Puck Talk

With March Madness now in full swing and also occupying nearly all of my attention there are two teams that I have failed to Rant about being a Boston and BC sports fan, and those are the Bruins and the BC men's hockey team.

The Bruins are currently the hottest team in the NHL, having won 12 straight games and leading the Penguins  by 6 points in the Eastern Conference and tied with the St. Louis Blues with 103 points for top the team in all of the NHL.  The Olympic break to me couldn't have come at a worse time for the B's as they had won 7 of 9 heading into the break, and I was worried that the long layoff would cause the team to lose all of their momentum.  The B's returned from the break by losing their first two games, which caused me to believe that my previous concerns had become true, but since a 6-3 Sunday night beating of the New York Rangers at MSG on the night of the Oscars on March 1st, the Bruins have been in cruise control having not lost a game since.

When the NHL trade deadline hit on March 5, most Bruins fans thought the team didn't fully address the team's top need, which was getting a top 4 defenseman, having lost Dennis Seidenberg for the season due to injury.  The Bruins did get defensemen Andrej Meszaros and Corey Potter but neither of these guys really wowed the Bruins' fanbase.  What the Bruins did get at the beginning of March however, which has proven to be a major factor in the team's recent success, was a rejuvenated Jerome Iginla and a confident Carl Soderberg.

When the Bruins got Iginila in the off-season, Bruins fans were hoping for a second or third line player and for much of the beginning part of the season he seemed out of sorts.  Since the Olympic break however he has lit the ice on fire and has looked like the Jerome Iginla of old during his peak with the Calgary Flames.  In the team's 13 games in the month of March Iginla has 11 goals, 3 assists and a +/- of +10.  Soderberg on the other hand was a player that came to the Bruins with high expectations, and starting last year and through the beginning of this season he had failed to live up to those lofty expectations.  Similar to Iginla, Soderberg has been playing some great hockey in the month of March by scoring 4 goals and tallying 6 assists, many of which have been highlight reel passes. Many would argue the main reason why the Bruins have been so good over the past few seasons is because of how strong all four of their lines are.  Soderberg has been the anchor on the Bruins third line as of late and this past Saturday against the Coyotes in Phoenix the Bruins won on a goal from B's enforcer Shawn Thornton which is another example how even the 4th line, aka The Merlot line, is contributing to the team's recent success.

While the Bruins have been scorching hot this month, this week will be a strong test to see where the team stands heading into the playoffs.  Tonight the B's take on Montreal, a team until their most recent outing 2 weeks ago has had the Bruins number as of late, then they play last year's Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks at the Garden on Thursday night and then the team finishes the week with games at Washington and at Philadelphia.  Needless to say this team has been a treat to watch recently and I look forward to another long playoff run this spring.

As for the BC hockey team, the regular season did not end the way many fans thought it would.  The team ended the regular season losing to Notre Dame, and then lost 2-1 in the best of 3 series to the Irish in the Hockey East quarterfinals.  While this was tough to swallow after the team had a 17 game unbeaten stream and seemed unstoppable, I am hoping that a) Notre Dame just had the Eagles' number and b) the team learned from their mistakes and will correct them this weekend in the Northeast Regional of the NCAA Tournament in Worcester.

BC's draw in the tournament is somewhat favorable. The Eagles earned the Northeast Regional's #1 seed and the #2 overall seed in the tournament and will begin play Saturday afternoon by taking on a Denver team that has a mediocre record of 20-15-6 and who would not have made the tournament had they not won the NCHC Tournament this past weekend.  If BC were to win this game, which I expect they will, then they will take on the winner of UMass-Lowell and Minnesota State.  I expect the Hockey East Tournament winner Riverhawks to win this game, which would give us a Hockey East regional final with BC against UMass Lowell.  This is where things could get interesting.  Lowell is obviously a hot team right now, and has played BC tough this season, but I think this is where the power of Jerry York kicks in. In case you aren't aware BC's last 3 titles were in the years 2008, 2010 and 2012, so it only makes sense that 2014 is the next time the Eagles would raise another banner, which would give the school a total of six titles in men's hockey.  Also, in all those years BC made it to the Frozen Four via Worcester, so that is something else in BC's favor.

A few other side notes regarding the NCAA Tournament in respects to BC:  Eagles fans can breathe a little easier knowing the earliest the BC would have to play the thorn in the team's side, the Irish of Notre Dame, would be in the National Title game.  This would also be the earliest the Eagles would have to play Minnesota, who along with BC, were the clear top 2 teams throughout the entire college hockey season.  The one potential drawback for the Eagles is they'd have to play Union, who is the hottest team in the nation and currently ranked #1, in the semi-finals.

Well that's about it, and as usual Go Eagles this weekend, and remember In York We Trust.  As for those asking about a Rant in regards to the NCAA basketball tournament, I plan to have one up by Thursday.  I literally felt overwhelmed, albeit in a good way, with March Madness these past four days so I figured I'd give my brain a rest for at least a day and focus on hockey.