BU exposes Curry to open fire

AMHERST – John Curry may beg to differ, but 18 first-period shots isn’t a good thing.

Like most goalies, the Boston University men’s ice hockey team’s netminder loves to see the puck early in the game. It helps him get a feel for it, to get comfortable between the pipes.

So, when asked following his team’s 3-2 loss to the University of New Hampshire Friday about the Wildcats’ penchant for continually throwing the puck on net, Curry basically said the more the merrier.

“It’s almost easier to play in a game like that, especially when they’re throwing it from bad angles,” the junior said after making half of his 34 stops in the first frame, allowing a goal 6:41 into the period.

Someone must have relayed the message to the rest of the team because Saturday, the Terrier defense again laid down and allowed the UMass-Amherst shot total to also reach the voting age by the first intermission. Curry may have said it’s easier, but considering the results, his teammates may have been hoping for the same kind of easy goings.

After sleep-walking through the opening 20 minutes of each game, the Terriers continually dug themselves a hole too deep to get out of it in a pair of demoralizing losses. Looking highly uninterested in both opening periods, the Terriers found themselves getting beat to the puck, to their spots and, as a result, on the scoreboard by the second frame.

Saturday, the Terriers didn’t even record their first shot until seven minutes in. By that time, the Minutemen already had nine – and a one-goal lead.

“It was a real good performance by John Curry,” BU coach Jack Parker said following the 4-2 loss to UMass. “And then the rest of the players that were out there on my club gave us absolutely nothing.”

But the numbers – 36 first-period shots, three goals, eight penalty minutes – is where the problems only begin. Prior to the weekend, even if the Terriers didn’t jump out to a quick lead (as it did with two first-period goals on two occasions), they would limit chances in their own end to keep the game in reach early-on.

Their inability to muster up some intensity this weekend is even more confusing considering their performance a week prior, when they scored two goals in the first and a third early in the second period against the University of Vermont and then matched the University of Maine blow-for-blow despite being down 1-0 early.

This past weekend, however, the Terriers not only had trouble finding inspired skaters but answers for their problems. Friday, the buzz-word was “jumpy,” but the reason for the slow start had less spring.

“It might have been being too excited to play,” Curry said.

“I think we gave [UNH] a little too much credit,” senior John Laliberte countered.

Then, on Saturday, even the theories didn’t make the trip to the Mullins Center. Before stepping onto the team bus following the loss, a visibly strained Brad Zancanaro rubbed his hand across his chin as he searched in vain for a solution.

“I wish I knew,” the captain lamented. “I wish I could tell you exactly.”

Parker was just as devoid of answers, but slightly more vocal.

“I have no explanation for that [first period] other than they hoped UMass was going to lie down and die and that UMass is as bad as their record is,” he said. “They’re hoping that they wouldn’t have to work because that’s how they played. That may not be the explanation but that’s the only one I can come up with.”

Either way, the Terriers came up with little else other than a pointless weekend that (not surprisingly) has them searching for answers. They just better hope they’re not once again searching for them in Curry’s glove.