Posted by Mike Petraglia

Score this one Jeff Jagodzinski 17, Notre Dame 0.

The coach of the Boston College Eagles came up with his own Knute Rockne speech early in the week, several days before his team went out and wiped the wet Alumni Stadium turf with the Irish by the tune of 17-0 in a game that wasn’t that close.

Here’s how he did it.

“At our first team meeting,” coach Jags explained afterward, “I asked how many guys were recruited and visited and offered (scholarships) by Notre Dame. There were no hands that went up. I told those guys they may not be good enough to be recruited by Notre Dame but they’re sure damn good enough to play at Boston College. And I’m really proud of these kids, I really am. They just fought. They do everything you ask them to do and they do it the right way.”

In the interest of full disclosure, BC quarterback Chris Crane and Saturday’s defensive star Paul Anderson both clarified moments later at the press table.

“I was recruited by them but they didn’t offer a scholarship. Actually, junior year (high school) I went to their camp and I guess they weren’t interested,” Anderson said.

As for Crane, he found inspiration in Jags’ words.

“Only two guys raised their hands. We had a team meeting,” Crane said. “He said how many guys were offered a scholarship by Notre Dame, and two guys raised their hand. He was kind of saying how Notre Dame doesn’t recruit the same type of guys we do and we’re happy to get the guys we have and show them that we can win with the guys we have.”

It’ll be fascinating to see what Jags cooks up for this week as the team travels to Tallahassee for a crucial ACC tilt with Florida State.

As for Irish coach Charlie Weis, the four interceptions of his QB Jimmy Clausen made his return to New England less-than-desirable.

Posted by Joe Haggerty

Yet another Bruins celebration...hey, what's Andrew Alberts doing in there?

A lot of good things to pick through in another solid 3-1 win for the Bruins over the Buffalo Sabres at the TD Banknorth Garden last night. The victory pulls the Black and Gold into a tie with the Sabres for first place in the Northeast Division and dusted off a clean three-game sweep on their own home ice.

“It shows that we’re doing something right,” said B’s coach Claude Julien. “It’s very early in the season, but I’d rather be there than at the bottom. When you try and do something with a team you hope it continues to progress. I think the guys are understanding more and more. Last year was about creating a identity and our goal was definitely to make the playoffs.

“This year our goal remains the same, but we also know that we have to get better,” added Julien. ”And to be better we’ve got to be more consistent and more dominant in all areas. Our team is making good strides in all those directions.”

The largest piece of news heading into the game was the return of talented right winger Chuck Kobasew to the B’s lineup after missing 12 games with a fractured right ankle. Kobasew didn’t waste much time getting into the middle of the action as he collected a secondary assist on Boston’s first goal of the night — a Dennis Wideman rocket from the right point made possible by a nifty play from center Stephane Yelle. The veteran pivot deked out a pair of Buffalo defenders and then shuffled the puck back to a wide open Wideman at the right point for the Big Blast.

Wideman’s strike tied the game at 1-1, and Kobasew again figured into the scoring in the second period when he was on the receiving end of a long entry pass from Shawn Thornton. Kobasew carried the puck up the right side and fired a long wrister that looked like it caught the boot portion of ageless Buffalo defenseman Teppo Numminen’s skate. The airborne rubber biscuit immediately changed trajectory and fluttered past Ryan Miller to give Kobasew his first score of the season and fourth overall point in only his second game.

The score early in the second period actually went a long way toward relaxing an antsy Kobasew, who had been skating for nearly two weeks before he was able to hop back into the lineup and was also badly in need of a chill pill.

“If felt good,” said Kobasew. “They keep it simple. Thorny made some big plays on the wall and Yeller really slows things down and made it an easy transition.

“[Scoring early] made it a little easier for me to relax out there and just start playing my game,” added Kobasew.

Putting the offensively gifted yet willing to be gritty Kobasew on a line with Thornton and Yelle really seems to give that trio the potential to be a bit more dangerous offensively on a regular basis – while also allowing the fourth liners to still bring the energy and noise they’ve given on a nightly basis.

