New England Sports Exile

College Hockey Exile: Week One

2007-10-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

Overview

This will attempt to be a (boring/mediocre) weekly chronicle of a college hockey fan's attempt to follow the season from what is essentially a college hockey "no man's land," Cleveland, Ohio. This will mostly consist of me watching high numbered extended cable channels on weekends, listening to the radio with a bad wireless connection, and complaining.

Based on my present location, this should include visits to Quicken Loans Arena to watch former BU players play (Kenny Roche) and coach (Joe Sacco) for the new local AHL club, the Lake Erie Monsters. I'll also probably drop in on division III club team Case Western Reserve University at the Cleveland Heights Community Center at least once.

The real highlight will be an exodus to Ann Arbor for the BU-Wolverines series in 2 weeks.

Impending Disaster

Speaking of Michigan, when I watched BC's attempted comeback in the first round of the IceBreaker on FSN-Atlantic last Friday, I had mixed feelings about Michigan's victory on a cheap own goal in sudden death OT. I like seeing BC get beat, but Michigan would have been a nice non-conference scalp for Hockey East on the whole. In the scheme of things, one non-conference loss rarely has a large effect on the league as a whole... of course, I didn't know how the rest of the league was faring on Friday night.

On Friday, Hockey East went 1-7-0 in non-conference play. This included losses to teams from ECAC Hockey (Clarkson over UMass, St. Lawrence over Providence), the CCHA (Miami over Vermont, BC's aforementioned loss to Michigan), the WCHA (Denver over Maine), the soon-to-be disbanded CHA (Robert Morris over BU), and Canadian Interuniversity Sport's Atlantic University Sport (New Brunswick over UNH, thankfully an exhibition).

What a colossal disaster.

The league's lone win came via Merrimack (last place in the HEA Coach's Pre-Season Poll) who beat Niagara.

At this point, Hockey East's interconference record is 3-9-1, better only than Atlantic Hockey's 0-10-1. All other conferences are over .500.

I'm not saying HEA is the second worst conference (down from their usual position of second best), some of those results were wacky, like BC beating themselves or BU losing despite outshooting RMU 35-15 and still losing to three unanswered late goals, but the panic button must be hit. Unlike football and basketball, hockey's postseason berths are decided by a wholly objective process. League reputation is worthless if you don't win this season. 27 (plus playoffs) of each HEA teams' games are inconference, leaving only room for 7 non-conference games (plus extra for exempted tournaments). That means there's not alot of time to get the out of conference wins necessary to garner a respectable RPI or PWR. At this pace, HEA could be looking at getting only 2 teams to the dance since the dawn of the 16 team field.

What to Watch

Flipping between a pair of games Friday at 8PM:
- North Dakota @ BC on CSTV
- "BU Killer" Robert Morris @ Wisconsin on FCS-Atlantic

Sunday at 4PM:
- BC @ Vermont on ESPNU

Who?

2007-05-29T19:12:00.001-04:00

At the top of tonight's Red Sox-Indians game on SportsTime Ohio, the BoSox disabled list that flashed on the screen read as:

Mike Timlin
Jon Lester
Matt Clement

Really? Matt Clement? I didn't realize he was still even in the league, nevermind on the Red Sox DL. You know the prognosis is awful, since you never hear him as part of the Tavarez/Lester/Snyder/Whoever debate as for who will be the 5th starter in the second-half of the season.

Azumah's Heir

2007-04-29T16:43:00.000-04:00

With their 5th round selection in the NFL draft today, the Chicago Bears selected cornerback Corey Graham, from former-Bear Jerry Azumah's own University of New Hampshire.

Graham's a great player, and had he kept his tibia in one piece last season, the UNH Wildcats would have been the Football Championship Subdivision national champions.

As a I-AA/FCS player, Graham has really missed out on some of the attention his career really deserved... unlike every long snapper and scout squad right guard at a major school, Graham doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet... a tidbit I only mention, because a search on that site for "Corey Graham" right now suggests the page for "Corey Haim" as the #1 page.

Thank You, Michigan State!

2007-04-09T22:47:00.000-04:00

For reasons that should be fairly obvious, considering my last posting.

Thank You, Boston College!

2007-04-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

Sing it with me Hockey East (and CCHA, ECAC Hockey, Atlantic Hockey, and CHA) fans!

Ding, dong the WCHA is dead!
The WCHA is dead!
The WCHA is dead!
Ding, dong the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is dead!

Two nights ago, the BC Eagles bounced the North Dakota Fighting Sioux from the Frozen Four, meaning that for the first time in over half a decade, the WCHA will not claim the champions of the college hockey world.

Never thought I'd say this, but thank God for Boston College.

Hockey Bracketology: Selection Sunday Edition

2007-03-17T23:52:00.000-04:00

“Can you hear the people cheering in Oxford, Ohio and Amherst, Massachusetts?!” – CSTV color commentator at the ECACHL Championship game, after Clarkson took a late lead against Quinnipiac.

Regular season? Over. Conference playoffs? Over. Tomorrow, at 2:30 on ESPN2, the 16 team field will become official, and the madness will really begin…

Of course, we already have a good idea how the show will play out…

Before we unveil this year’s final bracket projection, let's take a moment to once again wish a hearty "better luck next year" to the teams whose seasons ended tonight, whether through their own failings on the ice in a game, or through other games played not falling their way. After the semifinals last night, 22 teams were in the running, although some teams were already resting their hopes on a series of miracles today. Hope finally died tonight for the last 6 teams: Army, Dartmouth, Denver, Michigan Tech, Quinnipiac, and Wisconsin.

The first step in making our final bracket, is congratulating the conference champions, who all receive autobids to the tournament:

AHA - Air Force
CCHA - Notre Dame
CHA - Alabama-Huntsville
ECACHL - Clarkson
HEA - Boston College
WCHA - Minnesota

Thanks to the folks at USCHO.com, the top of the PWR charts, with a .003 bonus for non-conference road wins against TUCs, currently looks like this (* denotes league champions):

1 - Minnesota *
2 - Notre Dame *
3 – Clarkson *
4 - New Hampshire
5 - Boston College *
6 - St. Cloud State
7 - Boston University
8 - Michigan
8 - Michigan State
10 - North Dakota
11 - Maine
11 - Massachusetts
11 - St. Lawrence
14 - Miami of Ohio
NR - Air Force *
NR - Alabama-Huntsville *

So we have 2 2-way ties and a 3-way tie:

Michigan v. Michigan State

Michigan boasts a better RPI and a better record against common opponents, while MSU has a better record against TUCs. Head-to-head, Michigan leads 3-2 after their CCHA seminfinal win last night. The final result is a 5-3 comparison win for Michigan, nabbing them the final #2 seed in the tournament.

Maine v. Massachusetts v. St. Lawrence

UMass wins their comparison against SLU, despite a lower RPI, due to their better record against TUCs and common opponents.

Against UMO, UMass has the edge in their record against common opponents. UMO, however, wins the RPI and TUC record battles. Where this comparison really turns in UMass’s favor, is UMass’s 4 game winning streak against Maine in the final weekend of the regular season and the conference quarterfinals, en route to a 4-1 record against Maine on the season. This gives the Minutemen the comparison 5-3, and results in UMass obtaining the overall #11 seed.

SLU wins their comparison against Maine 2-1, by having a better RPI and record against TUCs, while the Black Bears had a superior record against common opponents. This gives SLU the tournaments final #3 seed.

Air Force v. Alabama-Huntsville

Since both teams finished outside of the top-25 in RPI, niether is a part of the PWR comparisons. As a result, AFA grabs the #15 spot due to their higher RPI alone.

So the seeding is:

1 - Minnesota
2 - Notre Dame
3 – Clarkson
4 - New Hampshire
5 - Boston College
6 - St. Cloud State
7 - Boston University
8 - Michigan
9 - Michigan State
10 - North Dakota
11 - Massachusetts
12 - St. Lawrence
13 - Maine
14 - Miami of Ohio
15 - Air Force
16 - Alabama-Huntsville

So who plays where? First, the hosts play at home, which sends UNH to Manchester as the lone host to make the field. Then, the top seeds are supposed to play as close to home as possible. Here's how the bracket looks without any reshifting due to conference affiliations:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9

1 - Minnesota
2 - Michigan
3 - Michigan State
4 - Alabama-Huntsville

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10

1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - North Dakota
4 - Air Force

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11

1 - Clarkson
2 - St. Cloud State
3 - Massachusetts
4 - Miami of Ohio

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 4 v. 13 / 5 v. 12

1 - New Hampshire
2 - Boston College
3 - Saint Lawrence
4 - Maine

This results in 2 intraconference matchups: Michigan-Michigan State and UNH-Maine. I prefer to keep the top half of the bracket intact, so the least disruptive ways to solve out problems is to swap MSU with North Dakota and Maine with Miami.

Our final brackets are therefore:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 10

1 - Minnesota
2 - Michigan
3 - North Dakota
4 - Alabama-Huntsville

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 9

1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Michigan State
4 - Air Force

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 3 v. 13 / 6 v. 11

1 - Clarkson
2 - St. Cloud State
3 - Massachusetts
4 - Maine

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 4 v. 13 / 5 v. 12

1 - New Hampshire
2 - Boston College
3 - Saint Lawrence
4 – Miami of Ohio

The matchups in St. Louis would be Midwest-Northeast and West-East.

