ST. LOUIS — The No. 10 Boston University men’s hockey team had a few highly touted freshmen entering this season, but it was the less-heralded Sahir Gill who was biggest star for the Terriers Sunday night.
Gill, a 5-10, 180 lb. freshman out of Terrace, British Columbia, scored one goal and notched three assists for BU in its 5-4 victory over No. 19 University of Notre Dame.
“Sahir Gill had a coming-out party for himself,” said BU head coach Jack Parker. “He was playing on the fourth line where he didn’t get a lot of ice time ,and he gets one goal and three assists. It was to the point where we had him playing on the power play a couple of times, and he did a good job. We’re real proud of him.”
Gill started his night early by scoring the first goal of the game 7:20 into the first period. Junior assistant captain David Warsofsky jumped up on the rush and charged in with Gill on a two-on-one. Warsofsky’s initial shot bounced off Notre Dame goalie Steve Summerhays’ pads and right to Gill’s stick. Gill easily punched the puck right past Summerhays for the score.
For the rest of the night, Gill would play the helpful teammate.
Gill returned Warsofsky’s favor on a go-ahead goal at the end of the first period to put the Terriers up, 2-1.
At the end of the second, Gill held the puck in the corner, and then laced it perfectly past a defenseman’s stick right to where junior forward Kevin Gilroy would be. Gilroy batted a one-timer right over Summerhays’s glove to tie the score at four goals a side.
“He made a great pass for a goal, he made a great pass on the Gilroy goal tonight,” Parker said. “He made a great pass to Warsofsky for a goal, too. He really rocketed that one.”
Gill finished the night with the highest plus-minus rating of any player on the ice at a plus-four. His biggest assist was on the final goal of the game, a game-winner from sophomore defenseman Sean Escobedo with 1:07 left in the third period.
BU had a faceoff in the offensive zone after Summerhays covered a bid by Gilroy. Gill won the draw and quickly dished the puck out to Escobedo before racing in toward the crease to set himself up on the doorstep. The preparation was unnecessary, however, as Escobedo’s laser went in over the goalie’s right shoulder.
It was the freshman’s second assist on a game-winning goal in as many games. On Friday night, it was Gill’s pass through the middle that found senior captain Joe Pereira all alone and led to Pereira’s game-winning breakaway goal.
“[Gill] obviously played well [Friday] with the assist on the winning goal,” Warsofsky said. “Then to come back today and play solid all around, he was good in the D-zone, he obviously put some numbers up on the score-sheets, so it was a great effort from him.”
A weekend like Gill’s is a very encouraging sign for BU considering that Gill is not quite as celebrated as other first-year players such as forwards Charlie Coyle or Matt Nieto.
“For a freshman to come in and do what Gill did this weekend, it’s huge for us as a team to get a contribution from him,” Escobedo said. “He just did the little things right and I was able to score and benefit.”
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