The Boston Hockey Blog

Lights go out on Terriers' win streak

2012-01-27T21:25:00.001-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

In the first of two matchups at Agganis Arena this weekend, the No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team fell to No. 20 University of Maine, 4-2, Friday night.

The first period was a relatively quick one, as the two most highly penalized teams in Hockey East managed to stay out of the box for almost the entire first period. That streak ended at 16:52 when Maine (13-8-3, 10-7-2 Hockey East) defenseman Will O’Neill, one of two Black Bear captains, laid a late hit on freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera, who appeared to fall awkwardly on his wrist.

Privitera stayed on the ice while a team trainer tended to him, and soon skated off under his on power, albeit still holding his right wrist. He did not return to the game.

The Terriers (15-7-1, 12-5-1 Hockey East) didn’t take long to capitalize on the resulting power play. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson banged a one-timer by Maine goaltender Dan Sullivan for a 1-0 BU lead at 17:56, the result of a junior forward Wade Megan pass from behind the red line. Senior captain Chris Connolly was credited with the second assist.

Maine struck back shortly into the second following a hooking penalty on freshman forward Evan Rodrigues. With just seconds left on the power play, Maine forward Adam Shemansky took advantage of a Max Nicastro miscue – a pass that didn’t make it out of BU’s defensive zone – to tie the game at one apiece 5:15 into the second period.

Several minutes later, at 8:22, the Black Bears took the lead when forward John Parker – no relation to the BU bench boss – beat the BU defense and then senior goaltender Kieran Millan stick side for a 2-1 lead.

Right after the goal, the several lights in the arena went out – temporarily taking Maine’s momentum with it. After a 21-minute delay, giving the Terriers a chance to re-group after a tough three-minute stretch, the teams returned to the ice for the last half of the second.

Apparently rejuvenated, BU came right back to make it a 2-2 tie. With the puck hanging around BU’s offensive end, junior forward Ross Gaudet took a shot from behind the red line, bouncing it off Sullivan’s back and into the goal for a 2-2 tie.

True to the game’s back-and-forth fashion, Maine re-took the lead just over 10 minutes into the third thanks to a goal from forward Mark Anthoine. The difference-maker came 12 seconds after Megan was called for hooking, giving the Black Bears’ league-best power play another chance.

Forward Spencer Abbott put Maine up 4-2 with an empty-netter at 18:26, putting the Terriers in too big a hole to climb out of.

BU vs. Maine Live Blog Friday edition

2012-01-27T16:55:00.001-05:00

BU vs. Maine 1/27/12

Terriers look to take season series from Maine

2012-01-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff

While the No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team was enjoying the best two games of its season so far against Providence College last weekend, the No. 20 University of Maine put on a display of its own with two dramatic victories over No. 7 Boston College. The Terriers and Black Bears will meet on Friday as the two hottest teams in Hockey East, if not in the nation.

“We’ve both been playing very well lately, so we’ve got to prepare for what’s making them good,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “That’s their power play, their transition game, [when they’re] down low with possession. Those are the things make them a terrific college hockey team, and we have to be real good in those areas.”

Last Friday, Maine (12-8-3, 9-7-2 Hockey East) knocked off BC in overtime, 4-3, then followed up on Saturday with a 7-4 win in which they scored three goals in the last five minutes of regulation. Junior forward Matt Mangene, who scored the game-winner on Friday, recorded his first collegiate hat trick on Saturday.

Additionally, all three members of the Black Bears’ top line are in the top 15 in the country in scoring. Seniors Spencer Abbott and Brian Flynn and junior Joey Diamond have combined for 42 goals in 23 games.

“That line is the best line in the country as far as stats go,” BU senior captain Chris Connolly said. “So we’re really going to have to be on top of them and make sure they don’t get a lot of good looks, because they like to turn that puck up quick and make a lot of things happen off the rush.”

Of course, the Terriers (15-6-1, 12-4-1) shouldn’t be too intimidated by any team’s offense after a weekend when they put up 14 goals in two games. BU’s power play in particular will carry a great deal of momentum into Friday’s game, fresh off a 6-for-9 showing in Providence last Saturday. Their performance against the Friars also boosted their penalty kill to an 84.6 percent conversion rate.

Both special teams will face stiff competition in the Black Bears, whose power play is firing at a 29.7 percent rate – the second best in the nation.

“They’re good at delivering pucks down to the net,” Connolly said of the Maine power play. “They have a lot of offensively talented players, things you can’t teach. They just think through the game really well. They’re not afraid to throw a puck on net from a spot that you wouldn’t think, and it gets the penalty killers kind of scrambling around. So any time we can pressure them to make sure they can’t deliver pucks down freely or pressure them on the wall, disrupt their play to make sure they don’t have a lot of time and space, I think, is one way we can be a little more successful.”

BU beat Maine, 5-1, in their last meeting on Dec. 10 on the strength of four third-period goals. In that game, which was 0-0 after the first period and 1-1 after the second, each team racked up 33 penalty minutes. BU ranks first in the nation in penalty minutes and Maine ranks second, making special teams an even more crucial part of this weekend’s matchup.

“The game we played in Maine was a terrific game,” Parker said. “It got away a little bit at the end because the puck jumped in the net for us, but it was a real great college hockey game. The first two periods . . . we’re expecting more of that this week.”

Emotions will likely run high on both sides, as BU is alone in first place in Hockey East with 25 points but Maine, in fourth place, trails second-place BC and Merrimack College by just one point with 20. With just five regular-season weekends remaining, every game is a battle for playoff positioning.

“It will be a battle,” Connolly said. “I expect playoff-type hockey. I think mostly games in the second half of the season are kind of like that.”

Beanpot teams take stand to end violence against women

2012-01-26T17:57:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The Beanpot always brings excitement to the city of Boston, and this year it will bring a change to teams’ helmets as well. Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University and Northeastern University will all wear a white ribbon logo on their helmets during their Beanpot games this year to raise awareness for violence against women.

The logo is part of a campaign attempting to prevent violence against women. On Monday, the captains and coaches of the Beanpot teams went to the Massachusetts State House to take part in White Ribbon Day in connection with the campaign. The event asks boys and men to take the White Ribbon Pledge in which they commit themselves to preventing domestic violence and sexual assault.

“I think it’s a good cause and it’s an event in Boston that’s kind of on a national stage,” said BU senior captain Chris Connolly. “I don’t think there’s a better time when you can get it advertised. There are so many colleges in Boston that these kind of things could tend to happen. I think that’s the age demographic where you see it the most.”

The Terriers have very personal experience in dealing with violence against women.
Just over a month ago, senior forward Corey Trivino was kicked off the team following an incident in which he allegedly assaulted a female student in a BU dormitory. Trivino is currently facing charges stemming from the incident of assault and battery, breaking and entering and assault to rape. Trivino pleaded not guilty to all charges.

While Trivino’s case has yet to be resolved, Connolly said Trivino’s current legal problems make it even more important for the Terriers to take a stand against violence against women.

“It’s just from the events that happened, it’s still not something that we condone,” Connolly said. “We don’t think that that situation was right. It’s still a very important situation and we’re happy to help out any way we can.”

Although the timing is interesting for BU, the Beanpot’s connection with the campaign originated long before anything happened with Trivino. According to BU coach Jack Parker, the idea first came up at an athletic directors’ meeting last June as a way to raise awareness for an important issue.

“Pretty soon, we’re going to have ribbons and puzzles and everything all over our uniforms,” Parker said in reference to adding a ribbon to a uniform that already hosts a puzzle piece raise awareness for autism. “Obviously, all four schools were happy to participate. But [the white ribbon] is a one-time thing for this tournament.”

From the FreeP: Fan support propels men’s hockey (Notebook)

2012-01-25T03:04:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

While the men’s hockey team’s fan base has traditionally been strong, recently there has been a consistent and growing contingent of fans attending games, both home and away.

The group of student fans, which calls itself “The Dog Pound” and has taken to social media to rally the troops, has not gone unnoticed by the team. Last week, BU coach Jack Parker sent the fan group a thank you note for its attendance at games at Northeastern University on Jan. 13 and Harvard University on Jan. 14.

“I just wanted to thank you and let you know how much our team appreciated your support at our games at Northeastern and Harvard,” Parker wrote in a letter addressed to Terrier Nation. “After both games, I heard several of our players talk about how great the fan support was and how it helped us pick up those key wins.”

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

From the Freep: BU demoralizes No. 9 penalty kill in nation

2012-01-23T11:30:00.003-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It’s not often that a college hockey team will score six power-play goals in one game, and even less common that it happens against a team with one of the top 10 penalty killing units in the nation.

The No. 2/3 Boston University men’s hockey team defied that logic when they touched up a Providence College penalty kill – ranked ninth in the country entering the weekend – for eight power-play goals in 15 chances. By the time BU (15-6-1, 12-4-1 Hockey East) was finished with the Friars (9-11-2, 7-7-1 Hockey East), the Providence penalty kill fell all the way to 32nd in the national rankings.

The Terriers were especially masterful with the man-advantage in Saturday night’s 8-0 BU win at Schneider Arena. BU scored six of its eight goals on the power play, marking the first time a Terrier team potted six power-play goals in one game since accomplishing the feat March 9, 1996 against the University of Massachusetts in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

BU scored more power-play goals this weekend than Dartmouth (seven power-play goals) has scored all season. BU also equaled University of Alabama-Huntsville and Sacred Heart University’s season total for power-play goals. For local comparison, Northeastern University has scored just nine power-play goals this season.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

Terriers bury Providence, 8-0

2012-01-21T21:06:00.003-05:00

By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- It may have been difficult to imagine the Boston University men’s hockey team (15-6-1, 12-4-1 Hockey East) turning in a better performance than they had in their 6-1 win over Providence College (9-11-2, 7-7-1 HE) at Agganis Arena on Friday night, but the very next night, they managed to do so with a 8-0 victory over the Friars in Providence. The Terriers went 6-for-9 on the power play and got two goals each from sophomore forward Sahir Gill and junior forward Wade Megan in their most lopsided win of the year.

“We have a saying in our offices that it’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody’s worried about who gets the credit, and this team is worried about playing right,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “They were so unselfish tonight with the puck and so unselfish moving the puck and trying to make the next right play that it just looked like a real good team tonight. I don’t mean winning or losing, I mean coming together as a team and really caring about each other.”

If there was any suspicion that BU’s four-goal third period against the Friars the previous night had been a fluke, the Terriers erased it quickly when they put up three goals in the first period on Saturday. Sophomore forward Matt Nieto recorded his 10th goal of the year at 4:39 on the power play to open the scoring, and junior defenseman Max Nicastro followed a few minutes later with a blast from the top of the right circle.

When BU’s next power-play chance came late in the period, they set up shop in the Friars’ zone again, and after Nieto had a second chance on a Nicastro shot from the point, it was Gill who flipped the next rebound past Providence goalie Alex Beaudry to give BU a 3-0 lead. As on Friday, the Terriers were outshot in the first frame, 11-8, but maximized the chances they did have.

Even with a three-goal lead, BU continued to pressure the Friars in the second, allowing just four shots on senior goalie Kieran Millan in the period. Although they recorded just eight shots in the frame again, they made Providence pay for an increasing lack of discipline with three more power-play goals.

Sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan scored on a rebound at 11:01 to make it 4-0 and extend his goals streak to three games, and Gill put away his second of the night and ninth of the year when he tracked down an Alexx Privitera slap shot that bounced off the boards and knocked it past Beaudry.

“I think sometimes selfishness comes in when it’s 4-0 and people want to get their goal, and they start playing on the offensive side of the puck and they start playing to try to get a goal, they’re not as thorough,” Parker said. “I think it’s even more rewarding when you’re really thorough when you’re up 6-0.”

When Providence defenseman Myles Harvey went off for boarding at 15:35 of the second, it was Megan’s turn to cash in, flipping a loose puck over Beaudry to make it 6-0. Megan struck again early in the third period, this time with a backhand shot from close range after Beaudry had been pulled for backup Justin Gates.

Junior forward Alex Chiasson put the icing on the cake, firing a slap shot past Gates from the point with less than three minutes remaining in the game. The goal was originally credited to senior forward Ross Gaudet, who appeared to deflect it in front of the net, but after the game it was recorded as Chiasson’s eighth of the year.

Eleven different players recorded points as the Terriers solidified their hold on first place in Hockey East. But overshadowed by the offensive explosion - the biggest margin of victory BU has had in a shutout since beating Northeastern 8-0 on Feb. 14, 1994 - was the fact that Millan quietly recorded his third shutout of the season, stopping 26 shots.

“He made some big saves early and then the late ones, we took a couple penalties and he had to make a couple saves to preserve his own shutout, and the way he did that, I was really happy that he got the recognition,” Parker said.

Noonan echoed Parker’s sentiments, saying that playing for Millan’s shutout helped keep the team focused throughout the game despite the score.

“You’d just hear everyone say, we want to get the shutout for Kieran because of how much he helped us out through the year, and that’s basically what we were doing it for, to get him that shutout,” Noonan said.

BU @ Providence Live Blog

2012-01-21T14:59:00.003-05:00

BU @ Providence

Clendening, Noonan rise to challenges both on offense and defense

2012-01-21T01:10:00.001-05:00

By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff

When they lost two of their top offensive players in Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle last month, the Boston University men’s hockey team knew their remaining forwards would have to pick up the scoring pace. It takes a considerable amount of pressure off the forwards, though, when defensemen can contribute to a team’s offense the way sophomores Adam Clendening and Garrett Noonan have in the Terriers’ last several games.

In BU’s 6-1 defeat of Providence College on Friday, Clendening was named the game’s first star with four assists. He and Noonan teamed up to set up junior forward Ryan Santana’s goal in the first period, and Noonan also recorded his seventh goal of the year. He now leads Hockey East defensemen in goals.

“He goes to the net like a forward does, but he scores goals and he’s good defensively, and he’s a very good player,” Clendening said of Noonan. “I think it’s been his FIFA game that’s really made him the player he is. He plays a lot of FIFA these days, so he’s learning the soccer game to get to the net.”

Maybe Noonan is learning from soccer’s red-card system, too: while penalties have limited his effectiveness at times, he stayed out of the box on Friday night even as BU racked up 29 minutes in the box. Clendening, too, stayed disciplined against the Friars and proved his worth to the Terrier power play, where he picked up the last of his four assists.

Over his last five games, Clendening has 12 points: 11 assists and one goal. That outburst has propelled him into second on the team in scoring with two goals and 18 assists, just one point behind leading scorer Alex Chiasson. Despite typically matching up against opponents’ top lines, he’s also a plus-11 and has 22 blocked shots.

“Playing with [junior defenseman Sean Escobedo], he’s an easy guy to play with, and when you get pucks to him and he gets them back to you, I guess things just happen,” Clendening said by way of explaining his success. “Things have been going pretty well with him, and a lot of guys are going to the net on our team. That’s where you score goals.”

Last year, both Clendening and Noonan showed plenty of talent - Clendening led BU’s defensemen in scoring with 26 points and led the team with 21 assists, while Noonan had 15 points - but both also struggled with inconsistency and a lack of discipline, not rare problems for eighteen-year-old defensemen.

This year, they’ve come to lead a young defense corps that features only one senior, Ryan Ruikka, and BU head coach Jack Parker said he was pleased with both the offensive and defensive sides of their games in the Terriers’ win over Providence.

“I think they’re two of the best defensemen in this league,” Parker said. “We’re very fortunate to have both of them, and I think either one of them could be an All-Star in this league or an All-American type of candidate for us. Garrett Noonan gets his seventh goal as a defenseman and Clendening has a bunch of assists, so, a pretty good show.”

Although the Terriers haven’t exactly become a low-scoring team - they have at least three goals in five straight games - reliable defense is still every defenseman’s priority regardless of what the offense is doing, and Parker praised the way Noonan and Clendening have progressed in that area as well.

“Our core of defensemen have really grown up,” Parker said. “We’re a much better team at the blue line, getting the puck out of our zone, making plays at center ice, making plays at the attacking blue line than we were two months ago, that’s for sure. Maybe even a month ago. So they’ve grown up right in front of us.”

The good, the bad and the otherwise notable: BU beats Providence, 6-1

2012-01-21T00:15:00.001-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

The No. 2/3 Boston University men’s hockey team topped conference foe Providence College, 6-1, on Friday night at Agganis Arena, evening the season series at one win apiece. Despite the sizable goal differential in Friday’s game, not everything went well for the Terriers (14-6-1, 11-4-1 Hockey East). Here’s a look at what went well and what did not against the Friars (9-10-2, 7-6-1 Hockey East).
The Good
Scoring in bunches: It’s a habit the Terriers had earlier this season, and it came back in full force Friday night. With a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period, BU scored three goals over the course of 3:57 to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson (10:40 into the first), junior forward Ryan Santana (13:23) and sophomore forward Matt Nieto (14:43) all found the back of the net to give the Terriers their best first period of the season.

Earlier this season, coach Jack Parker mentioned that scoring in bunches can be a mark of a great team.

“Our goal of the game was to score and score again because when you get one quickly, it really demoralizes a team,” Parker said back on Oct. 20. “When you get two [goals quickly]. . . that really demoralizes a team. It’s always in the back of our minds: ‘It would be nice to go get our next one . . . Lets bury this team.’”

After Friday’s game, Parker said it had more to do with luck than anything.

“I thought we were fortunate to get out 4-0, and we would have been fortunate to get out 1-0,” Parker said. “We had the puck going in the net for us tonight.”

Goaltending: Senior goaltender Kieran Millan did what he does best Friday night, limiting the Friars – who averaged 3.10 goals per game entering the contest – to just one goal.

Millan did let up a few ugly rebounds that his teammates managed to cleared for him, but he was pretty spot on most of the game, especially during Providence’s 20-shot second period.

Parker praised his goalie’s performance after Friday’s game. In fact, he was so impressed that he started off his post-game press conference with comments about Millan.

“First of all, Kieran Millan makes 36 saves out of 37 opportunities. That’s a pretty good night for our goaltender,” Parker said.

“He made some unbelievable saves early on, and there was some big saves in the second period,” he continued later. “It’s not just the quantity of saves he was making, it was the quality at times.”

Special teams: The Terrier special-teams units have slowly but surely been creeping up the conference rankings of late, and Friday night’s game certainly helped that cause.

Freshman forward Alexx Privitera and sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan each netted a goal during a five-minute power play in the third period, solidifying the win and giving the Terriers two power-play goals in six chances. BU is now ranked second in Hockey East with the man-advantage, coming in at a 20.4 percent success rate.

On the other end, the penalty kill was also moderately impressive. It was by no means dominant – the Friars were often able to set up in BU’s defensive end for significant amounts of time – but the Terriers were able to keep Providence at bay in all seven of its chances.

The Friars’ lone goal came just one second after a power play ended.

“I’m pleased we killed penalties as well as we did, because that’s a good power-play team,” Parker said.

The Bad
Second-period complacency: Scoring in bunches wasn’t the only early-season habit the Terriers brought back Friday night. After spotting themselves a four-goal lead in the first, BU looked slower, lackadaisical and overall less effective in the second period.

Although BU put 11 shots on Providence backup goaltender Justin Gates, they failed to score, instead taking three penalties and allowing the Friars 20 shots.

Parker did not think the second period was that bad – it was bookended by impressive first and third periods, after all – but did acknowledge the team had some down moments.

“There were times in the second when we took a couple of stupid penalties and we made a couple made reads at the blue line,” he said.

Unnecessary penalties: One of Parker’s – and hockey coaches’ everywhere – least favorite things to see from his team: bad penalties.

Part of the reason for an insignificant second period was a trio of penalties, the last of which – a roughing call on sophomore defenseman Patrick MacGregor – really set the head coach off.

Junior defenseman Sean Escobedo tallied a couple penalties, a tripping call in the first and high-sticking in the third, and when the game started getting a bit more chippy than normal at the end, junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall was charged with a game misconduct after making contact with a Friar’s head.

Noonan, one of the Terriers’ usual suspects to end up in the penalty box, managed to stay penalty-free for all 60 minutes.

The Otherwise Notable
Parker’s 400th: Friday night’s win was BU’s 14th of the semester and, more significantly, the 400th Hockey East victory in Parker’s career.

It is just the most recent in a long line of accomplishments for the man that Providence coach Nate Leaman said is likely the conference coach of the year at this point – but that doesn’t mean Parker can remember them all.

He couldn’t recall the first one – the conference’s first season was 1984-85 – but did seem a bit surprised at the milestone.

“400 wins in Hockey East?” Parker asked. “You know how old that makes me?”

Terriers ride strong start to decisive win over Friars

2012-01-20T21:48:00.001-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

When the No. 2/3 Boston University men’s hockey team played Providence College earlier this season, the Terriers (14-6-1, 11-4-1 Hockey East) were plagued by a slow start and faced a three-goal deficit by the end of the first period in the game. Even the team bus arrived late that night.

But on Friday evening at Agganis Arena, the Terriers made up for that slow start with a four-goal first period against the Friars (9-10-2, 7-6-1 Hockey East). They rode that strong start to a 6-1 win and moved into sole possession of first place in the league.

Providence starting netminder Alex Beaudry was chased from the game after venturing way out of position on the third Terrier goal, which came 13:23 into the first period.

“We had the puck going in the net for us tonight,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “I thought my team played great for almost the entire game. We really played well in the first and we really played well in the third.”

Sophomore forward Sahir Gill started the BU barrage with a goal off a loose puck at the top of the crease 1:31 into the game. His goal stood as the lone score until 10:40 in the first, when junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson blasted a shot from the right point past Beaudry to double the Terrier lead.

Junior forward Ryan Santana scored his first goal of the season on the strangest goal of the period. Santana hustled into the play on a line change and caught up to a dump off sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan’s stick. Beaudry came out to the top of the circle to challenge Santana, who chipped it by a sprawled Beaudry and watched as the puck trickled into the net.

“His eyes probably lit up when he saw the goalie coming out,” Parker said. “[He probably thought] ‘If I can just get it over him’. But I think Ryan Santana is a real hard-working player every day in practice. It wouldn’t surprise you that he went hard for that puck because he goes hard for every puck.”

Sophomore forward Matt Nieto capped the first-period scoring at 14:43 when he deflected an Adam Clendening shot past senior backup goalie Justin Gates, who replaced Beaudry.

The Terriers took their game down a notch in the second period. BU was out-shot 20-11 in the frame and took three lazy penalties. They failed to test Gates and attempted only 14 shots, a whopping 25 less than they attempted in the first period.

Providence made BU pay for its careless play 8:59 into the period. Providence had just finished a power play and worked the puck to the net, where the entire BU defense surrounded Millan but failed to prevent Providence from launching a barrage of shots on the goaltender. Friar freshman Shane Luke finally pushed a puck through to tighten the score to 4-1. The goal was the first of his collegiate career.

“I thought we played a terrific second period,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman. “I even thought we played a pretty good first period outside of the pucks that went in our net. I thought for the first 40 minutes, I thought we played really well. But their pucks went in our net, and I thought they won the net-front battle around their net.”

In the third period, Providence co-captain Daniel New's hit on Alex Chiasson gave BU a five-minute power play that effectively ended the Friars' night. New was ejected from the game because of the hit, and BU scored twice in its five minutes of a man-advantage.

The first goal of the power play came on an Alexx Privitera slap shot from the blue line, increasing the Terrier lead to 5-1. Sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan made it 6-1 when he lifted a shot over Gates’s right pad with a little over two minutes remaining on the five-minute power play. The goal was Noonan’s second in as many games.

Although the Terriers did not score after the power play expired, they continued to control play in their offensive zone for the remainder of regulation.

The first and third period efforts helped BU to its 14th win of the season, and it also marked Parker’s 400th victory in Hockey East. Parker was mum on the milestone and simply noted how old he must be to have 400 wins. Just as Parker took a lighthearted shot at himself, his players also playfully chimed in on their coach’s value.

“He still brings a lot of energy to the rink every day,” Nieto said. “He can get a little cranky at times, but other than that, he does his job well and brings out the best in us.”

BU vs. Providence College Live Blog

2012-01-20T14:40:00.002-05:00

BU vs. Providence 1-20-12

From the FreeP: Terriers look to fend off Friars

2012-01-20T10:35:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

To say the least, a lot has happened since the No. 2/3 Boston University men’s hockey team faced off against Providence College last.

When the Terriers (13-6-1, 10-4-1 Hockey East) visited the Friars (9-9-2, 7-5-1 Hockey East) at Schneider Arena on Oct. 14, BU was a team that was nothing short of consistently being inconsistent.

Bogged down by rainy weather and heavy traffic en route to the Ocean State, the Terriers fell behind 3-0 early before ultimately losing 5-3.

“We can take a lot from that game,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “They dominated us at times with their team speed, with their penalty kill, and they’ve done it all year to everybody.”

But now, three months later and fresh off a pair of come-from-behind wins, BU will play a home-and-home with Providence to wrap up the season series. The Terriers will host the Friars on Friday at Agganis Arena at 7:30 p.m. before visiting Schneider Arena again on Saturday for a 7 p.m. puck drop.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

Projected lines:

Wade Megan – Chris Connolly – Alex Chiasson
Matt Nieto – Sahir Gill – Evan Rodrigues
Justin Courtnall – Cason Hohmann – Yasin Cissé
Ross Gaudet – Ben Rosen – Ryan Santana

Sean Escobedo – Adam Clendening
Garrett Noonan – Alexx Privitera
Max Nicastro – Patrick MacGregor

Kieran Millan
Grant Rollheiser

Pregame prediction proves true as Chris Connolly scores his first two goals of season

2012-01-15T04:03:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

ALLSTON -- Through the first 19 games of the 2011-12 Boston University men’s hockey season, senior captain Chris Connolly did everything a captain of a hockey team should do – everything, that is, except score a goal.

The goal-scoring drought was unfamiliar territory for the senior. Connolly scored exactly 10 goals in each of his previous three seasons as a Terrier, but it has never taken him longer than seven games to net his first of the year. The Duluth, Minn. native has had plenty of chances to score this season as he leads the team in shots on goal (66) and assists (16).

But for some reason, he struggled to find the back of the net on any of his chances, and so with every passing game, the pressure was mounting. It seemed to be anyone’s guess as to when Connolly would finally get that first goal out of the way, but it was an educated guess from Brian Kelley, BU’s senior assistant director of athletic communications, that finally came true.
Before Saturday night’s game, Kelley, who is also the sports information director for the men’s hockey team, told Connolly that his chances of scoring at Harvard looked bright considering Connolly’s past at the rink.

Connolly last played at Harvard’s Bright Hockey Center in his sophomore year when the Terriers beat the Crimson, 6-5, thanks to Connolly’s game-winning goal in overtime. On Saturday, Kelley not only reminded Connolly of his history at the Crimson’s rink; he also predicted that Connolly would score twice in Saturday night’s game.

“Against Harvard, I’ve been fortunate in the past,” Connolly said. “If history told the story, I guess it was my chances were as good as any in the upcoming game so [Kelley] said tonight, he felt tonight was going to be the night.”

True to Kelley’s prediction, Connolly’s drought finally came to an end 16 minutes into the Terriers’ 4-3 overtime win against the Crimson. The goal, which evened the game to a 1-1 score, was exactly what a first goal after a long scoring drought tends to be: a deflection off an Adam Clendening shot from the point.

Connolly at first did not believe his goal Saturday would count. His immediate reaction, he said, was to question, “did that go in?”

“I thought they maybe would call it back or something,” Connolly said. “Just my luck. It felt great. It was like a weight was immediately lifted off my shoulders. I’d call it a gorilla off my back. It wasn’t so much a monkey at this point.”

The gorilla was off his back indeed. Connolly wasted no time getting his second goal of the year out of the way, just as Kelley said he would. The Terriers were trailing Harvard 3-1 in the third when Connolly found a rebound in a sea of skates and banged it home to narrow the BU deficit to 3-2 with slightly over 11 minutes left to play.

“That’s usually how it goes,” said coach Jack Parker of Connolly’s quick route to his second goal. “Once you get the first one, they’ll start going in for him. Hopefully that will be the case.”

