BURLINGTON, VT. &-&- The Boston University men’s hockey team completely controlled even-strength play for most of the first 40 minutes in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the University of Vermont, but the Catamounts won the special-teams battle and were able to hang in the game because of it.
Much like the Terriers’ lack of desperation was unexpected on Friday night, Sunday’s special-teams dominance by Vermont came out of nowhere. BU has Hockey East’s third-best special teams with a plus-9 net, while the Catamounts are tied for eighth with a minus-6 net.
Even though Vermont pounded BU 7-3 on Friday, special-teams play actually went as expected. The Terriers went a solid 2-for-6 on the power play and held the Catamounts to a 1-for-7 showing.
Sunday was a different story, though. BU went 0-for-4 with just two shots on the man advantage. Vermont, on the other hand, scored on each of its first two power plays and finished the game 2-for-3.
The Terriers didn’t applaud the Catamounts for doing anything special after the game, though. Instead, they looked inward.
“The puck is moving too slow,” said BU coach Jack Parker of his power play. “We’re too deliberate right now.”
“We weren’t moving our feet very well,” said junior forward Nick Bonino. “We were just kind of standing still.”
Both of Vermont’s power-play goals could be pinned on Terrier mishaps as well. On the first, a BU defender screened his own goalie, and Brayden Irwin was able to shoot around him, beating a blinded Kieran Millan.
On the second, no one picked up forward Colin Vock as he broke to the left doorstep from the corner, and he was able to easily redirect a slap pass from the point into the open net.
“Their second goal was a breakdown on my part,” said junior defenseman and captain Kevin Shattenkirk. “I just kind of lost my man coming out of the corner. I got a little confused, and they had a wide-open backdoor chance. That kind of just left Kieran out to dry.
“As far as the first one, it was just kind of a wrister from the point. We have to block those shots. If we’re gonna stand in Kieran’s way, we have to make sure we get in front of the puck.”
Juggling act
Parker has been doing a lot of juggling lately. No, he isn’t practicing with the Ringling Bros. during the little free time he has (at least not that this reporter is aware of), but he is moving his players all over the line chart seemingly every game.
It started two weekends ago when sophomore center Corey Trivino fractured his fibula in a game against the University of Maine. Then freshman center Wade Megan missed a game due to an illness running through the clubhouse.
Finally, there was Friday’s lackluster effort, after which Parker said, “I don’t think I could come up with one guy on my team tonight that played well.” So, he changed the lines around again, rolling out four lines Sunday that hadn’t played together all season.
All this shuffling would seemingly be bad for the team this late in the season, but the Terriers refused to use it as an excuse for their 0-2 weekend.
“You kind of get used to everybody in practice,” said senior forward Luke Popko. “Everyone kind of knows how everybody plays, so it’s not that big of a deal. It doesn’t make that much of a difference.”
“Everyone that guys are playing with, they’ve played with a little either last year or this year,” Bonino said. “We’ve had enough time to get used to guys. It’s just a lack of effort right now.”
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