Icedogs tucked by Friars, earn lone point

The playoff picture has been wiped slightly clearer, and yet the future seems as hazy as ever for the Boston University hockey team.

After earning just one point in a home-and-home dogfight with Providence College, BU knows this: for the fourth time in five seasons, the Terriers and Friars will meet in the first round of the Hockey East tournament.

But little else was decided this weekend, and now the Icedogs face more uncertainties than they did entering the weekend set that was supposed to decide the league’s final playoff host team.

There are plenty of questions, but very few answers with just two games to go in the regular season: How will the Terriers, recently skating with the stability of a six-game winning streak, recover from its late-season stumble?

How will the Terriers handle the daunting task of playing a pair of games in the Black Bear’s den at the University of Maine, most likely needing to take at least three points to earn another home game at Walter Brown Arena?

How will the Terriers compete without their captain, Freddy Meyer, who separated his shoulder Saturday night and is out indefinitely?

And then there is the Great Unknown — how will the Terriers fit into the NCAA tournament field after nearly being swept by a conference rival that is currently on the Big Dance bubble?

These are questions to be answered within the coming weeks, but their mere existence is frustration enough for BU.

“We’re definitely disappointed,” said junior center Mark Mullen after Saturday’s 3-3 tie that turned out only slightly better for BU than a 5-4 overtime loss the night before. “We wanted to come in this weekend and get four points and we only ended up getting one, so it’s definitely disappointing.”

By taking three points from BU, the Friars pulled themselves into a fourth-place tie with the Terriers with the regular season reduced to one week. Providence, with a 2-0-1 mark head-to-head, owns the tie-breaker over BU and plays the University of Massachusetts at Lowell on Friday night.

The River Hawks are the current dwellers of the Hockey East cellar, meaning the red-hot (5-0-1 in their last six games) Friars will be favored in their finale. The Terriers do hold a game-in-hand on the Friars – albeit in Orono, against Maine — but a Providence win would force the Icedogs to take go unbeaten this weekend in order to avoid a trip to Rhode Island a week later.

“It wasn’t essential,” said BU coach Jack Parker, “but it would have made it a lot easier to get two out of the four points. If we’d got two out of the four, we’d be two points up.”

Instead, the Terriers are dead even with the Friars, but that should come as no surprise for the two teams, who played overtime in all three regular season meetings. Sophomore Brian McConnell forced the extra session in each of this weekend’s games, scoring with 9:56 to play Saturday to tie the game at three.

The equalizer came on a deflection, as McConnell set up in the slot with the Terriers on the power play. BU patiently slung the puck around the perimeter, several times seemingly passing on opportunities to shoot, but eventually it paid off as defenseman Ryan Whitney fed Frantisek Skladany at the left faceoff dot. The junior wing then wasted no time in sending a quick pass to McConnell, who redirected it past goalie Nolan Schaefer’s glove.

BU fell behind in the first period when Providence’s Torry Gajda ripped a backhander past Sean Fields, but Mullen brought the Icedogs back. He was in the slot for this power play chance set up by Skladany, and wristed a soft, but well-placed, shot past Schaefer’s left skate.

“It was a great pass from Faro and the goalie didn’t even see it,” Mullen said. “Brian McConnell had a great screen and the goalie never saw it.”

The goal was Mullen’s 10th of the year, an impressive feat for the Dorchester native who has built a reputation as one of Hockey East’s top defensive forwards. He validated that opinion, and gained the conference lead in shorthanded goals when he gave BU a 3-2 lead barely five minutes into the middle frame, anticipating and stealing a point-to-point pass near the blue line before walking in alone and Schaefer and picking his spot and lifting the puck past the pads and glove.

Momentum was never a safe commodity this weekend, however, and the Friars answered just 26 seconds after BU took its first lead of the weekend. Friday hero Jon DiSalvatore timed his cut perfectly and burst in front of Fields just in time to tip a Devin Rask shot past the junior netminder just before it reached the crease.

