Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

[Tilldog40]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

It is funny seeing everybody diss NU on this board. Mostly by bc and bu fans that are so butt hurt that NU the underdog for years won the championship. With reading all the predictions on this board if bu doesn't win hockey east then they are a total letdown. bu fans are already acting like they have it won and are miles ahead of every team.

 

[defkit]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

bu fans are already acting like they have it won and are miles ahead of every team.

Where are you seeing this? If anything, the BU fans I have been paying attention to are trying to temper expectations from the media and everyone else (I know I have been). No doubt the freshmen they have coming in SHOULD be one of the best they have every had, but they are still freshmen, and most of them are really young freshmen (17-18).

Most BU fans are hoping for some hardware, but coming off of a season where they didn't win a single piece of it, I don't think too many of them are beating their chests at this point.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

I know! I see a Northeastern fan who feels slighted. Not one BU fan on this board has made any kind of comment about running away with the league. Picking BU to win the conference (along with many others here) is not the same thing.

And defkit - they won the Kelley-Harkness Trophy last year!

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

It is funny seeing everybody diss NU on this board. Mostly by bc and bu fans that are so butt hurt that NU the underdog for years won the championship. With reading all the predictions on this board if bu doesn't win hockey east then they are a total letdown. bu fans are already acting like they have it won and are miles ahead of every team.

To be fair they have reason to be hyped and to think highly of their team. I think they can and likely should be miles ahead of team team. Not sure if there has ever been an NCAA team that has this much NHL talent on it. To the points of the last couple posters, I don't think BU fans are being arrogant about it- it's perfectly fair to have lofty expectations but no one is claiming they "already have won it all." I have BU #1 in my preseason rankings, full disclaimer. Northeastern has always been the red-headed stepchild that will always get picked on, regardless of recent successes. It's just the way it goes. As much as I want it to, one successful postseason does not erase years of mediocrity in the eyes of other teams, heck even NU fans are wary about another possible slow start. If NU wants to not be taking "crap" or get dissed, long term success is the only remedy.

 

[J.D.]

It is funny seeing everybody diss NU on this board. Mostly by bc and bu fans that are so butt hurt that NU the underdog for years won the championship. With reading all the predictions on this board if bu doesn't win hockey east then they are a total letdown. bu fans are already acting like they have it won and are miles ahead of every team.

Um i really don't think BC fans care all that much about NU winning a hockey east title. I'd bet BU fans don't really care either. Certainly not butthurt. More like indifference. Sorry we don't pay more attention to you, seems you are the butthurt one.

 

[Cross Check]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

It is funny seeing everybody diss NU on this board. Mostly by bc and bu fans that are so butt hurt that NU the underdog for years won the championship. With reading all the predictions on this board if bu doesn't win hockey east then they are a total letdown. bu fans are already acting like they have it won and are miles ahead of every team.

Actually, Tilldog, as a BC fan, I couldn't care less about NU having won the tournament championship. And I can tolerate you and your buddies' crowing about it, because I realize the newness of this for you. I'd tell you to act like you've been there before, only you haven't

But understand that the BC and BU fans of this world (and other top programs for that matter) measure success by who plays for the longest. So while NU was getting frogstomped in the first round, BC was on it's way to the Frozen Four. Again. And two weeks later NU got to watch BC on TV while BC was still playing.

So, a regular season championship, NCAA Regional Championship, and a Frozen Four appearance versus a HE tournament championship and a first round loss. There is no measurement by which BC's year was not superior to Northeastern's year.

So congrats to you, but if and when NU is still playing after BC is done for the season, then I'll be a lot more interested. They need to prove they're more than a Johnny Come Lately first.

 

[sterlippo1]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Um i really don't think BC fans care all that much about NU winning a hockey east title. I'd bet BU fans don't really care either. Certainly not butthurt. More like indifference. Sorry we don't pay more attention to you, seems you are the butthurt one.

in fact i'd think many BC fans were rooting for NU to finally win something, i was.............butthurt? um, no

 

[mookie1995]

Um i really don't think BC fans care all that much about NU winning a hockey east title. I'd bet BU fans don't really care either. Certainly not butthurt. More like indifference. Sorry we don't pay more attention to you, seems you are the butthurt one.

