drafted players. Just a hard-working team who are riding a hot goaltender. They took out Denver and UNH -- no easy feat. They can do this. Will they? I don't know, but I kind of hope so.

One of my favorite college hockey writers, Ryan Lambert over at Puck Daddy, put together a little preview here. Although I can't say I agree with 'Jerry York is the best coach in college hockey.' That belongs to Jack Parker in my eyes. But that's because I'm absolutely biased, and I've had a closer look at how Jack interacts and helps his players grow. Regardless, the both of them together are a hard act for any coach to follow. But that was completely off topic.

Both games tonight will be shown on ESPN 2 starting at 5:30 with the Wisconsin-RIT match-up.

BU Boys Fly the Coop

2010-04-04T14:33:00.036-04:00

As NCAA teams close out their season, their top guns fly the coop. Come late March/April there's always an exodus of top Division I players to the pro ranks. Since BU's season came to a halt, five players have left.

+ Eric Gryba: Arguably the most loved Terrier over the past four years, Gryba signed with Ottawa. He is currently playing for Binghamton in the AHL. I imagine he'll spend awhile down there as he grows and finds his role - which I would guess is going to be that of an enforcer. His size and strength will benefit him in the long run. Once he finds his role and excels at it, I actually think he'll find himself in the show someday.

+ Zach Cohen: Cohen is coming off an awesome year. He was one of the top goal scorers and really just came into his own. He signed with Colorado making the Avs the official home of BU alum. He joins Joe Sacco, David Quinn, Brandon Yip and now Colby Cohen & Kevin Shattenkirk in the organization. Kieran Millan is also a Colorado draft pick.

+ Nick Bonino: One of BU's best players since he got here. Bonino signed with Anaheim a few weeks ago and has since been playing alongside guys like Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry. He already notched his first goal. If he keeps it up, it doesn't look like he'll be going anywhere. Even so, I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see him spend some minutes in the A next year.

+ Kevin Shattenkirk: Arguably the biggest loss for BU. Not surprised about his early departure at all. I'm pretty sure everyone saw this coming when he arrived. He's been excellent for BU. A class act if I ever saw one who will without a doubt be a fan favorite throughout his playing career.

+ Colby Cohen: I've had a love-hate relationship with this kid. The hate part mainly being that half the time I look at him he's whining. But he's been awesome ever since he's been here. I have no complaints, and I will forever owe him for scoring the game winner in the NCAA Championship game.

The only senior left to sign somewhere is Luke Popko. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for him. I'm sure he will get a shot with at least an ECHL team. The kid is a grinder. He's always out there hustling and working hard. His downfall is his size. He has to overcompensate for his 5-10" frame (and that's being generous).

So where does this leave BU? Well, they obviously took a hit. Losing those five players, they managed to lose five of their six top scorers. They're going to have to get a stronger year out of Millan. If he can revert back to his freshman year form, that will be a big plus. Guys like Ross Gaudet, David Warsofsky, Corey Trivino, Vinny Saponari and Alex Chiasson are going to have to lead the team. It looks like it will be another transition year for the Terriers. You never know though. That's the great thing about hockey. They could be surprising. We'll see how the incoming class is and what they bring to the table.

Best of luck to the boys who have moved on!

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Hockey in 3-D? I'll give it a shot.

2010-03-25T19:58:00.000-04:00

Talks about 3-D TV have been popping up here and there as television companies are planning to churn out TVs that allow you to watch programs in 3-D. My initial reaction was: eh. I don't necessarily want to watch every show in 3-D. It's cool, and I think it's incredible that TV's are evolving into that, but my eyes would hurt after awhile.

That being said, I think hockey can really benefit from 3-D. It's simple: I've met very few people that don't enjoy a live game, but hockey does not translate well on TV. It just doesn't. I can watch it because I practically live and breathe the sport, but for the casual fan or someone just sitting at home channel surfing, hockey is not very enjoyable to watch. The game is fast, and it can be hard to keep up with -- not to mention the majority of people I watch with who aren't solid hockey fans can barely find the puck. Games in 3-D can add more dimension (literally) and make it easier and more fun to watch.

Of course I haven't seen a hockey game in 3-D yet, so I can't say for certain that it will be better. But others can. The MSG Network provided the first ever 3-D broadcast last night for the Rangers and Islanders game. 2,000 people sat in the MSG Theater to watch it -- including Chloe Sevigny, NFL & NBA players and NHL greats like Mark Messier and Adam Graves. Knicks forward, David Lee, echoed exactly what I said in the NY Daily News: "There's nothing more fun than to go watch a hockey game live, but one of the question marks about hockey is that sometimes the speed of the game doesn't translate that well on television. [3-D], I think definitely gives a better perspective of the game, as if you're watching it live."

We'll see what happens. Obviously it will be a long time before everyone can watch any game in 3-D, but there is definitely an opportunity for the hockey here.

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600.

2010-03-22T08:30:00.003-04:00

Amazing.

One of the best scored his 600th goal last night.

Congrats buddy.

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Hockey East Semis: Do or Die for BU

2010-03-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

Big game for Boston University tonight - then again, every game from here on out will be a big game for the Terriers.

Tonight kicks off the Hockey East Tournament -- a tournament that BU has to win to make the NCAA tourney. They face off against Maine at 8 p.m. The Black Bears won the first match-up back in November, 3-2, only to fall to BU twice in a back-to-back series at Agganis, 7-4 and 5-2.

The game really could go either way. Both teams are pretty even record-wise as well. I think the game boils down to whether or not Kieran Millan decides to show up ... and that's always debatable.

Get Crosby for Cooke's Hit? Give me a break.

2010-03-18T13:32:00.002-04:00

I waited to get tickets to see my Pens play the Bruins because in the fall I had no problem getting cheap seats off of StubHub close to the game date. This time was different. This time there's a bounty on Matt Cooke's head, and everyone is getting into it. I understand why Bruins fans are angry. They have a right to be. But there's one thing that is really, really making me mad: the calls to go after Crosby. NESN's Jack Edwards called for this -- although no one is surprised about this because Edwards is out of his mind. The Herald also called for it.

Are. You. Kidding. Me.

Because that will really get you revenge!! Um, no. It will look sad, pathetic and immature. Like a spoiled brat who didn't get its way. Handle it like a man. Cooke knows what he has to do tonight. He will stand up to whoever wants to drop 'em, and he'll do the dance. Then everyone can move on, and the Bruins can focus on trying to make the playoffs after becoming pretty darn bad in the second half of the season.

I'm very protective of my boys. This game just got taken to a whole other level for me. Go Pens.

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Don't Leave Early To Beat Traffic

2010-03-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

The Bruins have had the best hockey commercials going for a little while now. They just released another one with a new warning. Take a look:

Dany Heatley Uncensored

2010-03-03T19:10:00.003-05:00

Meet OttawaGh0st. My new favorite YouTube Channel. These guys take interview clips - mostly of hockey players - and do their own voice-overs. I have seen a bunch of them probably five times each, and I burst out laughing every time. Can't even hold it in. It's pretty easy to tell they're all parodies, but one of my friends really thought Dany Heatley was giving the most obscene interview ever.

My favorite videos deal with Dany Heatley. They're not big Dany fans, so they really rail on him. I'm pretty anti-Heatley myself, but I have to imagine that his fans could have a good laugh at it too. The Brian Burke videos aren't bad either. Check them out. Here's one to get you started (Warning: the language is not PG):

Ron Wilson: No gold, no positives

2010-03-03T18:50:00.001-05:00

I realize I haven’t had the chance to talk about the gold medal game here. As a loyal USA fan, it hurt. A lot. I had a bad feeling going into it, but the tying goal with 20 seconds left gave me some false hope ... only to be crushed in overtime by one of my own: Sidney Crosby.

