Midweek Linkorama--UPDATED

The Daily Free Press looks at the on-ice evolution of fan favorite and assistant captain Eric Gryba, who will be the subject of our next Q&A.

When a national champion struggles the following season, the media notices. The New York Times and ESPN.com both examine BU’s problems finding a winning combination.

WTBU offers its weekly Hockey East power rankings.

Hockey On Campus will be streaming live from 7-10 p.m. ET tonight with hosts Bernie Corbett and Paul McNamara speaking with a variety of guests from the college hockey world.

Looking ahead

Charlie Coyle, who received an A rating from NHL Central Scouting, was featured on the cover of the Greater Boston edition of the December ESPN RISE Magazine, which focuses on high school athletes. It traces his on-ice growth from his freshman year at Weymouth H.S. when his breakaway goal upset Malden Catholic in the state tournament to his current status as one of the EJHL's top scorers with the South Shore Kings.

Fellow 2010 recruit Matt Nieto is tied for the scoring lead on the NTDP U18s with 9 goals and 10 assists. He and BC recruit Bill Arnold have become a potent duo for the U18s who play at Union College on Friday. Teammate Adam Clendening, the lone defenseman in BU's 2010 recruit class, has a 2-8-10 line.

Sahir Gill’s hometown newspaper reports on his verbal commitment to BU.

The ScoutingReport, looking at potential NHL draft choices now in the USHL, posted a profile of Des Moines winger and 2010 recruit Yasin Cissé. According to the report, the 6-3, 208 Quebecois is “still growing into his frame.” The report goes on to call him a “disruptive forechecker” who “owns a powerful shot with a very quick release whether he was in open ice or traffic” and has “a knack for getting the puck on net.” Cisse currently has 13 goals in 18 games for the Bucs, tied for third best in the USHL.


Looking back
Prior to Saturday’s game against BC, the four Terriers who starred for the gold-medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team --Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Jack O'Callahan and Dave Silk--were honored as that achievement approaches its 30th anniversary .


The Tennessean reports that Colin Wilson may be turning the corner from the injuries that have slowed his first preseason.


Now in his fourth ECHL season, former All Hockey East defenseman Bryan Miller leads the Alaska Aces blueliners in scoring with 12 points.



Since being traded from Charlotte to Gwinnett in the ECHL’s South Division, Jason Lawrence has two goals and an assist in five games.



Brian McGuirk has a 4-7-11 scoring line in 16 games with the Kalamazoo Wings while Gregg Johnson has six goals and eight assists in 24 games for the South Carolina Stingrays.

Third-period explosion sinks BU

Terriers scored first in last night’s matchup with BC, but BC owned the third period with three goals to take a 4-1 win at Agganis Arena. Nick Bonino scored BU’s only goal in the loss, which ended the 40-game streak in which BU had not been defeated when Bonino scored a goal or assist. BC’s John Muse turned away 30 shots to earn the game’s first star. With a 1-0 lead early in the second period, BU had a 5-on-3 power play but failed to capitalize.

• GoTerriers.com recap
• USCHO recap and slideshow
• Boston Herald recap
• The Boston Hockey Blog: Jack Parker post-game comments, Bonino and Eric Gryba post-game comments, grading the Terriers.
• WTBU recap and Parker post-game press conference (audio)
• Comprehensive boxscore
• Video highlights

Looking back
• Rick DiPietro made his first rehab start for AHL Bridgeport, playing for 40 minutes against Springfield. After stopping all shots in the first period, he gave up three goals in the second in a 7-3 Bridgeport win.

• Jay Pandolfo returned to the Devils lineup after a shoulder injury had sidelined him for six weeks and played a strong two-way game, contributing an assist in NJ’s 4-3 shootout win over Detroit.

• Keith Tkachuk’s sixth goal of the seaon helped St. Louis to a 5-4 shootout win over the LA Kings.

• Chris Bourque may be feeling like a ping-pong ball after being claimed by the Washington Caps from Pittsburgh. Just prior to the beginning of the season, the Pens had claimed Bourque on waivers from Washington which tried to send its YEAR DRAFT CHOICE to the AHL. Bourque finally made it to Hershey, by way of Pittsburgh.

• Bill O’Neill, a blueliner on BU’s 1978 national championship team and the 28-year coach of Salem State has his team off to a strong start in Division 3 play with a 5-1-1 record including a 3-0 shutout of top-ranked St. Norbert’s in an early-season tournament. Dan Smolinsky, younger brother of BU 2009 grad Steve Smolinsky, is a freshman defenseman for the Vikings.

