The pass was so perfect you might have thought it had been made thousands of times before.
But this time, the puck was gliding across the picture-perfect FleetCenter ice instead of a pebble-covered driveway or a dank hockey rink in Scituate.
And this time, the goal that followed that perfect pass carried a lot more than neighborhood bragging rights.
When Terrier forward Steve Greeley cradled a pass from life-long friend and fellow Scituate-native Ryan Whitney and deposited it behind Northeastern University goalie Keni Gibson just over 100 seconds into Monday’s 5-2 Beanpot win, it marked his first goal since Nov. 16, 2002 and only the sixth of his BU career. But Greeley’s first-ever Beanpot point (also the 500th Beanpot goal all-time for BU) came at just the right time, stifling Northeastern’s quick 1-0 start and propelling the Terriers to the most complete 60 minutes of hockey they have played all season.
“I’ve kinda been in and out of the lineup this year, but everyone wants to play in the Beanpot,” the soft-spoken Greeley said. “In my senior year – [I’m] just going out to try to help the team as much as I can, and to get the goal is a great feeling.”
Greeley – clearly unaccustomed to media attention of any kind, not to mention a room packed with more than 40 people armed with tape recorders – did not take much credit for the goal, commenting more on the faceoff win that led to the score and the pass that set it up.
But BU coach Jack Parker was quick to point out the significance of the first goal, more for its scorer than the 1-1 score it created.
“I thought it was a huge goal for a lot of reasons,” Parker said. “One, the fact that [Northeastern] jumped out 1-0 and we came right back and scored is huge. The fact that Steve Greeley gets a goal in his senior year in a Beanpot is absolutely fabulous for me personally and for him obviously, but I think his teammates really like that too.
“He’s been struggling to get ice time and get in the lineup, and he did a great job and played extremely well tonight, not just with the goal,” Parker added. “I think that gave everybody a boost – ‘Isn’t that great for Greels too.’ He’s one of the most well-liked kids we’ve ever had here. So all of that added up to a big boost for the team in a lot of different ways.”
But Parker did not limit his unending praise (two words that haven’t seen too much of each other this season) to his vertically challenged senior role player. The man who announced “we don’t play in consolation games,” went out of his way to highlight Whitney’s night on the FleetCenter ice.
“I thought Ryan Whitney had one of the best games he’s ever had in a BU uniform,” Parker declared emphatically. “He played absolutely fabulous tonight, both defensively and offensively. The puck was on his stick quote a bit … He’s had a real solid year and he’s just getting better and better as this year’s progressed.”
Every time a Terrier needed to jump on a loose puck Monday night, Whitney seemed to be everywhere. Keeping pucks in the zone, clearing out dangerous Husky chances in front of goalie Sean Fields – and setting up the game’s first goal with a picture-perfect pass to Greeley, whose fourth line surprisingly got some ice time within the first two minutes of the game.
Whitney appropriately got to seal the game with just under 23 seconds to go, stealing the puck in the neutral zone and casually taking it in and sliding it into the empty Northeastern net.
While Parker was gleaming throughout the entire post-game press conference, anyone who didn’t notice the irony of his two main targets has obviously never seen a BU hockey game in person.
Whitney is 76 inches of imposing brute strength. Greeley is 67 inches of grit, but with a little less bang for your buck. Whitney is listed at 203 pounds, the same weight the then-stick-like defenseman claimed at the beginning of his freshman year. Greeley is listed as 160 pounds, and that might be soaking wet. Whitney was the fifth overall pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2002. Greeley was the – well let’s just say that he
wasn’t the fifth overall pick in 2002.
They are also the best of friends.
“I played with Ryan basically since we were about 10 years old, he’s one of my best friends – we’re always together,” Greeley said. “His father’s always talking about seeing us score a goal in the Beanpot together, so it was pretty funny to do it.”
It might have been “funny” for the pair known simply as “Whit” and “Greels,” but just like any inside joke between friends, there was at least one person not laughing.
Northeastern goalie Keni Gibson.