I finally knew what it felt like to be anyone who is not a Penguins fan. I understand why people dislike Crosby. He's really, really good. He is also a little bit of a bitch, but he’s MY bitch. I felt a sting of betrayal when he put in the OT game-winner. But what a story this kid is, hey? He’s won just about everything, and he’s only 22 years-old. It’s disgusting and awesome all at the same time. I’m glad he’s back on my side.

I pouted when the game was over. I'll admit it. I whined a little about how it would have been a much better story if the US won (I blame it on my PR side). But I recognized that Canada was an unbelievable team just like they were supposed to be. I also recognized that what the US managed to do throughout the tournament was unexpected and amazing. They were inspirational to watch. This young squad wasn't expected to be undefeated until the very last game in the Olympics. They surprised everyone and won people over. A silver for them is still an incredible feat.

So today when I came across a headline on my THN newsfeed that said, “Ron Wilson says there is no positive in gold medal loss for US” a giant record scratched somewhere in my head.

No positive in the U.S.’s gold medal loss?

Okay, I agree with Teemu Selanne when he says that the bronze medal is an easier emotional win because you actually win the game to get the medal. When you get bronze, it’s because you won. When you get silver, it’s because you lost.

But honestly Ron Wilson, how do you get zero positives out of coming up just short of the gold?? I can think of a few:

1. Um, you won the silver medal. This is pretty obvious. You could have finished dead last in the tournament or pulled a Russia and embarrassed yourself.

2. Your little underdog team turned out to be pretty darn good. So good that they went undefeated up until the very end. They worked hard and played well. They weren’t really supposed to be as good as they were.

3. The USA team captivated America. I had friends who could care less about hockey but were all fired up for the gold medal game and publicly displaying their support. By ‘publicly displaying’ I mean putting it as their Facebook status, but that’s a pretty big deal these days.

4. Ryan Miller. Zach Parise. Chris Drury. Brian Rafalski. Ryan Kesler. And so on…

5. The hockey was great. The first USA-Canada game was one of the best hockey games I’ve ever seen. Ryan Kesler’s empty net goal? Yes, please. Six goals in, like, ten minutes against Finland? Wow. Not to mention the gold medal game.

6. Millions of people tuned in to watch. 27.6 million to be exact. That’s just the NBC broadcast. Numbers haven’t been this good since the 1980 miracle. And the ratings weren’t only good for that game – 8.2 million people watched the first US-Canada game on MSNBC (second highest for the network ever). As an American hockey fan, I’m proud of that. I’m not saying there is going to be a huge new following of hockey fans in the States (because there wont’ be), but the ratings are something to speak of.

Those are just a few that come to mind. I know it’s hard to come that far, tie a game with 20 seconds left and lose the gold medal in overtime. I was heartbroken too. But that’s hockey. That’s what we love. As far as I can see, the positives outweigh the negatives.

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We. Want. Gold.

2010-02-27T19:59:00.004-05:00

Take any of us back two weeks ago, and we'd shake our heads in doubt if you said the USA men's hockey team would be playing for the gold medal. Canada and Russia were just too strong on paper to even think about anyone else.

But here we are. And the little Yankee boys are making everyone fall in love with them. They're working hard and getting things done. Upsetting Canada. Scoring six goals in like ten minutes. Not to mention goaltender Ryan Miller has been ridiculously good. They're so much fun to watch. Now the whole country is paying attention.

Sean Leahy over at PuckDaddy tweeted that tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of the 1960 men's hockey gold medal game. The "forgotten miracle" as they like to call it. Gives you the chills doesn't it?

I'm definitely more scared of Canada this time. A few days ago the US upset them 5-3 on their home turf. They're going to be angry. They're going to want revenge. They're going to want to prove to everyone that they are the best just like everyone assumed going into the tournament. They're going to be good. Really, really good. But I truly believe if the US sticks to its game and outworks Canada, they will succeed.

And America can fall in love with its hockey team again.

U.S.A.

Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

"We Know We Can Beat Anybody Now."

2010-02-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

Wow.

If you missed last night's USA-Canada game, you missed one of the most intense and exciting hockey games anyone's seen in awhile.

It was the most watched sporting event in Canada's history. The American boys left them silent.

Some people are saying it didn't even mean that much. But it did. These kids were passed off as a team in its 'building stages' for 2014. They beat one of the tournament favorites.

No, it wasn't a miracle.

It was a pleasant surprise.

It made Americans pay attention to hockey.

It made us proud.

Thank you.

Now bring us the gold.

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Terriers Lose Trivino For Season

2010-02-17T18:48:00.003-05:00

The Terriers swallowed another dose of bad luck when sophomore forward, Corey Trivino, fractured his right fibula during Saturday night's game against Maine. He's donezo for the year. Trivino had 15 points (4+11) in 28 games; considering the Terriers have struggled for scoring at various points this season, losing any amount of contribution is not a good thing.

You gotta feel for the kid; he battled an injury last year as well.

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AHL To Get Some Southern Lovin'

2010-02-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

Lots of news buzzing around the American Hockey League these days. Namely the two big items are the new additions to the league for 2010-11.

The Edmonton Oilers will shift their affiliate from Springfield to Oklahoma City. Say what? I'll be interested to see how the team does down there. I mean hockey is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of OKC. Nevertheless sometimes locations like that surprise you. In the meantime Springfield's president is determined to find another NHL partner in order to keep the team there for at least the next year. As if that wasn't enough for him to do, the franchise also has to work out a new lease for their rink.

The other snippet is that Carolina will be moving their affiliate, the Albany River Rats, to Charlotte. It makes sense for the Hurricanes; their affiliate will be nearby which will cut down on the amount of travel players will have to go through. But it also makes me sad. The Albany River Rats have been around for what feels like forever. They have possibly the worst name and the ugliest logo, but they're also a classic. The River Rats have also been really bad for a really long time, and now that they're finally getting decent, they're moving. Poor fans. Hopefully they can get another team in there. President Garen Szablewski is already working on it.

Kreider's Beanpot Goal

2010-02-09T14:21:00.001-05:00

Here's a clip of Boston College's Chris Kreider and his goal mentioned in the post below. Not sure Max Nicastro enjoys this one as much.

No Miracles This Time

2010-02-09T12:57:00.004-05:00

Down 4-3 with 2:46 to go, Boston University fans started to believe. Deficits don't scare us as much after what happened in last year's national championship game. But this isn't last year, and last minute miracles (or any for that matter) are hard to come by in '09-10. So I left the Garden a little heartbroken that my Beanpot career as a student comes to an end with a record of 2-2.

If you were to rewind back to the fifteen minute mark in the third, the score was 4-1 in favor of Boston College. I wish I could say it was ugly, but it wasn't ugly at all. The game was unbelievable. Kieran Millan was the best I've seen him all season. He had some remarkable saves, and you can't fault him for Chris Kreider's work of art early in the third. On the other side, John Muse looked better than I've seen in awhile too. If he doesn't stop Nick Bonino with 19 seconds left, the game goes to OT, and then I put my money on BU. There was Kreider's goal and Dave Warsofsky's shorthander. There were nail-biting third period penalties and more. It was just a really great game.

Quick recap in terms of scoring: The Terriers opened it up in the first with Kevin Shattenkirk's goal. BC responded with three straight: two in the second from Steve Whitney and Carl Sneep and one in the third from Barry Almeida. It looked like BU might be up to its old tricks with Warsofsky's shortie and Colby Cohen's goal late in the third. But that's where the scoring would end.

