Tonight your #1 Eagles go in search of their second straight Beanpot title when they face Northeastern at 7:30. The senior class is looking to wrap up their 3rd pot o beans in the last 4 tries, while Northeastern is looking for their first championship since 1988. It should be a very good game with plenty of great storylines, but its also the first of three straight this week against the Huskies. Lets take a look at how the teams match up:
Northeastern is a middle of the pack Hockey East team who has hit their stride of late. Gone is the team that lost three straight to Atlantic Hockey foes earlier this season. Coach Greg Cronin has his guys skating as one now, and its starting to pay off. Defense and goaltending has never been a problem for NU, as they are #2 in Hockey East in goals allowed (behind BC). Chris Rawlings has been stellar in net, and he covers quite a bit of it (6-5 210). BC could have some issues scoring tonight, as they have struggled in their last two outings to get the puck in the net.
Offensively, NU relies on their top line for most of their scoring, lead by seniors Wade MacLeod and Tyler McNeely. They account for 23 of the teams 67 goals (34%) this year. As mentioned earlier, BC leads the league in goals allowed, and will try to make it tough for these guys. John Muse has been an animal in the Beanpot, with a career 6 wins in the tournament, and he has been on fire of late, surrendering only 2 goals in his last 3 starts.
As an added bonus, former BC recruit Cody Ferriero plays for NU. He left BC before the season even started, claiming BC wasn't physical enough for him. Tonight, BC can show him that physical doesn't always translate into titles. There is also no love lost here between the fan bases, as Northeastern kids get up for games against BC, and Eagle fans can all remember the embarassing arse-whupping NU handed BC in 2009 (6-1 final in the first round of the Beanpot). Look for this game to again come down to the wire, with BC icing the win with an empty-netter late to kill NU's chance for a Beanpot breakthrough.
Prediction: BC 4 NU 2
This can serve as a preview for the entire week, as BC and NU face off twice this coming weekend as well, Friday at Conte and Saturday at Matthews Arena. It should be a great week of hockey for the two rivals. We'll have a breakdown later this week as well as another round of tournament projections, where Merrimack is making a push for a #1 seed.....
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Exciting Beanpot win and climbing the polls
Monday night, BC won a thriling game over BU 3-2 to advance to the Beanpot finals. This is an important win for the Eagles, as it moves them to the finals of this tournament and it moves them up in the pairwise as well. In addition, BC has never lost the Beanpot and won a national championship, so there's that to ponder as well....
As far as the polls go, BC is still your #1 team, followed by Yale. The Eagles were near-unanimous #1, save for a few single votes to the Bulldogs, Minnesota-Duluth and UNH. Funny enough, the Wildcats are actually the leaders in Hockey East right now, but trail the Eagles in all of the polls. Other Hockey East foes appearing in the polls are the aforementioned Wildcats (6/6), Merrimack (11/11), BU (14/14), and Maine (18).
USCHO
USA Today
As far as tournament projections go, here is what the field of 16 would look like, based on today's PWR:
1 Yale
2 Boston College
3 Minnesota-Duluth 26
4 New Hampshire
5 North Dakota
6 Denver
7 Rensselaer
8 Wisconsin 21
9 Union
10 Merrimack
11 Notre Dame
12 Michigan
13 Western Michigan
14 Nebraska-Omaha
15 Dartmouth
16 RIT (auto bid from Atlantic Hockey)
Based on this, BC would not be playing in Manchester, as UNH would automatically get that spot. More than likely the Eagles would be in Bridgeport (oh boy!) with Dartmouth, RPI and Merrimack. Not a bad regional, actually. BC is catching up to Yale in the comparisons, but does not have another TUC game until they play UNH in March. They are going to need to keep taking care of business in order to keep pace for the top spot in the tournament. A Harvard matchup in the Beanpot would have helped that (common opponent with Yale), but to no avail.
We're getting there, and the Eagles continue to play winning hockey. They have a possible trap game with Providence this weekend. Hopefully they do not look ahead to Monday night and can finish off a season sweep of the Friars on the road.
PC preview coming soon...
As far as the polls go, BC is still your #1 team, followed by Yale. The Eagles were near-unanimous #1, save for a few single votes to the Bulldogs, Minnesota-Duluth and UNH. Funny enough, the Wildcats are actually the leaders in Hockey East right now, but trail the Eagles in all of the polls. Other Hockey East foes appearing in the polls are the aforementioned Wildcats (6/6), Merrimack (11/11), BU (14/14), and Maine (18).
USCHO
USA Today
As far as tournament projections go, here is what the field of 16 would look like, based on today's PWR:
1 Yale
2 Boston College
3 Minnesota-Duluth 26
4 New Hampshire
5 North Dakota
6 Denver
7 Rensselaer
8 Wisconsin 21
9 Union
10 Merrimack
11 Notre Dame
12 Michigan
13 Western Michigan
14 Nebraska-Omaha
15 Dartmouth
16 RIT (auto bid from Atlantic Hockey)
Based on this, BC would not be playing in Manchester, as UNH would automatically get that spot. More than likely the Eagles would be in Bridgeport (oh boy!) with Dartmouth, RPI and Merrimack. Not a bad regional, actually. BC is catching up to Yale in the comparisons, but does not have another TUC game until they play UNH in March. They are going to need to keep taking care of business in order to keep pace for the top spot in the tournament. A Harvard matchup in the Beanpot would have helped that (common opponent with Yale), but to no avail.
