I agree with pretty much all Paul said, hopefully I can add something.  I
felt that BC probably deserved a win in this game (that hurts me to say,
but it's true).  Although it didn't start out that way.  Much to my
surprise BC started a goalie who has played all of 7 games (I think that's
what they said).  After the first shot, a weak one from about 25 feet, went
through his legs I figured this would be a laugher for BU.  Wow was I
wrong.  McLaughlin (sorry if the spelling is wrong) settled down and saved
the game for his team.  I do think BC outplayed BU for the first two
periods, but with all the penalties, and the lack of scoring on the PP by
both teams, it's hard to say anyone outplayed anyone.  I just got the
feeling watching BU that it was going to be one of those games where they
couldn't make anything happen.  Their passes seemed to be slightly off and
whenever a puck took a bounce, it seemed to end up on a BC stick.  The
first BC goal was like that.  Gionta stepped in off the faceoff and took a
shot that was blocked by the D, but it ended up right on his stick for
another try and he buried it.  I just had the feeling that it would go like
that all night.  And it did pretty much until the last minute.
 
To BU's credit they came out in the third intent on not losing the game,
but the more times they got stopped on a good scoring chance, the more you
got the feeling that they wouldn't get one past McLaughlin.  BC had a few
chances that I still don't know how they didn't score.  The breakaway Paul
referred to was by Corazzini.  He can really fly.  I expect big things from
him in the future.  One thing that I was surprised about was the ice time
the first line got, or actually didn't get.  It seemed like they weren't
out there a lot in the first two periods, or on the PPs.  The third was a
different story, Drury was on the ice half the period.  Maybe it was
because the top line was drawing the penalties that they started the PPs
with other players.  But it seemed like by the time the top guys were out
there, the PP was almost over.  Probably why they were something like 0 for
6 before the tying goal.  Give BC credit though, they did a nice job
killing the penalties.  Actually, I thought they did a good job all night
(I hate saying that).
 
Anyway, I'm just happy we salvaged the tie.  Hopefully the BU performance
will give them the kick in the ass they are going to need when they face
UNH on Saturday.  That could be a huge game come playoff time.  BU split
with UNH earlier, this game decides the season series.  Looking back to
last year, the season series determined the number 1 seed in HE last year
because they tied.  It could be argued that no 1 led to BU's bye in the
tourney.  If that's the case, this game Saturday could have a huge impact
on the tourney even though it is only December.
 
And for the people who were worried about the BU crowd, on tv at least it
seemed as rowdy as ever.  Before the anthem was sung they were already
chanting BC sucks, and it seemed to last all night.  Although there were a
few disturbing times when one could hear a lets go Eagles chant.  It did
seem like there were an awful lot of BC fans (you couldn't miss them in
their gold shirts).
GO BU.
Dave
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.