BU 2020-21 Season: The Road to … Nowhere?

[Lemonade]

Wasn’t the prettiest win but playing Maine on a small sheet isn’t ideal for a team built to play on the big sheet at agganis. Outshot for the 4th straight game yet are 4-0. Take that all day long. Win is a win.

[Bomber]

I just saw on Twitter that Ty is done for the year.

Nice win. I have questions:

- Why ARE they playing their games at WBA?
- Bernie said Maine won't need their white sweaters because they aren't playing any home games. How come?

Keep in rolling... I wish I could watch this team in person.

[Bomber]

I put a frown after that Ty announcement, but for some reason it's not showing. #FirstWorldProblems #BoardIssues

[brassbonanza]

I just saw on Twitter that Ty is done for the year.

Nice win. I have questions:

- Why ARE they playing their games at WBA?
- Bernie said Maine won't need their white sweaters because they aren't playing any home games. How come?

Keep in rolling... I wish I could watch this team in person.

Point 1: https://bangordailynews.com/2020/12/...laying-at-all/

Point 2: HAA is a BU testing site so they're not allowing anyone outside the BU community inside the venue.

Pretty amazing how many injuries this team can mysteriously sustain without any information. What happened to Wise and Phillips?

[Drew S.]

I just saw on Twitter that Ty is done for the year.

Nice win. I have questions:

- Why ARE they playing their games at WBA?
- Bernie said Maine won't need their white sweaters because they aren't playing any home games. How come?

Keep in rolling... I wish I could watch this team in person.

Maine’s governor won’t let Maine play home games. Bars, restaurants, and gyms are fine though.

[mookie1995]

#3 pair wise ;^]

[defkit]

I know they say that the sign of a good team is when they win games when they don't play well. So I hope that means we are a good team, because they looked terrible. I don't know if it was 1) underestimating their opponent 2) dialing back the intensity when Farrance go the early goal (oh, this will be an easy win) or 3) just not being able to adjust to Maine's style of play, but I hope the coaches find a way to right the ship today. The best example of (3) was the power play - we struggled to even get possession in our zone no matter how we played it. The "back pass" play fell apart because it requires precision quick passing just before crossing the blue line and we often mishandled it. Then some players tried to do it themselves and Maine quickly converged on them and got the puck. There were just poor passes, a lot of "hot potato" handling of the puck, even by our skill players. Way too many turnovers in our zone. I think they missed having their captain out there.

Anywho, nice to come away with a win, and on a beautiful shot by Mastro. Farrance with 3 more points. The initial box score on CHN had the OT winner as unassisted, which is odd given that there was very clearly a drop pass by Fensore two seconds before the goal. They updated it to give Fensore and Farrance assists, as did Hockey East, but this site still has it as unassisted.

[buoldtimer]

I know they say that the sign of a good team is when they win games when they don't play well. So I hope that means we are a good team, because they looked terrible. I don't know if it was 1) underestimating their opponent 2) dialing back the intensity when Farrance go the early goal (oh, this will be an easy win) or 3) just not being able to adjust to Maine's style of play, but I hope the coaches find a way to right the ship today. The best example of (3) was the power play - we struggled to even get possession in our zone no matter how we played it. The "back pass" play fell apart because it requires precision quick passing just before crossing the blue line and we often mishandled it. Then some players tried to do it themselves and Maine quickly converged on them and got the puck. There were just poor passes, a lot of "hot potato" handling of the puck, even by our skill players. Way too many turnovers in our zone. I think they missed having their captain out there.

Anywho, nice to come away with a win, and on a beautiful shot by Mastro. Farrance with 3 more points. The initial box score on CHN had the OT winner as unassisted, which is odd given that there was very clearly a drop pass by Fensore two seconds before the goal. They updated it to give Fensore and Farrance assists, as did Hockey East, but this site still has it as unassisted.

I don't see the benefit of the "back pass". BU has employed it for a few years now. At this point, doesn't the opposition expect it?

[Rogie21]

I don't see the benefit of the "back pass". BU has employed it for a few years now. At this point, doesn't the opposition expect it?

The back pass is pretty prevalent in the NHL, too. BU did mix it up a few times with Farrance and Fensore carrying the puck through center ice and into the zone. Thought McCarthy looked good for his first time out. His return means a little less ice time for Jarman and Campolieto, which is OK for now, and also provides right shot for the 2nd PP unit.

[Scarlet]

Special thanks to defkit who said he was able to watch a previous game by going old school and using an HDMI cable. As some who is a bit technologically unsavvy, I figured out how to do just that and am now watching on my TV instead of my laptop screen.

[meauxmo]

I know they say that the sign of a good team is when they win games when they don't play well. So I hope that means we are a good team, because they looked terrible. I don't know if it was 1) underestimating their opponent 2) dialing back the intensity when Farrance go the early goal (oh, this will be an easy win) or 3) just not being able to adjust to Maine's style of play, but I hope the coaches find a way to right the ship today. The best example of (3) was the power play - we struggled to even get possession in our zone no matter how we played it. The "back pass" play fell apart because it requires precision quick passing just before crossing the blue line and we often mishandled it. Then some players tried to do it themselves and Maine quickly converged on them and got the puck. There were just poor passes, a lot of "hot potato" handling of the puck, even by our skill players. Way too many turnovers in our zone. I think they missed having their captain out there.

Anywho, nice to come away with a win, and on a beautiful shot by Mastro. Farrance with 3 more points. The initial box score on CHN had the OT winner as unassisted, which is odd given that there was very clearly a drop pass by Fensore two seconds before the goal. They updated it to give Fensore and Farrance assists, as did Hockey East, but this site still has it as unassisted.

In baseball they say the name of the game is pitcher and in hockey it is goalie. For the first time in years we have a very good goalie who is covering up a lot of weaknesses. I would love to see this team out work the other team for 60 minutes while also for the first time out shooting an opponent. We are not yet a disciplined team.

[Rover]

Hey I give them a ton of credit. Team is flying around making plays and Farrance is something else to watch. Took a bit of time to adjust in the Friday game after Maine locked down but they found a way to win. Still not completely sold on Albie but have more hope than I did a couple of weeks ago.

[defkit]

Much better looking game for BU. More offensive zone time, better defensive play in general. There were clearly still some times we had trouble getting the puck out, but much better than yesterday. Depth at forward is making up for not having a superstar up front. I never thought we would win 5 in a row after that terrible first game. Keep it rolling!

[Rover]

mookie may have to rethink his viewing.

turned on last night with the terriors up 1-0. Then went to bed at the end of the 2nd period..

Well in your defense those girls usually charge by the hour and you can always catch a replay of the game afterwards....

[Sean Pickett]

This team still has issues it needs to work out, but today's game was probably the best they have played over sixty minutes so far this season. They are still taking too many penalties (just over 6 per game) and turning the puck over too often, especially in their own zone, but they did a better job today of putting offensive pressure on Maine. And while I would like more shots on goal, I'll take their current 18% scoring percentage the rest of the season over more shots. Going back to the 1999-2000 season the previous season best BU had was 12.9% for the 2008-09 season. BU may finally have several high quality scorers. Peterson's goal today was almost a carbon copy of his goal at UMass last Sunday (and it was his third first goal of the game). BU has also scored first in all five of the games they have won and they responded well in the first four when they were challenged by their opponent.

Some other stats:
Last time BU won 5 straight was almost three years ago (9-24 March 2018)
Last time BU swept Maine was four years ago (20 & 21 January 2017)
Last time BU started the season 5-1-0 was six seasons ago (2014-15)

Sean