Taking a look at..... The Merrimack College Warriors

Last season was by far the best season in Merrimack hockey history as Mark Dennehy's squad went to the NCAA tournament for just the second time ever and made their first trip to the Hockey East Championship game. This year, Merrimack looses star forwards Stephanie DeCosta, Joe Cucci, and Chris Barton. On the defensive side of the puck, MC looses Frazer Allan and Adam Ross. Merrimack's best returners are Ryan Flanigan and Jesse Todd who are probably their best returners. Last year was a great year for Merrimack and their fans. It was cool to see them rise up and really compete with the "big four, but they still haven't won anything big. They haven't won a championship, and they will realize that to be the best, you have to beat the best, when it really matters. Yes, MC did beat BC, BU, UNH, and Maine multiple times last year but, they haven't gotten to the upper portion of Hockey East because they have yet to beat those teams consistently. Im not going to say they were a fluke, but im not ready to say their that good. Merrimack will be good this year, but not that good.

Key losses- Stephanie DeCosta, Joe Cucci, and Chris Flanigan

Key Returnees- Jesse Todd, Jordan Heywood, Joe Cannata

Prediction- Loose to Maine in Hockey East quarters.

Taking a look at..... UMaine Black Bears

Last year was supposed to be "the year" in Orono. It obviously was not, as Tim Whitehead's crew lost in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs to end their season. Maine was the biggest surprise to me last year. They were so talented with Nyquist, Dee, Abbot, House, Flynn, and Dimmen, some people had the Bears winning the league. Maine returns Flynn and Abbot but loose Dimmen, Dee, Nyquist and House. Maine biggest losses though, come on the defensive side of the puck, as they loose Dimmen, Van Dyk, and Banwell. All in all though, UMaine hockey runs on how their goaltending is. If Sean Sullivan can come up big for the Bears this year then I believe Maine could get back to the Garden and be a potential threat to BC and BU. Heres another thing, Time Whitehead needs to go. I have said this once and I will say it again, . Maine has had so many talented teams the last couple year and have done NOTHING. Whitehead is a great recruiter, but is not a motivator like Jerry York and Jack Parker. In the end I believe Maine will be just average this year, finishing fourth in Hockey East, and getting revenge on Merrimack to get back to the Garden, but loose to BC in the Semis.

Key Returnees- Spencer Abbot, Matt Flynn, Mike Cornell.

Key Losses- Gustav Nyquist, Josh Van Dyk, Tanner House, Jeff Dimmen.

Prediction-Loose in Hockey East Semis to BC.

My thoughts on "Frozen Fenway" sequal

Today Hockey East announced that on January 7th UMass will play Vermont and Maine will play UNH at Fenway Park. This is a great move for Hockey East but lets be honest, your going to have another "Frozen Fenway" without BC, BU, or NU ? that is just extremely strange to me. Yes UNH vs Maine is a good matchup but UMass vs Vermont ? are you kidding me ? thats pathetic. UMass is terrible and UVM is going through a rebuilding process. It just shocks me that Hockey East is actually going to have a hockey game at Fenway and NOT include a team from the Boston area. UNH Maine is a great rivalry but what about BC BU again ?  ok maybe not BC BU again as that was a night to forget but UMASS VERMONT ????? that could be two of the worst teams in all of Hockey East next year. Im embarrassed.

Taking a look at.......The Northeastern Huskies

Things are changing on Huntington Ave, to say the least. This year the Huskies will have a new coach in Jim Madigan and virtually a whole new team from last year. I can't believe im saying this but this year I am really not scared of NU. NU always seems to give BC a really hard time, but this year im just not seeing it in this young Huskie team lead by Madigan. Don't get me wrong I believe Madigan is a solid hire but not an amazing hire. He doesn't have any head coaching experience anywhere and Hockey East is a tough place to start due to the amount of talent. I can't tell you how pumped I am to visit the Doghouse this year to see how the Huskies will match up with an elite team. The Huskies loose their whole first line and their best two underclassmen in Jamie Olesiak and Brodie Reid (not to mention they have lost almost all recruits). They return goalie Chris Rawlings, Alex Tuckerman, and Steve Qualier.

