BU 2021-22: Albie's Great Adventure

[Terrier86]

His kid is no longer here??? (Really now, like anyone needs another reason to put up with watching this stuff night after night?? (Token rover post))

I agree - Tom was better than Mark, who tries too hard to be funny/sarcastic and it has become annoying to listen to.

[Bomber]

There will be a Travis Roy ceremony at 7:15 before the Lowell game.

How was last Thursday's event for Travis?

[Rogie21]

There will be a Travis Roy ceremony at 7:15 before the Lowell game.

How was last Thursday's event for Travis?

Well-done by all involved. JP's talk was a home run. Event was recorded and can be viewed at
https://www.travisroyfoundation.org/events/celebrate/ (wait for it to begin)

The usual excellent work by Scott Weighart on his feature about Ty's journey back to the line-up.
https://goterriers.com/news/2021/10/...severance.aspx

Albie's weekly media call is at 11 this morning. Will see if there is an injury update.

[Scarlet]

There will be a Travis Roy ceremony at 7:15 before the Lowell game.

How was last Thursday's event for Travis?

It was very nice. Wonderful memories of a truly amazing individual. I’m glad they were finally able to do something like that.

[Rogie21]

A few takeaways from Albie’s media call:
-Said Saturday’s win was a big step forward in shooting the puck rather than making “fancy passes.” Case in point was Peterson’s short-hander.
-He really like BU’s 5-on-5 play on Saturday, but having to kill eight penalties disrupted the offensive flow.
-Matt Brown has skated in practice and O’Connell hopes he’ll be in the line-up against Lowell.
-Re the upcoming weekend, BU needs to:
1. Be alert from first face off and manage the puck well. UML is a strong defensive team that gets sticks on pucks and can make it hard to leave the defensive zone.
2. Make good decisions to get its skating game going
3. Be competitive but disciplined—play smart (meaning no stupid penalties)

Terrier Hockey Fan Blog

[Rogie21]

Only Kaufman returns to the line-up. LW with Stevens and Carrabes. Other lines and pairs are the same as last game.

[Scarlet]

This team is…not very good.

[BU93]

Yet again, very disappointing. Shut out at home after putting in 8 last game. I don’t know what to say anymore. Time to start Duplessis to shake this team up. I think Commesso has been very average anyway. But you still have to score to win games. Anyone have any other ideas?

[Terrier86]

Yet again, very disappointing. Shut out at home after putting in 8 last game. I don’t know what to say anymore. Time to start Duplessis to shake this team up. I think Commesso has been very average anyway. But you still have to score to win games. Anyone have any other ideas?

Need to turn things upside down - bring in a new head coach that isn't a former Terrier (unless his last name is Sullivan; but that's not likely). Kinda simple really - recruit better skaters (this team isn't very fast; both forwards and d'men) and better goal scorers (not a lot of finishers on this roster). Unfortunately this won't/can't be done this year so it's likely to be a case of waiting this out. Sigh.

[brassbonanza]

The only meaningful change that must occur is at head coach. Any other one at this point is window dressing.

[Terrier86]

The only meaningful change that must occur is at head coach. Any other one at this point is window dressing.

Yup.

[Lemonade]

The only meaningful change that must occur is at head coach. Any other one at this point is window dressing.

Spot on. It’s a long season and Hockey East is a mess but this team has no spark. It’s the same thing over and over. Offensively too pretty, on defense too soft and they give up way too many breakways and odd man rushes and flat out grade “A” scoring chances. Some stuff can be fixed but this ain’t pretty. Only positive is Brown and Tuch should be back and those are 1st line caliber players. No one else is stepping up.

[bu98]

The only meaningful change that must occur is at head coach. Any other one at this point is window dressing.

Tonight's game finally moved me firmly into the "Fire Albie!" camp....this team is wasting talent and clearly undisciplined. Can't make basic passes, they've gotta wheel 300 feet in their defensive zone before getting out, meanwhile Lowell moves the puck end to end on 2 passes because the support on our forecheck doesn't cover anyone. Sending 6 players out on a power play (and not just a cheapie "oops it hit someone changing", a legit missed substitution). A power play that's 1-for-12 in the last 3 games against perennial powerhouse Merrimack and Lowell.

The 2nd intermission "coach interview" said everything I needed to hear. "Well, we're outshooting them, so we're going to keep doing what we're doing and hope it gets better". Keep doing what you're doing? Skating a lazy, uninspired game? That's the whole team philosophy - "Well, I hope it gets better." No hustle, no heart. Whatever happened to Desire, Determination and the Will to Win?

I don't blame Commesso (the softie tonight is really the only one I remember, the other 2 goals were a cross-crease pass and a breakaway because a pinching defenseman blasted a shot that got kicked back past him).

I can't remember the last time I was this ****ed at this team, and I've been sitting in the same seat for the last 15 years, and following them for 25.

We should be 6-1, maybe 5-2 right now after this cupcake opening schedule. A split with 2-4-1 Atlantic Hockey Sacred Heart? Splits with 3-3 UConn and 3-4 'Mack? If Albie can't get these guys fighting for each other on their trip out to Michigan, we could be looking at another 20-loss season, which is absolutely unacceptable with 12 NHL draft picks on your roster, and don't whine to me that O'Brien is hurt or Matt Brown didn't play. Where's Cockerill been? Why can't Mastrosimone finish after he dangles 3 guys? Why does everyone else feel the need to try to dangle 3 guys when there are teammates wide open on either side of them? Ugh, I'm just raging and ranting. I don't even want to look at the results until we get back home against UMass.
We could easily be 3-7 going into that game. I'm not surprised the arena is half-empty.

Also, as much as we all appreciate and love Travis, the pre-game ceremony set such a weird, hushed tone for the beginning of the game. I was in Section 7 my sophomore year when Travis had his accident. I've met him a handful of times, and made donations to the TRF. That kind of night should have inspired his fellow Terriers to want to bring home a W for Travis.

I really hope their play rest of the season gets better than this, because tonight's product on the ice was simply unwatchable.

[bu98]

Spot on. It’s a long season and Hockey East is a mess but this team has no spark. It’s the same thing over and over. Offensively too pretty, on defense too soft and they give up way too many breakways and odd man rushes and flat out grade “A” scoring chances. Some stuff can be fixed but this ain’t pretty. Only positive is Brown and Tuch should be back and those are 1st line caliber players. No one else is stepping up.

Can these guys skate through anyone with the puck? A quick tap of their stick and they lose the puck. They don't have a bull-rush guy that can carry the puck end to end through sheer will or stickhandling talent. Just feels so soft.

[defkit]

The jekyll and hyde (8 goals one night, then 0) and the inability to adjust your game to the opponent (at least mid-game if not beforehand) are the two signs to me that coaching is the issue.

I think this team has talent and speed. I think the players are giving the effort. I understand there are injuries, but we have a roster that is very big and full of NHL draft picks. The players need a system.

How many times is Fensore going to get a head of steam going in the defensive zone (good), make it through the neutral zone (good) only to try to get through three guys or have someone just poke the puck off of his stick (not good)? I've never been a dump and chase guy but with big bodies like Peterson and Boucher, maybe we need to try that more? Then again, we don't win puck battles along the boards very often so, maybe not.

Going tonight, hoping the schizophrenic nature continues and we put up 7.