Icedogs take one-goal show from Fleet to Lawler

NORTH ANDOVER – “Frustration” is a very strong word. But somehow, it just doesn’t seem to work in this situation.

For Boston University hockey teams of the past, “frustration” would have been a bad loss or a near-perfect night from an opposing goaltender. But for this team, it just doesn’t seem to carry enough weight.

Just three nights after watching their beloved Beanpot travel west to Boston College, the Terriers (8-13-6, 4-11-2 Hockey East) dropped yet another “frustrating” game, falling by the score of 3-1 at Merrimack College.

The Warriors (10-16-4, 5-11-3) were outshot 34-18 – including only taking one shot in the third period (which they scored on) – yet they were still able to pull out a victory to give themselves a four-point lead over the eighth-place Terriers and twist the knife even deeper into the dying corpse that is the BU season.

For the sixth time in the last 11 games, BU could only muster one goal. Whether it be the cavernous confines of the FleetCenter or the somewhat smaller stage of Merrimack’s J. Thom Lawler Arena, the Terriers have one simple problem right now: They can’t put the puck in the net.

“This is getting to be Groundhog Day,” said visibly frustrated BU coach Jack Parker. “One goal again. [Thirty-four] shots to [18] this time. We can get outshot and get one goal, we can outshoot the other team and get one goal. We had 83 attempts the other night against Providence and we get no goals. Any questions?”

Unfortunately for BU, the questions that seeped out from under that low ceiling in North Andover were the same as they have been trying to answer all season.

After a scoreless first period, the Warriors got on the board a little over six minutes into the second after a failed Terrier clearing attempt when Brent Gough received a perfect pass from Steve Crusco just outside the crease and beat senior goalie Sean Fields high to the glove side.

The Terriers lit the lamp five minutes later when a pass in front from senior Frantisek Skladany bounced off a foot and somehow got behind Merrimack goalie Jim Healey. The goal was officially credited to senior Gregg Johnson, but none of that would matter after Merrimack defenseman Rob LaLonde made a very un-defenseman-like move to get around a defender before snapping a wrister over Fields’s outstretched glove.

Another LaLonde goal late in the third put the game away and gave that knife one last twist for good measure.

“We made some plays tonight, we got some chances,” Parker said. “We just didn’t put it behind him.

“We had [34] shots – they weren’t all on the periphery,” Parker added. “The fact is, we’re making every goalie look like Ken Dryden. That kid played well tonight – we made him look good, too.”

That kid did look good, just like most of the goalies who have stood between the pipes against the Terriers this season. There’s a laundry list of netminders – both average and way above average – that have stymied the Terriers this season: Ayers, Davidson, Yancey, Kaltiainen, Goepfert and now Healey.

And when you’re missing three players to injury who have totaled 16 goals and 40 points (Kenny Magowan, David Klema and John Laliberte), it’s even tougher to break what has been a scoring slump that may just redefine the words.

“There’s no question we could use all three of those guys. But when they were in the lineup, we weren’t scoring a lot of goals either,” Parker said. “They add depth and they add size – all three of them are pretty big kids, too. We got to be a real small team out there tonight when those three are out of the lineup.

“There’s no question that it’s just been so long for some of these guys to get goals that they just are talking to themselves,” the coach added. “And they’re squeezing their sticks pretty tight.”

Merrimack coach Chris Serino agreed with Parker about the Terriers’ recent woes.

“When you’re not scoring, you tend to pull the trigger a little faster than normal, you press a little bit. I thought they made some nice plays with the puck, I thought their forwards did a real good job down low of controlling the puck,” Serino said. “It’s at a point right now where they’re just not finishing.

“The old adage is ‘Nobody’s really as good as they think they are and nobody’s really as bad as they think they are,'” he added. “So, they’ll start scoring.”

But while the ‘Dogs worry about the lack of oxygen fueling their offense, they also must keep an eye on the standings.

While the Terriers should be worried about the teams in front of them in the standings – including the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (two points up), Merrimack (four points up) and Providence College (five points up) – they should start looking in the rear view mirror for that pesky little Husky gaining on them.

Yes, that’s right – the Terriers enter the final seven games of the season in an unusual situation, sitting just two points ahead of Northeastern University, which currently is paying rent in the basement of the Hockey East standings. There is a very real possibility that BU will not make the playoffs.

Yup, you read that right.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get to the playoffs. Right now we’re fighting to stay out of last place, I understand that,” Parker said. “But I don’t think they’re saying to themselves ‘I gotta score because the season’s getting shorter.’ They’re saying they’ve gotta score because they haven’t scored in a month.”

The Terriers continue the stretch run with a not-so-loving Valentine’s Day game at Providence Saturday night before home-and-home series with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Northeastern and the University of New Hampshire to end the season. BU has never missed the conference tournament.

But unless they turn things around – and that begins tomorrow at Schneider Arena – the usually front-running Terriers may very well be watching from the sidelines a lot earlier than they’re used to.