Month: November 2010

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Ben Rosen looked like a veteran center Saturday night when he scored his first collegiate goal.

With his team trailing 2-0 midway through the first period, the sophomore from Syosset, N.Y., picked off a pass behind the net and quickly zipped the puck to freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan at the right point. Rosen then got himself open in the lower right circle and took in Noonan’s return pass before turning to the net and snapping a shot through Brown University goalie Michael Clemente’s five-hole.

But Rosen is not a veteran center, or even a veteran forward for that matter. In fact, Saturday’s 4-4 tie was only the fifth game he has ever played at center.

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By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff

Jack Parker’s going to need a bigger closet.

His No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team came back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 against former ECAC foe Brown University, but only managed to squeak out yet another tie – its fifth of the season and fourth in its last six games – in Saturday night’s 4-4 affair at Agganis Arena. The Terriers (7-1-5) now lead the nation in one-point performances.

“I have a closet full of ties,” Parker said. “I’ve got enough ties. Five ties. . . Unbelievable.”

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By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

On whether the team is happy with the tie
I think it’s a little bit of both. I think it’s obviously tough to get down 2-0 but I like the way we battled back. We were able to get a tie, but it’s not good to go down 2-0 especially against a team like that. Sometimes the mentality is taken a little bit lightly especially coming off of Thanksgiving break. I thought we did a good job battling back. To tie a team like that, on paper they might not be the best team, but they work real hard and if they keep it up, they’ll go somewhere in this league.

On what they saw of Browns game at UNH and what they saw of Brown Saturday night
We just saw that they’re physical. I think everyone saw that in the rink tonight. They were real physical. They finish their hits everywhere. They didn’t let up. They played smart although they took some penalties. Other than that, they’re a pretty smart team. They played their systems well. I think it was a game of who was going to outwork the other one. At times, we outworked them and at times they outworked us and it just came down to a tie at the end.

On the physicality of the game
Going into every game we want to be physical. That’s just the way we play, that’s the way we have to play if we want to be successful. Watching them on tape, we knew that they were going to be physical. They kind of play a Merrimack style where they’re on you quick and they’re finishing every hit. Besides some of the cheap hits they took, that was a real physical, clean game. We’re obviously going to see them again soon. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of responses for some of those cheap hits they had tonight.

On what he’s expecting with BU and BC next weekend
I think it’s going to be a good game. It’s a totally different game when BU plays BC. All systems get put aside and it’s just both teams bring their best every night. It’s kind of a game that you circle on your calendar when you first receive the schedule. BU/BC is one of the greatest rivalries. To get our first game under our belts against them this season, I’m looking forward to what happens.

On whether the team prefers to play BC when BC is hot or cold
I don’t think BU/BC, I don’t think it matters if you’re hot or you’re cold. You’re going to get the best out of everyone. At times, last year I think when we played them at Fenway, we weren’t playing our best either. But when you’re playing BC, everyone brings their A game, so it doesn’t matter if you’re hot or cold or you lost your last two or you won your last two. It’s a totally different ballgame.

On what he thought of the Clendening hit
Man I thought he was out for a while. It’s kind of one of those fluke things where a couple inches over, he could have been out for the season. I don’t know what’s wrong with him right now but he appears to be okay, so kind of one of those things where he makes the first move and the guy kind of sticks his leg out. Nothing you can do about it now, but I think come January when we play them again, we’ll remember that hit.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Opening statement
I have a closet full of ties. I’ve got enough ties. Five ties. Are they all at home? Four of them at home? One’s at Merrimack, that’s right. Unbelievable.

Overall, I thought both teams played well. Both teams played hard. We knew exactly what we were going to get from Brown. We’ve seen them play. They’re a very good hockey team. I tried to explain to my team that they’re the Merrimack of the ECAC. They’ve been a cellar-dweller for a long time, now all of a sudden they’re a real good team. They’re playing very hard, and they’ve got enough talent to beat you but usually they beat you by outworking you and they certainly tried to outwork us tonight. But I like how hard we worked and how much we kept after them even down two-love.

