NCAA Northeast Regional Preview

The time is here! We've been waiting all week for the tournament to start, especially after last Saturday's thrilling win. The Eagles will play Alaska in the first round Saturday afternoon, and if they can get by the Nanooks they will have a matchup with either North Dakota or Yale for a chance to advance to the Frozen Four. Here's a look at all the other teams in the region, starting with BC's first opponent, Alaska-Fairbanks.

Alaska Nanooks (CCHA) Season record: 18-11-9

The Nanooks are playing in their first NCAA tournament, 4000 miles from home in about the furthest place possible, Massachusetts. To top it off they are grouped with two of the hottest teams in the nation, one of which is playing at home. So, can UAF get to the Frozen Four? Anything is possible, as evidenced just a few hours ago when #15 overall seed RIT knocked Denver out of the tournament in the opening game. Alaska relies on tough, aggressive defense to slow down their opponents and keep the shot counts low. They are not a big goal scoring team, as their leading point scorer Dion Knelsen has only scored 19 goals on the year. Alaska also has the CCHA Rookie of the Year, Alex Taranto, who could give the Eagle defense fits as well. Underdogs have a much better chance in this tournament than in basketball, and hopefully for the Nanooks they can slow down BC's fast, open game. If they don't, goalie Scott Greenham will have a lot of work to do. The same goes for any potential matchup with North Dakota or Yale. There may be too much happy to be here mentality for Alaska to advance, but I've been wrong before.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux (WCHA) Season Record: 25-12-5

There may be no hotter team other than BC in this whole tournament than the Sioux. North Dakota ripped off three straight wins in as many nights to take home the WCHA tournament title yet again. It always seems like the Sioux are standing in the Eagles' way, and this is year is no different. The Sioux's run the last few weeks may be a bad thing for ND, however, as this young inexperienced team is bound to be tired after a long weekend followed by a flight east. ND is lead by senior Chris Vandevelde, who leads the team in points, but the bulk of their offensive firepower comes from their underclassmen, such as Evan Trupp and Jason Gregoire. In nets the Sioux rely on soph Brad Eidsness, who posted a 2.00 GAA in the WCHA Final Five last weekend. ND will come at you fast and hit you hard, and BC will think they are looking in a mirror if they take to the ice against the Sioux this weekend. These guys are the favorites to win this regional, and I can see why. BC will have their hands full with this team.

Yale Bulldogs (ECACHL) Season Record: 20-9-3

Yale comes into this tournament with the nation's top scoring offense. The Bulldogs will be looking to outscore any opponent they play, as their goaltending has been shaky at best. Yale will look to senior Brian Blase most likely in the nets, where he will have the unenviable task of trying to stop North Dakota's offensive onslaughts. Yale is also playing shorthanded,as they are missing their star Sean Backman, but there are plenty of scorers that could step up to replace him. Yale, like Alaska, could be a bit rusty after getting booted by Brown in the first round of the ECACHL tournament, so they may need to survive the first period of game one in order to get their legs back. The good news they don't have far to travel, the bad news is that they have two of the hottest teams in the country on thew potential horizon, as well as a tight defense-oriented Cinderella that could slow down their offense. Make no mistake, however, Yale CAN beat ND. If they can get a decent amount of shots on ND's young goalie, there is no reason why they could not pull this one off.

Predictions:
Game 1: BC 3 Alaska 1
Game 2: ND 6 Yale 4
Final: BC 4 ND 2

Hockey East Champs!!

The Lamoriello Trophy is back where it belongs, in the trophy case at Conte Forum. A great back and forth game, you had to believe that it was going to be a nailbiter. In the end, BC came out victorious. Matt Lombardi was named tourney MVP on the heels of a career-first hat trick. Now, we watch the selection show to see where BC will end up, expect it to be Worcester for the Northeast Regional. I will have initial bracket reaction after they are announced.

One win away...

From bringing the Hockey East Championship back where it belongs, Chestnut Hill, MA!


Maine is a tough out, as they have the best power play unit in the nation. They also beat the beejeezus out of BU last night. Score notwithstanding, that was a dominating performance by the Black Bears. I will expect the same from Maine tonight against the Eagles. BC is going to have to play smart and be tough on D to get this one done, but it is TOTALLY winnable. Let's Go Eagles!