So, yeah. I didn't get to win my last Beanpot as a senior. But it was a great game, and it's still the best college tournaments out there. And I mean, we have to let other teams win sometimes. It's the nice thing to do .... ;-)

Linkage:
+ Keeping the lid on (Boston Globe)
+ Classics like this make familiar title game anything but stale (Boston Globe)
+ Honors roll in for goalie Muse (Boston Globe)
+ Quite the experience for freshman (Boston Globe)
+ Eagles pot 15th title (Boston Herald)
+ Jack Parker Praises Terriers (Boston Herald)
+ Bean-tossed (Daily Free Press)
+ [BC] Men's Hockey Wins Beanpot (The Heights)
+ Boston College Edges Boston University to Capture 58th Beanpot Championship (USCHO)
+ BC Goalie Muse Named MVP (ESPN)

Photo: AP, Winslow Townson

R.I.P.

2010-02-05T23:11:00.001-05:00

So, so sad. 21 year-old Brendan Burke was killed today in a car accident. Burke is the son of Toronto GM Brian Burke. He had been in the news semi-recently for coming out that he was gay. It breaks my heart that his life was taken from him so young. We're the same age. It hits you hard.

Count your blessings folks.

Rest in peace, bud.

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Quote Me

2010-01-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

"I’ve never been impressed when a guy brags about how hard he’s perspiring shovelling dirt back in a hole when he dug the hole."
- Brian Burke

See the entire transcript of the Burke interview with James Mirtle here.

The Babies Thus Far

2010-01-14T13:55:00.005-05:00

Each year during my month-long winter break, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have graciously managed to schedule in homestands -- as in I usually get to take in between nine to 11 games during that stretch. It gives me a good enough look at what type of group my #1 team is.

This year the Baby Pens are in the middle of the pack: 42 points in 39 games; good for third in the East Division. They're in a tough position this year because of division re-alignment. In order to make the play-offs they have to not only be in the top four of the East Division, but they also have to be better than the fifth place team in the Atlantic Division. Right now the fifth place team in the Atlantic is Bridgeport with 46 points; the Pens have three games in hand.

The best thing the Baby Pens have right now is their work ethic. Man, they work hard. I love teams like this. It's the type of team that can pull off some surprises in the post-season -- that is, if they can dig deep and find some scoring. These guys outshoot their opponents almost every game, but they cannot finish. Granted they don't have any Chris Minards or Jeff Taffes, but they are getting shots to the net. Their defense is pretty good -- I'd argue Deryk Engelland is the best player on the team right now. Goaltending is a little shakey. There isn't a high confidence level in John Curry or Adam Berkhoel (or the games that Brad Thiessen squeezed in while he was in the Dub-B). But at least they try. The only time I thought they looked lazy was six minutes of a second period against the ridiculously good Hershey Bears. It cost them the game.

So I love this team in terms of how hard they work. I'm always a supporter of the workhorse teams over the skill-based teams (:cough: San Jose :cough:). They're going to have to start generating more offense and allowing fewer goals to really give themselves a chance. Sounds like common sense, I know.

In terms of individual players and who stuck out to me, here are my thoughts:

Eric Tangradi -- What is eating Eric Tangradi? Seriously. People might say I'm being harsh. He's on a point streak afterall. But the only thing that has stuck out about him is his size. Maybe I got caught up in the hype that is Tangradi. He was one of the top players in the OHL and a highly ranked prospect. Getting him in a trade from Anaheim was a big deal. Tangradi currently has 15 points in 31 games (9+6). He was caught off-guard with a shoulder injury at the start of the year, so when I saw himover Thanksgiving break, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was still getting back into the groove of things. A month later it's time to get going. He's a bit slower than I thought he would be (I understand he's bigger so it doesn't look like he's skating as hard. Bottom line is, I don't care how big your strides are. You're either fast or slow.). He hasn't done anything breathtaking on offense. He scored a nice goal or two over the ten or eleven games I saw him. I still have high hopes for him. It very well could be an adjustment thing. Either way, people in Pittsburgh hoping he gets called up are going to be waiting for awhile. He is not ready.

Deryk Engelland -- Best player on the team. I'm making that argument now. I always feel comfortable with him out there. He's created a good reputation for himself by playing well. He's a good D-man who isn't afraid to be aggressive when he needs to be. He just does things that make you go 'Nice. I like that guy.' Class act, and I'm very happy to see how he's turned out.

Brian Strait - Okay so I'm obviously a bit biased towards a BU boy, but Strait's game has transitioned exactly the way I thought it would. Watching Strait for three years at BU, it was easy to see how smart of a defenseman he was. He's not going to score goals for you. Offense is not in his game. But he will always be in position. Plain and simple: he makes smart plays. He doesn't overthink things. He does what he's supposed to. Talk about solid. He has pleasantly surprised a lot of people in his first year pro. Not me. The kid will be just fine in his career.

Dustin Jeffrey -- Second best player on the team. Jeffrey has certainly evolved into an awesome player. He's fifth in the league in scoring with 41 points in 37 games (12 + 29). He's an AHL All-Star starter and deservingly so. The kid's on fire. He can score. He should easily be the next call-up to Pittsburgh should they need a center.

Chris Conner -- So tiny (listed at 5-8"). So fast. Can't finish. That about sums him up -- at least during the December-January stretch I saw him.

Joe Vitale -- The definition of workhorse. The kid battles the entire game. How can you not like him?? He knows his role, and he fills it well.

Tyler Spurgeon -- He found his way back on the Baby Pens' roster this season. Not one of the more talented guys on the team, but he NEVER stops moving. I like that.

John Curry -- It breaks my heart to say I think he can be doing much better. I LOVE Curry. I saw him perform miracles in college. Not to mention he has a GREAT story of being a walk-on at BU and working his way up from third-string to number one. He has two habits that seem to bite him in the ass sometimes: going down too early and playing the puck behind the net when he shouldn't. Don't get me wrong: Curry is not bad. He's just not what he could be. He's sitting on a 2.54 GAA and a .904 save percentage over 31 games. Eh.

Here's to hoping the Baby Pens have a strong second half. If they start getting some more goals, I think they'll be fine. If everything clicks and they get more goals & better goaltending? They can be dangerous. They have some work to do until then.

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Hit By A Truck? No Big Deal.

2009-12-08T15:11:00.003-05:00

Yet another example of why hockey players are the toughest athletes around:

Earlier today, Witt was hit by a car while crossing Arch Street in Philadelphia to grab his morning Starbucks when a Gold Yukon truck made an illegal left turn and struck the veteran defenseman.

Witt braced himself for impact and attempted to jump on the hood, where he was subsequently thrown off onto the ground from the force of the collision.

Several concerned onlookers making their morning commute gathered around Witt to see if he was okay. In true tough-guy fashion, Witt essentially dusted himself off, hurled a few obscenities at the driver and told everyone he was fine.

"I'm okay," Witt told the crowd. "I've got to go play some hockey. I'm a hockey player. I'm okay. No big deal."

He got hit by a truck and said 'No big deal.' And he's playing tonight.

That is legit.

Round 1: BC > BU.

2009-12-06T09:49:00.007-05:00

Prior to last night's BU-BC game, I made a prediction: If BU won that game, their season would turn around for the better. Yeah, about that ...

The first match-up of the year between two of the biggest rivals in sports (which made the front page of the Wall Street Journal this week) saw BC heading back down Commonwealth Avenue with a 4-1 win. The score is a little misleading -- BU arguably outplayed BC in the first two periods before falling apart in the third.

