Locke, St. Lawrence top BC 4-2

Urgh. #7 BC women's hockey loses 4-2 in a tight, hard fought game with #5 St. Lawrence.

The first half of the game was a track meet, and BC showed their superior speed, with Fardelmann and Thunstrom scoring great breakaway goals. Then the game started getting physical and chippy, and BC couldn't quite make the adjustment.

Marianne Locke, the #1 star, took over the game for SLU. On a power play with 8 mins. left in the second, Locke got a rebound and roofed it over Schaus's right shoulder, the prettiest goal on a night full of very good goals. She then scored the winner on another power play in the 3rd, a rifled wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.

The game started to get VERY chippy in the third and I expect it will be a very physical rematch tomorrow. Should be interesting.

I really like SLU's Appleton Arena. At first I thought the wooden benches looked kind of dinky, but it has a very unique and intimate feel while not feeling old or rickety. It's a nice little place and it seems like it would get very loud when full - I'm looking forward to tomorrow's SLU-Clarkson men's game.

We're pretty fortunate in that we'll be watching three of the best rivalries in college hockey in three consecutive weeks: Maine-UNH last week, St. Lawrence-Clarkson this week, and BC-BU next week. Plus BC women square off against UNH the week after that. Hockey season has begun in earnest.

New Brunswick Photos, Batch 2

The joys of bilingualism

Fredericton

Fredericton, again

Lyles!

Almeida

Orpik with the move

Ceremonial puck drop

Game on

Arrived in Canton, NY

This has to be one of the crummiest places I've ever been to, and I've seen quite a few crummy places. It's also something like 9 degrees out.

Hopefully the three games I see this weekend will be good - BC vs. St. Lawrence women (x2), and St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson men, one of the best rivalries in the game.

New Brunswick photos, batch 1

Entering Canada.

Great scenery.

The intros

Underway.

Faceoff

A BC attack

Goal!

Meeting THE Jerry York.

There's only one thing to say at a time like this...

...thank God hockey re-starts tomorrow.

The men are in Vermont this weekend for a series at the Gutt, always a tricky place to play. 

The #7 women's team travels to #3 St. Lawrence for a huge top-ten battle. I'll be in Canton, NY for those two games, as well as the St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson men's game - one of the best rivalries in the sport.

The BC basketball bandwagon quickly derails

BC students and alums who don't like hockey probably should develop an affinity for it pretty soon, because it sadly appears that our two other major sports really are only good for occasional teases, followed by heartbreak and agony.

Remember the oft-ridiculed "It's called Bruins..." ad campaign? It led to many jokes with a punchline similar to "failure...it's called Bruins." I'm beginning to think that soul-sucking defeat is synonymous with BC instead of the B's. If it weren't for Jerry York we'd probably never do anything special. 

Is it bad that I'm feeling this pessimistic today? I love BC fully and 9 times out of 10 I'm an optimist... but this awful day in BC history has me wondering if we truly are fated to watch our two revenue teams continue to torture us forever.

BC basketball's very brief splash of national relevance is over and it looks like the basketball team will now join the football team as the subject of jokes from bitter local BC haters. And who can blame them? 

A loss to Harvard is simply embarrassing and unacceptable. There can be no excuses. I've already heard some fans blame the refs [whine, whine] and, astonishingly, the fans [as if it's the job of the fans to make the players have a little pride in themselves and actually show up to play every game].

They came out flat but unlike many teams that come out flat. they never recovered. It took Rice a very long time to get going. The rebounding was poor and the foul shooting was even worse. 

Say what you will about Al Skinner's program building, his game management SUCKS. His flat style is suited to letdowns like this, and we didn't start pressing until WAY, WAY too late, against a team we are far more athletic than.

I just want to put my hand through the wall right now. I'll post some New Brunswick pictures and videos tomorrow... anything to forget about football and basketball.

I leave the country and the BC sports world turns upside down

At around 6 PM this evening, I thought the most interesting thing I'd have to blog about today would be being present at UNH's exciting 5-4 victory over Maine at Alfond Arena, in which UNH scored four goals in the third period to top the Black Bears. 

Then, over the next few hours, the entire BC sports landscape changed right before our eyes.

The UNC win legitimately is a program-changer; it was probably the best regular season win in team history. It instantly gives the program the national respect and attention that it has lacked since the end of the Sean Williams era. There's a very good chance that BC vaults right into the top 20. 

