This one is for Coach

Well, after 40 seasons behind the bench and 4 National Championships, Coach York has now entered an elite club of 900 victories that only him and former MSU coach Ron Mason are members of. How did coach and the team get the victory ? Well they used a strong first half of hockey to defeat a tough Merrimack team 4-2. Pat Wey picked a good time for his first goal of the season as he netted one past Joe Cannata about 10 minutes into the first period. If you were at the game, you could see that the goal was an exact replica of the Bill Arnold OT goal on Monday (Steve Whitney had the assist in both goals). Johnny Gaudreau netted his 14th goal of campaign just three minutes later as he took advantage of a great dish by Danny Linell to give the Eagles a two goal lead after a period.

In the second period, the Eagles continued to dominate as they got goals by seniors Barry Almeida (On the power play) and Paul Carey. Both goals were probably shots that Cannata would like to have back (especially Carey's) but in the end, the speed and skill of BC was too much for Merrimack. Give credit to the Warriors though, they battled back with a goal right at the end of the second and in the opening seconds of the third. Now, I thought BC played a pretty solid game but they looked sort of out of it for about 10 minutes at the end of the second and the beginning of the third.

I liked the way a couple of guys played tonight. I thought Pat Wey played one of his better games since coming back from that terrible foot injury. He really seems to be gaining confidence as he is starting to jump up in the offensive odd man rushes and is doing a much better job in his own zone. I thought the Gaudreau-Mullane-Carey line continued to be the best line on the ice tonight for either team. When it comes to offense, there may not be a better threesome at moving the puck around and creating grade A chances. I know I go on rants about why Johnny G is the best freshman on the league everyday but tonight, he was the best player on the ice without a doubt. The knack he has for finding the open man and using his speed to create chances is just something I have never seen at this level by a rookie.

Although Coach didn't really want to talk about it at his presser after the game, this milestone is just amazing. 900 wins as a head coach in any sport is amazing but to do it consistently well on this level is just something that is hard to comprehend. Now, you will think I am nuts (which I am) but I think we could make a very good argument that Jerry York is in the top 5 coaches all time in terms of NCAA Division 1 athletics. By the middle of next year, Coach will have passed Ron Mason for all time wins as Mason currently sits at 924 wins. It should also be noted that he just sighed a 5 year deal so he could certainly get well into 900's or even 1000's by the end of his coaching career. By the time his illustrious career comes to an end, Coach could definitely be talked about as one of the great college athletic coaches of all time.


Why BC Won 

1. Merrimack is tough but they are not to quick. For Merrimack to beat BC tonight, they needed great goaltending from Cannata. They didn't get it.

2. The penalty kill. The PK continued to do it's job tonight as they held the Warriors to 0/2 on the PP and were able to kill off a big one in the middle of the third.

3. The Gaudreau-Mullane-Carey line just took over the game on the offensive end. All three guys have skill that is not found in a lot of guys in this league.


Problems 

1. Not to many that really stand out to me, a couple of times where the Warriors just caught BC standing around.

Player of the Game- Coach York

Next Up- Tomorrow @ Merrimack 7:00 puck drop