Exactly

If it mattered at all you'd hear no end of it from uhn fans

 

[McBain75]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

I don't know if the other teams' fans appreciate this, or if the other Huskies fans feel the same way as me, but winning SOMETHING knocks so much of that chip off my shoulder. And dissipated that dark cloud following us around. I've described being a Husky fan as "expecting the worst, and getting it hard." After things playing out our way for once, it feels like so much of that has melted away. Now I'm in this blissful contented state where it's Huskies hockey, "baby don't worry, bout a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright." Frankly the rest of you should revel in this interlude free from us Huntington Hounds whining about everything. Please indulge us this for a while - we've waited so darn long for an example of a time where things DO turn out okay in the end. And I love it!

I said earlier, if they carry over even only some of that confidence from last year, based on their talent I think they should be a top-5 contender. Based on the competition up there I can't easily expect another trophy but I think they'll be in the mix again.

 

[The Zlax45]

I don't know if the other teams' fans appreciate this, or if the other Huskies fans feel the same way as me, but winning SOMETHING knocks so much of that chip off my shoulder. And dissipated that dark cloud following us around. I've described being a Husky fan as "expecting the worst, and getting it hard." After things playing out our way for once, it feels like so much of that has melted away. Now I'm in this blissful contented state where it's Huskies hockey, "baby don't worry, bout a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright." Frankly the rest of you should revel in this interlude free from us Huntington Hounds whining about everything. Please indulge us this for a while - we've waited so darn long for an example of a time where things DO turn out okay in the end. And I love it!

I said earlier, if they carry over even only some of that confidence from last year, based on their talent I think they should be a top-5 contender. Based on the competition up there I can't easily expect another trophy but I think they'll be in the mix again.

Which northeastern team will we see? The one that got crushed early last year by the top of the conference or the one that played well in the hockey east tourney and beat up on the sisters of the poor in the second half of the season?

 

[McBain75]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Which northeastern team will we see? The one that got crushed early last year by the top of the conference or the one that played well in the hockey east tourney and beat up on the sisters of the poor in the second half of the season?

That's the kind of analysis that comes from just looking at the results and maybe not knowing the context. They started last year with Derick Roy in net, the fifth year senior. After it was abundantly clear from the first half dozen games or so that he wasn't playing good enough to be the starter (that is the absolute nicest way I can describe that), they threw the true freshman Ruck in the deep end. He gradually got better every game. If you gave them the Ruck of the end of the season at the start, maybe they don't lose so many early. That team had to go through that rough start to learn how to win - how hard they had to play, how well they had to play, and had to get a goalie going. It was, and will be, a process. The "sisters of the poor" description makes it seem like NU had an easier path to the title, when in fact they played the exact same teams in conference as everyone else, plus when it was all on the line they rolled through Notre Dame on the road, then two top-five teams at the Garden. They didn't have any easier of a time than anyone else. I'd rather have a team that peaks at the end than one that progressively slides downhill.

For this year? Having a genuine starting caliber goalie from the start will make a world of difference. Two games at Quinnipiac are a nice early challenge to see where they're at.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

...one successful postseason does not erase years of mediocrity in the eyes of other teams, heck even NU fans are wary about another possible slow start. If NU wants to not be taking "crap" or get dissed, long term success is the only remedy.

+1. While I've thoroughly enjoyed basking in the glow of the tournament championship, I've been around long enough to understand that--with the exception of the '80s--NU hockey remains saddled with a long and lamentable history that one tournament win every 28 or so years will not reverse. The program will get the respect it so desperately craves when it becomes the type of opponent that is no longer perceived as a likely "W." Last year was a step in that direction but the finish line is still ahead.

