My comments on Mike Machnik's comments:
 
>But BC deserves a lot of credit.  They bounced back in the third and wound
>up winning, 6-5.  It was a very good win...BC's determination impressed me
>and I have to say that I like this BC team a lot more than last year's.
>They are certainly headed in the right direction.
 
I agree.  BC is working and skating much harder than they did early in the
season, and the freshmen seem to be adjusting pretty quickly to Hockey
East.  The number one change in the last few games (excepting tonight) is
the reduction of bad defensive breakdowns resulting in high-percentage
shots on Taylor.  The Harvard game was exceptionally well-played in this
regard (though the Hahvahd fans thought differently, of course. :-) )
 
>The thing that I am most curious about regarding the goal is, was it
>charged against BC goalie Greg Taylor?  This kind of thing has happened so
>rarely that I do not know how people tend to count it.  On the one hand, it
 
As you pointed out, Mike, a goalie is credited as having "played" during
the time he is on the bench during a delayed call, so I assume this goal
would count against his goals-against.  Besides, how is this different
from a goalie that goes wandering to the corner and gets a bad bounce
right to a forward who fills the empty net?  In any case, Taylor hadn't
left the ice when the goal was scored, I think.
 
>This was the first time I had seen BC, and I was looking forward to seeing
>highly touted rookie Marty Reasoner.  He didn't disappoint and looks like
>an early shoo-in to be named HE Rookie of the Year.  He was named the
 
Reasoner has exceptional playmaking and puck handling skills, and has
a very good mental map of the ice.  He is not exceptionally physical,
and his defensive work is too much "reach with the stick" and avoid
body contact.  But he is very good with that stick, often deflecting
and stealing passes, scoring shorthanded, etc.  He didn't show his
talents out in LA in the Freezeout, but has been playing very well since.
Defensively he tends to drift, letting others do the physical work so
he can pick up the loose puck and move in the other direction.  Because
the rest of the team has done such a good job recently in checking, this
approach has worked.  You are right, he needs to identify the cases
where he needs to put a body on someone and let someone else take the
puck.  (But not too often, eh?  Let's face it, we want goals!)  Whether
he will be ROYear, I don't know, but he's off to a good start.
 
Regarding speculation about how long he might stay at BC:  He's not in
the Paul Kariya category (I haven't seen anyone in the last 7 years who
was!), and needs to work on his speed and defensive work, so I suppose
a couple of years in college would be useful.  Beyond that it may depend
on how well he can develop his skills.  If BC continues to improve as
a team, so that Marty can be turned loose offensively, the college game
might be enough for a while.  Certainly the last 2 weeks have been
positive, from that point of view.
 
>BC goalie Greg Taylor had a good night, I thought.  His defense was very
>inconsistent (both teams' defensive play left much to be desired), but he
>tended to control rebounds and of the four Lowell goals I saw (missed the
 
Greg was not as spectacular tonight as he has been, but he has played
very, very well the last 3 weeks.  His problems, like last year, come
mostly from having his defense make mistakes or fail to cover players on
rebounds.  He has learned to direct rebounds to less dangerous areas,
makes fewer concentration mistakes, and has recently been able to trust
his defense to clear away rebounds in front.  That being said, he is
still seeing too many shots and the team still is giving up too many
goals.  BC is undefeated when they score more than 3 goals this year,
but has only held the opposition under 4 twice (Providence 3-3 and a
stellar team effort against Harvard, a 2-1 win.)
 
>players from last year who graduated or left early.  Lowell doesn't seem to
>miss Greg Bullock at all, and as I suspected, they are more disciplined
>without the negative influence he had.  And last year, I noticed that BC
>tended to be hurt by dumb penalties taken by seniors who seemed more
>interested in retaliation than in winning games.  Even though they
>graduated a lot of players, I think BC is also a better team for their
>improved discipline.  When Rick McAdoo says, "BC will return," I believe
>him, and the only question is how soon - not if.
 
Lowell misses the "good" Bullock, and plays better without the "bad"
Bullock.  How do you balance that?  They still need a stronger defense,
and some scoring from the 3/4 lines.  I think they have been reasonably
pleased by the goalies.  By the way, does anyone know what Bullock is
up to in the pros?  We all admire his talent and regret his attitude --
I only hope he finds the pros more to his liking.
 
As far as BC and penalties, the team is playing physical but mostly
clean, and they certainly are getting better leadership than last year.
That may be a function of Jerry York having had time to teach the
players his ways, and pattern the play to the talent he has.  Don
Chase, who started the year on fire, has lately struggled a bit, taking
numerous penalties (he leads the team in pen. minutes.)  And the
freshman have been very solid.  Chris Masters and Matt Mulhern have
done fine work, Ryan Mittleman is a good face-off man with some knack
for scoring, Buckley and Powers have played well on the defense, and
we have already mentioned Reasoner.  One thing that has helped the
defense as well has been the return of Tom Ashe to anchor the
defensive corps.  He had been moved to wing to try to provide scoring
at the beginning of the year (along with Peter Masters), but he has
proved more useful behind the blue line.  While BC still does not
have a lot of scoring power, the freshmen can only improve from here.
The team has been aggressive in a positive way and most fans are
slowly gaining some optimism about the future.  I really do think
"BC will return" though it may be a couple of years away.  If we can
convince the students to come to the games and cheer as they did 5
years ago, BC games will provide a lot of entertainment.  Overall,
Hockey East seems more competitive and successful this year (there
hasn't been much ECAC vs. HE talk this year, has there?)
 
One last thought:  At the end of last year, when the team finished in
a funk, I had said that the jury was still out on Jerry York.  Though
it is still early, I like what I have seen of this year's team.  Their
attitude, work ethic, controlled aggressiveness, and positional play
indicates that they are starting to learn and play Jerry's style.  It
will still be a long season, and the powers of Hockey East will not
fear BC for some time yet, but I don't think the season will be as
difficult as I once feared.  Given a couple more good recruiting
classes (and next year's looks to be a good one), I think Jerry will
show that he can lead BC back to prominence.
---------------                    ----------------------
Rick McAdoo                        [log in to unmask]
Read the FAQ!!!                    A positive BC fan.  GO EAGLES!
 
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