Oh yeah, I have a blog

I've discovered that I have substantially less to blog about when the teams I follow are playing well. If the Angels win the Series, the Kings win the Cup, and the Huskies win anything, I'll probably spend months away from here.

Regardless, after watching the US demolish Norway 6-1 despite playing about 20 minutes of good hockey and 40 minutes of crap, I figured I'd talk about sports.

Angels

I promise to have a season preview up before the season actually begins. With most projections showing the Angels to be an 85-win team, I'm fairly confident they can win 90, but it's going to take repeat or better performances from Morales and Kendrick, along with some degree of recovery from Kazmir and Santana. Santana is probably the most important player on the Angels. If he can return to his 2008 performance, he becomes a cheaper, younger, and better John Lackey. Kazmir as well, although I expect less from him, largely because he hasn't showed the solid peripherals he maintained during his first couple seasons for the last three seasons.

Joel Piniero was a waste of money. But that will become clear shortly enough. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Tony Reagins is not a top-tier GM.


Huskies

This is a big weekend for Northeastern. The hockey team opens at Matthews against BC tomorrow in a surprisingly crucial game. I say "surprisingly" because the Huskies were clinging to the final playoff spot three weeks ago, giving games in hand to powerhouses like Merrimack, and with the distinct possibility of missing the playoffs for the second time during Cronin's tenure. However, they've since won 6 of 7, with the lone loss coming in the Beanpot, and sit a single point out of fourth place. Fourth is where the home ice is, and that would be wonderful. I'm missing the final home hockey game of the season, so if I want to see more than two hockey games at Matthews before I graduate, the Huskies will have to make a valiant run to 4th.

Saturday brings Louisiana Tech to Matthews for a Bracket Buster battle between* NCAA tournament hopefuls. The Huskies can and should win this game, in front of what will likely be the largest home basketball crowd since Reggie Lewis called Huntington Avenue home. If Northeastern can win its final two CAA games, it wins the CAA regular season title and guarantees itself a spot in the NIT. Win three more in Richmond, and the Huskies dance, forcing me to scramble to find tickets to the regionals on short notice, ensuring the flight will cost more than my annual hockey budget.

Sunday, the hockey team plays BC at BC in a weird 3:00 game, a game I'd like to go to but probably can't make. Later, the US plays Canada in the closest thing we'll have to an NHL All Star game this season.


Marcus

So I updated the Ice Sports Schedules on the right side of the page. My hockey team is an expected 0-3, although my idiot teammates (and I say that in the most loving way possible) decided not to show up to a game on the 14th, so we lost by forfeit, instead of the usual "give up way more goals than you score" method. My next game comes, thankfully, after an Aerodynamics test, and we'll be playing Jeff's team, so our first W might be in sight.

My broomball team, on the other hand, has no losses and two wins, something that's never happened before. I've allowed a single goal on the season, and have posted consecutive shutouts for the first time in my career. It's a weak league this year, but if we can win our next two games we'll make the playoffs for the first time.

Coming up later this semester: floor hockey.

Quick, Kings beat Devils with 2 goals in final 1:46

Click for larger version of Quick's glove.

At the time Quick made the save of the game, the Kings were down 2-1 late in the third period. Somehow, Quick managed to get his glove in front of a puck he couldn't see, stopping a sure goal and keeping the Kings within one. This is the type of save I want to make once in my life. It's not a save you make from being in position, it's not a save you make from having good reactions, it's a save you make because you got really lucky. Really, incredibly lucky. Which makes it a save I'm capable of. Maybe.

The tying goal made Brodeur look Marcus-esque, as Simmonds slipped a shot from a tough angle between Brodeur's leg and the post. The winning goal, with 28 seconds left, came on a center point shot from Doughty that made it through traffic and deflected off Brodeur to go in five-hole.

Let's recap this weekend:

• Huskies beat Old Dominion 74-64.
  