We're getting there, and the Eagles continue to play winning hockey. They have a possible trap game with Providence this weekend. Hopefully they do not look ahead to Monday night and can finish off a season sweep of the Friars on the road.
PC preview coming soon...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Beanpot 2011: Preview
Its the first Monday in February, so you know what that means.... Beanpot time! BC looks to defend their crown against Beanpot royalty BU while Northeastern and Harvard look for a rare championship game appearance in the early game. As always, anything can happen in the Beanpot, but the favorites are playing each other this year at 8pm on the Garden ice.
Game One: Northeastern vs. Harvard 5pm
The early game pits two of the less-storied Beanpot entries, as Harvard and Northeastern have won 14 titles combined, one less than BC has alone. This should be a hard-fought game, as both of these guys are almost never in the finals, so any chance to get to the late game next week is taken very seriously.
Northeastern has been hot of late, winning or tying every game they played up until last Fridays setback to Merrimack in OT, including a 3-0 victory over Harvard on January 19th. The Huskies hang their hats on solid goaltending from their sophomore goalie Chris Rawlings and their senior leadership in forwards Tyler McNeely and Wade MacLeod. MacLeod has scored 13 goals this season, leading the team and putting him in the top 10 in Hockey East. Defensively, NU has a plus 3 goal differentia, and they can be a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. They played BC tough early on this year in October, and even though they own a 1-2 record against Beanpot teams, the Huskies lost both of those games by close margins.
Harvard comes into this tournament on a two game skid, dropping their last two to Ivy rivals Cornell (2-1) and Yale (1-0). But some good things can be taken from those games, based on the fact that both games were hard fought contests and they only yielded one goal to the top offense in the nation, Yale. Offensively, Harvard struggles to score, netting an average of 1.8 goals a game. Lead by the Biega brothers (Michael and Danny), the Crimson offense has been anything but dominant. Defensively, they are surrendering 3 goals a game, with senior Kyle Richter taking up most of the time between the pipes.
The Huskies are going to try to impose their will on the Crimson in this one. Their top line will put plenty of pressure on a Harvard defensive unit that is frankly not that good. The only way Harvard has a shot in this is if they get some lucky breaks and score some goals on the power play, but even that has not been great for the Crimson this year. It won't be a bloodbath, but I've got NU moving on for a shot to end their schneid in the Beanpot.
Prediction: Northeastern 3 Harvard 1
Game One: Northeastern vs. Harvard 5pm
The early game pits two of the less-storied Beanpot entries, as Harvard and Northeastern have won 14 titles combined, one less than BC has alone. This should be a hard-fought game, as both of these guys are almost never in the finals, so any chance to get to the late game next week is taken very seriously.
Northeastern has been hot of late, winning or tying every game they played up until last Fridays setback to Merrimack in OT, including a 3-0 victory over Harvard on January 19th. The Huskies hang their hats on solid goaltending from their sophomore goalie Chris Rawlings and their senior leadership in forwards Tyler McNeely and Wade MacLeod. MacLeod has scored 13 goals this season, leading the team and putting him in the top 10 in Hockey East. Defensively, NU has a plus 3 goal differentia, and they can be a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. They played BC tough early on this year in October, and even though they own a 1-2 record against Beanpot teams, the Huskies lost both of those games by close margins.
Harvard comes into this tournament on a two game skid, dropping their last two to Ivy rivals Cornell (2-1) and Yale (1-0). But some good things can be taken from those games, based on the fact that both games were hard fought contests and they only yielded one goal to the top offense in the nation, Yale. Offensively, Harvard struggles to score, netting an average of 1.8 goals a game. Lead by the Biega brothers (Michael and Danny), the Crimson offense has been anything but dominant. Defensively, they are surrendering 3 goals a game, with senior Kyle Richter taking up most of the time between the pipes.
The Huskies are going to try to impose their will on the Crimson in this one. Their top line will put plenty of pressure on a Harvard defensive unit that is frankly not that good. The only way Harvard has a shot in this is if they get some lucky breaks and score some goals on the power play, but even that has not been great for the Crimson this year. It won't be a bloodbath, but I've got NU moving on for a shot to end their schneid in the Beanpot.
Prediction: Northeastern 3 Harvard 1
Game Two: Boston College vs Boston University 8pm
These two schools have won the last 17 titles between them, with the vast, vast majority of those wins coming from the downtown end of Comm Ave. BC has had the upper hand of late, winning 2 of the last 3. BC also swept the season series from BU this year, winning two of the three on the road. The Eagles are also the defending champions, having beaten the Terriers in a thriller last year.
