The winter of my discontent

As the just-barely-above-.500 record of BC teams in my presence (as indicated in the box on the right of the page) demonstrates, this has been an extremely disappointing winter season for BC athletics. I didn't really want to look at it that way until now, but it's time to face the facts.

Tonight's loss to Providence by the men's hockey team really stung. It dipped BC's home record to .500 and leaves the Eagles barely clinging to a Hockey East home ice spot, only because Northeastern managed to lose to UMass Lowell.

It was another one of those frustrating games - same song, different verse. BC played pretty well for most of the game and got chance after chance after chance, but it was the Friars who cashed in on their opportunities. BC was killed yet again by abysmal turnovers in their own defensive zone, and poor rebound control by John Muse.

I think the Eagles also need to shake up the first line, as Gerbe is ice cold, with no points in his last 5 games.

In reality, it's time to forget about contending for a national title. We just need to hang on to home ice and hopefully make NCAAs and perform credibly. This team just isn't NCAA champ caliber right now.

And with the West's gap over the East widening, and Jerry York's career winding down, our window for contending for national titles is shrinking ever-so-slightly each year.

Looking at it from the macro perspective, this winter has blown, all things considered:

Men's Hockey:
Expectation- contend for a national title
Reality- clinging to a tournament berth and struggling mightily at the worst possible time

Women's Hockey:
Expectation- return to the national tournament
Reality- has a chance to maybe, just maybe, qualify for the conference tournament

Men's Basketball:
Expectation- Make the NIT and maybe be a bubble team for NCAAs
Reality- Probably going to finish under .500 and maybe go to the CBI

Women's Basketball
Expectation- ACC middle of the pack
Reality- Above average in the ACC and on the bubble for NCAAs

So, women's basketball has (far) exceeded expectations... but not enough to overcome the fact that this has been a maddening season for Eagle lovers.

Things have got to change, fast, for this winter to be anything less than a failure.

Is it football season yet?

Women's Hockey: ALIVE... BARELY

One game. One more game. BC upended Providence 4-2 today at Conte Forum, keeping their season alive. Now there's just one more to go, at Providence tomorrow. BC pretty much has to win. There are a large number of really complicated and oddball tiebreaker scenarios whereby BC could lose and still make it in; they could also win, and still not make it in. But winning gives them a damn good chance.

My recap from USCHO:

"Oh my god... wow. Huge win.

My Milan/Liverpool analogy was perfect as just like Liverpool, the Eagles got a ton of lucky breaks tonight and took advantage of them.

The following things happened to Providence:
-they kicked in a goal that they probably could have easily knocked in with a stick (the net was empty)
-they had a shot go off the inside of the post and fly out
-they scored a goal right after a BC player touched up (barely) on a delayed penatly
-BC scored a goal after a 10-second digging session in the corner during which Howard (!!!!!!!!!) probably should have blown the whistle.

Yeah... we got a little lucky. Who cares?

This reminded me a bit of last year. BC FLEW out of the gate, dominating the first period. They led 2-1 after 1 but it easily could have been a much bigger lead - Ciarletta made a few ridiculous saves.

Then the Eagles just sort of died in the second and third. All of the old problems were plaguing them: bunching up around the goalie, screening her in the process and leaving the defensemen wide open at the point... not converting on breakaway opportunities... having one player carry it coast-to-coast and not try to pass and set up a play... taking penalty after penalty after penalty after penalty... Schaus giving up a soft goal with under a minute to go...

Yet somehow BC held on.

And now, it's a one game season, and ANYTHING can happen in one game."

Senior Night

I want to sincerely thank the BC athletics schedulemakers, who unintentionally yet very conveniently scheduled a slow sports week at the same time as a heavy midterm week --- much appreciated.

That all ends tonight with senior night for the women's basketball team. But this one isn't just about honoring the seniors - it's about staying in the fight for an NCAA bid.

The baseball team also has its annual clash with the Red Sox today at 1 PM. Unfortunately, the game isn't televised, but I'm sure there will be a gametracker on mlb.com for those of you who are bored at work.

My classmates in the pros

I'm adding a new widget to the side of the page, tracking all of my classmates (class of 2007 through class of 2013 [freshmen my senior year]) who went on to play professional sports. Obviously this list is probably very incomplete, so let me know if you have any more info for me.

