Know Your Enemy: The "FRANCE SUCKS!" Edition

BU and Mack to Play Two This Weekend

The roles have been reversed, and BU is the bottom dweller now, looking up at an upstart Merrimack team.  Thanks in large part to......Paris, France???

Damn right, France sucks! 

What can BU expect when they go head to head with The Parisian Prince and the rest of the Merrimack Warriors this weekend?

The phenom du jour in North Andover is Stephane da Costa.  The kid is electric, and besides putting points on the board, he's making the folks over at Merrimack a bit confident.  Da Costa came out of nowhere to burst on the scene as the top rookie in Hockey East in the season's opening month, an October highlighted by a ridiculous five goal outburst against Army.  Included in that game was a natural hat trick.  In his second collegiate game ever. 

Look at the kid.  Burning a hole in the back of your skull with that stare.

To be fair, besides the Army game, da Costa has not scored a goal for Mack.  Despite that, he has been productive offensively, assisting on a goal against UConn, and helping on two more in Mack's win over BC.  There's no doubt that he's got the Mack fans fired up about their team.

I'm personally very excited to see de Costa play this weekend.  I don't know if he'll quite live up to the hype I've created for him in my own brain, but in a way I hope he does.  BU fans hated to see the Terriers try to find a way to contain JVR and Nathan Gerbe, or to desperately try to find a way to score a goal on Kevin Regan, but those ultra talented players make it that much more exciting to go to a game. 

Look for him wearing uniform number 24 this weekend.

Da Costa is only the second leading scorer for the Warriors, however, sitting behind junior forward Chris Barton, who has 12 points through his first 8 games this year, including 8 goals.  Not bad for a player who had just 19 and 23 points in his freshman and sophomore years respectively.

Barton is one of the captains of the Warriors, and seems to be thought of as more of a John McCarthy type player than the explosive goal scorer he is emerging as early this season. 

Barton's goals have been in big games.  He scored in Mack's victories over BC, UConn, and Holy Cross.  In addition to that, he scored the game winning goal in the Warriors' signature win of the season to this point, leading his team to a huge win over then #7 Vermont.  Whether or not Barton scores this weekend, chances are he'll have a significant impact on the games.  As Coach Mark Dennhy told the Boston Globe, "We know he’ll score more but it’s what he does away from the puck, it’s what he does on the backcheck, he’s one of our penalty-killers, he truly leads by example."

Speaking of Dennehy.....

Dennehy has mad the rounds in Hockey East.  He grew up in Dorchester, and had the "honor" of playing his college hockey at Newton U.  After playing abroad briefly, Dennehy returned to Hockey East to become an assistant coach with UMass.  Eventually, he would spend five seasons as the right hand man to Coach Toots Cahoon in Amherst.  So essentially, he's a Parker disciple.  Who isn't? 

This is Dennehy's fifth season at Mack, and he is hoping to make the playoffs for the first time ever as a head coach.  He's got a shot at it, especially if BU and Northeastern continue to play like....well, like Merrimack.

The game Friday is at Merrimack, which means a return to the scene of Jack Parker's 800th career win.  When Parker reached that milestone in North Andover last season, there were more BU fans there than Warrior fans.  That, apparently, will not be the case this time around.  I'll believe it when I see it. 

Lawler During the First Intermission of  a Hockey Game

Patrolling the pipes for Mack this season is a two-headed monster of Joe Cannata and Andrew Braithwaite.  The early results are fairly inconclusive, but Braithwaite has a slight edge in GAA and save percentage.

Braithwaite was the unfortunate recipient of some tough luck in his first three years at Merrimack.  He won just 10 times in 41 attempts, despite posting GAA's of 2.38 and 3.08 over the past two seasons.  This year, he's 3-1 for the Warriors. 

Final note:  these games are a tremendous hecklig opportunity.  BU fans should go after every opportunity to scream and yell at Mack forward Joe Cucci.  This needs no explanation.  His freakin' name is Cucci.  As in Coochi Coochi Coo.  Get him.
 
I can't believe I'm saying this, but this should be a very entertaining weekend of hockey between Mack and BU.  God, I hope I'm wrong.