BURLINGTON, Vt. — The scores won’t sit totally well with the Boston University men’s ice hockey team, but after tying the University of Vermont twice this weekend at Gutterson Fieldhouse — 1-1 Friday and 2-2 Saturday — the results it’ll gladly take.
In a weekend that seemingly settled nothing, the No. 4 Terriers (19-9-4, 15-7-3 Hockey East) settled firmly into second place in the league standings, two points back of first-place Boston College and in control of its fate for playoff seeding. Though now tied with the University of Maine (winners of two at Merrimack College), BU holds the season series with both teams in case of a tie.
But that enviable position didn’t come easy. Both nights, BU clawed back with third-period scores to knot the No. 16 Catamounts (18-10-6, 10-9-6) and take the season series, 1-0-2. And though BU’s record doesn’t show it, it did come away with some (moral) victories.
In remaining unbeaten in 13 of its last 14 games, BU thoroughly controlled 5-on-5 play, shut down Vermont’s top scoring line and outshot a team (53-40 on the weekend) that rarely gets out-chanced. Yet, the Catamounts also made the Terriers pay with stellar defense and an opportunistic power play that accounted for all three of their goals.
Needless to say, BU’s peculiar stay in upstate Vermont produced both some good and some bad — and little reason to take one above the other.
“It’s tough coming up here and having two tough ties,” said junior forward Kenny Roche, who netted BU’s first score Saturday. “We played well both nights and to get only two points all weekend, it’s frustrating.
“But we know we are only two points back [of first],” he continued, “and playing Northeastern next weekend, we have a good opportunity with how we’ve been playing. And we have the season series on BC and Maine. If we take care of our games, we control our own destiny really.”
That destiny had BU bound for defeat one night and victory the next, which maybe made some sense of the knotted results. Friday, the Terriers essentially stole the game after referee Tim Benedetto hit Vermont’s Kyle Kuk with a soft holding call late in the third, setting up a power play in which Dan Spang potted the equalizer with 27 seconds left.
Then Saturday, BU controlled almost the entire game, but relied on a lucky bounce when Kevin Schaeffer’s shot somehow skipped by goalie Travis Russell to tie it 5:24 into the third.
“To tell you the truth, we were playing so well, I didn’t think we would lose the game,” said BU coach Jack Parker on Saturday. “[But] I liked our heart and our effort both nights. I liked our heart and our effort and our poise with the puck and our playmaking ability tonight.”
Friday, that playmaking ability was all but gone. Struggling against Vermont’s trap defense, the Terriers only had 10 shots on goal through two periods and owed most of the 15 they had in the third to the Catamounts, who opted for a conservative approach to protect their slim lead.
They were able to build that when Corey Carlson beat BU goalie John Curry with a wrister on a power play 4:14 into the second. On a broken play near the blue line, the puck popped up for grabs, enticing BU defenseman Sean Sullivan to dive and make an attempt to knock it out of the zone. When he missed, Carlson gathered, skated into the right faceoff circle and fired a shot by Curry for the 1-0 lead.
Vermont outskated BU for the rest of the period, and looked to be in great position to add to its lead when Jason Lawrence hit Carlson from behind to earn a five-minute major with six minutes to play until intermission. But a Vermont penalty a minute in and some stellar goaltending from Curry (12 second-period saves, 20 overall) kept the Terriers within one.
“They had some very good chances in the second period — they outshot us, 10-6 — and we were back on our heels a little bit,” Parker said. “I think we played well the last four or five minutes, and that got us going for the third period.”
BU started the period off on a power play after Slavomir Tomko took a five-minute major at the very end of the second, but a series of what Parker called “almost goals” put the Terriers minutes away from their first shutout of the year. Their best chance came when Vermont goalie Joe Fallon got caught out of his net and freshman Chris Higgins needed only to lift the puck from the slot to tie it. But his shot fluttered, hit Fallon and then was cleared by Vermont’s Jamie Sifers near the crease.
The Terriers finally caught their break when Kuk was sent to the box with 1:26 to play, setting up Spang’s goal with Curry pulled and BU enjoying a 6-on-4 advantage.
Vermont threatened to win it in overtime when it won a faceoff and a pass found forward Brady Leisenring on the left side of the net, but somehow Curry ranged over and caught enough of the puck with his pads to uphold the tie.
Little did the teams know they would find themselves in almost the same position Saturday. Roche opened the scoring when he gathered a pass from Pete MacArthur, circled into the slot and flung BU’s first shot by goalie Travis Russell 1:35 in.
The Catamounts held off the Terriers for the remainder of the first before they bounced back on two consecutive power plays to take a 2-1 lead. A little more than eight minutes into the second frame, Torrey Mitchell was left unchallenged near the blue line, allowing the forward to unleash a slap shot that Peter Lenes deflected by Curry.
Seven and a half minutes later, Curry was screened by a group in front of the crease, opening a window for Kenny Macaulay to slide a shot from the point inside the right post.
Though never completely rattled, BU needed either a well-executed rush on net or a lot of luck to tie the game. They got the latter. Fighting off a defenseman along the right boards, Schaeffer flicked what looked like a pass toward the net, but it was somehow deflected into the crease and under Russell’s five-hole for an inexplicable score.
“The guy took away my shooting lane pretty well so I just tried to get it through his legs and get it on net and hope for a deflection,” Schaeffer said. “The goalie obviously couldn’t see with a bunch of people in front, so I was just kind of lucky to get the bounce to go my way.”
BU dominated the rest of the third and overtime — outshooting Vermont by a combined 11-1 margin — but failed to net the game-winner.
Doggy Bag
Of the eight goals Spang and Schaeffer have combined for this year, four tied the game, two are game-winners and one — Schaeffer’s score at BC on Jan. 27 — broke goalie Cory Schneider’s shutout streak at 242:19 … On Roche’s first-period score, MacArthur tied Spang for the team lead in assists (17) and Roche tied Brad Zancanaro for the team lead in goals (13). The goal also marked the second straight Saturday BU scored on its first shot of the game … In the 43 times BU and Vermont have played, the game has gone into overtime eight times, where the Terriers are a perfect 4-0-4. The last three games played at Gutterson Fieldhouse have ended in ties.