Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

Did Arnold suit up tonight?

Arnold suited up and his big play tonight was punching the ND guy in the face to draw a whistle (matching penalties) on a rare BC odd-man rush while up 1-0. ND scored 4 on 4 a few seconds later. Really stupid. And so was Smith's penalty (which probably wasn't a penalty but don't feed the rtards after midnight or get them wet, in this case, don't feed the HE officials).

Anyway, let's put aside the commentary for a minute and address two quick things.

1. This March BC resembles last year's team in March more than I care for and seems to be worse than their very good record indicates. They lost their mojo and it shows. The huge loss from last season was Whitney IMO. They have no real snipers to speak of, not like Whitney anyway. The upgrade is slightly in defense and Demko.

2. Statistically speaking, pure numbers, the non-freshmen forwards other than 12-24-13 are beyond putrid and simply do not produce enough and the majority of them don't belong on the ice because they get manhandled on their way to not producing. There's 7 players there that could get lost on a Malaysian Airlines flight and no one would notice.

Goals per game over their career:
0.63 JG
0.28 Hayes
0.36 Arnold

0.16 Brown
0.06 Linell
0.15 Straight
0.10 Smith
0.05 Sit
0.07 Silk
0.08 Spiro

It's nice to have some talented freshmen added to the mix (and for the most part either leave them to fend for themselves or mix them with 7 of the above players) but when you're playing 5 of these 7 as almost 50% of your forward lines, well that's just not good.

Hokydad was probably more right than we all prefer.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

hoky said bc and lowell would make noise in ncaa tourney.

...but maybe not hockey east tourney?

i'm more worried about the complete implosion defensively than i am about not being able to score against nd. folding and giving up 7...stunning.

 

[Patronick]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

hoky said bc and lowell would make noise in ncaa tourney.

...but maybe not hockey east tourney?

i'm more worried about the complete implosion defensively than i am about not being able to score against nd. folding and giving up 7...stunning.

Hey, leave us out of this. We won our game 1.

 

[Hokydad]

Arnold suited up and his big play tonight was punching the ND guy in the face to draw a whistle (matching penalties) on a rare BC odd-man rush while up 1-0. ND scored 4 on 4 a few seconds later. Really stupid. And so was Smith's penalty (which probably wasn't a penalty but don't feed the rtards after midnight or get them wet, in this case, don't feed the HE officials).

Anyway, let's put aside the commentary for a minute and address two quick things.

1. This March BC resembles last year's team in March more than I care for and seems to be worse than their very good record indicates. They lost their mojo and it shows. The huge loss from last season was Whitney IMO. They have no real snipers to speak of, not like Whitney anyway. The upgrade is slightly in defense and Demko.

2. Statistically speaking, pure numbers, the non-freshmen forwards other than 12-24-13 are beyond putrid and simply do not produce enough and the majority of them don't belong on the ice because they get manhandled on their way to not producing. There's 7 players there that could get lost on a Malaysian Airlines flight and no one would notice.

Goals per game over their career:
0.63 JG
0.28 Hayes
0.36 Arnold

0.16 Brown
0.06 Linell
0.15 Straight
0.10 Smith
0.05 Sit
0.07 Silk
0.08 Spiro

It's nice to have some talented freshmen added to the mix (and for the most part either leave them to fend for themselves or mix them with 7 of the above players) but when you're playing 5 of these 7 as almost 50% of your forward lines, well that's just not good.

Hokydad was probably more right than we all prefer.

yes. shut them down and bye bye.
Jeff Jacksons system more than any other will exploit that

 

[mookie1995]

yes. shut them down and bye bye.
Jeff Jacksons system more than any other will exploit that

Can we work it where Norte dame comes to Worcester too

 

[Hokydad]

Can we work it where Norte dame comes to Worcester too

i am sure they would oblige.

momentum, confidence and sussess with a system is evrrything.
ND catching PC at their bottom and playing BU 3 times was huge. 4-0-1 got them going

tough draw for anyone. ND is still a dog and will eventually show true colors. little bit of a mike tyson type bully right now.

