It's probably hard to see much improvement in this year's squad
without having seen the opening road trip.  Cornell played
extremely well in those games, as they did through much of the
last home pair.
 
The Big Red's next three ECAC opponents are Yale, Princeton,
and Union. Going into those matches at 1-2-1, they will come out
at at least .500 if they continue to play the way they have early in
the season.
 
The lines will have to settle down, though.  I'm kinda partial to
Karam-Sancimino-Scollan (at the very least keep together the
first two -- Mike makes Jake twice as good a player!).  I wouldn't
mind seeing Auger with Hannah and Bumstead - personally, I
don't think Hannah and Chartrand have done anything for each
other.
 
The scoring potential of the team is not that deep, however.  Tony
Bergin may have scored a thousand goals in Jr. B, but he looked
like an elegantly twirling oak tree last weekend.  And as much as
I love him, Geoff Lopatka looked lost his first few games.  I think I
might even rather see John DeHart for now, especially because I
*know* that guy has a few short-handed goals in him.
 
Steve and Chad Wilson appear to these eyes to be leading the D
(can you remember the last time CU had a strong, senior
defenseman? I can't...).  I also like Jason Kendall, though I cringe
(I think he does too) when he carries the puck.  Dan Dufresne
better stay out of the box.
 
Goaltending looks unpredictable. Bandurski and Skazyk have
both looked very good one minute and poor the next. The early
story here seems to be Bando's fragility - the guy could get hurt
lacing his skates.  But it's difficult to fault goaltending for the
breakaways the D allows, or the ridiculous number of power-plays
they've had to stand up against.
 
Been a long time since the Big Red beat a strong Hockey East
team, and a victory tonight, even at home, would be more than a
mild upset.  But as they proved against Dartmouth, UVM, and
especially Harvard, these guys have a world of heart, and little
more than that won an ECAC championship 8 seasons ago.
 
 
Greg
Boston
Screw BU!