Now that it is over, these are just a few thoughts I have:
- Nothing was funnier than when the jumbotron centered on Mike Brennan in the third when he got called for cross-checking and the camera centered on his face just as he was saying "What the f$%^?" The BC students, upon seeing this, promptly erupted into a load cheer and started chanting "What the f%^&! What the f%^&!!!" It was priceless. (This was even better than the inevitable "Safety School!" chant at the Harvard fans as they left dejected...classic!)
- After Gerbe's headfirst slide in game 1, it seemed only appropriate that Petrecki should make a feet first slide across center ice as the team mobbed him. That was just pure joy right there. For those of you who remember the 2004 Beanpot, you will remember a BC player actually jumping clear over the celebration pile after Ryan Murphy scored the OT winner to beat Sean Fields (who was other worldly that night).
- This was the first time in a long time that I have gone to the consolation game. I was impressed by the sheer number of Northeastern fans that were there. It's too bad that the refs closed their eyes at the end of the game. That kind of support for a team that has struggled of late (and played themselves out of the tournament as you can see in the space to the right) deserved to be rewarded. I'm not surprised that the BU faithful did not show up. It's tough to get to the Garden on a Monday for a 5pm game and when that game is a consolation game it makes it even tougher...trust me, I know.
- Not sure what, but something should have been done when the linesman inexplicably was in the middle of the blue line and took out Nick Petrecki on a play that lead to the third Harvard goal. What was he thinking? He should have been on the opposite side of the line. You almost never see the linesman because they are always along the boards or just dropping the puck. What he was doing, in the middle of the blue line, with an offensive rush coming at him is a question that will never be answered.
- Scary thought. Four of Harvard's five goals were wrist shots that found space over Muse's shoulders. They were clearly aiming for that all night and it showed and there was nothing Muse could do about it. He is not a large goaltender as Clemmensen, Kaltieinen, and Schneider were before him. When he goes down there is a lot of space to shoot at. I have faith in Coach Logue that he saw the same thing and will be finding a way to help Muse make the proper adjustments. Harvard is not a goal-scoring team. If he leaves that opening for a team like North Dakota, Miami, or New Hampshire, they'll put up a 10 spot.
- That being said, this was the 6th time this season BC has allowed 4 or more goals. They are 2-4-0 in those games. This was the 15th time this season they have scored 4 or more goals. They are 15-0-0 in those games and 79-0-1 in games when they score 4 or more since Oct. 2003 when they lost 6-4 to North Dakota in Grand Forks. They have yet to win a game this season where they have scored less than 4 goals (0-6-7).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Third time's a charm!
The third time I have seen them win the Beanpot!
Thank you, Nick Petrecki!!
(By the way, was I the only one who thought it was funny when they were announcing the MVP that Petrecki started going to the table before someone grabbed him to point out that even though he put in his first 2 collegiate goals, Brian Gibbons was MVP with his two game performance...gotta love the freshmen!)
Monday, February 11, 2008
"Underdog"? But they won by 40!
In the world of sport, I find the underdog is always worth rooting for (with some key exceptions to you New York Giant and Michigan State fans). Last night I watched a couple of great basketball games where #4 UCLA feel to a less than stellar Washington Huskie team and #3 UNC needed a complete collapse at the foul line by Clemson to overcome a 15-point second half deficit (where they never led until the first overtime) to win in 2-OT.
While watching these games I was flipping over to some women's college b-ball game on ESPN2 and I realized that the upset seems very common in the women's game. When we're talking about upsets we're not talking about #20 beating #10 in nip an tuck game, we're talking about a top ten team getting blown out, at home, by an unranked opponent. Can someone explain this?
The worst massacres happen early in the season when the pollsters clearly were overestimating or underestimating teams and it takes a few weeks for things to settle down and for the cream to rise. This happens in all college sports from women's b-ball to D-I football (or FBS if you must...but that is whole other topic). You think a freshman will make a difference and they don't or maybe the loss of that key senios hurt team chemistry more than you thought, whatever the reason it is all a bit of a guessing game out of the gate so yuo need time to let things really set in and you get to know who the true players are.
But in women's basketball (and I will confine it to just women's basketbal not women's sport in general), there seems to be no settling down. Right to the very end highly-ranked teams get annihilated by those who are technically "underdogs". It's staggering. Are the pollsters just that bad at assessing women's talent? With the plethora of former players and coaches who are on these sports programs giving intelligent and insightful breakdowns of the women's game that notion seems highly unlikely.
You almost never see this type of destruction in the men's game. Rarely does a team ranked considerably lower win by ten points, nevermind the occasional 40 point blowouts I see in the women's game. While on the topic of blowouts, its also odd that some of the higher eschelon teams (yes, Mr. Auriema, I'm talking about you) seem to take pleasure in beating teams by 70. You never see this in the men's game unless UNC is playing Chaminade out in Hawaii. But its a routine happening in women's b-ball and not just in Storrs, CT.