Connolly made a bid for a hat trick in overtime. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson forced a Harvard turnover in the neutral zone, and Connolly grabbed the puck and raced in on Crimson goaltender Steve Michalek on a 2-on-1 with Chiasson. Connolly drew Michalek out of the net on a shot from the right side, and the rebound bounced out to sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan, who sent the game-winner into a virtually empty net 2:08 into overtime.

Connolly earned an assist on the play, helping himself to a three-point night and moving into second on the team in scoring with 18 points (2 goals, 16 assists). After the game, Connolly gave plenty of credit to his teammates for his goals, but he did send some light-hearted jabs Kelley’s way.

“He kind of called that one,” Connolly admitted, “but he should have said that 10, 15 games earlier.”

Late rally lifts BU over Harvard, 4-3

2012-01-15T01:38:00.004-05:00

By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff

ALLSTON -- It was far from the “complete-game effort” coaches always want to see, but the No. 6 Boston University men’s hockey team (13-6-1) pulled off a 4-3 overtime victory against Harvard University (4-6-6) on Saturday on the strength of two third-period goals and sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan's overtime winner.

Although senior forward Chris Connolly scored his first goal of the season late in the first period – to go with 15 assists on the year – BU was outplayed for most of the first two periods, trailing Harvard 22-14 in shots after 40 minutes.

“We looked way out of sync and they really controlled center ice,” BU coach Jack Parker said of the first two periods. “We had no way to get in their zone. I had to get into my team pretty good at the end of the second period because I thought they were just cruising around out there. [In the third period] we really played much smarter and much harder, and the ice just seemed tilted after we got the second goal. We just really dominated after that.”

The Crimson own the nation’s best power play, with a conversion rate of 34.2 percent, and they lived up to that reputation, scoring on their first two power-play chances. Winger Alex Fallstrom opened the scoring at 3:06 with a redirect on the man-advantage, and after Connolly scored late in the period to tie it at 1, Fallstrom struck again when he drew BU senior goalie Kieran Millan out of the net on an odd-man rush and slid the puck around him.

Then, with nine seconds remaining in the first and sophomore forward Matt Nieto in the box for high-sticking, Harvard stopped a shorthanded BU rush and turned it back the other way, and center Alex Killorn beat Millan to make it 3-1. Millan allowed three goals on nine shots in the first period.

For the next twenty or thirty minutes of play, it looked as if Connolly’s goal might be the only bright spot of the game for BU. The Terriers managed just four shots in the second period and struggled to keep Harvard players from standing in front of Millan, but after looking shaky in the first, Millan rose to the challenge.

“The guy who really won the game for us was our goaltender, because in that second period when it was 3-1, he made three or four 10-bell saves and kept the game within striking distance,” Parker said.

At the end of the second, despite Millan’s play, BU was still down by two goals and having trouble moving the puck through the neutral zone or getting the puck on net through the Harvard defenders, who blocked 11 shots. But when Connolly knocked in a rebound for his second goal midway through the third, the pace of the Terriers’ game changed.

“I think we got scrambling around a little bit. We could see guys running out of position and we just told guys to settle down,” Connolly said of what happened between the second and third periods. “I think being in the same situation we were in last night and realizing we can score three in a period or four or whatever, that we have the firepower to come back and do that, gave us the confidence to know we’re still in the game.”

With less than four minutes left to play, junior center Ben Rosen appeared to push a puck across the goal line behind Harvard goalie Steve Michalek. The play was reviewed, but the officials ruled that the puck did cross the line.

“I talked to the referee and he said it went off one post and over to the other,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “He said it went over the line by a millimeter, and I said, ‘Are you sure? It’s a big millimeter.”

That goal, Rosen’s first of the year, sent what had once looked like a certain Harvard victory to overtime. Harvard and BU traded end-to-end rushes for the first two minutes of the extra frame until Chiasson and Connolly broke away on a 2-on-1. Connolly’s intended pass across to Chiasson was poked away by Michalek, but Noonan, trailing the play, was at the top of the crease to knock the rebound into the net for the game-winning goal.

Parker praised Noonan’s play as well as that of fellow sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening, who assisted on all of BU’s goals except the last one. Both had three shots, contributing to the 20 the Terriers put on Michalek in the third period and overtime after struggling in the first and second.

“Coach Donato said it was a tale of two games, and really, it was two-thirds them and one-third us, but we had the best third,” Parker said.

BU @ Harvard Live Blog

2012-01-14T15:38:00.003-05:00

BU @ Harvard

Megan meaningful at right times for Terriers

2012-01-14T02:47:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

When the No. 6 Boston University Terriers needs a goal in a crucial moment, all they have to do is look to Wade Megan. The junior forward leads the team in goals (10), power-play goals (5), shorthanded goals (2) and game-winners (3). His production has provided quite a boost to the Terriers (12-6-1, 10-4-1 Hockey East); the team is 7-1-0 in games in which Megan scores a goal.

So when BU fought its way out of an early two-goal hole during Friday night’s game against Northeastern University, it was only natural that Megan was a key part of the Terrier attack.

In the second period, Megan scored the goal that tied the game at 2-2. He capitalized on a valiant effort by junior forward Ryan Santana, who swatted a puck Megan’s way after diving to keep it out of the reach of a pouncing Husky. Megan caught Santana’s pass at the top of the crease and whipped it past Northeastern goaltender Chris Rawlings for the score.

In the third period, Megan netted the eventual game-winner with the Terriers up, 3-2, and on the power play. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson, much like Santana earlier, contributed with the key effort to start the play. He stick-handled through two Huskies, then dished the puck over to Megan, who fired a one-timer from the faceoff dot past Rawlings to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead.

Megan gave credit for both of his goals to his teammates.

“Santana turned the puck over and fed it to me in the front, so I didn’t do much on that one,” Megan said. “Second one, I kind of didn’t make a great pass on the power play and the guy deflected it and it ended up on Chiasson’s stick. I saw that he had it and so I just kind of started to creep in a little bit. He found me and I just took a shot and it went over his glove.”
The game was Megan’s second multi-goal game of the season (with the other coming in a 5-0 win over Boston College on Nov. 13). His two goals Friday night inch Megan that much closer toward matching his career goal total (13) with 15 more regular season games left to play this season. The increased output this season, according to Megan, is no accident considering who he plays with.

“Chiasson and [senior captain Chris] Connolly are great guys to play with,” Megan said. “They get you the puck a lot and aren’t afraid to take shots. Luckily they’ve been going in for me, so I’ll take it.”

Before break, Megan did not play with Connolly and Chiasson together unless BU was in the middle of a line change. Megan saw most of his ice time as the left wing on a third line with freshmen forwards Cason Hohmann and Evan Rodrigues. He also saw some power play time with some of the team’s older players in Connolly and former senior forward Corey Trivino. In the 16 games before break, Megan totaled eight points (7 goals, 1 assist).

But with Trivino and former sophomore forward Charlie Coyle no longer with the team, Megan has seen a drastic increase in ice time. He was promoted to the top line alongside Connolly and Chiasson and is now looked to as an even more vital part of the power play and penalty killing units. He has three goals in the three games since the break.

That Megan seems to be stepping up at the right time for BU is no accident. Megan said he frequently thinks about improving his game to replace the offense’s departed leaders.

“I think we all think about it,” Megan said. “Everybody knows that they have to step up a little bit. Try to come back and fill the gap for the boys that those two left. I think we’re all thinking about it. Luckily, I could contribute tonight, so I’ll take it.”

But if the Terriers are to continue to be successful this season, coach Jack Parker said Megan be part of the solution, but he will not be the entire solution.

“We need other people to pick it up too,” Parker said. “Connolly’s playing really well and he’s snake-bitten because he hasn’t scored a goal yet. Hohmann and Rodrigues as freshmen have got to get some more goals for us. But certainly Megan, Chiasson, Sahir Gill and Nieto are guys that you know can score goals and those guys have to pick it up for us.”

Vinny Saponari reacts to playing former BU teammates for first time

2012-01-14T01:11:00.005-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

The No. 6 Boston University men's hockey team's 4-3 win over Northeastern University Friday night marked the first time the two teams met during the 2011-12 season, meaning it was also the first time former Terrier and current Husky Vinny Saponari faced off against his former teammates and coach.

Saponari's well-documented tenure at BU resulted in him and his older brother Victor being removed from the team in May 2010 for "conduct unbecoming of a Boston University hockey player," BU coach Jack Parker said in a statement at the time.

The Powder Springs, Ga. native was briefly committed to Boston College, but after being denied by BC's admissions office, the forward decided to take his talents to Northeastern.

In the days leading to Friday's BU-Northeastern game, Saponari expressed his excitement on Twitter - "I would b lying if I told you fri the 13th of jan was not a date I hve been looking fw to for a long time," he tweeted on Thursday - and spoke with the media after the game, touching on a variety of topics. The following is a transcript on his comments on everything from facing his old team to playing at Fenway on Saturday to visiting Agganis Arena in March.

On how he felt during the post-game handshakes:
Just frustrated. It was an emotional game, it was an awesome game. A lot of chances both ways, a lot of speed, a lot of tempo. Two teams that are trying to find their way in the second half. Going through and seeing all those guys, it’s awesome. To get a chance to play against them, and still be as close of friends as I am and be able to compete like that against them, it’s awesome.

On good-hearted ribbing with his old teammates:
Oh, definitely. Inside jokes here and there, just messing around with each other, definitely. Slashing each other behind the play a little bit, laughing and stuff like that.

On the 2-on-1 with Adam Reid in the second period:
I wouldn’t say just that I wanted one [goal] tonight, it was just the type of game it was, I knew it was going to be a close game like that. It was going to come down with a little chance like that, [which] could go either way. And he shot, and that’s an alright decision, I was just frustrated.

On keeping his emotions in check this game:
I think it definitely is [harder to do that]. It’s easy to get frustrated when you want to win. You obviously want to win, and playing against those guys is a lot of fun but it’s definitely emotional too. When you get frustrated it’s easy to get more frustrated than you would in a normal game. That’s true of BC, BU games; they’re all like that. Obviously BU for me it’s a little more, but everyone else is the same way too when we play BU.

On whether or not he talked to BU coach Jack Parker at all Friday night:
No, I did not. I didn’t see him at all.

On how the league has changed since his 2009-10 season with BU:
Every night’s a battle. Merrimack’s had an unbelievable season, unbelievable start. They’ve got great goaltending, they’re tough to play against. Then teams like Providence come up with big wins. UMass-Lowell this season has a great team. It’s just a lot of fun every night to know that you’re going to get a good game and it’s going to be exciting. The fans in every building we have gone to this year have been awesome too, so it’s been a fun year.

On team’s ninth-place positioning in Hockey East despite recent success:
I think it’s kind of the way our schedule is set up. We had some many league games off the start when we were just coming together, a lot of new pieces, a new coach. Then we hit a stretch of out-of-league-play games, and that was when right we were hitting our stride. We were able to win a lot of those, which was great, but then you come back to league play and you get BU, and that’s always a tough game.

On playing at Fenway Park on Saturday:
Last time it was snowing which made it a little difficult, but I don’t know if it’s going to snow tomorrow. I would say guys think it’s going to be colder than it is. Sometimes they overdress underneath and it’s actually pretty much the same kind of hotness out there and you get too hot if you wear warm gear or something like that.

On playing at BU on March 2:
It’ll be great to play in that building. I spent two years there and have a lot of great memories. It’s a really nice facility, and just getting to play against close friends again, that’s just what’s exciting about it. You don’t get many chances to play against your friends in such a competitive game like that, so it’s fun.

On what he expects from the student sections:
I’m sure they’ll be ruthless and I’ll love it. That’s part of being in college hockey: Away fans are on you all the time, signs and stuff like that, and we love that, it’s awesome.

Terriers top Huskies, 4-3

2012-01-13T21:37:00.005-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

In the opening act of its first back-to-back games of 2012, the No. 6 Boston University men’s hockey team downed Northeastern University 4-3 Friday night at Matthews Arena.

In a game that was more than just a game for some involved – Northeastern (8-8-3, 4-8-2 Hockey East) forward Vinny Saponari faced off against his former team for the first time since being dismissed from the Terriers (12-6-1, 10-4-1 Hockey East) in May 2010 – Northeastern drew first blood with a pair of goals 1:05 apart.

At 18:38 in the first, forward Alex Tuckerman found the back of the net after BU could not clear the puck out of its defensive zone, leading to Tuckerman beating senior goaltender Kieran Millan high.

Moments later, senior captain Chris Connolly’s attempted clear ended up on Northeastern forward Ludwig Karlsson’s stick high in the slot. The Stockholm, Sweden native promptly beat Millan high again for the quick 2-0 lead at 19:33.

“I was wondering how my team would react after that because we played pretty hard,” said coach Jack Parker. “We don’t like to give up goals the last three minutes of a period. And I liked the way we reacted in the second period. I thought we played hard. We were still a little tentative for a little while, then when we got the first goal it [got better.]”

The Terriers gave the Huskies a bit of their own medicine, tying the game up in similar fashion about halfway through the second period with a pair of close goals.

The goal that “loosened things up” for the Terriers, according to Parker, came courtesy of sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening at 8:23 on a shot from the blue line that snuck by everybody, including Northeastern goaltender Chris Rawlings.

Junior forward Wade Megan followed suit, knotting things up at two apiece at 9:20. In a play that Parker noted as one of the most impressive all night, junior forward Ryan Santana forced a turnover in the offensive zone and sent a centering pass to Megan, who knocked it in from the doorstep.

After sophomore forward Matt Nieto was upended by Northeastern defenseman Josh Manson – leading to four separate BU-Northeastern skirmishes and a game misconduct for Manson – BU capitalized on its five-minute power play with a goal from freshman forward Evan Rodrigues. The rookie tipped in a shot from classmate Alexx Privitera at 11:51 for the 3-2 BU lead and his first goal as a Terrier.

“He’s been playing really well, he’s been getting opportunities,” Parker said. “He likes the fact that he’s moved up. When those guys [Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle] left he gets a chance to play on the power play, he gets a chance to play on the second line.”

Megan followed up his game-tying goal in the second period with the eventual game-winner at 1:52 in the third. He struck, this time with BU on the mad-advantage, for his team-high fifth power-play goal of the season after junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson set him up with a pass.

In the biggest non-goal moment of the game the Terriers fended off Northeastern’s two-man advantage for 1:55 halfway through the third. The threat ended when Northeastern assistant captain Steve Quailer took a slashing penalty.

“The three guys who were out there at any moment on that 5-on-3 did a real good job of staying in shooting lanes, denying shots, and making them take another pass and then another pass,” Parker said.

Tuckerman made the Terriers hold their collective breath when he made it 4-3 at 16:53 with the Huskies on the power play, but the Terriers buckled down to hold Northeastern scoreless the rest of the way.

Millan finished the game with 30 saves as BU re-took sole possession of first place in the conference.

“It’s great,” Megan said of the current standings. “Hockey East is so competitive. Hockey East games are must-wins, all of them. It’s great to be in first. Hopefully we can keep those other teams behind us.”

BU @ NU Live Blog

2012-01-13T17:11:00.002-05:00

BU @ NU

No. 6 BU gears up to face former teammate followed by ECAC foe

2012-01-12T21:53:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

For months, Jan. 13 has been a likely pick as one of the more interesting matchups on the 2011-12 Hockey East schedule. That Friday night will mark the first time Northeastern University forward Vinny Saponari will face his former team, the No. 6 Boston University Terriers.

Saponari was dismissed from the BU hockey team in May of 2010 for “conduct unbecoming of a Boston University hockey player,” said coach Jack Parker in a press release at the time. After spending a year playing in the United States Hockey League with the Dubuque Fighting Saints, Saponari made his return to Hockey East with a rebuilt Northeastern team under the reigns of new head coach Jim Madigan.

The Huskies struggled out of the gate, going 1-7-2 through their first 10 games. But Northeastern has caught fire as of late, going unbeaten in its last eight games to finish out 2011 with an 8-7-3 overall record.

“They’re doing it by winning on the road at Minnesota, on the road at North Dakota, at Notre Dame twice, on the road at Michigan, so it’s not like they’re playing the little sisters of the poor at home too,” Parker said. “So they’ve done a great job of turning their season around, and they’ll be a team to be reckoned with in our league and outside of our league for the rest of the year.”
Saponari, the fourth-leading scorer on the team (three goals, 10 assists), shared in the recent success with six points (two goals, four assists) in those eight games. Over the last few days, Saponari shared his excitement about facing BU on Twitter and even engaged in some friendly teasing with a couple of his former teammates.

Despite Saponari’s complicated past with BU, however, Parker said he does not expect it to have any effect on the game itself.

“It won’t be any different,” Parker said. “My teams have played against guys in that situation before.”

Sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening was not on a BU team with Saponari, but he did provide a bit more color when asked how he thought his teammates would react to playing Saponari.

“Those guys, they know what happened and how it happened and that kind of thing,” Clendening said. “There’s obviously a friendly rivalry there. I don’t think we’ll take it over the top there. Obviously bragging rights are on the line. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully we come out on top.”

The game will also be an interesting study in motivation. Northeastern is slated to face No. 4 Boston College at Fenway Park on Saturday. BU’s Saturday opponent, Harvard University, will also play at Fenway Park this weekend, as they face Union College on Yawkey Way on Friday.

Parker said he does not expect the excitement of Fenway Park to distract the Terriers opponents, especially Northeastern, from focusing on the BU game this weekend.

“I think it will be pretty easy for them because they’ll be geared up playing at home against BU, absolutely, they’re certainly not looking by us to go play BC,” Parker said. “If they were just playing BC at BC at their own place, that would be a little different, but then they get geared back up again to go play something completely different that never happened before, playing at Fenway Park.”

Parker added that his own team cannot look past either game this weekend. The game against Northeastern Friday gives BU a chance to remain in first place in league standings. The game against Harvard Saturday night gives the Terriers a chance to rise above .500 in out-of-conference play.

And any win at all would provide the Terriers with more confidence in their ability following one of the most difficult winter breaks in recent memory.

“I think it was important to get a win when we played against Merrimack to let us know, okay, we’re still pretty good,” Parker said. “But it doesn’t mean we’re going to be pretty good the next team. And that’s something that all teams have to deal with.

“You don’t win games on last week’s sweat. You win games on this week’s sweat.”

Notes:

- Despite Northeastern’s improvement in the standings, they have yet to figure out their power play. The Huskies are running at a 9.8 percent clip on the man-advantage, good for third-to-last in the nation.

- Harvard’s power play falls at the other end of that spectrum. The Crimson are converting at an astronomical 34.9 percent success rate. They have 22 power-play goals in 63 chances this season.

- BU, meanwhile, is the most penalized team in the nation, leading all of college hockey with an average of 20.7 PIM per game.

- Senior goaltender Kieran Millan is expected to make the start in net on Friday at Matthews Arena. Barring any last-minute changes, senior forward Kevin Gilroy and junior defenseman Ryan Ruikka will be healthy scratches on Friday night.

BU vs. U.S. Under-18 Team: What went right/wrong for the Terriers

2012-01-09T02:13:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff

The No. 10/11 Boston University men’s hockey team tied the U.S. National Under-18 Team, 3-3, in an exhibition game Sunday night at Agganis Arena, with goals scored by freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera, sophomore forward Matt Nieto, and junior defenseman Sean Escobedo. Here are three things that went right and wrong for the Terriers in the game.

What went right for BU:

Evan Rodrigues
The freshman forward is yet to score a goal this season, but he had a great game Sunday night. He tallied two assists in the game, including a beautiful drive into the zone that drew the defenseman before sliding the puck over to Nieto for the second goal of the game.

Rodrigues skated with the second line once again, and has found success on the right wing with sophomore forward Sahir Gill and Nieto as his linemates so far. Despite his lack of goals, Rodrigues’s play has not gone unnoticed by BU coach Jack Parker.

“He has got to get some goals. He would like to get some goals,” Parker said. “He has played very well all year getting more mature as we go along and I think he is getting much more confident.”

With Trivino and Coyle gone, Rodrigues should get more opportunities to make it on the score sheet.

Future Terriers
BU fans got their first looks at two future Terriers: forward Matthew Lane and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk on Sunday. Both played well in the exhibition.

Lane, a 17-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., scored the first goal of the game by gaining separation from his defender and lifting a rebound over the outstretched pad of senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser.

On defense, Grzelcyk proved to be very capable of staying with some older forwards, ending the game with a plus-1 plus-minus rating. The Charlestown native also added an assist on the night.

While neither player has signed any official paperwork saying they will attend BU (thus preventing Parker from specifically commenting on their play), these two verbal commits showed that BU has a lot to look forward to.

Grant Rollheiser
Rollheiser has not gotten a lot of playing time this season, but he had a solid game Sunday night. The senior backup made 30 saves in his start, which was his fifth appearance of the season. While he did not have to make 45 saves like USA goaltender Jared Rutledge in the game, Rollheiser had the tough task of making saves when shots came in sporadic flurries.

“It wasn’t an easy game to play because the puck was down in the other end a lot and then there were power plays a lot, then all of a sudden they were on him,” Parker said. “Especially after they made it 3-2 I thought he made some really big saves.”

The Toronto Maple Leaf draft pick got some playing time in the exhibition while he normally serves as the backup to senior goaltender Kieran Millan. While Millan is not in danger of losing his starting job at the moment, Rollheiser’s play has shown he is a very capable backup should he ever be called upon.

What went wrong for BU:

Patrick Macgregor
While sophomore defenseman Patrick Macgregor has not looked bad on the stat sheet, he struggled to stay with the speedy NTDP players on Sunday night. The 6-foot-4 defenseman had the strength to outmuscle his younger opponents, but lost forwards a few times in the slot, leading to a USA goal. He was minus-1 on the night, but his plus-minus could have been worse had Rollheiser not made some nice stops. MacGregor will have to be careful not to have too many nights like he had Sunday. With sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening returning for next week's game against Northeastern, MacGregor could be fighting for his lineup spot.

Alex Chiasson
Junior forward Alex Chiasson had a great game on the first line on Friday night against Merrimack College, but struggled on Sunday, especially with decision-making on the power play. The 6-foot-3 forward used his size well in the game, but made some mental errors that caused turnovers at times when BU had possession in the offensive zone.

Chiasson also took a penalty when the Terriers had a 5-on-3 advantage, cutting short a very good opportunity for BU to jump ahead. The assistant captain has had issues with taking poorly timed penalties in the past, and it is a topic Parker has spoken with Chiasson about multiple times.

Chiasson also spent much of the game verbally jousting with 17-year-old Patrick Sieloff despite a pregame request from Parker not to respond to the NTDP’s trash talking.

“I tried to tell our guys, ‘Hey, after every whistle, just get away from [the trash talking],” Parker said. “’This is what’s going to happen. Expect it. They’re not being wise guys. They’re just trying to make sure that you’re not going to intimidate them. So don’t get mouthing off and don’t get arguments after the whistle. Don’t take a stupid penalty.’”

Shooting
The Terriers did not have a lack of shots in the game as they peppered Rutledge for a total of 48 shots in the game. However, Parker did not like the shot selection at times by the Terriers, noting the tendency to wait too long before shooting.

“If I had one negative thing to say about my team it was that we didn’t shoot the puck enough although we attempted 82 shots,” Parker said. “We had the puck a lot and we overhandled it and tried to get something fine.”

BU will look to get back to taking the shot when it is available on Friday, when the Terriers travel to Matthews Arena to face the Northeastern Huskies for the first time this season.

Rosen's sacrifice proves his value as a Terrier

2012-01-09T00:59:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Traditionally, hockey players stand out most because of what they can do on the ice. But on Sunday night, it was junior forward Ben Rosen’s behavior off the ice that made an impact for the No. 10/11 Boston University men’s hockey team.

Rosen, a steady fixture at center on the fourth line, volunteered to sit out an exhibition game against the U.S. National Under-18 Team in order to allow the team to experiment with other players at center to use in case of injury or positional struggles. The try-out at center in game conditions was vital for the Terriers, who are down their top two pivots after losing senior Corey Trivino and sophomore Charlie Coyle during the winter break.

“He kind of volunteered not to play to tell you the truth, which was nice,” said coach Jack Parker. “I wanted to try [junior forward Ryan] Santana at center to see how he would do. I tried to get some guys playing some different positions.”

While the Terriers have been exploring different replacements in practice, it is difficult to tell how a center will perform unless he plays in an actual game. Unfortunately for the Terriers, the Hockey East standings are tight again this season, thus leaving little room for the Terriers to experiment with different centers in official games.

Sunday’s exhibition time was a perfect opportunity for BU to test different players at the position, but before Rosen volunteered to sit, it was difficult to determine whom to scratch. The centers on the top two lines, senior captain Chris Connolly and sophomore Sahir Gill, both have just two games under their belt at center on modified lines that are still trying to establish chemistry.

Freshman Cason Hohmann centers the third line, but Hohmann is just beginning to blossom in his role on the team. Scratching him could set the still-adjusting Hohmann a step back. Rosen only started becoming a lock in the lineup this season. Scratching him could also disrupt his rhythm.

So when Rosen (who was unavailable for comment after the game) volunteered to sit out for the good of the team, he made a difficult decision a non-issue.

“It shows he’s a really good teammate,” Connolly said. “He’s been doing well for us and just allowed us to get a different look. Santana I thought played real well there, so that will always be another option if we need to do that.

“I think it really showed a lot of leadership on Ben’s part. That’s the kind of teammate we need around here.”

Rosen’s sacrifice would have been impressive in any situation, but it is even more remarkable considering Rosen had to fight his way into the lineup through his first two seasons.

Rosen played in nine games his freshman year and was a healthy scratch for the first eight games of his sophomore year. He finally got his break starting as a fourth line center in a game against Merrimack on Nov. 12. The opportunity to play came in foreign territory for the Syosset, N.Y. native; Rosen came to BU as a defenseman. He had never played center.

Rosen learned the position quickly and stayed in the lineup for the rest of the year. This season is Rosen’s first as an established player in the lineup. He transitioned from being a defenseman two years ago to currently ranking third on the team in faceoff wins (42-and-44) among the seven players on this year’s squad who have taken 45 or more draws this season. The only two players with better numbers than Rosen are the departed Trivino and Coyle.

“He’s done a great job in that role [as center],” Parker said. “He deserves some more ice time. We’ll try to get him some more. He could move up the way he’s been playing and center the third line.”

Regardless of what line Rosen plays on, he – in part due to sacrificing his ice time Sunday night – proved himself a role model on a young team still trying to navigate through a difficult time.

“The older guys on this team need to kind of lead the way,” Connolly said. “We have a lot of young guys, so guys like Ben and the juniors and seniors need to step up and kind of show the younger guys the way. He did that tonight and allowed somebody else to have the opportunity to show what they can do. It was pretty impressive on his part.”

BU vs. US NTDP

2012-01-08T16:54:00.003-05:00

BU vs. US NTDP

Canucks nip Bruins, 4-3, in Stanley Cup rematch

2012-01-07T19:00:00.006-05:00

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

As is the case with some highly anticipated, “can’t-miss” regular-season games, they barely live up to all the hype and expectations.

But the rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins (26-11-1) and Vancouver Canucks (26-13-3) on Saturday didn’t disappoint.

For diehard and casual hockey fans alike, this matinee at TD Garden had everything: seven goals, 75 shots, 30 penalties, 107 penalty minutes, countless after-the-whistle altercations, two Bruins players ejected and a whole lot of bad blood linking these bitter rivals.

Labeled as a talented but soft team and star forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin referred to as the “Sedin Sisters” in the wake of their postseason showing, the Canucks exacted some revenge on the Bruins for their disheartening loss in last June’s finals. They scored four power-play goals on 11 opportunities to eke out an emotionally charged 4-3 win before a relentless Boston crowd.

“Obviously, it’s a big win,” said Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa. “We wanted to win the game going in. Not that we have anything to prove, but we’d like to have a little bit of success in this building and put to rest some of the critics. I think we did that. We had a pretty complete effort. Everybody chipped in, in different areas and here we are victorious. No Stanley Cup, but we still won the game.”

The fireworks exploded sooner rather than later – 3:54 into the contest, to be exact – in an affair that featured, in the postgame words of B’s coach Claude Julien, “teams that don’t like each other.”

Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows – the main perpetrator of BiteGate against the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron in Game 1 of last year’s playoffs – slashed center Daniel Paille on the skate as he was coming off the ice, prompting B’s enforcer Shawn Thornton to retaliate by slashing Burrows, too.

Thornton said afterward that Burrows then poked him in the throat with his stick. Mayhem broke loose immediately after that. Within seconds of the Thornton-Burrows exchange in front of the Vancouver bench, five Canucks jumped on Thornton in wrestling fashion. Captain Zdeno Chara and several other Bruins came to their teammate’s defense, pulling players out of the Thornton pileup.

“I’m a big boy. I can handle myself,” Thornton said of the dustup. “I’m not worried about that. I was more upset with the spear to the throat. I don’t lose my cool for no reason. I see myself as a pretty honest player. But I’m not going to let someone spear me in the throat. I’m also a man, so I stand up for myself.”

Nine different players drew penalties for the scrum, including Bruins left winger Milan Lucic, who was given a roughing minor and a game-misconduct for leaving the bench to join in the fight. Julien said Lucic’s line change was legal, so his team’s fourth-leading points scorer had no right to be kicked out of the game since he had replaced Paille on the ice for the next shift.

“I’m not blaming them,” Julien said of the referees. “They’re in the middle of a scrum there, but Looch was on the ice already. It wasn’t an illegal change. He didn’t come off the bench. There are no issues there in my mind. It’s clear. What’s unfortunate is that we lost a pretty good player early in the game, and that’s what is more disappointing.

“It’s a guy looking forward to playing this game. He’s from Vancouver, and he gets tossed out, but he actually didn’t do anything wrong.”

Inexplicably so, the Canucks were awarded with a 5-on-3 following the altercation, and the NHL’s No. 1 power-play unit – boasting a 23.6 conversion rate entering Saturday’s showdown – struck when the iron was hot. Vancouver center Ryan Kesler buried a rebound past B’s goalie Tim Thomas (32 saves) at 5:41 to give the Canucks a 1-0 edge.

The Bruins would respond in the same frame, though. In a transition from the defensive zone to the offensive end, center Tyler Seguin zipped a beautifully timed cross-ice pass to left winger Brad Marchand, who snuck his backhander underneath the left pad of Canucks goalie Corey Schneider (36 saves) to knot the tilt at one apiece with 5:03 remaining in the first period.

Riding the energy from a thrilling first period into the second, the Bruins had appeared to shift the momentum in their favor.

Just 23 seconds in, Paille was tripped up on a mini-breakaway and awarded with a penalty shot. Not until he was inches away from Schneider did Paille fire a shot intended for the top right corner, but Vancouver’s backup goaltender, starting in place of Roberto Luongo, robbed Paille with a glove save.

Yet, at the 7:12 mark of the second period, Rich Peverly tallied his seventh goal of the season on a wrist shot from the left circle that put the B’s ahead, 2-1.

After Seguin was sent to the sin bin at 14:47 for tripping, the Canucks capitalized on the man advantage only 34 seconds later. Screening Thomas from his position in the slot, Burrows tipped home a Cody Hodgson shot to tie the game at 2-2.

The biggest moment of the matchup came when Marchand was tossed with 1:13 left in the middle session for clipping Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo. Along the right boards in the Canucks’ offensive zone, Marchand saw Salo coming in his direction, bent down and delivered a low hit to Salo’s knees. The ensuing call was a five-minute major and a game-misconduct, which could result in a possible suspension for Marchand by the league.

The Canucks scored twice during the five-minute major to seize a commanding 4-2 advantage. First, Henrik Sedin redirected Alex Edler’s slap shot into the back of the net at 19:47 of the second. Then, Hodgson capped off Vancouver’s power-play scoring with a slapper from the right circle that sizzled by Thomas’ left shoulder at the 1:09 mark of the third period.

“They obviously play hard, but they tend to do stupid things,” Bieksa said of the Bruins. “The Marchand hit was a pretty stupid thing, and I’m sure he’ll be getting a phone call for that one. There is no reason for that. But we made them pay for that. We got to score two goals on that power play and that’s the game. He’s got to live with that.”

Center David Krejci answered back 42 seconds later to bring the Bruins within one when he backhanded the puck past Schneider, staying with the play despite the netminder’s initial pad save on Krejci’s first shot off a Joe Corvo slap shot.

A late offensive flurry by the Bruins with an extra skater on the ice and a 6-on-4 advantage due to a delay of game penalty on Dan Hamhuis in the waning seconds couldn’t provide them with the equalizer.

On this afternoon, the Bruins’ 0-for-7 showing on their own man advantage, along with the Canucks’ four power-play goals, did them in.

“I thought we were ready to play, and when we played five-on-five, we were a good team,” Julien said. “So we gave them four power-play goals, and our power play didn’t score. It doesn’t matter what you ask me. I don’t think we’re going to point the finger at the other team because they didn’t do anything wrong. They played the game the way they feel they have to play it.

“They scored some power-play goals. They did the right things, and we didn’t do enough to win the hockey game. Let’s be man enough to admit it and move on.”

New year ushers in new-look BU hockey team

2012-01-07T03:18:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff

In the waning days of 2011, the No. 10/11 Boston University men’s hockey team lost its top two centers, senior Corey Trivino and sophomore Charlie Coyle, in less than a week. Without them, the team suffered a 5-2 loss to University of Notre Dame on national television. The game forced many to wonder if the Terriers (11-6-1, 9-4-1 Hockey East) could be a playoff-caliber team without Coyle and Trivino.

In their first game of 2012, however, the Terriers defeated No. 6/7 Merrimack College 4-2 at Agganis Arena, proving that the team has moved past the tumultuous end of the previous year.

“We really needed to get a W to make us feel like, ‘ok after losing a couple of guys we are ok. We are going to be fine,’” BU coach Jack Parker said following the win.

The Terriers had a new set of lines entering the game against the Fighting Irish (12-6-3, 8-3-3 CCHA), and based upon the result of the game it was not one that Parker was going to keep together. Sophomore Sahir Gill and junior Wade Megan took the top two center slots that had opened up with the recent losses, but struggled mightily in the game.

One of the biggest problems for BU that game was the play of the new centers who were adjusting to their new roles in the defensive zone and the faceoff circle. Faceoffs were a particularly weak area for BU that night, as they won only 19 out of 59 draws – less than one-third.

Against Merrimack (11-4-3, 7-3-1 Hockey East), the Terriers started Connolly and sophomore Sahir Gill at center, both of whom drew praise from Parker.

“Both of our centers, Connolly and Gill, both played extremely well in the defensive side,” Parker said. “I thought they played very, very well.

The team definitely improved at the faceoff dot, winning 28 out of 60 faceoffs – just under half of the draws taken. While BU did not out-perform the Warriors at the faceoff dot in the game, their showing was much more respectable than last game.

Part of the reason for the faceoff improvement may have been the use of Chiasson and Gill on draws. While Connolly remained at the center position, Chiasson replaced him at the faceoff circle frequently throughout the game, particularly on the power play.

“When I was younger I used to take draws on my strong side,” Chiasson said. “It wasn’t a problem with [Trivino] or [Coyle] because they are definitely good guys at faceoffs but I think it is important to get possession on the power play.”

Gill, on the other hand, took Megan’s spot in the middle of the second line and looked much more comfortable in the spot than Megan had. Gill performed well in his defensive zone, in the faceoff circle, and even scored a key insurance goal in the third period.

With the changes in the middle came a complete change of the line combinations from New Year’s Eve, in which Gill played with Connolly and redshirt freshman Yasin Cisse on the top forward line. Gill played on the second line Friday night with sophomore Matt Nieto and freshman forward Evan Rodrigues.

“Me and [Nieto] had talked about playing together a little bit. He is pretty fast and he is a goal scorer so it is fun to play with him and he makes good plays,” Gill said. “[Rodrigues] is a freshman but he has good poise out there so I thought things worked out pretty well.”

In addition to losing Trivino and Coyle before the Terriers faced Notre Dame, BU was also playing without sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening, who was participating in the World Junior Championships.

Clendening returned to the BU lineup on Friday night, and instantly provided a spark running the power play, which scored twice in its four chances against Merrimack. Clendening was on the ice for both tallies.

“Adam Clendening makes a big difference on our power play,” Parker said. “We put him out there and all of a sudden both groups looked different.”

BU went through a lot of adversity to end 2011, and its loss to Notre Dame showed a Terrier team that was not competing at a top-level. But the 2012 Terriers are 1-0 and have defeated the No. 6 team in the country.

With the win over Merrimack, the Terriers have taken the top spot in Hockey East, moving one point ahead of Boston College. If BU can continue to find production from the center position even after losing its top-two players at the position, they have a chance to hold on to first place.

“We had to find a new identity,” Parker said, “and hopefully we found it tonight.”

Terriers start 2012 off in winning fashion

2012-01-06T21:10:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 10/11 Boston University men’s hockey team started the new year off on a good note, as they rode a strong, 60-minute effort to top No. 6/7 Merrimack College, 4-2, on Friday night at Agganis Arena.

BU senior goaltender Kieran Millan made 42 saves in the winning effort and ten different Terriers found their way onto the scoresheet. By virtue of the win and Boston College’s inactivity Friday night, the Terriers (11-6-1, 9-4-1 Hockey East) moved into first place in Hockey East, leading the Eagles by one point.

“First of all, I was really pleased that we had a really solid effort,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “I think when you can beat Merrimack (11-4-3, 7-3-1 Hockey East), get four goals against them and get three in the first against them, you are telling yourself ‘we can be a pretty good hockey club.’”

The Terriers strong effort, especially in the offensive zone, helped them take control of the game early. BU owned the slot in the first period, but Merrimack scored the first goal of the period, a backhander off the stick of Josh Myers 4:31 into the period.

The Terriers answered Myers’ score quickly, as junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall tied the game just 14 seconds later when he collected his own rebound and slipped it under Merrimack goaltender Joe Cannata’s skate.

“I thought the biggest goal of the game was Justin Courtnall’s,” Parker said. “I thought answering [14] seconds after they scored, we’re wondering who we are and all the sudden they get one and we come right back and get one, that was huge.”

But BU was not satisfied with a one-goal answer. Soon after Courtnall’s tally, the Terriers went on a power play when Merrimack defenseman Karl Stollery tripped up red-shirt freshman forward Yasin Cisse 5:05 into the period. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson converted 25 seconds into the man-advantage and just 45 seconds after Courtnall’s goal. The goal came off a pass from senior captain Chris Connolly, who found Chiasson waiting unimpeded in the slot. Chiasson promptly beat Cannata stick-side to give BU the 2-1 lead.

Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera continued to prove what getting to the net can do for a team when, on BU’s second power play of the night. Sophomore Matt Nieto sent a cross-crease pass from behind the red line to Privitera, who was waiting at the post and banged it home. The goal was BU’s second power-play goal of the night and gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.

The second period was a tale of two halves, as Merrimack dominated BU for the majority of the first ten minutes while BU regained control in the second half. The Warriors led the Terriers 11-2 in shots through the first half of the period while the Terriers helped by taking two dumb penalties. Merrimack finally found the back of the net 9:45 into the period, when, while on the power play, junior Kyle Bigos sent a slapper through traffic past Millan to cut the Merrimack deficit to 3-2.

It seemed as if the Terriers’ long-standing habit of sitting back on leads would come back to haunt BU yet again. Instead, Merrimack’s goal seemed to re-energize the Terriers, who stopped marching to penalty box and took over the shot battle. They out-shot Merrimack 8-3 for the remainder of the period.

Then, with 2:37 remaining in the period, BU extended its lead to 4-2 on the heels of a nice play from junior defenseman Max Nicastro. The California native played aggressively on a pinch and intercepted the puck, then centered it to Sahir Gill, who blasted a shot from the top of the slot past Cannata.

Despite a flurry of Merrimack activity toward the end of the third period, the Terriers continued to thwart the Warrior attack and rode their quick start to a 4-2 win. The victory was not just the first of the new year; it was the first win since the team lost its top two centers in sophomore Charlie Coyle and senior Corey Trivino. For BU, the win over a strong Merrimack team allows them to close the chapter on their losses and move forward into a new identity.

“You can see right after the game, everyone had a smile on their face,” Chiasson said. “Definitely it was a tough time for myself and for my teammates. It’s great that we’re getting together and we’re realizing that we’re good enough to be successful this year.

“It was a tough loss, losing Corey and Charlie, but we have other guys. We need guys to step up, and that’s what we did tonight.”

BU vs. Merrimack Live Blog 1/6/12

2012-01-06T13:38:00.001-05:00

BU vs. Merrimack

Terriers to start 2012 with battle against Merrimack Warriors

2012-01-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 10/11 Boston University men’s hockey team will look to start off 2012 in winning fashion Friday when the Terriers suit up against the No. 6/7 Merrimack College Warriors. The game is a must-win for the Terriers (10-6-1, 8-4-1 Hockey East) if they want a chance at the season series since Merrimack already beat BU once this season in a 3-2 overtime thriller.

When the Warriors (11-3-3, 7-2-1 Hockey East) won that game back in November, they were the only unbeaten team in the country, but the landscape has changed since then. The Warriors have battled through a 3-3-2 stretch since facing BU, while the Terriers went 7-2.

“We know the game is real important in the standings,” said coach Jack Parker. “They’ve already beaten us once in one of our better games that I’ve thought we played this year. I don’t think there’s anybody that puts the fear of God in you like they had last year, but they do have an awful lot of guys that work very, very hard trying to get points and trying to get goals.”

The Terriers are a changed team since last playing Merrimack. BU lost its top two centers and two of its leading scorers in senior Corey Trivino and sophomore Charlie Coyle during the break. The two centers’ absences were obvious in the Terriers’ last game, a 5-2 loss to Notre Dame. BU was an abysmal 19-and-40 in faceoffs in that game. Sophomore forward Sahir Gill, who replaced Trivino as the first line center, was 3-and-10 in the faceoff circle while junior forward Wade Megan, who replaced Coyle on the second line, went 5-and-8.

After watching game film from the loss, Parker said his team looked more out of sync than he originally thought, and due to both faceoff struggles and a lack of offensive chemistry, Parker will shuffle his lines slightly for the game against Merrimack. Parker said senior captain Chris Connolly, who has played left wing on the top line all season, will replace Megan at center while Megan moves to Connolly’s spot on the wing.

“[Megan] doesn’t like playing center,” Parker said. “I told him I thought he could help us out, and he tried. He wasn’t bad, but if your heart’s really not in it and you’re hoping you don’t have to play it, then there’s no sense of trying to force him.”

Statistics show why, despite Megan’s reluctance, Parker attempted to play Megan at center before putting in Connolly. Over the course of his BU career, Megan is 259-and-281 on faceoffs, earning a .479 win percentage on his draws. Connolly is 151-and-228, a much lower .398 win percentage.

Junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall said that in addition to the line tweaks, the Terriers will have to learn how to win through the play of the players they have left.

“I think it’s up to us to be able to come together and just be able to play well with whoever we’re playing with,” Courtnall said. “I don’t think it matters what the lines are. We have a lot of talent on our team.”

But faceoffs and offensive chemistry were not BU’s only problem against Notre Dame; the Terrier defense also looked awful in the loss. The defense will change slightly Friday night, as Parker said the team will benefit from the return of sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening, who missed the Notre Dame game while playing for Team USA in the IIHF World Junior Championships.

Clendening returned to Boston on Thursday night, will play in the game against Merrimack Friday night, and will then go home Saturday morning to celebrate a belated Christmas with his family. Parker said Clendening is expected to return from his break next Wednesday.

“It gives him a few days at home,” Parker said. “But the most important thing is to get him off the ice. If he was staying here, we wouldn’t let him practice because that’s been a long haul for him.”

Since Clendening will play against Merrimack, junior defenseman Ryan Ruikka will sit. Parker said Ruikka should return to the lineup on Sunday, when the Terriers play an exhibition game against the U.S. Under-18 team. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan will start in net Friday while senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser will get the start on Sunday.

Notes:
- When Coyle left BU during the break, it seems that he left his teammates in the dark about his second semester plans. When Coyle and Clendening arrived at the Edmonton airport for the World Junior tournament, Clendening said in an interview with The Pipeline Show that Coyle told him Coyle was not going anywhere.

Just minutes later, Coyle told the media he was leaving BU. Courtnall somewhat addressed the way Coyle handled informing his teammates of his departure. When asked whether Coyle told his teammates ahead of time that he was leaving BU, Courtnall paused for a few seconds before saying:

“He was a really good teammate while he was here and a really good guy. I think he left on that note.”

- Following the Notre Dame game, Parker said he was upset with junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson, who was assessed a double minor in the waning minutes of the game on a slashing call. Parker said after watching game tape, the penalty looked more like a phantom call, but said he still is not happy with the way Chiasson has handled any frustration this season.

“I think it’s bad,” Parker said of Chiasson’s history of frustration penalties while serving as a captain. “If he hasn’t gotten a goal or two, or if his team is getting beat - and it’s not just himself personally - if his team is getting beat, he has to take that frustration out a different way. He has to play harder instead of just getting teed off. Because he certainly, he takes himself out of the game sometimes. We were talking about that [Wednesday].

“We need him on the power play, we need him killing penalties. We don’t need him in the penalty box. But most importantly, we don’t need him to get frustrated and he was frustrated the other night.”

Bruins extinguish the Flames with 9-0 beatdown

2012-01-06T11:00:00.005-05:00

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

En route to his team’s locker room, Cam Neely, sharply attired in a suit and tie, stood in a spacious but crowded elevator, surrounded by various members of the media.

“We win, huh?” asked the female security guard, who was manning the elevator.

The Boston Bruins president flashed a smile in her direction and mouthed a barely audible “yes.”

Little did the security guard know just how wide the margin of victory was for the reigning Stanley Cup champions at TD Garden last night. Patrice Bergeron and Nathan Horton scored two goals apiece, eight players recorded multi-point games, backup goaltender Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for his third shutout of the season and the B’s (26-10-1) cruised to a 9-0 shellacking of the Calgary Flames (18-19-5).

For left winger Benoit Pouliot, who filled in for an ill Brad Marchand (flu-like symptoms), the B’s offensive explosion – 15 goals in the past two games – does come as a bit of a surprise.

“It’s pretty fun to watch, fun to be a part of,” Pouliot said. “I didn’t expect that at all, scoring like we’ve been scoring all year. Our plus differential is pretty high, and it’s good. But our goalies are the main thing keeping us in the game. We backed them up, keeping the momentum on our side, scoring goals and playing pretty well.”

Bruins head Claude Julien said his squad has remained focused this week in wins against the New Jersey Devils and Flames, despite the looming showdown that is slated for Saturday with the Vancouver Canucks in a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals.

“I’ve talked about it for the last couple days on how our team has matured,” Julien said. “When you go through a process that you did last year, that’s when you learn so much. In those playoffs, for two months, it was important we focus on one game at a time and didn’t look any further than the next game. We learned from that. That’s the best approach you can take as a group and it served us well.

“We just carried that into this year. Until the media started asking us about that Vancouver game, it was never really talked about in our dressing room, and not purposely, but we just kept talking about the game coming up and that’s how we handle things with our club.”

Just 74 seconds into the contest, center Tyler Seguin put the Bruins on the scoreboard first. Bergeron received a pass from Pouliot, cleverly beat defenseman Jay Bouwmeester behind the net and zipped the puck to Seguin, who notched the goal from the slot.

Left winger Milan Lucic made it 2-0 in favor of the Bruins at 3:17 when his shot from outside the right circle took a quirky bounce off center Olli Jokinen’s skate and into the cage past Flames goalie Leland Irving.

Nearly five minutes later, center David Krejci capped the first-period scoring with a power-play goal, which extended his points-streak to seven games.

After Calgary right winger Tom Kostopoulos was whistled for tripping, the B’s capitalized on their first man advantage of the night when Rich Peverly’s cross-ice pass found Krejci, who buried the one-timer before Irving could slide over to protect the unattended side of the net.

A comeback from a 3-0 deficit after only 20 minutes of play would be difficult for the Flames to orchestrate.

“You can’t just wave a magic wand or anything,” said Bouwmeester, who finished the game at minus-4. “You have get back to basics, just work your way out of it. They are a good team, no doubt. We played bad. They proved it tonight. They will take care of their chances. We didn’t do a good job. We didn’t rebound from that tough start. Those are things you can’t let get out of hand.”

The onslaught only continued, with the Bruins netting four goals in the second period alone.

First, Seguin repaid Bergeron for his earlier goal, finding the B’s alternate captain in the slot for his 10th goal of the season. Then, 47 seconds later, center Chris Kelly tapped in a rebound off an Andrew Ference slap shot, marking the 13th time this year that the Bruins had scored two goals in less than a minute.

Right winger Nathan Horton stretched the Bruins’ advantage to 6-0 at the 4:15 mark, chasing the rookie Irving from the game midway through the second frame. Flames coach Brent Sutter put in Miikka Kiprusoff, who didn’t fare that much better, allowing another second-period goal to Horton, and a pair to Bergeron and right winger Daniel Paille (shorthanded) in the third period.

Rask did feel some sympathy for his counterparts in Irving (15 saves) and Kiprusoff (18 saves), but that still didn’t take anything away from the Bruins’ 9-0 thumping of the Flames.

“I kind of felt for the other goalie who was playing there,” Rask said. “But it’s good to see we’re scoring goals. That hasn’t always been the case for us, and if we can keep that up throughout the season, kind of a lot has to happen.”

Now, with the Flames all a thing of the past, the Bruins can finally turn their attention to facing the Canucks on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a huge game,” Bergeron said. “Obviously, it’s a tough team. We’ve seen it last year. It’s a team that’s very physical, a lot of talent, great power play and now we know them more than we used to last year. It’s going to be a tough battle, and I know it’s going to be an exciting game and we’re all looking forward to it.”

Jack Parker 'sick to [his] stomach' over injury to Minnesota hockey player Jack Jablonski

2012-01-05T18:12:00.001-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Any hockey family’s nightmare came true for a family in Minnesota last week, as 16-year-old Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School player Jack Jablonski was left paralyzed following a hit from behind in a junior varsity tournament game.

Boston University coach Jack Parker was especially devastated by the news of Jablonski’s injury. Parker has lived through the horrors of a spinal cord injury since 1995, when then-BU freshman Travis Roy crashed head-first into the boards 11 seconds into his first collegiate game, an Oct. 20 matchup against the University of North Dakota. Roy cracked his fourth cervical vertebra, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

Parker remained very close with Roy in the years following Roy’s accident and sees him regularly. He was there to witness much of Roy’s rehabilitation process and had to coach the rest of the team through handling such a severe injury to a teammate.

“It makes me sick to my stomach to think about,” Parker said of his reaction to Jablonski’s injury. “ I know what he’s going to go through. I know what his family is going to go through. I know what all his friends and his whole social network he has will go through because of this horrible accident.”

Parker has yet to talk to Roy about Jablonski’s injury. He was supposed to see Roy anyway Thursday night, but Parker is not feeling well and had to cancel his plans. Instead, Parker said he now plans to call Jablonski’s coach to share his experiences as a coach of a player with a spinal cord injury.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen here,” Parker said of why he has waited to call Jablonski’s coach. “Nobody knows how bad it is going to be for a while. When it settles in and they see and they realize how this is going to affect everybody, it can get pretty shocking.”

Roy’s injury was higher in the spine (C4) than Jablonski’s (C5-C6), but Roy’s spinal cord was not completely severed the way Jablonski’s is, meaning Roy has a better chance of regaining sensation and movement. On Thursday, neurosurgeons at Hennepin County Medical Center who are treating Jablonski released a statement confirming that the damage to Jablonski’s spinal cord is surgically irreparable.

“Unfortunately, our pre-operative diagnosis was confirmed intra-operatively when we visualized the obviously horrific injury to his spinal column as a result of neck vertebrae dislocation and fractures,” the statement said. “An injury to the spinal cord of this nature results in sever neurological dysfunction and often leads to the inability to move the arms and legs. Spinal cord damage of this type is irreparable with surgery.”

When Parker was informed of the severity of Jablonski’s injury, Parker became visibly upset.

“He’s worse than Travis,” Parker said. “I bet those kids feel awful too. The one good thing about Travis was he was the hitter, not the hit-ee. The North Dakota defenseman doesn’t feel bad that he did something to Travis Roy. Those two kids must feel awful.”

This is not the first time Parker has reached out to a paralyzed hockey player. Norwood teen Matt Brown, then a 15-year-old sophomore playing on the Norwood High varsity hockey team, broke his C4 and C5 vertebrae and significantly bruised his spinal cord in a game against Weymouth High School on Jan. 23, 2010. Parker visited Brown and his family in the hospital soon after the injury.

“I was shocked to see how young he was,” Parker said. “I think he was a sophomore in high school. It was just, look at this kid. He looks like he’s 12 to me, you know. I just, they were all upbeat. This is going to be, he’s doing well. And I’m thinking, ‘You have no idea how this is going to go. Wait until you see what is going to happen now.’”

In the wake of Jablonski’s injury, the Minneapolis Hockey Association introduced an initiative called Jack’s Pledge, which would make players and coaches “commit to knowing the rules of hockey and playing by a strict interpretation of the rules.” The pledge asks players to do their best to avoid hitting in a way that would lead to dangerous situations.

But Parker said the initiative is not enough to avoid future injuries.

“Take off the facemask,” Parker said. “People wouldn’t hit people as hard. They wouldn’t get blindsided as much. They wouldn’t get hurt as much if they had the half shield instead of a full shield.

“These kids think their equipment is made in heaven. They can go kill people, and they have no respect for anybody because they don’t worry about hurting anybody. If your face is exposed, people get worried about it.”

Parker said he will wait until he speaks with Jablonski’s coach to determine what he and BU hockey can do to help Jablonski, but said at the very least, the team will likely send Jablonski a signed jersey and other memorabilia.

“They’re going to need an awful lot of support,” Parker said. “Travis got an unbelievable amount of support from the hockey community, the BU community, from the national hockey community. It was fabulous. They’re going to need a lot of support and a lot of help.”

BU @ Notre Dame: What went right and what went wrong

2012-01-01T00:58:00.003-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team fell to No. 5/6 Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve. Here’s a look at what went wrong – and what went right – for BU Saturday night.

What went wrong for the Terriers:

Defense
BU had been improving defensively as the first semester came to a close, but their progress on the blue line took a major step back against Notre Dame. The Terriers deteriorated throughout the game in terms of blocking shots, directing traffic away from senior goaltender Kieran Millan, clearing the puck out of the zone and breaking up Notre Dame plays.

In the second period, junior defenseman Max Nicastro epitomized the BU defense when, in an attempt to pass the puck out of the zone, he sent a pass right to Notre Dame’s Peter Schneider in the slot instead. There were no Terriers in the immediate area around Schneider. Although that specific turnover did not result in a goal, a plethora of BU turnovers led to either odd-man rushes for Notre Dame, goals or simply robbed BU of scoring chances that could have helped stop the bleeding.

“I think it was the worst night in a long time that our four defensemen had,” BU coach Jack Parker said.

Goaltending
Millan has been inconsistent all season long, and his play at Notre Dame Saturday was no different. Millan looked good in the first period. He made a few impressive stops, especially on plays where the BU defense collapsed in front of him, but his play in the first period disappeared for the rest of the game. He often looked like he was fighting the puck or ducking away from shots, and he was giving up plenty of juicy rebounds for the Fighting Irish to pounce on.

In the second period, Millan seemed to keep up with a Notre Dame 2-on-1, but he inexplicably failed to close his five-hole as he went down and Joe Costello capitalized, slipping one through Millan’s legs to put Notre Dame up 3-1. In the third period, Millan dove way out of position, leaving an empty net open for Billy Maday to put the Fighting Irish ahead 4-1.

Penalties
BU took plenty of stupid penalties, helping Notre Dame to a 2-for-9 power-play performance. Junior defenseman Sean Escobedo took an ill-advised penalty when he dropped his stick, so he held a Notre Dame player’s stick to the side of the BU net instead to attempt to defend the net. Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera found himself with a two-minute minor after he blew a play at the blue line and struggled to catch up to his man on a rush the other way. Millan was able to keep up with the player, but Privitera still hooked him to put BU on the penalty kill for the rest of the period.

