The last time the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team faced No. 2/3 Boston College, BU (7-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) was struggling to the tune of a 3-4-1 record., having a hard time finding its grove or picking up any momentum.
That afternoon, Nov. 13, a Terrier squad with poor special teams and an often-lackadaisical effort on defense somehow, someway beat the
Eagles (10-4-0, 7-2-0 Hockey East), 5-0, for what is arguably the biggest game of the season thus far.
And this weekend, as the team’s prepare for a home-and-home series Friday night at BC’s Conte Forum and Saturday Night at Agganis Arena, junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson thinks the team can do it all again.
“[We] just have to stick to what we’re good at,” Chiasson said. “We have to play physical and make sure we’re applying pressure. We can’t
be worrying about what [the Eagles are] going to do; we have to worry about ourselves. We know what we want to do and we have to bring it.”
Since that shutout, BU has yet to lose. It has gone on to defeat the University of Vermont, the University of New Hampshire and No. 17
Cornell University in that order, and enters this weekend’s series with the momentum flowing.
The success, Chiasson said, has a distinct effect on the team’s collective mood.
“In practice and around the rink, you can see everyone is smiling and enjoying to come here, so I think we’re really coming [together] as a team,” Chiasson said.
A player who has been relatively quiet during this four-game win streak is also the team’s scoring leader, sophomore forward Matt Nieto. He opened his season on fire, scoring goals in six consecutive games, but since then has found the back of the net just twice – once on an empty-netter – to total 15 points (eight goals, seven assists).
BC counters Nieto’s offensive prowess with an even greater force, forward Chris Kreider. Kreider is among the top offensive players in Hockey East with 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) this season, putting him in a three-way tie for the league lead.
The Eagles also have one of the top goaltenders in the league in Parker Milner. Though he was in net during the Nov. 13 blowout,
Milner owns a 2.36 goals-against average.
BU will counter with its top goalie, senior Kieran Millan, who has put up a slightly worse 2.66 GAA. Still, Millan has been on a role
lately, limiting opponents to one goal or less in three out of his last four games.
Given that, Parker will go with the hot hand, putting Millan between the pipes on Friday night, and in all likelihood Saturday as well.
“He’s on top of his game right now.” Parker said.
With their rock in net, the Terriers will have some other personal changes for Friday night at the least. Most significantly, senior captain Chris Connolly will be out with a bum shoulder, the result of a hard hit into the boards last Saturday against Cornell that caused him to miss the last half of the first period.
Insisting he was fine, Connolly returned to the game for the latter two frames, and Parker put him back on the top line for the third, something the coach “probably shouldn’t have,” he said.
The net result of the captain’s absence is the return of freshman forward Evan Rodrigues to the lineup. For complete projected lines, see below.
Rodrigues classmate, defenseman Alexx Privitera, will also return to game action after sitting out the last three contests. Junior Ryan Ruikka will sit, though it’s more of an attempt to continue rotating players into the lineup as opposed to a knack against Ruikka.
“Privitera played well against BC the last time we played them,” Parker said. “He’s a good player, we want to get him started, want to get him in the lineup a little bit more.
“Ruikka was the guy to come out. I don’t think Ruikka had one of his better games against Cornell . . .. But he’s a major contributor to our team and he’ll be back in the lineup soon.”
With those modifications, the Terriers will have a chance to do something it hasn’t done since Rodriuges and Privitera were infants during the 1993-94 season: beat BC twice in a row at its home rink.
With that added incentive, a victory Friday would be especially sweet – as if a ‘W’ in this testy rivalry wouldn’t be sweet enough already.
“They hate us,” Chiasson said, “and we hate them.”
Projected lines:
Sahir Gill – Corey Trivino – Alex Chiasson
Matt Nieto – Charlie Coyle – Yasin Cisse
Wade Megan – Cason Hohmann – Even Rodrigues
Justin Courtnall – Ben Rosen – Ross Gaudet
Sean Escobedo – Adam Clendening
Garrett Noonan – Patrick MacGregor
Max Nicastro – Alexx Privitera
Kieran Millan
Grant Rollheiser
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