The basketball tournaments weren't the only ones with upsets this weekend. 5th seeded UMass-Lowell went up to Burlington and swept Vermont, possibly knocking the Catamounts out of NCAA tournament contention. 6th seeded Boston College, who got swept by UNH a few weeks ago, took 2 games from them in Durham, advancing to the semis. The two top seeds struggled big time. Regular season champs BU needed 3 games to knock out Maine. Northeastern also needed 3 games, and then overtime in game 3 to knock out 7th seeded UMass.
So now it's UMass-Lowell vs. Northeastern, then Boston College vs. Boston University. Northeastern swept UMass-Lowell in 3 games this season. BU also won their season series against BC, winning 2 games and tying the 3rd. But BC seems to have found themselves, albeit a bit late. BC's 5-0-1 in their last 6 games, with 3 of those wins against nationally ranked teams.
The semis are at the Garden Friday night, with the Hockey East Final Saturday. Remember, Northeastern and BU are probably already in the NCAA tournament. And the winner of the HE tourney gets an automatic bid. So BC or UMass-Lowell can find themselves in the national tournament with only 2 more wins.
I was expecting Boston College to get an 8 or 9 seed, so this is a nice little surprise. BC will travel to Minneapolis for the opening round, and will face 10th seeded Southern Cal. BC is in the Midwest Region (Indianapolis), and if they can beat USC, will play either Michigan State or Robert Morris.
USC was 21-12, and surprisingly won the Pac-10 tournament. They were 5th in their Conference, so this is a solid 1st round selection for BC. They should beat this team. Michigan State is tough, but BC is fortunate not to have to face a 1 seed in the 2nd round.
The only other "New England" school to get into the tourney was UConn. The Huskies got a 1 seed, despite losing their opening game in the Big East Tournament. UConn gets to start off in Philadelphia, but they're part of the West region, so they'll have to go to Arizona to make the Final Four.
The TD BankNorth Garden will host the East Regionals. Pittsburgh is the #1 seed in the East bracket, and Duke is the #2. Here are the 14 other schools who might invade The Hub:
#3 Villanova #4 Xavier #5 Florida State #6 UCLA #7 Texas #8 Oklahoma State #9 Tennessee #10 Minnesota #11 Virginia Commonwealth #12 Wisconsin #13 Portland State #14 American #15 Binghamton #16 East Tennessee
Boston College was one of 7 ACC teams to get in. The Big East and Big Ten were the other Conferences with 7 teams in. Here are the other teams to get in:
#1 North Carolina #2 Duke #4 Wake Forest #5 Florida State #7 Boston College #7 Clemson #10 Maryland
The tournament starts Thursday, and BC plays Friday.
After compiling 2 wins in a row (for the first time since February 26th), the Bruins headed into Pittsburgh, had a 3-2 lead going into the final period, and were outscored 4-1. It only took the Penguins 61 seconds of sloppy Bruins' hockey to turn a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 deficit.
Apparently, 60 minutes of hockey is too much for the Bruins. To be fair, they had 5 penalties to kill. The refs called much too tight of a game, against both teams. Lots of nit-picky hooking, holding, and interference calls.
Since February 7th, the Bruins are 2-6-2 (6 points) against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended right now. That's abysmal. In the 10 games against playoff teams before that, the Bruins were 8-1-1 (17 points). 10 games against playoff teams before THAT? 8-1-1.
Before February 7th, the Bruins were 18-3-4 against playoff teams. That's 40 points, or 1.6 points per game. In the last 10 games, it's been 0.6 points per game. Horrible. Dreadful. Shitty. Tragic.
The Bruins will win the Northeast division, but securing the 1 seed or the 2 seed is looking less and less likely. There are 12 games left, folks. 6 at home, 6 on the road. 4 against playoff teams, 8 against non-playoff teams.
The big games to gauge whether or not the Bruins are out of this extended funk: 3/22 vs. New Jersey 3/29 @ Philly 4/9 vs. Montreal
How the Bruins perform in these games will tell us if they're destined for a first round exit, or if they can go deep into the playoffs.
The B's have a few days off to sit in the corner and think about what they've done. They host the hapless Kings Thursday night.