• Kings beat Bruins 3-2 in a shootout. (watch Anze in the shootout, recap video here)
  
• Lakers beat Celtics 90-89. (video)
  
• Kings beat Devils 3-2 after being down 2-1 as late as 18:13 in the third period.
  

Talk about some fortuitous bounces of the puck. The Kings are now 4th in the Western Conference, with a chance at home ice in the playoffs if they can stay there.

Playoffs? Playoffs?! Unbelievably, yes. The Kings missing the playoffs would be a tremendous disappointment.

The Huskies sit at 9-2 in the CAA, tied for second place, with the likelihood of a first-round bye in the CAA tournament growing weekly. If this team fails to win the CAA tournament, and thus misses the NCAA tournament, they will have squandered the best team this school has had since the Reggie years. It's important to note that they live and die by the three pointer, so they're likely to be very streaky. A good streak would take them well into the NCAA's.

The Lakers, despite some late struggles, are still up 4 games over Denver for first in the West. They're 9.5 games in front of Phoenix in the Pacific, code for "rest Kobe for the playoffs, please."

Beanpot tomorrow.

Beanpot Preview

Ah yes, the Beanpot. It's the time of year when it's so cold that it almost seems like a good idea to stay indoors and watch college hockey despite knowing the tremendous odds against any non-BU team. The only pair of games that matter to BU's fans, and the only opportunity for BC fans to really rub it in. The only chance Harvard has at regional exposure.

These are boring, boring times.

Let's start with Harvard vs BC.


Harvard Crimson - 5-11-3 (5-6-3 ECAC, 7th place)

Remember that time Harvard beat Northeastern in the opening round of the Beanpot, and almost beat BU in the final? Not going to happen this year. Harvard opens against Boston College, the only good team in this tournament this year, and is looking to get shellacked in the way that only a bunch of nerds on skates can. The Crimson have fallen victim to untimely combinations of weak goaltending from Ryan Carroll or nonexistent offense. They managed three wins in a row against Yale, Dartmouth, and Union before tying RPI and losing to Princeton. That was the only time this season they strung together wins, and was the only 2+ game non-losing streak they put together. They avoided winning from November 6th through December 28th, notching a win (just their second of the season) over Qunnipiac on the 29th.

This team is bad. Their peripheral stats aren't awful (18% PP, 79% PK), but they aren't great, and they're getting hurt in 1 goal games at 1-5. Their best player is Louis LeBlanc, with 16 points in 16 games, and their goaltending tandem has become a one-horse race with Carroll putting up substantially better numbers than Richter.

Their mascot is also a color.


Boston College Eagles - 12-8-2 (10-6-2 Hockey East, 2nd place)

BC is the only team in the tournament that has bigger fish to fry than the Beanpot this season. They've cooled down from their torrid pace to start the season, but they've got a resurgent John Muse and the power of Jesus. Actually, Muse has been fairly mediocre, but the Eagles know how to score goals. They're got the second best goals for/against ratio behind UMass Lowell, and they've scored more goals than anyone but Maine.

Their best player is Ryan Gibbons, who's posted 28 points in 23 games, but Cam Atkinson is their best scorer, with 16 goals on the season thus far. 9 of the 22 non-goalies on the roster are NHL draft picks, and they're coached by the lovable Jerry York, the perfect foil to Jack Parker's general air of asshole.

Prediction: BC wins 5-2, and it's not that close.

Boston University - 9-11-3 (7-9-2 Hockey East, 6th place)

BU was having a terrible season coming into the holiday break. Jack Paker, in his annual address to the Friends of BU Hockey, called out several of his players, including the goalie Kieran Millan, and literally mentioned "the Red Sox signed John Lackey" as one of the positives of the season. The man knows how to grind my gears. They've picked it up recently though, winning 5 of their last 7, including the most boring college hockey game ever played outdoors (a 3-2 win over BC). They're getting production from Nick Bonino (21 points in 18 games) and a cluster of players with 17-19 points in a similar number of games. Millan has a season save percentage of .881, which is Dan Cloutier territory. Even recently, the games they've been winning have been 6-4, not 2-2.

