Who Are These Guys?

BU Continues to be Consistently Inconsistent, Runs Over UMass 6-2

Well that was different.

The Terriers decided to show up at Agganis Arena against UMass in a big way, beating the Minutemen handily and wire to wire, 6-2.

Ross Gaudet continued his stellar sophomore season with two more goals to lead the way for the Ice Dogs.

Gaudet Postgame 

Plenty went right for BU in this one, so let's get to it.

U-G-L-Y

Why Can't the Terriers String Together A Decent Little Streak?


A night after what could have been a signature win over Boston College at Conte Forum, the Terriers returned home to face Hockey East leading UNH.  

It wasn't pretty.

BU didn't even join the party until the third, and even then they couldn't match the level of play from the Wildcats.  UNH came out on top with the 4-1 win, but it could have, and probably should have, been much worse for the Ice Dogs.

After the game, Jack Parker talked to The Boston Globe:

“I don’t want to take away from how well [UNH] played, but I thought we absolutely stunk.   It’s obvious to me that leadership is lacking. Our juniors and seniors had horrible nights. I thought we had a pathetic emotional effort. Our team was not ready to play. It’s a sad statement that our team, that my team, cannot seem to get themselves mentally ready to play a hockey game. They’re so easily satisfied or it just isn’t that important to them.’’

Ouch. But to be honest, that's exactly how it looks from the stands.

Win one big game, let up.  Lose an ugly game, get pumped up.  Repeat.

That's the kind of formula that is sure to get the Terriers bounced from Hockey Play in very early March, if they're even still in contention that late into the season.

Even on an extended 6 on 3 opportunity, the Terriers couldn't throw Brian Foster (35 saves) off of his game.

Only Chris Connolly, who actually skated pretty well in this game, was able to beat Foster with a goal mid-way through the third.

Well, now I'm just disheartened.

Colby Cohen: Eagle Slayer

The Boston Globe

Colby Cohen with another tremendous overtime goal to win a huge game and get two enormous points for the Terriers.  I don't believe it. 5-4 win for the Terriers.

The comeback trail continues for the Terriers in 2010.

GRYBA SMASH!

Even His Teammates Aren't Safe
From The Daily Free Press

"A half hour into the Terriers’ hour-and-a-half session, senior defenseman and assistant captain Eric Gryba responded to Victor Saponari slashing his stick in half by ripping the junior forward’s helmet off and throwing him to the ice.

Junior defenseman and captain Kevin Shattenkirk jumped on Gryba before the 6-foot-4 bruiser could do any more damage. As Shattenkirk held him back, Gryba continued to yap at Saponari. BU coach Jack Parker put an end to it by kicking Gryba off the ice.

After a half hour in timeout, Gryba returned to the ice. He continued to hit anything that moved, which isn’t unusual –– Gryba always brings the same aggressiveness to practices that he brings to games.

On one particular drill, he knocked senior forward and roommate Zach Cohen to the ice with a forearm shiver. Cohen responded by taking a run at the already irritated Gryba at the opposite blue line. After a couple shoves and some jawing, the longtime friends dropped their gloves, discarded their helmets and began exchanging punches. Each landed a couple blows before associate head coach Mike Bavis broke them up."

I absolutely love it.  When this team has been disappointing, as they were against Providence last weekend, it's been because of a complete and utter lack of fight.  They played sloppy, lazy, uninspired hockey and it killed them.  They didn't seem like they cared about being on the ice, or the fact that their season was slipping away.

But even when things were at their worst for the Terriers, the one guy who you knew had it in him was Eric Gryba.  We've teased him a bit on this site for his propensity to take penalties, but at the end of the day I will take Gryba's intensity and willingness to lay it all on the line over almost anything else.

That's what makes Gryba such a huge fan favorite.  Every game he goes out there and leaves it all on the ice.  Sometimes it lands him in the box, sometimes it knocks a guy on his ass, and once in a while it ends up with Gryba tussling with teammates in practice.  But all it really means is that Gryba is bringing another level of intensity to the ice all the time.

