By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
York
Opening statement
Terrific weekend for our club. We’ve been on a little run here for the last three weeks where I’ve seen some improvement in a lot of different areas, but this weekend I thought we were very solid defensively. Both goaltenders played well. Our young defensive corps, I thought, made some good decisions with the puck. They managed the puck very well. I think that was the key to last night’s game, but also tonight’s game. We got exceptional goaltending and we really managed the puck well and were on breakouts. BU’s got some strong forwards and they won some 1-on-1 battles low and came out, but Johnny was right there for them. But for the most part, I thought we played pretty well defensively in front of John. The 5-on-3 certainly was key. Philip Samuelsson broke his stick and became a passenger and Johnny made some great saves. We got some fortunate bounces there, too.
The 1-0 game for a while, it looked like we were going to have a lot of trouble notching one, but then we got the first on and felt a lot better about it. That first shift of the third period, Edwin Shea got his first career goal. I thought Cam [Atkinson] had the goal. It hit the far pipe and came back out. Joey [Whitney] got a big goal and played a very good game for us. That was kind of a key goal for us, that third goal, because BU was still in reach. He got a lot of mustard on that shot, a cannon on the short side I think. But again, we always feel fortunate to come out of Agganis with a couple points, and I feel very proud of the effort we had tonight from our club.
On BC’s success on the penalty kill
Like all power plays, I think if the penalty kill can get some good saves from the goaltender, that’s the first step. Second, is eliminate second-chance opportunities and we did that. I thought we blocked some shots, and if we didn’t block them, then we maybe encouraged a shot just wide of the net because our shin pads and our bodies were in the lane for the puck. We got lucky on the 5-on-3. Like I said, that was like a shooting gallery out there, and we came up with some incredible saves and some shots that were just wide there.
On the play of Carl Sneep
He’s playing his best hockey of his career with us. He’s the elder statesman back there on that blue line corps and we really lean on him a lot, and his offensive production has been terrific for us, but his leadership and just his improvement defensively has helped also.
On why Sneep is playing better this year
I think he probably thought, “Hey, I got to step up here and play better than I did my previous three years here at BC.” And he’s done that. My hat’s off to him. Had a good start to his senior year.
On whether Sneep has helped develop the younger guys
I think he’s worked and helped them in a lot of different areas, but they’re pretty good players themselves. They’re young, but they’re pretty good.
Whitney
On whether BU’s three goals in the third period in last year’s Hockey East semis came up in the locker room
No. It didn’t come up in the locker room. Last year was last year. We still remember it in the back of our heads, but last year is over with and we have a different team this year. I thought we came out very confident in the third period. There was no panic. We played well and had three goals.
On whether anything was said before the third period in the locker room
Nothing particularly. We were just motivating the guys and getting guys going, just anxious to get the third period underway. We knew we were going to come out strong, and we showed that.
On having so much room for his goal
I think it was the 3-on-2. Steve, my brother, came down on the right wing and drove to the net, and Jimmy made a good drop pass, and the defenseman, I don’t know who it was, went with Jim, so I had a walk down Broadway and tucked it upstairs.
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