Hockey East Final Four Preview

Hockey East has made it to the Garden. After months of games, it comes down to four teams: BC, BU, Maine, and UVM. With the exception of Maine, these are the teams many picked to be here when the dust settled on the regular season. They just didn’t expect the seeding to be what they are. Top remaining seed BC comes into the weekend on an offensive tear, one that did not slow down despite the trapping efforts of UMass in the quarterfinals. BU has to be a favorite as well, as they always save their best hockey for the Garden ice. Let’s take a look at each match-up:

#2 BC vs. #8 Vermont

BC, as mentioned, has been an offensive juggernaut in the latter half of this season, averaging 3.8 goals a game. Vermont, on the other hand, turned it on late in the year to grab the 8 seed and then shocked Hockey East with a series upset over top seed UNH last weekend. UVM won the season series with BC, but all of those games were played before BC caught fire. In a way, this is a completely different Eagle team the Catamounts will be playing Friday evening. Vermont can score, too, however. They average 3 goals a game and their defense, lead by goalie Rob Madore (who lead the Cats to the Frozen Four last year), can shut opponents down. If they trap BC and shut down their open style offense, Madore could do just enough to steal a win here. BC has a goalie controversy, as Junior John Muse has been able to pick up consecutive wins while rookie Parker Milner has been 0-1-1 in his last few after being the hot hand down the stretch. Look for BC to go with the veteran in Muse, who posted great numbers at the Garden a month ago en route to a Beanpot MVP. In the end, I think BC’s firepower will be too much for Cinderella and the ride ends here for UVM.

Prediction: BC 5 UVM 3

#3 BU vs. Maine

An old rivalry is renewed on the Garden ice when BU takes on Maine in the nightcap Friday. No Kariyas or Drurys will be on the ice, but the excitement will be there nonetheless. BU comes into this game as hot as BC, having rebounded from a dismal start to grab a top-four spot in the league and dodging an upset minded Merrimack team in round one. The Terriers have been lead all year by their upperclassmen, namely Nick Bonino and a squad of experienced defensemen such as Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk. Kieran Milan has been shaky in net at times, but he always seems to step up for the big games. Maine, on the other hand, struggled in the late going of the regular season after gaining a huge amount of momentum mid-way. But, its all about how you finish in this game, and Maine has struggled since they suspended their starting goalie, Scott Darling. Senior Dave Wilson has stepped in and done well in a comeback series win over Lowell, and Maine is looking to rely on the veteran to get them back to the Promised Land, the NCAAs. Look for Maine to run their offense through Hobey Baker candidate Gustav Nyquist who has scored 59 points on the year. The Black Bears have the top power play unit in the nation, so they will be trying to draw penalties on an aggressive Terrier team. I like Maine to convert on at least 50% of those extra-man situations and put the Terriers out of the postseason in an exciting, OT thriller.

Prediction: Maine 3 BU 2 (OT)

In the final, I like BC to continue riding good solid defense and a relentless offensive attack to their 9^th Hockey East Tournament crown, making it all maroon and gold in the rafters at the Garden.

Prediction: BC 4 Maine 2

Bracket Prediction: Pre-Conference Tournament Edition

With this weekend’s conference tournaments coming up, I thought I would take a look at who would play who and where if the season ended today. The games themselves could completely screw this up, but here goes.

Rankings come from PWR. The top 16 looks like this:

1 Denver

2 Miami

3 Wisconsin

4t Boston College

4t North Dakota

4t St. Cloud State

7 Bemidji State

8t Ferris State

8t Cornell

10 Yale

11t Minnesota-Duluth

11t Northern Michigan

13 Alaska

14 Vermont

15 New Hampshire

16 Michigan

17 Michigan State

Bemidji was upset last week in the CHA championships, which makes the lame duck league a two-bid conference. Atlantic Hockey also sends their champ. Since neither of these guys are in the top 16, Michigan and UNH are out, leaving inactive UNH as the last one out (They could get back in if teams ahead of them, like Vermont, were to lose early in their tourneys). If we add the lower auto-bids to the fold we get this for a seeding:

1 Denver

2 Miami

3 Wisconsin

4 Boston College

5 North Dakota

6 St. Cloud State

7 Bemidji State

8 Ferris State

9 Cornell

10 Yale

11 Minnesota-Duluth

12 Northern Michigan

13 Alaska

14 Vermont

15 Alabama-Huntsville (CHA champ)

16 RIT (projected AHA champ)

Matching these guys up and putting teams closest to home to ensure attendance, we get this bracket:

Northeast Region (Worcester)

1. BC
2. North Dakota
3. Yale
4. Alaska

East Region (Albany)

1. Wisconsin
2. Bemidji State
3. Cornell
4. RIT

Midwest Region (Fort Wayne)

