A steady stream of victories over the top tier of college hockey put the Boston University men’s hockey team atop the national polls for the first time since 2006 heading into this weekend. One embarrassing loss against the No. 20 University of Massachusetts-Amherst will keep them from maintaining the No. 1 ranking.
The Terriers (7-2-0, 4-2-0 Hockey East) traveled to Amherst Friday on a roll, having scored 20 goals in their previous three games. But the Minutemen (5-3-1, 3-2-1) capitalized on poor puck-handling and lackluster play from BU’s top skaters to take down the Terriers, 5-1, at the Mullins Center.
Every weekend is an adventure in Hockey East, and BU regained a bit of lost momentum with a 3-0 decision over No. 7 Northeastern University (7-2-2, 5-2-1) at Agganis Arena last night.
In a competitive conference like Hockey East, which currently has six teams in the nation’s Top 20, each weekend presents new challenges against quality opponents. Friday’s contest was the first example this season of the Terriers failing to meet one of those challenges with a full 60-minute effort.
Sharp play from UMass goaltender Paul Dainton and an energetic group of forwards made it 3-0 halfway through the second period, as the Terriers lost the drive that led to them becoming the No. 1 team in the country.
‘Once they made it 3-0 we didn’t stop competing, but we stopped thinking,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘We just wilted mentally. I don’t think we wilted physically. We kept working hard, we kept playing hard, but we just didn’t keep our poise.’
Two defensive miscues led to a pair of first-period goals for the Minutemen, playing in front of a motivated home crowd. UMass sophomore James Marcou stole the puck from sophomore Colby Cohen behind the Terrier net and set up senior Cory Quirk, who dragged it from post to post and put it past diving freshman goaltender Grant Rollheiser at 7:03.
Later in the period, a 2-on-2 developed for the Minutemen and miscommunication between the BU defensemen allowed senior Alex Berry to flip a soft backhand on net and past Rollheiser, who appeared to be screened on the play. A slap shot from the point by freshman Matt Irwin stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second.
By the time junior Zach Cohen registered his first goal of the season in the third period to make it 3-1, UMass was already in complete control. Senior Scott Crowder answered for the Minutemen just 1:06 later, and Berry added an empty-net goal to send BU home disappointed.
‘The way they played, they looked like they were the number one team in the nation,’ Parker said of the Minutemen. ‘We had four or five real key guys have their worst night of the year. A lot of that was because [UMass] didn’t have many guys that had off nights.’
If the Terriers were deflated by the loss against UMass, it certainly didn’t show when they picked apart Northeastern last night. Freshman goaltender Kieran Millan picked up his first career shutout in the 3-0 victory, and the defense clamped down to limit the Huskies to 18 shots, almost all from long range. The penalty kill sparked BU by not allowing a single shot during Northeastern’s four man-up chances.
Sophomore Nick Bonino and freshman Andrew Glass each slotted loose pucks past NU goalie Brad Thiessen, scoring less than two minutes apart in the second period to give the Terriers control. With Millan robbing the Huskies with his glove on multiple occasions to preserve the shutout, two goals were plenty.
By the time senior Chris Higgins took a pass from sophomore Colin Wilson and deposited it over Thiessen’s right shoulder in the third, the taunts between the teams’ rival cheering sections had become more competitive than the play on the ice. The disappointment of Friday’s loss was on the back burner as BU wrapped up its 11th straight win at Agganis Arena.
With defensive pressure leading to offensive chances throughout the game, Millan’s play in net was the key to victory.
‘Obviously it’s nice to see Kieran Millan get his first shutout. He played very well and made some big saves,’ Parker said. ‘It was too wide open and our guys got a little bit too rambunctious on the offensive end and left our goaltender out to dry a little bit, but he made a couple of huge saves for us on great looking transitions for Northeastern.’
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