BU: '22-'23 Season: Sail The Boats

[chickod]

Good game, BU. Y’all seem like a classy fanbase. At least, the posters on here represent y’all well. We were screeching more about the refs on GPL than y’all did on here.

Congrats. You deserved to win. Good luck in the finals. I think we're heading in the right direction with the right people at the helm, but getting to the FF with the first year of a new coach is satisfying.

[DNAEagle]

Minnie is really good and really deep, it is hard to believe that they have not won in 20 years. BU had a great season, I won't be sad to see some of the seniors go, lot of good players remaining however. providing they don't jump on the waiver wire or sign an NHL contract. BU/BC games will be just like the old days, looking forward to it.

[kbz]

I think it's exactly what I figured going into the game. We're not really a national title contender at this point. Still rebuilding from Albie's tenure. Hopefully we continue to improve over the coming years.

What makes BU a national contender because in my mind this was it? We had VERY strong senior and freshman classes. Sophomore class was basically nonexistent save Gallagher who is okay. Tuch and Peterson returning for senior season will be big. Would be shocked if Commesso returns. Hopefully Mack Celebrini is as good as Eichel was his one season and we should be very competitive again. We will also need the current freshmen to take a step up and have some of the new freshman other than Celebrini to be good.

Tonight we lost to a better team. I believe in Pandolfo and his coaching staff but the cupboard was definitely not bare. I think Pandolfo took this team light years further than Albie would have but this team was definitely capable of winning it all. Injuries hurt down stretch but don’t know how much of a difference it would have made Minnesota’s sticks were everywhere.

[mookie1995]

So mookie just woke up in Bangkok (oriental city).
did our boys win?!?

[Lemonade]

Hats off to Minnesota they are a great team and showed why they are #1 in the country.

[BU Fan 84]

What makes BU a national contender because in my mind this was it? We had VERY strong senior and freshman classes. Sophomore class was basically nonexistent save Gallagher who is okay. Tuch and Peterson returning for senior season will be big. Would be shocked if Commesso returns. Hopefully Mack Celebrini is as good as Eichel was his one season and we should be very competitive again. We will also need the current freshmen to take a step up and have some of the new freshman other than Celebrini to be good.

Tonight we lost to a better team. I believe in Pandolfo and his coaching staff but the cupboard was definitely not bare. I think Pandolfo took this team light years further than Albie would have but this team was definitely capable of winning it all. Injuries hurt down stretch but don’t know how much of a difference it would have made Minnesota’s sticks were everywhere.

I guess you watched a different game than the rest of us, but I didn't see a BU team capable of beating Minnesota tonight. If we can't hang with the big boys, then we can't be considered national champ contenders. Perhaps in a couple of years, with Pandolfo getting the chance to have more consistency across all four classes. I don't really think Tuch and Peterson are that good, certainly not capable of leading a team to a national championship. The juniors and sophomores contributed very little offensively. I think we'll most likely take a step back next year if all seniors and Commesso leave. I think Pandolfo just needs a couple years to build a program - get significant contributions from all classes and then we can start thinking about being real contenders. I think the freshman class is a good class to begin with since I expect all of them to be back next year and, besides L. Hutson, all back for junior season, too.

[Harry Cleverly]

Too many penalties and not enough depth on defense. The Case McCarthy injury loss was bigger than we knew at the time. You can't skate four defensemen against a team with the size, speed and overall quality of Minnesota. That helped lead to the penalties.
Once we got past Hutson, Fensore, Gallagher and Webber, there was not the faith to play any of the others regularly. Copeland was serviceable as a sixth defenseman against lesser teams.
Charles-Alexis Legault was a BU legacy who de-committed late for Quinnipiac. Might he have made a difference?
BU had excellent depth at forward and could roll four lines against the best. But they came up short on the blueline.

Still, all-in-all, an excellent and rewarding season for Pandolfo and the boys. Some new and updated banner at Agganis to start next season (I hope they replace the 'Final Four' banner with an updated 'Frozen Four' banner).

[brassbonanza]

I guess you watched a different game than the rest of us, but I didn't see a BU team capable of beating Minnesota tonight. If we can't hang with the big boys, then we can't be considered national champ contenders. Perhaps in a couple of years, with Pandolfo getting the chance to have more consistency across all four classes. I don't really think Tuch and Peterson are that good, certainly not capable of leading a team to a national championship. The juniors and sophomores contributed very little offensively. I think we'll most likely take a step back next year if all seniors and Commesso leave. I think Pandolfo just needs a couple years to build a program - get significant contributions from all classes and then we can start thinking about being real contenders. I think the freshman class is a good class to begin with since I expect all of them to be back next year and, besides L. Hutson, all back for junior season, too.