This fire is important for the Terriers team that needs to win this week, and the players understand that the roughness is all part of the game.

Also from the FreeP:

"Senior forward Luke Popko, who also rooms with Gryba and Cohen, made light of the fights.

'I thought we had a good ballroom dancing class before practice,' he said. 'I’ll have to beat them both up tonight, I guess. I’m sure they’ll be sitting around playing video games like they always are. What happens out there usually doesn’t translate to off the ice.'"

Hopefully it will translate to the ice tonight against BC.  Gryba may have lit a fire under this team that could use a bit of fight.  Gryba is a complete baller.

Speaking of which, go buy this shirt!

THE HOCKEY SHIRT -- FACEBOOK LINK

Know Your Enemy: The Rivalry Edition Part III

Rubber Game, Set, Match


BU and BC are set to meet for the third time this year, on their third different ice surface.  First Agganis, then Fenway and now Conte Forum.  The teams are tied at one, and barring a Beanpot Final matchup or Hockey East Playoff game, this will be the rubber match for the Rivalry 2009-10.

From BCEagles.com

Nobody has skated opposite the Terriers as much as the Eagles have, a ridonculous 248 times.  The Terriers lead the all-time series 124-107, with 17 ties thrown in.

College Hockey News

The Two Teams Last Met At Fenway Park

So what should the Ice Dogs expect when they head down the Green Line tonight to face the number 10 team in the nation?

The Ultimate Rivals

YORK: 833 WINS

PARKER: 823 WINS

HEAD TO HEAD

                               124 WINS                      

107 WINS

IT'S ON

Ayla Brown Was At Frozen Fenway?

Ok, so one quick note now that Scott Brown and his hot daughters are the toast of the town.

Did anybody realize that Ayla Brown, super hot senatorial daughter, sang the National Anthem at Fenway Park?  Because I sure as hell didn't.  I didn't even know who she was until I heard her on the radio and TV hating on Coakley for her negative ads.

The Boston Herald

Like what you see?  Luckily, she's an eligible bachelorette.

I vow to pay more attention to the anthem from now on.  Sorry I missed ya, Ayla.

Getting Closer...Sort Of

We haven't done a poll update in quite some time for obvious reasons.  BU went from top five to zero in no time at all.

But now there is an interesting little twist to the polls.  BU is seventh in Hockey East, which makes them the first in Hockey East to miss out on the national poll.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

January 18, 2010

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Denver	(39)	14-5-3	989	1
2	Miami	(11)	15-4-5	957	2
3	Wisconsin		13-6-3	863	3
4	Minnesota-Duluth		16-7-1	795	10
5	North Dakota		12-7-5	654	4
6	Yale		10-4-3	651	5
7	Colorado College		13-8-3	641	8
8	Ferris State		16-6-2	633	6
9	Cornell		9-4-3	573	9
10	Michigan State		15-7-4	563	7
11	Boston College		12-6-2	554	12
12	St. Cloud State		14-7-3	523	14
13	Union		13-4-5	485	13
14	Bemidji State		15-5-2	435	11
15	Massachusetts		14-8-0	310	19
16	New Hampshire		10-7-4	220	20
17	Vermont		11-7-2	185	18
18	Lake Superior		14-8-4	118	NR
19	Mass.-Lowell		12-9-2	97	15
20	Maine		11-9-2	83	16
Others Receiving Votes: Michigan 52, Quinnipiac 47, Minnesota 30, Alaska 20, Notre Dame 19, St. Lawrence 2, RIT 1

BC at  11, UMass at 15, UNH at 16, UVM at 17, UML at 19 and UME at 20.


The Terriers are knotted up in Hockey East with Vermont at 12 points, but it's the "Against the Rest" section of the standings that keeps BU out of the nation's best.