BU has time to salvage their season courtesy of some games in hand and the general partiy between teams 2-6 in Hockey East. Of course, if they win the Beanpot, which they likely will, the fans on Comm Ave will see the season as a victory overall.


Northeastern Huskies - 11-11-1 (7-10-1 Hockey East, 7th place)

If you ask me the #1 reason why the Huskies are in danger of missing the playoffs, my answer won't be goaltending. Chris Rawlings has been solid, with a SV% of .907 despite a borderline-bad 2.87 GAA. In fact, the team has allowed the third-fewest goals in Hockey East.

The problem is the offense. With the loss of IPNO favorites Ryan Ginand and Joe Vitale, the offense has produced a meager 59 goals this season, second worst in Hockey East, and has gotten obscenely lucky in one goal games, going 6-2. They've gotten mauled at Vermont 9-2* and lost a winnable game versus Lowell in Matthews Arena 6-5 in overtime. You'll notice only the single tie, something rather uncommon for Northeastern, so some points have been lost there as well.

The Huskies, when they do score goals, are doing it by committee. Kyle Kraemer and Wade MacLeod lead the team with 17 points apiece, but 7 players have 5-9 goals each. Interestingly, the Huskies have allowed only a single empty net goal this season, despite pulling the goalie in 13 games.

The last time expectations were this low for a Beanpot title on Huntington Avenue was my freshman year '05-'06 season when the Huskies entered the first Monday night with a single win to their names. They entered the second Monday having doubled their season win total, only to get shut out 5-0 by Harvard. This is Northeastern's enduring legacy in this godforsaken tournament. Winning this tournament would do a couple things: it would make this season something other than a total loss, it would get my aerodynamics class canceled on Tuesday, and it would lead to substantial amounts of Bud Light finding its way to the stomachs of several hockey players by way of my wallet.

*This was a weird game, because Rawlings got pulled for the second period, and then Mountain got pulled for the third, so Rawlings came back to sleep in the bed he made and Mountain subsequently crapped in.

Prediction: BU wins 4-1, the game is closer than the score indicates.

The championship game results in a 3-2 OT victory for the Eagles, and the Northeastern Invitational ends in an embarrassing 4-2 loss for the host team.


Other possibly Beanpot-related miscellany:

• Puck Daddy Beanpot Preview - "And it is the single worst tournament in sports. [...] So what, exactly, is so awful about it? BU wins it half the time."
• Puck Prospectus - Shot Quality - I just think these plots are cool. Lots of neat shit on that site. You'd be surprised at how closely baseball and hockey mirror each other, statistically speaking.
• The Hockey News - Lecavalier a King? Looking likely, but if they get rid of Wayne Simmonds, I'm going to have to punch someone in the stomach.

Northeastern 74, Old Dominion 64

I could talk about the game, but that's not that interesting. So instead, we're going to talk about Joel Hines.
This is Joel Hines. He is the Director of Basketball Operations for Old Dominion. He is in his second season as the DBO, and he was hired because ""He will bring good work ethic, ambition and knowledge of our setting."

All I know about Joel Hines is that he is a class act. When I was yelling at their bench with lame comments about how they were fat and losing by 15 points, some players laughed. Some ignored me. When I called their head coach Ron Jeremy, some players laughed, some ignored me. But not Joel. Joel decided I needed to be taught a lesson. That I needed to be taught the rules of fan-player interaction.

So he told me to "shut the fuck up, bitch." A few times. He pointed and yelled at me when ODU scored to get within 10. I was flattered, frankly, that I was able to help his team to a closer game by providing the motivation they so clearly needed. I advised him that perhaps they should invite me to all their games, so perhaps I could improve their record. He told me to "keep talking, bitch." His players laughed, smiled at me, and I waved back. These players were clearly out of line. They were supporting a rambunctious fan without informing him that he was being rude and/or inappropriate. They weren't defusing the situation. And all those other players, just ignoring me? Well, that's not very proactive, is it?