Looking ahead
• Another game, another goal for 2010 recruit Yasin Cissé, who notched his 12th goal of the season and an assist for Des Moines in the Bucs' 8-2 loss to Cedar Rapids.

Matt Nieto had a hand in both NTDP U18 goals during regulation--a power play goal and an assist--in a 3-2 shootout win over Tri-City in USHL play.

Game Day-- BU vs. BC

The week that began with the Wall Street Journal's front-page feature on the long rivalry between the Terriers and Eagles --and their coaches--concludes with the 247th renewal of college hockey's top rivalry. The Eagles visit Agganis tonight for a 7 p.m. start.

Coach Jack Parker has made several changes to his forward lines. Joe Pereira, whose shot off the crossbar nearly won last night's game in OT, rejoins Chris Connolly and Nick Bonino, but the unit now is BU's second line. The Zach Cohen-Corey Trivino-Vinny Saponari combo that delivered two goals last night moves up to become the first line. Luke Popko centers Andrew Glass and Alex Chiasson on the third line, while Ross Gaudett, who notched his third goal of the season against Vermont, centers Justin Courtnall and Victor Saponari. No changes on defense, while Kieran Millan gets the start in goal.

• Video highlights of last night's 3-3 tie with Vermont

• Links to WWZN radio Webcast, Gametracker and All-Access video Webcast

• Live blogging from The Boston Hockey Blog

Late goal →OT →Tie...again

The pattern is getting all-t00-familiar. Four times in a row BU has come back to tie a game up with a third-period goal. Three of the four ended as a tie after overtime. Only the thriller against Harvard became a win.

Tonight’s hero was Corey Trivino who banged home a rebound after Vinny Saponari clanged a post with just over five minutes in regulations to tie up the always-tough Catamounts at 3 apiece. The Terriers nearly duplicated the results of the Harvard game when Colby Cohen’s shot off the goalie hit iron with seconds left in the third period and again in overtime when Joe Pereira rang one off the crossbar.

Assistant captain Eric Gryba and sophomore Ross Gaudet (photo courtesy of WTBU) had the other goals for BU which rallied from 2-0 and then 3-1 deficits for the second consecutive game. Grant Rollheiser stop 21 of 24 shots, while UVM's Rob Madore made 37 saves.

Once again, BU outshot its opponent by a wide margin, but needed a rally to tie, leaving Coach Jack Parker less-than-pleased with his squad’s effort.

• Boston Hockey Blog recap, grades and slideshow

• GoTerriers.com recap
• WTBU recap

• USCHO recap
• Comprehensive boxscore
• Parker: "We are not a hungry hockey team." (audio)

Looking ahead
In USHL action, three BU 2010 recruits found the back of the net.

Chicago winger Sahir Gill’s second power play goal of the game gave the Steel a 4-3 lead early in the final stanza, but Youngstown scored three times in the final 6 minutes for 6-4 win. Gill, who also had an assist, is Chicago’s top scorer with an 8-18-26 line and is fifth in the league in scoring.

Yasin Cissé continues to have a hot stick for Des Moines, also bagging a pair of goals and an assist in the Bucs' 5-1 win against Indiana. His 12 goals are tied four fourth best in the league.

Left wing Matt Nieto scored and unassisted goal in the second period to get the U18s on the board, but a late Omaha goal gave the Lancers a 3-2 win.

Tonight's lineup

The Boston Hockey Blog is live-blogging from Agganis once again.

Tonight’s lines, defense pairings and starting goalie

Connolly-Bonino-Chiasson
Z.Cohen-Trivino-Saponari
Glass-Megan-Pereira
Gaudet-Popko-Gilroy

C.Cohen-Shattenkirk
Warsofsky-Gryba
Escobedo-Nicastro

Rollheiser

Gameday—The Cats came back

BU enters a crucial weekend, if it is to get back into the conference race, with four points on the line in two home games. First up is Vermont, BU’s opponent in last year’s Frozen Four semifinal. A year ago, the Catamounts also became first team in 16 years to sweep at weekend series at BU.

Saturday night, BU and BC continue their rivalry with the 247th renewal of The Battle of Comm. Ave . It’ll be the first of four games with Eagles this season including the Jan. 8 outdoor tilt at Fenway Park.