Hockey Bracketology: Conference Finals Edition

2007-03-17T01:41:00.000-04:00

Before we break down the brackets as they stand today, let's take a moment to once again wish a hearty "better luck next year" to the teams whose seasons ended due to the results of last night’s semifinal action (and the WCHA’s play-in game). At last count, 25 teams were in the running, but that number has been reduced by the bouncing of: Connecticut, Lake Superior State, Sacred Heart, and… well, I really don’t know who else to write off. Even though there’s only 8 games left to be played (5 title games and 3 consolation games), the results could result in wildly different fields. It looks like some idle teams on the bubble will be pretty safe (Maine, Miami of Ohio) and some are longshots (Denver, Michigan Tech). At least one team took a surprising dive after a loss last night, but could rebound and wind up with a nice seed anyways or could wind up unexpectedly out of the tournament (Massachusetts). Others have to play their consolation games like they’re in the national championship game, and hope several other results go their way (Dartmouth, Wisconsin).

Of course, most of this is speculation by a guy who only took the time to run a handful of scenarios, out of hundreds, on USCHO.com’s “Pairwise Predictor,” but you get the idea.

As for those still looking for autobids in the championship games tonight, here’s the top team left in each tournament (and our projected champion for this bracketology), with their opponent in parentheses:

AHA - Army (Air Force)
CCHA - Notre Dame (Michigan)
CHA - Alabama-Huntsville
ECACHL - Clarkson (Quinnipiac)
HEA - New Hampshire (Boston College)
WCHA - Minnesota (North Dakota)

In addition, the CCHA (Michigan State v. Lake Superior State), ECACHL (St. Lawrence v. Dartmouth), and WCHA (St. Cloud State v. Wisconsin), all play consolation games tonight.

Thanks to the folks at USCHO.com, the top of the PWR charts, with a .003 bonus for non-conference road wins against TUCs, currently looks like this (* denotes league leaders):

1 - Minnesota *
2 - Notre Dame *
3 – Clarkson *
3 - New Hampshire *
5 - Boston College
5 - St. Cloud State
7 - Boston University
7 - North Dakota
9 - Michigan
9 - Michigan State
11 - Maine
12 - Massachusetts
12 - Miami of Ohio
12 - St. Lawrence
15 – Denver
16 – Michigan Tech
NR - Alabama-Huntsville *
NR – Army *

That’s right… 5 2-way ties and a 3-way tie. The 4 higher 2-way ties will be broken based on who wins the PWR comparison between the schools (which, interestingly enough, gives the higher seeding to the school with the lower RPI in the case of the ties at 3, 5, and 7). The 3-way tie will be broken by RPI, since amongst themselves, all 3 schools are 1-1 in PWR comparisons. The final tie, between non-TUC autobid winners UAH and Army will be determined by straight RPI.

So the seeding is:
1 - Minnesota
2 - Notre Dame
3 – Clarkson
4 - New Hampshire
5 - Boston College
6 - St. Cloud State
7 - Boston University
8 - North Dakota
9 - Michigan
10 - Michigan State
11 - Maine
12 - St. Lawrence
13 - Miami of Ohio
14 - Massachusetts
15 – Army
16 - Alabama-Huntsville
So who plays where? First, the hosts play at home, which sends UNH to Manchester, and well... that's it, unless Denver gets some help and winds up back in the field. Then, the top seeds are supposed to play as close to home as possible. Here's how the bracket looks without any reshifting due to conference affiliations:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9

1 - Minnesota
2 - North Dakota
3 - Michigan
4 - Alabama-Huntsville

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Michigan State
4 - Army

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11

1 - Clarkson
2 – St. Cloud State
3 - Maine
4 - Massachusetts

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 4 v. 12 / 5 v. 13

1 - New Hampshire
2 – Boston College
3 - Saint Lawrence
4 – Miami of Ohio

This results in no intraconference first round matchups and good attendance, except for Denver. Since there’s nothing obvious that would improve attendence there, we’re going to stick with what we have.

The matchups in St.Louis would be Midwest-Northeast and West-East.

Hockey Bracketology: Deep South Edition

2007-03-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

The title is in honor of Alabama-Huntsville, who went from worst to first over the weekend, pulling off three straight come-from-behind victories over higher seeds in order to claim the CHA's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. 5 more automatic tickets will be punched this weekend, as the other conferences send their "Final 4" (or "Final 5" in the WCHA's case) to neutral sites in order to determine their champions.

Before we break down the brackets as they stand today, let's take a moment to once again wish a hearty "better luck next year" to the teams whose seasons ended in conference tourney play over the weekend. At last count, 47 teams were in the running, but that number has been reduced to 25 by the bouncing of: Alaska, Alaska-Anchorage, American International, Bemidji State, Bentley, Colgate, Colorado College, Cornell, Harvard, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State, Nebraska-Omaha, Niagara, Northeastern, Northern Michigan, Princeton, Providence, Robert Morris, Vermont, and Wayne State.

3 other teams saw their conference tournaments end early, and must now nervously await next weekend's results. All three are in danger, to varying degrees: Denver needs a miracle, Miami of Ohio needs to cheer for the favorites, and Maine just has to hope the higher seeds don't have total meltdowns in multiple tournaments.

As for the 22 that control their own destiny, here's the top remaining seeds (and thus the autobid winners for the purposes of this bracketology) as well as the remaining teams in their respective tournaments in parentheses, in order of seeding:

AHA - Sacred Heart (Army, Connecticut, Air Force)
CCHA - Notre Dame (Michigan, Michigan State, Lake Superior State)
CHA - Alabama-Huntsville
ECACHL - St. Lawrence (Clarkson, Dartmouth, Quinnipiac)
HEA - New Hampshire (Boston College, Boston University, Massachusetts)
WCHA - Minnesota (Saint Cloud State, North Dakota, Michigan Tech, Wisconsin)

Thanks to the folks at USCHO.com, the top of the PWR charts, with a .003 bonus for non-conference road wins against TUCs, currently looks like this (* denotes league leaders):

1 - Minnesota *
2 - Notre Dame *
3 - St. Cloud State
4 - New Hampshire *
5 - Clarkson
6 - Boston College
7 - Boston University
8 - Michigan
8 - Michigan State
8 - North Dakota
11 - Massachusetts
12 - Maine
12 - St. Lawrence *
14 - Miami of Ohio
23 - Sacred Heart *
NR - Alabama-Huntsville *

So we have 2 ties to break:

Michigan vs. Michigan State vs. North Dakota

North Dakota wins comparisons with both Michigan and Michigan State largely on the strength of their vastly superior RPI. Against Michigan, NoDak has the better record against TUCs, but and inferior record against Common Opponents. Against Michigan State, the opposites are true. In both cases, the Sioux wins the comparison 2-1, and earns the overall #8 seed and final regional #2 seed.

In their comparison, Michigan beats Michigan State in RPI and record versus Common Opponents, while MSU has a better record against TUCs. Their head-to-head meetings ended in with a pair of wins by each, resulting in the Wolverines winning the comparison 4-3.

Maine vs. Saint Lawrence

SLU boasts a better record against TUCs, and UMO has a better record against Common Opponents, so this comparison goes to SLU by virtue of their slim three-thousandths of a point edge in RPI (.5396 to .5369).

So the seeding is:

1 - Minnesota
2 - Notre Dame
3 - St. Cloud State
4 - New Hampshire
5 - Clarkson
6 - Boston College
7 - Boston University
8 - North Dakota
9 - Michigan
10 - Michigan State
11 - Massachusetts
12 - St. Lawrence
13 - Maine
14 - Miami of Ohio
15 - Sacred Heart
16 - Alabama-Huntsville

So who plays where? First, the hosts play at home, which sends UNH to Manchester, and well... that's it, unless Denver gets some help and winds up back in the field. Then, the top seeds are supposed to play as close to home as possible. Here's how the bracket looks without any reshifting due to conference affiliations:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9
1 - Minnesota
2 - North Dakota
3 - Michigan
4 - Alabama-Huntsville

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Michigan State
4 - Sacred Heart

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11
1 - Saint Cloud State
2 - Boston College
3 - Massachusetts
4 - Miami of Ohio

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 4 v. 12 / 5 v. 13
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Clarkson
3 - Saint Lawrence
4 - Maine

This gives us 3 intraconference matchups to split up: BC-UMass in Denver, and both UNH-Maine and Clarkson-SLU in Manchester. I think the integrity of the top half of the bracket (the 1 and 2 seeds) is important to the committee and all swaps will occur in the bottom half of the seedings unless it becomes unwieldy. In this case, I'd advocate the swap of both the 3 and 4 seed in the Denver and Manchester brackets. This gives us a final bracket of:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9
1 - Minnesota
2 - North Dakota
3 - Michigan
4 - Alabama-Huntsville

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Michigan State
4 - Sacred Heart

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 3 v. 13 / 6 v. 12
1 - Saint Cloud State
2 - Boston College
3 - Saint Lawrence
4 - Maine

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 4 v. 14 / 5 v. 11
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Clarkson
3 - Massachusetts
4 - Miami of Ohio

The matchups in St.Louis would be Midwest-Northeast and East-West.