BU is the first Hockey East team out, and they're also the first Hockey East team with an under .500 record.  


At 7-10-3 overall, BU has the second worst record overall in the conference, outpacing only Mack (7-12-0).    Northeastern (9-11-1) and Providence (9-10-1) both sit behind BU in Hockey East but ahead of the Terriers overall.

So make sure you take a closer look before you get too excited about hopping into the Top 20.  It's still a long, long way from reality.

Turn Off Your High Beams

We're Headed to Conte Forum


With the first BU BC matchup of the year at the Newton Hellhole coming up this Friday, it only seems fair that we look back at my personal favorite moment in Conte Forum history.

The Daily Free Press

Back to December 1st, 2006. A night that will live in infamy.

As myself and hordes of other Terriers' fans made the trek on the green line down the road to Boston College, we expected to see a hockey game. But that's not what we got. We bore witness to a clownfest.

Apparently the people in charge of the facilities at BC don't know that ice is cold. Because of this oversight, they didn't utilize the arena's air conditioning system. On an unseasonably warm day, it got hot as balls inside the hellhole, and, well the ice melted.

Without sufficient cooling and a melting ice surface, the water turned to an incredibly thick fog. From the stands there was zero visibility, and from the ice it was apparently just as bad.

As Parker told the FreeP, "I said [to referee Scott Hansen], 'What are you gonna do here? This is getting dangerous. My goalie says he can't see the puck,'" said BU coach Jack Parker. "[Hansen] said 'I don't blame him, I can't see the puck either.'

Oh Hansen, you clown.  You and Tim Benedetto are the bane of my existence.  This is what happens when you screw us.

Take that as a warning, Scott.

Anyway, the ice melted, and we all had to go home.  What a shit show.

So for this Friday, I have this message for the facilities manager at BC:  ice is cold.  Take notice.

Sean Sullivan Is an All-Star

Oh Captain, My Captain!


Former BU captain Sean Sullivan is one-step closer to making it to the NHL.

Sully will play in tonight's AHL All-Star Game thanks to his monster year with the San Antonio Rampage.    So far this season Sully has 8 goals and 21 assists in 39 games.

The Boston Globe

Sullivan got a Phoenix Coyotes sweater earlier this season, but he never got to take the ice.  At 25 years old, he's still got some time to break through.

For now he will get to enjoy a slightly bigger stage tonight in Maine in the AHL All-Star Team, representing the Americans.  Apparently the AHL still does USA vs the World in their all-star game.

Sully also competed in the AHL Skills Competition last night alongside (gasp) Nathan Gerbe.  I feel sick.

The Globe has a great story on Sullivan's selection to the All-Star Game and his road from Comm. Ave to this point.

The game will be on NESN tonight at 6PM.

Around Hockey East: January 18

After a hectic weekend with a full slate of Hockey East action, let's take a look at the standings.

Hockey East								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA		W	L	T	GF	GA
New Hampshire	14	9	2	3	21	55	39		10	7	4	73	70
Boston College	15	9	4	2	20	55	35		12	6	2	72	53
Massachusetts	15	9	6	0	18	48	46		14	8	0	74	66
Maine	15	8	6	1	17	47	42		11	9	2	78	69
UMass Lowell	14	6	6	2	14	45	41		12	9	2	73	55
Vermont	13	5	6	2	12	37	43		11	7	2	64	60
Boston University	15	5	8	2	12	46	50		7	10	3	61	68
Northeastern	16	5	10	1	11	36	56		9	11	1	54	66
Providence	13	4	8	1	9	26	38		9	10	1	48	53
Merrimack	12	4	8	0	8	41	46		7	12	0	63	69

HOCKEY EAST ONLINE

Luckily for the Terriers, the middle of the Hockey East field is wide open.  Even better for BU, they'll have a chance to take on the top two teams in the conference next week, facing BC on Friday and UNH on Saturday.

