OT: The Beans of Orono, Maine......

[freak]

Who would've thunk it?

Not only did the UMO Black Bears lose their first home playoff game ever, not only did they get SWEPT at home in the playoffsk, but it was Umass Amherst doing the deed!!! :eek:

My UNH Wildcats had better watch out at the Fleet. Umass played 'em close each game this year, and now they're hot and confident, with nothing to lose.

Go 'Cats!!! Throw out the Fish!!!

[Peg]

Wow!...
Wasn't UMO ranked 1st?...
This just might be the year that your Wildcats do it, with UMO out of the way... (Boy, ol' Mr.Spike a.k.a. Townes must be bummin', huh?!)
Sheesh, I wish that my Catamounts were more competitive, like they used to be... They haven't been the same since that hazing incident and their season being cancelled that year... *sigh*
Well, if it can't be my Cats, then it might as well be your 'Cats, eh?! Good luck! :)

[freak]

Originally posted by Peg
[B]Wow!...
Wasn't UMO ranked 1st?...[/B

Nope.

They stumbled down the stretch. Their season was very UNH-esque this year......hot early, stumble late going into the playoffs. Despite all the assertions of UMO fans that they'd be just fine.

UMO finished 2nd in Hockey East due to the UNH/BC split for the regular season championship, and were the #3 seed for the playoffs (UNH beat BC for the #1 seed on tiebreakers).

This just might be the year that your Wildcats do it, with UMO out of the way...

Don't jinx it.

But UMO isn't finished. They're still a lock to make the NCAA tourney, but they'll probably have to head out west. If UNH can take the HE tourney, they'll most likely get a #1 seed in the NCAAs, and stay east.

Also.......if UNH gets past Umass on Friday, I'll be going down again for the finals on Saturday. The Women's hockey east tourney is also being played this weekend, at Matthews Arena at Northeastern. UNH is the #2 seed there, playing Maine that afternoon, with the finals on Sunday. Could be a big hockey weekend for Durham.

[Peg]

Freak--Good for BOTH the mens' & womens' hockey teams at UNH! (Don't worry--I'm not a JINX!) Truly!... :)

So, Alice--How is your alma mater, BU, doin' in the Hockey scheme of things?!
BTW--How's your own training going?... :)

HEY--wasn't NR going to develop a "smilie" for each of our respective alma maters?!?!... NR?!... What say ye?... :)

p.s.--when I just replied to OttawaPatty's/Matt's post re: wrestling, I was informed that I had used TOO MANY SMILIES and that I couldn't post my reply until I had eliminated some of them!!! WTF?! Am I SERIOUSLY being rationed on my use of smilies?!?! Geez, we aren't even at war yet, and already the rations are kicking in... :(

[freak]

Originally posted by FallingAlice
[B](Though I think they have damn good goaltenders which can make up for a host of faults.)[/B}

Fields is a good goalie, but he's not as good as he thinks he is. He loves to flash that glove of his, but he's got a 5-hole as big as Ted Kennedy's mouth.

Which is more than one can say for BC over Merrimack (I assume that sports page readers here know what happened to the Merrimack Goalie.) Pretty scary stuff. Especially if you're a goal tender. Few goalies aren't cracked in the head at some point racing out to cover a puck.

I hate BC (hockey) as much as anyone, but that was just an awful accident. Even the antics after the collision are understandable. MC has seen in recent weeks, BC knock out one of their best players (Rosa), and now their MVP taken off on a stretcher. I'd fully expect things to get chippy in that instance.

All that being said, I'm really more a follower of women's hockey.

Too bad BU doesn't have a women's team. Be a perfect fit for the new Hockey East women's conference.

Anyone living in the Boston area who wants to see a GREAT hockey team should check out the Harvard Women. Best in the Country.

Hopefully the UNH women will have something to say about that. :D

[freak]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Fields stinks. I think he can win a games for you, that you have no business winning.

I just don't think he's as good as some do. He's got a h*ckuva glove, IMO, but that's the best part of his game.