Lucic in the Ten Commandments?

Okay, now that I’ve got you scratching your heads, here’s the connection. The monstrous power forward known in Boston simply — to me at least — as the Looch Ness Monster was at it again Saturday night, and registered a whopping eight hits through the first two periods. He had at least two more wallops in the third period, but the official statistics didn’t reflect his punishing play over the final 20 minutes of hockey. 

Milan Lucic was simply lining up and wallpapering anything with a Sabres sweater that moved on the Garden ice, and he had everyone with their head on a swivel. The Buffalo beatdown got so nasty that eventually the Sabres defensemen started consistently looking over their backs to see if the fire breathing Looch was ambling into the corner.  During one astounding moment of rink shrinkage in the second period 6-foot-3, 214-pound Henrik Tallender simply let Lucic get to what would have been an iced puck in Buffalo’s corner to avoid the jarring contact.

That, my friends, is physical intimidation and tone-setting in a hockey game between division rivals. So Aaron Ward recognized Lucic’s efforts after the game and revealed that his teammates are beginning to call him “Moses” — in tribute to the space his physical presence creates and its similarity to a certain Biblical body of water’s parting.

“[Lucic] was a pinball out there tonight,” said Ward. “Some nights, you know, I wish I had that youthful energy and at 35 I look at him with admiration. But you see what happens, I think the first five hits left a lasting impression on a few defenseman out there. We could call Milan Lucic ‘Moses’ because he parted the seas and the defenseman in front of the net, and we just took the puck from behind the net.

“Good for him,” said Ward. “If he’s creating a reputation for himself and guys think twice about going to get the puck, then it’s more time for his linemates.” 

Zdeno Chara, and Ward also both finished with three hits on the night, and said that the intimidating tone set by the Looch is one that’s embraced by the entire team and a bruisingly big part of the team’s fabric.

“That’s when he plays the best,” said Chara of Lucic’s mad checking rampage. “We all need him to play that way and certainly he’s enjoying playing that way. For him to be effective he needs to be involved physically and that’s great. We see him making a big statement over there that he’s not afraid. He’s going in there very hard and finishing checks and putting a lot of pressure on the opposition.

“It’s a plan for this team to play physical every night,” said Chara. “That’s the identity that we want to have and I think we’re establishing that. We need to play physical and play a high tempo skating game, move the puck and put a lot of pressure on other teams.” 

The whole team is playing physical, bruising hockey, but I think it’s high time for some industrious blogger to snag the www.milanlucicisabeast.com domain name before somebody else jumps all over it.

Manny Being Manny

Bruins coach Claude Julien raised some eyebrows when he opted to start Manny Fernandez in net against the Buffalo Sabres with Northeast Division bragging rights on the line, and the 34-year-old goaltender responded with his best game of the year.

“Did there have to be a big reason to start Manny?” asked Julien rhetorically after the game. “Tim had started five straight games and it’s a long year. We know that goaltenders — as others — get tired. Tonight he showed he can be just as good. We’ve got good goaltenders and we shouldn’t be picking, but more we should be looking at this as a position of strength and we should use it.”

Fernandez finished with 32 saves for the good night’s work and came up especially big while shutting down a pair of Jason Pominville bids during a key third period power play for the Sabres.

A moment of rust or weakness could have left the door ajar for a furious Buffalo comeback, but instead Fernandez rewarded Julien’s faith in his “other” backstop. Fernandez had been saying all the right things during the week in the midst of Tim Thomas starting five games in a row and seizing the starter’s role, but Boston’s backup netminder made his own statement last night.

“[Julien] had to put me in there eventually,” said Fernandez. “He wanted to run Timmy out there as much as he could and I don’t know if that would have ended. It might have lasted 82 games if he’d let it. No, he told me he was going to throw me in there eventually and Buffalo just happened to be the team.”

Ward gives to the Veterans

The Boston Bruins honored the local military members, veterans and their families at “Military Appreciation Night” tonight during the Bruins/Sabres game.