The worst penalty of the night came from junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson, who, toward the end of the third period, took out his frustrations on stick-less Notre Dame player, repeatedly slashing the man and earning himself a four minutes in the box. That type of frustration penalty is frowned upon coming from any player, but it is even worse when it comes from the assistant captain of a team.

“If that’s how he’s going to react when he doesn’t play well, then he should sit down,” Parker said of Chiasson’s penalty.

What went right for the Terriers:

Scoring first
It’s the goal for any team to score first, and the Terriers did that despite being outplayed for most of the first period. It seemed that Notre Dame was getting most of the puck possession in the opening 20 minutes, but with just 1:33 remaining in the first period, junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall put the Terriers on top when he banged home a rebound off freshman forward Cason Hohmann’s shot. The goal was Courtnall’s second of the season, leaving him one shy of matching his career total of three goals.

Shorthanded tally
The game was basically over when, with 5:18 remaining in regulation, junior forward Wade Megan scored a shorthanded breakaway goal on Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays to cut BU’s deficit to 5-2. The goal was not going to win the game for the Terriers, but it did help them break out of a three-way tie with Colgate and Minnesota State to take sole possession of first place in the nation in shorthanded goals (8).

Megan alone has two shorthanded goals for the Terriers. Corey Trivino also has two shorthanded tallies this season for BU. Matt Nieto (1), Alex Chiasson (1), Sahir Gill (1) and Charlie Coyle (1) are the other Terriers who have scored shorthanded this year.

BU @ Notre Dame: Jack Parker postgame press conference

2011-12-31T23:55:00.004-05:00

Overall thoughts:
I was very disappointed in how we played. I don’t think we played well mentally at all and I don’t think we played well emotionally. We just weren’t there. I thought it was the worst night in a long time that our four defensemen had, we gave up jumps and opportunities. We weren’t doing anything in general, it was a team that wasn’t thorough enough, it wasn’t emotional. We had no intensity at all, until we were down 3-1. Then we started playing a little bit better, but the first three goals we gave them in the second period were just real bad plays. Turnovers or bad plays or bad reads – they didn’t have to work too hard for their goals.

On what changed in the second period from the first period:
I don’t think we held them off. I think they had the puck in our zone a lot in the first period. I think the difference was we stood around watching a little more and we turned pucks over. We didn’t turn the pucks over in center ice like we did in the second period, but we gave them three unbelievable opportunities in the second period, that we didn’t give them in the first. They had the puck a lot in our zone but they didn’t get a lot of shots. The other aspect was that we got exhausted killing penalties. They did a good job possessing the puck in the zone and we were killing penalties, and they went 2 for 9 and I thought they could have a bit more.

On the new-look offense:
I didn’t like it. We only got two goals. I didn’t think we were sharp on the offensive end of the game. I think it was, I’m not sure if it was because we had guys out of position a little bit, but guys just didn’t come ready to play, the type of game we had. I thought that our third line was our best line. Hohmann, Rodrigues and Courtnall played extremely well for the most part. I thought everybody else struggled.

On Gill and Megan at center:
I thought they were okay. I don’t think it was the center spot, I don’t think either one of them…they got that nice shot and a goal but I don’t think either one of those lines played very well.

On finding openings:
I thought we turned the puck over too many times and sometimes [Notre Dame] made a nice play with their stick, but most of the time we had a pass to make and we tried to make a hard pass, and we hit them. I thought we were anxious, we were in a rush, you know, you say you want to be quick but not in a hurry. We were in a hurry at times tonight, trying to dump the puck, make a pass that wasn’t quite there yet, and I think that showed. But overall I think the game got out of hand territorially in the third period with all the penalties we had. If you look at the first two periods, the game wasn’t that different, except on the scoreboard, because we gave them three unbelievable opportunities.

On yesterday’s practice:
We had a great practice. Yesterday’s practice was fabulous. We had a great practice right before we left. Practices have been really sharp.

On getting back on the ice after all the turmoil over the break:
Turmoil was over once we got back on the ice on the 26th. We started practice and people have different roles, and it’s time to move on and nobody’s worried about it. It’ll be nice to get Clendening back on the ice.

On why he pulled Millan on the PP in the third:
We were losing by a lot of goals. Maybe Miami was ringing in my head. But a 6-on-4 opportunity is pretty good and I wanted to see if we could get back into it and make it 5-3.

On Kieran’s play overall:
I think he looked very sharp at times. I think he gave up a couple rebounds he’d like to have back. Other than a couple bad rebounds I thought he had some unbelievable saves, and I thought on the first three goals he had no chance on any of them. 9 teed up from 30 feet out, a defenseman screening our goalie and not getting to see the shot, we don’t backcheck on a 3-on-2 – we’re there but we don’t cover the guy – and then we turn the puck over twice and give them a 2-on-1 to score a goal. The defensemen made a couple really brutal turnovers that led to the goals.

On moving forward:
I think we’ve got to get back to the way we were playing right before the break. This game is not indicative of where we were before the break, and if we continue to play as stupid and as lackadaisical as we did tonight, we will have the same outcomes.

On Chiasson’s double-minor slashing call:
I thought they were both stupid penalties and I thought he was frustrated he didn’t play well. If that’s how he’s going to react when he doesn’t play well, then he should sit down.

On what he thought of the rink, the televised game:
I think the rink is great, it came out really nice. The whole campus is impressive. It’s a really beautiful place. You can see why people want to come here.

BU @ Notre Dame: Megan and Connolly postgame transcripts

2011-12-31T23:48:00.005-05:00

Wade Megan
On being back at center:
It felt OK. obviously it’s different. I’m getting back into it, re-learning some stuff. It’s tough, especially after a break like that, to just jump in to a new position. It felt alright, there’s definitely some things I need to work on, faceoffs being one of them. It’s going to take a little getting used to but overall I think it was alright.

On his experience as a centerman:
When I came in here I was a centerman, played freshman year for a while and halfway through freshman year I switched to wing and played wing until now. So I have experience, so it’s not like it’s completely new but it’s just tough going from wing and then to center, but it’s something I’m going to have to do so I’m going to have to get used to it.

On how he can get used to playing center:
You just said it, just practice. It’s one of those things you don’t do for a while and there are so many little tricks and stuff like that that you have to re-learn and get used to. At the end I started to win more draws, but it’s just one of things you have to practice everyday, so it’s definitely something I’m learning to work on.

On any tips he's gotten about playing center:
A little bit. I mean we have Gill [making the same switch], so that leaves Rosen and some of the other guys. Like I said, I’ve played it before, so it’s not completely new. I know what I have to do, it’s just a matter of putting in some hours and re-learning it again.

On how Gill is managing the transition:
He’s played a little bit of center too here and there. I think he’s just a really skilled player and he’s good down low, so it’s a pretty easy transition for him. He’s really good in the corners and stuff like that, so it’s just something like I said going to have to get used to because it looks like we’re going to be playing there the rest of the year, so we’re just going to have to get better at it.

On his goal:
The forward for them was rolling up and I kind of read that he was going to try to back a blind, backhand pass to that defenseman, so I followed him up and was able to pick it off. The ice was not great, a little soft, so I didn’t want to get too fancy, just shelf one and luckily it went in.

On his skill (four power-play goals, two shorthanded goals) on special teams:
I enjoy PP obviously, getting a little extra time on the ice out there. It’s so easy to work off of Chiasson and Nieto on the power play. They get [the puck] to you when you’re out there and I’m able to get a lot of shots and stuff like that. As far as the PK, I like blocking shots and I like reading, I think I can read the passes to the defensemen pretty good, so [that] helps me out a little bit.

On how he will handle the extra responsibility/ice time:
Like I said, again, I’m just going to have to get used to it. I don’t really have a choice. I’m just going to have to make sure my conditioning levels are good, I’ll probably see a little bit more ice time, and I just have to practice little things at center, and get used to stuff like that. I think it’ll be good for me.

Chris Connolly

General thoughts:
I don’t think it was the effort we needed clearly. You know, Kieran stood on his head I thought. You know, giving up five goals on 35 whatever shots they had. Doesn’t really tell the story. They probably had 20 Grade-A shots. At one point, it looked like they could do whatever they wanted out there. It’s disappointing to see. You can’t even blame it on the break because they had a break too. We’ll just have to take a look at the game film. I know a lot of it had to do with odd-man rushes. I don’t know about anything else. Penalties, clearly too, wasn’t very disciplined and I think as the game went on, we got more frustrated. Just things that were disappointing to see, so we have to turn that around pretty quickly.

On the difference between practices and games:
You can only practice so game-like, you know? It’s completely different when you get out there. He’d been stressing all week that he wasn’t worried about the conditioning side, he was more worried about the mental side. That I think played a huge part in today’s game. I don’t know if we were, I think we were mentally jacked up to play and ready to play. I don’t know how you couldn’t be. It’s a big out of conference game. But they came at us pretty hard and all the credit to them. They played real well and we just didn’t match their intensity.

On centers’ transitions:
I think it’s all-in-all team defense. It’s going to be a little transition for them to get adjusted to the position, but in the same breath, I think it’s our d and other wings’ job to be held accountable. It’s not just our new centers obligation to step up and fill that position. I think it’s all on the five guys in front of Kieran blocking shots and boxing people out so he didn’t have to see too many which he did. He saw way too many tonight.

On the top line:
I think it has a lot of potential. We were pretty deep up front and losing those two guys is obviously, you don’t like to see that. They’re both very talented guys. But I think we have plenty of guys that can step up and fill those roles. We have guys that are going to get more opportunity to show what they can do. I think Courtnall on the third line with those two freshmen played really well tonight, getting one of those goals and so that’s what we’re going to need out of them, and then you know, the first couple of lines, there’s going to be different chemistry with Megan and Sahir, whoever else might play center throughout the rest of the season, but we’ve got plenty of guys that can generate some good chemistry down the road coming into the playoffs so.

On finding ways through Notre Dame players/sticks:
I don’t think we did enough chipping behind them and getting after. They had a lot of possession down low and that’s what we didn’t do to them. We got caught making some diagonal passes at their blue line and turning some pucks over and that’s why they got so many odd man rushes. And we didn’t do a good job picking up guys on the backcheck, so when we hit that red line, we have to realize that those D like to stand up and the best way to play them is to chip it behind them to kind of possess the puck on the goal line and then start getting some pucks up to the point and bodies to the net. It’s real simple. It’s a simple game. We just didn’t execute it.

On the power play:
Well, I think we had some good looks and moved the puck around pretty decently at times, but in general, I don’t think we had enough guys bearing down in front. We left a couple rebounds out here and there and we just didn’t get any bodies to the net to finish those rebounds off. We’re going to need that. We need the power play to be good, so.

On how losing Trivino and Coyle affected the team:
It’s a big loss. Both those guys had contributed. Corey in his fourth year and Charlie in his second year, so we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t going to affect us, but that being said, like I said, I think we have a lot of depth and I think it’s just going to take the adjustment of guys playing some different positions and with some different players but I think chemistry will develop and we’re still in a very good situation. This is a very good team and they’re going to make a far run in the season in the playoffs and in the national tournament, so all we can do is learn from the game and try to turn it around this next week.

On if it was nice to get back on the ice:
It was. I mean I think everybody was excited. Break goes by so fast but it’s a much needed break and I think the second half of the season is the real season. You spend the first half trying to put yourself in a decent position so you don’t have to dig yourself out of a hole, and I think we’ve done that. Just get out west and see the new building and great atmosphere that they had, I think we were all really excited to get out here. We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to, but I think we’re all excited to be out here so.

On what they can improve on:
We turned a lot of pucks over. We didn’t help Kieran out. We didn’t stay out of the box, and I think those are the three main things. Kieran can’t see that when he Grade-A opportunities, we have to clear some pucks and bodies out, and then we just have to be more disciplined. We have to be smarter. I think they’re all easy correctable things. I don’t know if it was the 22-day break that had guys in a bit of a lull or what it may be, but like I said, they’re easily correctable and we’ll look at them and try to turn it around.

On faceoff troubles:
Credit to them. They got some big, strong centermen that are really good at taking faceoffs. In the same breath, we do have two new guys who are taking draws that aren’t really as used to it as much. I think that’s just something to practice and after practices, working with coaches, guys who ever have the potential of taking them need to get in there and start practicing because I think it’s a big part of the game. It establishes possession whether that being in the offensive or defensive zone. You can eat up 15-20 seconds just on faceoffs so we’re going to have to bear down on that a little bit, work with the guys who take faceoffs, but like I said, credit to them. They’ll do a real good job with it.

On this winter break compared to his three prior winter breaks:
I’m in a different situation, being a senior and being a leader on this team. I think it’s my job to make sure that everybody is mentally ready to go and trying to put things in the past. We can’t change it now. I think morale just has to be positive and we have to look at where we’re at and realize that we’re still in a very good situation. We don’t necessarily have to dig ourselves out of a hole. We had a good few last games coming up to the break. I think just keeping the spirits high and telling the guys that we’ll be okay is kind of how it’s been different for me I think.

Made-over offense struggles in opening act

2011-12-31T23:22:00.004-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – As the sun set on 2011 and rose for what will amount to be the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team’s second season, the Terriers’ new-look offense provided a glimpse at what 2012 will be like – and no one on BU liked what they saw.

The Terriers (10-6-1, 8-4-1 Hockey East) – thrusting sophomore Sahir Gill and junior Wade Megan into the first- and second-line center spots, respectively – fell 5-2 to No. 5/6 University of Notre Dame in a New Year’s Eve matchup at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Saturday night.

Following the well-documented dismissal of forward Corey Trivino and departure of forward Charlie Coyle, coach Jack Parker was forced to make some dramatic changes to his team’s offensive lines, most notably the first two.

The changes yielded two trios – senior captain Chris Connolly, Gill and red shirt freshman Yasin Cissé on the first line, with sophomore Matt Nieto, Megan and junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson on the second – with high ceilings but generally unimpressive results in their debut.

The root of those unimpressive results could very well have been BU’s poor performance with faceoffs. On the night, the Terriers won just 19 draws, compared to 40 for the Fighting Irish (12-6-3).

Without Trivino’s .558 faceoff success rate and Coyle’s .531 mark, BU’s .322 rate was a far cry from its .502 average on the season.

“[Notre Dame has] some big, strong centermen that are really good at taking faceoffs,” Connolly said. “In the same breath, we do have two new guys [Gill and Megan] who are taking draws that aren’t really as used to it as much. I think that’s just something to practice and after practices, working with coaches [on]; guys who ever have the potential of taking them need to get in there and start practicing because I think it’s a big part of the game.”

Megan, unhappy with his faceoff success, was 5-and-8 on draws, good for a .385 winning percentage – the best on the team against the Fighting Irish. He said he played center the first half of his freshman season and “felt OK” in his first game back in his old position.

“Obviously it’s different,” Megan said. “I’m getting back into it, re-learning some stuff. It’s tough, especially after a break like that, to just jump in to a new position.

“There’s definitely some things I need to work on, faceoffs being one of them. It’s going to take a little getting used.”

Freshman Cason Hohmann, the third line’s center, was close behind Megan with an 8-and-13 record (.380) on the night, with one of those wins resulting in a goal from junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall.

Nieto, Gill and junior forward Ben Rosen were a combined 3-and-16 on draws.

The faceoff failure led to an overall underwhelming performance in the offensive end, in Parker’s eyes.

“I didn’t like it,” Parker said bluntly of the team’s newly formed lines. “Our third line was our best line. Hohmann, Rodrigues and Courtnall played extremely well for the most part. I thought everybody else struggled.”

It wasn’t all bad for Megan and the Terriers, though, as the 21-year-old scored his eighth goal of the season 14:52 into the third to narrow the deficit to 5-2.

“The forward for them was rolling up and I kind of read that he was going to try to a blind, backhand pass to that defenseman,” Megan said, “so I followed him up and was able to pick it off. The ice was not great, a little soft, so I didn’t want to get too fancy, just shelf one and luckily it went in.”

It was BU’s NCAA-best eighth short-handed goal of the year, but wasn’t enough output from Gill and Megan to satisfy Parker.

“[Megan had] that nice shot and a goal but I don’t think either one of those lines played very well,” Parker said.

Still, it’s not as if anything will change soon. With just two forwards – junior Ryan Santana and sophomore Matt Ronan – on the bench now, Gill and Megan seem to be in their new spots to stay.

“I’m just going to have to get used to it,” Megan said. “I don’t really have a choice.”

Terriers can't finish 2011 on a winning note

2011-12-31T21:19:00.006-05:00

By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Although they got on the scoreboard first, that was about the last of the good news for the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team against the No. 5/6 University of Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve. BU (10-6-1, 8-4-1 Hockey East) racked up 18 penalty minutes and couldn’t match Notre Dame’s (12-6-3) energy in a 5-2 loss.

“I don’t think we played well mentally at all, and I don’t think we played well emotionally,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “We just weren’t there. I thought it was the worst night in a long time that our defensemen had.”

BU’s three first-period penalties made it difficult for them to find a rhythm or establish a presence in Notre Dame’s zone. Even outside of the three power plays, Notre Dame spent extended periods of time in front of senior goalie Kieran Millan as BU struggled to gain momentum through the neutral zone.

Despite being pinned in their own zone for much of the first period, the Terriers struck first with less than two minutes remaining in the frame. Freshman center Cason Hohmann sent a shot on net off of a faceoff, and the rebound came to junior forward Justin Courtnall, who lifted it over Summerhays for his second goal of the season.

When a tripping call on junior forward Alex Chiasson came late in the first, Notre Dame started the second period on the power play and made good on that opportunity. Anders Lee took advantage of sophomore forward Sahir Gill breaking his stick to rip his thirteenth goal of the year past Millan from the top of the left circle.

After that, the possession advantage the Irish had held throughout the first period began to show up on the scoresheet, as they scored twice in the next 10 minutes. Center Garrett Peterson controlled a wobbling cross-crease pass to give Notre Dame the lead, and winger Jeff Costello made it 3-1 when he guided a soft shot through Millan’s five-hole on an odd-man rush – one of many for the Irish during that period.

“I thought we turned the puck over too many times, and sometimes [Notre Dame] made a nice play with their stick, but most of the time we had a pass to make and we tried to make a hard pass, and we hit them,” Parker said. “We don’t backcheck on a 3-on-2 – we’re there but we don’t cover the guy – and then we turn the puck over twice and give them a 2-on-1 to score a goal. The defensemen made a couple really brutal turnovers.”

Lee struck again 3:30 into the third, when he maneuvered around BU junior defenseman Ryan Ruikka and one-timed a rebound past Millan, who was in no position to stop the secondary opportunity. And when junior defenseman Patrick MacGregor went to the box at 6:23 of the period, Irish captain Billy Maday tapped a puck into a practically empty net to as Millan was out of position just eight seconds into the power play.

As they fell further behind, the Terriers continued to rack up penalties, including a four-minute slashing double minor for junior forward Alex Chiasson after Notre Dame made it 5-1 in the third. Junior center Wade Megan, centering the second line after the departures of Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle, brought BU within three when he went five-hole on a breakaway late in the third, but that was all the closer they got.

Millan’s play was by no means perfect, but the defense frequently put him in difficult spots by failing to backcheck or clear pucks effectively. With Gill and Megan both playing unfamiliar positions and sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening missing to play in the World Junior Championships, BU had several adjustments to make, but senior forward Chris Connolly said the pressure of adapting is on the whole team.

“I think it’s all-in-all team defense,” Connolly said. “It’s going to be a little transition for [Gill and Megan] to get adjusted to the position, but in the same breath, I think it’s our [defense] and other wings’ job to be held accountable. It’s not just our new centers’ obligation to step up and fill that position. I think it’s all on the five guys in front of Kieran, blocking shots and boxing people out so he didn’t have to see too many, which he did. He saw way too many tonight.”

New Years Eve: BU @ Notre Dame

2011-12-31T16:37:00.000-05:00

BU @ Notre Dame on New Years Eve

Alleged Trivino incident an extreme example of previous floor behavior

2011-12-31T12:43:00.005-05:00

By Arielle Aronson and Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Throughout the fall semester, members of the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team – living in the same building where then senior forward Corey Trivino allegedly sexually harassed a female student on Dec. 11 – had consistently exhibited inappropriate behavior, building residents said.

The 21-year-old Trivino’s arrest on charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery and assault to rape painted a picture of an isolated incident of inappropriate behavior from one of the hockey team’s brightest stars.

After the arrest, however, The Daily Free Press learned that Trivino’s behavior on the night of the arrest was an exaggerated example of commonplace behavior on that floor.

Residents of the building told The DFP while they never experienced a player attempting to assault them, issues with players bothering girls on the floor was a large problem that dated back to the beginning of the semester.

The residents asked to remain anonymous in fear of getting involved in “drama” concerning the still-open legal case – Trivino’s next court date is set for Jan. 18 – but they said some of the players were often disruptive, made lewd comments and knocked on girls’ doors.

Residents said the players would ask for condoms or see if the girls would let the barely dressed players into their rooms. If residents did not open their doors, they said, the players would leave. But the noisy behavior, which commonly occurred on weeknights, was a nuisance.

“They’re always running through the hallways and banging on our door, banging on other peoples’ doors in the hallways,” an anonymous resident said. “The Resident Advisor would have to come out and tell them like, ‘Guys, be quiet.’”

In October, the RA sent an email to everyone on the floor stating her floor was not a zoo and implored them to “stop behaving like animals,” the residents said. The residents originally volunteered to provide a copy of the email to The DFP, but later rescinded their offer.

The email did not stop the players’ behavior. The residents said the RA was constantly leaving her room to yell at the rowdy players and attempting to quiet them down.

When asked to describe which players ran through the halls and disturbed girls on the floor, residents did not describe Trivino. They did not recognize a description of Trivino and said they had personally never seen him behaving inappropriately in the hall.

Residents on other floors of the building did not report the same problems, and said players on their floors never ran loudly through the halls and were always well behaved. Many residents of the building said they were unaware they lived on the same floor as hockey players.

The residents whom lived on the rowdy floor said the only way to avoid the players was to ignore them.

“Basically it’s just an everyday kind of thing,” a resident said. “They’d be screaming in the hallways a lot. We ignore it most of the time.”

“We don’t ever open the door,” another resident said. “It’s no use to encourage that behavior because it’ll just give them more attention.”

However, in the police report describing Trivino’s arrest, the RA that Trivino allegedly came after said she had no choice but to open the door. According to the police report, the victim said she had to open the door because she was an RA.

According to other RAs at BU, however, the rule does not exist.

An RA in another building at BU, who asked to remain anonymous because she was unsure if she was allowed to comment on the matter, said she never heard of a rule requiring her to always open her door if someone knocked.

Another RA, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was shocked when she read – in the original DFP article published on Dec. 13 – the victim said she had to open the door all three times Trivino came calling. The RA interviewed had never heard of a rule requiring her to open her door. The RA said that in training, RAs are taught their safety comes first and if they are threatened, they should do whatever possible to protect themselves.

The DFP made multiple attempts to reach David Zamojski, BU’s director of Residence Life, for comment on the matter. Zamojski’s office, however, said he would call back a different day until, three days after the first attempt to reach Zamojski, his office said he was out for the weekend.

Attempts to reach others in housing were denied, as all others contacted deferred comment to Zamojski. Zamojski also did not respond to an email from The DFP seeking comment.

Former RA Caitlin Cox, a BU Class of 2010 graduate, said she understood why the victim would originally open the door for Trivino even if there were no rule requiring her to do so.

“The bottom line is that as an RA, your job is to help the students you are in charge of,” Cox said. “Not only is it your job, people become RAs because they want to help. So if there was someone banging on the door in the middle of the night, you jump to action because that is what you are trained to do and that is what you are ready to do.”

The DFP also spoke with BU spokesman Colin Riley, who denied commenting on the RA policy and said, BU officials would not comment while the police investigation continues.

In spite of the RA’s efforts to stop the rambunctious behavior, one resident said the hockey players’ habits created an uneasy living environment and left residents wondering how to prevent a similar assault from happening to them.

“We don’t open the door, but I mean if we did I can only imagine. . .what if that [attack] happened to one of us?” one resident said. “They’re big guys, we can’t fight back.”

Kevin Dillon, Meredith Perri and Annie Ropeik contributed to the reporting of this article.

Parker: Coyle's move to QMJHL 'a less than lateral move'

2011-12-30T17:40:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

During the winter break, the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team suffered one of the most high-profile player departures in recent history when sophomore forward Charlie Coyle chose to leave BU for brighter pastures with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

In a recent interview, BU coach Jack Parker expressed his disappointment in Coyle’s decision to leave BU at the end of the first semester. Coyle informed Parker before leaving BU for the break that he would not be returning. According to multiple sources, Coyle had some academic issues at BU, but Parker said that while he cannot comment on Coyle’s academic situation, he hinted that it was Coyle’s choice to leave the school.

“One of the major problems was it would be one thing if we lost a right wing and a left wing, but we lost two centers,” Parker said. “It would have been better for us and maybe better for him if he had decided to leave at the end of last season.”

Had Coyle left before the season and not in the middle of it, BU would have been able to bring in another center to replace Coyle. Parker said that while it is always an option to bring in a recruit a semester early, he chose not to do so in this case because he had an abundance of forwards (although not necessarily centers) on the team to replace Coyle. BU did add another forward, albeit not a recruited player, in walk-on Jake Moscatel - who most recently played for BU’s club hockey team - for depth in case of injury. Moscatel is not expected to see much ice time.

Coyle leaves BU in the midst of a season where he had only scored three goals but assisted on 11 other tallies. Parker said that while the team will suffer from the loss of a player of Coyle's skill level, he believes the team will miss dismissed senior forward Corey Trivino’s (13-4-17) total output more than Coyle’s.

“Coyle had three goals and Trivino had 13 goals, so you tell me who we’ll miss more,” Parker said. “Coyle has been a really good player for us, there’s no question about it, but it’s not as if we’ll miss his total output. He was on the first line since he’s been here. He was on the power play since he’s been here. He couldn’t have possibly gotten more ice time than he had. We can replace him with a lot more guys in that ice time and get a lot more goals than just his three.”

Parker was then asked whether he was disappointed with Coyle’s production over the course of his BU career.

“Not as much as he was, I guess,” Parker said. Parker then denied that Coyle left BU because he was unhappy with the way he was developing. He said instead that Coyle told Parker he chose to leave BU because he wanted to focus solely on hockey rather than both school and hockey.

After Coyle’s departure, reports emerged saying sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening was also a risk to leave the team, but Parker said Clendening plans to return to school. Both Clendening and sophomore forward Matt Nieto, like Coyle, have been hounded by Canadian Major Junior teams throughout their collegiate careers in an attempt to get the players to leave college to play north of the border.

Coyle, a lifelong BU fan, always said it was his dream to play for BU and even used “buhockey03” as his email address before arriving on Commonwealth Avenue. Therefore, it seemed unlikely that Coyle would give in to the pressure from the Major Junior teams and leave his dream school.

Now that he did leave BU, the chances of Nieto and Clendening choosing to leave seemed greater as well. Parker, however, said he was not worried that Nieto or Clendening – who did not grow up as BU fans - would also leave the team.

“Anybody could do it,” Parker said. “Each individual has their own ethical and moral principles. It’s a hard situation, but Clendening has been hounded and he’s not leaving. Nieto’s not leaving.”

While Major Junior teams develop many elite players for the NHL, the league differs from college hockey in that it is for players aged 16-20 years old and is a longer schedule with more games and less of a focus on gym and practice routines. For Coyle, a player who has competed against 18-to-25 year olds in college hockey for the last 18 months, the move to Major Junior is an interesting developmental choice.

“It’s a less than lateral move,” Parker said of the difference in competition level between the QMJHL and college hockey.

Coyle is currently playing in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships, an annual tournament featuring national teams of players under 20 years old. Coyle has been dominant in the tournament thus far and recorded a hat trick in Team USA’s first official game, a 11-3 rout of Denmark. Coyle’s goal total in that one game matched his output from an entire semester at BU, leading the US national team coach, Dean Blais, to remark that Parker must not have been using Coyle correctly at BU. Parker did not back down from firing back at Blais.

“They’re playing him at center; we played him at center,” Parker said. “They’re playing him on the power play; we played him on the power play. They’re playing him on the penalty kill; we played him on the penalty kill. We used him exactly the same way they are.”

