By Jake Seiner/DFP Staff
After consecutive wins over the No. 19 University of Massachusetts-Amherst and No. 12 Boston College, the Boston University men’s hockey team appeared to be turning a corner.
Friday night at Providence College, the Terriers (6-10-3, 4-8-2 Hockey East) took the proverbial one step back for their two steps forward, losing to the Friars (8-10-1, 3-8-1), 3-1.
Unfortunately for BU, now is not a good time to be going backward in the Hockey East standings.
“In general, I don’t think this was a big step backward as far as our effort or the way we played,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “I’d say it’s a huge step backwards as far as not getting a ‘W.’ We needed that ‘W’ tonight.
“In general it was the type of game I thought it would be, but the score went the other way. I liked the way my team played in a lot of areas.”
The second period proved to be the Terriers’ undoing. BU failed to convert on six minutes of power-play time –– including a full 60 seconds of 5-on-3 –– and allowed two PC goals and another even strength. Though BU sophomore Ross Gaudet answered with a goal 6:47 into the third period, Providence’s three-goal second proved too strong to overcome.
“Down the stretch, we really beared down and got down to business,” BU junior captain Kevin Shattenkirk said. “But once you go down three goals, it’s a hard deficit to come back from.”
PC defensemen Daniel New and Mark Fayne each picked up a goal and an assist in the second for Providence, with Greg Collins picking up the other tally.
The Friar’s first score came after BU sophomore Chris Connolly was called for hooking at 4:02 of the second. Eighteen seconds into the power play, Fayne, a senior captian, teed up a slap shot into traffic from the left point. The puck deflected off a BU defender, and ended up beating BU netminder Kieran Millan gloveside to put the Friars up, 1-0.
The Terriers had a chance to answer. About four minutes later, PC forwards John Cavanagh and Ben Farrer took consecutive penalties one minute apart, giving BU 60 seconds of 5-on-3 time.
Though the Terriers registered a few shots on net, but failed to beat PC goaltender Alex Beaudry (28 saves).
“Personally, I think I was way too lackadaisical,” Shattenkirk, one of the power play’s pointmen, said. “Just not sharp enough moving pucks quick enough. I think we have to start going out there with the mentality on the power play that we need to score goals. We need to be a little bit hungrier.”
The unsuccessful two-man advantage was a “pathetic” effort, by Parker’s estimation, and seemed to take the air right out of the Terriers’ sails.
“It always does,” Parker said when asked if the failed two-man advantage deflated his squad. “It deflates you and pumps them up. BC the other night, we killed a 5-on-3 and it pumped us up. It always does.”
Within minutes of killing the two-man advantage, Providence stretched its lead to three.
At 11:37 of the second, BU sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky tried slipping a puck to fellow defenseman Max Nicastro, but failed to get enough on the puck, and Greg Collins picked it off and moved into the left wing. From just outside the left dot, Collins snipped a shot that beat Millan top-right.
It was Collins second goal in two games played this season.
Less than two minutes later, the Friars made it a three-goal game with a power-play goal from New, who assisted on Fayne’s goal. The defenseman ripped a shot from the right point that was tipped by BU junior Colby Cohen’s stick over Millan’s shoulder and into the top-right corner of the cage.
The Terriers got their lone goal in the third period, when junior Joe Pereira, who had earned BU possession of the puck by forcing a turnover in the Terrier zone, dropped a pass from behind the PC cage to Gaudet, who slid the puck past Friar goaltender Alex Beaudry.
The Terriers registered 11 third-period shots and tested Beaudry numerous times. Providence’s sophomore netminder was up to the test all night long, and was aided by 20 blocked shots from the defenders in front of him.
In goal for BU, Millan allowed three goals on 24 shots. Despite the sub-par results, Parker had few gripes with his goaltender’s play.
“I thought [Millan] could have been out on the breakaway goal,” Parker said, referring to the Collins goal. “That’s a tough thing to do but he was way in his crease on that. The other two, our defenseman tipped it by him. He made some big saves and I thought he played pretty well.”
Parker declined to name a starter for Saturday night’s contest with Merrimack College, adding he would consult BU goaltending coach Mike Geragosian before making a decision.
The loss leaves the Terriers tied with the University of Vermont for seventh in Hockey East with 10 points –– three points behind sixth-place Northeastern University and two points ahead of Merrimack.
Currently the fourth spot in the conference –– and the last seed to earn home ice in the Hockey East Tournament –– belongs to the University of Maine, with 17 points.
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