Seniors shine in men’s hockey win against Harvard

In its first game in nearly a month, the No. 11 Boston University men’s hockey team appeared sluggish and fell behind early against No. 5 Harvard University. The Terriers were only able to total two shots on goal in the first period, while the Crimson recorded 18 shots and a goal on senior goalie Sean Maguire in the first 20 minutes.

Entering the second period, it was clear that the Terriers (10-6-3, 4-3-2 Hockey East) needed a spark on offense, and that’s when their seniors stepped up. Senior forward Matt Lane was the first to contribute, when, just 1:48 into the second period, junior forward Robbie Baillargeon dished the puck to Lane in the slot, and he slipped it under Harvard goaltender Merrick Madsen to tie the game at one.

That would be the first of six goals from BU’s senior class in the team’s eventual 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Crimson (8-2-3) on Thursday at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

After a Harvard goal almost immediately following Lane’s first goal, the Rochester, New York native struck again. As soon as BU killed a penalty, Lane rushed off the bench and collected a pass from senior Mike Moran, firing it past Madsen from close range and tying the game again at the 12:33 mark.

BU head coach David Quinn was impressed with the senior’s play, as Lane tallied his ninth and 10th goals of the season in the game, and his fourth in two games, as Lane notched a pair in a Dec. 12 win at No. 2 Quinnipiac University.

“Matty played well,” Quinn said. “He’s had a great year. You need your seniors, and he’s certainly been a reliable player. I’m really happy for him from an offensive standpoint that he’s getting rewarded.”

With time running out for BU to hand the Crimson their first loss in eight games, it was another senior, forward Danny O’Regan,who took complete control of the game. Having already scored a goal earlier in the final period, O’Regan notched two goals in 64 seconds, evaporating Harvard’s lead and giving the Terriers their third tie of the evening.

Then, with 1:49 left in the game, yet another senior helped BU pull off a furious comeback and give the team its second straight win. Lane fed the puck to senior forward Ahti Oksanen on Madsen’s left side, and Oksanen was able to beat the Harvard goalie to clinch victory for the Terriers.

It made sense for BU to suffer a slow start in the contest, as some of its younger stars have had limited practice as of late. Freshman forward Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, freshman defenseman Charlie McAvoy, and sophomore blue liners Brandon Hickey and Brandon Fortunato all returned this week from the World Junior Championships, some as late as Thursday, and the entire team had not had a full practice together in almost a month.

Thus, without the big boost from the senior class on offense and Maguire’s 32 saves, the Terriers would likely have dropped their first game of 2016. Thanks to strong leadership from O’Regan and his classmates, however, BU was able to earn back-to-back wins for the first time since Nov. 7.

“Danny’s had a heck of a year and a heck of a career,” Quinn said, “and If you’re going to go anywhere, you need some leaders. We’ve got great seniors, and he’s certainly the leader. You need seniors to have success and not only are they great players, they’re great leaders and great people.”

After recording his second career hat trick, O’Regan agreed that senior leadership was crucial in the game.

“I think there was a lot of great leadership, top to bottom, with the whole senior class. Even guys who didn’t get on the scoreboard like Mike Moran,” O’Regan teased as Moran walked by. “He was working hard, playing a regular shift all the way till the end and he had a big impact.

“Sean [Maguire] kept us in it on the back end. Obviously we gave up 20 shots in the first period, so he was a rock back there. And then the goal-scoring was timely by Lane to get the spark and Ahti to come clutch at the end, so it was great to get goals from those guys.”