Despite his disappointment in Coyle’s decision to leave BU, however, Parker said he is happy to see Coyle doing well in the tournament.

“Charlie Coyle got much better as a player here at BU,” Parker said. “It’s amazing to see how much better he is now than he was at this point last year. In general, I’m happy to see him do well on that team.”

BU begins second half shorthanded

2011-12-30T17:38:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team’s game against the No. 5 University of Notre Dame on New Years Eve will be a game of many firsts. The matchup marks the first time coach Jack Parker has ever coached at Notre Dame, the first time the Terriers (10-5-1, 8-4-1 HE) will play at the Fighting Irish’s (11-6-3, 8-3-3 CCHA) new rink, the first time a college hockey game will be televised on the national TV network Versus, and most notably, the first time the Terriers will play this season without star centers Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle.

Trivino, a senior forward who led all of Hockey East in goals (13) through the first half of the season, was arrested a little over 24 hours after BU wrapped up its first semester schedule with a 5-1 win over the University of Maine. The 21-year-old was promptly dismissed from the team upon his arrest.

Coyle, a sophomore forward who was one of the team’s most highly touted stars, announced he would be leaving the team in order to join the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League following his participation in the World Junior Championships for the United States national team.

BU will also play without sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening and Notre Dame will be without forward T.J. Tynan and defenseman Stephen Johns. The three players are also competing with Team USA in Edmonton, but Clendening, Johns and Tynan are expected to return to their college teams after the tournament.

Despite having to play without some of their star players, however, Parker said the Terriers are well-equipped to enjoy a successful second half of the season.

“[Losing so many players] is a hard thing to have happen to a team, but it is not a bad year to have it happen,” Parker said. “We have a lot of depth up front and we have guys who have not seen a lot of ice time who maybe deserved to see a lot more ice time now about to see a lot more ice time.”

The Terriers will especially count on forwards Wade Megan, Sahir Gill and Yasin Cisse to fill the holes up front left behind by Trivino and Coyle. Megan, a junior forward who has spent much of the season playing on the third line, flew slightly under the radar during the first half of the season. He leads the team in game-winning goals (2 goals) and power-play goals (4 goals), and according to Parker, Megan will move up to center a second line in place of Coyle with sophomore forward Matt Nieto and junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson on his wings.

Parker said he expects to have Gill, who had been playing right wing on the top line, shift over to center on that line with Connolly and Cisse.

The Terriers have room in the standings for the forwards to adjust to their new roles on the team considering the strong position BU put itself in by finishing first semester just one point behind first-place Boston College in the league standings.

“I think we can be a very good team for the rest of the season,” Parker said. “We put ourselves in a good place and are fifth in the pairwise rankings, which is the only ranking that really matters, and we’re one point out of first place in our league. We don’t have to dig ourselves out of a hole here.

“Every team takes a step back. We just can’t afford to take any more steps back.”

Notes:

- Saturday night’s game will mark the first time college hockey will be televised on Versus, which will change its name to NBC Sports Network in 2012 and broadcast 12 college hockey games, including the Hockey East semifinals and championship game. Parker said it is an honor to be a part of the first game on the network, which also broadcasts many NHL games.

“It is a great opportunity,” Parker said. “When you play at BU, you get the chance to play in those type of games. I’m looking forward to it.”

Connolly said the game will be a memorable one not only for the Terriers, but for all of college hockey as well.

“It’s going to be an honor to play in this game,” Connolly said. “This also shows that hockey is really coming to the forefront in sports. For Versus to take the time to cover college hockey, it’s a great thing.”

- Junior forward Ryan Santana is slated to take the ice for the first time this season at Notre Dame. Santana missed the entire first half of the season while he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. By the beginning of December, Parker said Santana was healthy but was not mentally in good enough game shape to play. Santana was expected to battle for playing time before the departures of Coyle and Trivino, but now he will be looked upon to step up to replace some of the scoring BU will miss.

- Both Connolly (shoulder) and Nieto (shoulder) missed time toward the end of first semester with injuries, but Parker said both forwards are now healthy and will play at Notre Dame. Parker was uncertain as to what the lines may look like for the New Years Eve affair, but said they should look similar to the following:

Connolly – Gill – Cisse
Nieto – Megan – Chiasson
Courtnall – Hohmann – Rodrigues
Gaudet – Rosen – Santana

Parker was undecided on defensive pairings but mentioned he liked sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan and freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera together. If Parker follows recent patterns on defense, pairings should look similar to:
Escobedo – MacGregor/Ruikka
Noonan – Privitera
Nicastro – MacGregor/Ruikka

Senior goaltender Kieran Millan is expected to start in net.

- Long-time BU strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle took a new job over the break as a conditioning coach for the Red Sox, but Parker said Boyle’s new duties over on Yawkey Way will not steal him away from the BU hockey program.

“He’s done this in the past with us,” Parker said. “He once did something down in Pheonix and LA, I can’t exactly remember, and was there for nine months, and he used to work for the Bruins, which is tough because they’re the exact same season as us. It’s not as if he’s here constantly, but it works out fine for us and it will be even better for the Red Sox.”

Parker, a Red Sox season ticket holder, said he did have one request for Boyle.

“Hopefully he can get me some better seats,” Parker quipped.

Red-hot Bruins steamroll past Panthers, 8-0, behind Marchand’s first-career hat trick

2011-12-23T23:54:00.008-05:00

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

Poor Jose Theodore.

The Florida Panthers’ 35-year-old starting goaltender had handed the Boston Bruins their last loss back on Dec. 8 when he stopped 40 shots in a stellar shutout performance, adding to his lore as a longtime B’s killer throughout his career in the National Hockey League. Entering Friday’s matchup, Theodore was 9-0-1 in his last 10 starts against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

But surprisingly enough, the red-hot Bruins (23-9-1) chased Theodore from the game after he allowed four first-period goals in just 20 minutes. Then, they lit the lamp four more times against Theodore’s backup, Scott Clemmensen, in a lopsided 8-0 rout of the Panthers (18-11-7) that included Brad Marchand’s first career NHL hat trick and taunting chants of “Merry Christmas” from the Boston faithful.

Five other Bruins scored in the blowout win and netminder Tuukka Rask (30 saves) quietly recorded his second shutout of the year, as the B’s posted their sixth straight victory before a spirited, sellout crowd at the Garden and now sit alone atop the Eastern Conference standings with 47 points.

“We’re feeling good about ourselves,” said Bruins alternate captain Patrice Bergeron. “We’re confident, but we always said it before, we can’t be satisfied. It’s something that’s very important, and we talked about the fact that tonight was, with the holiday starting tomorrow, a huge game, and we had to bear down.

“We did that, and now we have a couple days to rest and make sure we’re ready for the second half of the season because it’s going to get tougher.”

Marchand put the Bruins on the board first with his 13th goal of the season while the B’s were in the midst of a penalty kill. Defenseman Gregory Campbell was whistled for high sticking at 5:42 of the first period, but instead of the Panthers benefitting from the man advantage, the Bruins capitalized while they were short handed.

Bergeron carried the puck into the offensive zone and intentionally shot it wide off the boards. The pesky Marchand didn’t give up on the play and collected the loose puck from behind the net. He then skated to the right dot, and with the flick of a wrist, Marchand beat Theodore stick side at the 5:56 mark.

The Bruins doubled their lead seven minutes later. In his first game back since serving a one-game suspension for his hit on Philadelphia Flyers’ Zac Rinaldo last Saturday, left winger Milan Lucic made his presence felt immediately. Bergeron’s straightaway slap shot from the blue line careened off the endboards and bounced right to Lucic, who tapped the puck home.

Following Lucic’s tally, the B’s Shawn Thornton traded punches with the Panthers’ Krystofer Barch at center ice and both were assessed five-minute majors.

The fireworks had only begun.

Center Zach Hamil, filling in for the injured Rich Peverly, nearly tripled the Bruins’ edge when it appeared he had slipped the puck past Theodore from the slot. A “no-goal” call was given by the refs and deservedly so. Replays upheld the call because Hamil’s shot rang off the right post, and Theodore had managed to clear the puck off the line with his stick.

The Bruins netted their second short-handed goal with 2:17 remaining in the first period on a highlight reel goal by left winger Benoit Pouliot. After Bergeron was sent to the penalty box for tripping, center Chris Kelly won the faceoff in the Bruins’ defensive zone. Pouliot picked up the pick, raced down the left wing, slipped the puck through his legs and backhanded it by a helpless Theodore before falling to the ice.

Several of Pouliot’s teammates chimed in on the goal, one worthy of being a Top-10 play on Saturday’s SportsCenter.

“That was an unbelievable play there,” Marchand said. “I think a lot of people had written him off there and said he had no chance, but he’s got a lot of skill that maybe he’s underestimated for, and he breaks it out and that was a beautiful goal.”

“He’s got very good hands,” said Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg of Pouliot. “I wish I had half that skill. But he really fooled them, and it was a beautiful goal.”

Seidenberg capped off the scoring in the first frame with his first goal of the season, a laser that Theodore didn’t even see coming. For Seidenberg, it was such a relief to notch his first tally in 33 contests this year.

“There’s no doubt it’s been bothering him,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “It was nice to see him get that goal, get the monkey off his back. Although he might say to you or to us that he’s OK with that, I’m sure it was bothering him. If you look at last game, he had the open net and he hit the post and he just kind of, at one point, looked at me and said, ‘I don’t care, I just look at the hits at the end of the game now, never mind the goals.’

“But tonight, I’m sure he looked at the stat sheet and his goal in the goal column.”

Florida coach Kevin Dineen replaced Theodore with former Boston College standout Clemmensen at the start of the second period, but the Bruins continued to stomp on the Panthers and didn’t let up on their offensive attack.

Campbell and Bergeron each contributed goals in the second period, and Marchand chipped in two more goals in the third to complete his hat trick and the Bruins’ 8-0 trashing of the Panthers.

“That’s an old fashioned butt kicking,” Dineen said. “There’s nothing to say. I got nothing tonight. I have nothing to say. I’m always the glass half-full type of guy. Tonight there’s nothing from our goaltenders to our defense. We were very porous, and we didn’t generate any offense.

“We got our tails handed to us. There’s no excuse. I got nothing.”

Marchand overtook his pal Tyler Seguin as the Bruins’ leading goal scorer with 15, and his career-high five-point performance against the Panthers gave him a plus-5 rating tonight. The dream of being a valuable asset for a Stanley Cup-contending team in the NHL has become a reality for the 23-year-old Marchand.

“I thought I could [play at the NHL level], but to make it in this league, everything has to go right,” Marchand said. “You have to get the right breaks, and when you get your opportunity, you have to play well and everything. So, it’s not easy to make it. There are a lot of great guys in the American Hockey League who never get the chance, and they are a lot better hockey players than me.

“But it’s just that things have gone well, and I’ve been fortunate.” 

With no mention of a Stanley Cup hangover these days on Causeway Street after a disappointing October showing, the Bruins will get a three-day break before beginning a West Coast swing at Phoenix on Dec. 28. The B’s have rightfully earned the extra days of rest, Julien said.

“The one thing I said to them was we’ve gone from 15th to first in less than two months – they deserve a lot of credit for that and they worked hard to accomplish that and I think it’s important that they enjoy the three days of the Christmas holiday they have,” Julien said. “And those three days will be beneficial to us, hopefully not just in the long run, but in the short term.

“If we come back with the right approach and the right attitude, and head out on the road and play Phoenix, and take off where we left off, then those three days will look even better.”

Brad Marchand Interview following B's 8-0 win

2011-12-23T23:30:00.001-05:00

BU adds walk-on Moscatel for second semester

2011-12-22T12:02:00.004-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

One week after losing forwards Corey Trivino and Charlie Coyle, the No. 9 Boston University men's hockey team will add forward Jake Moscatel as a walk-on for at least the rest of the season, according to a team representative.

Moscatel, who academically has junior standing, played a season and a half at Div. III University of New England, collecting 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 25 games. He came to BU in the spring of 2011, transferring after playing just one game the fall of his sophomore season.

The 6-foot-1, 210 pound Lexington native had been a member of the BU club hockey team, and the paperwork to officially add him to the roster is still being finished.

Ouch, Charlie: Coyle confirms decision to leave BU

2011-12-16T10:23:00.021-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

UPDATE 3:50 p.m.: BU athletics has sent out a release to confirm the end of Coyle's tenure at BU.

"Charlie has decided that he would like to focus on beginning his professional hockey career," BU coach Jack Parker said in the release. "We respect his decision and certainly wish him all the best in the future."

Parker will not be available for further comment today.

UPDATE 3:05 p.m.: Charlie Coyle has now confirmed his departure from BU.

"Yes, I have made my decision to leave BU because I'm done being a student-athlete and I want to focus on just hockey," Coyle said via text. "I was not failing out.

"It was definitely a hard decision to make and I will miss my teammates and coaches. BU was a great place to be and I enjoyed my time there."

UPDATE 2:50 p.m.: A Saint John Sea Dogs' official has confirmed with The Daily Free Press that Coyle has indeed decided to leave BU to join the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Coyle, a 6-foot-2, 207 pound East Weymouth native, was tied for third on BU's team with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) this season. A 2010 first-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks - who have since traded his rights to the Minnesota Wild organization - Coyle was named the 2010-11 Hockey East Rookie of Year after collecting 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists)

The news of Coyle's departure comes three days after news broke that senior forward Corey Trivino, the team's leading point getter, was dismissed from the team following criminal charges stemming from an arrest on campus Sunday night.
------------------------------------------
Despite rumors swirling this morning due to a report from USHR about the departure of sophomore forward Charlie Coyle due to academic issues, Coyle said via phone that, as of right now, he is still a part of of the No. 9 Boston University men's hockey team.

"That's all I can say right now," said Coyle, who was on a plane en route to world junior camp.

Coyle told The Daily Free Press yesterday - before the USHR report this morning - that he is still on the team. Also, he is still listed on the official team roster at goterriers.com.

The original report from USHR says Coyle was having issues in school and would leave the Terriers in favor of the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The team's sports information director said the team cannot comment on an athlete's academic standing, and that BU coach Jack Parker was on a plane Friday morning and would be unavailable until mid-afternoon.

Parker: Trivino's actions leave 'no question in my mind it's an alcohol problem'

2011-12-13T14:45:00.003-05:00

By Arielle Aronson and Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Photo is a DFP file photo by Amanda Swinhart/DFP Staff

Corey Trivino – the Boston University Hockey team’s star forward who was dismissed from the team Monday after criminal charges stemming from an arrest Sunday night – has a history of alcohol-related problems, according to BU hockey coach Jack Parker.

In a phone interview with the Daily Free Press on Monday, Parker said this is the fourth alcohol-related incident the 21-year-old Trivino has been punished by the team for in his three-plus years at BU.

These incidents are due to what Parker believes is a serious drinking problem.

“There is no question in my mind it's an alcohol problem,” Parker said. “I did [ask him to get treatment], but he didn’t think it was for him.”

Parker’s comments come one day after Trivino was arraigned on three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, one count of assault to rape, and three counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime for felony, according to criminal dockets obtained from Brighton District Court.

Trivino pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment on Monday. He was kicked off the team that same day.

“Corey knew exactly where he stood,” Parker said. “It’s sad but it’s simple for me. Corey knew in September that if he had another alcohol-related incident on campus or off campus, he would be gone from the team.

“I asked him [Monday], ‘What do you think I’m going to do to you, Corey?’ He said, ‘You’re going to kick me off the team.’ I said, ‘Why do you think that?’ He said, ‘Because you told me in September that you were going to kick me off the team if I had another alcohol-related incident.’ And I said, ‘That’s correct, and here we are.’”

The incident leading to Trivino’s arrest occurred Sunday night before 11 p.m. Parker said Trivino was watching the Patriots game earlier Sunday afternoon with some teammates. They were together for a while before a few of Trivino’s teammates put him to bed because he was so drunk, Parker said.

According to the narrative in the BU Police Department report, given to the Daily Free Press by Brighton District Court, Trivino first made contact with the victim when she asked individuals who were rowdy in a room to quiet down.

Parker said he believed Trivino was alone at the time of the incident and said he had not heard from residence life about a complaint involving any issue with other team members.

Trivino allegedly forced his way into the room of the victim and forcibly kissed and groped her, according to the BUPD report.

Parker was alerted of the incident around 1 a.m. on Monday morning, at which point he called an attorney to ensure Trivino would be represented in court later that day. He also spoke with Trivino’s parents and then with Trivino himself, at which point Parker told Trivino he was off the team, the coach said.

“I knew as soon as they called me that Corey Trivino was no longer on the BU hockey team,” Parker said. “I told him before in September. I told him then, ‘The good news is, I’m not going to do anything about that incident,’ which is minor compared to this one. ‘But here’s the bad news,’ I said. ‘Next time, I’m going to kick you off the team for good. And here’s the worst news, there will be another incident, Corey.’”

Before Sunday night’s incident, Parker said he had tried a variety of punishments to get Trivino to be more responsible about drinking. He suspended him from the team in May of 2010, forced him to do extra workouts and asked him to consider treatment. None of the punishments worked, and so when Trivino had another alcohol-related incident last spring, Parker decided just to warn him instead of punishing him.

“I could suspend him [at that time] for some games, but that didn’t work,” Parker said. “So I said this is going to be real simple. I’m going to give you a fair warning. One more incident and you’ll be gone. One more alcohol-related incident and you’re out of here. No ifs, ands or buts. That’s what he knew was going to be the outcome.

“The only thing you can do to help a kid with an alcohol problem is get him to stop drinking.”

Trivino was in accordance with team rules Sunday night as far as consuming alcohol is concerned. Players 21 years or older are allowed to drink on Saturday nights or on other designated nights as chosen by the coaching staff.

Parker said Sunday night was one of those specified nights because the team had just returned from a three-day road trip to play the University of New Hampshire and the University of Maine. Trivino registered two goals in the game against Maine, his final game in a BU sweater, marking the first time he had a multi-goal game in his BU career.

Parker spoke with the rest of his team about Trivino on Monday. He said they are “very upset” about losing Trivino, but knew it was the likely result of Trivino’s actions because the team was aware of the ultimatum Trivino faced.

“They’re very upset for the loss of a teammate,” Parker said. “They’re very upset for him having the huge problems he has away from Agganis. His problems with BU hockey are the least of his problems right now. And they’re very upset that there’s another victim involved.

“If he broke his leg, it would be a big hole to fill in the lineup, but it’s just the way it happened. It’s not only a hole to fill in the lineup, it’s a hole to fill in the team’s soul too because he’s a well-liked kid and he’s a good teammate. He’s no longer with us, so it’s like he died, you know? That’s the challenge of it for the leadership of the team and the coaches, to get everybody to turn the page. Corey’s no longer here.”

From the Freep: Dismissal of hockey star Trivino right move, students say

2011-12-13T14:35:00.002-05:00

By Emily Overholt/DFP Staff

As the news of Boston University men’s hockey star Corey Trivino’s arrest and removal from the No. 9-ranked team spreads, students said they support the decision in dismissing Trivino from the team.

“Not only as a BU student but as a senior hockey player, and the leading goal scorer, much of the student body praised him,” said Samantha Sharma, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sharma said she considered Trivino’s actions foolish, considering the reputation he held at BU.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

BREAKING: Corey Trivino kicked off BU hockey team

2011-12-13T00:52:00.015-05:00

By Tim Healey and Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

UPDATE: 10:51 a.m.
Men's hockey forward Corey Trivino, 21, pleaded not guilty to charges Monday stemming from an arrest by Boston University police late Sunday night after allegedly groping and attempting to rape a BU resident assistant.

The Metropolitan College senior was held without bail until his arraignment. Trivino, the leading goal scorer (13 goals) in Hockey East, was arraigned on seven different criminal charges at Brighton District Court on Monday.

Trivino has been permanently dismissed from the No. 9 Boston University men's hockey team.

Trivino is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, one count of assault to rape, and three counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime for felony, according to criminal dockets obtained from Brighton District Court.

According to Jake Wark, Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman, Trivino was released without bail, but had to surrender his Canadian passport and was ordered to stay away from the victim and BU housing. If Trivino wishes to use his passport, he must post $25,000 cash bail, Wark said.

According to the BU Police Department police report, obtained from Brighton District Court, the incident began when the RA heard individuals in a room being extremely loud. The RA went to the room to tell them to quiet down, and Trivino followed her back to her room and pushed her door open, the report states. She said in the report that she told Trivino to go back to his room, but instead he allegedly started kissing and groping the victim. The victim told Trivino he was being inappropriate and should leave her room, and he left, according to the police report.

A few minutes later, Trivino allegedly returned and was banging on her door. The RA opened the door slightly and Trivino tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away, according to the police report. The RA said in the police report that she told Trivino "You need to stop," and "You need to go." Trivino allegedly cornered the victim by her desk and attempted to kiss her as she pushed him away, the police report said. She said in the police report that she managed to get him to leave at that time and she then texted a friend for help.

Trivino then returned a third time and banged loudly on the door, according to the report. The victim said in the report that she needed to open the door as part of her RA duties. Trivino allegedly forced his way in again and tried to kiss her, then sat on her bed, took his shoes off, said he would sleep there that night and laid down.

At that time, the RA called the Resident Director of the area, the police report said. When Trivino heard her on the phone with the Resident Director, he put his shoes on and ran out of her room, the police report said, and then the Resident Director told the RA to call the BUPD.

According to the police report, "a very intoxicated male" got on the elevator with the police responding to the call. The male identified himself as Trivino and identified his room number as that of the RA, the police report said, at which time he was arrested.

Trivino's next court date is Jan. 18 at Brighton District Court.

UPDATE: 7:59 a.m.
Vinny Saponari, a former linemate and roommate of Trivino's and currently a forward with Northeastern University, has not responded to a voicemail seeking comment. However, he had this to say on Twitter around 3 a.m. without directly mentioning Trivino: "Somtimes life takes turns you cant explain so you turn to friends n family n just have a little faith because things tend to work out #myboy."

Senior forward Corey Trivino has been kicked off the BU hockey team as of Monday night, according to team sources. His removal from the team is reportedly due to an arrest Sunday night for breaking and entering and assault with an attempt to rape. More details to follow.

Millan sets BU all-time saves record in win

2011-12-12T13:42:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

ORONO, Maine – Last spring, after a second straight conference championship-less season for the Boston University men’s hockey team, Kieran Millan had a decision to make: leave school early to go pro with the Colorado Avalanche or stay at BU for his senior season.

On one side, he had a lot of money up for grabs, as well as a couple of teammates doing the same thing. Classmate David Warsofsky bolted to join the Boston Bruins organization, and then-senior captain Joe Pereira played for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate, after the BU season ended. And with a seemingly open starting goalie spot in the pros, no one could blame Millan for taking his talents to Denver.

But on the other end, he had a chance to cement his legacy as one of the best – if not the best – goaltenders in BU hockey’s lengthy and decorated history.

The senior netminder chose the latter, and after the No. 11/12 Terriers’ 5-1 win over the University of Maine Saturday night at Alfond Arena, it more and more looks like Millan made the right decision: with the 30 saves he racked up against the Black Bears (6-7-2, 5-6-1 Hockey East), he passes Sean Fields as the all-time BU saves leader with 3,057.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

Bear-ing down the hatchet

2011-12-11T09:15:00.003-05:00

ORONO, Maine – It will be a merry Christmas break for the No. 11/12 Boston University men’s hockey team. After struggling to win back-to-back games in the early part of the fall semester, the Terriers (10-5-1, 8-4-1 Hockey East) topped the University of Maine, 5-1, via four third-period goals on Saturday to complete a streak in which they have won seven of their last eight games.

Senior forward Corey Trivino and sophomore forward Sahir Gill both recorded the first multi-goal games of their careers, and freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera potted his first goal in a BU jersey. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan also set a new career saves record, topping former Terrier Sean Fields’ 3,055 career saves when the former recorded 3,057 by the end of Saturday’s game.

“The puck went in the net for us,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We had some great opportunities before that. I thought that through the first and second, we had a couple power plays that might have been good opportunities.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

BU @ Maine Live Blog

2011-12-10T00:36:00.001-05:00

BU @ Maine

Captain Connolly collects 100th career point in BU win

2011-12-08T22:48:00.003-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

DURHAM, N.H. -- When a hockey player imagines scoring the 100th point of his career at any level, he probably envisions the point coming on a skillful goal or a great pass to pick up an assist. But when Boston University men’s hockey senior captain Chris Connolly scored his 100th point as a Terrier Thursday night, the point was not quite a highlight-reel play that a player might imagine.

The assist came on senior forward Corey Trivino’s game-winning goal 7:51 into the second period of BU’s 2-1 win over the University of New Hampshire. The Terriers were fighting for possession of the puck down low when a shot glanced off the side of the net and bounced off the boards toward Connolly. The senior attempted to get his stick on it, but he inadvertently deflected the puck to sophomore forward Sahir Gill near the dot instead. Gill drew UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith out of his net before getting the puck to Trivino, who fired it into an empty net to put the Terriers up 2-1.

“It’s not how I would have drawn it up,” Connolly said of the assist. “Obviously I maybe would have wanted to get a goal or something like that, but that’s okay. Corey’s been hot, and it’s nice to see him put another one in there.”

Connolly’s 100th point is a special milestone for a player who came to Boston University one year after he thought his hockey career was over. Back in 2007, Connolly had fielded a few less-than-enticing offers from D-III colleges and figured he would give D-I college hockey one last shot by trying out for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League. For Connolly, it was either make the team or move one with life after hockey.

Connolly not only made the team that year; he grew into one of the Lancers best players, putting up 55 points in 59 games while helping the Lancers to a Clark Cup title.

The Terriers noticed Connolly while he was with the Lancers and brought him to Commonwealth Avenue as one of the less-heralded players on a highly talented 2008-09 squad. Connolly made his mark immediately at BU and scored the first goal of the 2009 NCAA championship game, which the Terriers went on to win.

Connolly has steadily put up close to 30 points in each of his three previous seasons as a Terrier while serving as a leader for the team as a co-captain in 2010-11 and the sole captain of the 2011-12 squad.

But Connolly’s success on the score sheet was not the only unexpected aspect of his BU career. The fact that Connolly decided to play in Boston at all was unusual for a Duluth, Minn., native, as players from Minnesota typically stay in the area to play their college hockey. Connolly even turned down a last-minute offer from hometown University of Minnesota-Duluth, which is where his younger brother, University of Duluth captain Jack Connolly now plays as a senior captain. Jack is more of a scorer than Chris, as he has collected 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) through 16 games with the defending national champion Bulldogs. Jack reached the century mark in points last season and now has 162 points in his career with the Bulldogs.

But although almost 1500 miles now separate the brothers, the younger brother still had his older brother in mind as Chris approached the milestone.

“He knew that milestone was a possibility this year,” BU’s Connolly said. “He texted me before the game and said good luck on it and good luck for the game. I’m happy for him and I know he’s happy for me.”

Connolly has yet to score a goal this season but has 11 assists in 14 games. Despite what Connolly called a strange assist on Thursday for No. 100, BU coach Jack Parker said that like usual, Connolly was a central part of the Terriers win.

“I’d love to see him get a goal but he’s getting points and he’s really giving us a lot of energy and a lot of heart,” Parker said. “Our team kind of played off their captain tonight I thought.”

The milestone means Connolly is the 78th player in team history to reach 100 points in a career. Connolly said he never expected to reach the century mark with BU; he just wanted to help out the team in any way he could. To etch a place for himself in the BU hockey history books is icing on the cake for his Terrier career.

“Obviously it’s an honor to be on that list,” Connolly said. “When I first came here, I never thought I’d do anything like that. So just to be able to have the opportunity to so much to this team in my four years here has been a blessing to me. I just thank the coaching staff for giving me the opportunities to be successful.”

BU tops UNH 2-1, sweeps season series

2011-12-08T21:06:00.004-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

DURHAM, N.H. – Just as the No. 11/12 Boston University men’s hockey team readies to finish off the fall semester, it finished off the University of New Hampshire tonight at the Whittemore Center by a score of 2-1, sweeping the three-game season series.