1. Miami
2. Ferris State
3. Northern Michigan
4. Vermont

West Region (Minneapolis)

1. Denver
2. St. Cloud State
3. Minnesota- Duluth
4. Alabama-Huntsville

This is what I THINK the bracket should be. This would cut down on travel for everybody and keep all of the seeds intact. It would not, however, ensure a 1-16, 2-15 deal, but this is better for the fans. Alaska is the only team that gets screwed here, but they are used to traveling all the time anyway. This weekend could knock this thing silly, especially if an unranked team like Maine or BU wins Hockey East. Then they would get an auto bid and BC would be the sole at large from the league. There is also a scenario that if BC beats UVM, they could be the only HE school in the tourney. This would be music to the ears of people out West, but the Worcester regional wouldn’t be the same without another HE team. We’ll see how it plays out.

Up later, a preview of Hockey East final four.

First Round Recap

After a heart-stopping game Friday, BC came out and solved what was ailing them in the third period Saturday to move past UMass and on to the Garden for the Hockey East semifinals. Their opponent: Vermont. That comes as a big surprise, as every other playoff series went the distance (and more in the case of UNH-UVM and Maine-Lowell), with the Catamounts upsetting UNH and moving on to the Garden for the second time in as many years. The first round series revealed some flaws in the Eagles' game and ways to exploit them, which hopefully no one else saw but UMass.

Likes:
- Muse stepping in. I know, I know, Milner has been the hot hand. This is twice now that the vet has come in to replace the rookie and cleaned up. Most of UMass's 5 goals Friday were not Parker's fault, but I have to think it may be time for the more experienced John Muse (Beanpot MVP, no less) to take over for the title run.
- Top line keeps humming. These guys can't be stopped. Lets hope it continues.

Dislikes:
- The trap. UMass exploited BC's puck-moving offense with a pretty good trap. This caused a lot of action in the third period Friday and most of the game Saturday to be in BC's end. BC overcame this by taking advantage of power plays and turnovers, but you know people saw that and will use it to their advantage (see Parker, Jack).
- PENALTIES! The 5 on 3's Friday were murder for BC. Too many men penalties can be excused when you play UMass, but they will be killer later in March. They gotta stay out of the box and keep the shots on their goalies down. Good defense can only be so good when you are killing off 5 on 3's.

Overall, BC was the only top seed to hold serve at home and get the sweep. Two other top seeds moved on as well, but struggled to put their opponents away. BC is rewarded for that by getting 8 seed UVM. Heed this warning: UVM IS NO 8 SEED! BC has their hands full with this matchup, as the Catamounts beat them 2 out of 3. We could have a possible Beanpot rematch in the finals, but the Eagles need to focus on UVM first. I think Jerry will have them focused and they will be fine, but more on that game later this week. In the next post, I will take a look at the rankings and where we may end up next week.

2010 Hockey East Tournament Preview

This season, Hockey east was a complete crapshoot after the top two teams. Pre-season favorite BU struggled early will need a tourney win to get to the NCAAs and defend their title, a young BC team came together late to be the conference’s flagship team, and upstart Merrimack surged late to make their first playoff run in a long time. Now, we come to the tournament. One team will win and get an auto-bid to the NCAAs. Three teams, (UNH, BC, and Maine) are pretty much in. UVM may just need to win their first round series (as the 8 seed no less), while everyone else has to win the whole thing. Lets look at each matchup and see who may be skating at the Garden next week.

# 1 New Hampshire vs. #8 Vermont

To me, this is the most intriguing matchup, because UVM is probably the highest regarded #8 seed in Hockey East history. UNH had a great year, lead by their seniors Bobby Butler and Brian Foster. The Wildcats are definitely the favorite here, playing at home where they are strongest. They do have weaknesses, as BC showed last weekend. If you pressure them enough and play a turnover-free game, they have a hard time scoring. The Catamounts are used to playing series on the road, as they almost never play home and homes. UVM did knock off BU a few weeks ago, but I just don’t see them pulling off the upset here. UNH in 2.