I'll also include Olympians, if any BC athletes make it.

SPORT
Player - Years I was in school with them - Team(s)

Hockey
Brian Boyle - 2007 - Los Angeles Kings

Basketball
Jared Dudley - 2007 - Charlotte Bobcats
Sean Williams - 2007 - New Jersey Nets
Sean Marshall - 2007 - Karsiyaka (Turkish Basketball League)

Football
Josh Beekman - 2007 - Chicago Bears

Women's Basketball
Kathrin Ress - 2007 - Minnesota Lynx (WNBA)

Ultimate Fighting
Kenny Florian - BC soccer 2007 - UFC

Soccer
Charlie Davies - 2007 - Hammarby IF (Swedish League)

Kick in the gut, followed by the uppercut in the jaw

BC women's hockey lost to BU last night, 4-1, to fall out of the 4th and final Hockey East playoff spot with just two games to go.

I rushed back after the game to watch the end of the BC-UNH game. We were down 3-1 then and we wound up losing 5-1. BC's back to 4th in the Hockey East standings.

Gah. Not good. I'm still stinging.

I don't really have the heart or the desire to discuss anything about either game. I just wanna crawl in a hole and not discuss hockey at all until Friday, when the women and the men play a sort of day-night doubleheader at home against Providence College.

Yesterday's bright spot? The baseball team swept their season-opening doubleheader against Georgia Southern and hit 10 HR in the process (yes, 10).

But I'm looking out my window now and there's a half a foot of snow on the ground. I can't really think much about baseball. It's very much hockey time. And if my hockey hopes for this year come down to just the Bruins.... eh, let's not even go there.

UNH 2, BC 0

What did we learn tonight?

-UNH really is one of the best teams in the country. I never doubted it, but in case you did, they really showed why they are so good tonight. Their defense did an incredible job of forcing BC to the outside and forcing turnovers. BC never really got any good chances in the slot. Gerbe was kept under wraps. Overall, great team defense.

The 'Cats also took advantage of a lot of BC turnovers and got good shots out of them. They got a power play goal, and they kept BC's power play off the board.

-Regan is a top-notch goalie and he made two or three big saves. But more impressive than the big saves was how confident and comfortable he was at making the run of the mill saves throughout the game.

Muse played pretty well. He's still giving up a few dangerous rebounds, and he had one heart attack moment where he wandered out of the net and almost passed it out front to a wide open Wildcat in front of the net, but other than that he was pretty sound mentally tonight. He was just plain beat by great shots on those two goals.

-"JVR" is a great player and a sick passer. On UNH's first goal, as soon as I saw him wide open behind the net I knew we were in trouble. He delivered a picture-perfect pass to Butler who capped the play off with a pretty finish. The guy's a beast - he has all the tools. He's big, he's strong, he's quick and he's got great vision. The Flyers have themselves a hell of a prospect.

-BC is a good team but they are a step behind the best of the best. I think Corey Schneider could have been a neutralizer tihs year but without him they are a tick behind the top 4 which are (in my opinion) Michigan, New Hampshire, Colorado College and N Dakota.

But look at last year's NCAA tournament, which had no #1 seeds in the Frozen Four. Anything can happen.

We really need a win tomorrow night at the Whit, not just for PWR purposes, but for the Hockey East standings, which are a major clusterfuck at the moment. The Whit's big ice surface serves us well as we have a smaller, faster team than UNH. Let's hope that translates into success.

-5 of our 8 losses have come at home (1 on a neutral site, 2 on the road). What gives?

....

The women's hockey team tonight had a stunning yet awesome and much needed 4-0 win @ BU with goals by Thunstrom (x2), Stack, and Fardelmann - just as you'd draw it up. BC is now 1 point up on BU with 3 games left and hosts BU in a massive game tomorrow night at Conte.

...

Baseball opener got rained out - they will attempt a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 2:30 (with Game 1 broadcast on Comcast Sports Net New England)

WBB Setback; Hockey Gameday

Women's Hoops

The women's basketball team lost a tough one to FSU, 71-65, dropping them to 6-6 in ACC play. While this setback does make the push for an NCAA tournament a bit tougher, it's important to remember that this team wasn't even supposed to make the WNIT. 6-6 is a pretty good mark at this point.

