Northbound and Down: River Hawks thrash Terriers

LOWELL – Sixteen seconds and a Corey Trivino goal into the game on Saturday at the Tsongas Center, it looked like the No. 12 Boston University men’s hockey team would be preying on University of Massachusetts-Lowell all night.

But two hours and a touchdown’s worth of unanswered goals later, it was the River Hawks (3-3-0, 1-2-0 Hockey East) that were picking at the remains of the Terriers (3-3-1, 2-2-1 Hockey East), beating them by a final score of 7-1.

The loss was so bad – it was the worst since an 8-2 loss to Providence College in March 1999 – that BU coach Jack Parker made quick work of his 19-second post-game press conference.

“Horrible game by us from start to finish,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We got a goal right off the bat and then we look like we don’t care. I’m impressed with how hard Lowell played, but they played against a team that was playing pond hockey tonight. We’re out there cruising around like shinny in September. Horrible game. Not one guy played well.”

Parker later returned, apologized for being so abrupt and took questions for about three minutes, but his tone was mostly the same – frustrated.

Shortly after the initial puck drop and the first and only BU goal of the night – a tip-in from senior forward Trivino on a shot by sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening – the Terriers completely disappeared, and UML took over.

The BU lead did not last long, with River Hawk forward Joseph Pendenza sending a wrister on a centered pass right by senior goaltender Kieran Millan to knot the game at one 5:43 into the first.

With the Terriers back on their heels, UMass-Lowell took the lead just 55 seconds seconds later at 6:38 on a rebound by forward Derek Arnold. Millan dove to his left to stop the initial shot, but couldn’t quite reach Arnold’s ensuring one-timer to his right.

Neither team scored again for the rest of the period, but thanks to a couple of BU penalties and a general lack of effort, the River Hawks collected 15 shots on goal to the Terriers’ three, an offensive output so ugly that all Parker could do was laugh.

“I can’t remember seeing that in a long time in any period,” Parker said with a chuckle.

As bad as the first period was for the Terriers, the second was even worse. UMass-Lowell netted four more goals – and had another waved off – en route to blowing the game open.

UML got it going early, waiting just 1:32 before forward Scott Wilson’s tally extended the lead to 3-1.

Eleven short seconds later, UML scored another. River Hawk defenseman Daniel Furlong barely got off a weak shot as he was falling down while skating into the BU defensive zone, but Millan, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, let it go by for the 4-1 BU deficit at 1:43.

Relative to the rest of the game, UMass-Lowell then endured a drought for most of the second, with a potential fifth goal waved off without a review halfway through. The River Hawks resumed their offensive onslaught at 15:17 when forward Terrence Wallin found the back of the net at 15:47 for the 5-1 lead.

As the period wound down, sophomore forward Sahir Gill – who has drawn praise from BU coach Jack Parker of late – took a slashing penalty, opening the door once again for the River Hawks. BU looked like it would was going to hang on for the rest of the period, but at 19:52.5 UML forward David Vallorani snuck another by Millan to make it 6-1.

That essentially ended the netminder’s night, as he would be relieved by senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser to start the third.

The backup fared slightly better, stopping 13 River Hawk shots in his one period of play, though he did allow Arnold’s second goal of the game just 3:56 into the final stanza to make it 7-1.

With the extra point in the bag, the River Hawks apparently took it easy the rest of the way, finishing with a total of 44 shots on goal, almost triple BU’s 16 in the 7-1 victory.

In the end, BU arrived as a team that looked like it had some momentum and left as a team in a state of disarray. No win, no answers and not much more effort.

“They think they’re better than they are,” Parker said of his athletes. “The team better realize who they are. They’re a last-place team, or they’re getting to be a last-place team in this league in this league and they can’t beat anybody.  That’s who they are right now.

“We’ll see what they’re made of now.”