Maine took 3 of 4 points at home against BC this weekend.  Maine picked up
the 5-2 win Friday, and BC battled the Black Bears to a 3-3 tie on Saturday
in a wild one.  I was fortunate to see Friday's game on television and
attend Saturday's game in person.  Here are some impessions that I took away
from the weekend:

Unfortunately with all the good hockey the one play that stands out for me
was in Saturday's game the Prestin Ryan hit on BC forward Tony Voce.
Fourteen seconds after BC tied the game at 1-1 in the second period Voce was
able to come right in Maine goalie Matt Yeats and score a nice goal.  As
Voce lifted his arms and celebration and moved torward the corner, Maine's
freshman defenseman Prestin Ryan simply ran Voce, crushing him into the
boards.

I've seen cheap and classless plays before, but few rivalled this.  Maybe it
was becuase the play was well over and it was after a goal, or maybe it was
the ferrocity in which Ryan went after Voce.  In my opinion, Ryan wanted to
hurt Voce plain and simple.  Hockey East referee Jeff Bunyon gave Ryan a
5-minute major for charging and 2 minutes for hitting after the whistle, but
oddly did not throw him out of the game.  I cannot understand this at all.
Bunyon clearly struggled in this game (more on this later).  IMHO Ryan
should have received a game DQ for intent to injure.

Believe it or not, Maine killed off the entire Ryan penalty, but Ryan could
have cost Maine the game with his entirely selfish and classless play.

I think my feelings were joined by many Maine fans.  We were in complete
shock at what we saw and I am tremendously disappointed in this young man.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead only gave Ryan one shift the rest of the game, but
I think it is time to sit this kid for awhile.  Others have suggested that
Ryan has exhibited a pattern of behavior.

It was somewhat fitting justice that Voce, who left the ice for a time after
being helped off the ice by the BC training staff, scored the goal that gave
BC a 3-3 tie on Saturday.

Saturday's game was very strange and after the Ryan play on Voce Bunyon lost
control of this game IMHO (some might say he lost it a long time before this
point), but play became rough and chippy and Bunyon I think realized he blew
the call on Ryan and tried to make up for that as well.

I was interested to see how Maine matched up with BC, two teams who are very
young, but also quite talented.  I thought Maine was stacked up well against
the defending national champions.  Maine might be more balanced, but both
teams have some dangerous players.  Voce and Ben Eaves are outstanding
players for the Eagles and each time they are on the ice they are a threat.
Perhaps some of the other players were not at the top of their game, but I
did feel that after that top line there was a drop-off and the players were
less scary!  That could also be that we've come so used to seeing BC roll
out 3 dangerous lines every game!

For Maine, Colin Shields scored 3 goals on the weekend and we are told his
16 goals are tops in the country(??).  I thought for the most part Maine
played well defensively, though they continue to be prone to bad giveaways
that lead to goals for their opponents at least once per game.  But Maine
defensemen made many good one-on-one plays in their own zone against some
talented players, especially on Saturday.  BC's forecheck is very difficult
to break out against and with all that speed they really attack the puck.

Both goalies, Yeats for Maine and Tim Kelleher for BC, played very well.
Despite BC having a distinct shot advantage, Kelleher might have had to make
the more difficult of the saves.  Yeats also made some great saves,
especially in the third period.  It is good to see Yeats coming around after
a slow start.  Maine seems to clearly now have two goalies playing well and
that will be a big advantage.

I am curious to know if BC coach Jerry York always refuses to shake the
hands of the opposing team or if he was making a statement?

All in all, 3 of 4 points from BC is a good weekend for Maine.  Hockey East
will be tight and BC has the skill to be there in the end, so this was a big
weekend.  Maine (8-5-3, 4-2-1 HE) will be off until after Christmas when
they play Ohio State on 12/29 in the Everblades College Classic.  BC will
also be off until after the holiday when they play Miami in the Silverado
Shootout.