Let's go around the league and take a look at how things went this weekend.

The Huskies snapped a four game UVM winning streak with a 3-1 victory over the Catamounts on Friday in Vermont.  However, the Cats bounced back in ridiculous fashion with a 9-2 thrashing of Northeastern the next night on the strength of a Brayden Irwin hat trick.

Providence capped off a huge weekend in Hockey East play with an impressive 3-2 win over Maine, thanks largely to the second big night in a row from Goaltender Alex Beaudry who made 37 saves.  That's 65 saves on the weekend for the PC goalie.  

That loss was the end to an ugly weekend for the Black Bears, who also lost on Friday night in Newton to the Eagles.  BC was all over Maine, winning 6-1 behind a strong effort from goalie John Muse.

UMass Amherst plowed over UMass Lowell two nights in a row, winning 3-2 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday.

New Hampshire beat Dartmouth in a non-conference game, 5-2.

Points Roundup:

UMA: 4 points

PC: 4 points

NU: 2 points

UVM: 2 points

BU: 2 points

BC: 2 points

UML: 0 points

ME: 0 points

UNH: 0 points

Mack: 0 points

Sexy Rexy and his Loveable Band Of Clowns Get it Done

J-E-T-S Advance to AFC Title Game


Since we do pledge to cover "Anything Else Relevant in the World of Sports" in our site's banner, I feel we'd be remiss if we did not mention the New York Jets' stunning upset win over the Chargers in San Diego.

I knew the Jets would keep it closer than most people were saying they would, but I had no idea they could actually pull it off.

Rookie Head Coach, Rookie Quarterback, Rookie Running Back, Second Year Tight End.  AFC Title game.

Check out the highlights with the Radio Broadcast Calls from the hometown announcers, because that's the only way to truly feel the game as it should be felt.

A few thoughts on the game after the jump.

Beating The Bottom Feeders

BU Better Than The Worst

It's amazing how excited I was last night watching the Terriers fight and claw their way to a victory over the lowly Merrimack Warriors.  But I was.  And the whole crowd was.  And while every win is a big win at this point in the year for BU after such a dismal start, let's remember to temper our enthusiasm a bit when we look back at this one. 

Boston Herald

Mack Sat on BU For Two Periods Last Night

Merrimack hasn't won a game since December 4th, when they beat equally ugly Northeastern.  They've lost nine out of their last ten games.  They are now officially in last place in Hockey East.  They can't score, and their goaltending is mediocre at best.  Simply put, besides a flying Frenchman, they are back to their old Merrimack Warrior Ways.

And despite all of these things, the Terriers struggled to stay with Merrimack through two periods last night.

So is this win something for BU fans to get excited about?  Or should we realize that in a weekend when BU dropped a game to Providence, they very nearly lost on home ice to Merrimack, they showed a slew of flaws?

The Year of Colby Continues

Cohen Leads BU to a Bounce Back Win

2010: The Year of Colby Cohen

Colby scored two more goals, bringing his 2010 total to four goals, and six for the season.  Another very strong game for the defenseman who has finally realized his potential.  He's made me into a believer.

The Terriers won 6-4 over Merrimack on Agganis Arena's 5th Birthday on the strength of another big night for Colby.

Vinny Saponari had the heads up pass of the night, sending a no-look behind the back back-hand pass through the crease on BU's first power play to set up Colby Cohen to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead early on.

Grant Rollheiser got another win in another mediocre performance in net, but no matter how you get the win, it counts for two points in the standings.

It was a back and forth game, and it got very chippy in the second period, but the Terriers found a way to hold on.  Much more on a very important win soon.

Know Your Enemy: The "Five Year Anniversary" Edition

Well folks, tonight is Agganis' birthday.

No, not Harry, the Arena.  And it's five years old.

What better way to celebrate than with a resounding bounce back win over a below average Merrimack team?

Yeah.  Those clowns.

