Hockey

The events listed below ocurred some months ago, but seeing a vaguely similar story on the Universal Hub blog and some of the comments on that entry, I felt prompted to write them up.

Late last year I attended a Hockey East game at Northeastern's Matthews Arena.

I had with me a consumer grade video camera in a black camera bag, and a mobile phone.

I had not been to a game in recent years.

What's In The Bag

I handed my ticket to a ticket-taker, who refused me admittance on the basis of my camera bag. I was referred first to someone referred to as the "manager" behind a ticket window, then to an usher, then finally to a Boston police officer, presumably on a paid detail.

I was never asked what was in the bag. I was never asked to open the bag. The bag itself was black with a shoulder strap. My wife carries a red bag with a shoulder strap, one that is quite a bit larger than the camera bag in question. No reference was ever made to this bag. No one asked to see inside this bag, or asked what was inside it, either.

What a difference a week makes.

With MC-UML the only matchup that wasn't a tie, everybody manages to pick up points except Merrimack, dropping the team into 8th place.

Ouch.

Good news?

Games in hand against BC, BU (3) Maine, NU, and UNH (2) as well as UVM (1). The only team with fewer league games played to date in Hockey East is about the only team that is hands-down in a worse position than MC right now: Providence, with five games played and only one point to show for it.

While being near the bottom of the hole looking up might feel more familiar to fans, let's hope it lights a fire under the team. They've been perfect at home and also perfect on the road-- just in opposite ways. They've yet to lose at home and have yet to win on the road, and next up are the surprisingly first-placed UNH Wildcats-- tied for first with BC with 10 points each, but holding a game in hand over the Eagles.

Okay, I know this isn't normally a sports blog, but...

And pretty soon I hope I can stop prefacing every statement with, "it's still early, BUT..."

So far the statistics on Merrimack's performance and the performance of their opponents in games against Merrimack have been a pretty good predictor of what happens. In tonight's win over BU, the ones that weren't actually turned out in Merrimack's favor.

Merrimack so far had been outshot and BU was outshooting its opponents (but not scoring).

In this game, BU outshot MC in the first but after that Merrimack had the edge. Shots for the game ended up even, despite BU having 12 powerplay opportunities compared to Merrimack's 7-- including several 5x3 opportunities.

Merrimack's power play continues to be more efficient, going 2/7 to BU's 3/12. Same goes for the kill.

Chris Barton scores the eventual game-winner in the second period against the Catamounts. Vermont's goaltender, Rob Madore, seems displeased.

Merrimack's Ryan Flanigan puts the Warriors ahead for good with his first goal as a Warrior.

Merrimack goaltender Joe Cannata watches his teammates take the puck out of the defensive zone. Cannata won a Hockey East Rookie of the Week award for his efforts in the weekend split with Vermont.

By KEN WARREN

The Ottawa Citizen

Anton Volchenkov used his body to make a positive first impression at the opening of the Ottawa Senators rookie camp at the Corel Centre yesterday evening.

Volchenkov, the 20-year-old Russian defenceman who was selected by the Senators in the first round of the 2000 NHL entry draft (21st overall), drew the notice of the coaching staff with his aggressive play during the first practice session.