Hockey Bracketology : Conference Quarterfinals Edition

2007-03-05T14:41:00.000-05:00

Well, now the regular season is over no matter what league you play in, and every league has quarterfinal action to look forward to this weekend (or the "first round" in the WCHA with it's awkward "Final Five" format, which confers byes upon the top 3 teams that get through the first weekend, making this round more-or-less a quarterfinal affair). The CHA, which plays its entire playoff slate in Des Moines this weekend, has quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship action to look forward to.

Before we break down the brackets as they stand today, lets take a moment to wish a hearty "better luck next year" to the teams whose seasons joined RIT's and Merrimack's on the scrapheap this past weekend: Bowling Green, Brown, Canisius, Ferris State, Massachusetts-Lowell, Ohio State, Rensselaer, Union, Western Michigan, and Yale. This leaves 47 schools vying to make the field of 16.

Anyways, the league regular season champions are:
Anyways, the current league leaders are:

AHA - Sacred Heart (in place of RIT)
CCHA - Notre Dame
CHA - Niagara
ECACHL - St. Lawrence
HEA - New Hampshire
WCHA - Minnesota

Thanks to the folks at USCHO.com, the top of the PWR charts, with a .003 bonus for non-conference road wins against TUCs, currently looks like this (* denotes league leaders):

1 - Minnesota *
2 - Notre Dame *
3 - New Hampshire *
4 - St. Cloud State
5 - Clarkson
6 - North Dakota
7 - Boston University
7 - Miami of Ohio
9 - Boston College
9 - Michigan
11 - Maine
12 - Denver
13 - Massachusetts
13 - Michigan State
13 - St. Lawrence *
NR - Niagara *
NR - Sacred Heart *

There are 2 easy ties to break in the middle of the pack. Miami gets the 7 spot over Boston University. Despite BU's better RPI, Miami has the better record against TUCs and a better record against common opponents (the latter mostly due to BU's late collapse against St. Lawrence over winter break, and Miami's win against the Saints over Thanksgiving). Boston College gets the nine spot due to beating Michigan in all 3 statistical comparisons.

The tough one is the 13 spot, with a 3 way tie between SLU, UMass, and Michigan State. With SLu guaranteed a bid as the ECACHL leader, either UMass or MSU is out. Based on the Pairwise matchups, SLU beats MSU, who beats UMass, who beats SLU. The 3 way tie should then be broken based on RPI, which puts SLU at 13, MSU at 14, and UMass home in Amherst.

Niagara gets the 15 seed over Sacred Heart due to holding a higher RPI, with both teams just missing becoming TUCs at 26th and 27th in the RPI.

So here's the field:

1 - Minnesota
2 - Notre Dame
3 - New Hampshire
4 - St. Cloud State
5 - Clarkson
6 - North Dakota
7 - Miami of Ohio
8 - Boston University
9 - Boston College
10 - Michigan
11 - Maine
12 - Denver
13 - St. Lawrence
14 - Michigan State
15 - Niagara
16 - Sacred Heart

So who plays where? First, the hosts play at home, which sends UNH to Manchester, and DU to Denver. Then, the top seeds are supposed to play as close to home as possible. Here's how the bracket looks without any reshifting due to conference affiliations:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9
1 - Minnesota
2 - Boston University
3 - Boston College
4 - Sacred Heart

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Miami
3 - Michigan
4 - Niagara

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11
1 - New Hampshire
2 - North Dakota
3 - Maine
4 - Michigan State

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 4 v. 12 / 5 v. 13
1 - St. Cloud State
2 - Clarkson
3 - Denver
4 - St. Lawrence

This gives us 2 intraconference matchups: BU-BC and Miami-Michigan. We'll settle them both by swapping 3 seeds BC and Michigan, which has the added bonus of sending Michigan to Grand Rapids without disrupting the integrity of the second round matchups.

The final bracket is:

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 10
1 - Minnesota
2 - Boston University
3 - Michigan
4 - Sacred Heart

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 9
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Miami
3 - Boston College
4 - Niagara

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11
1 - New Hampshire
2 - North Dakota
3 - Maine
4 - Michigan State

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 4 v. 13 / 5 v. 12
1 - St. Cloud State
2 - Clarkson
3 - Denver
4 - St. Lawrence

In St. Louis, Midwest v. West and East v. Northeast would play in the Frozen Four.

Looking for Suggestions

2007-03-04T22:14:00.000-05:00

In an effort to drum up traffic at New England Sports Exile, the blog is looking to sponsor a page or two at Baseball Reference. If anyone has any suggestions for what pages deserve to proudly bear a banner announcing that "New England Sports Exile sponsors this page," please, leave a suggestion in the Comments section below. Anything related to the Red Sox, New England, or that would just be funny to sponsor is in play. Suggestions of pages in the $2-$5 range are particularly appreciated.

The page I really would have broken the bank for is Trot Nixon's page. His situation fits with the theme of the blog perfectly... that guy would have been buried in a Red Sox jersey if the team had kept him. Heck, he still might. Unfortunately, he's already sponsored through September. Ah well, I still have my new Nixon Sox t-shirt to wear to Jacobs Field this season.

Backpedalling to the Playoffs

2007-03-01T00:27:00.001-05:00

With an ugly looking 4-2 ENG loss to Northeastern, the Boston University Terriers Men's Ice Hockey team heads into the Hockey East Playoffs on a 2 loss skid, and really hasn't looked good since they took 3 points in 2 games from UNH a few weeks back. Tonight's loss probably also did damage to BU's burgeoning "John Curry for Hobey Baker Award" campaign, as the goaltender let in a couple really soft goals in the first period, and the guys in front of him really couldn't do anything to reverse the momentum. A bright moment of hope came in the third when Boomer Ewing put a one-timer past NU's Thiessen to cut the lead to 3-2, and BU sustained momentum for several minutes before imploding due to a slew of needless penalties, particularly the minors by Morrow and Straight down the stretch.

Now, BU is only one point up on Boston College for the 2 seed in the Hockey East playoffs, and BC still has a home-and-home series with the New Hampshire Wildcats. BC only needs a single point to take the 2 seed, by virtue of winning the regular season series with the Terriers. This probably means a quarterfinal series date with either Maine or Vermont at BU, a prospect no Terrier fan is relishing.

-----

In other news, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, on kicking off the Grapefruit League campaign with a stunning... 4-4 10 inning tie with the Minnesota Twins. Ah, spring training baseball, "I live for this!"

Hockey Bracketology: (Almost) Everything You Know Is Wrong Edition

2007-02-25T18:56:00.000-05:00

Last night marked the end of regular season play for the ECACHL, CCHA, and Atlantic Hockey (as well as Minnesota State, Alaska-Anchorage, and Bemidji State). Every league leader not named Notre Dame decided to mark the occasion by coughing up points, with St. Lawrence, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and the AHA's RIT/Sacred Heart combo all losing, and Niagara getting tied by BobbyMo at home. I'd like to gloat, but BU, as well as other perennial powers Michigan, Michigan State, Cornell, Wisconsin, Denver, and Colorado College decided to celebrate the occasion by losing as well. I guess the dregs of the NCAA hockey world decided to remind us all that, unless you're RIT or Merrimack, you're still alive for the national title.

That said, not everyone's chances are equal, so let's take a glance at how the tournament would look today if we skipped the whole "Conference Tournament" thing. Everything I said last week about the criteria and whathaveyou still applies, except I partially misstated how the TUCs are determined. Apparently, the "all teams with an RPI over .500, plus conference tournament champions" method was the old way, and the new way is simply "Top 25 RPIs." This change stemmed from Atlantic Hockey almost getting 2 teams in last year's tourney... had Bentley defeated Holy Cross in the title game, Bentley would have become a TUC, and Holy Cross's 4-1 mark against Bentley would have propelled them to an at-large bid and a #3 seed. Basically, the TUC changes whenever a mid-major threatens to or succeeds in obtaining an at-large bid (for reference, TUC criteria switched from Win% to RPI immediately after Niagara made the tourney as an at-large).

Anyways, the current league leaders are:

AHA - RIT won the regular season title, but Sacred Heart is the #1 seed in the tourney.
CCHA - Notre Dame won the regular season title.
CHA - Niagara clinched a share of the regular season title, and even if they lose both games this weekend at Alabama-Huntsville, they own the tiebreaker against the Beavers, so have the 1 seed locked up.
ECACHL - St. Lawrence won the regular season title.
HEA - New Hampshire clinched the regular season title last night, despite their 7-1 beating at the hands of Providence, because BU coughed up yet more points at home to UVM.
WCHA - Minnesota holds a 3 point lead over St. Cloud State with 2 games left apiece. By virtue of a sweep this weekend, the Huskies own the tiebreaker.

Thanks to the folks at USCHO.com, the top of the PWR charts currently looks like this (* denotes league leaders):

1 - Minnesota *
2 - New Hampshire *
3 - Notre Dame *
4 - St. Cloud State
5 - Clarkson
6 - Boston University
7 - Maine
8 - Denver
9 - North Dakota
10 - Michigan
11 - Boston College
11 - Miami of Ohio
13 - Colorado College
13 - Michigan Tech
13 - Vermont
16 - St. Lawrence *
21 - Niagara *
NR - Sacred Heart * (they were briefly in the top-25 earlier this weekend)

So we have 2 ties to break:

Miami RedHawks win their comparison with BC, and get the 11 seed.

