SAMPLE MONDAY

My idea for Mondays was both a look back and a look ahead. Since most polls - college basketball, college hockey, FCS football come out on Monday, I'd take a feature look at some team or a player on a team in one of the polls as a top on the blog.

I'd follow with a look at where each Massachusetts area team landed in the polls. Linking to league awards which also come out on Monday would also be a natural here. This could be contained to major sports in Division I or expanded beyond that. I included just Massachusetts teams, but other New England teams could certainly be included.

The Lowell information below, I think would actually make a good story with more reporting. Because this is just an example, I re-used quotes I got at Hockey East media day.


There's plenty of hockey still to be played, but landing in the top 10 in this week's U.S. College Hockey Online top 20 represents another step in a huge turnaround for the UMass-Lowell program.

In early 2007, rumors were rampant that the school was considering either dropping its program down to Division II or III or eliminating it altogether.

While the River Hawks were eventually spared demotion or contraction, the damage to recruiting was considerable as many players were leery about signing with coach Blaise MacDonald's squad fearing that the program had been spared only temporarily.

But MacDonald's squad thriveA year ago, the River Hawks made a surprise run to the Hockey East Tournament finals before falling to eventual national champion Boston University.

"It's hard to articulate how hard it is to brush away what had taken place and build your program back up to a national level. All the credit goes to the players who stuck with the program," MacDonald said. "These kids have a chance to leave a legacy no one else has had here."

Boston University Jack Parker said he was proud of the rebuilding job done by MacDonald, his former assistant.

"There were whispers about them dropping the program or dropping down to a different division again. There still would have been talk about that if they weren't doing what they were doing hockey-wise," Parker said. "It's great for all of college hockey. We can't afford to be losing teams."

Lowell was joined by four other Massachusetts colleges in the USCHO top 20.

Boston Univeristy - No. 7
Boston College - No. 16
UMass - No. 19
Also Receiving Votes- Northeastern, Merrimack.
BU's David Warsofsky was the Hockey East Player of the Week.

NCAA FBS Football
Boston College continues to receive votes in the Associated Press and coaches polls. After Saturday's win, ESPN's Mark Schlabach has BC facing Pitt in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, while Bruce Feldman has the Eagles facing Cal in the Emerald Bowl. CBS projects BC to play Southern Miss. in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29 in Washington D.C.

NCAA FCS Football
After its 19-9 loss at Maine was knocked out of the top 25 for the first time this season. The loss likely ended any chance for the Minutemen to reach the FCS playoffs. UMass' 19 interceptions thrown this season are second worst in all of Division I football.

Holy Cross continued to climb. The Crusaders are now No. 13 after beating Fordham Saturday and are tightening their grip on the Patriot League with just three games remaining.