The world would be a terrible place without people like Joel Hines, people who understand that you should always break the fan/team barrier. People like Ron Artest. People like Glen Davis. These people understand that their interaction with fans is an important part of encouraging responsible fan behavior.

Good on Joel Hines. Even if his language is a bit rough around the edges.

In other news, the Huskies are unbeatable when they make threes, and Paws appropriately awarded Mark the fan of the game bumper sticker for putting up with my yelling and a possible Atest situation with Mr. Hines.

Sam Cassell Says Hi

Northeastern basketball records its 11th straight win with a demolishing of VCU.

The Kings beat Detroit 3-2.

Chaisson Allen's buzzer beater owns Wright State

Wow.

Angels and Hockey

Quick note: For those of you who read this on Facebook, a lot of formatting gets screwed up...click on "View Original Post" if you care about things like that.

Yes, my room's a mess. Yes, it's finals week.

If you've never tried on hockey goalie pads, it's really something worth doing. It really helps you appreciate the game from both a shooter and a goalie perspective. The pads are huge, and it's tough to move around. This, of course, is added to the fact that you're on ice and skates, and the ball is a tiny piece of frozen rubber shooting around at 120 mph. And forwards have a tough time because these pads are enormous. I'm not a particularly big guy...I'm about 5'10", but I weigh around 150 pounds, so my frame's pretty wiry, but these pads allow me to fill up most of the goal. I now understand why Thiessen looked so small in Wollaston's but so huge on the ice.

I've made no secret of my desire to play hockey for the last year or so, and this upcoming semester is really my last chance to do it. Northeastern has an intramural ice hockey league, so I'll need to assemble a team. Most certainly, Jeff will play, but finding others to play an incredibly dangerous game without any sort of formal training or equipment is going to be difficult. On the bright side, playing goalie ensures you've always got ice time.

I bought this chest protector on eBay using funds I acquired by participating in an asinine study at MIT. Sadly, without getting paid for my last co-op, this is what it's come to. I've got another study on Friday where I'm watching football for three hours to make $50, which doesn't seem too bad, but jeez, I'd just like my earned salary, please. With any luck, my loving parents will contribute to a real goalie helmet and the ever-important goalie jock.


Angels

"Do you want to know the terrifying truth? Or do you want to see me sock a few dingers!?"

Side note: Talk about weird. So much irony and foreshadowing in that quote. There's a lot of baseball references in the Simpsons, but seeing Mark McGwire in there much before the whole steroid controversy was pretty interesting.

Following the Angels this year has been unbelievably weird. I was convinced they were a third-place team for the first month of the season. I was convinced they were the best team in the AL after the All Star break. I lost confidence in their ability to win thanks to crappy pitching. And now I'm beginning to think they're the class of the AL. Again.

Sweeping Tampa isn't really the same as sweeping the Yankees, but it's still a nice way to round out a homestand. Moreover, the offense seems to have woken up, and Ervin Santana had a hell of a start. I will note, however, that his fastball velocity was up in the 95-97 range in the first and then 92-94 the rest of the way through. That's not ideal.

Trevor Bell made the start this afternoon. I napped through part of his start, but he looked more reliable than his line score indicates. 4 ER in 5.1 innings is kinda bad, but the 4 K's are encouraging, much as the 3:2 groundball to flyball ratio. He's not a future David Price, but it looks like he'll manage league-average numbers at the league-minimum salary. Boom.

By the way, I noticed this over at the site for the Salt Lake City Bees. Yes, Eric Maynor of VCU basketball, throwing out the first pitch. I heckled this guy like it was my job when he showed up at Matthews. It's strange when sports intermingle like this.

Inside Matthews Arena

I grabbed a few seconds of video, for those of you eagerly anticipating Husky hockey and basketball in a couple months.