The most troubling thing about tonight was that according to the recap on BCEagles.com, Brittany Johnson left the game with an injury. The story does not indicate the severity of the injury, but this could be a big problem. Johnson is one of the most naturally gifted players on the team, and is back this year after missing last season with an injury. Losing her would be tough. I will update this story here if I can get some more information.

The good news: Murphy had another outstanding game, dropping 24 points, and Swords chipped in 13 points. Those two continue to be the cornerstones of the offense.

BC's next game is Senior Night against UVA, next Thursday night at 7 PM. I strongly encourage going to the game if you can. This is a fun group to watch.

Men's Hockey

It's gameday. BC meets UNH tonight at Conte Forum in a truly huge game. Although UNH has virtually guaranteed themselves the Hockey East regular season title, this is BC's last chance to score victories against a top 10 team and secure at least a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Eagles are currently in a logjam at the 8-11 spot in the pairwise rankings and could use a few big wins.

UNH comes into this game on a seven game unbeaten streak and is unquestionably one of the best teams in the country, so this will be a real test for the Eagles.

Is BC ready to make another Frozen Four run? We'll have a much better idea after this two game set.

Women's Hockey

The season is on the line for the women's hockey team tonight and tomorrow night against BU as BC is 1 point behind BU for the last Hockey East playoff spot.

Baseball

Baseball gets started tonight @ Georgia Southern, 7 PM first pitch. Saturday's 2:30 PM game is televised on Comcast Sports Net (formerly known as FSN New England).

One BC BB team packs Conte...and wins

It was strange - yet very, very awesome - to be in a packed Conte Forum last night, as BC's women's basketball team topped Georgia Tech to improve to 6-5 in ACC play.

With the upper bowl closed off, and with free admission granted to anyone wearing pink on breast cancer awareness night, a seemingly overflow crowd jammed into the red seats at Conte. As usual, there was more energy in the arena than there is for men's games, as women's crowds consist of 1) kids (always energetic) and 2) a real hard-core base of season ticket holders who love this team.

It also helps that the product is very fun to watch. BC is talented and plays an entertaining style of basketball.

It's almost cliche at this point to talk about how good women's teams are at the fundamentals, but like most cliches, there are elements of truth in it. The Eagles put on an incredible passing display last night and had several offensive possessions wherein every player touched the ball, before one person was set up wide open for an easy layup or jumper. There were a number of downright dazzling plays.

Leading the way on this passing assault is freshman Jaclyn Thoman, who has quickly blossomed into an outstanding point guard. At the beginning of the season it seemed like the point guard position was BC's biggest weakness, but Thoman has become an excellent ball handler and a smart passer. She also is BC's best player at breaking the press (which Georgia Tech employed rather successfully for stretches in the 2nd half).

Mickel "Threeeeeeeeeeee-co" Picco had another double-digit scoring effort. She is diversifying her offensive arsenal as well, sometimes giving up good looks from beyond the arc to work it inside and earn even easier two pointers.

Stef Murphy is developing a pretty good jump shot from 5-10 feet. If she can add that to her arsenal she will be almost unstoppable.

Carolyn Swords is also proving that she belongs in the ACC despite earlier questions about her athleticism. I love it when BC positions her at the top of the key. Her height enables her to see over all of the defenders and make perfect passes to (usually) Murphy for easy buckets.

If BC is going to make the tournament they will need to go 2-1 the rest of the way and win at least one game in the ACC tournament, which is certainly well within their capabilities. The Eagles have a winnable game tomorrow night @ Florida State which will go a long way toward telling us whether or not the NCAAs are in our future.

Whether or not this season ends in an NCAA berth, this has been a fun team to watch. The future is bright.

BC men's hockey recovers with a nice 5-2 win at Lowell

If you didn't see the game, or read about it - Lowell jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one, but BC stormed back with 3 in the 2nd (Bertram, Ferriero, Smith) and 2 in the 3rd (Kucharski, Smith) to win the game. Total domination in the final 40 minutes. The split with Lowell, combined with losses by PC and NU, moves BC back into sole possession of 2nd place in Hockey East going into next week's monster series against UNH.

Here's my recap, from EagleAction:

*

Well, those final 40 minutes were the BC team we know and love. But after the first 20, I was wondering if we could retroactively give the Beanpot to BU.

