Kudos and Polls

Senior Jason Lawrence earned Hockey East's Player of the Week award for his four goal, one assist performance against UMass, including a natural hattrick during Friday's comeback win. Lawrence, who also won POTW honors for the week of Oct. 27, finished the month of February with nine goals. Also noted in the HockeyEast Online Weekly Release:

►Saturday's, 7-2 win was the Terriers' 25th of the regular season, a milestone last achieved during the 1997-98 campaign.

►BU’s penalty kill had been successful 24 straight times before UMass ended the streak in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game

►Freshman goaltender Kieran Millan is undefeated in his last 18 decisions (15-0-3).

►BU has lost only three of the 10 games this season in which its opponent scored first.

Bravo Bonino
Nick Bonino got the nod as Hockey East's Player of the Month for February, after scoring 14 points (6g,8a) to lead BU to an undefeated month (6-0-3). A +9 for the month, he scored at in eight of the nine games, tallying multiple points in five contests. The sophomore center's MVP performance in the Beanpot had earned him the conference's Player of the Week award for the week of Feb. 9.

Poll Story
BU solidified its first place ranking in the USCHO/CBS College Sports poll, taking 44 first place votes to 6 for Notre Dame. In the USA Today poll, the Terriers regained the top spot from the Fighting Irish.


But the polls are just the beauty pageant. Far more important, the RPI and Pairwise rankings are indicators of how the NCAA tournament seedings will play out. The Terriers remain at the top of each of those charts too.

College Hockey News' Adam Wodon offered a startling comment on the Terrier's current RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) numbers:

BU's RPI is so good, and Record vs. TUCs so much better than anyone else, that I really think at this point it could lose the next four games and still be the No. 1 overall seed. None of those four games are going to be against TUCs, and even if the Terriers' RPI slips below one of the teams below them (Notre Dame, Michigan, Denver), the other criteria are strong enough to win those comparisons.

Hockey East 25th Anniversary Honorees
Sunday we posted the names of the Terriers honored between the first and second period of Saturday's game. They included Terriers named to yearly all-HE teams and all-rookie teams, a 20-man BU 25th anniversary team, and the top Terrier goalie, forward and defenseman in HE play, along with the best individual performance. All those honorees are featured on a printable commemorative sheet, prepared by the BU athletics department, that also includes the names of assistant coaches and longtime program support staff during those 25 years.

►Boston Herald college hockey writer Jim Connolly describes how Terriers top scorer--and Hobey Baker award candidate--Colin Wilson has elevated his level of play this season.