The Bruins hosted 1,500 members of local military families through their “Seats for Soldiers” program- an initiative where fans purchase tickets that are donated to military members and their families.  Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward purchased $15,000 worth of tickets to the program this year, giving 300 servicemen and women and their families the opportunity to watch Saturday’s game.

“It’s the least you can do,” said Ward. “I’m a Canadian, but I enjoy all the privileges of being an American. It also really nice to see the stands really full, and there’s no use getting them out here on a Saturday night and not putting on a show for them.

“I think we’re slowly cultivating [a home presence] and proving the old Field of Dreams adage that if you win, then they will come.” 

The soldiers and their families were honored throughout the game through photo montages on Garden HDX, Zamboni rides, and video messages while a select few were given the chance to shake hands with the team as they leave the locker room during intermissions. The B’s game management staff also put together a moving video presentation on the Jumbotron in between the second and third period.

Bruins fans can continue to donate to the Seats for Soldiers program by calling 617-624-1805, emailing smscott@bostonbruins.comor by going to BostonBruins.com. Fans can honor our local military families by donating tickets priced at $25.00 or $70.00. An additional donation will be made to the USO for every $70 ticket donation.

Savard off the schneid

The third goal that pretty much cinched the game came off a pretty give-and-go play with Phil Kessel and Marc Savard at the neutral zone that led to Kessel firing a wicked wrist shot at Miller. The Buffalo ‘tender kicked out the rebound to his right and directly onto the stick of Savard. Savard fired a blazing one-timer past a diving Miller for the playmaking centerman’s sixth goal of the season.

Savvy had five tallies in the first three games, but had been without a goal since that point. Julien felt it was just a matter of time before the B’s mover and shaker got it going again.

“I hope it helps his confidence and it settles him down a little bit,” said Julien. “You could see him forcing things at times and a little frustration because he didn’t have things going. But I talked to them as a line and told them that things were going to fall into place if they just play the game.

“I thought as the game went on they got better in that area,” added Julien.

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Mark Wahlberg appeared on ESPN Saturday on a taped segment called “Ask Dr. Lou.” as in former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz. Wahlberg asked what HIS Boston College Eagles could do to beat Lou’s Fighting Irish.

Well, for one thing, Notre Dame could start by getting some semblance, ANY semblance of an offense. The numbers have been ultra brutal. Rushing, they’ve carried 11 times for 22 yards and Jimmy Claussen was 12 of his first 22 for 99 yards and a touchdown. Problem is, that score was an interception return by Paul Anderson. The BC strong safety returned the pick 76 yards for a score.

Representatives from the Chick-fil-A Bowl (#2 ACC team vs. an SEC team) are in attendance, along with representatives from the Fiesta Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl.

Following a blocked punt by Ifeanyi Momah, the Eagles just had a chance to increase their lead to 20-0 but alas, Steve, Steve, Steve… Aponavicius just hooked a 32-yarder wide right. He hit the left upright from 34 yards in the first quarter. He did make a 27-yarder in the first half but it continues to be a rough go for the former walk-on great-story-of-a-kicker.

Posted by Jessica Camerato

On Saturday the Boston Celtics held an open practice for the New England Baptist Hospital. Specific plays are kept behind closed doors so today’s focus was more on drills and conditioning than strategies and game plans.

• Doc Rivers stressed the importance of rebounding to the Cs and pointed out that their next opponent, the Detroit Pistons, are known for crashing the boards.
• Strength and conditioning coach Bryan Doo put the players through several exercises, many honing in on lower body strength and agility.
• Kendrick Perkins was one of the first to complete full court running drills. At 6′10 just one of his strides looks like two or three steps for Rajon Rondo and Eddie House.
• The players ran through drills wherein they had to move the ball without dribbling. The first team to score three baskets won. On the first possession, Leon Powe suffocated Kevin Garnett at the top of the key and forced a turnover. Paul Pierce, Eddie House, and J.R. Giddens each knocked down multiple shots.
• Ray Allen, Tony Allen, and Gabe Pruitt stuck around after practice to get in some extra long range shots.

