A trip to Ann Arbor, Mich. this weekend might be just what the Boston University men’s hockey team needs to jumpstart its season.
No, the University of Michigan isn’t a pushover — far from it, actually. The No. 3 Wolverines (3-1-0) are one of the nation’s premier teams, and the fact that tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests will be played at a raucous Yost Ice Arena probably won’t help the Terriers’ cause. But BU coach Jack Parker sees obvious benefits to the weekend series.
‘This is a great challenge,’ Parker said. ‘When you have great challenges, there’s an opportunity there as well. We wouldn’t be better off playing at Lowell this weekend than at Northeastern or at BC. Everybody’s a tough team on the road, but this is a ranked team we’ve had big games with in the past.
‘We’re still going through some growing pains, and you might as well test yourself against the best and see how you do. We know we’re playing a great team in their building, and we know these are very important games as far as standings and reputations are concerned.’
Heading into its home opener tonight, the vaunted Wolverine offense averages 3.5 goals per game, two weeks after dropping a four-spot on then-No. 2 Boston College in a 4-3 overtime win.
Despite adding 12 freshmen to their roster, the Wolverines feature a veteran core led by senior forwards Chad Kolarik (team-best four assists) and Kevin Porter (team-best three goals) and junior goaltender Billy Sauer (2.73 GAA, .861 save percentage).
‘They’re very quick,’ Parker said. ‘Especially up front they can really move. It looks like they can be forechecked a little bit, but their forwards are very quick. If we control center ice and get after the defense, we can hang in there. But if we’re playing the game in our zone we’re gonna be in trouble.’
After spotty efforts in the Nye Frontier Classic two weeks ago and last Friday’s loss to the No. 7 University of New Hampshire, what BU (0-2-1, 0-1-0 Hockey East) hopes to achieve this weekend is rather elementary: points. The Terriers are no longer concerned with shaking out the early-season kinks, but rather playing the blue-collar brand of hockey they believe will produce victories more times than not this season.
‘We know we can outplay every team we play,’ said BU captain Brian McGuirk. ‘We feel we have the grit and the guys in the locker room to do it night in and night out. We’re looking to go out there, outwork them and hopefully get some bounces to go our way. This is business. We’ve been getting better and better each game, but we need to get some wins. We’re going there for four points. That’s what we want and that’s what we expect.’
If the Terriers hope to skate off the Yost surface with the hard-earned points they so desire, they will be best served by scrapping the finesse offense they employed against UNH. As last Friday showed, threading the extra pass to set up a better scoring chance doesn’t always prove advantageous.
By coveting the so-called pretty goals, BU self-destructed on numerous opportunities against Wildcats goaltender Kevin Regan. Should the Terriers duplicate those efforts this weekend, it’s hard not to envision a winless club returning to Commonwealth Avenue on Sunday.
‘We’re trying to get too fine and too cute,’ Parker said. ‘We think we’re more talented than we were last year, and all of a sudden we’re trying to make pretty goals.’
As the team continues its search for stable goaltending, Parker said sophomore Brett Bennett and senior Karson Gillespie will start Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Through two starts, Gillespie (0-2-1) has shown flashes of being an elite backstop in the first and second periods before unraveling in the third. To Gillespie’s credit, poor decisions by BU defensemen have played a major role in most of the goals he’s allowed this season. Like Bennett, who surrendered three BU leads in his Oct. 13 debut against the University of Alaska-Anchorage, progress remains the optimal word for Gillespie.
In a development that should help solidify the Terrier defense, Parker said sophomore defenseman Eric Gryba will make his season debut tonight after a recent bout with mono. Senior forward Ryan Weston, who suffered a groin injury last Friday, will not play this weekend.
