Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

To say milner isn't that good, apparently harry cleverly slept through february-april of last year. Sheesh, he had a tough night at the office.

He got the ring, and you can't take that away. But Milner is average at best, and he had the best corps of defensemen in all of college hockey in front of him last year.
It wasn't anything like Tim Thomas standing on his head to win the cup for the Bruins. More like Milner just not losing it for the Igles.
Doesn't mean he didn't have have some big games. But I doubt too many Hockey East coaches would trade their starting goalie for him.

 

[Rover]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Seems like Jofa, Chickod and Mookie are all saying the same thing but just with a different tone. Here's my thoughts:

1) Really happy for Lowell. They had a gameplan, executed on it to perfection and won the title. Good for the league and good for them. Their fans really came out tonight (as did BU). The walk up business for tix was insane. As the saying goes, if we had to lose to anybody, I'm glad it was them.

2) As Jofa has correctly stated, BU choked. Its very fitting that Parker ended his career like this tonight; outcoached for the umpteenth time. Maybe this isn't the time and place to say it, but its true. You knew going in Lowell wanted to win a 1-0 or 2-1 game. That's just what they do. BU played right into their hands, and that's on the coach as much as the players. Gone was the risk taking time that ran BC off the ice the night before. I don't think BU had one scoring chance; the power play was atrocious; and once again they had a inexplicable inability to clear their own zone. I can't count how many times at the sight of one Lowell player the BU defense would turtle up and skate backwards even deeper into their own zone instead of clearing the puck out. I don't know what they f$%^ they work on in practice but they gave up several point blank chances to Lowell on turnovers in their own zone.

3) Senior class deserves criticism. No Beanpots, no HE titles, no FF's. At some point you have to step up and produce. in 2009, with the team losing vs Vermont in the FF, Colin Wilson took over the game. Nobody does that at BU, and you need your best players to step up. I'll say again I don't think they were ever in danger of scoring a goal, and once again a BU season ends on a shutout. Pathetic but not unexpected.

4) Lastly, this team DOES have talent. However, it needs a coach who puts together a game plan that maximizes the talent the team has. Offense looked haphazard and power play blows. Next coach needs to improve both of these things and quickly.

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

But I don't think their style of play would go over too well over the long haul at Agganis, Conte or the Whit.

You are one million percent correct. I refer back to shortly after Agganis was opened and the expected "boost" from the new arena, facilities, etc didn't produce the results that were expected. Some (let's just say we won't name names) higher ups were discussing (lamenting) what could be done; one comment (and this is a direct quote from the hockey offices) was "We've just got to get more exciting to watch." Everyone present agreed with that assessment. Again, I don't want anyone to misconstrue what I say. When you have never won, you will take whatever style of play gets you there. But long term it gets boring to watch. The team that comes to mind is Providence. They have been the MOST boring team to watch, CONSISTENTLY, for about 100 years. I think if my team played that way, even if they won, I would not want to watch. This is one of the reasons the NHL changed their rules to get more scoring back in the game. We don't want hockey to become like soccer. Give me games like last night all the time. I LOVE the style BC plays (don't crucify me heh heh - get it? crucify me?) because it's up and down the ice. Yeah, they have some defensive lapses but it's better than trying to win every game 1-0. Again, all the credit to Lowell for doing what they had to do. But I can guarantee you - there have been 1800 - 2900 at Agganis all year. That style of play is NOT going to fill (or even come close) a 6500 seat arena.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Thanks for the congrats. A great game by both teams. But I can speak for Lowell and Bazin...He said no pro job will take him away from his alma mater, and he is sure not going to take the BU job. Leaman I am not sure.

Part of the rumor is that BU job may pay four times as much as he makes at Lowell.
Whitehead left because they wouldn't pay him. Crowder left Lowell for Northeastern, who paid him more.
Maybe it is all about making sure that Lowell shows Bazin the money.