Colorado College wins comparisons with both Michigan Tech and Vermont, and gets the 13 seed. Vermont would edge out Michigan Tech for the 14th spot, but with 3 autobids rated lower, both the Catamounts and the Huskies get squeezed out of the field.

The biggest change since my last bracketology column is that Miami of Ohio is now in at the expense of Michigan State, who has alot of work to do to fight their way back in the field. Both teams have next weekend off for earning byes in the CCHA tournament.

So here's the final field:

1 - Minnesota
2 - New Hampshire
3 - Notre Dame
4 - St. Cloud State
5 - Clarkson
6 - Boston University
7 - Maine
8 - Denver
9 - North Dakota
10 - Michigan
11 - Miami of Ohio
12 - Boston College
13 - Colorado College
14 - St. Lawrence
15 - Niagara
16 - Sacred Heart

So who plays where? First, the hosts play at home, which sends UNH to Manchester, and DU to Denver. With the 8 seed in Denver, there's a desire to place overall #1 Minnesota in Denver to maintain bracket integrity. This should mean we have the same 4 #1 seeds in the same 4 cities as we did 2 weeks ago, even though their standing relative to each other has shifted a bit. Here's how the bracket looks without any reshifting due to conference affiliations:

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9
1 - Minnesota
2 - Denver
3 - North Dakota
4 - Sacred Heart

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Maine
3 - Michigan
4 - Niagara

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Miami of Ohio
4 - Saint Lawrence

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 4 v. 12 / 5 v. 13
1 - Saint Cloud State
2 - Clarkson
3 - Boston College
4 - Colorado College

This creates 2 all-WCHA first round matches, which can't happen. The first switch is easy, Denver U. can't be moved out of Denver, so NoDak has to be switched out, and a trade for Manchester-bound Michigan causes limited harm to the integrity of the bracket. Similar logic should move CC to Rochester to avoid a round 1 matchup with SCSU, but losing Saint Lawrence could be a real hit to Rochester's gate. BU travels well, but Notre Dame and Miami of Ohio are untested in that regard, and the folks at Blue Cross Arena might be left hoping for a big local turnout. As it stands now, I think sending CC to Manchester, the only other option, is too big of an unearned penalty for UNH for the committee to allow it to happen. So our final brackets would be:

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 10
1 - Minnesota
2 - Denver
3 - Michigan
4 - Sacred Heart

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 9
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Maine
3 - North Dakota
4 - Niagara

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 3 v. 13 / 6 v. 11
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Boston University
3 - Miami of Ohio
4 - Colorado College

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 4 v. 14 / 5 v. 12
1 - Saint Cloud State
2 - Clarkson
3 - Boston College
4 - Saint Lawrence

In St. Louis, West v. Midwest and Northeast v. East would play in the Frozen Four.

Hockey Bracketology: Pre-Beanpot Final Edition

2007-02-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well, in an effort to resurrect this sorry blog, and to burn some time that should be spent on academic pursuits, I figure it's about time for some hockey bracketology. Now, as I've explained before, hockey bracketology is far more objective than the ever subjective committee system used by the hoops people.

The formula, known as Pairwise Rankings (PWR) compares all teams over .500 in the RPI (which is 25% win percentage, 50% opponents' win percentage, and 25% opponents'-opponents' win percentage, plus a mysterious bonus for wins on the road versus high RPI non-conference opponents) against all other such teams by 4 comparison criteria, with each team scoring one point based on having a higher RPI, Win % versus TUCs (teams with a RPI over .500), and Win % versus common opponents, plus one point for every Head-to-Head (H2H) win. The 6 conference champs and next 10 in PWR make the field.

So who's in right now? The six conference champs, if the season ended today, assuming current leaders win their conferences tournaments:

AHA: Sacred Heart (since current leader RIT isn't eligible for the NCAAs until next season)
CCHA: Notre Dame
CHA: Niagara (Bemidji State has 1 more point, but has played 2 more games, so I'm going with the higher Win %)
ECACHL: Saint Lawrence
HEA: New Hampshire
WCHA: Minnesota

Add in the next 10 in PWR - assuming that the mysterious RPI bonus is about .003 for non-conference, quality road wins, and the field looks like this (courtesy of www.uscho.com's PWR predictor):

1 - New Hampshire*
2 - Minnesota*
3 - Maine
3 - Notre Dame*
3 - Saint Cloud State
6 - Clarkson
6 - Denver
8 - North Dakota
9 - Boston University
10 - Colorado College
10 - Michigan
10 - Michigan State
13 - Boston College
16 - Niagara*
16 - Saint Lawrence*
NR - Sacred Heart*

(14 & 15 - would be Vermont and Miami of Ohio, who get bumped by the automatic bids, as denoted by the asterisks*. Sorry guys.)

This is the messiest seeding I've ever seen with the PWR, requiring the breaking of 2 two-way, and 2 three-way ties. First, the easy stuff, the two-way ties.

Clarkson v. Denver

Clarkson has the better RPI (.560 to .552), better record versus TUCs (6-4-3 to 10-8-3), and better record versus common opponents (5-2-1 to 9-5-0). Clarkson wins the comparison 3-0.

Niagara v. Saint Lawrence

The battle of the autobids. This comparison is a 2-2 dead heat after SLU gets credited with the better RPI and record against TUCs (although both teams are under .500), while Niagara has the better record against common opponents and a H2H win. In the end, SLU gets the comparison by having a higher RPI, which is the default tiebreaker.

Now the more difficult question, settling three-way ties.

Maine v. Notre Dame v. Saint Cloud State

After running the comparisons, Maine beats SCSU, who beats Notre Dame, who beats Maine. Once again, the default tiebreaker is RPI, which ranks the teams SCSU, Notre Dame, UMO, in that order.

Colorado College v. Michigan v. Michigan State

Like above, Michigan beats CC, who beats State, who beats Michigan. After breaking the tie via RPI, then the order is MSU, UM, then CC.

So now our 16 teams rank as follows:

1 - New Hampshire
2 - Minnesota
3 - Saint Cloud State
4 - Notre Dame
5 - Maine
6 - Clarkson
7 - Denver
8 - North Dakota
9 - Boston University
10 - Michigan State
11 - Michigan
12 - Colorado College
13 - Boston College
14 - Saint Lawrence
15 - Niagara
16 - Sacred Heart

Now the questions are who goes where, and who plays who:

Regional hosts have to play at that regional. This means #1 New Hampshire has to play in the Northeast Regional in Manchester, and #7 Denver has to play in the West Regional in Denver (which makes a mess of things, as I'll explain). East host RIT and Midwest host Western Michigan make it easy on us by missing the field, the former because they can't as they're playing their second probationary year of D-I, and the latter because they're playing sub-.500 hockey this year.

Typically, the NCAA seeds the top 4 seeds based on proximity to the regional site, which would place Minnesota in Grand Rapids and SCSU in Denver. Because DU is guaranteed a slot in Denver, however, the question is whether to send Minnesota further than SCSU in order to maintain bracket integrity, or to keep Twin Cities fans happy by giving them to shorter trip to Michigan. The last few years, the NCAA seems to have shifted from monetary concerns to fairness in seeding, so I'm guessing Minnesota would head to Denver in this situation.

So my preliminatry brackets, with full bracket integrity are as follows:

NORTHEAST REGIONAL (MANCHESTER): 1 v. 16 / 8 v. 9
1 - New Hampshire
2 - North Dakota
3 - Boston University
4 - Sacred Heart

WEST REGIONAL (DENVER): 2 v. 15 / 7 v. 10
1 - Minnesota
2 - Denver
3 - Michigan State
4 - Niagara

MIDWEST REGIONAL (GRAND RAPIDS): 3 v. 14 / 6 v. 11
1 - Saint Cloud State
2 - Clarkson
3 - Michigan
4 - Saint Lawrence

EAST REGIONAL (ROCHESTER): 4 v. 12 / 5 v. 13
1 - Notre Dame
2 - Maine
3 - Colorado College
4 - Boston College

Miraculously, this completely avoids intraconference 1st Round matchups, and provides every regional with at least 1 local draw and multiple teams that draw well (which avoids past concerns about the NCAA shuffling things in order to maximize attendance).

With this bracket, we would have East v. Northeast and West v. Midwest regional champs meet in the Frozen Four in Saint Louis.

"2006-2007: The Search for Hockey" Hits a Couple Snags

2006-07-13T15:31:00.000-04:00

Granted I went to a mere 1 Cleveland Barons AHL game during my first two Cleveland winters, but this year was supposed to be different. From 2001-2002 to 2003-2004, the location where myself and my girlfriend spent the weekend was based on who was hosting a better opponent, my Boston University Terriers or her University of New Hampshire Wildcats. With her graduation and move to Cleveland coming in 2006, and the Barons featuring a pair of memorable UNH players in Josh Prudden and Garret Stafford, our date option of choice for my final year in Cleveland seemed assured. Then two things happened:

-The Barons moved to Worcester.
-The QuickenLoans Arena purchsed the dormant Utah Grizzlies AHL franchise... but announced the new team wouldn't launch until 2007-2008.

