2-4-2014

The Daily Free Press

Year xliv. Volume lxxxvi. Issue XI

HOMELESS Homelessness increases by 4 percent in Mass., page 3.

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Tuesday, February 4, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

]

www.dailyfreepress.com

HOPE SPRINGS

A REAL DRAG

Freshmen shine for women’s basketball team, page 8.

Study warns against dangers of third-hand smoke, page 5.

WEATHER

Today: Sunny/High 38 Tonight: Snow/Low 28 Tomorrow: 32/21

Data Courtesy of weather.com

Beanpot 2014

Terriers upended by rival BC, 3-1, in 1st round of Beanpot

By Meredith Perri Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston College defenseman Steve Santini hits Boston University forward Mike Moran.

BU eventually fell to BC by a score of 3-1.

Already in a 2-0 hole during the second half of the middle frame, the Boston University men’s hockey team found itself with another disadvantage. As freshman defenseman Doyle Somerby skated off the ice with a game misconduct, the Terriers would need to kill off a five-minute major penalty and deal with losing a defenseman from an already thin lineup.

As the minutes ticked away, the Terriers (815-3, 3-8-2 Hockey East) displayed one of their most impressive penalty kills of the season.

Those five minutes of strong play, however, meant little as the Terriers could not overcome an early deficit during Monday’s 3-1 Beanpot opener loss to No. 2 Boston College at TD Garden.

“Boy, I can’t tell you how proud I am of our players,” said BU coach David Quinn. “We competed from the drop of the puck until the whistle blew.

“There was nothing I was going to say to them tonight to make them feel better, but the season isn’t over.”

Carrying its two previous losses to the Eagles (20-4-3, 12-1-1 Hockey East) on its shoulders, BU came into the weekday tilt with the clichéd mindset that anything could happen in the Beanpot. Anything began to fall to the wayside when BC jumped on the board just a few minutes into the game.

With senior captain Patrick MacGregor in

the box for tripping at 3:51 in the opening period, the conference’s top offense found the back of the net within seconds. A mere 13 seconds after picking up the man advantage, BC took its initial lead when defenseman Teddy Doherty sent a pass across the ice to open winger Ryan Fitzgerald.

The freshman out of North Reading wristed the puck by BU sophomore netminder Matt O’Connor and into the top shelf of the net for his ninth goal of the season.

Coming into Monday’s tilt, the Eagles held a 14-0-1 record when they scored first while BU was 1-8-0 when its opponent took the initial lead.

The Eagles extended their lead less than two minutes into the second period when their storied second line of forwards Johnny Gaudreau, Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes teamed up for their collective 135th point of the season.

After receiving a pass from Gaudreau, Arnold skated up to the crease and deked out O’Connor on the right side of the net. Arnold then sent a sharp-angled pass to Hayes who sat at the open side of the goal.

Halfway through the period and down 2-0, Somerby and Hayes got into a scuffle that ended when Hayes landed on the ice. Somerby initially skated into the penalty box before he left the ice with a game misconduct and a fiveminute major for hitting from behind. Freshman wing Robbie Baillargeon and Arnold also

Beanpot, see page 2

BU student wards off attempted robbery BU IT takes new steps to protect in Brookline, suspect remains unidentified employees from email scamming

By Taryn Ottaunick Daily Free Press Staff

A Boston University student was accosted by an unarmed attacker at Commonwealth Avenue and Amory Street on Sunday evening, officials from the Boston University Police Department said.

The woman, a 22-year-old undergraduate, was walking down the street at 10 p.m. when the suspect approached her from behind and grabbed her aggressively, said BUPD Lieutenant Detective Peter DiDomenica.

“She was hugged and then punched,” DiDomenica said. “She was able to fend off the attacker and he fled. We believe the intent of that attack was to rob the victim. It appears that

he got into a grey or tan SUV, possibly a Honda Pilot, to flee.”

Brookline Police Department was contacted immediately after the event, said Captain John O’Leary of the Brookline PD. “Police patrolled the area immediately after [Brookline PD was] contacted,” O’Leary said.

“They will be around and checking video surveillance in the area. We’re in touch with the other police departments in the area as well.”

The suspect has not yet been identified, DiDomenica said. Police officials will be investigating the area and analyzing video surveillance in an effort to locate the criminal.

“Similar crimes may be in the area of juris-

Robbery, see page 2

By Sebastian Alamo Daily Free Press Staff

As online hackers continue to pose a risk for members of the Boston University community, employees will be barred from making changes to their accounts in order to prevent future attacks, officials said.

Because hackers have been rerouting the direct-deposit locations of faculty members’ paychecks, faculty will be temporarily unable to adjust the location of their paycheck deposits, said BU Information & Technology Services Executive Director of Information Security Quinn Shamblin.

“For the time being, we need to make sure that any change to any bank account information is legitimate change, and it’s not a change

initiated by the bad guys.” Shamblin said.

“The measures that we have put out, for the time being, are designed to help ensure that any requests to change this are legitimate.”

Shamblin said similar attacks have been identified at universities other than BU, prompting intervention from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“The FBI is involved in analyzing the scam at a national level.” Shamblin said.

“Many universities are seeing the same kind of activity, and so we are working with the FBI to coordinate information services so they can take actions a little more broadly that we can right here.”

Phishing, see page 2

2 companies in Boston receive licenses for medical cannabis dispensaries

By Felicia Gans and Sarah Capungan Daily Free Press Staff

GRAPHIC BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Officials from the state health department announced Friday the names of companies that will receive licenses to open medical marijuana dispensaries. Twenty dispensaries throughout 10 of Massachusetts’ 14 counties were approved.

After Massachusetts voters approved the Nov. 2012 ballot question to legalize medical cannabis, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Friday the names of 20 companies that will receive the first medical cannabis dispensary licenses.

Of Massachusetts’s 14 counties, 10 will have dispensaries. Two companies received licenses to open in Boston: Green Heart Holistic Health and Pharmaceuticals on Southampton Street and Good Chemistry of Massachusetts on Boylston Street.

Nick Martin, the director of communication for the Boston Public Health Commission, said the main concern associated with the legalization of medical cannabis is the potential for abuse. The law will permit patients to grow the substance at home if they are unable to travel to the dispensaries.

“Since the ballot initially passed in Nov. 2012 … we’ve been working closely with the Mayor’s office, with the police department and with the central services department to

implement local regulations that would allow us to oversee dispensaries that operate in Boston,” he said.

Martin said he is confident lawmakers will be able to safely regulate the new dispensaries. The BPHC plans to require all dispensaries to offer educational pamphlets to their consumers.

“One of the other things that we did when we passed our local regulation is require that these dispensaries deliver to customers so customers who can’t make it in store will have the option to have their medication delivered,” he said. “[This] is important because it will cut down on the amount of home growth that you see.”

Phase one of the dispensary application process began in early 2013 with 181 applicants. In September, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health narrowed the number of applicants to 158 for the next phase, where a panel chose 100 finalists.

Applications were reviewed and given

Marijuana, see page 2

2

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Empty-netter clinches BC win, Prof. accounts already protected after Jan. attack sends BU to consolation round Phishing: From Page 1

Beanpot: From Page 1

picked up minor penalties as they were each called for roughing.

The five-minute penalty came as BC began to close in on the shot advantage BU had held for the majority of the night. Despite the disadvantage, the Terriers fended off BC for the entire five minutes, and had two shorthanded opportunities during the kill as well.

