Seal Block Week 2: The ACC, Where whoredom reigns, but not in Maryland

Hi everybody. After years of being “HSR Correspondent Dave” and e-mailing Craig et al. whenever I thought of something funny, I have been promoted to “HSR Contributor Dave.” Yay me! As I am currently located at the intersection of Penn State’s, West Virginia’s, Virginia Tech’s, and Maryland’s fan bases, my official title now is “Mid-Maryland Contributor Dave.”

After last week’s experiment in ranking the Big Ten schools’ official seals, I’ve decided to make this a season long activity and evaluate the official seals of each FBS team in turn. This week, we take a look at the seals in my current backyard, the ACC. I was going to post this tomorrow night, but for some reason last night ACC graphic design suddenly became a big deal.

West #1: Boston College

Boston College Eagles

1 seed vs. Colorado College, West Regional (Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO)
Friday, March 25, 2011
Hockey East Regular Season Champions
Hockey East Tournament Champions

Record: 30-7-1
Coach: Jerry York

It is a terrible, terrible idea to bet against Boston College and Jerry York in the postseason. The last four times BC has made the NCAA tournament, they've at least made it to the championship game. They've won it twice in the last three years: In 2008 over Notre Dame, then last year against Wisconsin. Neither game was close, and I was there for both of them. Goalie John Muse is a senior now and has never lost an NCAA tournament game. That's right: He's a perfect 8-0 (BC failed to make the tournament in '09). This year he's put up a .926 SV% and 2.13 GAA, better than both his freshman and junior years.

BC hockey thrives on magic midgets: Brian Gionta, Nathan Gerbe, etc. Six different Eagles this year are listed at 5'8" or shorter, including scoring leaders Cam Atkinson (30-21--51) and Brian Gibbons (18-32--50). I remember 5'6" Joe Whitney (5-26--31) as a problem for which Wisconsin couldn't find an answer. 6'3" Brian Domoulin is the exception – a big defenseman who's an assist machine (3-30--33). In all, nine Eagles have 20 or more points, and six have 10 or more goals.

Boston College has been rampaging through Hockey East this year. They've lost a total of two games since November 26: A 1-4 decision at Maine and a 1-2 loss at Northeastern. They won the Beanpot again this year, a 7-6 overtime game also against Northeastern. Weirdly, they followed it up on Friday night with a 7-7 tie against the Huskies, then the aforementioned 1-2 loss. Since then, they've won 8 straight games, their longest winning streak of the year (They've won 7 in a row two different times). There aren't a lot of teams out there that have played as well as BC at any time this year, let alone heading into the tournament. But it's one-and-done, so all it takes is one bad game to send you home. Still, it's BC vs. the field at this regional.

Northeast #1: Boston College

Boston College Eagles

1 seed vs. Alaska, Northeast Regional (DCU Centre, Worcester, MA)
Hockey East Tournament Champions
Record: 25-10-3
Coach: Jerry York

BC was beaten out of the Hockey East regular season title by a single point, but the Eagles took down UMass and Vermont en route to a wild 7-6 overtime victory against Maine and the Hockey East conference tournament title. Apart from a rough January, where they went 4-5, the Eagles haven't dropped more than two games in a month. They won the Beanpot again this year over BU, revenge after dropping the January 8 outdoor game at Fenway Park.

The Eagles are two years removed from their 2008 national title in Denver, but one year removed from missing the tournament entirely. Junior goalie John Muse returns from the title team, carrying a 2.43 GAA and .909 SV %, which is slightly more pedestrian than the 2.20/.921 of his freshman campaign. He's split time with freshman Parker Milner (2.32/.909).

On the offensive side, sophomore Cam Atkinson leads the team in goals and points with a 24-22--46 line. Junior Brian Gibbons (15-29--44) is the assists leader. Junior defenseman Brian Dumoulin is an eye-popping +27 on the year.