Well, That Was Horrible

So Much For Bouncing Back

A week after a statement win over the BC Eagles at Fenway Park, The Terriers of Boston University fell flat on their face in Providence against the last place Friars.  

Let's get one thing straight first of all.  If you want to be a good team, you beat the bad teams.  No excuses.

Presumably, the Terriers would like to be a good team.  Their efforts against UMass and BC indicate that fact.  However, if you saw the game last night on NESN, (I know you weren't at the game, because only about 5 people were in attendance) then you know that BU looked like the last place team, not Providence.


But with a loss to PC, BU finds themselves just about at the bottom.  Going into tonight's games, BU is tied for 7th place with Vermont with a whopping 10 points.  BU has played two more games than the Catamounts.  The Terriers find themselves two points up on tonight's opponent, Merrimack (BU has played 3 more games than Mack) and three points up on The Friars (BU has played 2 more games than PC).


So you truly can make a legitimate case that BU is the worst team in the conference.


But the loss to Providence and even missing out on two points isn't the worst part of last night's game.  It's the incredible lack of urgency and energy from the Terriers.  Whether it's a Frozen Fenway Hangover, a renewed cockiness after a couple of wins, or the fact that BU flat out isn't that good, they were a slow and sloppy hockey team last night.


Perhaps the most concerning element of this game was the lack of punch on the power play.  After whopping Amherst with the new reverse umbrella power play formation, and functioning with it against BC, the Terriers came up empty on the man advantage last night, going 0 for 8.  That includes a full minute of 5 on 3 in which the Terriers failed to record a shot, and struggled to keep the puck in the PC zone.


BU recorded 29 shots on goal, but that can't tell the story of the seemingly dozens of blasts the Terriers sent wide of the cage.  The Friars stood tall in the shooting lanes, and BU refused to adjust.  Instead of cycling the pass down low, the Terriers continued their ugly passing and couldn't force PC out of their comfort zone.

Even when they did make a play down low in the Providence zone, the Terriers couldn't finish.  David Warsofsky pulled PC goaltender Alex Beaudry out of position and out of the crease.  David wrapped around and sent the puck in front of the net to Bonino, who was staring at a wide open net.  But even from about four feet away with an empty net, the Terriers offensive star could not convert, clanging a shot off the iron. 


Start to finish it was an awful effort by BU.  And those types of games happen.  But good teams put them in the past.  Bad teams let one bad game leak into the next, and before you know it, there's a trend of atrocious play on your hands. 


Tonight could show us what kind of resolve this BU team has.  Will they show up?  Or will one lost effort become two?

It's a Trap!

In what I suppose can be called a trap game, BU stunk up the joint against the last place Providence Friars in Rhode Island.

It was an uninspired, ugly, lackluster effort by a team that seemed to be on the turn around trail.

BU dropped the game 3-1, but to be honest, it seemed worse than that.  They didn't have any energy until the third period when they finally realized they were about to lose to Providence, and even then their game plan seemed to be to fire the puck from the blue line and hope for the best.

Ross Gaudet scored.

We'll have plenty more on this disaster of a game before tomorrow night's home game against Mack.

Know Your Enemy: The "Beat the Priests" Edition

Seriously, you didn't think I was going to waste my time with a full post on this game, did you?

Providence is in last place.  If BU doesn't beat them, we have a problem.

These are the kind of people we are talking about.

Seriously though, I don't even want to dignify this game with a post.  It's not a lack of me caring.  It's about me caring way too much.  I care too much about my time to consider the possibility of them dropping one to the basement dwellers of Hockey East.  I refuse to believe it.

Watch the game tomorrow night on NESN.  Lock it up.  BU is on a roll.

Terriers Win Frozen Fenway

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have A Winning Streak

BU defeated the BC Eagles at a snowy, cold Fenway Park last night to win the much hyped Frozen Fenway contest.

