Three wins, six losses and two ties into 2007-08, the Boston University men’s hockey team’s season has been anything but predictable.
But as the Terriers (3-6-2, 3-3-1 Hockey East) host No. 19 Harvard University (5-2-0) tonight at Agganis Arena, coach Jack Parker is keeping one thing in mind: Things aren’t as bad as his club’s record might suggest.
Since the Terriers’ first win of the season — a 5-2 rout of Providence College on Nov. 1 — BU’s fortunes have gone as follows: win, win, loss, tie, win, loss. Not exactly the type of consistency you’d expect out of a perennial powerhouse.
But that’s only on paper.
“I don’t think it’s been as up and down as the record looks,” Parker said. “We’ve been playing pretty well lately. In five out of the last six games, I thought we played hard, played with a lot of energy and played smart. That’s how this league is, it’s a tough league.
“We’re the highest-scoring team in the league,” he added. “We’re giving up eight fewer shots than we were giving up last year. We’re getting the puck out of our zone. I like everything about our team as long as we come focused and play hard. When we don’t, we’re not very good.”
It’s also hard to find consistent success when the uncertainty in the Terrier net remains unresolved, with neither candidate stepping up to earn the responsibility.
This weekend, sophomore Brett Bennett got the nod for the third and fourth straight games, respectively. But after allowing four goals Saturday against the University of Vermont, Bennett was pulled in favor of senior Karson Gillespie, who will start tonight against the Crimson.
“It’s still going to be a learning process for those guys and a learning process for us to give them time,” Parker said. “Neither one of them have played a lot of hockey in the last couple years. We’ve got to let them get their feet wet a little bit longer and see what happens.
“We’re not making a lot of progress there yet,” he continued. “Those two guys know that and they want to play better. I’m sure they will.”
The Terriers will need strong play across the ice to beat a Crimson team cut from the cloth of typical Harvard teams – fast, competitive and tough on the penalty kill. But goaltending is what Harvard thrives on.
Turning heads between the pipes for the Crimson this season is sophomore Kyle Richter. In seven games, Richter has posted a nation-best 1.00 goals-against average and .966 save percentage.
The Terriers will attempt to dismantle Richter the same way they took advantage of Vermont standout Joe Fallon on Friday night, when BU tallied four goals in 29:57 against the senior backstop.
“We’ve had some very, very good nights in the offensive end and sometimes the puck was going in the net and sometimes it wasn’t,” Parker said. “When we got nine the other night it wasn’t because we were that fabulous, it was because they weren’t.”
While the Terrier offense has poured in goals in bunches this season (41), BU has scored just one goal more than its opponent (40).
Although tonight’s game may not carry the fire and intensity of the Terriers’ rivalry with a certain Green Line counterpart, there’s no question there is pride at stake.
“Obviously, it’s a big game especially coming off a loss,” said senior forward Bryan Ewing. “It’s always a rivalry game when you play a team from inside Massachusetts. They’re right across the river, so it’s going to be tough.”
The Terriers will feature one shift in the lines tonight, as senior forward Craig Sanders will make his second start of the season. Sanders will start in place of third-line forward John McCarthy.