One of the conditions of Leaman leaving Union for Providence was the refurbishing of Schneider Arena, which is ongoing. But even when it is competed, Providence will still not be a prime location for college hockey.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

since we're done....

mookie DOES NOT want a coach here looking to spend 40yrs on comm ave. i would prefer a guy to come in and try to make a name for himself, then take the bruins job in 10 yrs when harry sinden calls ( ). i want someone who has hunger and that hunger stays strong to prove himself at the highest level.

 

[hawkeytown]

Part of the rumor is that BU job may pay four times as much as he makes at Lowell.
Whitehead left because they wouldn't pay him. Crowder left Lowell for Northeastern, who paid him more.
Maybe it is all about making sure that Lowell shows Bazin the money.

One of the conditions of Leaman leaving Union for Providence was the refurbishing of Schneider Arena, which is ongoing. But even when it is competed, Providence will still not be a prime location for college hockey.

haha. Whitehead wasn't resigned, Lowell didn't want him. Bazin has said time and time again...."lowell isnt a stepping stone, Its the summit".

Whitehead was the assistant at Maine. So he left Lowell to be paid more as an assistant. Makes perfect sense.

 

[chickod]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

2) As Jofa has correctly stated, BU choked.

But which is it? You can't say they don't have as much talent and then say they choked. Nine players from that 2009 team are (or at some time were) in the NHL. It's not fair to compare this team to that one. That team overcame coaching with pure talent. I agree with your assessment of the strategy...BUT...we weren't playing BC. First of all, we HAD to sell out because we were down 2-0 and getting run out of the building. Also, you figured that BC would have more defensive breakdowns (starting with the goalie) than Lowell, who basically lives by goal prevention. There was less risk (plus they had no choice anyway) opening it up against BC. In a vacuum, it sounds good to say they should have gone for broke from the get go. But we lost to them three times because we tried that, didn't have the firepower to execute it and let the game get out of hand. Given the context, I think the plan to try to keep the game close and hope for a break was as good as they could have done, considering it was unlikely we were going to score three or four goals against Lowell. Yes, we're not good in our own end. We've gone over this all year (and for many years - this was the basic for my comment about how their style of play had to become more "exciting" in my last post - and why I brought up that discussion). But opening the game up in this case would have been suicide. We've been giving up 40 shots a game all year. Tonight we gave up less than 30 (and only 6 in the first period). Was it playing "into their hands" or recognizing that it's just a bad matchup for us and we had to try something different. If we had played the same way as the three losses and got pounded again, everyone would have said "Why didn't they try something different?" Look, I know it's frustrating, but as I said before, dissecting every decision is pointless (especially now that a new coach will come in so the philosophy will change anyway) after the fact. Regardless of why, they went further than we thought they would have a month ago and they just didn't have the horses, no matter what strategy was employed. If there's a real frustration, to me it's more like what do we have to do to get back to the level of talent to win consistently. But it just seems unfair to keep beating on these kids. I really think they did the best they could and I can't say I'm disappointed with the EFFORT.

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

He got the ring, and you can't take that away. But Milner is average at best, and he had the best corps of defensemen in all of college hockey in front of him last year.
It wasn't anything like Tim Thomas standing on his head to win the cup for the Bruins. More like Milner just not losing it for the Igles.
Doesn't mean he didn't have have some big games. But I doubt too many Hockey East coaches would trade their starting goalie for him.

You haven't been paying attention for the last 4 years if you are writing this. First, he's got TWO rings. He almost unseated Muse in 2010 with a very good freshman performance - it was a full-on goalie contraversy back then going into the playoffs. He was absolutely standing on his head last year during the stretch run, particularly early in games. Last season BC was a slow-starting team then they got rolling downhill every game and blew teams out of the building. Lastly, at the point where BC had put down Notre Dame in the early part of this season to move to 7-1-0, with a BAD defense in front of him (you know, no Cross and Dumoulin), he was sporting a 1.86 GAA and .934 save%. And those numbers didn't do him justice during that stretch where they ran through to 10-1-0 through 11 games.

I'm inclined to believe he is clearly in a slump right now, it's obvious he isn't very sharp right now, but he's an excellent goaltender.

Speaking of goaltenders, I'm not surprised Maguire did so well this weekend. I still think he is better and has fewer weaknesses right now than O'Connor.