I think they are linked I think the same thing that allows teams to win by 70 allows teams to beat "favorites" by 40. I just can't place my finger on it. Do women basketball players just enjoy sticking it to their opponents more than male athletes? I find that hard to believe, knowing the attitudes of some of the male athletes today. It's not a talent issus when the "underdog" wins because they are supposedly the worse team...that's why they are the underdog.
Do women fold under the pressure of a large deficit? UNC was down 15 last night but put it together and came up with a big win. I find it hard to believe that the women's team would have just folded their tent and ended up losing by 30. An athlete is an athlete and they all have competitive fires that will not go out just because they are losing by double-digits.
It is one of the great mystery of sports. And what makes watching it so much fun. You never know what to expect.
While watching these games I was flipping over to some women's college b-ball game on ESPN2 and I realized that the upset seems very common in the women's game. When we're talking about upsets we're not talking about #20 beating #10 in nip an tuck game, we're talking about a top ten team getting blown out, at home, by an unranked opponent. Can someone explain this?
The worst massacres happen early in the season when the pollsters clearly were overestimating or underestimating teams and it takes a few weeks for things to settle down and for the cream to rise. This happens in all college sports from women's b-ball to D-I football (or FBS if you must...but that is whole other topic). You think a freshman will make a difference and they don't or maybe the loss of that key senios hurt team chemistry more than you thought, whatever the reason it is all a bit of a guessing game out of the gate so yuo need time to let things really set in and you get to know who the true players are.
But in women's basketball (and I will confine it to just women's basketbal not women's sport in general), there seems to be no settling down. Right to the very end highly-ranked teams get annihilated by those who are technically "underdogs". It's staggering. Are the pollsters just that bad at assessing women's talent? With the plethora of former players and coaches who are on these sports programs giving intelligent and insightful breakdowns of the women's game that notion seems highly unlikely.
You almost never see this type of destruction in the men's game. Rarely does a team ranked considerably lower win by ten points, nevermind the occasional 40 point blowouts I see in the women's game. While on the topic of blowouts, its also odd that some of the higher eschelon teams (yes, Mr. Auriema, I'm talking about you) seem to take pleasure in beating teams by 70. You never see this in the men's game unless UNC is playing Chaminade out in Hawaii. But its a routine happening in women's b-ball and not just in Storrs, CT.
I think they are linked I think the same thing that allows teams to win by 70 allows teams to beat "favorites" by 40. I just can't place my finger on it. Do women basketball players just enjoy sticking it to their opponents more than male athletes? I find that hard to believe, knowing the attitudes of some of the male athletes today. It's not a talent issus when the "underdog" wins because they are supposedly the worse team...that's why they are the underdog.
Do women fold under the pressure of a large deficit? UNC was down 15 last night but put it together and came up with a big win. I find it hard to believe that the women's team would have just folded their tent and ended up losing by 30. An athlete is an athlete and they all have competitive fires that will not go out just because they are losing by double-digits.
It is one of the great mystery of sports. And what makes watching it so much fun. You never know what to expect.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Pain Runs Deep
This weekend was one of the most maddening and painful weekends in quite a while. As a BC, Bruins, and Pats fan, this one hurt.
Friday night, the Eagles have a shot at getting a key win and solidifying their hold on a NCAA spot in hockey. Despite a closely played first period, they found themselves down 2-0 as bounces were not going their way. Then, after outplaying Providence for the next two periods (including a 15-4 shot advantage in the third), they found themselves on the losing end of the game 3-2. Of their 35+ shots many of them were quality opportunities. Matt Price had a golden one late to tie the game but the Providence goalie somehow did the worm (somebody alert Scotty 2 Hotty that his move has been stolen from WWE) and the shot deflected off his leg. The number of juicy rebounds that found BC sticks and somehow ended wide or blocked or deflected was maddening. Over all three periods. But there is still a lot left on the season. The loss ended up not hurting us too bad as Clarkson, Denver, and others had rough weekends, and BC actually moved up from a #10 tie to a solid #9 in the PWR. Not a disaster but painful to watch as a fan. Little did I know this was but the tip of the iceberg for my weekend.
Saturday night, the Bruins had the opportunity to follow-up their impressive showing against Ottawa with a chance to beat the NHL leading Detroit Red Wings. I'm not going to lie to you, I told Pike Sr. the day of the game that I would have been happy with just getting one point out of it because Detriot is that much better and points are important. The B's came out hot and Chuckie (yes, I get to call Kobasew that because I watched him as a super-frosh at BC, and I was at Albany when he made the assist to Kolanos that won the national title in 2001) made a beautiful give-and-go to put them up 1-0 in the first. The Bruins played great tight defensive hockey through two periods and were tied 1-1. But I saw another aggravating sight. It was like a replay of the BC game, juicy rebounds just not finding their way into the net. One of the worst was in the third with the game 2-1, Chuckie gathers behind the net and feeds to Metropolit in front and he's just moving too fast across the crease and gets nothing on it and pops it in the air instead of into a wide open goal. Shortly thereafter, Detriot put it away for a 3-1 win. Again victory was there for the taking and the bounces weren't there. Oh, but the pain was not over.