First period was a total lockdown by UML who outshot BC 9-2. It was a continuation of all the concerns we've had about the team: a slow start, shaky goaltending
(Muse should have had that first goal, it squeezed through him and rolled in), poor transition passing, taking penalties, and not killing off said penalties.

Bertram got it turned around with a goal that took a weird hop, skip and a jump past Hamilton - whatever it takes to get Dan on the scoresheet.

The 5 minute hitting from behind call on Schaus was the right call - I wonder if they were targeting Kucharski? If so, Blaise should be getting a call from Mr. Bertagna. It was pretty upsetting to see BC waste 2 minutes of the 5 minute power play by taking a penalty, but it was the right play to make as Lowell had a good shorthanded chance.

Once Ferriero scored to tie the game, it was all BC. It was nice to see Smith score twice and it was even cooler to see Kucharski get on the board. I really like that Kucharski-Lombardi-Orpik combo.

We're going to need Smith, Bertram and Ferriero to really crank it up if we're going to make a run in NCAAs, as teams will try to neutralize Gerbe.

We'll find out next week how we stack up with one of the best teams in the country.


*

Lowell's Tsongas Arena is really nice (pics coming tomorrow). BC had a really big turnout, as usual, and the place was quite full (5,000+).

UML's band is one of the better bands in Hockey East. They have guitar and bass in their pep band... really odd. But they rock out for having such a small band.

On the other hand, UMLs student section might be the only one that is lamer than ours. They don't stand, many of them don't wear Lowell apparel, and the best they could muster up was a "BC sucks" chant, which I didn't hear much of in the 2nd or 3rd periods. :)

I can't wait for the UNH series. It's gonna be epic.

Speaking of epic, Women's hockey's epic meltdown continued last night with a loss against a pathetic Maine team that almost sinks their chances at making the Hockey East playoffs, barring a miraculous turnaround wherein BC goes 5-0 in their final 5. Since the Eagles' longest winning streak this year is 3, it's safe to say that that probably will not happen.

Quick hits-

MBB plays at home against UVA at 1 PM (game will be broadcast on TV38).

WBB hosts Georgia Tech tomorrow night at Conte in the "Think Pink" game.

Softball recovered from an 0-2 start to their weekend by sweeping Maine and Ohio at the ECU Pirate Invitational. They are now 2-2, with 5 games coming up next weekend in Fort Myers, FL., against St. Bonaventure, Florida Gulf Coast (twice), South Dakota State, and Western Carolina.

Interesting weekend ahead

I'm not going to blame Beanpot bliss for the fact that I'm still awake at 4:57 AM eastern time studying for an exam and working on a paper. [I kind of enjoy these nights in a strange sort of way; one of the odd joys of being a college student is that you can occasionally watch both the sunset and the sunrise from the same spot, without going to sleep in between. Also, the adrenaline rush that comes from finally being almost done with a paper in the wee hours of the morning is pretty sweet.]

Instead, I'll blame my ability to get distracted. Here are my thoughts on an interesting weekend coming up in the world of BC athletics:

Men's Basketball
-The men's basketball team has ACC games tonight and Sunday, against NC State and Virginia. Can they build off of their encouraging performance against Duke? Virginia is atrocious (1-9 in conference) and NC State is beatable (4-5). I'm actually feeling pretty optimistic about BC's chances for two wins. A lot of bad breaks have contributed to BC's losing streak. I think we'll end up going 4-3 the rest of the way, which should be good enough to make the NIT with one win in the ACC tournament - which was all I expected out of this season.

-I won't be attending either game thanks to BC's stupid student ticketing policy. Needless to say, there will be hundreds of empty student seats; none of these students will think of giving their tickets away to people who want to go, of course. It's probably a blessing in disguise: with today being Valentine's Day, I'd probably be in Le Chateau Bow-Wow with the Lady if I blew it off for a basketball game.

-Tonight's game is being broadcast live on ESPN at 7 PM.

Women's Basketball
-Don't expect much tonight as BC plays at Maryland in what will almost definitely be their third consecutive conference loss. Once this game is over, BC's ACC record will be 5-5, which is still far better than one would have predicted going into this year.

-If you're really interested in watching the slaughter, the game will be on ACC Select.