It was a great atmosphere and an even better game, with BU sneaking away with a 3-2 victory. 

BU and BC both wore custom jerseys for the game, and as you can see on Ross Gaudet below, the Terriers' sewaters were modeled on a Red Sox uniform, with stenciled lettering in the Sox font, and with Red Sox skates on each arm.  You really couldn't realize how cool each team's jerseys were until you examined them more closely, so you should definitely check out some of the photo galleries for a closer look.

College Hockey News

David Warsofsky and Joe Pereira each returned to action, Warsofsky from the World Juniors and Pereiera from hernia surgery, and each celebrated their return with a goal.  Freshman Wade Megan had the game winning goal in the second period for the Ice Dogs.

Mark Hendrickson of USCHO hated it, but we'll get to that a little later on.  As a fan, and not somebody whose job it was to cover the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Perhaps I would have felt differently if I had to be there, as Mr. Hendrickson did.  As I said, we'll look at that side of it later.

Kieran Millan played a solid game in net, especially late in the game to hold off a furious BC attack.  We'll have plenty more on this huge win for the Terriers, but for now here are some cool links from the game.

Game Stories from USCHO, College Hockey News, ESPN, GoTerriers, WTBU Sports, The Daily Free Press, The Boston Globe, and The Boston Herald.

Photo Gallery From Frozen Fenway -- GoTerriers, The Boston Globe, College Hockey News, and the Boston Herald

Kieran Millan Postgame Interview -- ESPN

David Warsofsky Postgame Press Conference -- ESPN

Matt Gilroy From Fenway Park During the Game -- ESPN

BU Power Play Key to 3-2 Win over BC -- The Boston Herald

The Spectacle of Frozen Fenway -- WTBU Sports

Wake Up With Frozen Fenway Links

The day has finally arrived.

After almost a year of anticipation, and months of (official) waiting, BU BC at Fenway Park is here in a matter of hours.  It will be cold, snowing and it will be glorious.

So to get you ready, let's go around the internets and bring you all the stories about tonight's game.

ESPN -- David Albright examines how the element of playing outdoor adds another wrinkle to an incredibly important game for the Hockey East rivals.

Boston Globe -- Nancy Marrapese-Burrell looks at how getting back outside is getting back to basics for some of the players and coaches from the two schools.

Boston Herald -- John Connolly looks at both parts of Friday's double-header.

NESN -- Michael Hurley discusses the historical element of the college game going outside.

NESN -- Tom Caron has a nice feature on Jack Parker and Jerry York adding yet another great story to their incredible life-long rivalry.

BCEagles.com and GoTerriers.com have their full previews of the game. 

GoTerriers -- As always, Scott Weighart has a great feature story about what this game means to the Terriers' players, from Gaudet to Gryba.

USCHO -- Brian Sullivan fills us in on an alumni game at Fenway Park that none of us saw, but we all wish that we did.

FreeP -- Scott McLaughlin of the Daily Free Press explains why this game is about much more than Boston Bragging Rights.

WTBU Radio -- Chris Aliano has a full gameday preview of Frozen Fenway.

It All Depends on This

Why Frozen Fenway Could Determine the Fate of BU's Season


There are many points of a team's season that you can look back on when it's all over and marvel about how it changed the course of history.

Last season two consecutive losses to UVM at Agganis lit a fire under a Terriers' team that didn't get cold again for the next five months.  Two nights that changed the way a team looked at itself, and impacted the way they would play for the rest of the season.

This year, that turning point, for better or worse, will come tomorrow night when BU takes on its biggest rival in the great outdoors under the lights at Fenway Park.  The Terriers are attempting to re-invent their 2009-10 season after a horrific start, and just one 7-3 victory has an undeniable buzz around the program.

A victory over the Eagles in a game that gets national attention could springboard the Terriers toward another National Championship run.  But on the other hand, a loss, which would be BU's second of the year to BC, could be the final straw that breaks the Terriers' back.