We attempt 85 shots to their 41 so. A couple of bad reads gave them a couple goals, but they worked hard for them too. I liked the goals we got and I liked the guys who got them. Good to see Megan get another goal. Alex keeps scoring goals. Joey got a nice goal going to the net. We don’t get many of those. We got to make sure we get guys going to the net.

We were 1-for-7 on the power play but I liked, we had 15 shots, we moved the puck around, we were pretty sharp there.

You’re down 2-0 it’s good to get out alive I guess. When you’re up 3-2, you should win the game at home.

On the hit on Clendening
It was a late check I think. He went down and the first thing I thought of was there goes the junior team for the kid. We can’t afford to lose him but he won’t be able to play on the junior team the way he’s screaming now. He came back and played okay and he was hurting a little bit but he kept playing. I’m not so sure after the fact that we should have played him because now he’s swelled up so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. The doctors who examined him didn’t think it was anything that he couldn’t go back out for us.

On Noonan’s game Saturday
I thought some guys hung on too long at times. I thought some guys tried to make big plays. The thing about Noonan is he always plays the right way. He’s not trying to be flashy, he’s not trying to impress people, and by not trying to impress people he impresses a lot of people because he plays the game the way it should be play. A lot of people are looking for a puck-moving defenseman who plays hard defensively and that’s him. And he can do things offensively. I always say if you look at how he keeps the puck, how he skates, how big he is, how fast he is, how well he handles the puck, you think he’s pretty good. But when you add it all up, it adds up much more than the sum. He’s much more than the sum of his individual parts, that’s for sure. That’s because he’s so smart and he’s very, very competitive. He’s one of the most competitive guys on our club if not the most.

On Warsofsky’s night
He’s the guy that runs our show, you know. I thought we had some chances that he could have gotten a few more assists on power plays. I still don’t know how Nieto’s shot didn’t go in. It was at the crease. I think it was Max that was there too. We had a couple of opportunities I think. And we missed the net a lot tonight too. We had to because they were diving in front of us I guess, but we had some chances where we shot the puck wide. But David, he’s the guy that stirs the drink around here, you know.

On Rosen’s line and first goal
He’s done very very well. We put him into the lineup because we thought he wasn’t going to break into the top six defensemen. He was the seventh defenseman and yet we thought he was one of our top 18 players. So we decided to try to try him at forward and it’s worked out very well. He gives us confidence defensively. He’s doing a good job at that end. He’s making some plays and he can skate. He’s a hockey player so he knows how to play. He’s learning how to forecheck a little bit which he’s never done before, but other than that he knows how to play hockey and he’s doing a pretty good job. It was nice to see him get a goal.

I thought his line played pretty well. They played three lines a lot and I was trying not to get our fourth line out there against their first line, but as it turned out I just kept playing them and we went one, two, three, four and they went one, two, three, so they had to catch that first line once in a while and they did a good job. I shortened the bench a little bit at times, but for the most part they took a regular shift. I thought Justin Courtnall had a good night too. He was out there playing physical and he played well. Wade Megan playing on the off wing, getting a goal, was nice too.

On Patrick MacGregor’s debut
I thought he played well. I didn’t notice him being jumpy, didn’t notice him being out of sync out there. He got caught on the power play, he was killing a penalty out there in the third period and then they got the man back and it was even-strength and we got exhausted and couldn’t get it out. He had a chance to move it a couple times and didn’t. You take away a couple of mishaps and I thought he played very well in his first game against a team that really can play pretty hard.

On whether they’ve practiced the 6-on-3
We haven’t practiced it yet this year. We got some opportunities there though. I liked the way we moved the puck. 5-on-3 and 5-on-4, I thought they did what we asked them to do as far as looking for the right pass, looking for the right shot.

