BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Well, this would further move to solidify HE as the top conference in the nation, so that's a plus. Adding RPI (assuming they are in fact team #12) means that only one school is a plane ride, so that's not terribly bad. I'm wary of ND's apparent exclusive TV deal with Versus, I'd like to know more about it. At least we're not adding dead weight, and will likely get a few less conference games out of it, so all in all it's not the worst thing in the world that could happen.

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Not thrilled about the ND to HE news. Really takes away some of the New England feel for the league.

Kind of my feeling on it...

 

[fromafar]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

True, but Parker has given him some playing time in the past two years. Rollheiser has also had a few injuries behind the scenes over the last few years that have prevented him from playing as much as the team may have planned in the preseason. Plus, once Millan got in a groove last season, it was impossible for Parker or any of the coaches to think that anybody would give them a better chance in net than Millan. Rollheiser gave up 16 goals in 5 games last season. I wouldn't have played him much either.

Parker did make it more clear this year that Millan is 1 and Rollheiser is 2. Last year he said something like 1 and 1A. More complete information about that will be in the season preview article that will be published Thursday.

Thats the joy of playing with stats, I believe six of those goals were allowed in two periods against BC if you remember that night Millan let in three in one period, up till then Rollheiser had been playing great he never was given another chance after that to prove himself. Point is Millan will and always has been given another chance to prove himself the same cannot be said for Rollheiser

 

[reBlur]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Not thrilled about the ND to HE news. Really takes away some of the New England feel for the league.

Agreed 100%. The competition is good for the league, but I'm a big fan of Hockey East being solely New England. I'm okay I guess with RPI. ND is really far out. Positive spin on this? I won't be student journalist by then, so I won't be paying for a flight out there once a year.

 

[reBlur]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Point is Millan will and always has been given another chance to prove himself the same cannot be said for Rollheiser

I'd agree with you if Millan hadn't been a good goaltender at BU.

But he has.

BU is trying to build a winning program and Millan gives them a great chance to win. Why play Rollheiser just to give him a chance when you already have a great goalie?

 

[Rover]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Like the Notre Dame deal. Sick of seeing the usual alsorans in Merrihack, Lowell Tech State, etc etc. Lets get some higher competition in the league. First big beneficiary is the HE tournament. A mostly BC fest with some BU sprinkled in there. Notre Dame brings some much needed new blood into that mix for the conference championship.

Really would rather not see RPI as #12. A team that hasn't been good in most of our lifetimes and a boring road trip on top of it. Personally I'll pulling for Bentley. Short road trip and even our forwards might be able to pot a few goals against them.

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

BU is trying to build a winning program and Millan gives them a great chance to win. Why play Rollheiser just to give him a chance when you already have a great goalie?

Because what if you have something better? Now I'm obviously not there at practice to see what the coaching staff sees on a daily baisis, so I have no idea about how they look there. I have to say though (last weekend as a perfect example) that I've seen enough sometimes, to at least make me scratch my head and wonder why Rollie has not gotten more playing time.

 

[J.D.]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Now if only we could leak a story that Rollie and Kraus were drinking beer in the locker room during games, we might get a fresh voice behind the BU bench.

Was Brendan Walsh in the house???

As a long time ND fan the move is a bit unsettling for me. I had trouble rooting for BU the last ND-BU game, I was hoping there wouldn't be another one for a long time. But where else is an athletic department like ND going to put its hockey team? This move makes more sense than any of the other options and even though it may not help some individual teams in HE it will help the conference as a whole.

Disagree. Notre Dame would have been a much better fit in the NCHC.

 

[Federal League]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I really don't see how ND to HE can be a bad thing (unless this TV deal is going to give them some huge recruiting advantage over the rest of the league, which I don't think Bertagna would let happen). You're adding a program that has emerged as one of the best in the country in recent years and is showing no signs of just being a flash in the pan. New arena, loads of top recruits, NCAA success. Adding someone who can break the Big 4 stranglehold can't be a bad thing IMO.

