Still Bleeding, The Reprise

You know what's awful? I haven't written a blog post in six weeks. Know what's worse? When I finally get writing again, it's because yet again BU has lost another player. Not just lost. They left. Willingly. In the middle of the season. Not even during a break in the season. For what...we still don't even know.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty sick of it.




In my three years of being a Terrier student, I've seen entirely too much of people packing up and moving on. It's not even necessarily that it happened, but how it happened. What else are we supposed to think when these people who we've cheered for for a few games, a few weeks, a few years decide that what BU has to offer just isn't good enough for them? We spent our Friday and Saturday nights losing our voice with their names being the cause.

It's a pretty terrible feeling and we've collectively had too much of it. At this point it doesn't matter if it's someone we cared about, hated, or felt indifferent to. I'm not even sure I had gotten to the point where I could definitively tell you what kind of hockey player Wes Myron was. But wow was that a blow today.

Of course when a player leaves, it stirs up all kinds of other drama at the same time. He wouldn't have left if there were better senior leadership. He wouldn't have left if the team played with more heart. He wouldn't have left if Parker wasn't here. He wouldn't have left if Andy Glass hadn't been kicked off the team (?.....??....???!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!)

And to continue the downward spiral, after we start bringing up all the what if's, we focus on all the bad that's already happening. Yes, that UMass game was...wait, can we even call that a game? At least it wasn't as bad as Denver. Too bad our team can't play any defense. Too bad Matt O'Connor and Sean Maguire both suck. Man, in fact, all of our freshmen are downright terrible. How DARE the Blues draft Sam Kurker? At least Ahti wasn't. And seriously, Matt Lane? Guys, MATT LANE.

I'm going to stop there. But I kid you not, I've heard everything imaginable the past few hours. From the reasonable problems with our team to the farfetched. Whatever. I'm not saying don't bring it up. It existed, it does exist, and we are all entitled to our opinions.

But here's the real problem. Why, through all of this, do we have to keep hearing fans jumping off the BU hockey cliff? A player leaves, we lose a few games, and all the sudden you're going to throw away 4 years...10 years...a lifetime of being a BU hockey fan?

Pardon me while I laugh in your face. Have fun with that. Life after BU hockey is a dirty lie.

Look, I'm usually the first person to try and convince people to stay, to keep spirits up. I've always been about rallying the troops. Despite the bads, there's still a lot of good to this team, this program. Despite the bads, damnit we can have a lot of fun during 'em. I'm pro-BU hockey until the day I die and I have a hard time hearing about how other people aren't. In some portion of my brain I honestly believe there is a chemical imbalance that prevents me from accepting people not being a diehard fan of this.

But for once, I don't feel like spitting off 80 million reasons why this team is the best, why you should keep watching, why you need to keep supporting. Instead, quite frankly, I'm just going to say good riddance. Honestly, nobody cares for your negativity anymore. It got old years ago. I get it, you think you could coach this team better than Parker and you sure as hell know what goes on in the locker room more than the rest of us. So if you seriously want to give up on the team, go ahead, what's stopping you? Stop complaining and just...leave.

But before you go, I suggest you take a minute to remember all the emotions that get stirred up in you when a player leaves midseason. How pissed you are, how frustrated, that inevitable "am I good enough?" feeling. Hurts, doesn't it? But go ahead fan, why don't you leave the team midseason, too?

Yeah, congratulations, you've just become the people you hate.

I doubt any of the people that say they're going to give up on the team actually do. Because clearly you've got some fire, some passion for this team. There's something there stopping you from leaving completely. Hey, I get it. God damnit I want wins, too. Not just wins, but good wins, good hockey. I want to win another National Championship, I want to make the NCAA tournament again, hell I just want to see a Beanpot win. These continued loses really strike a chord.

I've always been an Olé-er. Two, five, five plus minutes. Breathtaking saves or shorthanded celebrations. I've always Olé-ed until the countdown was on. But the Denver game, in the waning minutes of the third period, I stopped singing for probably a full 10 seconds. That may seem like a stupid example to some of you, but I guarantee you we've all had those games in which we just thought "what is the point of keeping this up? We sure as hell aren't going to win anyways."

But the very next game, whether it's the next day or a season away, everything I've felt for this team floods back. I get the chills and my memory becomes short term. All of the sudden I don't care that Privitera kicked a guy because he just blocked a shot...five shots. As soon as 38 minutes hits and the team comes back out, it's all about this game and this moment. Things can turn around and there is zero reason to believe they won't.

It's easy to be pessimistic. But if you take sports at face value the way it's meant to be, wasting time moping about them makes no sense. Comebacks are what the best stories are made of. People root for the underdog. A battle happens more often than a blowout.

And you have to really remember, this is college hockey. You say these kids don't have heart but I say they have too much of it. You either have a guy that is going to spend his final times competitively skating with this team and he's going to work his hardest to make the most of it. Or, you have a guy that  is on his way to the AHL, maybe even the NHL, but definitely something to push for. Both of those kids have heart. But what both of those two kids have in addition to heart is pressure - immense pressure. Think about it - pressure can be damning sometimes, no matter how much you want to overcome it.

So don't be quitting on this team midseason. In fact, don't ever be. That little bit of support you provide for the team is what keeps them chugging along. I mean, would you want to play in front of 60 people screaming your name or 600 in Agganis? Or, would you rather deal with the idiots that are the Dog House with or without a few (or 300) of people in Scarlet and White chanting Go BU?

But if you still decide to walk out, thank god we got rid of you when we could. Feel free to turn in your jersey (if you ever owned one) at the door. The rest of us will take it from here.




I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's never about the kids that are gone, it's about the ones that are left. You might not be able to pinpoint which kid on the ice takes your support to heart, but he's out there. Don't let him know you've given up hope. Remind him that you've got his back, win or lose. Once we all believe that, all the guys on the team will. And how ridiculous that will be.