On his patience with the power play
We have a whole season. If it’s 10% it’s 10%. We’re not going to say we won’t take the power play anymore. I think as long as we keep getting shots, we got 15 tonight on the goalie and we had a lot more blocked. We had plenty of possession and plenty of puck movement, so we’ll get some power play goals sooner or later. We’re doing pretty well with a 10% power play. I can’t wait until we get it going and see what our club looks like once we get it going.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Offense: B+
The Terriers attempted a total of 85 shots to Brown’s 41. Only half of BU’s shots (42) were on net, but 42 shots on goal is still nothing to be ashamed of – in fact, the shot total was a season high for BU. The Terriers started early with 17 shots in the first period – which was another season high for – and they continued to outshoot Brown in every period. The Terriers also netted four goals and came from behind to tie the game after falling into a 0-2 hole early. Each line had a goal as Alex Chiasson, Joe Pereira, Wade Megan and Ben Rosen all scored on the evening. The Terriers at times made the ice look like a shooting gallery, but they also had plenty of good chances where they could have/should have capitalized.

Defense: C+
The defense could have been better, but it also could have been worse. A team certainly does not want to allow four goals, but they also only gave up 23 shots. Freshman Patrick MacGregor made his debut on Saturday with sophomore Sean Escobedo serving as a healthy scratch, and he did not shine, but only looked out of place on one goal all night. Kieran Millan did not play his best game, and the defense did not pick him up. As Parker said, if you’re winning a game 3-2 at home, you don’t want to end in a tie.

Goaltending: C
Kieran Millan has been very good all season for the Terriers, but even the best have off nights. That was what Saturday night looked like for Millan, who seemed to be battling the puck from the very beginning of the game. Brown came out and scored two quick goals in the first three minutes to shock the Terriers, and while neither goal was a real softy, Millan typically would have made the save on at least one of them. Millan was hanging his head after the third goal and seemed to get really down on himself during any stoppage of play. To his credit, however, the fourth goal was one that Millan really could not do much about. He made a great save on a one-timer, but BU failed to clear the puck for him and the Bears capitalized on the defensive breakdown. It wasn’t Millan’s best night, but BU definitely could have stepped it up a bit for him.

Special Teams: B-
The Terriers gave up another goal on the penalty kill, but Brown does have the fourth-best power play in the nation and is currently running at a 27.59% success rate. BU only went 1-for-7 on the power play, but the fact that they scored at all was a bright spot for them. BU garnered 15 shots on the power play all evening and passed the puck well, but they still did not make many moves toward the net with the advantage. That said . . .

X-Factor: Power Play
The Terriers continue to move the puck well on power plays, but they don’t make teams pay on the scoreboard for taking penalties. In a tie game, those power plays can make a huge difference. The Terriers had an abundance of quality chances, such as in the second period when they found themselves on a 6-on-3 for an extended period of time but failed to find the back of the net. BU scored on the resulting 5-on-3 for its third goal in its last 45 power plays. In the third period, Brown captain Harry Zolnierczyk was called for a five-minute major and a game disqualification for a vicious knee-to-knee hit on Adam Clendening. The Terriers failed to score on that power play and in fact helped Brown kill two minutes of it when Charlie Coyle went to the box for elbowing. Parker did note that, while he was pleased with the evening’s power play, it would be interesting to see what the team’s record would be like if it were able to really get going with the man advantages.

By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff

The No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team returned to its tying ways Saturday night when its non-conference game with Brown University resulted in a 4-4 draw. It was the fifth tie of the season for the Terriers, whose record now stands at 7-1-5 on the season.

BU controlled most of the play for the night – it outshot the Bears by a margin of 42-23 – but Brown (3-2-3) got on the board early on goals by forwards Jesse Fratkin and Harry Zolnierczyk in the game’s first 3:01. Five and a half minutes later, sophomore forward Ben Rosen tallied his first collegiate goal and point on a feed by freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan.

The Terriers tied it up in the second when senior co-captain Joe Pereira tipped his own rebound past Brown goalie Michael Clemente. Sophomore forward Alex Chiasson gave BU its first lead of the contest five minutes later with a snipe that found the lower right of the net.

From there, though, it looked like the Bears would steal a win from a Hockey East opponent on the road. Centers Jack Maclellan and David Brownschidle made BU netminder Kieran Millan’s already shaky night even more so with goals in the second and third, respectively, to give Brown the lead again at 4-3.

However, the lead just wasn’t to be. Junior defenseman David Warsofsky got his second assist of the night when his shot from the blue line hit the end boards and fell right to a patient Wade Megan, who outhustled Clemente to the right post and stuffed home the tying goal.

