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.