Ice Hockey, NCAA, Sports

Frequent defensive mistakes cost BU chance at Hockey East Title

Within the first minute of the second period of the Hockey East Semifinal on Friday night, the No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team gave up its 1-0 lead when No. 10/11 University of Maine forward Joey Diamond netted his 10th power-play goal of the season. The final push of the puck into the back of the net, however, did not come off Diamond’s stick.

After BU senior goaltender Kieran Millan stopped Diamond’s shot, junior forward Ross Gaudet barreled into his own goalie, knocking the puck into his own net in the process.

That was the way the night went for the Terriers, whose frequent mistakes ultimately led to the puck sitting in the back of their own goal.

“We looked like we were trying not to lose,” said BU coach Jack Parker, “and when you try not to lose you usually do.”

Millan, who had already stopped 150 shots in BU’s quarterfinal series against the University of New Hampshire, set the record for most saves in the Hockey East Tournament with 189 saves after recording 39 Friday night.

Nonetheless, not even he could stop all of the shots he faced Friday night, especially with his own teammates knocking pucks into his net.

“We ran our own goalie and knocked the puck in the net,” Parker said, “so it wasn’t a real good night for us.”

Things didn’t get much better for BU after the Diamond goal, when defenseman Will O’Neill capitalized on a defensive-zone turnover by junior defenseman Sean Escobedo to net his second goal of the season. Escobedo had the puck behind his own net, but Maine forward Mark Anthoine stole the puck and fed it back to O’Neill, who moved in to the slot before ringing one in off the post.

O’Neill and Anthoine both capitalized on BU penalties later in the game, as they, combined with Diamond, scored four power-play goals during the contest. One of the biggest problems for the Terriers all night was the penalty kill, during which BU surrendered twice as many goals as the amount of penalties it successfully killed.

On his power-play goal, O’Neill received a pass from Hockey East Player of the Year Spencer Abbott on a 4-on-2 rush and rifled it over Millan’s shoulder for his third goal of the season. The process that led to the goal began long before that shot was taken.

The penalty that O’Neill scored on occurred while BU was on a power play of its own. Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera mishandled a pass at the point, where Abbott pounced on the puck and skated in for a breakaway. Privitera, who had fallen while chasing Abbott, slashed him on his route to the net, which drew a penalty while Millan made a sprawling glove save.

Then, while BU was killing that penalty, junior forward Wade Megan turned the puck over in Maine’s zone. The turnover led to the 4-on-2 rush, and with Privitera in the box and Megan behind the play there was nobody to pick up O’Neill, who took an open shot on goal.

Anthoine’s power-play goal came on another defensive-zone turnover, as sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening flung a puck through the zone that found the tape on Anthoine’s stick. The turnover gave Maine another chance at the goal, and Anthoine quickly released a wrist shot from the slot and found the top-right corner of the goal.

“The opportunities we gave up, especially on the power play – they have a great power play, there is no question about it – but they got power-play goals where it was like ‘How did that happen?’” Parker said. “I’ll tell you how it happened. We passed it to them. Or we turned it over and gave them a 4-on-2.”

The penalty and turnover mistakes BU ended its chance at a Hockey East title matchup with Boston College Saturday night, but similar mistakes almost cost BU a shot at even facing Maine Friday night.

Poor defensive play and unfocused puck handling led to a BU loss in the first game of the quarterfinals against UNH, and almost cost BU the series in the Sunday night double-overtime win before it came back from a 4-1 deficit.

In fact, BU has consistently made mistakes in every game since its 5-0 win over the University of Vermont on Feb. 24. In its past seven games in regulation time, BU has given up on average more than 36 shots on goal per game.

Six of those seven games came against teams that were in the bottom-half of Hockey East, and three of them were against the only two teams that didn’t make the Hockey East tournament.

If it is going to succeed in the NCAA tournament, BU will have to improve its focus on defense and stay out of the penalty box. One way for the Terriers to do that is by not playing like they played Friday night.

“We were in and out with our effort. We were in and out with our thoroughness. We were in and out with doing the little things,” Parker said, “and there were an awful lot of guys who were out [Friday night].”

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