Happy New Year, everyone. For all 3 or 4 of you who anticipate my blog posts, sorry for disappointing you lately. I've been extremely lazy all week.
This week saw two home basketball games - an exciting win for the women's team over Northeastern on Tuesday and a boring, sloppy game against horrific Longwood for the men's team last night.
Don't be fooled by how close Tuesday's game was: the women played well. It was one of those days where Northeastern just couldn't miss. BC consistently played sound, tough defense, but the Huskies kept draining 3s. The Eagles fought hard to get the win and it will serve them well as ACC play gets underway today at Virginia Tech.
The real story of this game was (as usual) Stefanie Murphy, who came in off the bench and rescued BC after a cold start. She wound up scoring 22 points, reaching her scoring average despite playing hurt and only playing about half the game. Mickel Picco was also a savior off the bench, hitting four huge three pointers including two back-breakers right in a row late in the 2nd half to help secure the win.
Ayla Brown had another Ayla Brown day (up and down). She really can be a special player, but she still hasn't put it all together. I thought Swords was a little off; I don't think she's athletic enough to handle tough ACC teams. We'll see.
No, this picture isn't from the women's game
The men's game was torture. It was so viciously cold out that people apparently didn't want to leave their homes, as the place was deserted (<4000). onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipH73g8MSETYrDGd500w28oJNFGYFxsd2j1dF4RucclUdERDNVvCdmBcj4fwnP0JwxZyrUvZsGZugOjqxv1ZMyoEMUw67tsKCG0E5Qu4FAZzMu4r9ee4cTwH27qZHAkhniPsu-wol7Ot97/s1600-h/break+073.JPG">
The good thing about the terrible turnout: someone gave me a free ticket, and I plopped down in really nice seats. I saw Alex holding down the fort basically by himself in the 'student section.' I thought about joining him, but I was enjoying my Whalepants moment.
I eavesdropped on the conversations of a father and son behind me. The kid was maybe 13 and he was really into BC hoops. I hope I can share something like that with a son or daughter some day.
A final b-ball note: here's a video I took at the game last night of BC running the flex and picking up two points in the first half. It should give you a good idea of the 'atmosphere' at the game. ;)
Anyway, on to my true topic du jour: HOCKEY.
Hockey season is too much of a marathon to get really into it right from the beginning, but the true hockey blitz will now begin for me. With college football basically over, hockey will dominate my sports consciousness from now until, hopefully, the first week of April. (Actually, hopefully longer than that, if the Bruins make the playoffs).
Today, the women's hockey team begins an absolutely crucial stretch of five consecutive games against ranked teams which will really make or break the season. #4 St. Lawrence is in town for two games at Conte Forum, today and tomorrow at 4 PM.
I really don't know how BC can keep up with St. Lawrence's high-powered attack - they are too deep and have too many weapons on offense (Sabrina Harbec, Chelsea Grills, and Carson Duggan are all among the nation's leaders in points). SLU has made the Frozen Four four years in a row.
But as formidable as the ECAC powers are, BC had a lot of success against them last year, going 2-1-1 against the conference's top 3 (1-1 vs. Dartmouth including the win in the NCAA tournament, a win against Harvard in the women's Beanpot, and a tie against SLU).
Why? Well, when you have the best goalie in America and four of the nation's most explosive forwards, you really can beat anyone.
BC's had almost a month to recover from their disappointing first half. The stretch run begins today and there is very little margin for error.
I am a bit worried about how tough the schedule is, but I also have faith in this team.
The men's hockey team gets back in action Saturday night @ Clarkson (the game will be available on pay-per-view webcast for $6), looking to keep up their unreal hot streak.
It's hockey time :)
1 comment:
Hey Joe, Hows it going buddy, Seems like I missed quite the game there with the men against Longwood, I even got tickets to the game from my sister, but I was still little tired/plus coming off a cold and the exciting competition to not go to the game. Well least they won. Anyway hope you are well buddy, and we need to keep in touch I miss hanging out with you and having our usual intelligent conversations about music/sports/politics etc.
Jack
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