Rant of the week: Inspecting the white flag

There's probably little room for optimism if you're one of the dwindling amount of PC hockey fans who has had their hearts ripped out Mola Ram style by the awful start this team has had in Hockey East. Fortunately, I'm not stupid enough to argue that this ISN'T the worst season PC has had since the formation of Hockey East.

Let's look at the facts. The team is 0-6-1 and just blew their best chance of the season to get a win at home against a decent - but not spectacular - Maine team that spent all of last year in the basement. Coming up on the schedule is a UML team that might have some question marks, but that is certainly better than PC. Then we have the Skating Mother Theresas, playing at home in a place where PC never wins. Yeah, it looks bleak. It looks like PC is going to be 0-8-1 in the league and staring down a last place finish. And it's also entirely possible that this team will never win a game for the rest of the season. It's not LIKELY, but it could happen.

So at this point, I'm certainly not going to abandon the team. I've sat through my share of bad seasons. At most, I won't attend as many games - especially since I haven't seen this team win in almost 10 months (or close to it!). I'm not even going to call for Tim Army's head - yet. What I'm going to do is root for this team to get their heads out of their posteriors and not get too disappointed when it doesn't happen.

I look at it this way. I can acknowledge that the team has problems. But I'm not morally obligated to watch them struggle in each and every game. What I'd like to see happen is for the team to win a game in Hockey East. I want to see if this will lead to some confidence and maybe a modest winning streak. I don't think the Friars are a bad team: they just aren't playing well enough to win. They screw up too many offensive opportunities and give up too many scoring chances. And the special teams are awful. If the Friars can turn one or two of these things around, they MIGHT escape the basement. And that might entice a few of us back on the bandwagon. You've heard of cautious optimism? This is cautious pessimism.

Rant of the week:

-Again, on the trash talking: I sense people are stunned that the Patriots are not engaging in a war of words with mouthy idiot Joey Porter. Here's the thing: when your team wins by the margin the Dol-Frauds did the last time they were in Foxborough, you can talk all the trash you want. It's irrelevant because Miami won the game. I would have more of a problem with Mr. Porter displaying his vast lack of class had the Dol-frauds lost the game. Then, it's just pathetic. Besides, why get into a urinating match with a skunk?

-Hi Mark!

Rant of the Week: Hockey East does not suck

The out of conference play in Hockey East has been very encouraging this year as compared to last year. For a while during the beginning of last season, the only Hockey East team with a winning record against non-conference foes was Merrimack (!!!). This year, there have been a few highlights:

- BU and UMASS taking care of North Dakota
-BC and UNH beating the Badgers on consecutive nights
-UNH throttling RPI
-UVM beating and tying Miami
-UML taking a game at East Lansing against MSU
-PC actually winning both non-conference games against teams they'd lost to in the last two years

Sure, there have been let downs: Merrimack managing only a tie against Canisius and Niagara, UNH's misadventure up at SLU, UML getting shut out by Colgate and NU's tie against the Nanooks. It's a bit early to say that the league is back, but the early results are encouraging. Last year, only BC and UNH made it to the NCAA tournament and the culprit was a weak record out of conference. Turning that around is the key to getting 3-5 teams in the Big Dance.

Random ranting:

-(It's actually working!) Hi Mark!

- I wish people would stop labeling the Phillie's five game victory over the Rays as the "worst World Series ever". It's just stupid: There were three close games, one titanic marathon in game three and the final game decided by one run. That doesn't sound like "the worst World Series ever". Really, what people are complaining about is the weather. The rain delay in game three and the suspension of game five were frustrating, but that's not MLB's fault. That would be the fault of Mother Nature. It's also preposterous to say that the World Series should now be played entirely in domes or at a "neutral spot". The format isn't the problem: the length of the season is the issue. When baseball decided it would be okay to have the season stretch to late October, did they actually think it would be nothing but Southern teams competing?

- As encouraging as the first two games of the Bruin's merry jaunt through northwest Canda were, the last game against the Flames left a nasty taste in my mouth. Simply put, the NHL's early season scheduling leaves a lot to be desired. The Bruins seem to start every season on an extended road trip (thanks to the bloody circus) following a span of weeks where they seem to play all of two or three games. And then we have the sadistic schedule that saw them play 3 games in 4 days. It's a wonder they didn't lose by more last night.

