Three Things

1) Someone out there really wants to make every year's NCAA hockey tournament interesting for me. Since 2005 (the year I met Mrs. Pike), either (or this year both) Miami or BC has made the Frozen Four. Counting this year, they have even played each other 4 times (3 BC victories so far). These games are very trying on Mrs. Pike as she has grown to love the BC hockey team and really taken them on as her own these past 5 years (she cried as much as the rest of us in 2007) but of course her heart still remains in Oxford, OH. No matter what happens April 8th, one of us will be very happy and one of us not so much (though I admit I'm not sure which result creates the more collective sadness in the household).

My most interesting stat of the tourney so far - in 11 of the 12 games played, the team that has scored first has gone on to win the game. The lone exception, Cornell squandered a 1-0 lead to lose to UNH in the first round. I find it interesting that the team with the best goaltender (stat-wise) in the nation was the only one who could not take an early lead to victory. Granted not every team that scored first led the whole game but they all were able to take the momentum from an early tally to gain the victory.

2) I like the firing of Al Skinner. Is Al Skinner a good coach, yes. Was Al Skinner the best coach in BC history, maybe. Will Al Skinner go to another program and turn them into a winner, probably. Was it time Al Skinner and BC to part ways, definitely.

The welcome had been worn out. DeFillipo saw this in the steadily dwindling fans at Conte Forum. Even when there was a good team on the court, there were way too many empty seats in the stands. Big time college sports has to bring in money in order to sustain itself and if you cannot sell tickets you cannot convince kids to come to your school. Let's face it, recruiting has been a serious problem from Al Skinner. Whether its the school itself, the coach, the atmosphere, the scouts, I don't know but something needs to change if BC wants to be consistently in the upper half of the ACC. Not getting any recruits to come in this year when BC was losing its best player is inexcusable. For every Jared Dudley Skinner found, there are several that have never turned into even decent D-I players. The time had come to make a change and try to bring some more energy and excitement to the program and hopefully DeFillipo will be able to accomplish that.

Best wishes to Al Skinner. He will be remembered fondly for what he did do while at Boston College. I have no doubt he will do good things for the next program he heads as well.

3) After the injury to Savard, the Bruins looked lost. They were in a freefall. They seem to be righting the ship to some degree. They put together a hard fought, gutsy win in OT last night against a good New Jersey team. Unfortunately, there seems to still be an issue with consistency as they pound Calgary one night and then lay an egg against Buffalo the next. But there are promising signs. Lucic is playing some of his best hockey of the season (I know he's been bad most of the year but just maybe he is finally close to healthy). Tukka Rask has definitively taken over as the #1 goaltender and looked good doing it - even getting some mentions in Calder Trophy discussions. I just have to hope its not too little too late. With two of their final 6 games coming against the Capitals in DC, they need every point they can grab right now. Nine points either lost by the Rangers/Thrashers or won by the Bruins is what they need to sew up a playoff spot.

Day one in the books

RIT pulls the shocker, UNH finds its offense, double overtime, and Wisconsin hangs on.

Those are the stories of the first day of the NCAA hockey tournament. RIT started the day with a statement that was heard around the country in 2008, "Yes we can!" Not sure if this will give hope to Alaska and UAH today but it certainly should have BC and Miami thinking and making sure they take their opponents very seriously.

Good first day for Hockey East. After failing to score in the first UNH turned it on in the last two periods and looked like the solid team that won Hockey East this year with an impressive 5-2 win. As much credit as the Wildcats deserve something needs to be said about Ben Scrivens having a very weak game. He looked like he was fighting the puck all night and that is not the type of effort one expected from the Hobey Baker finalist. As for Vermont, despite losing, they played hard and proved that they did belong in the tournament despite the naysayers.

The one game that was not actually on live TV (instead on ESPN360) was arguably the best as St. Cloud St. scored 23 seconds into a second overtime to obtain their first ever win in nine appearances in the national tournament. After seeing a 3-1 lead disappear late in the third period, the Huskies were able to pull it together and get the big win.

What does it all mean - it means this year looks to be one of excitement. Though we have yet to have the dramatics of last year we certainly have reasons to watch. 3 of the 4 games yesterday were decided by one goal and even though St. Cloud was the higher seed, their victory is more exciting than a Northern Michigan upset. We are already guaranteed to have a team in the Frozen Four who has never won a championship and if St. Cloud beats Wisconsin we will have a third straight year of a potential first-time winner in the title game. It's a good time to be a college hockey fan.

Start with a shock?

Seriously??

1-0 with only 17 mintes to play?

RIT - 17 minutes from starting the tourney off with a serious bang??

Tigers?

After one period - 1-0 RIT???

Still a loooong way to go in this one but the Tigers survived a Denver PP and are winning the face-off battle.

