Uphill Battle

Terriers Fall Victim to Whistles, Friars in Tough Loss

Let's get one thing straight.  A loss is a loss.  It doesn't matter how you lose, how many penalties are called against you, or how badly you wanted to win the game.  A loss means no points.  You can rationalize it all you want, and complain about everything in the world, but it won't change the fact that you lost.  No matter how you want to shake it out and figure out a would've should've could've scenario, the Terriers lost to the worst team in Hockey East last night.

There is no doubt in my mind that BU is a better team than the Providence Friars, and on most nights the Scarlet and White would, could and should come out on top.  There is also no doubt in my mind that for whatever reason, they were absolutely hosed by the zebras last night.  Maybe Colby Cohen wronged officials Jack Milea, Tom Fryer, Paul Scleparis and Andrew Weber in some way during the week.  It really doesn't matter.

Truly great teams stare in the face of adversity, and they knock it on its ass.  They battle through bad calls, they stay mentally tough, they kill the penalties, and they win the game.  They take the 12 penatlies, they understand that they are skating uphill, and they dig a little bit deeper and they find a way to win the game.

The Terriers could not do that last night.  They realized that they were on the wrong side of some bad calls, and it got in their heads.  They started chirping at the refs, and they couldn't turn the frustration and the anger into positive energy.  It tore them down, and they surrendered three power play goals in the final 21 minutes of play.

There will be people who use the penalties as an excuse for the loss, but that's not the way to approach this game.  The Terriers know the situation they're in, and going into the game last night, BU was still in a position to make a run up the PairWise Rankings and into an at-lare bid in the NCAA's.  It's not the time of year for excuses, and it's certainly not the time of year to lose to a team that has only beat ONE TEAM BESIDES YOU SINCE NOVEMBER!

Providence was an unbelievable 2-13-1 in their past 16 games going into last night.  One of those two victories came against BU.  The Friars are an abortion of a hockey team.  And they have blocked the Terriers from four points in the past two months.  It is unacceptable, and it is a strong indicator that the Terriers lack the mental toughness of a true champion.

Providence had 26 goals in their last 16 games before last night.  That's 1.63 goals per game.  The Terriers allowed them to push five pucks over the line last night.

Providence has scored that many goals just once all season long, when they defeated Bowling Green 8-3 in October.  BOWLING GREEN GIVES UP 3.81 GOALS PER GAME!  THEY ARE 5-22-4!  THAT'S THE CLASS THE TERRIERS ARE IN!

Just three times this season (including the Bowling Green game) have the Friars even scored  four goals. They do not score.  Plain and simple.

But last night, the Terriers allowed them to score five times.  As a fan and a follower of this team, I do not want to hear how BU got robbed by the referees last night.  I want to hear how it was a poor effort, and what they will do to fix it tonight. 

No excuses.  Play like a champion.