BOSTON -- For the second time in two games, No. 15 Boston University (10-7-6, 7-5-4 Hockey East) fell behind 3-0 early. And, for the second time in as many contests, a furious Terriers rally managed to come up just short – this time against the No. 3-ranked Eagles of Boston College.
“The way the game started, I thought we were going to have another embarrassing game in our building,” BU bench boss Jack Parker said after the loss. “I was very, very pleased with our turnaround…but, too little, too late – we’re not interested in moral victories.”
After dropping consecutive contests to the Eagles in early December by a combined score of 14-7 – including a 9-5 drubbing at Agganis Arena on December 3 – BU found itself in another troubling 3-0 hole at the end of the game’s first frame.
BC sophomore winger Steven Whitney opened the scoring at the 4:38 mark of the game’s opening frame when he fired a Paul Carey drop pass past BU’s junior net minder Kieran Milan. BC’s second tally came nearly five minutes later, when a bad bounce set up a 3-on-1 opportunity for the Eagles.
After sophomore defenseman Sean Escobedo was whistled for a high stick at 8:14, the Terriers’ penalty kill squad found itself in a position to open up a breakaway opportunity on the second-ranked power play unit in Hockey East. BU’s lead pass, however, bounced off a Terrier skate and on to a BC stick, and, from there, Carey, Cam Atkinson and Brian Gibbons were off to the races. Adam Clendening tried to disrupt the scoring opportunity, but some nifty tic-tac-toe passing between the forwards set up Gibbons’ 11th goal of the season nicely.
The Terriers had perhaps their best scoring opportunity of the first period with nearly 13 minutes gone by. Following a scrum in front of the net, sophomore winger Wade Megan tried to bury a wrap-around shot that was narrowly turned aside by BC’s star goaltender, John Muse.
A little more than three minutes later, sophomore Brian Dumoulin silenced most of the 6,150 fans in attendance at Agganis Arena when he fired a wrist shot from above the right circle that found its way past Milan. The power play tally was Dumoulin’s second of the season, and it extended the BC lead to 3-0.
“We really got an excellent start,” BC coach Jerry York said in his post-game comments. “The first period was one of our best all year…but, I think you have to give BU a lot of credit – they came back with an outstanding second period themselves to make [this] a tight, tight 3-2 game…there’s no quit in them, they came back.”
It didn’t take long for the Terriers to find the back of the net in the game’s second period. Just six seconds after the conclusion of a BU power play, sophomore winger Alex Chiasson found freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan in front of the net for his first collegiate goal.
BU cut the lead to 3-2 nearly eight minutes later when junior assistant captain David Warsofsky slapped a shot past Muse from the right point. After the power play tally – the Terriers’ first of the night – the two teams’ goaltenders took over, with Muse and Milan making save after save during the game’s final frame.
“The third period was just a battle,” York said after the game. “Good saves by both goaltenders. Johnny [Muse] was sharp and Kieran [Milan] was very good…I thought [both] goaltenders were strong,” York added, noting that Milan’s ranging save on a Jimmy Hayes one-timer opportunity late in the third period helped keep BU in the hunt.
Ultimately, however, BU found itself unable to break through in the third – even after Parker pulled Milan in favor of an extra attacker with nearly two minutes to go.
“In general, we had opportunities – we kept after them,” Parker said of his team’s efforts in a post-game press conference. “[But], it’s hard to come back from down 3-2, and we’ve proven that to ourselves twice in a row now.”
The Terriers will try to snap their two-game losing streak tonight when they take on the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in Durham, N.H. It won't be easy. UNH is coming off of a 4-3 overtime win against Providence College, and the Wildcats (13-4-4, 11-1-2 Hockey East) are unbeaten in their last 27 conference home games.
NOTES --
BU sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka was sidelined Friday with what Parker is calling a shoulder injury – “he’s week-to-week,” Parker said after the game…The Terriers went 1-for-7 on the power play last night. BU has now gone 14-for-117 on the man-advantage (9th in the conference, ahead of only PC)…With the win, BC swept the season series with its cross-town rivals…Garrett Noonan became the 20th different Terrier to score this season when he converted on a one-timer opportunity in the second period.