“I thought that kind of turned the game around a little bit in our favor,” Quinn said. “I thought early in their power play, they had some great chances and then we settled down a little bit killing… So I thought ironically that gave us a little bit of a lift.”

Although BC netminder Thatcher Demko and the Eagles defense continued to stymie the Terriers, BU nearly cut the lead in half about four minutes into the third. Senior captain Garrett Noonan started off one of the stronger opportunities for the Terriers, as he sent a pass over to sophomore wing Matt Lane. Although Lane had a wide-open net, he could

not get a strong shot off. Freshman wing Kevin Duane attempted to pick up the rebound, but the puck appeared to have eyes as it trickled off the pipe stick side and went wide.

The Terriers’ fate changed just two minutes later when BU’s first line teamed up to make it a 2-1 game.

Sophomore wing Danny O’Regan got the play started after he cut off a pass from Demko behind the net.

O’Regan then sent the puck over to Baillargeon. The freshman out of Enfield, Conn., flung the puck to the right of Demko for his seventh goal of the season.

For the second time in as many meetings, though, Gaudreau finished off the game with any empty-net goal to secure a BC victory. The loss marks the second time in two seasons that BU’s seniors will graduate without a Beanpot title.

“I think I’ll have nightmares about this one for a while,” Noonan said. “It always stings a little bit more losing to BC, but they’re very young guys here who are going to win some Beanpots.”

‘Hugging’ common strategy in recent string of robbery attempts Robbery: From Page 1

diction, so Boston and Cambridge will be patrolled,” DiDomenica said.

“There’s not much we can do with searching the area at this point because it happened last evening. It’s being followed up with an investigative process to seek out the [suspect’s] identity.”

DiDomenecia and O’Leary said officers from both Brookline PD and BUPD will be increasing their presence in the area of the crime.

The act of ‘hugging’ victims in order to mug them has become increasingly common as more criminals target people with a visible cellphone and other valuable portable electronics, O’Leary said.

“Recently, hugging people to rob them has been common because people specifically target cellphones,” he said. “The person could have been on her cellphone and didn’t hear anyone approach.”

Although thefts on the BU campus occur frequently, instances of attack are much less common, ren-

dering the crime more serious than the usual campus robberies, DiDomenica said.

“Robberies like this are actually pretty infrequent,” DiDomenica said.

“In the past academic year, there were a series of community robberies a short distance from that area.”

In August, a male Boston University graduate student was exiting a taxi on Beacon Street in the early morning when an unknown male attacker assaulted him, making off with his money and cellphone.

During the 2012-13 academic year, BU students were victims of eight robberies and attempted robberies in the area of West Campus and northern Brookline.

While robberies are not a common occurrence on BU’s Charles River Campus and surrounding areas, students should main alert and take precautions to protect themselves, DiDomenica said.

“It is a relatively infrequent event, but there’s a lot of seriousness to it,” he said. “This was a serious crime and people have to be careful.”

These attacks, known as “phishing,” involve imitating official university emails containing a link to a fraudulent website where users are asked to log in, effectively providing the hackers with access to their personal accounts, Shamblin said.

In January, hackers used phishing emails to obtain the account information of 10 BU employees. The hackers then changed the banking information for the accounts, so employees were unable to access their paychecks.

“Right now, we are under a series of attacks by some criminals who are attempting to steal information from BU employees by accessing the employees’ accounts,” Shamblin said. “They are then using that information to change where the paychecks are routed and what bank the paycheck goes to.”

As phishing among BU accounts has become increasingly common, the quality of the fraudulent emails

has become more sophisticated than the originals, Shamblin said.

“The quality of these messages varies wildly, so some messages are relatively easy to check,” he said.

“Most people looking at those messages would not believe those messages to be real and would not respond, but we are seeing messages that are of a little higher quality, a little bit better at pretending to be from BU or doing something else that makes people more likely ... to click on links.”

In order to enable members of the BU community to take proper measures against future hacking attempts, Shamblin said I&TS will provide education on online fraudulent activity.

“One of the things is to improve people’s understanding of common scams so they can recognize them more effectively,” he said. “They can test messages that come in more effectively to determine whether they are fraudulent or not.”

Azer Bestavros, the director of

the Hariri Institute for Computing at BU, said preventing phishing scams becomes more difficult as their level of genuineness increases.

“In the early days the content of the emails would be laughable, but right now they are more sophisticated in the way they put logos of bank accounts and things of the sort so that they hide their identity well,” Bestavros, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of computer science, said. “I do not think they are hard to prevent, it is that people have to be alert.”

Educated and alert users are more important than technical controls and protections, Bestavros said.

“If you have a home and you lock all the windows, but keep the front door open, that does not help you,” he said. “The weakest link is the easiest way an intruder is going to come through and typically that is going to be an unsuspecting user that perhaps does not take the right precautions.”

Licensed locations determined by support, security Marijuana: From Page 1

a score between zero and 163. A selection committee reviewed the remaining applications, gave each applicant a score between zero and 163 and determined which 20 companies would receive a license.

Alex Loftus, communications director for the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services, said residents should not worry about the effects of the dispensaries on the community.

“The selection committee looked at appropriateness of the site, ability to serve patients, local support and security,” he said. “[People] can expect that this will be a secure location that complies with all local bylaws and zoning requires. Prior to receiving their final license, they have to demonstrate that they’re meeting all these requirements.”

Difficulty Level: Easy

In addition to the 20 candidates that received licenses, eight companies met the qualifications but could not open dispensaries at the sites they requested.

Loftus said the eight companies will compete for licenses to open dispensaries in Berkshire, Franklin, Dukes and Nantucket, the four counties that do not yet have dispensary locations.

Several residents said they have mixed opinions about the medical cannabis dispensaries in Boston.

Juan Carlos Perez, 34, of Boston, said medical cannabis does not have enough benefits for the dispensaries in Boston to be worthwhile.

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a good thing,” Perez said. “I don’t smoke weed … I think we have plenty of drugs out there. These a lot of alcohol, people buy cigars people buy cigarettes, I don’t think

Sudoku courtesy of printmysudoku.com

we need another one.”

Catherine Scott, 25, of Allston, said medical cannabis dispensaries should be available if they can be attributed to any health benefits, even if they are minor.

“I don’t have any problem with medical marijuana,” she said. “I don’t know specifically what it treats, but I just don’t have a problem with people using it if it has health benefits.”

Sarah Chudnovsky, 23, of Allston, said the dispensaries are the first step toward a larger conversation about medical cannabis.

“The bigger issue is the criminalization associated with [cannabis],” she said. “It’s really good that we’re pushing forward with making it more accessible and treating it as a part of society because it already is. So not just legalization, but decriminalization too.”

SOLUTION ON PAGE 4

CaMpus & CiTy CaMpus CriMe LOGs Jan. 26 TO Feb. 2

By Alyssa Ciofani Daily Free Press Staff

The following reports were taken from the Boston University Police Department crime logs from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2.

Counterfeit bills turned in On Jan. 26 at 2 p.m., a Barnes & Noble at Boston University employee contacted the BUPD after receiving two counterfeit $20 bills at the store, located at 660 Beacon Street. iPhone stolen from FitRec A student’s iPhone was stolen from the basketball courts at BU’s Fitness & Recreation Center on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. iPhone stolen from classroom A student’s iPhone was stolen from a classroom at 871 Commonwealth Ave. on the afternoon of Jan. 28. She had left the phone unattended in a room on the fifth floor.