Check back in Monday’s Daily Free Press for a more detailed recap and sidebar.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

It would be easy for fans of the No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team to overlook Saturday night’s game. Brown University isn’t exactly a college hockey powerhouse. It’s a non-conference contest sandwiched between rivalry series against No. 6 University of New Hampshire and No. 7 Boston College. And it’s over Thanksgiving break, so Agganis Arena won’t be nearly as full or as loud as usual.

Don’t expect the Terriers to overlook it, though.

“I thought we had a great practice yesterday and a great practice today,” said BU coach Jack Parker on Friday. “Today was a fabulous practice. So it seems like we’re ready to go. These guys know that this is the Merrimack of the ECAC. Nobody thinks they’re as good as they are, and they’re way better than everyone thinks they are.”

The Bears (3-2-2) got off to a slow start, going 1-2-1 to open the season, but they’ve been much better lately. They won games at Colgate University and at Cornell University last weekend, marking the first time they’ve swept those two teams on the road since 1993 and the first time they’ve swept any ECAC series on the road since 2005.

Then on Tuesday, Brown earned a 5-5 tie at UNH, the same team BU (7-1-4) split a series with last weekend. The Bears controlled play for most of that game and led 5-3 with less than two minutes to go before the Wildcats registered two goals in 11 seconds to force the draw.

“I think we know it’s an important game, especially after they go up to UNH and tie them,” said senior co-captain Joe Pereira. “That’s a tough place to play, so obviously I don’t think they’re a team we can take lightly. They’re going to come out hard. They’ll want to beat a Hockey East opponent, especially BU.”

Brown’s biggest strength is its power play, which ranks fourth in the country with a 28.1-percent conversion rate. The key to that success has been hard shots from the point off the sticks of junior Jeff Buvinow and freshman Dennis Robertson, who have combined for six of the Bears’ nine man-up goals.

“It’s a similar setup to Merrimack’s power play, where they’re just trying to get a couple passes and get it to the net,” Parker said. “But they have guys who can bomb it from the top.”

Up front, Brown is led by its top line of junior Jack Maclellan, senior Harry Zolnierczyk and sophomore Chris Zaires. Maclellan has 12 points (3g, 9a) in seven contests, ranking him fifth nationally with 1.71 points per game. Zolnierczyk and Zaires come in with nine and seven points, respectively.

BU, meanwhile, will be without one of its top-line players in junior Chris Connolly, who suffered a broken left pinky finger in the first period of Saturday’s game against UNH. Connolly, who is skating with the team in practice, said on Friday that there’s a chance he could be back before winter break if the bone heals straight and doesn’t need any pins, but that the likeliest return date is the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago on Jan. 1-2.

“I think guys are just going to have to step up for these last four or five games before break or however long he’s out,” Pereira said. “We’ll just have to come together as a team, just like we did without Corey [Trivino] and Alex [Chiasson] out in St. Louis. Just play for each other and play for him, and when he gets back, we’ll be that much better.”

According to Parker, the lines for Saturday will be as follows:

Matt Nieto – Corey Trivino – Alex Chiasson
Sahir Gill – Charlie Coyle – Joe Pereira
Andrew Glass – Ross Gaudet – Wade Megan
Justin Courtnall – Ben Rosen – Ryan Santana

David Warsofsky – Ryan Ruikka
Garrett Noonan – Adam Clendening
Patrick MacGregor – Max Nicastro

Kieran Millan
Adam Kraus
Grant Rollheiser

Parker said sophomore defenseman Sean Escobedo is being benched because of the number of penalties he’s taken. Escobedo leads the team with 44 penalty minutes on the season, including two five-minute majors and two misconducts last weekend alone. MacGregor — a freshman from Hamden, Conn. — will make his collegiate debut in Escobedo’s place.

Parker said Megan is being moved from center to wing because he’s been having some problems with his knees. Parker said playing wing should put less strain on him because he won’t have to cover all 200 feet of the ice every shift.

Scott McLaughlin provides a more detailed recap that focuses on the play of Grant Rollheiser and Alex Chiasson.

Sam Dykstra gives us a sidebar on the team’s freshmen stepping up in Chris Connolly’s absence.