The Terriers had a bunch of offensive chances and spent a lot of time in BC's zone. Nick Bonino had a sick wrap-around goal in the second to go up 1-0. Then a puck deflects off of Kevin Shattenkirk's stick past an unprepared Millan to put the Eagles up 2-1, and things go downhill from there. After playing with a bunch of energy, BU just ... lost it. I mean literally there was a point in the third period where both teams were almost just standing around. Maybe the Terriers were tired. Maybe they were emotionally drained from working hard and ending up down 4-1. Maybe it was lack of heart. I don't know. What I do know is that they are a better team than what they showed in the third. The comeback kids just didn't have it in them last night I guess. It happens. It's just disappointing after seeing how well they played in the first two periods.

Part of the problem was the fact that sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan did not give his team a chance to win. Sounds a little harsh, I know. I usually have a huge soft spot for goalies, and I'm a big Millan fan. But what is with him? I have enough confidence in him to say he probably could have made saves on some - if not all - of the goals he allowed last night. When my friends and I are cringing at any fluttering shot towards the net in fear of it going in ... that's pretty bad.

Notes:

+ A 39-game streak came to an end last night: the Terriers had been undefeated every time Nick Bonino scored.

+ Dave Silk, Jim Craig, Mike Eurizone and Jack O'Callahan -- members of the 1980 Olympic 'Miracle' team and well known BU alumni -- took center ice for a presentation during the first intermission. So unbelievably cool.

+ Penguins' prospect Carl Sneep was one of the goal-scorers for BC. I guess if it has to be someone on the Eagles it might as well be someone I'll be cheering for in the future. But as my mom said, "He needs to wait until he's on the Penguins to score."

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Pens Fail in Beantown

2009-11-11T14:03:00.003-05:00

The injury bug is going around the NHL, and I’d like it to stop. Thanks.

I went to see my defending Stanley Cup champs play the Bruins last night, and it was one of the most uneventful games I’ve ever seen. There were three penalties the entire game – two of which came in the third period. No huge hits. Fairly even shots (29-27 in favor of the B’s). Lots of cruising around … la la la. I was wondering if I somehow ended up back in September or something.

The Bruins 3-0 win wasn’t as much them completely outplaying Pittsburgh as it was capitalizing on and finishing chances (which the Pens were unable to do). The two highlights of the game for me was Dan Paille’s breakaway goal and Fleury’s unbelievable save in the third period.

Both teams are dealing with injuries (as is the entire league). Pittsburgh took another blow when Brooks Orpik left the game early. That leaves them with about 75% of their roster injured (note: slight exaggeration).

A lot of Pens fans in the crowd too. I didn’t feel alone by any means. No hecklers minus a guy who told me the Pens are the Peyton Mannings of the NHL and some banter on the T ride home that played out as such:

Bruins fans: (chant) PENGUINS SUCK.
Pens fans: (Chant) STANLEY CUP.
:silence:
Bruins & Pens fans: YANKEES SUCK.

Everyone in Boston can always agree on that.

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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.

Photo.

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.

So the Hockey Gods Hate Me...

2009-06-01T09:19:00.005-04:00

This headline spells out one of the big reasons why the Red Wings are such a good hockey club:

Red Wings' Locker Room: Detroit has a 2-0 lead in series thanks to its unrecognizable players

When you have everyone on a team stepping up, you'll win a hockey game. For example, when you have a kid out of college scoring his first two NHL goals and a guy playing and scoring after getting his appendix out on Wednesday, that'll give you some extra jump. The Penguins can't focus on how Sidney Crosby isn't producing as much as they'd like; everyone else has to start making up for it. Depth is important -- especially when you're playing a seven game series in June.

Anyway, it's time for the Pens to move on from the past two games. The worst thing that can happen is that this gets to them mentally. They've been down two games before; no big deal.

Get it done boys. The hockey gods have been awful to me since they gave me a BU championship; but I refuse to lose to the Red Wings again.

The Beginning of the End

2009-05-30T16:29:00.005-04:00

Game 1 of the deja-vu Stanley Cup Finals begins tonight. This time I think my boys just might end up on the winning side. They look different than they did going into the Final last year. But Detroit is Detroit. We can't forget that.

We all know what's at stake here. The Red Wings either add another Cup to their dynasty and surprise no one, or two of the top three players in the NHL finally get their first.

But one huge elephant in the room is this guy:

We all know that everyone except for Red Wings fans are hoping this d-bag gambled wrong. How great would it be to see him lose after saying he was leaving the Pens for the Wings because he felt he had a 'better chance of winning' the Stanley Cup with them?

GO PENS. DO IT.

Quote Me

2009-05-28T19:12:00.001-04:00

I'm a big Crosby supporter, but even I have to admit this is hilarious:

I mean, for God's sake, right after Crosby picked up the Prince of Wales trophy, the officials actually gave the trophy a two minute holding penalty.

Props to Ritch over at American Hockey Fan for that one.

THANK YOU

2009-05-28T08:23:00.001-04:00

Big thanks to the hockey gods for letting Detroit advance and enabling the Stanley Cup Finals to start earlier than June 5.

Game 1: Saturday, May 30 Pittsburgh at Detroit 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 2: Sunday, May 31 Pittsburgh at Detroit TBD evening NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 3: Tuesday, June 2 Detroit at Pittsburgh 8 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Game 4: Thursday, June 4 Detroit at Pittsburgh 8 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Game 5*: Saturday, June 6 Pittsburgh at Detroit 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 6*: Tuesday, June 9 Detroit at Pittsburgh 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
Game 7*: Friday, June 12 Pittsburgh at Detroit 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS

Quote Me

2009-05-24T01:02:00.003-04:00

Is it just me or is Bobby Holik's retirement statement really touching?

"I'm done. I'm retiring. I miss being with my family every day. I knew when the season ended, but I wanted to leave and get home first, and not make a big deal of it. A player is what I was. Now I'm a husband and a father."

I felt that one. Enjoy retirement bud.

Photo.

Run Janne, Run.

2009-05-20T16:06:00.005-04:00

This is a funny headline: "Shero Says Pesonen Still Part of Future Despite No Recall."

Shero goes on to say, "Maybe with a different situation next year, he'll get a better opportunity [to play in the NHL]."

OH. Like maybe if you give him an actual chance instead of putting him on 3rd & 4th lines?? As much as I'd love to still believe that, I don't. Each time Pesonen was called up, he was shafted -- put with players who he shouldn't play with and then given no ice time.

I am telling you: this guy is for real. He was the best player on the Baby Pens this year. The guy sets up plays like it's no big deal. He has that natural hockey sense.

Run Janne. Run far away. Sign with a team that will appreciate you.

Photo.

Laziness-1 Effort-0

2009-05-20T15:50:00.004-04:00

Well, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton officially named Todd Reirden its head coach. Reirden had been filling in since Dan Bylsma took over in Pittsburgh.

All I have to say is WBS has the laziest hiring practices I've ever seen. Seriously. No offense to Reirden, but this team was not the same as when Blysma was in charge. That's not to say they did poorly -- they were just different. After Bylsma left, Reirden had a 14-9-3 record. Not too shabby. But they also lost first place in the division in the last week of the year to one of the worst teams in the league. It was one of their lower stretches of the year. Coincidence? Maybe. I was really hoping WBS would bring in a different head coach -- hell, even Michel Therrien (he's much more made for a development head coach job where there's constantly new players coming in and out). But I'm not surprised they didn't. They have always been too lazy to actually spend time to look for people to take open positions. Even the broadcasting position was given to an interim weather guy who makes you want to shut the radio off after about twenty minutes (sorry Stuccio). Seriously. You're a professional franchise. It's okay to actually take some time to find the best person for the job.