Harassing phone calls On Jan. 28 at 4 p.m., a male student reported from 32 Harry Agganis Way that he was receiving annoying phone calls from a former girlfriend.

Stolen bicycle A student’s bike was stolen from 928 Comm. Ave. on Jan. 28 around 8 p.m.

Larceny Attempt Two students chased an older man from SMG to Blanford Street on Wednesday at 4 p.m. after the man attempted to steal a laptop.

The students caught the man trying to board the train, confronted him and retrieved the laptop. The man fled the area.

Student receives unwanted messages At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, a female student reported from her dorm room in Warren Towers, located at 700 Comm. Ave., that she had received inappropriate messages on her Facebook account from another student.

Marijuana citation A marijuana vaporizer and marijuana were found in a student’s dorm room in Warren Towers on Thursday at 6 p.m. The student was issued a citation and the paraphernalia was confiscated.

Suspicious phone call A student in Warren Towers received a suspicious phone call on Friday at 9:25 p.m. The caller attempted to obtain the student’s credit card information, but the student refused and hung up.

Vandalism suspects Three students were identified at 45 St. Mary’s St. on Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. for vandalizing dumpsters near the street. The males were later identified as having been responsible for vandalism in various spots on and around campus, including Allston and South Campus.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

3

Homelessness numbers jump 4 percent in 2013 Scientists find new alternative With a record-breaking number of homeless children in Boston, the Boston Public Health Commission to stem cells reported Friday that homelessness

By Felicia Gans Daily Free Press Staff

increased by 3.8 percent in 2013.

Boston’s 34th Annual Homeless Census results, which were gathered on Dec. 16 by city officials, community leaders and more than 350 volunteers, found 7,255 homeless people in Boston, 233 more than 2012. Of the homeless, 2,056 were children.

“The things we found most alarming were the increase in family homelessness and children homelessness,” said Nick Martin, BPHC communications director. “For the first time since the city has been doing this census, we found over 2,000 homeless children, so that was very disconcerting for us.”

Compared to other large cities, Boston has fewer homeless adults living on the street, Martin said.

This year’s census found that the street count made up 2.5 percent of the homeless population.

“When you look at a homeless population of over 7,000 people, and you have 180 people living on

By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY ALEX HENSEL/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh released the findings of Boston’s 34th Annual Homeless Census Friday that showed a 3.8 percent increase in the number of men, women and children.

the street, that’s a relatively small number,” he said. “Obviously, we’d like to see that number be zero, but a lot of other places have a larger issue with street homelessness.”

In response to the numbers of the 2013 census, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced a multi-step plan to decrease homelessness in the city in the following year.

Through a collaboration of city agencies, property management

companies and nonprofit partners, Walsh said he hopes to cater to the individual needs of the homeless and help them find affordable and permanent housing.

“These numbers are very troubling, and paint a stark picture of vulnerable populations in our city,” he said. “Major cities around the country are seeing these kinds of in-

hoMelessness, see page 4

Boston economy grows with increased employment

By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff

An economic report released Thursday by MassBenchmarks, an economic journal at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, shows the Commonwealth’s economy has expanded significantly due to employment growth, rising incomes and increased consumer spending.

The gross state product grew by approximately 5.5 percent in the last quarter of last year according to the report. MassBenchmarks compiles this information through a series of data points including state payroll, employment, unemployment rate and state withholding taxes, which gives an estimate of wage and salary income, state regular sales and motor vehicle sales tax.

“The whole country now is in a recovery phase, the recovery seems to be picking up steam, and it was good in Massachusetts in the fourth quarter,” said Dr. Alan Clayton-Matthews, senior contributing editor at Benchmarks and professor of economics at Northeastern University.

“Massachusetts had a stronger recov-

ery than the United States as whole.

Its strength is probably related to the goods and services that it produces.”

Clayton-Matthews said some of the innovations that help keep Massachusetts at the forefront of America’s economy are information and technology products, medical science and biotechnology products, and high-knowledge sectors such as consulting, engineering, software computer design and research and development. He also had suggestions for how to foster more economic expansion.

“Like virtually every state government, [Massachusetts] had budgetary problems during this recession,” he said. “The state had to go into its rainy day fund to help supplement the budget and a lot of areas were cut. Now, the state’s budget is not much above what it was before the recession began.”

Most states could benefit from increased public investments, especially in infrastructure and in boosting public K-12 and pre-K education to make the level of education higher quality and more accessible, Clay-

ton-Matthews said.

In addition to analyzing the state of the current Massachusetts economy, MassBenchmarks uses state consumer confidence, state initial employment claims, statewide stock index, national interest rate, construction employment and motor vehicle sales spending to predict future economic changes.

“We predict continued strong growth, about 4.7 percent rate of growth, over the first half of 2014,” Clayton-Matthews said.

Bruce Watson, senior lecturer of economics at Boston University, explained how all three factors of economic growth, employment rates, increased incomes and consumer spending, all rely on a good job market.

“The consumer market, consumer’s ability to spend, depends on employment,” he said. “Massachusetts is really fortunate because even in the depths of the recession, our unemployment was nowhere near what it was nationally. It’s largely a function of the presence of so many

eXPansion, see page 4

Scientists have discovered a process that enables mature cells to revert back to being stem cells, possibly resulting in many future saved lives, according to a report published in the weekly science journal Nature on Thursday.

A team of scientists led by Charles Vacanti, chairman of the department of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School, discovered how harsh environments, consisting of conditions similar to those present when cells in our bodies are injured, result in mature cells being turned back into stem cells.

“We looked for a more natural way to turn mature cells back to stem cells, and it’s actually very efficient, easy, and inexpensive to do,” he said. “You get millions of cells very quickly, and you should be able to use it in all fields of medicine, boosting the function of tissues, possibly saving lives … this could have huge implications.”

The road to this discovery was a long one and filled with doubt from countless other scientists, according to Vacanti.

“In the late 1990s we started looking for better cells to use for tissue engineering, and we discovered what we thought was a stem cell presence in many tissue systems of the body which we called a spore-like cell,” he said. “We reported it in 2011 in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry and we were panned … no one read the article and even fewer people believed it. We received a lot of criticism, and I was actually almost fired from UMass for publicizing such heresy.”

In 2006, a member of Vacanti’s team, Dr. koji kojima and another researcher, managed to isolate these cells in large numbers from the organs and muscles and studying them. Vacanti then asked a Japanese student, Haruko Obokata, to repeat the earlier stud-

steM cell, see page 4

Increased economic growth favors college graduates in job market

By Taryn Ottaunick and Sophia Goldberg Daily Free Press Staff

As President Barack Obama announced his prediction for large economic gains in 2014, students graduating from schools such as Boston University could see increases in job opportunities.

“The last few years have been quite good for corporate bottom lines and investors,” said Douglas kriner, a professor of political science at BU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

“If firms feel the time is right and decide to invest in new workers, job gains could directly benefit new graduates.”

In a speech given to the General Electric Energy Waukesha Gas Engines Facility in Waukesha, Wis., Obama announced that in the last quarter of 2013, increased consumer spending supported economic growth in 2014.

“I believe this can be a break-

through year for America,” Obama said. “After five years of hard work, digging ourselves out of the worst recession of our lifetimes, we are now better positioned in the 21st century than any other country on Earth. We’ve got all the ingredients we need to make sure that America thrives.”

In the final quarter of 2013, the annual economic growth rate reached 3.2 percent, according to a government report released Thursday.

The recent growth indicates economic prosperity in the coming year as well as a recovering economy, said kevin Lang, a CAS professor of economics.