Key Losses- Steve Silva, Brodie Reid, Jamie Olesiak, Tyler McNeely, and Wade Macleod.

Key Returnees- Chris Rawlings, Steve Qualier

Prediction- Eight in Hockey East loose to The Eagles in the first round

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Eagles have new home jersey for upcoming season

Last year BC athletics changed its main outfitter from Rebook to Under Armor, there were no changes in the hockey teams uniforms (except the helmets), well now that has changed. BC will have a new look home hockey jersey. (see below)

Personally, I hate the new look jersey. I don't like how they take the BC logo off on the shoulders and the new stripe patters. I do not believe there is a new away jersey. What do you think ?

Taking a look at.......The Vermont Catamounts

Last season was probably a sub par season for the Cats considering they made it past the Hockey East quarterfinals the previous three years (2008 they lost in the Championship to BC) and even made the "Frozen Four" in 2009. Kevin Sneddon in my opinion is doing a great job at UVM. They are consitantly in the top 6 in Hockey East and seem to beat the "big four" every once and a while. This year UVM losses star goalie Rob Madore but returns Sebastian Stalberg, Drew MacKenzie, and Matt Marshall. The Cats suffered a huge blow in the middle of last season when their best player Wahsontiio Stacey left the team to focus on school, he will not return this year. I think UVM wil easily make the playoffs once agian, but fall in the first round to UNH as the sixth seed.

Key returnees- Drew MacKenzie, Connor Brickley, Sebastian Stalberg.

Key Losses- Madore, Stacey.

Prediction- Loose to UNH in first round. 

Eagles release 2011-2012 schedule

Today the Boston College Eagles men's hockey team released its schedule for the upcoming season. You can see the schedule on the side of the blog.

Headline by Michigan State, Denver, Notre Dame, Yale, Michigan, and of course BU this should be a tough but exciting schedule for the season.

Icebreaker- Michigan State shouldn't be to hard of a game this is the first game in the post Rick Comley era so I expect a victory to open the season. If BC wins they will probably have tho Sioux which would be a very tough victory to get. After that the Eagles return home to their toughest weekend of the year. Denver at home then up to UNH. I think if BC can get through MSU, UND, DU, UNH at the worse 2-2 then they should be just fine. After that comes a stretch of "must win" games UMass, NU, and UML (twice). The Eagles start the month of November with a home game VS Maine and then travel to Amherst, should be able to pick up four points there. The weekend of the 11th of November is when the rivalry is continued. First the Eagles get NU at home for new head coach Jim Madigan's first trip to Chestnut Hill. Should be an easy to points as BC havent lost to NU at home in as long as I
 can remember.

Then we have the strangest yet biggest game of the year. The Terriers come to town. Parker and his team will be visiting the Eagles on a Sunday which is extremely unusual in this rivalry. The Eagles then travel to Notre Dame and Yale the following week. The week after Thanksgiving only means one thing to true BC hockey fans. Terrier week.

The Eagles head into the Holiday season with a home and home with their arch rivals from down Comm Ave. This marks then end of what will be by far the toughest stretch of the year. BU at home, @ Notre Dame, @ Yale, then home and home vs BU is tough and that is when we will really see just how good this Eagle team is. Just before the Holiday tournament, BC has PC and ULowell which should mean four points heading into the Holidays. For a holiday tournament the Eagles have a lot of competition in The Great Lakes Invitational with Michigan, Michigan State, and Michigan Tech.

After coming off of Christmas break, The Eagles get right back to work for their first meeting of the year vs Merrimack and then travel to UMass. This is when the Eagles should really start to take off. BC should beat NU before traveling up to Orono for two VS the Black Bears. BC then returns home to face UNH in a HUGE home and home series. Then we have the Beanpot VS Northeastern.

BC ends the season with a much lighter load this season. They end with home and homes with  Merrimack, Providence, and Vermont.