Could the madness of 2009 carry-over? Stay tuned.

Anxiously awaiting

I am sitting here 2 hours + from the beginning of the 2010 NCAA hockey championship tourney and I am chomping at the bit. As of 3pm my brain will effectively check out to everything but the hockey tourney until the end of the Midwest regional final on Sunday night. Sure I will talk to people, attempt to work, get distracted by basketball to some degree, and even visit some old friends but my mind will be wondering (all apologies to my Happy Couple friends).

I will be attending the Northeast regional (big surprise - I actually bought the tickets this year before I knew BC was going to be there - I know - I have issues). And the debate is whether to come home following the BC game to make it back to the house to watch most of the Miami/UAH game or stick around for what might be a very interesting North Dakota/Yale tilt. Prior to last year I would hands down have stayed in Worcester but after watching the success that Air Force and Bemidji had last year and the near misses from teams like UAH and Niagara in the past I think I might want to catch a little of this contest.

I know I can DVR but lets face it some of the joy is taken out of watching when you already know the score which I undoubtedly will if I remain in Worcester as they are sure to announce it during the evening. Of course Mrs. Pike is probably all for coming home as she does not get to watch her Redhawks that often, even on TV. And if UAH somehow pulls it off, I would not want miss what would undoubtedly be the biggest upset in college hockey tourney history (no offense to Holy Cross but at least they had a winning record that year).

I won't go so far as to say I am rooting for UAH (not if I want to keep a happy household that is) but I will say I am interested in seeing this contest. Miami needs to be careful. Minnesota got tripped up by Holy Cross when they took them too lightly and the Redhawks need only look to their own regular season stumbles against Robert Morris to know what can happen on any given night. For UAH, this is a chance to prove that they belong in the CCHA (or whatever other conference will take them). They might literally be playing for the life of the program. Not sure that is the type of motivation I would be wanting to play against if I was Enrico Blasi.

But before that drama, the excitement starts with Denver v. RIT. And I can't wait!

No score

As I sit here watching the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament (shhh - don't tell my boss), I am alarmed by the extreme inability of anyone to score in college basketball anymore. ND v. ODU is 28-22 at halftime. Halftime!! Villanova (once thought to be a national title contender) has 19 points with 2:18 left in the first half. And they trail by 6. Where did all the scoring go?

During Championship Week, there were several teams in their conference semi-finals and finals who failed to make 20 points at halftime. This is getting ridiculous. No wonder there is so much parity in basketball if every team seems capable of having a game where they simply don't score, anyone can put up 45 and win a game. That used to be a night for Michael Jordan.

Is the talent pool getting diluted from too many D-I programs? Is it that so many kids (mistakenly in many cases and foolishly in others - but that's a topic for another time) declaring early for the NBA draft diluting the talent pool? Is it the need to only shoot 3-pointers or make slam dunks (sometimes known as the "where did the mid-range jumper go?" debate)? Maybe a combination of all of the above? I don't know but I think the ineptitude of teams' scoring ability may be near an all-time post-shot clock era low. I've been watching NCAA basketball for many years now and I don't remember seeing so many 20's on scoring sheets at halftime. It's taking some of the excitement out of the game because the teams just look so terrible constantly missing what used be considered makable shots.

Knocked out

I believe I said in this space back in January when the Bruins were just about to start their 10 game winless streak (I refuse to call it a losing streak - if not for the shootouts there would have been 3 ties in those 10 games - of course if not for the shootout there would have been 4 ties and it would have been a 14 game winless streak - but I digress), that they would make the playoffs. Well that chance took a serious blow (no pun intended) when Marc Savard left the ice on a stretcher with a concussion during the third period yesterday on a dirty hit by Matt Cooke (for which he received no penalty by the way).

By league mandate Savard must sit out at least one week following a concussion diagnosis (good policy by the way as sometimes the worst concussion symptoms can take a day or two to fully manifest). This translates to three games on the Bruins schedule and important road games too. Toronto on Tuesday (important because we need Toronto to have as few points as possible at the end of the year for their pick), Philly on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday (two teams the Bruins are fighting with for playoff positioning). As Andy Brickley often says during NESN broadcasts, points are at a premium at this time of year and the injury to Savard could not have come at a worse time. Without him in the line-up for what Claude Julien said could be "a while" (which turned out to be the whole season for Patrice Bergeron a couple years ago), the Bruins are looking at an early off-season this year.

The new season

We are approaching the end of the regular season for college basketball and hockey and that means conference tourneys get in full swing this week. Thus begins one of the most enjoyable months of the year for me for sports watching (not so much for Mrs. Pike but its the sacrifices that make marriage grand, right?). As we approach the end of the regular season just a few notes.