You'll notice that the DogHouse is now black bench seating. The red plastic seats are "standard" season tickets, and the red/black seats are "premium." My section, 49, falls into this premium section, but damned if I'm sitting anywhere else.

The center-ice video scoreboard looks beautiful. Just beautiful.

I'll be writing about hockey soon.

FFS

I haven't talked much about Northeastern's men's basketball team lately. There's a lot of reasons for that, but here's a brief recap of their season:

-They played a tough out of conference schedule with great wins over Providence and Indiana and terrible losses to USF and BU.
-They opened their CAA slate 5-0.
-They lost to a terrible Hofstra team.
-They won 4 straight, including a home win over George Mason and a great road victory over VCU to take possession of first place.
-They lost to a bad William and Mary team.
-They had a routine home win over UNC Wilmington.
-They lost to a bad Drexel team at home and then lost a winnable game to Mason on the road.

That brings us to tonight. The Huskies played like crap but still managed to tie the game with 7 seconds left on a miraculous Baptiste Bataille three-pointer. They then knocked the ball out of bounds with 1.4 seconds left. And then lost on an inbounds pass that went directly into the paint for a buzzer-beating layup.

This is my post from DHD:

If anyone beside the Flying Frenchman ever takes a three again, it'll be too soon.

We were in the DOUBLE BONUS with TICKY TACK REFS for the LAST 10 MINUTES OF THE GAME and still couldn't pull this one out. We kept shooting threes. We kept turning the ball over. We refused to make our free throws.

We can't defend the three. We can't box out. We can't shoot threes. We can't finish in the paint. Oh yeah, and we can't defend an inbounds pass directly into the paint with 1.4 seconds left and a tie game.

What the hell were we doing differently before?

This team has not done a thing to prove they're worth postseason play since VCU.

Also, Georgia State coach Rod Barnes is a disgrace to the league. I let him know how I feel after the game while he was interviewing. He was on the floor the whole game. He would yell "box out" when the Huskies were shooting free throws, which isn't very classy in of itself, but he would yell this on the first free throw of shooting fouls. How he didn't earn a technical foul is beyond me, but the next time he visits Northeastern I will be two feet behind him, yelling into his damn ear the whole time.

Things you shouldn't care about (and a few things you should)

Here's the most unimportant topics in sports today:

• Alex Rodriguez and steroids. 104 players are on a list. 1 name got released. Unfair? You betcha, particularly after those names were supposed to be expunged from any record keeping after 2003. Newsflash: Everyone in baseball takes or has taken steroids. It's an era, we'll get past it eventually, but it's not something we're going to fix with a witch hunt.
  
• Michael Phelps...for anything. The Olympics are over and the United States needs to remember that swimming is unconscionably boring. It really doesn't mattes whether Phelps enjoys hitting bongs, and it's especially irrelevant in this time of war and economic crisis.
• Pat Summitt and women's college basketball in general. I find it hard to be less interested about anything than I am when it comes to women's basketball. College, the WNBA, whatever, it's not fun to watch, it's not interesting, and nobody cares. The fact that ESPN has devoted hundreds of hours of programming to Summitt should be proof of its irrelevance. I raise this question: If someone wins 1000 games of college croquet, is that worth televising? Scratch that. At least croquet is mildly neat.
  
• The Oklahoma City Thunder. see also, Los Angeles Clippers
  
• A clearly biased for profit ESPN Bracket Buster week that pits good teams like Northeastern (RPI ~50) against terrible teams like Wright State (RPI ~100) instead of Siena, Cregihton, or Davidson (RPI ~20). "Improving mid-major RPI" my ass.
• The Westminster Dog Show. How the fuck is this even approaching sports? I was praying someone would step in dog crap during a telecast.