Boston College, fresh off the programs fourth national championship, enters the tournament as the on-paper favorite. They are the #1 team in the nation, according to both major polls, and they sit atop Hockey East as well. They boast one of the top goal scorers on the country in Cam Atkinson. They can score goals... alot of goals. But BC has weaknesses, and if there is one team in the country that knows how to push their buttons, its BU.
Boston University is Beanpot royalty. They have won 29 of the 59 tournaments. They get up for this more than any other school. Some may even say this is their national championship, so to speak. Whatever the case, they know how to win this thing. The Terriers have been pretty hot lately, grabbing three of four points from Maine in Orono two weeks ago and a beating down on UMass Lowell last Friday. Kieran Milan is playing well for them in nets, and he'll have to be on his game against a tough BC attack.
BU is going to try to force BC to play their style: physical, punch you in the mouth hockey. BC will need to out-finesse the Terriers or they will be forced to play a style they don't like. The Terriers are built to beat one team and one team only - BC. They have the horses and the memories of three tough losses this year to fuel their fire..... Only I just don't think that will be enough. If BC gets out to an early lead, and avoids the penalty box (tough to do against BU), then they win going away. If BU forces BC to take stupid penalties, they can keep it tight with goals on the man advantage. I see a nailbiter.... par for the course with these two clubs
Prediction: BC 4 BU 3 (2OT)
Big Win In Beanpot Tune-up
BC continued their winning ways with a solid 5-0 win over UMass Friday night. If the score doesn't tell you, it was a dominating effort for the Eagles. BC now heads into the Beanpot on a high note. Monday should be great, and we'll handicap the Beanpot next. Oh, and Denver split their series with Colorado College this weekend, so that could help BC immensely in the Pairwise.
Friday, February 4, 2011
UMASS and PWR Musings
The Eagles stay at home this weekend for a one game Beanpot tune-up against the good ol' state university. Gametime is 7pm on Friday night. BC is riding a 3 game winning streak and as of today, are the #1 team in the nation. The Minutemen come into town off a one point weekend series with Northeastern and are currently in seventh place in Hockey East.
Its hard to get a good read on this game. The Beanpot, and a rematch with BU stand on the horizon, and this could be a trap game. UMass has never really given BC trouble, and they lost a lot of talent from last years team that wasn't any good either. But, if any team can get up for a chance to catch BC napping, its UMass. They average a mere 2.7 goals per game, however, so it could be tough sledding against a team that can match you goal for goal like no other (except maybe Yale). I expect that BC will remain focused, though, and get the job done.
Prediction: BC 4 UMass 2
Also, it is worth noting that in the latest PWR, BC is currently tied for #3. This puts them in line for a #1 seed in the NCAAs. This happened due to Robert Morris falling out of the TUC (TUC = team under consideration, which is any team with an RPI above .500) list, giving BC the edge over North Dakota. (NoDak won two against RMU, who lost this week) In order to move up any further, however, BC is going to have to work on their RPI and TUC record. Their closest competition for the #1 seeds are Denver and North Dakota, both of whom have played waaaay more TUCs due to their membership in the WCHA. With Hockey East having a down year as far as parity goes, and BC's less than stellar record against Merrimack this year, it is critical that BC win their remaining TUC games : the Beanpot vs BU, and a home and home vs UNH in March. If they can sweep or go 2-1 in these games, combined with a strong showing in the HE tournament, the Eagles should grab a #1 seed. They are very close to Denver in RPI.
Enough math... They play the games for a reason! We will be back Sunday/Monday for a Beanpot preview!
Its hard to get a good read on this game. The Beanpot, and a rematch with BU stand on the horizon, and this could be a trap game. UMass has never really given BC trouble, and they lost a lot of talent from last years team that wasn't any good either. But, if any team can get up for a chance to catch BC napping, its UMass. They average a mere 2.7 goals per game, however, so it could be tough sledding against a team that can match you goal for goal like no other (except maybe Yale). I expect that BC will remain focused, though, and get the job done.
Prediction: BC 4 UMass 2
Also, it is worth noting that in the latest PWR, BC is currently tied for #3. This puts them in line for a #1 seed in the NCAAs. This happened due to Robert Morris falling out of the TUC (TUC = team under consideration, which is any team with an RPI above .500) list, giving BC the edge over North Dakota. (NoDak won two against RMU, who lost this week) In order to move up any further, however, BC is going to have to work on their RPI and TUC record. Their closest competition for the #1 seeds are Denver and North Dakota, both of whom have played waaaay more TUCs due to their membership in the WCHA. With Hockey East having a down year as far as parity goes, and BC's less than stellar record against Merrimack this year, it is critical that BC win their remaining TUC games : the Beanpot vs BU, and a home and home vs UNH in March. If they can sweep or go 2-1 in these games, combined with a strong showing in the HE tournament, the Eagles should grab a #1 seed. They are very close to Denver in RPI.
Enough math... They play the games for a reason! We will be back Sunday/Monday for a Beanpot preview!
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