I am a glutton for punishment. Last year, the partner-in-crime and I thought it would be a great idea to venture out to UMass Amherst to see the Boston University men’s hockey team face off against the Minutemen. We wore our BU jerseys and all, and I was nearly jumped on my way to the ladies room.
Well, this year, the partner-in-crime and I have decided to join a few colleagues of mine at tonight’s BU – BC matchup at Conte Forum, one of the few Hockey East arenas that I haven’t been to at this point. Heaven help us.
Last night, both teams faced off at Agganis Arena on the BU campus for night one of the back-to-back. I think it was a good game. It ended as a 1-1 tie, and both BU’s Kiran Milan and BC’s John Muse made absolutely amazing saves. But besides that, I feel like both teams forgot how to skate. In the second period, Eagles were falling all over the place, untouched, like the littlest of mites that play during intermissions. As a Terriers fan, this was hysterical…until the third period, when it was the Terriers who were falling off their skates like five year olds. It wasn’t an epidemic, per se, but it happened enough times that it was noticeable.
A few other notes from the evening:
– I always get a kick out of the BC roster. It is filled with mostly Irish or Italian names, aka “good Catholic names.” Of course.
– Speaking of Irondequoit, I always feel a tinge of torn-ness when I root against BC, because over the past few years, their roster has been dominated by Western New Yorkers. Chris Collins = Fairport, NY. The Gionta boys = Greece, NY. The Reasoners = Honeyoe Falls, NY. The Orpiks = East Amherst, NY. I typically root for all things Western NY, but I just can’t when it comes to BC hockey. Could it be that BC wins because they recruit Western New Yorkers?
– I think I am too used to seeing goalie extremes (way tall goalies like Ben Bishop, Carter Hutton, or way short goalies like Jeff Lerg), that when I saw BC’s John Muse up close for the first time last night (I’ve actually only seen him play once prior, and I couldn’t get a good look at him because I was in the balcony of the TDBanknorth Garden), he looked odd to me. He’s not too short. He’s not too tall. He’s just in the middle. He also has shoulders like a linebacker – his whole upper body is extremely broad, and it doesn’t seem to be just his padding. Or maybe I’m just really used to seeing really small goalies?
– Another thing about Muse: he lets up ridiculously long rebounds, and leaves huge parts of the net open when he’s being pressured. The teams that score on him must be the ones who pay attention after they make a shot on him. BU did not do that last night. They could have scored three more goals last night had they been paying attention to a rebound that went across the open part of the net. And it wasn’t like the Terriers were being held up by the Eagles – no, they just weren’t paying attention.
– As I’m writing this, BC football is losing to Virgina Tech in the ACC Championship 30-10. So not only am I walking into enemy territory tonight, the BC fans are going to be angry and depressed. I don’t blame them – there was a ton of hype leading up to this afternoon’s game. Maybe I won’t wear my jersey…
Oh wait. Nathan Gerbe just got called up to the Buffalo Sabres. Now the BC folks will be happy. Okay, maybe I can safely wear my jersey.
What’s going to happen the first time Gerbe plays against Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins? I want to be there. It’ll be a “2004-05 USA-Under-18 Development Team members who have made it to the NHL” matchup! I want this to happen. I want to be there to watch this.
Better yet, could we just reunite the two of them on the same NHL team? Maybe including the FWNICM? Would that be too much to ask? The Bruins, maybe? Anyone who knows me personally knows that I spent the summer suggesting this lineup to every single hockey-knowledgeable person I know, including the brother of a actual factual NHL scout that my friends and I sat next to while watching Game 6 of the NBA Championships.
All I’m asking is that you think about it. (And if you do, and decide that it would never work, just don’t tell me. This is one thing I’d rather be blissfully ignorant about.)
I was totally at the games this weekend but lost my internet connection and couldn’t post. 🙁 I wore my jersey though (got a gameworn a few years back).
Where are your seats at Agganis?
By the way… BU rocked on Saturday night, sans the third period. 😀
I will give you the rule straight from the book. Don’t want to read? Here’s a samrumy.Guys are allowed to fight, and will receive a 5 minute penalty (no suspension). One-on-one only, if a third guy comes into the fight, he is ejected from the game. If one guy started the fight, then he gets a 2 minute instigator penalty. If one guy keeps fighting when the other guy is obviously down and out, he gets an aggressor’ penalty, which is a game misconduct.Rule 47 Fighting47.1 Fighting – A fight shall be deemed to have occurred when at leastone player (or goalkeeper) punches or attempts to punch an opponentrepeatedly or when two players wrestle in such a manner as to makeit difficult for the Linesmen to intervene and separate the combatants.The Referees are provided very wide latitude in the penalties withwhich they may impose under this rule. This is done intentionally toenable them to differentiate between the obvious degrees ofresponsibility of the participants either for starting the fighting orpersisting in continuing the fighting. The discretion provided should beexercised realistically.47.2 Aggressor – The aggressor in an altercation shall be the player (orgoalkeeper) who continues to throw punches in an attempt to inflictpunishment on his opponent who is in a defenseless position or whois an unwilling combatant.A player (or goalkeeper) must be deemed the aggressor when hehas clearly won the fight but he continues throwing and landingpunches in a further attempt to inflict punishment and/or injury on hisopponent who is no longer in a position to defend himself.A player or goalkeeper who is deemed to be the aggressor of analtercation shall be assessed a major penalty for fighting and a gamemisconduct.A player or goalkeeper who is deemed to be the aggressor of analtercation will have this recorded as an aggressor of an altercation forstatistical and suspension purposes.A player or goalkeeper who is deemed to be both the instigatorand aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minorpenalty, a major penalty for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct(instigator) and a game misconduct penalty (aggressor).47.3 Altercation An altercation is a situation involving two players(including goalkeepers), with at least one to be penalized.47.4 Clearing the Area of a Fight When a fight occurs, all players notengaged shall go immediately to the area of their players’ bench andin the event the altercation takes place at a players’ bench, theplayers on the ice from that team shall go to their defending zone.Goalkeepers shall remain in their goal crease, except in the event thealtercation takes place in the vicinity of the goal crease, and thereforeshall obey the directions of the Referee. Failure to comply can resultin penalties incurred for their involvement in and around the area andfines as outlined in 47.18.47.5 Continuing or Attempting to Continue a Fight Any player orgoalkeeper who persists in continuing or attempting to continue a fightor altercation after he has been ordered by the Referee to stop, orwho resists a Linesman in the discharge of his duties shall, at thediscretion of the Referee, incur a misconduct or game misconductpenalty in addition to any penalties imposed.47.6 Face Protection If a player penalized as an instigator of analtercation is wearing a face shield (including a goalkeeper), he shallbe assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.Should the player (including a goalkeeper) who instigates the fightbe wearing a face shield, but removes it before instigating thealtercation, the additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty shall notapply.That’s not even the whole rule, see rule 47 in the link