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As football continues to nosedive, hockey is just around the corner (17 days!)

BC starts the year in North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad arena (pictures below, it's an unreal college hockey rink) in the 1st round against Mich St on Oct 7 at 5 PM, it's odd that we are going to play Mich St. in 2 different tourneys.

It says all games are televised, so once I hear of the channel I'll post it.

1st some notes on BC:

Goalie:
I think the obvious question heading into this year is between the pipes. After a very good freshman season (10-2-1, 2.32, .909), Parker Milner experienced a sophomore slump (3-2-0, 2.68, .899). Now was last year a product of lack of PT or was it closer to what we can expect? I think starting the season he'll split time with freshman Brian Billett from Maine before Billett forces York's hand later in the season.

Scoring:
BC is losing 50% of its offense but a ton of talent remains. Paul Carey is the leading returning goal scorer at 13. Will Kreider make that jump and be a dominant force for BC? It'll be interesting to see how the lines shuffle out.

Freshmen:
The great unknown. Some bigtime recruits are coming in including G Brian Billett, F Johnny Gaudreau (NU decommit), & F Destry Straight. We've seen some less heralded recruits grab a lot of PT

Forwards:
16 forwards 12 spots. It'll be interesting to see how York sorts it out.

D:
The closest to a certainty heading into this year. BC returns arguably the top 2 dmen in Hockey East: Jr. Brian Dumoulin & Sr. Tommy Cross. Only Phil Samuelson doesn't return so the competition will be for that 6th dman spot.

After the disaster that is our football season, I can't wait for hockey.

Goalie:
I think the obvious question heading into this year is between the pipes. After a very good freshman season (10-2-1, 2.32, .909), Parker Milner experienced a sophomore slump (3-2-0, 2.68, .899). Now was last year a product of lack of PT or was it closer to what we can expect? I think starting the season he'll split time with freshman Brian Billett from Maine before Billett forces York's hand later in the season.

Scoring:
BC is losing 50% of its offense but a ton of talent remains. Paul Carey is the leading returning goal scorer at 13. Will Kreider make that jump and be a dominant force for BC? It'll be interesting to see how the lines shuffle out.

Freshmen:
The great unknown. Some bigtime recruits are coming in including G Brian Billett, F Johnny Gaudreau (NU decommit), & F Destry Straight. We've seen some less heralded recruits grab a lot of PT

Claver-This is going to be a very interesting season. I wonder if kids like Steve Whitney, Kreider and Barry Almeida are going to become more productive scorers, as they see more significant ice time. (same with Carey) I always enjoy seeing the skills of the true freshmen that come on board. Byrne give Gaudreau tremendous praise, when comparing him favorably to Gerbe (at same age). I agree the Milner splits time with Billett, and really believe that his soph. season was a product of rotting on the bench. His performance toward the end of his freshmen season, was very good. York rarely hands the net over to a true Frosh, regardless of potential. Lastly I wonder if York either gives up on Whitney at the point on the PP, or at least mandates that the kid hustles back on a giveaway. Dumoulin and Cross can surely man the point on one PP unit, and I just did not like the Whitney giveaways that led to short handed goals. (I like Whitney's skills, but he waits too long in traffic)

SeaCaptim {l Wrote}:Claver-This is going to be a very interesting season. I wonder if kids like Steve Whitney, Kreider and Barry Almeida are going to become more productive scorers, as they see more significant ice time. (same with Carey) I always enjoy seeing the skills of the true freshmen that come on board. Byrne give Gaudreau tremendous praise, when comparing him favorably to Gerbe (at same age). I agree the Milner splits time with Billett, and really believe that his soph. season was a product of rotting on the bench. His performance toward the end of his freshmen season, was very good. York rarely hands the net over to a true Frosh, regardless of potential. Lastly I wonder if York either gives up on Whitney at the point on the PP, or at least mandates that the kid hustles back on a giveaway. Dumoulin and Cross can surely man the point on one PP unit, and I just did not like the Whitney giveaways that led to short handed goals. (I like Whitney's skills, but he waits too long in traffic)

Agreed, I'm really looking forward to the season. This team is incredibly talented but much of that talent, especially offensively is from players who haven't had huge roles while at BC. As a result I see a great deal of balance, no 30 goal scorers but a bunch of 20. I think the names you mentioned are some of the greatest candidates for it.

Re the forwards on the point. When York did that with Joe Whitney & Ferriero our Dmen had very little offensive ability (Brennan, Kunes, Aiello, etc...). My guess is we still see Steve up there but we do have some Dmen with some great skill (Dumoulin: puckmover, Cross: NHL shot, Wey: solid all around) and these 4 represent the points on the powerplay. But having Steve & Joe out there unnerved me at times.

TobaccoRoadEagle {l Wrote}:will the fighting sue have to change their banners in response to the ncaa mandate?

Yes they will. That expense was one of their arguments that was shot down by the NCAA. According to this, the largest state ethnic group is German:

North Dakota 2000 population of North Dakota: 642,200 (2000 census)
Rank Ancestry % of Population
1. German 43.9
2. Norwegian 30.1
3. Irish 7.7
4. American Indian 5.1
5. Swedish 5

So if they change their name to the Stormtroopers, Huns, Panzers or something similar they will need to replace all of those Indian heads with an iron cross or something else German. Perhaps an image of Beethoven would be safer this time around.

The North Dakota Aryan Brotherhood has a certain ring to it.

Or they could copy Northern Colorado and be the Fightin' Whites:

Endless Mike {l Wrote}:Or they could copy Northern Colorado and be the Fightin' Whites:

+1 very funny - love the mascot - looks like Mitt Romney.

130 hours till hockey, can't come soon enough

Finally, hockey!

Tonight at 5:00

Channel 617 on DirecTV & 260ish on Comcast

0-0 after 1 video issues, looks like power lines are still iffy in NoDak

1-0 BC Tommy Cross edit: Brown gets credit w the deflection

1-1 still tech issues, unreal

2-1 BC, Patch Alber from Kreider

MSU ties it up and Kreider answers within a minute 3-2..8 min to go

Steve Whitney puts BC up 4-2 3+ min to go

5-2 Almeida from Carey. Both will have a big year with a more offensive role on the team

Final.

Play NoDak/AF winner tomorrow

Thank God hockey has started.

BC vs. NoDak (who looked meh) at 8:30, same channel

No changes from last night line up wise, Milner in net again.

For those interested:

Almeida-Hayes-Carey
Kreider-Arnold-Straight
Gaudreau-Mullane-Whitney
Atkinson-Brown-Linell

Cross-Alber
Dumoulin-Shea
MacLeod-Wey

Milner

I really like the new road unis.

First whistle Souix realy bringing body!

Goal!

Mullane on the backhand

Fresman Gaudreau with the assist. He was the FR that decommitted from NU and looked excellent.

Milner with about 5 saves sequentially.

D not very tight

Cross to the box 2 min for defending Milner, interesting.

BC kills it easily, no chances until about 20 sec. Arnold with a monster shift.

Gaudreau, like Cam Atkinson, has never seen a shot he doesn't like

9-4 NoDak in shots w 9 to go in 1st

BC was struggling to get out of their own zone for a while before last break.

Milner gets run, no call

BC to the powerplay with some nifty offensive zone play