While it's too early to call this a sure sign of things to come, it's hard not to get excited when Rakim Sanders and Reggie Jackson help Tyrese carry the load and bring home a victory in Tobbaco Road. The guys should be very proud.

Of course, there is also the Jags news; according to very reliable sources, he's gone. Absolutely stunning. I feel almost personally hurt and decieved, as I truly believed Jags was here for the long haul. There's no way he actually gets the Jets job... so this is all just very odd.

I'll be perfectly honest here: any way you look at it, this is going to be an EPIC FAIL for BC, perception-wise, and perception really is one of the most important things here. This is going to be viewed one of three ways:

1] BC got rid of a very good football coach [very true, in perception and reality]

2] BC overreacted to Jags' natural desire for an NFL job, the pinnacle of his profession.

3] BC got played by a slick-talker who professed his loyalty then screwed.

This is also going to reinforce the image of BC as a stepping-stone job. But let's be frank - what isn't a stepping stone job? Nick Saban says hello. Coaches are always looking out for the next offer, that's just the way it is. While I salute GDF for his courage here and hope the program can grow from this moving forward, this is going to make BC look VERY bad and will hurt recruiting unless Gene makes a huge splash with the next hire.

With that said, I'm rooting for Spaz to get the head coaching job. I feel like that's highly unlikely, though.

I'll have pictures and stories from New Brunswick and Maine either later tonight or tomorrow... for now, I'm trying to take this all in.

More from UNB

Last night, the #7 women's hockey team defeated Yale 1-0 in overtime on a Danielle Welch goal. This is a pretty solid win on the road and it gave the Eagles a four point weekend after beating Colgate on Friday.

The men's basketball team travels to UNC today. Let's hope for a miracle and/or Hansbrough going pro by 6 PM.

More from last night's BC-UNB game:

As I mentioned, Lyles looked very impressive. I understand that he probably had more incentive to play hard than some of the other guys, but he really did look like someone who's capable of stepping in and being a valuable part of the defensive corps next year. He looks very poised with the puck and makes smart decisions. He also plays a very good physical game and banged bodies with some much bigger UNB forwards. He even picked up an assist on BC's 3rd [?] goal. The only negative was that he got a penalty in the 3rd period - it was in a sequence where he and the UNB player were really going at it away from the puck and really both could have been whistled down, then Lyles reached out and held him one more time to draw the call. All in all, a very good performance for him.

Bradford and Ferriero were the two shooters in the post-game shootout; although they missed, they were both very deserving of 'all-tournament team' honors, although I think Matt Lombardi deserved some consideration because he was everywhere for BC in both games even though he wasn't on the scoresheet as much as those two.

It's really tough to judge much of anything from these games, although it's hard not to be impressed by UNB's team. Overall it's just good that a) the whole roster played and b) nobody got hurt. On to Vermont...

BC wins game, loses Challenge Cup in shootout

EPIC HOCKEY. In addition to the BC-UNB game, we watched the Bruins, two World Junior games, and the Oilers in various bars around Fredericton; sharing in this city/country's passion for the game has been so much fun.

Boston College came back strong tonight to beat the University of New Brunswick, 4-2. Tommy Atkinson scored a goal in his first BC appearance; Malcolm Lyles also impressed in his first start on defense. Kremer and Venti got in on the action as well, playing in the 2nd and 3rd periods, respectively.

UNB won the shootout, 2-0, to break the tie and win the Pete Kelley Challenge Cup. 

I'll have more to post about the game tomorrow, but for now, I'm off to bed...

Fredericton is an awesome little city and a great place to spend a weekend, and take a hockey pilgramage. Watching the epic Canada-Russia World Juniors game in a Canadian bar was a blast. Canada scored with 5 seconds left to tie the game, then won in a shootout. 

The warmth and the generosity of the people here has been amazing; they're so glad to have BC in town. I'm the proud owner of a UNB Varsity Reds game worn jersey, given to me by a UNB fan; I will be mailing him an Eagles jersey.

New Brunswick 5, BC 3

Ick. New Brunswick's Varsity Reds came to play today and it took BC a while to match their intensity. They were throwing their weight around from the beginning. 

If BC's intention was to run PK drills they did a good job.. lots of penalties on both teams tonight. The PP never really got into a rhythm, they kept up with the dump-around-the-boards play, NB did a good job defending it, and BC never really adjusted [no need to... it's an exhibition].

Muse was definitely rusty as he gave up two quick goals. Petrecki got thrown out on a boarding major, which was kind of the lowpoint of the game. 

