Boston University fans blamed the referee. The University of New Hampshire’s sizably larger contingent chose to credit the resiliency of their Wildcats. But for BU head coach Jack Parker, there was no doubt why his team was shut out, 3-0, Saturday night at the Whittemore Center.

‘That game was a pathetic example of things that happen with an undisciplined hockey team,’ Parker said. ‘And, once again, we’ve got the game playing exactly the way we want it, dominating the period in the first period, playing great, just like we played the last three periods against them.

‘Nothing going right for UNH, everything going right for us, and then we get involved with absolutely ridiculous penalties. I don’t mean that by the referee, I mean that by taking absolutely ridiculous penalties.’

At even strength and five-on-five, the teams were even on the scoreboard and the Icedogs held a 28-20 shot advantage. However, in the game’s final 35 minutes, the teams spent barely half the action (17:35) at full strength, with the Icedogs committing 14 fouls for 44 minutes in the sin bin. That led to two Wildcat scores on the power play and another with the teams skating four-on-four.

Senior winger Colin Hemingway did the damage on the power play for New Hampshire, notching a pair of goals. It was the second time the Terriers have been victimized by Hemingway in their last three trips to the Granite State.

The UNH assistant captain had been slumping until capitalizing on a two-man advantage and beating BU goalie Sean Fields through the five-hole to break a scoreless tie just 5:34 into the second period.

The Wildcats drew a five-on-three after BU sophomore defenseman Ryan Whitney hauled down Sean Collins as he sped through the neutral zone looking for a pass that would have sent him in alone on Fields. Collins appeared to have a step on Whitney, but the 6-foot 4-inch defenseman dragged him down near the blue line, and after that whistle, Brian McConnell who has twice been benched by Parker for taking unnecessary penalties knocked Nathan Martz to the ice in the corner to Fields’ left.

Twenty-four seconds later, Hemingway’s one-timer gave New Hampshire a 1-0 lead.

‘We wind up giving them a 5-on-3 goal, a 5-on-4 goal and stopping all of our momentum completely,’ Parker said. ‘It’s tough to watch how stupid we are. It’s tough to watch how undisciplined we are. Mostly the same guys, too. Guys that have already been benched at least once, maybe twice already, and coming up will be benched again.’

Falling behind was especially frustrating for the Icedogs, who outshot their opponents 19-4 in the first period but came away without taking a lead. It was the fourth time in five games the Terriers have managed more shots than their opponents in the opening stanza. BU is just 1-4 in those games.

‘Nope, [we weren’t frustrated],’ Parker said. ‘Nothing to it. We played great in the first period. [New Hampshire goalie Mike] Ayers played well the whole game, he’s a great goaltender. He gave them a chance to win the game. We weren’t frustrated at all. We were excited about how we were playing.’

BU’s best chances included eight power play shots, including bids by McConnell and Justin Maiser from point-blank range that Ayers was able to stop. On one man-advantage midway through the period, BU controlled the puck in the New Hampshire zone for 75 seconds, but came away empty.

‘They were going around us in our own end,’ said New Hampshire coach Dick Umile. ‘We couldn’t contain them in our own end in the first period. But I think the guys adjusted and really battled in the second and third.’

Battled doesn’t quite describe the second period, a frame in which BU was whistled for nine infractions, accounting for 26 minutes in penalties and one ejection.

Sixteen of those minutes resulted from a skirmish that erupted with 5:30 to go in the period. After regaining the puck when he was denied on a solo chance along the goal line, sophomore center David Klema fed Freddy Meyer for a shot in the slot. As he slashed toward the goal, Meyer lost control of the puck, and his body, and crashed into Ayers.

Referee Conrad Hache called Meyer for interference, but that apparently wasn’t enough retribution for Kevin Truelson, who cross-checked Meyer as he skated away from the crease. With Meyer on the ground, Truelson again laid into the Terrier captain with his stick, only relenting when Frantisek Skladany jumped atop the senior defenseman and pried him away. Meanwhile, Nathan Martz and Bryan Miller tangled along the blue line, with Miller’s helmet ending up on the ice while his naked face received a couple of punches.

As a result of the scrum, Meyer, Miller and Martz received minors, while Truelson got two minors for cross-checking. Skladany was called for cross-checking and received a game misconduct.

‘I believe they’re calling the third-man-in rule. [Skladany] was seeing one of their guys cross-checking our guy twice in the back of the head while he was down,’ Parker said. ‘[Truelson] jumped him from behind and cross-checked him twice in the back of the head, so he came over and grabbed him. That’s why he got the penalty.

‘I would want my player to go in and stop somebody from cross-checking someone in the back of the head twice. I have no problem with Skladany’s penalty at all.’

Parker may have had no problem with Skladany protecting his teammate, but the call left the Terriers fighting from behind without their leading scorer. After sophomore Sean Collins gave New Hampshire a two-goal lead with a wrister from the top of the faceoff circle, BU managed only one more decent chance before Hemingway added the clincher with 8:59 to play in the game.

Late in the third, BU’s Matt Radoslovich was whistled for a 10-minute slashing misconduct, one of three Icedog penalties in the final four-minutes. That span helped the Wildcats climb to within 10 shots by the final whistle, though the Terriers held a 37-22 lead with about five minutes to play.

After the final whistle, Parker walked out onto the ice and sought Hache.

‘I wasn’t arguing with anybody at the end,’ he said. ‘I told him I thought he called a good game. That’s exactly what I told him. Our problems were not with the referees tonight.’

‘Our problems were with our players and our discipline. Inability to control their emotions; just real stupid unnecessary penalties. It put us down two men, five-on-three. We’d been killing off five-on-fours against them; they hadn’t had a sniff on the five-on-four. So what do we do? We give them a five-on-three instead and let them score.’

Not only did the Wildcats score, they also kept themselves alive in the race for the Hockey East regular season crown by avoiding a BU sweep.

‘Obviously it’s a huge win for us,’ Umile said. ‘We needed it. You can’t get swept in this league if you want to compete for the top.’