The Bruins exploded to a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of this one, then in the remaining 50, it was a 3-2 Senators game. 2-2 until Kessel's empty-netter sealed the win.
Finally, the Bruins got a bit of good fortune when Aaron Ward came out of the penalty box at precisely the right moment, scoring on a breakaway thanks to Zdeno Chara's stop in front of an open net, and a perfect pass from Patrice Bergeron. PJ Axelsson also scored after being released from the box.
The Senators have three threats on offense. That's pretty much it. Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, and Daniel Alfredsson. As an opponent, if you shut down these three, Ottawa's offense is essentially contained. The Bruins didn't do this. 2 minutes after going up 3-0, Blake Wheeler got lazy in front of his own net, giving Spezza enough space to make it 3-1, keeping Ottawa in the game.
The 2nd period saw no scoring, but plenty of Bruins' possessions that ended in the neutral zone thanks to poor puck protection. Savard had some breakaways, but couldn't finish. It's kind of sad that Aaron Ward has a better finish than Marc Savard lately. More laziness in the defensive zone followed. If the Senators were a better team, they would have came out of the 2nd with a lead. The B's were fortunate to be up 3-1 after 2.
Early in the 3rd, Kessel showed the finishing touches he demonstrated in October and November, and he was sprung by a vintage Savard pass. The 4-1 lead seemed concrete... for 2 minutes, when Schubert took advantage of lackluster defensive play, then Spezza scored thanks to a failed assignment. The Bruins had to sweat out a 1 goal lead, with Kessel hitting an empty net.
The Bruins showed both of their natures last night. They showed their explosiveness, their toughness (Kessel and Ference were particularly hard-nosed), their defensive excellence. Then they showed their laziness, their lack of coordination, slow and confused line changes. They haven't played a full 60 for a few weeks now.
Although there were some bright spots. Kessel looked sharp in all three zones, and was especially fierce on the defensive end. Andrew Ference had a great game, despite the -3 on his stat sheet. PJ Axelsson finally had a good game offensively. It's been awhile. Montador was very good with the puck all night, making some nice moves in his own zone to kickstart the neutral zone offense. Krejci had some more misses and mistimed passes, but played a good physical game.
Here's the heavyweight fight between Milan Lucic and Chris Niel:
The Bruins host the worst team in the NHL Saturday as the Islanders come to town.
The OTHER March Madness. #1 Boston University won the Hockey East regular season crown, #4 Northeastern fell 1 point shy, losing to Boston College the last day of the season. Those two teams are essentially guaranteed an NCAA berth, but #7 Vermont and #9 New Hampshire need strong showings, and perhaps to win the Tournament, in order to continue their season.
Heres the bracket:
The first round is best of 3, so BU and Northeastern shouldn't have much trouble advancing. UNH swept BC a few weeks ago, but you never know with the Eagles when it comes to hockey. Last year, they were 4th in Hockey East, won the Hockey East Tournament, then rolled through the NCAAs. UMass-Lowell is also a surprisingly solid team, but Vermont is a hard place for visiting teams to spend a weekend.
Prediction: BU beats Northeastern in the finals in a repeat of the Beanpot.
It's that time of year again. The appetizer to March Madness' main course: Conference Tournaments...
Boston College fell short of securing a 1st round bye in the ACC tourney, although they do have a cupcake first round opponent in Virginia. Here are the games and my guaranteed to be wrong predictions...
ROUND 1: #8 Virginia Tech vs. #9 Miami Both these teams have something to prove to the Selection Committee. Virginia Tech beat Miami in OT during the regular season, but the Hokies have been ice cold since then, losing 6 of their last 7, and 8 of 11. Give this one to the Hurricanes.
#5 Clemson vs. #12 Georgia Tech Clemson is ranked 18th in the country, and should demolish the Yellow Jackets, who were a dismal 2-14 in the ACC.
#7 Maryland vs. #10 NC State Maryland was an NCAA bubble team until losing 4 of their last 6, but one of those 2 that they won was against NC State. The Terps might be playing with the illusion that they have a shot at the Dance, the Wolfpack would have to be blind to think that. Maryland wins this one.
