HAYES: Millan’s been solid between the pipes

The empty net trick is a classic, last-minute, ship-is-sinking move by teams who think they still have a chance to maybe, just maybe, win a hockey game. The strategy is truly only useful when a team is down by a goal and has six very good players who can both play an aggressive offense and keep the puck out of their own end, sparing them further humiliation.

During Saturday night’s Hockey East game between Providence College Friars and Boston University, the Friars were behind 2-0 late in the third period. With 1:17 remaining in the game, pulling the goalie was deemed the best option by Friars coach Tim Army.

A risky move? To an extent, yes. A Terrier could have broken away and easily scored a goal, fully sealing the game for BU.

Instead, it was Providence that scored with eight seconds left in the game, costing BU junior goalie Kieran Millan a shutout. In addition, it would have been a well-deserved shutout for the man who has spent the majority of the time tending BU’s nets this season.

For a young team like the Terriers, it’s good to have some experience between the pipes. Millan can prove to be a leader for this team by setting a strong standard in goal. He began to set that standard Saturday.

Millan started what would become an excellent performance about midway through the first period when he leapt up from the standard crouched goalie position to catch a puck flying through the air. He continued in the second and third periods, blocking 33 shots in the last two stanzas and moving all over the net.

Millan’s overall performance in the crease this past weekend was nothing short of phenomenal. He blocked 39 shots on goal from the Friars, who outshot the Terriers by 20.

Providence won the majority of the faceoffs Saturday night as well. As BU head coach Jack Parker noted in his press conference after the game, “I’ll bet we lost 70 percent of our faceoffs tonight. And every time they got a faceoff in the attacking zone, it seemed like they got two shots off.”

Parker was nearly right in his quick postgame math: BU lost 61 percent of their faceoffs. While not all of these came in Providence’s attacking zone, a number of them did. All of the ensuing shots were saved by Millan.

BU also had more than double the penalty minutes of the Friars, creating more opportunities for Providence to score. When the Friars had a man &- or a two-man &- advantage over BU, Millan was lights-out, saving the 14 shots fired at him during seven power plays.

Not all the credit can be given to the goaltender, however. The new zone defense employed by the Terriers helped to prevent grade-A shots, forcing Providence to take more shots from further out towards the point and the perimeter. Grade-A shots, although hard to define, are incredibly hard to block. Millan handled them well, blocking all that came his way. Overall, the Terrier defense blocked 28 additional shots by themselves.

The one shot Millan allowed into the goal was more a bit of Friar luck than a prime scoring chance. What was a Providence shot from the point got caught in traffic around the goal and trickled in. Millan was barely able to see it. While one can hope for perfect play all the time, things do not always work out.

Millan’s performance on Saturday, as well as fairly good play in other games over past few weeks, is a great improvement over a mediocre performance last season. All signs so far point to Millan returning to the glory he saw his freshman year, when the Terriers won the national title and Millan had easily the best season of his BU career. Millan won National Rookie of the Year from the Hockey Commissioner’s Association. He was also the Hockey East Rookie of the Year and conference tournament MVP. Milan posted a .894 winning percentage, going 29-2-3 that year and recording three shutouts.

Overall, Millan’s freshman season set the bar high. In contrast, in his sophomore season, he fell a bit short of the bar. The team as a whole struggled, but Millan also took a few steps backward compared to his first run in front of the net. Although he set his career high with 42 saves against Boston College on Jan. 22, his win percentage dropped back to .500 on the season as a whole. He also posted a .891 save percentage, down from .921 the previous year. The most shocking statistic, however, was his 3.15 goals-against average, a jump of 1.21 goals-against compared to his freshman year.

So far, junior year has been much better. His save percentage is very close to where it was two years ago. His goals-against average is down, and he has not recorded a loss yet. His performance Saturday is hopefully just a taste of what will be an excellent season for BU’s primary goaltender.