-Although I'm doomy-and-gloomy about the Maryland game, I still think BC has a reasonable chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Although it would be very tough to pull off, going 3-1 after the Maryland game and getting to 20 wins is wholly within the realm of possibility. BC plays GT (5-5) at home on Monday night in what will be a make or break game, before going to FSU (5-4), facing UVA (6-2) at home on Senior night, then trekking to Miami (2-7) to close the regular season. If BC gets to 20, one win in the ACC tournament could get the Eagles in.

-The top 4 teams in the ACC are pretty clearly defined (UNC, Maryland, Duke, Virginia), but there's no reason to believe that BC isn't in the mix to be the 5th best. They took it on the chin against NC State, but that was in front of a packed house against an inspired team playing for head coach and cancer survivor Kay Yow on 'think pink' day. Sometimes, emotion can carry the day.

Men's Hockey
-There's no time for a Beanpot hangover as the Eagles resume the Hockey East regular season title chase with a home-and-home against UMass-Lowell, Friday night at Conte Forum and Saturday night at Lowell's Tsongas Arena.

-Things have changed quite a bit since the last time these two teams got together. UML has gone from #12 to 'freefall' in no time, and many of Lowell's fans are predicting a bloodbath and a BC sweep. I say not so fast. If the two Beanpot games ended after 5 minutes in overtime, BC's record would be 1-1-2 in the last four games against a not-so-impressive slate consisting of Providence, BU, UMass and Harvard. Winning the Beanpot is nice, but BC has a lot of work to do if they're going to contend for the big trophies this season.

-Look to see how John Muse recovers after having by far his worst outing as an Eagle on Monday night. His two biggest problems were rebounds and going down to the ice early and often. Rebounds have been an issue all year, but his quick drops to the ice are a recent phenomenon; hopefully, it can be chalked up to big-game nerves and Muse will return to form this weekend.

-BC is 5 points behind UNH with 8 games to play in the regular season. UNH plays a pretty tough Providence team this weekend. Hopefully the Friars can steal a game, the Eagles can sweep, and BC can go into next weekend's home-and-home down three points.

-For what it's worth: if the season ended today, BC would be playing Lowell in the playoffs. So pay attention to these matchups.

-Remaining schedule (a home and home each weekend for the next 4 weeks): UMass-Lowell, UNH, Providence, Northeastern

Women's Hockey
-BC looked pretty lethargic in Tuesday's 2-1 consolation game victory over Northeastern, but to be fair, it was the Women's Beanpot 3rd place game in front of about 15 fans. I'm just glad to have finally beaten Northeastern.

-The Eagles ship up to Orono, Maine this weekend for a two game set with the dreadful Maine Black Bears. My good friends and fellow BC fanatics Grant and Mike will be making the weekend trip, but I decided to pass on this one.

-Speaking of the Maine series: it's a big one. The task ahead of BC is tough - they pretty much have to go 5-1 in their remaining games to have a shot at making the Hockey East playoffs. It needs to start with two wins against Maine.

-BC's last game against Maine resulted in a narrow 3-2 win at home on October 27. BC outshot Maine 29-17, but gave the Bears the advantage of 6 power plays (something that has been a recurring problem for the Eagles). Look for a better performance this weekend from BC. I'm fairly confident (but not overconfident) that BC will sweep. They had better.

-Remaining schedule: two @ Maine, home-and-home vs. BU, home-and-home vs. PC

-With 6 games to play, the Hockey East Standings look like this (top 4 make the playoffs):

1. UNH 29 pts
2. UConn 21
3. PC 18
4. BU 17
5. BC 14
6. NU 11
7. Maine 7
8. Vermont 3

Needless to say, the team's margin of error is almost nonexistent. I'm cautiously hopeful, but realistic.

Softball

-I had no idea about this until I checked BCEagles.com this morning, but the softball team starts its season tomorrow with two games in North Carolina - one against Ohio at 10 AM and one against East Carolina at 2 PM.

-I have no idea how the team is supposed to be this year, but I'd imagine that the forecast calls for: pain. I just hope we beat BU.

Beanpot Photos

Visiting friends before the game...


NU student section vs. BU student section

BC vs. HARVARD










View all of my photos here:
Album #3 - the final game, celebrations, etc.
Album #2 - the end of the BC-BU game, BU-NU consolation, start of BC-Har
Album #1 - Harvard-Northeastern, start of BC-BU

Scratch another one off the list

BC WINS THE BEANPOT!

