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

[Scarlet]

I swear to God I put in a smiley type emoticon there.

[Harry Cleverly]

Love this coach but it is not a good sign that in the only two tournaments this team has been in they spit the bit!

Jeez. Nobody cares about the Arizona tournament beyond it being two non-league games. Nobody. What tournament plays the consolation game after the final?!?

In the Beanpot, Northeastern came out of the gate stronger, outworked BU during the first period, got the all-important (in this game) first goal, then turned it over to Levi.
Was that Pandolfo's fault? The seniors? Overconfidence?

Northeastern is a tough out because they have Levi, the best goalie in the country, and they work hard. Overall, BU is more fluid team with much better depth, up front at least. Commesso is a top shelf college goalie, but he is not as consistently as good as Levi.

BU should be a better team for the loss, knowing they can't afford to turn it on when they want. I suspect Pandolfo will have them more fired up from the start in the playoffs. The seniors need to step up there, too.

And poor Babs Green. The "Singing voice of Terrier hockey" ... that's like Jarman, Page or Driscoll being the poster boys for the defensive corps.

[Lemonade]

Jeez. Nobody cares about the Arizona tournament beyond it being two non-league games. Nobody. What tournament plays the consolation game after the final?!?

In the Beanpot, Northeastern came out of the gate stronger, outworked BU during the first period, got the all-important (in this game) first goal, then turned it over to Levi.
Was that Pandolfo's fault? The seniors? Overconfidence?

Northeastern is a tough out because they have Levi, the best goalie in the country, and they work hard. Overall, BU is more fluid team with much better depth, up front at least. Commesso is a top shelf college goalie, but he is not as consistently as good as Levi.

BU should be a better team for the loss, knowing they can't afford to turn it on when they want. I suspect Pandolfo will have them more fired up from the start in the playoffs. The seniors need to step up there, too.

And poor Babs Green. The "Singing voice of Terrier hockey" ... that's like Jarman, Page or Driscoll being the poster boys for the defensive corps.

I along with many NHL scouts think Commesso is a far and away better goalie than Levi. If you swapped teams and systems commesso would have better stats than Levi. BU plays a wide open style whereas the defense is part of the offense and that system tends to give up a lot on the defensive side of the puck. NU plays a sound defensive scheme where they pack it in and block shots and keep offenses on the outside. Rarely do they ever give up odd man rushes. Goalie stats are massively misleading. The difficulty of shots commesso saved vs what Levi saved in the beanpot was an example of this. Levi’s toughest save was a glove save where the shot went right into his glove - sound positioning but he sold it with some extra windmill flair. Commesso was busy saving 3 on 1s. In both NU victories verse BU this season the huskies blocked 20 and 21 shots. That’a impressive and makes the life of a goalie real easy.

[defkit]

I along with many NHL scouts think Commesso is a far and away better goalie than Levi. If you swapped teams and systems commesso would have better stats than Levi. BU plays a wide open style whereas the defense is part of the offense and that system tends to give up a lot on the defensive side of the puck. NU plays a sound defensive scheme where they pack it in and block shots and keep offenses on the outside. Rarely do they ever give up odd man rushes. Goalie stats are massively misleading. The difficulty of shots commesso saved vs what Levi saved in the beanpot was an example of this. Levi’s toughest save was a glove save where the shot went right into his glove - sound positioning but he sold it with some extra windmill flair. Commesso was busy saving 3 on 1s. In both NU victories verse BU this season the huskies blocked 20 and 21 shots. That’a impressive and makes the life of a goalie real easy.

I don't disagree that Levi benefits from a more defensive system, but I would adjust your first statement to say "many NHL scouts think Commesso projects to be a better NHL goalie than Levi". There a significant size difference and we know that size for goalies has become almost as important as for d-men when it comes to scouting. I mean Levi won the Richter award last year. I don't think any college goalies are "far and away" better than him.

[Lemonade]

I don't disagree that Levi benefits from a more defensive system, but I would adjust your first statement to say "many NHL scouts think Commesso projects to be a better NHL goalie than Levi". They’re a significant size difference and we know that size for goalies has become almost as important as for d-men when it comes to scouting. I mean Levi won the Richter award last year. I don't think any college goalies are "far and away" better than him.

