Tough Loss

And here I was, all ready to put up the new power rankings with BC on top and a heretofore dreadful Providence team on bottom. Guess that won't be happening.

Second tough loss of the year--it wasn't the mauling that we suffered at the hands of Notre Dame, but it was to possibly the worst team in Hockey East right now. Still, I don't think it's time to press the panic button just yet. I can't comment on the game because my audio wasn't working, but I will say this. This is still a team that just beat the defending national champs twice in a row in their house. This is also a team that had just two days off after that emotional series, and was then forced to travel down to Providence to play.

The team responded to the Notre Dame loss by whipping Bowling Green 5-1 the next night, then heading to Madison and racking up a pair of 3-goal victories over the Badgers. How will they respond to this one?? We'll find out on Saturday, as a tough Vermont team comes into town. Unfortunately, BC will not have much of a home ice advantage for that one, as the 7 pm faceoff co-incides exactly with kickoff of the Wake Forest football game in Winston-Salem.

I'd like to take this opportunity to call on the athletic department to switch the faceoff times for the Vermont game with that of the women's game against BU, which begins at 2 pm on Saturday. Let the fans who can't make the trip to NC support their hockey team against the Elephant Walkers with plenty of time to get back and catch the football game.

For my part, zero doubt in my mind that BC will get back on track against Vermont, crowd or no crowd. And we'll need to--as next Tuesday the Eagles hop on the 86 bus and head to Cambridge to face Harvard, a team that always gives us problems in the annual regular-season matchup (as opposed to the occasional Beanpot games, which BC has little trouble with).

Sunday Thoughts

First things first--great job by the hockey team, notching up another 3-goal win in Madison last night (4-1 this time). Whatever mojo they lost against Notre Dame, is more than back; and this sophomore class is truly something. Gerbe, Motherwell, Ferriero, Bradford, Orpik, Filangieri, Kunes, Aiello...a few games into last season I remarked to a then-freshman sitting next to me in Conte that he would definitely see those guys bring a national championship back to the Heights. I'm thinking now that it may be more like 2...or even 3??

No rest for the weary (and victorious), though, as the Eagles take the ice again on the road on Tuesday night, Halloween, in Providence against a Friars team that has looked absolutely dreadful so far this season (they lost to Merrimack...MERRIMACK).

Good luck to Wisconsin the rest of the way--2 wins or no, I wouldn't want to run into these guys again in St. Louis.

Some press on the sweep:
Globe - Friday, Saturday
USCHO - Friday, Saturday

Also a funny, in the unintentional sense, article in today's Globe on the demise of "The Cheer" at Eurabia Tech-Kenmore. Great reading.

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Although there were only about 14 people at yesterday's BC-Buffalo game, it appears that each of them wrote an article for one of BC's major dailies; as both the Herald and Globe had excellent coverage of the rout.

BC frequently gets more love in the BCS standings than in the human polls, as the computer rankings that make of part of the BCS formula tend to take strength of schedule into account more than the human voters do. This holds true again this week, if only marginaly, as the Eagles come up 15th in the BCS standings and 16th in both human polls. However, with USC's loss, the debacle in Raleigh becomes all the more painful.

The terrible truth is now that, if that game had gone BC's way, BC would be sitting at 8-0. And upon further inspection, we would not just have a shot at the national title game; we would have the inside track to it.

An 8-0 BC team would likely be sitting at around 5th or 6th in the human polls, but with the help of the computer rankings, there is a good chance the Eagles would be ranked 3rd in the BCS standings--behind only Ohio State and Michigan, one of whom will be knocked out of contention on the 18th of November. Win the remaining regular season games, win the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville--and BC would, in all likelihood, be playing the OSU-Michigan winner for the national championship.

That's how close we are, folks. And that's why EVERY GAME MATTERS.

Great W's

I don't care who the opponent is--winning a game 41-0 and dominating to the point where you are using a walk-on QB at the end of the game is fucking impressive.

I don't care that they dominated the game, that your goalie had to stand on his head, and that one of the goals was an empty-netter--beating the defending national champions 3-0 in their house is fucking impressive.