UNH (6-9-2, 4-7-1 Hockey East) got things started quickly, with forward Greg Burke netting his third goal of the year at 4:32 in the first. The play started in the BU (9-5-1, 7-4-1 Hockey East) offensive zone, when UNH intercepted the puck on a centering pass from sophomore forward Charlie Coyle and brought to the other end. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan stopped the initial shot, but had no chance when Burke roofed the rebound right after.

Despite the goal, BU’s play got better as the period went on. The Terriers ended the period with an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal, and successfully killed off a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty halfway through the frame.

BU picked its game up in the second, tying things up at one apiece just 4:54 into the period on a goal from junior forward Wade Megan. He charged into the BU offensive end with junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson, whose shot was denied by UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith. Megan was there, though, to hammer home the rebound for his third goal in three games against the Wildcats.

But the goal may not have been as important as the play before it. With UNH pressuring, freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera – playing in just the eighth game of his career – got on his stomach to prevent a pass and force a turnover, leading to Megan and Chiasson’s 2-on-1 opportunity.

That play was just one aspect of an overall impressive game for the rookie who has forced his way into the lineup in recent weeks.

“This game might be one of the key turning points to his settling in and being a real important player for us,” said coach Jack Parker. “We recruited him to be an important player, he was struggling on the defensive end a little bit, he was in and out of the lineup and he was getting really frustrated. Even when he was in the lineup he wasn’t getting ice time on the power play.

“[The improvement is] obvious to us, I said to him right after the game, I went to his stall and said, ‘Hey, welcome aboard. You’ve arrived.’”

Minutes after Privitera’s play and Megan’s goal, senior forward Corey Trivino put his team up 2-1 at 7:51. Privitera took a shot that was wide left, and it bounced back out to bounce off of senior captain Chris Connolly’s stick, right to sophomore forward Sahir Gill. Gill quickly shoved it to the right to Trivino for the easy goal with DeSmith on the opposite side of the net. It was the 100th point of the captain’s career.

“It’s a strange play really,” Connolly said. “[Privitera] threw it towards the net and hit the side there. It came off the wall there and I tried to grab it and it just deflected right off my stick. It just happened to go right to Gill and Gill made the nice play to get the goalie out of the net. Corey had a wide-open net, so I really didn’t do anything.

“But I guess I’ll take it.”

The third period was much like the first one, but minus the UNH goal, meaning the Trivino goal – his team-high 11th of the season – ended up being the difference maker.

The Terriers killed off another penalty in the third – sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan for tripping – making their penalty kill a perfect 5-for-5 on the night while allowing just six shots on net.

It’s the most recent accomplishment of an overall impressive effort on special teams of late for the Terriers.

“If you looked at the first three or four games on our special teams, it was like you should take the coach out back and give him a beating in front of his own family,” Parker said. “Now we look like we know what we’re doing as far as killing penalties; we look like we know what we’re doing on the power play. And we’re benefiting from it, especially the PK.”

Parker also attributed much of the penalty kill success to Millan, who broke the 3,000-save barrier tonight.

“Kieran Millan is one of the greatest goalies ever to play here,” Parker said. “He’s a terrific goaltender, he’s had a good career here, we hope he continues to mount some records.”

November mailbag

2011-12-08T15:43:00.001-05:00

What school should Hockey East try to get for the 12th team once Notre Dame comes in? Should they add a 12th team? - Anonymous

As of right now, it looks like Hockey East will start its future with Notre Dame as an 11-team league simply because there has not been a lot of serious talks with schools that may join the league, but since Notre Dame will not be joining the league until 2013-14, there is plenty of time to talk with potential candidates. Because of location, Holy Cross and RPI look like the best choices to join Hockey East. RPI is an interesting option because of its history.

The Engineers have rejected the possibility of joining Hockey East twice, which may make the league a bit hesitant about them. They do, however, have a rich hockey history in which they’ve won NCAA championships, played in national tournaments and competed against some of the Hockey East teams in the ECAC back before Hockey East was formed.

Holy Cross does not have that same history of national success, which may be a concern in a highly competitive league like Hockey East, but they’ve proven over the last few years that they can beat anybody. The Crusaders upset top-seeded Minnesota in an NCAA regional in 2006 and beat BU this season. Their rink is a bit small with a capacity of 1,600, almost 1,000 seats less than Merrimack’s Lawler Arena.

There are other options as well. Quinnipiac has been mentioned because of its state-of-the-art rink and growing interest in its hockey program, but it does not have the history of a highly competitive program that would make it a good option within Hockey East. It seems at this point like RPI would be the best choice should Hockey East add a 12th team, but it is also unclear how far west the league is willing to look and what type of assets it values in a 12th team (level of competition, facilities, tradition etc.)

What’s the most surprising storyline in Hockey East this season? - Anonymous

The most surprising storyline at this point would have to be the success of UMass-Lowell. The Riverhawks were picked to finish ninth in the league in the preseason poll and were an unknown considering they entered the season with a new coach, three young (in class year) goalies and a roster that seemed to only add one scorer in freshman Scott Wilson to a team that finished in eighth place offensively.

But the Riverhawks have proven themselves to all the naysayers. They have won seven of their last eight games, pushed their way into the national rankings and sit in fourth place in Hockey East entering the weekend. The only team they’ve really struggled to beat all year was BC, but that was before BC entered into its recent funk. Although BU fans may be bitter about UML’s 7-1 thumping of BU, what the Riverhawks have done so far this season should be appreciated. They’ve proven that parity in Hockey East is still strong and that there is no easy win in this league.

How likely do you think Rollie will be to get the start in future games? - Anonymous

Kieran Millan has to lose his job again, and as long as last Saturday’s game was an aberration, Millan won’t be losing his job any time soon. The biggest issue with Millan right now is that he seems to be a little too comfortable as the starter. He has said a few things that make it seem like he feels like he is owed the starting job because of how well he has played in his time at BU. While Millan did deserve to earn the first shot at being the starting goaltender, he did not earn the right not to lose his job, and that’s something Millan needs to remember.

I'd love to hear specifics about the recruiting process regarding how BU finds their players. For example, I would assume that Parker is coaching nearly every day during the hockey season. And I'm assuming Powers, Bavis and Geragosian are at BU games and practices for most of the time during the college hockey season. When do they find time to see the players? (particularly ones far away?) I'm assuming you need to see a player numerous times before making an offer to him? Are there other coaches that we don't know about that see these players during the recruiting process? - Anonymous

As far as we know, there are no other coaches who do the recruiting for BU other than any coach listed on the coaching staff. Any time a coach is missing from a BU practice or game, it is because he is off recruiting somewhere. There are some breaks during the hockey season that make for a good time to go on a recruiting trip, and high school players also play on weekdays, so a coach could go recruit somewhere and still be at all the BU games. Coaches also go to showcase tournaments, especially in the summer, to see the best kids from a certain area play against each other, and that is a major way to find players. BU constantly has recruits coming for visits to Agganis during the week, and those visits provide coaches with another time to see a player or judge his character. BU coaches also have many contacts throughout the junior hockey world, so even if they only get to see a certain player in person a couple of times, they can always talk to people they know in that player’s league who can offer a perspective on him.

For BU player strength and conditioning work, how many days a week and hours are players expected/required to spend performing weight and cardio training? Do the players perform their strength training on an individual basis or does the entire team perform the work together at designated times? Finally, when the players are in the gym performing their training work, does Mike Boyle oversee every training session or does he just work with the players every other session or at some other cadence? - dff100

The hockey team basically works out (by doing some sort of exercise, not just in the gym) six days a week. They normally play games Friday and Saturday nights, and then they either have Sunday or Monday completely off from all aspects of hockey. Whichever day they don’t have off as well as Tuesdays through Thursdays normally involve gym workouts, practice in the mid-afternoon and video sessions. The team typically works out together at a specific time, but sometimes injured players will work out on their own. The team also does river runs about once a week. Mike Boyle does not oversee every training session, but he always has someone from his staff at Agganis with the players. He sets their work out routines, and the staff makes sure the players follow them. BU also has a big white board in the gym that lists each player’s name and his stats in workout categories. Boyle does work personally with the players over the summer and before the season gets going as much as he can.

I wonder if Coach Parker has ever considered playing Ben Rosen at the point on the power play. - Anonymous

Ben Rosen likely could play the point on the power play, and if the power play is struggling, he may end up there at some point, but he is not at the top of the list for options at the point. Both Adam Clendening and Alexx Privitera came to BU with the expectation that the two of them would be quarterbacks on the power play, and Chris Connolly, Sahir Gill and Wade Megan have all proven that they can play the point effectively as well. With Max Nicastro’s booming slap shot, it seems that Rosen would be a fourth or fifth choice on the point for the power play, thus making it unlikely that he would play there for a substantial amount of time this season.

I have a question regarding the recent change in defensive philosophy which began during the first BC/BU game where the team changed from a zone defense to a man-to-man defensive scheme. It appears that ever since this change went into effect, the team has looked more solid defensively, giving up fewer goals, odd-man rushes and grade-A chances. I wonder if Coach Parker could comment on how and why he feels this change in defensive scheme has led to better play and results on the part of the team. Also, could he explain the basic differences in the two schemes? - Paul

You’re right, Paul, ever since that weekend when BU played Merrimack and BC (Nov. 11 and 13, respectively) the defense has really stepped up. That was the weekend coach Jack Parker changed the system from zone defense (each player is responsible for a part of the ice) to a man-to-man version (each player is responsible for a specific player).

The main reason it’s worked is because, along with the new system, the team is stressing “accountability,” making sure each Terrier was on his man. With zone defense it’s too easy to not feel responsible for a player and, in turn, goals, but with man-to-man, if your guy scores it’s more on you.

Of course, goaltending needs to get some credit for this recent hot streak as well. The defense has been much improved, and Parker’s been especially impressed with Sean Escobedo and Max Nicastro lately, but Kieran Millan has more than held down the fort since that first BC game. Grant Rollheiser was impressive as well in the one game he started (4-3 win over Vermont on Nov. 18), given is sporadic playing time.

I'm curious about everyone's favorite topic - Adam Clendening. I feel like he was really catching on at the end of last year which was really good for us. But this year he's kind of back to his old ways, like first semester last year. So do you think last semester was a fluke or does he actually have it in him to be a consistent and solid player on this team? Or will he forever be too concerned with goal scoring to be a defenseman? -Anonymous

Last spring was not a fluke; that is how Clendening is expected to play and has indeed played for much of this season. Parker explained that last year, Clendening tried to do too much during the first half, and then the next semester rolled around and he started to figure it out. This year has been up and down, but, as Parker has pointed out, Clendening doesn’t get frustrated when he tries to do too much and fails, a problem of his last year. Clendening has had a tendency to step it up big time in the team’s bigger games (BC, UNH, Merrimack, Cornell), which is a big plus.

Clendening should (operative word) be “a consistent and solid player,” as you put it, not only on this team but also in all of college hockey, by Parker’s expectations. He said last week that him and Garrett Noonan are two of the best defensemen in Hockey East, though they “still learning how to live up to their [and] how to be responsible for their capabilities.” I think the Blackhawks would agree.

I'm interested in the emergence of the 4th line as a "go to" for BU. They bring some jump, energy and hard hitting action. Bernie said during the broadcast of the MSG game that they were BU's best line. How's about some coverage and love for those guys? -Anonymous

I wouldn’t go as far as to say the 4th line is the “go to” line for BU (it’s still the fourth line, after all), but they have certainly impressed of late. During Red Hot Hockey in particular, Justin Courtnall, Ben Rosen and Ross Gaudet played well, so much so Parker put them on the ice in overtime – leading to, of course, Gaudet’s game-winning goal.

Though he wasn’t on the fourth line at Madison Square Garden, Yasin Cissé has been a big part of that line’s revitalization. Cissé has shaken off a lot of his early rust after missing nearly two years with ankle and thoroughly pleased Parker. He’s very fast, good with the puck and physical, and Parker has gone as far as to say Cissé has the potential to play on the first line (though that would take a lot of bad luck for BU to happen this year). When you get a player like that on your fourth line, it’ll certainly help.

Will Alexx Privitera ever see any playing time this year? To be completely honest I think he is about 10x better then that traffic cone Ryan Ruikka. -Anonymous

Since this question as been submitted, Alexx Privitera has indeed received more playing time, and that looks like it will be the case for the foreseeable future. Clendening, Noonan, Escobedo and Nicastro are all playing well and have pretty solidified spots in the lineup, leaving the threesome of Ryan Ruikka, Patrick MacGregor and Privitera rotating in and out. Three guys, two spots. That’s the problem (or benefit) of depth.

Parker is a fan of Privitera (even though I don’t once remember calling the coach calling him by his name; it’s always ”6” or “the freshman defenseman”), and is working harder now to get him into the lineup on a regular basis. With the temporary loss of Clendening during the intercession, Privitera should play in all three of those games (Notre Dame, Merrimack and an exhibition against the U.S. U-18 Team), so Parker wants to prepare him for that.

That said, Parker does share your opinion, Anonymous, on Ruikka. He values the junior in terms of skill/ice time as well as leadership (the latter of which he has mentioned on multiple occasions), so don’t hold your breathe waiting for Ruikka to take a more permanent seat on the bench.

Also don’t forget about next year. It’s important to have Privitera learn to hold his own because in 2012-13, he’ll be a mainstay blue liner. Ruikka may or may not come back for his last year of eligibility (he’ll technically graduate in May, and has the option of going to grad school at BU to keep playing), and there’s always the risk of Clendening going pro after this year.

Do you think Parker shows too much unconditional love towards certain players? It seems to me that some of the "stars" get massive amounts of ice time and are pretty much allowed to behave anyway they choose on the ice with no repercussions while other hard working guys are healthy scratches or get minimal ice time. Is he afraid that these guys will be early departures if he takes a stand and benches them? -Anonymous

You might have a point. Rarely, if ever, does Parker ever bench one of his “star” players. Last week, after BU’s 5-3 over BC despite overall poor play, Parker strongly suggested someone would be sitting the next night. The only two that did were Cason Hohmann and Privitera, two players who were not at fault for “stupid” penalties or “selfish” play on Friday. Parker’s reasoning on Saturday was that, after looking at the game film, there weren’t nearly as many stupid penalties as he thought there was.

Still, you have to wonder if Parker’s afraid to take a stand. He benched Alex Chiasson for a game against UMass early this season, but that’s about it in terms of sending a signal to the big-name players. He probably should have benched Chiasson again Saturday night after Chiasson's lazy play led to the third BC goal on Friday night, and then the assistant captain took two lazy penalties in a row. Parker voiced his displeasure with those plays when we spoke to him this Wednesday, but other than giving Chiasson a stern talking-to after Friday's BC game, he did not do anything to our knowledge.

Beyond that, other stars have performed pretty well. Parker loves Corey Trivino. He’s liked Nieto and Coyle, especially together. Gill has impressed him with his skill and flexibility, being able to move from line to line. Though he hasn’t scored, Connolly has produced assists-wise and is the captain, so he surely won’t get benched. Parker has suggested that if he continues to struggle finding the back of the net dropping him down isn’t out of the question, but I don’t expect that given the fact that his line has produced.

On defense, guys have stepped it up a lot. Parker mentioned on Wednesday that Escobedo and Nicastro, two guys with big expectations coming into the season that struggled a bit, have really been coming into their own lately. Clendening, as discussed earlier, has had his ups and downs, but Parker likes his overall play. Noonan is arguably the most at fault for so-called “stupid” penalties, but I’m beginning to think that’s just his personality. Noonan is just a goofy, easy-going guy, and Parker has said Noonan lets his emotions get the best of him on the ice sometimes. Maybe the coach has just accepted that that’s who Noonan is.

BU @ UNH Live Blog

2011-12-08T15:17:00.001-05:00

BU @ UNH Live Blog

From the FreeP: So goes Kieran, so go the Terriers

2011-12-05T12:57:00.001-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

This weekend, as the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team played a home-and-home series with No. 2/3 Boston College, the Terriers learned – or re-learned, maybe – one of the most important trends about the team: so goes Kieran, so go the Terriers.

In both games, a 5-3 win Friday at Conte Forum and a 6-1 loss Saturday at Agganis Arena, the performance of senior goaltender Kieran Millan made most of the difference in the success of the Terriers (8-5-1, 6-4-1 Hockey East) against the Eagles (11-5-0, 8-3-0 Hockey East).

On Friday night, Millan got his weekend off to a start that could have hardly gone better. After limiting opponents to one goal or fewer in three straight games, including a 5-0 shutout of BC on Nov. 13, the 2009 Hockey East Rookie of the Year continued his torrid hot streak with 42 saves.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

From the FreeP: Give and take: Terriers split weekend series with BC

2011-12-05T12:55:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

In the closing game of the No. 13 Boston University hockey team’s season series against No. 2/3 Boston College, the Eagles (11-5-0, 8-3-0 Hockey East) avoided a season sweep with a 6-1 drubbing of the Terriers (8-5-1, 6-4-1 Hockey East) Saturday night at Agganis Arena.

It was the Terriers’ first loss in their last six games, ending BU’s longest win streak since closing out its 2008-09 NCAA championship run. It also marked the end of a strange weekend for the Terriers, who won a game Friday despite getting outplayed and lost a game Saturday despite their improved play.

“I explained that in the dressing room, that ‘You probably are wondering why we got a W [Friday] and I’m really upset with you, and then I’m telling you that was a pretty good game tonight,’” said BU head coach Jack Parker. “Sometimes it goes that way. For the most part, we were playing the right way tonight."

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

November mailbag: submit your questions!

2011-12-04T01:31:00.001-05:00

It's the end of the month, and in keeping with a new feature started this season, we are once again taking questions for a monthly mailbag post. Submit any questions you may have - from player analysis to an inside look at the team to our projections going forward to anything about college hockey in general - and we'll answer them in a post next week.

You may leave your questions here in the comments section or send us an email with Men's Hockey Mailbag in the subject line to sports@dailyfreepress.com. Questions can be anonymous and you may submit more than one question. We will be taking any and all questions until Saturday night at midnight (after the final BC game), so start sending them in now!

Eagles soar over Terriers in season series finale

2011-12-03T21:24:00.006-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

In the closing game of the No. 13 Boston University hockey team’s season series against No. 2/3 Boston College, the Eagles avoided a season sweep with a 6-1 drubbing of the Terriers Saturday night at Agganis Arena.

It was the Terriers’ first loss in their last six games, ending BU’s longest win streak since closing out its 2008-09 NCAA championship run.

Boston College scored first for the first time this season against BU. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan struggled to cover the puck on an initial shot 5:15 into the period from just in front of him, and the puck slid to his left, where freshman Danny Linell waited and slipped it past both Millan and junior defenseman Max Nicastro.

BU evened the score near the end of the period. Junior defenseman Ryan Ruikka released a slap shot from the point that went wide, but Corey Trivino found the rebound behind the net and his centering pass deflected off a BC skate and past goaltender Brian Billett.

The Eagles re-took the lead in the second period when senior Tommy Cross carried the puck into the offensive zone and lifted a backhander up over Millan to give BC a 2-1 lead.

BU ramped up the offense as the period continued but struggled to find the back of the net. With just over six minutes remaining in the period, the Terriers lost control of the puck and lost track of BC junior Chris Kreider, who charged into the BU zone largely unchallenged and fired a wrister off the left post and past Millan to give BC a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles extended their lead to 4-1 just over two minutes later, when freshman Johnny Gaudreau jumped on a juicy rebound off a Brian Dumoulin shot and buried it with 4:05 remaining in the frame.

With less than two minutes remaining in the second period, the Eagles caught the Terriers in the middle of a change and sent sophomore Bill Arnold into the BU zone with just one Terrier on the play. Arnold took his time winding up on a slapper and fired it past Millan to give the Eagles a commanding 5-1 lead going into the second intermission.

In the third period, the Terriers replaced Millan in net with senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser. BU failed to score on 15 seconds of a 5-on-3 and BC successfully killed off the remaining 1:45 of a penalty. Shortly after, freshman Evan Rodrigues carried that puck into the offensive zone but had it poked away from him, and BC took it the other way on a 3-on-1. Senior Paul Carey cashed in on the advantage with a wrister from the right circle that beat Rollheiser blocker-side.

BU vs. BC Live Blog

2011-12-03T17:45:00.001-05:00

BU vs. BC Live Blog

Friday notebook: BU tops shot total with penalties, Cisse records first collegiate goal

2011-12-03T01:31:00.001-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The score sheet from Friday night’s game between the No. 13 Boston University Terriers and the No. 2/3 Boston College Eagles required a lot of ink. Aside from the eight goals scored in BU’s 5-3 win, the teams combined for 79 penalty minutes on a total of 30 penalties through the 60-minute game. BU sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan took four penalties alone, three of which came in the second period.

BU’s penalty total was especially alarming since it took more penalties (17) than total shots (15) in the game.

“It doesn’t surprise me with this team,” said BU coach Jack Parker when asked what he thought of the number of penalties his team took.

But both Parker and sophomore forward Charlie Coyle said after the game that they were upset by the number of dives BC took and got away with Friday night. By the third period, when the two teams combined for 15 penalties, the referees finally picked up on the Eagles’ diving and ejected forward Steven Whitney from the game for embellishment.

“You could definitely see it out there,” Coyle said of BC diving. “I saw one guy, obviously 21 [Whitney], doing it all game, and there’s just no need for that. It kind of ruins the game and it ruins the flow of the game.”

Parker voiced his frustration with BC’s diving, but also blamed his team for taking too many dumb penalties and turning a 5-3 win into a disgraceful showing.

“[BC was] diving all over the place,” Parker said. “They finally got a dive penalty, but they … they dove and got some penalties, but we took some stupid penalties too. Pathetic, that stuff that’s going on out there. Absolutely pathetic.”

Cisse collects first collegiate goal

Not all of Friday’s game was disappointing for the Terriers. Redshirt freshman forward Yasin Cisse finally found the back of the net to earn his first collegiate goal and point.

Cisse’s tally came with 2:57 remaining in the first period and BU holding onto a 1-0 lead. Freshman forward Alexx Privitera sent a long pass up to Cisse, who was waiting by the BC blue line and sped past two Eagles to earn a breakaway before roofing a shot over BC goalie Parker Milner’s shoulder.

“It was a great pass by [Privitera] to send him in,” Parker said. “He pulled away from the guy with really great-looking speed and drilled it. Really nice goal.”

The goal was especially sweet for Cisse since it was his first in almost two years. Cisse was playing his final season of USHL hockey for the Des Moines Buccaneers in December of 2009 when he suffered a torn tendon in his right ankle. Cisse had 19 points through the club’s first 18 games, but was unable to return to the ice that season.

In his freshman year at BU, he re-injured the same ankle in the team’s opener on Oct. 8 at the Icebreaker in St. Louis, and he had to miss the rest of the 2010-11 season. Cisse finally returned to the ice for the Terriers on Nov. 5 in a game against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Despite his physical play and some artistic passes and set-ups in the offensive zone, however, Cisse did not see any results in the points column next to his name until Friday night.

Cisse is expected to be both a physical presence and a goal-scorer for the Terriers, and Coyle, Cisse’s linemate on Friday, said it was a relief to finally see Cisse cash in.

“We’re all happy for him,” Coyle said. “You could tell he was waiting for it, obviously, and just to get it, especially in a big game like this against BC, it made it that much more special for him. So we were all happy to see him get that and hopefully continue that.”

Notes: Freshman forward Cason Hohmann also netted his first career goal Friday night when he scored on the power play eight minutes into the third period to make it a 4-1 game … Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera earned his first career point Friday on his assist on Cisse’s goal … Senior goaltender Kieran Millan was outstanding in net, stopping 42 shots, 21 of which came on BU penalty kills. The save total was two shots short of his career-high of 44, which he recorded in a game against the University of New Hampshire last season … BU’s win Friday marked the first time the Terriers have won back-to-back games at Conte Forum since the 1993-94 season. BU’s current five-game win streak is its longest since winning seven straight to close out its 2008-09 NCAA championship campaign.

BU downs BC 5-3

2011-12-02T22:16:00.008-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

By the end of the game between the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team and No. 2/3 Boston College at Conte Forum Friday night, the crowd said it all.

“This is our house” chants rung loud and clear from the four-plus buses worth of BU (8-4-1, 6-3-1 Hockey East) students that made the trip up Commonwealth Avenue, a clear indicator of the Terriers’ 5-3 win over the Eagles (10-5-0, 7-3-0 Hockey East).

But that doesn’t mean it was pretty. The Terriers took 17 penalties – two more than their total amount of shots, 15 – allowed 45 shots on net and played as their usual, lackadaisical selves with a lead in the third period.

“Beat BC 5-[3] for the second time in a row up there, you’d think we should be ecstatic about our team,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “Instead, it’s hard to watch . . . It was absolutely insane the way we played tonight. Nothing else that went on in that game compares to how stupid we were.”

After looking sluggish coming out of the gates, the Terriers got on the board on the power play at 10:15 thanks to sophomore forward Charlie Coyle. Sophomore forward Matt Nieto and junior defenseman Max Nicastro were credited with assists as Coyle slipped one right under the cross bar and by BC goaltender Parker Milner for the 1-0 lead.

The goal gave the Terriers a bit of momentum, which eventually led to another BU goal at 17:03, this time from red shirt freshman Yasin Cisse, his first point in a BU uniform. Cisse found a hole over Milner’s shoulder for the tally, which was assisted by freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera, who also picked up his first career point.

Offense wasn’t the only highlight, though, as team also killed two penalties – both from sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan – to preserve the lead.

In the second, a period controlled by the Eagles, BU made what offense it could muster count. An unassisted Noonan goal – a slapper from near the blue line – at 13:21 put BU up 3-0, but was the only Terrier shot on goal of the period.

The goal-scoring blueliner continued his first-period trend by taking two of BU’s seven penalties in the second, tempting a struggling BC power pay.

Despite a 23-shot barrage on senior goaltender Kieran Millan, the Eagles couldn’t break through on the man-advantage until 16:59 when forward Bill Arnold found the back of the net.

Seconds later, the Eagles and their fans thought they netted another, but the no-goal call was upheld after the referees went to the replay. After a skirmish in front of the net that resulted in an Eagle on top of Millan, the puck ended up in the net – but only after the whistle blew.

BU picked it up in the third, thanks in large part to a five-minute penalty on forward Pat Mullane after he slammed freshman forward Evan Rodrigues into the boards head-first.

The Terriers took advantage when Rodrigues’ linemate, freshman Cason Hohmann, found a rebound at the right post and put in in for a 4-1 BU lead at 8:00. It was Hohmann’s first goal as a Terrier and was assisted by sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening and junior defenseman Sean Escobedo.

BC made it closer at 14:36 on a goal from defenseman Edwin Shea, but senior forward Corey Trivino effectively ended the game with an empty-net goal from the BU defensive zone to make it 5-2 at 16:57.

Second later, BC forward Barry Almeida made is 5-3 at 17:16 with a power-play goal, and much of the remaining time was one long scramble by BU. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson took a slashing penalty when the scored, and served two more minutes for tripping 20 seconds after he got out of the box.

Parker was disheartened at the amount of penalties BU committed – and frustrated with how BC handled itself.

“They’re diving all over the place,” Parker said. “I’m not blaming the referees. Diving is too difficult, is just too difficult for referees to figure out. But it happens. It’s unbelievable . . . Somebody else besides the referees is going to have to straighten that out.”

When it was all said and done, BU got the win, and a memorable one at that. It is the team’s fifth straight, it clinches the season series against the Eagles, and it gives them back-to-back wins against BC as visitors for the first time since the 1993-94 season.

“We didn’t play great tonight. We know that,” Millan said. “But we won, which is in the end all that matters.”

BU @ BC Live Blog - 12/2/11

2011-12-02T17:12:00.002-05:00

BU @ BC Live Blog

Coach Parker reflects on Mike Grier's NHL career

2011-12-01T22:47:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, the NHLPA announced that former Terrier Mike Grier was officially retiring from a 14-year NHL career. Grier was a star in his three years at BU, winning a national championship in his sophomore season and collecting 120 points (59 goals, 61 assists) in three seasons on Comm Ave. Grier then spent his NHL career building a reputation as a tough, physical forward who consistently put up 20-plus point seasons. In our regular Thursday interview with coach Jack Parker, we asked the bench boss to share what he remembers the most of his former star. The following is what he had to say:

First of all, the first thing that jumps out about Mike’s career was that when he was here, he was an absolutely fabulous guy. Great teammate, great act around the campus, great representative of us in the classroom. He always did the next right thing and you couldn’t help notice who he was, that he was a BU hockey player. He was a good advertisement of who a BU hockey player was.