Maine's Jimmy Howard (frosh) is the best fundamentally in the conference, IMO, despite his late struggles. The guy is always in position.

Originally posted by FallingAlice
I haven't seen the play on which it happened, but frankly I think the Merrimack Coach did BC a big favor by saying that it was a freak accident and that the player tried to avoid colliding.

I have.

NECN has a video of it if you want to watch it.

The puck was cleared from deep in the BC zone, into the MC zone towards the left faceoff dot. Pat Eaves went racing in after it from center ice, and Exter came way out of net to play the puck. Both were coming hard for the puck, and Exter sorta ducked low at the last second to get to the puck, which put his head in line with Eaves' knee. Eaves' could have probably let up when he saw Exter coming out, but he probably thought he could beat him to the puck.

I don't remember Serino saying Eaves' tried to avoid the collision, but he did say that he didn't think it was intentional. That was a big deal, because Eaves was called for intent to injure and given a game DQ, and including the subsequent brawl, he received another game DQ for fighting. That gave him 3 for the year, and a mandatory 5 game suspension.

Even going full bore, Div-1 players can stop on a dime (or slow their velocity down VERY fast).

As I said, both were racing in, reaching for the puck. The situation was made worse by the way Exter leaned down towards the puck.

I haven't seen the tape, but the only way I could see the offenseman being totally without blame here is if he tripped or something. I would think a trip would be pretty evident on the tape. And if that were the case, I would think the refs wouldn't have given him an intent to injure penalty. Unless they just did that to get the player in question off the ice and out of harm's way.

Eaves was in the zone alone....no trip.

BUT....if anything, he made a stupid mistake, by not erring on the side of caution.

Watch the video, and see if you change your mind. Not impying that you will, just suggesting that you should.

I had heard all sorts of stuff about it on USCHO, and decided to check it out myself.

That sounds great for BU and a prospective women's team. Oh, BTW, Providence is part of the new Hockey East league, along with UNH, UMO, NU, BC, and UConn.

Maybe. I hope they can make a game of it. Unfortunately, Freak, the odds aren't with them. I saw Harvard tee off against UNH early in the season. At that time UNH was rated 4th in the country so we were all expecting a really competitive game. Harvard beat them 7-1.

True.

But I'd say that despite rankings I think that UNH has been playing better hockey than earlier in the year. Huggon is a monster in net, with 13 shutouts on the year, and the offense averaged 4.6 gpg during Feb, and 6 gpg in the last 5.

I'm not making any predictions of an upset.

But as I said....here's hoping they have something to say about it.

[NEM]

GO BU... I was a huge BU fan back inthe sixties. Had season ticks for them, first row, center ice balcony, at the old Boston Arena before they built their rink. Those were the days when Jackie Parker was a player, Jackie Ferrara in goal, Herb Wakabayashi, etc....and Ken Dryden was the hated opposing goaltender at Cornell.

GO TERRIERS

[freak]

Originally posted by FallingAlice
It would be too much to say that Eaves has a really bad "Rep." But I just don't know of too many college hockey players who get 3 game DQs resulting in a 5-game suspension in a season.

I agree with you that Eaves probably wasn't shy about "taking the body" as you put it. As I said, he just made a poor choice, and could/should have slowed up as he saw Exter coming out.

In regards to his 3 game DQs.....remember that two of them were in that game. One for the hit on Exter, and the other for fighting in the ensuing brawl.

He only had 1 previously, and that was against UNH, for spearing Colin Hemmingway (granted, a dirty play). Hemmingway was also tossed for fighting, after he put Eaves on the ice.

To say that Eaves has a tendency to "Use poor judgment" I think is probably fair.

Agreed. I think he tends to get caught up, and doesn't think about what he is doing.

As far as the women's team goes, I can't disagree with anything you say. Just hoping for the best. Course I should be focusing on this weekend first, where UNH plays UMO in the semis of the women's HE tourney. Oh well.