-In a similar vein, just as I was hoping to see the Celtics play at least once or twice before tonight, they have one game on Tuesday. Then, another game tonight. Why the three day gap? Did the circus come back?

-The Patriots are - for the second time in a month - entering into a game against a talented but desperate team. The Colts game is frighteningly similar to the San Diego game in a lot of respects. The good news is that - even if the Colts win - the Pats have acquitted themselves admirably enough that a 5-3 record is in no way disappointing.

Rant of the week: Who are these guys?

Here in Friar Country, we pride ourselves in not knowing what the hell to expect from our team from week to week. Or in some cases, day to day. A perfect example comes from the GLI Tournament least year where the Friars were lost against the Wolverines one night and took out the defending national champion Spartans the next. Who would have predicted that (aside from the Michigan and MTU fans who spent the rest of the night high fiving me)? The Friars are an awful team to predict because they have no consistency. The team radically shifts in quality for year to year and some times even night to night. This was as true in the 60's as it is now. If you notice the banners at Schneider Arena, the Friars fielded great teams in 1978, 1981, 1983, and 1985. What happened to the Friars in 1979, 1982, 1984 and 1986? I have no idea.

Then we get to teams I did follow. I do know that the 1997 Friars had goal tending issues that prevented them from repeating. I know that the offense of the 1999 Friars did not translate into 2000 and the 2002 Friars were quite possibly the most underachieving team in the history of the universe. I'm still not sure what happened that year. The team is an enigma.

This is why I find Hockey East predictions so comical - nobody can ever figure out Providence College. The Friars either finish 5 positions lower than they're supposed to or 3 or 4 positions higher. You might as well use a dart board. PC isn't alone in this: Northeastern is impossible to predict. UMASS vacillates just as insanely as Providence. Even BU has had season where they were supposed to do something and finished in eighth place, or they were supposed to finish in fifth place and they win Hockey East. The only mortal locks are that BC will be good and Merrimack will be in the basement and UNH will botch the post season. Anything else is conjecture. Hockey is a bizarre game. A goaltender can get hot, an offense can go cold, or a ref can make a strange call and all the predictions are for naught.

Complicating matters for the Friars is the fact that no one has seen them play yet. The only thing we have to judge this team on is the influx of freshman, the departures of Jon Rheault, Cody Wild, and (most importantly) Tyler Sims. The Huskies are supposed to be good and Bowling Green is supposed to be much improved. But barring that, I have no idea what to expect this weekend from the Friars except for this: we will finally figure out who these guys are.

More random thoughts:

- Hi Mark!

-One thing I do know this weekend. The Patriots are going to get CLOBBERED. They never beat the Broncos, and the team has looked lost since the Super Bowl. Someone needs to get some electrical shockers on the defense. Matt Cassel has been poor, but the defense is the real culprit for the Patriots sucking.

- No idea what to make of Game Six in Tampa Bay. It's almost a relief to get away from Fenway after the bludgeonings in Games Three and Four. The Sox can NOT keep spotting the Rays 5 run leads.

More randomness while I wonder why the cat has been so mellow lately...

... I think he's planning something. Seriously.

-College hockey season begins! I'll have to update The Coffin Online some point this weekend. I'm not in a hurry of course: PC opens with Northeastern next week. Only the Ivy's start later, it seems. Best of luck to our Hockey East co-horts, especially UMASS and BU who take on UND and MSU in the Icebreaker this weekend.

-Maybe Charlie Chaplin is saving himself for Dan Shaugnessy? This attempt to irritate Tampa Bay fans was kind of predictable. In fact, it's way too much like his 1997 offering as the Whalers were about to move. Get ready, Charlie.

-Speaking of Shaugnessy's latest atrocity, why are Rays fans talking trash about things that haven't happened yet? Did Marty McFly loan them a flux capacitor?

-Dice-K starts tonight for the Red Sox. This means that for half the game, Red Sox fans need to find something else to do. Just throw strikes. Please?