So staring a hockey-less year in the face, two developments took place:

-It was announced that BU would be playing in the IceBreaker Tournament in Oxford, Ohio, celebrating the opening of Miami University's new arena, along with Cornell and Western Michigan. Knowing, perhaps, more Miami U. alums in Cleveland than any other school, and more Miami U. fans than any other school besides Ohio State, plans for a 4.5 hour road trip entered the theoretical stages.
-I noted that a junior team, the Cleveland Jr. Barons, played in the NAHL, and boasted alumni which included BC's Peter Harrold and Maine's Colin Shields... surely this could provide decent entertainment for at least a few games this season.

In the past few weeks, however, a couple developments emerged:

-BU was awarded hosting duties for 2007's IceBreaker. Since a school can only exempt the same tournament from their games limit once every 4 seasons, they dropped out of this years installment, opening the door for Vermont to take their spot this season. I'd still like to go... but the tournament has certainly lost some of it's luster.
-I spotted the NAHL's divisional alignment for next season today. The Jr. Baron's were notably absent. There's no notice of what happened on either the team's or the NAHL's websites, and there is no coversation about it on various message boards (strange considering the uproar the collapse of the 3 Montana based franchises caused last month). From the look of the Jr. Baron's site, they may have joined the ranks of the lower ('B' or 'C') junior leagues, taking them from a spectator sport to a 'friends and family' affair. Crap.

Any advice for where to catch hockey in Greater Cleveland this winter is greatly appreciated.

An Additional Apology

2006-07-13T15:26:00.000-04:00

I also want to apologize for my failed attempt at weekly NFL picks last season. Honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking (besides thinking I could post updates at regular intervals instead of in sporadic flurries).

In no way does this mean I won't threaten to post an ongoing segment again, it should just serve as a warning that there's no chance I'll follow through... so fruitlessly wait for updates at your own risk...

Missed Opportunities

2006-07-13T15:19:00.000-04:00

It's a shame that sporadic posting has really kept me from making this blog all it could have been from the viewpoint of a New England sports fan from Cleveland. Missed opportunities for commenting on major events include:

- Willie McGinest signing with the Browns.
- The trade which resulted in the swapping of Coco Crisp and Josh Bard for Kelly Shoppach and others.
- The Cleveland Barons of the AHL moving to Worcester and becoming the Sharks (especially considering the euology I gave hockey in Worcester).

Oops. Hopefully, I won't miss such easy opportunities to provide my lousy brand of insight in the future. My bad.

Further Proof

2006-05-01T02:34:00.000-04:00

I saw a graphic later in the day that said that the Pats have drafted 7 tight ends in 6 years. Next year, I'm going to modify all of the "The Lions should draft another wide reciever" jokes accordingly, and see if it catches on.

You can't have enough young tight ends, apparently...

2006-04-30T13:39:00.000-04:00

So I was thinking this morning that the Patriots spend a high pick on a tight end seemingly every single year in an endless search to replace Ben Coates. I thought, "Hey, if they're going to throw all these picks away, why don't they just go to the Chargers and say 'We'll give you our second round picks for the next 10 years for Antonio Gates.' They have to say 'Yes,' right?"

Then I thought "RB... WR... TE... Wait, our offense isn't the pressing problem, it's the aging and depleted D. Our LB corp is starting to look a little gray. We have zero DB depth. We have to address one with our higher 4th round pick, hopefully LB."

"With the 106th selection in the 2006 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select Some Dude, TE, Some School."

A second freaking tight end? Did we need one tight end?!?!?

I'm not one to doubt Lord Bill... but seriously, I'm dying here...

The Saint Cloud State of the AHL

2006-04-29T21:32:00.000-04:00

Does the "M5" logo stand for "Five Years of Monarchs Hockey" or "Five Years of Mediocrity"? You'd think the most popular team in the world that isn't in the NHL would be able to, you know, not be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, every single year of their existance.

Even though this has been my first year in awhile where I've been unable to see them play a game (thanks to the AHL's unbalanced schedule Cleveland managed to play none of the seven New England based teams this year... again.), I'm still pretty disappointed that they coughed up a 3-2 series lead again... and to Hartford. Not pleased.

That said, if the Pittsburgh Penguins become the Hartford Penguins, I'm ordering a Ryan Whitney jersey that very day.

Weird and Weirder

2005-09-27T19:17:00.000-05:00

Weird: Cheering against the Cleveland Indians.
Weirder: Cheering against the Cleveland Indians when they are hosting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a team that I am on the record as hating more than the New York Yankees.

The pennant race does funny things to baseball fans.

"Putting the Speed Out There"

2005-09-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

ESPN's color man just said that exact phrase when the Yankees put a pinch runner in for Jason Giambi. The pinch runner? Mark Bellhorn. I don't think you have to be a Red Sox fan to know how funny that is.

Three for Three

2005-09-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

That's as in 'Three Picks for Week Three.' Why so few? Because, honestly, how many games do you feel comfortable picking this week? Half the "experts" out there are under .500, and those who are over that don't exactly have much breathing room. Still though, three? Even Ron Jaworski picks 5 games, right? Sure, which is why I'll be picking one more game each week than I did the week before, while Ronnie will be stuck on 5. Why? Because anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together can cherry-pick 5 games in week 13 and pad their record. Not I. The only 2 other rules that I'm setting forth is that (1) I have to pick the New England and Cleveland games every week, but considering the title and subheading of this blog, that should really go without saying, and (2) I'm picking the winner, I'm not picking against the spread. Why no spread? Because I went to Boston University, not sports gambling capital of the northeast Boston College, that's why.

New England Patriots @ Pittsburgh Steelers

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! The Patriots have been exposed! No Weis, no Crennel, no Bruschi, no Johnson, no Law (actually, people haven't said Law as much as I would have thought, but they always seem to include Johnson, which if you consider how often he was sidelined with injuries, is a little mystifying)! Injuries to multiple defensive backs! Corey Dillon averaging less than 3 yards a carry! Doom! Gloom!

Ben Roethlisberger is the highest rated QB in the league! Blah! Blah! Blah!

"Big" Ben threw 10 tosses last week. 10. I'm surprised he even has enough passes to qualify to be the league leader in this category. To me, this would be equivalent to Mike Myers coming out of the bullpen in the Red Sox's second game of the season, retiring one lefty, and then slipping his jacket back on and taking a seat in the dugout while the media exclaimed "He's the league leader in ERA!" In truth, Ben hasn't done anything yet this year, he hasn't been tested, and his numbers are meaningless.

Ben is Peyton-Lite. All the Pats need is one big play, and the doubt will creep in, and Ben will self-destruct.

Bold prediction: Pat's score one defensive, one offensive, and one special teams TD.
Bolder prediction: Troy Brown scores one defensive, one offensive, and one special teams TD.

Final: Pats 24, Steelers 17

Cleveland Browns @ Indianapolis Colts

As much as it pains me to say, I think Romeo Crennel and Joe Andruzzi are in for a new experience today, getting blown off the field by the Indianapolis Colts. The reason? No one excels during meaningless early games against non-contenders the way that Peyton Manning does.

Final: Colts 42, Browns 13

Cincinnati Bengals @ Chicago Bears

Chad Johnson apparently has a list of the DBs he'll face this season under a sign that says "Can they cover Chad Johnson?" (or something to that effect). He wrote 'No' next to his first two opponents. If Jerry Azumah is healthy enough to play today, Johnson should be prepared to write his first 'Yes.'

Final: Bears 24, Bengals 10

Physical Pain

2005-09-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

When I watched the conclusion of the ChiSox-Tribe game on FSN Ohio last night, and the Wild Card standings update flashed on the screen, it represented the absolutely low point of my time as a Red Sox fan in Cleveland (ignoring, of course, how I felt after Game 3 of last years ALCS, which is easy because, in retrospect, I know what transpired over the following 8 games). The realization that my team had to chase the team that most of the people I see on a daily basis cheer for, the people who see me wearing a Red Sox hat every single day, caused me a moment of actual, physical pain.

Or maybe it was because I punched my futon.

Probably both.

AHL on PS2

2005-09-19T14:48:00.000-05:00

Well, this is exciting for an AHL fan to see. Apparently, Gretzky NHL '06 has acquired the official AHL license, so all 27 teams will be playable on a home console for the first time, well, ever. They seem pretty excited about it too, since AHL teams get a considerable amount of time in their trailers, although they focus on the "big market" teams like Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland and Toronto, but rest assured New Englanders, the Monarchs, Monsters, Pirates, Baby-Bs, Falcons, Tigers, and Pack are on there too. At first I was a little bit worried that the AHL teams would be sort of half-assed, with teams assigned "Generic Arena 11" like mid-majors in NCAA basketball and football games (I'm glaring directly at you EA and Take Two), but the word around the net is, they have their real arenas too. This is great news not only as an AHL fan, but also as a college hockey fan, since you can play games in important college hockey venues like the Verizon Wireless Arena, Tsongas Arena, Dunkin' Donuts Center, Van Andel Arena, and the Aud, not to mention Joe Louis Arena, XCel Energy Center and the FKA FleetCenter, included for more obvious reasons. It also marks the return of the Hartford Civic Center to a game with an NHL license, meaning plenty of people will be using the Hurricanes' throw back jerseys and moving the team back to Connecticut (if game settings allow). Anyways, it's a great time to be a New England sports fan, and a video game fan.