I only listened to the hockey game on the radio and only caught the last 10 minutes of the football game (fucking work) so I can't comment too much on either one, other than to say that Nate Gerbe is a fucking player. He is going to have a breakout year.

Now let's see the Eagles take the Badgers again tonight. As for football, let's hope UNC can pull out the upset over Wake. Incidentally, I think we want Georgia Tech to defeat Miami today, even though a U victory would marginally help BC's strength of schedule. A Miami win means they are in the drivers seat to win the Coastal division, and we do NOT want to have to beat these guys twice in a row, Coker or no Coker.

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In my Tallahassee recap, I neglected to mention one of the best moments of the weekend.

We walk into AJ's Saturday night after the game, and the downstairs part has one of those Internet jukeboxes where you can call up basically any song in existence. So naturally I search for and put on the classic Dropkick Murphys' rendition of "For Boston".

Bartender gets a pissed-off look on his face as soon as he realizes and cuts the sound 5 seconds into the song.

In retrospect; between that, starting drunken "We are BC" and "Whose house? Our house" chants with every other BC fan in sight, alternating making the "Eagle wings" gesture and a mocking Tomahawk chop at people, hitting on every attractive female in the place, and commenting to at least one FSU kid that "in the olden days, after a victory like this, we would get to rape and pillage your women"; I probably deserved to be jumped.

Buffalo, Wisconsin Predictions

Bit of a letdown for BC this week with Buffalo, arguably the second worst team in D1A (they defeated the worst, Temple, earlier this season) coming into town after back-to-back victories over Florida State and Virginia Tech. The Bulls have a decent pass defense statistically speaking, but this is more a function of their dreadful run defense than anything else. The forecast of rain won't help BC cover the 35-point spread, but the Eagles still win this one handily. BC 38, Buffalo 3

A pair of nice articles today in the Boston dailies--the Herald takes on freshman safety Wes Davis while the Globe takes a look at cornerback Larry Anam.

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Gut check time for the hockey Eagles tonight as the team heads into Madison for a back-to-back series against the Badgers. Look for BC to come out flying, seeking both revenge for last year's national championship defeat and to continue to prove themselves after the 7-1 disaster against Notre Dame.

Friday - BC 2, Wisconsin 2
Saturday - BC 2, Wisconsin 1


Go Eagles!!

Power Rankings

ACC
1. Clemson
2. BC
3. Wake Forest
4. Georgia Tech
5. Florida State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Maryland
8. Miami
9. NC State
10. Virginia
11. Duke
12. North Carolina


HOCKEY EAST
1. Maine
2. BC
3. New Hampshire
4. BU
5. UMass
6. Vermont
7. Northeastern
8. UMass-Lowell
9. Providence
10. Merrimack

Weekend Recap

Great trip to Tallahassee, would have posted earlier but it legitimately took this long to recover from that shitshow of a weekend.

THUMBS UP
-Matt Ryan
I'm almost at the point where I'm going to stop listing him in the "Thumbs Up" column because it's just a given. He is without a doubt the best QB in the ACC and in my book top 5 nationally. The 3rd and 9 pass to Tony Gonzalez on BC's 3 may have been the play that sealed the victory. Aside from Troy Smith, is there any QB in the country who is unquestionably better than Ryan right now?? I don't think so.

-The Entire Defense
See what happens when we play with an aggressive defense?? JoLonn Dunbar was the standout on the day (I was shocked to read the next morning that he'd only had 7 tackles, because it seemed like his name was called after every FSU play) but Austin Giles, DeJuan Tribble, Brian Toal, Nick Larkin, Kevin Akins, and B.J. Raji also turned in spectacular performances. What was a very shaky unit earlier in the season has become simply phenomenal since the return of Ryan Glasper--how often do teams give up 22 points over 3 games including wins over Virginia Tech and Florida State (OK, the 3rd opponent in that stretch was Maine, but a great run nonetheless)?? Great effort from true freshmen Wes Davis, Mark Herzlich, and Alex Albright, and former walk-on Suilaman Sanni. And special mention has to go here to Spaz, who let the defense play their game and take down the 'Noles.

