Tides turning

After a year that saw the Lakers, BU Terriers, and Yankees all win championships, so far 2010 has had a much nicer feel to it. First the US world junior hockey team beats a heavily favored Canadian team for the gold. Then Peyton Manning throws a choking interception and loses the Super Bowl to the Saints. And not BC has won the Beanpot. I'm not going to go crowning anyone else yet but I have to admit this is a pretty good start only a little more than one month into the year.

Congrats to the Eagles, by the way, on a quality win against a very tough opponent. BU is definitely coming around and last night was a true battle between two top college hockey teams. The Terriers still have a lot of work to do if they want to see the NCAA tourney, but I won't rule them out just yet. A sweep of Maine this weekend would go a long way to bringing them back as they would pass .500 for the first time all season. But a sweep by Maine will probably mean they need to win the Hockey East tourney to get in as remaining games against Providence, Vermont, and Northeastern will not have the Pairwise juice to get them there. This was a vital game for both teams and they both played like it. BC showed great poise and toughness to withstand the BU charge and hold on for the victory.

Congrats to John Muse. After having a tough off-season, including having another goaltender brought in because there was fear he would not be ready for the start of the season, Muse has righted the ship and looks very solid in net for the Eagles as they begin the stretch run. Muse had not allowed more than two goals in a game since the last time he faced BU at Fenway and had only allowed 6 goals total in his previous 5 starts. Play like that wins trophies as he cleaned up with three of them last night.

Congrats to Chris Kreider. The freshman phenom has started to come out of his slow start and picked up his 5th goal in his last 5 games, this one of the highlight reel variety. So good in fact that it was #1 on ESPN's Top Plays last night. Well done Chris - now just keep the momentum going.