 

[Terrierbyassociation]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

the statement i made is factual

i also thought there were problems with the plan. i txt someone that the only rushes where the puck was carried in were by dmen. i had a count of 4 or 5 for escobedo which is not his strength, but he did it. grizzlick had a couple as well. the fwd were dumping and changing. frustrating offensive game plan to say the least. i was ready to jump from my balcony seat onto the concrete at the 6 minute mark when hohmann passed from standing on the lw half wall to the point, who passed to the other point, who shot... and the rebound was sitting in the lw circle where hohmann should have been -- except he was still on the wall watching. i saw the fwds dump all night but to a corner where nobody was. again, very frustrating to watch.
i thought the defense, thin as it is with guys who probably shouldn't be dressing next year, play very well considering. i thought the goalie played great the past three weekend and while this is a position that is all head and could change in the snap of a finger, i have a high level of confidence in for next season.

overall the fwds did a lot of skating that served little tonight. but they tried. they did what they were told to do. just didn't work out and they lost.

mookie loves three things in life.
1) his wife, kids, brother, mom, friends. his peeps
2) mookie loves golfings. with his friends. kids. by himself. old courses. new courses. tournaments.
3) mookie loves bu hockey.

when they win, i am happy as a clam. when they lose, i hurt. i saw kids who hurt when they lost tonight too. sometimes you are not as good as those who you play. this team was down to their last 20 guys who could dress. we all know that, right?

don't know what else to add.

This x 1000. Except I hate golf.

See you in Pittsburgh?

I was screaming for someone, anyone, to go to the net. No one went there. Several times a puck kicked out to the front of the net with not a single red sweater in sight.

I don't understand how BU can throw caution to the wind down 2-0 against BC, and then in a scoreless game continue to refuse to take any sort of risk. They can't tie, Coach. Especially in the third period.

I know they're not exactly the same situation but I looked at a scoreless game in the third against Lowell the same as I saw a 2-0 deficit against BC: throw caution to the wind and at least go for it.

Congrats to Lowell, they executed their gameplan. Upset that BU didn't even seem to have a gameplan for tonight. Oh well, now it's time to wait and see who the new coach is going to be. Vegas Odds?

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

If you are asking me, it is because I don't think it's cool for someone to come on here, hide behind a screen name and talk crap about guys that have accomplished 70 times more athletically than he ever did or will.

I certainly understand why you would have issue with Jofa's specific post, but I don't like this argument. We all hide behind screen names and critique (sometimes very critical) what we see. The fact that the players have accomplished more than us athletically is irrelevant.

But Milner is average at best, and he had the best corps of defensemen in all of college hockey in front of him last year.
It wasn't anything like Tim Thomas standing on his head to win the cup for the Bruins. More like Milner just not losing it for the Igles.
Doesn't mean he didn't have have some big games. But I doubt too many Hockey East coaches would trade their starting goalie for him.

Average at best? Think about that statement for just a second and you'll realize how dumb it is. BC had the best dman in the country and a very good #2 in Cross, but it's not like they had six studs back there and played a shutdown style where every save was an easy one. It's evident you didn't watch much of the games down the stretch because you're clearly selling him short. As to why you're doing it, not really sure. He wasn't Tim Thomas, but he really was great. Made numerous outstanding saves in big spots. I don't even know how this is arguable. Doesn't mean he's gonna repeat it in this upcoming tourney, but knowing what he's already accomplished on the biggest stage, I'll take my chances with him. Considering he's a senior and the season is over for a lot of teams, pointless to talk about which coaches would rather have him. Looking at the HE teams in the NCAAs, DeSmith has great numbers, but I'd rather have Milner.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Didn't see the game, but the way it's being described, sounds like giving up an early goal may have been better for you guys in regard to having to take more chances. It's just a different mentality. Had the game against BC been scoreless into the 3rd, I doubt you would have seen firewagon hockey from BU. But, Lowell is a **** good team and obviously knows how to play with a lead. Fitting for Parker that he wins one last game against BC, but also fitting that the end result is missing the tournament (when you consider everyone who rightfully wanted to see a change).