With the exception of defenseman Ryan Ruikka, the Terriers are at full strength. Coach Jack Parker is expected to keep freshman Alex Chiasson on the Terriers’ top line with Chris Connolly and Nick Bonino, a move he had made during last weekend’s tie with Cornell.

Earlier this week, the Hockey East coaches held a media teleconference. For Jack Parker's comments click for pdf or audio. More coaches' comments.

Sophomore David Warsofsky (photo), who earlier in the week made Hockey East’s top performers list for his efforts against Harvard and Cornell and was invited to U.S. Junior National team camp, made The Hockey News’ Hot List.

Lots of links
• GoTerriers.com Gamenotes, Gametracker, WZZN Webcast, All-Access Video Webcast
• Game previews from The Boston Hockey Blog, WTBU, The Burlington Free Press and the University of Vermont

• College Hockey News' Tale of the Tape comparison
• USCHO’s weekly Hockey East column and Vermont seaon preview

• New England Hockey Journal’s weekly Hockey East column

Looking back
Carl Corazzini, captain of the 200-01 Terriers, who began the season with the AHL Peoria Riverman, has been added to the roster of the Pelicans in the Finnish SM league.

Mike Grier scored a goal and an assist in the Sabres' 6-2 thrashing of Montreal last night.

2006-07 captain Sean Sullivan had been missing the scoresheet after Phoenix returned him to the AHL San Antonio but last night Sully registered three assists in the Rampage’s 6-3 win over Houston.

From Comm. Ave. to Wall Street

The nearly 50-year rivalry between BU’s Jack Parker and BC’s Jerry York, well-known throughout the college hockey world, took a step up to the national news level with today’s Wall Street Journal feature article writtten by BU alumnus Neil E. Boudette. His front-page article, which also quotes Nick Bonino and Bernie Corbett, provides some new ammunition for fans who contend that college sports’ best rivalry is BU-BC hockey—and not Ohio State-Michigan football or Duke-North Carolina basketball.

► Continuing the local rivlary theme, internet radio program Hockey On Campus returns to its regular day and time tonight (7 p.m. ET) with guests including Matt Fults, producer of the BU-BC video, "The Battle of Commonwealth Avenue." Also Minnesota-Duluth Coach Scott Sandelin and Norwich Coach Mike McShane.

► Three current Terriers—sophomores Vinny Saponari and David Warsofsky and freshman Max Nicastro—have been named to the 29-man pre-tournament training camp roster for the U.S. Junior National Team beginning December 17 in Grand Forks. The squad will be pared to 22 for the World Junior Championships in Regina, Saskatchewan, later in the month. Forty-three Terriers have played in the WJCs since 1981. The first was goalie Cleon Daskalakis, while Colin Wilson and Kevin Shattenkirk skated for the 2009 U.S. team. Jack Parker (1996) and John Hynes (2008) have coached Team U.S.A. in the WJCs.

► WTBU has posted its weekly Hockey East Power Rankings. The Terrier, now ranked 9th, will have a chance to move up this weekend with a pair of home games against Vermont and BC.

► CHN’s Avash Kalra looks at whether the past two games will turn the Terriers’ season around.

► An Ithaca Journal follow-up on the BU-Cornell game has Warsofsky commenting on his dustup with Cornell's Sean Whitney, his former teammate at Cushing Prep.

Looking back
Tony Amonte, a member of the 1989 and 1990 WJC teams, was inducted in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame at a dinner in Boston last night. Following his two seasons as a Terrier, climaxed by reaching the national championship game in 1991, the Hingham native accumulated exactly 900 points (416 goals and 484 assists) in a 16 year pro career. •USA Hockey news release. •Video Q&A with Amonte.

Brandon Yip’s pro debut with the AHL Lake Erie Monsters was delayed nearly two months by a broken hand, but the former Hockey East Rookie of the Year made the most of his first start, scoring in the Monsters’ 6-2 win over Grand Rapids last night. Interview (scroll down for video interview)

Ryan Whitney, whose brother Sean scored Cornell’s first goal in Saturday’s Red Hot Hockey matchup, registered his third goal of the season for Anaheim, beating former UMass goalie Jon Quick, but the Ducks fell, 4-3, to the Kings. Whitney played in the 2002 and 2003 WJCs.

