This time, the crash never came.
Once again revved up and ready to roll from the opening faceoff, the Boston University hockey team capitalized on its first-period chances, scoring twice in the opening eight minutes and cruising into Monday’s Beanpot Tournament with last night’s 5-0 win over Merrimack College at Walter Brown Arena.
‘That was a very thorough game for us,’ said BU coach Jack Parker. ‘From staying out of the [penalty] box, to taking advantage of the power play, to doing a good job killing penalties, coming out of our zone pretty well and, most importantly, getting some goals.’
None of those scores were as important as senior forward John Sabo’s tally just 3:03 into the game. Per usual, the Icedogs were dominant in the early going, but this time, they finished the first stanza with a 2-0 lead to show for it, outshooting the Warriors, 16-8, and giving themselves a 54-21 shot-advantage through the first periods of the last three games.
For those totals, including last night’s pair, the Terriers have only three goals to show for their efforts.
‘We looked like we had a lot of jump in our legs,’ Parker said. ‘The puck went in the net for us [last night], and we kept after them.’
After Sabo knocked in a rebound chance, BU went quickly for the kill, temporarily denied by Merrimack senior goalie Joe Exter’s spectacular sprawling save on junior wing Kenny Magowan, before making it a 2-0 advantage on Ryan Whitney’s second goal of the season at with 12:32 to go in the first.
Whitney fed a steaming Sabo as the winger sped into the offensive zone before setting up Brian Collins for a chance in the slot. The senior center was denied by Exter, but Whitney pinched on the play and chipped home the loose puck.
‘Sabo gave a nice pass to Collins and I figured I might as well go in, in case there was a rebound, and luckily it came right to me,’ Whitney said.
The BU offense continued to pound Exter throughout the first period, registering a shot a minute through the game’s first 15, but the Warriors limited the Icedogs to just one shot in the final five minutes of the opening frame, and the senior goalie kept his team in the game before Magowan swung the momentum in BU’s favor with 8:29 to play in the second.
Merrimack had tried to dump the puck into the BU zone, but instead the clearing try hit a loose stick near the blue line and bounced directly to Whitney.
‘It was kind of like a broken play in the zone and I’m lucky the puck came to me,’ Whitney said. ‘I saw Magowan crossing the blue line and it was good finishing.’
The finish came thanks to a change in strategy for Magowan, who walked in alone before tucking a forehander between post and pad. Earlier, Exter denied the junior forward on two similar one-on-none chances when Magowan tried beating him on the backhand.
If Magowan’s goal was the dagger, Dave Klema twisted the knife with 11:28 to go. After his first cross-crease pass was batted back at him, freshman defenseman Jekabs Redlihs sent a bouncing pass to Klema, who whacked the puck out of the air and past Exter, giving BU a 4-0 lead.
Merrimack coach Chris Serino pulled Exter (28 saves) two minutes later, allowing sophomore Casey Guenther to surrender BU’s fifth goal, which came when Collins banged home the rebound of David VanderGulik’s one-timer set up by Bryan Miller.
‘Since we lost to UMass in December, then turned around and started the streak by beating UMass back here, we’ve played about 13 real solid games in a row,’ said Parker of his team, which has won eight of 12 since Dec. 7. ‘We been getting really better and better and better. We’ve kind of established who we are and what kind of style we want to play. And we’ve solved our problems are far as power plays and penalty kills are concerned.’
Last night, for the first time in a long time, the penalty kill was not an issue for BU. The Hockey East leaders in penalty minutes committed just three penalties, giving Merrimack only three power play chances.
‘[Parker] addressed that, sitting [Justin] Maiser and [Brian] McConnell,’ Whitney said of BU’s recent penalty problems. ‘It was something that had to be done with the stupid penalties we were taking, and we did a good job tonight not taking any penalties that weren’t necessary.’
Parker said Maiser, the reigning Beanpot Most Valuable Player, will be in the lineup Monday night against Harvard University, while McConnell will sit another night.
Last night’s shutout was the fifth of Fields’s career. Three of those have come against Merrimack, but this was the first of his shutouts in which Fields was not recognized among the game’s three best players.
‘When a goalie gets a shutout and doesn’t even get a star, you know the team played real well,’ he said after making 24 saves.
‘They’ve been playing well,’ Serino added. ‘I saw both games on tape with [the University of New Hampshire] and I thought they played fabulous against UNH, but they couldn’t put the puck in the net. They got some bad breaks.
‘I thought they played just as well tonight. They’re playing good right now.’
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