The Boston College Eagles opened the 2013/14 campaign with a solid 8-2 exhibition win over the St Francis Xavier University X-Men on Sunday afternoon at Kelly Rink. I'm not going to really recap the game because the last forty minutes was just goal after goal. Even in the first twenty minutes, after which BC was down a pair of goals, I thought they played real well. There were two goals going into this game. 1. Win and 2. Don't lose anyone. Both were accomplished although Isaac Macleod and Steven Santini were both tossed late in the third period, something that I am sure upsets the staff. Anyways, the big thing I took out of this game was the amount of options BC has throughout it's lineup. They can mix and match as much as they want. I thought all four lines looked really good, especially the fourth line of Cam Spiro- Adam Gilmour- Brendan Silk. Spiro was one of those guys that needed to have a big game and he certainly did. I'm not going to say he "clinched" a spot in the lineup for Thursday night but I would be highly disappointed if he is sitting in the crowd versus the Wolverines. He deserves to be playing. The small but ultra fast guys like Cangelosi and Richardson were as good as advertised as I think the first line of Johnny G- Hayes- Cangelosi has some serious potential. Here are the top five things I noticed.
1. Demko looked fine. He stopped everything he faced but two X-Men shots rang off the post. Also, he gave up two pretty bad rebounds that could have been capitalized on. At the end of the however, all that matters is he doesn't let up any goals and he accomplished that today. I fully expect him to be in net on Thursday.
2. Each and every freshmen had some bright spots. Of the ten that got a chance to play, I was most impressed with Richardson, Cangelosi, and Calnan. All three of them compliment their linemates real well. I've always thought that Calnan was the "dark horse" of this class even though he is an NHL draft pick. If he continues to play like he did this afternoon, he will have a productive season.
3. The lineup situation this season could not be any more different from last seasons. The staff can pretty much do whatever they want. Every I look on the lineup card, I see guys that can score goals and help the team in some sort of way. We didn't have that last season versus Union and it ended up being the difference. Since Spiro played so well, I'm not sure Destry Straight is a shoe-in for Thursday's game because I believe that both Spiro and Quinn Smith have earned the right to play.
4. All the goals are great but the power play looked bad. They just couldn't get anything going. Too many bad/stupid passes through the middle of the zone that were picked off and iced. I'd like to see them work it low to high, have Matheson and McCoshen rip one-timers and have the three others surround the net looking for a rebound. It might not be flashy but it could get the job done. They tried to get cute with the puck.
5. Top three performers- 1. Kevin Hayes 2. Cam Spiro 3. Evan Richardson
New Projected Lineup
Johnny G- Hayes- Cangelosi
Fitzgerald- Arnold- Richardson
Smith- Brown- Calnan (I really hope they keep these guys together)
Spiro-Gilmour-Silk
Linell- Macleod
Matheson-McCoshen
Doherty-Santini
Note- Michigan lost to Waterloo today, 2-1.
Go Eagles !
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