 

[Jacques Joubert]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

I don't like the bye week. Doesn't make sense in reality. The middling teams play the bottom feeders and get
Into a groove while the top teams seem to loose their momentum. It's an awkward system to say the least. What's the format for next year???

 

[claver2010]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

I wouldn't be shocked if Hayes is hurt, he hasn't been nearly as assertive last month ish

Edit: Article on USCHO said it's up for debate but they seem set on top 4 get bye and just sorting out how to handle play in round.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

should bc ultimately lose the series, the 2004 team did the same and recovered by reaching frozen four. and just look at yale last year. didn't score a single goal in losses at the ecac championship weekend and then wins the title. have to keep some perspective. that being said, if you lose, you lose. just don't fold your tent and completely collapse in the process. show some pride.

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

Hoky used the right kind of word. Exploit. Expose is another word. Lack of depth up front is scary. Half those kids belong at Hobart not BC. The D and Demko were way worse than we know they can be; that was the weird part. McCoshen struggled normally he is good. Doherty struggled. Macleod was horrendous. Not necessarily huge surprises there. And then you have Matheson. He's a new age version of Adam Pineault on defense. Hasn't developed at all in 2 seasons. Maybe regressed.

At this point last year we were a team with no identity. We saw some earlier this season but we're right back there now with no real strategy. No toughness or speed or swagger like we saw earlier this season. Back to be being small and getting pummeled and getting shut down offensively with no ability to generate offense against tough physical team. Every team out there wants BC again, all those lower level teams are built with fewer weak links in spite of lesser skill. Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Lowell, union, Notre dame... Bring the astroglide in the NCAAs; we're going to see another beating if that top line isn't broken up. They wasted the majority of the year putting all those eggs in that basket. Now it may be too late to make a change.

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

Also.... York held on to that timeout. Again. Not good.

 

[The Zlax45]

I don't like the bye week. Doesn't make sense in reality. The middling teams play the bottom feeders and get
Into a groove while the top teams seem to loose their momentum. It's an awkward system to say the least. What's the format for next year???

The other three teams had no problem coming out with wins after a week off!

 

[claver2010]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

Matheson has plateaued since February '13

Always had same concern w the 1 big line, was ok w pat brown scoring in Feb but that wasn't sustainable

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

should bc ultimately lose the series, the 2004 team did the same and recovered by reaching frozen four. and just look at yale last year. didn't score a single goal in losses at the ecac championship weekend and then wins the title. have to keep some perspective. that being said, if you lose, you lose. just don't fold your tent and completely collapse in the process. show some pride.

Agree here JD, it's not the end of the world if we lose this series, but it's how we play the games that matters. I want to see what this team is made of tonight. Will they play B.C. hockey, or will they fold their tent and get slapped around all over the ice?

FWIW... I start Billet tonight. And Linell sits. JMO.

 

[Jacques Joubert]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

Matheson has plateaued since February '13

Always had same concern w the 1 big line, was ok w pat brown scoring in Feb but that wasn't sustainable

Yeah. I just watched the highlights on HE.com. I was thinking, "Man Matheson is out there for every goal and skaters are going right around him.'

Looks at the box. Sure enough. -4 rating. This afternoon's game should be different.

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

04 was a juggernaut that coughed a hair ball to BU in the QFs. This team is not on that level at all.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

curious how fivehole feels about this. if there is a time to break up this big line, it would be now. i said it a long time ago and had it in the back of my mind all along. it really is a fascinating debate. do you break them up or do you bank on playing much better defensively and keep lines as is knowing it's gonna be a game like the regular season finale? after last night, my thought would be it's time to give nd more to think about. york knows he can reunite the big three at the drop of a hat but why not spread them out across a couple lines just to throw a wrinkle at jackson?

also, good point about the timeout. could have used it down 3-1 or even down 5-1...which brings up another point. gave up goals late in first, early in 2nd and early in third. they just totally deflate you. and i cannot understand leaving demko in as long as they did.

as for lineup changes, i would stay with demko. other than that, i don't see any difference makers currently sitting in the stands. the impact would be minimal. now, it's a tv game today. roll your three best lines and top 4 d as much as possible.

demko and defense need to rebound. do not concede the blue line so easily and realize that when you do, nd is very good at finding the trailer and then crashing the net.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

oh i agree this team is obviously not a juggernaut, but if you look back at ncaa tournaments there are always examples of teams who crash out of the conference tourney and then are able to turn it around and reach a FF.

