Icedogs Sweep Eagles, Win Series

If successful hockey is built on solid goaltending, a balanced scoring attack, leadership on the blue line and an effective penalty kill, it should come as no surprise there were a lot of smiling faces streaming out of Walter Brown Arena early Sunday evening.

That’s because the Boston University hockey team was all that and more this weekend, twice defeating archrival Boston College in a critical home-and-home Hockey East series. The two contests were near mirror images of each other, with the Terriers opening up two-goal leads in each before winning 2-1 Friday night at Conte Forum and 3-1 Sunday afternoon at Walter Brown.

Coupled with an improbable sweep of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell by Northeastern University, the Terriers’ four points vaults them into second place in the league, setting up a No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown with the University of New Hampshire next weekend.

“Any time you beat [BC] it’s great, but to beat them twice in one weekend is awesome,” said sophomore center Gregg Johnson, who had the game-winning goal Sunday. “We win the [season] series 2-1 and we got them again in the Beanpot, it just makes a huge statement to our team and the rest of the league.”

The Terriers began making their statement within the first six minutes of Friday night’s game, when freshman center Brian McConnell notched his sixth goal of the year to give BU a 1-0 lead.

With freshman forward Justin Maiser missing the first game of his career, McConnell was part of a revamped first line that quickly helped 29-year head coach Jack Parker live up to his legend. Parker plopped freshman defenseman Bryan Miller — usually part of BU’s third defensive pair — into the vacated right wing spot alongside McConnell and senior co-captain Mike Pandolfo.

“We knew he could play both [forward and defense] because he’s so talented,” Parker said of Miller. “We wanted to get [Mike] Bussoli in the lineup and we had to bench a guy for a bad penalty he took the other night, so Miller was the logical player to go play right wing for us.

“I had no qualms whatsoever he wouldn’t be able to handle that position very well.”

Miller certainly did not disappoint his coach. Taking a feed from Pandolfo at center ice, Miller carried the puck into the BC zone along the boards to the right of BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen. When he heard McConnell calling for the puck as he streaked into the slot, Miller slid a pass to the front of the net, where McConnell shifted the puck to his backhand and flipped a shot into the roof of the net.

McConnell nearly returned the favor minutes later, hitting Miller along the blue line and sending him in alone on Kaltiainen. Unaccustomed to being alone with the goaltender while facing forward, Miller was stoned when he tried to beat the BC freshman between his legs. BU had several breakaway chances in the first 10 minutes but cashed in only once.

“I was concerned we hadn’t capitalized,” Parker said. “Those type of chances come back to haunt you. They were all pretty plays. They were all great looking, wide-open, great passes sending guys in alone, so it’s not like we had fabulous pressure on them. It was just nice play here, nice play there, and that was nice.”

But while the Terriers were missing chances, so too were the Eagles, who nearly tied the game several times on the power play, including a 43-second two-man advantage while Icedogs defensemen Ryan Whitney and Freddy Meyer sat in the penalty box.

BC was allowed to move the puck without many problems, unloading several uncontested shots from the top of the faceoff circles. Only two Eagles shots got to the net, though, and sophomore goalie Sean Fields handled both.

“The turning point was when they didn’t score on that 5-on-3 situation,” Parker said. “After we had already scored, that would’ve been tough to take.”

BC continued to dominate play, statistically at least, through the halfway point of the second period. BU seemed to be the more physical team, but BC was getting the better scoring opportunities, holding a 21-9 shot advantage with 9:24 to play in the second stanza.

The Eagles hit the post once and would have had two other great scoring chances if not for some spectacular defensive resourcefulness by Meyer. With BC players lining up shots, Meyer once sprawled into a dive to block the puck with his hand, only to thwart a scoring attempt with his body seconds later.

The Icedogs found their offense late in the second period and carried the momentum into the third, when the injury-plagued Eagles — missing sophomore star Ben Eaves and losing Ryan Murphy to internal bleeding during Friday’s game — may have begun to tire.

BU had 15 shots in the third period, none bigger than Pandolfo’s shot the Terriers up 2-0 with just under 15 minutes to play. The senior forward stuffed his 15th goal of the year under a prone Kaltiainen following a flurry of shots and confusion in front of the crease. Miller and McConnell had the assists.

The Eagles cut the Terriers lead in half with 8:31 to play in the game, when Ryan Shannon’s backhand beat Fields on his blocker side.