You didn't see a team capable of winning (even though they hung with them for two periods) because they had approximately two healthy defensemen. Both Fensore and Webber are nursing injuries, Dom's is not insignificant. From what I've heard, he wasn't even practicing a full load. Skoog could barely hold his stick due to a finger injury that I believe is a broken bone. Zabaneh miraculously returned despite what looked like a bad knee injury against Merrimack. And that's before Case's injury and all the other ones we don't know about.

They ran out of gas. Tonight was an extraordinary effort with a severely depleted roster.

[ericredaxe]

You didn't see a team capable of winning (even though they hung with them for two periods) because they had approximately two healthy defensemen. Both Fensore and Webber are nursing injuries, Dom's is not insignificant. From what I've heard, he wasn't even practicing a full load. Skoog could barely hold his stick due to a finger injury that I believe is a broken bone. Zabaneh miraculously returned despite what looked like a bad knee injury against Merrimack. And that's before Case's injury and all the other ones we don't know about.

They ran out of gas. Tonight was an extraordinary effort with a severely depleted roster.

Agreed - great effort and even with the depleted roster we had our chances and outplayed them for much of the 2nd period. A couple of bad penalties, a couple of marginal calls and running out of gas against a buzz saw of a team finally caught up to us though.

Great first season and the right coaching staff is in place.

Who is starting the off season thread? Who do we have coming in next year? What do we have on the books for OOC games?

[RossiRules]

Agreed - great effort and even with the depleted roster we had our chances and outplayed them for much of the 2nd period. A couple of bad penalties, a couple of marginal calls and running out of gas against a buzz saw of a team finally caught up to us though.

Great first season and the right coaching staff is in place.

Who is starting the off season thread? Who do we have coming in next year? What do we have on the books for OOC games?

Agree...with this. However in watching I think the issue was this year with HE having a bit of a down year in terms of comparison with the Western teams who were it seems arguably a bit better.

[chickod]

You didn't see a team capable of winning (even though they hung with them for two periods) because they had approximately two healthy defensemen.

I think that was his point. He wasn't being derogatory, but the fact is, the BU team that was ON THE ICE wasn't going to win that game. It didn't matter who was hurt, because the "team" only consists of the players who can play.

And until they stop taking stupid penalties, they will NEVER win a national championship. I said this in October when I saw how chippy they were even in the first couple of games. It NEVER stopped. They had better get that under control.

[meauxmo]

Not going to lie, it really felt like you might steal this game when it was 1-0 and 2-2. And it would have been robbery with the way the game was going without regard for the scoreboard.

I think with Pandolfo at the helm you're about to start going back to the FF regularly. Hopefully Brown can get BC back in again too.

Carmine,
I notice you often have the cute Trivino quote at the bottom of your text. Curious how long you think it will take BC to get caught point shaving again?

[J.D.]

The one on Webber at very end of the 2nd was the dagger. I'd have to watch it again but seemed entirely unnecessary. Michigan and Minnesota have been in back to back FFs. Now comes the real test for Pandolfo in trying to find the right formula so that you're in the mix most years.

[hydrant]

The one on Webber at very end of the 2nd was the dagger. I'd have to watch it again but seemed entirely unnecessary.

Extremely unnecessary, Knies did not even have the puck.

3 Moments where BU shot themselves in the foot (there were more but these stuck out most):
- Zabaneh not clearing it on the PK during Minnesota's first goal
- Hutson doing too much in our own zone to lead to the trip
- Webber penalty

Hats off to Minnesota, by far best team we've played. Unbelievable D-core that starts the offense. They also had an exceptional forecheck that I'm not sure this team was ready for, but the better team won.
Need the returners to improve, which has been tough for recent BU teams, but that seemed like more of a staff issue.

[chickod]

Extremely unnecessary, Knies did not even have the puck.

100 Moments where BU shot themselves in the foot (there were more but these stuck out most):
- Zabaneh not clearing it on the PK during Minnesota's first goal
- Hutson doing too much in our own zone to lead to the trip
- Webber penalty

fyp - Why is everyone surprised? Have you not been watching all year? We've been taking "unnecessary" penalties since Game 1.