It’s just not the same.
After winning its 25th Beanpot title on Monday night, the Boston University hockey team faces Hockey East cellar-dweller University of Massachusetts at Lowell tonight at Tsongas Arena and then tomorrow night at Walter Brown Arena.
Granted, it could be anybody on the schedule, and you’d be hard-pressed to call it a more exciting or challenging matchup than Boston College in the Beanpot final. This year, Lowell is caught in a rebuilding season. A young team that was decimated by graduation after last year, Blaise MacDonald’s charges have struggled mightily, with only eight points in Hockey East play, leaving them one behind Northeastern University for the last playoff spot in Hockey East.
But the record doesn’t indicate the effort the River Hawks put forth every night, and if the Terriers underestimate the Hawks, Lowell could be Upset City tonight. BU currently stands in fourth place in Hockey East one point above Providence College with a game in hand which would give it home ice advantage in the Hockey East playoffs. The Icedogs know they need to earn every point they can to ensure they have the section 8 advantage for that best two-out-of-three series.
‘We know we have six more games left, and we need those games to stay in contention for home ice,’ said senior assistant captain John Sabo. ‘We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to focus right away and get at Lowell this weekend.’
While Lowell may be mired at the bottom, its captain is anything but a bottom feeder. Ed McGrane is a steady scorer who has been perhaps Hockey East’s most underrated player over the last two seasons. With 32 points in 28 games, McGrane is Lowell’s driving force.
The major weakness for the River Hawks is in net, where neither freshman Dominic Smart nor sophomore Chris Davidson has played particularly well, although Smart has emerged as of late to earn more playing time. The Icedogs will be looking to pepper whoever starts for Lowell with shots from all angles.
‘Any good team shoots the puck,’ Sabo said. ‘We know we’ve got to take shots from anywhere, ’cause that’s how goals go in. You never know what can happen if you just get it to the net, and get people going to the net.’
In the teams’ first meeting on Nov. 21, the River Hawks outplayed the Terriers for 54 minutes in what may have been BU’s poorest game of the season. The Terriers only managed 17 shots on net for the game, one of their lowest totals of the season against the one team in Hockey East that has major question marks in net. Only junior goalie Sean Fields’ great effort in net kept the game close enough for BU to score three opportunistic goals in the third frame and earn two points for the win. After a few more lackluster games, BU started to turn it around to get to the point they are at now, as one of the best teams in the best conference in college hockey.
‘After that game, we started playing a lot better and moving our feet more on the ice and getting in on the forecheck, making plays,’ Sabo said. ‘I just think we’ve been playing a lot better since that game and we can’t step back. We’ve got to keep rising, rising to the occasion and playing our best.’