-Kicking Game
Sid Vicious was perfect again, Diamond Stud was drilling his kickoffs, and Johnny Ayers dropped seemingly every punt inside the 20. What more can you ask for??

-BC Fans
About 4,500 of us were there in Tallahassee to see the Eagles win. Even the whalepants-clad dude behind me, who spent most of the game yelling at me to sit down, was standing and cheering by the end of the game. Great turnout.

-FSU
The people were friendly, the women were fucking SMOKING hot...this is a MUST-visit place for all BC fans in '08. Loudest stadium I've been in by far. Best of all, they all have FSU license plates or stickers on their cars, so I had a great time on the ride back to Tampa doing a mocking "Chop" followed by pointing at my BC hat at every FSU car we passed.


THUMBS DOWN
-Tallahassee Inn
YOUR FUCKING TOILET DOESN'T EVEN GODDAMN FLUSH YOU ASSHOLES!! Despite asking management to remedy this about 4 times over the less than 48 hours we were there, it never got fixed. There was also no real phone when we arrived--they actually had one of those fake, non-working model phones instead of an actual working model--although that at least got remedied pretty quickly. There's a reason I was able to get a room at a place 4 miles from campus for $75/night on one of the biggest FSU game weekends of the year. Of course, the price was right, and I'd definitely go back.

-Asshole in AJ's
Went to AJ's, a huge sports bar in Tally, after the game, and some douchebag decided to get revenge for his team's loss by jumping me. He got pulled away before I even had a chance to respond, but the asshole still managed to rip up the collar on my BC t-shirt. Yeah, make the trip up to Boston next year and pull that shit in Mary Ann's after we kick your ass again, fucking fag.

-Philadelphia Sports
Don't even get me fucking started. I was at the Flyers-Lightning game in Tampa on Thursday night, didn't make the Eagles game, needless to say both were humiliating losses. At least the centerpiece of the weekend worked out well.


Not much more to say here, other than that was a fucking AWESOME trip, and any BC fan who has a chance to make it and doesn't is a goddamn fool.

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Mixed weekend for the hockey team, dropping 7-1 to Notre Dame before rebounding and beating Bowling Green 5-1. I didn't see or hear either game so I can't comment that much other than not to get too worried about the loss to the Lafayettes. BC loses to ND in hockey seemingly every year, yet early-season OOC matchups mean next to nothing in hockey, particularly for the powerhouse programs such as BC. The upcoming weekend's series agianst Wisconsin will be fun to watch but little more meaningful. Once the conference slate starts in earnest, this team will be fine.

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Two SPECTACULAR articles today, one from Page 2's DJ Gallo (i dunno) and the other from Stewart Mandel, both calling out the French for what they are. Mandel's is particularly interesting in that it uses BC's as a comparison for the French accomplishments this season.

This all makes me REALLY upset that BC is not playing the French this season. Seeing not only the team itself exposed but also Matt Ryan shown to be the better quarterback than Brady Quinn would be simply sweet. Hopefully it will happen in a bowl game.


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Buffalo and Wisconsin previews to come tomorrow.

CONQUERED

Just got in at 2 am this morning, heading out now but will write a full weekend recap tonight or tomorrow. For now, just wanted to pass this along, courtesy of BCMike2:

FSU/Weekend Preview

Ask any college football coach to envision the scenario that he would least want to see his team facing, and "must-win game at Doak Campbell Stadium" would be pretty high on the list.

That is exactly the scenario that BC faces on Saturday against FSU.

The fact is that a loss is not enough. A moral victory is not enough. This is a must-win game for BC. The Eagles can probably afford to lose one more ACC game and still take home the Atlantic Division crown--but it can't be this weekend. A loss in Tallahassee all but dooms our hopes of returning for a third Florida game on Dec. 2.

