Icedogs Break: A Story Of Splits

It was a little bit of good, mixed in with a little bit of bad.

The Boston University hockey team went 2-2-1 over break, splitting series with the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Northeastern University, and tying Providence College. The Icedogs now sport a 12-5-2 record (6-3-2 Hockey East), and their 14 points are good for third in the conference.

First for the Icedogs were the Mavericks on Dec. 20 and 21. BU took the first matchup, 4-1, on the strength of a performance that saw them score three power play goals. Senior co-captain Mike Pandolfo scored two of the goals and one of the man-advantage tallies, while junior forwards John Sabo and Brian Collins provided the other two goals.

In the second contest, Nebraska-Omaha squeaked past BU, winning 4-3 in overtime. Pandolfo and Collins scored one goal each, and freshman center Brian McConnell tied the game with 37 seconds before the Mavericks prevailed in the extra period.

“We played our best out in Omaha, which was a little surprising,” said senior forward Jack Baker. “We felt good about that, because we came out and played well on the road in a real tough place to play.”

However, the rest of the games were less than encouraging for the senior and his teammates. Two weeks after the Nebraska-Omaha games, BU returned to action against Northeastern, crossing the city to take on one of its biggest rivals at Matthews Arena.

Pandolfo once again stepped up, scoring two goals, while freshman forward Justin Maiser also exploded, scoring the game-winning goal and adding assists on Pandolfo’s goals. What looked to be a clear fourth goal by freshman center David Klema was waved off, despite a rippling net that indicated paydirt, not post.

“[Pandolfo’s play] was pretty big,” Baker said. “We were missing a few guys, and if he steps up, it makes the other guys on his line play better, and that passes down. Out in Omaha, we had four lines jumping out and playing well.”

But back in Boston, at Walter Brown Arena on Jan. 6, the four lines didn’t play so well, as the Huskies shut out the Icedogs, 3-0, behind freshman goaltender Keni Gibson’s strong play. The Huskies killed off penalty after penalty in the second frame, finally scoring near the end of the period, before adding two goals in the third to take home a completely deserved victory. It was the first time BU had been shut out since 1999, and the first home shutout since 1994.

“We were ready to play, we just weren’t emotional,” Baker said. “We were just flat – maybe it was the amount of time between games.”

The poor play continued, with BU blowing a 5-3 third-period lead to Providence, a team that, with an 8-11-2 record (4-7-1 Hockey East), has underachieved terribly after being picked to win the league.

One encouraging sign was the way the offense stepped up after being blanked. The Icedogs got five goals from five players, with Collins, McConnell, Maiser, Baker and sophomore forward Mark Mullen all tallying in the first two periods.

The defense in the third period, however, was discouraging, as a BU blue liner’s mistake led to Jon DiSalvatore’s game-tying goal for the Friars, after Devin Rask had scored a power-play goal to cut BU’s lead to 5-4.

While BU’s play isn’t something to panic about, the team is also not happy with the way things are going, and they are seeking an end to a trend that has seen them win one and then lose one.

“We’ve been sub-par,” Baker said. “We need to get better. We started out so well, but we have to stop living off of that. We haven’t put together a good streak where we win five or six games in a row.”

While Pandolfo’s play may have been the most noteworthy, he was hardly alone. Freshman forward Justin Maiser, a linemate of Pandolfo, earned Hockey East Rookie of the Week for his performance in the first matchup against Northeastern.

Clearly affecting the Terriers was the loss of three players to the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic. Sophomore forwards Gregg Johnson and Frantisek Skladany and freshman defenseman Ryan Whitney, three of the Icedogs’ steadiest players, missed the majority of the games over break. Johnson and Whitney, who represented the United States, were able to make it back for the second Northeastern contest, but their legs were clearly not there, much like the rest of their teammates.

Skladany, however, was unable to make it back to the States on time after playing for Slovakia, and made his first appearance for the team in more than a month against Providence, assisting on Baker’s second period goal.