“We’ve had continued employment growth, and recoveries tend to build on themselves,” Lang said. “…

The fact that the economy continues to show signs of recovery makes it hopeful that it will do so for the next year.”

Lang said growth in the economy

GRAPHIC BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

A report released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis suggesting solid growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 fuels optimism that 2014 will be the best year for the U.S. economy since the recession.

creates job prospects for college graduates because employers do not need to be as discriminating toward who they are hiring.

“When the job market gets better, it gets easier to be hired without ex-

perience or with less experience, and ultimately the salary offers go up,” Lang said. “… We still have a high enough employment level that we shouldn’t expect to see a lot of wage

uneMPloyMent, see page 4

4

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Homeless resident: ‘Nobody seemed to care’ Number of colleges in Boston may be key to fix job market hoMelessness: From Page 3

creases, as rents go up and incomes don’t. My vision for Boston is that we want to be a City that works for all of our residents, where stable families have safe and stable housing, in stable neighborhoods. I am asking our whole community to work with me and rally around these issues.”

Pine Street Inn, the largest homeless services organization in New England, has been part of a continuing effort to decrease homelessness in the city. In the following year, they plan to partner with city agencies to provide emergency shelters, job training and permanent housing.

Barbara Trevisan, a spokesperson for Pine Street Inn, said every person is different, and their various circumstances must be taken into account when looking for solutions.

“We certainly are looking at the big picture,” she said. “We know what strategies work, but it’s important to work with each individual to

find out how they came to be homeless and how we can ensure the best outcome for each person.”

Several residents said they are concerned with the increased homelessness numbers in the city, especially in the winter months.

Katrina Baskin, 52, of Dorchester, said shelters must be improved for families to create a safer environment for children.

“It’s really concerning that people don’t have homes,” she said.

“From hearing things about people being in [the shelters], there are some criminal elements around them, and it’s not safe for children.

They need to be made safer. So [the shelters] aren’t great, but as long as the city is putting them somewhere, it’s better than them being out in the street.”

Joe Magen, 38, of Boston, said job training is an important investment for the homeless, but the city should focus on helping the homeless people who travel in groups or those who do not reach out for help.

“Job creation could be good,” he said. “At the end of the day, I don’t know if there’s that much that can be done. There’s a lot of [homeless] people here that are not organized in what they’re doing. There are gangs of people that sit out there for hours.

It’s hard to weed out the people who need help.”

Heather Tifrere, 54, of Dorchester, said she moved in with her mother two years ago, after her apartment burned down and she lost her job. Her son, 21, is currently living with his girlfriend.

“Red Cross didn’t really do anything,” she said. “They gave me $50. Then, I went to Boston Housing, and I’ve been on the waiting list for almost a year-and-a-half now. I went to two places to see if I could get into a shelter for me and my son, and they both told me they are only catering to mothers with young children, not adults with older children.

Nobody seemed to care. It’s bad in Boston, and nobody seems to care.”

Developments in stem cell production efficient steM cell: From Page 3

ies with minute detail in order to make them “bulletproof.”

In 2011, Obokata proved that these cells existed and that they were pluripotent, meaning they were capable of turning into any type of cell or tissue.

Later, she returned to Vacanti’s lab and proved something even more controversial. Not only did these cells exist, but the team of researchers was making them, not just finding them.

“This is a significant difference because many reports were coming out about stem cells, but in order to isolate the stem cells they were using a very harsh environment that they believed was killing mature cells, leaving only the very hardy stem cells,” Vacanti said. “We thought that maybe instead of killing these mature cells, perhaps the mature cells to revert back to stem cells … and then mature forward to develop the cells needed for the repair as a survival technique.”

The report published in Nature explains how these cells are dif-

ferent from the other substitutes and how they are created uniquely.

“Here we report a unique cellular reprogramming phenomenon, called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency, which requires neither nuclear transfer nor the introduction of transcription factors,” the report said. “In STAP, strong external stimuli such as a transient low-pH stressor reprogrammed mammalian somatic cells, resulting in the generation of pluripotent cells.”

Vacanti says these cells are a great alternative to other forms of stem cells, such as IPS cells which are mature cells turned to stem cells through implantation of embryonic DNA, for more reasons than the efficiency and affordability.

“Embryonic stem cells have challenges like [having] to create and destroy an embryo, which involves a little bit of ethical concern,” he said. “IPS solved a lot of problems, but to make an IPS cell you have to add external DNA to a normal cell, so it’s forever changed, and some people feel

that it may turn to cancer … [With this], you could study disease processes, therapeutics, mechanism for cancer formation, so we’re hoping it’ll be useful.”

Some residents said they find this discovery fascinating and useful, but fear where this may lead to in the future.

“I can see how this could be a huge medical step,” said Michael James, 47, of Boston. “But I can also see how this could lead to other processes of genetically modifying these stem cells and manipulating that, which could also become another ethical issue.”

Erin Moore, 34, of Back Bay, said all scientific discoveries may give people too much power, but that should not stop discoveries that will save lives.

“Many people may not have faced a situation where they’re hoping for any possible solution to a health problem,” she said.

“But I’m sure that when they do, they’ll be infinitely grateful for discoveries like these which save lives.”

eXPansion: From Page 3

universities and colleges, so much in the way of biotechnology, high tech in general … that makes a huge difference to employment, which in turn makes a big difference to consumer spending.”

Watson also said having the state invest and focus on the science, medical and educational fields is vital to have a resilient job market, which in turn fuels the commercial market.

“The biggest impact in Massachusetts, which kind of immunizes it against the nation-wide downturn, was the emphasis here on technology jobs and jobs related to colleges and universities,” he said. “Massachusetts is ahead of the curve because of the prevalence and the availability of so many high tech jobs.”

Some residents said they agree wholeheartedly that having a high employment rate is the main factor in keeping the state’s economy afloat.

“Without well-paying jobs, people can’t fund the other parts of the

economy like tourism, retail, restaurants and other things,” said Daniel Johnson, 46, of Back Bay. “Once your job market goes downhill, everything does because the people suffer and the people are of course the key to a growing economy.”

Gregory Brown, 61, of Boston, said unemployment had the biggest strain on people during the recession.

“The biggest impact that most people felt during the recession was lay-offs and difficulty finding new jobs,” he said. “Boosting this part of the economy will lift everything else up with it, especially if the jobs are in innovative sectors.”

Grace Omotunde, 24, of Allston, also said a city like Boston relies on people that are able to spend money.

“This may not apply to the whole state, but you can see just by using Boston as an example that every part of the economy involves people spending money on things,” she said.

“Without that money to spend, the basis of that would pretty much collapse.”

Prof.: BU students prepared for demands of future jobs uneMPloyMent: From Page 3

inflation any time soon, but certainly it will help students get jobs, probably get jobs that are more to their liking.”

While the lagging economy of past year has caused Americans to suffer in the labor market, students from BU receive the necessary skills to meet employers’ standards, Lang said.

“Students who graduate college in a bad labor market do not surprisingly suffer from entering in the labor market,” Lang said. “The adverse affects seem to last for quite a while, certainly through 10 years of being in the labor market. The positive side [is that] those adverse affects seem to be less problematic for the most skilled.

So coming out of an elite university like Boston University, the adverse affects are smaller.”

Ena Selmanovic, a School of Management freshman, said graduates from SMG generally have good career prospects because of the school’s curriculum.

“Graduates from SMG, even undergrads, have good job prospects,

so I feel safe,” Selmanovic said.