That being said, an apt title for the 2016-127 season thread might well be Great Expectations. There's much to look forward to, given a returning corps of upperclassmen with a championship pedigree being joined by possibly the best recruiting class in the history. Plus some genuinely promising talent in the pipeline.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Actually, Tilldog, as a BC fan, I couldn't care less about NU having won the tournament championship. And I can tolerate you and your buddies' crowing about it, because I realize the newness of this for you. I'd tell you to act like you've been there before, only you haven't

But understand that the BC and BU fans of this world (and other top programs for that matter) measure success by who plays for the longest. So while NU was getting frogstomped in the first round, BC was on it's way to the Frozen Four. Again. And two weeks later NU got to watch BC on TV while BC was still playing.

So, a regular season championship, NCAA Regional Championship, and a Frozen Four appearance versus a HE tournament championship and a first round loss. There is no measurement by which BC's year was not superior to Northeastern's year.

So congrats to you, but if and when NU is still playing after BC is done for the season, then I'll be a lot more interested. They need to prove they're more than a Johnny Come Lately first.

I can remember a few seasons where UNH won most (if not all) of those things BC *won* last season ("NCAA Regional Championship"?? Really??? No banners for that at The Whitt even), and BC won the HE Tourney, and the spin-happy folks at Bandwagon Nation had an entirely different slant on things at the time. Shocking.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Which northeastern team will we see? The one that got crushed early last year by the top of the conference or the one that played well in the hockey east tourney and beat up on the sisters of the poor in the second half of the season?

I take your point....but only to a point. I'm not sure I'd classify two wins AT St. Lawrence (which had only 8 losses all year), a tie AT Lowell, and a lopsided win over Harvard on neutral ice as coming against weak opponents. Then there's the reality of HEA tournament where, with everything on the line, NU picked up two decisive wins AT South Bend and gut-check wins on neutral ice against great BC and Lowell teams.

BTW, don't be so dismissive of the Little Sisters of the Poor. They are one amazing group of strong women who do fabulous work with the frail elderly. You would not want to tangle with them.

 

[TheRevengeance]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

They also tied Quinnipiac a week before the SLU wins.

They're obviously going to "regress" from the spring in that they won't go unbeaten in 22 of 23 games. That's never sustainable. It's also a bit larger of a sample size than a few lucky bounces or a few lucky games though. I don't see any reason to believe they're going to suddenly become awful. Saying they were super lucky for three full months is just an illogical attempt to downplay that they had the best record in the NCAA from January 1st on.

I don't think any of us NU fans are expecting them to win the regular season title or anything, but if they don't finish in the top four I'd absolutely consider it a disappointment.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Just wait till UNH is good again (if?)...their bandwagon will fill up. Can be applied to almost any program.

 

[Kdaddy1968]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Things are too cordial on this thread...

Predictions :


1. BU
2. ND
3. UML
4. Providence
5. Vermont
6. Northeastern
7. BC
8. Merrimack
9. UNH
10. UMaine
11. Uconn
12. UMass


BU for the league and tournament Championship
York Retires
No one misses Notre Dame

Top 4 make the tourney
2 make the Frozen Four

UVM 5th? In what universe? Were we watching the same team last year? Maybe if they let them skate 7 or 8 at a time.. given the number of recruits that have that should be easy.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East Preseason Thread. Predict and Win Eternal Glory

Well packy munson looked good against BC and he's returning...

Oh wait

 

[HHound]

They also tied Quinnipiac a week before the SLU wins.

They're obviously going to "regress" from the spring in that they won't go unbeaten in 22 of 23 games. That's never sustainable..

I don't think any of us NU fans are expecting them to win the regular season title or anything, but if they don't finish in the top four I'd absolutely consider it a disappointment.

Just for the record, QPac had to score an EA goal in the waning moments of the game to tie Northeastern. After that frustrating draw, the Huskies realized the could play with the best teams and lost only once until they were paired with North Dakota in the NC$$ tournament .

 

[Snively65]

Which northeastern team will we see? The one that got crushed early last year by the top of the conference or the one that played well in the hockey east tourney and beat up on the sisters of the poor in the second half of the season?

The team that got crushed by Bentley?