I'm fine with RPI, too. They're close, they have a good hockey history, they have rivalries with a number of HE schools already. And while they haven't had quite the on-ice success that ND has had in recent years, they are certainly capable of being competitive year in, year out. They've landed some very good recruits in recent years and made NCAAs last year. Plus, 12 teams makes for easier scheduling than 11.

As for staying at 10 vs. expanding, I just don't think you can pass up a chance to add a program like ND (again, assuming ND isn't gonna get all kinds of preferential treatment). Plus, HE has wanted to cut back from 27 league games for a while, and expanding provides a very easy way to do it. The more non-conference games, the better IMO, especially for the top schools who can get other top schools into their buildings. Whether or not it ends up hurting some of the smaller schools who can't draw those big programs remains to be seen, but overall I just think this does a lot more good for the league than bad.

 

[goalguard]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Like the Notre Dame deal. Sick of seeing the usual alsorans in Merrihack, Lowell Tech State, etc etc. Lets get some higher competition in the league. First big beneficiary is the HE tournament. A mostly BC fest with some BU sprinkled in there. Notre Dame brings some much needed new blood into that mix for the conference championship.

Really would rather not see RPI as #12. A team that hasn't been good in most of our lifetimes and a boring road trip on top of it. Personally I'll pulling for Bentley. Short road trip and even our forwards might be able to pot a few goals against them.

Agreed on both points. One side benefit of going to a 12-team league is that it would mean a 22-game regular season. (Assuming they don't go to unbalanced schedule, which would be ridiculous.) That would mean:

a. Even the RS games against the also-rans would be more meaningful.
b. The RS games against the iron would huge.
c. The out-of-league schedule would open up. (What's left of the old WCHA and CCHA will be hungry for games.)

RPI has a great tradition and I love that old barn (though it wasn't that pleasant last year with the home-cooking by the refs), but don't see the logic of recruiting them. I assume that any serious program that's not in the new league would be hungry to join HE now that the Irish are in (if that's really the case, incidentally).

Any chance Cornell could be pried away from the ECACHL? Or to go in an entirely different direction, does Connecticut want to step up? They've obviously invested in roundball and their football program is on the rise. Maybe that's all they can afford, but then again maybe they've got broader ambitions. It would be interesting to have all five New England state schools with D-1 programs under one roof.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Notre Dame would have been a much better fit in the NCHC.

I would agree that the NCHC would appear to be a more logical fit for Notre Dame.

But how secure is this decision? So much depends on football realignment these days.
If we end up with 16-team Super Conferences in football, Notre Dame would be left out in the cold if it attempted to remain an independent under those circumstances. Notre Dame football doesn't have the cache that it once did, and they'd be smart to join a Super Conference.

Hockey East makes sense, if ND wants to join the Big East in football, as well as other sports. But that would make ND the tallest midget, and they have avoided that in the past.
The Big 10 would make the most sense, football-wise. If they eventually joined the Big 10 in football, they would surely join in hockey, as well.

So while it appears that ND is headed to Hockey East, I wouldn't bet on it definitely being a long marriage.

I would have preferred seeing UConn and URI elevate their programs to Hockey East status. UConn seems happy toiling in D1 hockey obscurity, while URI is still at the club level (although with an easily expandable hockey arena).

Will RPI be the next to join in? I'm sure Quinnipiac would love to be in Hockey East, but how much benefit they would bring to the league is questionable beyond having a team in Connecticut with a new arena. They offer no history or tradition.

College hockey, like all of college athletics, is in a state of flux.

 

[slurpees]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

UConn is not an option. Arena is too small, and the athletic department has repeatedly proven they are not committed to anything with respect to hockey.

 

[J.D.]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Or to go in an entirely different direction, does Connecticut want to step up? They've obviously invested in roundball and their football program is on the rise. Maybe that's all they can afford, but then again maybe they've got broader ambitions. It would be interesting to have all five New England state schools with D-1 programs under one roof.