I remember when we were recruiting him. When we recruit players we sit around and we talk and we like to have that player have something really special. What’s the one special thing he does? What’s the one thing [Adam] Clendening does? He’s a real good offensive defenseman. What’s the special thing about [Garrett] Noonan? He’s a vicious competitor. We were talking about Mike, and the thing that’s special about Mike Grier is his size, right? 'No, no, the thing that’s special about Mike Grier is watch after every game. When he walks out of the dressing room, he’s got four of his guys tailing around after him and he’s got five guys he just played against waiting to see him and talk to him because he’s such a terrific guy. He’ll be captain of this team, I guarantee it, if we get him here.' That didn’t come to fruition because he signed before his senior year. But he’s lived up to that in spades, lets say, a terrific, terrific kid. A kid making sure he did the right thing. And he was a great example of what we want with a hard work, competitive, hard-nosed player.

And sooner or later everybody has to join the beer league. And this summer he was working out with [BU strength and conditioning coach] Mike Boyle and wondering whether or not he was going to get another year in. Same with Jay Pandolfo. Chris Drury was pretty sure he wasn’t [going to play another year]. But all those guys played together, it was all around the same time. Jay did hook on again and get another year and he’s doing pretty well on the Islanders. I’m sure Mike could have played but he didn’t sign in the right spot he wanted. I’m sure there are several teams that would have taken him but none that he wanted. A terrific career in the NHL, a terrific representative of the NHL as well. Now we’ll see him around some BU hockey games more often.

From the FreeP: Notebook: Future bright for Red Hot Hockey

2011-11-29T00:35:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Saturday’s showdown at Madison Square Garden – a 2-1 overtime win for the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team over No. 17 Cornell University – was a resounding success, but not just on the ice.

For the third time in as many attempts, Red Hot Hockey sold out the historic, 18,200-seat arena. The first two editions – a 6-3 BU win in 2007 and a 3-3 tie in 2009 – were also played in front of sold-out crowds.

There are no solidified plans to continue the tradition, but given the huge commercial success of the event, BU coach Jack Parker had a good idea of what he thought the future held.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

From the FreeP: Game-day decision Gaudet comes through with game-winner

2011-11-28T00:04:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

NEW YORK – This week, as his team prepared to play the third edition of Red Hot Hockey in The City That Never Sleeps, BU coach Jack Parker might have lost a little sleep over a seemingly minor decision: the fourth line right wing.

It was a choice between junior Ross Gaudet and freshman Evan Rodrigues. A choice between an experienced vet fighting for his spot in the lineup week-to-week and an impressive rookie with three-plus long years ahead of him. A choice between a player without a point this season and one with four assists in his last five games.

Parker ended up going with the former in the game-day decision, and it paid off. Gaudet scored the game-winning overtime goal Saturday night in the No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team’s 2-1 win over No. 17 Cornell University at Madison Square Garden.

But, as Parker later explained, no decision in a game on a stage as big as Saturday’s is a minor one. He struggled with the final lineup right up until hours before the game when, around 1:45 p.m., Parker informed Gaudet that he would play.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

From the FreeP: Rhett Hot Hockey: Terriers best Big Red, 2-1, in OT at MSG

2011-11-27T23:59:00.005-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

NEW YORK – Madison Square Garden is the perfect stage for exciting hockey games, and the tilt between the No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team and No. 17 Cornell University did not disappoint.

The Terriers (7-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) emerged as the 2-1 victors by virtue of senior forward Ross Gaudet’s first goal of the season, which came 2:48 into overtime.

The goal was a bit of a fluky score for the Terriers. BU was pressuring in overtime when junior defenseman Max Nicastro launched a slapper from the right point at the net. The shot bounced off Gaudet’s stick and through his legs before caroming past Cornell (6-3-0) goaltender Andy Iles for the game-winner.

”This is the most exciting goal I’ve ever scored,” Gaudet said. “It was a great game to be a part of too, so it’s probably one of the best moments of my athletic career.”

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

BU wins overtime thriller at Madison Square Garden.

2011-11-26T22:27:00.006-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Press

Madison Square Garden is the perfect stage for exciting hockey games, and the tilt between the No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team and the No. 17 Cornell University men’s hockey team did not disappoint. For the second consecutive time, Cornell and BU took Red Hot Hockey into overtime, but the Terriers came out the 2-1 victors by virtue of junior defenseman Max Nicastro's slapper that bounced off senior forward Ross Gaudet and into the net with 2:12 left in the overtime period.

Cornell goaltender Andy Iles entered the game on the heels of three consecutive shutouts, but BU ended that run 202 minutes and 28 seconds into the streak with Iles handcuffed on a 5-on-3 kill for Cornell.

Sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening was stationed on the right point and passed to junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson on the left point. The two then switched spots, causing the Cornell defense to scramble to change its coverage. Chiasson put a slapper on net that bounced out to a waiting Clendening, who buried it from the left point for his first goal of the season 11:07 into the first period.

Cornell began pressuring the Terriers in the second period. Midway through the period, Cornell brought the crowd to its feet when it dominated play in its offensive zone for at least a minute while the Terriers struggled to keep up and failed to gain any control over play. The Big Red whiffed on several chances, helping BU maintain its 1-0 lead at the end of the period.

Cornell finally found its way onto the scoreboard 11:06 into the third period, when Cornell’s Sean Whitney beat Nieto up high in the zone and got a shot on Millan, drawing him out of the net. Locke Jillson found the rebound and shot it at the net, where it bounced off sophomore forward Charlie Coyle’s skate and into the net, tying the game at 1-1.

With four minutes remaining in the third, Cornell appeared to score when a puck bounced off the far boards and then hit Millan's back and bounced into the net, but the whistle blew before the puck went into the net. A lengthy review confirmed the "no goal" call.

Red Hot Hockey Live Blog: BU vs. Cornell

2011-11-26T17:08:00.000-05:00

Red Hot Hockey Live Blog

Stage set for third edition of Red Hot Hockey

2011-11-25T10:15:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, the third edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden is finally here. The No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team seems to have found a rhythm recently after winning three straight games, and the Terriers will have a chance to prove themselves on a big stage Saturday against a tough opponent in the No. 17 Cornell University hockey team.

Like BU (6-4-1, 5-3-1 HE), the Big Red (6-2-0, 5-1-0 ECAC) started the season in inconsistent fashion, losing to Mercyhurst and Brown while beating Yale and Harvard to go 2-2 through their first four games. Since then, however, Cornell has been in the drivers’ seat, running off four straight wins and riding a three-game shutout streak.

“I think it’s a better team than we’ve seen in the last two years against Cornell,” Parker said. “I think they play like [the University of] Vermont and [the University of New Hampshire] just played. They play hard, hard forecheck. They come at you real hard at times. They also can all of the sudden just drop back and play a 1-2-2 at center ice while you’re still waiting behind your goalie. So they give you different looks that way.

“Playing Vermont and UNH these past two games as far as style is concerned, obviously Cornell is a better team than those two teams right now probably but as far as style is concerned, that was good for us because we’ll see similar stuff from them.”

The Terriers will see a different face in the Cornell net than Ben Scrivens, who held the Terriers to a 3-3 tie last time the teams faced off at the Garden. The Big Red will rely on sophomore Andy Iles, a 5-foot-9 Ithaca native who has earned a .918 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average so far this season.

BU will counter Iles with senior goaltender Kieran Millan, who did not play in Red Hot Hockey two years ago. Millan has had an inconsistent season, but looked better in his last two games out, a 4-1 win over the University of New Hampshire and a 5-0 blanking of then-No. 2 Boston College.

“It’s not a matter of Kieran being Kieran,” Parker said of his goaltender’s inconsistent play this season. “It’s ‘Can he be it every night?’ And that’s the consistency factor we’re looking for. He looks like he’s in pretty good shape right now, his frame of mind and the way he’s handling pucks, positioning himself on shots.”

Beyond Millan’s frame of mind, BU will have a chance to show it can enter a one-game weekend in the correct frame of mind as well. The Terriers are 0-for-2 this season in one-game weekends, as they lost to Holy Cross 5-4 at the end of October and then suffered their worst defeat so far with a 7-1 beating at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in the first weekend of November.

But both of those games came before BU finally won consecutive outings, and the loss to Lowell seemed to especially be a turning point for the Terriers. Add in the excitement of Red Hot Hockey gets into that equation, and both Parker and junior forward Ben Rosen said they think the Terriers will have their heads in a better place for Saturday’s game.

“[We have to] just keep rolling off of what we’ve been doing, keep playing how we’ve been playing,” Rosen said. “I guess those games, those one-weekend games, were earlier in the season. We hadn’t really had our heads right and I guess now we’re on a roll right here and we’re going to try to keep it going.”

Rosen, a Syosset, NY native, grew up rooting for the New York Rangers, who call Madison Square Garden home. Rosen was a healthy scratch for his freshman year’s Red Hot Hockey, and he said he is extra excited to finally take the ice where his childhood hockey heroes played.

“I grew up going to games at Madison Square Garden and love the Rangers obviously, so getting on that ice and playing there where all those guys played is going to be unbelievable, especially in front of my family and my friends,” Rosen said. The junior estimated that he will have at least 14 guests at the game, including his grandparents, who have never seen him play live.

Rosen is one of three Rangers fans on the team. Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera, a New Jersey native, and junior defenseman Sean Escobedo, a Bayside, NY native, count themselves among Blueshirts followers. Sophomore defenseman Patrick MacGregor, a western Connecticut native who follows the Yankees, grew up rooting for the Bruins rather than the Rangers.

But regardless of which NHL team each player follows, the Terriers and their coach agreed that the third edition of Red Hot Hockey should be, at the very least, a great night for college hockey.

“I think the idea of playing Cornell anywhere is always big time for us and big time for them because both perceive ourselves as being teams that are vying for national honors every year and league honors,” Parker said. “So that’s all great that we’re playing Cornell. Playing in Madison Garden is fabulous. The most famous arena in the world, so to speak. Playing them in Madison Square Garden in front of our third-straight, sold-out building I think is a real feather in BU and Cornell’s cap but I think it’s also a feather in college hockey’s cap.”

Notes: The Terriers will not have a pre-game skate on Saturday since the Rangers are playing the Flyers on Garden ice in the afternoon and it was too much of a hassle for BU to find and travel to a different rink during the necessary time slot. Parker said the team will hold an alternative version of exercise instead ... BU spent Thanksgiving in the Boston area, meaning out-of-towners had to find some place to go. Most of the freshmen and sophomores had Thanksgiving dinner at sophomore forward Garrett Nooonan’s house in Norfolk, while the juniors and seniors went to junior forward Ross Gaudet’s home in Burlington. That means the Noonans and Gaudets each had to feed about 12 hungry hockey players on Thursday … The Terriers who do not live in on-campus apartments had to stay in Boston hotel rooms over Thanksgiving break.

BU lands second goaltender for Class of 2012

2011-11-22T00:02:00.007-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

In an important step toward replacing senior goaltenders Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser next season, Boston University reportedly landed its second goaltending recruit for the freshmen class of 2012 when it received a commitment from Canadian goalie Sean Maguire, according to USHR.com. Maguire is expected to battle Youngstown Phantom goalie Matt O'Connor, who also committed to BU for 2012, for the starting job with the Terriers next season.

Maguire, a 6-foot-2, 181 pound goalie, recently wowed at the World Junior A Challenge, where he won a gold medal with the Canada West U20 team. Maguire posted a 1.49 goals against average in the tournament and was named to the all-tournament team.

Maguire is in his second season playing for the Powell River Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League and is coming off a rookie campaign in which he shared in the Wally Forslund Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the goalie tandem with the lowest GAA in the BCHL, with teammate Michael Garteig. In nine games with the Kings so far this season, Maguire earned a 2.28 GAA with a .910 save percentage.

From the Freep: Megan's improvement evident over weekend

2011-11-21T11:14:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Wade Megan, a junior forward for the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team, walked into a post-game press conference following Saturday night’s 4-1 win over the University of New Hampshire clad in a pair of red workout shorts and a gray BU T-shirt.

He sipped from his water bottle as a reporter threw questions his way, smiling and laughing as he explained he had no idea how he scored his second-period goal.

“I’m not sure to be honest with you,” Megan said when asked if the puck snuck in between UNH (5-5-2, 4-4-1 Hockey East) goaltender Matt Di Girolamo’s arm and body. “I just kind of threw it on net and it trickled through. I’ll take it.”

Megan’s laid-back attitude was typical of his nature – last year, the New York native casually spearheaded a cancer fundraising initiative by the team (6-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) after spotting a flyer for the fundraiser lying around his room – but while his demeanor is typically calm and steady, his production on the ice this season has increased sharply.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

From the Freep: Collect four: Men's hockey sweeps

2011-11-21T11:01:00.004-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Saturday night at Agganis Arena, the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team took a different road but ended up at the same destination as it took on University of New Hampshire for the second time this season.

The Terriers (6-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) topped the Wildcats (5-5-2, 4-4-1 Hockey East) by a score of 4-1, a far cry from BU’s dominant season-opening 5-0 win back on Oct. 8.

But a win is a win, and, thanks to a trio of third-period BU goals, it’s the third straight for the suddenly streaking Terriers.

“We were pretty thorough tonight, and I liked how hard we played from beginning to end,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “The score was not indicative of the game. It was really a close game . . . [UNH] kept coming at us and we made some pretty good defensive plays, and we had some pretty good puck luck at times too.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

BU wins third straight, tops UNH 4-1

2011-11-19T21:04:00.004-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Saturday night at Agganis Arena, it was “different road, same destination” story for the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team against University of New Hampshire.

The Terriers (6-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) topped the Wildcats (5-5-2, 4-4-1 Hockey East) by a score of 4-1, a far cry from BU’s dominant season-opening 5-0 win back on Oct. 8.

But a win is a win, and, thanks to a trio of third-period goals, it’s the third straight for the suddenly streaking Terriers.

Much of the first period was a defensive stalemate, with the Terriers and Wildcats both failing to capitalize on their one power-play opportunity. BU led in shots on goal, 9-4, but didn’t have anything to show for it.

That changed less than half way through the second period, as junior forward Wade Megan put BU up, 1-0, at 8:25 with his sixth goal of the season. Almost even with the red line to the left of the net, Megan tossed a shot on goal from a difficult angle that took an odd bounce off of UNH goaltender Matt Di Girolamo and into the goal. Freshman forward Evan Rodrigues was credited with an assist.

UNH knotted things up at 5:05 in the third thanks to defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. The blue liner took a shot from near the right circle that snuck by BU goaltender Kieran Millan’s stick side, tying the game at one apiece.

Defensemen Max Nicastro didn’t waste much time waiting to get BU the lead back, though, as he blasted a shot from the blue line at 7:29 for the first goal of his junior campaign.

Seconds later, senior forward Corey Trivino struck again, as he has so often this season, with a goal of his own at 8:05 to give the Terriers a 3-1 lead. He went in on a 2-on-1 with senior captain Chris Connolly, who collected his ninth assist of the year on the play, and Trivino tapped his fellow forward’s pass past Di Girolamo’s left side.

That 36-second period proved to be a huge momentum shift for BU, which had been struggling for much of the third before retaking the lead.

Sophomore forward Matt Nieto extended the lead to 4-1 at 18:53 on an empty-netter, a play where he was just trying to clear the puck.

BU's defense continued to impress as it held on for the win.

BU vs. UNH Live Blog

2011-11-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

BU vs. UNH

Power play paves the way for BU in 4-3 win over Vermont

2011-11-18T23:45:00.007-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Jack Parker, after growing up playing hockey and coaching the Boston University men’s team for 39 years now, knows a thing or two about the game, especially the power play. Parker even created an instructional video teaching different power play constructions in 1999.

“The power play is a streaky thing,” Parker said back on Nov. 3. “You can go 0-for-15 [and it looks terrible], and all of a sudden you can go 5-for-15 and it looks very good, and it really is important how well it goes during certain games, certain stretches certain times of the game.”

That was two days before an eventual 7-1 loss to University of Massachusetts-Lowell, a game in which the Terriers (5-4-1, 4-3-1 Hockey East) were 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

But now, two weeks later and after the No. 16 Terriers held on for a 4-3 win over University of Vermont at Agganis Arena Friday night, the power play looks significantly better.

BU capitalized by scoring two of its four goals against the Catamounts (1-6-1, 0-5-1 Hockey East) on the power play, getting tallies from sophomore forward Charlie Coyle and sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan.

The Terriers tied the game at one apiece at 9:02 in the first period on a goal from senior forward Corey Trivino, then Vermont defenseman Nick Bruneteau took a cross-checking penalty about 40 seconds later. Coyle took advantage at 10:21.

His tally capped the end of a minute-and-a-half interval in the middle of the period that served as a huge momentum shift for BU.

“It’s a game of momentum,” said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon. “BU did a nice job of wrestling it back, and that was a point right there where they did a good job of gaining the momentum and built the lead there.

“BU did a nice job of changing their shape just enough to get our guys out of position and executed really well.”

The second man-advantage goal wouldn’t come until the end of the second period, when Noonan took a pass from sophomore forward Matt Nieto and put it in the net from the left circle. The goal was his fourth of the season, matching his total from last year.

Despite the team’s success, as well as his own, Noonan was almost at a loss for words at why the power play has suddenly snapped into shape.

“I’m not really sure [what’s working],” Noonan said. “I think just getting good puck movement. Coach [Parker] has talked about taking shots, more shots, and I don’t know. We’ve been doing that and it’s working.”

He wasn’t lying. After having one of the worst power plays in the league in the early going, BU is slowly moving its way up. The Terriers have upped their success rate to 16.4 percent, which is good for just eighth out of the ten teams in Hockey East, but for now BU will just ride the hot streak.

The increase is also thanks in part to last Sunday’s game at Boston College. In that game, BU got power-play goals from junior forwards Wade Megan and Alex Chiasson en route to the 5-0 win and another 2-for-5 performance with the man-advantage.

The success on the whole is a part of the team’s changed approach to that side of special teams. Of late, Parker has been giving his power-play squads a general formula and letting them decide what to do with it, letting them be creative on their own.

For now, it’s working – and not just when the team scores.

“We moved the puck better on some of the power plays we didn’t score on,” Parker said. “I thought special teams won the game for us obviously.”

Terriers grab consecutive wins for first time in season, top Catamounts

2011-11-18T21:08:00.005-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

The No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team continued to take steps forward in the early part of its season as it won back-to-back games for the first time with a 4-3 win over the University of Vermont Friday night at Agganis Arena.

Despite the positive result in the standings, however, coach Jack Parker was not pleased with his team's total effort.

"I thought we played a pretty solid game for a while, but once it was 4-2, I thought we just reverted back to stupid, selfish," Parker said.

"We have a mindset that we can do what we want at times. We can play the way we want to play. We can play selfish and we can play stupid because we’re winning 4-2. And Vermont’s not that good. They’re in last place in the league. Vermont should have won that game I thought."

Indeed it was the Catamounts (1-6-1, 0-5-1 HE) who struck first in the game when, 5:26 into the first period, a shot from Brett Leonard bounced up and over Rollheiser, then died in the crease. Blake Doerring tapped the puck in before Rollheiser could turn around to cover it, giving the Catamounts a 1-0 lead.

BU (5-4-1, 4-3-1 HE) tied the game soon after, as senior forward Corey Trivino slipped a centering pass from sophomore forward Sahir Gill through Vermont goalie Rob Madore’s five-hole.

The Terriers took the lead 1:19 later, when Nick Bruneteau put BU on a power play due to a cross-check. Vermont attempted to clear on the penalty kill by throwing a loose puck in front of the net, where sophomore forward Charlie Coyle was stationed waiting for a pass from a teammate. Coyle instead roofed Vermont’s miscue, beating Madore high and putting the Terriers up, 2-1.

The Catamounts tied the game early in the second period, as Kyle Reynolds crossed in front of the net and then tossed a backhander past Rollheiser for an easy goal 2:38 into the period.

"I would have had liked to have either one of the first two goals back probably," Rollheiser said. "That’s probably the second full game I’ve played in almost a year, so I can’t really saw I'm displeased with the way I played and I felt like I got better as the game went on too. I was a little bit nervous, a little bit jumpy going in, but I felt pretty comfortable as the game went on."

The Terriers regained the lead a little less than four minutes later when junior forward Wade Megan found a rebound off senior captain Chris Connolly’s shot. Megan tucked the rebound between Madore and the left post to put BU up, 3-2.

The Terriers potted their second power-play goal of the night 16:34 into the period. Following a holding penalty on Doerring, sophomore forward Matt Nieto sent a cross-ice pass to sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan, who buried the pass to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead.

"Nieto just made a great play," Noonan said. "He was looking off two defenders and usually I like to go down on the power play. Luckily I snuck down there and he looked off the defensemen and put it on my stick. Corey had a great screen, and I think Chiasson was down there too. It was good to have those two bodies down there. Lucky shot."

The Catamounts cut the deficit to one with less than three minutes left in the game when they capitalized on a too many men penalty against BU. Sebastian Stalberg slipped a puck past Rollheiser after sustained Vermont pressure on net during the power play.

Vermont put together a frenzied effort with an extra-attacker in the final two minutes of the game, but the BU defense and Rollheiser just barely found a way to stave off the Catamount attack.

"I think we got away from being ourselves a little bit there," Noonan said. "I need to be better. We all need to be better. Luckily Grant played so well in front of us. That was one of our bright spots."

After the game, Parker said Rollheiser played "great", but noted that senior goaltender Kieran Millan will get the start in net Saturday night after having been benched Friday for skipping class.

"Kieran Millan was sat for one game," Parker said. "Kieran Millan just came off a terrific shutout. He should have played tonight. [Buzzer sound]"

BU vs. UVM Live Blog

2011-11-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

BU vs. UVM

From the FreeP: Men's hockey set to host Vermont, UNH

2011-11-17T22:18:00.002-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

This weekend, as the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team takes on two Hockey East opponents at Agganis Arena, the operative word is “should.”

The team (4-4-1, 3-3-1 Hockey East) should handle the last-place University of Vermont with ease Friday night, and should turn around the very next night and beat University of New Hampshire.

The Terriers should be able to keep the Catamounts (1-5-1, 0-4-1 Hockey East) and their league-worst average of 2.14 goals per game and 4.57 goals allowed per game.

BU should be able to take advantage of the league-high 36 goals allowed by UNH (4-4-2, 3-3-1 Hockey East), a team it easily dispatched in a season-opening 5-0 win on Oct. 8.

But all of that is on paper, and games aren’t played on paper, so BU coach Jack Parker isn’t taking anything for granted.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

Millan out for Friday's game after breaking team rules

2011-11-17T18:33:00.005-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Senior goaltender Kieran Millan has had his share of troubles on the ice this season, and now, Millan is having problems off the ice as well. The goalie will be benched for Friday's game against the University of Vermont because he broke team rules by skipping class.

Millan is the third Terrier in three weeks to be benched for skipping class. Senior forward Kevin Gilroy and junior defenseman Max Nicastro missed an away game at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell for skipping class as well.

Parker said the team has a long-standing practice of collecting course cards from professors at certain points throughout the semester. The course cards indicate what the player's current grade in the class is, what the player's projected grade is, and what his attendance has been like. When Parker received the course cards for Nicastro and Gilroy two weeks ago, he was made aware that Millan missed almost as many classes as the two benched players. Parker said he used the opportunity to warn Millan.

"I called him in and I said, 'I'm sitting these two guys because they cut class too much,'" Parker said. "'You're on the verge of cutting this class too much. Don't cut another one.'"

Apparently, Millan chose not to heed his coach's warning. Millan met with Parker Thursday afternoon and then left the rink before a team video session, something Parker said was probably the result of the goalie not knowing there was a session at that time.

Parker was visibly annoyed with his goalie when he was interviewed after the video session. He said his frustration with Millan has nothing to do with the goaltender's performance on the ice this season, but he "couldn't be more frustrated regarding his class participation or his class attendance."

"Rules are rules," Parker said. "We bench other guys for it. He's not above it. He's been warned and he wasn't listening."

Senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser will get the start in place of Millan Friday night. The coaching staff had wanted to get Rollheiser some game action this weekend anyways, but while Rollheiser is not getting a start because Millan broke a rule, he is getting that start on Friday because Millan is not allowed to play. Parker said he had "no idea" who would be in net on Saturday, but Millan would not be benched from Saturday's game for missing the same class.

"It's not like he's getting suspended," Parker said. "But that's the price you want to pay? You thumb your nose at the professor, then I'll thumb my nose at you. That's exactly how we look at it. You're taking this class and the professor for granted. How would I feel if this guy didn't show up for practice?

"People know what the rules are regarding that. It's real simple."

Beatdown on the B-Line: Terriers rout BC

2011-11-14T08:08:00.001-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Corey Trivino was not supposed to play this weekend due to an ankle injury, but after a 5-0 win by the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team over No. 2 Boston College Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum, the team sure is glad he did.

The senior forward had a goal and an assist for the Terriers’ in the first period alone, propping his team (4-4-1, 3-3-1 Hockey East) to a 2-0 lead that it would only build on as the game progressed.

Senior captain Chris Connolly made BU’s first goal possible by driving into the offensive zone and sending a pass to junior defenseman Sean Escobedo. Escobedo – who took two of the seven BU penalties in the first period – sent it to Trivino, who got a wrister by BC (9-3-0, 7-2-0 Hockey Easy) goaltender Parker Milner just 56 seconds into the game for his sixth of the season.

“[Trivino’s ankle] was still bothering him a little bit, but he was battling through it,” Connolly said. “For him to get that goal first shift really gave him his confidence, regardless of how we was feeling out there. It gave him a lot of energy and a lot of adrenaline to really battle through it.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

Defense steps it up in big way for men's hockey

2011-11-14T08:07:00.001-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Throughout the 2011-12 Boston University men’s hockey season, BU head coach Jack Parker said that he believed his team’s biggest issue on defense was mentality. The No. 16 Terriers (4-4-1, 3-3-1 Hockey East), who entered the weekend ranked eight out of 10 in the league on defense, had been trying to do too much with the puck, make too many highlight-reel plays and lacked the focus necessary to play a thorough defensive game.

On Sunday afternoon, in their biggest rival’s barn, the Terriers proved just how much mentality can improve a defense, as their 60-minute effort on defense helped shut out No. 2 Boston College, 5-0.

The difference, according to junior defenseman Sean Escobedo, was a change in defensive philosophy that the Terriers implemented for a weekend in which they faced the two top teams in Hockey East, No. 4/6 Merrimack College being the other.

“We changed our defensive system to man-on-man [from zone coverage] so everyone is held accountable,” Escobedo said. “There was a lot better communication between the defensive partners and the centers and wingers contributed to everybody just bearing down and playing solid defense.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

BU crushes BC, 5-0

2011-11-13T18:20:00.006-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Corey Trivino was not supposed to play this weekend due to an ankle injury, but after a 5-0 win by the Boston University men’s hockey team over Boston College Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum, the team sure is glad he did.

The senior forward had a goal and an assist for the Terriers’ in the first period alone, propping his team to a 2-0 lead that it would only build on as the game progressed.

Senior captain Chris Connolly made BU’s first goal possible by driving into the offensive zone and sending a pass to junior defenseman Sean Escobedo. Escobedo – who took two of the seven BU penalties in the first – sent it to Trivino, who got a wrister by BC goaltender Parker Milner just 56 seconds into the game for his sixth of the season.

The early lead was similar to that in the team’s eventual 7-1 loss to UMass-Lowell on Nov. 5, a game in which Trivino scored 16 seconds in, but this time the Terriers didn’t completely disappear. They stayed quiet for most of the rest of the period, leaving the Trivino goal as their only shot on frame for a majority of the time, but netted another at 19:14.

