With 1:47 remaining in the third period, the Boston University men’s hockey team was on its collective heels. Sophomore defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was in the penalty box and his team was leading by a single goal against No. 14 Cornell University’s sixth power play of the night. When Cornell goaltender Andy Iles went to the bench to give his team an extra attacker, it looked as if the Big Red would send the game to overtime.
The seconds ticked away, though, and the BU (7-6-1, 2-3 Hockey East) penalty kill made key play after key play. Whether it was a blocked shot, a poke check or a defensive-zone faceoff win, the Terriers held the vaunted Big Red (7-4-1) power play at bay to complete its 3-2 victory in the fourth edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.
BU took seven penalties on the night, was generally outhit by the Big Red and spent a lot a time in its defensive zone. So when Grzelcyk skated to the penalty box in the final two minutes, BU coach David Quinn did not know if his team had enough left in the tank to kill one more penalty.
“I [knew the Terriers had enough left] when the buzzer went off,” Quinn said. “I had no idea leading up to that point. The buzzer went off and we killed it off so we had enough in the tank. We had some lady luck.”
Killing off six power plays, including a 5-on-3 advantage in the second period, was no easy feat for the Terriers. After all, the opposition BU was up against was one of the top units with a man advantage in the country.
Cornell had a 29.6 percent success rate on the power play entering the night, which was tied for the best in the nation. Of the team’s 36 goals on the season, 16 of them have been scored on the power play.
The Big Red showed an ability to make plays happen on their first power play, creating a couple of good chances in the slot. However, Quinn made adjustments to his penalty kill after getting that first look at the Cornell power play and implemented them throughout the rest of the game.
“That guy on the half-wall was really able to find a seam and walk to the middle of the rink,” Quinn said of Cornell’s first power play. “One of the things we talked about between the first and second periods was we needed to pressure that guy on the half-wall, we needed to get to him. Make him make two passes to get to the other side of the rink, don’t stand there and give him time and space. We did a better job of it.”
Cornell went on to accrue 12 shots over its next five power plays, but BU did a good job of limiting shots to the outside. It also did not hurt that Cornell struggled to convert on the opportunities it created on sharp passes through the slot, but whenever it did complete those passes, BU sophomore goaltender Matt O’Connor was there to make the save.
BU’s penalty killing efforts have been generally sharp as of late. In its last 20 penalty kills, BU has only allowed one goal — a third-period tally to University of North Dakota forward Adam Tambellini. However, BU has taken almost double the amount of penalties in the last two games as it had in the previous four games. It would not have to be so successful on the penalty kill if it stayed out of the penalty box like Quinn demands.
Quinn made it clear that he was not happy with the referees Saturday night, and the amount of penalties taken in the contest was not as much of a reflection of sloppy defensive play as it was some tough calls from the officials. Even with the calls against the Terriers, O’Connor and the defense stepped up to the task to shut down the dangerous power play they faced.
“I thought we got a lot of sticks on pucks, we blocked shots,” Quinn said. “We did the things you need to do to give yourself a chance to kill penalties.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
