The season starts tonight

That's my take on it, anyway. BC is in trouble. Our backs are against the wall. We need at least 8, probably 9-10 points from our remaining 6 games--4 of which are against Maine and UNH--to qualify for the NCAAs without having to win the HEA tournament.

I like our chances.

Based on the second and third periods of the Beanpot final, these guys have finally woken up. They've realized that they're not going to get into the NCAAs purely on the virtue of having "Boston College" written on the front of their jerseys. They took the postseason for granted, and now it's been taken away from them--but they still have a chance to get it back.

Maine comes into town tied with BC at 25 points in the Hockey East standings, fresh off a sweep of Vermont with freshman goalie Dave Wilson having come up huge in relief of injured netminder Ben Bishop. The Black Bears are tough, have no doubt about it. And I fucking hate them, more than any other team in the country save BU. When you consider that Keith Johnson tried to hook up on the internet with what he thought was a girl almost exactly half the age of his star teammate Michael Leveille, it's easy to.

This is gut-check time for BC. We need to get it done.

I think we will. But even if we don't, at least our players don't try to fuck 13-year-olds over the internet.

(I tried to put the infamous Keith Johnson towel picture here, but unfortunately Perverted Justice has archived it and it is no longer accessible. For shame.)

Prediction (Thursday): BC 2, Maine 0