This time, Trivino did the assisting. After a blatant hooking penalty on BC forward Kevin Hayes, junior forward Wade Megan took advantage and found the back of the net for his third goal of the season. Trivino and Connolly were credited with assists on BU’s sixth power-play tally this year.

In the second, BU kept the pressure off before killing a period-opening BC power play. The Eagles were plagued with wide and high shooting for much of the second, opening the door further for the Terriers.

Assistant captain Alex Chiasson scored at 9:58 in the second to put BU up 3-0, his first goal since being benched Oct. 29 against University of Massachusetts. Sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening sent a pass to the junior forward, who promptly blasted a one-timer by Milner.

Later, at 15:43, the Terriers took advantage of a two-man advantage when sophomore forward Matt Nieto sent a centered pass from sophomore forward Charlie Coyle off the right pipe and into the net. Nieto’s team-high seventh goal of the season put BU up 4-0 and took the wind out of most of the BC students in attendance, both on the ice and in the stands.

In the third, the Terriers came about a bit sluggish, but endured three BC power plays and even got a short-handed goal from Megan to solidify the 5-0 win.

BU @ BC Live Blog

2011-11-13T11:37:00.001-05:00

BU @ BC Live Blog

BU power play, Merrimack penalty kill doom Terriers

2011-11-11T23:15:00.006-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

“The numbers don’t lie,” the old saying goes, and Friday night at Agganis Arena that proved true in No. 4/6 Merrimack College’s 3-2 overtime win over the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team.

Entering the game, BU (3-4-1, 2-3-1 Hockey East) had one of the worst power plays in the conference, operating at just 11.1 percent. Merrimack (8-0-1, 6-0-1 Hockey East) was second-best in the conference, running at a 23.9 percent clip.

Unfortunately for the Terriers, when both of those trends stood up it spelled bad news for BU in the Warriors’ come-from-behind win.

In the early going, it looked like the statistics would be reversed and the BU power play would come out on top. After a Merrimack goal in the first period, sophomore defensemen Garrett Noonan crashed the net and was able to bang home a rebound at 11:40 on junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson’s shot. The power-play goal tied the game, and was one of eight power-play shots the Terriers were able to get off in the first period alone.

After that, though, Merrimack’s typically strong penalty kill kicked in and held the BU special team scoreless the rest of the way. The Terriers stopped moving the puck as well as the game progressed, and took just ten more shots on the power play all game, seven in the second period and three in the third.

BU's lack of success on the power play was never more evident than during what should have been a five-minute man-advantage due to a hitting-from-behind major and game misconduct charged to Merrimack's Kyle Bigos. The Terriers got a misleading six shots on net without really producing any strong offensive chances and allowed a short-handed attempt by Merrimack. Then, sophomore forward Matt Nieto took two minutes off of the five-minute advantage by unnecessarily bashing a Warrior player's head into the goal post and earning a roughing call.

By the end of the night, when Merrimack forward Connor Toomey found the back of the net 22 seconds into overtime, BU was left with a 1-for-9 conversion rate on the man advantage, and countless missed opportunities for a third goal that would have pushed a Merrimack comeback closer to out of the question.

“That was the difference in the game, obviously,” said BU coach Jack Parker on his team’s lack of production. “I was happy with the way we moved the puck. We got chances. It was better earlier, but at the end we had a few too. I think when you get that many [power plays] you get worn out with the same guys, too, so we got a little tired.”

That said, the poor power play tonight wasn’t all on the Terriers. Much of the credit can be given – and indeed was given – to the Warrior penalty kill, which now has a 90.9 percent success rate, good for second in the conference and trailing only Boston College’s 91.2 percent rate.

For senior captain Chris Connolly, BU’s failure and Merrimack’s success is especially frustrating. The first-line left wing has tallied just four assists and zero goals on the year, totals that are even more disappointing given that he sees so much time when BU is 5-on-4.

Friday night, he recognized Merrimack’s determination on the PK, a facet of the game he wouldn’t mind the Terriers adopting.

“[The Warriors] like to eat pucks,” Connolly said. “If you get a team dedicated to blocking shots and helping out your goalie, it’s going to lead to a good penalty kill. Anytime they see somebody lining up they get three, four guys in front of it to block that shot. It’s something our team should take out of their book. They’re dedicated in doing that.”

As strong as the defensemen are, goaltender Joe Cannata anchors Merrimack's penalty kill, a player that both Parker and senior goaltender Kieran Millan praised heavily the day before the game. Friday night, he proved he earned that praise, making 36 saves on 38 BU attempts.

Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy also spoke highly of his netminder.

“Like any penalty kill, it starts with your goalie,” Dennehy said. “I think Joe Cannata is the most underrated goaltender in the country.”

Still, BU hasn’t lost all hope. Parker has reiterated in recent weeks that his team can be good on both the power play and the penalty kill, and after Friday’s game Connolly expressed a similar sentiment, detailing Parker’s new philosophy.

“In the past [Parker] has a tendency [to say] he can’t make us creative but he can definitely take our creativity away. He said that himself,” Connolly said. “[Recently,] he likes to give us a blue print of some options that will relieve some pressure out there and then let us be creative.

“It wasn’t successful tonight, but I still think the way we’re going about it is the right way and we just need to keep practicing it and I think we’ll chip in a few here if we do the right things.”

UPDATED: Warriors come from behind, top Terriers in overtime

2011-11-11T21:14:00.008-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

It took an extra five minutes of play, but the No. 4/6 Merrimack College Warriors remained undefeated Friday night after coming from behind to top the No. 16 Boston University men's hockey team, 3-2, in overtime at Agganis Arena.

Merrimack trailed by a 2-1 margin for much of the game, but a late power-play tally tied the game, and a fluky goal from Connor Toomey just 22 seconds into overtime gave the Warriors their eighth win of the season. Despite the loss, BU coach Jack Parker said he was pleased with his team's effort.

"We had more than enough opportunities to make it 3-1 and we couldn't do it," Parker said. "Give them credit. They're in the midst of a great season and they come out and got the late one and then won it in overtime. Heck of an effort by Merrimack, and I thought it was a heck of an effort from BU too."

The Warriors (8-0-1, 6-0-1 HE) struck first 6:22 into the game when senior goaltender Kieran Millan lost sight of a rebound that squirted out straight in front of him, but an aware Justin Mansfield picked up the loose puck and chipped it past Millan for his first collegiate goal.

But Merrimack struggled to stay out of the penalty box in the first period, and BU (3-4-1, 2-3-1 HE) made the Warriors pay for their lack of discipline. Midway through the period, Warrior captain Karl Stollery was whistled off for an interference call. Jordan Heywood followed his captain to the box 1:11 later, giving BU 49 seconds of a 5-on-3. Then Kyle Bigos was called for a cross-check just 14 seconds into the 5-on-3, giving BU over two minutes to capitalize on a two-man advantage.

"I wasn't talking to my team at that point," said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy.

The Terriers took over a minute to tie the game. They found the back of the net at 11:40 when junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson’s shot caromed off the right post onto sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan’s stick on the left side of the net. With Cannata pulled to the right on Chiasson’s shot, Noonan had an empty net in front of him and banged the rebound home.

BU increased its lead 17:13 into the period when freshman forward Cason Hohmann fed a pass up to junior assistant captain Justin Courtnall, who was waiting right in front of Cannata. Courtnall swiped the puck on his backhand across the top of the crease, coaxing Cannata down, and then dumped it in behind him to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead.

"That's the epitome of what we need right there," said BU senior captain Chris Connolly. "That's what makes us a good hockey team, is guys going to the net hard and playing the body. [The fourth line] did a real good job providing energy for us. They were arguably one of our best lines tonight."

After the three-goal first, neither team could find the back of the net until the very end of the third period. Merrimack goaltender Joe Cannata looked particularly sharp, stopping 36 shots and multiple odd-man rushes throughout the game.

The Warriors broke the stalemate in the third, when, after sophomore forward Charlie Coyle was whistled off for an interference penalty, Brendan Brodhag tied the game with just 1:56 left on the clock.

"I can't wait until the referee sees that last call [on Coyle]," Parker said. "I'd love to sit in the room when he sees that last call."

In the wake of the loss, the Terriers will have to regroup quickly as they face No. 2 Boston College at Conte Forum for a Sunday matinee. In a season where the Terriers have been inconsistent in their effort from game-to-game, period-to-period and shift-to-shift, BU will have to replicate and improve on Friday's effort with two important points on the line Sunday.

"I hope we can build on this because we played well tonight," Parker said. "This was not anywhere near the way we played our last couple of games. We played a real top team, and now we're playing an even topper team [Sunday]."

BU vs. Merrimack Live Blog

2011-11-11T13:34:00.001-05:00

BU vs. Merrimack

Terriers to face test from Hockey East's best

2011-11-10T21:44:00.003-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Sometimes, when a team loses an ugly game because of a poor effort the way the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team did last weekend against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, the best thing to do is look forward.

That is mostly what the Terriers did in the week following their most embarrassing loss to date this season. The only exception came Sunday, when the team gathered to watch film from the previous night’s game in order to see just how much UMass-Lowell out-worked them.

“It’s hard to know what you want to change until you take an inventory and see where you’re at,” said coach Jack Parker. “They had to take a little inventory Sunday morning and saw where they were at.

“We didn’t get back on the ice until Tuesday. But since they’ve been back, they haven’t been moping around. They’ve been practicing harder and doing the things we’re asking them to do better.”

After that, the team looked at its season-long weaknesses and attempted to determine how to improve. One of the areas in which the team has struggled is in spending too much time in the penalty box.

Parker previously said he would address dumb penalties by benching the guilty party, but too many of his players took bad penalties last Saturday to bench all of them. So on Thursday, Parker issued a new warning, especially toward sophomore defensemen Adam Clendening and Garrett Noonan, who each took 10-minute misconducts partly because of disrespectful word choices when addressing referees.

“In my mind, anytime you get a 10-minute misconduct, it’s a real dumb penalty, and we had our two best defensemen both take 10-minute misconducts,” Parker said. “They’ve been, and the rest of the team as well, but those two guys especially, have been told, ‘Cross that line again [and] you’ll die.”

Giving an opposing team a man-advantage could be especially deadly for the Terriers this coming weekend, as BU faces the top two teams in Hockey East with No. 6 Merrimack College traveling to Agganis Arena on Friday night and an away game No. 2 Boston College on deck for Sunday afternoon.

Both BC and Merrimack have strong power plays, operating at 27.3 percent and 23.9 percent clips respectively. BC and Merrimack also have the best defenses in Hockey East, as Merrimack leads the league by allowing just 10 goals in eight games while BC ranks second with 24 goals allowed in 10 games.

The BU defense is slightly farther down the list in Hockey East, ranking eighth out of ten teams by allowing 26 goals in seven games. The biggest surprise on defense through the early part of the season has been senior goaltender Kieran Millan’s poor play.

The Edmonton native was yanked from last Saturday’s game after giving up six goals through two periods and ranks third-to-last in Hockey East in goals against average (3.67). Parker said Millan will start in net for Friday night’s game against Merrimack, but refused to name a starter for Sunday’s matinee until he sees how Millan plays Friday.

“I’m disappointed in Kieran’s overall output,” Parker said. “I don’t think he’s been as sharp as he should be. He’s been left out to dry a lot and that’s frustrated him and his frustration has shown at times. But in general, he’s got to get back to being Kieran Millan, and we’ve seen him in glimpses.”

Millan agreed that his play this season has been “up and down”, but said he was still confident he could pull out of whatever early season funk he is currently mired in. When asked what he expected to happen on Sunday, he issued a bold statement.

“I expect the same thing [to start],” Millan said. “It’s been a solid three years here already for me, but if it goes a different direction and Grant [Rollheiser] plays, it’s great for him. He’s a great goalie. Obviously I’d like to be in net, but in the end, it’s not my decision. It’s Coach’s.”

Regardless of who is in net, BU will have to put together a better offensive attack this weekend than it did last weekend, when the Terriers mustered just 19 shots on net and settled for three shots in the first period. The lines will look a bit different, as senior forward Corey Trivino will be absent from his top-line center duties due to an ankle injury that will keep him off the ice this weekend.

Prior to last Saturday’s setback, BU had seen younger players lead on offense, as sophomore forwards Sahir Gill, Charlie Coyle and Matt Nieto have combined for 43 percent of the team’s total points this season and are three of the league’s top 20 scorers despite having played in the least amount of games.

The Terriers continue to look for bigger contributions from older players, such as junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson (4 goals, 3 assists) and senior captain Chris Connolly (0 goals, 4 assists).

Chiasson in particular is expected to develop into a stronger presence on the ice, especially after being benched two games ago following his poor play in an away game at the University of Massachusetts.

“I’m a power forward guy and I have to be physical,” Chiasson said. “That’s the thing that Coach was talking to me about. I have to finish my checks, be hard to play against, and go to the net and shoot the puck.”

And while Chiasson is aware of his own personal areas to improve, the team as a whole has yet to prove to its coaches and followers that it can show up ready to play in both games this weekend.

But as Parker said, when Merrimack and BC are on the schedule, it would be quite a statement for a team to not show up effort-wise for the game.

“We better be ready for two of the top teams in the nation and the No. 1 and 2 teams in our league,” Parker said. “It’s a matter of, ‘If you don’t see that this [weekend] is quite a challenge, then go play volleyball.’”

Parker disgusted at, questions timing of Penn State scandal

2011-11-10T17:19:00.009-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Given the events unfolding this week conerning the Penn State football team, Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno, the Boston Hockey Blog thought it would be relevant to ask another long-time college coach what he thought.

Today, BU men's hockey coach Jack Parker, currently in his 39th year at the helm of the Terriers, commented on the controversy.

If you’ve been following what’s been going on at Penn State, what are your thoughts on that?
I have [been following the situation]. I think it’s so … horrible. It’s easy to coach someone else’s team, it’s easy to judge other people and it’s easy to point fingers at people, but this isn’t about a sport, and this isn't about a coach and this isn't about a president, this is about the kids. And that’s just a sad, sad situation.

The other thing that just jumps out at me – and I’d just love to know about the timing of this – it’s my understanding that it’s been investigated for a while, it’s been in front of a grand jury for a while, and is it a coincidence that it doesn’t come out until Joe Paterno wins his 409th game? They’ve been investigating this thing for three years, it’s been in and around a grand jury for over a year and a half, so I wonder who else is culpable here. I wonder if, I should say, I wonder if somebody else is culpable here as far as the timing of it all too. The governors and the presidents and the ADs, they go around this, that and the other things. ‘Hey, any way we can hold this off until we go another week?’

I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. It could just be a coincidence, but that coincidence jumped at my mind the moment I saw it.

There’s a lot of good people whose lives are ruined. There’s a few bad people whose lives are ruined. But there’s some innocent kids that aren’t kids anymore that never should have had to put up with that in their lives, should have had to deal with that. Who knows how horrible that can be for everybody. It’s an amazing thing.

As a coach that’s been at a school for a long time like Paterno, have you looked up to Paterno in the past as a coach?
Yeah, I always thought he was a real class act. I always thought he was a guy that prided himself in doing things the right way, and I still believe that. I think his teams have been terrific teams over a long period of time without reverting to questionable recruiting, NCAA violations, questionable academic standings. They’ve done an awful lot of things in that football program for a long period of time the right way, and all of that will be forgotten over this. And that’s another sad thing. That’s quite a legacy that you push aside and say, ‘This is the legacy now.’

It’s not right for anybody. It’s not … How could it have happened? If it did happen – and it looks like it did – if this is a situation that is true, about all these kids, how bad is that situation in and of itself? And then to come around backwards and of course we’ve been … Cardinal Bernard Law gets to take a boat ride across the Atlantic to go settle into like a prince in the church with all the stuff that he oversaw that happened here. There is such a thing as ‘the buck stops here,’ and at least the buck has stopped at the right people. Everybody who is in touch is going to pay the price, and that didn’t happen in the Archdiocese of Boston, I’ll tell you that. To this day that sickens me. He’s living like a prince in Italy.

From the FreeP: Terriers looking to regroup and rebuild

2011-11-08T12:27:00.002-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Just seven games into the college hockey season, the No. 16 Boston University men’s ice hockey team has been repeating certain themes that those around the program have been seeing for a few years now.

One of the most obvious areas of repetition is of course the inability to get themselves motivated for games against “lesser” opponents, but another alarming trend has been a sputtering power play.

This season, the Terriers have converted on the power play at a paltry 11.1 percent rate, and they are 1-for-18 on the power play after scoring a power-play goal in each of their first three games.

BU coach Jack Parker said he is troubled by the team’s continuing struggles with a man-advantage and was the first to take the blame for the lack of production.

“If we’re not better on the power play, it will be my fault because we have enough talent to make that work,” Parker said.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

From the Freep: Uncertainty at goaltender continues for BU

2011-11-07T08:04:00.001-05:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

LOWELL – Before the college hockey season began, No. 12 Boston University men’s hockey coach Jack Parker made it very clear who his top goaltender would be.

Senior Kieran Millan deserved the spot, Parker said, after three years of strong play in net and a 2010-11 season in which he was named as the team’s most valuable player. Millan’s roommate and close friend Grant Rollheiser would have to play second fiddle as a result of poorly timed injuries and Millan’s advantageous play.

But just seven games into the season, that landscape has changed in a hurry. Millan has played nowhere close to his usual stellar self through five of his six starts this season. He has not won a game since Oct. 15, when the Terriers (3-3-1, 2-2-1 Hockey East) topped then-No. 3 University of Denver and Millan won his 63rd game as a Terrier, a program record in career wins.

Excepting a shutout against the University of New Hampshire in the season opener, Millan has a .871 save percentage. Entering the season, Millan had a .911 career save percentage. In the goalie world, the difference between a .871 save percentage and a .911 save percentage can be the difference between a starting goalie and his backup.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

From the Freep: Northbound and down

2011-11-07T07:52:00.001-05:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

LOWELL – Sixteen seconds and a Corey Trivino goal into the game on Saturday at the Tsongas Center, it looked like the No. 12 Boston University men’s hockey team would be preying on University of Massachusetts-Lowell all night.

But two hours and a touchdown’s worth of unanswered goals later, it was the River Hawks (3-3-0, 1-2-0 Hockey East) that were picking at the remains of the Terriers (3-3-1, 2-2-1 Hockey East), beating them by a final score of 7-1.

The loss was so bad – it was the worst since an 8-2 loss to Providence College in March 1999 – that BU coach Jack Parker made quick work of his 19-second post-game press conference.

“Horrible game by us from start to finish,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We got a goal right off the bat and then we look like we don’t care. I’m impressed with how hard Lowell played, but they played against a team that was playing pond hockey tonight. We’re out there cruising around like shinny in September. Horrible game. Not one guy played well.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

Parker's reaction after 7-1 debacle to UMass-Lowell

2011-11-05T23:56:00.005-04:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Immediately following the Boston University men's hockey team's 7-1 loss to University of Massachusetts-Lowell tonight, BU coach Jack Parker made quick work of his post-game press conference.

Speaking for all of 19 seconds, he said: "Horrible game by us from start to finish. We got a goal right off the bat and then we look like we don’t care. I’m impressed with how hard Lowell played, but they played against a team that was playing pond hockey tonight. We’re out there cruising around like shinny in September. Horrible game. Not one guy played well."

Parker later returned, apologized for being so abrupt and took questions for about three minutes.

Terriers destroyed by River Hawks, 7-1

2011-11-05T21:19:00.010-04:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

LOWELL -- Saturday night at the Tsongas Center, it looked like the No. 12 Boston University men’s hockey team was finally going to come out on its collective toes.

After a goal 16 seconds into the game – a tip-in by senior forward Corey Trivino – the Terriers (3-3-1, 2-2-1 Hockey East) completely disappeared, falling to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks by a score of 7-1.

Shortly after winning the initial faceoff, sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening’s shot just tipped in by Trivino for a quick 1-0 BU lead over the River Hawks (3-3-0, 1-2-0 Hockey East).

Then UML took over.

The BU lead did not last long, with River Hawk forward Joseph Pendenza sending a wrister on a centering pass right by senior goaltender Kieran Millan to knot the game at one 5:43 into the first.

With the Terriers back on their heels, UMass-Lowell took the lead just 55 seconds seconds later at 6:38 on a rebound by forward Derek Arnold. Millan dove to his left to stop the initial shot, but couldn’t quite reach Arnold’s one-timer to his right.

Neither team scored again for the rest of the period, but thanks to a couple BU penalties and a general lack of effort, the River Hawks collected 15 shots on goal to the Terriers’ three.

As bad as the first period was for the Terriers, the second was even worse. UMass-Lowell netted four more goals – and had another waved off – en route to blowing the game open.

UML got it going early, with forward Scott Wilson’s tally extending the lead to 3-1.

Eleven short seconds later, UML scored another. River Hawk defenseman Daniel Furlong barely got off a weak shot as he fell down, but Millan, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, let it go by for the 4-1 BU deficit at 1:43.

Relative to the rest of the game, UMass-Lowell then endured a drought for most of the second, with a potential fifth goal waved off without a review. The River Hawks resumed their offensive onslaught at 15:17 when forward Terrence Wallin found the back of the net at 15:47 for the 5-1 lead.

As the period wound down, sophomore forward Sahir Gill – who has drawn praise from BU coach Jack Parker of late – took a slashing penalty, opening the door once again for the River Hawks. BU looked like it would was going to hang on for the rest of the period, but at 19:52.5, UML forward David Vallorani snuck another by Millan to make it 6-1.

That would essentially end the netminder’s night, as he would be relieved by senior goaltender Grant Rollheiser to start the third.

The backup didn’t fare much better, allowing Arnold’s second goal of the game just 3:56 into the final stanza to make it 7-1.

With the extra point in the bag, the River Hawks apparently took it easy the rest of the way, finishing with a total of 40 shots on goal, more than doubling up BU’s 19, in the 7-1 final.

BU @ UMass-Lowell Live Blog

2011-11-05T16:29:00.001-04:00

BU @ UMass-Lowell Live Blog

Terriers look to keep momentum against Riverhawks

2011-11-04T12:42:00.001-04:00

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Saturday night at 7 p.m., the No. 12 Boston University men’s hockey team will attempt to do something it has not done all season: win two games in a row.

Fresh off an overtime win over University of Massachusetts last Saturday, BU (3-2-1, 2-1-1 Hockey East) will get its third chance to go on a win streak when it takes on the Minutemen’s satellite school counterparts, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks and first-year coach Norm Bazin, at the Tsongas Center.

On the BU side of the ice, most eyes will be on sophomore forward Matt Nieto, the owner of an eight-game goal scoring streak that dates back to the end of the 2010-11 season. With a goal on Saturday, Nieto will match the nine-game scoring streak by former BU forward Chris Drury from November 1996.

Despite Nieto’s success, there are a number of other forwards garnering the attention of BU coach Jack Parker, particularly sophomore Sahir Gill.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

Frozen Fenway on the horizon for Terriers?

2011-11-03T20:22:00.005-04:00

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Fenway Park is one of the most historic ballparks in the country. Its nooks and crannies, its crooked seats, its bricks that have been standing since 1912, all of it combines to make the park one of the more magical places to play in or watch a baseball game.

In 2010, Boston discovered Fenway Park is also a unique place to play in or watch a hockey game when the NHL's Winter Classic took over the field for a few weeks at the end of December and beginning of January. Since the ice was already down at Fenway, the Boston University and Boston College hockey teams played a game as well as part of Sun Life Financial's Frozen Fenway 2010.

College hockey will return to Fenway this winter, as it was announced in August that the University of Massachusetts will play the University of Vermont before the University of Maine takes on the University of New Hampshire in doubleheader action on the Fenway ice Jan. 7.

On Thursday morning, the City of Boston, Hockey East Association, Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management announced that the doubleheader will be followed a week later by another college game, as the Boston College Eagles would play their Jan. 14 game against the Northeastern Huskies at Fenway Park as the second part of Sun Life Financial Frozen Fenway 2012. The game will be the first at Fenway for the Huskies.

The Terriers also have a game on Jan. 14, an away game at Harvard University. The Crimson, like the Huskies, have never played at Fenway, and considering all four teams together make up the four Beanpot schools, it seems strange that the BU/Harvard game will not take place at Fenway as well.

As it turns out, BU and Harvard's absence is not for a lack of trying on the part of the event organizers.

"90 times, it's been discussed that Harvard would play BU at Fenway Park," said BU coach Jack Parker Thursday afternoon. "It was long before BC, I believe, and to this moment, it is still being discussed. And I told [Harvard coach] Teddy [Donato], I actually talked to Teddy this morning and I said, 'Teddy, it's your home game. It's not my home game. If you want to select to play at Fenway Park, that's your business. I can't say we're not going to come. But I don't think it's a good idea.'"

Parker said there are numerous reasons why a game at Fenway Park would be unpalatable this coming January. One of his biggest reasons against it was that BU just played at Fenway two seasons ago, and playing there again this year would take away from the novelty and interest in the game. Parker also noted that conditions on the ice at Fenway are not ideal.

When BU played BC at Fenway two years ago, temperatures were around 19 degrees at game time. Those temperatures are to be expected for an outdoor night game in January in Boston, but expecting chilly temperatures does not make it any more comfortable for the teams and their fans.

"Fenway Park was a fun thing the first time we did it, and I think it's great that the other schools get a chance to do it," Parker said. "But it would be much more of a real hockey game if BC was playing Northeastern at whoever's home game it was that night than if it was at Fenway.

"It will be interesting to see the crowd they draw. Fenway can sell a lot of things so they have a big market for it. But there will be a time when it will be overkill. The attraction ... it won't be that cool to sit there and freeze and see a game that is played differently because it is played there."

But the actual game conditions were not the only deterrent for Parker. The coach said he felt allowing the four Beanpot teams to play in basically a preview of the first round of the Beanpot just weeks before the event was not fair to the tradition and history of the Beanpot at the Boston Garden.

"The BC/BU thing was a great thing to have and you got 38,000, outdraw the NHL that week ... Isn’t that nice?" Parker said. "And now it’s the four New England schools. People in New England have come to Fenway Park for a long time. I think it’s a good idea to let those four New England schools draw their crowds to that for a one-time shot but I don’t think we should be fooling with something the Garden has done so well for us for so many years.

"A couple weeks before that, we want to play the first round of the Beanpot before we play the first round of the Beanpot? At a big venue? I’m a Red Sox season ticket holder and a fan of Fenway Park and a fan of the Fenway group that’s doing all this stuff, but I’m also a fan of the Garden and college hockey and the excitement of it."

All this is not to say that Parker is opposed to any future Terrier return to Fenway. He simply does not want to play at Fenway too frequently and at the expense of compromising a different tournament.

"If we did it once every four years for our guys, maybe that would be a good thing," Parker said. "Then, every one of our guys could say they got a chance to play at Fenway Park once in their four years."

From the Freep: Wakefield wakes up Terriers, becomes first HE player to score 100 career goals

2011-11-03T13:06:00.004-04:00

By Meredith Perri/DFP Staff

CHESTNUT HILL – Halfway through the first period of the No. 5 Boston University women’s hockey team’s game against No. 6 Boston College, neither team had scored.

After a tough weekend where the Terriers fell to No. 1 University of Wisconsin and only scored one goal in two contests, the game against BC symbolized more than just a win against a rival: it meant getting back on track and kicking off the Hockey East competition on a solid note.

“It is obviously very important [to start off well],” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “This is a team that at the beginning of the season was picked right up there near the top with us.”

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

COLUMN: A call to the ghosts of Walter Brown

2011-11-02T10:51:00.002-04:00

By Andrew McCarthy/DFP Columnist

What I remember most vividly is the noise.

Walter Brown seated less than 4,000 people, but on some nights, it seemed to be the loudest venue in Boston. The chatter of the consistently sold out crowds would ricochet off the hospital-white cement walls and red iron support beams, smothering everyone inside.

Its underground acoustics and cramped bleacher-style seats allowed for an intimate setting right in line with the original Garden. It was run-down, decrepit and behind-the- times, but it also perfectly embodied the Boston University hockey program that I had grown up with. On a larger scale, it was Boston hockey personified.

Growing up in New England, learning to skate is a rite of passage. Texas has football, Indiana has basketball and Massachusetts has hockey — this is the reality that is ingrained in us from a young age.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.