INSIDE HOCKEY: Defense the reason for crisis aversion

Hockey defense, like a haircut, is most visible when it’s bad.

Good defense is pretty, well, boring. It’s the stuff that makes coaches and fervent fans turn cartwheels, but it’s also the stuff that makes the average fan trade his ticket for a trip to the local expert on the feeding habits of nocturnal insects.

And in the first half of the 2006-07 season, the Boston University hockey team’s defense has been pretty boring. In doing so, it’s saved the Terriers from almost certain crisis, keeping opponents to 1.86 goals per game – second in Hockey East.

The unit, as deep as any the Terriers have had over the past half-decade with a goalie as good as the program’s ever had, has done everything it’s needed to do to prop BU up to fourth in Hockey East heading into winter break.

Of course, goalie John Curry hasn’t been boring. Far from it.

Curry’s performance has been the best of his career, and few goalies in Hockey East or the nation have meant so much to their team.

He’s allowed the offense to develop, patiently deflecting nearly every advance toward goal. But his numbers – a .929 save percentage and 1.87 goals-against average, usually a good baseline assessment for goaltenders – barely hint at the credit he’s due.

“I don’t think there’s any question we wouldn’t be where we are without him,” said coach Jack parker. “He’s stolen games for us, he’s kept us in games when we were back on our heels a little bit or getting outplayed. He’s been terrific first semester, really stood tall for us, but we also talked about it in the locker room.

“There are two constants, we’ve been getting great goaltending and we’ve played really hard defensively including penalty killing,” he continued.

The Icedogs’ record – 6-3-5 – speaks of a team that’s had to cherish every point. Never mind the five ties. Of the six wins, four have come by just one goal. That means that the slightest wrong step or flick of the stick or late reaction could have sunk the Terriers into the muck of mediocrity.

But, instead, the defense hasn’t faltered. While the offense has scored only 32 goals in 14 first-half games (2.29 per game), the D’s permitted it.

“We’ve been real fortunate,” Kenny Roche said. “We know we’re gonna win games defense-first, there’s no question we’ve been snakebitten, with no puck luck. We know that if we keep playing strong defensively, eventually we’ll get goals.”

In an especially fruitless stretch of six games running from the 4-4 tie with New Hampshire on Nov. 10 to the win Friday, the offense didn’t score more than two goals in any of the games.

It went like this: 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 0.

But the defense countered, allowing more than one goal only once in that stretch, and it went like this: 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1.

On Saturday, in the wake of the events of last week, the defense rose up. And it wasn’t boring, but inspired – and inspiring. Without senior Kevin Schaeffer and captain Sean Sullivan, the most consistent rock in the corps, the group didn’t fall a step out of stride.

BU’s got eight players more than capable of stapling their opponents to the wall or depositing them back into their bench, in addition to keeping the scoreboard clean.

The first pairing consisted of Tom Morrow and Eric Gryba, neither of whom was projected to sniff such a high position at the start of the year.

Morrow’s gone from a 6-foot-7-inch question mark for three years into an exclamation point, using his speed and extreme length to get leverage on defense and add an offensive dimension. Gryba and fellow freshman Brian Strait have shown their youth at times, but have improved into steady forces.

Kevin Kielt, who’s seen most of his action in recent games, finally shared the ice with Dan McGoff for the first time.

“He’s played well,” Parker said of Kielt. “He played a lot his freshman year. Matt [Gilroy] kinda beat him out last year. But we know he can play and give us a physical presence.”

Gilroy made his return to the blue line, where he played last year, after jumping up to forward to replace an injured Brandon Yip. Gilroy, maybe the team’s most valuable player besides Curry in the first half, has been nothing short of great in his roles.

With the return of Sullivan in the second half – it’s not clear yet when or if Schaeffer will be back this year – the unit should only continue to improve. And if the offense, which has seen Bryan Ewing, Jason Lawrence and Yip (33 goals last year) score only two goals in the first half, finds a spark, the Terriers could enjoy another march toward late March.

“If you told me that those three guys were gonna have a total of two goals the first semester, I would have told you we’re gonna be in bad shape,” Parker said. “We’re not in bad shape because of other guys picking it up, good team defense.

“And, as my grandson would say,” he continued, “John-ny Cur-ry.”