0-6

Another brutal Beanpot loss last night.

A couple thoughts:

-Midway through the 2nd period, I turned to my friend and said we were going to tie it up in the 3rd period then lose in OT. I hate being right. The good news is that at least it ended fairly quickly, I envisioned BU waiting until about midway through a second OT before putting the dagger in our hearts

-BC actually played with a lot of intensity last night and didn't put in a bad performance, particularly on the defensive end; we had our chances and outshot BU 38-26, we just couldn't put them away

-Spectacular game from Andrew Orpik, who had several great hits and also did a lot of good things offensively. Carl Sneep, Anthony Aiello, and (not surprisingly) Nate Gerbe and Cory Schneider also put in superb performances for BC

-Did the ice seem really slow to anyone else?? It seemed to me that both teams' players as well as the puck were going a lot slower than normal, and BU did a much better job of adjusting particularly in the opening minutes

-Here's the good news, folks: We have seen the last of John Curry in Beanpot action

-Anyone else notice that BU was dropping a guy back on their power play whenever Gerbe (and occasionally Joe Rooney) was on the ice, essentially nullifying their own advantage to prevent the short-handed goal?? That is fear, my friends

-This game reminded me a TON of the 2004 final...except for the result, of course

-The refereeing was absolutely criminal, but being BC-BU in the Beanpot this surprised no-one


Anyway, as Eurabia Tech's athletic department will now shut down until October, BC still has some more hockey to play (not to mention a pair of basketball games against Duke tomorrow and UNC on Saturday). Maine comes to town for a pair of games on Thursday and Friday, and it is absolutely vital that at the very least BC takes 3 points from this series. The following weekend brings a home-and-home with Lowell, and we close out the regular season with a home-and-home against UNH. BC probably needs at least 10 points from the remaining games in order to secure an NCAA tournament bid; 8-9 could do the trick, but would require at least a semifinal and maybe even a championship appearance in the Hockey East tournament. Any fewer than 8, and we'll probably need to win the tournament in order to make the dance. It's doable, but the time to sack up is now.

I forgot to mention in my last post that Taft goalie Andrew Margolin has committed to BC. It is currently unknown whether he will arrive in 2007 or 2008, a decision that likely depends on whether or not Cory Schneider decides to return for his senior year. If he does, the staff will have 2 goalie commits in Margolin and John Muse; one would likely be brought in immediately (ideally to give Schneider some much-needed rest every now and then) with the other spending a year developing in the USHL. Word is that Margolin and Muse are approximately equal right now but that Muse is considered the slightly better long-term prospect, so if this is accurate then one would expect Margolin to be brought in right away.

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, the thread title refers to BC's record in games against BU at the TD Banknorth Garden that I have personally attended. BC's record against all other teams in games I have seen live at the Garden is 4-0 (or 5-0, if you count the 2005 Hockey East 2OT semifinal win over Maine from which I was ejected 20 minutes prior to faceoff; I wish I was kidding). I have seen BC defeat BU in 4 different buildings, and the Garden is not one of them despite having seen more BC-BU games there than anyplace other than Conte. If we happen to run into the Ratdogs in the Hockey East tournament this year, e-mail me if you need a ticket. If I'm jinxing the Eagles by being in the building, I'd rather see us win on TV than lose in person.