I don't believe Reirden is that person. I think he needs more experience. Then again, I said that about Bylsma when he was called up to Pittsburgh, and he turned out just fine. The difference is, Pittsburgh picked up when he went up there. WBS did not when Reirden took over.

Prove me wrong. Please.

Almost, Not Quite

2009-05-12T21:29:00.007-04:00

WBS just lost their first game seven they've ever played in. Prior to tonight, they were 4-0 in all-time game 7's. Now they're 4-1 after the Hershey Bears shut them out for the second night in a row.

If you ask me, this series came down to breaks. I only got to see Games 4-7. In Games 4 & 5, WBS had all the breaks. They were getting in the way of Bears' shots and just happened to find the puck on their sticks. The last two games were the exact opposite; Hershey caught those breaks. Sometimes it's just not your night.

The bottom line is Hershey was the better team. They were one of the best teams in the league during the regular season. They're aggressive, super fast and just a well-rounded team. Does that mean they're unbeatable? Of course not. But it means the Baby Pens had to work twice as hard to win; they played their hearts out in Games 3-5, and they just looked beat Monday and tonight. Playing four games in five nights isn't going to help either (I don't want to hear anymore complaining about having to go back-to-back nights from Pitt & Wash. We don't even have Yanni to empathize with us). But that's what it comes down to.

You really can't complain if you're a WBS fan. The Baby Pens have made the play-offs eight out of ten years. They have been to the finals three out of ten years. We are very, very lucky. Things could be much worse. I love this team. I'll reflect on the year in the next few days.

Good luck to the Bears. I always prefer the teams I lose to to win the championship. If I have to lose, I want to lose to the best.

The last thing I have to say is ... Pittsburgh fans, be nervous for tomorrow. (See why below). ;-)

SIETE

2009-05-12T14:36:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to point out something that's been amusing me: the Penguins & Capitals organizations are battling each other in two series right now (NHL & AHL) and the series have gone exactly the same way. The same organization has won the same games. WBS & Pittsburgh both battled back from 2-0 deficits to go up 3-2 and lose Game 6.

So are we safe to say that whoever wins Game 7 between WBS & Hershey tonight will indicate who will go home tomorrow in the Caps/Pens game?

Naturally that's just silly superstitious nonsense. But I believe it.

So if you're want a sneak peek at who's headed to the Eastern Conference finals, catch the AHL game tonight. You can listen in at www.theahl.com or go to this link right before game time to watch it live. Game time is 7pm.

Giroux is a P*ssy

2009-05-09T17:09:00.005-04:00

I'm back in PA for two weeks which means I can catch some Baby Pens playoff hockey. I live for the postseason in Wilkes-Barre. The crowds seem to get a little smaller each year, but they never get quieter. The rink was probably only 75% full last night, but it was rockin'. Part of the reason for that is because they gave out those Thundersticks. I passionately hate them, but they do significantly increase the noise level.

The Pens were ON last night in Game 4. With the exception of a few moments, they looked better than Hershey the entire time. They were getting the bounces and leading the rushes. Janne Pesonen had an unreal first game back with one goal and three assists -- and still failed to get the number one star of the game. How this guy is not playing in the NHL, I will never understand. I still believe he can be a sick playmaker in the show. We'll see I guess.

These guys can beat Hershey. They beat them 7 out of 10 times in the regular season. And I know I always say the regular season doesn't matter after mid-April (it doesn't), but they should at least realize they can do it. The Bears are good. Really good. They're fast, aggressive and don't stop coming at you. So hit them. Take away their speed. Tire them out. Don't wait because they won't allow you to.

On a side note, just think -- Simeon Varlamov could have been the Hershey goalie in this series. Yikes.

Game 5 is tonight at 7.

Other Notes:

+ After Alex Ovechkin's hit on Sergei Gonchar last night, Pittsburgh called up Alex Goligoski. This doesn't bother me one bit. I don't know if he just needs more development or if he plays better in the NHL or what, but Goose just does not full-on impress me yet. He has these little tendencies -- turnovers being a big one (namely two in this series that cost his team goals) -- that drive me nuts. I still want to see what he'd be like as a forward. He's an unreal skater with a great shot.

+ Joey Mormina and his greasy mustache might also be out of the line-up tonight after being hit by one of Hershey's biggest d-bags in the 3rd.

ATTENTION

2009-05-07T17:57:00.001-04:00

FINALS ARE DONE.

Blogging will resume! :-)

Quote of the Day

2009-05-01T13:37:00.004-04:00

In the last couple of weeks here I had my lip split open, my chin split open, I got stitches in my eyelid and I got hit so hard in Game 6 that it actually knocked one of my false teeth out. And I loved every minute of it.

- Brendan Shanahan

This made me think of the Celtics-Bulls game the other day when Miller got hit in the mouth and took about 20 minutes to get back on the court.

Hockey is the toughest sport.

Period.

Goodnight Sharks

2009-04-28T01:32:00.006-04:00

The San Jose Sharks just choked. Bad. Like really bad. All I have to say is this:

+ Joe Thornton was worthless. This series actually made me dislike him. It's a shame really because the guy lights it up during the regular season. But until he figures out how to lock it up in playoffs, I don't want him on my team. I'd rather have guys like Max Talbot who bring even more to the table than just points.

+ The saddest thing is watching a team give up. That was San Jose in pretty much the entire third period (I didn't get to see the rest of the game due to VS screwing me out of it by playing a 'bonus' game). I truly do believe that anything can happen in the game of hockey. BU overcame a 3-1 deficit in 59 seconds. Carolina scored a winning goal with .2 seconds left. It was beyond possible for the Sharks to tie -- if not win -- that game. But they didn't believe it. And that's what hurt them the most. If you don't believe in yourself, how do you expect to get anything done?

+ Give me a break with the penalty with one second left. I don't care how obvious it was. So annoying.

+ I've never been a Jeremy Roenick fan, but my heart goes out to him. How can a guy retire after a team playoff performance like that? Stick it out one more year buddy. Hopefully San Jose will make some necessary "adjustments" and make it right next season.

+ Everyone will be pointing out how the Sharks blew it, but you have to give credit to the Ducks. More specifically you have to give credit to Jonas Hiller. One key ingredient to a successful playoff run is a hot goaltender. Hiller is the definition of that right now. I can't really even describe how well he played.

+ Would things be different if the Sharks PP showed up when the Ducks kept giving them chances? Well it certainly wouldn't have hurt.

+ All that regular season success isn't providing much comfort for the Sharks and their fans right now. Just goes to show facing some adversity during the regular season isn't such a bad thing.

Now back to rooting for Anaheim in the West. They've always been my second favorite (after Pittsburgh), but this series had me torn. The Sharks really grew on me this year. Their time will come. It just wasn't now.

Fail of the Week: San Jose Sharks

2009-04-24T12:36:00.004-04:00

I've been staying up late this past week to watch San Jose's season slip away way earlier than anyone expected. They're down 3-1 even though the Ducks are right out tempting the Sharks to score by giving them an endless supply of power plays.

I'm really starting to see San Jose's problem. They're individuals. I have nothing but love for the Sharks, but they just don't have it this year. Sure they want to win the Stanley Cup -- but as a team or as individuals? A lot of those guys are playing to score goals for themselves, not for the team. I'm not saying every guy on that team is like that; but a handful who are can ruin it for everyone. Maybe the whole "best record during the regular season" thing got to their heads, but a regular season record is meaningless in the post-season.

This is one of the reasons why I love playoffs. They expose things like this and bring out the true teams. Playoffs are a time when you band together. There are no "core players." There is no leading scorer. There is no one person responsible for a win or a loss. There is a group of guys working, sweating and bleeding together as one unit to accomplish one goal: getting their hands on the Cup.