“In business you have to work with people, and even starting in freshman year, they [SMG] put a lot of emphasis in working in teams … If you’re able to do those things you’re already on the right track.”

College of Fine Arts sophomore Cassidy Early said BU’s emphasis on internships increases her confidence of getting a job after graduation.

“BU prepares us well,” Early said. “They really push internships as important because I don’t think I’d go out and try to find an internship with painting … They [BU] do a good job of telling you that there are some [internships available]. I found one that is for gallery work.”

Christopher Sanchez, a CAS freshman, said having a liberal arts background instills a diverse skillset in future job applicants.

“I’m in CAS and I feel like its more liberal arts that they want to teach you, with writing and math and science,” Sanchez said. “It gives you a good part of preparing you for the different things you might encounter, increasing the professionalism of the individual.”

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Smoky Rooms: Chemicals deposited by cigarette smoke can cause health problems on their own, research shows Chris Lisinski

Science Tuesday Editor

W

e have all been told plenty of times: Smoking is hazardous for your health. Ever since D.A.R.E. came to our elementary school classrooms, people of this generation have been exposed to a wealth of information about the dangerous effects of tobacco products, especially cigarettes.

Teachers, doctors and advertising campaigns have made us aware that even being exposed to the secondhand smoke from a burning tobacco could be deadly.

But that may not be the extent of the danger: New research indicates that even the remnants of tobacco smoke left on furniture and clothing can be dangerous.

Dr. Manuela Martins-Green, a professor of cell biology at University of California-Riverside, found in a recent study that cigarette smoke toxins left on surfaces can affect asthma, liver functions, wound healing and attentiveness. Her results were published Wednesday in PLOS One. “Third-hand smoke is the accumulation of secondhand smoke chemicals on surfaces like curtains, carpets, upholstery, furniture, clothing, hair and everything in cars,” she explained.

Secondhand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer among nonsmokers by 20 to 30 percent and causes about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in adult nonsmokers per year, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is especially dangerous to children.

The Age Factor Martins-Green said what makes third-hand smoke dangerous is not just that it is present for some time after being deposited, but that the toxins become problematic as they decay.

“These chemicals are more dangerous than secondhand smoke because they age and when they age, they have reactions with the environment and they make more dangerous chemicals,” she said. “They get more toxic over a prolonged period of time.”

Take nicotine, for example.

Scientists have long known that nicotine contained in tobacco is an addictive substance, but it is not as responsible for causing cancer or other illnesses as some of the other dangerous substances in cigarettes.

Over time, however, the nicotine molecules deposited by secondhand smoke change and are then able to cause cancer.

“It [nicotine] is very sticky on surfaces,” Martins-Green said. “If people have gas stoves, for example, the burning of the gas causes nicotine to break down into components that now are carcinogenic ... These chemicals have been shown to cause damage in the DNA.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY

New research indicates that exposure to the toxins and chemcials deposited by cigarette smoke are just as dangerous as second-hand smoke, if not more so, due to the decomposition of toxins over time into a greater variety of carcinogens.

The Process In her study, Martins-Green placed mice in a normally ventilated habitat containing curtains and upholstery that had been exposed to cigarette smoke in order to mimic human exposure to third-hand smoke. After six months, researchers examined the mice and compared them to a control sample to determine if any ill health effects could be seen.

“What we saw is that even with these small types of exposure, the lung already had a lot of inflammation and a lot of collagen deposition, which means fibrosis,” she said. “Fibrosis destroys the tissue of the lung. This could have consequences in asthma, for example, in children.”

She also said the mice’s livers were negatively affected.

“The liver detoxifies the body, so the toxins of the smoke are presumably detoxified by the liver,” she said. “If the liver doesn’t work well, the whole body is exposed to these toxins, including the brain.”

They found that mice that were exposed to third-hand smoke had about 2.5 times the amount of lipids, or fatty acid materials, in their livers. Such a rapid increase indicates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which can cause fibrosis, cirrhosis and cancer in humans over time, according to the study.

“When that accumulates, the cells of the liver don’t function well,” Martins-Green said. “That means it is not detoxifying our body well.”

In addition, wound healing was slowed in mice exposed to smoke-related toxins.

“We know that surgeons don’t operate on smokers unless it is an emergency,” she said. “… These are sources of infection that could cause a lot of problems and could cause a lot of scars, too. If you operate on the skin, that scar is not such a terrible thing unless it is on the face, maybe, but if you operate on the heart and on the liver, those scars will form the same way.”

Finally, Martins-Green said

mice exposed to third-hand smoke seemed more hyperactive and anxious. Researchers performed a series of tests and found that the exposed mice spent about twice as much time moving than did the control mice.

Where Are Risky Areas?

While smoking in restaurants has largely been eradicated, thirdhand smoke still poses a risk in bars, hotels and offices where smoking had been allowed previously in addition to homes where smokers live, Martins-Green said.

It is especially dangerous in multiunit houses with a single airflow.

“Even if they clean and they put all kinds of air sprays — which are bad for your lungs, by the way — they still don’t remove things [toxins],” she said. “You need very strong acids to remove these things, and in the wallboards it is virtually impossible.”

Children are especially at risk of secondhand smoke when a parent smokes in the home. Between

150,000 and 300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia are caused every year in children aged 18 months or younger, according to the CDC. However, Martins-Green said there is still a risk if parents smoke even while the kids are out.

But should you be worried here at Boston University? Granted, no area is entirely safe from third-hand smoke, but given that smoking is banned indoors on all parts of campus, the risks are significantly less than in hotels, bars or smokers’ off-campus homes.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said smoking had been allowed on campus many years ago, but that “the vast majority of furniture and curtains” have been installed since 1990 and are therefore free of cigarette smoke deposits.

Where students can be careful, then, is with their clothing, as toxins could find their way inside on jackets and shirts of smokers.

Next Steps What next? Martins-Green said she intends to perform further studies to determine biomarkers of harm in mice exposed to thirdhand smoke. In other words, she will look at the mice for a sign of toxic exposure, and once this sign is determined, at-risk humans can be tested as well.

“We will select some that we think would be good markers to test in humans to see if they have been exposed to third-hand smoke and if they might already be on the path to disease,” she said. “… We then decide what is appropriate biomarkers are to test in humans just by testing blood and urine.”

So, remember to be careful where you choose to smoke that next cigarette. You could be affecting people far more than you think.

COURTESY OF MANUELA MARTINS-GREEN

COURTESY OF MANUELA MARTINS-GREEN

A graph comparing the activity levels of normal control mice to mice exposed to third-hand smoke (THS).

The THS mice spent about three times as much time walking as did the control mice, and similarly spent around one-fifth the amount of time stationary or at rest. This indicates that THS exposure causes hyperactivity in the mice.

Mice exposed to third-hand smoke had about 2.5 times the level of fatty lipids and almost four times the level of triglycerides in their livers compared to normal control mice.

6

Tuesday, Feburary 4, 2014

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Heroin and pop culture

Let’s ask ourselves this — before Philip Seymour Hoffman allegedly overdosed on heroin this Sunday, were we paying attention to the 37 lives that heroin claimed in Maryland in the last six months? What about the 22 cases of heroin overdose in Western Pennsylvania since September?

Over the past few days, the media has been buzzing around the news of Hoffman’s alleged heroin overdose on Sunday. At just 46 years old he was found dead with more than 60 bags of heroin among other prescription drugs in his Manhattan apartment.

