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

[defkit]

My general thoughts.
- Yeah, tough night...for Barbara.
- We aren't as good as our Pairwise, and Northeastern is not as bad as theirs. I think we are the better team by a bit, but they have the best goalie in the country (when he is on at least) and remember, this team was picked to be #1 in HE. So I don't think that a virtual 1 goal loss (ENG) to a good team means this team played a terrible game, and it doesn't lower my expectations. In fact, it might even raise them - given that they generally have a weaker schedule the rest of the way, I hope this angers them enough that they finish strong.
- Have to give the coaching edge to Keefe. We weren't able to adjust until the third period. Need a quicker response in the playoffs.
- I do feel bad for the many Seniors to have to play the first game next week. But again, let it give them that extra drive to bring 100% every night.
- Greene seems to be upping his game back to where he was early on in the season. He has looked better the last couple games, not that he ever really fell off.
- I agree with whoever mentioned it - I don't think Jarman had a shift all night. Perhaps if we had a big lead he would have seen a couple shifts.
- I thought McCarthy looked a little tentative. Hopefully one game was all he needs to get back into a groove.
- 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. The most memorable was the 8-0 pasting of Northeastern in 1994. Side note: I have a photo from the first round game against Harvard that year of a face-off with Shane Johnson (when he wore #6), Rich Brennan (#7), Billy Pierce (#8), Shawn Bates (#9) and Jon Jenkins (#10). Since it is from the balcony, you can see everyone's number. It's not a high quality shot, but one of my favorites...
-

[BU93]

Actually 4th in pairwise.

3 in CHN, but looks like 4 in USCHO. Differ by a few RPI points in the 4th decimal place. Don’t know why they are different, but I think CHN said in an article some mistakes creep in from time to time. Both took Stonehill out, as the NCAA said they have too few D1 games played.

I’m still bummed about last night. Very rarely have our elite teams not made the final in the history of this tournament. The only Frozen Four bound team I remember not making the final was the 93-94 team (ironically the last 20 win team going into the tournament). We made the NCAA final losing that awful game to Lake State. All of our National Championships have been preceded by a Beanpot Championship that year. Hopefully this will be a first when that didn’t happen.

[chickod]

I remember Rene singing the National Anthem at Walter Brown before Barabara started singing it.

Sean

Yeah...remember the organ in the top corner near the "mezzanine" balcony?

[Sean Pickett]

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."

I remember Rene singing the National Anthem at Walter Brown before Barabara started singing it.

Sean

[chickod]

I'm not sure how she got that gig.

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!"

[chickod]

of BU's 7 games remaining, none are top 20 pairwise teams. Losses will impact more than wins.

And that's the other thing that I think someone also mentioned. The winning streak had to end sometime. It was just a bad time, but I also think that's why they came out jittery because they sensed that there was a lot of pressure on them. Jaffe said "BU is definitely the best team in this tournament, but you never know what can happen." So I don't think this is going to start a "slide," but I DO agree that it's concerning how this team seems to play in "big" games. In a single-elmination situation (1st seed or no 1st seed), that's dangerous. I was hoping that the large junior/senior contingent would provide the leadership to get over the top this year (not that they won't, but they haven't shown it up to now).

[chickod]

And the worst part is we have to play BC AGAIN...

[hydrant]

of BU's 7 games remaining, none are top 20 pairwise teams. Losses will impact more than wins.

[chickod]

Inconsistent/ineffective special teams and the lack of a quality 6th/7th defenseman are factors I'm concerned about heading towards the end of the regular season and postseason. The consolation game is still huge in terms of re-generating momentum as well as Pairwise implications and despite Merrimack's struggles of late, BU can't afford to overlook them in their upcoming series.

Totally agree. The lack of movement (not just of the puck but of the PLAYERS, who seem to be fixed in the same positions) is puzzling. And I think they are watching the Bruins too much. They don't have a Pastrnak at the left dot to rocket one-timers at the net. I thought it was very interesting that every time the puck went back to the point on the PP, the NU players didn't "challenge" the defensemen. They just backed in. Almost daring them to shoot. But they continued to try to force the puck inside where it was congested. So the passes got blocked, the puck went out, and we were unable to get any prolonged time in the zone. There is definitely a problem with deciding how to execute zone entry. I actually though Jaffe had it right on the money when he said that BU is trying to be "too fancy." And it was interesting when he said in the third period they had "cut out the fancy stuff and just started to get more pucks to the net...SIMPLIFY." Nobody can argue with the fact that the ice was tilted in the 3rd period. Yeah, you can say "Well, Northeastern was just protecting the lead." But I would say BU definitely changed their game. It's just tough to make up a two-goal deficit ("worst lead in hockey" notwithstanding) in a game like this. And NU was REALLY pumped up to avenge last year.

