NU won their first OT game at home since 2009 (I believe) Friday night against UMass. Huge two points. Even bigger two points up for grabs next week at UNH.
Having Merrill makes such a difference. Taking him out and replacing him with a weak and/or inexperienced 7th defensemen was such a drag on the team. Having him back is going to be huge for the rest of the season. He should be fresh too, since he hasn't played the whole season.How big has the return of Merrill been? When Merrill made his return after the GLI, Michigan was 76/95 on the PK (80.0%). They have gone 25/26 (96.1%) since then and are now 23rd in the country at 83.5%.
Before Merrill's return, opponents were averaging 2.6 goals per game (57 goals in 22 games). Michigan has given up just 10 goals in the seven games he's been back (1.43 goals per game) and now ranks 10th in team defense (2.31 goals a night). It would be a mistake to give him all the credit for the turnaround, but when you add your best player back into the lineup, it certainly is a boost, and the numbers have shown that.
Well at least Northeastern shows up.I've only got one word for NU right now: embarassing
I was shocked to see how small the Harvard contingent was for the game at Fenway. Looked like it was only families and such, whereas Union filled three or four sections.Well at least Northeastern shows up.
Harvard is killing the Beanpot. No student section, no fans.
I started watching with about 15 minutes. Caught about 3 or 4 on BU, including a nice slew foot by Chiasson right before he almost got the tip to score, and 2 on BC.Officiating in this game sucks. Bu has committed more legit penalties, but after tightening up and no longer playing as loose, the refs have swallowed their whistles and BC has gotten away with a lot more.
Yeah, it was ridiculous. End-to-end action, lots of tension and physical contact, both teams with great scoring chances, excellent goaltending on both sides.That game was absolutely insane.
we don't recruit, we reloadJerry York gets his 900th win tonight with a 4-2 win over the 'Mack. I have some contentions with him based on various anecdotes but can't doubt the man for his success. The guy turned around BC and has made anything less than a National Championship a disappointment. Call us cocky. Call us douchebags. But we are the preeminent college hockey team in the nation. Sorry BU. Sorry North Dakota. Sorry The (real) U. It's cute that you guys try but you have nothing on York. To tweak a TO quote, "Puck don't lie." Hard to be more proud to be an Eagle tonight. Soar Eagles soar. Three titles in 10 years. Five title games in 10 years. As a Marco Sturm B's fan, yes, I am spoiled. And I love it.
And if you hate on York or the program he's built, well, DX has two words for you.
CShea, I watch Merrimack as much I can, since I went there and when I was there (92-96) they were beyond terrible. The only cool thing about the games is that you'd see some really great hockey from the other teams. The 1992-93 UMaine teams (Karriya, Snow, Dunham, etc.) were amazing to watch. And the mid-90s BU teams (Grier, Drury) were awesome to watch too. It was also where I fostered my hatred of Hal Gill ... ah, memories.I went to the Merrimack/UNH game tonight, pretty entertaining 1-1 game. UNH really outplayed Merrimack for most of the game, but Cannata was strong and stole a point for Merrimack.
Anyone here watch Merrimack frequently? Good, hard working team, but I was pretty stunned to see them employ a floater throughout the entire game. I've never seen that at any level. UNH would have possession in the Merrimack end, and Merrimack would always have a floater skating back and forth along the UNH blue line. It wasn't just once or twice, they used it pretty much the entire game. It never worked either, so I don't know why they kept trying to use it. They never got a single odd man rush out of it.
Edit: Also, they did a nice job renovating Merrimack's rink into a decent facility, but they really need to invest in the extended glass for behind the net. Every other shot and clearing attempt is up and into the crowd. Whistle after whistle.
Therefor, it comes as little surprise that when the NCAA Tournament television schedule was released on the organization’s website, a grand total of one game will air outside of ESPNU: the tournament championship game on ESPN2, which had been on ESPN every year since at least the lockout. Four games will be syndicated on various regional sports networks, all regional semifinals. All of the regional finals, and the national semi-finals, will air on ESPNU. ESPN2 will air the title game. In addition, the selection show, which had aired on ESPN2 every year since the lockout, will air on ESPNU. So it’s hard not to look at this as a total demotion for the sport.
March 18
12:00 Selection Show (ESPNU)
March 23
3:00 East Semi-final (ESPNU)
5:30 Midwest Semi-final (ESPN Syndication)*
6:30 East Semi-final (ESPNU)
9:00 Midwest Semi-final (ESPNU)
March 24
1:30 West Semi-final (ESPN Syndication^)
4:00 Northeast Semi-final (ESPNU)
5:00 West Semi-final (ESPN Syndication%)
6:30 East Final (ESPNU)
7:30 Northeast Semi-final (ESPN Syndication*)
9:00 Midwest Final (ESPNU)
March 25
5:30 West Final (ESPNU)
8:30 Northeast Final (ESPNU)
April 5
4:30 National Semi-Final (ESPNU)
8:00 National Semi-Final (ESPNU)
April 7
7:00 National Championship (ESPN2)
*-will air taped delayed at 11:30 p.m. ET that night on ESPNU
^- will air tape delayed at 12:30 p.m. ET the next day on ESPNU
%- will air tape delayed at 3:00 p.m. ET the next day on ESPNU
Brian Halvorson of USCHO.com rips ESPN to shreds in his latest column.
In their infinite wisdom, executives at the ‘Worldwide Leader in Football and Basketball’ took time away from kneeling at the altar of Roger Goodell and discussion of the undying virtue of the routine slam dunk to make the decision to chip away at the foundation of the final vestiges of hockey programming on its family of networks.
After years of carrying the Frozen Four semifinals on ESPN2 and the title game on ESPN, ‘the deuce’ will now be home to college hockey’s season swan song and one of the semifinals while the first semifinal has been relegated to the never-popular ESPNU.
While it’s true that those of us most passionate about college hockey are an easily offended and defensive lot when it comes to the game we love, it is a difficult pill to swallow when our sport’s … ahem … one shining moment (sorry, it just slipped out) is devalued by a network whose criteria for a ‘top play’ is the NBA equivalent of an empty-net goal.
Outside of the prestige factor, little, if anything, will be lost in moving the championship game from ESPN to ESPN2 as each network is available in 99 million of the country’s households. The kick in the gut comes in the regionals and semifinals when 27 million fewer households will have access to the games due to ESPNU’s availability in just 72 million homes nationwide.
Well, 95 years will do that!(On a side note, I visited Agganis on Friday for the first time. I was stunned; that place is BEAUTIFUL. I love Matthews, but that place blows it out of the water).