BC - MIH - 12/2/11 & 12/3/11

BU vs. BC Men’s Ice Hockey, 12/2/11 - Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA and 12/3/11 - Agganis Arena, Boston, MA

Bottom Line:  BU beats BC 5-3 / BC beats BU 6-1

The Memories:  In Friday night's game, BU's goaltending was the only reason for a win / In Saturday night's game, Millan gets pulled in favor of Rollheiser in the third / The Dog Pound basically makes Conte Forum our house, just to lose Agganis the next night

Although this should really be two separate posts, I decided to combine them considering the games were pretty much in stark contrast of each other.  But first, for the good.

Obviously Friday night's game was huge.  After the Terriers came in and took the win a mere two weeks ago, they were hungry for some more eagle in the second of three regular season meetings for the two.  But who was even hungrier?  The BU Dog Pound.

First things first, the DOS office is literally going up high on my list.  Finally we were all able to be a part of something as ridiculous as four Peter Pan fan buses bussing up us to Newton after a pep rally at T's.  Just made BC week that much sweeter.

Rushing into BC's campus with 200+ of your not closest friends is something you can't comprehend until you do it.  That's 200+ people who don't know your name, but know the words to your favorite chant.  200+ people who have no idea what your major is or how fat your scholarships are, but are still going to high five you and scream in your face after BU takes care of business.

The game itself, hockey wise, was strange, stupid, ridiculous, and whatever else you want to call it.  If you look at the box score, you'll see BU had a little trouble staying out of the penalty box (while BC had trouble coping with the fact that they didn't make the cut of the BC swimming and diving team) and didn't get enough shots on goal.  But we still walked away with a win.

I have to attribute some of that win to the fan base.

The players, coaches, and fans alike have been ranting and raving about the fan support of this team lately, especially for this upcoming weekend.  And if we can limit BC to scoring on only 2 out of 11 power play opportunities, you know what, some of it's gotta come from the stands. As much as we dread having to continually "Ole", maybe it's just what the Terrier PK needed.

Anyways, from the absolute beginning we took over anything the Boston College Superfrauds even attempted.  Did they even cheer?  I swear, ask anybody in the Dog Pound and I guarantee you they'll tell you we were the only people in the place.  From the beginning when we had the lead and even when we fell within 2 goals, the Dog Pound was literally never fazed.  The chant of the night "This is our House", basically became fact as BC fans starting spilling out of Conte as early as a few plays into the third period.  The Terrier fans?  There to the end, even when the game got a little scary.

Fast forward just about 24 hours later and you have the second match up against the two teams, this time with the Terriers wearing white and and with the Eagles walking away with two points.

Yes, Agganis was packed.  And yes, I know it's hard to keep up cheering momentum when your team starts down from the beginning and doesn't have a lead all game.  But coming off a huge Friday night win, added on to the win from earlier that day in basketball, and in addition to the win from back in November, the fans should've been rabid.  There were close to no Superfans in sight.  We basically could've had open season on BC.  Yet we failed to make Agganis arena an intimidating place to play.

Here's the thing.  Players should absolutely fear coming here.  Our fans, when on, are on.  They're creative, witty, and are true fans of the sport.  Agganis Arena, although it might not be old time hockey, is still a gorgeous place to play.  And our team, despite some inconsistencies, is still continually making a name for themselves.

But we can't really capitalize on that and make the Greek hell for opposing teams.  The only time players hate playing at Agganis is when our team is laying into them and the chants are coming easy to the Dog Pound.  But for the most part, the atmosphere at Agganis is sometimes laughable.

With the strength and tradition of our team, I should never go to a game and hear the players yelling on the ice.  If they're louder than the 2,000-6,000 in attendance, we've got some serious problems.  Everyone who has been a long-term fan of BU hockey wants Walter Brown and the feelings it brought to our team back.  We want to be on top of the plays and feel the hits.  But I'm so sick and tired of buying into the bull that comes along with new and flashy Agganis.  It's the fans that have changed.  Who honestly cares where the team's playing?  It's hockey.  Thrown some god damn ice down and we should be all set.

So, in short, we need to bring the venom from away games to the home arena.  We need to feel like we're in constant competition with our rival fans, even if we're outnumbering them by some ridiculous amount.  I have to admit, what I was seeing from 108 at the end of the game was a step in the right direction.  There were only a few minutes left in the game, but when some Superfans tried to mess with the 108, they didn't care what the scoreboard said, they were still going to let those t-shirt clad tools know who was boss.  THAT is what I like to see.  THAT is what Agganis should be all night, every night.

One day, Agganis might prove a scary place to skate.  But for now, what we've got going on in enemy territory is quite a start.