School of Management student Mike Swofford, donning a Boston University hockey jersey, slid the puck from center-ice all the way through the six-inch gap at the bottom of a white board covering one of the goals during second intermission entertainment Friday night.
University of New Hampshire goalie Michael Ayers did not have any such gap. Again.
And so Brad Zancanaro picked his helmet up off the ice and slammed it against the boards. Gregg Johnson looked like he might tackle the linesman who was restraining him. Brian McConnell similarly had to be pinned against the glass by a zebra.
Frustration? That really doesn’t seem like a sufficient word to describe what the Terriers went through on Friday night at a gradually deflated and stunned Walter Brown Arena.
‘If you just say you’ve been shut out four times by the same team? Yeah, that’s very frustrating,’ said BU coach Jack Parker. ‘By the same goalie? Yeah, that’s very frustrating.’
What Ayers did authoritatively in front of a nationwide College Sports Television audience just does not happen. BU is one of the more reputable programs in the country the team has been ranked in the top 15 for the duration of the now infamous and unreal Streak.
But by now, every member of Terrier Nation already knows the harsh reality of The Streak. Everyone already knows about its inhuman numbers (254:24, 123 saves, four shutouts). Everybody saw Ayers impossibly kick Matt Radoslovich’s back-of-the-net-bound shot away while lying on his side with his skate well above his head. Everybody saw the Hingham, Mass. native made probably his second-best save of the game on a Kenny Roche wrister and its rebound without a stick. That rebound might have been the only one that a BU forward saw.
‘You never know with this kid out there,’ Radoslovich said, referring to his prime opportunity to beat Ayers. ‘That was a little bitter that I couldn’t put it away.’
‘That’s what he does,’ added grinning New Hampshire coach Dick Umile. ‘He can make good shots look easy, and when he has to make a spectacular save, that’s what he can do, and that’s why he’s an All-American.’
On Friday, The Streak went from inevitably ending in an arena and atmosphere in which Ayers admittedly hates to play, to a different level. If the Terriers had been firing M-16s at the Wildcat net, Michael Ayers would have simply, calmly gloved the bullets and tossed them aside.
‘I don’t know what it is,’ Ayers said, deflecting most of the credit to his teammates. ‘I grew up watching these guys, and I never had the opportunity to play here, so it just gave me motivation to play that well. I’ve been fortunate to get lucky at times, and I’m fortunate to have really good teammates so it helps out.’
By now, The Streak is ingrained in the minds of every player on both sides of the intense Hockey East rivalry. And that fact alone might be fueling its extension. BU players have to be wondering if it is even possible to score. New Hampshire players have to be much more confident and willing to take risks.
‘I’m sure it’s mental on them they feel pretty good about themselves,’ Parker said. ‘I’m sure it’s mental on us when we get good opportunities, we’re hitting his chest a lot. But one reason we’re hitting his chest a lot is he’s squared to the puck all the time. He does a great job at getting his body in front of shots.’
BU actually outplayed the Wildcats on Friday, at least in the first and third periods. The Terriers outshot the visitors, 34-26. Their passing was crisp, their forechecking solid. They moved the puck well on their nine power plays. They put last week’s shaky performance in Orono, Maine behind them.
They just couldn’t get on the scoreboard. You could make an argument that one man won this game.
But though Ayers set a tone of invincibility early, some said it wasn’t all him.
‘Michael Ayers is not doing that by himself,’ Parker said. ‘I don’t think UNH ever gets enough credit for how hard they play defensively … Ayers is getting a lot of credit, but they’re awful good in front of him.’
As Ayers entered the locker room after the game, shouts of ‘that was all you, Ayers’ could be heard from his teammates. Sounds like a pretty good partnership.
It wasn’t even just the win. After things were decided in the third period the Terriers were trailing 4-0 the home team shifted into a clearly desperate, ‘please just give us one goal’ mode. Ayers did not want to. He took pucks off the head, guided shots wide with his stick and held potential rebounds close to his chest like they were worth millions.
They would have been to BU.
‘I know that they were probably going all out right at the end there even though they were down by four,’ Ayers accurately said. ‘I know it’s frustrating, but when it’s on your side it’s always a good thing.’
With a fist pump and a look to the heavens at the buzzer, it was painfully clear to the Terriers that what Ayers had just finished off was special. BU fans could hardly taunt him by the end he had just earned too much respect. Some Section 8-ers even stood and applauded as he skated off.
That’s how far this thing has gone. Now it is a legend, and one that will last until at least March 4 the next time the teams battle. That weekend’s home-and-home series ends the regular season, with certain playoff implications at stake. The Terriers are going to have to score a goal.
‘When [March 4] comes around, it’s going to suck,’ Radoslovich said bluntly about the streak hanging over the Terriers’ heads well into 2004. ‘But right now we’re not going to think about it so much. We’re just going to work on trying to score goals.’
Oh, and by the way, just in case you wondered, the first three University of Maine shots Ayers faced Saturday night at the Whittemore Center found the back of the net.
Go figure.