Important topics in sports today:

• Bobby Abreu, he of the 120+ OPS for the last 10 seasons or so, is close to joining the Angels on an estimated 1 year, $8 million contract. Abreu brings patience at the plate, speed on the basepaths, and a skillet for a glove. It's a good signing, if it happens, as it provides OBP and SLG to the lineup without costing the Halos draft picks, years, or dollars.
• The Kings are, somehow, three games over .500 for the first time in a couple years. Credit former UMass goalie Jon Quick and a reignition of scoring from Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Alex Frolov, and Pat O'Sullivan. The Kings beat the Islanders in a shootout on Long Island last night, 4-3, thanks to Jack Johnson's SO goal, the only goal of the skills competition.
• Northeastern looks to remain on top of the CAA with a win over Drexel tonight at Matthews Arena. The Huskies are 11-2 in conference but have a harder schedule than George Mason or VCU to close the season.
  

A BIG win

So rarely in my time at Northeastern has any of my teams, collegiate or pro, won what I'd call a "big game." Sure, there are exceptions. You've got the OT 3-2 win at BC that kept home ice dreams alive for another night, and you've got the Patriots beating the Chargers in the AFC playoffs on a Kaeding missed field goal. But, as the athletic department says, now is the time, and the Huskies scored a big win last night.

The CAA is generally considered a top-tier mid major, and in an overall D-I conference ranking would typically make the top 10. This year has been something of a down year, with three notable exceptions: Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, and Northeastern. After beating George Mason by one, those three teams stood tied atop the conference. Then, the Huskies watched VCU beat GMU as they rallied to beat Old Dominion to generate a two-way tie for first between the Rams and Northeastern. Naturally, the next game on the schedule was NU vs. VCU. You can't manufacture drama like this.

Northeastern has typically struggled when playing the Virginia and Georgia teams on the road. I don't remember their record of the top of my head, but it's bad. After the win at Matthews vs. GMU, they fell behind Old Dominion 21-7 and looked like they were in danger of folding under the pressure. They responded with a 51-20 run to close out the game, winning 58-42 behind Matt Janning. Janning scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half. ODU, as a team, scored 18 in the second half. You've gotta love defense.

I watched last night's game with a surprising crowd of NU students at the Pizzeria Uno on campus. As the Huskies built a 17 point lead in the first half, I braced myself for what was coming: a VCU run filled with ESPN top-10 highlights from Eric Maynor. Maynor, for the uninitiated, is VCU's point guard and a likely first round NBA draft pick. I haven't the slightest idea how he ended up a Ram, but he's been leading the team (and the conference) since his freshman year. He ended up with 30 points on the night. He's really good.

After watching their lead whittled to 4 to finish the half, the Huskies were on fire to start the second. Since the departure of Bobby Kelly, I've never really thought the Huskies had a legitimate three point threat outside Janning, but Matt Smith might just be the guy. When Smith and Spates are hitting open 3's consistently, it changes the game completely. And I can't say enough about Baptiste Bataille. Much as Jordan Farmar ups the ante when he comes in off the bench for Derek Fisher, Bataille really shines as a tempo-changer when he replaces Allen in the lineup. He's quick, a good defender desipite his size, and isn't afraid to take it to the hole and dish it out for easy baskets. He'll never be the defender nor the ball handler Allen is, but he's a very valuable guy coming off the bench.

Northeastern led by as much as 16 in the second before finding themselves clinging to a 2 point lead with a minute or so remaining. But they made their foul shots and got some excellent defense from Nkem Ojougboh and a huge offensive rebound from Chris Alavarez. Maynor heaved a loooong three with about 15 seconds remaining and missed, essentially icing the 68-63 Husky victory.

What a win. The Huskies now own tiebreakers over GMU and VCU and stand at first in the CAA. They play again Saturday at 1:00 at Matthews Arena vs. Delaware.

Northeastern!

Huskies 3, New Hampshire 2
Huskies 4, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 3

NU picked up a surprising 4 points this weekend, two of them during a game I attended at Matthews Arena. After the last NU-UNH game, Wildcat and NHL draft pick James van Riemsdyk earned the ire of the Doghouse with a post-game cross-check to the helmet of Greg Costa. THe fans would not forget.