Unless Todd McLellan goes Herb Brooks on his boys, I think the Sharks are donezo. Even if a miracle happens and they make it out of this series, they will not win the Cup.

But hey, I'm open to be proven wrong.

Definition of Hot

2009-04-20T01:03:00.003-04:00

Seriously.

Source.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-04-17T19:26:00.005-04:00

I have found my favorite series of the first round:

Granted I've only seen Pitt/Philly, Boston/Montreal and Chicago/Calgary, but the Sharks/Ducks game last night made me eager to watch some more. I waited through the Hawks game (thank you for scoring 11 seconds in OT) for VS to jump in just in time for the second period. I stayed up until one in the morning to see the finish (yes, that's late for me when I have class in the AM).

Here's my game thoughts:

+ Hello hits. I felt sore just watching those two teams throw the bodies around. Ryane Clowe was an animal out there.
+ Anaheim is the better 'playoff' team. They just are. You know a playoff team when you see one. They just have all the elements needed -- like Boston. It goes beyond skill. A successful playoff team has a little of everything. Can SJ lock it up or will they choke? How they respond in Game 2 will say it all.
+ Ducks really need to cool their love for the penalty box. Took way too many penalties and fortunately San Jose's power play was completely ineffective. As I always say though, taking penalty after penalty will catch up with you.
+ Hiller. I hate to see Giguere sit because I have all the respect in the world for the guy, but Hiller is hot right now. So important for the postseason.
+ Anaheim held Thornton to one shot. No other words needed.
+ The only time I heard the Shark Tank get quiet was towards the very end. The rest of the time they were very loud. That's awesome, but clearly their team didn't respond. For a Sharks team that was so good on home ice, losing the first one when you have home ice advantage is not so good. Anaheim's already in a good spot coming out of NorCal with at least one win.
+ My team above anyone else is the Penguins, but I will openly admit that I love Western Conference hockey.

Other series Notes

+ The Bruins & Canadiens are a close second for my favorite series. The score was tight up until the end. Gotta give one huge shout-out to my most hated player in the NHL, Josh Gorges, for taking a penalty and costing his team the game. Nice job bud! You're a winner.

Photo Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

AHL = Fail.

2009-04-13T14:15:00.002-04:00

Just took a look at different play-off schedules when I noticed how ridiculous the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' schedule is. Check it out:

Fri 4/17 @ Bridgeport (Played in Long Island)
Sat 4/18 @ Bridgeport (Played in Long Island)
Sun 4/19 @ WBS
Wed 4/22 @ Bridgeport
Fri 4/24 @ WBS (if necessary)
Sat 4/25 @ WBS (if necessary)
Sun 4/26 @ Bridgeport (if necessary)

Where do I even start? For one thing, you have them playing the first three games in three nights AND the last three games in three nights. So much for rest. I understand this is the minor leagues, but no other series in the AHL has to do this twice. Hershey/Philly is the only other series that does it once. Peoria & Houston might end up with one but apparently they don't know when half of their games are going to be played so it's still up in the air.

Secondly, they play THREE of the first FOUR in Bridgeport. Technically the first two aren't "in" Bridgeport -- they're in Long Island. So I don't know if they're taking that into consideration along with scheduling or what? It just doesn't seem too fair. At least do the 2-3-2 format if you have to.

I guess we'll see. Nothing you can do about it now. I like seeing the Pens play on April 25; they have very good play-off history on that date -- including the Game 7 OT thriller vs. Bridgeport where they came back being down 3-1 in the series and the triple OT game vs. first place Binghamton the following year.

And They Lived Happily Ever After

2009-04-12T14:53:00.005-04:00

Wow.

I'm still in disbelief at what I saw last night in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game between Miami and BU.

It's really hard to put into words. It's one of those things you just have to see. You won't believe it if you read it.

The game last night was one of the best hockey games I've ever seen. One of the tons of writers who covered the game said it was one of the best moments in Boston sports history and compared it to the Red Sox being down 3-0 in the series and coming back to beat the Yankees. It was THAT good.

The game was incredibly fast paced. I've never seen end-to-end action like there was between these two teams. I was practically out of breath watching them. BU got on the board first, but Miami tied it up in the second. The RedHawks shut down BU for pretty much the entire second half of the game. The Terriers just couldn't get any chances in. That's a huge credit to Miami. They played the type of hockey they needed to, and they were physical and very fast while doing so. With 7:30 to go in the third, Miami scored; they notched another one with 4:08 left to make it 3-1.

I'm not going to lie. At that point my confidence was shot. I've seen strange things happen in hockey games, but BU was just not getting any chances to begin with. And here they found themselves down two goals with four minutes left?

I clasped my hands together and just waited. Jack Parker decided to pull Kieran Millan with 3:32 to go. A bold move, but what did they have to lose? The clock kept ticking down ...

And then came the miracles.

BU scored with 59.5 seconds left. It was 3-2. And then with 17.4 seconds remaining, they tied the game.

See? I told you you wouldn't believe it. It was the most incredible final minute of hockey I've ever seen and probably will ever see. It's been BU's story throughout the play-offs: last minute heroics. They found a way to do it against UNH, Vermont and now Miami. You can credit it to talent or skill or whatever you want -- but there is an astounding amount of resilience in those boys that enables them to do this. Any team could easily give up being down 3-1 with four to go. But they didn't. And they were rewarded for it.

It might sound weird to say this, but OT was nothing compared to that final 60 seconds. Kind of like the 1980 Olympic team -- their big moment was against Russia, but they still had to go on and win the gold medal. BU played very well in OT and got the winning goal in a similar fashion as how they got key goals in the past two games -- off an opponent. Colby Cohen shot a puck that went off of a diving Miami player's shoulder and strangely into the net. Looking at the replay, it had to be fate that it was going in.

And that was that. The Boston University Dream Team were officially the 2009 National Champions.

Some other things I'd like to point out about the game:

+ BU should be thanking their lucky stars -- or everyone on their penalty kill unit -- for that game. They've had a problem with discipline all year, and they took seven of them last night. Way too many considering they were only give two power plays. I have to question a referee calling a late-game slash on a team he called six other times and is down 2-1 with a championship on the line, but that's another story. If Miami didn't go 0-for-7 on the PP, the game could have been completely different.

+ Millan looked a little nervous again tonight. I don't blame him. He's 19 years-old playing in his first year in a national championship game. Both teams had freshman goaltenders, but Cody Reichard is 22 years-old.

+ I didn't buy into the whole "Miami is such an underdog" story. It was way overplayed, and the RedHawks showed that last night. They looked extremely good out there -- better than BU for half the game. People kept pointing out how they had never played in a championship game ... but none of the players on the BU roster had either. I understand the history is deeper, but history is history. Now is now. Miami has played over .500 hockey since 2005-06. They made it to the tournament last year; BU didn't. I understand the Terriers were ranked number one for a large part of the season, but I wasn't at all surprised to see Miami in the final alongside them. They're a good hockey club. Their head coach even pointed out how their senior class has won more games in the past four years than any other.

So there it is. I woke up this morning and realized it wasn't just a dream. I've been watching hockey for quite awhile now, and I have never seen a team like this. I don't know that I ever will again. In any league. From the chemistry right down the pure skill. Is this what it's like to be a Detroit Red Wings fan?

BU is a big school. This isn't BC. It's not a closely-knit campus with pretty buildings and grassy areas. It's a busy city street with an extremely diverse culture where everyone has something different going on. It's not easy to bring everyone here together. But this game did. I saw kids who don't even know what hockey is cheering them on. Students who had never seen a hockey game in their lives. It was the one time I've seen this stretch of Commonwealth Avenue united. People were cheering in the streets. The T was honking down Comm Ave. This is Boston's school.

