Another Big Sporting Event this Weekend

The first weekend of February is a tradition in Boston. No, I am not talking about the New England Patriots going to the Super Bowl. That’s becoming another tradition for Boston sports fans. It’s usually a four day weekend for the students at the four major hockey programs in Boston. What I am talking about? It’s called the Beanpot which involves Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard. The games are held at the TD Banknorth Garden. The first Monday of February is the first round, this year it will be Northeastern vs. Harvard at 5pm. BC faces BU at 8 pm. The winners face off the following Monday at 8 pm for the Championship and the losers go against each other at 5 pm. All games will be shown on NESN.

The tournament is usually dominated by BU; they have won it 28 times. This year should be a competitive tournament. BC is ranked No. 9 and Northeastern is No. 13 in the latest USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men's Poll. Boston University is struggling with a record of 7-13-4 but always. They know how to get ready for this event. They are 6^th place in Hockey East. Harvard is tied for 5^th in the ECAC standings. Their overall record is 7-9-3. For the Maine or other Hockey East fans that are hoping the three Hockey East teams beat up each other, these games don’t count towards the standings. It’s a non-conference game.

That’s My Take

Nathan Fournier

(Nathan also is a writer for MVN.com. He's the writer for the Asylum which covers the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. He's also a regular contributor to the NHL Source also at MVN.com. He can be reached at fbbhgfan@aol.com)

Demon Deacons Continue Remarkable Season

Wake Forest Men's team is in contention for third place in the ACC. After a buzzer beating shot that led them to win 70-68 over the Miami Hurricanes. If the Demon Deacons can steal a road win at NC State on Sunday, they will come home for games against surging Georgia Tech (Feb. 6) and disappointing Virginia (Feb. 9) before going to Florida State (Feb. 14) and coming home for Duke (Feb. 17). The Demon Deacons are led by freshman James Johnson out of Wyoming. But he didn't have much to contribute in the win over the Hurricanes. That was left to Jeff Teague who is another freshman on the team, scoring a career high 27 points. And it was Ishmael Smith hitting the game winning three with less than four seconds to go. Their next game will against NC State on Sunday Feb 3 at 12 Eastern time.

Tim Seames

Missouri suspends five players after brawl

Missouri coach Mike Anderson suspended five players indefinitly following a weeking altercation that left his top scorer with a broken jaw.

Columbia police confirmed that Stefhon Hannah was with four of his teammates outside a downtown nightclub when he was attacked and had his jaw broken. Being at the nightclub that late or at all for that matter was a violation of team rules, and is what led to the suspension of the players involved in the matter.

This is terrible judgment on the part of these players. This injury to Hannah could cause him to miss the remainder of the season and for what? A few drinks and some laughs with his buddies. This puts their season in shrambles and causes a lot of embarrassment for the entire Missouri program, and the family members of the players involved.

Adam Smith

Oregon AD apologizes for fans behavior against UCLA

Oregon's athletic director has apologized to UCLA for the behavior of their fans toward Kevin Love and his father last week.

Love and his father were booed by the student section, and were the target of homophobic chants and signs that displayed offensive messages. Love who scored 26 points and added 18 rebounds in the bruins win said it was one of his favorite wins in recent memory and why not? He comes into a hostile environment where the Duck's fans are without a doubt crossing the line. He hits the big shots to win the game for his team and lets his play do the talking before walking off the court a winner.

I dont believe this will be the last time that Kevin Love will have to go through a situation like this at a game, after all he is only a freshman. No question that what the Oregon fans did was wrong, but for Love, this is one sign that he's without a doubt a superstar on the rise. When you can get fans of another team to devote that much time and energy into bringing you down...you know you've arrived.

Ask J.J. Redick and his family what they had to go through while he was at Duke.

Adam Smith

Class B East All In One Game

Class B east has been amazing to follow this year. The parity has been ridiculous. Maranacook, Presque Isle, Caribou, and Camden Hills have been the clear cut 1-2-3-4 for the last couple of weeks as this season winds down to an end, but it hasn’t been easy for these teams. Maranacook remains unbeaten as of today at 14-0 and in the number one spot, but chances are they will not finish there…even if they finish the season unbeaten. Presque Isle is in the second spot with two losses(Houlton and Caribou). They are above both one loss Caribou and one loss Camden Hills because of the teams they have beat. Huge wins over Mattanawcook, Mount Desert Island, John Bapst twice, and Old Town have given them enough points to have a shot at number 1. Caribou’s one loss came in a hard fought game verses Mattanawcook. Camden Hill’s one loss came from the hands of Maranacook. The one seed is so important this year because with 15 teams making tournament, the number 1 team is the only one who gets a bye.
Tonight a storied rivalry adds another epic chapter to the books. Caribou and Presque Isle will face off, the winner taking home the number 1 seed. These two neighboring towns, separated by a mere 12 miles, have a rivalry that dates back to when the schools opened. Presque Isle kids don’t like Caribou kids and Caribou kids don’t like Presque Isle kids. No matter what, these games are always great.
These teams have met already once this season…that game came down to Russ Mortland shooting a 3 from the corner for the game and just coming up a little bit short. Much more on the line tonight. I’ll be making the trip up along with many others. It’s going to be a packed house!

Brad Thibeau

Digging Into the Archives

Ever feel the need to look up who holds the record for most points scored in a state championship game?(Andy Bedard for Mountain Valley in 1994) Maybe you want to know where your team finished in 1996.(My team, Presque Isle, finished 8th that year). Wondering who has the most gold balls in the state of Maine(Jonesport-Beals with 9). Well I have the site for you.
He calls himself the “stat guy” and the title is more than rightfully his. Frank Spanky, with the help from others, has been working rigorously to create the “Maine High School Basketball Archives.” He dedicates the site to all high school broadcast announcers, whether they are TV or Radio. The website offers many things: Photos(past and present), all tournament teams, all time tournament records, individual and team records, heal points(1961 and up), sportsmanship award winners, tournament brackets(1950 and up), along with many other random facts about high school basketball. I urge everyone to check this website out, you’ll find that an hour feels like 5 minutes when you’re here.
http://frank.spanky.googlepages.com/

Brad Thibeau

Player Let Go After Comment

Everyone enjoys spending time on a social networking site. If you are a student in college, then you are almost guaranteed to be a member of one of these sites. When a 19-year-old running back was kicked off of the Wake Forest football team for comments he made on his personal social networking page, it had many people talking. For a lot of student-athletes, their social networking site is how they communicate with teammates. For the 19-year-old running back, angry comments that he made on the site were not taken well because they directed violence at both his football team and his school in general. To view these comments, go to http://www.ncaa.org/.

After dealing with the loss of so many students and faculty members at Virginia Tech last year, I feel that the Wake Forest football team made the right decision in relieving the 19-year-old from his duties as a running back. So many professional athletes think they can get away with anything because they are an athlete. It’s about time that a college sports team steps up and punishes the people that make comments like the ones made by this particular person. Hopefully all of the schools that are affiliated with the NCAA will work with the organization to come up with a policy to make sure comments like these don’t go unnoticed.

Mark Zadakis