ROUND 2: #9 Miami vs. #1 North Carolina UNC is the best team in the country. It's a fact. They'll be challenged by the national powerhouses in the NCAAs, but the ACC tournament is theirs to lose. They'll destroy Miami, who they beat twice in the regular season.
#5 Clemson vs. #4 Florida State FSU has been a Jekyl & Hyde team this year. They beat Clemson twice, yet lost to Boston College and Northwestern. Despite sweeping the season series, I think the Seminoles lose to Clemson in a close game. But here's a picture of FSU alum Jenn Sterger anyway:
#7 Maryland vs. #2 Wake Forest I'm feeling an upset here. Wake Forest is ranked 9th in the country, and they beat Maryland in their sole meeting. But that was a 65-63 contest. And if NC State, Georgia Tech, and Miami can upset the Demon Deacons, why not Maryland?
#6 Boston College vs. #3 Duke BC can blame themselves for the 6 seed and a date with Duke instead of Florida State or a bye. Two losses to Miami, and a recent loss to NC State pushed the Eagles down to 6th in the ACC. Duke fell to BC in February, but this is March, the game is in Atlanta, and this is Duke. Blue Devils pull away after a closely fought game.
SEMIFINALS: #5 Clemson vs. #1 North Carolina The Tar Heels ripped Clemson apart 94-70 in January. The same sad story will be told in March.
#3 Duke vs. #7 Maryland Maryland's miraculous run comes to an end here. Duke beat the Terps 85-44, then 78-67. That's a combined margin of victory of 52. Maryland will be lucky to score that many in this game.
FINAL: #1 North Carolina vs. #3 Duke UNC beats Duke... again. Because Duke sucks and blows, defying the laws of physics.
Give credit to Steve Mason and Columbus. Mason recorded his 9th shutout of the season, which leads the NHL. Pretty good for a 20 year old. And even though the refs fucked up all night (only 2 minute penalty when Mark Stuart's nose was bleeding, no diving penalty for Kristian Huselius' embellishment of Chara's hook, no call when Thomas was accidentally hit behind the net, no interference call when Kessel was bowled into the boards before he even touched the puck), Columbus played a good, tight hockey game.
But wasn't it typical Bruin luck? Thomas gets run into, his helmet pops off, hits the ice, and breaks. He has to either use Manny Fernandez's helmet, or Manny Fernandez has to come into the game. The Blue Jackets get a power play score from an awkward angle, a shot Thomas typically stops. A shot that he perhaps stops if he has his own mask.
At the same time, the Bruins score 0 goals, which is the best way to avoid winning.
The Bruins can watch this game, among with several others, and find many examples of how they messed up. Early in the 2nd, Kessel had a clean breakaway, just him and the goalie, and he didn't even get the shot on net. Seconds later, he Savard, and Lucic bungled a 3 on 2 opportunity.
David Krejci and Marc Savard have both turned into turnover machines, not the high percentage playmakers they were in the first 50 games of the season. Phil Kessel can't finish anymore. PJ Axelsson flat out sucks. Why was Axelsson on the ice longer than Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler? With 2:04 left, why was Axelsson on the ice AT ALL?
I keep waiting for this team to emerge from this funk. And if it doesn't happen on Thursday when the 26-29-10 Senators come to Boston...
The Patriots allowed the 2nd most passing TDs in the NFL last year, and the 2nd most 40+ yard pass plays. This off-season, there's been a concerted effort to improve the pass defending elements of the defensive alignment.
Last week they acquired veteran Shawn Springs, and today they signed Leigh Bodden formerly of the Detroit Lions.
Neither of these guys are shutdown corners, neither of these guys are big playmakers, but neither of these guys are Deltha O'Neal. Springs is a 13 year old veteran, and Bodden has 7 years in the League. They don't make big mistakes. They don't blow coverage schemes. They'll help the younger CBs, like Terrence Wheatley, develop into solid CBs.
But once again this year, the quality of the pass-defense will be determined by the consistency of the pass rush. Pass rushing isn't just about sacks, it's about forcing hurried throws, and not allowing the QB to go through his progressions. The front 7 will determine how many passing TDs and 40+ yard passes the defense allows, more so than the DBs.