The Celtics left at 3pm for a flight to Detroit. They will play Allen Iverson and the Pistons on Sunday at 6pm on NBA TV.

Posted by Joe Haggerty

Nokelainen is looking for a bench celebration sooner rather than later...

 While it’s likely that feisty Fin Petteri Nokelainen will be the healthy scratch when Chuck Kobasew returns to the Bruins lineup tonight against the first place Buffalo Sabres, there’s a strong argument to be made that perhaps Stephane Yelle should sit. With the unimpressive Yelle up in the press box, Nokelainen could then slide over to center between the gritty, skilled Kobasew and the brawling blue collar Thornton.

While the 2-year-old Finnish import has yet to crack the scoresheet this season in 13 games, he’s added a good deal of strength, size and attitude to Claude Julien’s ”energy line” and the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder has performed as a secret weapon for the Black and Gold in the faceoff circle. Yelle was brought into the Bruins’ fold presumably as a faceoff specialist and penalty kill warrior, but the 34-year-old hasn’t been quite as good as advertised while winning only 44.7 (46-out-of-103) percent of his draws.

Nokelainen, on the other hand, has quietly won 73.1 percent (19-out-of-26) while dusting off his skills on the faceoff dot and has earned the right to stay in Boston’s lineup through every phase of his game. The rugged Fin certainly takes pride in his role along the fourth line, but also seemed to have lamp-lighting on the mind when I talked to him recently.

The natural-center has played at wing this season, and seems to be a pretty safe bet not to be sent back to Providence. The youngster would have to clear through NHL waivers — something that wouldn’t happen without a claim from another team — and the coaching staff has taken notice of his solid contributions through the season’s first 13 games.

Here’s a few minutes with Nokelainen:

I’ve seen you take a few faceoffs and noticed that you’ve had a lot of success with them. PN: Actually it’s working pretty good and I’ve been taking some face offs when we’re out there. If he’s having a tough time with somebody then I’ll go out there and take a few, and then he’ll do the same thing for me. It definitely is a good thing to have two guys out there that can take draws and I definitely don’t mind taking them.

Taking faceoffs seems pretty natural given all of the time that you’ve spent at center. PN: Last year for most of the year I played center and even before that too I played in Finland. Even in our own zone, the first one there goes down low and the other takes the winger when he’s coming down and it works out well. Our communication is really good and we know where the other guys are so we can react to each other.

 Claude has mentioned you guys as the “energy line” and talked about how much jump you bring when you’re out there. How much pride do you take in that? PN:We definitely try to finish our checks and of course it’s nice to have some positive feedback, but we want to score some goals too. We’ve been getting great chances along with the great energy that we’re putting out there, and it would be nice to finish some of those chances too.

You can bang bodies, but you last thing you see in the game is a scoreboard.  So we can score some goals and all we really need is one bounce.

Is it easy to get into that mode where you’re out there to be physical and bang bodies, and the scoring part of it takes a backseat? PN: No, the biggest thing is to work hard and try to play your own game. I try to do everything in my own game: I try to hit, I try to score and I try to do everything out there. You know it’s not easy every day to go out there and bang bodies either. There are definitely days where you feel sluggish and you don’t really feel like you’re going…but you have to get yourself going.

A lot of times that’s the way you get the goals too. You work hard, you get to the net and you get the dirty ones. That’s how it goes.

Is this a familiar role to what you’ve done in the past, or is skating on a fourth line something a little different for you? PN: Of course in the past you get to play power play and first line in Finland and you’re getting as many minutes as you can. I hope somebody I’ll be up on the top line too, but right now I’m on the fourth line and I have to do whatever the fourth line is supposed to do.

Of course you want to keep working hard and getting more ice time and getting better lines if that’s what you want to call it. Move up the ladder. I can’t say a better line because it’s just a different role. You just want to get more ice time and maybe score more goals. That’s something that is my goal in the future, but right now I’m on the fourth line and we’re playing good and I don’t mind skating with these guys. Like I said, we just need to score goals. Nobody said that we can’t score any goals, and I’m pretty sure the coach wouldn’t mind us scoring a few.

