Ready to roll

Spent the morning visiting with Black Bear and America East fans in the hotel lobby. As is customary at the tournament, everybody's a little on edge waiting for the tipoff.

Vermont's on edge regarding the injuries to star players Evan Fjeld and Brendan Bald. Word circulating around the arena Thursday was the Boston University star and America East player of the year John Holland was not responding to ankle treatments as well as hoped.

Maine has its own issues with Terrance Mitchell's ankle injury. It sounds as if he may give it a go, but it's unclear how it will impact his play.

Bigger question for the Black Bears is which team is going to the show up. The one that zipped to an 8-1 start in America East play or the team that finished 1-7?

The consensus among America East fans gathered in Hartford is that this bunch of Black Bears have the ability and the pieces to pull it off. We shall see.

Will be heading over to the arena for the Albany/Stony Brook game shortly.

It's a great time of the year. Let's hope we can join in the fun and celebrate a victory tonight at the hotel. It's been a long time. Six years since a small gathering of us partied late into the Binghamton night after Chris Markwood's shot that beat Boston University.