Taking a look at....... The UMass Minutemen

For the second straight year UMass season ended at the hand of the Eagles. In fact UMass lost all five meetings to BC last year. Last year UMass was lead by JR TJ Syner and JR Danny Hoobs. Both of them will return for the 2011-2012 season. The last couple of season have been sub-par for UMass. Making the playoffs should not be the expectation of the Minutemen year in and year out. They need to making the Garden consistently  Although they are not in the League of BC, BU, UNH, and Maine. They should taking 2 of 3 from NU, Lowell, PC, and UVM next year. I expect UMass to make the playoffs next year as the 7 seed but fall once again in the Hockey East. One big loss for the Minutemen was goaltender Paul Dainton. Although he had sort of a tough season last year, Dainton was clearly the leader for UMass. UMass does return their top two scorers in Hoobs and Syner, which means the Minutemen should be able to win some key games next season.

Key Returners- Danny Hoobs, TJ Syner, and Mike Pereira.

Key Lossses- Chase Langeraap, Paul Dainton.

Prediction- 7th in Hockey East. Hate to say this but Fall to BU in first round.

John Gaudreau decommits from NU, commits to BC.

Next season for The Eagles just got a little bit better. The Eagles got a commitment from former NU recruit John Gaudreau. Gaudreau is a 5'6 forward out of Carney's Point, NJ who is considered by many to be the top scoring threat of all incoming freshman in college hockey. This is huge for BC, this in fact puts them right back in the drivers seat to be the favorite in Hockey East. Another reason this is great because the Eagles won a HUGE recruiting battle. Gaudreau was considering UNH, Vermont, and yes BU. I read today that Gaudreau has potential to score 40 points next year, now I don't know how good he is, but 40 points as a freshman ? thats ridiculous. Put that with big years from Chris Krieder, Pat Mullane, and Paul Carey, BU and the rest of the league better watch out. This marks the second time in just 3 months the Eagles have picked up the top recruit that for some reason decided not to attend that school ( give some credit to Coach York Coach Cav and Coach Brown). Danny Linnell (who was supposed to go to Harvard) is the other. This means that the Eagles will be a young team next year with lots of talent, the future looks bright for BC.

Taking a look at......The Providence College Friars.

Last year was a tough year for the Providence College Friars. In fact all six years under head coach Tim Army were tough. But now the Friars have a new coach and what seems like a new attitude. Tim Army was the worst coach in Hockey East, he needed to go. PC finally got rid of him and I believe the next couple years will be a big improvement under former Union coach Nate Leaman. Providence returns goalie Alex Beuadry amongst others. Beaudry is a  good goalie and should help the Friars to try to make the Hockey East playoffs this year. Another top returner for the Friars is JR Tim Schaller. Schaller was the Friars fourth leading scorer just a season ago. Heres the problem for the Friars, their top three players are all gone. Forwards Ian O'Connor, Kyle MacKinnon, and Matt Germain were all seniors and will not be back next year.  Give Providence one more year. I believe Leaman will be a great recruter and coach based on how he lead Union to the NCAA's this past year. This year will be tough on the Friars due to the fact they loose their top three scorers.

Top Returners- Alex Beaudry

Key Losses- Ian O'Connor, Kyle MacKinnon, and Matt Germain

Prediction- Last in Hockey East. Tough year for the Friars. Give Leaman time.

Taking a look at..... The UMass Lowell River Hawks

We are starting a new thing here on the BC hockey blog. We will preview every team in Hockey East starting from last up to first from last years standings. Today we have the River Hawks of ULowell.

The biggest change ULowell made this offseason was firing Blaise McDonald and hiring former standout player Norm Bazin as Head Coach. Bazin is a good hire, as an alumni of Lowell hockey I believe he will help lead the Hawks back to the top half of Hockey East in the future. This will probably be another tough year for the River Hawks who finished last in the league last year, but they have a pretty seasoned squad with fiver seniors on the roster this year. I do not think Lowell will make the playoffs this year, but I can see them improving on their 5-25-4 record from a year ago.

Key Losses- Maury Edwards, Pat Cey, Jason Deluca.

Top Returners- Dave Vallorani, Riley Wetmore, Matt Ferreira.

Prediction- Second to last in Hockey East. Improvement from last year.