- The fall of the national champions. For Roy Williams and the UNC Tar Heels this season has just been one disaster after another. They are one of the worst teams in the ACC (when did you ever think you would actually say those words) and have even lost to lowly BC this year. Perhaps all those missed expectations got a little to much for Coach Williams as he passed out on the sidelines recently. It's OK Roy, I'm sure you'll have plenty of All-Americans next year to bring you lots of water. For Jack Parker and the BU Terriers, its been a bit more up and down. After starting as pre-season #1 in some polls, the Terriers promptly started the season 4-9-3 and gave themselves a large Hockey East hole to climb out of. While they have righted the ship to some degree, they have dropped three of their last four (after a sweep in Vermont this weekend) and would be in 7th place in Hockey East if the season ended today as they would lose the tiebreaker to Vermont and Northeastern. There will be a real "dog" fight in Boston this weekend between the Huskies and Terriers as both teams need a sweep to have any hope of home ice and maybe just to avoid being left home altogether.

- Congrats to the WCHA champs Denver, the CCHA champs Miami, the ECAC champs Yale, and the CHA champs Bemidji State. While the Beavers and Redhawks really had that regular season title wrapped up perhaps even months ago, the Pioneers have proven to be one of the best if not THE best team in the land with their consistent victories in the toughest conference and the Bulldogs have followed up a great 2008-09 campaign with another solid season. All four teams will be forces to be reckoned with in the national tournament and do not be surprised to see 2 or more of them in Detroit come April.

- Congrats to the RIT Tigers as well. In the short time they have been a part of D-I college hockey they have won their conference regular season crown 3 times. It will be interesting to see if they can follow it up with a tournament championship and get into the national tourney for the first time. I wouldn't give them much chance there as they are 0-6-0 outside of conference play and were outscored 23-9 in those contests, but stranger things have happened (just ask Minnesota and Holy Cross).

- The only title still to be determined is the Hockey East crown. Sometimes, its like the schedulers know who's going to be in it at the end. BC will play UNH this weekend for first place. BC sweeps and they have their first regular season crown since 2004-05. It will take a win at Durham on Friday (something the Eagles always have a hard time coming by) in order to keep that championship hope alive. As for the rest of the league, anyone from places 4 through 9 still has both a shot at home ice as well as a chance to be home for the playoffs. This is the most balanced conference in the league as all the teams have at least 10 losses (many to each other) and the fact that so much remains unsettled going into the final two games of the seasons shows how even many of these teams are. BC could finish 1 or 2 in the conference and still have to take on a team that would have beaten them twice during the season (any of three potential opponents) yet they are still one of the hottest teams in hockey having gone 8-2-0 in their last 10. I do like their chances to advance to the TD Garden as they have only dropped 2 one-goal games (including one in overtime) at home all season.

- Interesting side note on the 2-1 overtime victory over UMass by the Eagles on Friday was not the win itself (stirring and enjoyable though it was); it was the goaltending of Parker Milner. Milner has now made three straight starts and depending on who you ask, he is taking over the starting job. Boston.com in their article on the game said he was playing for the "resting" John Muse. But I think USCHO.com was a little closer when they hinted that Milner may be taking over as the #1 goaltender and when Jerry York was asked he didn't say "no". Milner is 4-0-0 in his last four starts, has allowed only 3 goals and has a .970 save percentage over those four games. Muse on the other had has allowed 8 goals in his last three starts and has a .908 save percentage during that time. I don't think Muse is resting I think York is just riding the hot goaltender. The only question is do you ride the streak or experience when it comes to the playoffs and going into Durham on Friday night? We'll see.

U-S-A, U-S-A

OK, so they didn't win but you can't feel anything but proud of the boys in red, white, and blue and the performance they put on the entire Olympics. Some criticized when the US came out with their young line-up full of first-timers but the team played with the heart and fire you expect when someone puts on the sweater for their home country. After the abysmal display from Torino in 2006, Brian Burke and the decision makers knew they needed to try something different this time and they came up with a good blend of speed, skill, and toughness to carry them all the way to the gold medal game.

After the first USA v. Canada game everyone said they were lucky to win it, they needed a spectacular performance by Ryan Miller just to survive it, that Sunday was going to be a repeat only with more lamps lit by the Canadians, but that was not the case. Sunday's game was one of the greatest Olympic hockey games I have ever seen. Not the result, because nothing can ever top the 1980 game for drama and shock-value, but for the quality of the game and the level of skill on display. This was a game fought on equal footing. On paper, the Canadians overmatch the USA in star power, skill, and experience. But on the ice, they we even. Shots were even, faceoffs were even, and through 60 minutes the score was even too. I am saddened that the game ended the way it did, obviously I wanted the USA to come home with gold around their necks. But they have nothing to be ashamed of. They played their hearts out and they made all us hockey fans proud.