By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff
After the first eight games of the season, no one knew exactly where the line was for Chris Connolly, simply because the junior captain for the No. 1 Boston University men’s hockey team had never crossed it by that point.
That is, until 12 minutes into the third period of the Terriers’ 1-1 tie with Merrimack College Friday night.
Moments after being shellacked by a Warrior defender along the left boards, Connolly arose with an especially inquisitive look on his face directed toward the men in black and white. After not seeing any arms raised other than his own, the BU left winger continued on his unmerry way down the ice in the Merrimack zone.
But after he was stoned by Warrior netminder Joe Cannata on a shot from the high slot, he was struck by yet another man in blue-and-yellow – Merrimack defenseman Kyle Bigos – after the impending whistle, and that was when he finally lost his cool. Connolly immediately sprung up and threw a haymaker at Bigos, who took a swipe back, sending the Merrimack zone into Wrestlemania on Ice.
However as Connolly slowly made to his way to the penalty box for his two-minute facemasking minor, he appeared to be more angry with the referees than with his sparring partner from seconds earlier.
The captain’s penalty was just one of 12 incurred by the Terriers in Friday’s affair. Combine that with the Warriors’ 10 infractions, and you get 44 minutes of someone in the sin bin for either side. In fact, BU’s 12 penalties were three more than their previous season-high, set only last week in the team’s 2-2 with then-No. 7 University of Maine.
That discrepancy, though, can’t be explained solely by a different refereeing crew, at least according to BU coach Jack Parker.
“I think this was a much more physical game than other games,” Parker said. “You can make your own comments about the referees.”
Indeed the game saw many more hits – before and after whistles – words exchanged, punches thrown, facemasks grabbed, jerseys tugged, etc. than any other game thus far in BU’s so-far undefeated season. Fortunately for them, the Terriers anticipated that coming in.
“Last week, we were pretty physical, but it was different type of game. It was more fast-paced,” said BU sophomore forward Ross Gaudet, who notched the first goal of his season in the second. “Tonight was a bit more physical, a little slower, but that’s what we were expecting coming into the game tonight.”
That being said, the reverse was not necessarily true. Despite the outcome in the penalties section of the stats sheet, Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy denied the concept that his team planned to come into Agganis Arena Friday with the intent of forcing the Terriers into the penalty box.
“We don’t game-plan for causing the other teams to take penalties,” Dennehy said. “I think when you do a good job on the forecheck and you’re able to keep teams in either end, you end up with tired bodies. A lot of times penalties will occur from that. Hey, it’s part of the game.”
In fact, both sides acknowledged after the game that most of the penalties came from sloppy play on both ends of the ice that led to poor decisions or straight-out frustration on the players’ parts.
You can blame the amount of calls – or in some cases lack thereof in Connolly’s case – on whatever or whomever you want, but when it comes to brass tax, the physicality exhibited in Friday’s game can and most likely will lead to only one thing – more of it in the second half of the home-and-home series between BU and Merrimack Saturday at Lawler Arena.
“I expect a little more intensity tomorrow night, especially at their rink,” Gaudet said. “It’s a tough place to play at. It’ll probably be a good crowd there to get them going even more so we’ll definitely be expecting more out of them.”
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