After the Terriers’ dismal performance Friday night at Agganis Arena, Boston University coach Jack Parker restructured his team’s priorities for Saturday’s tilt at Northeastern University.
During what Parker labeled an “embarrassing” showing in Friday’s 5-3 loss to the No. 14 University of Massachusetts-Amherst (4-2-2, 2-1-2 Hockey East), BU essentially erased any good fortune from its two-game winning streak over Providence College and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell the previous week.
So as the Terriers took the ice Saturday night at a raucous Matthews Arena, their intent wasn’t simply to win, but rather reinstall their focused game that led to wins over Providence and Lowell. For one night, results took a back seat to effort.
BU’s mission proved successful, as it climbed out of an early two-goal deficit to notch a 2-2 tie with the Huskies (3-4-1, 3-3-1). The opening 10 minutes aside, the Terriers (2-5-2, 2-2-1) pieced together an effort worthy of victory.
“I thought it was a great college hockey game,” Parker said. “I was really uptight about how the game started, but our team played great after the first 10 minutes. I thought everybody played well. I didn’t see anybody that had a bad night.”
BU’s redemption bid began ominously, with NU forward Randy Guzior swooping in along the far side boards and powering an uncontested wrister past BU goaltender Brett Bennett just 2:47 into the game. The Huskies doubled their advantage at 10:06, when right wing Wade MacLeod zipped a nifty centering pass from the near circle over to left wing Tyler McNeely, who slipped the puck just inside the left post.
Bennett (21 saves) clamped down after the McNeely strike, turning away 19 Northeastern shots over the final 54:54. The defensive stability, coupled with a game-long onslaught from BU’s top line line of junior Chris Higgins and seniors Bryan Ewing and Pete MacArthur (combined four points), ultimately allowed the Terriers to salvage a point from a chaotic weekend.
Fresh off a two-goal effort against UMass on Friday, MacArthur cut NU’s lead in half at 15:21 by one-timing a cross-ice pass from Ewing past an unprepared Brad Thiessen (35 saves).
Both squads traded unsuccessful scoring opportunities over the next 40 minutes, with Bennett and Thiessen combining for 42 stops in the second and third frames.
As the Huskies continued to nurse their one-goal edge with less than five minutes left in regulation, Ewing put NU’s victory celebration on ice by finding defenseman Jim Driscoll in the slot and firing a top-shelf wrist shot past Thiessen at 15:26.
A combined five-shot overtime session proved uneventful, and the Terriers skated away with a hard-fought point.
“We needed a point,” MacArthur said. “We need all the points we can get in this league because there’s no clear-cut favorite. Northeastern’s got a legitimate shot to get home-ice in the playoffs, and they love playing against us in this barn [Matthews Arena]. It’s awesome, so it’s easy to get jacked up here.”
“We didn’t wilt and say, ‘Here, let’s pack this in,'” Parker said. “We kept competing, and with the way the crowd was going and everyone was jacked up, we might have been in trouble.”
Unlike Saturday, Friday’s game featured a promising start for the host Terriers. Just 33 seconds after the opening faceoff, MacArthur uncorked an erratic shot from the far circle that found its way between Minutemen goaltender Paul Dainton (26 saves) and the right post.
BU’s good fortune didn’t last, however, as UMass defensemen Michael Kostka (3:11) and Topher Bevis (16:55) closed out the first-period scoring with long-distance strikes from the blue line and high slot, respectively, to beat Bennett (23 saves).
Ewing provided the equalizer with a power-play goal 7:38 into the middle frame, but the final period belonged to the Minutemen, who outscored BU by a 3-1 margin.
“I wasn’t sure the night was going to turn out the way it did with the way it started,” said UMass coach Don Cahoon. “To be able to recover from that and put a really solid performance together was a real plus for our team.”
“I thought we’d learned our lesson already,” said BU captain Brian McGuirk. “We’ve got to make sure everyone comes to the rink knowing how big two points are. No one’s hitting the panic button, but guys have to realize how important two points are, especially if we keep giving them away.”
One night later, BU restored some of the luster it gathered before Friday’s meltdown.
“It’s a good turnaround,” MacArthur said. “We took a couple steps backward [Friday] night, and we took a couple more forward [Saturday]. We took a point out of the weekend, so it’s a positive, but we’re definitely not satisfied.”