Nick Petrecki's OT goal gave BC its first Beanpot title since 2004 and scratched another event off of my proverbial BC 'bucket list.' Now we just need to win the big one in April.

I can't really describe how much fun that was, but thankfully, there is a video already up on Youtube. The great thing about the video is 1) it sums it all up better than I could and 2) your faithful blogger makes an appearance at around the 1:00 mark - I'm in the maroon jersey in a sea of gold.



The other story of the night was NU fans showing up BU in the consolation game. Although BU won, they should be embarrassed that only half of one BU student section was full while NU's fans packed all of their student sections. They also outclassed BU in the 'back and forth' chants. It was all very amusing.

I have tons of pictures & I'll post links to my galleries later.

An almost-not-quite kind of day

The BC sports day began yesterday with the Eagles men's basketball team losing to Duke, but putting forth an inspired, encouraging effort against the #2 team in the country.

Last night, the BC women's hockey team also came tantalizingly close to an upset, losing 2-1 to #2 UNH in what was one of BC's best performances of the season.

Here's my recap from USCHO -

"

---

SO CLOSE

While the time for moral victories has long passed, I still think this was almost unquestionably BC's best game of the season. UNH is of a much higher caliber than any of the other teams which BC scored 'moral victories' against.

I will give much-deserved props to Katie King for radically changing the lines this week - not only did it seem to light a fire under the girls, I thought the combos worked out quite nicely. The only switch I'd make is probably Baskin swapping places with Harris.

While there was little doubt that UNH was the better team on the night, BC fought them for every puck and it showed as BC came within a whisker of the tying goal several times.

I thought it was also an extremely fun game to watch - it was physical, but clean - and the officials did a great job, as usual with Doiron IMO. BC didn't get a power play until the 3rd period, but that's because the 'Cats are just so disciplined.

There were three plays that were really critical and are kind of haunting me right now

1- Fardelmann had two breakaways on Herman late in the 3rd, including one with under two seconds to go, in which she tried to stuff the puck past Herman but she stood her ground

2- BC giving up a goal with less than four seconds to play in the first - late goals are a killer. Four more seconds of defensive concentration and suddenly we are looking at a much different game

3- Tracy Johnson's blatant and totally unnecessary body check with about 4 minutes to play in the game, which took away two vital minutes of potential attack time. She brings a lot to the table, but she really needs to cut down on the body-checking - she's the Weidmeier of 2008.

Speaking of Wiedmeier, she really played hard and played well yet again, this time on a line with Allie and Webster. Good stuff. Beaudry also played extremely well, IMO. And Zavisza continues to play well, but it's not showing up on the score sheet.

One questionable decision was not pulling the goalie with a faceoff in UNH's end with 1:03 to go. However, BC was shorthanded so I can see why King might have thought it to be a poor strategy. In my opinion, however, you still have to go for it.

I really like UNH. I still think they're the best team I've seen all year. By far the strongest on the puck. They don't play with the sort of arrogant flair that Harvard does - they just get down to business. They were just incredible at moving the puck around methodically to kill time once there were less than ten minutes left in the game. Their biggest problem from last year, goaltending, seems to have been shored up - I think BC might have had two more goals if Bourdon were between the pipes. I think they're going all the way."

BC-Duke tonight!

First off, about last night's men's BB game:

I wasn't planning on going. I sold my ticket. Between the two Beanpots and Super Bowl Sunday, I was way behind on work. Despite what you may think based on my high level of attendance at BC games, I do in fact work very hard in class ;).

But at around 6:40 I came into possession of another free ticket and couldn't resist the urge to go. I was pleasantly surprised to see an entertaining game. Lots of lead changes, great play by Oates, and a gritty effort despite an off game from Tyrese Rice. I'm glad I went. It wasn't a win, but it was encouraging.

Now, on to tonight's women's basketball game. This is a huge measuring stick for BC. Duke is down this year and is very much beatable. If BC wins this game they will definitely receive votes in next week's poll and will probably be on the inside track for an NCAA bid.

What's killing BC right now is strength of schedule, which has their RPI down in the 90s. A win tonight would make a world of difference.