With that said, this game will come down to coaching. Based on rumors out of Chestnut Hill and what I've seen from the kid in the past, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Matt Ryan will be behind center on Saturday. Moreover, despite the pain that he may be in, he will be at or close to 100% effectiveness. This is not even an issue for me right now. What I am worried about is the mentality of the team and the coaching staff. The win over Virginia Tech was a great one, but the team cannot rest on its laurels; FSU is a MUST-WIN game. Conversely, will a coaching staff that has showed little confidence in its players in the past be encouraged by the victory over the Hokies?? The staff, especially Frank Spaziani, called one of its best and most aggressive gameplans in years against Virginia Tech, and we all saw what happened. This team has the talent to win the ACC, but it needs to know that its coaching staff is behind it.

The return of Diamond Stud will give BC a leg up in the field position battle. Let's hope that Sid Vicious is allowed to remain unpressured as the team's placekicker, however.

You have to think that FSU's "Black Out" jerseys will work to BC's advantage. Those things cannot be comfortable to wear in the midday Florida heat. TOB would be well advised to use some of the same tactics he used at Clemson last year--particularly frequent, wholesale rotations of the offensive line--to work the heat and the opponent's fatigue to BC's advantage.

Coming into the season, I had this marked as BC's toughest game of the year. I still think it will be. I know that BC can move the ball on FSU's defense, but I'm concerned about whether or not TOB and Dana Bible will have the balls to let Matty Ice get the job done. And we all know what FSU's corps of speedy wideouts is capable of doing to one of the ACC's slower defenses. That said, call me crazy, but I have faith. The return of Ryan Glasper has bolsted the secondary, B.J. Raji seems to be himself once again, and this team is riding high and coming off of its best performance of the year. I'm foolish for doing it, but I gotta believe. Prediction: BC 20, Florida State 17.

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Overshadowed to many this weekend will be the hockey team's home matchups against Notre Dame (Friday) and Bowling Green (Saturday). Neither of these teams is especially a hockey power and both are teams that BC should roll on paper; yet, as always, there are challenges. The Lafayettes* have seemed to have BC's number on the ice in recent years; Bowling Green, on the other hand, is the team that BC smacked around 9-6 last year (and the game was not that close) but home ice advantage for the Saturday night game will be weak as the beginning of the game overlaps with the FSU football game. At the end of the day, I'm predicting a 3-point weekend for the Eagles: BC 2, Notre Dame 2; BC 5, Bowling Green 1.


* - I've always been torn on whether or not the "French" moniker should apply to all ND sports teams or just the football team. While the football team is the only one that plays the role of the Vichy Government to BC's Panzers, as far as I know, there is still the unpleasant fact that the entire institution was founded by a Frenchman and has had little real connection to Irish or Irish-American society in the past 50 years beyond the nickname. As ND's hockey team always seems up for a good fight with BC, I tried to dub them the "Fightin' French"; but my computer spell checker edits out that phrase as non-existent. So, they are the Lafayettes.

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Off to Florida at 8:05 am tomorrow. See you all on Monday.

Random Monday Tidbits, Power Rankings

-Matt Ryan is listed as questionable for Saturday according to both the Globe and Herald. He did not practice today or yesterday, but once again I expect him to go in Tallahassee. This will be the Ryan's biggest game as BC's starting QB (as opposed to a injury fill-in against Syracuse in 2004) and I do not see him missing it unless his leg is actually amputated. #12 WILL be behind center on Saturday.

-BC's hockey team remains at #1 in this week's USCHO.com poll. Defending champion Wisconsin comes in at #2 with North Dakota, Maine, and Michigan rounding out the top 5. Kenmore Tech finds itself at #6 after a draw with RPI. The BC-Wisconsin series 2 weeks from now could very well feature a couple of #1 vs #2 matchups.

-Derrick Morgan is set to take his final official visit at BC for the Buffalo game, according to Rivals (subscription required). Morgan, a 4-star Pennsylvania native, is among the top recruits BC still has targetted for 2007 and is considered the top recruit in this year's class from his home state. While Morgan would be a great get, it is absolutely imperative that BC land fellow defensive end Corey Eason. 4-star talents do not come along all that often in New England, and it is important for BC's credibility as a program that when they do--particularly at a position of need--we land them. Of course, none of this addresses the complete lack of QB recruits, but that's a discussion for another time.