Rick DiPietro, recovering from hip and knee problems, return to the ice Saturday in Bridgeport as he makes a rehab start in goal for the Islanders’ AHL club, the Sound Tigers, against Springfield. DiPietro played for Team USA in the 2000 and 2001 WJCs.

Monday Linkorama

Chris Connolly, who has 5-3-8 in the past five games, was one of five Terriers to earn top performer recognition from Hockey East in its weekly release.

The New York Times’ Jeff Klein commented on BU’s 6-on-3 advantage with the goalie pulled in the final minutes of regulation on Saturday and wondered if NHL teams might copy the strategy.

The Islanders Outside Blog recapped the BU-Cornell game and looked closely at Isle’s draft choice Corey Trivino, who excelled on faceoffs.

BU Today’s recap includes a slideshow and comments from Terrier fans at Madison Square Garden.

Two recaps from The Daily Free Press 1, 2

Looking back
Matt Gilroy’s 4th goal of the season, scored on Saturday vs. Pittsburgh (video)

Jason Lawrence who had been with the ECHL Charlotte Checkers, heads a bit further South, following a trade to the Georgia-based Gwinnett Gladiators.

Looking forward
2010 recruit Matt Nieto was profiled in a USA Hockey Magazine article, written before he committed to BU.

Fellow recruit Yasin Cisse hit the 10-goal milestone in Saturday’s Des Moines 7-4 win over the NTDP U17s. He’s tied for 8th in goal scoring in the USHL, despite missing four games with an injury. 2011 recruit Alexx Privitera had an assist for Team USA.

BU beats Cornell, 3-3

No, the headline isn’t a typo. In many ways, the outcome, a tie following a terrible first ten minutes, felt like a win—somewhat reminiscent of Harvard football’s memorable comeback tie against Yale in 1968 that resulted in the memorable headline (and later a movie): Harvard wins 29-29.

The Terriers' bad-news start began with an early penalty, leading to a power play marker for Sean Whitney on a shot that flew past an out-of-position goalie Grant Rollheiser just 3:07 into the game. Cornell converted a breakaway just 2 ½ minutes later and had a 2-0 lead while BU was losing battles to loose pucks and being outhustled by the Big Red. Terriers began to turn things around halfway through the first period, but couldn’t put one past Cornell’s Ben Scrivens.

In the second, frustration (at having two shots blocked) led to a bad penalty by Colby Cohen. David Warsofsky scored shorthanded to put BU on the scoreboard, but Cornell countered with a power play goal a second before the penalty ended. At that point—halfway through regulation, Cornell had three goals on just 11 shots. The Terriers held Cornell without a shot the rest of the period but continued to be denied by Scrivens. The game seemed destined by another one with BU outshooting an opponent, but on the short side of the scoring.

The same song was playing as the third period got underway. Cornell had just two even-strength shots in the period, but no dice for BU, until Nick Bonino took advantage of a Cornell turnover and some puck luck to narrow the margin to one goal. For the next 15 minutes BU attacked without results, but with the goalie pulled BU turned a 6 on 4 advantage into the equalizer when Chris Connolly jabbed home a loose puck. A couple of sparkling Rollheiser saves—matched by Scrivins--kept things even in the extra session.

►The tie was only the second in the long history of BU-Cornell games with the first coming in the championship game of the 1966 Boston Arena Christmas Tournament—another come-from-behind BU effort.

► Bonino’s goal and assist extend to 39 (34-0-5) the streak of games that BU either won or tied when Bonino registers at least one point.

►BU outshot the Big Red 35-17 and, after a sluggish first period, finished virtually even in faceoff wins with Corey Trivino posting an 11-6 mark.

• GoTerriers.com recap and photo gallery.
• Comprehensive boxscore
• Brian Kelley’s in-game blog
• USCHO recap
• Post-game video comments Warsofsky and Bonino
• Audio comments from Coach Jack Parker, Connolly, and Shattenkirk.
• The Boston Hockey Blog: Grading The Terriers & Live Blog
• Boston Globe recap
• Ithaca Journal recap
• BU’s morning skate at MSG (video)

Looking forward
2010 recruit Sahir Gill assisted on both Chicago goals in the Steel’s 3-2 loss to Green Bay. With 23 points, Gill is second in scoring for Chicago and tied for sixth in the USHL.

Looking back
Matt Gilroy's 4th NHL goal couldn't stop the Penguins from rattling the Rangers' cage, 8-3.