Is scoring more a matter of getting grittier, tipping pucks or just taking it right to the net? PN:We’ve actually been talking about that a lot, and the way we’re going to get the goals. Obviously we don’t have Marc Savard hands or anything like that or Phil Kessel’s dangle, so we try to get the puck to the net, keep it simple and get the gritty ones.

Shawn Thornton’s got a pretty dangle though, doesn’t he? PN:Oh yeah. That Kessel dangle with the backhand and toe drag. What was that Ottawa? It was sick, yeah. Sometimes he surprises me when he’s got those hands.

Have you really learned a lot while skating with Thornton and Stephane Yelle? PN:Yeah definitely. I think last year even if I didn’t play last year I was watching a lot of video and watching the older guys. It actually surprised me because when I was younger I didn’t watch hockey that way like I could learn something from it. I think it’s a huge part that you can watch the game and learn a part of it. Just watching those older guys and seeing what they do. Even what they do in practice. You kind of learn things about being more patient and saving yourself a little bit on the ice.

Is there something specific that you can really point to as something that you learned from one of the veteran guys? PN: Not really one thing. The biggest thing is working smarter and that you don’t have too always go 100-mph. Sometimes you can cut the corners. Coaches don’t want you to cheat, but sometimes you can work smarter and save those couple extra strides. That can make a big difference.

That can really leave you with a lot more in the tank in the third period too. PN: Oh yeah. Definitely. It allows you to be fresh when you need to be fresh. Little faceoff tricks. Something like that and then you just keep learning.

Going 100-moh has got to be your first instinct through when you get up to the NHL? PN: Yeah, especially when you’re not playing that much. You just want to show sometimes too much. When you’re playing five minutes a game you really have to get yourself going. You’re not really into it and sometimes I felt like I was trying to do too much in that five minutes. And you really can’t, and then you’re off your game. It just keeps going. Like I said, you get older and you get a little smarter and try to keep that going. You can learn a little more every single day.

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Games like Sunday’s showdown between two 5-3 teams tied for first in the AFC East have been the sole possession of the New England Patriots ever since oh, about the time when Lawyer Milloy was released before the 2003 season opener in Orchard Park, NY.

You remember that one don’t you? That was the game that Tom Brady was pancaked by Aaron Schobel as he was chasing a rumbling, stumbling, bumbling Sam Adams down the sideline on a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown as the Bills routed the Pats, 31-0.

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That happens to be the last time the Bills beat the Patriots, as New England has captured the last nine encounters and a stunning 14 of the last 15. The point is, whenever a team like the Bills have challenged the Patriots, New England has always responded. The Patriots preach one game at a time but they are fully aware that their next three games are in the division. Win all three and they can essentially punch their ticket for the AFC East berth in the January playoffs.

Here are 5 ways they can successfully start down that path on Sunday:

1. Test Buffalo’s secondary early and often. They are without starting safety Dante Whitner and corner Ashton Youboty and this is a great time for the Patriots to flood Randy Moss and receiver-in-need-of-redemption Jabar Gaffney deep into Bills coverage. Look for the Pats to go to Gaffney early to help him put last week in the past. Another BIG advantage for the Pats is the loss of the aforementioned Schobel, who will miss this game with a foot injury.

2. Keep up the great blocking for BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Kevin Faulk. The Patriots were pounding the Colts last week between the tackles and controling the line of scrimmage, maybe the most encouraging sign for an offense that is entering the second half. Faulk and BGE combined for 25 carries and 117 yards and a touchdown run.

3. Don’t let Buffalo’s beefy offensive line push you around. The Bills average 310 pounds and they can give Trent Edwards time to find Lee Evans if you let them get comfortable. They have allowed 23 sacks this year so there are sack opportunities. Adalius Thomas, you listening?