The Richter is a stat based award - Jack lafontaine won it the year prior of that tells you anything. Perets at quinnipiac puts up incredible stats too in a similar defensive system. Is he a great goalie or just a result of a great defensive team system?

[OnePack]

Rarely do they ever give up odd man rushes.

I don’t think you have seen enough NU games then

[Lemonade]

I don’t think you have seen enough NU games then

Let me clarify...when NU is playing their style and system properly they don't give up many odd man rushes. BU when playing their style and system properly will still give up odd man rushes because they basically have 4 forwards on the ice at all times.

[Bomber]

I blame the building. There's some kind of curse. A good friend of mine who is a band director (and was in charge of the music for the closing of the original Boston Garden) told me he actually asked Rene Rancourt "Do you want me to slow down in the middle of the National Anthem to follow you?" Rancourt said, "What are you talking about? I don't slow down."

Wanna bet??? Ha ha ha. The thing starts to slow down at "By.......the dawn's early light" and then grinds to a halt in the middle, as it does with Todd Angily and did last night with Barbara. I swear that singers trained in opera seem to always "drag it out." Meanwhile, the players are wobbling back and forth on their skates, thinking to themselves, "Let's get this OVER with so we can play!"

Barbara Green has sucked for 30 years. It ain't the building.

I have never skipped a consolation game involving BU (assuming I live in the area). If I have a ticket, I am going - it's still a BU hockey game, and now with the Pairwise being the selection criteria, every game matters.

Don't shun me from BU hockey fandom, but I've never gone to a Beanpot consolation game. In my defense, they've only played in 6 since my first pot in 1985. But I'm going on Monday! Let's meet up in the Loge and watch together with 400 of our closest friends. : )

[Scarlet]

I blocked my work calendar off so I could head to the game should it happen (just in case) but naturally I had to schedule a creative presentation call yesterday with, like, 11 people and the only available time was 3:30-4:00. I am going to bolt as soon as its over but will most likely miss the beginning of the game. Which will cause that shift in my universe because I am not in my seat for puck drop which I have to be or otherwise bad things will happen. So if they wind up losing, I'm afraid it will be on me.

[navy44]

Let me clarify...when NU is playing their style and system properly they don't give up many odd man rushes. BU when playing their style and system properly will still give up odd man rushes because they basically have 4 forwards on the ice at all times.

This would probably lead to more shots on Commesso, which isn't the case. Levi has 793 saves, Commesso has 525 or something like that. And with all the shots NU blocks, you would think Levi would have even less work to do. In addition, BU has tons of NHL level talent, so Commesso is called on to be a smaller part of each win.

" Is he a great goalie or just a result of a great defensive team system?"
Please go back and look at the highlights from our December "gauntlet"........we didn't play a lick of defense from Thanksgiving to New Years Day.

In spite of all of its defensive shortcomings, NU does seem to get up for BU, strangely when the game is away from Matthews , and sometimes without its best players............ inexplicable.

[Sean Pickett]

Don't shun me from BU hockey fandom, but I've never gone to a Beanpot consolation game. In my defense, they've only played in 6 since my first pot in 1985. But I'm going on Monday! Let's meet up in the Loge and watch together with 400 of our closest friends. : )

I always used to go to the consolation game, starting in 1986, even though BU wasn't in them. The first one I missed the start of was in 1994, even though I worked just minutes away from the Garden that year. I missed the entire first period and when I saw the score I figured I had missed all the goals for the game.

In 2008 we went to the consolation game and then left as Susan was six and in school (a good decision, as the championship game went to OT). In 2011, 2013, 2014, 2019 and this year I sold my tickets to a friend who went to NU.

When I started going to BU games 38 season ago college hockey became my life and I went to every regular season game east of the Great Lakes, plus most postseason games. When BU was out west or not playing I went to Harvard games to see ECAC teams, othe Hockey East team games, and even up to Dartmouth for their tournament. I also went to the ECAC Championship several times before it left the Garden, NCAA quarterfinals (both WMU and LSSU at Harvard) and regionals with or without BU, 26 Frozen Fours, including 20 straight. When BU add women's hockey it changed a lot for us. Instead of going to men's road games we went to women's home games. Once we started missing men's games it became normal to only go to home games, the Beanpot and postseason games.