Check out the game's official site here:
http://www.us.playstation.com/Content/OGS/SCUS-97466/Site/

A Future Trivia Question

2005-09-17T22:17:00.002-05:00

Question: What was the result of Boston College's first play from scrimmage in their inaugural ACC football contest?

Answer: An interception, returned for a touchdown by Florida State.

Congratulations Boston College on being eliminated from legitimate national championship contention after your first conference matchup of the season. Sure, you might make the [Insert Sponsor Here] Bowl, but really, if that's what you're playing for, why bother?

Missing the Rem Dawg

2005-09-07T19:07:00.000-05:00

Those of you lucky enough to live in New England right now, as our Red Sox inch ever closer to dethroning the Yankees for the AL East crown for the first time in Lord-knows-how-many years (I want to say 7), know not my pain. I live in a dark world where the Sox are available on TV once every other week or so (unless they're playing the Yankees), and am subjected to intolerable egomaniacs or clueless buffoons or both (I'm looking at you , Joe Morgan) for color men. Oh, how I miss the incomparable Jerry Remy. I even miss his and Don Orsillo's gigglefests that swallow up the middle innings of most telecasts. Just remember how lucky you are, New Englanders.

In other news - The Sox lead the Earth Angels of Anaheim 6-3 in the top of the sixth. Good times.

An Era Ends

2005-04-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

On Sunday afternoon, 10,211 packed the arena formerly known as Worcester's Centrum Centre and watched the IceCats fall 2-1 to the visiting Manchester Monarchs. When the clock hit 0:00, the season, and the team, were gone...

Worcester, along with Saint John's, Newfoundland, are the latest teams from the once New England and Maritimes dominated American Hockey League, to close shop and move west. With the move comes much higher travel costs, and oftentimes, much lower attendance (just ask Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, and my favorite, Cleveland). Good luck, you're going to need it.

Bracketology: 2004-2005 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

2005-03-20T01:36:00.000-05:00

WARNING: This is the most complicated post I've ever written for this blog. Proceed at your own risk.

I figure I'll try my hand at being Joe Lunardi, and play Bracketology with the NCAA Men's Hockey field, which will be announced Sunday morning at 11AM on ESPN2.

The easy part:

6 Automatic Bids - The Conference Champions
Atlantic Hockey Association - Mercyhurst
Central Collegiate Hockey Association - Michigan
College Hockey America - Bemidji State
Eastern College Athletic Conference - Cornell
Hockey East Association - Boston College
Western Collegiate Hockey Association - Denver

The slightly tougher part is my 10 at-large bids to round out the NCAA field of 16 teams. These were determined using the Pairwise Rankings (PWR) found at www.uscho.com and I have predicted that the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) bonus for "good non-conference wins" will be .001 at home, .002 at neutral sites, and .003 on the road. Other people predict it will be .001, .003. and .005, and this is the part of the selection process on which we have the least to go by in making our predictions.

10 At-Large Bids
Colorado College
Minnesota
North Dakota
New Hampshire
Harvard
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Boston University
Maine
Colgate

The following are therefore the bubble teams who have had their bubbles (likely) burst over the last few days:

Better Luck Next Year
Dartmouth
Michigan State
Vermont
Massachusetts-Lowell

The next part is ranking the teams. Even though there are 4 regions ranked 1-4, it is easier to just rank them 1-16 through straight pairwise, at first, since the committee has put serpentine bracket integrity above attendance concerns in the last two years.

Preliminary Seeding
1) Boston College
2) Colorado College
3) Denver
4) Minnesota
5) Cornell
6) Michigan
7) North Dakota
7) New Hampshire
9) Harvard
10) Ohio State
11) Wisconsin
11) Boston University
11) Maine
14) Colgate
15) Bemidji State
16) Mercyhurst

There are two ties to break, and I'm not 100% sure how they should be broken, whether through a head to head pairwise comparison, or through highest RPI. In the case of UND and UNH, UND wins on pairwise and UNH on RPI. The difference might not matter too much if they base regional placement on attendance and travel rather than pure bracket integrity, since they will both be 2 seeds either way, but that seems unlikely to be the case. Just for the sake of making a decison, I'll base it on pairwise and make UND #7 and UNH #8. In the case of the three way tie, the method we choose makes less of a difference. Either way, Maine comes in at #13, which would make them a 4 seed and BU and Wisconsin 3 seeds, and since BU is already locked into the Northeast Regional as host it might not matter if BU and Wisconsin have their tie broken by RPI (putting BU at #11) or head to head pairwise (putting Wisconsin at #11). For the sake of consistency, we'll go with the latter.

Now, we're on to placing the teams in the appropriate regionals. The regionals take place in Worcester (Northeast), Amherst (East), Grand Rapids (Midwest) and Minneapolis (West) and are hosted by BU, Massachusetts, Western Michigan, and Minnesota, respectively. Hosts are required to attend that regional if they make the tournament, meaning the exclusion of UMass and WMU makes this process much easier.

First, the 1 seeds: BC, Colorado College, Denver, and Minnesota. As host, Minnesota will head to the West regional. After the hosts are placed, priority goes to giving the top seed left the least travel possible, which will place BC in the Northeast, Colorado College in the Midwest, and poor Denver in the East.

Now, the 2 seeds: To make a serpentine bracket, Cornell will head West to play Minnesota in a potential second round matchup (like a 4 v. 5 game). Michigan heads to the East (potentially a 3 v. 6). North Dakota joins CC in the Midwest (2 v. 7). Finally, New Hampshire joins conference-mate BC in the Northeast.

On to the 3s: First off, BU heads to the Northeast as host. This does two bad things, 1) It shreds bracket integrity by rewarding the lowest 2 seed (New Hampshire) with the lowest possible 3 seed, and 2) it creates an in conference first round matchup, which is a big "no-no" in this and most other NCAA tournaments. This means I will need to do a big overhaul after my initial placements. For now, following the rules I have laid out, Harvard goes to the Midwest, Ohio State to the East (creating another in conference matchup for the first round, versus Michigan), and Wisconsin heads to the West.

Finally, the 4s: Maine will head to the West, Colgate to the East, Bemidji State to the Midwest, and lastly, Mercyhurst to the Northeast.

What do we have so far (with seeding preceeding the school name, but my pairwise "rank" listed afterwards)?

NORTHEAST (Worcester)
1) Boston College (1)
2) New Hampshire (8)
3) Boston University (12)
4) Mercyhurst (16)

MIDWEST (Grand Rapids)
1) Colorado College (2)
2) North Dakota (7)
3) Harvard (9)
4) Bemidji State (15)

EAST (Amherst)
1) Denver (3)
2) Michigan (6)
3) Ohio State (10)
4) Colgate (14)

WEST (Minneapolis)
1) Minnesota (4)
2) Cornell (5)
3) Wisconsin (11)
4) Maine (13)

The trouble spots? We have to eliminate the UNH v. BU and Michigan v. Ohio State games in the first round, without moving BU out of Worcester. The easiest way to do this is to swap UNH and Michigan. This would hurt bracket integrity significantly, however, so UND will also be moved in a 3 way swap. This still hurts bracket integrity, as it seems to unfairly benefit Denver at the expense of Colorado College, but it is better than benefitting Denver at the expense of overall #1, BC. I also feels that this is most likely because underneath the "bracket integrity" aims, I still believe the committee will salivate at the opportunity to make some extra revenue by leaving Michigan in state and UNH in New England (let the conspiracy theorists begin to speculate).

FINAL BRACKET

NORTHEAST (Worcester)
1) Boston College (1)
2) North Dakota (7)
3) Boston University (12)
4) Mercyhurst (16)

MIDWEST (Grand Rapids)
1) Colorado College (2)
2) Michigan (6)
3) Harvard (9)
4) Bemidji State (15)

EAST (Amherst)
1) Denver (3)
2) New Hampshire (8)
3) Ohio State (10)
4) Colgate (14)

WEST (Minneapolis)
1) Minnesota (4)
2) Cornell (5)
3) Wisconsin (11)
4) Maine (13)

That's it, my sixteen team field. In order to place brackets 1-4 based on the highest seed, I would assume (if these brackets are correct) that the Northeast winner will play the West winner, and Midwest will play East at the Frozen Four in Columbus.

Academic Disgraces

2005-03-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the NCAA came out with Academic Progress Rate, which will be used in the future to take scholarships away from programs that do a poor job graduating players, or keeping them academically eligible. 51% of Division I schools nationally had at least one failure, registering lower than a 925 on the 1000 point scale, and the top offenders were I-A football teams. So New England, with our aversion to I-A football and our great bastions of academic integrity killed right? Actually, we got MURDERED, with 75% of our 20 D-I schools having at least one program failing. The "Dis-Honor Roll" reads as follows:

FAILED
Boston College Men's Golf 923
Boston College Men's Soccer 917
Boston University Men's Basketball 917
Brown Men's Fencing 875
Central Connecticut State Men's Baseball 797*
Central Connecticut State Men's Basketball 825*
Central Connecticut State Men's Cross Country 875
Central Connecticut State Men's Golf 750*
Central Connecticut State Men's Soccer 900
Central Connecticut State Women's Cross Country 909
Central Connecticut State Women's Volleyball 904
Connecticut Men's Basketball 852*
Connecticut Men's Outdoor Track 898
Connecticut Women's Basketball 904
Connecticut Women's Soccer 923
Hartford Men's Golf 864
Hartford Women's Soccer 880
Maine Men's Baseball 907
New Hampshire Men's Basketball 913
New Hampshire Women's Ice Hockey 921
New Hampshire Women's Tennis 857
Northeastern Men's Basketball 846*
Massachusetts Men's Basketball 886
Massachusetts Men's Football 878*
Massachusetts Men's Outdoor Track 875*
Providence Men's Lacrosse 875
Providence Women's Swimming 812*
Quinnipiac Men's Golf 889
Quinnipiac Men's Lacrosse 922
Rhode Island Men's Soccer 905
Rhode Island Women's Softball 914
Sacred Heart Men's Soccer 920
Sacred Heart Women's Swimming 917
Vermont Men's Ice Hockey 900
Vermont Men's Swimming 900
Vermont Women's Skiing 917
Vermont Women's Tennis 923

Since penalties will be assessed on a multi-year average, only the asterisked teams would lose scholarships immediately if this was applied retroactively. Still, it's a frightening list.

