Great Lakes Recap

Well it was kind of fitting to end 2011 with a win, after all it was a great year for BC hockey as they won the Beanpot, Hockey East tournament and regular season titles and had a winning record vs The Other School. I thought the team looked a little rusty this week up in Detroit, especially in the first game vs Michigan. I think that adjusting to the new lines without Billy Arnold was very hard for the bottom two lines. One thing that I noticed this week that is really bad is the odd man rushes that BC is giving up, and it needs to stop. To many times, especially vs UM, the other team had a 2-1 or a 3-2 that led to goals or golden opportunities.  Most of the turnovers were a result of poor handling of the puck at the blue line and the forwards not back checking. Scoring just two goals in each game is also not too great. I thought the lack of offensive production was noticeable but keep in mind that the Eagles were missing one of their biggest offensive guns in Billy Arnold. I thought every defenseman had a pretty solid weekend. I really liked the way guys like Tommy Cross and Brian Dumoulin are getting involved with the offense. I thought Patch Alber had a great weekend especially in his own end as he is quickly turning into the best defensive defenseman on this team. On the offensive end,  I thought guys like Paul Carey and Barry Almeida had outstanding weekends. I think the line of Almeida-Carey-Hayes could be taking over the top line in place of Gaudreau-Arnold-Kreider. One line that I thought struggled in the first game but came back in the second game was the line of Straight-Whitney-Sit. This is the line that probably sufferd the most thanks to the loss of Arnold but it still needs to find ways to put the puck in the net.


I am really interested to see what goalie will play on Sunday vs Merrimack. I thought both had pretty good weekends but like I said earlier, I was really impressed with Parker Milner as he seems to have improved his game over break. I think we should have a clear picture of who will be starting by Thursday or at the latest Friday but it should be interesting to watch. As for the upcoming schedule, the next three games are the BIGGEST games of the year. I am really interested to see how the team plays vs a struggling Merrimack team but the Warriors do have a very solid goalie in Joe Cannata so it should be an interesting matchup. The team then travels to UMass next Friday and the Minutemen are undefeated at the Mullins. Next Saturday is the biggest game of the year. Northeastern is the hottest team in Hockey East right now and are coming off win vs Michigan, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Unfortunately, BC was going to have that game at home but instead it is at Fenway Park. Until next time,

GO EAGLES