It used to be college hockey was worth the time it took to travel to away games. I remember the 9 hour round trips to Orono for a single game at Alfond. Now I can do other things in those 9 hours and stream the game if it doesn't conflict with a women's game. And now that I'm starting PD dialysis travel will become more complicated.

Also, the cost of games and travel has increased as well, making it harder to justify the expense (a least to us with Susan a junior at college, one currently doing a semester abroad in Hong Kong). We spent $58 for parking and $75 for food on Monday on top of the $190 for the tickets.

Sean

[Lemonade]

This would probably lead to more shots on Commesso, which isn't the case. Levi has 793 saves, Commesso has 525 or something like that. And with all the shots NU blocks, you would think Levi would have even less work to do. In addition, BU has tons of NHL level talent, so Commesso is called on to be a smaller part of each win.

" Is he a great goalie or just a result of a great defensive team system?"
Please go back and look at the highlights from our December "gauntlet"........we didn't play a lick of defense from Thanksgiving to New Years Day.

In spite of all of its defensive shortcomings, NU does seem to get up for BU, strangely when the game is away from Matthews , and sometimes without its best players............ inexplicable.

Its about quality shots and the grade of scoring chances...Levi has played 5 more games than Commesso thus the difference in shot totals but shot totals don't mean much. Its about the quality of shots. A goalie can see 50 shots from outside and save them all while another goalie sees 15 shots and 5 of them are high quality scoring chances. Goalie stats are absolutely useless for the most part. Both NU and BU are chock full of NHL draft picks that's irrelevant. NU plays a defensive system - BU plays an offensive system...that the key.

[buoldtimer]

I along with many NHL scouts think Commesso is a far and away better goalie than Levi. If you swapped teams and systems commesso would have better stats than Levi. BU plays a wide open style whereas the defense is part of the offense and that system tends to give up a lot on the defensive side of the puck. NU plays a sound defensive scheme where they pack it in and block shots and keep offenses on the outside. Rarely do they ever give up odd man rushes. Goalie stats are massively misleading. The difficulty of shots commesso saved vs what Levi saved in the beanpot was an example of this. Levi’s toughest save was a glove save where the shot went right into his glove - sound positioning but he sold it with some extra windmill flair. Commesso was busy saving 3 on 1s. In both NU victories verse BU this season the huskies blocked 20 and 21 shots. That’a impressive and makes the life of a goalie real easy.

Without trying to be snide, I must ask, do you know and converse/consult with NHL scouts? Do you speak to them, or do you rely on written sources and publications? If you do speak with them regularly, are you free to discuss their opinions of Skoog, O'Brien, Brown, McCarthy, etc?

[Lemonade]

Without trying to be snide, I must ask, do you know and converse/consult with NHL scouts? Do you speak to them, or do you rely on written sources and publications? If you do speak with them regularly, are you free to discuss their opinions of Skoog, O'Brien, Brown, McCarthy, etc?

Several of my friends are in the scouting world and we do discuss hockey and players. One of my good friends is a goalie scout said "There are reasons why Commesso went in the 2nd round and Levi went in the 7th round"...I regularly discuss hockey and banter about their opinions (and that's all it is - someones opinion) - I would say the consensus is Skoog and Brown will get free agent interest by several teams - since they weren't drafted I bust not them for missing on them. I haven't really discussed O'Brien or McCarthy but that is worth mentioning to them.

[navy44]

Several of my friends are in the scouting world and we do discuss hockey and players. One of my good friends is a goalie scout said "There are reasons why Commesso went in the 2nd round and Levi went in the 7th round"...I regularly discuss hockey and banter about their opinions (and that's all it is - someones opinion) - I would say the consensus is Skoog and Brown will get free agent interest by several teams - since they weren't drafted I bust not them for missing on them. I haven't really discussed O'Brien or McCarthy but that is worth mentioning to them.

I guess the Canadian World Jr Team and the Canadian Olympic Team could use your expertise. .......because they can't seem to find too many more goalies in all the dominions Canada to fill out their roster recently............. :-)