Coming off its first last-place Beanpot finish in 31 years, the No. 15 Boston University men’s ice hockey team knew it needed a win Friday night against the lowly Friars of Providence College (7-15-7, 3-13-6 HE). The Terriers (15-9-7, 12-5-5 HE) did just that – using a strong first half effort to hold off Providence for a 2-1 victory.
“I thought we played great the first half of the game – I thought we really looked sharp,” BU head coach Jack Parker said during his postgame remarks. “[In the] first period we were terrific with the puck – moving the puck, making plays.”
Parker’s comments regarding the second half of Friday’s contest were not nearly as complimentary, however.
“We just kind of drifted away from what we’re supposed to do,” he said. “We took some stupid penalties in the end – undisciplined. We gave them a chance to get back in the game, just like we did the last game we played. If it wasn’t for Kieran Millan, once again, we would’ve lost that game,” Parker added, noting that the team’s play in the second half was either “selfish or stupid.”
The Terriers’ puck control early paid off when junior forward Alex Chiasson found Matt Nieto in front of the net at the 4:34 mark of the first period. Nieto, a freshman, buried the beautiful feed for his seventh goal of the season.
BU had several more excellent scoring opportunities – including a Wade Megan shot that rang off the post with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the first period – but failed to find the back of the net again until nearly halfway through the game’s second frame, when freshman defenseman Adam Clendening blasted a wrist-shot through traffic and past Providence College’s junior netminder Alex Beaudry (32 saves) just 29 seconds into the Terriers’ third power play opportunity of the night.
Then, a sense of complacency seemed to settle in for Parker’s young Terrier squad. BU was outshot by Providence College 15-8 in the game’s final frame – forcing Terrier goaltender Kieran Millan (36 saves) to make excellent saves on a number of grade-A scoring opportunities – and the Terriers took several of what Parker could only call “undisciplined penalties.”
Tensions boiled over at the 14:39 mark of the third period, when Chiasson and sophomore winger Chris Rooney got into it in front of the Friars’ bench. BU sophomore Wade Megan joined the scrum, along with Providence College senior Jordan Kremyr. And, when it was all said and done, referees doled out 14 penalty minutes (Chiasson and Rooney were whistled for roughing and hitting after the whistle, Kremyr was called for roughing, and Megan was marked for roughing and instigating).
“Hard to decide [which of the last three penalties] was most stupid,” Parker said in his postgame press conference. “Megan and Chiasson’s penalties were absolutely as dumb as it gets…no need for any of that.”
While BU was able to successfully kill off Megan’s instigating minor, the Friars cut the Terriers’ advantage to one goal with 1:26 remaining in the third. One minute, 59 seconds after Clendening was whistled for a cross-check, senior captain Ian O’Conner slid the puck under, and past, Millan for his eighth goal of the season.
Fortunately for the Terriers, Providence College’s rally fell short, and BU walked away with the ‘W’. Parker made it clear to his players, however, that such late-game complacency will not be tolerated in his locker room – even if it is part of a winning effort.
“The moral of [Parker’s locker room] speech was just to be smarter…the message was a full 60, and a smart 60,” Clendening said after the game.
NOTES –
As a result of the Chiasson-Rooney-Megan-Kremyr skirmish, Parker said that he’s considering shaking things up line-up-wise for tonight’s game at Providence…The Friars’ record since December 11, 2010 is 0-9-2…The Terriers have now won 5 of their last six conference games.
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