Whether it is a celebrity overdosing with heroin or the young adults from the Town of Carver, charged with peddling heroin on Friday, heroin cases always seem to be attention grabbers in the news. Cases concerning cannabis and cocaine? Now those are easier on the ears.

With high-profile celebrities such as Janis Joplin, Coco Chanel, Jim Morrison and more recently Cory Monteith and Hoffman overdosing on heroin, one would think the rate at which it is being consumed would be stifled. Rather, in the past few years, rates have only increased.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, between 1995 and 2002, the number of teenagers in America who used heroin increased by 300 percent. In 2011, 4.2 million American teenagers said they have used heroin at some point in their lives. Additionally, police from Delray Beach in Florida reported they seized more heroin since Jan. 1 alone than they have in the past 10 years combined.

The high demand of heroin can be boiled down to two factors — it is cheap and it is potent. The average bag of heroin goes for as low as $6 on the streets. And given that it’s an opioid synthesized from morphine, the effect is rapid and extreme.

People don’t just take heroin so they can garner up a little bit more confidence and have some more fun at parties. Unlike ecstasy and cocaine, heroin is a “downer” and not a social drug by any means. Upon injection, the user enters a surge of euphoria that

quickly turns into an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. And given its undetermined purity, there is no way for one to regulate the dosage of the drug they are ingesting. If marijuana is the gateway drug, then heroin is the drug right at the end of that gated path.

Not to jump to any assumptions, but Monteith and Hoffman probably didn’t plan on getting into heroin. But, at the same time, given the severity and magnitude of the drug, it is not an addiction that people just fall into either. Celebrities are in a great position of power and influence in today’s impressionable society to speak out against such social issues. Demi Lovato speaks about depression and Bono talks about AIDS. But who really talks about heroin?

Whenever we hear about heroin in the news, it is most likely related to an overdose.

Compared to heroin, other drugs such as cocaine and crack seem like harmless uppers and socially accepted habits. Heroin, on the other hand, is taboo. Asking for help when it comes to heroin may not only be embarrassing, but considering the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, help is possibly undesired as well.

No matter how much we hear about heroin in the news when a celebrity is a user, there is a national discussion on the dangers of the drug. Just check out any major news outlet following the death of Hoffman, and you will be flooded with facts and statistics concerning the drug. Yet, regardless of this increased attention, there obviously hasn’t been any actual reform.

If the untimely death of a beloved “Gleek” and a 46-year-old Oscar winner won’t spark national change, then there’s not much else that will. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose claimed more lives than any other injury in 2010. So if we aren’t talking about Monteith’s and Hoffman’s death to set an example to the for the 4.2 million teenagers who use reported using heroin — then we should just leave the case alone and let their families mourn in private.

kate hofberg Congratulations Green Bay Packers on your 2014 Super Bowl win! Or was it the Los Angeles Lakers? The Boston Red Sox? I don’t know because I don’t care.

If the Super Bowl was good for anything this year, it obviously wasn’t for my thighs.

It was, however, enlightening in that it made me realize how much I hate most of my friends on Facebook.

Facebook used to be an online refuge for promiscuous young adults to post flattering, photoshopped photos of their best angles, add friends to provide direct evidence of their popularity and sneakily investigate the relationship statuses of potential love interests. Sadly, these are Facebook trends of the past. In 2006, I created my Facebook account as an impressionable incoming college freshman to be used as a platform to project my “coolness” onto the world I was about to enter. Now, I fear, I’m a stranger here myself, lost and confused in an unfamiliar virtual territory that would be more appropriately named if it were called ESPN.com.

As I was scrolling through my newsfeed yesterday, I was bombarded with obnoxious football posts — One after another after another after another. I don’t even know the difference between offense and defense and you want me to care about game stats and key players? Forget about it.

And if I had to read the brutally uninspired updates that said, “Go Hawks!” or “What’s going on Broncos?!” one more time, I was going to freak out. Doesn’t anyone have anything original to say anymore?

The homogeneous status updates about the game yesterday only further reiterated to me that most of my friends don’t have any personality, and unfortunately, they’re getting the bris.

But sports fans aren’t the only ones driving me nuts in cyberspace.

It used to be that babies on Facebook were my biggest frustration with the virtual world. They’re one of the worst things to happen to social media since our parents. It’s next to impossible to avoid illegible photos of ultrasounds, uninspired status updates about the hardships of parenting and tedious progress pictures tracking growing baby bumps.

I challenge you to see if you can avoid mention of babies on Facebook. It’s almost impossible these days as they are making their social media debuts in record time.

A recent survey of 2,367 parents of children aged five and under found that photos of more than two-thirds of newborns appeared

online within an average time period of just 59.7, minutes and 62 percent of the pictures are posted by the parent’s themselves.

Today, in the world of social media the irritating, hot new trend is to replace your sexy “selfie” profile picture with a photo of your newborn. Designating your profile picture to a gummy infant that looks like every other baby that was ever born, suggests that your entire existence is defined and validated by an undeveloped being that feeds from a nipple and speaks fluently in screams and cries. Frankly, I liked you better when your photos pictured you chugging from beer bongs and dancing on tabletops. At least then we still shared some common interests.

But expectant mothers and new parents aren’t the only ones that are virtually irritating. To all my friends that are posting pictures of your happy hour cocktails: stop it. Sure, maybe you’re more fun than my friends with newborns, but I don’t need to see your ridiculous drinking pictures to prove it. You’re drinking a Neon Green Appletini with a maraschino cherry? Not only does your choice in beverage disgust me, but you just revealed to the world what an amateur drinker you are. Grow up and order an Anchor Steam like an adult.

And dear friends that are posting about religion, I hate you. Love, Kate. If you know anything about me, you know that I am a far cry from a saint and when I have to read a status update that says, “I really love learning about Jesus. Like, I’ve been a Christian for a really long time, and then I have these moments where I am struck by how totally relevant Jesus is to a new aspect of my life, and it’s almost like I just came to faith all over again. Anybody feel me?”

No, I don’t feel you. I didn’t attend church last Sunday, or on any Sunday for that matter. I believe strongly in premarital sex and my concept of reality is based strictly on science. Sorry, but you’re clogging my news feed and it’s got to stop. Defriend.

So go ahead and post a picture of your favorite baby, or a useless statistic about the San Francisco 49ers. I’m beyond uninterested, and if you’re looking to lose a digital friend this week, go ahead and continue to clog my News Feed accordingly.

Kate Hofberg is a graduate student in the College of Communication. She can be reached at kwhofberg@gmail.com

The real way

Taylor Brooks is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Communication. He can be reached at tjbrooks@bu.edu.

The opinions and ideas expressed by columnists and cartoonists are their own and are not necessarily representative of the opinions of The Daily Free Press.

Tuesday, february 4, 2014

7

Boston College boasts impressive home record, strong goaltending Women’s Hockey: From Page 8

be first on the team in points, despite missing four games throughout the course of the season. The Eagles also feature a solid netminder in goalie Corinne Boyles who currently sports a .937 save percentage, sixthbest in the nation.

Heading into Chesnut Hill will not be an easy task for Terriers, as the Eagles currently sport a 12-1-1 record in at Kelley Rink. The Terriers, on the other hand, have posted an 8-5-1 record away from Walter Brown Arena.

Durocher said he believes that the

team’s mindset does not change heading into the Beanpot.

“If you play with discipline, if you play with fight, you create a couple of bounces and score enough timely goals to win 2-1 or 3-2,” Durocher said. “That’s really what this game is like when you get in these big games, get into these playoff situations. It’s not going to be 7-6 very often.”

