Things that are good...

• The men's basketball team is hosting a public intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday morning at 10 AM in the Power Gym. This is not quite as cool as, say, Midnight Madness; nor is it qute as cool as an actual exhibition game against another opponent - but at least it's something. I look forward to getting a glimpse of this year's hoops team and getting some insight as to what the rotation is going to look like. I'm sure student attendance will be almost nonexistent, but it's nice of Coach Skinner to open the doors and let us get an early look at this season's squad.
• The women's basketball team also has an exhibition game coming up - a Monday night matchup with a team called "Premier Players" in Conte Forum. I can't attend... night class. Boo.
• The #10 BC women's soccer team defeated #14 Duke yesterday 1-0 in the quarterfinal round of the 2008 ACC Soccer Tournament in Cary, N.C. The Eagles will now face perennial national powerhouse UNC tomorrow evening at 5 PM. The game will be aired live on ACC Select. The winner advances to the championship game, to be televised Sunday afternoon on (I think) NESN. In their last matchup with the 'Heels, BC battled hard in Chapel Hill before being beaten 3-2 by a UNC goal in the final minutes.
• Tomorrow night's BC-Notre Dame men's hockey game will be the first national title rematch in college hockey since the BC-Wisconsin series two autumns ago at the Kohl Center in Madison. In that series, BC swept the Badgers; the Eagles now have three consecutive wins over Wisconsin since falling to Bucky in the '06 NCAA championship game.
• Tomorrow's game also marks Notre Dame's first visit to Conte Forum since their 7-1 beatdown of BC two seasons ago, and the first Notre Dame football/hockey dual weekend in four years. Here's hoping they keep the semi-tradition alive in South Bend next year - I'd love to be able to see hockey and football on the road.
• An anonymous source tells me that Hockey East may be on the verge of establishing higher standards for arena quality - including quality of facilities, seating capacity, and ice quality. The long and short of that nugget is that such a policy would result in the end of Merrimack in Hockey East. Sad anonymous source mentioned that Quinnipiac is considered a favorite to take Merrimack's place, should they ever get the boot; Quinnipiac has a gorgeous facility in Hamden, Conn., a growing program, and a pretty decent fanbase, considering it's in the middle of nowhere. Merrimack-for-Quinnipiac would be an excellent swap for the league, so let's keep our fingers crossed that this source knows what he's talking about.
• Jags is talking about the chance that Ryan Quigley may kick field goals and take kickoffs this weekend against the Irish, depending on who wins the practice battle. Of course, Quigley's one kickoff on Saturday was disastrous, so let's hope that was the exception and not the rule...
• Our traveling party did not hit a moose yesterday on our trip to Hanover, N.H.
• The women's hockey team does not have another game until next Thursday night, at home against UConn; by then, the Four Nations Cup will be over, and Molly Schaus and Kelli Stack will be back in maroon and gold after a quick stint wearing the red, white and blue. Speaking of which, Molly, Kelli and team USA take on Canada tonight at 7 PM in Lake Placid... go America!