4. Contain Buffalo’s explosive special teams. “They are always dangerous there and their kickoff coverage is good with (Rian) Lindell and their cover guys. So, they really have the ability to win games and control games on special teams- Seattle would be a good example of that. They hit a fake field goal against Seattle, ran a fake punt last week, ran a fake punt against Dallas last year, ran for 40 yards against us a couple years ago when (Brian) Moorman bobbled a snap. And their punt and kickoff returns are dangerous. It is an area of the game that we say is important every week. It is a third of the game but with Buffalo they are very explosive in that phase, they make a lot of plays in all six phases and don’t give up very many. The more I watch them in the kicking game the more appreciation that I have for what they do on a week in and week out basis. [This is] something that doesn’t get a lot of attention. If someone is looking to fill up some space, I don’t know.”  Thanks Bill… Always appreciated here in the The Take.

5. Keep containment on Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. Belichick said on Friday these backs are patient and will wait on the right moment to cut back and pick their holes in the line, especially the underrated Jackson. “He is pretty good at everything,” Belichick said of Jackson. “He catches pretty much anything; he has real good hands, which we see in the return game [and] in the passing game. He is tough. He is a quick cutter. He has good run vision - you see him in a lot of inside runs with real good patience where he waits for the blocking scheme to unfold, he doesn’t rush into it and gives the blockers a chance. Buffalo has a big offensive line, one of the biggest in the league so it is not really a case too often of them not creating a hole somewhere, it is just where is it going to be, when is it going to come open and when is the back going to come into it? Both Lynch and Jackson do a good job of waiting that out. They feel confident that sooner or later something is going to be there and they try to hang with the play as long as they can until something opens up. Rather than some runners just get the ball and the first time they see a little bit of daylight they just run in it.”

EXTRA POINTS:

Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards and Red Sox infielder Jed Lowrie attended Stanford at the same time. Asked if he had any stories, Edwards had this reply during a conference call this week: “Lets see, Jed Lowrie stories, his freshman year he hit .290 with one home run and then his sophomore year I think he hit .380 with 17 home runs.”

Before the nation pauses to remember the service of veterans everywhere on Tuesday, the New England Patriots will honor America’s soldiers past and present with a salute to the military before Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. The Kraft family has selected two war veterans, Pfc. Sean Bannon from Winthrop, Mass. and Sgt. James Hackemer from Gowanda, N.Y., to serve as honorary captains for the game. Both soldiers were critically injured while serving their country in Iraq and continue to receive treatment at Spaulding Rehabilitation in Boston. The soldiers will be introduced to nearly 70,000 Patriots fans prior to the game and will join the Patriots and Buffalo Bills team captains at midfield for the opening coin toss. In addition, the Patriots will honor one of their long-time employees, George Boyajian, who is 85-years young. Boyajian is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War and has been a fixture with the Patriots in Foxborough for the last 22 years. The Patriots will also recognize his service during pregame ceremonies on the field just prior to the presentation of the color guards and national anthem. Keeping with a Patriotic, military-themed pregame, the color guards for the national anthem will be presented by representatives of four different branches of the U.S. armed forces. Michelle Harris, vocalist of the U.S. Air Force Band of Liberty, will sing the national anthem which will be replete with a flyover by a few Black Hawk helicopters. The Patriots have also partnered with Raytheon to host 60 additional service men and women from the Massachusetts Army National Guard.

FINAL CUTS:

Adalius Thomas says we should all remember that the past is irrelevant, in the NFL at least.

Heath Evans says Adalius is right.

Matt Cassel on why the Bills are a good team.

Cassel on the Bills without Schobel.

Belichick on the Bills’ special special teams.

FINAL TAKE: As banged up as the Patriots have been throughout the season with the losses of Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison and Laurence Maroney, the Bills are sustaining them all at once. They are without five players this week, including CB Ashton Youboty, who was placed on season-ending IR this week with a foot injury. Too much at once for the improved Bills to handle.

Patriots 28, Bills 17

As always, your feedback is appreciated. Just Email Trags at WEEI.com.