The overall institutional scores are as follows, in decending order, with a bonus note for our five schools that saw all of their teams "make the grade":

Yale 999 No fails
Harvard 990 No fails
Holy Cross 987 No fails
Fairfield 982 No fails
Boston College 979
Boston University 973
New Hampshire 972
Brown 971
Quinnipiac 968
Sacred Heart 968
Dartmouth 966 No fails
Providence 965
Northeastern 961
Vermont 959
Maine 958
Connecticut 956
Rhode Island 954
Hartford 953
Massachusetts 938
Central Connecticut State 916

That's right, CCSU fails as a DEPARTMENT, and it wasn't even close. Yale, on the other hand, did almost suspiciously well. Sure, they're Yale and all, but only two teams in their department got less than perfect scores, football at 995 and men's ice hockey at 991. For comparison, grade-inflation-happy Harvard averaged a 990. I just simply don't buy what Yale is trying to sell.

On a better note, all four of New England's programs "playing up" in a single sport, men's ice hockey in all four cases, made the grade:

American International 1000
Bentley 1000
Massachusetts-Lowell 979
Merrimack 978

At least when schools put all their focus on one sport, they do it right both on and off the playing field.

25th Anniversary

2005-02-22T00:14:00.000-05:00

We should all take a moment today to recognize the 25th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice and the overall accomplishments of the USA Men's Hockey Team of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games... or as I like to call them "Rizzo, Silky, O.C., Craig and those 16 dudes from the Midwest." Thanks guys.

Three Simple Rules

2005-02-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

ESPN's Pat Forde has three simple rules for fans of the home team at an NCAA basketball game:

Maintain absolute conviction that the refs are conspiring against your team.
Never let an opposing player forget it when he shoots an air ball.
Never rush the court when your team has the higher ranking.

Now, it's very difficult to know when Rule #1 is violated, because it can be a non-vocal thing. They can just be seething at the refs under the surface. Of course, for the most part, it's a very vocal rule, that can often extend well beyond the actual end of the game. In any case, this is not one of the rules that was violated yesterday in the ways that Rules #2 and #3 were broken by the fans of the University of Nevada and Boston College, respectively. Late in Nevada's Bracket Buster Saturday game against the University of Vermont, Catamount power forward Taylor Coppenrath unleashed a long three which bounced off of the front of the rim. Nevada Wolfpack fans proceeded to chant "air ball" through the next possession and into the commercial break. Bravo. Sounds like the people of Reno need a "Basketball 101" course to properly explain the concept of an "air ball," i.e., a shot that hits nothing but air. On the Heights, Eagles fans rushed the court when their #6 ranked team beat the #9 Syracuse Orangemen. Congratulations, you win when you're supposed to win... just like when you defeated Northeastern and Providence... except this game was on national television, so it's "LOOK AT ME, I FOUND AN EXCUSE TO EMBARRASS MYSELF AND MY SCHOOL ON TV... WHEEEEEEEEEE. HI MOM!"

For your violations of decency and self-respect, I proudly salute you Wolfpack and Eagle fans. Well done.

Sux2BU

2005-02-08T01:29:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, that old Boston chant "Sux2BU." At times it is heard as often as "Yankees Suck" on Huntington Avenue, on the Heights, and in Harvard Square. Both of these phrases were invented by those bitter and envious of the nearby hegemon, the team that shatterred their dreams so often, that many wanted them to lose more than they wanted their own teams to win.

Through all of this though, fans of the Boston Red Sox never had the gall to say it was the Yankees fans who were bitter and envious.

Yesterday, however, Boston College's school newspaper issued an editorial which was entitled "Always Remember: It Sucks to BU," in which they state "There's no two ways about it - the Terriers are just plain envious of all things BC."

National Championships: BU-4, BC-2.
Beanpot Titles: BU-25, BC-13.

Oh yeah, BU is quite envious of that outstanding track record.

Boston College, in their blind arrogance, likes to pretend they are the dominant force in New England collegiate sports, but Boston College has fewer national championships than many of the other schools in New England, including Boston University, Yale, Connecticut, Vermont, Harvard, and Dartmouth. Their best ever performance in the NCAA basketball tournament was an appearance in the Elite 8, which puts them in a tie with BU (way to go!) and behind other local programs such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Providence.

They like to chide BU fans for not having football, and blame "megalomaniac ex-chancellor John Silber" in the article for cutting the program. Football was cut only a couple years after an undefeated regular season (wow, that's right kids, more recently than BC) , because there was little fan interest, because football fit BU's demographics poorly, and because it was decided that it would be better to save the lost money for a new venue for hockey and basketball and to renovate Nickerson Field to make it better for soccer. Similar decisions have been made by Vermont and Providence. BC, meanwhile, struggles through an easy schedule, never wins its conference, never sells out a small stadium for anyone not named Notre Dame (who has announced they will stop scheduling BC in favor of BYU), and plays in illustrious minimum payout bowls such as the Carquest Bowl and Continental Tire Bowl. Here's a trivia question for everyone, which Boston based school has played in a bowl game in Pasadena, California, in college football's most revered stadium? That's right kids, Boston University. The school that dropped football, because it doesn't make economic sense in a region that doesn't watch college football.

Another pearl from the article was "Boston College: No. 37 in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. Boston University? No. 56, and you'll never hear us chanting "safety school."" First of all, school's are ranked by silly criteria like library size and a average alumni donation and not actual academics in the U.S. News Rankings. Boston University, along with several other schools, has elected not to participate in U.S. News self-administered survey, which causes a bunch of "N/A"s to be averaged in... for which we are penalized. This is why this is the only poll BCers ever bring up, because every time real criteria is used, either the difference becomes negligible, or BC falls behind BU. I'd also like to take issue with the never chanting "safety school." I've heard it with my own ears. I've also walked up an aisle at Conte Forum wearing a BU jersey while hundreds chanted "BC Reject," which I'm sure was because I deserved it, and not because ever envious BU had just beaten BC in the conference hockey tournament. Not that it matters anyways, because once graduates of either school travel west of the shelter of Route 495, they learn that if you went to BU, people assume NYU rejected you, and if you went to BC, that Notre Dame rejected you.

More jewels from the article include "Remember John Sabo? He was the BU forward indicted on charges of aggravated assault after he stomped on someone's head outside a local bar. Go Terriers!" BCers will remember Bill Romanowski right? You know, the guy who had multiple suspensions for violating the NFL's drug abuse policy, and who ended his career by assaulting a young teammate in the locker room (ending the young man's football career as well)? How about William Green? He got a 4 game suspension last year for violating the league's substance abuse policy too, plus a suspension this year for taking a swing at an opposing player during pregame warmups. How about Mike Cloud? Might he have violated the substance abuse policy too? This doesn't even bring into account the two gambling scandals in recent memory. But John Sabo is a bad person whom BU should be derided for.

I could go on, as the BC article continues to move from the outdated, to the false, to the laughable, but anyone can read the article on their own if they just click the following link and give Boston College a bunch of personal information:

http://www.bcheights.com/news/2005/02/07/Editorial/Always.Remember.it.Sucks.To.Bu-854708.shtml

Lastly, congratulations to the Boston University Terriers for defeating the Boston College Eagles 2-1 in the opening round of the Beanpot on Monday. Boston University has never failed to make the finals in my time as a fan, and has never lost an opening round game to Boston College, in 7 meetings, during my lifetime. Thank you for keeping these streaks alive because I am so envious of Boston College's outstanding accomplishments.

Not Quite the Same

2005-02-07T01:19:00.000-05:00

There's something not quite the same about the atmosphere for me before, during and after Super Bowl XXXIX as there was when the Patriots won Super Bowls XXXVI & XXXVIII.

Before XXXVI - Dorm food and friends on Bay State Road.
Before XXXVIII - Broadcast a smacktalk filled campus radio show with a Carolina Panther fan.
Before XXXIX - Did Property homework.

During XXXVI - Watched with 1,000 people in the George Sherman Union on Commonwealth Avenue.
During XXXVIII - Watched in a packed apartment on Park & Beacon Streets.
During XXXIX - Watched in an apartment in Cleveland, with few fans of either team, and most people not even watching (no offense guys).