The only sad part about this whole thing is that it's over. I came to school at BU in the fall of 2006. Chris Higgins, Jason Lawrence, Matt Gilroy, John McCarthy, Brandon Yip ... they were all sophomores back then. To see what they've developed into three years later is awesome. BU loses a huge crop of talent including Colin Wilson. He will be in the NHL next year. He's ready. We'll miss all of them. But they have very bright futures ahead of them. Each one. (And I'm hoping Pittsburgh grabs a few. They have a knack for Boston boys)

Maybe we should say a quiet thank you to Jack Falla, the hockey loving author, BU professor and Sports Illustrated writer who passed away unexpectedly in September, or Meryl Starr Herman, an avid supporter of BU hockey who died that same month. It certainly seemed throughout the entire season that they had a little extra help from someone up there.

2009-2010 will certainly be a little bit of a transition year. The good thing is, they have a great freshman class right now with guys like Millan, Dave Warsofsky and Vinny Saponari. You'll get another year out of Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk (maybe two more), and hopefully Brian Strait will stick around too. There is a lot to look forward too. But why even bother looking to then. What happened last night was one of the greatest games in hockey. It took 59 seconds to teach everyone the important lesson of not giving up. I'm going to enjoy for a long, long time. What a season.

Burn the boats, boys.

For more recaps, photos and video visit: USCHO, College Hockey News, Terrier Hockey Blog.

Photo Credit.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

2009-04-11T23:52:00.005-04:00

If you saw the last minute of regulation of the 2009 NCAA National Championship game, you sure do believe.

Recap coming tomorrow. I'm still in shock.

Photo Credit.

One More To Go

2009-04-10T18:49:00.004-04:00

The Boston University Terriers have a knack for finding ways to win. They did against Maine in Game 1 of the first round of the Hockey East tournament. They did so against UNH in the Northeast Regional final. And they did so last night in the Frozen Four semi-final game against Vermont.

And here I was getting nervous because they were losing with eight minutes to go. What was I thinking?

BU scored two goals in the final seven minutes to beat UVM 5-4 and proceed to the National Championship game. It was a fast-paced game that saw the momentum swing from team-to-team. BU kicked things off early, scoring two in the first, but Vermont came back with three unanswered goals in the second period. It was only the second game of the year where I saw Kieran Millan off his game. He probably wants two or three of the goals he let in back. Maybe it was nerves. Who knows. Whatever it was, hopefully he shakes it off for the next game.

Parker called a time out after UVM's third goal, and whatever he said sparked the Terriers because they played an awesome next few minutes. It eventually paid off when they made it 3-3 before the end of the second. Vermont scored the go-ahead goal with about ten minutes remaining in the third. Then the late-game heroics came out as BU tied it with a goal off of a UVM stick and the game winner with about five minutes left. Amazing.

I can't believe six months after the season started, I'm saying the Terriers are going to play for the championship. It's surreal. I feel sorry for all the students out there who missed out on this team. You won't see another one like it anytime soon. As Northeastern coach, Greg Cronin, said "They're the best professional team in college hockey."

BU plays Miami-Ohio (who sadly beat the Bemidji Cinderellas 4-1 yesterday) in the final game. It will be on ESPN at 7 pm. Make sure to check it out.

Also: The Hobey Baker presentation begins in about four minutes at 7pm on ESPNU. GILROY GILROY GILROY.

Photo Credit.

Frozen Four Eve

2009-04-08T20:53:00.002-04:00

The Frozen Four is upon us ... and I am nervous. I know I predicted BU making the FF at the beginning of the year, but it's still surreal to see them there. They have a legit chance of winning this thing, but their match-up against Vermont tomorrow is going to be far from easy.

I remember too well the back-to-back losses Vermont handed the Terriers in the fall at Agganis. It was their first two home losses, and they dropped to 8th in the nation after that. The Catamounts play the type of hockey that can stifle BU's offense. They block shots, they play the trap ... they just get in the way to the point of where it's frustrating. But that's what they should do. That's what they will do tomorrow night, and BU will have to find a way to solve it. The Terriers are going to have to get as many shots on net as possible. Being physical will help too. Throw some hits out.

Goaltending is going to be huge in this game as well. Rob Madore is awesome; I credited him as one of the main reasons Vermont won those games. On the other side of it, Kieran Millan just came off an unbelievable game against UNH.

This game is worth watching, so make sure you turn on ESPN2 at 8:30 to catch it. BU is the favorite in the Frozen Four, but I'm telling you anything can happen. If BU shows up, gets in a flow and does their thing, they will win. But we saw them fail in doing just that against Vermont twice this year.

Some quotes regarding tomorrow's game:

"The senior class, we just took a little bit of extra time in the locker room to be sure that talking to the younger guys, you know, you don’t take this for granted. You might not get this chance again, so definitely bring your A-game."
- John McCarthy

"When you’re the No. 1 team during the regular season, you can get the other teams jacked up that you’re playing. There’s the immediate gratification of, ‘Hey, we knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation.’ I don’t think that has anything to do with this tournament, because nobody’s trying to knock off the No. 1 team. Everybody’s trying to become the No. 1 team. There’s no advantage to being the underdog, because it’s more important to be the champion."
- Jack Parker

Fingers crossed.

As for the other game of the evening, I'm going with Bemidji State over Miami. The Bemidji Cinderellas are on fire right now. When you get on a streak like that in the play-offs, you don't stop. That game will be on ESPN2 at 5:30.

Source.

The Penguins <3 Hockey East Goalies

2009-04-03T18:26:00.007-04:00

Pittsburgh signed Northeastern's Brad Thiessen to a two-year contract today. I didn't really see this one coming, but as a Pens fan, I support it. I've mentioned how much I like Thiessen numerous times. He stood out from the first time I saw him play three years ago. The Hobey Baker finalist's career stats as a Husky were 52-46-12 with a 2.40 GAA, a .922 save percentage and eight shut-outs. I'm really interested to see how his play translates into the pros. To be honest, I don't think finishing his senior year would have hurt him. I don't think he'll have a major problem transitioning, but goalies always take a little more time to mature. One more year would have only helped him develop more.

Northeastern takes a big loss with this signing. I really feel they owed a lot of this season's success to him.

Thiessen will join former Hockey East goaltender, John Curry, in Wilkes-Barre. Does this mean Curry might end up as Pittsburgh's number two next season? Could be. Some scouts in the Pitt system have said he's ready a number of times. Curry played well in the NHL action he saw this season, so maybe it is possible. If not, he could end up mentoring Thiessen in WBS.

And is it just me, or does Pittsburgh just love signing goaltenders as much as possible?

Photo Credit.

Hobey Baker Watch

2009-04-02T17:02:00.003-04:00

Just a quick blip here today --

The Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists were announced today, and BU has two guys in the final three: Matt Gilroy and Colin Wilson. Northeastern's Brad Thiessen is the third. All Hockey East boys -- another thing pointing to how strong HE is in the NCAA.

I vote for Matt Gilroy to get this award. He has a great story -- from losing two younger brothers, to barely making the Terrier squad and now being one of the best players in college hockey (check out the NYTimes piece on him here). He does so much for BU both on and off the ice. Any professional team will be lucky to have him. That's not to take away from Colin Wilson who was arguably the best player in the league this year. There's just something about Gilroy though. It belongs to him.

Brad Thiessen is a viable candidate as well. He's done a lot for Northeastern, and I think the program owes him a lot. He's unbelievable. Looking at the three finalists though, I just don't think this is his year.