#2 Boston College vs. #7 UMass

BC comes in to the tourney as the hottest team in the league. Lead by Brian Gibbons and Cam Atkinson, they have scored over 40 goals since the end of January, and they have let up only 21. The defense has been the biggest factor in their surge, and UMass will have a tough time getting at the net. The Minutemen have a strong one-two scoring punch in James Marcou and Casey Wellman, and they are capable of scoring in bunches, but BC can answer UMass’s one line with three quality scoring lines of their own. BC has also only lost 2 games at home this year, so I’ll give the nod to them. BC in 2

#3 Boston University vs. #6 Merrimack

BU NEEDS to win this tournament if they want to defend their NCAA title. Merrimack may be just a little happy to be there as anything higher than the 8 seed. BU plays well at home in front of their crowd, while Merrimack has struggled on the road. The Warriors have been hot of late, lead by freshman standout Stephane DeCosta. They have been able to play a more open style, which has allowed them to score more goals. With DeCosta on the ice, they are a tough team to stop. BU is lead by Nick Bonino up front, but a lot of their scoring comes from defensemen, as they like to cycle the puck deep and get traffic in front for guys like Shattenkirk and Warsofsky to fire on net. Merrimack can definitely win one game here, but BU wants another crack at BC. BU in 3

#4 Maine vs. #5 UMass Lowell

Maine limps into this series without their starting goaltender, on the heels of a staggering sweep at the hands of UMass. This one does not look good for the Black Bears. Lowell has two top notch goalies in Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton, as well as some great scoring punch from forwards Chris Auger and Kory Falite. Maine has been strong this year, with Gustav Nyquist more than likely landing himself on the All-Hockey East team at years end, but the absence of starting goalie Scott Darling will be too much. I like Lowell to win here. A lot. In fact, I like Lowell to get back to the finals. Lowell in 3.

UNH Wrap-Up (Late)

It has been almost a whole week since my last post, so I have had a bit of time to digest this past weekend and the (sorta) controversy that took place Friday night. For those who didn’t see it, NESN’s color guy (a former Eagle player who will remain nameless on this site), ripped into Coach York for not pulling Milner late in the OT and going for the win to force a winner-take-all game Saturday for the Hockey East title. First, let me say that the more disappointing thing was the BC defense taking a little snoozie and allowing a 3-0 lead to evaporate. After that, a tie, while giving UNH the title, meant a whole lot more than losing. I will explain after my likes and dislikes on the weekend:

Friday: BC 3 UNH 3

Saturday: BC 3 UNH 2

(BTW, I almost got the outcomes exactly. Go me)

Likes:

- Sustained offensive pressure. The BC offense (with the exception of one period Friday) put a lot of shots on UNH goalie Brian Foster. They scored 6 goals, but should have had more. Still, great pressure.

- Muse coming back to save the day Saturday night. This is your veteran guy…. Use him.

Dislikes:

- Defensive lapses. That third period Friday looked terrible. It looked like a bunch of sleepwalkers holding sticks. That can’t happen down the stretch.

- Turnovers. UNH thrives on turnovers. They scored most of their goals on… turnovers. I know this is a young team that is going to make mistakes. They just need to make fewer of them, or they will get burned once the NCAAs start.

Now, on to the rationale for a tie Friday. If you look at the season series with UNH as a whole, BC took 4 of 6 points. Taking 4 of 6 from the eventual league winner is pretty damn impressive. Would 5 of 6 and a regular season championship look better? Yes, but if UNH somehow gets an empty-netter in that game and wins, there is no way BC passes Bemidji State for that #4 spot in the PWR. Getting the #1 seed is waaay more important to BC than a Hockey East regular season title. Besides, UNH now has to potentially face Maine in the semis, while BC gets BU.

Lastly, the thing that pissed me off more than the open questioning of the call was when “CJ” called out York and said Jack Parker would have gambled to go for the win. How dare he! Compare York to Parker! Any self-respecting BC alum would NEVER utter those words.

Well, the tournament is set. We’re ready to play for trophies now, so lets see what this group can do. I’ve got a feeling we’re in for a great ride. A preview of the Hockey East Tournament will be up later tonight, hopefully.

UNH Preview

The Eagles have one more regular season series left this year, and lo and behold, its with league leader UNH! If you look at years past, it seems like Hockey East knows that these two teams are going to be in the hunt for first place so they schedule them for the last week of the season. The Wildcats are scoring a ton of goals and are on something of a hot streak of late, but so is BC. This should be one hell of a series, starting tonight in Durham (on NESN) and ending Saturday night at Conte Forum (not on TV, so get your ass out there!).

Players to Watch:

Bobby Butler (UNH) – a legit Hobey Baker award candidate, Butler sits at 6^th nationally in scoring. He has also burned BC many times in the past.

Parker Milner (BC) – Will York go with the hot hand in net this weekend? Or does he go with the seasoned veteran in a critical series? We’ll find out.

