One night after fatigue and turnovers plagued the Boston University men’s hockey team in a 4-2 loss, the Terriers rebounded to force a 3-3 tie Saturday against the University of New Hampshire at Agganis Arena.
‘The difference between last night’s game and tonight’s game was night and day for both teams,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘I think we needed the win more than they did, so they’re probably happy to get three points on the weekend. And we only get one, so that really hurts us. That was the only negative thing about the game for me.’
The Terriers (3-7-1, 2-6-1 Hockey East) outshot UNH (4-6-3, 4-2-2), 37-30, and forced the tie after sophomore Corey Trivino netted the equalizer at 11:52 of the third period.
Working on just their second power-play chance of the game, the Terriers converted after junior defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk took in a pass from senior Zach Cohen at the right point. Shattenkirk readied and cocked to shoot, then slid a slap pass to a driving Trivino in the right slot. Trivino deflected the pass to his stick with his skate, then burned sliding UNH goalie Brian Foster low on the glove side.
The goal was Trivino’s second of the season, with the first coming last weekend against Merrimack College.
Trivino, who tallied six goals and seven assists as a freshman, has centered BU’s scoring line for most of this season. Along with linemate and classmate Vinny Saponari, who scored BU’s second goal Saturday, Trivino’s production has steadily improved in recent games in the eyes of his coach.
‘I think they’re both playing much harder than they were earlier in the year,’ Parker said. ‘With Trivino, I think he’s got to just grow and realize that he’s a good player. He has to gain a little confidence, but he certainly helped us out tonight. That’s a nice goal, and he played well.
‘With Vinny, it’s just you have to skate harder. Vinny’s got a lot of confidence, but he’s got to move his feet more, and he’s doing that now.’
BU’s other goal came from its top scoring line of senior Nick Bonino, freshman Alex Chiasson and sophomore David Warsofsky, who was making his first collegiate start at forward.
The Bonino unit dominated the final half of the first period, accounting for six of BU’s 12 first-period shots and generating four grade-A scoring chances below the faceoff dots.
‘I thought we were playing well,’ Warsofsky said. ‘We had a lot of chances down low. We just couldn’t bury it ‘-‘- kind of how our season’s been going. We haven’t been getting those bounces.’
Finally, at 14:56 of the first, the top line broke through with a goal when Chiasson took in a pass from Bonino and drove through the left wing to the UNH goal line. The freshman dropped a pass to a trailing Warsofsky, who one-timed a rising slapper over Foster’s right shoulder and into the cage to tie the game at one.
BU took the lead on Saponari’s goal at 16:56 of the second period before allowing back-to-back goals to UNH juniors Phil DeSimone and Paul Thompson ‘-‘- Thompson also tallied the Wildcats’ first goal ‘-‘- in the third period. UNH kept the lead for 5:43, until Trivino netted the equalizer just more than midway through the third stanza.
The tie leaves BU in ninth place out of 10 Hockey East teams with five points in nine conference games. Though their 3-7-1 record might be disappointing for a team coming off a national championship campaign, it’s an accurate description of a team that has yet to find a consistent stride.
‘We’ve played two 60-minute competitive games this year, and how many have we played overall? 11?’ Parker said. ‘I think that you get what you deserve. I think our record is indicative of who we are at this point. I don’t think we’ve played a lot of good games and dominated opponents and didn’t get a ‘W’, or our goalie stunk and we didn’t get a ‘W.’
‘I think that there were many nights when guys just didn’t show up and we didn’t play hard enough.’
At this point, it’s just a matter of riding out the storm and waiting for the team to find more fortuitous final results, according to Warsofsky.
‘We’re trying to stay positive,’ the sophomore said. ‘We’re not getting blown out of games. It’s just those one-goal losses, two-goal losses, where the pucks just aren’t going our way. Everyone knows in the locker room that we have the talent, and we’re just trying to put it all together.
‘A shift’s going to come. Hopefully, this is a jumpstart to the rest of the season.
Kibbles and Bits
Making his second start of the season, BU sophomore goalie Grant Rollheiser turned away 27 of UNH’s 30 shots. Two of the Wildcats’ goals came when Rollheiser was beat by deflected pucks that floated unseen over his shoulders . . . The Terriers went just 1-of-7 on the power play between Friday and Saturday, while UNH converted 3-of-12 chances with a man advantage . . . Parker and UNH senior Bobby Butler exchanged words as the teams lined up for postgame handshakes. Butler was involved in a brief scrum as the final horn sounded that also included Chiasson and UNH junior Phil DeSimone, among others. When asked about the incident after the game, Parker said, ‘I thought that was getting testy around the corner, and then somebody said something in the line.’ The coach didn’t go into further detail.
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