Capturing Heartbreak

2009-03-31T17:44:00.002-04:00

You have to check out this unbelievable frame-by-frame shot of BU's game-winning goal against UNH. It's heartbreaking to look at the kid's face right as he's watching it go in and then once it is actually in. These photos were shot by Melissa Wade who does some awesome hockey photography.

Now For the Hard Part ...

2009-03-30T13:38:00.002-04:00

I'm still smiling about my October prediction of BU going to the Frozen Four (see below post), but let's talk about last night's game against New Hampshire. Realistically speaking, the Terriers should not have won that game. But what has been realistic about this entire NCAA hockey tournament? Pretty much nothing.

BU controlled the first period of the game, going up 1-0. After that, it was all UNH. They held BU to four shots in the second, and the Wildcats were just all over the place. Really dominated. Thank God 75% of their shots went wide. I cannot say enough about Kieran Millan. Without him, the score would not have been so close. I'm still shocked at his unbelievable glove save in the third period. I'm hoping someone puts it up on YouTube.

As always, BU found a way to win -- even if they didn't technically "score" the game-winning goal. James VanRiemsdyk takes a penalty with 47 seconds left, and with fifteen to go, Jason Lawrence shot a puck across the crease that ultimately ended up going in off a UNH player's arm. My heart goes out to that kid. How awful does he feel right now?

BU is heading to the Frozen Four for the first time since 1997. Unreal. So excited. They play Vermont in the semi-finals. I'm still bitter over the back-to-back losses they handed the Terriers back in the fall.

The guys over at PuckDaddy had this to say about the upcoming Frozen Four:

When the teams get to Washington DC, it looks like the Terriers are going to steamroll whoever is foolish enough to oppose them. They're the best team left by far. They have the best forwards, the best group of defensemen (maybe in NCAA history) and above-average goaltending. And they're playing a third seed, then the winner of a game between two four seeds. If they don't win, it will be due to a UNH-style bed-crapping of proportions so epic as to be worthy of Homeric remembrance.

Then again, stranger things have happened. Like every other result in this tournament.

So true. Anything can happen. Vermont showed this season they can beat BU, and I mean, who would have predicted the Bemidji State Beavers would be going to the Frozen Four???? Those guys are on fire. It's going to be a good last leg of this tourney.

Intuition

2009-03-29T23:43:00.004-04:00

All I'm going to do right now is take you back to my post on October 11, 2008:

BU won that game against North Dakota 5-1. They're now heading to the Frozen Four.

I'm smiling.

More to come tomorrow.

Regional Madness

2009-03-29T12:40:00.004-04:00

I feel sorry for everyone out there who isn't watching the NCAA college hockey tournament. Seriously. It has been filled with exciting games and upsets galore. For example:

Denver and Michigan lost to their lower-seeded opponents Miami and Air Force. Vermont beat Yale. Cornell beat Northeastern with 15 seconds remaining. UNH came back from being down 5-3 to tie the game with .3 seconds left and win in OT. Similar to that, Minnesota-Duluth was down 4-2 with a minute left, scored two goals with the goalie pulled and beat Princeton in OT. The team that no one's really heard of, Bemidji State, took out Notre Dame 5-1. The Irish were #2 in the nation I believe. I wasn't all that surprised because Notre Dame has a tendency to fall short after having a stellar season. Overrated? Judge for yourself.

BU was the only number one seed to advance to the regional championship, and they did so pretty nicely. They won 8-3. The hockey world kept pointing to Ohio State's youth (and they are young: 20 underclassmen or something like that), but BU has quite a crop of young players too. In fact, some of the Terrier freshmen and sophomores are their best players: Colin Wilson, Vinny Saponari, Dave Warsofsky, Colby Cohen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nick Bonino, Kieran Millan, etc. That said, BU did look like the more experienced team. The Buckeyes showed some bright spots though -- especially when BU let up a little bit and got sloppy.

So the bracket now looks like this:

The BU/UNH game could go either way. UNH gave BU their first loss of the season back in the fall, but BU has beaten them the last two times they played each other. The key is whether or not BU will bring their A game. When they get on a roll, they're set. They will win. But they tend to fall back into reactive hockey sometimes and that hurts them.

Will Bylsma Stay?

2009-03-26T12:00:00.007-04:00

Someone wrote into the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with this statement:

I would like to think that general manager Ray Shero will take the "interim" label off of the "head coach" title Dan Bylsma holds, given the success the Penguins have had since he was chosen to replace Michel Therrien. The team has really responded well to Bylsma's coaching style and he seems to have developed a special chemistry with the players. What else is Shero looking for? Are there any indications that he plans to keep Bylsma, and do you think he should name him (the permanent) coach before their first playoff game?

Bylsma has done a good job for Pittsburgh, but here's why he might not be named permanent head coach: because Todd Richards is going to get it.

Remember him? He was the head coach of the Baby Penguins prior to this year until the San Jose Sharks hired him as assistant coach. He got the Baby Pens to the Calder Cup finals, but above that Richards is one of Shero's guys. Winning the Stanley Cup this year wouldn't hurt his chances either. Call me crazy, but I can definitely see this happening. Then again, it all depends on how Bylsma finishes out the season/post-season. I also don't know what the contract situation is for Richards in San Jose. Those things aside, the move could definitely happen.

Thought of the Day

2009-03-25T13:40:00.006-04:00

Just wanted to toss this out here: the more I read about quotes from various Pittsburgh Penguins' players about the post-Therrien period, the more I'm truly starting to believe they threw some games to get him outta there. They were going to do it last year (before they realized some things), so why not this year? Maybe they felt that was the only way to get him out of there. They never liked him, and it wouldn't be the first time a coach was fired that way.

I really, really, really hope that's not the case because the thought of it makes me furious. But I would in no way, shape or form be surprised.

Edit:I was just reading this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and this quote from Sidney Crosby also angered me:

At times before he got here we could all look around the room and see guys who could give more than they were giving ...

You know what? Shame on them. In my eyes, that blame falls straight on the guys who weren't doing what they're capable of. You are professional athletes. You won't find sympathy from the people who don't get to live out their dream of doing the same thing. You won't find sympathy from the people who pay a ridiculous amount of money to go to these NHL games and support their favorite team. Grow up.

I might have to expand on this in a bit.

My Own March Madness

2009-03-22T17:59:00.006-04:00

Forget NCAA men's basketball. It's time for NCAA college hockey tournament. BU goes in as the number one overall seed. There are four first round regionals that feature four teams. The winner from each regional moves on to the Frozen Four in Washington D.C.

Here's a look at the bracket:

There's some good match-ups there. I'm interested to see the Northeastern-Cornell game -- and BU-OSU of course.

Here's the TV schedule:

March 27:
Air Force v. Michigan 3:00 on ESPNU
Miami v. Denver 4:30 on ESPN2
Vermont v. Yale 6:30 on ESPNU
Princeton v. Minn-Duluth 8:00 on ESPNU

March 28:
UNH v. North Dakota 2:00 on ESPN2
Cornell v. Northeastern 4:00 on ESPNU
BU v. Ohio State 5:30 on ESPN2
TBD v. TBD 6:30 on ESPNU
Bemidji St v. Notre Dame 7:30 on ESPNC
TBD v. TBD 8:00 on ESPNU

March 29:
TBD v. TBD 5:30 on ESPNU
TBD v. TBD 5:30 on ESPNU
TBD v. TBD 8:00 on ESPNU

April 9:
TBD v. TBD 5:00 on ESPN2
TBD v. TBD 8:30 on ESPN2

April 11 (NCAA Championship Game):
TBD v. TBD 7:00 on ESPN