Oct.2 Report Card (BU 9, Toronto 3)

By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff

Offense: A+
This may be the easiest grade given in the history of report cards. The Terriers totaled nine goals, their highest total in any game – exhibition, regular season and postseason included – since they scored the same amount against the University of Vermont back on Nov. 16, 2007. The biggest chunk came from the team’s first line of senior Joe Pereira, junior Chris Connolly and freshman Charlie Coyle. As a unit, they came together for five goals, seven assists and a plus-10, but they weren’t the only ones lighting the lamp. Sophomores Ryan Santana and Ben Rosen both tallied one more goal than either of them had in their rookie campaigns. The scariest thing of all is that all of this came without junior Corey Trivino and sophomore Alex Chiasson, both of whom are serving three-game suspensions but are expected to be leaders on the offensive end upon their return.

Defense: B+
Set the three goals that BU allowed in the first period aside for a minute if you can. The University of Toronto only took seven shots on net during the second and third periods. That’s after taking 11 alone in the first period. The final two shot sheets looked more lopsided than a see saw without anyone on the other side. Chalk that up to a new defensive scheme that the team has implemented heading into this season that is more of a hybrid than its previous man-on-man schemes of the past. The Terriers didn’t look all that comfortable in the new system in the first, but once they got their feet wet and settled in, they looked just fine. Of course, this was an exhibition against a young Canadian team so expect a little more time for adjustment going forward, especially for the veterans who played under the old system for a year or more.

Goaltending: Kraus- B Rollheiser- Incomplete
(Note: Junior Kieran Millan was not at Saturday’s game because he was attending his brother’s wedding. He will be with the team when they travel to St. Louis next weekend.)

Junior netmidner Grant Rollheiser gets the “incomplete” for pretty obvious reasons. He had to make just seven saves over 29:40 and was never really called upon to do anything spectacular. To give him an “A” just for making simple saves wouldn’t be right nor would it be fair to give him anything less because he didn’t stand out. The “incomplete” sticks.

As for Kraus, he certainly had his chances to make saves but didn’t come off quite as hot as some of the Terrier faithful would have hoped as he allowed all three of the Toronto goals – two of which came on the powerplay, on 11 shots. However, that is by no means a reason to give him a poor grade. Half of his defenders were making their NCAA debuts, and the other half were getting accustom to a new system. Kraus shut the door when he was able to, but in the long run, it’ll be hard to see him overtaking Rollheiser as Millan’s backup.

Special Teams: C+
The numbers lie a little bit for the powerplay. The Terriers went just 2-for-9 with the extra man but certainly could have had more. There was an extra emphasis put on simply putting the puck on net and seeing what happened instead of “trying to be cute,” as Connolly put it. That led to more tip opportunities that at times just didn’t connect but could have under different circumstances.

The penalty kill is what really drives down the grade in this category. BU allowed the Varsity Blues to score twice on the powerplay despite having just four opportunities over the course of the game’s 60 minutes with both of those goals coming in the first. Associate head coach Mike Bavis said that the unit was hurt by inexperience, and that’s something that will take a lot of time before it gets corrected.

X-Factor: Charlie Coyle
The freshman was the star of Saturday’s exhibition win by light years it seemed. Each of his three goals came under a different scenario – he netted power-play, even-strength and short-handed goal in that order – on just six total shots. He exhibited the kind of strength that had scouts’ mouths watering following the NHL combine by refusing to be taken down by any Toronto defender. It’s going to be very tempting for BU coach Jack Parker to break up the Connolly-Coyle-Pereira line, especially with the way the 6-foot-2, 207-pound Coyle matches up with the smaller but feisty captains.