Millan records first shutout

During the first half of the season, sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan was at times a question mark for the Boston University men’s hockey team. This past weekend, however, Millan was the exclamation point, capping off a solid quarterfinals series with a shutout in last night’s 3-0 victory over Merrimack College.

Millan made 34 saves in the game and was part of a penalty kill that held the third-best power play in the nation coming in to 1-for-18 on the weekend.

“The shining light of the entire series was Kieran Millan and great, great penalty killing,” said BU coach Jack Parker.

In a weekend where effort waxed and waned depending on the night, Millan was the one constant. Millan made 32 saves in Saturday night’s loss and 26 saves Friday night. He had a .948 save percentage for the series.

“We had guys play really well Friday, take the night off Saturday, played really well Sunday. Kieran Millan played great all three nights,” Parker said. “He certainly played great tonight. Great to see him get a shutout.”

Millan had to make a few big saves to preserve the shutout. Late in the second period, Millan dove onto his stomach to cover a puck that was trickling towards the goal line. In the third, Millan flashed the leather to stop senior J.C. Robitaille’s shot from cutting BU’s lead in half.

But shutouts are not all about his saves, Millan said.

“I feel like shutouts are based on how well your team plays,” Millan said. “You can’t really dictate not letting in a goal. Bounces happen, rebounds happen. It’s up to your teammates to help you out and lift sticks and box out guys.”

Millan certainly relied on his teammates early in the first when sophomore Elliott Sheen’s shot trickled past Millan and to the goal line. Just as the puck nudged the line, sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky swooped in and made a save of his own, clearing the puck off the line. The play went to review before officials were able to decidedly determine there was no goal.

But for the most part, Millan never let the Warriors come close. He controlled rebounds and put pucks where the defense would be able to clear them away.

This type of weekend is something Parker has seen coming, the BU bench boss said.

“I think he found his stride right when we came back,” Parker said. “I thought we weren’t playing as hard in front of him, but I thought he played pretty well, at times very, very well. He took a little dip here and there, but in general, he gave us good efforts. And then he gave us, I thought, a great effort this weekend. He was back to the top of his game tonight.”

For the Terriers, a goaltender on top of his game can only mean good things heading into single-elimination games.

“Anything can happen from here on in,” Millan said. “Hopefully, I can keep rolling, the team will keep rolling, and we’ll make this tough year into success.”