CHESTNUT HILL — The Conte Forum fans’ chants of “overrated” never seemed truer.
No. 8 Boston College dominated No. 2/3 Boston University all weekend, following a 9-5 beating on Friday night with a 5-2 victory in Saturday’s finale.
The Terriers (7-3-5, 5-3-4 Hockey East), who were outscored 14-7 on the weekend, have not been swept by the Eagles in so lopsided a fashion since 1987.
“We were outclassed by a team that’s playing at the top of their game,” BU coach Jack Parker said following Saturday’s loss. “Tonight we were back on our heels at different times during the game, like we were ‘Oh boy, we’re afraid of them.’ We were cringing.”
However, it didn’t start that way. Freshman forward Matt Nieto scored at 3:52 in the first period to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead, their first and only lead of the weekend.
But that would be the only bright spot of the night for BU. The Eagles (11-5-0, 9-4-0) took over halfway through the first period, tying the game at 11:52 in the first to remind the Terriers that it was BC’s show.
“They score at the 11-minute mark, and then they owned the second half of the first period,” Parker said. “That’s when we really wilted the most, I thought, and that carried on into the second period.”
Most of the second period was a mess for BU. The Eagles scored two goals within 1:16 of each other to start the period. Senior captain Joe Pereira tried to answer back with a thorough effort in front of the crease, sliding a loose puck off a rebound just past BC goaltender John Muse (29 saves) to tighten the score to a 3-2 Eagles lead.
But it was not meant to be for BU. At 8:05 in the second period with BU on a power play, junior assistant captain David Warsofsky had an uncharacteristic miscommunication with sophomore defenseman Max Nicastro in the offensive zone. The two defensemen collided, allowing the puck to squirt loose. BC forward Chris Kreider swooped in to take the puck and raced toward the BU net to pot an easy breakaway goal, increasing the BC lead to 4-2. BC outshot BU 3-0 on that power play alone.
“Our power plays, we should have given them back,” Parker said. “Not only were we not getting anything, although we got some good opportunities at times, but they got the two short-handeds and that was the real back-breaker.”
BC’s second “short-handed” goal was not quite a short-handed goal, but it did come only 10 seconds after the end of a BU power play. At 11:06 in the third period, freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan lost the puck at the blue line. BC forward Jimmy Hayes tipped the puck to Steven Whitney, and it was smooth sailing from there. Whitney easily flipped the puck over junior goaltender Kieran Millan’s (29 saves) right pad for the fifth and final Eagles goal of the night.
“Turnovers hurt us all weekend,” Pereira said. “It’s hard to win when you turn the puck over. We didn’t step up and match their intensity. It’s something you can’t do, especially against a great team and your rivals.”
The Terriers, who are now 1-3-4 in their last eight games, cannot dwell on their difficult weekend for long, as they will face Northeastern University on Wednesday in a rare weeknight game. The short layover may be a blessing in disguise for the struggling Terriers.
“Thank God we have a quick turnaround,” Pereira said. “It’s better. We’ve got tomorrow off and then right back to practicing. We’re ready to go. We play Northeastern. That’s a huge game, biggest game of the year. Then [Rensselear Polytechnic Institute]. Our goal now is to win the next two games and finish 9-3-5. That’s a pretty good first half of the year.”
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