Thursday night in Providence, R.I., it was a three-goal outburst in the second period that fueled the Boston University men’s hockey team to its first win of the season. It was the offensive awakening the Terriers had been waiting for.
And on Saturday, the Terriers’ third period outdid even that scoring binge.
Netting five goals in the third frame, the Terriers scored six unanswered goals to climb out of a 4-1 deficit and hand the University of Massachusetts-Lowell a 7-4 loss at Agganis Arena. It was the first time the Terriers had scored at least seven goals since a 2006 NCAA tournament win over the University of Nebraska-Omaha, 9-2, and the first time at home since 2003.
“We played a hell of a game from start to finish,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “As the game got out of hand for us and we’re losing 4-1, we started really getting after it.”
The Terriers’ second win of the season featured goals from five different players – including two from sophomore forward Luke Popko – and a goalie change in the middle of the second period that sparked the team to rally.
The Terriers’ first goal of the night — a tip-in by captain Brian McGuirk — were sandwiched by two River Hawks goals, all of which came in the periods second minute.
When UML’s Jason DeLuca beat starting goaltender Karson Gillespie to give the River Hawks a 3-1 lead, and it forced Gillespie from the game in favor of sophomore Brett Bennett, who earned the win against Providence College.
“I thought Giles was off his game,” Parker said of Gillespie, who got the hook after allowing three goals in six shots.
Despite letting in Lowell’s fourth goal of the game on a power play just six minutes later, Bennett shut down the Lowell offense for the rest of the night.
“I got in there and I told Giles, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and he said ‘Let’s get us a win,'” Bennett said. “I just tried to keep our guys in there. We have a good team, we know we can play hockey and we’re going to score goals, and I felt we outplayed them and it showed.”
The goalie change also marked a shift in offensive production for the Terriers, as Popko hit the first of his two goals midway through the frame, giving the Terriers unstoppable momentum heading into the third period.
And once the third began, the Terriers offense took over.
Freshman Colin Wilson started the scoring with his first collegiate goal two minutes into the frame, and six minutes later Popko added his second of the game, knotting the game at four with the better part of a period left to play.
Then it was freshman Nick Bonino who joined the scoring at 13:17 of the period, making the River Hawks pay for a hooking penalty netting the go-ahead goal on the man-advantage.
“It was unbelievable,” Bonino said. “My first win at Agganis, it was just so loud I can’t really put it into words, it was just a good way to finish the game.”
And although Bonino’s goal stood as the game-winner, sophomore Zach Cohen scored his first of the season just more than a minute later on a breakaway down the ice. And with 29 seconds remaining, senior Ryan Weston flipped in an empty-netter to seal the comeback win for the Terriers.
“I thought [Bonino] had a heck of a night. I thought Wilson had a heck of a night, but the guy I was most happy for was Popko because he works so hard. He’s always been a great competitor for us, and it’s nice to see him get a little recognition,” Parker said.
And as Parker dished out praise after the game, he said no Terrier was more impressive than Gillespie, who after getting benched cheered on his teammates the rest of the game.
But really, the offense was the story of this game as the Terrier goal scorers clawed their way out of an early hole and put on a clinic for the inexperienced Lowell team — something River Hawks coach Blaise MacDonald said was not surprising.
“BU’s an exceptional team,” he said. “BU’s a team that, if I was to create a model of how I’d like my team to be, BU would be that team more than any team in Hockey East.”