Cam Atkinson (BC) – If BC is going to win, Cam needs to score. INCH talked about him as a dark horse Hobey candidate… will he live up to the hype?

Blake Kessel (UNH) – Yup. That Kessel family. He is one of the top scoring defensemen in the nation.

UNH poses a huge hurdle for BC. Last time out, on the road, BC blew a huge lead and ended up tying the Wildcats. Can’t happen here. A tie in either game gives the title to UNH. BC needs to sweep to avoid a possible 2-7 matchup with BU. I think that might be a bit too much and we get that tie Friday night. I hope I’m wrong…

Prediction:

Friday – UNH 3 BC 3

Saturday – BC 4 UNH 2

Big Weekend Could Decide Alot

As we come to the last week of the regular season, its as good a time as any to take a look at what’s at stake this weekend. UNH and BC have both wrapped up home ice for the first round (and second if they get there). Maine needs to either win or tie once to get their first round series in Orono. There is a huge logjam after Maine in the standings. Lowell, BU, or Northeastern could possibly grab the last home ice spot. How, you ask? Let’s take a look at each team and where they can end up in the race for home ice.

UNH – can finish 1 or 2. If they win one game this weekend with BC, they are the champs.

BC – can finish 1 or 2. They are currently 3 points behind UNH and can win the league title with a sweep of the Wildcats. Lose or tie once and they are cemented in second by virtue of their 2-1 record over Maine this year.

Maine – with one win they lock up home ice. They can finish as high as third or as low as fifth.

Lowell – can lock up home ice with a sweep of Vermont at home. If they do that they get #4. They can still grab #3 if they sweep and Maine loses both games to UMass. They can also get #4 if they win one and BU loses one.

BU – can get home ice if they sweep Northeastern and Lowell loses or ties Vermont once. However, if they sweep NU AND Vermont sweeps Lowell, Vermont can actually steal that last spot, as UVM owns the series over BU 2-1.

All the other teams, as far as I can figure out, cannot get into the top 4. Northeastern comes close, but a sweep of BU and a UVM sweep gives the four spot to UVM since NU lost to them already.

Since Hockey East has been so even this year, let’s assume everyone splits. This would give us:

1 UNH

2 BC

3 Maine

4 Lowell

5 Northeastern

6 Vermont

7 BU

8 Merrimack

More realistically, there will be some sweep or ties in there. Providence is bad, so I would assume that with Merrimack fighting for that last spot with UMass, they get at least 3 points out of this. BC gets a tie Friday night and with the league already wrapped up, UNH loses Saturday. Everyone else splits. That would give us the same results.

BU is paying for the crappy play early on. BC would more than likely draw BU in the first round, at home. Overall, the season series is tied 2-2, with BC losing at home and at Fenway. Would be interesting, to say the least.

The bottom line is that a lot can happen this weekend that can screw this up. Northeastern could sweep BU and knock the Terriers out of the playoffs completely if the chips fell the right way. This is going to make for a great weekend of hockey.

UMass Recap

A little late with this one, but given the awesome hockey we saw in Vancouver, I needed to take a break and digest it all....

Last Friday night BC beat UMass 2-1 on a Chris Kreider goal in overtime to, at the time, keep pace with UNH for a big showdown on the last weekend of the season. When BC finally won Friday, the Wildcats were mounting a comeback at Northeastern to force a tie and make this weekend's series a bit tougher for the Eagles. We'll take a look at the Hocey East playoff race next time, but back to the game Friday night:

Likes:
- Joe Whitney delivers. As I called in the preview, Whitney was due for a good night. Early in the second period, there it was. Whitney scored BC's first goal to give them a lead they then coughed up with a bad second and (most of) third period.
- Milner. The rookie looks to be pushing the veteran Muse for prime time minutes as we head to tournament.

Dislikes:
- Lines 2-4. Because UMass has such a powerful top line, BC was forced to counter with their checking line time and time again. This meant a slowdown in the offensive production. We will more than likely see this again in the upcoming series with UNH, as they too have an explosive set of skaters.
- Penalties. This was a great game to watch, as the refs put away the whistles for most of the game. The only problem: both penalties were called on BC. It was like an NBA game for chrissakes.

All in all, a great game and a huge win. The win puts BC firmly into the top 10 teams in the country, and it locked up a home ice spot for the Hockey East playoffs. Just in case you were wondering, BC is 11-2 at home this year, and 7-6-2 on the road. Home ice is going to be important.

Also, congrats to Parker Milner who was selected as Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week AND Goalie of the Month. The future looks bright between the pipes.