-If the Patriots/Chargers game doesn't hold that much interest, why all the columns about how it's not holding that much interest? The fact that people curious as to why people aren't paying attention means that people are paying attention. Did I make anyone's head explode?

-This Halloween, I want to go out as Craig Sager. Where do you get a bright orange blazer?

-Nice win by the Bruins, especially considering their defense was invisible most of the night and neither the Versus announcers nor the officials could figure out there were two teams on the ice. See, I'm in mid-season form all ready!

A month to go: college hockey events I want to see...

Just to get myself in the mood for college hockey, here are some things I'd like to see happen. And, the chances of that actually occurring.

"Hockey East Semi-final Round features UML, UMA, PC and NU"- This would be a great time. Not only would the league's head explode due to the lack of the "traditional" powers, but the novelty would be awesome. And the best part is, you can sub Merrimack or UVM for any of these teams and have just as awesome a spectacle.
Chances of seeing this: The way the league is currently organized, slim to none.

"AIC wins the National Championship"- From worst... to first.
Chances of seeing this: 0

"Northeastern wins Beanpot"- With all of 4 Beanpots, does any fan base more deserve a win in this tournament?
Chances of seeing this: We say this yearly, but the Huskies keep getting better. This is not entirely outside of the realm of possibility. But... it never happens. Harvard is probably a better bet.
BTW: I excluded the GLI from this list because the "visitor" this year is UND. The Fighting Sioux win something annually. That's not impressive. MTU winning, would be something, but they still have about twice as many GLI trophies as NU does Beanpots.

"UAA wins the WCHA"- ... and then come the flying pigs.
Chances of seeing this: The WCHA usually boasts 5-6 tourney capable teams so this isn't entirely outside the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, it never seems to come together for the Sea Wolves. The chances are probably not good.

"UAF wins CCHA" - ... temperatures drop precipitously in Hell....
Chances of seeing this: Low. Since the Nanooks are usually worse than the Seawolves, this doesn't look promising either.


"Brown wins something other than the Mayor's Cup"- Brown is another team that always promises to be a competitor.
Chances of seeing this: Decent. Basically, I'd just like to see them torture someone other than PC.

"PC gets to the NCAA tournament"- Sigh.
Chances of seeing this: After last year? Abysmal


"Charlie Chaplin destroys someone elses computer"- Please, let this happen!
Chances of seeing this: Not goodUnless he gets access to some keys...

Let's stay in Japan, shall we...

I was as skeptical as anyone about the Red Sox opening their season in Japan. The trip is too far, Dice-K's wife is pregnant, the games will be on at odd hours and the Sox will have 2 less games of Spring Training - by this time you should know the objections by heart. Well, I was wrong.

I like having the games at 6 AM.

For one thing, it eliminates the danger of accidentally hearing the Dennis and Callahan show. It also adds some spice to your morning: you can watch the games BEFORE you go to work! And it opens up the rest of the evening; Jenny and I had plenty of time to watch the Bruins (who actually won a game) and "the Riches" without having to worry baseball. Work is much more fun when you can spend half of your time worrying about a baseball game. And my cat was so happy about the arrangement that he did NOT try to kill me last night. Jonathan Papelbohn's insanity seems less insane at 7AM than it does at any other time of day. Hell, even Manny looks like normal when I'm essentially comatose.

As I said, baseball games in the early morning are a good thing. I understand that the Sox wouldn't want to move to Japan or anything quite that drastic. But perhaps as a compromise, they could come back to the US and play more afternoon games. On weekends. Like they used to all of two years ago.

Random Rants:

- Two Hockey East teams make the NCAA's. That's down from five last year which was also not a great year for the league. If neither BC nor UNH make the Frozen Four, this is officially the worst year in Hockey East history. I wasn't quite aware of how precarious UVM and BU were positioned, but seeing both teams out of consideration wasn't something I wanted.