BC is 13-1 at home, with their only loss coming against Maryland; Duke is 7-4 on the road.

Duke isn't killing opponents, but they are winning comfortably, outscoring them by an average of 71.8-57.2.

BC's numbers are close: 66.3-59.8.

Duke's last outing was a 17 point loss to rival UNC. Hopefully they will still be reeling from that.

This is going to be really hard for BC, but I feel optimistic today. I'm predicting a buzzer beater by Ayla Brown, followed by 2,000 9-year-old girls storming the court.

Lame

All I have to say about the women's Beanpot is that the Northeastern-Harvard game was more entertaining than the much ballyhooed BC-BU game.

It appears that BU's trademark Beanpot horseshoe-up-the-ass has transferred over to the women's side.

Oh well.

Now that that debacle is over, it's time to focus on the real business at hand: qualifying for the Hockey East tournament.

But with UNH next up on the schedule, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about the road ahead.

Let's see if they can prove me wrong.

Gerbe ends BU's Beanpot Reign of Terror

It had all the makings of the typical Beanpot script.

BC and BU were battling it out in a thrilling, back-and-forth hockey game that went into overtime.

BC was getting most of the shots and quality opportunities, but couldn't cash in with a game winner.

The Eagles had to overcome several very questionable calls, including having their go-ahead goal in the 3rd period taken off the board, and a very poor penalty call leading to a BU power play goal.

Northeastern and BU fans were antagonizing one another, BC fans chanted 'safety school' at BU, and Harvard fans... well, didn't exist.

In short, it was just like any other Beanpot.

Except one little part of the script changed: Nate Gerbe rifled a shot past Brett Bennett in overtime to win the game for BC and return the Eagles to the Beanpot final, while BU was relegated to the consolation game for the first time since 1993 (!!!!). BU has not finished 4th in the Beanpot since 1980 (GO NU!).

This was a hard game to analyze as I spent most of it with a terrible stress headache.

BU scored first and BC fans had to be thinking "here we go again." Tim Kunes played poor defense and allowed McCarthy to slide a shot under Muse about 8 minutes into the 1st period.

Then BC struck back with two goals in ten seconds. Anthony Aiello ripped a long-distance wrister and Dan Bertram set a nice screen to give BC its first goal; then, Benn Ferriero scored right off the ensuing faceoff.

BU took the lead with two in a row in the 2nd, one of which came courtesy of an absolutely terrible call against Nate Gerbe. Nate came in on a breakaway, took a shot, and slid into Bennett; he was called for charging (seriously?!) and BU was given a gift two-man advantage which they cashed in on.

Gerbe tied the game with his 20th goal of the season in the 3rd before netting his 21st to win it in overtime.

Muse was outstanding again, making a number of really fine saves to keep it tied late in the 3rd period.

The power play was a point of concern, as the Eagles got chance after chance in the first period due to some serious BU hackery. They did get one power-play goal on a 4-on-3 but other than that the powerplay struggled.

One of the funnier moments of the game was seeing Brett Bennett get penalized for intentionally knocking the net off while BC was attacking in the BU end. The apple doesn't fall far from the Tree of Parker.

Blah

The Super Bowl ripped out my will to write about this weekend's games, so I'll summarize:

WBB: On a roll. Blowout win over Miami, total team effort, Swords is awesome
MH: Beanpot tonight. Please win. Please. The Providence game sucked.
WH: Alright, two wins against Vermont. Gotta build on it.
MBB: Trainwreck

Tonight, one of the best nights in Boston, Beanpot Monday #1. Here's hoping the Eagles don't drive me to jump off the TD Banknorth Garden balcony.

Hockey Doubleheader today

2 PM: women vs. UVM
7 PM: men vs. PC

Both are important games.

Things are really picking up now.
-2 hockey games today
-a women's hockey game tomorrow
-a women's basketball game sunday
-Beanpot Monday
-Women's Beanpot Tuesday
-BC vs. Maryland in a must-win men's hoops game Wednesday
-BC vs. Duke women's BB Thursday
-Men's hockey @ UMass Friday
-Women's hockey vs. UNH next Saturday
-The two Beanpot finals & consolation games

Wasn't this 'Heights Week' last year? It's kind of got the same feel again this year. After a week spent mostly doing homework, this will be a welcome change. :)