Senior captain Louise Warren had a stellar weekend heading into the tournament opener, tallying four points against the Huskies (7-19-2, 4-10-1 Hockey East), including a hat trick in the second game of the two-game series. Overall for the year,

the Ontario native has posted 20 goals and 34 points, good for second on the team in both categories. The captain said she is looking forward to competing in her final Beanpot. “[Wins mean] a lot,” Warren said. “We really need to have this momentum so hopefully we continue it.”

The Terriers struggled in last year’s edition of the tournament, dropping their first round matchup against Northeastern University by a score of 4-1. The Terriers last reached the Beanpot final in 2012, losing to the Huskies (12-12-2, 8-6-2 Hockey East) by a 4-3 margin in overtime.

Following their first prolonged losing streak of the season, Warren said the Terriers have what it takes to make a run at their first Beanpot title.

“It’s about not getting too stressed out,” Warren said. “Just playing our game, playing simple, everyone doing their role and I think we’ll be okay … The Beanpot is always huge and we haven’t had the best luck with it in the past so we’re hoping we can step up this year.

“I’ve never won a Beanpot and it means so much to this school and this program if we can pull on out this year. It would mean a lot to these seniors. It’s a big one.”

Hope leads impressive freshman class Women’s Hoops: From Page 8

ready to make that fourth shot and knock it down and that’s something we really like about her.”

Scoring is not the only dimension of the game that the freshmen bring to the table, as Hope is second on the team behind senior guard Danielle Callahan in the assist category.

The ability for Hope to find her teammates will be essential to the Terrier offense, especially filling the hole that Callahan will leave when she graduates after this season.

“All three of them have of them have a really good presence on the court and we’ve been happy with them,” Greenberg said.

Strong team morale When going through a trying season such as the Terriers are going through in 2013-14,

it is important for the team morale to stay high, something that Greenberg said team prides itself on.

“I’ve been very, very pleased with our team morale,” Greenberg said. “We certainly communicate a lot between the coaching staff and our players. It’s important that people don’t get down on themselves or others as we continue league play.”

Transitioning from the America East Conference to the Patriot League was something the Terriers knew would be a challenge coming into the season. BU has still struggled to adjust with their new adversaries, sitting tied for seventh in the league standings with a 3-7 record.

While they are in the bottom half of the conference, Greenberg said she is still hopeful for the rest of the season.

“We just got to plug away and stick together and good things will happen.”

Hankerson delivers off bench for Terriers Men’s basketball: From Page 8

ly, fighting for three steals and grabbing four rebounds.

In the game against Lehigh, Hankerson continued his shooting success. The 6-foot-5 guard shot 3-for-5 from long range for nine points and may have put up more had he not sustained an ankle injury midway through the contest.

“He’s such a great kid — he’s always trying to do what’s right,” Jones said. “He’s been very patient. He’s just trying to do what’s right to help his teammates win. At times he’s been unselfish, kind of waiting his turn.

“But there have been games, like the other night where he’s really stepped up.

Sometimes it takes freshmen a little longer to hit their stride, but he seems to be hitting his stride right now.”

Terriers struggle with leads

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Freshman guard Sarah Hope has averaged 6.7 points per game in her first season at BU.

Although the Terriers have won two of their last three games, neither of those wins was comfortable.

On the road against Bucknell University,

BU held a 20-point lead with eight minutes remaining before the Bison (10-11, 5-5 Patriot League) went on a 28-9 run that cut the Terriers’ advantage.

In the game against Army, the score at halftime was 37-18 in BU’s favor. The Black Knights, however, outscored the Terriers 5435 in the second half to send the game into overtime.

While BU was victorious on both occasions, it was not so fortunate against Lehigh.

The Terriers led 41-26 at halftime, but the Mountain Hawks scored 47 points in the second half before eventually winning the battle in overtime.

“We’ve been trying to concentrate on keeping our intensity up and our focus,” Jones said.

“We really lose our concentration more when we’re playing well. We tend to take things for granted, we lose focus and don’t work as hard.”

“We have to do a better job of maintaining our focus when we’re playing well ... When you do that against teams in this league, they have the ability to come back and beat you.

We have to look at ourselves and figure this thing out.”

Men’s hockey keeps pace with No. 2 Eagles Men’s Hockey: From Page 8

bounces and your own luck. And we didn’t do enough of it today.”

Even without the “puck luck,” BU played a strong game defensively. Even when it lost freshman defenseman Doyle Somerby to a game misconduct in the second period it held together to keep BC off the board on a five-minute power play. The only goal BC scored after the Somerby misconduct was the empty-net goal.

Sophomore goaltender Matt O’Connor only allowed two goals while making 29 saves in the contest, which is not exactly a lot for him this season. In games that O’Connor has played the entire night, he has averaged 36.15 saves per game.

Monday night, though, it was not all on O’Connor’s shoulders to keep the team in the game. The skaters did it on their own.

“It didn’t feel like our goalie completely stole it for us,” Quinn said. “He gave us a chance, which every team needs, but this felt different than what was going on before Christmas and after Christmas.”

Now that BU has shown it can keep up with the best team in Hockey East, there is a chance that maybe BU can pick up a few wins with the final stretch up ahead. Monday night was still a loss for BU, but at least it is something to build off of.

“We’ve set the bar a little higher than [how] we’ve been playing lately,” Quinn said. “We’ve got to make sure that we take this approach not only during the Beanpot when we’re playing BC, but for the rest of the season and if we do that we’re going to crawl back into this thing and put ourselves in a good position.”

Connect with us on Twitter: @DFPsports @BOShockeyblog @BUbballblog

“

“

Quotable

I think I’ll have nightmares about this one for a while.

- BU senior captain Garrett Noonan on the men’s hockey team’s Beanpot Loss.

paGe 8

Sports

NO

The Daily Free Press

[ www.dailyfreepress.com ]

POT LUCK

The BU men’s hockey team dropped its opening game in the Beanpot Tournament for the second consecutive season, P.8.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

BU gaining Men’s hockey shows improvment in Beanpot Terriers seek rebound edge 1st Beanpot down stretch tourney title

By Alex Rozier Daily Free Press Staff

By Joon Lee Daily Free Press Staff

In its last few games, the Boston University men’s basketball team has demonstrated an ability to go toe-to-toe with its opponents on the glass, despite being undersized in most of its matchups.

Relative to the rest of the Patriot League, the Terriers (15-8, 8-2 Patriot League), are an average rebounding team, ranking fifth in the conference with a rebounding margin of minus 1.3 rebounds per game.

In the past few games, however, BU has excelled in that area. Although it lost to Lehigh University this past Saturday, BU topped the Mountain Hawks (12-11, 5-5 Patriot League) 38-34 in rebounding. In their Jan. 29 victory over the U.S. Military Academy, the Terriers outrebounded the Black Knights (11-10, 7-3 Patriot League) 43-40.

In its last three games combined, the Terriers have outrebounded their opponents 124-114.

“During the preseason we were playing some teams that were bigger than us,” said coach Joe Jones.

“But now we’re able to use our athletic ability and get the balls quicker. I’d like to see us continue to improve in that way.”

Two major contributors to this effort have been senior forward Dom Morris and sophomore forward Nathan Dieudonne. Both stand at only 6-foot-7, so the forward pair is often outsized in the paint. In the last game, for example, Lehigh’s starting forwards, Jesse Chuku and Tim Kempton stood 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10, respectively.

