Strong Play?

Hi everyone, I guess it’s time for another update at the ol blogerroo here.  I have to say that again, I’m impressed with the level of play that BU has exhibited recently.  While the results haven’t been spectacular (2-1-2) in the last 5 games, things are definitely looking up.  I would’ve posted earlier, but I was actually pretty upset about the Dartmouth loss, and decided to hold off for a bit.

Anyway, since I’ve last posted, the Terriers have lost to Dartmouth College (3-2), Defeated Merrimack (6-4), and tied Boston College (2-2).  I’ll try to reflect a bit on each game, as well as what’s been going on recently.

First, some news… Karson Gillespie is out for the long run, and I think this could end up being a pretty good thing for us.  Brett Bennett has displayed decently strong play in the past few games.  Dartmouth was a bit of a downer, but he played very well against Boston College.  It will help his development to know that the team is playing better in front of him.  I just hope it continues.

Dartmouth

This one really ate at me.  We dominated play for a majority of the game.  Boomer Ewing scored one of the sweetest goals I’ve seen in a while.  After two periods, we had the lead, and I couldn’t have been happier.  Then it started to fall apart.  A good PK by Dartmouth and some hard work from them tied the game.  They then took the lead when defenseman Brian Strait wasn’t able to control a puck in the defensive zone, leading to a puck that got stuffed between the pads of Bennett with only a minute and a half left in the game.  It was terrible.  A game that should have been a win turned into what should have been a tie, then a loss.  Blah.

I didn’t get to see the Merrimack game, so I can comment on that one too much.  I am concerned that after taking a 5-1 lead, we gave most of it up and needed an empty net goal in order to ice the game.

Boston College

This was a very good game, though I’m not happy with the tie.  From the get go, BU was the stronger team.  We won all the battles to loose pucks, and kept the puck in the offensive zone for extended periods of time.  It looked like a very dominant team, a team that shouldn’t be 7-11-2.  However, BC’s fresman phenom goaltender John Muse kept them in the game.  I’ll give him credit, he played an incredible game.

Boston College also played hard, and scored some good power play goals.  That was the difference between a win and a loss.  BU didn’t have what it took on the power play, a problem that has persisted for several seasons now.  We need to have a much stronger showing on the power play.  Besides moving the puck really well, we’re not getting anyone in front of the net, and not placing our shots well.  If we can improve on this, we should be able to make a turnaround.

Besides this, I thought that BC played  pretty dirty game overall.  Their players were pulling on sticks, taking cheap shots, and doing whatever they could to instigate problems.  I’m not sure if this is the way that Jerry York is training his team to play, but it’s not a style of hockey that I enjoy watching.  Yes, hitting and contact are parts of the game, and it can get emotional, but it gets pretty ridiculous when players go out there intentionally trying to draw penalties.  I’ll take Nathan Gerbe as an example.  He is one of the most talented players on the ice by far, but for some reason he still feels the need to play dirty.

Just take a look at what he did to Kevin Schaeffer last year as an example.  Cmon… pulling a guy on top of you just to get a penalty call?  Joe Bertangna, why don’t you review these things?

Huge series against UNH this weekend.  More to come.

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