From the outset, the game was physical, with both teams earning some post-whistle penalties. Under two minutes into the first, though, as Alex Tuckerman smacked a rebound off a Steve Silva shot from a Steve Qualier feed into the net past a sprawling New Hampshire goalie. Two Steves, one Alex, 1-0 Huskies.

The second period seemed to take at least an hour, with both teams getting called for a collective 14 penalties amounting to 44 minutes, with van Riemsdyk and Randy Guzior receiving 10 minute majors for their parts in a post-whistle scrum. Despite the myriad power plays, though, neither team was able to find the back of the net, with Brad Thiessen making 30 saves through the first two periods.

The third, however, was classic college hockey. Van Riemdsdyk, who had been hearing boos from the 4788 red-clad fans every time he touched the puck, managed to knock in an easy rebound to know the score at one. After his goal, he put his hand to his ear and skated around center ice, proving that class can, indeed, be spelled without "JVR."

About 7 minutes later, though, Ryan Ginand ($$$) scored an impossible goal, somehow wedging the puck between UNH goalie Brian Foster and the post, off the goalie's back, and into the net. I had no idea how it went in until I found an image here that shows the absolute nastiness that was Ginand's shot:

Yes, that's the pick about to sneak into a hole which no puck has any business getting through. That is fundamentally sound goaltending getting beaten on a split-second decision by a rapidly improving center. Foster has his skate against the pipe, after sliding across the crease, has his glove where it needs to be, sees the puck, and is pinching up to the post. Just an unbelievable goal. Former NU blogger and current NU student Steven Roth may have said it best:

"Ryan Ginand is disgusting. How he ever put that one past Foster is beyond me."

Wade MacLeod would score a crucial insurance goal with under three minutes left, an absolute beauty of a wrist shot that beat Foster top shelf stick-side. UNH pulled their goalie with about 1:30 left and got van Riemsdyk his second goal of the night, but it was too little, too late, even for a two-goal performance.

Northeastern-New Hampshire is quickly blossoming into Hockey East's best rivalry.

Saturday night against Lowell featured another defensive battle through two periods, but a Greg Costa hat-trick (!) along with a Ginand goal and pair of assists ($$) led to a hard-fought victory over much-improved UML. It's hard to say too much about Thiessen...his season has been absolutely incredible thus far.


Northeastern 61, Holy Cross 49

It seems pretty clear, at this point, that Jesus does not love Worcester. The Huskies opened up a quick 14-0 lead over the first seven minutes of play and rode 27 points from Matt Janning for a solid out-of-conference victory in their home-opener at the Arena Saturday Night. On a night where temperatures dipped into the 20's, Husky shooters stayed hot, with Janning hitting four of his five three pointers and Nkem Ojougboh shooting 5 of 6 from the field to go along with his three blocks.

This team is beginning to look an awful lot like a contender. The key is probably a combination of Manny Adako and Eugene Spates. Since the departure of Bobby Kelly, the Huskies haven't had a particularly reliable outside shooter, but if Spates can fill that void, it will lead to better penetration by Adako and more points in the paint.

High percentage shots. They're a good thing.


Patriots 48, Miami 28

Surprise. For the Patriots against Miami earlier this season, the surprise was the "Wildcat" offense. For the Dolphins against the Patriots today, the surprise was Matt Cassel. Matty C threw for over 400 yards for the second consecutive game, including three touchdowns to Randy "81" Moss. He also rushed for the first Pats touchdown, something to consider when Tom Brady returns next season. Tom Brady is not a mobile quarterback. Cassel is. It's fun to watch.

Miami had temporarily forgotten it was rebuilding and sat in a second place tie with the Patriots for the AFC East at 6-4. With this loss, their playoff picture looks far more muddled, although their improvement from last season's 1-15 squad is remarkable.