Atkinson was flying around like he had something to prove. Definitely one of the best BC players, along with Matt Lombardi, who was named BC player of the game.

On a side note, we absolutely love it up here. Great people, beautiful little city, lots of nice bars and restaurants, and the UNB rink was sweet. Coach York was nice enough to invite our traveling party to dinner with the team postgame, which was cool.

I'll have lots of great pictures to share once I get them uploaded. Looking forward to game two.

By the way, if BC wins tomorrow, the Pete Kelley Challenge Cup will be determined by a shootout.

Live from Fredericton, NB

We've safely arrived at the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel in Fredericton. It's gorgeous [and very, very cold] up here. It turns out that the team is staying here as well, and we ran into Jerry York in the hallway; as usual, he was very classy and welcoming. I was told that the team got in yesterday and spent the day being feted by the mayor of Fredericton.

You may have heard rumors about how big World Juniors are up here. Let me tell you: the rumors don't go far enough... you'd think it was some combination of the World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the return of Jesus Christ. It's on the front page of every major paper, aired in every bar, and discussed on every channel. They were just showing a re-run of the US-Canada game from the other day, and the crowd was as electric as any I've ever heard. Canada really does live for this.

We're getting set to check out the town now before heading to the rink for game one. Go Eagles!

A dubious list while I head into Canada

I'm in Falmouth, Maine this morning, getting set to drive into New Brunswick for the exhibition series between the Eagles and the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. Being on the road has helped me avoid any discussion of the Game That Never Happened, but I've still been steaming over it internally, which led me to think of the following list: The Top 6 losses that made me sick during my time as a BC student. These aren't the most depressing or heartbreaking losses [i.e. National Championship game, ACC title games, etc.], but rather the losses that left me with a sick feeling because of how awful the loss and/or opponent was.

Enjoy:

1. Football - Music City Bowl vs. Vanderbilt - 2008

Yep, this one is the worst; it continued to stain the ACC's already horrible reputation, it broke our one small source of pride, the bowl streak, and it created some big fears about the future of our offense. I respect Vanderbilt as one of the few classy programs in the SEC, but losing to them stinks - especially in a bowl game. This one is tough to stomach.

2. Men's Hockey - vs. Northeastern, March 2008

Senior Night at Conte Forum was the penultimate game of the regular season and the start of a home-and-home with NU. The Eagles needed to step up and win at least one in order to secure home ice for the Hockey East playoffs, but they came in reeling after an 0-1-1 weekend against previously ice-cold Providence.

BC scored just nine seconds into the game, but the rest of it was miserable as Northeastern outhustled BC to every puck and won every battle along the boards. A late Mike Brennan rocket tied the game, but Northeastern dominated and broke through in overtime. After this game, I further adjusted my already low expectations - I just wanted to make it to the Garden for the Hockey East semifinals. How little I knew...

3. Men's Basketball - vs. Duquesne, December 2006

The 2005-06 basketball team should have gone to the Final Four - I maintain that to this very day - and I held out hope that the '06-'07 team could make a similar run. But the loss against an awful Duquesne team at home really put a damper on that. I do recall Duquesne coming back from a late double-digit deficit, and Sean Williams [who?] picking up a very dumb technical foul in overtime to help gift-wrap the game.

4. Football - vs. Georgia Tech, September 2008

We don't lose home games, for the most part; for all the talk about our crappy home field advantage, BC football has dominated at Alumni Stadium over the past five seasons or so. The Class of 2012 was not as lucky as '10 or '11 as their first home game was a bitterly disappointing loss to a team we expected to beat. Chris Crane's struggles poured cold water all over my theory that Crane's mobility and the return of Raji and Toal would make the '08 squad better than their '07 counterpart.

5. Women's Hockey - vs. Northeastern, December 2007

In hindsight, realizing how good Leah Sulyma is in net makes this one easier to swallow, but at the time a loss to Northeastern was very, very tough to take; it was the official sign that the '07-'08 version of the Eagles had something missing, and that the rest of the season would be difficult to watch.

6. Men's Hockey - vs. BU, December 2008

We were lucky enough to go the entire year in '07-'08 without seeing BC lose to BU, so I was able to forget how sickening it is to see a loss in a huge rivalry game. Coming on the heels of the ACC championship loss earlier that afternoon, watching BU fans celebrate all over Conte left me with a sick feeling that lingered for days. Making matters worse: the team hasn't played yet since then.