When the Boston University hockey team took the ice at 12 a.m. back on Sept. 28, there were lots of questions hanging from the rafters inside Walter Brown Arena.
Where would the goals come from? Was the defense too young and inexperienced? Would the power play and penalty kill improve? And what about keeping up with seemingly unstoppable Boston College?
With all of those problems swirling inside his head, BU coach Jack Parker always knew there was at least one place on the ice he could look to and not worry about chewing his fingernails off: between the pipes.
“We expect him to be the Sean Fields of usual,” Parker said in a preseason interview with The Daily Free Press. “Every year he’s gotten much better as the season progressed, in every season he ended up being one of the best goalies in the league.”
Parker also added that, in his opinion, Fields was right up there with the University of New Hampshire’s Michael Ayers in any discussion of Hockey East’s top goaltenders. The BU athletic department even printed up glossy inserts for the team media guide touting Fields as an All-American and Hobey Baker candidate. And given Fields’ track record in 2002-03, there weren’t many people lining up to argue about it.
But nearly three and a half months later, the doubters have found a voice and Parker is faced with a situation no one ever expected.
The Terriers may very well have a full-blown goalie controversy.
While Fields’ 3.00 goals against average and .892 save percentage are not overwhelmingly disappointing, some of the goals he has allowed recently have been. Other than a 46-save, highlight reel-worthy performance in an otherwise dreadful BU showing against BC, Fields has not consistently heard the amazed gasps that filled just about every arena he saw during the second half of last season.
On the other side of the coin, sophomore backup Stephan Siwiec has seen 78 more minutes of ice time so far this year than he did all of last season, and he’s used those minutes to prove to Terrier Nation that he can do more than just open the door to the bench. In three starts against Merrimack College, Dartmouth College and the University of Minnesota – and one relief appearance against Northeastern University – Siwiec has made 104 saves, compared with just 47 in three games last season.
While Fields has been up and down all season, the situation came to a head early in the second period of Friday’s overtime win over Northeastern. After making six saves on six shots in the first period, Fields was caught mildly out of position on the first shot of the second period, allowing the Huskies to cut the BU lead to 2-1. Just minutes later, Fields found himself out of position again, and the game was tied at two. And at the 8:59 mark, Fields could only watch as Northeastern’s Trevor Reschny put the Huskies on top with what was easily the softest goal of the night.
Just like that, Northeastern was up 3-2 and Fields was on the bench after allowing three goals on four second period shots. To make the situation better (or worse), Siwiec came in to make 14 saves on 14 shots in 32 minutes, keeping the door open for Bryan Miller’s overtime game-winner and a huge Terrier win.
“I thought Siwiec played terrific when he came in,” Parker said after the game. “He just calmed everything down. He never was out of position, he just looked real confident, so that really helped us out too.”
“[Siwiec]’s doing something right,” Miller said. “It’s good for the team when you can have confidence when your starter gets pulled and your backup goes in there and doesn’t let up any goals, that’s pretty good for us. I don’t know what goes on in goalies’ heads, but they’re doing the right thing right now.”
As for Fields?
“I think he’s pressing,” Parker said. “I think he’s worried about being better than he has to be for us because we haven’t been scoring too many goals. And he’s out of sync a little bit now. But he played well against Minnesota, he played well against BC the last time we played BC, he had been back getting where we wanted him to be, but tonight I think he dropped off a little bit. It was nice to get him out of there, and pull him out and get ready for BC.”
Ahh, BC. Those two letters that make any BU fan cringe, at least any that were “lucky enough” to witness last month’s 5-2 shellacking at Conte Forum.
While Parker did not give a definitive answer as to who will strap on the pads for this weekend’s pair of games against BC, he seemed very pleased about Siwiec’s performance Friday night. Pleased enough to leave the door open for the weekend.
“We might see him next weekend,” Parker said. “We’ll see him again soon.”
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