In his postgame comments, Boston University men’s hockey coach Jack Parker referred to his team’s play in last Saturday’s 2-2 tie with University of Massachusetts as “selfish,” “unthorough,” and even “bizarre.”
The No. 8 Terriers (2-0-1, 0-0-1 Hockey East) will get a second chance to put away the Minutemen, though, as the teams square off in Amherst Friday night.
The game will be the first of two for BU this weekend &– the team will play host to Providence College Saturday night. Both games start at 7 p.m.
Parker was disappointed in the way his team played after taking a 2-0 lead over UMass last Saturday, and put the responsibility of helping the team rebound on his captains and leaders.
“They know it’s their team, and they have to make sure they’re taking ownership of that problem last week,” Parker said. “They’ve taken ownership of a lot of issues. They’ll get “em going.
“We’ve had a good week of practice I think they recognize they can’t afford to let up against a team as solid and fast as UMass is. UMass took it took us in the second half of the game &-&- second two thirds of the game, actually. Lesson learned? We’ll see.”
From an X’s and O’s standpoint, Parker said there wasn’t much to be taken from last week’s game because the teams are very familiar with each other.
The lone adjustment to be made will be on the power play, Parker said, where the Terriers failed to score on four man-up chances last weekend.
“[UMass] played the exact opposite way than they used to play,” Parker said. “They used to pack it in and block shots. Now they’re really pressuring all over the place. They’re playing more like we play, so we have to adjust to that.”
The Terriers will also have to deal with one of Hockey East’s most unique hockey venues &-&- the Mullins Center. Crowds at Mullins are among the loudest and rowdiest in the conference, and Friday’s contest will mark the Terriers’ first appearance in front of an unfriendly crowd.
“It’ll be interesting because they certainly didn’t have a hostile environment while they were out in St. Louis,” Parker said, referencing the poor attendance at the Ice Breaker Invitational two weekends ago. “That was basically just invited guests and friends.”
“I don’t think crowd bothers teams much. I think it’s the ice surface more.”
The surface Parker mentioned is Mullins’ Olympic-sized rink &-&- one of only two Olympic rinks in Hockey East. Parker said making the adjustment to the larger rink is akin to a baseball pitcher having to throw from 65 feet instead of 60 feet, six inches.
“[Hockey is] the only sport there is where everybody has &-&- well there aren’t different basketball courts, and there aren’t different football fields and different soccer fields,” Parker said. “We’re kind of like baseball where the quirk of the diamond, the quirks of the field can be different.”
What likely won’t be very different are the Terriers’ line pairings, at least at forward. Parker said the only adjustment he will probably make would be sliding sophomore Ross Gaudet to center &-&- Gaudet took just three draws last Saturday, and lost all three.
Parker did say that a few of the defensive pairings will be changed, though he didn’t mention specifics.
Junior Kieran Millan will get the start in net Friday night, and then Parker will let goaltending coach Mike Geragosian make the call for Saturday’s starter. The coach did say it was possible Millan might start both Friday and Saturday.
It is certain that freshman forward Yasin Cisse will not be in the lineup. Cisse left the semifinals of the Ice Breaker Invitational with an ankle injury &-&- Parker described it as a “twist” at the time.
Two weeks into its recovery, the ankle is still swollen, and doctors have yet to make an official diagnosis, though the prognosis could be worse than initially let on.
“They’re not sure, but he might’ve re-severed the problem he had last year,” Parker said, referencing the torn ankle tendon that ended Cisse’s United States Hockey League season last year.
“We don’t know yet. It’s really up in the air because the swelling is still there. He’s seen two or three different doctors, but they want to wait until everything quiets down.”
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