Jim Connelly

Okay, so the second Thursday in March is pretty much my Christmas every year. No, it’s not because St. Patrick’s Day is nearing (as a true Irishman, I consider St. Patty’s to be amateur night for drinking). I get jazzed this time of year for college hockey’s post-season to hit it’s stride. This weekend, every … Read more

There was plenty of talk that this weekend’s series between New Hampshire and Boston College didn’t mean anything. The Wildcats had wrapped up the Hockey East regular-season title last weekend and Boston College’s only motivation was to move up to the second spot in the league standings. After Friday night’s 4-1 win for Boston College, … Read more

It’s natural for everyone to be thinking either regular-season standings or worrying about how their team will do in the conference playoffs. What is easy to lose sight of is the extremely cluttered national tournament picture. Right now, the PairWise rankings are as volitile as ever. Some perrenial powerhouses are living day to day on … Read more

Battling for both home ice in the Hockey East tournament and a possible spot in the NCAA field, Vermont knew coming into Friday’s opener of a two-game series at Boston University that it would have to play a near perfect game. Unfortunately, as the Catamounts learned on Friday, sometimes even perfect isn’t good enough. Despite … Read more

Boston College goaltender Cory Schneider earned his 13th career shutout on Thursday night, tying Scott Clemmensen for the all-time Boston College record. Arguably, Thursday’s 3-0 blanking of Massachusetts-Lowell was his easiest of the baker’s dozen, as Schneider faced a River Hawks team whose coach Blaise MacDonald said was comprised of “too many passengers.” The Eagles … Read more

We all love the Cinderella story in sports. Heck, half the reason the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has such great ratings is due to upsets in the tournament’s opening rounds. With that in mind, there seems to be an unusally high number of what I call “land mines” in college hockey this season. Land mines … Read more

It might not have been pretty for Boston University, but Saturday’s 3-3 at home with New Hampshire was a point with which BU head coach Jack Parker was quite happy. “I didn’t think we played nearly as well tonight as we did last night [a 4-2 BU win],” said Parker, whose Terriers overcame a 3-0 … Read more

With two of Hockey East’s top goaltenders in Boston College’s Cory Schneider and Maine’s Ben Bishop squaring off on Friday night, you might wonder if any goals would be scored or if Hockey East was in for yet another scoreless tie. How surprising then is it to know that the pair of duffle bags surrendered … Read more

Boston College head coach Jerry York learned something about his team on Thursday night — that it has the character to win big games. Coming off a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Boston University in the Beanpot championship game, York’s Eagles gave up an early shorthanded goal to Maine, a team the veteran coach says … Read more

That ends things from the TD Banknorth Garden. Yes, it does seem like Groundhog’s Day with BU winning for the 28th time in 55 years. But anyone who had the chance to see Monday title game will tell you that it was one of the more entertaining, edge of your seat games in the tournament’s … Read more

BU goaltender John Curry was a walking record book after Monday night’s game. His .985 save percentage was the all-time best in Beanpot history and earned him the Eberly Award as the goaltender who plays both games of the tournament and posts the highest save percentage. Curry allowed just one goal on 65 shots. He … Read more