UMass Recap and the Beanpot

Friday night the Eagles put on an offensive display that could rival what we see in the Superbowl tonight. The Eagles rattled off seven goals en route to a 7-1 win over UMass on NESN Friday, pushing them past the Minutemen and ensuring the Eagles stay in second place in Hockey East.

BC came out red hot and, despite committing an early penalty, scored 4 goals in the opening frame. The second period brought more of the same as BC scored 3 more times to take a 7-0 lead and silence the capacity crowd at the Mullins Center. UMass finally got on the board in the third with a goal from star James Marcou, but that was the only blemish on the night for the Eagles. Some likes and dislikes:

Likes:
- Muse's play in net. Muse now has not given up a goal in over 100 minutes. Kudos to the defence for keeping the shot numbers low. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from BC's leading netminder.
- Offensive firepower starting to heat up. This is huge for BC, as they are still down a defenceman. They will need to outscore their opponents for a while, as they are hitting the toughest stretch of the season starting with the Beanpot final tomorrow night.

Dislikes:
- Losing Price. Not sure how long he will be out after leaving the game Friday, but Patch Alber on the third line can only last so long. Hopefully they can keep the pressure coming from the first line, but you have to think BU and Lowell are going to try and shut them down. BC is going to need offense from the Kreider and Hayes. Price is also the captain, which a young team needs on the ice.

BC 7 UMass 1 Box

And now on to the Beanpot. Monday night BC plays BU for the 250th time. What better place than in the Garden for the Beanpot title? We know how much this thing means to the Terriers. (Evidenced by the fact that they thought they were one-upping a Mass road sign declaring BC the 2007 national champs by putting up their own billboard reminding Bostonians everywhere they had won the Beanpot more than any other school. Like Bills or Buccaneers fans bragging about how they beat the Colts and Saints, while watching those teams play for the Super Bowl.) With that said, this game is also big for BC. They sit at 7 in the PWR, which firmly puts them in as a 2 seed. A 1 seed would be better. Plus, as we all know, BC has never won the big prize without winning the Beanpot first. (The 1949 championship happened before there was a Beanpot.)

So, how does this happen? BC needs to learn from their last two matches with BU. They will not be able to force their offensive will on the Terriers like they have done the last two outings against weaker defensive teams. The big word here is rebounds: BU scores with their defensive players, and they like to crash the net. BC is going to have to clear out the traffic in front of Muse. The big keys will be to keep the BU forwards off Muse and to get as many chances as possible on Milan, who likes to give up big rebounds. If someone is in position to capitalize on these, BC will score. They will also have to get a lead and build on it. A close game favors BU, who as we know like to win and tie games with bullshit, flukey goals. An OT game almost certainly will mean an Eagle loss. You score, you win. Plain and simple.... and BC has been doing a lot of that lately, right? So.....

Prediction: BC 4 BU 2