But Fields, whose 56 saves in 58 shots for the weekend earned him Hockey East defensive player of the week honors, was perfect the rest of the way, including a stop on Eagle captain Jeff Giuliano, who unleashed a wrist shot from the right circle that Fields was able to stop with his shoulder.

“I kind of just got in good position and hoped,” Fields said.

Things got a little dicey in the last minute when BU was whistled three times for icing the puck, but McConnell, the freshman, was cool under pressure and did his job on the faceoffs, and BC didn’t have many quality shots down the stretch.

“I was just trying not to lose the faceoffs clean,” McConnell said.

When they won Friday night’s game, the Terriers flocked to Fields, per usual. But despite breaking a four-plus year winless streak at Conte that dated back to Dec. 7, 1997, the Icedogs contained their outward excitement before the rematch Sunday at Walter Brown.

The sequel featured much of the same plot as the first one, but with a slightly different cast of characters. Maiser came back to the lineup for the Icedogs, though Miller remained at wing on the first line while junior forward John Sabo, who received a 10-minute misconduct for arguing on Friday, sat out. The Eagles goaltender was also different, with Tim Kelleher supplanting Kaltiainen in the cage.

Kelleher proved his worth early and often, though, as he and Fields kept the game scoreless through the first period. BU appeared to take the lead with 4:31 to play in the opening frame, when junior center Brian Collins slid the puck under Kelleher after senior forward Jack Baker fanned on a shot attempt.

Referee John Gravellese quickly waved off the goal, however, saying Collins was in the crease before the puck crossed the goal line.

BC owned play early in the second, using a one-man forecheck to neutralize the BU attack at center ice.

But senior defenseman Pat Aufiero, in his last home game against the Eagles, took the puck from behind Fields and set out on an end-to-end rush that may have reminded some of another Boston defenseman’s moves of 30 years ago.

Gaining steam as he weaved his way to the red line, Aufiero spotted an alley and continued flying through the neutral zone, slicing toward the goal as he began to stumble.

“I was actually kind of surprised I had a lane to the net, and I took it to the net,” Aufiero said. “I was about to fall, and I think that’s what faked Kelleher out. I think he thought I was going a little to the left, and I just chipped it to the right, short side. Right when you get around the red line, you have to make a decision.”

“Aufiero made a terrific play. Not many people in this league can go goal line to goal line,” said BC head coach Jerry York.

After the game, Aufiero said as a senior, he tries to make things happen on the ice that will spark his team.

Mission accomplished.

Ten ticks after Aufiero put the Icedogs ahead 1-0, Johnson took a pass from sophomore Kenny Magowan and slid it between Kelleher’s legs to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead.

“It’s a huge shift right after a goal for either team, if you get scored on or you just scored a goal. It swings the momentum either way,” Johnson said.

BC nearly unraveled at the end of the second period, when senior center Ales Dolinar was called for cross-checking after the buzzer, which put his team two-men down for 1:46 of the third period. BU was unable to capitalize, however, giving BC momentum down the stretch.

“I thought our ability to kill the 5-on-3 powerplay to start the third got us right back in the hockey game,” York said.

With the teams playing four-on-four, BC cut BU’s lead to 2-1 with 11:42 to go. Giuliano was wide open in front of the BU goal, but Fields denied his backhand attempt. Sophomore defenseman J.D. Forrest was waiting, however, and put the rebound over the BU goalie.

The Eagles dominated the third period territorially and had a good scoring chance late when the puck squirted in front of the Terriers’ net, but they were not able to beat Fields. BU sophomore forward Mark Mullen ensured a BU victory by scoring an empty net goal, his fifth tally of the season, with 40 seconds left.

For BC, it was their fourth-straight loss.

“We’ve had four losses to two fine teams, Lowell and BU, but we’re right to the cusp of it, right there trying to tie up a hockey game with the goaltender pulled,” York said.

For the Terriers, the game could indicate the end of their skid, and at the same time give them a psychological advantage heading into the teams’ Beanpot showdown Feb. 4.

“We’re going to go in there pretty confident after beating them twice,” Aufiero said.

Parker focused more on the matter presently at hand.

“I do think it was important for us to get the sweep, just for the points,” he said.

With the win, BU improved its ranking in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online Division I poll, sliding up a spot to No. 6. BC, which had been No. 13, fell out of the rankings while BU’s next opponent, New Hampshire, moved to second nationally.

“To come out here and sweep BC was so huge for us, confidence-wise,” Aufiero said. “Now we’re chasing down UNH and Lowell, which are great teams, and I think it’s going to be a real good series this weekend. There’s going to be a lot of emotion, similar to the BC series.”