-According to a poster on the Rivals premium board who bumped into GDF in the Yawkey parking lot today, the AD is making no attempt to bulk up the OOC schedule after the conclusion of the Notre Dame series. Syracuse will be the highest-profile, "marquee" game; also targetted for a series is Northwestern. The entire credibility of the OOC slate is dependent on the hope that the Orange "will be back" (direct GDF quote). Simply put, this is unconscionable. Even if you assume that BC will lose an OOC game against a nationally-renowned program (which is not neccesarily the case), it only matters if that loss is the difference between 5/6 or between 11/12 regular season wins. In other words, if it's the difference between playing or not playing for a national championship (which the GDF/TOB regime does not aspire to anyway) or if it's the difference between staying home and heading to Boise. Meanwhile, by not scheduling games against the likes of Texas, Auburn, and USC, you miss out on the tremendous boost that these games provide for your recruiting, national exposure, revenue, local attention, fanbase, etc. And if you manage to pull the upset...well, then I don't have to tell you that that's a very good thing. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?? I simply don't understand the culture of defeatism that surrounds the football offices at the Yawkey Center.

-Basketball landed another nice pickup in Texas PG Biko Paris, a former USC recruit who switched his commitment to the Eagles

-I leave for Florida on Thursday morning, and will probably put up a BC-FSU preview tomorrow. I will be at the Flyers-Lightning game in Tampa on Thursday night and, if I can get a ticket, the Eagles-Buccaneers game on Sunday; as well as, of course, the big game against the 'Noles.


ACC Power Rankings
1. Georgia Tech
2. Clemson
3. FSU
4. BC
5. Wake Forest
6. NC State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Maryland
9. Miami
10. Virginia
11. Duke
12. North Carolina

Hockey East Power Rankings
1. BC
2. Maine
3. BU
4. Vermont
5. UNH
6. Providence
7. UMass
8. Northeastern
9. UMass-Lowell
10. Merrimack

Great Win

Not a whole lot I can say about that other than, great win. Definitely the best of the year and the coaching staff deserves credit for putting together their best gameplan of the season (see what happens when you get aggressive defensively, Spaz??). Now we need to keep the ball rolling by going down to Tallahassee and taking care of business against a talented but reeling and beatable Florida State team.

Word is that Matt Ryan sat out practice today but is expected to go on Saturday. The kid is tough as nails and will not have any problem at all in Tally. He suffered the injury late in the first half against the Hokies, yet played the rest of the game and even improved on the second half, turning in one of his better performances this year.

Sid Vicious is for real. While we will continue to miss Diamond Stud on kickoffs, it looks like BC finally has a reliable placekicker.

This is the most excited I've been for a BC football game in years--time for the Eagles to step up for once and take care of business with the chips on the line. A win over FSU puts us firmly in the driver's seat for the ACC Atlantic title. Let's get it done.

Virginia Tech Prediction

At first glance, everything seems to be going against BC in this one. The kicking situation is a nightmare. Virginia Tech is coming off a humiliating loss at home to Georgia Tech and will be out to redeem themselves. Tom O'Brien will probably shit himself upon seeing the "VT" on the side of the Hokies' helmets.

That said, I'm going with BC in this one. The defense will get a boost with the return of Ryan Glasper (who made his 2006 debut against Maine), Justin Bell (who will make his first appearance since the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl), Jamie Silva, and hopefully Brian Toal. Moreover, this year's Virginia Tech team has yet to prove that it is really all that good. It's best win to date is an unconvincing triumph at home over Cincinnatti; Sean Glennon is not exactly a Vick; and Georgia Tech's mastery of the Hokies in Blacksburg has shown that they are vulnerable. TOB will get his second ever win over the ACC's "Big Three" and will build up everyone's hopes for the inevitable let-down in Tallahassee.

Final score: BC 23, Virginia Tech 20

Season Opener

Hockey takes the ice tonight at home for its season opener against the cross-town opponent (Rival?? Yeah, they play in the Beanpot, but they are AT BEST our #4 rival after Eurabia Tech-Kenmore, Maine, and UMass-Durham aka Maine Lite; I personally would put them behind Harvard and North Dakota as well) Huskies of Northeastern. I can't make this one but I will be there in spirit, and those of you in my shoes can listen in on Yahoo Radio.