 

[claver2010]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

No way do I sit Demko. Look at the goals by ND:

#1: 4 on 4 with time winding down, ND enters zone 3 on 3, all is fine. Santini & Sit chase ND player into corner, drop pass leads to 2 on 1.
#2: SH Calnan blows a tire (saw a lot of that from BC last night btw), allowing ND player to walk blue line in down the middle all alone
#3: Blind backhand pass in own zone by Matheson, should've been caught by Linell but turnover. BC in good position. 2 on 4. Terrible coverage (looks like mostly Linell & part Matheson) allows ND all alone in slot
#4: Fogarty dances around Matheson as Sit slides by (not sure the F he's doing). ND player alone in slot.
#5: ND enters 2 on 4, BC gains control MacLeod to Brown is a turnover. Demko makes initial save but ND gets rebound. Brown & Fitz floating by blue line for some reason.
#6: Lol Matheson
#7: Looks like Matheson again (it's a left handed shot, can't tell to be honest) falls asleep after Demko makes initial save.

Maybe I'm giving Demko too much benefit of the doubt but that was a disaster defensively early and then BC pretty blatantly quit at 4-1.

Just saw the final goal by BC. So before that Matheson was an impressive -5 before that, awesome.

I'd break up the lines btw, BC is going to be a 1 seed why the hell not. BTW Johnny dancing 1 on 4 in the neutral zone isn't the way to break the trap.

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Boston College Hockey '13-'14: Tournament Season - One Game At A Time!

curious how fivehole feels about this. if there is a time to break up this big line, it would be now. i said it a long time ago and had it in the back of my mind all along. it really is a fascinating debate. do you break them up or do you bank on playing much better defensively and keep lines as is knowing it's gonna be a game like the regular season finale? after last night, my thought would be it's time to give nd more to think about. york knows he can reunite the big three at the drop of a hat but why not spread them out across a couple lines just to throw a wrinkle at jackson?

also, good point about the timeout. could have used it down 3-1 or even down 5-1...which brings up another point. gave up goals late in first, early in 2nd and early in third. they just totally deflate you. and i cannot understand leaving demko in as long as they did.

as for lineup changes, i would stay with demko. other than that, i don't see any difference makers currently sitting in the stands. the impact would be minimal. now, it's a tv game today. roll your three best lines and top 4 d as much as possible.

demko and defense need to rebound. do not concede the blue line so easily and realize that when you do, nd is very good at finding the trailer and then crashing the net.

If that first line is playing well, there's no way I break them up. But right now, they look like crap! It's pretty clear JG wants to go like hell with an up tempo game, but no one is skating with him. That being said, if this line can't get their act together, it's pretty clear something has to change. IMO, we aren't going very far either way, with this line playing like crap.

I'm not sold on any changes right now. They played pretty well in the first period, controlling play for long stretches (or was ND playing possum and letting us have our way from the perimeter?). But, if I were to make a move right now, it would be more like switching Gilmour and Brown. Let Fitz-Gilmour-Cango play out of the 4 slot. The 4th line could have done some damage last night with a finisher.

Bottom line is... last night BC stood around and watched ND have their way with them. We stood around flat footed for 40:00 of 60:00 of that game. We won't win another game this season playing like that. We have to skate and impose our style on the opponent. If we can't do that, break out the golf clubs.

FWIW... Demko is 0-2 against ND in 2 straight games. Billet has to get the call IMO, even if for no other reason than to send the team a message.