After XXXVI - Enjoyed Boston's first sports riot in presumably a generation (at least), witnessing the festivities both in Kenmore Square and on Lansdowne Street.
After XXXVIII - After making a face appearance early in the Kenmore Square riot, took a seat at P.J. Kilroy's Pub, when those there decided to stream out and take part in the riot.
After XXXIX - Watched the Simpsons, and did more Property homework. Weak.

But hey, the important thing is that the Pats won, again. To all those who ask, and some already have via phone, there was never any fear. These are the Patriots, and they always win.

The Best Team Won

2005-01-18T01:46:00.000-05:00

Only Mike Vanderjagt missing a meaningful field goal could have possibly made the Patriots' victory on Sunday more satisfying.

This is all that really needs to be said about this game:

20-3.

Hampstead versus Pittsburgh (or Cincinnati, or Charlotte...)

2004-11-21T18:40:00.000-05:00

For over a decade, the Phantoms of New Hampshire roamed the state, playing professional soccer games at every high school from Keene to the coast with practically no fanfare. I myself have been saying for years, "I'd like to see them play some time this summer," but since no one even knows where their games are, nevermind when, actually seeing them was something of a pipe dream. Past internet time wasting sessions have shown that twice the Pantoms called real stadiums home, only for be evicted from Nashua's Holman Stadium and the recently razed Singer Family Park in Manchester, in favor of minor league baseball clubs. All this movement gave me the distinct impression that this team would be history when the United Soccer Leagues announced they were culling their weak franchises to make a slimmer, stronger, more marketable league. I was wrong.

Apparently, earlier this month, the Phantoms collected their belongings in Manchester (population 108,398) and decended upon tiny Hampstead (population 8,297... yes, that's over 100K less), with bags of money (I'm assuming we're talking about 7-digits worth here), bought the brand spanking new All-Around Sports Complex and it's 3 indoor soccer fields, not to mention it's other amenities, renamed it the PhanZone, and announced it was going to build a soccer-specific stadium on the site. This, ladies and gentlemen, is absolutely insane. Hampstead now has a professional sports franchise in the same league as franchises in the major cities listed in the title, and will compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which is a knockout tournament which includes all of the MLS clubs. With the shrinking of the USL, there are thirty professional soccer franchises left in the country, meaning, even assuming the MLS teams getting byes, and the Phantoms not advancing every year, it's a pretty good bet that the New England Revolution, DC United, MetroStars, or someone else, will be playing a big game in Hampstead in the next five years.

The craziest part? I'm relatively sure no one in the area even knows about it. This all happened 2 weeks ago, and I learned about it on a message board. My family lives in Sandown (population 5,143), one town to the north of Hampstead, and they haven't said anything to me, and I'm pretty sure if my mom had read about it in the paper, she would have called me immediately, knowing my enjoyment of all sports local and obscure. My girlfriend actually lives in Hampstead, and asks me almost daily about my SIMULATED soccer team (yes, I am that sick), yet she too, has said nothing about this.

More strangeness? The fact that the town north of Sandown, Fremont (population 3,510), is already building the largest (area-wise) soccer specific complex in the COUNTRY, to serve as the new home of Seacoast United, also a USL soccer club, but on the amateur level (think Cape Cod league). They too, will participate in the U.S. Open Cup. Once again, people in the area have hardly any awareness of this.

Let me explain what just happened, two infinitesimal New Hampshire towns just got franchises with apparently unlimited funds, brand new facilities, leagues with 'major-league caliber' city opponents, a mechanism to compete for the national championship, and thus be invited to play in regional competitions against the best teams in Mexico, Central America, the Carribean and beyond. These two teams will be situated a mere 10-15 minutes apart (think Liverpool-Arsenal, Rangers-Celtic, Chivas-Galaxy... or am I getting ahead of myself?). Yet the region is clueless as to even the fact that this money (millions) and entertainment is arriving. Unbelievable.

NCAA cheats UNH

2004-11-21T18:16:00.000-05:00

Well, that time of year is upon us, college sports fans, the 16 team bracket to determine the NCAA Division I-AA National Champion in football has been announced. (NOTE: The 11 rogue conferences who choose to play in 30-odd bowl games like the CapitalOne Bowl, GMAC Bowl, and Continental Tire Bowl do not compete for an NCAA championship, they have chosen to sell themselves for sponsorship dollars and for a non-NCAA title which is voted upon rather than played for.)

As signified in the note above, I feel that a 4-week tournament is a far superior way to determine the true national champion. Unfortuneately, because the NCAA gets shafted on the Bowl money, they have decided to tweak the I-AA field to make it more profitable. What they do for the 8 first week games, is give 4 home games to the top 4 ranked teams, and 4 home games to the 4 most profitable teams. Enter the victim: the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. The Wildcats, in the top 4 in many of the computer rankings, boasting a 9-2 record, 7-0 on the road, an Atlantic-10 North divisional championship, wins over defending national champion Delaware and I-A member Rutgers, were conspicuously absent from the top 4. At that point, remaining home games go to traditional powers who believe they deserve annual home games (including the Delaware team that UNH themselves crushed on the road). Because road teams are determined in the name of reducing travel and avoiding 1st round conference matchups, UNH can pack its bags for Statesboro, Georgia, to play #4 Georgia Southern University. This means that in the name of a cash grab, the NCAA is pitting 2 of the top 5 schools against each other in round 1. The saddest part, this format is still more legitimate than the NCAA I-A Bowl Championship Series format.

(HEY I-A! How's being forced to put a 2 loss Michigan, and a schedule strength weak and 2 loss Boston College in 'Championship Series' Bowls looking? How's this one, what if Iowa State beats Oklahoma? You'll be forced to take them too! Wow, that means shafting undefeated Utah! What a public relations killer! That's OK though, since you've already decided to shaft undefeated Boise State! How is this format supposed to be better at picking a champion than the past, when you have all but assured that there will be 2 or 3 or 4 undefeated teams when the bowls are over?)

Playoffs at Nickerson Field

2004-11-19T17:42:00.000-05:00

Tonight, the Boston University Terriers host the Big Green of Dartmouth College in the first round of the NCAA men's soccer championship tournament. It's not that I'm a big college soccer fan, it's that I'm astounded that an America East Conference team was good enough to get a national tournament home game in any sport. This is a rare day for AEC and BU fans... hopefully they'll take advantage of it and pull out a win.

In other New England collegiate sports news:
- #15 BU, first place in Hockey East, visits UMass-Lowell tonight, a school still searching for its first league win of the year. At the beginning of the season, if you had told me that their situations would be reversed at this point in the year, I wouldn't have been in the least surprised.
- Northeastern is the last undefeated team in Hockey East. Granted, they've played the fewest games so far, but it took them 9 games last year to get their first win, so it's pretty impressive for them. They visit #6 UNH tonight.

The Pride of Chestnut Hill

2004-11-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

There's something magical about being in Cleveland when William Green (Boston College, Class of 2002) decides to throw a haymaker at the Pittsburgh Steelers' Joey Porter, nearly an hour before gametime, and completely misses. Every channel on the dial keeps showing clips again, and again, and again. I can't decide which shot is my favorite, the one where Green misses, or the one where a bloody Green is walking away from the field, because Porter certainly didn't miss. I hope Green was able to clean himself up in time to watch the kickoff from the locker room, because it would be a shame to think he missed a single second of his team losing without him. Of course, he's watched the Browns play without him before, since he, along with fellow Chestnut Hill College alumni Bill Romanowski and Mike Cloud, has had the honor of serving a four game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy in the past. Maybe it's something they pick up on the streets of Newton. In any case, Green certainly didn't learn how to fight in college, because Bill Romanowski has certainly never swung his fist at someone and missed. Sadly, Bill is prone to put up his dukes against teammates in the locker room, with career-ending force.

In other news, the Patriots finished dismantling the Bills 29-6 on Sunday Night Football mere moments ago. Poor Drew.

Veteran's Day

2004-11-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=frei_terry&id=1920697

This is in honor of Dave Mears, hero of Sugar Loaf Hill, lineman for Boston University. Great story by ESPN.

R.I.P. - Worcester IceCats 1994-2005

2004-11-11T01:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.worcestericecats.com/news/html/story978.html

Lots of issues here. Most of them unrelated to each other, but related to the story:

#1) Bettman was an idiot for trying to make the AHL into IHL2... the original folded for a reason. Even baseball doesn't fly cross country for AAA level games. Was it necessary for Manchester to fly to Utah this month? Unbelieveable.

#2) This team will get to the midwest just in time for new rivals Cleveland and Milwaukee to fold. Awesome! I can't wait to see what Cincinnati does when Disney finishes purging their sports holdings. But you can play intrastate rival, Chicago, 20 times a season until fans stop showing up... but not before they stop going to see you visit Chicago... since you're freaking Peoria.

#3) It's really sad to see the team that paved the way for the Lock Monsters and Monarchs (certainly more than the other 3 older franchises in New England) move away.

#4) Is there a more troubled non-sunbelt team, other than Pittsburgh, than the the Saint Louis Blues? Aren't they busy enough there running their own franchise into the ground?

#5) Not to totally blame the Blues and the NHL for this, this move says alot about the City of Worcester. Worcester was once New England's #3 city (and #2 if you don't count Connecticut, an issue I waver back and forth on). Now what are they? 4th? 5th? They should be embarrassed by how far their city has fallen while Providence and Manchester have risen. Look in your rearview Worcester... that's Portland and Lowell... and that's sad.