Forget the annual exhibition domination against a Canadian team. Forget the victories in the Ice Breaker tournament in Wisconsin.
It all starts tonight, Terrier fans.
The puck drops for the No. 4 Boston University hockey team at Walter Brown as the 2002-03 edition of the Icedogs makes its home debut (“Built from the back,” see insert).
BU (1-0-1) faces the University of Vermont (0-1-1), which is coming off a 10-0 drubbing at the hands of the University of New Hampshire. While this may mean the Catamounts are just plain bad, BU Coach Jack Parker worries about what kind of impression the outcome of that game gives his team.
“I know they’re a much better team than they showed in their last game and I wonder if my team knows that,” said Parker, who is entering his 30th season as BU’s head coach as the winningest active coach in college hockey, with 656 victories to his credit.
Parker knows what to expect from a team that pushed BU’s conference rival Northeastern University to the brink in a 3-3 tie.
“I look for Vermont to be a typical Vermont team, and probably more so because of what happened to them in their last game,” Parker said. “A team that presses you all the time both offensively and defensively, that is tenacious on the forecheck and is a great shot-blocking team.”
But what of those 10 goals the Wildcats scored? It can be attributed to two things, freshman goaltending for Vermont and lots of firepower for the Wildcats.
“They played two freshmen goaltenders that couldn’t handle the onslaught,” Parker said.
While depth up front is one of BU’s strongest assets, this is not a team that is likely to score in double digits. Vermont is likely to turn to senior Shawn Conschafter in net, and while Conschafter is no Patrick Roy, expect a much stronger effort in net for the Catamounts.
For BU, there is no question who will be starting in net. Junior Sean Fields is one of the best goalies in Hockey East and will look to build on a season in which he led Hockey East in victories with 14 and finished with 22 overall.
The defense is the unquestioned strength of the team. Before a team gets to Fields, it has to go through senior captain Freddy Meyer and his crew of standouts, including sophomore Ryan Whitney, the fifth pick in the NHL draft this summer, and freshman Jekabs Redlihs, the MVP of the Ice Breaker Tournament.
At forward, BU lost its leading scorers to graduation in Mike Pandolfo and Jack Baker, but will look for great team depth to offset those losses.