 

[UMLHockey224]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

The game was amazing tonight... The atmosphere, the game, the fans, and thank god not the refs lol!
Sad to see its jacks last game, but they went full steam ahead against us! Fitting that both freshman goalies were standing on their heads again.
Good luck to you guys next season

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

I certainly understand why you would have issue with Jofa's specific post, but I don't like this argument. We all hide behind screen names and critique (sometimes very critical) what we see. The fact that the players have accomplished more than us athletically is irrelevant...

exactly. mookie couldn't bake a cherry pie to save his life, but he knows when one is delicious and when one tastes like bunghole.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

See you in Pittsburgh?

i'll be there

 

[bantam75]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Didn't see the game, but the way it's being described, sounds like giving up an early goal may have been better for you guys in regard to having to take more chances. It's just a different mentality. Had the game against BC been scoreless into the 3rd, I doubt you would have seen firewagon hockey from BU. But, Lowell is a **** good team and obviously knows how to play with a lead. Fitting for Parker that he wins one last game against BC, but also fitting that the end result is missing the tournament (when you consider everyone who rightfully wanted to see a change).

Sorry, but that is just an a-hole comment, you don't know jack about what we see as fitting especially for those of us who wanted a change. Winning is the only "fitting" result for a class act like Jackie. The idea that ANYONE from BC knows what is fitting for BU and Jack Parker is laughable. What was fitting was Jack getting the last laugh over BC in his last rivalry game.

 

[defkit]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

- First off, congrats to Parker on a great 40 years, enjoy retirement.
- I agree with the thoughts around the cautious game plan by BU. Being down a goal early might have led to Parker letting the skill players be more aggressive. But that's how he has always been, which is one reason I'm excited about a change at the top.
- The players skated hard, and save for a couple bad giveaways by Oksanen (his nervousness with the puck is palpable), I thought the players gave a great effort. In a 1-0 game, any bounce can change the outcome. The GWG involved: A questionable non-call when Megan went down that led to the 3 on 2, a broken play by Lowell that resulted in Maguire having to scramble to the left, and him knocking the puck in with his stick after making what would have been a spectacular save with the pad. BU put 30+ shots on net, including a few real testers. Give Hellebyuck credit. His stats are ridiculous, and he showed why tonight.
- Tough 4 years for the seniors, with basically no hardware. Frozen Fenway is probably their highlight. Statistically, Megan had a solid two years after a couple disappointing ones. Escobedo solidified after a rough start (remember his horrible giveaway behind the net to BC a few years ago?). Best of luck to them and the others in their future endeavors.
- As someone else mentioned, it's a mystery what happened in January and February. But having two players leave certainly didn't help. Two wins over Harvard, and this team has a chance to win an NCAA game.
- Like Bomber, if I had to pick a team to win HE and the NCAAs besides BU, it would be Lowell. I think they are FF-bound, and have a good shot at winning it all.

Now, let's get Quinn, Sullivan, or Hynes into the fold and start getting this team back on the path to being an Elite team consistently!

 

[carltonbarrett]

The idea that ANYONE from BC knows what is fitting for BU and Jack Parker is laughable. What was fitting was Jack getting the last laugh over BC in his last rivalry game.

.....yeah, fitting is right, BC is going to the big dance and BU's going golfing, again! Parker may have won the battle but as usual, he lost the war.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Sorry bantam, didn't think anyone would throw a tantrum over that. Obviously as bu fans, you wanted to see your team win it all. You probably dreamed of that fairytale ending for "classy jackie".

And I'm pretty sure I said it was fitting that parker won his last game against bc...so we agree there.

BU hockey: congrats on winning a hockey east semifinal

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

exactly. mookie couldn't bake a cherry pie to save his life, but he knows when one is delicious and when one tastes like bunghole.

In this case it would be fair for you to criticize the taste of the cherry pie... but not the integrity of the person who baked it. That is the difference.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University season thread 4: Where BC comes to talk hockey

Maybe fitting that goonan picked up one last embellishment penalty for his team in his first weekend back?