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.