UConn football is not on the rise with Paul Pasqualoni. Besides, being on the rise in the Big Least isn't saying much to begin with. Anyway, if we're taking anyone from CT, I have to believe it would be Quinnipiac.

Will RPI be the next to join in? I'm sure Quinnipiac would love to be in Hockey East, but how much benefit they would bring to the league is questionable beyond having a team in Connecticut with a new arena. They offer no history or tradition.

College hockey, like all of college athletics, is in a state of flux.

If RPI says no, I think Quinnipiac is a solid choice for team #12. Sure, no great tradition, but they haven't exactly had a long time to establish anything. Nothing flashy, but a new building, an administration that seems to care about the program (there are always a few Q games on NESN) and in a pretty good recruiting area. Not a sleeping giant by any means, but is there any reason they couldn't come to Hockey East and be competitive? I don't think so.

 

[quiddlet]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Disagree. Notre Dame would have been a much better fit in the NCHC.

I would agree that the NCHC would appear to be a more logical fit for Notre Dame.

I agree ND in the NCHC would make sense... but it's pretty clear that (for whatever reason) wasn't going to happen so there's no reason to really consider it.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

BU is trying to build a winning program

Boy things are worse than I thought they were over there.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

If we end up with 16-team Super Conferences in football, Notre Dame would be left out in the cold if it attempted to remain an independent under those circumstances.

They already have special BCS treatment and aren't in a conference right now and they're not left out in the cold.

Notre Dame football doesn't have the cache that it once did, and they'd be smart to join a Super Conference.

Debatable. The Big East continuing to bend over and let ND play in their conference for sports other than FB allows them to not have any issues with FB independence. Hockey East just let them in for hockey so another problem solved. You really don't NEED a conference as long as the money is rolling in (and it is) and they have special BCS (cache? you bet) clauses for them. Everyone still wants them on the schedule.

Hockey East makes sense, if ND wants to join the Big East in football, as well as other sports.

Don't even know what to say here.

 

[Hokydad]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

UConn is not an option. Arena is too small, and the athletic department has repeatedly proven they are not committed to anything with respect to hockey.

I wouldnt either if you showed up at an away league playoff game and it was being played at the Waltham MDC rink....

 

[Rover]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

I would prefer a UConn program that commits to some upgrades to its team than a mid level EZAC squad that's going to get crushed playing a HE schedule. Having the potential to compete if your school sunk money into the program is better than never being able to compete due to lack of resources. RPI is far better off sticking with similar sized schools in their present conference and getting a shot at a tournament bid that way.

While UConn will also get crushed playing in HE, at least there's some natural rivalries there (BC, UMass, PC). Getting blown out 20-0 every game 3 years in a row to say BC might inspire an effort to upgrade their competitiveness.

Short of that happening, I guess I'd take The Q by default.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

They already have special BCS treatment and aren't in a conference right now and they're not left out in the cold.



Debatable. The Big East continuing to bend over and let ND play in their conference for sports other than FB allows them to not have any issues with FB independence. Hockey East just let them in for hockey so another problem solved. You really don't NEED a conference as long as the money is rolling in (and it is) and they have special BCS (cache? you bet) clauses for them. Everyone still wants them on the schedule.

As long as Notre Dame football gets special consideration with the BCS and TV money, they will stay as an independent. Agreed.

But the landscape is undergoing some dramatic changes and Notre Dame football isn't what it used to be. Wins are down; rating are down ... the glory days are a memory. If these 16-school Super Conferences are formed, a 4-team national championship tourney is possible for the league champions. In that scenario, Notre Dame would need a conference more than a conference would need them (outside of the Big East, which is desperate right now in football).

 

[buoldtimer]

Re: BU 2011-2012 Season: The bar is low, boys!

Significant technical failure of the center video board to start the season. Greeeeeaaat.

Speaking of the center video board, I noticed that BU has eliminated those uncomfortable 15 - 20 second clips of each player that were shown during warmups. A heartfelt thank-you to whomever made that decision.