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Sports
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Week of 23 January 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 17 |
Sports
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Hockey: and now for the Maine eventsGame Preview by Brian Fitzgerald The Maine Black Bears have been declawed, but they still have fangs. Granted, the University of Maine is in the middle of the pack in the Hockey East standings. And the Division I coaches' poll does not include Maine in the top ten. There are no Maine players among the conference's top five scorers, and no Black Bears among Hockey East's top five goaltenders. Still, Boston University's weekend series with Maine on January 23 and 24 will fill every seat in Walter Brown Arena. The back-to-back sellouts -- and television coverage -- are the result of a spirited rivalry between the teams that has gotten intense in recent years, reaching its boiling point when they played in the 1995 national championship game. BU won, 6-2, and then things began to unravel for Maine. In December of 1995, coach Shawn Walsh was suspended for a year without pay for his role in NCAA violations. To make matters worse, a state representative to the Maine legislature, who is also a graduate and financial backer of the University of Maine, even talked about introducing a resolution asking the institution to fire Walsh.
But the controversial coach came back, and he led Maine to a 15-3 finish over the final 18 games of the 1996-97 season. The Black Bears defeated the Terriers three times, quite a feat considering the fact that Boston University lost a total of just five Hockey East games last year. A weekend series at Maine last February was bleak for BU, resulting in 3-0 and 7-2 losses. But Boston University used the defeats as a rallying point and won its next eight games, losing only the national championship game against North Dakota. However, the Terriers can hardly afford to take another one-two punch from Maine, especially at home. They have dropped from number one to number five in the national polls in recent weeks. Maine will have to concentrate on stopping Chris Drury (CAS'98), who is overdue for a goal. The forward is on the threshold of becoming BU's all-time leading scorer, but he has been held without a goal for four straight games -- his longest drought since freshman year. The Black Bears will also have to penetrate the conference's best goaltending: Michel Larocque (MET'99) and Tom Noble (COM'98) have Hockey East's top save percentages (.913 and .922, respectively). "There isn't any team in the nation that wouldn't like to have the two goalies we have," says Coach Jack Parker. One category in which Maine does excel is the power play: its .321 scoring percentage is the conference's best. For BU, good penalty killing -- or better yet, keeping infractions at a minimum -- will be a bear necessity. |
Athletes of the Week
Alison Dixon and Billy Beal
Women's basketball forward Alison Dixon (CAS'01) scored the first three-pointer of her college career against Hofstra University on January 18. For the Terriers (1-6 conference, 3-12 overall) it couldn't have come at a better time: with 3.5 seconds left in the game and BU down 73-71.
The basket was Boston University's only successful three-point shot in eight attempts, and it was the game-winner, stopping the Terriers' nine-game losing streak. Dixon, from Norwood, Mass., scored a career-high 22 points against Hofstra.
Dixon also scored 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in BU's 74-67 loss to Drexel on January 16.
The men's basketball team also benefited from three-point shots in their 80-67 victory over Hofstra January 16 and in their January 18 game against Drexel, which the Terriers won, 69-62. Guard Billy Beal (CAS'99) hit four of his eight three-point attempts against Hofstra and four of his nine trey tries against the Dragons, helping BU boost its conference record to 4-2 (9-6 overall).
Beal, from Alexandria, Va., scored a total of 20 points against the Flying Dutchmen and 19 against Drexel.
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