Sorry I have been unable to post lately, but grades were due and then a new
quarter started (ungh!).
 
After BU's sweep of UNH, we were all beginning to believe that BU just might
do it this year (win HE, that is).
 
BU v Merrimack -
 
Overall, it was a more physical series with more hitting than skating.
  One of the more bizarre incidents occurred Friday when a ref (Leavitt) got
out of control, losing it completely, having to be physically restrained while
tossing out a player and a coach.  I have to admit that, in my 22 years of
watching hockey, I have seen bad calls, bad games, goonery on Nilan/Middleton
levels, and bad refs (see Ned Bunyon), but I have never, ever seen a ref lose
it like that.  After making a bad call (it was truly bad, but this is not the
first time bad calls have happened in college hockey), the BU bench became
upset.  When Prendergast complained, he has immediately tossed by Leavitt.
From what I am told, he deserved a 10 min misconduct, but what struck me was
the red-faced enthusiasm shown by Leavitt.  He was getting far too emotional.
At this point, Parker became outraged and began to yell from the end of the
bench.  Leavitt and Parker got into a shouting match before Folkes (other ref)
came over and pulled Leavitt away and pushed him to center ice.  Parker had
walked back to the center of the bench, pacing and complaining.
  It was here that Leavitt skated back over to the center of the BU bench and
got into Parker's face, ejecting Parker almost immediately.  Leavitt was
clearly too emotional as Folkes again tried to restrain Leavitt.  Leavitt was
then sent to the other side of the ice while Folkes and lineman Good tried to
figure everything out.  Somewhere in there, a bench minor had been given to
BU.
  After this, the reffing was a joke.  In a disgraceful display, bad call after
bad call first hurt, then helped, then hurt BU.  Neither side was happy with
the inconsistency after that first period.  The problem was that both refs were
now far too involved in emotion and trying to look good, and then balance each
other's bad calls.
  Somehow, through all this, BU, led by McKersie, managed to pull together and
come back, beating the sizable Warriors on their own ice.  It was an ugly game,
but McKersie has now earned an extremely high degree of my respect not for his
goaltending, but for his leadership abilities in pulling the team together.
 
  The next night was not as eventful as BU got out to a decent lead on
Merrimack and then tried to give it back to them.  BU managed to win on talent,
but give Merrimack a LOT of credit for refusing to die.  The Warriors refused
to give up and kept coming back over and over again at BU.  Merrimack is a much
better team than their record indicates.
 
 
BU @ Lowell
 
  This game was a bad one for BU.  Wandering around for two periods, BU found
themselves in a hole too deep to climb out of.  BU realized in the third that
they had better start skating or else they might lose this game, but it was too
late as Dwayne Roloson made sure BU did not get back in the game.  This was
just one of those nights.  The team did not show up and lost a game they did
not deserve to win.  It happens.
 
Lowell @ BU
 
  In front of a large but dead crowd, BU handily defeated Lowell, the result
never in question.  BU scored early and controlled the game the whole way.  The
crowd came, enjoyed a nice game, and then left.  This crowd was nothing
compared to the crowd that had been at the BU-UNH game.  This crowd sat in
their seats, that crowd had manned battle stations.  Hopefully, the BU-UNH
crowd will be the one that shows up vs. Maine.  We'll see.
 
Beanpot v Harvard
 
  This was depressing.
 
  BU did not play badly.  They did not have bad goaltending or run into a hot
goaltender.  As a matter of fact, Tracy did not look very sharp Monday night,
but we'll never know since BU only put 3 shots on him in the second period.
 
  Harvard clearly beat BU in every aspect of the game (except goaltending).
Harvard outskated, outhustled, hit more intelligently, and outplayed BU, taking
away the mid-ice area and shutting BU down.  Although Harvard does not appear
to have any NHL prospects, their team speed impressed me.  Their slowest player
was about the same speed at BU's average skater.  Harvard exposed BU's
weaknesses, making BU look slow and hitting just enough to bump BU players off
of the puck.
  The coaching edge clearly went to Harvard on this night as they appeared to
have BU completely figured out.  Harvard played the passing lanes as well as
Maine did last year, and turned BU breakouts into Harvard rushes almost
instantly.
  One aspect that Mike pointed out was that BU was without Linna (2nd team All-
American last year) and O'Sullivan (the defenseman John from Mich was so scared
of).  Although their absense was missed when we watched BU defensemen carry the
puck up ice (breaking down Harvard's mid-ice D) and then have no idea what to
do with the puck once they got over the blue-line.  Granted, if they were there
Monday night, it would have been a different game, it does not change the fact
that Harvard beat BU that badly (the 4-2 score is not an indication of the
game) in so many aspects of the game.  BU may have managed to win it on talent
and goaltending, but they would certainly have not deserved it.  BU needs to
do more than get those two defensemen back if they want to win any games in the
tourney this year.  They will need to overcome their speed problem and figure
a way to deal with the fact that they have no snipers.  Pomichter scores a lot,
but he needs people setting him up.  Pomichter is like a big Ingraham (Maine),
he's always in the right place at the right time, but he needs someone to get
him the puck if he's going to score.  Monday night, Pomichter was not going to
score if BU was not going to get the puck past the blue line.
 
 
This weekend is a clash of the slumping HE teams as BU travels to UNH for one.
 
Someone will probably break out of their slump, but someone will sink even
further.  We shall see.  I do not expect Linna back until the Maine series;
O'Sullivan might be back before then (I hope!).
 
Now is gut check time for BU.  If they win the next two, watch out... if they
lose 'em, look out below...
 
Just the humble bablings of a crazed hockey fan...
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Former Ogre