As far as the rest of the season, in some ways I don't necessarily think this was a "harbinger" of things to come. NU is just a bad matchup for us. Like playing again the old NJ Devils trap or, more recently, against Providence. Skating teams have to adapt against defenses that basically clog up the middle. And you CAN'T get behind in a game like this, especially with someone like Levi in the net. I'm MORE concerned with their ability to adapt their style the next time they play one of these teams (which very well could be Merrimack, who I haven't seen yet this year but usually plays the same style).

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Inconsistent/ineffective special teams and the lack of a quality 6th/7th defenseman are factors I'm concerned about heading towards the end of the regular season and postseason. The consolation game is still huge in terms of re-generating momentum as well as Pairwise implications and despite Merrimack's struggles of late, BU can't afford to overlook them in their upcoming series.

[Scarlet]

Can I blame Barbara Green? I’m blaming Barbara Green.

I'm not sure how she got that gig. So many talented singers from both schools, not to mention two amazing pep bands, and we had to have her?

I saw that Thomas Jarman dressed last night. Did he get any ice time? He played one of the games in the Desert Hockey Classic and I don't think he had a good game and remember thinking to myself "I think this might be the last time we see him on the ice for the rest of the season" so I was surprised to see him in the lineup.

Surprised to see a team full of upperclassmen come out jumpy, and they stayed that way most of the game.

I agree with Rover here. The whole team seemed skittish. They almost had too much energy. And I don't think you can blame the fact that they got stuck in Orono that. Was that they day they were going to work on the power play or something? Come on. It's February. They should know this stuff by now.

I always knew they were due for a clunker of a game. I just didn't think it would be the Beanpot semi. Let's see how they respond next Monday. Is BU the only team out of the four not playing this weekend?

[mookie1995]

Can I blame Barbara Green? I’m blaming Barbara Green.

well you can’t blame albie :-)

he won it last year ;-)

[Friend_of_BU_Hockey]

Hopefully this is a learning experience for the team and the coach, but yeah, a 2-0 lead by NU felt like 5-0. Surprised to see a team full of upperclassmen come out jumpy, and they stayed that way most of the game. My biggest problem was the lack of adjustments. Clearly sending the puck back to the blue line and having someone create offense from there wasn't working as NU was sitting back and either blocking shots between the dots or giving Levi a clean look to make an easy save. They basically got outplayed in every facet of the game.

I heard the team had travel difficulties on Saturday returning from Orono (due to the cold temps) and didn't get back to Boston 'til hours later than originally scheduled. I also heard they weren't scheduled to practice on Saturday, but part of me can't help but wonder if -- given how routine-oriented teams are -- the travel disruptions might have impacted their prep for tonight.

That being said, any loss should be a learning experience and we've seen this team rebound after each loss this season...

[RossiRules]

They just didn’t get enough pucks to the net with traffic in front. It has been proven time and time again against Levi that if you don’t take his eyes away you’re probably not beating him. That’s how we scored our goal. There was an early tip by Tuch in front that almost went 5 hole, but caught pad. Brown earlier hit pipe. An inch or 2 here or there and we have a few. Levi was solid and made a few great saves. Our D broke down again on the 2 NU goals - that’s frustrating . I thought we had energy early, but couldn’t get one. Second period was a disaster. Great energy again in the 3rd. Really 0-2 in tournament games against teams that are formidable opponents. Hopefully things even out in the conference tournament and NCAA. This team is too good not to win some tournament games. I am still in on this group to do something special.

We did remain 3rd in PWR with the loss. Need to beat BC in the empty arena game to remain competitive for a 1 seed (yes, I actually went to a consolation game once (BU-Harvard)and it was like they played the game with only me and 10 others in the stands). Although, this is a BU-BC game, who doesn’t want to see that?

Actually 4th in pairwise.

[ericredaxe]

Is anyone else not a fan of the big weird flimsy beer cups? I want a beer in a sturdy 16oz cup, and I want to use cash to pay for it.