Speaking of the AFC East, the Jets beat the formerly unbeaten Titans today, which is bad for the Patriots, but good for the world if it means Mercury Morris can crawl back into his hole for another year. I've discussed how horrendously overrated the 1972 Dolphins were/are, and the fact that this asshole still gets national TV time is downright criminal.

Anyways, Cassel's good season means he's probably a Lion next year, as the Patriots don't have the cap space to pay him what he deserves. From a small weightlifting plaque in Heritage Hall to a starting roster in the NFL, you've gotta respect the kid.


Wildabeasts 1, Other Team 2

And so my broomball season comes to a close, but not without another injury. My ankle got screwed up while trying to make an acrobatic save to keep the score 1-1. I had a two-on-none, made an initial save, then tried to dive across the crease to block the rebound shot. I managed to get the stick against the pipe and create a wall, but I was a couple inches too short as the shot sailed over the stick and into the net. Meanwhile, both players and one of my defensewomen plowed into me, an experience for which I now infinitely respect real goalies.

The first goal scored was much uglier, with a nice glove save turning into a stupid glove mistake, with the ball glancing off the top of the glove and rolling lazily into the net. It happens. Jeff had a nice goal at the other end, but without more offense our season was doomed to end anyways.

With about 45 seconds left, I was glove-less and at about half-ice trying to help out on offense when an opposing player got the ball and raced down the ice. I managed to get my body on the ball for a neat-looking but mostly lucky save while moving backwards towards the net.

I suspect next season will lead to the playoffs, as this team has the talent it needs to succeed. Three goals per game will probably leave us undefeated heading into the playoffs, and that seems like a distinct possibility considering our recent offensive prowess. For now, I'll ice my ankle.

Huskies Upset Providence Friars

Huskies 70, Providence 66

In Bill Coen's first "signature" win of his head coaching career, the CAA's Northeastern Huskies defeated the Big East Providence Friars 70-66 on a fantastic shooting night from a triumvirate of Huskies in Matt Janning, Eugene Spates, and Baptiste "Flying Frenchman" Bataille.

In a game dominated by stifling Husky defense, nobody was a bigger surprise than Bataille. A small recruit from France known primarily for his defense somehow scored 9 points, 6 of those on clutch three pointers, one of which put Northeastern up by 11. Meanwhile, Eugene Spates nailed 5 of his 7 threes and finished with 17 points, and Matt "Not Big Enough for the Big East" Janning put on a clinic with 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting. I wish I could've seen the shit-eating grin Janning must've had on his face after mopping the floor with a conference he was rejected from.

This was a huge win for the program, particularly coming off a disappointing loss to Michigan. The Huskies take on Holy Cross at Matthews Arena next Saturday.


Huskies 2, Harvard 2 (NU wins 4-2 in PK's)

In my first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, the Northeastern women's soccer team defeated the Harvard Crimson 5-3 in penalty kicks. The Huskies got two regulation goals from Kelly "Intimidating Facemask" Matthews along with her gamewinner in the shootout. A surprisingly electric atmosphere led to senior captain telling obnoxious Crimson fans to, at one point, "Shut the fuck up," eliciting cheers from the Doghouse and athletics director Peter Roby. It was hard to avoid rushing the field after the victory.

Harvard fans may be the worst fans in sports. For some reason, none of them ever make it out to the Beanpot, yet for a women's soccer game in Chestnut Hill, miles from society, they show up at halftime drunk and stupid. They completely lacked attention for the game at hand and instead focused on harassing NU's mascot Paws. A truly embarrassing display, and one which did not go unnoticed by the NCAA or Northeastern head coach Ed Matz. Honestly, the standards for admission at Harvard must have dropped precipitously. They were dumber than BU fans at the Beanpot.

Regardless, I'll be out in Chestnut Hill again tomorrow at 1 PM to watch the Huskies take on the #10 Boston College Eagles for a trip to the Round of 16.