Boston College has it. And now, the Boston University hockey team must scramble to find it.
The it — some abstract composite of will, desire and ability — that becomes so integral to winning this time of year, has moved west on Commonwealth Avenue.
Second-seeded BC soared an entire level above the third-seeded Terriers, picking apart a team that appeared almost entirely inferior for a 6-2 win in the Hockey East semifinals. On a scene that should have witnessed a peak from both teams, BU revealed its most pressing weaknesses while BC revealed that, in the department of shortcomings, it doesn’t have many.
“Boston College played a terrific college hockey game tonight. They came prepared to play, they competed all night long. They played great on special teams, and they were determined to win the hockey game,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “My team did none of those things.”
The Terriers (20-9-9) pushed back in the third period, reclaiming some measure of pride, but the game was too far gone at that point, even after Brandon Yip scored a power play goal 1:30 into the period.
Almost every BC goal came as a product of poor positioning and delayed reaction – both on the part of the skaters and, for a change, on the part of goalie John Curry. Curry, whose numbers have fallen off lately (3+ goals allowed in five of eight), has spent the year covering his team’s mistakes. But on Saturday, even he looked unprepared for what BC came with.
And after Curry allowed four goals through two periods, on 21 shots, Karson Gillespie opened up the final frame in net.
The Eagles (25-11-1), winners of nine straight, got everything they needed from a defense that cleared away most of the danger that came goalie Cory Schneider’s way. But when the pucks got to net, they met a goalie who’s playing as well as he has in his college career. Schneider allowed a few rebounds, but killed most of them, racking up 30 saves.
And the offense that had been suspect early in the season has exploded. The Eagles scored in all sorts of ways. Tight passes to open 1-timers. Rebounds. Slap shots that would have dented Sherman tanks.
“We’ve been very good in special teams and we’ve had outstanding goaltending and it kinda stayed with us tonight,” said BC coach Jerry York. “I thought our power play was in sync, the penalty kill had a lot of jump to it and Cory made some really good saves early in the game. Again those are our keys and I think if we can stay on top of that we’re a dangerous team to try to play against.”
“If we’re gonna be successful, we need to have good offense and good defense,” he said later. “You can’t just be a good defensive team and win a lot of hockey games, you can’t just be a good offensive team.”
BC took a man-advantage seven minutes into the first. Dan Bertram’s penalty for interference gave BU a power play with 5:01 gone, but the Terriers squandered the opportunity by mis-handling the puck and giving BC a rush that led to a Brandon Yip trip.
Quickly after the Bertram penalty expired, Benn Ferriero, with the puck on the right boards, flung a pass to Brock Bradford on the right circle. Bradford briefly held the puck before blasting a shot off Curry’s stickside shoulder and into the net.
On the second, Joe Rooney looped behind the net and lost the puck to teammate Brian Boyle, Hockey East’s leading scorer. Boyle immediately fired a pass back across the tide of a collapsing defense to Ferriero, who had swung back from behind the net to the left circle. Ferriero deposited the puck past a flailing Curry to make it 2-0.
“As you can notice, having Brian Boyle back on defense makes us a whole different club,” York said about moving the former first-line center back to the top defensive pairing.
BU charged back a bit in the second. The Terriers attacked the net and pinned the puck in the BC defensive zone repeatedly. But Schneider turned every shot away. Two minutes into the period, Matt Gilroy’s shot bounced off Schneider’s glove into the crease, but Luke Popko’s offering was sent away by a BC stick.
Then, BU’s best chance to reclaim the momentum – and a chance of a win – came and went with nine minutes left in the period. Gilroy’s shot again caromed out to Popko, whose shot ended up sitting inches in front of the goal line. But BC defenseman Mike Brennan swept the puck away, and BC scored soon after. Twice.
“Mike saved us a goal there,” York said. “He’s Irish and it’s coming close to St. Patrick’s Day, so I think he got a little lucky there.”
The first of the BC pair of goals came just seconds after BU killed off a BC power play, but got its roots on the man-advantage. With 20 seconds left in the power play, Brett Motherwell kneeled against the boards to close off the route of a puck leaving the zone. With the puck still in the zone, BC wheeled it around, and it finally settled on the stick of Joe Rooney behind the net.
Rooney wrapped around the left side and backhanded a pass across. The puck jumped off BU defenseman Brian Strait’s stick and landed right in front of Ben Smith’s. Smith launched a shot past Curry to send the game to 3-0.
Then, after BU failed to convert on a power play that Chris Higgins drew after a spectacular move on Tim Filangieri, BC came back hard. Curry deflected a BC surge that sent three shots on net with just over a minute left in the second, but with 44 seconds left, Boyle’s shot from the point skipped off Smith’s stick to Bradford, wide open on the left side.
The shot didn’t hit anything on its way to the twine, putting BC up, 4-0.
The first BU goal, a laser from Brandon Yip, came with seven seconds left on Pat Gannon’s penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Gilroy flew behind net, then flung a pass back to Yip at the right point, who zoomed a slapper past Schneider’s right shoulder.
But the BU scoring stalled after that, despite the sustained push toward net. And when Boomer Ewing scored on a 5-hole wrister with 5:25 left, BC had already gotten a goal from Rooney – off a 2-on-1 with Smith.
Then, with 4:08 left, another Boyle rocket went toward Gillespie. Gillespie juggled it, the puck fell into the crease and Nathan Gerbe nudged it in to wrap up the blowout.