BU Hockey '24-'25: Reloaded for another Frozen Four run

[brassbonanza]

Yegorov enrolled at BU early and is now a member of the team for the spring semester. I don't believe this is to take over the starting role. If anything, it's more likely to get him out of Omaha which is a total dumpster fire of a USHL organization. I also think it'll be beneficial for him to integrate into the program for this semester so that when he (presumably) takes over the starting role in the fall, he's already familiar with the routine, practice schedule, etc.

Ultimately, the goaltending is not the core of our problems, it's the defense. Lacroix hasn't done anything to show he's an improvement over Caron anyway. He wasn't that highly touted coming in, my understanding was his role was to be a solid backup option for Caron. He accelerated last year as an insurance policy against Caron getting hurt because the other two goalies were completely unplayable.

[bdutot]

L

I think we need to see more of Lacroix. Maybe get a little competition going. Up the ante a bit.

I have been wondering about that. He was highly touted and accelerated to get here and has gotten almost no playing time after doing that while the guy in front of him has struggled this season.

[OldAlum]

The scoring ability is top notch (actually tied for #2 with Denver at 3.9/game). Quite unbelievably, this is a BU team giving up 3.4 per game which is 56/61 in the nation. Even worse - Caron is 74th is GA and 71st in SV% with .895. I can’t remember the last time defense and goaltending were rated so low. Usually when our program struggles, it’s a lack of scoring. The success of the program will be determined by how much everyone gets better with keeping pucks out of our net. I think some strides were made this weekend with trying to just eliminate time the other team has with the puck, but there still needs to be better awareness around our own net covering people more consistently - and those breakaways against have got to go - maybe 1 per game at most, not 5 or 6.

L

I think we need to see more of Lacroix. Maybe get a little competition going. Up the ante a bit.

[Scarlet]

while Caron hasn’t been outstanding I think he would be ok with a solid D in front of him.

^^^^^
It's hard to have to make saves when your D doesn't help clear out pucks or players in front of you.

So, here we are complaining after the team won two games, scored 13 goals and had one the players get Player of the Week honors. Not sure what that says about us. Or them. I supposed we should see what happens this weekend. I think they need to win both before the weekend after happens.

On a separate note, I was not planning to go up to UNH due to a personal conflict, then found out I didn't have that conflict and checked on tickets. Looks like the BU allotment is gone so I looked into buying tickets through UNH and they were going for ridiculous prices - $79 and $99. I mean, come on. If the two teams were 1-2 in the league or in the national polls, maybe.

[bdutot]

The defense was atrocious to start last season too but they fixed it quickly by playing Lane Hutson 30 minutes a game. They just haven’t shown an ability to fix it yet this year and I don’t know if that’s a personnel issue or something else.

while Caron hasn’t been outstanding I think he would be ok with a solid D in front of him.

[Harry Cleverly]

They have no chance at trophies this year playing like this defensively ...

How quickly we forget. Already 1-for-1 in trophies with the Friendship Four Belfast bell.

But point made ... the defense needs to tighten up, stay out of the box and Caron needs to be the goalie he was after the break last season.

[Bomber]

They should trade a forward for a stay-at-home, shut-down defensemen as the trade deadline.

[BU93]

8th in the PWR thanks to league non-conference winning percentage (68-26-3 .716). Second only to Big Ten which has a 47-5-4 .742. We will get to the NCAA tournament. Let’s see how much better the team can get in our own zone before then.

[Jofa]

The scoring ability is top notch (actually tied for #2 with Denver at 3.9/game). Quite unbelievably, this is a BU team giving up 3.4 per game which is 56/61 in the nation. Even worse - Caron is 74th is GA and 71st in SV% with .895. I can’t remember the last time defense and goaltending were rated so low. Usually when our program struggles, it’s a lack of scoring. The success of the program will be determined by how much everyone gets better with keeping pucks out of our net. I think some strides were made this weekend with trying to just eliminate time the other team has with the puck, but there still needs to be better awareness around our own net covering people more consistently - and those breakaways against have got to go - maybe 1 per game at most, not 5 or 6.

I cringe to think what a team like BC would do again them offensively. We saw what Michigan, NoDak, Umass, Maine , Lowell and even Yale did. I wasn’t the least bit impressed with the defense or Caron this weekend. Same old for the most part. How about Kaplan in a 3-2 game punching VT player as he was heading off. When will Pandolfo make him accountable. They have no chance at trophies this year playing like this defensively though incredibly they are #8 in PWR.

[Scarlet]

I’ve been whining about this for several years but they have an innate inability to win the face off at the start of a power play. I watched UVM’s power play and, while they didn’t score, most of the time they were able to control the puck at the start of it. BU loses that face off, puck gets cleared out of the zone and by the time they come back in the zone, 20-30 seconds have passed. Drives me nuts.

[Section 6, Row S]

I don’t know if Bernie mentioned it on the broadcast, but several years ago BU got a commitment from Michael La Starza, who was a high-end prospect at the time. His stock dropped and he wound up at Vermont. He hasn’t produced much there so far but I guess he had some extra motivation last night because he finished with a goal and 2 assists.

[BU93]

The scoring ability is top notch (actually tied for #2 with Denver at 3.9/game). Quite unbelievably, this is a BU team giving up 3.4 per game which is 56/61 in the nation. Even worse - Caron is 74th is GA and 71st in SV% with .895. I can’t remember the last time defense and goaltending were rated so low. Usually when our program struggles, it’s a lack of scoring. The success of the program will be determined by how much everyone gets better with keeping pucks out of our net. I think some strides were made this weekend with trying to just eliminate time the other team has with the puck, but there still needs to be better awareness around our own net covering people more consistently - and those breakaways against have got to go - maybe 1 per game at most, not 5 or 6.

[Rogie21]

The PP is kind of a mess.

I'd call it Jekyll & Hyde. First two were generously called "listless" by Bernie. Then the last two: scored on the rush, scored five seconds after the draw. Four goals on 9 power plays against Vermont's PK (87% before the weekend) is progress.

Good news: #3 in scoring offense nationally. Bad news: #26 in scoring margin.

[Bomber]

They sleep walked through the first, but woke up for the second and third. The PP is kind of a mess. Eiserman’s shot is lethal. Goaltending is a problem again.

Entertaining game. There were quite a few soft penalties. On both sides.

BU Hockey: Just Don’t Be Boring

[BUPhD]

Yeah but with UNH and BC coming up...

I just wish these guys would put in a full game of well oiled machine hockey.