Quote Me

"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

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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Photo 2.

Hit By A Truck? No Big Deal.

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.

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

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.

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.

....

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

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

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?

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.