The good news is, the last time the Boston University men’s ice hockey team opened the season on a five-game winless streak (1976) the Terriers reached the Frozen Four.
But that was more than 30 years ago – and this weekend in Michigan the Terriers looked nothing like Frozen Four material. BU was swept out of Yost Arena by an undefeated No. 3 Michigan University team, 4-2, on Friday before a 6-2 thrashing Saturday night.
“My expectations [this weekend] were we had to get some goals and we didn’t, again,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “I’m disappointed in my club.”
Friday night, the Terriers (0-4-1, 0-1-0 Hockey East) came out firing, looking nothing like a winless team that had just fallen out of the top-20 national ranking. Pelting Michigan goalie Billy Sauer with 27 shots through the first two periods, the Terriers attacked the net, overcoming their distracting desire to tally “pretty goals” — but still couldn’t manage to score any goals.
Michigan (5-0-1, 2-0-0 CCHA) didn’t share the same problem. Despite being outplayed through the first period and most of the second, the Wolverines got on the board first and put the Terriers in a quick two-goal hole midway through the second.
Freshman Matt Rust took his former U-18 National Team teammate, BU freshman Kevin Shattenkirk, into the zone and beat goalie Brett Bennett five-hole for the first score. Bennett got beat again 62 seconds later, this time top shelf, by another Wolverine rookie, Aaron Palushaj.
The Terriers’ power outage continued, as they were unable to convert on a 37-second 5-on-3 advantage with three minutes left in the second period.
“I was upset we were down 2-0,” Parker said. “I thought we played pretty well but when we didn’t get the 5-on-3 goal that really jacked them up a little bit at the end.”
The Terrier offense looked rejuvenated coming out for the third period, cutting Michigan’s lead in half on a power play goal by Jason Lawrence. The junior collected a pass from Shattenkirk before flipping a backhanded shot past Sauer at 2:47.
Rust and the Wolverines fired back with a man-advantage tally of their own before BU senior Dan McGoff brought the Terriers within one yet again halfway through the third.
But it wouldn’t be enough to overtake the Wolverines, who reclaimed their two-goal lead on a tough-luck score by senior Kevin Porter. BU freshman Colby Cohen had deflected the puck off Porter’s shut, but it slid past Bennett to seal the deal for Michigan.
Unfortunately, that two-goal defeat was the best effort the Terriers would put forth this weekend.
Saturday, Michigan took three shots in the game’s first three minutes. Two of them got past goalie Karson Gillespie, and before fans could find their seats the Wolverines were up 2-0.
On the other side of the ice, Michigan goalie Billy Sauer was turning in another standout performance between the pipes, turning away 52 total shots on the weekend.
“I thought [Sauer] played very well [Friday] night but he didn’t have to worry about a thing [Saturday],” Parker said. “I think we got a couple opportunities but in general, that game should have been 8-1, 10-1. I thought our goalie played pretty well, made some good saves, but we could not control them in the zone.”
Lawrence came through again for the Terriers early in the second period off a pass from Chris Higgins on a Michigan miscue that found Sauer out of the net.
But after that, it was all Wolverines as the home team just poured it on, getting one more goal before the end of the second period and hitting the net three more times in the third. Six different Michigan players all scored goals.
BU freshman Nick Bonino scored his first collegiate goal with 6.5 seconds remaining in the game.
“I didn’t know how good their freshmen were,” Parker said of the Michigan defense. “When you play four freshmen defensemen, usually you can forecheck a team like that. We forechecked them pretty good [Friday] and got chances and got shots and looked like a pretty good hockey team and exposed their defense a little bit.
“[Saturday] we didn’t have a chance because they were in our zone all night,” he added. “They were storming us. They got the puck so fast and got out, we never even got near them. It was like two different speeds, they were fast and we were dead slow.”