Five skaters. One goalie. Eight fans. Three referees. Two coaches. Sometimes there’s a person in the penalty box. Sound like a dream? Well it’s not. It’s a real sport called hockey. And guess what? It happened right here at Kelley Rink this past weekend.
Disclaimer: Stedman left after the second period, but he still wrote most, if not all, of this column. Tom didn’t even show up, and Sully was at Duke. All observations to be taken with a grain of salt. They are numbered in no particular order, unless you want them to be.
- Boston College lost.
- Thatcher Demko has said he feels fine, and he looks fine, too. He was playing like his old self in the first period, putting on a clinic with 15 saves.
- Chris Birdsall is for the birds. He let in five goals in the second that were all pretty bad. Albeit, he finished well in the third period. He’s only a freshman, there’s time yet.
- Miles Wood is really good. He’s big. He’s fast. He’s backchecking. He’s forechecking. He’s all over the place. The 20-year old freshman scored BC’s first unofficial goal of the season.
- UNB is the “Varsity Reds.” Probably ranked third in list of college teams with nicknames that are the color red, behind the Crimson and Cardinal. Quick history lesson via Wikipedia: “The name ‘Varsity Reds’ was only adopted circa 1993. Prior to this, every varsity sport, including football, hockey, women’s basketball, men’s basketball and men’s wrestling had a different name: the Red Bombers, Red Devils, Red Bloomers, Red Raiders and Black Bears respectively.” We would’ve stuck with the “Red Bloomers” personally.
- We didn’t get our first true taste of the Tuch-Sanford-Bracco line. Winter is coming, though, soon.
- Bracco spent a considerable amount of time during a break flipping his flowing hair around. Also his helmet sits really high on his face on top of all that hair, which looks funny.
- The hideously garish Looped In Zamboni is either gone or is now painted jet black. Looks sharp, and menacing. The good old Audi of Norwell zamboni is still chugging along. UPDATE Oct. 7 9:34 PM: Looped In is Looped Out (of business).
- In other advertising news, the great ad from a healthcare provider that said “get checked here” on the boards (get it? like a hockey check) is gone. That one got me every time. RIP.
- A statistically significant number of people in the crowd, college girls in particular, know all the words to the beginning of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
- Colin White got flipped over. That was cool.
- Ian McCoshen and Scott Savage led the Eagles in shots. They play in the defensive portion of the ice.
- BC had a lot of penalties—eight to be exact. Three of UNB’s goals came off the power play. A lot of “charging” and “holding of the stick” happened. This all has to stop.
- “Luck is the residue of design.” – Branch Rickey – Jerry York. BC’s second goal of the first period was a lucky deflection. On the 5-on-3 powerplay, Savage was set up for a prime slap-shot from close range, muffed it, but the dinky deflection found the back of the net. Just like they drew it up.
- Alex Joyce caught a puck in his glove that had deflected into BC’s bench. He flashed some good form, but that will be the only time that happens in a game this season.
- A skimpy little Canadian flag hung from the catwalk in Conte to honor the visitors. It was wrinkled and looked like it belonged hanging on the wall of a Walsh 8-man. I’d be a little bit mad about that, eh?
- White and Bracco aren’t on the same line *sad face with single tear emoji*. We all want to see the duo reunited after being linemates during their gold medal performance with the US U-18 team last year. They combined for the OT game-winner in the gold-medal game.
- Colin White won eight of 11 faceoffs. That’s phenomenal from the freshman. Great things to come from the second-line center.
- New Brunswick sports a spectacular bevy of French-Canadian names, including but not limited to: Matt Bodens, Etienne Marcoux, Francis Beauvillier, Philippe Maillet. Rolls off the tongue.
- New Brunswick won.
Featured Image by Daniella Fasciano / Heights Editor
