Sioux Pictures From Manchester

  

Very Painful From Manchester - However the UNH fans were great

I thought last year's loss to BC in the Frozen Four was painful - this just stings.  

As the BU Ohio State game began, I sat there going through the motions of watching, still thinking about our loss to UNH.  I can't imagine how the UND Seniors are feeling. 

I will say one thing, the UNH fans were great after their win.  We were sitting in a section with mostly UNH fans and they all came up after the game to offer us comfort.  

UNH fan's -  thank you for your thoughts and graciousness.

As a fan that follows BU as well, I really don't feel like making the trip tonight to Manchester. But I will.  I will be there proudly wearing my Sioux jersey.

Tonight's "Hockey On Campus" show previews this weekend’s “round-of-16” play (guests from each region)

Here is Bernie Corbett's and Paul McNamara's email with their line-up for tonight's radio broadcast (also being streamed over the web live):

HOCKEY ON CAMPUS radio will broadcast LIVE from 7 to 9 PM (Eastern Time) tonight, Wednesday March 25, 2009 from the studios of AM-890 ESPN Boston and 1400-AM Lowell, and will also be streamed live online at www.890espn.com.

Tonight’s line up includes:

• Previewing this weekend’s NCAA Division 1 “round-of-16” play…
  1. Dan Parkhurst (UNH – NorthEast Regional)
  2. Keith Lavon (Northeastern – MidWest Regional)
  3. Steven Conn (Yale – East Regional)
  4. Guy Gadowsky (Princeton Coach – West Regional)
  
• Mike Klein, PR Director from the Eastern Junior Hockey League, previewing the Tier 3 National Junior Championships scheduled for this weekend in Marlborough, MA
• Tom Burke from the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, to present the 2009 Walter Brown Award
• Possible “mystery guest” from the world of college hockey and broadcasting!
• Your phone calls at 617-242-3776 (E-S-P-N)

BU takes a 1-0 lead in the series

There is an old saying, "if you play with fire you are going to get burned."  Friday night, Maine played with fire by giving one of the top ranked power plays in the nation (BU) eight chances, including giving up the winning goal on a BU 5 on 3 power play with three minutes to go in the game.  

You have to give Maine credit, they came to play and Maine's goalie Scott Darling was terrific in net.  BU did not play to its potential.  BU is a very confident team, maybe too confident.  They need to take care of business.

BU has only played one top ten nationally ranked team since mid February (i.e. Northeastern) and that series ended up with both games in a tie.  BU needs to realize, while they have been playing great hockey since the first game of the season, everyone else is now catching up.  Just look at North Dakota, Michigan and Denver.  BU beat these teams early in the hockey season when each of the three teams were not playing their best hockey.  I am sure North Dakota, Michigan, or Denver would like another "crack" at BU on the national stage. 

Who has more haunting stats? - Wisconsin or Merrimack

Wisconsin lost to UND last night (2-1) which makes it their 10th loss by one goal. USCHO and others are talking about how this is a "haunting stat" for Wisconsin.

Well what about the little Hockey East team that plays in North Andover Mass - Merrimack College.

Here are Merrimack's 2008-2009 haunting stats:

• 14 one goal losses this season while playing in the toughest conference - Hockey East
• They never lost to a team by more than three goals this season and this happened three times; twice against BU and once against BC.
• Of their nine wins this season, four of them were by one goal.

I think Merrimack deserves some credit for how they have played this year. Their stats clearly show they are a team that may become a more widely recognized name in D-I hockey - just ask any Hockey East team.

14, 15, 16

They say you should play your best hockey going into the post season. This is an understatement with BU. Tonight Brandon Yip and Nick Bonino both had hat tricks as BU beat Providence 8-2. Both Yip and Bonino scored their 14th, 15th and 16th goals of the season.

As a team, BU has scored 6, 7, and now 8 goals in the last three games respectively. I guess this means they will score 9 goals on Sunday afternoon as they complete their home and home series against Providence.

You can't ask for a team to be playing any better than the way BU is playing now.

Sign of a Good Team

You don’t realize how good a team can really be until they face adversity, especially on the road.  Down 3-0 BU came storming back to score six unanswered goals to beat UMass 6-3.  Like any great team when you are down and being completely outplayed, you look to your strengths.  For BU their strengths have been their power play and their veteran senior players.  Last night, BU’s iron man Matt Gilroy and sniper Jason Lawrence stepped forward after Coach Jack Parker sent a message to the team by replacing goalie Kieran Millan with Grant Rollheiser.  Down 3-0, with the fourth goal either making or breaking the game, Gillroy put the team on his back and scored two consecutive power play goals, getting BU back into the game.  Not to be outdone, Jason Lawrence then took it from there, with a natural hat trick, scoring the next three BU goals.  David Warsofsky finished the night off with the sixth goal. 

BU will complete their home and home series with UMass tonight at Agganis arena.