Five minutes later, it was technically Mike Lucci who gave the Friars a 3-2 lead, although it was Terriers’ sophomore David Klema who touched the puck last. Lucci was slashing through the slot but a pass sent his way did nothing but skip of his stick. It was headed wide, but found the skates of Klema, a step behind his mark on the play, who inadvertently kicked it past Fields.

Providence took a 3-2 lead, and Parker took the opportunity to teach. When Klema arrived back at the bench, the veteran coach headed straight down the runway leading to the Terriers’ locker room, with the sophomore center in tow.

That set the stage for McConnell, who avenged an earlier blown breakaway by scoring his 10th of the season. It was one of several narrow misses for BU, which again pelted Schaefer with at least 30 shots but came away without a win.

“Obviously outshooting Providence doesn’t get wins for us,” Parker said, whose team has now tried 111 shots on Schaefer this season and scored just eight goals.

“The shot chart is pretty demoralizing,” Parker added, pointing to the nine third-period chances BU had from between the faceoff circles and below the dots. “When you have this many opportunities compared to theirs in Grade A … We were trying to get it down low.

“What we missed was about three or four opportunities on wraparounds coming out from behind the net. We should’ve waited a little bit longer before we shot the puck. McConnell, [Justin] Maiser, [Kenny] Magowan and Skladany all had great opportunities coming out and beating their guy from behind the net. They either shot it wide or shot it too early.”

Those are the plays BU needs to begin making if it is to be successful, Parker said. On the weekend the Terriers outshot the Friars, 67-40, but scored one fewer goal.

Friday night the Icedogs allowed only 16 shots for the entire game, but lost, 5-4. They trailed 4-1 with 7:03 to play before mounting a gigantic rally that culminated in a game-tier with 1:24 left by – who else, McConnell – after freshmen John Laliberte and Brad Zancanaro got BU within striking distance with third-period scores.

The Terriers carried the momentum to overtime and were awarded a power play when Devin Rask was whistled for cross-checking with 2:19 remaining in the extra session. It did no good for BU, however, as DiSalvatore took a pass from Doug Weight and walked in essentially alone on Fields and ended the game 45 seconds short of a draw.

Friday’s win put the Friars in the driver’s seat for home advantage, while the Terriers may well be boarding the bus. If home ice can be rescued in Maine this weekend, however, all will be forgotten, Parker said.

“If we’d lost all three games and got home ice, [losing three to Providence] wouldn’t bother me,” said the coach. “This point [Saturday] made it easier for them to get home ice against us. These were three tough games. Nobody’s going to think, ‘Well, we’ve got a lot of confidence against that club.’ But nobody’s going to think, ‘Oh [darn], we can’t beat that club,’ either.”

“Well, we’ll take a point tonight,” Providence coach Paul Pooley said Saturday, flashing a satisfied smile.

BU’s attention now turns to Maine, which split a series with Massachusetts this weekend. Winning at Alfond Arena is a difficult proposition, although the Black Bears’ 28-game unbeaten streak there was broken earlier this month as they’ve slid from the top of the league standings.

“We’ve just got to look forward to this weekend,” Mullen said. “It’s going to be great hockey. Maine’s a great team. We’ve had great battles with them, and they have a great building to play in. The fans are unbelievable. We’ve really just got to stay upbeat and look forward to this weekend and try to get a couple points up there.”

Two points may not be enough for home ice, but it would most likely go a long way toward ensuring an NCAA Tournament berth for the Icedogs. A pair of losses at Maine, followed by a tough series at Providence, could put BU before the selection committee with a record as bad as five losses in the season’s final six games.

The University of New Hampshire, Boston College and Maine are virtual locks for the tournament, with BU and Providence potentially deciding which will be the fourth – and maybe even fifth – Hockey East team to qualify.

“They’ve got two or three real good scorers. A lot of teams don’t have that,” Parker said of his first-round opponents. “They’re like BC in that they put the fear of God in you with Rask, [Peter] Fregoe and DiSalvatore.”