The learning process continues for the current version of the Boston College Eagles and like in any other endeavor, maybe you have to trip and fall a few times before you finally get a hang of it. The "trips" have come three times in a row now, Denver last Saturday night, UConn Wednesday and BU (!) this weekend and fans everywhere can only hope that their BC team is learning from their bumps and bruises, for they are many.

Will this team improve as the season goes on or is "what you see is what you get" for 2014-15, a barely .500 team still looking for itself? A man can do a lot of watching and thinking from up in the rafters of the Conte Forum and here are a few of the fuzzy thoughts that crossed my mind as the teams left the ice Friday night:

•Right now Boston College is that "one trick pony." If Ryan Fitzgerald doesn't score the goals, who will? The sophomore center scored two goals (all of them) the last time the Eagles won, the first game at Denver. He had no goals in the second game at Denver and he was scoreless at UConn. The Eagles lost both times. Friday night he added two scores to Chris Calnan's opening goal, but there were no teammates at his side, throwing in a goal of their own as the game wore down. Remember how previous BC snipers had a sidekick or two to fill in the blanks when needed. Gaudreau had Hayes and Arnold (and Fitzgerald), Atkinson had Gibbons, Whitney (both of them), Almeida and Kreider, and on and on. Where have all the scorers gone? Austin Cangelosi had ten goals as a freshman and he is hardly noted now. Zach Sanford was a scorer at Waterloo. Alex Tuch was a leading scorer for the USA U-18 team in scoring and has shown a blazing shot. Adam Gilmour had nine goals last year. Mike Matheson used to score goals and now he has just one in eight games. Ian McCoshen came in last year known as an offensive defenseman. Phenom Noah Hanifin has just one goal. Calnan is more of a grinder than a sniper. You can't expect more than a random score from the rest of them. Help! Ryan Fitzgerald needs some help. (FYI- Sonny Milano has only one goal for the Plymouth Whalers (OHL.)

•On the positive side, BC's effort against BU was its best of the year. From the opening bell the Eagles moved the puck like old times. There was no stopping to think about what to do next. There was no lack of effort. Battles were won. The puck was head manned to the next available Eagle. Maybe all that effort wore the Eagles down a bit by the third period, when BU came back to win by two, with an empty netter capping it off. Or maybe BU is just the better team right now. No matter how you look at it, Friday's effort was a real good college hockey game. Both coaches agreed.

•Adding to the sellout crowd were a gaggle of NHL scouts, complete with their black jackets, black slacks, shiny black shoes and dour expressions. These guys don't talk much. They nod at each other. Some had their kids playing (the Minnesota Wild eyeing their first rounder, Alex Tuch), but they were all watching the head-to-head matchup between the two young superstars- Hanifin and BU's Jack Eichel, names who figure to be at the top of the next NHL draft. Jerry York didn't have anyone in particular defending Eichel, but Hanifin seemed there to get in his way any time Eichel threatened to break lose. He even knocked his former teammate down in the corner a time or two. Eichel is probably the more finished product right now, gaining more headlines, but Hanifin is getting better every game too. Ian McCoshen bodied Eichel off the play on a semi-breakaway and Thatcher Demko stuffed Eichel on a one-on-none breakaway. Eichel showed his skills and intelligence with his game tying goal in the third period, however. He won the faceoff in BC's zone, drew the puck back to the point, and got himself in front of Demko to tip in the ensuing shot for the goal. It was a "pro-like" play. "I would have liked to have gotten a block on that shot from the point, but there's not much more we could have done to stop that goal," Jerry York said.

•"Pro-like" is what Jerry York call the recent scheduling for his Eagles. Since October 18 his team has played one game in Rochester, N.Y., two back-to-back at home, flew for two 1500 miles away in Denver, played a mid-week game in Hartford and returned for the BU Friday night game at the Conte Forum. Ahead it's Tuesday at home against Harvard (BC hasn't earned the right to call any game a breather yet), and then a flight to Michigan for Michigan State. Do teenagers every really get tired? Was travel fatigue a factor in the third period Friday night when the Eagles were looking a bit too careless and a bit slower moving the puck up ice? "It has been a grueling stretch," York admits, "but we do like to play hockey."

•York shuffled his lines after the Denver trip and it gave the Eagles scoring potential (?) on every line. Destry Straight was with Adam Gilmour and Chris Calnan, Austin Cangelosi was with fellow speedster Quinn Smith and grinder Brendan Silk and Fitzgerald was with Alex Tuch and Zach Sanford on the wings. That left Cam Spiro, Michael Sit and Danny Linell for the fourth grouping. These combos appeared more effective than the lines in Denver.

•The questions raised about scoring are reflected in the lack of success by BC powerplays. That 19 times in a row, since the second period last Friday in Denver that the Eagles have not scored with a man advantage. In a positive vein, York said late Friday night that "that's as good as we have moved the puck on the power play." Will goals start to come?

•As much improvement and increased confidence Hanifin has shown game by game, so has the "other" freshman, Zach Sanford. This kid could be a major factor before the season ends. That he already kills penalties and plays on the powerplay shows that York has confidence in this kid too.

Therefore, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say about a lot of things "So it goes." Questions obviously remain about this BC team. What direction are they headed? Will they be where they need to be when the "trophy season" rolls around. Will they ever be playing well enough to be down on the ice when the NCAA Frozen Four appears near home at the TD North Garden next April. Or will the Eagles be sitting in seats high in the rafters, a few fuzzy thoughts of their own about what went might have been?