The refs may have been rash with the whistle in Tuesday’s men’s hockey game, but they called the game both ways, and BU didn’t appear urgent to capitalize on its early power play opportunities.
With the game’s momentum floating aimlessly for the taking, players who are expected to step up and seize the moment didn’t, allowing man advantages on five of the first seven power plays to pass without serious threats on the goal.
‘It looked like we were nervous,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘It looked like we were like, ‘Oh boy, I wonder how good these guys are,’ and we didn’t look confident at all.’
Sluggish passing around the outside of an umbrella-shaped scheme, fragmented by sporadic pokes at the goal, was typical of BU’s first line: sophomore Chris Connolly, junior assistant captain Nick Bonino and sophomore Vinny Saponari paired with junior defensemen Colby Cohen and captain Kevin Shattenkirk.
Team leaders played hesitantly, making it nearly impossible to take control of a game.
‘Everything’s too slow, guys a little bit out of position, and everybody too slow with the puck,’ Parker said. ‘We didn’t read what they were doing sometimes, but sometimes we just held onto it until they got into a position where we couldn’t do anything with it.’
Even when the Terriers did attempt timely passes, sloppy puck-handling often prevented execution.
‘When we had chances to make passes, the puck was bouncing off our stick. We looked non-poised.’ Parker said. ‘We were inept on the power play, as far as moving the puck. 5-on-3 was like we never practiced.’
Chances down around the net were seldom, mostly because the Terriers’ were hardly ever able work the puck to the low slot, and Notre Dame’s stolid defensive corps ended nearly any rebound chance before it really started.
Parker did mention sophomore Andrew Glass, along with freshmen Wade Megan, Ryan Santana, Max Nicastro and Sean Escobedo as players who performed well.
Noticeably absent were the names of any experienced upperclassmen – big contributors from last year hardly warranted a word.
‘The first time I thought I saw a BU hockey team show up, we were down 2-0,’ Parker said. ‘It was a late effort, a very late effort, that’s for sure.’
By the time BU got its act together, it was too late, as Notre Dame got all the penalty calls down the stretch. The Terriers had missed their chance.
In the third period, BU had more energy on the power play, but couldn’t muster anything, finishing off a 0-for-8 performance on the advantage, compared to Notre Dame’s 1-for-6.
In their opening night loss to the University of Massachusetts, 3-2, players were accused of getting ‘too cute’ with elaborate passing patterns, rather than simplifying things with stuffs upon first open chance. Veterans were called out for turnovers in the neutral zone.
But the problems weren’t cured against Notre Dame ‘-‘- they simply took a different form.
‘It didn’t surprise me because I thought our last two practices, after losing a game, weren’t too good either,’ Parker said. ‘We weren’t all that jacked up yesterday, weren’t all that jacked up the day before.’
Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson saw hope for BU down the stretch.
‘I’m watching BU and seeing a little bit of ourselves out there,’ he said. ‘Our teams’ been a little out of sync offensively and I think that’s what I saw with them.’
But after comparing BU’s slow start to his own team’s lackluster first four games, he did recognize that his squad had played with more urgency.
‘I was hoping BU might get the best out of us in that regard,’ he said, ‘We were much more attentive and we battled a lot harder.’
Maybe the Terriers will be able to shake off the cobwebs against the No. 5/4 University of Michigan, like Notre Dame did at BU’s expense Tuesday night.
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