Conte should be packed to the rafters for this one. Basketball season hasn't started yet and there hasn't been a home football game in almost 2 weeks, so there's no excuse. Keep it loud and chase the Huskies back to the ghetto.

My prediction: BC 4, Northeastern 1. 2 goals for Joe Rooney, one apiece for Brian Boyle and Brett Motherwell.

2006-07 Hockey Preview

With the Eagles (#1 preseason) set to take the ice for their season opener tomorrow at home against crosstown foes Northeastern, hopes are high for this year's team. Hockey season is here and that means our first opportunity to watch a BC revenue sport whose coaches actually try to set the bar high and win conference and national titles.

After suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Wisconsin in last year's national championship game in Milwaukee, we seem stronger than ever this year. Although the losses of defenseman and captain Peter Harrold, leading scorer Chris Collins, and Stephen Gionta will be difficult to overcome, a superb recruiting class led by blue-chip defenseman Carl Sneep, winger Ben Smith (FHMAM feels confident that he does not share the pedophilic tendencies of fellow Connecticut native Keith Johnson), and forward Matt Price will help fill in the gaps.

The big news of the off-season was the return to the Heights of both senior Brian Boyle and junior Corey Schneider, despite lucrative NHL offers from Los Angeles and Vancouver respectively. Both are coming off of All-American seasons (first team in Schneider's case, second team in Boyle's), both were named Inside College Hockey pre-season All-Americans (along with sophomore defenseman Brett Motherwell), and both will absolutely need to turn in superb seasons if BC is to contend for the national title.

Elsewhere, BC is still a young team, but one that has a tremendous amount of talent and also a tremendous amount of experience despite its youth. With Schneider returning along with 6 defensemen who saw significant ice time last year and with Motherwell, who has drawn comparisons to former BC great Brian Leetch, continuing to gain experience and maturity, opponents will likely find it very tough to get goals into the Eagles' net this season.

The tough part will be replacing the offensive production lost by Collins (34 goals, 63 points in 05-06) and Gionta (11 goals, 32 points). The bad news is that replacing 95 points almost certainly is not going to happen. The good news is that, with the improved defense, it doesn't have to. A number of guys will be looked to to improve upon last season's production, and chief among them will be Joe Rooney, the speedster whose explosion at the end of last season was reminiscent of Collins' similar outburst at the end of the 2004-05 campaign. While expecting a Collins-esque year from Rooney may be asking too much, there is no reason he cannot improve last year's tally of 5 goals to somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-18. Another guy who should be looked to to have a breakout year is Andrew Orpik. Orpik brings a physical presence to the ice, a key factor on a smallish BC team, and will get his share of points almost by default as a result of beginning the season on the top line with Boyle and Dan Bertram (another player who can be expected to improve to somewhere in the 15-18 goal range from his 10 last year). If Brett Motherwell can effectively QB BC's power play, his numbers will improve as well.


Jerry York has announced that BC will use the following offensive lines for the team's first 3-4 games:

Bertram-Boyle-Orpik
Rooney-Ferriero-Bradford
Greene-Gerbe-Gannon
Adams-Smith-Lombardi

This is more or less what I expected, including the placement of Orpik on the top line, which is something I have been calling for since the end of last year. The only thing I don't like is breaking up the Rooney-Ferriero-Bertram line that was responsible for much of BC's late-season offense last year; I had expected to see this grouping remain intact as BC's second line, with Gerbe running the wing on the first line and Bradford centering the third. While Jerry has not yet announced defensive pairings, I imagine they will look something like the following:

Motherwell-Aiello
Sneep-Brennan
O'Hanley-Filangieri


This may be the best team BC has seen in a very long time. With the decimation of the top WCHA teams by early departures to the NHL, the Eagles are considered the odds-on favorites to break the recent western strangehold on national championships (BC's 2001 edition was the last non-western team to win a national title). With several key dates including the Oct. 27-28 series in Wisconsin, a Sunday afternoon battle against Maine on Nov. 19, and a home-and-home with BU on the first two nights of December just around the corner, this is going to be an exciting season. For those of you in the same unfortunate boat as myself of not being able to make the games in person, the games will be carried on 1510 WWZN as well as Yahoo radio. (And any other out-of-towners making the trip up to the Heights for the Battle of I-95 against Maryland on Nov. 18 should head over to Huntingdon Ave on the night of the 17th to see BC take on Northeastern) While dealing with the, shall we say, "characters" we meet on the ice may not be as pleasant as enjoying the southern hospitality at Clemson and FSU, it--as our esteemed football coach might say--is what it is. GO EAGLES!!

Power Rankings

ACC
1. Georgia Tech
2. Clemson
3. Virginia Tech
4. Florida State
5. BC
6. NC State
7. Miami
8. Wake Forest
9. Maryland
10. North Carolina
11. Virginia
12. Duke

Hockey East
1. BC
2. Maine
3. BU
4. Vermont
5. New Hampshire
6. Providence
7. UMass
8. Northeastern
9. UMass-Lowell
10. Merrimack


Full hockey preview to come tonight.

Diamond Stud finally gets a straight kick.....off the team

As you all know by now, Diamond Stud has been suspended indefinitely for an "undisclosed violation of team rules". Rumor has it that the violation involved a brawl Wednesday night outside The Kells. Two competing stories have surfaced regarding the incident:

-First, that Diamond Stud and two other BC players were minding their own business at the bar when a drunk BC student mouthed off to Ohliger. Ohliger punched the kid, the kid's friends stepped in, and the other two BC players stepped in to defend Ohliger.

-Second, that Ohliger and the other players went to the bar looking for a kid who had created one of the numerous anti-Ohliger Facebook groups that have sprung up over the last few weeks, and kicked his ass.

Personally, I am more inclined to believe the former. For one thing, it would explain why Ohliger received disciplinary action while the other two BC players did not. For another, it would explain why Ohliger was merely suspended indefinitely rather than kicked off the team outright.

That said, there is plenty of blame to go around here. It is still entirely unclear what transpired in the fight itself, so I will leave that alone entirely and talk about the circumstances that set the stage for the fight. Ohliger should not have been at the bar in the first place; but more importantly, he should not have been in the position to receive the kind of heckling he did from his fellow students. Ultimately, had Tom O'Brien taken the responsibility to relieve Ohliger from his placekicking duties after the BYU game as he should have done, the kicker would not be seen by the student body as the scapegoat for the team's misfortunes. Because of TOB's stubbornness, the team's placekicking will improve purely by default (it remains to be seen whether walk-on Steve Aponovicius or true freshman Billy Flutie will take over kicking duties, but either one should at least be able to hit an extra point consistently) but we will lose valueable field position on every kickoff.

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A quick recruiting rundown:

-4-star Pennsylvania DE Derrick Morgan recently completed his official visit to Miami and is yet to decide between BC and NC State for his final official, according to Rivals

-Maryland DE Jeremiah Martin has been offered by BC

-QB Stephen Garcia appears to be headed to South Carolina

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Hockey season started tonight with the Maine Black Bears defeating Minnesota 3-1. BC's season starts on Tuesday at home against Northeastern. I'm a huge hockey guy and hate that I'm not able to give the team the attention it deserves right now, but that's a product both of all the drama surrounding the football team and of the fact that living in Philadelphia I will not be able to see most of the games this year (I will be at the game at Northeastern on 11/17, and will probably head up to Boston for the home-and-home against BU on 12/1-2; other than that, I am reliant on Internet radio and whatever video I can find). Nevertheless, there will be a full hockey preview up tomorrow.

(And, for those of you new to FHMAM, by "tomorrow" I mean "hopefully tomorrow, definitely not Sunday because it's Eagles-Cowboys and the return of TO The Fag to Philly, possibly morning/mid-aftenroon on Monday; but definitely sometime between now and 7 pm Tuesday.)

GO EAGLES!!