Confidence

For those of you reading this on Facebook, there's a video. You can watch it by clicking "View Original Post" at the bottom of this note.

Northeastern 1, Rat Dogs 0


The book on Chris Rawlings so far this season has started with 6'5" and ended with "nervous." Well, he's got no reason to be nervous again.

Rawlings made 43 (!) saves in a 1-0 shutout of national champions Boston University*. This is unprecedented territory for a Northeastern goalie...Brad Thiessen made 43 saves against UNH last season and only managed a 2-2 tie. I'm not saying Rawlings is Thiessen, but this was the single most incredible goaltending display I've seen in college hockey. I've never seen the BU backdoor play get shut down, much less the 3-5 times I saw Rawls stuff a pad into the post today to deny a Terrier.

The game was also unbelievably loud, with the entire upper bowl filled past capacity. The lower bowl never looks full anymore because no students are willing to sit down there. Instead, there's 3,000 screaming kids wearing black in a balcony designed for half that number. It's awe-inspiring, and the noise after MacLeod slapped home a rebound for the game's only goal was ear-splitting and fantastic.

This is the second consecutive game in which the Huskies have had to play a man down during the last few minutes of the game. Mike Hewkin, who was injured in the first, returned in the second, and assisted on the goal in the third, took a terrible penalty for hitting from behind and forced the Huskies to kill off a penalty plus an extra attacker. This needs to stop.

All in all, a game Northeastern had no business winning. And those are always the best.


*Having to say "national champions" and BU in the same sentence makes me immediately ill.