Last night, the impossible happened. The perfect season was derailed and by a Manning no less. I would have felt better if they were trailing all night. I would have felt better if the Giants outscored them in a shoot-out. I would have felt better if had been Favre & the Packers who beat us. But to lose, to the Giants, in that manner...I felt like the poor guy in Indiana Jones after Mola Ram ripped his heart out and showed it to him, still beating, and lighting on fire. Funny thing, I imagine Rams fans felt much the same back in 2001. There is a dullness to my day that I imagine will not go anywhere for a little while. As one of my co-workers just said, "I woke up this morning and said to myself, 'Did that just happen?'"
Tonight there is an opportunity for redemption. Insidecollegehockey.com ran their power rankings today and next to Northeastern it said, "The benefit of the Beanpot is that hockey success on Monday can erase football disappointment from Sunday." This is what I am hoping for. A win tonight and it will be better. The Bruins have many more games to play, BC is still, at this point, in the NCAA tourney. A win over BU is just what I need to make me human again.
Tomorrow I go to the Big Apple on my first business trip for the new company. Not looking forward to it, not a big fan of the solo travel (boring and when something gets messed up as it always does, there is no one to lament with). Also, they are calling for wintery mix and rain for the next two days in Boston & NY. Should be lovely! But should BC lose tonight and continue the heartache of the last four days (did I mention the men's basketball team got smoked twice since Thursday?) the trip will be decidedly more melancholy. If I had a dog, I would be waiting for someone to kick it. Have a lovely Monday. Go Eagles!!
Friday night, the Eagles have a shot at getting a key win and solidifying their hold on a NCAA spot in hockey. Despite a closely played first period, they found themselves down 2-0 as bounces were not going their way. Then, after outplaying Providence for the next two periods (including a 15-4 shot advantage in the third), they found themselves on the losing end of the game 3-2. Of their 35+ shots many of them were quality opportunities. Matt Price had a golden one late to tie the game but the Providence goalie somehow did the worm (somebody alert Scotty 2 Hotty that his move has been stolen from WWE) and the shot deflected off his leg. The number of juicy rebounds that found BC sticks and somehow ended wide or blocked or deflected was maddening. Over all three periods. But there is still a lot left on the season. The loss ended up not hurting us too bad as Clarkson, Denver, and others had rough weekends, and BC actually moved up from a #10 tie to a solid #9 in the PWR. Not a disaster but painful to watch as a fan. Little did I know this was but the tip of the iceberg for my weekend.
Saturday night, the Bruins had the opportunity to follow-up their impressive showing against Ottawa with a chance to beat the NHL leading Detroit Red Wings. I'm not going to lie to you, I told Pike Sr. the day of the game that I would have been happy with just getting one point out of it because Detriot is that much better and points are important. The B's came out hot and Chuckie (yes, I get to call Kobasew that because I watched him as a super-frosh at BC, and I was at Albany when he made the assist to Kolanos that won the national title in 2001) made a beautiful give-and-go to put them up 1-0 in the first. The Bruins played great tight defensive hockey through two periods and were tied 1-1. But I saw another aggravating sight. It was like a replay of the BC game, juicy rebounds just not finding their way into the net. One of the worst was in the third with the game 2-1, Chuckie gathers behind the net and feeds to Metropolit in front and he's just moving too fast across the crease and gets nothing on it and pops it in the air instead of into a wide open goal. Shortly thereafter, Detriot put it away for a 3-1 win. Again victory was there for the taking and the bounces weren't there. Oh, but the pain was not over.
Last night, the impossible happened. The perfect season was derailed and by a Manning no less. I would have felt better if they were trailing all night. I would have felt better if the Giants outscored them in a shoot-out. I would have felt better if had been Favre & the Packers who beat us. But to lose, to the Giants, in that manner...I felt like the poor guy in Indiana Jones after Mola Ram ripped his heart out and showed it to him, still beating, and lighting on fire. Funny thing, I imagine Rams fans felt much the same back in 2001. There is a dullness to my day that I imagine will not go anywhere for a little while. As one of my co-workers just said, "I woke up this morning and said to myself, 'Did that just happen?'"
Tonight there is an opportunity for redemption. Insidecollegehockey.com ran their power rankings today and next to Northeastern it said, "The benefit of the Beanpot is that hockey success on Monday can erase football disappointment from Sunday." This is what I am hoping for. A win tonight and it will be better. The Bruins have many more games to play, BC is still, at this point, in the NCAA tourney. A win over BU is just what I need to make me human again.
Tomorrow I go to the Big Apple on my first business trip for the new company. Not looking forward to it, not a big fan of the solo travel (boring and when something gets messed up as it always does, there is no one to lament with). Also, they are calling for wintery mix and rain for the next two days in Boston & NY. Should be lovely! But should BC lose tonight and continue the heartache of the last four days (did I mention the men's basketball team got smoked twice since Thursday?) the trip will be decidedly more melancholy. If I had a dog, I would be waiting for someone to kick it. Have a lovely Monday. Go Eagles!!
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