The cycle has fallen back down again.
After an offensive explosion a night prior, with a 5-1 win over Providence College, the Boston University men’s hockey team limped through a 0-0 tie to Northeastern University last night at Agganis Arena. With no offense, no rhythm and an absence of energy, the Terriers looked lost. And as the team should be rounding a corner into the perennially strong second half, the skid marks are getting thicker.
“We fell into the same problems we’ve had all year long, with being very easily satisfied,” said a fuming BU coach Jack Parker, whose team moves to 8-4-6 (5-3-5 Hockey East). “We played a sharp game last night . . . we beat Providence in their building to pucks all night long, and then we came back tonight and did just the opposite. Some guys who played great last night were absolutely horrible tonight — absolutely horrible.”
Of the many recurring themes in this year’s BU hockey team, this inconsistency cut with complacency may be the most dangerous. And as the season progresses further, it could prove to be the most damning.
Last year, the Terriers fell below .500 with a loss to Providence on Jan. 6. Then they rattled off 11 wins in a row, going 19-2-2 over their final 23 games. The feeling this year has been one of waiting, of anticipating a storm taking shape and blowing through Hockey East.
But the time’s getting thin, and, unless things come around, so are the chances of another run.
“I find myself thinking about the same things,” said BU goalie John Curry, who made 20 saves to earn his second shutout this season. “We seem like we’re a team that’s really close to being good, but I feel like we’ve been at that stage now a few months.
“It’s almost like our team has a little bit of ADD,” he continued. “We have such great performances, and then we ride those and forget about how important the next game is. We can’t have that. . . . Our mental approach to our games is not cutting it, and it won’t cut it in this league no matter how good you are.”
Parker called the first two periods on Friday night the best the team has played all year. The first two with the Huskies (6-10-3, 3-8-3) were just the opposite.
The game wasn’t just boring. The game was also sloppy, loose and heavily penalized (10 Terriers were sent to the box) as BU looked unfocused from the start, Parker said.
“I said this to them in the dressing room — it’s as if they want to be college students who play a sport,” he said. “We could be playing volleyball, like, ‘Let’s go, we won, now we’re in second place in the intramural volleyball league on a Friday night, let’s have some fun tonight.’
“They don’t want to be hockey players, they want to be something else,” he added. “They don’t want to pay the price they need to pay — focusing, getting ready to go — game in game out.”
The first period saw both teams struggle. A lot. To complete passes. To skate without slipping. To put shots on net (seven for BU, four for Northeastern).
The lone real first-period chance came when Pete MacArthur centered a pass to a streaking Ryan Weston with 3:35 left, who was up-ended but managed to get stick on the puck in front of Thiessen, who stopped the shot.
It didn’t get much better in the second. Or the third.
Passes went to where teammates were headed seconds ago. When the passes did get there on time, they jumped over sticks or danced around them. And the overall offensive scheme looked like somebody burned the blueprints.
“It was kinda like watching tennis,” said Northeastern coach Greg Cronin. “The puck kept going to the other end, and there wasn’t much activity between the blue lines. There weren’t any pretty rushes . . . . It’s one of those games where there was no sustained energy from either side. You’d have a flurry, then there’d be a flurry down our end. I wouldn’t call it a very entertaining game for a spectator, but it was a bit of a nail-biter for a coach.”
There were very, very few chances. Pete MacArthur sent two great passes across the crease that handcuffed the shooter in front of an open net. For Northeastern, a one-timer by David Stratham in front of an unoccupied goal in the second period jumped inexplicably over the net.
The first real showing of offense came in the very last minute of the game, when the Terriers showed how truly potent they can be — they are glimpses that have come much more frequently lately, but still not enough.
BU put four shots on net in a minute, coming from all angles. The Terriers drove toward the goal and almost saw Matt Gilroy’s pass from the right corner sneak inside the far post off a deflection.
The potential is there. But it’s been hiding, and it falls on the shoulders of the seniors and all those who experienced last year’s run to pull it out, Curry said.
“I think we can put together a strong second half, and I don’t think it’s just turning on a switch,” said senior forward Kenny Roche. “I don’t think we’re gonna rip off 21 of 23 wins like we did last year. That’s almost impossible in this league, but we can get better, and we can get stronger, and we can put together some more wins and become a better second-half team.”
At the very least, the BU defense did its job, blanking Northeastern on its 10 power plays and making sure that no matter how disjointed the offense looked, the Huskies would look worse.
A few positive themes stuck around. The BU penalty kill has been devastating, killing off 24 of the last 25 penalties. And Curry has been almost impenetrable, securing his spot among the nation’s elite in net.
“I thought their goaltender didn’t have to play as well as Johnny did,” Parker said. “John didn’t have as many saves, but he had tougher saves. We didn’t have any grade-A shots, didn’t get near their goaltender, but we didn’t give up any either. It was just a lack of wanting to be intense enough, tough enough, work hard enough. We don’t seem to have guys that want to get that consistently. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in my club after how we played last night, to turn around and play the way we did tonight.”
It was the first scoreless tie since BU tied the University of Maine, 0-0, on Feb. 19, 1994. The Huskies’ last 0-0 knot also came against the Black Bears, on Feb. 14, 2004.
But the weekends that started with great optimism ended in very different ways. Northeastern used a late-game blitz to come back from 2-1 to beat Boston College, 3-2, in overtime Friday to get two of its three points. BU, on the other hand, saw what should have been four easier points become three.
“I could tell in the pre-game meal that this team was like, ‘We’re all set now, back on track now,'” Parker said. “They constantly want it to be easy, and that’s bad leadership that just goes right down the line. Everybody is allowed to feel that way when the seniors don’t take hold of it.
“I have no idea what’s going to get this team’s attention,” he said. “I’m going to get their attention Monday, I’ll tell you that. That I know — I will get their attention Monday.”