-Speaking of college hockey, the WCHA and CCHA tournaments made for fun viewing last weekend, especially when Doug Woog said something weird (twice every period). The ECAC championship game was okay, but the broadcast quality was horrendous. You couldn't make out the orange in Princeton's jerseys and it looked like Harvard was the team in BLACK. The Hockey East championship game was extraordinarily dull - especially in comparison to the goalie optional semi game between BC and UNH that went 3 over time periods. I was fast asleep by the team BU and UVM got to the second period of the next game.

-The Celtics have a 2 game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Bruins played their best game of the season at Toronto. Why can't we have two good teams at the same time?

Hockey East Semi-finals Preview

Once again, Joe Bertagna gets what he wants (well, maybe not a surprise appearance by the Black Bears) and Jon doesn't. You think this would teach me a valuable lesson about watching Hockey East, but it never does. At any rate, here's my break down on the HE semi finals.

UNH vs BC: I don't know how Jerry York is going to deal with having to coach against the team that has a pulse, do you? Normally, I would say BC's playoff experience would carry the day here, but this is offset by the fact that the Kitties have become a juggernaut during the second half of the season. My feeling is that they have too much firepower and Brian Regan is certainly better than Joe Muse. The Kitties advance, but in a closer game than you'd think.

BU vs UVM: The caveat for this game is that if the Catamounts get any kind of lead, Joe Fallon and the neutral zone defense will make it stick. The problem is BU is on such a hot streak right now that I doubt the Terriers will give them that luxury. UVM might be looking for one goal, BU is looking for 3. The Terriers advance.

Finals: UNH/BU: It is rather appropriate that that the two hottest teams in HE would meet in the finals. I think its a close game, but Regan is better than Bennett and that's the difference. The Kitties add the tournament trophy to their trophy case.

Rant of the week: I hate this week

What can you say about the week where your cat destroys $750 worth of property, you can no longer open your car's gas tank without major help, you end up in a horribly uninteresting job just to keep from getting bored, a snow storm conspires to keep you from an exciting trip to North Andover, and every conversation - whether it be on the phone, in person, or even on stupid Instant Messenger becomes a horrible painful ordeal? You say, "good riddance".

If this week was a man, I would knee him in the crotch and proceed to kick the week's head until it was a bloody pulp.

Thank God its Friday indeed.

Random Rantings:

-Watching BC and UNH fans exchange pleasantries on USCHO is sickening. Where's the Matti/Ayers bickering when you need it?

-BU is scary. UVM? Not so much. Maine? Not at all.

-If PWR is to be believed, right now all of two teams are going to make to the NCAA's. If this isn't a giant cry for help in this conference, I don't know what is. If NU and PC have good weekends, that number will go up to three. Part of the problem is the utter cluster**** that is the WCHA. What PC (and NU, actually) NEED to happen is for one or two of these teams to get hot (my bet would be on MSU-M and Wisconsin) and put some distance between themselves and the rest. CC, UND, and DU are probably as good as in. You have to hope that everyone else scrapes along the rest of the way. I'm not even going to try to figure out the CCHA. Miami and Michigan have been #1 and #2 so long that I can't imagine anyone else pulling the upset - well, maybe our good friends at MSU can help with that. And as usual, PC needs help: Michigan, MSU, Union and Clarkson need to keep chugging along. SLU is a lost cause. Don't get me started on Holy Cross. PC's fatal mistake was losing to the Crusaders. The Goons would be in much better shape had that game not taken place.

-Speaking of general trends, its entirely possible that Hockey East is actually WORSE this year. No one outside of UNH has covered themselves in glory and the fact that the conference is banking its hopes on the Kitties is frightening after the disappearing act that UNH did in the last two games of the previous seasons. The amusing this is that everyone in the league is better. But if only two teams out of 10 get into the post season, its going to be awfully hard to spin that as a good thing.

-I think Matt Walsh is a liar. So there. I don't think he has a tape of the Ram's walkthrough. I don't he even has a tape of "Batman". ESPN is just stupid.

-Someone needs to let the Celtics know that the All Star break is over.

-As I said before, the comments section on this blog is open. If anyone, ANYONE: Jenny, Mark (haha), grumpy MTU fans who want to debate my feelings on the WCHA, and even people pretending to be a rabbi (!!) want to make a comment, feel free.

-And one final note, I hope everyone had a better week than I did!