BU vs. UNH In Battle Of Top Teams

Now that the Boston University hockey team has won its season series against Boston College, things should get a little bit easier, right?

Only if facing the No. 2 team in the nation, a University of New Hampshire team that has gone 13-2 in its last 15 games, can be considered a reprieve.

The Icedogs travel to Durham, N.H., tonight, to take on the Wildcats — who also lead Hockey East by two points over the Terriers — in the first game of a Friday-Sunday home-and-home series.

Most forward in BU’s tasks is to find some way to slow down — or even stop, if they can — New Hampshire captain Darren Haydar, who has 40 points in the aforementioned dominant 15 game stretch for the Wildcats.

“I don’t want to jinx us or anything, but we’ve seemed to be pretty good in the past with the big guys on the other teams,” said BU senior co-captain Chris Dyment. “With Haydar, we’ve always been pretty good at containing him. It’s tough up there because it’s such a big rink, and he’s such a smart player. We’ve been doing good so far, hopefully we’ll keep it up.”

But Haydar — the leading scorer in Division I with 22 goals and 31 assists — does not pose the only problem among New Hampshire forwards. Junior Colin Hemingway is ranked fourth in the country with 17 goals and 24 assists, while freshman Sean Collins has 33 points, to round out an incredibly effective first line for the Wildcats.

“We’re playing a team right now with the best offense — definitely in our league, if not the country — so we’ve really got to key in on some of their bigger guys up front,” Dyment said.

In addition to an explosive offense, New Hampshire boasts an excellent defense. Goaltenders Matt Carney and Michael Ayers have combined to effectively fill the skates of the departed Ty Conklin, and the Wildcats are second in Hockey East with 2.52 goals-against per game, while the Icedogs are third, giving up 2.62 goals per contest.

BU is coming off perhaps its most impressive defensive weekend of the season, allowing only two goals to BC. Sophomore goaltender Sean Fields was deservedly named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week after giving up those two tallies while facing 59 shots.

Fields was not the only player to shine, however. Dyment played well in both games, while in the second game especially, the defensive pairing of junior Freddy Meyer and senior Pat Aufiero put forth a dominating performance.

Dyment knows what the team will have to do if they hope to repeat that success against the best.

“Really focusing on our team defense is a big part of this weekend,” Dyment said. “Hopefully if we do that and do well on the power plays, we’ll be ok.”

Indeed, the power-play was the one area BU coach Jack Parker cited following the Sunday win as being deficient, and according to players, that is an area in which they expect to perform at a higher level against a very good New Hampshire team.

“The only thing coach talked about improving is the power play,” junior center Brian Collins said. “We’ve just got to perform a lot better.”

And according to Dyment, there is a simple answer for the man-advantage questions.

“Just really focus on getting more shots on net,” Dyment said. “We’ve kind of drifted away from that a little bit. We’re trying to get too fancy out there. What it really comes down to is shooting the puck at the net and letting the forwards do the job outnumbering the defense in front of the net.”

The foremost forward who should be staying in front of the net is senior co-captain Mike Pandolfo. Pandolfo has been a model of consistency this season, leading the team with 24 points (15 goals and nine assists), and bringing along two freshman — center Brian McConnell and right wing Justin Maiser — who he has helped improve throughout their rookie seasons.

Another huge factor in tonight’s contest is the Olympic-sized ice surface at the Whittemore Center. It is much larger than the standard surface, which allows speedy, skilled players to have more open ice to create on. While this is a huge advantage for the small but shifty Haydar, it will also be something BU’s players can use.

The second line of senior wing Jack Baker and juniors Collins and John Sabo should be able to use their speed, and especially in Collins’ case, great open-ice moves just as well as New Hampshire’s. Add to that the third line of sophomores — Gregg Johnson, Frantisek Skladany and Kenny Magowan — and BU is not fearing the big surface at all.

“We have a lot of good skaters on the team,” Dyment said. “Me personally, I’ve enjoyed playing there the last four years. It’s a lot different than any other rink. It opens the game up so much.

“It’s a totally different game. You have to be careful when you’re playing defense. You’ve got to be careful when you’re stepping up. You can’t let guys get behind you, you always have to be aware of the other team when you’re playing there.”

But the Terriers also feel they may have a better chance of keeping Haydar in check once the series returns to Walter Brown on Sunday at 7 p.m.

“With Haydar, we’ve got to bump him around a bit,” Collins said. “Once we get him at home, with the smaller ice surface, that will be a lot easier.”

While there will be many smaller individual battles on any size of ice this weekend, the most important battle will actually be waged with numbers. With 18 points, the Icedogs stand only two points behind the first-place Wildcats, and while a split would result in no change, if BU can win one game and at least tie the other, it will lead New Hampshire in the league by one point. This is no small feat in Hockey East, and Dyment is aware of this fact.

“It’s a huge game standings-wise,” Dyment said. “We got our momentum going last weekend beating BC twice, so we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now. It’s the time of the year when you have to start playing good, getting ready for the postseason. Being first place in the league is quite an accomplishment with the teams we got in the league right now.”