The timing was everything.
For once, the penalties didn’t seem silly, senseless or superfluous. Saturday night’s infractions were simply inopportune, and as a result, the Boston University hockey team couldn’t claw back from a late two-goal deficit, losing a game and a chance at home ice in the Hockey East quarterfinals at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena, 4-2.
‘I was really happy with how we were playing and how hard we played,’ BU coach Jack Parker said Saturday. ‘We just couldn’t get it done, and unfortunately we couldn’t stay out of the box late in the game.’
Two whistles put the Icedogs a man down for most of the game’s final five minutes, essentially eliminating the chance of a second BU comeback in as many nights. Friday, the Terriers scored three goals in the final 2:21 to erase a 2-1 Black Bear lead and win going away.
But Saturday, with only 4:53 on the clock and BU scrapping for the one point it needed to bring Thursday’s first-round playoff series to Walter Brown Arena, an assistant referee called Terrier freshman Brad Zancanaro for roughing while he and a Black Bear forward were lying locked up at the dasher in front of the BU bench.
The penalty gave Maine its fourth power play of the night, and though it didn’t throw any shots at BU goalie Sean Fields, the man-advantage forced Parker to deploy his penalty killers at a juncture when the goal-hungry snipers would have been more appropriate. Offensively, BU managed just one weak attempt in the final five minutes.
‘We were trying to sneak away a little bit, but we really didn’t get any shots out of it,’ Parker said.
When Zancanaro’s penalty expired, BU still had 2:53 to play with, but head referee Conrad Hache considered Kenny Magowan’s offensive zone hit to be a bit too violent, and whistled the BU forward for roughing. That call came with 2:07 remaining, sending the Icedogs’ slim offensive hopes to the sin bin.
‘The refs got a little involved at the end there and we couldn’t try to come back,’ said BU assistant captain Brian Collins.
It was the second straight time Hache’s officiating has come into question by BU. He was the lead official when the Terriers lost, 3-0, at the University of New Hampshire in January.
‘You can’t really blame the refs for bad calls, but I mean it’s kind of bad to give up those penalties two minutes before the end of the game,’ said junior forward Frantisek Skladany. ‘That was kind of tough, and so now we’ve got to go to Providence.’
The Friars won Friday night against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell to finish the season with 27 points in Hockey East. BU kept pace with a win the same night, but by virtue of Providence’s 2-0-1 head-to-head advantage in the regular season, the teams will meet at Schneider Arena when the quarterfinals begin Thursday.
‘It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter where you play,’ Skladany said. ‘I’m just looking forward to going to Providence and playing those games over there.’
Parker suggested BU ‘might have more fans than Providence, to tell you the truth,’ but history may not support his statement. The Terriers and Friars have met in four of the past five quarterfinal series, with the home team winning each time. However, home-ice history has little to do with this year’s playoff matchup, Collins said.
‘We knew we were going to play Providence. They beat us twice in overtime with 50 seconds left, so it’s nice to be playing them and have another shot at them,’ said the BU center who needs just five points to reach 100 for his career. ‘We would’ve liked to have had them at home, but we have no problem with going down there. It’s not as tough as coming up [to Orono]. It’s not a huge home ice advantage.’
If anything, Skladany said, the Terriers’ invasion of Alfond readied them as road warriors.
‘We were looking forward to playing against Maine,’ he said. ‘We won the first game, they won the second game and it was a great series. This series will make us stronger on the road.’
Only time will tell.