LOWELL – Somewhere inside Walter Brown Arena there is a panic button. And much like a nuclear missile launch, it requires two keys before it can be engaged. One of those keys, held by the scarlet-clad citizens of Terrier Nation, is in the ignition, just waiting to be clicked on. The other, and more important key, can be heard jingling loudly inside the pant pocket of Boston University hockey coach Jack Parker.
But even after barely scraping together one point in a weekend series with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the legendary leader is not ready to start that engine. At least not yet.
The Terriers (3-3-3, 2-3-2 Hockey East) had problems all weekend with the young and feisty River Hawks (5-4-3, 3-3-1), falling to a 3-1 loss at Walter Brown on Friday before salvaging a 3-3 tie the next night at Tsongas Arena. The one-point weekend puts the Terriers into a tie for sixth in the conference with Providence College, ahead of only Merrimack College and winless Northeastern University.
The Terriers’ trouble began in full force after Friday’s first intermission. With the score tied at 1-1, the Terriers offered what Parker would later call a ‘pathetic’ effort for 20 minutes of hockey that Parker said ‘might have been one of the worst periods we played all year.’ There were turnovers, missed passes, penalties and a near-own goal on what was supposed to be a simple defensive-zone pass. Oh yeah, there were also two River Hawk goals.
‘I don’t think there’s any question that after the first period we kinda had our way a little bit even though we gave up a goal,’ Parker said. ‘We played pretty well, and we wanted it to be easy in the second period. We were dying for it to be easy, and that’s the M.O. of a club that isn’t competing hard enough. You hope they lie down and die for us. It’s a 1-1 game, it wasn’t like it was 5-1.
‘We only got one Grade-A shot in the second period,’ Parker continued. ‘They got five Grade-A shots plus a goal, so it was a real [expletive deleted] performance by us in the second period.’
After a second-intermission pep talk that Parker said was ‘not to be discussed,’ the Terriers responded with an inspired effort in Friday’s final frame that did more in the morale department than it did on the scoreboard. While they were unable to put one past Lowell goalie Chris Davidson, the Terriers tested the River Hawk defense with numerous offensive rushes, including a sustained three-minute flurry that forced the Hawks to dirty their new red jerseys more than they had in the previous 40 minutes.
Though Davidson was impressive at times, Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald said the key to his team’s success was his players’ willingness to sacrifice their bodies and block shots during the late BU storm.
‘I think whenever you come to Walter Brown Arena and play a team with the great tradition of BU, it’s very easy to be inspired,’ MacDonald said. ‘Last year I thought we played extremely well against this team on three different occasions and didn’t quite get what we deserved. It’s arguable we got what we deserved tonight, but we’ll take the ‘W.”
When Parker was asked if he thought the second period made the difference in the game, the visibly frustrated coach offered up a nine-word answer that explained the game better than anyone else could.
‘If it was raining in here I’d be wet,’ he said.
‘It certainly would give us a chance if we played 60 minutes,’ he further explained.
The Terriers traveled north on Saturday armed with a need for revenge, not to mention some newfound respect for a squad carrying one senior, three juniors and 24 underclassmen. But when they boarded the bus outside Tsongas late Saturday night, the ‘Dogs had only a single point in the standings and a few bumps and bruises to show for their efforts.
After dressing sophomore E.J. Solimine for the first time in his career, Parker watched as fellow second-year forwards Brad Zancanaro (game misconduct) and Dave Van der Gulik (hip pointer) were lost for the night. Not to mention the fact that senior Kenny Magowan was visibly bothered by a hand injury suffered Friday night, and classmate Mark Mullen played through an illness that saw him hugging a bucket on the bench between shifts. The missing links up front spelled limited time for Solimine as Parker rotated three lines for the final two periods and the overtime.
Given the effort his team put up against a healthy group of River Hawks, Parker was pleased with the turnaround from Friday’s loss and seemed to think that some of his pregame discussions had taken hold among the players.
‘If we had played like that last night, we would have been the team getting three points instead of Lowell,’ Parker said on Saturday. ‘We just talked about the difference between playing offense and defense. You lose games because of mistakes you make defensively and you get a chance to go on offense if you play well defensively. Offense is fun to play and defense is just plain hard work. You can really tell what type of team you have by how well they play defensively.
‘In general,’ Parker added. ‘We were just talking about having the integrity and the character needed to win in this league.’
After losing Zancanaro for the night halfway through the first on a hitting from behind penalty, the Terriers were tested with a five-minute penalty kill. They responded even better than expected, not only thwarting numerous Lowell scoring chances, but creating some of their own and tallying a pretty shorthanded goal when junior Matt Radoslovich wristed home a shot over Davidson’s shoulder on a three-on-one rush.
But after Lowell forward Ben Walter scored his league-leading 11th goal with three minutes left in the first, the Terriers entered the intermission in the same situation as the night before – tied at one.
Unlike the night before, the Terriers decided to bring their game with them out of the locker room. River Hawk goals by Mark Pandolfo (yes, he’s their cousin) and the team’s lone senior, Jerramie Domish, were matched by BU junior Ryan Whitney and sophomore Dan Spang. The ensuing 3-3 tie would survive the final 25 minutes of play, even weathering a furious overtime flurry by the home team.
While the Terriers lick their wounds before embarking on a three-games-in-six-days stretch, the River Hawks are as confident as ever and may have earned something a little more important than three league points last weekend – respect.
‘Respect is something that other people determine,’ said MacDonald, who showed on numerous occasions during the press conference just how much he learned in his six years as an assistant to Parker at BU. ‘We’d like to control the controllables and our effort and how we play. And other people will determine how much respect we deserve.’
Listen closely and you may hear that respect growing around Hockey East. It’s almost as loud as those jingling keys in Parker’s pocket.
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