Those two only managed to grab 10 combined rebounds, however, whereas the partnership of Morris and Dieudonne pulled down 15.

For the season, Morris averages 6.7 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the conference.

Dieudonne’s 5.2 rebounds per contest are good for 11th in the Patriot League.

The problem for BU Monday night was that its shots found ways to not go in the net. The Terriers hit at least two posts in the contest, one of which came with sophomore forward Matt Lane and Duane both whiffing on a shot from just outside the crease and a wide open net. Instead of crossing the line, the puck poked off of a stick, off the post and into a scrambling Demko at the side of the net.

“Lane and Duane were hacking and hacking away at it, it was sitting in the crease area,” said BU coach David Quinn. “I still can’t believe it didn’t go in there … It was bouncing all over the place like a super ball, so we weren’t able to settle it down.

“I always tell our guys, I don’t want to rely on puck luck, but it’s certainly nice to have it …

At the end of the day, you’re going to continue to make your own

Tuesday evening’s rivalry game for the Boston University women’s hockey team is not just another faceoff against No. 7 Boston College. It is the kickoff for the 36th annual Beanpot Tournament and a chance for BU coach Brian Durocher and his team to capture the program’s first-ever Beanpot championship in its ninth season of existence.

The Terriers (18-8-1, 11-5 Hockey East) head into Conte Forum on a high note after snapping their four-game losing streak with two wins over the University of Connecticut. BU, which recently fell out of the USCHO top-10 poll, looks to continue its success against the Eagles (19-4-3, 14-1-1 Hockey East).

“We’re going to be facing a team that is a little bit quicker, a little bit faster, a couple of more high end players,” Durocher said of BC. “The game has a funny way of being pretty similar most nights, and if you aren’t running and gunning or if you’re mentally soft, there is a good chance that things aren’t going to go your way.”

BC, the highest nationally ranked team in the tournament, is the favorite to capture their sixth Beanpot tournament win.

Forward Haley Skarupa leads an Eagles team that is riding a fivegame winning streak and has not dropped a match since visiting Cornell University back in late in November.

Skarupa has 14 goals and 12 assists, strong enough numbers to

Men’s hockey, see page 7

WoMen’s hockey, see page 7

Hankerson excels Freshman guard Cedric Hankerson may only be in his first year, and he may only be coming off of the bench, but the Miami native has quickly become one of BU’s most important role players.

Hankerson had his best game as a Terrier during the Black knights’ visit to Agganis Arena.

He scored 19 points in only 17 minutes of play, which included a 5-for-6 shooting display from 3-point range. Although his time on the floor was limited due to foul trouble, the freshman was able to make a number of plays defensive-

Men’s basketball, see page 7

Tuesday, Feb. 4

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

BU freshman Robbie Baillargeon fights for position near the BC net in BU’s 3-1 loss to the Eagles.

By Kevin Dillon Daily Free Press Staff

A couple inches to the right, and it would have been a tie game.

A couple inches to the right and Boston University freshman forward kevin Duane’s deflection would have sailed into the top corner of the net. The score would have leveled. BU would have been on the verge of an incredible upset.

Instead, the vulcanized rubber caught a piece of No. 2 Boston College goalie Thatcher Demko’s jersey. It fluttered behind the net and shortly after it was gliding into BU’s (8-15-3, 3-8-2 Hockey East) open net with a push thanks to the efforts of forward Johnny Gaudreau.

It was a predictable ending — the best offense in the country beat up on the worst scoring defense in Hockey East. But this one was different. Win or lose, Monday night’s performance in the Beanpot semifinal was the best BU had

Offensive struggles lead to 2 straight losses for women’s basketball

By Michael Joscelyn Daily Free Press Staff

Despite trying inch back into the top of the Patriot League standings, the Boston University women’s basketball team has struggled the past few games, dropping three of the last four and back-to-back contests.

The Terriers (8-15, 3-7 Patriot League) faced the top-three teams in the Patriot League in each loss, but it is the little things, namely the offense, that are plaguing the Terriers.

“It just seems at the end of each game there are a lot of little things that we let happen,” said BU coach kelly Greenberg. “At the time it’s not big deal because it’s one thing, but by the time you get to the end of the game there’s 14 of them.”

The team has been reliant on the play of senior forward Rashi-

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W. Hockey BEANPOT @ BC, 8 p.m

to offer — and it was not that bad.

“I think we had a couple efforts against [the University of] North Dakota back in November, but that’s the best effort we’ve had in a while,” said senior captain Garrett Noonan after the game. “I thought we played pretty thorough 60 minutes and yeah sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap to BC.” A simple way to look at how much better BU played is by looking at the shot totals. BU has typically been one of the worst teams in the country in terms of shot margin, and allowed 17 more shots on goal than it took in either of its first two meetings with BC. Monday night, the Eagles (204-3, 12-1-1 Hockey East) only outshot the Terriers by four, and BU even outshot BC in the first period. BU had not outshot an opponent in a period since the third period of its Jan. 11 contest against the University of Maine at Fenway Park.

Wednesday, Feb. 5 W. Basketball vs. Navy, 7 p.m.

M. Basketball @ Navy, 7 p.m.

dat Agboola, and with her struggles in the past few contests, the team as a whole has suffered.

After having a dominant stretch, including a 25-point game and gaining her 1,000th career point, Agboola has only a combined 20 points in the past two contests.

With Agboola’s less-than-characteristic shooting and the rest of the team struggling for baskets, BU shot 30.2 percent from the field against an excellent defense in a 72-45 loss to the U.S. Military Academy.

“We’re pretty pleased with the sharing of the ball, getting good looks and in transition as well, we just hit scoring droughts,” Greenberg said. “We’ll go six minutes without knocking down a field goal and that’s tough.”

That drought continued in a 6754 to Lehigh University, a game

in which BU converted only 32.1 percent of its shots from the field.

While the BU had few games of strong offense during a 2-1 stretch in January, the low shooting percentage this season has been a consistent problem, as the Terriers rank ninth in the Patriot League in both scoring offense and field goal percentage.

“Frustration sets in and soon you start battling that as well,” Greenberg said. “When we need someone to stop the drought it just doesn’t happen for periods of time.”

Thursday, Feb. 6

Friday, Feb. 7

No Events Scheduled The Lakers are in talks to trade Pau Gasol to the Suns, marking the 200th ridiculous trade rumor Gasol has been involved in this year.

Freshmen check in The 2013-14 campaign has seen the transition of the women’s basketball program from top guards Chantell Alford and Mo Moran to younger, less established players.

M. Hockey @ UMass-Lowell, 7:30 p.m.

Freshman guards Sarah Hope and Courtney Latham and forward Meghan Green have all contributed more to the team as the season has progressed.

“They’re doing a lot of good things,” Greenberg said of the underclassmen. “Meghan and Courtney didn’t really play a lot last game, but they have to play in more minutes.”

Latham and Hope have started eight and 15 games, respectively, while Green was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week Dec. 30 and then followed up that performance with a double-double effort against the College of the Holy Cross Jan. 2.

“Sarah is one of those players that we feel can miss the first three [shots] and make the fourth,” Greenberg said. “She’s always

WoMen’s hooPs, see page 7

Saturday, Feb. 8

M. Basketball vs. Lafayette, 1 p.m.

W. Basketball @ Lafayette, 2 p.m.

W. Hockey vs. UNH, 3 p.m.

M. Lacrosse @ Mercer, 1 p.m.